Tag: Christmas

Firsts

  1. First time away from my family over the Christmas holidays
  2. First time sunbathing in December
  3. First time I ever hosted a storybook character costume party
  4. First time I ever made bacon ice cream (don’t knock it – I got the recipe from some hoity-toity French chef and I’ll add that I got pretty much all rave reviews)
  5. First time attending Christmas Eve service in Spanish… and having a special prayer time at the end for two elderly ladies from the church who were kidnapped
  6. First time eating Christmas dinner at midnight on Christmas Eve
  7. First time celebrating many holiday moments via skype
  8. First time hosting a visitor in a foreign country for one of the most precious holidays
  9. First time (in Honduras) jamming out in the car to all sorts of songs with someone who DOESN’T think I’m crazy for doing so
  10. First time crafting almost every single gift I gave for Christmas (also the first time I worried like crazy that the recipients wouldn’t understand my artistic ideas and appreciate them enough to not throw away the hours it took to make them!)
  11. First time I witnessed in the craziest display of fireworking power in the hands of pubescent boys with gasoline and lighters and an awkwardly stuffed straw man who was blown to smithereens at the stroke of midnight… to celebrate the New Year
  12. First time the streets of Tegucigalpa were not bumper to bumper (for the entire holidays most of the roads were like a ghost town)
  13. First time I picked up a visitor in the afternoon from the airport and then didn’t let him sleep until 2 am … and then wake him up 2 hours later for our bus trip to the next country over.
  14. First time I achieved 7:47 on my first of four miles on the treadmill! I can thank my high school friend Joelle for this one. I have no idea why, but when I saw she ran a mile in 7:47 it became my goal to make that my first mile, but still run it at intervals. I know this doesn’t make any sense to anyone … but I was so excited!
  15. First time trying out my new treadmill moves (see Patrick Swayze post)
  16. First time returning to school from vacation feeling like I needed a vacation… and at least three days to re-adjust my body’s clock from 3 am to 10 pm bedtimes.
  17. First time (probably in the history of man) that two people started to completely randomly sing this same line at the same time, prompted by nothing in particular, “you get a line, I’ll get a pole, we’ll go fishing in the crawfish pole…” Two brains can actually be random and weird at the same time!
  18. First time realizing how beautiful it is to have someone from one world I love walk around in another world I love equally as much.
  19. First time truly appreciating the power of family tradition and the importance of presence.
  20. First time I had people packing “to go” boxes from the spread of baked goods at my party.
  21. First time in a long while that I started an finished a nice, lengthy book in a few days.
  22. First time taking Nertz to a whole new level: I played in almost every eating establishment open late over Christmas in Tegucigalpa, in at least three places in El Salvador, with students in my house and in public places, individual and groups, and even outside. Oh! and did I mention I have a Nertz Christmas ornament? I do!

Okay, I know if I go on it will get boring. If I get a list out of the way, I generally am more likely to start writing for real. And I know there is at least one person out there (ahem, Hilda) who will keep asking me every day until I get back into the habit.

let LOVE fly like cRaZy!

Posted on by Caroline 1

fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love

“every day won’t be no picnic,
love ain’t no walk in the park.
all you can do is make the best of it –
can’t be afraid of the dark.
just know that you’re not in this alone
there’s a place in me that you can call home
whenever you feel like we’re growing apart
let’s just go
back, back, back, back, back to the start

anything that’s worth having
it’s sure enough worth fighting for”

This morning, I’m in one of those “cup runneth over” kind of moods. I’m sure Vampire Weekend (a band long before the ridiculous and strange vampire craze swept the ocean of tweens all over the world) was not thinking in the same sense when they sang the above song. But, this morning, as I sing out loud these words in my house, I’m kind of dancing to a different love story.

CHRIST is coming! He saw a relationship with me worth FIGHTING for… and that makes my heart feel just the right amount of full. I’ve been watching this Christmas story re-telling on replay and it’s only added to the beauty and mystery… reminding me of the awe with which we should all anticipate Christ’s birth. It’s so simple.

