Christmas fun:)

Wow. What a wonderful Christmas I had. I so much enjoyed time with fam, although of course my favorite member of the fam was missing:)
After a long Christmas Eve at work, i headed to the Christmas Eve service. What a blessing to hear from my wonderful sis that night. I loved that part. And my dad rocked it out on the guitar, and played an awesome version of Mary Did you KNow. Then we went back to the rents house and spent the night. We had Moe's delcious sphagetti, which I haven't had in forever and laughed and laughed. You know we get crazy around the dinner table. Tood and I ran to our house to open our gifts. He was so thoughful and got me a beautiful jewlery box.(to put my new pearls in Jenn). He also got my wedding ring fixed which was the best present:)
Then we went back to the rents house and watched a movie in the "theater" Christmas with the Cranks had me laughing my head off, esp since that woman reminds me so much of me. Remember her Jenn. Who had to wear her Christmas vest.
I was like a little kid Christmas morning. I woke up before it was light outside, waiting on everyone else to get up.
What a blast we had opening presents. OF course we all know the big present. And the big suprise went just as we hoped. More on that later. After present opening we ate the traditional monkey bread. Yum yum. then todd and I hit the road to visit Karen and Bill and Mamaw. We had a great time, then headed back to the rents for another movie watching party...before that , we ate a huge feast mommy had cooked. Wow. It was amazing. WE watched Joe Somebody which we gave daddy for Christmas, and of course I feel asleep before it was over.
So that was our fun Christmas. I will post a few pictures later, if I can figure out how, but we had a blast.!
Praise God for the giving of his son! I want the Father to be glorified this year by me bearing much fruit.

Emptied

Over 2000 years ago the Son of God emptied Himself (Phil. 2:6) of His glory (John 17:4ff) that He might be born in Bethlehem to Mary who was engaged to Joseph. Jesus placed His faith and trust in God though being God in human flesh.

Recently I (Todd) have read over parts of the story of Job and read the story of Joseph. These are two men with incredible faith. I have often prayed "in faith" against evil happenings and I think that sort of thing is exemplified in the Bible in such places as in the Psalms (91) and a few places in Acts and the epistles of the NT; however, what if Joseph and Job prayed those things. Was it that their faith was not strong enough to withhold satanic forces from bring evil on them? I don't believe so. Whether Joseph liked it or not, God was sending him to Egypt to save that part of the world because of a coming famine. Whether Job liked it or not, God allowed satan to test him because God knew in the end Job would come out more refined. I don't always know exactly how God can take evil and bring good out of it and I don't pretend to be able to make an incredible philosophical argument for the problem of evil. But I do know something: I desire that my faith increase, not faith that denies the existence of evil or is always asking that evil never "knock at my doorstep" but faith that cries out that even if evil comes upon me (in whatever sense) I can trust God that in His foreknowledge, providence, and predetermined design, He will certainly bring good out of it because I have been called and I do--because of His initiatives--love Him (Romans 8:28 "For God works all things to the good of those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose").

Jesus response to evil? "Father, if possible let this cup pass from me, but not my will but Yours be done." It was the evil--but rich grace--of the cross that brought me life. Let God empty you and trust Him as He does so. He will certainly bring life and goodness out of it because it is after all His sovereign divine plan.

