Our Christmas

We had a wonderfully busy Christmas. Jonathan didn't have to work on Friday, so we took the kids to the mall for their first present--making a bear from Build-A-Bear. They were beyond excited! We've never done that before and every time we pass that store, they want to go in and look at all the cool bears and outfits. It was really fun to see them so happy over making a bear and picking out a shirt. :)

Christmas Eve morning we opened presents with the four of us, which was a lot of fun. The kids were so excited and it was nice to have a relaxing morning together before all the chaos. We read the Christmas story and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, which the kids loved. My husband even surprised me with a gift certificate for a professional massage!! I know, right???

That afternoon we headed to the Athearn family Christmas for lots of food and presents. When that was done, we drove to Indiana to see my family. We fit in three Christmases while we were there and came home on Tuesday. It flew by but it was a great time!

The kids with their Build-A-Bears.


















Christmas Eve morning in front of the tree.


















Jonathan's present from the kids.

He was pretty excited about those new jammies!

Meemaw and Papaw got him new jammies, too--and new slippers!

Aren't they just the cutest??? Addie got a new doll with a dress that matched her Christmas dress, which she really loved.

Looking pretty excited about her new My Little Pony.

My kids love their grandparents!!

The Patience of Unanswered Prayer

A few weeks ago at church I sang a hymn with the rest of the worship team for the offertory. I didn't recognize the hymn and I don't think I've heard it before. It's a beautiful song full of wonderful, meaningful lyrics. It was the last line of the fourth verse, though, that practically grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me to the core. It says, "Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer." Wow. It was hard not to get emotional when we sang this on Sunday because I felt like this line was for me. It was me. It sums up everything that's going on right now in my life.

For the past seven months or so, I've been struggling with being patient. With waiting for God to answer our prayers. With understanding what God is doing. With being okay that the plans I had--plans that I thought were in alignment with God's will, that I thought seemed great--are not God's plans. His plans right now are different and even though I don't understand them and I don't get why or what He is doing, I am okay with that.

I have been in this situation before where I had everything all planned out and then God threw me a curve ball and said, "No, Amanda. That's not what I have planned for you right now." When this happened before, I was downright angry with God. I kept waiting for Him to answer my prayer and when He didn't answer as quickly as I wanted, I took things into my own hands. I tried to make things work how I wanted them to. Instead of yielding my plans to God and trusting Him, I stubbornly refused to let go of the wheel. It was awful. I pushed myself away from God and it was a hard lesson to learn. I don't want to do that again. I want to do it different this time. Better.

So God, help me to trust You. Remind me that you still hear my cries. You haven't forgotten me. Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

What I'm Thankful For

or I guess I should say who I'm thankful for. :)