 

are you going to

let LOVE fly like CrAzY

today!?

Posted on by Caroline 0

giving PRESENCE this Christmas

I intentionally didn’t start out my post yesterday with an apology because I wanted to get right into the strangeness of my gym encounter. Today, I want to post an ENORMOUS slideshow to give you an idea of what the last two weeks have been full of: PRESENCE.

Awhile ago, I posted a video from Advent Conspiracy that challenges people to give more meaningful gifts of time and hand-crafted gifts rather than breaking the bank. Here it is again, if you missed it:

I haven’t quite felt up to pounding out life at the keyboard because there’s been a LOT of presence-making! I finally got my handmade gifts off to the States, via someone’s suitcase and now I’m working on finishing up the ones I still need to deliver here. There’s A LOT of baking going on, to be sure. It could be granola, sugar cut-out cookies, pumpkin cake, or a number of other things… but there’s ALWAYS something to do in the kitchen this time of year.

Well, enjoy this slideshow. I hope it lets you peek in and kind of sit with me as I go about being present this Christmas.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Posted on by Caroline 1

Friday Frenzy

Here’s a few recommendations to warm up your Friday:

  • If you want to give PRESENCE (instead of presents with a pricetag) this Christmas, check out the Advent Conspiracy

  • Here’s a way to spice up your holiday gift wrapping, if you DO choose to wrap something up, from ohjoy!
  • I just thought this was worth noting – CUPCAKES have officially passed bacon in google searches this year. This is pretty monumental, because I know people who are as loyal to both sides of this issue. Read this article for the details.
  • This is probably my favorite suggestion for today: Read this article posted at Desiring God about a divinely appointed taxi ride. Please read it – you won’t be disappointed.
    A diagram of how a hand of Nertz is set up and...
    Here's how you play a hand of Nertz!
  • I love the game Nertz. I love it. Sometimes my love for this card game causes an embarrassing amount of theatrics, but that makes me love it more. So, tonight my friend Sarah and I will endeavor to teach several students how to love the game like we do. Here is a little video sample of one family playing Nertz. I’m pretty sure you’ll love it if you try it!
  • Lastly, I just found this musician, Kenneth Padgett, via the Desiring God website. He has a project called Joy Eternal where he adapts inspiring, reformed books into song. Take a listen!

I hope your Friday is full of WONDERFUL WONDERFUL things!

let LOVE fly like CrAZzzzY

Posted on by Caroline 2

December stands for ANTICIPATION

I love December. Even though it’s not snowy cold here, the flip of the calendar and the ushering in of advent has a sparkle all its own. I love that December means (if we weren’t before) we’ve all got our gaze fixed ahead in anticipation for something great… something beautiful and lovely and joyous is going to happen.

I just love it.  And maybe that’s why my bedroom floor can’t seem to stay clean. It might be a stretch, but I’m going to say it’s because I am looking ahead to times of joyful gatherings and love-drenched celebrations.

this is just a landscape shot of my floor - covered in crafts!

As long as I’m talking about making things and giving them away, I know you’ve all been anticipating the Honduran Horizon newsletter! So, I have good news – HERE IT IS. You can either view it right here or go to the Honduran Horizon tab at the top of this page to view all the newsletters.

Here are a few other recommendations:

  • Get some free Christmas music from Amazon right here.
  • Check out this little piece from Tim Keller on politics and faith, which I always seem to be tangled up in confusion over.
  • I continue to chew on questions of art/beauty/church/gospel and how they are intertwined – this article about a church in Chicago set off a crazy comment fire (for which I received endless inboxes) and resulted in this follow up article. Both are worthy of a read and if you are really ambitious, look at the comments!
  • In regards to the above discussion on art and faith, Makoto Fujimura is becoming someone I would really love to meet.
  • Just to throw in a twist and show I’m totally young and hip and youtube-savvy, check out this crazy video of a girl after she gets her wisdom teeth pulled… pretty funny – especially the RAP (my favorite part!).

