Top 10 Signs You're a Potty Training Mama

The light at the far end of the tunnel has finally arrived my friends!!

After 4 kids, 9 years, 9 months and 6 days of continuous diaper changes (with one short 2 week break in between Olivia and Jacob), my daily diaper changing days are over forever!!!

Let me pause for a minute and allow you to fully appreciate the magnitude of that statement....

I know - it's enough to give you chills or cry tears of joy, right?

I had resolved to start potty training the day after we got home from our trip to Alberta during the Christmas break, and start I did! The potty train successfully left the station last Wednesday morning and then proceeded to completely derail over the course of the following incredibly frustrating two days, followed by a glimmer of hope right before bedtime. After that the engine seemed to make it up the hill and I believe we are now on the downward trail .... ok, I think that metaphor has seen it's day. Anyway, we have now had 3 incredibly successful days in a row with no accidents of any kind and he has been telling me himself almost all of the time. I know it's too early to say we're completely in the clear, but I'm only expecting occasional lapses and would confidently take him out in public at this point (in fact, Nathan did tonight!). With the start we had last week (worst ever!), I was not expecting to be nearly at this point today - so woohoo!!

With no further ado, here is your Top 10!

Top 10 Signs You're a Potty Training Mama
10. You strategically place containers filled with a solution of diluted dish detergent around the house to clean up any messes that "may" come your way.
9. You make your toddler sit on a towel on your bed to watch tv so he doesn't soil your blanket.
8. You clean up the mess said toddler made on your bedroom carpet when he disregarded said instructions, and officially declare all carpeted areas off limits.
7. You can't remember what ran more - the bath tub, the washing machine or yourself, sprinting while carrying a dripping toddler away from your body as you rush to the bathroom despite the obvious fact that you're just too late despite having just sat in said bathroom for at least 20 mins only 5 mins previously.
6. The chant "push that pee out, push that pee out" is so ingrained in your head you start chanting it to yourself.
5. You make your older children do their home reading in the bathroom while said toddler sits on the throne (hey, it's called multi-tasking!)
4. The phrase "don't pee on Mater" makes sense to you.
3. Your definition of what qualifies as TMI to post on Facebook just got significantly lowered.
2. You turn your older children into a cheerleading squad in hopes of inspiring future victories.
1. When success is finally achieved you celebrate by hooting and hollering as if you just won the lottery and giving him treats and a car (relax, it was only a pint size one) and then proceed to let said toddler phone anyone who might be interested in hearing him say "My pee in toilet!" as a way of introducing himself. You then proceed to throw out any remaining diapers and diaper bags, do a victory dance and decide to go buy yourself a nice purse!

Homemade Easy Bake Oven Mixes and Recipes

With 2011's Goal#3 in mind (to be a more deliberate mother), I finally caved.

Olivia has been begging for an Easy Bake oven for years. Literally 2 years. And she's 5. So, yeah, almost half her life.

And until this Christmas I had steadfastly refused. Why? Because I didn't want to have to bake with her. I didn't want the mess, I didn't want to pay money for those silly little mixes, I didn't want to be bothered.

Yikes, that sounds even worse when I type it out.

I don't like to do crafts with the kids because I know I would go all perfectionist on them and freak out if their handmade bracelets didn't have an exact pattern, if they couldn't do it the way I would do it. Because a 33 yr old and a 5 yr should be able to make the same calibre bracelet. I know, I get the ludicrousy. (Is that even a word?!)

OK, selfishness acknowledged.

Technically, Olivia had begged for the Easy Bake cupcake maker - but all the reviews I read on it said it was a piece of junk, so I convinced her that the oven was what she wanted, and I finally gave one of her Grandmas the OK to get it for her for Christmas this year (God bless all Grandmas who wait for permission for these types of gifts!!). And, oh, let me tell you, was she ever in her glory - it was as if the heavens had opened up!

Now, my old self may would have been tempted to let that Easy Bake oven sit on the shelf hidden away, giving the "Later" or "Another day" answer a million times over (yes, this is Olivia - it would've been a million times!). Or I would've just made Emma do it with her. Yes, there are definite advantages of having older kids around! ;)

But my new self, my 2011 self with Goal#3 in mind, did not do that.

