The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This Christmas I got to spend the weekend down at my sister, Amber's house with my wonderful family! As you can see, my adorable niece, Bri, LOVES making silly faces for the camera =)

Bri also loved opening her dozens of presents, & helping everybody else with theirs as well. Haha!

My big brother got to come too! It's always special when we can spend time with him. He is active duty in the military, so often he is overseas or on base for holidays. It was great to spend a few days with him!

I love my sister, Amber! I am SO thankful for the encouragement she has been to me, especially over the past several months. During the 3 months I was in Peru, she was one of the only people I could count on hearing from regularly, & that meant SO much to me. She also went out of her way to prepare a big "Thanksgiving Dinner" with all the trimmings on Christmas day, all because I wasn't able to have a traditional meal over Thanksgiving. She is so considerate, & so much fun to be around.

This Christmas was one of the best I can remember. The past few years I've been been guilty of taking the important things for granted & focusing more on the lesser things. But this year, after being so far away from my loved ones for so long, it just really hit me how much I have to be thankful for just to be able to spend time with my family over the holidays. I honestly almost forgot about opening presents I was just having so much fun cooking with my mom & sister, playing with my niece, & torturing my big brother. Haha! I am so thankful for all of the blessings the Lord has given to me =)

This Christmas Child

Luke 2:7

"And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

“This Christmas child” Watch Him. Watch Him. Watch this Child, who grows into a boy, who grows into a man and is found to be so much more. Watch as He is born—among shepherds and angels and bright lights in the sky. Watch as He grows in favor and stature—as a youngster asking questions, giving answers, astounding teachers. Watch Him in the desert—a young man in prayer, with hunger and thirst and a calling from heaven.

Watch this strange northerner—with His calloused hands and radical ways—who grew up in “pagan” Galilee, whose brothers once thought Him unbalanced, and whose neighbors once drove Him out of town. Yet watch His authority, His acceptance, His patience. Watch Him touch the leper, heal the diseased, cleanse the impure. Watch Him teach the crowds to forgive and pray always.

Watch Him as He kneels—in a garden, and in anguish. “Father, if You are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine” (Luke 22:42). Radical submission to a heavenly plan.

Watch as the Son of God is betrayed with a kiss. Watch as they arrest Him and His closest friends flee. Watch as He submits to a fate sketched before time. Watch as they spit on Him and hit Him and crucify Him on a tree.

Watch as one final breath slips from His lips—the sins of the world on the shoulders of one man. Then watch, yes watch, as the stone is rolled away; an empty tomb filled with hope, for He rose again!

Then watch as His name and His fame fills the world.

This God, this Man, this Boy. This Christmas Child. —Sheridan Voysey, Our Daily Journey