Christmas Upside Down

Our church had a new pastor come several years ago (maybe 3-ish years now) - Pastor Morris - that has been such an amazing person who is so on fire for God, that the church has grown tremendously over the last few years and the church has become much more active. One of the things that he instituted a few years ago that has been such a change in thought is that Christmas is really not about the commercial side of things, scurrying around buying presents for each other (that's not to say that we shouldn't think of others during this time), but the real origination of Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth - the birth of the planet's Savior. So each year, the church has the opportunity on Christmas Sabbath to bring gift offerings to church to help bring the news that Christ died to save every person to more folks who do not know about that amazing gift today - hence "Christmas Upside Down." Today was the Christmas Sabbath, and it was awesome to be a part of celebrating the birth of Christ and giving to something that is bigger than ourselves - Zachary walked up to the manger (the "offering plate for this particular Sabbath") and put in his gift. One of the media team members took a picture of him at the manger, so we're hoping to see a copy of that picture - we'll post it if we ever do!
Last night we had a family get-together over at Aunt Louise's house (or Aunt Too-wheeze in Zachary language!) - we don't do that nearly enough so it was really fun. A. Louise's house is lovely, but does have a fair amount of "breakables" which you don't notice until you have a rambunctious 2-year old....and then you realize just how "on your toes" you need to be! But, all was well and Zachary fell "in love" with cousin Kelsey and followed her around, cajoling her into playing "peek-a-boo" under the afghan throw until the poor girl was too hot! :) She had the patience of the saints, to be sure!

We are all looking forward to a few days off from the hustle of work and spending time with family. Amy's mom and A. Louise will be joining us. We're hoping that Zachary enjoys opening his presents, and we're clear that Kaleb will think that the wrapping paper is cooler than anything else!

Zachary standing in front of the tree - our tree is not a "designer fashion tree" by any means, but we buy an ornament for each other annually, so it is fun to put up the tree and see each ornament as they are each so special

Merry Christmas to all - our love to each of you as you celebrate with your family.

Phrase of the Week: Can't resist repeating the "Aunt Too-wheeze!" - just too cute!

Kaleb's 8 month picture

Zachary's first attempt at a self-portrait