Christmas Traditions

I'm linking up today with Kelly's Korner about Christmas traditions.

Growing up, we lived in Ohio far away from both sets of grandparents - Mom's parents were in NY state and Dad's in TX.  So it was generally just the 5 of us for Christmas.  We went to church on Christmas Eve and then afterwards were allowed to open one gift, and it was usually the gift from my Dad's mother and stepfather (not sure why, it just was).

Christmas morning, before any presents were opened, my Dad would read the Christmas story from the Bible, in Luke.

Then one by one, we would open gifts one at a time, so we could see what everyone got - so Dad would open one, then Mom would open one, then I would, then brother #1 would, then brother #2 would, then back to Dad again, etc. until we were finished with all the presents.  I prefer this method over everyone tearing into everything and no one knowing what each other got and seeing the expression on each other's face when Mom opened your present, etc.

Then, we kids would lay out our presents on the sofa on display so Dad could take pictures of what we got to send to grandparents and for the record in our photo albums.  We were blessed that we always had great Christmases - nothing lavish - my Mom didn't work outside the home until my youngest brother went to school, and when she did 100% of it went to college savings - but we got (what I now understand to be) generous presents each year.

Throughout Christmas Day, we would play Handel's Messiah on the record player (yes, I'm that old!)  That's some of my favorite music ever.  We talked to our grandparents on the phone - which, because it was expensive to talk long distance - was a special thing.  We had Christmas dinner - usually ham, Mom's broccoli/green bean casserole, crescent rolls, some kind of jello salad, then pecan and some other kind of pie.  There were probably mashed potatoes but since I don't care for those I don't remember!

From the time I was 12 years old throughout my junior year of high school, Christmas morning also involved delivering the ginormous newspapers first.  My parents were so "generous" to give me a paper route for my 12th birthday.  To their credit, they did a LOT of the work and that money went to pay for college.  The papers were so huge Christmas morning because they had all the day-after-Christmas sale ads in them.

Unfortunately with us now geographically spread out in 3 states and by thousands of miles, my two brothers and their families, Mom and Dad and I haven't been together for Christmas since the last one at the homestead in Lima, OH in 2005.  Maybe some day it will work out.  Mom & Dad have stockings for everyone just in case - including an extra for my spouse-to-be in case the Lord brings one, just so it will match with all the others! :)

So for the past 6 Christmases and this one too, it will be Mom and Dad and I in Houston at their house.  Thanks to the wonderful technology of FaceTime, hopefully we will see my brothers and their families and be able to talk to them sometime that day.  Later in the afternoon, my Dad's side of the family - his sister and her children and their children - will get together for dinner and we will enjoy being part of that.  Since 2001 when I moved down here to TX I have enjoyed being part of a large extended family Christmas dinner.

But if you had to ask me my favorite traditions, I would say listening to Dad read from Luke and listening to Handel's Messiah play in the background.  Because if we lose sight of what Christmas is all about, all the traditions in the world are just worthless.

Merry Christmas!

My Reading List

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner today - Show Us Your Life - What is Your Reading List???.

I read about a book a week of good Christian fiction. I love anything (and have read everything) written by Karen Kingsbury. I am reading (off and on, it's a long story) Made To Crave. Since I've read all KK's books, I've started at the beginning of the alphabet in my church's library fiction section. I have liked books by James Scott Bell (have only read this one so far, not so much into the suspense/mystery for bedtime reading!), Lynne Austin (you can find a list of Lynne's books here, I haven't read them all yet, but I did LOVE this series!)

I read a lot as a kid/teenager and then got away from the habit in college (had lots of other reading to do!!!) and as a young adult. I used to just watch TV right before I went to bed, but I found that I was having a hard time going to sleep. I changed the shows I watched so that I watch only "wholesome" shows with happy endings. I have even been known to avoid watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie if I think it will be sad!

Non-fiction books that I love are anything by Beth Moore, Sandi Patty's books and [some] political biographies/autobiographies of people that I agree with (perhaps narrow-minded, but again with the point of reading being relaxing!). HAPPY READING!!!

**disclaimer**any link to purchase any of these products is just me trying to point you to what I've read. I am not affiliated with any of the stores/sites and do not benefit from you buying anything, though I doubt you'd be sorry if you did. :)

Why I Love my Church

Hi. I'm linking to Kelly's "Show Us Your Life" theme today - my church.

Since moving to Dallas 9.5 years ago, I've been going to First Baptist Dallas. It was the 2nd church I visited here when I arrived in Dallas in July 2001, and I've never looked back. At the time, my two priorities were an active Singles' department and an orchestra in which I could play my oboe. Though now I'm not a part of either ministry, they both blessed me at that particular place in my life. In the past, I've also been a member of our amazing choir, but am taking a break right now due to low energy levels & Fibro.

Being a member of a large "mega-church" is never what I thought I'd do. Yet, due to my involvement in Sunday School (i.e., Bible Study class) and the music ministry, my church has never felt too big. I must admit that at first when I was no longer on the platform either in the choir loft or in the orchestra, it took me a while to get used to be a member of the congregation. But friendly fellow congregation members made me feel welcome and I settled into my new role, for this season of my life.

For several years now, by far my favorite ministry to be a part of is the Preschool Ministry. At first I worked in the 1.5 year old room, but after a little while they were getting too heavy for me, so I went to the baby baby room, the newborns. Depending on when the parents feel comfortable leaving them for a couple hours, the babies are anywhere from a few weeks to a few months when they first come to our room. It's amazing to see them grow and develop and it fills a major void in my life, a baby to love.

Enough about my involvement in my church - I need to share also the other ministries we have. There are too many to mention, but some of my favorites are the Downtown Pregnancy Center, the Dallas Life Foundation (for homeless), our missions' forcus, our Celebrate Recovery classes, the Womens' ministry, evangelism training, and our music ministry from 3 year olds on up. It's so amazing to see the "young people" lead us in worship on Sunday evenings.

But I've left out the most important part of a church - the preaching and sharing of the Word of God. Our Pastor, Robert Jeffress, unashamedly proclaims the Truth each week. He's been at our church for several years now. He's not only an eloquent speaker, but he has the ability to help us apply the inerrant Word of God to our personal lives. And if there is no application of Biblical truth in your life, then the best preaching in the world has failed.

While my church has been around for 150 years, God is still working at First Dallas! We are in the midst of a huge building program that will transform our facilities, but more important, have an even more extensive ministry to those in our community.

If you are in the Dallas area and are looking for a church, I hope you will consider mine. Please visit our website for newcomers, http://www.explorefirst.org/ or our main website, http://www.firstdallas.org/. Thanks for reading this!

SUYL: My Testimony

I'm late in getting this posted, but I wanted to join in with Kelly's "Show Us Your Life--Testimonies".


I used to think I didn't have a very interesting testimony...and the beginning is fairly mundaine...but hang on, because I promise the end will be worth the reading!


I was raised in a Christian home and in church from the age of 2 weeks old. When I was 7 years old, I asked my Mom lots of questions one day and she led me to Christ. In middle school and high school I had to make the conscious decision to stand up for Christ and how it would make a difference in me versus my classmates in public school. The Lord blessed me with a great support group of Christian friends, my church youth group and being a part of the local chapter of Teens For Christ. I went to a Christian college and went through the process of deciding whether I believed what I believed because it was what I was told to believe, or whether I agreed with it. Again the Lord was faithful to provide some great friends to help me during this time.


It wasn't until the fall of 1995 when I finished my student teaching that I began making decisions that gradually and very subtly lead me away from the Lord. There was not necessarily anything overt about my drifting away from close fellowship with Christ, but I see now how one decision after another led to hardening my heart to His still, small voice.


By the time the fall of 2000 came, I was a mess. The only relationships in my life were unhealthy and I was allowing those people to lead me further away from God. I spent my first 3 days in a mental hospital (for being suicidal) in August of 2000. While I was getting help from a therapist and doctor, things continued to decline and on the evening of October 1, 2000, I had a handful of pills in my hand. In the end, I'm not sure if it was stunt for attention or if I had intended on taking them, but it doesn't matter. I had sunk to the point that I believed the lie that I was worthless and due to the choices I had made, God could not possibly forgive me or love me.

I'm so thankful that the Lord in His mercy rescued me from myself. When I woke up on October 2, 2000 in the mental hospital, I felt like the scales had come off my eyes. I made some difficult decisions medically and relationally. Just 9 months later I moved site-unseen from MI to TX to go to Dallas Seminary. The Lord transformed my life by giving me a new start. I knew no one in Dallas when I moved here in July 2001, but quickly the Lord surrounded me with a good group of friends, a solid church and a good job.

While I was never able to complete my seminary degree (due to health and mainly $$), I hope I never forget what I learned during those years--much of which was outside the classroom. I'll never forget the moment when, in 2002, I was part of a group of ladies that was privileged enough to have lunch with Dr. Howard Hendricks ("Prof" to all of us). We went around the table and each gave a short testimony about how the Lord got us to DTS. After I shared mine, he looked at me and said "wow, what a testimony". Indeed--a testimony for which I want God to get all the glory.

While I have many regrets about my years of wandering away from my Shepherd, I bask in the mercy and grace He has showered on me. I hope I never forget all He rescued me from--not only eternally in my salvation, but from myself that night in October nearly 10 years ago and many, many times since. To Him be all the glory!

Show Us Your Life: Baby Names

I love baby names! I have always known the name of my first daughter due to my story about motherhood, which you can read in part here.

So, with my story in mind, naming babies is far-fetched, but I believe God is able and so a girl can still dream! :)

My first daughter will be named Hannah Hope. Hannah because I will have waited so long for her, and because the story of Hannah in the Bible has been such an encouragement and inspiration to me. Her middle name will be Hope, because dreaming about my daughter gives me reason to hope that God still plans for me to be a mother.

Each time I dream of having a baby, the baby is a girl. (not sure why, but that's how it is!) HOWEVER, I know being a mother of a boy would be phenomenal, too. I like strong, Biblical names like Josiah Paul (Paul was my maternal grandpa's name and he left such a legacy of love for his family). I also like Jonathan David because of the significance of these characters' stories in the Bible. I would like to honor my Dad in some way and his name is Charles Glenn. I'm not crazy about either for a baby boy, though I knew a baby boy named Charlie and he was a cutie pie! :) I would also want to consider the baby's Daddy's name as well as family names of men on his side of the family. Another idea would be to use my Mom's maiden name, Houston (pronounced "house"-ton) but the baby name would be pronounced like the city...

Additional names for girls that I like would ideally include somehow honoring the significant women in my life, whose names are Donna Mae (Mom), Dorotha Viola (maternal grandma) and Doris Mabel (paternal grandmother). While I don't like any of those names in their exact form right now for a baby girl, I would somehow like to somehow work them into a baby's name.

Other random baby girl names I love:
Bella
Caris or Karis (rhymes with terrace)
Sophia
Ella
Kate
Abigail (Abbie for short)

Other random baby boy names I like:
Liam (short for William)
Phillip (Phil for short)
Andrew (Drew for short)
Micah
Caleb
Jacob (Jake for short)

I could go on and on, but I know you have better things to do! Thanks for reading! :)

Favorite Charities

Today I am again joining Kelly's blog carnival (is that what it's called?).




This week's it's about our favorite charities. Here are mine:

1) My church - First Baptist Dallas. We are about to enter a building campaign and I'm very excited to see what God has in store for us.

2) Compassion - as of earlier this week, I am a sponsor of a Kenyan girl named Gertrude! I'm very excited and can't wait to embark on the journey of knowing and loving her. (I'll gladly share more when I have more to share about my child of the heart!)

3) Apartment Life - my friends are serving as a CARES TEAM right now and I've become aware of just how necessary and difficult a ministry this is. It is the furthest thing from just reduced rent!

4) My Alma Mater, Cedarville University. When I went there, it was Cedarville College. It's a small Christian school in Central Ohio. Though it's changed/grown a lot since I was there (an undisclosed number of years ago), I still believe very strongly in their mission and vision to educate the coming generations for impact on our world.


5) Dallas Life Foundation - Dallas Life is a homeless shelter (well, more than that, but) - a ministry that was begun by my church. I have volunteered there in the past helping to serve Thanksgiving dinner and have been humbled by how blessed I am to have a job, a place to live, and communication with my family. So many even in my same city don't have these same basic things.


6) Samaritan's Purse - I LOVE doing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for Christmas each year...it's a new tradition that Mom and I have started. I love picking out the goodies and imagining the joy on the child's face when he/she opens the box. :)



7) Susan G. Komen for the Cure - Each year since 2003 that I've been in Dallas (except for 1 year that I was sick), I have walked in the Race for the Cure. It's a very important charity to me because I know so many that have had themselves or have had loved ones with this dreaded disease. My paternal grandmother, my Gram, survived breast cancer in her 70's.