My perfect Christmas

“So, you ready to go home?” … I’m thinking to myself, what! I thought it was happening tonight?!?! But on the outside- I’m cool as a cucumber. “Sure.” We started walking to the car, but I was quickly diverted in another direction.

This is the night I got engaged. I thought I knew everything. I thought I knew every move he was going to make – but the whole, ‘are you ready to go home’ really threw me for a loop. This is what’s wonderful about Caleb; he knows I’m ornery so he plays along with it!

As we walked around Rhema I could tell he was trying to find a place where there were not a lot of people around. I finally saw a place, looked over at him and said, ‘I know where we’re going’ and started walking towards it. Again. ORNERY!

As we walked up to the spot Caleb pulled a letter out of his pocket and told me he had something for me to read. Upon looking up from the oober sweet letter he lowered himself onto one knee and said those words every girl dreams of while spinning around in circles in her bedroom growing up. It was perfect. Nothing showy- nothing extravagant – just the most important part of it all. ‘Will you marry me?’ …it’s enough.

We are so excited and of course bombarded with a zillion questions that we can’t answer. ‘Have you set a date?’ .. umm.. TBD… ‘What kind of dress do you want?’.. TBD… ‘Where are you getting married?’… sorry to be repetitive but, TBD.

For now, pure excitement. We have opened a new chapter in our lives, one we cannot wait to share with everyone. The Lord is so good!

Christmas Miracles

Every year we sit back and reflect on our achievements from the past year. We lean back in our chairs, cross our arms and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. What have we really achieved though? I mean, don’t get me wrong, we’ve all done some pretty fantastic things, but isn’t there still so much more to be done?

My best friend became an aunt last night… to a beautiful little Ethiopian boy named Silas. In my eyes, this is one of the most beautiful achievements. The new parents of this little gift followed through with a plan God had for them and have now blessed so many people around them. Silas has been blessed with not only two awesomely loving parents, but also a family the size of Texas to love on him! No, seriously, you should see the amount of stockings hung at the grandparent’s house. It’s enough to make anyone jealous.

I have been excited for this young couple since my best friend leaked the news to me a few months back. I’ve known about the struggle and heartache they had endured throughout the adoption process, but to see it all come full-circle, well, it nearly sent drippy little tears down my face. This has all been so special ,but it wasn’t until this morning when I saw the pictures of baby Silas being carried through customs to be embraced by his new family all adorned in white t-shirts that said ‘Welcome Home Silas’ that I fully understood the joy they were all feeling. It was then I realized what Sarah and Jonathan had done. Realized how with this one decision they have changed and blessed this little boy’s life forever.

So, yeah, we’ve all done some pretty awesome things this year. Maybe you’ve conquered your fear of skydiving or made your very first batch of chocolate chip cookies, but man, isn’t there so much more to be done?

Magical Christmas Elves

We would wait for hours for those sneaky little elves to make their way from the North Pole to leave bits of candy in our tree decorations.  We were diligent about it too.  We schemed about how we would stake out in corners and eventually catch the little guys, but man were they fast!   My brother and I could not figure it out!  We would turn our heads for one second and, BAM!, the candy would appear, nice and cold, yet tucked neatly in our Christmas ornaments.  Puzzled, we walked away, not understanding how we missed them again!

This one particular time I turned to my grandpa and questioned why the hershey's were so cold.  He looked down into my inquiring little blue eyes and said, "Well, sweetie, those elves come from way up north at the North Pole where it is very cold."  Good call grandpa.  He was a very wise man you see. 

I remember bending my little knees and leaning forward towards him all-the-while my grandpa mimmicking my action as I sneakishly whispered closely to his face, "We'll catch them next time grandpa, won't we!"  Indeed little one, he replied, Indeed.

You see, it took my brother and I a few years to figure out this fun little game that was being played on us, but alas - one cold night in December we were at my grandparents for dinner and I opened the freezer door to get ice out and.. what was in the door you ask? Huh, my question exactly.  I turned to my grandma and asked why they had Christmas colored Hershey's kisses frozen just like the elves brought?  My grandma replied ever so nonchelantly, well, your grandpa likes frozen hershey's. 

It was in this moment I figured out there were no magical little Christmas elves.  That they didn't venture miles through the land of 'swirly,twirly gumdrops' in hopes of finding their dads.  It was then I realized my grandpa had been the magical Christmas elf all along.

It is memories like these that make me love Christmas time.  They allow me to venture back in time to my best childhood memories and re-live special times I had with  my grandpa.

My grandpa is no longer with us, but because of the magical Christmas elves I will never forget him.  Every year I  put up my Christmas tree and hang my magical ornament on it in hopes that my elf will make his way through the land of 'swirly, twirly gumdrops' to bring me a christmas colored hershey's kiss.