Finishing and Starting Christmas

The last few days have been dreary and depressing. Rain has seemed to flow like tears from a grieving sky. I haven't been able to help but think of sad circumstances affecting people that I know right now. Last night, the fire orange sunset seemed to give hope to the dreariness. This morning, God showed His sweetness with the clear sky and then the sunlight. I went on a walk after gifts had been opened and and It seemed to rejuvinate my soul!  A fresh air inhale gave way to hope and an exhale of stress seemed to fall back behind me as I walked. I realized that this was the first time in a month that I have been stress free. It is sad that I have done this to Christmas once again.  I have let stress and clutter dictate my demeanor and outlook.  Why? To keep things "even" on Christmas morning for the kids? To get it all done? To hurry up and finish Christmas so I can enjoy Christmas?  LORD, help my unbelief!  I STILL don't get it. It seems like I never will grasp this "grace" thing. How can I ever accept this free gift of grace if I don't even show myself enough grace to be ok with needing it?

Next year my plan will be to not let "Christmas" get in the way of Christmas. Maybe by then I can figure out how to be perfect. Or I can realize my imperfection from the beginning, show myself grace, and pray for the One True God to GRACIOUSLY show me the way. 

Merry Christmas to you!

(And to me also)

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Cor. 5:21

Tweezers!

I would normally make this a Facebook post but I'm going to try just blogging it instead. 

I love celery! It is weird that I love it so much, but put me in a room full of food and I tend to grab for the celery because I LIKE IT!  Not because I'm "watching my weight". (People always watch what I'm eating which makes for another post altogether). Anywayyyyy:

We have celery in the fridge and I chomped on a few pieces yeaterday and I got one of those string things caught in between my WISDOM tooth and molar. I had been doing that crooked suck face all day trying to dislodge it.  Like this:

Nothin....My tongue started to wear and tear from jamming it in between my teeth so much. I tried using a combo of my thumb nail and my tongue. Then I jabbed the roof of my mouth with my nail so I was bleeding. I was in despair and utter frustration when a tiny lightbulb popped up: TWEEZERS!! I remembered using tweezers before to get something out of my teeth! Because they can grap the tiniest end of a particle and pull!  I looked at my 13 year old and said, "Where are the tweezers?" Welp, she knew right where they were in the boys bathroom on the sink (because that is the obvious place? NO, nothing is EVER in it's place which drives My husband insano). I ran and grabbed them...All the while, Peanut is watching me with this weird expression. She KNEW I had been trying to dislodge a celery string. It was like she was putting two and two together as to what I was going to do...about 10 seconds too late: 

 I put those tweezers in my mouth and pulled out a ginormous string! It was like a half inch long. I was holding it up in the light for her to see. I was proud of my trophy and wondered why it took me so long to use my trusty tweezers! "Look at that puppy! MAN! No WONDER it's been driving me crazy. I'm free!" I said. 

My daughter, God love her soul, says to me, "Mom, I hate to tell you this but I got POOP OFF OF THE BOTTOM OF MY SHOE, with those tweezers today. At least I THINK it was poop..." Then she put her hand out, like this would make me feel better, "it could have been something else though. It was really crusty." 

I have no words after she said that. Just silence.  

Moral of the story: put things where they are supposed to go and nobody will use your tweezers to flick poo out of their shoe.