It's Christmas Time

So the Christmas season has been pretty crazy this year, right? Last year at this time we were just starting to get settled into our new home, and everything was very last minute and all that. I thought surely this year would be much more calm and relaxed since we are fully settled and I tried harder to get my lists and things in order a few weeks ahead of when I would begin shopping, etc. But somehow everything feels nearly as rushed and hectic as it did last year, and I didn't even decorate my house this year!

Ok, about that...I am blaming the no decorations on my 7 month old puppy. It might have been fine, but she still sometimes gets a hold of things she shouldn't and I didn't want to spend a month straight watching her every single move to make sure she didn't eat my favorite Christmas ornament. We kept saying we would go upstairs and get our stockings out of storage and at least put them and a couple of favorite Christmas items up, but it never happened. So I am bummed that my house doesn't look the least bit festive...except for a couple of Starbucks coffee cup ornaments that I bought last week and set on my mantle...but I don't suppose those really count (although I have wanted a set of them every year when I see them in the stores).

My mom and I continued our tradition of getting together and doing Christmas baking, for the 3rd year in a row now. I have wondered since then, what traditions have Landon and I made in our own family? (Plus our group at church has talked about this...and at the time I couldn't really think of anything.) We usually go to the Opryland Hotel every year when it's decorated all Christmas-y. We normally have all our decorations up at home and I try to find us a new "couple" type of ornament, although I couldn't find one I liked this year. (Boo.) We watch the Christmas specials and movies that are on tv every year, though I prefer my dvd copies since they are uncut. We take a picture every December for our Christmas cards that I send out, and I have made a little picture book for only those pictures of us every year. We usually go to the Christmas Eve service at our church each year.

This one sounds silly, but apparently one of our traditions has become getting presents early and not wrapping anything. Landon's birthday is 2 days after Christmas, so a lot of times he gets something bigger to count for both events. If what he wants is also something I want (and is expensive enough, i.e. the Wii...or last year it was this house! just kidding...although we didn't really do any other gifts last year since we bought the house in mid-November), then that's what we do. We usually get each other something small that is a surprise, and also a card on Christmas day, but we haven't done the traditional all gifts are a surprise thing since our first couple of Christmases.

So this year Landon got a PS3, and he's had it for probably a month or so. (Just in case they sold out early, lol!) Then he told me to just get some stuff that I wanted, so I ordered a few things online or bought them for myself when I was out shopping for other stuff. Then I come home and show him what he got me!

I decided to order most all of the gifts we're giving online. I must say that is the way to go, so long as you give yourself plenty of time to receive them. I have been so busy doing other tasks and shopping locally that I haven't wrapped a single present yet, although I am proud to say that I am FINISHED (yay!) shopping except for one last gift (and I have no idea what to get this person).

I've been trying to slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures of this season, but I must confess that I'm doing a pretty pitiful job of it. There are many things that I still love about this time of year, just as much as I loved it when I was a kid; yet I have allowed too many things to distract me, and I have yet to sit down and read the Christmas story myself this year...or be very still long enough to listen to my Savior speak to my heart. It's so easy to get caught up in what your giving, and even as a "grown up", what you are getting! I hope to take this coming week of Christmas to really slow down and enjoy all that I have been blessed with, and especially to enjoy being with my loved ones. I know this sounds cliche and all that, but I don't care. I wouldn't even be here if God had not sent his son to be a baby for me. By the way, if you have never heard the song "Born to Die" by Bebo Norman, now is the perfect time to go get it off iTunes or somewhere and listen to the words. I keep it on my iPod all year long because it's such an awesome song of God's greatness and His love for me.

Now off I go to quietly try to enjoy what is left of this Christmas season. I still have many things left to do, but I think my heart will be more joyful, and hopefully more peaceful and still.

Kids Are Funny

So I got to see some of my nieces and nephews last night. I won't use their names here, just first initials. My 2 year old niece, R, has been very vocal for a while now, but now she is really getting some intelligible words/sentences out and it's so funny! For instance..(btw, everything seems like an exclamation because of the way she says it....hence all the exclamation points)

R: Danie, Danie (yeah, that's me)! I put it up! I put it up!
Me: You put what up?
R: I put it up! I put it up!
Me: Ok, show me where you put it up.
R proceeds to drag me a bit to her room where she has "put up" one of her toys, only she just threw it in the doorway. Now she is pointing at it rather proudly and again says: I put it up!

My oldest nephew, D, is 6 and is learning letters and phonics at school right now. He told me they gave everyone a partner to read with and said in a pathetic tone, "Mine's a girl."

My Heart

Most people that know me well know how much I want to be a mother. It's no big secret that I've been hoping and praying for this for a while, but especially during the last couple of years. It has been a hard journey sometimes, and today is feeling like one of the hard days. I feel like sharing something that is straight out of the deepest part of my heart, something that I wrote quite a while ago, yet is exactly how I feel today.

