he has come

John 6:

38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Oh, merry, MERRY Christmas sweet friends!!

What a sweet day it was all those many years ago. We have been given such a gift to be able to know about that baby born in Bethlehem. I can't believe the KING of the universe came down from Heaven to save us. And we will meet Him on the last day. Words don't do it justice.

Christmas Eve, 2013

What a true gift. ahhh.

It's incredible.

I am so thankful for 2013- it has been a blessed and challenging year with lots of changes. I'm planning to take the next week and a half off from blogging like I do every year to spend time with my family and Jesus and enjoy a little break away from regular life. :) I've been feeling pretty weary this month, so I'm hoping it will help me come into the new year refreshed and ready to start again.

I am so thankful for you! Thank you for walking beside me in this journey this year. You are a blessing to me!! I wish you the loveliest end of the year, friends.

fun party

Did I ever tell you about the painting party we had at my house for my friend Sara a couple of weeks ago? Oh my goodness, we had so much fun. It was super simple- I bought lots of cheap brushes and some of the paints, covered the tables, and everyone brought their own canvases and went after it in the dining room! :) 

None of us were artists or professionals, except for Lindsay {holding the phone below- you can tell by how she's holding her brush here she knows what she's doing!}. It was such a good thing she was there- she gave us consulting advice and helped us all when we needed it! :) She's awesome.

I bought a large set of brushes at Hobby Lobby, and also thanks to Lindsay's advice, instead of spending lots of money on fancy paint for this kind of party, I bought several colors of cheap acrylic paints:

I lit the candles, turned on Pandora, and we relaxed and just ate and painted for a few hours! It was surprisingly therapeutic. :D 

And I loved the birthday girl's painting!! She used painters tape to make the word love, and then painted over it.

living

our homes! What a testimony of God at work! Yay!! :D

Let's go straight into it, shall we? Then we can discuss it in the comments below! :D

Chapter 7: Marriage in the Age of Media

Technology has changed the environment of a home in so many ways! It's so strange to realize that 25 years ago, our lives were much different than they are now! The internet and instant connection brings us so many good things, yet it can affect our lives so negatively too.

How much time do we spend staring at a screen rather than engaging with each other? I know this was big for me, as my husband and I both spend lots of time on the computer. We hardly ever watch TV shows or movies, and much of our "free time" after the kids go to bed is spent together with each of us in front of our computers.

I thought it was interesting that Courtney deleted her male friends from her Facebook page {p. 72}.  I'd never considered doing that before, but turning the situation around made all the difference in my mind: I wouldn't really appreciate my husband having female friends I don't know on his Facebook page. Isn't it weird how putting yourself in their shoes changes it so much? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you... the Bible really does answer so many questions! :)

I think it's probably different for every couple, but setting your own limits for these kinds of online interactions sounds like such a wise thing to do. Your marriage is always worth protecting, and avoiding possible temptations is so important for both sides!

And the same is true for movies and TV, isn't it? What we are watching really does change the way we view our husbands. For example, do we start to mock our own husbands because of the funny fictional characters we see on TV mocking their husbands? {ouch, right?! It's not really very funny in real life.}

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