HE CAME.

All today and the day before I've been thinking about one thing...HE CAME.  I love all this Christmas stuff. Seeing my kids excited.  Being with family.  Eating lots of yumminess.  Enjoying old traditions and creating new ones.  But all of that is pale in comparison to the most exciting thing to ever happen to my life (and believe me....yours too).... HE CAME.

Long ago, after 400 years of silence from God...the Israelites finally received the hope they'd been waiting for. It wasn't how they had expected and sadly, many of them flat out missed it.  But a poor, young girl set out to serve her God, gave birth to God's Son.  Jesus Christ came.  He came. We do not have a God that is far away or unconcerned with us.  We have a God that came to earth to be here and change eternity forever.  Thanking God for this truth...more than any gift I've been given, all the blessed family times and even more than my amazing husband and children.

Praying you and yours experience this joy today and always.

Merriest Christmas from the Thompson Family!

btw, this is the front/back of our card that went out Christmas Eve. 

Just keeping it real! : )

Flying....

Thinking today as we rush through a bunch of holiday affairs, just how quickly this life can really be.  It feels like yesterday that I was sleepily emerging to the living room on Christmas morning to enjoy another magical day.  My sister and I ran into each other last night doing some last minute shopping.  This almost never happens. For one reason, we almost always know where the other is...so accidentally running into each other can't happen. It was weird, you know.  Someone you grow up with and rarely spend even a night apart suddenly is someone (though still close) who lives in a separate house and has a life of their own.  How can this be?  Shouldn't we still be playing dolls in the basement or at least be on our way to cheer practice?  And if not those, there is no way that we should be doing anything else than wrapping up finals and heading home from Western for Christmas break.  Where did our youth go?

Forget my youth.  What about my own family.  When did this happen? My sweet fresh groom and I should be still celebrating our first Christmas together.  Reminiscing over our honeymoon pictures, enjoying long dates out and for goodness sakes...sleeping in on Saturday mornings.  But no.  That was us only for a year.  Then the next we were busy with plans of adopting and still trying to have a baby.  Then our first two babies came.  Trying to remember that first Christmas is tough.  Sadly, most of it is tainted with my back problems to shortly follow, back surgery.  I do remember their smiling faces Christmas morning.  I can still see my little man's face with icing all over it from Christmas cookies. And watch little Evy toddle across the room every five minutes to touch the tree.  And here we are back again at the same stage with our tiniest blessing.  She is ten months old today.  INSANE.  This year has been exceptionally fast.  I get all teary thinking of how tiny she was and how quickly they've all grown.

So today, I'm going to stop rushing around and just enjoy them as much as I can.  For I know, next year  at this time..I'll be just as surprised by how much they've grown again.  Oh Lord, can't we slow down this time for just a little bit.  There is so much you've given us to enjoy.  I don't want to miss one moment.

this to this too quickly

Don't forget to take some time to SLOW DOWN this holiday season and enjoy those around you.

Apologies aren't easy.

It was a gloomy slow morning where everyone was dragging.  It's understandable that we were all a little grumpy.  My oldest girl had brought the jeans I laid out for her into the living room to complain they weren't "fancy" enough.  First of all, REALLY?  We are all ready there with major opinions of our wardrobe....we are sooo in for it.  Anyways, back to the story.  I was holding little one and she was grabbing Evy's jeans. She screamed and yelled at her for trying to get her (just recently, undesirable) jeans. Then Evy ran off to her room.  Now this is pretty normal and she wasn't really that ugly to Liv.  I didn't even correct her...except to say...GO, PUT ON THOSE UNFANCY JEANS RIGHT THIS INSTANT!

A few minutes later I was checking my email and Liv was on the floor playing.  Evy came in and sat right in front of her baby sister.  She said, "Liv, I'm sorry I yelled at you. Forgive me?" Now we do sorry in our house A LOT, but it's usually because they've been reminded. But lately, my girl has just been melting my heart.  There was one day she had just been a royal stinker in a store....completely opposite of what we'd talked about before we went in.  She got consequences when we left for her disobedience....again, nothing out of the ordinary. However, It must have made an impact on her because she has apologized like five times since then at random times.  Like when she is going to take a nap and I'm tucking her in she leaned in to say, "I'm sorry I was so bad in that store, Mommy." The first two times I thought it was so endearing and sweet.  But then I talked to her how she didn't need to say sorry soo many times.  I forgave her the first time she apologized.

So when she came to her sister on her own, it made me so excited that her heart was so tender.  I'm hopeful that her and Liv's relationship ...actually, all my children use this type of love for each other always. I know they'll continue to fight and hurt one anothers feelings....that's just life. But if they commit to work on their relationships, it will for sure be a treasure and blessing to them.

It's hard to say we are sorry.  It's opens us up for hurt.  Admits our wrongs and that is a humbling thing to do. The Bible is clear that we must right our wrongs and forgive others. I love this passage and it keeps me on the right track with my relationships.

