Tis The Season

I love Christmas. I love when the weather starts getting bitter cold. I love when the stores get crazy busy. I love all of the holiday parties.

"The Reason for the Season"

We hear it all the time, and everyone knows why we celebrate Christmas. Whether you believe in Him or not, you know that we are celebrating Jesus' birth, and you probably participate in Christmas whether you care about his sacrifices or not.

As a parent this year, Christmas means more to me than it ever has. This year, as I look into the beautiful blue eyes of my sweet daughter, I wonder how God could have done it? How could He have sent His son to Earth? He left an amazing place, got sent to Earth where he was made fun of, not taken seriously, taken advantage of, and ultimately killed for being perfect.

I used to wonder why God sent his son to Earth rather than going himself. I am sure the angels could handle heaven while He was gone, and He could leave Jesus in charge. Why wouldn't He go himself though? Isn't it a bit selfish to send someone else to save us?

It isn't selfish though. As I have just figured out, there would be no greater sacrifice than sending His son. I can think of nothing worse than sending my child to be ridiculed and then killed. I am crying just thinking of it. Jesus was on this Earth, not only as a human, but also as a perfect God. As a man who was tempted, but never sinned, and yet he was put on that cross to die because we aren't perfect!

As this Christmas creeps up on me I find myself so very thankful for the sacrifices made for us. Not just the sacrifice of Jesus, who left a perfect place for a place that would treat Him less than human, but for God, as a parent, who sent his son here to die. We know that Jesus wept. I wonder if God cried looking down at his perfect son being treated so terribly, and knowing that He would soon be put to a very painful death. I wonder if He could feel the pain as Jesus was about to go to the cross and asked His father if there was any other way to save us. As Jesus hung from the cross and prayed for the people encouraging His murder, I wonder if God felt proud of His son.

I pray this season, that we can all see less of the stress of buying gifts and organizing family events, and more of the perfect gift that we have been given. I pray that on Christmas morning, before opening gifts and visiting family, that we can understand the sacrifice that both Jesus and His father made for us, so that when we die we can be in Heaven.

Almost 7 weeks old!

Time has flown by! Kris will be 7 weeks old on Sunday. She is so much fun. She has colic, and we think it ended it's ugly peak about a week ago. She is a lot happier now, and her crying sessions are a lot shorter.

I am infatuated with this girl. I love when she giggles at me or makes sweet cooing noises. She loves to be naked and does most of her smiling when the diaper is off.

Speaking of diapers, we love love love cloth diapers! Don't believe anybody who says they are gross or too hard. They are so easy, and we don't have any issues with them. Plus, they are super cute! Kris is quite the diaper diva. Anytime they are wet at all she lets us know! I think she will be very easy to potty train because of that.

We are so excited about Christmas this year. It will be so fun being able to have a child now during the holidays. She won't really enjoy it this year, but we will enjoy getting pictures of her and making lasting memories with her.

Kris got to meet her great great grandmother this week. That was a lot of fun. I am so thankful that Kris has such an awesome extended family. She has two sets of grandparents, 4 sets of great grandparents, and a great great grandma. She has met all of them except for one set of great grandparents. It has been so neat seeing her with everybody. I love having a baby to pass around at holidays. She is my version of spreading holiday cheer :) 

We are going to attempt round two of photos tomorrow. Round one did not go well. She is a happier baby now though, so maybe she will tolerate me putting her in a basket under the tree ;)

Wish us luck!