a wonderful christmas

I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with your families! I had a lovely Christmas! But I have this quirk about me! I LOVED my christmas decorations! I truly enjoyed them! I was proud of them! But I walked into my house last night after spending the day at my brother's house and immediately thought, "well! Christmas is over! time to take down the tree!" So I spent the day taking down the tree, wreaths, and garland. Is that weird? My sister did it too! I washed the windows, mirrors, etc. My house feels clean! Merry Christmas to me!

Emma warned everyone to be careful of me with the camera because the pictures could end up on my blog!

The highlight for me is when the girls opened their gifts which they really, really wanted, begged for and talked about non-stop. Natalie screamed and Emma threw herself back in a happy giggle!

we kept it simple this year. so I just got a few accessories for my kitchen from my husband, friend, and brother. These gifts just scream Lissa so I was very happy to receive them! Thanks to everyone!

On a serious note, a very special man passed away today. His name was Calvin Hunt. I do not know him in person but his testimony has meant the world to me over the last couple of years. To keep it very short he was addicted to crack and living in New York. At times he would even find himself sleeping in a dog house. He was married at the time and his wife had such amazing strong faith for him. She fully believe that God would restore him and heal him. He would return home from time to time only to return to the streets to get high. What touches me most about his testimony is not his story but his wife's story. She has this amazing faith in God. She believed God with her whole heart that he had his hand on Calvin, that he had a plan for him. She would smile as he left saying "God's got his hand on you! He's not going to let you go! One day you will give your life to him!" She kept her focus on her Father and not on her husband! I'm sure she had hard days but her testimony is clear that she believed what God had promised her. She kept her eyes in the only place where there was any hope and security. God honored her faith and Calvin did accept the Lord into his life. He has an amazing testimony to leave behind. No one remembers Calvin the crack addict! They remember Calvin the man of God.

And now he's with his Heaven with his Heavenly Father!

A heartfelt merry christmas!

I have so much in my heart that I hope I'm able to get it out to you. I'm so glad it's Christmas! There is SO MUCH to celebrate! The birth of my king means everything to me. This Christmas could've really been different. If I had listened to the world... taken the world's advice... this letter could've been very different. But I took the narrow road. The one that involves surrender, laying down, letting go. I can't look back at my earlier posts in this year yet. There is still way to much pain when I read those words. I'm not ready for that. But I know that one day it will ALL be used for the glory of the Lord! The main thing I want to say to you all this Christmas season is that I KNOW WITH MY WHOLE HEART that I would not be in this wonderful peaceful place without YOU!! I have received COUNTLESS comments and emails from you who have prayed for me over the last 7 months. I KNOW that's why I'm okay! You fought for this blogger in prayer! I'm so deeply grateful! God is turning my ashes into something beautiful. This is the nicest Christmas I remember in a long time!

My favorite part of Christmas is the cards! They mean so much to me!

I've enjoyed this season so much!

Everything becomes extra special when you know it could've been different. God has proved himself to me. He certainly didn't have to. I had already decided I was with him no matter what. I'm blessed. I've made some AMAZING friends through blogging! Friends that I didn't know last christmas but friends that were hand picked by God to help carry me this year. Friends that didn't know me and would carry a burden to the Lord in prayer for me. Christmas is simple this year. My husband said it best when he said, "gifts just don't seem that important anymore." That's completely true for me. When you stand to lose everything you realize that what you truly desire could never be wrapped and put under a tree!

Thank you for being there for this blogger whom you don't know in person but hold in your heart! I'm truly grateful. Deeply humbled. My dream is coming true! God is showing my girls how BIG he is! Remember when I shared about the vision of Neal and I shouting Jesus is King? It meant so much to us that we decided to put it on our card as a faith declaration that "God is gonna finish just what he's started!"

I want to wish you the merriest of Christmases from the bottom of my heart! Thank you for standing with this family this year! There just don't seem to be enough words to get out what's in my heart!

ps I ordered my beautiful christmas cards from this talented lady!

Play date for Oscar

Bella (Oscar's half sister) and Oscar would like to wish you a Very Merry Christmas!

I just couldn't help myself!

Aren't they CUTE!

Bella wasn't having as much fun as Oscar was!

