Very good friends of mine, Ryan and Tam, are adopting a child from Africa soon. Getting sooner by the day as they’ve even sent off paperwork this past week! They’ve been doing creative fundraisers to help with the huge cost of bringing a sweet child home, and one is a vacation package raffle.

Check out the raffle page here… Tickets are ONLY $5! And your odds of winning a fabulous vacation package are good, especially if you purchase a few tickets! It’s a win/win situation… even if you don’t win the vacation, Ryan and Tam will be that much closer to bringing their little one home.

It’s been a busy Christmas season starting with Analise’s kindergarten program at Rocky Ridge Elementary School. Check out these two videos …

4 minute video collage of several songs:

90 second video of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer where Analise and 5 other kids got to lead the first part:

We opened Christmas presents early in preparation for our trip up to Wisconsin. So this was a short video from Sunday morning when the kids had just woken up and been allowed to open one present each:

Sunday morning, Analise was so excited to sing and dance on stage at church during Kids Clubhouse:

Sunday night, Analise and Josiah sang together as part of the Lakeside Kids Music Christmas program. Here is a clip of their songs:

Finally, last night Josiah had his 3 year old Christmas program from the Lakeside Mother’s Day Out program. We had a fun adventure walking over through the woods to Lakeside, doing the program, and then walking back home in the cold windy weather — training for Wisconsin!

This is one day I’ve got to be able to look back on.

6:45 Up with Analise and Josiah (they were bouncy and quite cheerful, a plus for a Monday morning!)

7:30 Drive Analise to school, come back home to shower.

7:59 Allison sends me a text reminding me to keep God’s word close at hand, and that she’s praying Ephesians 5 to sink into both of us.  (I’m trying to keep my Bible open on the kitchen table so it’s right there and ready when I have a down moment to read.)

8:30 Head back to Analise’s school for Santa Shop (a super cute shopping event they put together for the kids to shop for friends and family).

9:15 Drive home to pick up Josiah, take him to church for childcare, head to a Christmas brunch.

9:30 Driving to the brunch, my dear old 1997 Nissan Altima, with 180,000 miles, starts chugging, and I start praying that I’ll just make it to my destination.

9:32 No luck… the car dies completely as I make a left turn, thankfully downhill, and I coast off to the side of the road.  Call Brian to let him know, then call my angel, my father-in-law, who says he’ll be over to rescue me.

9:38 I check my email on my phone, and find a forward from a friend, and instead of skimming past it in my Inbox, my eyes see the top of the email that says, “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you;  he will never let the righteous fall. – Psam 55:22” Perfect timing.

9:45 He shows up, adds oil to the car, and it runs, but barely, sounding terribly, and we’re sure it won’t make it to a shop on it’s own.  I’m fighting back tears, already given up on the brunch (no big deal, really), just upset at the thought that I’ve probably driven my last mile in this car with all the memories.

9:55 Tom and I decide it would be wise to take everything out: car seats, toys, reusable grocery bags, coupon books, old french fries and stale Goldfish.  I reach under the seat to grab something silver , and realize, through new tears, that it’s not a paperclip or safety pin as I’d first thought.  Instead, it’s my wedding band, that I thought I had lost for good a couple months ago.  God is so good to redeem this situation!!

10:30 Tom takes me home, where thankfully, I have a back-up car.  I pick up Josiah from church’s childcare, take him home to Brian (who’s home for the day), and head back to school for 2 more hours of Santa Shop.

The rest of the day improved immensely… got to walk home from school alone with my sweet girl, long afternoon snuggle on the couch with both of my little loves, a night-time adventure walking to school through the woods for Analise’s Christmas program this evening.  She was front and center for a small group part in Rudolph.  So sweet!  The kindergartners did great, and I think Brian’s working on the video right now.  She definitely enjoyed performing in front of the large crowd of parents!

A few more fun random memories from Santa Shop today…

• I had listed several people Analise could shop for, and I sent money with her.  Her personal shopping aide told me when they were finished that she had desperately wanted to get 3 things for Josiah, so the list had gotten reworked.  How sweet!!
• On the way home, Analise was telling me how several people had gotten to get something for themselves, but she hadn’t.  We talked about how this is a season of giving, and she told me what she would have wanted (a Barbie, of course).  I told her that maybe just maybe I’d take Josiah shopping there after the Christmas program.
• Josiah was quick to see the Barbie and knew immediately that it was the perfect gift for Analise.  (Love how that worked out!) Then he was very quick to find a motorcycle that he wanted to get for Daddy.  He insisted that Daddy would love a motorcycle, particularly a red one.  Then he told Brian (who was standing off to the side), that maybe he (Brian) could share the motorcycle with him.  And that he (Josiah) would let Brian come in his room to play with the motorcycle.  So cute!!  And of course, he really wanted Daddy to open his motorcycle immediately when we get home.

But our tree has a nice stash of Santa Shop presents under it, waiting for next week! (we’re opening early because we’re leaving on December 19th for Wisconsin.)  All in all, the day was very rough around the edges, but they still glimmered with God’s goodness.