Elf.

It's one of my Favorites.
Cause I like sugar and stuff.

I'm not going to tell you how long this sucker took me.

But in toast to "National Answer the Phone like Buddy Day",

sorry about the delay..

Here she is....

and my favorite color is green by the way..:)

In Honor of Buddy..

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Ramblings of a mad woman.

I am NOT going to tell you that I tried to Elf my family for two hours and couldn't do it.


I am NOT going to let you know that it felt like I was trying to get to the next level on Mario... only to forget to save all my progress... and in the process lose my child's hours of precious investment..


I am NOT going to reveal to you that I did both into Wee hours of the morning and have THIS to show for both. which is really pretty amazing...


Cause that would mean that I have an addictive personality and that I couldn't figure out technology.. or I was irresponsible and I could have been picking the weird particles of...?... out of my silverware drawer or sleeping or something...

maybe it shows that instead of dealing with life- I was lost in a make believe world... one filled with imaginary characters who make me smile.. wait.


And as long as I am NOT being honest about it.. I won't tell you that I have a Christmas gathering that I need to cook for tonight.. and that instead of even GETTING the stinkin groceries..


Here I sit.


And you know it... I tried again...I couldn't get it to work.. But I'm NOT telling you that.


So instead of dancing elf children, this is what you get:


Gus.

One whole year old.

Isn't he just precious...?

2008: nuts.

As I wrap up this year, it's so easy for me to see how NUTS it has been. How many times have I been so incredibly desperate for God to tuck me in and hide me in Him?

How things in life can change in a whirlwind, never to be the same: churches, families, hearts.

One of the very first verses that stuck out to me when I was a brand new believer was:

John 3:8 The wind blows whereever it pleases. You hear it's sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

The invisible moving the visible. Do I trust that? Do I trust Him to be my defender? My planner? My ONLY hope?

It's more messy than I would like it to be: Life. It's really hard for me to be this vulnerable.

I really suck. I fail miserably ALL the time. I bank on my own feelings, insecurities, and emotions.

I should be dead in my own failures. But somehow I have ended up as HIS. and He is ok with me- even broken, crawling into His presence.

That's NUTS.

It lights a firecracker under my bottom and wakes me up. And brings me to my knees. At the end of this chapter, it's the only place I can be. In Him. The author of creation, the author of this tiny small speck in His story.

So I might wrap up this year a little nutso . Who was banking on me to be anything but?? But you know in that He is going to get the only Glory... :)

and Nutso as I am- all I have is trust in Him to bring this thing of life around in the very end..

(....I'm in the planning committee for that party...)

O Christmas Tree...

o little tree.

we drove for hours to find you.

i don't know that you ever knew what hit you.

i am so sorry that we left you alone on the porch while we frightened you and left you caught in the crossfire.

forgive us for the trimming and primping. we really do think that you are unique and wonderfully made.

we would never ask you to conform to our standard.

oliver didn't mean to offend you, really. he didn't realize his own strength when he sent you plummeting into the floor and your star shooting across the room.

i know it's tough to be ours.

our bush-tree.

but you fit right in.

O little guy- our Christmas tree.