Those Pesky Red Cups

Donald Trump said yesterday that Starbucks should be boycotted because of their red holiday cups, and that if he is elected president, everyone will be saying Merry Christmas.

Aww. Another appeal to the Christian right by a man living the antithesis of a Christ-like life.

But what about all the decent Christian people out there who just want to keep Christ in Christmas? Some are worried because so many forget Jesus is the reason for the season. They avoid phrases like "Happy Holidays" and "holiday trees" and "seasonal decorations." They make a point of wishing others a Merry CHRISTMAS.

For me, keeping Christ as a central focus of my Christmas celebration is important.

Our family does have fun with the man in the red suit, but we place higher importance on the Child in the manger.

But if you don't believe in Jesus or follow His teachings, I don't mind if you wish me a happy holiday, decorate a holiday tree, or display blow-up yard art of the reindeer with the neon red nose.

In fact, I might wish you a happy holiday. I might send out cards with cutesy snowmen. I might sip a chai tea latte from Starbucks while wearing an ugly Christmas sweater with a green-velvet Grinch trimmed with white faux fur.

(Actually, I won't do the last one. I don't do holiday sweaters.)

It’s not my job or responsibility. nor that of Donald Trump, the cashier at Target, the maker of “holiday” trees, nor the designer of Starbucks cups to keep Christ in Christmas.

Christ was there at the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth. He made EVERYTHING out of NOTHING. (Ponder that for a minute.)

The entire universe is held together by His powerful word. He is before all things, and by Him all things exist. He is the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, and the end. 

He doesn’t need you or me or any presidential candidate to defend Him, stand up for Him, or proclaim Him by saying Merry Christmas. 

By definition, Christ-mas is a celebration of His birth, but if you replace Christmas with holiday, it doesn't negate His birth.

He was. 

He is. 

And He will be.

So don't worry your pretty little self about Jesus. He'll be OK. I promise.

Instead, go and show His love to someone who needs it. And stop acting like a pious jerk who gets upset because your coffee is contained in a red cup, Menards is selling holiday trees, and/or someone had the nerve to wish you a happy holiday season.

Finally...A White Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
Melkam Genna!

መልካም ገና

Today is Christmas in Ethiopia! And it's a white Christmas (but only here in Chicagoland). Ethiopians follow the Julian Calender, so Christmas falls on January 7.

 I wished Jackson a Merry Christmas today, and after some strange looks by him and an explanation by me, he asked, "Do Lucia and Mary and David have a Christmas tree up?"

 No, probably not.

Christmas in Ethiopia is celebrated very differently than here in the United States. I was going to summarize what I've learned, but this website explains it so well that I decided to simply copy and paste. 

*I don't know if this is exactly how our kids are celebrating today, 

but this is the traditional celebration. 

My guess is that just like every family in the U.S. has their own 

variation on Christmas, so do folks in Ethiopia.*

 

Many people fast on Christmas Eve (January 6th). At dawn on the morning of Genna, people get dressed in white. Most people wear a traditional garment called a shamma. It's a thin white cotton piece of cloth with brightly colored stripes across the ends. It's worn like a toga. If you live in a big town or city you might wear 'western' clothes. The early Genna mass starts at 4.00am!

The Ethiopian capital city is Addis Ababa. It's a modern city. Most people who live outside big cities live in round house made of mud-plastered walls which have thatched cone-shaped roofs. Sometimes houses in the country are rectangular and made of stone.

The design of Ethiopian Church is similar to the houses. In the country, they are often very old and have been carved out of rock. In cities, modern churches are built in three circles, each within the others.

 The choir sings from the outer circle. Everyone who goes to church for the Genna celebrations is given a candle. The people walk around the church three times in a solemn procession, holding the candles. They then go to the second circle to stand during the service. The men and boys are separated from the women and girls. The center circle is the most important and holy place in the church and is where the priest serves the Holy Communion or mass.

It's also a tradition that one of the Wise Men who visited Jesus came from Ethiopia.

Around the time of Genna, the men and boys play a game that is also called genna. It's played with a curved stick and a round wooden ball, a bit like hockey.

