We will not be robbed!!

Brent preached a sermon on Sunday that was driving home the point that there will be many things that Satan will try to use to steal our joy during Christmas.  These things may be circumstances, relationships or even good things.  These things will come in the form of anything that takes our focus off of Jesus and the real reason for celebrating this season.  Well, we had our fair share of attempted robberies this morning.  It started with a little Lady having nightmares then followed by severe storms and an anxiety-ridden 5 year old camping out in our bed most of the night.  I "woke up" very tired, sore and not excited at all about the thunder and lightening outside.  However, after remembering the passion with which Brent preached that these things are NOT where we find joy, I was able by God's grace to celebrate the fact that my Savior has been born and that my greatest need, the need for forgiveness of sins, has been taken care of because God's Son was born as a baby, lived, and died in my place.  A text from my sister read, "Merry, Merry Christmas! Christ has come and will come again!  Rejoice!".  I could not have said it better myself.

So we had Christmas morning chocolate donuts and we opened presents to the sound of the falling rain.

 

 The boys opened their stockings and Brent and I exchanged gifts too.

 I love my Jenny and Tyler t-shirt!  I really wanted one when we went to their concert back in Sept (Oct?) but I couldn't afford a shirt.  My super sweet husband took note of my desire and bought one on line.  He also got me a set of the cutest crates from one of my favorite stores on West 7th call "Wrare".  Good job, honey, I love it.

 The boys got sunglasses.  Haha.

During Jane's morning nap the boys and I put together a puzzle!  I was so proud of the kids and their attention span.  This is only the second time to do a puzzle, the first time being a few days ago.  Woohoo!

In the middle of the day, the rain turned to snow!  Wow!  A white Christmas!!  So we went to the park and the boys (not me) slid down the hills on box tops.  It's all fun and games until the kids get wet, muddy, and cold.  :)

 When we got home we found the ground covered with snow.  Peter took a flying leap out of the van and promptly forgot the "Mama don't play snow ball fight" talk of earlier.  Oh well.  :)

I made a yummy Christmas lunch complete with mashed potatoes and rolls from scratch, turkey breast, stuffing, cranberry, green bean casserole and gravy.  Mmmmm.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  We are heading now to Houston to celebrate with the families.  Stay tuned!

Fort Worth Christmas Eve....

We are not going to Houston until the 26th, so we are in Fort Worth by ourselves for Christmas.  So this post is Christmas Eve, then I will post Christmas Day.  The weather was so gorgeous today that we got out of the house.  We ate lunch at our recent favorite, McAllisters...

 ...then we went to a new park that Brent found up in Keller.  I love this pic above.  You can see Peter in mid-leap!

 When we got home, we opened one present for Christmas Eve.  I think they liked the idea.

 We bought the boys a bow and arrow set.  Don't worry, moms, they will always be under supervision.  ;)

 I always seem to catch Jane with her tongue out.  Silly girl.

 Peter really had a knack for it.  Justin got a little frustrated but he got some good shots in too.

 We wrapped up the night with a trip through Starbucks and then looking at Christmas lights.  The kids got to pick out a candy from the gas station and we let them listen to Veggie Tales Christmas.  Such a fun tradition! When we got home we acted out the Christmas story as Brent read it from the Bible and then watched a fire.

 Merry Christmas Eve, everybody!  Sleep tight!!

The Osterberg family has officially had its first movie night!  We actually put movies on all the time for the kids but this was the first time that we all sat down and WATCHED the movie together.  Usually the kids don't sit still, or there are other chores I am doing while the movie is on...but this time we popped popcorn, cuddled with blankets and all sat together.  We had a great time being together as a family.  :)

 We also had our church's candle light service.  Both boys sang this year!  It was Peter's third year and little Justin's first.  Justin sang "Away in a Manger" complete with hand motions.  He came walking out with a big piece of gum in his mouth!  So I ran up there and got it (not an easy task) before the song started.  After the song he kept walking back up the steps to sing again.  :)  He was so cute.

 Then Peter's class sang.  He got to sing two songs with hand motions.  It was so adorable.  He sang and smiled and charmed in usual Peter Fashion.  :)

Another baby step...

I will admit it.  When I opened my eyes on the morning of my birthday I thought, "Today is MY day.  I'm going to do whatever I want and I'm not doing any work."  So I stayed in bed a little longer than usual.  The kids got up and things proceeded normally.  For about 10 minutes.  Justin wanted to take a bath.  That's fine.  Some more peace for me as the boys would be separated.  Then Justin started to scream and I realized as I came into the bathroom that he had pooped in the tub.  Not just a little bit.  I just stood there, blinking.
"Really, Lord?  Really?"  I said out loud.  "This is really how I'm supposed to spend the morning?  A woman should have flowers, pedicures, and Dr Pepper on her birthday.  Not bath tubs full of poop!  I should NOT have to clean up poop on my birthday!"  I was mad.  I got Justin out, dressed, then went to tackle the bathtub.  I almost left it for Brent to clean up when he got home....but as I cleaned I realized that this was an opportunity to put myself after my children.  That this was a chance to humbly stay in the role of Mommy that God had chosen for me.  Birthdays are not excuses to lay down all responsibilities and become someone new for a day.  So, for my birthday, the Lord gave me a wonderful gift.  The gift of an opportunity to be more like him as I did something that was very low on my list of desires.  Through this situation I was granted the grace to 'count it all joy', love my child and be reminded of how much Christ was a servant.  So happy birthday to me, and here's to one more baby step toward Christ likeness.

The rest of the birthday was wonderful.  Full of laughter, unexpected time with my sister, and lots of hugs and cards. I am blessed.