Well, I just ate some unbelievable green beans and now I’m on to my main course: popcorn. It’s a whole grain, you know. It’s popcorn, crafts, and filling gift boxes for AFE. Wait… is that my beeping car I hear? Humph. We’ll find out in the morning!

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 0

where suffering meets joy

Here’s a little piece I wrote for the guidance newsletter this month:

My friend went to Kenya in 2008 and found himself surrounded by refugees displaced by civil war.

We all marveled at the pictures and listened to his tales when he returned, but after a while, we found ourselves again caught up in our lives layered with routines and more “important” matters. His experience was forced to fit into phrases like, “Oh, yeah, when you were in Africa…” because we didn’t have time for deeper questions requiring deeper answers.

As we step into this Christmas season, much of our discomfort results from crowded checkout lines and shopping cart traffic jams. Our culture presses in to define this celebration with catchy tag lines and guilt-ridden advertisements enticing us to add another gift to the cumbersome pile.

The joy in the angels’ announcement that filled the sky at Christ’s birth is somehow reduced to greeting cards and cavalier “Happy Holidays” thrown around like plastic swiped in those nifty little machines.

Scan of a Christmas greeting card.
Image via Wikipedia

Is the subject of your holiday adoration worthy of all the discomfort?

As I examine my own motives for crafting homemade gifts, my mind wanders back to my friend who went to Kenya. Maybe we moved on so quickly from his experience because being near to someone’s pain brings a certain suffering to our lives as well.

Thinking about Kenya beyond the powerpoints and post-trip Q & A is… uncomfortable, and we have a tidy way of stuffing uncomfortable stories in the attic while we stuff stockings over the fireplace.

Though we often set them against each other, suffering is not opposite joy. Christ, who for the joy set before Him, endured the great suffering of the cross. When we open our lives and hearts to let the Spirit move in us, we will experience some of the greatest suffering and most abundant joy.

Christmas is both a time to celebrate the joy of a Savior and a time to long for Christ’s appearing as the only response to the suffering around us.

The closer we walk with those who are suffering, the more we will wonder at God’s joy in this season. Who will you choose to walk beside this season, sharing their pain? Great joy awaits, dear sojourner… GREAT JOY!

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 1

back from hiatus

That’s right. I took a hiatus – an “interruption in the intensity or amount of something” – from the blog. I know this means I did everything wrong in the eyes of the up-and-coming blogger. Consistency is key! Well, feeling real life on my fingers was key for the past four days and maybe you’ll just take my word for it.

In the case that you’d rather read a few words, I’ll indulge you with some snippets. In short, I get overwhelmed sometimes. I looked up the definition for overwhelmed, because I love words, and 1, 2b, 3, and 4 seem appropriate.

o·ver·whelm  (vr-hwlm, -wlm)tr.v. o·ver·whelmed, o·ver·whelm·ing, o·ver·whelms
1. To surge over and submerge; engulf
2.a. To defeat completely and decisively
b. To affect deeply in mind or emotion
3. To present with an excessive amount
4. To turn over; upset

Before my mom starts to worry about an impending nervous breakdown, I don’t think “submerged, affected deeply, presented with an excessive amount of something, and turned over” are altogether negative things.

It’s just too much.

Well, here are the snippets, anyway. Some are good and joyful and some are sad and painful. Maybe you can take all the overwhelming pieces and make sense of them.