Enjoy your last weekend before Christmas!

are you really, really busy?

putting in the hard work

This is the start of our every morning. The girls sit at this window (poor Oscar) and wave at daddy until he's no longer in sight as he drives off for work. Small parts of our days like this have become what's truly important to our family. I find such comfort in the small things like this now. We all love to hear those miraculous stories of instant deliverance. We've heard testimonies of people instantly delivered from alcoholism, depression, fear, etc. But for most of us it's the day to day effort of putting in the hard work. Getting up every morning determined to have a spirit of praise instead of a garment of despair. (Ps. 61:3) To make every effort to take every thought captive (2 Corinth 10:5) and remember that the mind controlled the Holy Spirt is life and peace (Romans 8:6). I promise this is true. I've lived a life full of striving and being crippled by my thoughts. As I've learned to release it all to the father and trust him that I can totally have peace in the midst of a storm I've truly found peace. But I've also found that it's a daily choice, constant surrender of my will, and it's certainly hard work. But the rewards for all of this hard work are amazing! He's promised that he's the healer of the heartbroken, freedom for the captive (for me it was fear but we all have something), comfort for those who mourn, and that he gives beauty for ashes. (Isaiah 61) Those are the gifts that can't be bought and those are the gifts that we truly want!

the garbage collector

I'm a confessed recovering perfectionist. I really enjoy a good dose of O.C.D. A perfect day for me could possibly, just maybe include really clean closets.... But God didn't want me to get carried away. So he gave me a little garbage collector. I have to be diligent about going through her room to remove old candy wrappers, fruit, fries, broken toys (we still have a prince eric who is missing a hand), ripped pieces of paper... you get the idea. So you can imagine my dismay when Emma came running (and I mean running with excitement) off the bus with a HUGE smile on her face yelling, "MOM!!! LOOK AT THIS CUTE UMBRELLA MY FRIEND GAVE ME TODAY!!!!"

and again I say....

UGH!

okay... so here's the thing...

Last weekend Janelle and I planned a very small progressive dinner to start with dinner in her home and then dessert at mine. I was feeling quite pleased with myself. I was so proud of my gingerbread, martha cupcakes. I was bragging to everyone and telling them to eat their hearts out.... Okay, if you know me you KNOW that I LOVE to tease...

I thought I was wearing a cute outfit...

I WAS feeling pretty cute...

So.... here's the thing...

(insert long deep sigh)

Yesterday I went Christmas shopping with my brother at Nordstrom!! I thought I was safe there...

We ended up in the brass plum dept. and I literally freaked out with excitement when I saw the CUTEST PAIR of big star skinny jeans.... (I've been wanting skinny jeans for awhile)

So I tried them on while the sales lady was helping my brother. I was feeling young, hip, and cute...

and then it happened...

My brother was looking at a sweater for his wife. The sales lady said OH! I LOVE that sweater! I bought it for my boyfriend's MOM! To which Jim and I responded with an "UGH!" She said, "Is that bad?" To which I replied, "No, but he wants his wife to be young and hip~ not old like your boyfriend's mother."

then it happened...

She looked directly at me and said, "oh, NO! she's hip FOR HER AGE~ kinda like you are!"

CAN I GET AN

UGH!!!!

So we've come to this...

hip FOR MY AGE...

deep sigh...

It's all down hill from here... :0)

race day

side note:

I spent the day away from home. When I returned Neal could hardly wait to show me this video he made of my race day. He was so proud of me and said I want you to put this on your blog. So this is really the real me. In the beginning please remember it's only 5am and I'm not awake yet and feeling nervous about the race. Then in the part where I look irritated it's because I couldn't find a bathroom without a HUGE line and the race started in 10 minutes so I was freaking out a little bit.

But as I watched this video I had tears streaming down my face. Everything about this video is a testimony to the amazing love of our Father! As I'm walking to the race I have my dear, dear friend Janelle by my side. There is an awesome testimony to our friendship which you can read about here. She was probably one of the main people who kept me afloat last spring and summer! At the end of the race her husband said that Janelle always knew there was a reason that they moved in next door to us. And that reason was to take care of me this summer. I will be eternally grateful not only to Mark and Janelle but to our Father who used the most unlikely person to be one of the most amazing heroes to me.

Then there's my girls.... They could've been destroyed by what we've been through. But if you've read my blog for awhile you'll remember me writing about promising to show them just how big God is! Watching them run up those stairs and act like they're in a Rocky movie~ all smiles is such a testimony of God's grace.

Then there's Neal. Wow... is he EVER proud of me. Janelle said after watching him at the race, "he's so in love with you!"

It's been a hard year! But God's been FAITHFUL to keep his promise that whatever the enemy intended for evil He would USE FOR GOOD! EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS VIDEO IS A TESTIMONY. My immediate family, my friendship and support from an awesome friend and her husband, my joy, my smile, my kids, my Neal... God IS FAITHFUL!!!! TRUST HIM!!! I want to badly for this blog to be a testimony!!! I want so badly that if one day you find yourself in the worst spot of your life you will think If Lissa made it with God's help then I can too!