Christmas Cheer

Even though I said some harsh things about Christmas in my Thanksgiving post, there are definitely things about the Christmas season that I enjoy (but I tend to forget about them until I actually do them again). One of the things I love is decorating the tree. Heath spent 2 hours or so putting it together and getting the tips spread out perfectly, then I enjoyed the privilege of decorating.

Another thing that I enjoy during the Christmas season is watching the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, which we did as a family a couple of nights ago. We are also going to try to make construction paper garlands and popcorn garlands today, which brings back warm childhood memories. I don't know if my kids are quite old enough for it yet, but we'll try it.

Submissive Sarah

In my women's Bible study this week, we studied Sarah. Sarah is held up as an example of submissive, godly behavior in the New Testament (1 Peter 3:6). This is so interesting to me, because I would not have perceived her as incredibly submissive from the stories in scripture. In some ways, yes - she followed Abraham's instructions to say she was his sister instead of saying she was his wife, even though it put her in a difficult, scary situation. Also, she followed his orders to quickly make food for the angels when they visited. (Have you ever noticed in the footnotes that he asks her to knead 36 lbs. of flour?)

But in other passages, her submission is not as apparent. Genesis 16:2 So she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." [Later, after Abraham agreed to and carried out the plan:] 16:5-6 Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me." "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. 21:10 And [later, after Hagar had returned,] she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."

I guess these passage prove that being submissive to authority doesn't mean you don't make suggestions or present your ideas! When I think of submission, I think of someone yielding their will to someone else's will, even if they might disagree. Since they both seem to agree on the course they should take in these passages, I don't see submission in action very much. Maybe if she had tacked on a disclaimer to her request... "But whatever you think is best, Abram, whatever you think God is telling you, too, let's do that..." I guess it's hard to see the attitude behind her request based on just a couple of quotes, and with those quotes translated across a language and cultural barrier, too.

dangerous roles

With the wave of celebrity divorces lately, it has me thinking. Obviously, the Hollywood environment contributes to the high divorce rate. It wouldn't be easy on a marriage for one or both partners to be performing kissing scenes (or worse) with someone other than each other.

So, should we as Christians, who want to promote the sacredness of marriage vows and want to look out for the well-being of our neighbors (even our neighbors in Hollywood), not support movies in which a married actor or actress makes out with someone other than their spouse? If we saw this happening in real life - someone we knew passionately kissing someone other than their spouse for whatever reason - I think we would do everything we could to discourage it.

This would be a hard standard for me to implement, because I like romantic comedies. Beyond that, many action or suspense movies have a romantic subplot as well. So there might not be many movies left to watch, and watching movies has traditionally been something Heath and I really enjoy. But it is something I have been considering, nonetheless. I'm not saying that any movie with a romantic subplot is a danger to the marriages of the actors and actresses; some movies have fairly chaste and brief kissing scenes. But that seems to be the exception rather than the norm lately.

family

Back Row: Uncle Larry, my brother Jeff, Craig's girlfriend Nicole, my cousin Craig holding his son Keagen, Laura's son John, Gina's husband Tad, Aunt Connie, Uncle Ken. Front Row: Aunt Phyllis, my mom Bonnie, me holding Ethan, my cousin Gina holding daughter Kate, Laura's son Gene, my cousin Laura, Laura's son Gene. Lower Front: Jacob and Gina's daughter Anna.

Me with my cousin Gina

cousins

Keagen and Kate

Jacob and Anna

Ethan and Anna

discussion questions

When do you think a soul is imparted to an individual?

What do you think is the best evidence for the existence of God?

Thanksgiving

Thank God for antibiotics. After two days of Zithromax, I can breathe again without constant doses of albuterol. Yay!

I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. And this year, we get to have it at our house! I know I have tons of cleaning ahead of me, and I probably won't get the house as clean as I'd like before my family gets here, but I'm still really looking forward to it. I feel like the Thanksgiving holiday is all about family. Christmas is commercialized and materialistic, and causes me more stress than joy, unfortunately. Halloween is a controversy, and Independence Day is a party, but Thanksgiving is a celebration of family and home.

If everyone shows up, we'll have over 20 people here. We'll have turkey, ham, pheasant and quail, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, sweet potatoes, rolls, pumpkin and pecan pies. New world foods. (Well, for the most part anyway.) Then the men will watch sports on TV and the women will talk while we clean up and then while we relax around the kitchen table. The children will be occupied playing with their cousins. Half of the group will drift off for naps, and then everyone will come back together for leftovers in the evening.

So, what are your Thanksgiving rituals?

Pump It Up

Sunday, the boys went to a birthday party at Pump-It-Up. For those of you who might not know, Pump-It-Up is a party rental place that has inflatable playthings for kids. The kids all had a great time. Below are pictures of the kids enjoying the inflatables; one of the birthday girls opening presents and the other crashed on Mommy, too tired to open presents after all the excitement; Ethan with the little car he spent most of the play time driving, since he was a little scared of the inflatables; and the birthday girls and our boys with cupcakes.

 

calorie conundrum

Is it possible that my body is sucking twice the resources out of everything I eat now that I am pregnant? I really don't get it. I think I am only eating enough calories to maintain my current weight, but I just keep gaining. I didn't gain like this in the first trimester with either of my other pregnancies. But calorie counting has never worked for me anyway, I guess - I must have a really, really slow metabolism. If I'm ever part of a famine, I will probably be one of the last survivors. Not that I would be very excited at that prospect.

GC 11/10-11/13

Any of you from GC who read my blog... will you be around 11/10-11/13? I think we'll be back to visit then. Hopefully for a 4-day weekend since Heath has lots of PTO to use up. Lunch? Dinner? Huge party? Let's make plans. :-) Can't wait to see you all....

Superman and Rodney Copperbottom (sans mask)

candy and costumes

Much to Ethan's dismay, we actually gave away all of our halloween candy this year! Horray, we live in a real neighborhood now. :-) Before trick-or-treaters arrived, we filled a large bowl with the candy and sat it by the door. Ethan kept retreiving the bowl and guarding it, saying "My candy." He actually yelled, "Go away!" at one group of trick-or-treaters who arrived when the candy was running low. They just laughed. As he watched the level of candy diminish with each group of trick-or-treaters, he would look in the bowl sadly and say, slowly and quietly, "My candy..."

When the candy started getting low in our give-away bowl, we got the kids dressed up in their costumes to go out in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, we had let Jacob play with his costume ahead of time, and the mask had disappeared. We still haven't found it. But it didn't seem to matter in the end - I was more upset about it than he was. They both nearly filled their buckets, and they were thrilled.

We were freezing ("like ice cubes in ice water" - one of Jacob's newest similes) by the time we got back to the house, so we made our first fire of the season. We have never had a gas fireplace lighter before, so it was quite a show to watch Heath light it. Now we know, you don't have to turn the knob until you actually hear the gas coming out. Ah, I love having an adventurous husband. The fire was perfect, though, and we warmed up in front of it while we sorted the candy and the kids and I ate a few pieces.