Merry Christmas

Dear Readers, 

The time has come for the authors of this little blog to take a writing break to have those few extra minutes to celebrate God with Us with their families. This will be the last post before Christmas. Check back on Monday, December 27, 2010 for the best of the MOPS blog features. New material will be written beginning Jan 3rd. 

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year's celebrations. 

Sarah (On behalf of all the authors here.)

Luke 2 (taken from The Message)

The Birth of Jesus

 ^1-5About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.  ^6-7While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

An Event for Everyone

 ^8-12There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."  ^13-14At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:

   Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
   Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
 ^15-18As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us." They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.
 ^19-20Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they'd been told!

Blessings

 ²¹When the eighth day arrived, the day of circumcision, the child was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived.  ^22-24Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God as commanded in God's Law: "Every male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God," and also to sacrifice the "pair of doves or two young pigeons" prescribed in God's Law.
 ^25-32In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:

   God, you can now release your servant;
      release me in peace as you promised.
   With my own eyes I've seen your salvation;
      it's now out in the open for everyone to see:
   A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
      and of glory for your people Israel.
 ^33-35Jesus' father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother,

   This child marks both the failure and
      the recovery of many in Israel,
   A figure misunderstood and contradicted—
      the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
   But the rejection will force honesty,
      as God reveals who they really are.
 ^36-38Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.
 ^39-40When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him.

They Found Him in the Temple

 ^41-45Every year Jesus' parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up as they always did for the Feast. When it was over and they left for home, the child Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents didn't know it. Thinking he was somewhere in the company of pilgrims, they journeyed for a whole day and then began looking for him among relatives and neighbors. When they didn't find him, they went back to Jerusalem looking for him.  ^46-48The next day they found him in the Temple seated among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. The teachers were all quite taken with him, impressed with the sharpness of his answers. But his parents were not impressed; they were upset and hurt.
   His mother said, "Young man, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for you."
 ^49-50He said, "Why were you looking for me? Didn't you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?" But they had no idea what he was talking about.
 ^51-52So he went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them. His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself. And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.

As We Wait

 

Tis the season of Advent. Waiting expectantly in our house sometimes ends up looking like a frenzied last minute rush to add some merriment and tradition to the season. I could see it now.

Husband: So what were your Christmas traditions?

Abigail: Well, Mom spent the holiday's frustrated, grouchy, and in a hurry.

Husband: What did you do?

Abigail: Rushed around alot.

OK, so maybe that isn't quite how it would go, but I'm telling you I could picture it and I didn't like it. (The Christmas planner I tried and advertised at our meeting bit the dust in the two-weeks of Birthday and Thanksgiving.)

I did what is becoming habit: read some blogs. Then I came up with a plan. And advent calendar that marks the days not with candies but with activities--

• watch a holiday movie (or four), 
• sing and dance Christmas carols, 
• make ornaments, 
• address and send Christmas cards, 
• read special stories, 
• give, give, give.

That's what we have. Lest you think more of me than you should, I will confess that the envelops weren't filled till the 3rd and the tree wasn't on the wall till the 5th and it still isn't straight. But, hey, I wasn't looking for perfection, just for tradition.

Now I can hear it.

Wife: So what did you do for Christmas in your family?

Simon: Well, Mom stuck a crocheted sting on the wall in the shape of a wounded Christmas tree and hung decorated envelops from it with things to do as we waited for Christmas. I think we should do that too. 

Well, maybe my imagination may be getting a little ahead of itself there. But I have my aspirations.

As an aside, I just bought a magazine, whole living, and read an entire article on embracing the chaos. There now I don't have to feel bad about ditching the Christmas planner.

Applesauce Ornaments

These are fun to make and they smell, oh, so good. I don't do anything exactly, but Donna does so I am going to use her recipe and tell you what I do, or don't (other than measure).

• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 cup cinnamon
• 1 cup glue

Mix all together till a dough forms. Roll out. Cut out your ornaments remembering to put a hole for the hanger to go through. Dry.

Since I don't measure my recipe looks more like

• 1 jar of the cheapest applesauce I can find
• 3 large gars of the cheapest cinnamon I can find
• all purpose flour

Mix the applesauce and the cinnamon together. Add flour till the mixture is roll-able. This is best done with a mixer as getting the right consistency takes a while. Continue from above. Usually I am pretty picky about the food we buy, but since these are more for the smell and the fun I don't even look at the ingredient list!

Rejoicing in His love......

"I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.  You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place."  Psalm 31:7,8

There's just something about knowing that God sees my troubles!  Sometimes it's just the little trials - a flu bug hitting the family, a disagreement that brings irritation, disappointment with myself, fatigue, and unfinished tasks.  God is concerned and interested in my "small" problems. Nothing is too small for Him! 

Then there are the bigger trials - the ones that cause anguish.  Anguish over heartbreaking loss, tragic events, serious illness, broken relationships, devastating sin and the injustices of this cruel world.  He sees it all and understands what we go through each day.  He doesn't just look on and watch to see how we'll survive!  He comes right alongside us and helps us through each difficulty.  He steadies us so we can keep getting up every morning and caring for our families and other responsibilities. 

 I love the idea of Him leading us into a "spacious place".  We can feel so hemmed in by our circumstances, so powerless to change the trying situation at hand.  As we put it all in God's Hands, He allows us to feel that we are free and peaceful, even if the circumstances don't change. 

 During the Christmas season there are many happy moments and the anticipation of joyful events, but I still need the reassurance that God has His eye on me and is always there to help me.  I feel so incredibly blessed to know the true Gift of this season, Jesus, who loves us so much!  Christmas cards will bring us wishes of peace, love, and joy.  Amazingly, all of those are ours in Jesus.   When the moments of perplexity or doubt or weariness come, I will calmly do a reality check!  My God is aware of everything that has come my way and He is ready to help in every situation!  

written by Joy Herman

Candy Cane Ornament

I LOVE this craft idea that I stumbled onto on FamilyFun.com!
I cannot wait to make these with (or without my kids!) and add them into my basket of homemade gifts this year!!

You will need:

2 skeins of DMC Pearl Cotton, one red and one white
Scissors
Red pipe cleaners
½" to 5/8" ribbon

Directions:

1. Open a skein of cotton and snip the loop at each end so you have two bunches; repeat with the other skein. Then take one red bunch and one white bunch and tie them together into a single knot around the end of a pipe cleaner.


2. To make the stripes, twist the two colors around the pipe cleaner and knot the ends together around the other end. Trim the cotton at both ends and trim the pipe cleaner if need be.

3. Bend into a candy cane shape and adorn with a ribbon bow.


Tips:
These canes were created with fine DMC Pearl Cotton, but younger kids may have an easier time with chenille yarn or cord.

DMC Pear Cotton…is also known as cross stitch thread!

Recipe Gift Idea

This month we are going to help you try and get more organized at home, therefore helping you be more prepared for the busy Holiday season that is right in front of us!

We are going to feature this month on the blog, recipes that can be used as Christmas gifts!
Why not save some money and give a gift that is truly from your hearts and made with your own hands!


OLD TIME HARD CANDIES

2 cups white Karo Syrup

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. flavoring oil

6 drops food coloring (to match chosen flavor)

In a heavy saucepan with deep sides, combine Karo syrup and sugar. Boil to hard crack stage (300-310°F on a candy thermometer).

Remove pan from heat and add flavoring oil (orange oil, lemon oil, cinnamon oil, peppermint or spearmint oil, etc).

Add a food coloring to match the chosen flavor (yellow for lemon, red/orange for orange, red for cinnamon, green for mint).

Carefully pour mixture into a well buttered or oiled pan. Allow to cool long enough so that the candy may be scored into small pieces by running a buttered knife through without the mixture running together.

When candy has cooled completely, break the scored sections into pieces. Store in a cool dry place in an airtight container.

Caution: Sugar mixtures are VERY hot and will cause severe burns. Have a bowl of ice water close by, just in case.

Change things up!

Mommy & Me Thursday!


I was VERY happy when Jen asked me to do this Blog and the first thing that came to mind was how many different things I love to do with my kids and the different traditions we have!!

We do our best to make sure they do EVERYTHING possible that they can!! We always take *Free* into consideration when we do things.

We LOVE to take them to Jumonville, Nemacolin Woodland's Zoo (you basically drive around the resort and can get out and look at the many different types of animals they have!) ,CoopersRock, and Freindship Hill Mansion!! Just a few ideas of unique things we can all do with our children!

We all know that some of the traditions for holidays are really silly. So this year, I've decided that I was going to do everything to make sure the kids knew that there are alternatives to the the more "worldy" traditions of Halloween.
For example: We have decided to carve pumpkins but put sayings instead of faces like :"Shine for Jesus", "Smile God loves you", "Jesus is the way!", and "Faith" with a cross!!
We also are handing out our church's cards (we attend Cherry Tree Alliance) along with candy to our trick or treaters! We do wear costumes but not anything scary.
I just try to include the word and God's message in all that we do so that my kids will be able to pass the word too!:)

Also to those of you who attend Cherry Tree, I just wanted to add how GREAT it is to teach your children and how AMAZING the children really are!!Sometimes I think they teach me quite a few things!!I feel like its a priviledge to get to work with them and I'm very pleased at the growth of some of them!!I would also like to say I'm very happy for the little ones who have decided to have the Lord in their hearts!!;)

~this post was written by Telina Piper! Telina attends our Cherry Tree MOPS group and is the mother of three children!
(Edited by Jen G.)

Resolutions

So, I was reading yesterday about year naming at Holy Experience. (I really like her blog, really, really.) She talked about giving this new year a name, sort of a focus. A way of numbering our days, ordering the time before us. She is far more poetic than I am and I encourage you to read her words on the subject.

What name would I give this new year?

I have so many things I want to do, changes I want to see occur in my life. Is there one defining focus, a unifying point of reference in all the jumble? A name that if given to this year would beautifully package and enable all the questions and heart cries I have during this time of newness.

There are many words I have been mulling over in this middle ground of end and beginning:

order, routine, peace, discipline, present, rhythm.

I will name 2009 Rhythm. More than order and routine, rhythm implies presence and peace, discipline and joy. Rhythm is a word to be shared as this year is time to be shared. Rhythm hints at the sacred.

Do you have resolutions? Do you have a name for the year?

Black Friday

Are you going shopping? I long to say no way, but before I know it, I will need something silly--milk, or bread--and out I will go. But no Christmas shopping for me, today, unless it is the in-my-pajamas internet version.

My mom has a hard time with Christmas shopping now that her children are grown and married. We buy what we need and, oftentimes want, unregulated by parental authority and pre-planning (I don't know how many times I have told Abigail that Christmas is coming and she doesn't need anymore toys right now).

My mother-in-law has requested that she receive nothing this year. We may make a donation in their names somewhere, while not nothing, she doesn't have to find a place for anything or wear something she isn't fond of.

Do you find Christmas shopping difficult? How are you handling it this year? Now that the full swing of things is on, how do you intend to stay sane?

(Is this a good time to remind you that December 9th is our next MOPS meeting and we will be having an auction then.)