  • My light bulb in my room is burnt out and I don’t seem to have the right multi-tool (which I was convinced could fix anything) to unscrew my complicated ceiling light), so I have been crafting for the last few days on my floor with the light of my computer and a desk lamp. I’m a little worried about the following: the color combos I am coming up with, my failing eyesight, the way I insist on spreading everything out around me and then bending over it for hours.
  • Watercolor. It’s amazing! Where has it been all my life?
  • The Christmas decorations have now been up in Tegucigalpa for a good, long month. Christmas songs are streaming out every speaker and you won’t find me a bit disturbed. Whoever made the rule that Christmas can’t start until after thanksgiving obviously never considered that, “Come, let us adore Him” is a year-round invitation!
  • I want to write. Sometimes I want to write ideas and notions so badly that I can’t touch a keyboard for fear I won’t do the idea justice. Words are so weighty. They are heavy and cumbersome and I love them. I wish I could find the space to fit the bulky words that have taken up residence in my soul. I’d love to park them somewhere nice.
  • We are in the final stretch for our Operation Christmas Box. We’re doing our own version of Christmas in a shoebox for the beautiful children of Amor y Fe y Esperanza. I’m so PUMPED!
  • I’ve got chocolate glazed pumpkin cookies cooling in the kitchen and 31 amazing seniors to deliver to tomorrow. Yep – THIRTY ONE seniors brought their Bibles to chapel today. My prayer is that the Word would be ALIVE to them. I watched and then chewed through this message by John Piper on Sunday, “Holding Fast the Word of Life” and I want more than anything that we would hold fast to the words spoken by the Creator of the Universe! “He is the Vesuvius of joy” and we turn our heads and say it is boring. Ouch.
    Here is an excerpt:
  • I hate sin. I mean I really hate it. I know this isn’t a surprise, but this week it was closer, raw, and ugly. I hate sin that causes families to break up and the sin that causes sons and daughters to hurt and the sin that leads girls to believe lies and the sin that prevents me from being at all useful. I hate it.
  • I’m still mulling over ideas about art and beauty. This is certainly one of the topics in which I’d gladly submerge myself, but I can never quite put the pieces together to write about it.
    I love this quote from contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura about art and culture,”We have a language that celebrates waywardness – but we do not have a language to bring people back home.” That’s kind of “it” in a nutshell, I guess.
  • Another thing I don’t mind being submerged in is God’s promises. Whenever I’m faced with hardship or a tough conference or the gnarly sin sneaking in to steal joy all over the place, I remember. I remember God is sovereign. He is good. His plans are never thwarted. Yep, I’d like to be daily “presented with an excessive amount” of His complete sovereignty.
  • Guess, what? THANKSGIVING is this week! I’m super-duper pumped to throw my thanks everywhere. I’m planning a Thanksgiving dinner this Friday for my senior ladies, which will involve a monstrous amount of baking. I’m also super pumped to set up our own version of a drive-in movie in someone’s backyard.
  • Last, but not least… tomorrow is the first-ever pep rally led by the first-ever pep squad coached by first-ever coach (you guessed it) me. I’m pretty sure this is the first time in history that someone is trying to calm high school nerves about a high school event at the ripe old age of 26! I almost couldn’t sleep last night, because I’m just sure the girls are going to get out there (they have absolutely no idea what they are doing) and then run off and I’ll be left to animate the crowd with my antics (which are usually reserved for small dinner parties!). Lord, help us!

Well, there it is. A comeback from a hiatus heaped up high with the verb “overwhelm.”

If nothing else, I pray this night finds you

letting LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 4

who am i kidding?

I can talk a big talk, jump a big joy, and sing a strong song… but, today I’m humbled because my sin still tangles me.

I’m frustrated… and that hour workout did nothing to chase it away. No surprises there.

Songs that got me through today:
Sara Groves‘ new album – seriously, do yourself a favor and chime in with the ladies of this prison to sing the songs of Christmas. It’s a privilege, to be sure. You can download the album for free on her website!
Brooke Fraser‘s song Flags breaks my heart because it forces me to dig deeper and cling to God’s promises. I’ve got to believe this today.

“You who mourn will be comforted
You who hunger will hunger no more
All the last shall be first
Of this I am sure

You who weep now will laugh again
All you lonely be lonely no more
Yes, the last will be first
Of this I’m sure

Sia‘s song “I’m in here” is easily a song to get depressed to. But more than that, I am sad because she is singing a clamoring anthem of so many who are crying out and desperate, but hear no response.
Lovelite is part of an amazing network of musicians called Come and Live. These guys are about glorifying God with music and making it available to us … for free. If you passed by me at a stoplight today, you probably heard me belting this Lovelite song, “There You Are” because I needed to be reminded that whenever I am faithless He remains the same.

