... and it was 84 degrees outside today. That is one of the few reasons why I love Dallas. Still, it is Christmas, so it ought to feel like it. Guess I better head north for that.

********

Last Saturday, I joined 800 runners in a 15K/5K race out at White Rock. The Jog’r Egg Nog’r was a fantastic little run, full of crazy Christmas costumes and lots of holiday cheer. My latest running motto? "If you can’t excel with talent, triumph with effort." –Dave Weinbaum

********

The girls and I went for a little outing on Sunday night to the Deerfield neighborhood up in Plano, where they boast streets and streets of houses all decked out in lights and decor. When the neighborhood was first built, the homeowners were offered a $5,000 prize for the house that was best decorated, and thus begun an annual tradition for the Deerfield residents. The neatest house we saw is one that is nationally known for having over 100,000 lights on it, set to music. It was pretty much amazing. Who knew that lights could 'keep a beat' to the Black Eyed Peas?!




********

Finally, 5 days before Christmas, our (Amber's) mini tree went up... on the dining room table!



********

And for your viewing pleasure, this is a pretty great video of the Digital Story of the Nativity.

********

"... and they will call him Immanuel” (which means 'God with us').

Probably more during the holiday season than at any other time of the year, I find myself thinking about the children still out fishing on Lake Volta. I don’t think it’s because I see people (myself included) buying gifts and spending money and basking in materialism while I know so many kids are still out there, although that’s true too. I think it’s because this time of year, for Jesus followers, is geared so much towards celebrating the birth of Jesus, the coming of a Messiah to redeem His people.

There’s this idea of the advent season, an expectation and anticipation. I’ll admit, I’ve never really known much about advent and haven’t spent a lot of time dwelling on the build-up to the birth of Jesus. But this morning, I listened to a lesson on the history of the Israelites who experienced years and years of tyranny and injustice, yearning for deliverance from their God. And the point was made that God promised that deliverance to His people, yet it was a good 400 years between that promise and the birth of Jesus. Our season of advent is so short in comparison, yet we still celebrate and yearn for a King to bring truth and peace and justice to His creation.

I'm learning to appreciate more and more the gathering excitement of the weeks building up to Christmas day, the joyful spirit with which we prepare and plan, the time that looks forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior. In doing so, I cannot help but think of those who will not be celebrating their deliverance, especially their physical deliverance from enslavement. My heart yearns for the children in Ghana, and those all over the world, to know the God who brings justice, peace and hope to His people.

He has delivered us all, and so I am burdened (in a good way) with doing everything I can to make sure Abraham, and Tomas, and the 7,000 others on Lake Volta know that deliverance too.



Last year, Mercy Project shared a video that we referred to as the "Christmas Conspiracy". This year, that video was revamped to reflect Mercy Project's growth and vision over the last year. I'd like to share it with you as a reminder of what Christmas is really all about, in hopes that you would continue reminding me that this is a time to celebrate a birth, a deliverance, and the coming of our Lord.

Mercy Project's Advent Conspiracy 2010

Like a lot of workplaces do around the holidays, the site I'm currently at asked its employees to participate in bringing gifts for an Angel Tree. I sit close to the front office where the gifts were collected, and it's been interesting to hear the comments people have made about the kids, the gifts, and the idea of charitable giving. There are those who are thrilled at the idea of shopping for a child in need and those who pick out several kids to bless. There are others who contribute because their co-worker guilted them into it, and I've even heard the complaint of "These Angel kids are just taking money away from my own kids. This money was supposed to go towards the XBox my son has been asking for."

Yikes.

I'm not gonna tear that one apart, but I've been thinking a lot about this season of giving. I like picking out gifts to give to people just as much as the next person, but I've been wondering lately why we only give gifts at Christmastime. I don't mean that we should be constantly buying things for people year-round; might get a little crazy. But I do want to be the kind of person that is not just a seasonal giver. I want to find ways to give small gifts, to give my time, to give a listening ear, to give my heart to people throughout the year and not just when it's the traditional time of year for presents.

And when I do give, I want to give like the guy at work who brought in a boy's bike for his Angel gift. Apparently, when he got to the store to pick out the items on the boy's list, he saw the same kind of bike that he had always wanted as a little boy but never gotten. He called the office assistant right then to ask if it was ok to spend more than the limit (The Angel lists had a price limit on them in order to help balance the gifts from child to child.), so that he could get the bike for his Angel boy. I love the giving heart behind his actions, the meaningful blessing to a complete stranger. That's the kind of giver I desire to be.

