Evolution?

This year leading up to Thanksgiving I wasn't really feeling the holiday mood thing. I'm not sure if it was because there were still lots of trees with leaves still green or if it was because the weather was still pretty warm. Anyway, regardless of what it was I definitely was not feeling the holiday spirit.

It's beginning to change though and it started with Thanksgiving morning. I was able to sleep in which is always a bonus. But what is even better is sleeping in and then waking up to the house smelling of turkey cooking and pumpkin pies baking. I came out a little blurry-eyed and had my next nostalgic moment when I saw my niece and nephew camped in front of the tv watching the Macy's parade. Lydia at one point was bemoaning the fact that they kept announcing that people from High School Musical were suppose to be "up next" and yet they weren't. Oh how I remember feeling the same way when New Kids on the Block were suppose to be "up next" and weren't. Wait a minute, did I just admit to that! Okay, moving on...Dinner was fabulous as it always is because my mom makes the best stuffing ever. And I do mean ever. And this year she was able to find the Schwebels rolls. (There is a whole story behind the necessary Schwebels rolls but I'll blog about that at another point.)

Probably the best part was watching the Chronicles of Narnia with Lydia and Bry though. I consider it a Christmas movie because it came out, well, at Christmas. Now I love movies, but I love them even more when I'm watching them with people who really enjoy the movie itself. Take for instance The Princess Bride. It is just not the same unless someone is there watching it with you and appreciating it enough to repeat the lines "Inconceivable" and "Hello, My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." Anyway, I digress. The whole point of that was to say that Lydia and Bry are great to watch this movie with because they get so into it. I thought Lydia was going to pop out of her seat a couple of times. And both had watched it before but that didn't matter because they were still excited when the wardrobe full of coats suddenly became the pine trees of Narnia and Aslan made his triumphant return. Personally my two favorite parts (because they are my favorite parts of the book) are when Mr. Beaver says "Aslan is on the move." (that gives me goose bumps) and at the end when Mr. Tumnus and Lucy are talking. Mr. Tumnus says, "He's not a tame lion." And Lucy replies, "No, but he is good." What a great image.

So, yeah, the holiday spirit is definitely emerging and festivities are in the works. I'm starting to get excited about finding the perfect gift for people and planning the Christmas party for the children at church. (I'm sure I'll have some fun pictures to post after that one! They're putting together care packages for some military folks and then will be decorating their own cookies...what am I thinking?!) A Charlie Brown Christmas was on tonight and the Grinch will soon be. And, of course, A Christmas Story is already playing day and night. Oh, and I'm getting ready to watch all of the Lord of the Rings movies again, because yes, they're "Christmas movies" too. Amy has started decorating the house and to some dismay Christmas music is already playing everywhere you go.

As I'm sitting here typing this it's just hit me that it is somewhat amazing that this whole "holiday spirit" got started with a quiet night and an unassuming baby in a manger so long ago. Hmmm, how about that for evolution?

Nate the Great

For those of you who don't know, this is my cousin Nathan. (Sorry ladies, he's married to a wonderful gal and has two little ones. I know the questions would start flooding in after seeing the wonderful picture.) Nathan is in town this weekend for the National Missionary Convention because he is currently working for Pioneer Bible Translators as one of their recruiters. So lucky for me I got to hang out with him a bit today and catch up.

God definitely broke the mold after He made Nathan and I mean that in the very best of ways. Nathan is one of my cousins on my mom's side of the family so we didn't see him as much because he grew up in Missouri and Illinois. But every summer we would make the family trek out to that part of the midwest and for at least one week each year we got to "bond."

I have some pretty fun memories of Nathan. I can remember us playing baseball and him having to throw off his hat every time he ran to first like it would help him get there faster. The funny part was he would always stop before he got to base though and run back and get the hat. One summer, I'm guessing Nathan was in 5th grade, the Smothers Brothers show came back on the air. We were all sitting there watching it and Grandma was remembering back when they had their first variety show when everything was still black and white. Nathan loved it so much that he looked over at Grandma and told her it was too bad she hadn't recorded those so we could watch them as well. And just let me tell you the boy can do an impression of Matt Foley Motivational Speaker like no other.

This visit was pretty much like the rest. He acted like a goof ball and made me laugh, but that wasn't the best part of it for me. The best part for me was watching him in action doing his job and then hearing him talk about it. Like I said before he is one of the recruiters for PBT and I think they're pretty lucky to have him. While waiting for him to take a break I watched him talk with person after person (until he was getting pretty hoarse) about the their lives and how God was working in them. I watched him engage with them, not just to push PBT, but to really help them search out where God was calling them. And when he finally did get a break and we were able to go grab some dinner I watched his eyes light up when he was telling me what an awesome time he was having that day. I heard the pure excitement in his voice as he talked about the possibilities that lay ahead. And, even now, just thinking back to it I smile.

There are very few people that I see that passionate and excited about their job. And there are fewer still that I see that excited and passionate about ministry which is just sad. Nathan is one of those few though, mainly because God called him to it and he was obedient. Really there is nothing more to say than that, oh and the fact that I'm incredibly proud of him.

Halloween: Take 2

Because I had the pictures of the cats dressed up for Halloween I felt it necessary to put pictures of my actual niece and nephews dressed up. Lydia went as Lucy from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (note the fur coat that was picked up in the wardrobe), Bry went as Batman, and Cameron didn't dress up this year. He just took a really strange and rather frightening picture. I'm not sure if he's really a blood relation or not.