Advent

I mentioned to Cory this morning that if not for the icky colds that our girls have developed, today would have been a good day to make a rare appearance in church. He encouraged me to go by myself and enjoy the service without having to worry about keeping the kids under control, and so after a short hesitation when I contemplated staying in my pajamas all day, I headed up to the shower and got myself out the door just in time.

As I sat in church listening to the soothing prelude being played I contemplated my weekend, my year, my life. As O come, O come, Emmanuel sung out from the piano, faces scrolled through my mind. The dear friend that I know is hurting and hoping to feel the presence of God her life. My Mother in Law Sandi, who is fighting disease and uncertainty. The families that I see in the food pantry, hoping for a windfall to get them through. The beautiful little family that was making their first trip to church as a complete family after their baby girl came home from the hospital, a two time open heart surgery survivor. God is good.

I am not a fan of the Holiday season. It always seems like an excuse to spend too much money, eat too much food and book too many activities. Whenever I go to church it seems that I find myself leaving there having been personally spoken to. With our pastor out of town for the holiday weekend, I expected this to be an exception, but instead I enjoyed the beginning of the advent season with the hanging of the greens and the framing up of the Christmas season. As it turned out, I did leave the church having been spoken too. I pray that I continue to feel the love and presence of Christ throughout the season of Advent as I did today.

This weekend was topped off by the hanging of our own personal "greens" this afternoon. Our beautiful new house looks even more beautiful with the colorful lights of Christmas wrapped around our porch and the pretty new Christmas tree, that so fittingly reflects the season on our little girls faces while they play in our living room.

Merry Christmas. Peace be with you.

I try not to talk politics too much on here, or in real life for that matter. I hate being disappointed by humanity, and politics inevitable disappoint. I don't like either party very much, and I don't particularly care about the election results, with one exception. I am really disheartened by the vote in Iowa to not retain the 3 judges on the ballot, who along with the other 4 supreme court judges, ruled that gay marriage is not illegal. There are a lot of implications to this action that make me uncomfortable, but above all it makes me really sad that so many people want to take out their anger on these individuals, for doing their jobs and making rulings based on the constitution. And that aside, I am really sad that there are so many people who want to stand in the way of marriage equality. I can't think of a single reason why someone would care to keep someone else from having the rights they enjoy. I know that there are people that I really respect that hold this opinion, but this is an opinion that I can not respect. God is love, and the hate puts me in a bad mood. I feel like we are involved in an ongoing sporting event and both teams will do anything to win. bleck.

This afternoon I turned on my Van Morrison Pandora station on my phone and reminded myself that there is so much more to life than politics.

Leila ready for church

Another weekend almost gone

Leila has had a pretty good weekend I think. On Saturday she got to spend some time hanging out with Daddy and Uncle Steve while Andrea and I went to her dress fitting. Saturday night we had a neighborhood block party to attend. Lots of our neighbors were there and we finally got to see all of the spring babies together. Aside from Leila there were two other baby girls and two baby boys all born in April and May this year. It is really neat to see the other babies and think about how next summer they can all be playing together at the party. We were hoping to get a picture, but there was so much going on, it was dark outside and past baby bed time before we remembered, so we will have to try to get all the kiddos together another time instead.
You may have noticed that we haven't posted any pictures of Leila lately. The cable that goes from our camera to our computer broke, and until we find the time and money to get a card reader...The pictures are staying on the camera :( but I will just tell you that I got a great shot of Leila smiling today.
Cory and I decided that we had spent too many Sunday's skipping church, so we made the trip today, and Leila wasn't thrilled about it. She has this funny little habit...She really likes to talk and make noise, and when she is really tired, she starts talking up a storm. Cory and I think she is trying to keep herself awake. Well this morning she started fussing in church, so I took her downstairs and fed her. We were on our way back upstairs to the service and she started chatting away. It was so loud, I took her back downstairs and Cory heard us and came down to help me quiet her down. Who knows when we will be going to church again, it is so hard to try to keep her quiet when we love to hear her little voice so much. She is an absolute joy, even when she interrupts church.
Well, it is Sunday afternoon and Cory is mowing the yard, and Leila is taking a nap on a blanket on the floor. She looks so cute and peaceful. All I can think about is how tomorrow is Monday and back to work again...I think I am going to go watch my baby sleep and try to get as much of her in as I can before the work week begins again.