The Christmas-Tank is FULL...

It was one of those perfect moments. All by myself, in my car, driving in the velvet darkness. A pinch of Christmas lights, was combined with a heaping cup of Amy Grant's "Breath of Heaven", and sprinkled with snow falling copiously in the glow of my headlights ....God stirred all these ingredients together for me tonight...

...and I was enchanted!

How often do I get to go shopping in the snow? With a cute wool peacoat on, a hand made red scarf, and an adorable crochet cloche hat, with a red crochet trim, and black boots? I felt like a Christmas movie, everything (including me) looked like a Christmas movie...and I was smiling, glowing, gloating over the ideas I was gathering.

It was one of those (very rare) evenings when I could walk confidently into an upscale store, and heads might turn...not because I didn't look like I belonged there, but because I DID look like I belonged there. Fashionable from head to toe (oh, glee!), with red leather gloves on my hands, I was tranquil and gloating over my secret knowledge. What was my secret knowledge?

I didn't belong in any exclusive store, and was deeply enjoying the thought. I don't ever buy anything in "upscale stores". I just gather ideas. Have you seen the latest Christmas commercial, where the wealthy lady is showing you her Christmas mantel, with its stockings hung, and telling you all about the provenance of each bejeweled stocking? She then reaches out to still one that is swinging back and forth, saying, in her most controlled and educated tone, "I want these to hang straight and still. The movement will cause wear and tear."

A hilarious satire on people who buy "upscale" for the sake of "upscale". My secret knowledge was just this: This season isn't about what you own or can get. Christmas, from its inception has been about how very much you can do with what small thing you have right there beside you....whether that be a stable, or gold, frankincense and myrrh, or a shepherd's staff. Are you using it to glorify Christ? To make Him known? To love others? In the words of God to Moses, "What is that in your hand?"

You Get to Pick Your Friends!

This morning, in church, as worship flowed, as people sang, I was overwhelmed with a gratitude that I felt all the way down deep in my chest.



Who am I, that God is mindful of me so much, that He surrounds me with family and great friends?



To be surrounded by family is enough! Gentle reader, it has not been a picnic in the park this past year. My family, my parents, my brother, my sister and her husband, my children and their spouses, my husband and I - we have all been dragged through the mud...behind horses...with ropes tied around us...over tumbleweeds...



...nevermind. I hope you get the idea. We don't have it all together - but together, we manage to have it all!



To experience two prodigals in one year's time is a pain beyond telling. Though they both are already doing well again, I will never be the same, I will forever walk with Jacob's limp. But for the hundredth time, I have wrestled through into a new identity that rests in grace, which means to rest in Christ Alone. Do we ever stop re-learning grace? Never. The whole New Testament and New Covenant rests on this fact. We will grow in grace until we know as we are known.



But there we were, Sunday morning...together. Imperfect, but Worshipping. Lost in love for Christ Jesus.



Not only that, but I get to go to church with my friends. Tim and I cannot conceive of attending church with mere acquaintances, or even strangers. Tim and I cannot conceive of friendship outside the work of the ministry. We simply believe that the best friends are the friends faithful to the Bride, the local church. The best of friends have their hands to the same plow, and relationships are made in the plowing and planting, and cemented in the Season of Harvest. Our dearest friends are either in our church, or in our network of churches, or in another network that has our same passion for the gospel of grace, and for New Testament Church. Wherever we find them, we can't imagine a friend of ours not being about the business of the kingdom. Is there time for being in "social circles" that have little to do with our Magnificent Obsession? Not really...



It struck me how that these people all around me could be anywhere at that moment. They could be in any number of other mega churches, enjoying a measure of anonymity. They could have slept in and went to a fancy brunch at a restaurant, followed by Christmas shopping in the snow. But we all, every last one of us, chose to hang out together in worship, because we like each other.



That's all.



Well, that, and we really, really like the God we have come to know in the face of Jesus Christ. And we genuinely like how Jesus expresses Himself through the different vessels.



It was a warm fuzzy moment, and I am all about the warm fuzzies. I want to feel it when my God wraps His arms around me, and speaks truth into my innermost being. I want to experience my sanctified feelings - that is part of practicing true religion.



I really do like these people I do church with. I really do love the God I serve. I really do love this family of mine - and we are not a trophy family, folks! We're a bunch of mad hatters.



