Come As You Are: 12/1/12

Friday, December 14, 2012

Thankful Wreath 2012

As I looked around my son's classroom, while helping in class, I was blessed to learn what the students are thankful for....

I found the leaf that I thought my son wrote "Legos and more Legos"

I am thankful that I got a glimpse of the gratitude in the hearts of these kids

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Josh's exciting surgery (titled by Josh himself)

We just arrived at the hospital!

Josh is here for outpatient surgery, and the blessings of a Children's Hospital is the beauty to capture a child's mind....

Ready and waiting for surgery. We took advantage of the time and we read books together. Josh shared his fears with us, then with his doctor, asking "I'm worried your gonna start before I fall asleep." Dr. B encouraged him, "It'll be okay. I'll wait for you. We'll do it together." We shared a group hug, and off they went to the Operating Room.

Roaming around, waiting to be called to the recovery room.

His nurse complemented that he didn't look like he had surgery!

He looked great!

Dr. B reminds me of the type of doctor in the movie Patch Adams. COMPLETELY endearing, Silly, FUN, gives from the HEART, professional, and excellent at his work. He clearly LOVES the role of physician. We have been blessed that he's been a part of our journey for the past 4 and a half years.

God's hand was on this surgery. I appreciated that Josh could articulate his concerns to Doctor B. Doing so, Dr. B was able to address Josh's fears directly. Josh said his favorite part of this day, was the surgery! Later, when friends asked how it went, he said, "I LOVED my surgery!" Thank you God for your faithfulness. We just had Josh's follow up appointment and all is healed. Praise God, the Ultimate Physician, who made His presence known.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

St. Nick

This is a typical sight in our home, Pete reading to our boys -- Boys In Bible. This evening we read a few Christmas books too with our advent candles glowing.

One night I found Aidon in this position, with God's Word opened up to Psalms. The next day, I leaerned that Aidon got up to get his Bible and fell asleep reading it. I was so blessed to see that God is his strength.

On December 6th, we remember a man named Nicholas and how he loved Jesus. He loved in word and action, and was later named a saint, Saint Nicholas. St. Nick also secretly gave gold coins as dowry for three women of a poor family, so they could be provided for through marriage. God's word tells us in Matthew 6: 1 "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it....but when you give...do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret."

I had forgotten about this annual tradition, truth be told, when we were planning our December calendar as a family. Josh asked, "When do we fill the stockings?" and Aidon recalled aloud, "St. Nicholas!"

They each pulled out their stash of spending money and we went as a family to buy stocking stuffers for each other. This takes coordination! We each go to pay individually, so the parents keep trading off kids and cashier lines.

This month, we have spent our mealtimes talking about what we'd like to give to someone, what we're thankful for, or something one would wish for (any time of the year). Through this, I learned what they might think of a "something" as a gift for someone else. Since I am sometimes not confident with choosing gifts, I've enjoyed learning about them.

I enjoy watching the kids' joy in giving and also when what we've picked for them brought them a sense that they're loved, thought of, and cared about.