The Intentional Life

Be not content this Babe to know Nor stay at Bethlehem But go with Christ to Calvary's brow Beyond Jerusalem 'Tis there men learn to know the Christ For there He bore man's sin Then open wide the door of heart And let the Savior in. 

 As a twist of fate would have it (Paul and I are voting for God's hand in it, perhaps a Christmas miracle?!) we found ourselves on duty at Gateway with no residents ( for a few hours). This has only happened one other time (for 2 hours!) in the nearly 5 years we have lived here. So, yeah, it felt kinda special. So we lived it up, like leaving a knife out on the counter and not recording how much everyone ate for a meal and walking out the house and leaving no one in charge inside and taking a nap in the living room. We took a winter walk in the woods with the 3 kiddos, played a board game (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!), took naps by the fire, ate a turkey dinner with fancy sparkling grape juice, and finished the day off with a peppermint birthday cake and singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.  Paul and I were discussing it at supper, how (apart from being with our extended families, which would be our first choice of course!) th

Mild, He lay His glory by Born that men no more may die Born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth Hark! The herald angels sing! Glory!   To the newborn King!

You can ask my mother. Spelling is not my strong suit. I was the one who spelled "celery" in her class Spelling Bee: S-E-L-E-R-Y. And we were going through the spelling words alphabetically and the kid before me had a word that started with B... In my opinion, spell check was one of the greatest things that could happen to technology.  I was so excited the day I discovered those little red squiggles under my words as I typed. Slightly different topic :  O Holy Night is my most favorite Christmas song.  I wrote about it a bit last year .  I wanted to make something that I could hang up and see throughout the Christmas season, that would bring me back to focus and even get me humming the tune. So I made this. Unfortunately, it was dry for over 24 hours before I realized my mistake.  I immediately was trying to think up a way of fixing it.  Paul encouraged me to leave it as it is.  My perfectionist Type A personality was striving against it. But as I let it

Feel free to sing along.... Twelve men are leaping Eleven ones are playing 'them flutes  Ten drummers are drumming Nine girls are dancing  Eight cowers are milking Seven goose are swimming  Six eggs are cracking Five golden rings!  Four calling birds Three French chickens   Two pear birds  And a porpoise in a pear tree!

We wanted to point out some of our gifts this year that are BRAND NEW to our Gifts of Purpose Catalog... Provide Post-Adoption Resources Raising children from hard places isn't easy. Because Lifesong believes in supporting adoptive families in all stages, post-adoption training scholarships are available to equip adoptive & foster parents with the tools to help heal hurting children. $200 | $450 Fund a Foster Care Mentorship Training Many children & vulnerable adults affected by the foster care system want to know that they matter. The Forgotten Initiative Mentoring provides the opportunity for the Body of Christ to show children that they are loved & valued. $500 Sponsor a Family at Village of Hope-Guatemala Children were made to be in families. By providing Guatemalan house parents, vulnerable children can feel belonging & that there is someone investing in their life & future. Our children are provided food, home & a mother and father figure to pra

 We've started the Christmas celebrations. We spent this past weekend with Paul's family.  We rolled out the traditional Vilia dinner complete with homemade nutbread, shrimp, sauerkraut, oplatky, opanskance, peas, communion wafers and wine. Grandma Becky had a project for all of us.  The girls dressed up as princesses and put together princess puzzles, while the boys put on head lamps and assembled a salt-water powered car.  The boys were good sports and put on the princesses tutus...which I have graciously not posted on the Internet!  Video games, board games, coloring, walking in the 8+ inches of snow, and staying up past midnight were all part of the gig too.