Traditional Christmas foods in Ethiopia include wat which is a thick and spicy stew that contains meat, vegetables and sometimes eggs (sounds yummy!). Wat is eaten on a 'plate of injera' - a flat bread. Pieces of the injera are used as an edible spoon to scoop up the wat.

Twelve days after Genna, on 19th January, Ethiopians start the three day celebration of Timkat. It celebrated the baptism of Jesus. Children walk to church services in a procession. They wear the crowns and robes of the church youth groups that they belong to. Adults wear the shamma. The priests wear red and white robes and carry embroidered fringed umbrellas.

Musical instruments are played during the Timkat procession. The sistrum is a percussion instrument with tinkling metal disks a bit like a vertical tambourine. A makamiya, a long T-shaped prayer stick is used to keep the rhythm and is also used by the priests and a stick to lean on during the long Timkat church service!

Ethiopian men also play a sport called yeferas guks. It's played on horseback and the men throw ceremonial lances at each other (sounds rather dangerous!).

People don't give and receive present during Genna and Timkat. Sometimes children might be given a small gift of some clothes from their family members. It's more a time for going to church, eating lots and playing games!

So from the Doman home to yours, Melkam Genna!

(Interesting tidbit: On all the children's paperwork that we have received lately, their last name is listed as Doman. I like that.)

 

Our Hope

Yesterday at church a lady who had read my previous blog asked, "So what do you do now?"

Good question.

We wait. We pray. And we hope.

So many of you have sent us messages and posted comments saying that you will pray for our little family, and it has encouraged us so much.

Our only Hope is in Emmanuel...God with us. He is Father to the fatherless and He places the lonely in families. He says that true religion is taking care of the orphans and widows, and so we know He is in this.

Our only hope.

But it's enough.

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, 

you can say to this mountain,  'Move from here to there,' and it will 

move. Nothing will be impossible for you. -Matthew 17:20

This week, as you celebrate Christmas, some very important meetings will be taking place in Ethiopia. (They celebrate Christmas on January 6, so this week is business as usual.) The Federal Ministry has invited all adoption providers to a meeting, and our prayer is that Sebilu, who is director of African Operations for our agency, will have opportunity to petition for our children and other kids stuck in the same situation.

It only takes faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains, and this is a big mountain we're facing.

We need a Christmas miracle.

I know it's a busy week, but as you remember the Christ Child who came for the lost, the forgotten, the poor, the needy...will you petition for the children in Ethiopia who don't have moms and dads? For our sweet children?

Thank you. We look forward to sharing how God has moved mountains in response to your faith--even if it's the size of a mustard seed.

Unwrapping the Gift

It's been a really strange couple of weeks, and I've hesitated to blog about it for two reasons. First, it's hard to put in words something you haven't fully processed. And second, there's the matter of privacy. How much is appropriate to share in a public forum? What is helpful, interesting, and/or informative so that readers can pray for our growing family?

As I told you in a previous blog, the boy we are adopting went to court to say whether or not he wanted to be adopted. The initial report was simply that he did very well and everything turned out as expected.

We didn't get any more details for several days because the email of our team in Ethiopia wasn't working. When we finally got pictures of the children unwrapping our gift books--and the full report on what happened--I couldn't quite process everything.










...

I remember the first time I left our son Jack with someone other than a family member. He was just a few months old, and the church we attended at the time offered a Mom's Day Out. For just a few dollars, you could leave your child in the capable hands of a nursery worker for several hours on a weekday.

Being a stay-at-home writer and editor, I thought this was a great idea. But as soon as I dropped off Jack, my heart sank. I missed him so much I could hardly stand it. All the cliques applied: I felt like I was missing my right arm. I felt like I'd left my heart in that nursery and was walking around without it.

I was miserable.

When they called me 45 minutes later to tell me Jack had been crying and they couldn't calm him down, I was secretly happy. I raced back to the church as fast as I could to get my child back in my arms.

That's a mother for you. At least with her firstborn, and at least for the first few months. Now Jack goes off to preschool twice a week, and neither of us sheds a tear. But I still miss him when we're apart for an extended period of time. I wonder what he's doing. I wonder if he's happy. I wonder if he's sharing all the family secrets. I wonder if he made it to the potty in time.

He is always on my mind.

...

Our three soon-to-be-adopted children in Ethiopia are always on my mind as well.  

