Blue Christmas

You may have been wondering what happened to me because I told you that I would post again on December 15th, when I participated in the 2008 Tour of Homes! Well...unfortunately I have been SICK SICK SICK, which prevented me from participating in the tour.

This is not the only thing that has not gone my way so far this Christmas. In fact, in the words of Elvis, I would say that this has been a "blue blue blue blue Christmas" in our home this year! Ok, maybe not that bad...you know how dramatic I can be! Besides technically Christmas is not even here yet! But seriously, here are a few things that have not gone our way so far:

1. We spent the 1st 2 weeks of December frantically running from one church event to another, leaving the boys with 5 babysitters in 2 weeks, not including the time they were away from us in the nursery or preschool...this is probably why I ended up SICK! Now, don't get me wrong, these were all good and fun events in and of themselves...but when you have 1, 2, even 3 events a day almost everyday for 2 weeks straight...this can get a little crazy, even tiring, leaving you beat down! Not to mention all of the responsibilities we held at each of these events and the meltdowns we had to deal with from our children along the way!

2. We finally made it through the marathon, only to end up SICK and not able to do the fun family things I had plannned for us...including movie marathon day, taking the boys to see Christmas lights, and playing with all of the fun stuff Gigi sent the boys!

3. For the 2nd year in a row, Aaron and I were not able to go to Hyde Park Praise with some friends of ours!

4. I was not able to attend my Girls Night Christmas Ornament Exchange!

5. I was not able to go to church this past Sunday or lead Fit Camp this week!

6. My house is a DISASTER since I have been too sick to care, Anderson just does whatever he wants!

7. And to top it all off...the one night we had free in the 1st 2 weeks of December before I got sick, we went with 2 other families out to Marble Falls to see the lights but when we got there, it started raining so we went to eat dinner hoping the rain would pass...by the time dinner was over, it was sleeting and freezing so the lights were turned out, we never got to see them! On the way home, it started snowing! Only in Austin can it go from 80 to freezing and snowing in one day! We joked about the fact that we went all the way to Marble Falls just to eat at Chili's, we could have just stayed in Austin to do that! At least we have a funny story to tell!

On a more serious note, I have been a little down because my friend Melissa's dad has been in ICU for over a week and I have another friend who is struggling in her marriage. Please pray for these 2 situations as well as for me to get better FAST and stay well! I am supposed to go home this weekend to see family and friends but I am afraid that may not happen either!

OK...enough of the pity party...just wanted to let you know where I have been and what has been going on! As soon as I get better, I promise to post my own tour of homes so that you can see the rest of my Christmas decorations, as promised, and I will also give a report of the fun family stuff we end up doing with the boys in the next week or so!

In the meantime, as a reminder to myself, we are commanded to "Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4). Thankfully only happiness is equated with circumstance...not JOY! We can still be joyful despite our circumstances because of JESUS!

Let's not get SO caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season that we forget the TRUE reason for the season! Luckily I did all of my decorating and shopping early this year and have already done most of my cards and wrapping so that I can now stop and focus on this one incredible event in human history(Matthew 1:20-23):

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet: 'The virgin will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' which means, 'God with us.'