Oh, no!

In fact, the very next day after she got that gift, on a Sunday afternoon no less (sacred napping time around these parts), she asked to "do the Easy Bake oven" and I said "Yes!". And so we made cake with icing (both mixes included in the original box).

Psst - you know what?

I had fun.

What was that Tammy? We couldn't hear you.

OK, OK, I had fun!

And Olivia? Well she had an absolute blast!

Sidebar: Technically that was in 2010 but I already had my 2011 goals in mind at the time ;)

Then we left for Alberta to visit family. The very next day after we returned, guess who was asking to do the Easy Bake oven again? Yup, Olivia! And guess who said yes? Yes, 2011 Tammy! So, we made the cookies from the mix that came with the box. Olivia even let Sophia help! They each got to make 3 cookies in their pan, and we even melted chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in the oven warmers to put on top of the cookies.

Both times it took much less time and mess than I thought and resulted in happy children - why have I not done this earlier?

So, now that all the included mixes had run out, I went to my trusty old friend Google to find some homemade Easy Bake oven mixes because my cheap Mennonite thrifty side would not allow me to spend $ on those mixes. Plus, they can't exactly be healthy if all you have to do to get cake or cookies is add water to powder (see Goal#4 - I'm getting a 2 for 1 deal here!)

And Google did not disappoint (though I should've searched with the Swagbucks tool bar to earn Swagbucks, but I digress).

Turns out there are oodles of things you can bake in those Easy Bake ovens and oodles of recipes to choose from. This post has pretty close to 200 (!!) recipes split into categories and labeled as easy, intermediate or advanced. Everything from cakes, brownies, cookies and bars to biscuits and scones, to pizzas and bagels - your own creativity is the limit after viewing these recipes!

So, I picked the Baked Cinnamon Apple recipe because, after quickly clicking on a couple recipes, it used ingredients I had on hand! ;) Olivia loved them! Although I think she actually liked eating the extra/leftover ones before they had cooked (one large apple does not fit into 2 of those little pans!) better than the baked ones afterward. She really wanted to make the brownies, so I picked up some chocolate syrup so we can try those next time!

Here are the recipes (after all, that's what my post title promised you - took me long enough to get around to it, I know!)....

Baked Cinnamon Apples
1 large apple
1/4 teaspoon butter
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar

Wash a large apple, remove center core.
Slice across apples to make 1/2" thick rings.
Grease pan with butter.
Place apple slices in pan.
Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon then sugar.
Top with butter.
Bake in Easy-Bake Oven about 20 minutes.


Brownie Mix
2-1/2 tablespoons sugar
2-1/2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon oil
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons chocolate syrup

Blend all ingredients until the batter is smooth.
Pour batter into greased and floured toy cake pan.
Bake as directed in child oven (I think it's preheat for 15 and bake for 10)



I also found a recipe on Allrecipes.com for a larger cake mix, good for 10 batches, to save time - and create your own little mix package!

Easy Bake Oven Cake Mix
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp unsweetened lemonade drink mix
1/3 cup shortening

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and lemonade drink mix and stir to blend.
Cut in shortening with a fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles corn meal.
Spoon about 1/3 cup mixture into 10 small containers or sealable plastic bags.
Label and store in cool, dry place. Use within 12 weeks.

Preheat Easy Bake oven for 15 mins.
Grease and flour a 4 inch miniature cake pan.
Empty the contents of one bag cake mix into a small bowl.
Using a fork, mix with 4 teaspoons water until smooth.
Bake according to manufacturer's instructions (I think 10 mins)

In fact - according to this recipe, all you need is regular commercial cake mix (3 tbsp any flavour) mixed with 1 tbsp milk) and voila - let them eat cake! How easy is that?!

Easy, but not as healthy (processed and all that!). So, here's another homemade version...

Easy Bake Oven Chocolate Cake
4 tsp flour
2 tsp cocoa
1 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 dash salt
1/8 tsp vanilla
4 tsp water
2 tsp vegetable oil

It would be pretty easy to multiply that by 10, omitting the wet ingredients, in order to make your own mix to have on hand, ready to just add water and oil at baking time!