After digging through old Christmas photos last week, I’ve been counting down til I could share this one today. I’m not sure if this story coincides with the exact year this picture was taken, but it certainly took place in the same house/location (which is saying a lot considering the number of different houses we lived in growing up!).

Anyway, our living room in this house was nice and open, but there wasn’t a natural spot to put up our Christmas tree. So it ended up behind the front door right at the conjunction of our bedrooms. Like every year, Dad got the tree set up in its stand, we hung our ornaments while eating thumbprint cookies, and topped off the night by adding the angel on the very top. Done deal.

Then in the middle of the night, there was this crash. And I don’t mean the kind of crash like someone got up to get a midnight snack and dropped a plate in the kitchen. I’m talking about a LOUD, glass-breaking, wake-the-whole-house-up, something’s-bad-wrong kind of crash. All I remember after that was Dad leaping out of his and Mom’s room, hollering at DM and I to stay in our rooms (thinking someone had broken in). Low and behold, the Christmas tree had just fallen over, scattering ornaments and lights all over the living room. There was no need to shoot anyone that night.

The next day, the tree got put back up and rigged with fishing line for the remainder of the holiday season. So here DonMark and I are, sitting in front of the tree on Christmas morning. Like I said before, perhaps the same year this happened, perhaps not, but do take note of the angel about to fall off the top of the tree! Happy Friday!

Fridays alway seem to come at just the right time. Right when you're totally exhausted and don't think you can make it another week day, Friday morning arrives. Love that.

I must admit, I haven't really gotten in the holiday spirit yet. I'm not anti-Christmas (except for maybe the music) or anything like that, it's just that it hasn't felt like Christmastime with 60 degree weather (which I love, love, LOVE!) and lots of other activity taking precedence right now. However, I watched A Very Glee Christmas this week and am now full-speed-ahead ready to decorate, bake, wrap, and all the rest. I'll admit Glee can be a little... odd; but this episode was brilliant and fabulous and enjoyable enough to watch a second time. That's right.

So, bring on the tinsel. And the lights. And the gingerbread cookies.

Speaking of gingerbread cookies... One of my favorite childhood Christmas memories is making gingerbread cookies with M each year. Josh, Jeremy, DonMark, and I would all go together to bake. M would usually have the dough already made and we'd spread out on the table with flour and cookie cutters and go to town. There was lots of eating and maybe a few flour fights, but the day always ended with delivering a plateful of cookies to various friends from church. Here we are in '94 gathered around the table.


Thank you, M, for such a fun tradition!

**************

Much going on here, but check back over the weekend for another post or two. I have a few in the works if I can just find time to sit and type!

... we're back. I feel like life has been one giant commercial break lately. The really ridiculous commercial breaks in which each advertisement gets louder and louder in volume, competing for the viewer's attention in as many ways as possible. Whew! And so I find myself nearly a week into December, and I'm not sure where my concentration should be directed.

But I'm back from a solid 3 weeks of sickness/sinus infection-ness/no energy/coughing/junk. Who knew it could feel so great to wake up without a runny nose?

I'm back to full-time hours of work and really enjoying my current assignment. It's another catalog project – tedious, but pretty cool too. Which means back to balancing holiday time, training, errands, and life stuff.

I'm back with a Flashback picture for the week. Here's a shot of Dad and I with Joe and Daisy out at one of his friend's ranch. I was 15ish. Quite a fun day, if I do recall correctly.


I'm back from a wonderful little trip to College Station where I got to join in the festivities of my sweet little friend's 1st birthday party. It was a weekend full of laughter, good conversation, and time to just let my guard down for a bit.

And most recently, I'm back from a great morning of running at White Rock. Amber ran the White Rock Marathon Relay this morning, so I combined my long run with seeing her finish her leg of the race after tackling some tough hills – she's a pro. Being around and in the middle of the race participants got me pumped up for Houston, which is a scary 8 weeks away now.

I'm sure there's more to share, but for now, it's off to the next project. And maybe a brownie... or two... that's just come out of the oven. Yummmmmm...