How Great Is Our God.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

Last night, a friend of mine suffered a deep loss. His son, RJ, was eleven. RJ was an energetic and funny kid. His father, Richwood could not have been prouder of his son. I don't think I ever saw them apart. Everyone loved seeing them at Spartan football tailgates. We marveled at what a great relationship they had. Everyone who knows Richwood knows that he was an amazing father to RJ and that he loved him more than anything in the world.

A few days ago, RJ suffered a severe asthma attack. He slipped into a coma for several days. We all prayed for him. He was constantly in our hearts, but he did not wake up. I cannot completely fathom the depth of a loss that takes a kid with so much future ahead of him. My heart has been quite heavy with it.

I've been thinking about our God. The God of the Universe. I've been thinking that He is so vast that no one can imagine his greatness, but in everything at once... even the very small things. I've been thinking that He knows every single one of us by name and by heart, and is planning beautiful things for our futures, even when we don't understand them... or when they hurt. His plan is like a pattern that looks just like chaos from up close, but from the right perspective is intricate and beautiful.

Our God knows RJ and Richwood. He was with them in the hospital, holding them in His embrace. For them, up close... and for those of us who mourn with their family, it all looks like chaos right now. But our God has already prepared the way. He has already made a beautiful pattern from all of the anger and fear and hurting. In a few days, we will celebrate the birth of His Son. The God of the Universe, who came as one of us to live a life filled with sorrow, and then to give it up to save any one of us who simply calls out to Him. The God who came to save us from death. He gave his life to save RJ, and now He is holding him closely, welcoming him to an eternity of peace.

His pattern is sometimes confusing to us, but it is ALWAYS good.

I've mostly been praying for peace... for RJs family and friends and for myself. We need the peace that wraps itself around broken hearts and buoys us up. We need the peace that is still but immovable and points us towards our God. We need the peace that only the Savior of the whole world can give to us. I'll keep praying for that peace as we celebrate His birth and the gift He gave that was much to big to put under any tree.

Merry Christmas to all and PEACE on Earth.

The Eighth Day of Christmas: Wrapping It Up

Wrapping It Up

I used to think I hated wrapping. Every year, my mother would get us all such a huge mountain of fabulous presents that no one person could possibly wrap them all. So, she would give each of us kids another kid's presents to wrap. She used to make us all go in different rooms and give us supplies. I HATED knowing what my sibling was getting, but not what I was getting. It made me crazy. You'd think your little brother or sister would tell you with a little bribery... but they won't.

This year, after we had such a blast buying presents for both our families, gift wrapping seemed like a lot more fun. We picked the perfect gifts and I wanted to make sure they looked great inside and out. Presentation counts in my world. I call it the "ATD factor"... attention to detail.

I went with plain craft paper because it's rustic, inexpensive and we can use the left overs throughout the year. Then I picked three types of ribbon, twine and cheap ornaments to dress it up and keep a running theme. We got 100 manila tags from Office Depot for just a couple of dollars and I stamped them to give our packages a clean finished look. It only took a few episodes of Bones and The Office to get them all done. We're gonna gift these pretty presents with pride.

Bows with Ornaments

Twine: For boys who could care less about ribbon.

Stacked

Apple (Gift) Baskets

Natural Details

Easy Stamped Tags

The Seventh Day of Christmas: Homemade Gifts

Homemade Gifts

Making homemade gifts can really put you in the Christmas mood (and also give you an excuse to go to Michael's). Giving homemade gifts makes people feel loved and is always totally unique. Add to that that you can save some Christmas cash and you can see why we think homemade gifts are a great idea. Here are a couple from across the blogosphere that made us feel inspired...

Body Scrubs

Lemon & Lavender Sea Salt Scrub with Enjoying the Small Things

Sugar Scrub with Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss

Gifts for Girls

Placemat Aprons with Made

Pom Pom Bib Necklace with Little Miss Mama

Gifts for Anyone

Postcard Calendar Journal with Design Sponge

Gift Card Snow Globes with One Charming Party

Holiday Gifts

Seasonal Pillow with Centsational Girl

Cookie Cutter Wreath with From Glitter to Gumdrops

The Sixth Day of Christmas: Keeping It Real

Keeping It Real

As much as we anticipate the holidays, sometimes when we're in the midst of them, we can lose sight of the important things. One minute you're excited about finding the perfect gift and the next minute you're snapping at your significant other about wrapping paper. You might feel excited about having family over and completely overwhelmed with the amount of chores you have to do at the same time. The holidays get busy and stressful and sometimes downright hard.

We listened to a sermon today that really spoke to us about business and our holiday priorities. We felt like it really helped us get a grip and, if you feel like things are a little out of control, maybe you will too. The best part is, this sermon is about the behaviors that we do (and don't do) to create stress for ourselves... not a guilt trip. After all, this time of the year is about giving and loving and a Savior who sacrificed everything for us... not busyness and clutter. Cheers!

WestGate Church

Holiday Hell: Busyness

The Fifth Day of Christmas: Advent Calendars

Advent Calendars

Advent calendars are a beautiful tradition with an unlimited amount of possibilities. I love love love them. This year, I must have looked at hundreds of them. I looked for DIY calendars store bought ones. None of them were quite right. Then, out of the blue, I found the perfect one today! Sure it's too late for this year, but mark my words... next year, I'm making this calendar for our house!

Check out the Pottery Barn inspiration and a beautiful DIY version at Bower Power!

The Fourth Day of Christmas: Charitable Gifts

Charitable Gifts

We're big fans of charitable gifts. They're unique, they make a difference and they mean less "stuff" that people may or may not use.

Heifer International is a fun place to start. You can buy a share of an animal that will be sent to an impoverished community so that a family can become self-sufficient. How neat would it be to tell a friend or family member that you sent a goat to a family in South America in their name?

We also think a donation to Kiva could make a great gift. Kiva lets you make "microloans" to small business entrepreneurs all over the world so that they can start up self-sufficient businesses. The loans are then paid back so you can reinvest in other projects. Invest $25 or $50 in someone else's name and they can keep picking projects for as long as they want! It's a gift that keeps giving.

The Third Day of Christmas: Our Christmas Present to the Internet

Our Christmas Present to the Internet

Every so often I'll get an idea in the morning and by the evening, that idea has totally morphed into a different beast. Today... that happened. Please indulge my train of thought:

For our favorite things for 12 Days of Christmas, I was going to talk about the Christmas station on Pandora. Well, thinking about the Christmas station made me think about my favorite Christmas song... Better Days by the Goo Goo Dolls (you may not have realized that this is a Christmas song, but it is). When I was thinking about Better Days, I thought about how in high school... I was kind of a rock star. Way bigger than Taylor Swift... just kidding, but I did have a demo album of sorts and I did a cover of Better Days because it's the best song ever. While thinking about rock star me, I started thinking, "What if I had known Jake back then?". Then I remembered... Jake was a total soccer-hottie in high school (he still is, of course). I mean David-Beckham-eat-your-heart-out hot. He also had long hair. Oh, yes.

With all of these amazing thoughts going through my head, I knew a post about Pandora would be boring. And so, without further ado, I present to you our gift to you and to the internet this Christmas...

Oh, and by the way...

Tobi's Favorite Christmas Songs

Better Days

Baby It's Cold Outside /Santa Baby

Oh Come Oh Come Immanuel

Jake's Favorite Christmas Songs

The Peanuts Christmas Piano Riff

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Rockin' Around the Christmas