Recipezaar (now Food.com) has a whole ton of recipes as well - you can check them out here - including omelettes!

Easy Bake oven Omelet
1 egg
4 tsp shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp oregano (or spice of your choice)
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper
cooking spray

Preheat the Easy Bake Oven for 15 mins.
Spray 2 Easy Bake Oven pans with cooking spray.
Scramble the egg in a bowl.
Divide the egg between the 2 pans.
Sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper.
Sprinkle 2 tsp of the cheese on top of each egg.
Bake for 15 minutes.


One thing to keep in mind - since the Easy Bake Oven works by simply using a light bulb, you have to be careful when baking meats that you only use meats that need to be warmed, not cooked through!

OK, I was going to be done, but then I found this ....

Easy Bake Oven Deep Dish Pizza
2 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 dash salt
1 tsp margarine
2 1/4 tsp milk
1 tbsp pizza sauce
1 1/2 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat Easy Bake Oven 15 minutes.
Stir together flour, baking powder, salt and margarine until dough looks like medium-sized crumbs.
Slowly add milk while stirring.
Shape dough into a ball and place into a greased pan.
Use your fingers to pat the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan, then up the sides.
Pour the sauce evenly over the dough, then sprinkle with the cheese.
Bake 20 mins.

You could even add a slice of pepperoni or veggies or some other meats that only need to be warmed up not truly cooked through.

Honestly, I'm actually getting a little excited to try some of these! Apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks. ;) And, I only thought of it now, I totally should've taken a picture!

Goal#3 is officially underway.

2011 Goals

I don't think I've ever posted New Year's "resolutions" on my blog before. Nope - just checked, I haven't!

Well, there's a first time for everything so let's have at it!

1) Read my Bible in a year (for the 3rd straight year) and participate in my Bible in a Year Blog. Since it's my blog, there's not a single doubt in my mind that I'll accomplish this goal. In fact, this year we have several more participants which means I'm only posting once or twice a week instead of 4 or 5 times! Easy peasy :)

2) Develop a consistent and organized prayer time. Normally when I tell people I'll pray for them - I do it right then and there because I know there's about a 99% chance I'm not going to remember later. Ok, maybe not that bad, but seriously, it's bad. I want to to take the time to make the prayers more personalized for the individuals I'm praying for, and to simply take time to be with God.

3) Being a more deliberate wife, mother and friend. I want to spend more time discovering how to put my husband first among my earthly relationships and what that's supposed to look like in my daily living. I want to spend more time doing things WITH my girls instead of merely being together in the house every evening, each of us pursuing our own agendas. I want to conscientiously work at developing an attitude of service and hospitality, to serve my friends and church family members better. All the above categories of people deserve more from me than they've gotten in the past. I don't want people to hear that I care about them; I want them to FEEL it.

If that sounds like I just copied that paragraph from my cousin Tammi's post - it's cause I just totally did. Hey - she got it totally bang on the first time, why mess with perfection?!

4) Begin each day praying that God would guide me to do what He has planned for my day - pursuing His agenda instead of my own. OK, that one's gonna be real tough! (I probably should've just copied my cousin Tammi's paragraph about this one too!;)

5) Continue to exercise regularly and eat healthier. The exercise thing? No sweat. (ok, lots of sweat!) I've exercised regularly (3-5 times per week) for the past 13 years or so including all 4 pregnancies, except when nausea was at it's peak, so this barely counts as a goal, but it is something I'm committed to continuing. Eating healthier is tougher. But with Nathan having some high blood pressure concerns we need to cut back on the sodium intake around here which means a few changes such as limiting deli meats and making more from scratch. (Ragu, I will miss you!!). I've already started baking chicken breasts for lunch sandwiches, so things are looking up!

I think that's it for now, unless anyone can think of something else I need to work on :)


Happy New Year everyone!!

Grab the Button!

Figured out how to make a "Grab the Button" for the Bible in a Year and Beyond blog - so go ahead and grab it!