Christmas Eve at work..Bah Humbug

Here I am on Christmas Eve pretending to work. BahHumbug. I would much prefer to be at home with my fam. ANd the longer I sit here, the more it makes me miss my sweet twin/best friend Jenn. So...I have to control myself. Pretty soon I may have to turn on some Thistle Hair the Christmas Bear to bring me some joy.
So...I am like a little kid at Christmas. Anticipating Christmas morning. Its not really the presents(though those are nice). It is the cheesiness of it all.I love me some cheese:)
I am really contemplating this season how Jesus emptied himself of recieving glory and came down to earth as a man. Wow...I am really feeling challenged to live out the rest of Phill 2, doing nothing out of selfish ambition or empty conceit. Wow. So much of my life is all about me. me. me. How does this work for me. How does it make mre feel. Ect. So in 2008 I really want the Holy Spirit to show me how to empty myself for others....You all can hold me accountable.
This weekend was great. I got to hang out with one of my best friends, Casey on Sat...We had a blast. And of course drank a Grande pumpkin spice latte(decaf for me) in honor of you Jenn.....I also got to spend Friday night at Karen and Bill's house with Kellie too. It was good Sluder family bonding time. Bill spoiled us with good food, including cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I can't remember the last time I Had cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
Saturday night the Humbert fam came over. WE had a good time with the Dirty Santa gift exchange, however I was bummed that my gift got stolen twice(it was a vibrating neck massager)..who wouldn't want that...hehhe.
Sunday at church was great. What a blessing to worship Jesus. The sermon was on how God can do the impossible just as he did in Mary. It really strengthened my faith for the next year.
Finally we had lunch with Don and Debbie Sapp and Beth and Kevin. It felt like old times. It was a great reunion. I love those folks.
Alright enough boring details. I will try to post about Christmas day tommorow and add pictures.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Have I mentioned I love Christmas time. This week has been crazy busy but a blast. Monday night was the Christmas party for the shelter clients. What a blast. Can you imagine 30 kids running around the CAC. It was pure wonderful chaos. I loved watching them all open a present and stocking. They were so excited and did not know while I was trying to entertain them(that's me, the child entertainer) their moms were loading up their cars with goodies that they could give them on christmas day. My parent group members were also there. They gave me the sweetest Christmas card which all their kids signed. It made me cry and reminded me how worth it my job truly is:)
Tuesday night was caroling at Beth and Bob's house. What a blast. I just love bundling up in my pink marshmellow coat and scarf and singing from house to house. .Mommy came too and it was so much fun.
Finally Wednesday was the first annual humbert youth Christmas party. Did you know you could cram 27 youth into our little apartment. Glory. It was a blast, with some intense all contact chinese white elephant gift exchange.I love those youth so much and I am so excited to see what God is doing.
I must admit, my time with the Lord has been lacking due to all this crazy christmas activity. Isn't that horrible, when this season is all to celebrate him. Lord forgive me for not putting you first above everything else.
I can defionatly tell my flesh rares up all day long when I don't have my tijme with Jesus. Espicially yesterday. I was just plain mean to my gingerbread man. I better make sure to wake up extra early for quiet time tommorow.

Caramel popcorn, cookies and more

Wow...Can I say I am defionatly full scale in the Christmas spirit. Glory! I love this time of year, espically now that it is cold outside. I pray it stays cold untill after Christmas....I even have a scarf on...A beautiful suprise scarf by the way that Shawna gave me during our Monday morning Beth Moore/coffee ritual:)...She makes it worth it to get up at five in the morning for sure.
Todd and I had a busy weekend. Friday we had dinner with the OverCash's and then Todd and I went out for a romantic dessert date to the Macaroni Grill. Chocolate ravioli. Glory!
Saturday I dragged Todd around town Christmas shopping. We actually had a great time. It is fun to be creative with Christmas presents and spread the dollars out:) Then on top of that we went grocery shopping, then I came home and cleaned house and made cookies for sunday night's church fellowship at our house. ..Go ahead just call me the Proverbs 31 woman...hehhe. Just kidding I am far from it.
Sunday fellowship at our house was a blast... Diane. james and Angela. Katy...the rents...and stephen and andrew. I made them play a cheesy christmas game..and they liked it....even if they pretended not too.hehhe.
I just love this time of the year...Then last night, i took turns between making caramel corn as presents for the ladies at work and watching the Survivor China finale, which I admit I have gotten addicted to...
Isn't this the most wonderful time of the year.....Jesus came to earth..Glory! He emptied himself of all glory to himself.....I pray next year I empty myself and try to only bring Glory to God