I wrote this on June 4, 2007.


I am waiting for you, praying for your presence.
I have wanted to see you for so long, but it's not time yet.
You are deeply loved, and wanted so much.
When you get here, there will be such a celebration!
I wait for the special day when I can finally hold you in my arms,
and tell you how much Daddy and I love you.
Because we love each other so much, we asked Jesus
to bless us with the incredible gift of you!
Maybe it won't be long from now, and we will bring you
into the home that we have lovingly created
together, for our family.
You are a miracle, a sweet and precious gift
waiting to come to life.


I see you when I look in the mirror, thinking that maybe you will
have my forehead or my dark hair.
I see you when I look at Daddy, in his eyes and in his smile.
I see you right here with us, only you haven't made
your grand entrance just yet.
Everyone must be very anxious about you,
because they are always asking when
they will get to meet you.
You will have so many people to love you,
especially Mommy and Daddy.
I will eagerly wait for you, my sweet angels.
Until then, I know you are safe in the arms of Jesus.
I love you.

Amazing Sunday

Landon and I have been going to New Vision for about a year and a half now, and have finally gotten involved in a Sunday School class these last several weeks. We have been building new and wonderful relationships, and it's been really awesome (I may be one of the few people on the planet that still uses that word a lot). I say that to say this: I think yesterday's experience was one of the most amazing that I have had in a long time.

The really cool thing about it was that most of the time, no one was saying anything.

After the singing part of worship, there was this guy they were calling "the Jesus painter". He was really cool to watch paint. He starts with a canvas that may have a Scripture or picture on it, then uses his hands and one color of paint to make an image of Christ. I have to admit that when he was finished, and even when people got up and started clapping and cheering, it took me several more moments to realize what the picture was of. But when I figured it out, it was amazing! At that point I couldn't stop staring at it.

Following this, they did something called Cardboard Confessions. I had never heard of this, or seen anything like it before. There were probably between 20 and 30 people that came up (some of them were families or couples) with their "confessions". On one side of the cardboard it showed, to use Brady's words, the problem; then on the flip side it showed the answer. Most all of them showed only a few words on each side, but what impact those words had! The entire crowd couldn't help but applaud after seeing each life-changing miracle. Wow, was that incredible to see! These were people that I don't know personally, but their stories were such amazing testimonies that I couldn't help but cry reading one after another.

Then Brady taught about communion, and we all shared it together. Another cool thing is that this month marks Brady's fifth year of service at New Vision. So all in all, it was a very emotional and amazing service. Topping that off was another great group discussion in our class afterwards.

I've heard there will be some video of this service on our church's website later if anyone wants to see it. Here's the link:
http://www.newvisiononline.net/templates/System/default.asp?id=28514

Rejoicing

I read these verses today:

"Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again-rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7 (NLT)

Having grown up in the church and been raised by Christian parents, I have heard these verses countless times during my life. Remember that song about "rejoicing in the Lord always" they teach you in Sunday School when you're a little kid? The one that prompts a lot of little voices to scream "REJOICE!" at the end?

It's a fun song to sing, and when you're little, anything that allows you to yell in church is just, well, awesome. That's one of the coolest things about being around little kids. They are so innocent and trusting that almost everything is awesome to them, and they can find SO many reasons to be joyful! Whether it's painting with watercolors (you know, those Crayola ones that only have like 7 different colors to choose from) or eating chocolate pudding, everything is bright and beautiful through the eyes of kids.

It gets harder and harder to keep that childlike wonder of the world as we grow up and begin to see that everyone and everything are not always what we thought they were. We stop seeing-and sometimes even stop looking for-the awesome in our lives. That's why these verses are touching my spirit today. Oh, I am usually a very happy and cheerful person. I know that my God has blessed me beyond anything that I could have ever imagined, and He is so good to me every day of my life. There are just some days when, despite all that He has given, I yearn for what has not yet been given. Or I wonder about how I can fix this or fix that. If I should have said this or done that. How can I be this or be that.

All these things are not ultimately in my hands. It's really hard some days, but I have to give them to my Savior and trust that He will go on taking care of me, just like He always has. When I get past the "what am I going to do about all this" stuff, then I have room in my heart for what needs to be there.

Peace.

Trust.

Love.

Joy.

My First Time as a Blogger

Well, this is my first time starting my own blog. I enjoy reading my friend's pages, so I thought I'd start one of my own. If you don't know me very well, bear with me! I can be pretty corny at times, and downright geeky....hence the naming of my blog with "Korner" using a K instead of a C. I couldn't think of anything super creative for the title, so I went with a play on words since my last name starts with K. Yes, haha, you get it now, right?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading and getting to know me better.