For to us a child is born...

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas dear friends!
I am just sitting down to the computer after a long day of cacophonous chit-chat among my family and sitting around the Christmas tree that my grandpa and I picked out together and watching the family open the presents that we so carefully selected for each other. My stomach is still warmly full of ham and potatoes and chocolate goodies. I am glowing with victories in games of Cribbage and Boggle. It was a wonderful day.

But this morning, before all the craziness began and people arrived, I put in the movie "The Nativity Story." I haven't watched it for awhile so it was perfect to see it again on a cozy Christmas morning. I was struck anew at the humility of Christ as he entered this world. I sat amazed at what it would sound like to hear our savior take his first breath as an incarnated human baby. I also marveled at the sacrifice involved in his life...not just the sacrifice he made, but the sacrifices Mary made...of her reputation, of her own plans for her life, of giving up her family and home in order to flee to Egypt. Joseph made some huge sacrifices too...providing for a baby that was not of his own flesh and blood, trusting God and leading his family, trying to be a father to the King of Kings!

And though the Christmas story can get dulled and often times becomes a fluffy, warm-fuzzy story that is often put in the realms of being mainly geared for children, it is anything but. There was death, sorrow, pain, complex politics, intricate prophesies, racial tensions and every day trials. The story of "the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us" is raw and real.

I was also struck at how God blessed individuals in bringing deliverance to humanity. He chose a single woman to bear the Christ-child. He chose a few mangy, lonely, dirty shepherds to perform a heavenly concert to, he chose some wisened but no-named Persian men to deliver gifts confirming the kingship of Jesus, he chose straw and animals to be the witnesses of the most miraculous birth ever. How odd. I still amaze at the humility of God. The most glorious moments of history are often embedded in the most common and lowly of scenes.

I know we've all heard a hundred sermons and prayed your own prayers even and had glib discussions, or even maybe not-so-glib discussions about not forgetting the meaning of Christmas. But I hope that as you celebrate (or rather celebrated as this Christmas Day is coming to a close) that you have a greater revelation of Jesus Christ today and the abundant life you have the opportunity to experience because a poor woman gave birth to a baby that was the Savior of the world some 2,000 years ago in an obscure shelter for animals and yet choruses of Angels rejoiced and men came to bow their knees before him. May Christ be REAL in your life today and may his humility and his glory be evident in your life.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas newsletters!!

I just threw 200+ Christmas cards, newsletters and new prayer cards in the mail today. If you are on my mailing list and have gotten your info to me, one is possibly on the way to your mailbox. Those suckers are so much work; I always forget until I actually start them. Yikes. Putting them in the mailbox had the same sense of relief of handing over a research paper to a professor!

Tomorrow I take the bus (again...hopefully no adventures this time, I'm anxious just to get home) to Minnesota to spend the holidays with my family. I'm looking forward to it as well as looking forward to some extra time to do some reading and knitting (I know, I'm LAME!!!) Please give me a call for those of you around the Duluth, Iron Range area. I'm still not sure when/if I'll get to the Cities. We'll see.

Merry, merry Christmas to all of you. And don't take the holidays or time with family for granted. There are many Christians around the world who have to celebrate in secret or not at all. And celebration doesn't include pictures with Santa at the department stores or piles of gifts but humble prayers and thanks to God for the gift of his Son. Don't take your eyes off of what is important and worthy of our worship and devotion this holiday season.

The grandma-like side of me

So, I am addicted to a multitude of crafts...knitting, crocheting, quilting, scrapbooking, card making. I rarely get to do these things any more due to lack of time and lack of supplies. (Just so you know, there is no Hobby Lobby or a local Joann's in Afghanistan!) So, as I've returned and had a bit of extra time, I'm finishing up and starting some projects that have been a lot of fun.

This is a quilt that I started when I was working in COLORADO!!! (3 years ago!). All I had left was the actual quilting so I finished it up at my grandma's and took it with me to Chicago. It's a bit country for my taste, but I really like the colors and the fabric. The blue fabric with the darker blue flowers in the middle of the pattern is from India:




This is a scarf that I knit. The pattern can be found on Knitty's Website (a favorite of mine!):




And my final and most exciting accomplishment is a pair of fair isle mittens that I started when I was hanging out in California last year. (The pattern can be found here.) These were grieving therapy so I'm keeping them for myself (most of my crafts find their way into someone else's hands as they end up being great gifts!). These mittens were a number of firsts for me: first time knitting fair isle pattern, first time knitting with alpaca yarn, first time making mittens, first time knitting with needles that small, and the first time blocking my knitting. However, I was up for the challenge and they turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself!





