Christmas

This year was our first Christmas at our house. So we had everyone come visit us and it was great!!! Mom, dad, Renee, and Grandma all came down for Christmas day and then Christian showed up the next day. Everyone showed up late on the 23rd and they had two cars worth of stuff!!! I guess that's what happen when you have to move tons of presents. So in the matter of a few minutes out tree went from one present under it to overflowing with presents and our stocking went from empty to full!!! We had a blast, we went out on Christmas eve to pick up a few things, plus it's my dad's tradition that's when you do your shopping. I have to say though I am glad I don't shop on Christmas Eve, it was crazy out there!!!! Then we came home and hung put until Ross got home from work. Dad made homemade bread while I did homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. We were so excited he got off early (4pm), but he did have to go in early that day too (8am). Then we headed to NorthWake for Christmas Service. It was very different but the children basically put on our whole service, telling the story of Christ's birth through songs and reading parts of the Bible. Ross and I agreed we never knew that NorthWake had so many talented kids!! Everyone loved it and they got to meet some of our friends!! That night we came home and made chicken marsala for dinner. O it was delicious!!! And had goodies for dessert, there were tons in the house at that time!!! And just hung out the rest of the night. O and can't forget playing with the cats.

Christmas morning we all woke up and ate homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, they were really sweet but really good. And then opened presents. The cats were going crazy with all the paper and bows to play with. They had their tuna for Christmas and enjoyed every last bite of it! Both licked the bowl clean!!! Ross and I had a great Christmas, everyone blessed us so much!! (Thank you very very much for everything). Ross started the turkey in the rotisserie and mom started the fixings. It turned out fantastic!!! Christmas dinner was delicious and couldn't have gone better with the Ukrop's fudge pie mom and dad brought. This was about the time the cats feel asleep and they didn't get up for at least 24-48 hours...I think we tired them out!!! That night we started on the gingerbread house since Christian was gonna be there the next day to help us with it.

the next couple of days were spent just working on the gingerbread house and hanging out, both days everyone was still here we got to eat lunch with Ross which was great to get to hang out with him that extra time. But all in all it was a great Christmas and we loved seeing everyone. Thanks for coming down and spending it was us!!

Mom and dad got us a bookshelf while we were shopping (Thanks again). Ollie was helping Ross put it together on Christmas Eve.

Our Christmas Tree

All the stocking (l to r - Mine, Renee's, Christian's, and Ross').

Ozzy Christmas day playing with the ribbon.

Ollie didn't like us putting a bow on his head.

Dad opening his gift from mom.

Grandma got a picture frame with picture in it from Meme.

Renee's sweater from Aunt Lynda.

Ollie with his ribbons.

Ollie got to tired to play with his ribbons.

That was our Christmas and we loved it!!! Can't wait for next year.

Baptisms

The beginning of September our church did Baptisms at Falls Lake, this time we had 8 people baptized!! It's always amazing to hear everyone's story and see them get baptized. It reminds me of why Christ died for us and just how thankful I should be for His death and resurrection! Everyone goes down to the lake and has a great time just hanging out and encouraging though who just got baptized. It an amazing time to witness. Ross and make a point not to miss baptism services because it reminds us of how much God loves us. Here are some pictures from the service. This time the lake was flooded so there are some "flood" pictures too.

Singing praises to the Lord.

Larry (our pastor) talking about how Christ saves us.

Ethan (a guy in our small group) giving his testimony

Ethan getting baptized.

A husband and wife getting baptized.

One of the little girls in my class last serve getting baptized.

The flooding

More flooding.

John Piper Quote

On Sunday the sermon at NorthWake was on the prosperity gospel. Ross and I loved listening to Larry talk. He did a great job and then left us with this quote by John Piper. That got me to really think about what he said.

"I don't know what you feel about the prosperity gospel. The health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. Bit I tell you what I fell about it...HATRED! It is NOT the gospel! It's being exported from this country to Africa and Asia. Selling a bill of goods to the poorest or the poor. Believe this message, and your pigs won't die and your wife won't have miscarriages and you'll have rings on your fingers and coats on your back. That's coming out of America! The people that ought to be giving our money and our time and our lives! Instead, selling a bunch of CRAP called gospel. Here's the reason it is so horrible, when was the last time that any American, African, Asian ever said 'Jesus is all satisfying because you drove a BMW?' NEVER!! They'll say, 'Did Jesus give you that? Well, I'll take Jesus!' That's IDOLATRY! That's NOT the Gospel! That elevating gifts ABOVE the giver! I'll tell you what makes Jesus look beautiful. It's when you smash your can and your little girl goes flying through the windshield and lands dead on the street and you say, through the deepest possible pain... "God is enough! God is enough! He is good! He will take care of us! He will satisfy us! He will get us through this! He is our treasure! Whom have I in heaven but you? And on earth there is nothing that I desire besides you! My flesh, and my heart, and my little girl mail fail! But YOU are the strength of my heart and my portion FOREVER!" That makes God look glorious!! As GOD!! Not as giver of cars or safety or health!! Of how I pray that America would be purged of the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. And that the Christian church would be marked by suffering for CHRIST!! God is MOST glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him in the MIDST of loss, NOT prosperity!" -John Piper

Here's the video we saw..