Next time you are in church, I pray that you can look around you and see the faces of dear friends - people you would trust with your business or your family, if something happened to you.



I. Have. That.



That is to be startlingly blessed. I'm so humbled to realize that sometimes the pulsing, glowing, sparkling truth of the gifts I have been given goes right over my head. I have not always seen these things for the indescribable gifts they are.


A verse, from a passage we read this morning: "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"

Some of the Best Advice...

“Somebody has to get up early, stay up late, do more than the others, if the human garden is to be a thing of beauty.”

~Edith Schaeffer

This is some of the best counsel I've ever read. It applies to home life, church life, business, you name it. I'm not saying we should consistently overdo it, and never rest, but at the same time, nothing worthwhile has ever been achieved without working harder than the "average bear".

If all you want is an average marriage, then stay "into yourself" and be mindful of your rights and how tired you are and how much you do and what your spouse doesn't do. That is a sure-fire way to a completely average relationship, and it is your right to be average, if that is what you really want.

If all you want is an average life, then do an average amount of necessary work.

If you want something more, you have to get over yourself, roll up your sleeves, and be more. That does not necessarily always mean doing more - sometimes working harder is more about working smarter, which means actually working less! But let's be honest...being who you really want to be always leads to doing what you really need to do to be who you really want to be...and doesn't that often mean doing a lot?

Get happy about it!

Someone really does have to be willing to quietly and willingly do what needs to be done and then some, otherwise the marriage, the family, the church, or the business will descend into a disagreeable, cranky mess.

Sometimes doing what we really need to do, to be who we really want to be will involve expecting more out of those closest to us - but we must always first start with ourselves.

The Nursery

More pictures to come, I promise, but here is a preview of The Nursery. All is in readiness, we just need the grand baby to come! (No, Hannah is not in labor as of this moment, ten till midnight, December 3rd. That could change by morning, or that could change by next week. We don't flippin' know.)

The crib is Jenny Lind. The crib skirt is made of three different, coordinating fabrics...I need to get a closeup for you. The bedding is Laura Ashley - surprisingly, not a print...it is a beautiful matelasse! The valance I found on clearance at Marshall's for $2.99!

The rocking chair is an antique, purchased at a shop called Granny's Attic, near Oak Ridge. The small side table is also an antique, a gift from a dear friend named Anna Sprain, many years ago. The floor rug is from Target - and is incredibly soft.

There is another crib skirt, under the one that you can see. It is the skirt that came with the Laura Ashley bedding...but Hannah wanted the splash of color, and the hand made look of the one you see. (The one you see, there, was a stroke of luck. It somehow got separated from its "set" in a department store, and never sold. It was sent to Ross, of all places, where I snagged it for $3.99! It is absolutely adorable, very "vintage" and handmade-looking! But sorry...there are no more. It was truly the only one of its kind. I got the back story from the manager, who happened to be nearby.)

So Hannah put BOTH bed skirts on the crib, the clearance priced colorful one, and the matelasse Laura Ashley. She can change the look any time she wants, simply by tucking the colorful skirt up under the mattress, revealing the plain skirt.

Soon, Hannah is going to re-figure out a way to put a layer of creamy linen (we already have plenty of linen fabric, ivory colored, formerly a huge tablecloth we picked up at the thrift store for $5...$5 for about three square YARDS of pure linen! All we can figure, is it must have been meant to cover several tables, all end to end...if we cut straight down the middle, we will have about six yards long, by a yard or more wide, enough to make luscious, long ruffles.)

Why do that? Well, Hannah wants another layer of crib skirt that goes all the way to the floor, under both existing crib skirts. This will add more texture, and hide the necessary fact that under the crib will have to also be storage.

Hannah used to have burlap for her crib skirt, and it was adorable, went all the way to the floor in this cool puddle...but interfered with being able to smoothly raise and lower the side of the crib. We have not yet had time to tweak, but either the burlap-to-the-floor or the linen-to-the-floor will also go there.

The floor lamp has been in my house for over fifteen years. Hannah took a few yards of white and baby blue ruffling, and hot glued it around and around the lamp shade, and made it a beautiful one of a kind, expensive looking detail.

The chalkboard is a vinyl wall decal...perfectly safe, and won't fall off the wall onto baby. It is adorable right there. It was purchased at Marshall's.

More later...

Random Acts of Beauty...