Christmas party chaos and more

Sorry for the delay in posting...for my two loyal readers. The past few days at work have been crazy but fun. I have been balancing doing my normal job(i.e. going in the schools) with preparing for the annual Christmas client party. And Jen you know how crazy that is. We needed you to wrap presents yesterday:) It was a great time at the party though to see some of those kids get so excited about those presents. It makes my job even more fun than it already is(I mean how much more fun can you get when you play with puppets every day). There were black trash bags filled with presents everywhere.
It is hard to get excited about christmas when it is 70 degrees outside though. Praise the Lord it is going to get colder outside this weekend.
By the way, the rest of our fun getaway weekend was amazing. Jenn I can't say thank you enough. It was such a blast and a great time for Todd and I to enjoy eachother and also apply some of the things we learned at the marriage conference. I am really learning to seek to love and understand Todd better instead of trying to make him think and act like me. I am also seeking to hold my tounge more and be less controlling.Sometimes that is really hard, but by God's grace I am really trying to learn to have a gentle and quiet spirit.
Have I mentioned lately that I love my church fam? I love that Todd and I get to be a part of a fam. WE feel so loved on there.
Another mention....we went to the dayton emma. christmas part last week and holly asked mommy and I to be assistant/ table leaders together in April. Won't that be a blast . I am super excited.
Well I wont bore you, but that is life lately. also pray for my gingerbread man, he is under the weather

Weekend Wonderland

I (Todd) am having such a wonderful time with my wife this weekend. My incredible sister-in-law gave Michelle and I and weekend away and we are loving it. We are staying at the CHOO-CHOO and it's lighting our fires of love :). --Thanks Jenn--. We went to the enchanted garden of lights in Rock City last night and it was so incredible. They shared the gospel! It was great. Also Michelle and I had a fabulous time together. Today we are out and about in chattanooga going to various tourist places and hope to glorify God by shining forth His righteousness and making Him known through our love for Him and one another (make sense?). Well....later....

Coffee....and gingerbread..mmmm

WEll I am one happy girl. After doing my presentations at Arnold today(and speaking to about 60 fourth graders at one time), I stopped at Pathway and got a gingerbread latte. Glory to God. IT was half price latte day:) ..JEnn. YOu have totally fed my addiction to coffee.
Speaking of coffee, I have had some very convicting coffee dates with Jesus lately..(with my pumpkin pie creamer).....God has shown me so much through the patriarch bible study. I am so often like Rachel and Leah, wishing my life away on my own obsessions...or idols..INstead of reveling in each moment God gives me. I have all realized that I forget sometimes that God is my EL Shaddai, my all sufficient one! He is enough for me! He is all I need(I don't even need coffee)....I pray I can begin to allow Jesus to be my only obsession.
WEll I am so pumped tommorow is friday. Gingerbread man and I will enjoy our wonderful blessing from the Lord and JEnn, my incredible sis. We will get to spend a romantic evening at the Choo Choo, and then enjoy the Aquarium, Rock City, and the Imax. JEnn----are you trying to become an aunt or what;)hehhe.
I pray everyone who reads it...i mean..the two people who read this(jenn and teej) will allow the Holy Spirit to show you if you have any obsessions in your life you need to give to God

New blog for Jen:)

Jenn:) I am giving in to your request, even if you are the only one who reads this! I am now a blogger too, so you can keep up with the little details of my day. Although they are defionatly not as exciting as yours. I am not sure if other people will read this or not, but I hope so.
so yesterday was a great day. I got to spend all day with youths that I love:) We had a handful of youth who were troopers and participated in their crazy youth minister's plan to skip lunch and pray for the hungry and go to a neighbor hood to collect cans and share the gospel. It was so much fun. The youth were great, with some even walking up big heels in hills. God moved and it was a great way to get them out of their comfort zone.
They had a great attitude most of the time about not eating. Except some of the guys who were even trying to steal goldfish from little innocent three year old Austin:) But he wouldn't give into their demands:)
Then we loaded up a bunch of people and did our Christmas caroling to the shutins. It was such a blast and really reminded me I need to minister to those sweet older people more often. Todd and I loaded up the big blue van and took most of the youth with us.
Finally we ended up with a soup dinner at church. You should have seen us and the youth throwing down the soup. WE were Hungry:) It really did remind me of the people who go for days without eating. And I complain about not having enough money. God has given me everything I need!
Well that is enough for now. Tonight is the big Hand family decorating. Jenn it wont be the same without you, but I will be sure to put up snow bell my favorite ornament in honor of you:) ANd the wreath you made with such symetry!