The Gift of Gifts

We had our church small group Christmas party last night, and Terrie read the following passage from the book "Valley of Vision". It is very appropriate for the Christmas season.

O Source of all Good,
What shall I render to Thee for the gift of gifts,
Thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,
my Redeemer, Proxy, Surety, Substitute,
His self-emptying incomprehensible,
His infinity of love beyond the heart's grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders:
He came below to raise me above,
He was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to Himself.

Herein is power;
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
He united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom;
when I was undone, with no will to return to Him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,

He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds,
and enlarge my mind;
let me hear good tidings of great joy,
and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father,
place me with ox, donkey, camel, goat,
to look with them upon my Redeemer's face,
and in Him account myself delivered from sin;
let me with Simeon clasp the new-born Child to my heart,
embrace Him with undying faith,exulting that He is mine and I am His.

In Him Thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.

Arthur Bennett, ed. Valley of Vision (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), 16.

A Little Holiday Cheer

This website is absolutely hilarious. Click below to see what I mean:

Mattie, Sean, Andrew, and Michael dancing as elves.

Michael and his quadruplet brothers dancing as elves.

Sarah, Mary, and two of their friends dancing as elves.

The webpages may be a little slow to load. So just give it a minute to completely load. Enjoy!

Christmas Tree Decorating Party

One thing about our family, we love to have a party. Any excuse to have a party is fine by us. Birthdays, Anniversaries, Ground Hog Day, whatever. So in this spirit, we have a party for decorating our Christmas Tree. Because my vacation starts December 17th through the end of the year, and since Michael and Andrew are In Orlando, we decided to have the tree in Orlando this year. So we came over this weekend to celebrate Sarah's 16th birthday (more on that later), and to have our annual Christmas Tree decorating party. Terrie makes her world-famous punch, the kids bake cookies, and we break out the snacks. All the while we throw the ornaments on the tree, and dance the night away. Well we decided to do this shindig in Orlando this year, since we'll be over here for most of the month anyway.

This year, we did something a little different. We decoarated Mom. We call it the Terrie Tree. See for yourself:

Also, here's a video of the kids dancing to the little holiday classic, "Up On The Rooftop". It's pretty funny.

Happy 12th Birthday Claire!

Sunday, December 2nd, was Claire's 12th birthday. We inch ever so closely to another teenager. Yikes! We already have 5 teenagers in the family! But alas, when Claire becomes a teenager, Michael will move out of the teens, into the twenties. I am getting so old!

Anyway we spent Sunday afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese with everyone and a couple of Claire's friends. They had a great time playing the games to get little prizes. So here's how it works: Dad works and earns money, then he gives money to CEC for pizza and tokens. Tokens allow you to play games, and earn tickets. Tickets are turned back in for little credit slips. These slips are then turned into the prize desk for little carnival prizes. I guess we could have streamlined the whole process by just taking my money straight to the prize desk and getting prizes. But then, we wouldn't have enjoyed the fun of CEC's, now would we have? Here's a few more pics: