Just in time for Christmas

There are so many Christmas memories being made for this little man.  

It's fun to experience this season through his perpetual sense of wonder and enthusiasm.

After having Santa show up at a couple different Christmas programs/parties he is officially a fan.

Santa was his new best friend.

 That's what -40 degrees Celsius looks like.

It turns out we have some strange traditions here in Canada...like instead of eating our cookies we make houses out of them. 

Today Elijah finally got his casts cutt off.

Daddy and his boy were up super early on this very cold day to drive to the city.

He wasn't so sure how they were going to take those casts off.  When they brought out the noisy saw, he told them "No, no thank you.  No like it".  

This brave boy happy was happy to see the casts go.

He came home to his first real bath in several weeks.

We got all the gnarly-ness scrubbed off, lotioned him up and it's so nice to see his little legs and feet again.

He has some new incisions though that were hiding behind the casts.  

He's not so sure about using his new straightened legs and feet though.  Now that his feet can bend those tendons are a little sore.  It's crazy how fast muscles atrophy too!  His legs look like skinny little sticks. He'll be on his feet again in no time though.  Mommy is making him do all kinds of exercises.

Tomorrow is Christmas eve! 

I'm thankful for so many things right now. At the top of the list is the gift that we celebrate at Christmas.  

Jesus giving us himself.

"Hark the herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn king!"

Peace on earth and mercy mild

God and sinners reconciled"

That last line just blows my mind every time I hear it.  

"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, 

because he has come and has redeemed his people. 

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us 

in the house of his servant David

as he said through his holy prophets of long ago,

...to remember his holy covenant...

to give his people the knowledge of salvation

though the forgiveness of their sins,

 because of the tender mercy of our God,

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

to shine on those living in darkness

and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the path of peace." Luke 1:68-79

"Glory to God in the highest, 

and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests."

I want to share a super adorable video made by some very dear friends of mine.  The camera man (Dad) is my pastor, and these cute kids are my kids best buds.  So, because they have way more talent than we do,  I'll send you a Merry Christmas wish from another family.

"O come, O come Emmanuel"

Official Family Christmas letter

Dear friends far and wide,
may those who live far stay near to our hearts, and those who are wide lose some of their girth.

Blessings to you this Christmas.
This year has been a spectacular one.   We have a minimum amount of vomit to report, and the police have never once arrived to investigate the strange noises that come from our home.

I (the mom) have managed to keep the children alive another year.  That is no small task and requires constantly saving children from their own stupidity.  I have hope that the constant nagging, reminding, and restating things I've said a million times may have penetrated some skulls.  I have found a new hobby this year as well.  I have discovered the joy of long hot showers without children peaking through the curtain, or joining me.  It's a blessed experience and one that I hope I will be able to keep up with as the years go by.  My accomplishment this year is that I have had no crying in my closet, while clinging to a bottle of wine, episodes while trying to homeschool my brilliant children. I believe we have turned a corner and may survive.

Eldest Daughter is a prodigy.  In fact we're placing all our bets and hope for family honour on this one.  She spends most of her time doing good deeds, and helping the poor.  She is a very talented basket weaver, and has great potential as a Drill Sargent.  We have high hopes that she will also make it into a community college someday and be a catalyst for world peace.

Eldest Son broke a record this year for the most words spoken in one year. He also had special recognition for the sheer volume of nonsense words used.  We are currently in negotiations with our energy company and are in the final stages of a plan to harvest his gratuitous amount of kinetic energy.  We are confident that we will not only be able to power our own home, but most of North America.  We have a patent for this new energy source and we have Al Gore lined up to be the bearer of good news. It seems that this child may be useful to us after all.

Son Two joined our family this year through adoption.  He has begun to come to terms with the reality that he must be associated with us, and that embarrassment will be his new lot in life.  His hobbies are collecting air-miles, and making escape plans.  We have set up a foundation to fund his future therapy.

Son Three  is excelling in a variety of activities.  He is a star at playing Mine Craft and has quite a collection of homes, chickens, and cows on his estate.  We are very proud of his achievements.  We had always hoped that one of our children would be a rancher.  We know his tenacity will pay off one day, and that his cunning intelligence will be a great asset in the penatentiary system.

