God With Us!

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"— which means, "God with us."
Matthew 1:23

Merry Christmas!

Jen

Thou Shall Not Steal

Do you know how proud I am of my daughter right now? It is so reassuring to know that at times of pressure, she is confident to make the right choices. Yesterday, during lunch, a little girl at her school asked her to steal food off of another child's plate for her. My daughter, Sunshine, told her no and the friend asked why.


"It is against the law to steal and against God's law- the 10 commandments."

"Well, I'm not from this country so I can steal."

"You live in America now, so you should not steal."

I guess this little girl has been stealing from others throughout the week- pencils, erasers, etc. Even though it may seem like something small- food or a pencil- my daughter recognizes that taking something that is not yours is wrong.

She told her that if she continued to do this she couldn't be her friend. She didn't like this very much and called my daughter a name in another language.
Later yesterday evening, Sunshine asked me if she should continue to be friends with this girl? I told her that this was a difficult question. I told her that she can still care about her, but not be friends with her. (meaning play with her, etc.) What do you think?

If we want our children to shine the light they have inside, yet not be influenced by the behavior of others, should they chose their friends wisely even at age 7?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Blessings,
Jen

One Winter's Night

There are so many beautiful Christmas stories written that are worth sharing with your children this time of year. Recently, we read One Winter's Night by John Herman. It is the story about a pregnant cow looking for shelter on the night of Christmas Eve. Two special mothers give birth on the same miraculous evening. The girls enjoyed the parallel between the Christmas story and Martha's story. Although the setting seems to be a bit different than what we would usually read about in the true Christmas story, it was still a lovely book to share with the girls.

Christmas Blessings,
Jen

God is With You

"Jesus is with me. Jesus is with me." I would repeat this to myself as a child when I was in a situation that was scary- bedtime in the dark or walking into the dark cellar looking for the light. Recently, my littlest was having a little bit of anxiety at bedtime. Older sis intervened by writing her a little note. It said: God is With You. It was very sweet to see my oldest comforting her little sister.

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
Psalm 118:6

Christmas Blessings,
Jen

Reminding Mom: The True Meaning of Christmas

The girls eagerly awaited as Daddy started setting up our artificial tree for them to trim. I refer to it as our Charlie Brown tree because it doesn't have a lot of branches, but once decorated it is perfect in my children's eyes. I bought it on special years back and was excited that it was already pre-lit. Excited until I plugged it in this year to find the top lit, the bottom lit, but the middle out. My husband's response- Oh, who cares, let's decorate it like this.

Really?
With the middle out?
Are you serious?

Shortly after, the girls come running over to me and say, Mommy- Christmas isn't about the tree. It is about Jesus. We can decorate it like this.

I knew in my heart that they were right. I told them that I agreed. I have to admit though, I did run out to the store and find a small strand of lights on sale for the middle. It would have just driven me crazy all season looking at our tree without lights.

Isn't it wonderful though at 5 and 7 they are telling Mommy what the focus of Christmas should be. Jesus is the Reason!

Christmas Blessings,

Jen

Little Blessing on his Way!

It won't be long now. I'll be meeting my little baby boy! Will he come on my due date- Christmas? It's so exciting not knowing when the baby will arrive with Christmas right around the corner, especially for my girls.

The baby is very active, strong heartbeat, and the head is down. His little right kidney is a little bigger than his left, so we will need to watch this after he is born. It's probably nothing serious, but please pray that his kidney will function properly.

Enjoy this Christmas season,

Jen