“And if ever I am faithless
I can’t escape Your greatness
From the brightest of places
To the infinite spaces
There You are, there You are”

Sometimes you just need some instruments in your life. For me, right now, that’s Jeremy Larson‘s circadian cues (a sneak peek at his new album) and a song by Victoire called, “A Song for Mick Kelly.” I don’t know much about the latter band, just like this song (download it free here).

Lastly, I just downloaded (because of my “friend of the blog” status at Tim Challies) this Sovereign Grace album called “Sons and Daughters.” That got some airplay today and I’m glad it did.

Now, I’m going to be honest. If I take the advice I shell out every single day, then I am going to go digging. I’m going to grab my shovel and dig until I find the deepest promises. Then I am going to anchor myself and brace for the storm. That’s what I’m going to do, because who am I kidding? I’m pretty rotten and sinful and I need a Savior as much as my students do!

Posted on by Caroline 0

things are not what they seem – including Mondays

I started a mental list awhile back, because I always happen upon the strangest things. I realized, they might not be strange after all, just bad assumptions.

Before I get into my somewhat silly list, let me be serious for a second. Three things happened today that made the world shine like a candle at a Christmas Eve service. 1) phone chat with my mom and grandma, who came through surgery like a champ 2) a skype call with a dear friend that made distance feel like “just around the corner” 3) the most GLORIOUS reunion of baking goodness with my favorite high school ladies…

this combo is the BOMB!

AND bonus number 4) students huddled in my office for the first mission trip meeting with excitement practically bursting out of their buttoned up uniforms.

These things prove again my belief that any “case of the Mondays” can surely be cured – Mondays do not have to be the dreadful thing they seem. My favorite scene from the day involves: one student working through a series of facial expression while texting, another student busily finishing college applications, and myself dancing around the kitchen to Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas,” while piping hot Nutella-Peanut Butter brownies cool on the counter. Mondays? Yes, please!

Okay, here’s a few examples of bad assumptions:

  • A sign that says “maquinas trabajando” does not necessarily mean machines are working… it could also mean men with pickaxes and shovels.
  • When you see sewer covers in the road, don’t be fooled – they may not have a long life as a sewer cover. Chances are, you will soon have to swerve around that spot with great skill because someone has swiped it to make a buck.
  • Those silly yellow and white lines on the road are not to indicate to drivers what should and should not be done in traffic. Nonsense! They are to decorate the otherwise dull streets!
  • Whoever said there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing” has obviously never tried the nutella + peanut butter combination.
  • That terrible cliché about “dancing like no one is watching” is horribly misguided. I think it should go something like, “dance like everyone is watching… and just keep going!”

Okay, that’s all for now. I hope you bursting with joy tonight – don’t forget to

let LOVE fly like cRaZy!

Posted on by Caroline 0

lovely links

I’m about ready to call it a night. If you read my last post, you might be surprised to know that the disaster on my bedroom floor has not resolved itself. In fact, it has somehow worsened.

I don’t mind.

I just want to leave you some encouragement tonight by way of some links. I hope this Sunday evening finds you tucked inside a well-worn love.

Sara Groves has started the “season of giving” early with her live Christmas CD, recorded at a women’s prison in Illinois. You can download the whole CD of goodness from her website.

Part of the reason for the creative mess on my floor is this idea I got from my roommate: art journaling and altered books. I know it’s probably been around the craft block several times and I’m new on this street, but I LOVE this idea. I will be working on some versions for Christmas presents, even though I am finding they take a LOT of work!

This last link is one I plan to muse on more later. I love the Gospel Coalition, as you might know, but especially the recent talk of art and its place in the church. I’m kind of chewing on some of the same questions and these insights are so helpful as I dig deep to know what is the heart of God in this. Here is the article, titled, “Art For, From, and Facing the Church.”

Hope you start your Monday off

letting LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 0