Merry CHRISTmas!! :)

"And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.

That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, but the angel reassured them. 'Don't be afraid!' he said. 'I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior- yes, the Messiah, the Lord- has been born tonight in Bethelehem, the city of David! And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!'

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others- the armies of heaven- praising God: 'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors.'" (Luke 2:6-14, NLT, italics added)

There is nothing better on earth than this story to blog about today, or really any day. "Don't be afraid!" Far too often I struggle in fear over the big and little things of life. Children's health, moving on after death, loneliness, failures, finances...getting homework done, clean kids, clean house, job-work done, home stuff done, too much to get done!

But yet God says, "Don't be afraid!!" The angel proclaims, I bring you GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY for EVERYONE! Everyone includes me,...not EXcludes me. There is no reason to fear, or worry, or be anxious for anything. Because God has come, Immanuel, Jesus in the flesh , born as a human baby to come for me and EveryOne!

Worry be gone, and be replaced with joy in my heart on this blessed Christmas. We are here, we are together. God has blessed us abundantly with salvation in Christ. Amen & Merry Christmas!! :)

December details

December 14th was another busy day... in the morning Katey got to be MARY!!! at church in her Sunday School's nativity play for the congregation. That was the most still I had ever seen her sit, she was so proud to be Mary. Kelly sang and played the hand bells with the older kids, too. Then that afternoon we headed to Poppy's masonic lodge Christmas party with Santa, gifts, elves, food, and crafts. The kids had a great time. Here are all the Carman great-grandkids with Santa.

Swimming Lessons

During Nov. & Dec. I took the girls to the RecPlex every Saturday morning for swim lessons. They loved it and hated for the lessons to end, they are both little fish and love the water! Someday hopefully we'll have our own pool in the backyard to splash around in.

Katey's preschool Christmas program

December 8th was a big night for our Kaitlyn! Her first Christmas program at her preschool. She was the cutest little angel, sang every song, remembered the words and hand motions, it was so precious. She was so proud of herself and we were, too! She had quite a fan club there as well: Mom, Dad, Kelly, Nana, Papa, Grammy, Poppy, Uncle Scott, Aunt Jenny, Kyle, and Sam.

Dietz-Dowell Christmas party

December 6th we celebrated an early Christmas dinner and party with the Dietz, Dowell, and Humphres' families. We had a delicious dinner out at Famous Dave's (yummy BBQ) and then the kids opened gifts back at Jenny & Scott's house. The 4 kids loved their rolled up money from Aunt Wanda especially. I love this photo of my parents with their 4 grandchildren. The best present I received this year was having Nana with us to celebrate, thank you God!