Merry Christmas!

Oh, my heart is full. We're all gearing up for Christmas around here. The tree is up, the house constantly smells like some sort of baked good (I think we've been through about 25 pounds of flour in the last 6 weeks!), and all of the shopping is done. Now on to the wrapping and such. The kiddos are VERY excited about Christmas coming and are loving all of the music and the Christmas specials and the lights. I think our best gift came early this year. For those who aren't on Facebook (and I would question how you would ever survive!), Lainey prayed yesterday to receive Christ as her Savior. It brings tears of joy to my eyes every time I think of it. This is something that Lon and I have prayed for since before Lainey was born so what a sweet blessing it was to hear her pray that prayer and ask Jesus to forgive her for her sins and be Lord of her life. Later in the day, she said to me, "Mom, I will never forget this day. I will never forget the day I became a Christian." I daresay that I won't either.

Tonight instead of our evening Bible study at church, we had a time of singing Christmas carols. Afterwards, we rode around town for a bit and looked at the holiday lights. Abby was most excited and precious when she said, "Yights. Some. Cute. Oooo."

I'm praying that this Christmas we will all be able to focus on the One who came to be the light of the world. As I marvel in seeing one of my own children come to faith in Him, I am reminded of the true meaning of the season. God saw our need for forgiveness and sent a Savior. What a very precious and priceless gift He has given!

Oh My Goodness. . .

Does this thing still work? It's been so long, I wondered if I was going to remember my username and password! I'm not even sure I remember how to write about all that goes on in our house, but I shall try. Where to begin?

Often when I'm getting ready in the mornings, one or more of the girls ends up in the bathroom with me. It's a place where we get some good memories made, I think. I can remember watching my own mom get ready in the bathroom each morning so it's neat to share something similar with my own kids. This morning, Lainey got up earlier than the other two girls so she ended up in the bathroom with me by herself. I really enjoy moments I'm able to have time one on one with each of the girls because they're quite rare! As she and I were talking, I complimented her on what a good job she's done lately on being obedient. She said, "Yes, I want to have a new life." I asked her what she meant (I sortof knew already, but wanted to hear it from her.) and she said that she wants to go to heaven when she dies. I asked if she knew how to do that and she said that it was by belieiving in Jesus. We then started talking about the need to ask for forgiveness of sins and (trying to explain that we all sin) I asked what the worst thing was she could think of doing. She said, "Like killing someone." I said, "Well, you haven't done that, but you've still done things that are wrong." She said, "Yeah, because you won't let me have a gun." As though she would have killed someone by now if only I wasn't holding her back. I am Obi Wan to her Luke Skywalker. (Did you see that Star Wars reference, Lon? Be proud.)

For those who don't know, Sarah Grace has a birthday a month from today. The only way you could possibly be unaware of this fact is to have not been around Sarah Grace at all for the last two months or I suppose to be completely unrelated and not have all of the Graham children's birthdays written down in permanent marker on your calendar. She is obsesso about turning 4 and is constantly naming off what she might like for her birthday. Never mind that there might be presents for Christmas. To her, Christmas is something we just need to get through so that we can get to her birthday. She missed out on a birthday party for her 3rd birthday due to pink eye so I wonder if that might play into her obsession just a little!

Our home is gearing up for Christmas. When we lived in NC, we bought a big artificial Christmas tree because we had enough house for it. Alas, we moved before the next Christmas and never had enough room. Once again we've finally got enough living room to contain this giant artificial tree and we're very excited. Okay, I'm excited and I suspect the girls are as well. Lon would probably have preferred the 3 foot tree on the small table since he's the one who had to carry it down two flights of stairs so we could put it together. The tree is together and lights and decorations will come tomorrow. We don't give it long before someone attempts to knock the tree over and our money is on that someone either being Abby or the cat! As Lon and I sat on the couch this evening watching a movie with the girls (Joey goes to bed very early most evenings), my heart was full and I whispered to Lon, "Life is pretty good." I'm so grateful for these blessings that the Lord has entrusted to us and LOVE the memories we're making with them!