Youngest Daughter is a perfect little princess who can do no wrong.  We are very proud that she earned an international award for highest decibel achieved by a human voice. We all now have profound hearing loss but have decided that this is a blessing in disguise.  We have had to have her de-clawed and so far this has been an excellent solution to violent outbursts.

The Dad of the home is still trying to figure out how he ended up with five kids.  He continues to work hard, bring home the bacon, and eat most of it too.  His current hobbies are shovelling snow, driving kids to their various activities, and changing light bulbs.

As another year draws to a close, those of us who are able to count past five, count our many blessings.
We hope that your home and family is blessed this year, but just only just blessed enough that you still feel envious of ours.

Merry Christmas

'Tis the Season

Elijah thought we were a little crazy at first, but soon got the hang of things.

Last Christmas we were counting down the days until we could bring him home.  I hung an extra stocking along side of the other four, simply because I couldn't bear not to include him with my other children. 

 It remained empty, but I loved seeing five stockings hanging by the fireplace.  

This year he's home.  

His stocking is hung, and he will wake up on Christmas morning with gifts under the tree.  

10 months he's been our boy, and I'm so thankful that we get to celebrate Christmas with him.

{Cece helping bake some Christmas cookies, in her festive dress}

Like something out of a magazine right?

This time of year things slow down a bit.  A time to catch our breath, and curl up at home.

Minus all the trips to town running kids to appointments, and activities of course.

Elijah loves the snow.  I took the snowman pictures a month ago before he had his surgery.  We now have much more snow, and the temperature has dropped.  

We're so photogenic.

A whole whack of Christmas photos

 This is a bunch of random pictures from the last couple days.

Aili and Roman had their first piano recital...which was cute and slightly embarrassing.

 Christmas was a beautiful family day.  We soaked it up.

Christmas Eve included games, food, and family at our home.

...and a ginger bread house.

 My grandpa.  My tall, strong, handsome grandpa is getting more frail and small each year.   Still a handsome old fella though.   So much history in those eyes.  

 Christmas Eve preparations.

 My grandma loving up her great grandkids.  She doesn't remember their names or how exactly they are descended from her but she knows they are hers and they need to be loved up by her. 

Grandma loves a baby even when she's not quite sure how she ended up looking so different than the other children. 

Christmas Eve entertainment.

It was fun to celebrate Miss Cece's first Christmas with her!

Christmas morning was a bit overwhelming for Silas.  He has no memory of "normal" Christmas at home.  He got into it though!  He was completely thrilled and content with the little army men, stickers, and new toothbrush from his stocking.  He thought that was it...

We surprised him with BUZZ! 

Christmas morning was so much fun!  We took our time and opened, oohed and aahhed over one gift at time.  The kids were so sweet and grateful for everything.   They spent most of Christmas day playing quietly with their new treasures.  

Roman and his daddy discussing his new model car.

I've always said the dark side is strong in this one.... (Aili found this for Silas at the second hand store for $1, best part no packaging!)

Our music lover can now play music in her bedroom.  You can't see it by the stoic expression on her face but she is thrilled.

After a quiet morning at home opening gifts we went to my parents for a fancy Christmas Dinner...

and more presents.  It was a fairly small gathering with just our family and my Grandparents in attendance but it was so nice.  

My mom made this beautiful sweater for Cece.  She makes sweaters for her grandkids and this struck me as such a significant gift of acceptance.   It means so much to  me that she put that many hours and that much love into a gift of for our girlie.   It will be about a year until she fits it so it's also a sign of faith, and hope.  Thank you mom and dad.

Roman and Grandma both met their snuggle match.  Someone who loves to snuggle as much as he does.  I spend many childhood hours snuggled up to this Grandma,  it's special that my own kids have the chance to do the same.  

It was a beautiful day.  The kids were terrific.  The food was amazing.  We spent the day with people that mean the most in the world to me.  Family.

I have so many family members spread all over that we didn't see today but will see later this week...or later next year.   I am so appreciative of my loving family, my heritage, my sense of belonging.  I feel very blessed and fortunate. 

  I have a close friend who grew up in foster care and doesn't have that kind of family.   My heart aches for her  during seasons like this.  She is an honorary part of this extended farmer clan though...if only she didn't live so far away she would have been here getting snuggled by Roman too.  

