"Dashing Through the Snow..."

The first pics are of Christmas morning, Natalie loves her Dora tricycle. The neighbors will always know if Natalie is outside this spring and summer because it is so loud when she presses the music buttons, sorry neighbors! The other pictures are her trying out her new sled. Anybody ever see "The Christmas Story" when the little kid gets all dressed up for outside and can't put his arms down? Think modern version of that. If we stood her up in the snow she couldn't lift her legs enough to walk so she just kind of stood there and then fell over. Cute as a button though.

Sorry Jeff....

What a month December has been! We've had Christmas celebrations, bed rest, and a trip to Florida. Sanibel was wonderful, as you can probably tell from the above pictures. The ones of the resort pool and the sunset were taken off the balcony to our room. We left early on Thursday Dec. 16 (like the flight left at 5:30am, do the math on what time we got up, can you say slightly cranky pregnant woman!) and flew back on Sunday afternoon. Roo stayed with friends and family and had a great time (my friend who watched her, Brooke, didn't have as much fun since the latest Natalie slept in for her was 6am). We pretty much lounged by the pool and floated in the pool for the whole time we were there. We had dinners with Huntington for two of the nights and Ryan had a business meeting from 7:30am-12 on one of the days. Other than that we were on our own. We slept in, as long as we wanted, both at the same time. It was the best gift ever. I told Ryan at one point when I was a big floating blog in the pool he could return all my Christmas presents, I wasn't leaving the pool. It was really interesting seeing Florida decorated for Christmas. I've never been there before the holiday and couldn't get over seeing houses decked out in lights and the HUGE tree in the hotel lobby! Overall a great experience thank you Huntington and my hard working hubby!

Let's see what else is going on? I am officially off work until after little man Michael is born. I just couldn't stop contracting and having a ton of pain. Being off my feet has helped. I fear a big jump into depression after the holidays though. Now there's stuff going on every few days and things to look forward to, I'm not sure what my attitude will be like in February! My sister-in-law Marcie made a good point the other day when I was complaining about my lack of activity. She told me to think about how I get to spend all this undivided time with Natalie before her little brother gets here. Think of how many Mom's would love to not have to focus on house work and all the other odds and ends of life and just play with their kiddo all day! My little girl defiantly is a huge bright spot! Jeff, I promise to post some really unflattering photos of myself with my ginormous belly soon!

Contentment

In the tradition of the holiday season we had a sermon this week on the subject of contentment. The scripture was Matt. 6:19-21 (to sum it up it talks of storing up treasures in heaven versus treasures here on earth and ends with "...where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Brian then went on to discuss the law of entropy (summing that up is that every form of matter is moving from a state of order to disorder, or simply stated, decaying). After a nice visual using ice cream (it looks great right out of the freezer, but leave it long enough and it is a puddle in your bowl) he went on to discuss that treasures here on earth are subject to the law of entropy. So, then the treasures in heaven are the things that are not subject to that law, ie: love, good deeds, all the intangibles. Next came a discussion of 1 Timothy 6:6-12

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love , endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."
Some observations to note about the above scripture...It does not say that the rich fall into temptation, but the desire to get rich can lead there. Also, money is not the root of all evil as we have been quoted so many times, but the love of money!

So, the major point of the sermon was that earthly treasures in themselves are not all evil. But, a steady diet of them leaves no room for you to desire the treasures of heaven. Brian used the example of giving up sugar last year for lent. He said the first two weeks were horrible, but after that he started to realize how great "regular" food tasted. He said he learned in his spiritual life that if he denies himself something, that it gives room for God to wake in him a desire for something else, something bigger, those intangibles!

Time for Kara's life application time/honest and open. I like stuff, and a lot of different stuff. Am I allowing my desire for this or that to over power my desires for the treasures of heaven? I look at my daughter and feel this gut wrenching love and sense of purpose and I'm beginning to learn that Natalie and all the lessons, frustration, and joy are some of my treasures in heaven. Maybe I should be pursuing the things in life that break me down to that gut wrenching love.

I also love to be busy and active. Sometimes I think I replace quiet time and introspection with filling my schedule with just one more thing. God does not care about my schedule and how much I want to do. This is a lesson that has been taught to me in a very real way the past month or so. You don't get to be busy when you are on bed rest or "taking it easy" and there are a lot of people in my life who will remind me if I push it (not to mention the little bundle of joy that sends me piles of contractions if I misbehave). I have learned what it means to slow down and just find the miracles and beauty in the world around me, even in my own home. I've studied Natalie for hours and find myself praising God without even realizing it because of the wonder and love she fills me with. I've learned what a loving and caring husband I have who is patient beyond what I deserve or can even fathom. He starts every day brand new with a great attitude. I have much to learn from him. I have learned how to receive acts of service from others and to enjoy it, not feel guilty because I'm used to being the one to serve others. I'm learning how to accept love! Okay, enough rambles. Ryan and I are heading off to sunny Florida on Thursday and I will be thinking of you all, as I sit by the pool!