Will they like it here? Are the decorations in this bedroom too baby-ish for an 11 year old? Is this coat going to fit her? Will it be warm enough? I wish I could find a coat in yellow since that is her favorite color, but all I can find is pink and purple! How will they do in school? Should I homeschool them? Will they be kind to Jackson? Will Jackson be normal jealous or crazy jealous? Will they be the only chocolate-skinned kids at their school? Will other kids like them? Will they be teased because of their foreign names and thick accents?

And after the report and photos we got two weeks ago, my thoughts have started including ones like these:

Is that a smile on her face as she looks at the photo book we sent? Do they feel scared at the size of their new school building? What does it feel like to go to court and say your circumstances are so bleak that you are willing to be adopted by an unknown family who live in a foreign country where you will know no one, save your two siblings? 

What does it feel like to tell your social worker, "I know what adoption is, but I never thought it would happen for us because we've waited all these years in the orphanage." And how did he feel when he asked, "How soon will my new parents come and get us?"

My mind is constantly processing these ideas. Now that our children know about us, I want them right now. I don't want them to wait one second longer, and yet...there is nothing I can do to speed the process along.

The Ministry of Women and Children in Ethiopia has suddenly changed the rules--they want originals on all the important paperwork. Previously they accepted copies. That means our team in Ethiopia has to scramble to get originals of who-knows-how-many documents.

...

When I was pregnant, everyone told me to enjoy the pregnancy--that the baby would be here soon enough and then I'd be enduring many sleepless nights. But still, I couldn't wait to meet my son.

Nobody is telling us to enjoy the adoption process because we all know that three children are going to bed tonight without a mother and father to tuck them in, to kiss them goodnight, to pray with them.

And that breaks my heart. I am going about my usual business--writing, editing, meeting with friends, going to church, babysitting, attending parties--like everything is normal. But nothing is normal. We have three children who are waiting for us, and I hate being away from them.

...

My husband tells me that for every comment I get on my blog, there's at least 10 other readers who don't comment.

He heard that statistic years ago, and I'm pretty sure it was before the advent of Facebook links and the ability to simply hit "Like."

That's why I'm doing a giveaway this week...to see who my readers actually are. Anyone who leaves a comment on this blog will be entered into a drawing to receive a free book. The winner can choose any of the following books and it will be mailed directly to them. The winner may choose from threse books:

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Called a simple, enchanting tale...warm and funny and thoroughly unpredictable.
Publishers Weekly calls this "one of the best Christmas books ever."

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp
A beautifully illustrated book to celebrate the Advent season together as a family.













The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
A Moonbeam Award Gold Medal Winner and one of my favorite books!














The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas by Ann Voskamp

A New York Times Bestseller, this book is an Advent calender and a devotional all in one.















Any of these books will make your Christmas more meaningful...or the winner could use the prize as a stocking stuffer.

Leave your comment in the section below to be entered to win! We'll announce a winner this weekend.

DIY Duct Tape Stocking

I love this time of year. It's been a little too busy the past week, but our days and nights have been filled with such enjoyable things that I really can't complain.

Last Friday night we went to a Christmas party with our adoption agency. The guests were all families that have been touched by adoption from Africa--whether their kids are already home or like us, they are in process. There were about six or seven families who attended...and lots of kids of many colors. I can't explain how much it affected me to see all the children playing and laughing and running and shrieking. Black skin, brown skin, tan skin, and lilly white skin. I can't speak for the other children, but our little Jack-Jack wasn't fazed one bit by all the cultures and ethnicities represented. All he knew was that there were kids, there were cookies, and there was fun. When the evening came to an end, he didn't want to leave.

A little glimpse of heaven right here on earth.

Yesterday it started snowing while we were in church, and it didn't end until after I went to bed. Thankfully it was a light snow, so total accumulation was just a few inches. Enough to cover the grass and to give Ken a snow-blower induced workout. So thankful for Ken. I threw out my back a week ago, and it still isn't 100 percent.

So, on to the DIY Duct Tape Stockings. So many people, like my husband, have found the joy of using duct tape for all sorts of little projects. You can buy duct tape in just about any color and pattern, and I think Ken has most of them.

