'Tis The Season...

I love the season of Christmas. Not the crazy rush in the grocery store or Target leading up to Christmas, or the commercialization of the holiday that makes us think we need the newest gadgets. What I love about the season is what I'm experiencing right now. I'm sitting in front of a cozy, crackling fire watching the blizzard that's going on outside. On the mantle hangs six stockings, and the newly decorated Christmas tree sits in the corner, adorned with memories of childhood Christmas crafts past (Ian's strategy for decorating the tree; "I put the breakable things on the bottom so that when we knock them off, they don't have so far to fall!). The flickering candles makes up for our lack of a real Christmas tree by giving off a wonderful pine smell. The speakers are piping out one of my favorite Christmas CDs.  There's just something about the togetherness of the holiday that is special. The traditions of families and friends coming together to celebrate the holiday.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is our Ladies' Christmas Tea at church. The event is looked forward to by all, from the little girls all the way to the grandmas of the church.

Lizzie!!!

Yummy finger food :)

Joy Shupe and Grace

I took Lizzie's picture...

...and then she took mine :)

Some of the young girls :)

This pretty much sums up my relationship with Hope and Joy...
whenever I give them a hug or they give me one, tickling ensues <3

Hehe...not really sure what this was about :P

the girls at my table; Lizzie, me, Lizzie, and Jessie

ELISE!!!

She's such a cutie!!!

And in other news, when we got home from church today I set up my tripod and we took our Christmas picture. We usually take it on the hearth in our family room, but I wanted to expand my family's- Christmas-picture-taking-horizons, so I moved it outside :D It was chilly (ok, FREEZING!) so I set up the camera, took 2 continuous sets of 10 pictures each, and then we all high-tailed it back inside to a warm fire. For as quick as it was, I'm pretty happy with the turnout.

And since this rather non-specific post, the last Christmas related item of the evening is a really neat project that we're doing with our church this year. This evening after the service, we gathered around the tables in the kitchen and packed up 500 Christmas kits to distribute to the neighborhoods around the church. The kits contained a tract with the Christmas story, an invitation to our church's Christmas Eve service, and a New Testament. We're distributing them next Saturday and it's neat to think that there could be 500 homes that have Bibles in them that may not have had them before. The Gospel transforms lives, and our prayer is that these Bibles will be a blessing in these homes, and will bring people to a saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior.

Blessing #15- Forgiveness

          "So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this...'I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God. Where He is, there I shall be also!'"


          The above quote is one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies, Luther (and Martin Luther himself actually said those words). Whenever I hear that line I get goosebumps because of the wonderful truths that are stated there. Luther's statement is one of the most amazing things that we as Christians can hear. We are forgiven!!!! Our sins are in the past. The guilt and shame of them has been laid upon Christ and they have died along with him. When we sin, we can seek forgiveness, and God, in His amazing love, will grant forgiveness as He says in His word "For I will be merciful towards their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more" (Hebrews 8:12).


           What is so unfortunate, however, is that we as Christians often forget that we are  forgiven.  I know that I fall into this thinking all too often. I feel the guilt and shame for my  sins long after they have been forgiven, and this is exactly what Satan wants of us. He wants us to be weighted down with our sins, for then we will be at our weakest and he can attack us with doubt and fear. On my part, I believe, this shows my lack of faith. When God says He has forgiven my sins, HE HAS FORGIVEN THEM! When I still look back and wonder if He really forgave me, still wallow in my guilt, still feel the bondage of sin weighing me down, I'm not fully trusting in Him to do as He has said He will do. I'm not trusting in His power, in the power of the Cross, in Christ's interceding to the Father in my behalf. That's when I need to get on my knees and pray, as the man who brought his son to be healed by Jesus did, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"


            When we understand what true forgiveness means to us as believers, we can counter Satan's attack with the words "The Son has set me free, so I am free indeed!" O what a glorious thought this is; that we are forgiven and set free!






