I think I left off at Halloween, but that was a long time ago now and a lot has happened, so I will do my best to fill you in on our family's adventures since then.
I was able to get the day after Thanksgiving off from the bank so we spent about 4 days with my family in Tulsa and it was a wonderful break. We had Thanksgiving lunch here with the Wells and then drove down and made in time for more turkey. My mom's back is injured right now so she was able to spend the 4 days with us work-free (her back injury has been a blessing in disguise, but please do pray for her recovery). Brenton had a lot of fun chasing the cats around and playing with "Riah" and "Ronda" (Moriah and Maranda for those of you who don't speak 'Brenton')! I was very thankful for the amount of quality time we got to spend with them.
In between Thanksgiving and Christmas we had fun as a family getting our Christmas tree, decorating, shopping, wrapping, and waiting for Santa. Brenton never said "Santa" this year, but has mastered "ho ho ho" and "man", which is what he says for "snowman". He loved all the Christmas music and I almost got him to sing Jingle Bells a little! He still loves music-- I don't think I've talked about that since he was pretty little-- he dances to any beat, shakes his "racas", bangs the tambourine harder than I think you are supposed to and is pretty good at turning ANYTHING and EVERYTHING into a drum with his drumsticks. Also, at our Christmas service at church this year there was a brass ensemble playing in the foyer after the service and Brenton was FASCINATED by the sounds coming out of those shiny horns! He seriously stared and stared in amazement so I am thinking a trumpet is in his future! :) Of course, his Godmother, Ann, was in town a little, too and definitely added some influence with her musical gifts, which Brenton loves. She even got him a color-coded musical recorder that we can teach him songs on pretty soon!
What else....oh yeah, TRAVIS FINISHED SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's official, folks! His diploma will be here in a few weeks! I am so proud of him finishing this last semester strong! So-- on with the job search! If you know of any design leads please pass them on! Travis has already hand delivered his resume and portfolio to a few local leads that he had and one firm is going to be setting up an interview with him probably next week!! We are really excited about this time in our lives-- a season of change is coming! Please pray for us as we listen for that still, small voice letting us in on the great plans He has in store for us.
Speaking of which, Travis and I have really been focusing and centering ourselves and our family on this thought: 2009 is going to be a year of blessings for all of us if we allow Christ to lead. We watched a movie, "Facing the Giants", last week that has really impacted us on the way we are living every day. If you haven't seen the movie, I would highly recommend it-- even if it is about football! There are a couple of things that we have taken from the movie that are becoming like mantras for us and I'd like to share them with all of you:
1. In the movie, a man tells a story about 2 farmers who were constantly praying and praying for rain, but only one farmer prepared his fields for the rain. Only the farmer who prepared his fields was ready for the blessings God poured down on them. In our lives, we pray and pray that God will lead us into great things, bless us with wonderful things, give us guidance and direction....but how often are we truly living our faith fully and preparing for the blessings He would have for us. Whatever God's plans for us, Travis and I are committed to living our faith, preparing for the rain.
2. The coach in the movie hits a place that some would see as 'rock bottom'. He turns to his faith for answers and has a huge shift in his philosophy about life- coaching- everything. The phrase that he sticks with throughout the rest of the story is this: "we're going to praise Him when we lose and praise Him when we win". So, whether you are feeling up, or down, or anywhere in between- stop and praise God. Find something to praise Him for- I promise it won't be hard. Praising God blesses our spirit, our soul, our lives.....blesses us with blessings.....get it.....blessings, like the rain I mentioned above.
I have to tell you that God is faithful and has already demonstrated to Travis and I that He is a great God-- just in the short week that we have been focusing our hearts on these things. Yesterday we went to do some exchanges from Christmas and decided to eat at On the Border with a gift card we had. As we were packing up take-home boxes our server came by and said, "so, about your bill- there was this guy over there that sat and read the newspaper and ate by himself- he stopped me, gave me 60 bucks and said take care of mine and their tabs for me, please". As Travis prayed last night, Thank you, God, for the servants you have here around us-- for the blessings you give to us. For a while after our meal, Travis and I kept talking about this- who was he? what did he look like? does he do this for people often or was he lead to bless us? You know what, though? I don't think it really matters to me now what he looked like or who he was- I'm pretty convinced he looked a lot like Jesus.
I'm going to stop there for now- we hope to hear from all of you about your Holidays and your encounters with realizing the blessings God sends to you! Here are some pictures:
