Christmas 2012

 

 Gifts for Jesus

  

“Born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.”

Gifts for John Caden

  

Gifts for Anna

 

 

Gifts for Hudson

(His favorite was some rubbin' and lovin' from Poppa) :)

 

 And a Very Special Gift for Our Whole Family...

 

A Trip to Disney! 

 

Sights and Sounds of the Season

 

Children's Choir at Church

 

Piano Recital

 

Surprise Snowfall at Passion City Church's Christmas Eve Service

Gifts for the King from a Shepherd's Pouch

At the start of the Christmas season, we read Matthew 25:40: "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" We discussed that when we love and serve others we are actually loving and serving Jesus. 

 As a reminder of God's desire for us to have servant's hearts, shepherd pouches were hung and each time humility and acts of kindness were demonstrated, a quarter was dropped into the bag.    

And just like the shepherds journeyed to Bethlehem to worship Jesus and possibly even presented the Christ child with a gift sacrificed from their shepherd's pouches, so we too this week emptied our pouches, tallied the quarters, and selected gifts to give to the King for His birthday. 

 

 

 

 

And here our presents wait, under the tree, ready to give to the King...our Shepherd who gave everything for us.

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." John 10:11

Scripture Box

In 2009 I implemented a Scripture Memory System with our family based on a rotational method developed by Simply Charlotte Mason.



 Three years later, I'm happy to report that our binders are duct taped and are overflowing.  A very good problem indeed, but a problem nonetheless!  Thankfully for me, my computer programming husband came to my rescue. 

 

 

 He developed a Scripture Memory App!  As we realized what a great tool his app was in assisting our family to store God's word in our hearts, we began to desire for other families to be able to utilize it as well. 

We are grateful that our desire has now become a reality:

Scripture Box (a Windows 8 app) is now available with a free 30 day trial in the Windows Store.  Scripture Box works on desktops, laptops, and the Windows Surface tablet. If you currently have an older Windows operating system, you'll just need to upgrade to the current Windows 8 version.

John Caden's Musings

John Caden: "Mommy, are Granna and Poppa ever going to have kids?  It would be a lot more fun for me and Anna to play at their house if they did."  (Granna and Poppa are my parents). :)

Snowflake Gymnastics Festival 2012

  

 

Bars 9.4 (2nd)

Beam 9.525 (3rd)

Floor 9.250

Vault 8.525

Overall: 36.7 (5th for PreTeam age division)

Love Note

As I was rushing John Caden to put away his chalk so that we could move on to our next subject, I reluctantly gave into his begging to let him write one last thing--sure am glad I did!  I won't be erasing this sweet note anytime soon!  In fact, I think I'll do a little Google research to see if I can convert this chalkboard into a permanent keepsake.

Family Pics