a beautiful prayer

in a song. Can't help but think of this hymn when I think about the new year...Be Thou my Vision...I love it...and it's first on this playlist :)

Be Thou My vision

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

Merry Christmas!

The girls woke up extra early this morning and laughed when they noticed Santa ate some of his cookies but left some for them...and they were kinda sad that Charlie, our elf, flew back home.

We celebrated Christmas at the Watsons...enjoying one another, opening presents, and eating a heavenly feast :)

Jesus' birth amazes me....God humbling Himself by coming to earth as a baby, to dwell amongst us, show us how to live, and then being perfect and sinless, dying a criminal's death on a cross to pay for our sins.

Merry Christmas!

The Nutcracker!

a note home...

blessed...

The grace of God...

I didn't understand the gospel for a long time. Most of my life, I could of told you that Jesus died and three days later He rose, victorious over sin and death, and that's the good news.

But I didn't understand that He did it all. I still thought I needed to do something. I needed to stop doing x and start doing y.

...and then my heart heard the gospel for the first time just a few years ago. From a passage in 2 Corinthians 5:21, 'God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.'

The word picture is this: When God looked at Jesus on the cross, He saw me (all of my sin), so that when He sees me, He sees Jesus. Jesus did it all...when He sweat drops of blood in the garden, it wasn't because He was about to be crucified, but because He was going to face the full wrath of God and pay the penalty of our sin.

Because of Jesus, there is nothing I can do to earn salvation and there is nothing I can do to lose it. Amazing grace...check out this new video!

getting ready for Christmas...

the elf is back!

and he's watching for good behavior :)

the girls decorated their tree with their ornaments they make at school and church :)

Erin and Brooke are super heros!

and fancy nancy.