Merry Christmas!

Haha! This was the best pictures we could get. We were trying to get a good picture to make Christmas cards with, which we didn't get too. lol I love Calvin's cheesy smile!

This Christmas season my family did all the things we usually do. We baked cookies, watched a few Christmas movies, like, The Nativity, and White Christmas. We have gone shopping for gifts, trimmed the tree, made gifts with the kids and have been listening to Christmas music since Thanksgiving Day! This can be a fun-filled, memory making time of year. But the last thing I want to do is make memories that are filled with fun and excitement for my children, and not help them and myself reflect on God coming down among us, to save His people from their sins.


Matthew 1:21"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."


saiah 53 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
²For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
³He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
⁴Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
⁵But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
⁶All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
⁷He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
⁸By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
⁹His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
¹⁰But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
¹¹As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
¹²Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.


As we reflect on Jesus as a babe lying in a manger, we can reflect on the fact that our God is a promise keeping God. He is not slow to keep His promises; though at times I think he is. His coming the first time was for some, a sign of hope, but for others, judgment. And it is the same for when He comes back! He will not come back as a suffering servant, but rather; the conquering King! This is hope for His people who eagerly await for the fulfillment of this promise, but will mean judgment and great fear for those who have rejected Him. Each Christmas season, we try to take the time to not only reflect upon the birth of our Savior, but the fact that we are awaiting His return to bring us into glory with Him.

Titus 2:11-14 1For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

¹²instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

¹³looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

¹⁴who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Lord, we eagerly await for your appearing! Come Lord Jesus!