And yes, I realize that this was supposed to be 14 days of thanksgiving, not 15, but I figure that it wouldn't hurt to throw another one in :D

Blessing #14- Best Friends

        Last Monday, Rachel came in town and we had a girl party at Angela and Peter's (we kicked Peter out :P). I didn't realize how much I needed that time with my friends. School this semester is crazy (it's gonna get better though, especially after next semester- I just have to keep telling myself that!) and I honestly don't think I realized just how little time I was spending with my friends until I got to see them again.
      Anyways, Chloe, Ruby, Rachel, Angela and I had a wonderful time! The only thing that could have made our evening better is if Ashlee *sniffs* would have been there. We made cookies, ate too many, fel t sick, didn't feel like having dinner, ran to the library for a movie, got back and realized that we were all hungry, ordered pizza, went back out to pick up the pizza, and then crashed on the couch (yes, all 5 of us on one couch :D) to watch a movie. What.A.Blast.

Angela and Joyce, the little girl she nannies.

Angela looks emo in the background :P

This is what was happening in the back of my car. I'm glad
they got pictures cause I wasn't paying attention to them.

They loved my stethoscope...

Angela "O my gosh, it actually works!!!!

<3 I'd been missing her <3

 ***All photos taken by Rachel Clarke or someone's random arm stretched out in front of our faces for self-portraits :D

Blessing #13- Brothers in Christ

I love, love, LOVE hanging out with my girlfriends. We laugh together, cry together, eat pizza together... :P

But I gotta say, that as much as I love my girlfriends, I couldn't imagine having ONLY female friends. I have been so blessed to have a lot of great guys in my life. Pictures below are a few of the guys that God has put into my life. Some are cousins, others friends that I met in various places, one is my "blood brother." Some I see often, some are out of state and I miss very much, some away at college (and miss them too, of course). Whatever the case may be, I'm so thankful for each and every one of them!

Blessing #12- 50 Years!!!

As I've mentioned previously, everyone on Mom's side was in town this past week and we celebrated my Grandpa and Grandma Sevcik's (pronounced 'sev' as in severe + sick) 50th anniversary! It was a wonderful week of fellowshipping together, playing games, laughing, talking, etc. I gotta tell you all; my family is seriously the coolest :P I never laugh so hard as when I'm with them!

Grandpa and Grandma's story is something else. They met on July 11th of 1960 when Grandma was 18 and Grandpa was 22, almost 23. The day she met him she said that "Tom seems like a pretty neat guy." She told us that the first thing she noticed about him was his red curly hair. On July 15th, they went on their first date. Grandma told us that they went to an outdoor show and she was really cold, so she snuggled up against his shoulder to keep warm, and he musta been wondering what kind of girl she was! Grandpa recounted that after the first date he was pretty hopeful that there would be a second date. Grandma recorded in her journal between July and August that the more time she spent with Grandpa, the more she saw him as someone she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She said that she couldn't find anything wrong with him!
On August 11 of the same year, just a month after they'd started dating, Grandpa asked Grandma if she would like to spend the rest of her life with him as his wife and the mother of his children. Of course, she said yes!  Earlier on Saturday, my Uncle Joe had called my Great Grandma Beers and asked her some questions regarding Grandpa's proposal. She recounted that they had been standing in the kitchen when Grandpa had asked if he could marry Grandma. Grandma Beer's response was "Well, if that's what she wants. But she's fickle." If you know my Great-Grandma, you know that she's got a lot of spunk, even now at the age of 96, and that's definitely the kind of thing she'd say!
Ann Beers became Ann Sevcik on December 3rd of 1960. The night before the wedding Grandma recorded in her journal that she had no doubts about becoming his, and it all seemed surreal.

After their time on the hot-seat answering questions, Grandpa announced that they had a surprise for us. Boy did they!!! I can't describe it well enough in words and pictures, so here's a video =) I apologize for the shakiness of the video, but I got a little emotional ;)

Cole wearing a finger puppet :)

DINNER!!!!

<3 Aren't they adorable??? <3

best buddies!

Some of the girlies!

The cake with the original cake topper.

Mike and Amy

Luke trying to lick the butter off his lips...

I LOVE HER!!!!

Uncle Raymond and his camera :D :D

Luke with that mischievous grin.

He was being such a stinker and scrunching up his
eyes whenever I tried to take a picture,

The dudes :)

<3 <3 <3

That looks says it all! 50 years and still so in love :)

I love to see my Grandpa laugh!

The getaway car.