The Perfect Gift

That first Christmas wasn't a festive, Christmas card perfect, Precious Moments time. A teenage girl gave birth to her first Child in a cave, not safe at home. It stunk. It was damp. There were farm animals wandering around. I'm sure Joseph had a elbow aside a sheep from it's feeding trough just so Mary could lay down her newborn.

 Mary wasn't dressed in a lovely pastel blue robe. She wore a stained tunic. Her hair wasn't perfectly combed. It was matted and sweaty. Not a single golden halo could be found. Her mother wasn't there to hold her hand, lay cool clothes on her forehead, and clean up the Baby afterward. Her mother probably wasn't even speaking to her. Her father wasn't there to tell her "You did good, sweetheart." Her father was probably ashamed of her.

Joseph wasn't standing off to the side, serenely looking on at the Baby, and leaning on his staff. He was probably shooing off chickens trying to roost on the trough and pushing cows away from his wife. All the while worry and questions spinning in his head. How would he keep them safe? Could they even return home? What if something happened to Mary or the Baby? Could he be a good father to this Heavenly Child?

The Baby wasn't wrapped in downy, white blankets. He was probably swaddled in some spare old rags that Joseph was able to beg from the Innkeeper. He was probably cold. Did He know even in that newborn state what awaited him? The lower class childhood? The burden of helping his earthly parents make ends meet? The ridicule and scorn that followed him during his ministry years? The awful death that only hardened criminals were sentenced to?

Not exactly the picture we're used to seeing every year. No gold foil edging or velvet details. But for all the ugliness, dirtiness, pain, confusion, and hurt, this is the picture that I want to see. Because that's real life. Life is not pretty. Life is not greeting card perfect. Life can be ugly. My life can be ugly. My heart is far from perfect.

Into all this nastiness, Christ came down, and became a fragile baby. From glory, He became a man. He did this for me, for you, for that annoying neighbor, for that criminal, for that politician, for the world. He became flesh so He could die for us, take our disgusting sin upon Himself, then conquer death by coming back to life all because He couldn't stand the thought of us not being with Him in Eternity.

This was Christ's gift to us. The gift of Life.

"Further up and further in..."

I'll be honest, guys. It's been a rough week.

I had a dear family friend who passed away unexpectedly Saturday morning. He left behind a beautiful wife and three awesome kids.

I have family members that have lost loved ones this week.

I have dear friends going through emotional upheaval.

My workplace was broken into Monday night.

The holiday season is supposed to be a festive, happy time, but it seems like for many this year it's going to be a season of pain and grief. Instead of celebrating, there will be mourning. Instead laughter, there will be tears. Instead of joy, there will be hurt. Instead of feeling safe at work, there's unease and tension.

It's hard to understand why these things happen. Why? Why was a husband and father taken away from his family so early? Why do we hurt each other? Why would someone steal from one of the most generous men in town?

I don't know.

I don't know.

The only solace I have is that I know the One who does know. That's the only hope I have and the only hope I cling to. The only Hope that I need.

I may never know this side of heaven, and if I never know until I reach my real Home, that's enough. I know that when I reach there all answers will be known, and we will be astounded by our Lord's glorious plan. We'll know without a shadow of a doubt that His hand was in it all.

"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now...Come further up, come further in!" -C.S. Lewis

Thankful Thursdays 11/28/2013 Thanksgiving Edition

In honor of the holiday, I've decided to compile a list of 28 things that I'm thankful (get it because today's the 28th? Cheesy? Yes. Will it stop me? No.). Here we go!

1. My Merciful Heavenly Father

2. A family that makes me laugh.

3. A sense of humor that allows me to laugh at myself.

4. Dear friends that put up with my girly woes.

5. Reconnecting with old friends

6. Getting better acquainted with a sweet group of youth group girls.

7. My bestie. I talk a lot about this girl, but I'm just so blessed to call her my best friend.

8. Parents that never stop worrying about me even though I'm an adult (on the outside only, inside I'm still 12.)

9. Brothers that I count as two of my dearest friends.

10. White chocolate lattes (it's my drink of choice, just in case anyone ever wants to bring me one...)

11. Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade every year with my Mama.

12. My salvation

13. Godly 2nd parents (Merla and Steve, I'm looking at you!)

14. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

15. Papa's Barbecued turkey. Seriously, if you've never tried this, you must!

16. Foggy mornings, especially when you don't have to go anywhere, and can stay curled up on your couch with a mug of coffee.

17. My pastor and his lovely wife

18. Doctor Who/Firefly/Buffy/Once/Sherlock marathons

19. Finally being grown up enough not to care about letting my nerd flag fly.

20. Growing closer with extended family members because of the interwebs. I don't care what you say, sometimes the internet is a good thing especially when you live so far apart.

21. Coffee, in general...

22. Corny Christmas movies. I'm a complete sucker for them. Don't judge.

23. My baby brother coming home for Christmas break.

24. My infuriating, irritating, amusing, dopey cat, Malcolm.

25. My church family

26. Fangirling on Tumblr with virtual strangers. I know it sounds weird, but I don't have that many people in real life besides my bestie and brothers to talk about this stuff with, and then I'm sure they get tired of hearing about it all the time. So to spare my real life peeps some of the agony, I have my fellow Tumblr-ites.

27. The Lord giving me the strength to get a bit healthier. I could not do it on my own.

28. My readers. It shocks and blesses my socks off that anyone would want to read my ramblings.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Manda

Thankful Thursdays 11/07/2013

Music: (Trying my darndest to suppress the urge 
           to listen to Christmas music.)



