We are moving tomorrow! Can you believe it? :) Moving the day after Christmas!
It really is a Merry Christmas gift from the Lord for Him to have us moving to the city we have been going to church in for four months! I love knowing His calling on our lives. I really feel like this is going to be our "promised land". VERY exciting!
I pray that God would bless you this Christmas above what you can ever ask or think!!!

My Favorite Children's Christmas Book

"J is for Jesus - The Sweetest Story Ever Told"
Written by: Crystal Bowman - Illustrations by: Claudine Gevry

It's such a favorite, one of my kiddos tore a chunk out of the cover! I guess we beat up those we love? :)

"One snowy day in the middle of town, families gathered from miles around. For something was new at the candy store, something that no one had seen before."

"The candy maker was eager to share his holiday treat with everyone there. He held up a red and white peppermint stick. The children all wanted to give it a lick!"

""I made this candy," he explained that day. "I shaped it to look like the letter J. J is for Jesus, God's Son sent to earth. And Christmas is when we remember his birth.""

""But when I turn the candy around to make the letter go upside down- It looks like a staff that the shepherds used. They were the first to hear the Good News.""

""As the shepherds were watching their sheep that night, the sky was filled with heavenly light. Angels appeared and started to sing, Glory to God for our newborn king!""

""And there in the town where Jesus was born, the shepherds found him, all cozy and warm. Their hearts were filled with wonder and joy as they knelt beside the baby boy.""

""I added the stripes to remember the day that Jesus washed all our sins away. He died on the cross, his blood was shed. That's why the stripes are bold and red.""

""The white on the candy is there to show that when we're forgiven, we're white as the snow. Jesus was born to save us from sin, to make us holy and clean within.""

""I wanted to share this story with you, so Jesus can be your Savior too. Please tell this story to everyone, and give thanks to God for the gift of His Son!"

If you are looking for a good last minute gift, I greatly recommend this book! The author definitely has a gifting with words and the illustrator was simply amazing with her works of art!!!
I love you all and pray that this Christmas you would join with me and wholeheartedly give thanks to God for the gift of His Son!
Merry CHRISTmas!

No Longer Four

My oldest daughter turned five last week! Hard to believe but also not at the same time. Our oldest very much lives up to the role of being "old". We used to joke that she wasn't four, she was fourteen :).
She is naturally very bossy, always trying to "help" and lead in every situation. My husband and I have always felt she is so mature for her age, so smart, frankly sometimes it scares us.
Five months back we had the opportunity for JJ to go to Vacation Bible School with her cousins who live an hour away. This meant she would be staying at my sister's house overnight ALL week! We prayed about it and realized she would love this more than anything. She was only four and we sent her off for an entire week! It was like we were already sending her off to camp!
She still has her Bible verses and some songs memorized and she still plays with the paper bag book that she made there, she DID love it!

It was hard for my husband and I not to have her with us all week, but we really feel like she is already so independent that it would only be a mistake on our part to hold her too tight. This is part of who God made her and He is only getting us ready to guide her properly for the rest of her life.
We are so blessed by our big five year old and are looking forward to the lessons we still have to learn together in the future. *Sigh* wasn't it just yesterday I held her for the first time?! ;)

I'm still Here

Sorry I haven't posted in SUCH a long time, about two months. I hate it too, because I can really see that my blog is a good thing for me. I think every time I am not doing well I can tie my lack of spirit, or my lack of LIFE to a lack of posting. Not that my life is bad because I don't post, but that my blog is bad because I am not LIVING the way God intended! Blogging is a joy to me when I am joyful, but it only seems to be an unwanted chore when I am in the dumps...

I used to think the dumps was me being depressed, but since God has removed the scales from my eyes I now see the spiritual battle! I see the lies and oppression instead of the lie of depression!

It just came to me yesterday (two months later - how sad!) that I have been very complacent and receiving of my enemies attacks. Some of the time I don't think I even needed the stories and the lies in my head because I was choosing to think bad things on my own!

"Think of how angry this makes you Carolyn!" - yeah you're right!

"Think of how stupid that was of him Carolyn!" - I know, that stupid man never thinks before he does things!

"Remember all those times he couldn't treat you with respect, you don't need to give him any in return!" - That man never respects me! I hate that he demands respect when he cannot even give it!

I hate that some of my Christmas ornaments are missing, it's his fault!

I'm so glad we're moving so I don't have to deal with him being disrespectful and inconsiderate anymore.

Hmm? When we move I'm not sure I want to change, I don't really mind the bad dreams I've been having.

Ahh... the dream, now what was it again?... ... ...

You see how it all plays out?! First I am listening to the negative encouragements and agreeing with them, then I am listening and thinking on them, then I am listening and ADDING to them! And after that there is no more listening necessary! After that it's ALL ME - jumping from one bad subject to another, not noticing the ugliness, not desiring anything better! Just giving in! Giving up and FULLY dwelling on ALL the wrong things!

Lord knows I am so tired of giving in! I want so much to make better choices! My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak! Wait lets look at that whole verse, I'm sure I remember it for a reason...

Matthew 26:41 : "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation ; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Yes! That's a good one! And it has the answer for me, the answer for us! God is faithful! Sister or brother, if you too find yourself noticing this battle, if you see yourself being tempted and oppressed, "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation." "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7 "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4

We CAN do this! God has given us the tools for the battle, we just need to be obedient to FIGHT!

Tell me guys...

If you have struggled with "depression" have your eyes been opened to see possible oppression?

Do you also struggle with making the right decisions?

Do you faint and not fight?

How long does it take you to realize you are in "the dumps"? And wait has it taken in the past to dig you out again?