treasures in the darkness

"I will give you treasures of darkness." Isaiah 45:3

In the famous lace shops of Brussels, there are certain rooms devoted to the spinning of the finest and most delicate patterns. These rooms are altogether darkened, except for a light from one small window, which falls directly upon the pattern. There is only one spinner in the room, and he sits where the narrow stream of light falls on the threads of his weaving. "This," visitors are told by the guide, "is the way we secure our choicest products. Lace is always more delicately and beautifully woven when the worker himself is in the dark and only his pattern is in the light."

Could it be the same with us in our life? Sometimes it is very dark. We can not understand what we are doing. We do not see the web we are weaving. We are not able to discover any beauty, any possible good in our experience. Yet if we are faithful and do not faint, we will someday know that the most exquisite work of all our life was done in those days when it was so dark.

If you are in the deep shadows today because of some strange, mysterious providence, do not be afraid. Simply go on in faith. God is watching and he will bring good and beauty out of all your pain and tears."

-adapted from J.R. Miller

Morgan's 1st Christmas

Look what was in my Christmas Stocking this year!!


Morgan Belle at 5 weeks


Carson, Tessa, Christy, me


Carl and me by the Christmas Tree


brand new family--first Christmas together

Merry Christmas!

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. ~Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

not-quite-Christmas

This morning I woke up to wonderful snow-- pure, white, crisp snow: enough of it that it forces us to slow...down...and take a deep breath in the midst of our otherwise busy life. So beautiful.

As I am working around my house I have been reflecting and praying for the hurting people in my life, realizing that every corner of our world has its own share of pain as well. A 45-yr-old woman out shopping with her daughters, has an anurysym and is brain-dead. How does a family pull the plug to end the breath of their mother and wife? Another young mom recently diagnosed with brain cancer. My friend who must get through the first Christmas without her husband who died in late summer. She has two sweet little babies who look to her to meet all their needs. The family whose dad is unemployed, struggling to pay the rent and worrying whether they will have enough money to help their special-needs daughter. How will they do Christmas? Chronic pain continues, terminal illness steals our loved ones from us...the list goes on and on.

Why do you suppose pain hurts more during the Christmas season? Could it be that Christmas as we wish it could be, taps into many of the aspects of what heaven is like? Maybe at this season each year, our longing for the perfection of heaven surfaces and we have to face the reality that this temporary stay on earth simply can't measure up to what we were originally created for. In our sentimental minds and hearts, our "picture-perfect" Christmas includes beauty, warmth, meaningful and safe relationships,tender romance,giving and receiving gifts that were hand-picked 'specially for us,full stomachs, no pain,no hurt, no tears...

I don't mean to sound morbid--we are blessed indeed! In more ways than I can count, God has been and will be faithful throughout all of life's ebb and flow. He will never leave us, never! It is the hardest thing to get ahold of, but the most beautiful when we really get it, that what God promises to us in times of suffering is not first relief of the suffering. His promise is to give us HIMSELF. (P. Tripp)

And isn't that the true meaning of Christmas? God coming to earth in the form of a human being--someone we could relate to--entering our lives and walking through our journey with us. Although He healed and radically changed many lives during His time on earth, Jesus didn't magically make all pain disappear. Life as we know it was not eradicated.

Now He walks alongside of us, laughing with us in the joys of life, weeping when we cry, holding us when our world falls apart, loving us with a deep and unending love. And when our Christmas doesn't quite measure up to what our hearts long for, we have this incredible Hope as Christians that we will someday be forever living in a place where it's Christmas all eternity long!

Billy Brown

When my sister Janelle was very young, she had a favorite book called "Billy Brown the Babysitter" and would beg us to read it to her over and over. I have never forgotten some of the words, even this many years later. Just a few weeks ago I found a copy of that book on Ebay, well-read and loved just like the one I remember. I gave it to Janelle for her birthday. Below are some pages from the book along with a picture of my little sister and me back in 1980: I understand if you decide to skip over the pages, but to me, the book feels like home...













The story continues with Billy Brown's outrageous adventures with his little brother while his mother is away. Hilarious! And wonderful sketches by the artist--I love the expressions on Billy Brown's face on each simple sketch.

generations

One of the wonderful things about being a part of a large family (I have 7 siblings!) is the inter-connectedness of the generations. I was seventeen when my youngest sister Janelle was born. She was only six years old when I had my first child: my sister and my daughter were playmates for years! Now the circle of life continues and Mandi is a new mommy right along with Janelle and my other sisters...

Today we spend some time together in an old-fashioned "Sisters Day", celebrating my 48th birthday! (Thanks for the tasty brunch, Janet!)We took a picture of the 4 generations: my mom, me, Mandi and Morgan.