¹² So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and ^[k]patience; ¹³ bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. ¹⁴ Beyond all these things put on love, which is ^[l]the perfect bond of unity. ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ ^[m]rule in your hearts, to which ^[n]indeed you were called in one body; and ^[o]be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of ^[p]Christ richly dwell within you, ^[q]with all wisdom teaching and admonishing ^[r]one another with psalms andhymns and spiritual songs, singing ^[s]with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:12-17


I pray that you experience that perfect bond of unity with those in your life.

Here are my sweet girls.... sisters are such a gift!

a little quiet

These are the type of mornings I love.  Quiet, Sunday morning where we are still all in our pjs. Except for Scott because he was the one that went out to get breakfast for us.  Nothing for me or him to cook and no dirty dishes to wash up afterwards. These are rare (esp. rare on Sunday mornings).  We are usually at church, but this weekend was our churches Christmas show.  They had different services and we took part of the one yesterday afternoon.  There was no youth so we didn't have our youth life groups to teach.  It feels kind of odd, but since we haven't had many Saturday mornings like this...it feels especially good today.

Now the baby is taking her morning nap.  I'm sitting in the Living Room with my love as he grades papers.  I can hear our other littles imagine and pretend in Leland's room.  They are building igloos with their legos as he has been particularly obsessed with the idea of igloos since a Curious George episode. The Christmas tree is glowing from across the room and it's pretty quite (at least for around here).

It's good to take time to slow down.  Actually, it's important. For your sanity. Your family. And especially, your soul.  We are always so busy.  Scott with work, running kids to different activities, my photography work, and just different obligations.  Sometimes it can just be too much. Even when we are all home their is much noise and chaos going on as you can imagine.  It's not often that we are not talking, instructing or making silly songs/laughter/nonsense.

So these rare moments of sitting to reflect, quietly work or even pray as I edit....they are rare.  I know these moments are fleeting too.  I sit here pondering on life and all the goodness going on around me each day. As I feel my fingertips type away the clutter in my head, I know the moments of solitude are slipping away.  That is ok, it's the season of life we are in.  But I will relish in these brief moments of quiet. Usually, you have to get up quite early or stay up too late to get some true quiet in this place.
I leave you with this quote from A.W. Tozer on how even our good deeds can sometimes be filling up all the space in our lives for quiet.

Our religious activities should be ordered in such a way as to have plenty of time for the cultivation of the fruits of solitude and silence. A.W. Tozer

Hope you all get to enjoy some good solitude and quiet today.

Memories Made.

I cannot remember the exact moment that Christmas became such a special event in my life.  I do however remember all the small memories that made it that way.

I can see clearly the Charlie Brown lights lined across the roof of my childhood home.  Wiping the frosty fog off the window so my sister and I could get a better glance.  It didn't matter how carefully we added the sparkly ice cycles to our family tree, we'd find silver shreds strewn across the house for weeks and weeks. Funny things  still pepper through my thoughts like wearing the Christmas tree costume my Moma made me for the school play. Or the silly stories that our Daddy would tell us about when he was a little boy at Christmas time. I remember thinking that it was nutty how excited him and his brothers got over oranges in their stockings. I can still hear the hymns being sung by candlelight as we joined our Nanny's church for their Christmas Eve service.  I love how songs or movies can take you back to certain moments.  Mine would definitely be Mariah Carey's All I want for Christmas Is You and it takes me back to wrapping presents on our pool table in the basement.  The cold floor beneath my socks, the radio turned up on high and trying to wrap quickly before someone in the family saw their gifts I purchased at the Santa's Workshop store at school.  Piling up on the couch under covers to watch White Christmas, On Moonlight Bay, and one of my favorites A Mom for Christmas *it's the one where Olivia Newton John is a mannequin and comes alive for Christmas. Family gatherings are always a good treasure to think back on.  Laughter, following around (and most likely annoying) the older cousins, singing hymns as Johnah tinkered out the tune on the piano, and enjoying all the decadent treats which includes my Mom's cranberry-apple Hot Punch. Of course, I still get giddy thinking of waking up on the 25th at 5 a.m. and running into the living room to see the toys I'd longed for loving placed across the hearth. As I got older I loved going one by one through the cards stored in the little Santa card holder.  Actually, I still love to do this as I now own this after my mother got rid of it.  I also still enjoy Daddy reading the story of the birth of Christ every Christmas day.

aren't we cute?!?!?!

It's funny how you look back on moments and think that your children must have the same exact experiences to have the magic you once had.  It's just not true.  We love and cherish certain holidays or traditions because they were OURS.  They are special memories because of the effort our parents took to make them and mostly because of the love they represent. During this season where it's become ok to place "have to do" labels on everyone or we feel guilty over not joining some holiday fad, remember it's something else that makes our kids have magical childhoods.  It's us taking the time to stop and spend time doing something with them and making even the smallest things seem special.  So stop harassing others and loosing sleep over missing out on what everyone else deems important.  My kids will most likely have different favorite memories than I did growing up, but theirs will be just as sweet as mine. Now go ENJOY and CELEBRATE this season!

ADOPTED....

It's been over a week since my children are actually my children.

I keep waiting to feel something different.

Not sure what.

I guess that goes to show they were ours from the beginning.

but here is a picture of the day they became ours officially.