My family isn't made up of perfect people.  We don't always get it right.  We are all very different.  We sometimes even  irritate each other...but at the end of the day we have each other.  We love each other unconditionally and I know if I needed anyone of my family they'd have my back in a second.  No one is disposable.    That is family.   That is what I thank God for today.  

I came home filled up with the love of family.  That feeling also conflicted with the sadness of how badly other families can wound each other....and how many people are grieving loss of a loved one during this season.   Blood does not make people family, unselfish love does. 

It reminds me not to take any of it for granted....and to be open arms to those people, babies or adults, who don't know or are missing that kind of love.     

Merry Christmas 2010

From our very noisy house to yours,
wishing you  a Merry Christmas!  Feliz Navidad!  Joyeux Noel!






Drink some eggnog.  Eat some chocolate.  
Hug someone you love.  
Ponder something sacred.


My wish for each one of you is...


Truth that lights the darkness
Grace that restores the broken
Peace in the midst of the battle
Freedom from the prisons we create
Hope that gives strength to the weary
Joy that defies circumstances
Life everlasting.


Jesus.


God is with us.  Immanuel.  


TIME TO CELEBRATE!

Rethinking Christmas

 I've been thinking a lot the last little while ,as we celebrate the Christmas season,  how overall  it makes me more uncomfortable than it used to.   While kids rip open gift after gift to add to their elaborate toy rooms on Christmas day thousands of other kids will die that same day of starvation and neglect.   Countless others are living in quiet desperation.  Not exactly a cheerful "Christmasy" thought.    We as Christians are celebrating the birth of Christ but if he were here would he be sipping cider and buying more video game systems to add to his collection?  I suspect he would he be sitting on the street corner next to the drug addict, weeping by the grave of a forgotten child, or wrapping his arms around the woman dying of AIDS.  

I love Christmas! I love the decorations, lights, our snow and frosty white trees.  I love the baking, eating treats the getting  together with friends and family.  I love Christmas trees and pretty wrapped presents. 

Even though I love a beautiful sparkley Christmas as much as anyone... I think much of  this season reflects the shiny glossed over unhappiness, apathy,  emptiness, and busyness that define our overindulged society.  Maybe that sounds cynical.  Sentimental once a year displays of shallow generosity in the name of the "spirit of Christmas" have little to do with the Spirit of Christ.  It is a paradox that I find difficult to reconcile.  

I re-read an old post yesterday that I wrote while contemplating how some friends of ours live their lives completely opposite to what our society strives for.   If I desire my kids to grow up to radically love and live 
like Christ then I must raise them in a radically different way than our culture raises kids.  Not as seclusionists but as a family with vastly different priorities.  If I want my kids to swim upstream I have to teach them how to do it by getting wet myself.   

Here is a little snippet from that post:

In our culture we think that if our kids don't have the trendiest clothes,  top of the line electronics,  a fairy-tale-worry-free childhood, and a schedule designed to give them every social  advantage in life, we are sacrificing them.   In Canada, we love our kids with stuff.   That is the standard of 'good parenting'.   We aspire that they  become adults that are "successful" in the worlds eyes.  We want them to be "happy".   This is us taking care of our first ministry.  Right?

Maybe not.  Maybe it's doing the opposite.

       I think in reality, when we aren't willing to give up our inner circle "quality of life", our possessions, our security, our pride, whatever we cling to,  it is because those things have become our passion.  Our idols.  We  tuck God neatly into the pocket of our Sunday suit.  We thank God for blessing us, throw him our tithe,  host a church dinner party, and ignore the rest of his call on our lives...whatever that might be.   We don't want to give up those things and  it breaks our hearts even more to allow our kids to struggle, to sacrifice, or to go without. 

   I know it does for me...

even though without struggle, sacrifice and discomfort character traits like compassion, generosity, empathy, courage, respect and true gratitude cannot develop (not to mention creativity, ingenuity, and imagination).  Those are what I want most for my children.  Those are the traits I want in my children as adults...whether they are successful in the eyes of the world or not.  

            If our children don't see us loving, serving , giving, or stepping beyond our own comfort into a life of faith, we steal from them the chance to see what a  big God we serve.  In our attempts to give them every "advantage" we  hobble them spiritually and stunt their ability to develop strength of character.

