4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. Luke 2:4-8
Praise God that Christ was born to live a sinless life, died, and rose again so that we could have a relationship with God and eternity with Him in heaven! This Christmas season feels like it has been much more Christ-focused than many others before it. Maybe because we have a child so we have tried to be more conscientious about making that the focus, or maybe because we have grown in our relationship with Christ. I pray that this continues for every Christmas for the rest of our lives.
And another thing, Christmas is so much more fun with a child!! Kinsley was so excited and overwhelmed with all of her gifts that she played almost all day by herself and has woken up early every morning since and started playing right away. Ed’s parents came into town on Thursday and we spent the rest of the weekend eating, fellowshipping, eating some more, looking at Christmas lights, attending church service on Christmas eve, playing games, and just having good ole fun. We started some fun new traditions like reading the Christmas story on Christmas morning before opening gifts, Christmas morning breakfast of monkey bread and crock pot grits, Christmas eve morning of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, etc. Here are some pictures of Kinsley opening her presents on Christmas day.
Please pray as we attend Encounter this week (and for our students that are attending Remedy, the Impact national conference) – that our students will grow in their faith and the Lord will motivate them and inspire them to come back and reach their campus, that we would get to know our students, that students will decide to go on summer project, and that Kinsley will sleep later than 6:15 each morning! We will update you on how it goes in 2012!!