Last year I decided to get new Christmas stockings for all of us that reflect something about our personality. I found a stocking for Jackson online that features his beloved Winnie the Pooh. (Thankfully he is even more in love with Pooh this year than he was last year!)

For myself, I bought a stocking with a cardinal. I've become so taken with these lovely birds, and I think they are a perfect decoration for Christmas with their bright red coloring.

I wanted to get a duct tape stocking for Ken, but I couldn't find anything to my liking. That's when I decided to do it myself. Sadly, I was not on Pinterest at the time, so I didn't take any pictures to document the process, but let me tell you about it. It was easy-peasy.

Supplies

• An old, ugly, cheap, or unused stocking, preferably with fold-down fur trim at the top. You can buy these super cheap at most stores.
• Duct tape for main part of stocking.
• Accent duct tape, if desired.

The great thing about working with duct tape is that you don't need any other adhesive such as a  gun or super glue or even a sewing machine.

1. Flip the fur collar up. You will use this to cover the rough edges at the top.
2. Start wrapping the stocking in strips of duct tape, slightly overlapping each strip. You may need to angle some pieces as you get to the bottom, curved area.
3. Make your "seams" or stopping points on the backside, which is hidden from view.
4. When the whole stocking is covered, fold the fur collar down.
5. Add any accent tape. I used a Dallas Cowboy star for my Texas-born husband. I love that it also seems Christmasy.
6. Add the person's name with glitter glue on the collar. I wish I had done it in chalk first because it came out a little lopsided, but I don't think he noticed. :)

 

 

If you make one, please share a picture with me!

Happy Stockings!

Luann

Bulbous Wreath. Because it's fun to say "bulbous."

Growing up, my mom often hung blue lights for Christmas. I really liked the peacefulness of the blue lights, and now I try to include blue in my Christmas decorations.

These wreaths have been popping up all over Pinterest as well as retail stores, and I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to go blue. They sell for anywhere from $30 to $100 retail, and I made mine for about $15.

Supplies Needed
14" grapevine wreath
hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks
150 Christmas bulbs in various sizes and colors of your choice

I got most of my bulbs at the Dollar Tree, my sister's favorite store. (Don't tell her I said that; she'll be mad at me.) I got the miniature colored ones and the wreath at Hobby Lobby, both for half off.

Honestly, shopping for the supplies took longer than making the wreath. It was easy-peasy. The hardest part was using my cheapo glue gun. I have a callous on my pointer finger from pulling the impossible trigger. Poor me.



Start by turning your wreath upside down. Tie a small ribbon around the top so you can hang it.

Then, glue your largest ornaments around the inside of the wreath. If the ornament holder is one that pops out, pop it out. Otherwise you can leave it in, just make sure that either way it's pointing toward the back of the wreath. To increase stability, I glued them to both the wreath and to each other. It was a spidery web mess of glue gun gunk, but I don't want it to fall apart.

Then glue bulbs around the outside. I spaced these out a bit more than I should have, but I was running out of large bulbs. That is, until I called my favorite sister and she stopped by her favorite store on the way home from work and picked up some more high-quality bulbs for me. I filled in with the extra bulbs later, but it was much harder than if I'd done it earlier. I blame some other blog...I can't remember which one. She said you need at least 100 bulbs. Ha! 150 is more like it. But maybe my wreath is more bulbous than hers.

 

Anyway, back to the process. So next turn the wreath over and start filling in the empty spots using the largest ornaments first, then the mediums, and finally the small. Yes, I put my bulbs in various mixing bowls according to size, because I'm weird like that.

Pretty soon, you have a beautiful, bulbous wreath. Hang it up using the ribbon you tied on, and ta-da! You're done.

If you make one, be sure to take a picture and share it with me!

By the way, don't you love my mini-Christmas village? It was my mom's, and this is the first year since her passing that I've displayed it. :)

Happy Wreathing!

Luann

Advent Calender

As a kid, one of my favorite parts of the holiday season was receiving our annual Advent Calender from our Sunday School teacher. It was a paper/cardboard construction, about 8"x12". It was usually a nativity scene, and it had 25 little windows that opened, each revealing an even better picture.

