For He is Born

Christmas 2016 Christmas is always a special time of year. It is time to visit all family and fellowship together. It is a time to honor Jesus Christ as our Savior. "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from sin." I did not take as many pictures this year as I have in the past. Matter of fact, I didn't take one single picture at my parents' house or in laws'. I do wish I had captured these moments, but I enjoyed being engaged in the conversations and living in the moment, because that was my intentions. I wanted to soak up every single ounce of the holidays. We went to church Christmas Eve and had a beautiful service. The candlelight was gorgeous, and Axton and Aimree (I helped) held a candle each while we sang songs of worship. I am sharing a moment, because I think it is important to admit fault and move on. I am not perfect. I am a sinner, and I am thankful that we serve a forgiving and loving God who understands. Lean on Christ and he will set you free. Aimree spent a lot of time lying on the floor coloring/whining/ready to leave and Axton kept trying to tell her to get up, lol!! I almost let Satan ruin this time of worship with my family. I prayed with tears streaming down my face to release me from Satan's grip. Satan wants to destroy relationships, because they are what do God's work. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Not this day! It was not going to happen. After praying, I felt relief and happiness when I looked back at my family. I smiled, because they were just being kids and I was focused on the wrong things. I remembered; God will work in your life if you allow it. After this moment of weakness I will call it, we enjoyed our time together and I was back on the right track. We do celebrate Christmas big. We do gifts for everyone and food galore. We read stories, tales, and share stories from the Bible about Christ's birth. We bake cookies for Santa and talk about the what ifs in life. We ponder over what good things come from doing good and why Saints are called Saints. We make gingerbread houses (see facebook post about how that turned out, lol)! We drink hot chocolate and decorate a tree! If there is something to do with Christmas tradition, we do it. We do it because it is fun, and we love seeing the smiles and feeling the tightness of a good hug and the contagiousness of a heart felt laugh. All of these traditions are possible and centered on our anchor, Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful and honored to be mommy and wife to these special people. I thank God everyday for choosing me to do life with all of them!

Below are pictures of Aimree's very first program at Carriage Hills Baptist Preschool. She didn't do much singing, but she did do a lot of crying. They were all so precious though :)