Being present instead of buying presents: my hopes for a Christmas full of love

I love Christmas! Here it comes in all its cold-weather, twinkly lights, beautiful music glory! Our Christmas tree is all set up and I'm writing this under the glow of Christmas lights with a background of "White Christmas". I love everything about Christmas, the food, the traditions, and especially, the presents!!!

In years past, I have prided myself on having the MOST presents to hand out on Christmas morning, turning gift-giving, like most things I do, into a fun competition. My family happily plays along, allowing me to gloat with an "I WIN!" when I hand out the last little gift after rounds of turns of family gift-giving that lasts long into the afternoon.

This year, however, I've already celebrated Christmas with my family. We got to gather on Thanksgiving evening to exchange a few presents and read the Christmas story to my 17 month-old nephew who obediently repeated Jesus each time we said it and learned not only to open presents, but also to give them out and to appropriately thank the giver with a hug and a kiss when it was his turn to open one. For me, watching my family love on each other and putting up the Christmas tree together was better than any kind of gift-giving competition.

That's why, this year, my goal is not to give the most presents. In fact, besides the mostly home-made gifts we are giving out to our nieces and nephews, I doubt we'll be giving any extravagant gifts. I sent stocking stuffers home to Mexico with my little brother, and we'll probably do something fun with my in-laws on Christmas day, but for me the true challenge this holiday season is to BE PRESENT instead of GIVING lots of PRESENTS.

I'm so excited to go home (to Iowa) for Christmas and our anniversary! Spending time with our Iowa family is always special, but I know it will be especially precious if it means that I get to play in the snow with the little ones, bake cookies with my mother-in-law, and drink fancy tea around Grandma's kitchen table! Being so far away last year was sad. Of course, we sent gifts, but presents will never make up for the presence of the people we love! I'm so thankful for my 2 wonderful families, and for a chance to do presence with both of them this year. We are so blessed!

Summer 2012 Ta-Da List!

Before the summer started I made myself an ambitious to-do list. As the summer draws to a close, I´ve been contemplating all I did on and in addition to it. Some things were planned, some plans were completed, and some of what we did was completely unexpected! To celebrate the end of this season, I´ve provided for you my Summer 2012 Ta-Da List

· Got a job at Hawaiian Falls, even if that didn’t work out

· Aaron successfully completed Scriptures 3, Greek 1 and Greek 2

· Texas Rangers vs. Seattle Mariners on Memorial Day

· Floated the river in New Braunfels

· Did the entire Trumpet Translation

· Helped out with Calvary Children’s Bible Club

· Gave kittens food poisoning

· Jack’s 1st Birthday Party

· Killed a lot of crickets

· Made a quilt

· Tried something new

· Had a blast at Agee Family Hawaiian Falls 2012

· Kimberly came to visit

· Tutored the Hardin children

· We celebrated 30 months of marriage

· Hosted a lot of Life Groups

· Pretended to be a kid again with a Blanket Fort Sleepover

· Went to the farmer’s market and made lots of yummy, healthy meals

· Helped various friends move

· Tutored James every week

· Took Karin to visit Dallas and my family

· Saw the Dark Knight Rises… twice!

· Prepared to teach and set up my new office

· Watched a lot of the Olympics

· Texas Rangers vs. LA Angels on July 31

· Wrote the second chapter of my thesis

· Visited our family in Iowa and went to the State Fair

· Started reading Don Quixote for the fall

· Went camping in El Dorado

· Welcomed people back for the school year to begin!

 It´s been a fun, fulfilling, and fruitious summer! I guess that means it´s time to write the to-do list for the fall... and I´ll check back in with you in a few months! ;)

Home is...

• Home is tea and crumpets with Grandma
• Home is sitting in the yard listening to crickets while the sun goes down
• Home is squeals of delight as nieces and nephews throw their arms around my neck
• Home is sweet corn all over my face and possibly in my hair
• Home is my favorite thrift store and a husband who suggests it... twice!
• Home is beautiful flat roads and nice Iowa drivers
• Home is five days without staring at my computer, and not really missing it
• Home is being loved on by family, friends, and church family until your heart overflows
• Home is double bacon corn dogs and everything on a stick
• Home is oogling over huge pigs and pretty horses and a butter cow
• Home is presents all around
• Home is cuddling on the couch as the summer breezes blow through the house 
• Home is Fox News on TV all day long and lots of sports
• Home is a late-night bonfire with friends
• Home is cool summer breezes and actually needing a sweater
• Home is corn fields and meadows and SO much green
• Home is the wonder of holding my baby niece for the first time
• Home is people we love and cherish so very much
• Home is IOWA!

And now we´re back in another of our "Home"s and preparing for the start of a busy school year. 

My Messy Life

 I love that in order to make something beautiful, you have to make a mess first. It's a beautiful metaphor for life and especially for my life right now. At this time of the year, the to-do list is long and stress runs high, which means that friendships can be messy, homes can be messy, and desks can be messier and messier. When I sit down to do a puzzle or make a scarf or mosaic or really anything creative, I spread all my stuff out and proceed to make the biggest mess I know how. Eventually, this disaster becomes something with shape and form and, finally, some sort of beauty. Similarly, when paper-writing begins, my desktop is a mess of articles and drafts, and as I work I try to make some sort of sense out of the chaos that will (hopefully) turn into a reasonably understandable piece of creativity and research. As I start my next big project, the writing of my "obra maestra", my thesis, I'm sure that it will be a messy process, but I'm excited about both the mess and the outcome, remembering that sometimes the beauty is in the process itself. Today I'm thanking Jesus for making beauty out of chaos through his redemption of all things messy!