Today, most of the Advent Calenders sold have become "Countdown to Christmas" calendars. And while I love Santa as much as the next person, I also want my son to understand and embrace the true meaning of Christmas. I also don't want him eating chocolate every day. (They come with chocolate now! Who knew?)

[As a side note, I was so disappointed when I realized Micheal's Craft store as well as our local Target  don't have a darn thing in their Christmas section that has to do with Jesus. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Seriously. Look the next time you're there. As I said, I'm not against secular traditions--my child will sit on Santa's lap and probably leave him some cookies, but it feels like Jesus is being shut out of his own birthday celebration. OK, will now descend from soapbox.]

So, being a newly minted Pinterest person, I turned to my new source (addiction?) for all things creative. I took several ideas and combined them to come up with a rustic/chic/sacred Advent Calender.

Here's how I made it.

First, I bought wide burlap ribbon rolls in three designs. At Michael's. I know, I know. I should probably shop elsewhere since they apparently don't like Jesus, but let's be honest: Me not shopping there only punishes me. And I will use their secular decorations for faith-driven purposes. Sneaky on my part, right?

So, I cut the ribbon in strips about 12 inches long. I folded them over, lining up the "flap" so the snowflake pattern would retain the snowflake shape, and pinned them in place.

I stitched up the sides to create a pocket, and also stitched up any unfinished edges as burlap tends to easily unravel. I used a zig-zag stitch to secure the jute fibers.

Then I added some embellishments. I like the combo of the rustic burlap combined with lacey lace and glittery buttons. Note: The buttons are decorative only. While I did sew them on to secure them, I didn't make a button hole. Please people. I've only been sewing for about a month, and the one time I tried to do a buttonhole....well, let's just say total disaster. Thread bunched up, needle broke, fabric seriously messed up. Anyway...

Next I added green ribbon tabs on which I had written numbers, 1-25. I sewed them on the back. Maybe I did this before sewing the sides. I can't remember. This has been a long project.

Finally, I strung the daily pockets on a long piece of white lace and strung them on our stair railing. I bought this lace at Hobby Lobby. They, apparently, love Jesus. But not birth control for the masses. But let's not get political. This is supposed to be a feel-good blog.

Now comes the most important part. I filled each pocket with a printed out Bible verse. I used this list that I stole off Pinterest. I'd give credit, but the link didn't go anywhere. Note: Some of the passages are really long. I used them anyway. Jack has a hard time sitting through the reading, but someday they will be more meaningful to him. (Yes, I'm planning on using this for a lot of years. This was way too much work for one year's use!)

Note, if you want to see the actual verses printed out, I have a Word doc I can email to you so you don't have to look up each one, copy, paste, etc. They are in the New Living Translation.

Then, the exciting part! Each pocket also has a thimble sized piece to a Nativity set. I bought set of 16 at Hobby Lobby, and supplemented the other 9 days with various trees, animals, etc. I found a small creche at Walmart that was the perfect size, but it already had a Mary and Joseph and Jesus in it. Glued in it. But for $6, I was more than willing to have my husband wrestle them out of their comfy creche.

We totally could've made the creche with some spare wood, but it was November 30, and we couldn't start the process without the stable...and finding the wood, the nails, the materials...wasn't going to happen.

So, each day before bed we open a pocket, read the verse, and little Jack-Jack gets to add a piece to his Nativity set. So far he has a sheep and a cow. We'll save Jesus for the 25th of course, but Mary and Joe will arrive a few days earlier.

Since my two-year-old has inherited my strong sense of nosiness, I mean curiosity, I put the actual figurine in the pocket right before we open it. :)

Happy Advent!

Luann

PS: Here is one of my favorite Advent hymns, written by Charles Wesley in the 1700s. It's still so relevant today.

1. Come, thou long expected Jesus, 
 born to set thy people free; 
 from our fears and sins release us, 
 let us find our rest in thee.  
 Israel's strength and consolation, 
 hope of all the earth thou art; 
 dear desire of every nation, 
 joy of every longing heart.

2. Born thy people to deliver, 
 born a child and yet a King, 
 born to reign in us forever, 
 now thy gracious kingdom bring. 
 By thine own eternal spirit 
 rule in all our hearts alone; 
 by thine all sufficient merit, 
 raise us to thy glorious throne.