In anxious expectation for what 2013 will hold, I learned a great deal in 2012.

I learned…

1. That my body, at 51, doesn’t always cooperate with my 25 year old mind
All those years of hauling things from my house, to my car, to my office, back to my car, and home, has caught up to me. Lifting anything heavier than a gallon of milk must now be delegated. It only took a few extra minutes to ask two, kind, yet different young men to lift a filing cabinet into my shopping cart and then into the back of my car at WalMart yesterday.  I plan to be on the offense in preparing to see what ministry looks like for my body in my sixties. We all know that 50 is the new 30 anyway, right?

2. That God answers the persistent prayers of Mama’s
When I earned my degree at LSU in 1983, I was the first in my family to graduate college. The mantra was “Educate a man, you educate one. Educate a woman, you educate everyone who comes after her.” Baby Girl earned her Associate’s degree, then went on to graduate at the top of her class with a Bachelor’s in Nursing 2 years ago.  Her high school guidance counselor refused to give her an SAT application in 10th grade saying she was “just an average student.”  #1 Son graduated a few weeks ago with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. His middle school guidance counselor planned for him to attend the “tech trak” saying he’d never make it in college.  As an advocate for what I believed in my heart for each of my children, I prayerfully insisted on more.  They both have a BS degree, and with no debt…none for them…none for us.  You better believe He answers the prayers of Mama’s.

3. That I don’t want to just take another bible study
The printed word of God is written on my very soul. It gives me life, breath, and hope. But I don’t want to just “learn” more about Jesus. This Jesus gal wants to become more like Jesus. And although it’s been great to participate in an online facebook bible reading group since January 1s 2012 (New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, Christmas Story relevant scriptures, and we begin the Old Testament on January 1st 2013), and I took on Beth Moore’s JAMES study on my own, I miss the face to face journey with fellow sojourners. In response to a facebook post of flannel week (the week between Christmas and New Year), I hope to begin the journey of falling in love with the God Jesus knows with other like-minded women in the next couple of weeks as we take on a curriculum for Christlikeness.  If you are interested in joining the journey, just let me know.  We’ll meet once a month while taking on James Bryan Smith’s Apprentice Series.

4. That I should have used as much moisturizer on my neck as I did on my face
Looking at current photos, I have to agree with Anita Renfroe, “All a woman really wants before she dies is one, good picture.”

5. That artificial sweeteners encourage overactive bladders
Women over 50 should just bite the sweet bullet and use the real sugar. I watched Dr. Oz only twice this year and discovered he really does know what he’s talking about when it comes to Vitamin C for leveling my kind of stress, and artificial sweeteners lead to over-active bladders.

6. That I want to live with my man
In the fall of 2011, my man was laid off from a company that recruited him only a couple of years before. His tenacity at finding a new job in this, less than generous, economy found him employed by 4 different companies in the first three months of 2012. The last one caused us to set up an apartment in North Carolina for him for 8 months. Even the tweeners in our church were praying that Mr. Bob would find a job to bring him back home…and God answered those prayers with a fabulous, “Yes!” My old “roomie” returned the first of December and I am thrilled beyond words. We are meant to grow old together and I am honored to be his Mrs.

7. When going to doctor’s appointments, go with a girlfriend
If you want to laugh your head off, share stories, be wonderfully distracted from a scary procedure, and entertain the nurses and other medical staff, go with a girlfriend. Even a colonoscopy….go with a girlfriend!  I am available to pay it forward.

8. That we can live on less than we thought
Refer to #6.  If God can multiply fishes and loaves, numbers are easy.

9. That I can love more deeply than I ever dreamed
On Good Friday, Baby Girl gave birth to Mr. Yummy. I was there. He is so much fun. But watching her become this fabulous mother is the most beautiful thing I have ever observed.

10.  Just add more “white” when you want to lighten a paint color
A “Duh” moment, I know…but it was pivotal for me.  I had begun to over-think things.  Alot of things.  I discovered that I think things to death on my own.  It is so much easier and it is safe to invite others to join the journey of discovery.  I also realized that I have beautiful women who share the road with me.  Very gifted women.  Very kind women.  Very funny women.  Very generous women.  May I be the friend to them they are to me.

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.”  Deuteronomy 29:29

I could hardly contain myself when #2 Son and Baby Girl chose to spend their first Christmas as a family-of-three with us in North Georgia.  Our first Grandson, aka Mr. Yummy, is 8 months old and has me waiting for every sound and every squeal as Baby Girl and I talk on the phone just about every day.

She is such a great daughter as she shares every “first” with me, even over the phone.  God knew what He was doing when He had us born in the iPhone age with photos and videos at our fingertips.  Mr. Yummy hears my voice practically every day as I speak love and encouragement to his new Mommy as she fully understands the awesome responsibility to raise a young man.

It had been 4 months since I had seen him last and feared he’d be resistant to me, but he came straight to me from the arms of his Daddy with the flirty grin that has melted my heart more times than I can count over these last 6 precious days.

We went to church where he flirted with all the ladies and chewed on the pews.  We crawled on the floor and climbed up refrigerators, windows, dishwashers, and mirrors as he explored his reflection.  We chewed on Baby Jesus from the Little People’s Nativity purchased at last year’s after-Christmas sales and wooden spoons were banged on anything that made great noise.  We played with flashlights, wrapping paper, and slid on blankets across the hardwood floors.

“Pat the Bunny”, “Goodnight Moon”, and “Guess How Much I Love You” board books joined a small soccer ball, a small football, a small basketball, and Christmas pajamas were first-Christmas gifts.  The other stuff will come soon enough.

He won’t remember a thing about his first Christmas, but we will.  His Pop will see the teeth marks on the coffee table soon enough.  His Uncle Ben is always looking for “My Uncle Rocks” tshirts.  And I have a salt-dough footprint ornament Baby Girl made which initiated much laughter and conversation.

“How do you breathe?”, asked a friend when she found out that our first grandson is growing up so far away. I breathe by inhaling and exhaling on the grandchildren of others who’s grandparents live so far away. When we invest in the lives of other’s little people, we trust that another family of faith will be be investing in the life of our little people who live so far away. I pray that his faith community will be living examples of the grace and extravagant love, the tender authority and compassion shown by our Savior to each of us.

“Come thy fount of every blessing, tune my heart to hear thy grace; streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.”

Just a little something that should make the little people smile in our family of faith this Sunday so close to Christmas:

Making 26 took 2 boxes of Whoppers candies picked up at Publix and 26 red gumballs that I found in every color at Party City.  10 Whoppers and 1 red gumball were placed in the small ziploc bags found at WalMart in the craft section.  And not sending a single thing out without printed scripture, John 13:35 seemed appropriate and HAD to be printed in red.  Tweeners will be handing them out as ushers at the end of both services this Sunday.

“If you love one another everyone will KNOW you are my disciples” John 13:35

Wanting to pump some meditation and contemplation into the Christmas season for our 3rd-5th graders, we set out a “Silent Night” last Sunday night for CLUB345. CLUB345 is aimed at meeting the changing needs of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. We meet on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month from 5pm-7pm. CLUB345 helps to bridge the gap that preteens feel as they transition from their elementary to teenage years, by using a format similar to a club gathering, but with faith formation subject matter and activities that address their age appropriate needs and issues.

We posted the expectations at the threshold of the Sanctuary and dismissed the students two by two (Jesus never sent out His disciples one at a time) to work independently and in silence. The students were instructed to raise their hands if a question arose and a leader would meet them outside the silent zone to whisper any clarification. Silent zone meant silence.

We had 8 un-numbered stations throughout the pew, chancel, and narthex areas. Various strings of Christmas lights were used to provide space definers and we needed only 3 tables for hard/flat surfaces. The students carried their journals with them (we have a journalling component at every CLUB345 meeting)  with the tools to make the journal entries (tape, tissue paper, colored markers, cardstock, ink, air-dry clay, ribbon, etc.  I tried to photograph each station, but they didn’t turn out well, so I have posted below the instructions that were set out at each station.  We added other visuals to go with the stations like nativities, battery operated votives, and items to add to the station visuals.

Inspiration came from “Living Light was Born One Night: Advent Devotions for Children” written by Arden W. Mead through Creative Communications circa 1996/2006.

After our Silent Night, we had about 20 minutes remaining when we discussed how the silent “felt”, what was the favorite station (anything with a stamp), and we took the following True/False quiz of what the bible actually says about the Christmas story.

It took 1 hour and 10 minutes for the students to rotate through the stations and believe it or not, the silence zone was honored. Our senior pastor provided a continuous run of an instrumental Christmas CD and a continuous burning fireplace on the big screen throughout the event. The kids loved it!  And so did we.

Little people can make the traditional Christmas season gingerbread house OR we can get our “Jesus is the reason for the season” on and do a little something different: edible nativities.

The most difficult part is getting the empty shoe boxes with the removable lids so soon after Operation Christmas Child, but it can be done.

Line the lid with aluminum foil and plan to place the bottom over the masterpiece to keep the “hay” in place.

Here are the supplies:

Prepare the day before with connecting the stable using the graham crackers and the frosting onto the foil-lined shoebox lid using craft sticks.  Be generous with the frosting and it should harden well for the little people to continue to decorate without fear the thing will collapse.

Must-haves for decorating:  M&Ms (pop of color), pretzel sticks, animal crackers, and the Pepperidge Farm People cookies (found ours at Publix).  When all the decorating is finished, top it off with a good crunching of a Shredded Wheat bar over it all for hay.

Finished product:

“This will be a sign to you:  You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Luke 2:12