Happy November, all! 'Tis the season for planning turkey dinners, trying to avoid looking at Christmas-y merchandise until after Thanksgiving (and usually failing spectacularly), finishing off leftover Halloween candy, and trying (and also failing spectacularly) to get some early Christmas shopping done...

1. An amazing answer to an unspoken prayer.

2. Two splendid hours spent with 8 of the sweetest, sassiest, funniest young ladies making chocolate chip cookies and laughing our heads off. I was completely blessed that these girls would want to spend their Saturday morning with me. Hopefully, I was able to bless them a bit too. "I'm Johnny Appleseed!"

3. My bestie Amber, who always listens to me when I'm verbalizing my over-thinking...which happens a lot.

4. A coffee date with a friend and drooling over her honeymoon tales. (She went to Ireland, Wales, and England, guys. Seriously, that is my DREAM trip.)

5. Snow. Yes, I know "insert eye roll here". No, I don't like driving on slick, slushy roads, but it does make the great outdoors look so pretty.

6. Going a bit bonkers downloading new music from Noisetrade.

7. Meeting another fitness goal (down 30 pounds, yay!!)

8. Peppermint white mocha's back at my favorite coffee shop! I drank two last weekend (no judging). Hurrah, for holiday beverages!

9. My dear friend, Nikki, who supported me the whole way when I told her that I wanted to make myself up as coffee themed superhero for my announcement about our ladies retreat in front of the entire church. Girl didn't even bat an eye. Just said "That's awesome! What can I do to help." For that, I made her my sidekick.

10. Speaking of new music, I'm currently in love with the hip hop group Beautiful Eulogy. I'll leave you today with the remix they did with Josh Garrels on his song "Anchor". Soooo good!

Thankful Thursdays 10/31/2013

Artie Shaw - Nightmare
Nina Simone - I Put A Spell On You
Frank Sinatra - Witchcraft
Michael Jackson - Thriller

Well lovelies, it's Halloween, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and next week is Christmas. I kid, but not really. Seriously, once we hit Halloween, it's all down hill from here. Boom. The HOLIDAYS are upon us. Any who so Halloween...my crazy plans are to meet up with Linus and see if the Great Pumpkin shows up this year. I'll be following that wild ride with a possible trip to Halloweentown, or maybe a hot date with Sir Netflix. Guuurrlll, this party NEVAH stops!! Now for thankful time.

1. Starting a new workout challenge that my friend Chelsey made for me!! She designed this one to fit in with my love of baking. I'm excited, though the cookie cutters (squat type exercise) may kill me...

2. A new Five Iron Frenzy album comes out next month! Squeeeeeee!!! It's been 10 YEARS since their last one, and I'm dying to listen to the new one...if only I didn't have to wait until Nov. 26... it will be worth it, though.

3. The book of Proverbs. Just started re-reading this Book, and wowza, is it applicable to what is happening in our world today.

4. Planning for a ladies retreat.

5. A bit of karaoke and dancing in Shopko with two of my dearest friends.

6. Movie nights with my bestie and her family.

7. Allowing myself to eat a s'more... or two.

8. Lunch with my Grandma.

9. New cousins. Hi, Kyle and Makenzy!

10. Shuffling and crunching through a pile of leaves. Nothing will bring you back to being a kid faster than that.

For a special treat (Get it? Cuz it's Halloween? Trick or Treat? Pssshhttt, never mind.) I'll leave you with this pic of the Middle Brother and I back in our Candy Getting days.

Thankful Thursday 10/17/2013

1. "Not A Fan" by Kyle Idleman. This book challenges the way we view a relationship with Christ. How we must move from being simply a "fan" of Jesus and commit to being a follower of Him. I highly recommend it.

2. A dinner date with the middle brother. We ate. We laughed. We discussed. We watched music videos. We perused nerdy art. A perfect evening.

3. The cozy smell of wood smoke drifting by on an autumn stroll.

4. Chats with the roomie over mugs of tea.

5. Working on a new project.

6. Text conversations with the youngest brother as we nerd out over a new favorite movie.

(Nathan Fillion as Dogberry is hilarious.)

7. Parking on a golden carpet... I love fall because it makes even the most mundane little parking spot look like something out of Fairy Tale Land.

8. The first spark of excitement for the upcoming holiday season.

9. The thrill of one of my Tumblr posts being reblogged, and the confirmation that I'm not the only nerd girl out there...

10. These pictures from my first color run.

Thankful Thursdays 10/03/2013

1. Psalm 119

2. Crisp, chilly mornings that make me snuggle a bit deeper into my sweater.

3. New episodes of my favorite shows (Once, how I've missed you!) and finding new shows (Sleepy Hollow, I'm looking at you.)

(Tom Mison as Ichabod has nothing to do with it...yeah, we'll go with that...)

4. Walking my first color run on Sunday. I'll let you all know how it went next week.

5. Pumpkin-palooza! That squash is everywhere and in everything right now, and I love it.

6. Getting my seasonal chai fix.

7. Silly cards from my bestie.

8. Even though they follow over a 1,000 people on Instagram, being followed back by Five Iron Frenzy totally made me do "the nerdy fan girl fan hand flail and hop". What?! You've never listened to FIF?! For shame! They're one of my top 5 bands! Here take a listen:

(They satisfy my ska loving heart)

9. The anticipation that the leaves will soon (any day, now!) put on their fall wardrobe.

(Yay!)

10. All the support and love that I received from my last blog post. You guys are amazing, not only for cheering me on in my pursuit to get healthier, but also for taking the time to read my humble little blog. My Sassy 'Bots are the BEST. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Manda