I don't know if this has always been intentional on our part.  We have gone, served, opened our home, given...but often felt guilty about it.  I have compared my kids to their brand name dressed peers. Wondered if my child's patched jeans will cause permanent psychological damage.  I have wondered if my child will suffer by living in a developing country and not being able to take ballet, gymnastics and soccer lessons for a  winter.  My children have given up their bedrooms at a moments notice, shared their toys, and shared their parents.    I have agonized over those things.  I have wondered if my children will grow up hating me for it. 

I think I am finally at the point in my life, and with enough parenting years under my belt, to see a glimpse of what God is doing in my kids hearts.  It is surprising, it is wonderful, it exactly what I have been trusting God for.   We are seeing fruit.   I have noticed this Christmas as we are home having a "normal" North American Christmas that my kids are unexpectedly acting anything but "normal".   I am witnessing subtle, unprovoked, uncohersed unselfishness during a season of rampant brattiness.  They have not once begged, obsessed about, whined for, demanded or expected anything particular for Christmas (and if you know my kids they lean toward obsessive personalities!).  This has shocked me.  Instead they have conspired, saved, made lists, and discussed among themselves what they are buying for each other and for others.  They have bought their second hand store treasures and carefully wrapped them.  I must admit Silas is completely obsessed with the containers of Christmas sweets in the deep freeze though.

Instead of circling pictures and combing through a Sears Wish Book...they have carefully looked through every charitable gift giving catalog we have received circling pictures of goats, and clean water wells.  They were thrilled to  shop for , fill and send away shoe boxes to kids who may have never received a gift in their lives.

They carefully chose gifts for their friends in Mexico.   They regularly talk about their favorite Christmas memories which include caroling in impoverished migrant field worker camps last year, giving away the toys in their own small toy bin.  I really didn't expect something  that most parents would shield their kids from  would win out over memories of past vacations and gifts.

 It is all the little, and big, things we do that teach our kids things that no well intentioned lecture will ever teach them.  It seems so insignificant at the time but God is building those moments into something he will use for his purpose.  

The world needs us to raise strong kids not safe kids.   One way of doing that is leading the way ourselves.  When we have a strong hope, a dangerous faith, and a significant purpose in life...our kids will see that.  It will be irresistible.  That's my theory.   Our example will have a greater impact than any legalistic rules, heavy handed hypocrisy, or self indulgent apathy coated in religion.  Actually the impact will be great either way.   Our kids will either learn to trust God or learn to despise him.  

I think doing ministry (loving, sacrificing, serving, reaching out) WITH our kids, as a family, is an incredible chance to give our kids every real advantage in life.  Once you lay those things down,  you'll realize the real blessing God gives us isn't in our possessions.  It's the indescribable joy His purpose in our life brings.  That's living a blessed life.  

I wonder as we celebrate this season of gluttony, self indulgence, entitlement, and wracking up credit card debt to give things to people that they don't need or appreciate.....

WHAT ARE WE TEACHING OUR KIDS?  

What  does our elite celebration  have to do with a shunned, teenage mother giving birth in a dark, cold cave?  Does it reflect the redemption of mankind in a beautiful, horrible, unexpected way?  

We (at least those of us who still remember that Christmas is about something more significant and sacred than a fat guy in a red suit) say we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  What does that mean to us?    December 25th is not Jesus technical birthday. It is a day set aside to celebrate the SIGNIFICANCE of his birth.   God's eternal plan for this world being set into motion on the night of his birth.  Hope, peace, joy, and redemption.    We have already been given a gift that all the brand name clothes, video game consoles, diamond jewelry and fruitcake can't ever compare too.   

That same young peasant woman who over 2000 years ago trusted , obeyed and gave birth to a baby also sung this:

"for the Mighty One has done great things for me-

holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him,

from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought  down rulers from their thrones 

but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things

bu has sent the rich away empty."

  

Let us celebrate that which is worth celebrating. 

"Praise to the Lord

the God of Israel,

because he has come and has redeemed his people."

"because of the tender mercy of our God,

by which the rising sun will come to us from Heaven 

to shine on those living in darkness

and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the path of peace."

"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests"