Festival of Lights

Last week we went to the Festival of Lights on a Wed. night when it was Half Off at the zoo.  Sadly, Michael was unable to go but I went with Ben & Laura & Michael's parents.

Jeremiah was not too thrilled with Frosty!

Looking at Reindeer

Happy 90th Birthday to my Mom-Mom Delp!!!

Today is my Grandma's 90th Birthday!!!  I know she can hardly believe she is 90!  The Lord has brought her through a lot this year as she fell and broke her hip but has recovered well and is doing great!  We are looking forward to seeing her in a few weeks- wish we could be there for the celebration tomorrow!

Guess Who Is Hanging Out With Us Today...

Katie girl!!!  :)  Jeremiah decided to put a hat on her too. :)  Or take it off of her.

Lyons' Christmas Traditions (2012)

 So... I have been thinking about Christmas traditions a lot the past few weeks and honestly, I admit, sometimes I get so many ideas I want to do and get overwhelmed with wanting to be so intentional with my family that I feel too overwhelmed and defeated before I have even begun.  After talking to a few people about this, I was encouraged to try to make things simple and not get overwhelmed with trying to do "it all!"  My mentor at church suggested even with a toddler being intentional about slowly setting out a nativity- each day getting one of the animals or people out to build anticipation.  Great idea!  So we have decided on these few things for this Advent season.  Honestly, there is a really cute Fisher Price Advent Calendar for kids but it is a little too expensive for our budget right now. So I decided to make this little calendar with a muffin tin.  Jeremiah and I are opening one a day- inside I have little animals and figures I cut out from things on the internet that we will paste and color to this simple manger hung on his wall until we get to Jesus on Christmas Eve in the manger.  I think he is already getting excited as he points to the manger hanging in his room.  In each one I also have a name of a special friend or family member we will pray for at dinner each night.

 I also just set out 5 simple candles I found to use as an Advent Wreath for each of the Sundays leading to Christmas.  Michael and I have decided at dinner each night (or almost every night), we will pray for the couple that is in the tin and also go through this Advent Devotional by Piper.  David Platt's church also has a great devotional for kids too for Advent.

 I love Christmas and so we have decorated and have the lights up- I can definitely see why Christ says He is the Light of the World!!  I am always tempted to keep my lights up through the winter to ward off any winter blahs- I may esp. need to do that this year with a little one coming mid- winter and my tendency to be affected by cloudy, sunless days.

I browsed through Noel Piper's book, Treasuring God in Your Traditions, and she had a great idea about having your gifts on Christmas morning under a Nativity or Manger scene.  Last year, I had to put my Willow Nativity up on the windowsill to ward off a wandering baby.  I am thinking that putting gifts under the Nativity- could be a neat idea to point to the fact that Christ is the center- He is the reason for our gift giving as He has given us the MOST precious gift- Himself!!  God with us!!

And so whatever our traditions- let us keep them simple and keep Christ in the center as it is so easy to get so busy with all "good" things this time of year!  Happy Adventing! 

Christmas Parade

 It has been an eventful weekend- filled with going to the Getty's Irish Christmas concert on Friday night with dear hubby and Ben & Laura!  What a beautiful time of worship and praise and I loved the fiddle and pipes they had playing- they even had a little Irish dance going on.  Saturday- Jeremiah and I attended the College Hill Christmas parade while Michael worked.  We found our good friends Jacob & Amy Samad with Jack and Audrey and followed them in the parade.  Jeremiah LOVED running down the road and waving to all the people who were watching him.  It was cute.  Saturday night we hosted a couple from Hebrew Union for dinner and had a great time with them.  Then Sunday, I taught Sunday School to 3rd & 4th graders with my little boy throwing puzzle pieces in the background as he was having major Mommy separation anxiety so had to come with me to class.  Then later that day, I got the stomach flu- a somewhat at times unexpected but good weekend. 

Sick

This Mama is down for the count.  There is a serious stomach flu bug going around our church and everyone seems to be catching it.  Last night was my turn.  At least it was during the night so Jeremiah was sound asleep but I have a feeling I am going to be one tired Mama today.  Praying the Lord gives much grace and Jeremiah is a good little boy today.  We may be watching more you tube videos or introducing him to Thomas the Tank Engine today. 

Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas Tree on Saturday.  Though I grew up chopping down my own tree on a tree farm, I have resigned our family to picking a tree at Home Depot since the first Christmas in Louisville, I paid twice as much for a tree to chop than at Home Depot.  We left Jman with the Grandparents and borrowed the truck to pick it up.  Jeremiah has surprisingly done really well.  He usually does not touch the decorations- well except for thinking one of the Ornament balls was a "ball" and went and threw it in the kitchen and it shattered on the floor.  Oh my- what could I do- he really thought it was a ball!  And then yesterday, as I was taking groceries up- the boy unloaded all the eggs on the floor and I found him shaking one as I walked in- thankfully none of them broke- amazing!  Then he proceeded to kick the tree so all the needles in one section fell.  Yesterday, in a test of my patience, he forcefully pushed the poinsettia off the table sending dirt everywhere.  So he is testing my patience some these days but I know part of it is his busy age!  We'll see what else happens to my decorations.

Thanksgiving Glimpses 2012

Other glimpses of our Thanksgiving which was spent with the Lyons family just chilling out & eating lots of turkey!!

The boys- just chilling :)

The day was so nice we had to take them outside!

The young kids plus a fake stuffed bear near Laura's feet

The older ones- guess Jeremiah wanted to be in that photo

Our beloved GiGi!!  We love her!

Our attempt at a family pic for Thanksgiving complete with bear in the background (the black thing)

Thanksgiving 2012

This Thanksgiving morning, we are waking up to a relaxing, beautiful morning!  I don't make breakfast that often, but I made a breakfast casserole and some gluten free blueberry & apple cinnamon muffins.  Here is my boys at breakfast and we have enjoyed a fun family walk on this beautiful day! 

I had high hopes of some traditions I was hoping to impart this Thanksgiving but feel like the time flew by without us sitting down to think through what we are thankful for!  Next year, Lord willing, I loved the idea of a Thanksgiving Thankful Tree.  I wanted to take a few moments in the busyness of Thanksgiving day to think of how God has blessed us this year!

1.  The Lord has blessed me with an amazing husband who serves our family and goes to school full time & works many jobs to provide for our family!  He does a great job balancing everything so well!

2.  I am thankful for a sweet and busy little Jeremiah boy and the joy he brings to our family!  Though he has three times the energy I have right now, he is so loving, friendly and happy.  I am also thankful the Lord has given me a healthy pregnancy so far and we look forward to meeting a new little one in this new year.

3.  I am thankful for how God has provided for us for me to be able to stay at home and the generosity of my in-laws in allowing us to live in this apartment for free and how the Lord continues to provide for our every need!

4.  I am so glad we were able to go to Israel this summer and how the Lord provided the funds for that with HUC & the generosity of people from our church!

5.  I am thankful for a Grandma that is so willing to take Jeremiah and give us a break and a great sister-in-law downstairs that is willing to do the same and make us yogurt and other fun treats!

6.  I am thankful for our church body and how the Lord has blessed us through the people of ECC and how they encourage and grow us to be more like Christ!  I am particularly thankful for Becky, a Godly woman who is a great encourager to me as a young mom.  I am also thankful for a sweet friend- Stephanie L and her intentionality in our friendship here as well as many other young moms who are a great encouragement!

And many many more... 

November of Travels

 November has been a busy month for our family.  The beginning of the month, I took a trip to PA to visit my family, go on a girls' overnight with some friends from York and college & celebrate and surprise my mom with a 60th birthday party.  I was able also to visit my Grandma in a nursing home who had broken her hip a few months ago but she looked great and has really recovered.  Jeremiah loved all the extra attention from Pop-Pop & Mom-Mom and Uncle Mike & Aunt Rachel.  He helped cook, played with lots of new trucks and even went to the Turkey Hill Experience to drive and ice cream truck. 

This fall, we also enjoyed going to a Counseling Training in Florence, Kentucky.  The November session was taught by Dr. Whitney from Southern Seminary and dealt with Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian life.  I had taken this course at Southern but so refreshing to hear him speak of praying through and meditating on Scripture. 

Last weekend, Michael took a road trip with some guys at HUC to SBL (language conference) in Chicago and there he found lots of good deals on books, went to sessions, stayed in the Hard Rock Hotel, and visited with some friends and professors from Southern Seminary.  Jman and I made it through the weekend and other than having my tire go a little flat- I for one was ready for Michael to come home Sunday night.  It was a tiring weekend chasing after an active toddler by myself. 

This week, we are staying put and celebrating Thanksgiving with the Lyons' family.  And hopefully enjoying some quality "family time" this week as well!