break over! :)

Today [I started this blog on Saturday and finished it on Sunday] we're just sitting around hanging out as we rest after a very busy week! I feel like my blog "fast" can be over now. The Lord had convicted me several times since Piper's birth that I was spending too much time on the internet and so it was good to have a little break.

Christmas this year was an experiment for us. We believed God was leading us to stay at our house and we are thankful for all that He did. We really missed all of our family in Midland and enjoyed trying to imagine what they must have been doing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! We're so thankful for grandparents and cousins who we love spending time with! We were also excited to see how God's hand was on our week here! It was definitely faith-building for us and our kids to see Him answer lots of prayers. The first one I think of is last Saturday. McKenna was sick with the stomach bug that attacked everyone in our family except me, Piper, and Malachi, and after hours of stomach pain and severe nausea she was very frustrated and discouraged. The kids and I gathered around her and prayed for rest and healing - within 15 minutes, she was asleep and never got sick again! Thank you, Jesus! Another HUGE answer to prayer was SNOW. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but my kids had prayed for 2 weeks that it would snow on Christmas Eve or Day and that it would be deep. 2 days before C Eve there was still NO chance of any precipitation on C Eve! On Wednesday p.m. they were still praying that it would snow and I almost wanted to defend God because I just knew that their little hearts were going to be disappointed. What did Jesus say about having faith like a child??!! They kept telling me that the weathermen were not God and God could do whatever He wanted! It snowed almost the whole day on C Eve and when it wasn't sticking to the ground, they and their friends started praying that it would stick...and it STUCK! By that night, it was DEEP in our backyard, and my kids woke up on December 25th to a white Christmas. A friend of ours whose parents have lived in FW forever said that there hasn't been a white Christmas here in over 50 years!! Thank you Jesus for this gift to my kids! Okay, one more answered prayer. We have a homeless friend who built our bookcases in our library and who has been doing more work around the house for us lately. We invited him to eat with us on Christmas, but he just asked if he could take a plate with him because he didn't want to intrude. He has never sat down to a meal with us - always refuses. We prayed that he would stay and eat. He was the first to arrive and stayed all afternoon - he ate with us. Thank you Jesus!!

As I looked around our makeshift long tables set up in our living room yesterday I was overwhelmed with what God has done in my family and in my own heart and with what He continues to do. It almost felt like an out-of-body experience because it didn't seem like I would be living in this "story". The orphan, the widow, and the homeless were at our table. Different races were at our table. Dear friends were at our table. For a few seconds, it was "everything made right" and was a little taste of heaven on earth. We are anticipating Him working and moving in BIG ways in 2010!

One more story. On Christmas Eve, we had three of the Mighty Men over and had a little "party" for Jesus. Everyone brought a gift for Jesus and had to share it with the family. D'Leeland didn't watch tv at all during the month of December, Alphonzo wrote a poem, Corey danced, Isaac colored a heart, Moriah drew a picture of our family loving each other, Luke read 77 Psalms over the last several weeks, Josiah memorized I Corinthians 13, McKenna wrote a poem, I made a list of 100 characteristics of God, and Randy memorized John 14-16 (and dressed up as he recited it!!). It was encouraging to see how each person expressed worship to Him! McKenna gave me permission to share her poem here - it made me cry because it was so real and beautiful! May it bless those who read it (we've ALL been in this place with Jesus before):

Choppy Prayers

My life is an open door.

Come and fill it, O Lord.

You are my supply. Come and steal away

The cup of my despair.

My prayers are choppy.

Uneven.

Do You remain satisfied?

Answer me, O God.

From You I am far.

The distance between You and I is unbearable.

Be near me, Jesus!

Come save me, Daddy!

I am in a far and desolate land.

I thirst for Your mercy, for it is far from me.

But You are not.

Now You race towards me,

Like a Father who misses His daughter

After an endless journey.

You lift me.

You swing me around

In Your thick, soft arms.

You cradle me

And begin to hum a song.

The song.

Your song.

A peaceful lullaby of love. You rock me, gently, sing me to sleep in Your arms.

the beautiful view from our front porch!

Malachi's gift to Jesus??