Lessons from Christen

This Christmas season has been special because Chris has come of age to understand, appreciate, and participate in the activities we've done.

We started out making a sock advent calendar to count down to Christmas, and she helped to clip the little socks on the ribbon and to stick the numbers on the socks. She was so excited to see what was in the sock for the day, and I was amazed she knew exactly which day it was. I put treats, verses, time tickets with Mommy and Daddy in the socks.

We've also baked cookies for friends and people around us.

But most of all, it's been special because of the lessons she's taught me. When we were in the car going to a friend's house to have a Christmas celebration, she said, " I don't want to get any more presents. I have enough presents already." At that point in time, she only had one present under the tree. I thought she was just kidding. When our friends gave her a present, she said, " I don't want any more presents." I was thinking, " Well, Mommy would like more presents!" My little one taught me what contentment was.

On Christmas day, we opened presents, and Christen received this Princess stationery set. I knew she had friends who really liked them, and would appreciate it more than her. So I asked if she was willing to give it away to them. She said, " I really like it too, but I'll give it to my friend."

I was so proud of my gal! I was also humbled by her willingness to give, and it reminded me of how God was willing to give His one and only Son to redeem our sins. I have a big lesson to learn about giving.

My favourite painting done by Chris

Christmas 2008

C. acting as the shepherdess carrying baby Jesus in her sling

Baking sugar cookies for gifts - L. having a ball with flour!

Carolling at the hospital - was amazed that the kids were not afraid when they saw sickly and elderly patients; the kids went up to the patients and were very tender towards them

Reflections...

We were in the car yesterday and dh and I were talking about some people we knew who were going away on vacation without their kids. I said I was really angry, and Chris turned to me and asked me why. This was how the conversation went:

Chris: Why are you so angry, Mommy?

Me: Because some people don't spend time with their children and read to them, and play with them. ( Pause). Does Mommy do that?

Chris: No! You do nice things to me everyday, and spend time with me, and read to me, and play with me, and love me.

Needless to say, I was over the moon. My daughter actually understands that this is how I'm loving her.

Not that I'm against couples going away to build on their marriages or to take breaks. But I realize I'm really passionate for children, and get really worked up when I see that parents are not spending enough time with their children . My daughters have taught me time and again that all they want and need are for Daddy and Mommy to play with them and just BE with them.
For example, we were planning to go on a mission trip to Thailand. We prepped the girls, prayed with them every night, talked about going on a airplane, and at least Chris was really excited. But when the airport was closed, and we explained to Chris that we weren't going anymore, she wasn't disappointed. She was just so happy that Daddy was home for 6 whole days, and that we hung out and did things as a family.

Covenant EFC Vacation Bible School

We did VBS for the first time in my church, and I offered to help, not knowing what I was getting in to. It took a few months of planning and preparation, days of setting up, and days after the camp to recover from the sheer exhaustion. We set up the room to look like a Mayan jungle. Other rooms were decorated to look like a Native American village, Hawaii, Medieval Castle, Ancient China. It was amazing to see the creativity and effort of all the teachers. We were supposed to teach the ten commandments.

It was a blast running it, and although it was challenging at times to have my little 'caterpillars' with me ( I was Ms Butterfly) throughout the camp, the great thing was that the gals came back singing the camp songs. One of the songs was ' Obey, obey your parents'. The night they came back from the camp, they were talking to each other while lying on their beds. One would pretend to whine, and the other would say, " Obey!"

Hand Flowers

We made these hand flowers - cutouts of the kids' handprints, rolled them up and attached a straw to each flower. Then we put them in a vase ( a cut plastic water bottle) to give to a friend who gave birth to twins and had complications and so couldn't have fresh flowers in her ward.

Thought it looked really nice and it was really easy to make. Got this idea from http://www.oureverydaythings.com

My Birthday Celebration

I'm the kind of person who thinks, " Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I'm gonna eat some worms". So the day before my birthday, I was throwing a little pity party for myself, thinking noone will remember my birthday. But thanks to Facebook, I received many well-wishes from friends from all over the world. That made me happy. :) Then, came my birthday, and I received smses from friends wishing me a Happy Birthday again.

My dh took the kids and I to the nice pizza restaurant at the Botanical Gardens, but we were turned away because he didn't make a reservation! I was disappointed, thinking I wasn't even going to get a slice of cake on the house on my birthday. We were starving by then, so I asked if we could take-away, and the waiter said yes. We got out our picnic mat, and it turned out to be a great birthday dinner under the stars!