emmanuel

jingles on the front door that announce everyones' coming and going
and the advent wreath on the dining table announcing His coming

one week, seven sleeps till Christmas.
The coming
The expectation
I feel it
I know what it feels like
a baby at Christmas
we had one!
what a blessing, our one and only daughter.

I feel it this year and in years past as our children come home...from their lives...away...

I feel it...it is Christmas...
Christ's birth, Christ's coming...Christ present
coming and present?!
I need His presence
like the psalmist...all the days of my life, all these days........
To shine in the darkness, to bring warmth and peace and comfort, safety and rest for night.
A future and a hope by day.
Definition and clarity...to see and navigate.
Truth to folllow, to lead and guide

It's so much more than a little straw in a manger,
pretty packages waiting to be placed under the tree...
which still needs to be gotten!?!? and decorated...
Vacuuming and bathrooms that still need cleaned...
and baking and cooking and grocering that still needs done...

It's life in Christ. God's presence in His world...
finding it and believing it and dwelling in Him, everyday

Being ever so grateful
that God loves us
and gave Himself, His only son
to take away our sin, our shame
that we might live...today and for eternity
freely
joyfully
eternally

what a sweet gift, what blessed knowledge
what a difference it makes

and yet not everyone knows it.....

and that is what I long to give........

yet today awakens out my windows
and so I live...
Friday's women's group and our Christmas food basket to be finished and delivered
Then to pick up my mom for the weekend
The 23rd birthday girl's festivities.

This will be our first Christmas together since our first child was a baby, 1985?!?!?
{no... they came about ten years ago after Christmas, for New Year's?!?}
and then I'll take her back Tuesday
and then she'll come back with our daughter Thursday night, Christmas Eve...
and when we go to my hubby's family Christmas the day after Christmas...
we'll take her home again...

poor thing...all those days of being away from home, sleeping on our sofa!?!?
At least I can rest assured that she really does like sleeping on that sofa!
I know being away from home is hard anytime, anywhere though

and this will be her first Christmas away from home
her first Christmas back north...since her move
and especially with all that's going on right now......

I thank God for my mom.
She is here, alive and living
with us

She gave me life...I am her first born child, a daughter...
Without her I would not have this wonderful life...
My hubby, my kids, this family, this home, and the shelter they provide
all that comes in and goes out
the comings and goings
that God preserves today and for evermore
                                              Psalm 121 :8