When I see an image that makes my heart beat just a little faster, I save it to my inspiration file. (Most of the time I include the name of the blog where I saw it, unless that blog got it elsewhere, and the writer doesn't remember where...easy to happen, believe me, I know!)

My own pictures, about five different shots I took of the decor of both daughters' weddings, are all over the internet, copied and pasted onto other blogs, with no credit given to me. I really don't mind at this point...but I might mind later, with future photos. Hence, my husband got me Photoshop, and I've learned to put my name directly onto the photo itself. It isn't foolproof security, but it is a start.

So anyway, design inspiration is everywhere. I find the more I feed my hunger for good design, and for beauty, the more voracious my appetite becomes. I have quite a collection of gorgeousness, and so this evening, I'll share a tiny bit with you. Enjoy - these run the gamut from Christmas decorations to fashion.

These two images above are from the beautiful blog, "Sofie's Haus". The outfit is so near perfect, and I want the boots!

This living room "hits it out of the ballpark" in my opinion. Simple, simple...and lovely. I happen to really like the "unfinished" look of the antique couch.

This image is also from the blog "Sofie's Haus". It is an antique drawer that was made into Advent candles! (You light one on each of the four Sundays before Christmas Day...) The only change I'd make, is the color of the candles. I'm just not feeling the black. I have an antique sewing drawer, currently holding my living room remote controls - I just might redo it for the Christmas season, into my own Advent Candle Celebration!

Image from Pottery Barn - who this year, incidentally, have the best Christmas display and products of any "chain style" retailer, anywhere. I thought for a moment, on my latest visit, that I'd died and gone to my version of Holiday Heaven. EVERYTHING is "just my style".

Dear Santa,

I. Want. It. All.

"Sofie's Haus" does it again. This girl knows her fashion. I find her aesthetic irresistible! All genius begins, in its embryonic stage, with imitation. Make sure you imitate the very best. (Caveat: if you imitate too long, or too closely, you become a caricature. You become a cutesy carbon copy of someone else, and cutesy always kills. Make sure your imitation isn't too identical, and make sure it gives birth to your own originality! Alas, I am forever lapsing into "a teaching". I'll stop now. Amen.)

Anyhow, I'm imitating Sofie, next time I get dressed.

The German/Scandinavian blogs are stealing my heart lately. If you haven't discovered them, you are truly missing out. These women seem to be designers by genetic predisposition. Their taste is flawless. This image from the blog of Andrella Liebt Herzen. Again - imitation! I want to make ornaments like this one. So simple - yet brilliant. Isn't that how you would describe all the best designs?

Let It Snow...

We actually had snow flurries this morning!


It was a Perry Como Christmas sort of Wednesday...homey...tranquil...



"All is calm, All is bright..."


Adding to the dining room Christmas decorations, bit by bit - I love these mercury glass balls so much, I can't stand it...



I've got my knitting needles, a plethora of yarns in wool, mohair, cotton and silk, so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

A Blue Christmas - the COLOR Blue

I'm having a bit of a "blue" Christmas, but I'm not at all sad...

This is a little tree I put up in my dining room every Christmas. This year, I was inspired to decorate it differently than I have for at least six years! (I think it is about time for a change, no?) So I added touches of turquoise blue...

...with pops of red. I lovelovelove the red/blue combination. It is so close to the orange/blue combination I also love, and have been decorating with.

I used simple burlap for a tree skirt on this little tree - and leaned my big wooden initial "A" against the wall. This picture doesn't really do it justice - the look is so adorable!

Please excuse the extension cord...ahem. I promise, when I'm ready to share more pictures of my red and turquoise dining room, I'll do better.



My six-foot-three "baby" and I baked our traditional Ginger Snap Christmas Cookies today...just the two of us. We found out yesterday that he'll be looked at by a small college in a state south of us...won't say who yet...not a junior college, either! The assistant coach will be in touch with Tim, if they like what they see. We're praying that his "hooping skills" increase more and more! I snapped this picture today, thinking that this time next year, he could actually be away at _________ college. Who knows?



...the finished product. YUM!




...and he packaged up a dozen, as a gift to his girlfriend. What a sweetheart!

Friends, I pray your Advent Season is blessed and highly favored. My heart is very, very full these days, and I expect the overflow to spill onto these pages. Thank you for spending a little time with me...I love you!