Christmas Card

I always contend that the easiest day of the year is the day families take their Christmas card pictures.

Merry Christmas from all of us! (And Josh, in tight red and white stripped pj's. A gift for you all!)

 We are four days out from Christmas break for the kiddos and truthfully, I am yearning for it. It has been a rollercoaster few months for me emotionally and one less layer will be gladly embraced. For a while I just could not pinpoint what exactly was bringing me down, and to some extent, I still don't know. Today it's one thing and tomorrow another but most likely it's the combination of all the things and maybe I just need a break. 

But I am unwavering in going to the Word, even if I am crawling there. It is in my weakness that He is strong. I am still reading through the Bible and am finding much hope and refuge in 1 Peter. 

The family surges forward in spite of me. In a way, all the needs that force me to continue are a welcomed reprieve. And advent. Every morning before school our family has been doing an advent together - The Wonder of the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp. It has been a wonderful start for all of us. The devotion on December 12 spoke of Ruth and Naomi and these words ministered to me. 

Even in the sadness, Ruth looked for the light of God's goodness. That's what smart, brilliant people always do: they never stop looking for the light of Jesus in everything. God turned Ruth's darkness into light. He turned Naomi's sadness into gladness. There is a never a sadness so dark that it destroys gladness. All those little things that happened? God was making all the little things into a big, miraculous thing! And do you know the biggest miracle of all? Jesus coming to destroy the dark and to gather us close in the gladdest light!