Grab the small button

<a href="http://bibleinayearandbeyond.blogspot.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQ6D54sam_1pdf2vu3j3nywgd_X7zY_LSr0VV2XEZi_Onb_DB6puTOlmk0D6ej1VcgXH2bE7yJW8cz0i-nTTM5UuWqveJda5mUKrPs0NXaVWC4PqPtvSpjOs8cOkQQxRm10acbDt-nA0/s150/Bible-blog-button2-2011.jpg"/></a>

Or grab the large one!

<a href="http://bibleinayearandbeyond.blogspot.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwW89jiLDnR4iobK6dxkIsr6TibuAtJHUSRJb5HZjNyXTQzZI383DWbEifyLE9s3vLwSfcuU234JIM0oPvBiuzHedd-9nejoHzVk7Vsm8PmfKC37xfC8MRgzsKIM8pAwfkYE38ySCXKCs/s400/Bible-blog-button2-2011.jpg"/></a>

I found the tutorials for how to do this fancy html work on this very helpful blog.

New Bible Blog Button

Happy New Year!!

Check out the fancy new blog button my cousin Tammi designed for The Bible in a Year and Beyond blog.


Doesn't it just remind you of Jane Austen? Thanks so much Tammi - I love it!

Once I figure out a code for you to copy/paste to your blogs, I'll let you know!

Pursuit of Discernment

The year before last I read through the entire Bible in a year for the first time in my life. Which was really rather pathetic considering I've been a Christian as long as I can remember.

Last year in December I posted about how I was feeling convicted to dig deeper in the Bible and to pursue discernment. Yes, I had read through the Bible, but many days it was simply to be able to say that I had done it. And I wanted to change that. So I started a new blog called The Bible in a Year...and Beyond! because the title captured my vision perfectly - reading through the Bible, yes, but going beyond simply reading it, to studying it, to questioning, to researching, to digging deeper, to pursuing discernment.

I was joined by several other ladies who had felt similarly convicted and together we experienced a year of tremendous growth and insight unlike any year previously. This also was a year where I needed discernment in order to walk through a dark valley alongside a very close friend. Coincidence? I think not!

Because this was such a rich and rewarding experience, and because our need for accountability and motivation has not waned (still human, after all!), we are starting up again and are inviting you to join us!

Last year we did the One Year Chronological Reading Plan. Some parts of the plan I really enjoyed: I loved reading the Psalms as they coincided with the lives of King David and the other Psalmists; it helped to understand some of the books of prophecy better as well to have things in their proper historical perspective. The part of the plan I did not like as much was that it was extremely chronological to the point of flipping between several different books numerous times on certain days.

This year we have decided to do a Chronological plan again. But this one has very little jumping around, and starts in both the Old Testament and the New Testament at the same time - which can be a big pro for those who have found the OT hard to get through. This past year was the first time I, and some other blog participants, have really appreciated the OT and found that we learned so incredibly much - I am very interested to see what new insights we glean this year as we do it again!

So, we decided on this Chronological OT/NT plan. Unfortunately, it still had the 2010 dates it in, so I created a PDF file with the corrected dates and uploaded it to the internet - you can access it here. It contains all the links to the Bible passages, and is printable if you download the file to your computer.

One thing I'd like to mention...
So often we (especially first-borns, perfectionists, etc) tend to have an all or nothing mentality. If I can't do it perfectly, if I can't succeed 100%, if I can't be the best, then I'm just not going to even try. Ladies (or any men that read this!), that's not from the Lord. If you didn't have a regular Bible reading/devotional habit before - then any commitment is better than nothing. You have to start somewhere, and who cares if you start small? So long as you start! Your efforts will be rewarded. You will draw closer to Him. You will reflect Him to those around you. And you will be able to be more discerning. There is no downside here!

So, if you choose to read along with us (or choose a different plan to follow on your own, or whatever you decide to do), and if you fall behind - do not quit! You have a few options: you can read a ton to catch up; you can circle the passages you missed and skip them for now and catch up throughout the year as you have time; you can circle the passages you missed and catch up on them after the year is over; or you can simply miss them; or you can pick a different reading plan that goes through the Bible more slowly. Any of those options are entirely acceptable, the only option that is not a good one is quitting entirely. Do not quit!!

So, why read through the Bible in a year?

Well, it doesn't have to be in a year. But the need to be in the Word daily as a Christian, is really not something that we should consider to be optional.

This website answers the question so much better than I ever could.

Why Is It So Important to Do Devotions Every Day?

What would the people in your church look like if they snacked on meager food morsels during the week and ate only one good meal on the weekend? You know the answer, don't you? You'd find yourself surrounded by emaciated, gaunt people in desperate need of nutrition.

And how would these undernourished believers fare against a demonic adversary? Can you imagine how this army would look? You'd see threadbare skeletons with hollow cheeks and sunken eye-sockets, lined up like phantoms. Weakened by famine, that shriveled militia could barely stand at attention; each would struggle to find the strength to keep his or her bony frame upright.

Could this "army" conquer an opposing force?

No way. No earthly general would send them out to fight.

Well, then, how about the army of the Lord? What of those who gather on Sunday mornings? Are they spiritually nourished to fight the battles ahead? Considering what most members of God's army subsist on—an occasional tidy snack from a devotional book and perhaps an average-sized meal on Sundays to satiate conscience—you'd have to conclude that God's fighting force has some serious training to do.

Have you ever wondered why marriages seemingly crumble overnight, and—out of the blue—Christians leaders fall to luring temptations?

The truth is, no marriage instantly disintegrates, and no one suddenly falls away from Christ. For that matter, no one dies from an eating disorder after missing a day or two of meals.

It could better be described as a slow decline—gradual spiritual starvation, barely even discernible to the outside observer. The malnourishment of God's sons and daughters happens over time, as they eat less and less. Then, in their weakness, they do something that shocks everyone, finally revealing what was really going on in their spiritual lives.

Did you know that more than 80 percent of those who call themselves Christians read their Bibles only once a week? And that's usually on Sundays, at church. They come to church to get their spiritual fill, and then snack on devotional tidbits for the rest of the week (if even that).

I wish for just one day God would change the way our eyes work, so we would see ourselves spiritually. We'd see most American churches filled with skeletal, hollow-eyed saints, looking as if a gust of wind would blow them away like tumbleweeds.

Which is why, when some new trend floods America and pushes our nation further away from God, further away from our spiritual roots, the church is unable to withstand the tide. We simply don't have the strength.

So what's the solution? ....

If we eat only once a week, it's no wonder the church is weak and struggling. But daily fresh bread can change all of that. Regularly dining on fresh bread makes for a stalwart, strong, developed army—the only kind of force that will always make a difference in this world.

So, will you join us? We already have several new people joining in, and all but one member is returning again this year. You can participate as much or as little as you are able to commit to. You can read along with us, read the daily posts and comment as you have time. Or you can commit to writing some of the posts as well. It's up to you!

It doesn't have to be my blog.

But choose something.

Choose a plan to get into the Word. Daily. And see what God will do!

Christmas Birth Story

What was the birth of Jesus like? Probably a lot like the birth of every other baby on the planet - messy, violent and with lots of blood everywhere. Definitely not the sanitized vision we have in our heads as we sing Silent Night.

Missy, from It's Almost Naptime, wrote a beautiful post describing the birth of our Saviour. Here is an excerpt from her post....

We have this image in our mind of what that first Christmas was like. Yours is perhaps similar to mine: under a great big twinkling star sits a stable. Silent Night tinkles in the background as snow softly falls. Inside are two or three calm, fragrant, and softly lowing animals. Mary, dressed in blue, reclines peacefully, smiling as though she had just received the most divine epidural. She grimaces slightly, and then, voila, a beautiful clean baby appears with a halo floating above his soft curls. Mary wraps Jesus in swaddling clothes, taking care not to muss the halo, and lies him in a manger.

This is the image that we receive from the snowglobes we're given in Sunday School. But we're grown up now, aren't we?

As a result of the sinful, violent world that we live in, because of the curse upon us since the beginning of time, there is pain - violence - in childbirth. Even the easiest childbirth is never easy, never without suffering. Mary fell under that curse as surely as I do. So I believe it is safe to assume that on the night that Jesus was born into this cursed world, she suffered.

The bible doesn't give many details about Jesus's actual delivery. I think the lack of details lends credence to the theory that Mary's labor and birth was ordinary for its time. Unremarkable in its similarity to every other woman's birth, then and even now. Drawing on my own four births, the births of my friends, and some ancient history, I can imagine our Savior's first birthday.

There was a young, frightened girl in a dirty, stinky cave in an overcrowded, noisy town, trying not to think of her friends and relatives who had died in childbirth. She was probably surrounded by women who had also made the trek to Bethlehem, some of whom she knew, some she might not have. Some who loved her, some who judged her and the suspicious circumstances of her pregnancy. Most who traded their own birth stories as her labor progressed and offered their advice. All of whom were witnessing her at her most vulnerable. But as her contractions came closer and closer together, the only thing Mary knew was that she had never experienced pain like this in all her life.

There was no whirlpool bath. There was no birthing ball. There was probably not even a birthing stool. There was probably a woman, perhaps even her mother, seated behind her to hold her still, rub her back, press on the top of her abdomen, and say repeatedly in her ear, "Miriam, you're doing great, good job, good girl, you're doing great."

There was no background music of a children's choir singing Away in a Manger. Instead there were probably grunts, and tears, and desperate prayers, and terrified cries of "Get him out! Please get him out!" and "I can't do this!" while the women soothed, firmly, "Yes you can, sweetheart, you can. Push!"

And then there were a few minutes when Mary thought her body was on fire, and she closed her eyes, and she panted, and she moaned, perhaps she screamed, and then he was out. And the women said, "He's here! He's beautiful! Look at him, Miriam, look at your son!" And he cried. And Mary opened her eyes, and she cried, and tried to move her exhausted body to see her baby. He was red, he was wrinkly, he was screaming, he was covered in vernix, but he was alive, and, at least to his mother, he was beautiful.

And there was blood everywhere.

He came into this world in violence.

He lived a violent life. As an infant, he screamed from gas pains. As a toddler he was covered in bruises from learning to walk. He skinned his knees. He caught viruses. He experienced the pain of losing his earthly father. His brothers scoffed at him. He wept when his friend died too young. His best friend rejected him when he needed him most. He suffered, both physically and emotionally. He empathized with others on a level we will never know. He knew the pain of being a human. He knew what it was like to be us, to be well acquainted with sorrow and sin and curses.

And he died a most violent death. He was arrested, accused of a crime he did not commit. He was flogged with a whip until his body was unrecognizable from the cuts and the bruises and the swelling. His beard was probably ripped out. He was stripped naked, and then his body was tied to a cross. A crown of thorns was pressed into his already mutilated head. Nails were pounded into the flesh of his wrists and his ankles and he was raised up. And as he slowly suffocated to death, he watched the anguish and horror on the face of the woman who had bore him, all those years ago, in that stable in Bethlehem.

And there was blood everywhere.

And because his Father deemed his tortured, bleeding body to be a worthy sacrifice, you and I have access to the throne of Heaven. For by that very blood, we have been washed clean of the curse of death. By that blood we are made righteous, by that blood we are justified, by that blood we are redeemed. By that blood, the blood that was everywhere, we are each reborn a child not of the curse, but a child of the living, loving God!

O, holy night!

Here is a beautiful song portraying the same idea.....

Labor of Love by Andrew Peterson
It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

Christmas isn't...

At Christmastime we celebrate by decorating the tree, putting up lights and giving gifts to those we love. But Christmas isn't just about being with our loved ones, enjoying the snow or singing Christmas carols.

As a Christian, I celebrate Christmas because it's the day we've set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus. But Christmas isn't just about the manger, the angels, the shepherds, the wise men or the star either.

Christmas is about the reason Jesus was born. It's about the reason He left the glory of heaven and exchanged it for 33 years on a planet full of people who had and still do reject Him. It's the reason He endured an agonizing death on the cross to pay the price that was mine to pay. What was the reason? You. Me. Love for you and me. He was the Rescuer sent by God to pay the penalty for my sin. He took on the full wrath of God in my place. In your place. Because He loves you that much! Someone needed to make a way back to God, and He was the only One who could do it. I can't do it, you can't do it. Only He can.

And so He came - born to die. But the story, thankfully, did not end there. Death did not defeat Him. God raised Him from the dead. And in the end, death will not defeat us either.

So celebrate Christmas - with one eye on the manger and the other on the cross and the empty grave! And remember the reason was love.

Note: If you're reading this and you're not a Christian, and you're wondering if you need this Rescuer, please click here to take a very simple test that will let you know (bet you didn't know such a quiz existed!). Of course, you may also feel free to ask me if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them for you.

About The Cross by Go Fish

Verse 1:

It’s not just about the manger
Where the baby lay
It’s not all about the angels
Who sang for him that day

It’s not just about the shepherds
Or the bright and shining star
It’s not all about the wisemen
Who travelled from afar

Chorus:
It’s about the cross
It’s about my sin
It’s about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again

It’s about the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday

It’s about the cross
It’s about the cross

Verse 2:

It’s not just about the presents
Underneath the tree
It’s not all about the feeling
That the season brings to me

It’s not just about coming home
To be with those you love
It’s not all about the beauty
In the snow I’m dreaming of

Chorus:
It’s about the cross
It’s about my sin
It’s about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again

It’s about the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday

It’s about the cross
It’s about the cross

Bridge:

The beginning of the story is wonderful and great
But it’s the ending that can save you and that’s why we celebrate

It’s about the cross
It’s about my sin
It’s about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again

It’s about God’s love
Nailed to a tree
It’s about every drop of blood that flowed from Him
when it should have been me

It’s about the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday
So that you and I could have real life someday

It’s about the cross
It’s about the cross

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Our Jesse Tree

So, true to my previous post just a couple of days ago, I have our Jesse Tree supplies set up and ready to go! I printed out Ann Voskamp's free devotional booklet (complete with ornament pictures!) at her blog, A Holy Experience. I printed the ornaments on white card stock, then I measured them all and created a Word document with backgrounds sized to match each ornament (I can email it to you if you like), printed that on green card stock and mounted the pictures onto the green backgrounds with double sided tape with red ribbon in between.

And I even let Sophia & Olivia help me! Anyone who knows me knows that I generally have little no patience for crafts as I feel the perfectionist need to fix everything they do and freak out a little lot when things don't go as planned. And let's be honest here, do they ever go as planned with kidlets? I think not. Despite a few moments with one certain daughter which shall remain nameless the younger one, I managed to stop myself from freaking out and we had a very enjoyable time completing the project to my perfectionist standards! ;) Sophia cut the ribbon to the right length and Olivia wrecked helped me with the tape. They turned out great!
Emma was not impressed when she got home from school and found out we had done it without her, so I let her put on extra ornaments. ;)

I'm finding the devotionals a little bit of a stretch for our kids, so I got out our Jesus Storybook Bible and The Big Picture Story Bible to supplement the material.

Side note: if you do not yet have the Jesus Storybook Bible, go get it right now.
I will wait for you.
Got it? OK, good.
But seriously, you really need to get it. It's the best children's Bible I've read, and we have more than several! You can read my review on it here. My only complaint is that I wish it had more stories. The girls are particularly disappointed that the Queen Esther story is not included.

Both the Jesus Storybook Bible and the Big Picture Storybook Bible (the former even more than the latter) excel at showing you how the OT events point to the coming of our Messiah. Which is exactly what the Jesse Tree is all about!

So, I went through both Bibles and wrote in the page #'s that coincided with the Jesse Tree devotionals. There were very few days that did not have at least one supplementary children's Bible passage to go with it. So, depending on how much time we have, we will read the same passage up to 3 times! Talk about getting it to sink in - repetition is key, right? ;)

Like I said in my previous post, we are starting late, so we will usually be doing two per day until we catch up. I'm so glad we started late. It's not too late for you to start too! In fact, if you start on the 12th, you could do 2 per day (one in the morning, one at night) and still get them all in for Christmas time!

This is definitely going to be a yearly tradition at our house from now on!