And....here is a sneak peak on a project I am working on for a Christmas present. I can't tell you for who and I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you it's going to be GREAT!

Adventures to Kansas City

About a month ago I stumbled onto the website of Megabus and found they had cheap tickets down to Kansas City. As I have been wanting to visit my friend Dana, check out IHOP (International House of PRAYER...not pancakes) and I was at about my 5 month limit of sitting still in one place I bought a ticket and scheduled a trip.

My adventure began before it even started.

I had a friend drop me off at the downtown location to catch the bus in Chicago. When I spotted what I assumed was my bus I waved goodbye and stood in line. By the time she was out of sight, I found out the bus was headed to Toledo, OH so waited for my bus, and waited, and waited, and WAITED. There were about 10 others with me and by about 1:30am I'm thinking "this bus is NOT coming" (it was scheduled to leave at midnight). Finally after much hassle from a group of drunk guys on the street asking for money we got ahold of the bus company who said the driver reported in saying she picked up all the passengers and left. I have no idea which passengers she picked up as the group of us clearly were not on the bus. So, I debated asking a couple of the passengers who were students at North Park if I could crash on their floor but ended up calling my friend back, who is thankfully a night owl. She jumped in her car and headed back downtown (with hot tea and chalupas from Taco Bell, might I add...who shouldn't have friends like this!) while I sat and warmed up in one of the bus passenger's Jaguar listening to high energy Gospel music. I couldn't help but feel oddly at home in the frenzy of canceled plans, inept transportation systems, the kindness of strangers and the adventure of the unexpected. I never thought Central Asia could find its way back to me so fast.

I was able to catch the next bus in the morning, catching about 2.5 hours of sleep on my friend's couch. I met some interesting people on the bus...a girl from Denmark traveling around the US since June (don't people go to Europe to do that?!), a really good-looking actor sat in the seat with me and we chatted it up much of the way. I nearly forgot my nervousness around men! ;) And behind me were a couple of girls chatting about their experience in a DTS in New Zealand. We bonded over shared interests!

I met my friend Dana and we spent much time catching up on our eventful 2.5 years that have passed since we last saw each other face-to-face. At that time she was not yet married and I was just on the verge of moving overseas. There was much to talk about. And as my world includes suitcases and other people's couches and hers includes a husband and remodeling a bathroom...it's amazing no matter which paths your life may lead you on, there are some friends who when your paths cross, it's nearly like you never left. That's my friendship with Dana. I'm so thankful to have friends willing to pick up like that! It makes the distance a little easier.

We spent time shopping, eating middle eastern food and visiting the Plaza in downtown Kansas City. Here's a few pics:




Sunday I made my way over to IHOP and spent 6 wonderful hours in their prayer room (IHOP has a 24/7 prayer room which leads people in intercession and worship as well as providing opportunities for prophetic prayer, prayer for healing and various kinds of intercessory prayer). It was so good just to soak in the presence of God, bring before him some things weighing on my heart and be back in the Spirit-led, charismatic worship that I've missed so much these last few months. During this time I also heard about the tragic shootings of the YWAM group in Denver and the New Life Church in Colorado Springs (by the way, I don't know any of the victims but I do know the YWAM and church community is pretty shaken by what happened. I have friends that were either on the scene or narrowly missed it. Please continue to pray for those who experienced this and for the victims' and the gunman's grieving families and friends).

My journey back to Chicago was thankfully uneventful. Although I have to mention a quote that I overheard while we stopped at McDonald's on the way:

"Wow! You guys are busier than a cat in a litter box in here!"
(a patron to a McDonald's employee)

(and I'm beginning to understand these are the treasures of life we would miss if people didn't blog! ha!)

more penny sightings

So, I had two random penny finds over the last few days. I don't know if I'm going crazy but I've seriously seen an increase in my finds. I'm keeping a bit of a record cuz it's really starting to fascinate me. (and if you don't know why this topic is so interesting to me, check out my blog on dimes)

The next penny I found while I was downtown Chicago with some friends this weekend. We were walking around the Marshal Fields building while the rain was dripping down upon us. As I walked around the corner of the building I spotted a bright penny on the ground and nearly created a domino toppling affect by stopping and picking it up while a line of people were still walking behind me!

The next one was a WEIRD one...I checked a book out at the library today. The guy checking out my books took my student ID card, scanned it and placed it on the counter and proceeded to check out my books. Well, when I picked up my ID, there was a penny just sitting under it! Without even thinking I picked it up, a little stunned and trying to think through all the logical reasons it would have seemingly "magically" appeared there.

So, call me crazy, or obsessed! It's okay. It makes me remember my brother so I'm okay with it all!