Friends

It is a beautiful and thankfully cool morning in Charleston and I am so thankful.   I don't like this time of year with warm, muggy, close to 80 degree weather, not during the holidays.   Since I last wrote we had Christmas, and despite it being different than any Christmas in my life, it was blessed and I did enjoy being with my friends and family.   This is the first year without my grandfather who recently passed away, the first year without my parents (visiting in AL), and the first year to have a house full for Christmas dinner.   Despite our small house, we had thirteen adults/teenagers and we had a wonderful meal and a great time of fellowship.   It was never in my plan to have dinner for so many, thinking with my parents gone it would just be our little family, but God had other plans, and it was a blessing.   Those friends are most like family and it made the absence of my grandfather and parents much easier.  It was joyful and fun and I am thankful for God's provision of friends, especially those friends who are like your family.  

Tis the Season

Well, the countdown to Christmas is in full swing at the Braun household.  Everyone has seemed to catch that Christmas "spirit" and are being especially joyful and kind.   Our precious Mr. Buff got a visit to the vet and a good grooming today.  He is looking especially cute with his Santa bandana, all ready for the upcoming holiday.  Our Christmas celebration begin Monday night when we had dinner and presents with my in-laws.  Their house was especially beautiful with decorations and we had a great time.   Mr. Buff received a great gift, a laughing dog that rolls around the floor.  Mr. Buff is quite taken with this little fellow and wines to find him when he is out of sight.  It is quite funny to watch the two of them together.   Tonight our festivities continued with dinner and presents at my house with my parents and grandmother.   They will be celebrating with my brother on Sunday.   It is bitter sweet not to be with them on Christmas day, but we had a wonderful time tonight.   I am hopeful the rest of my week will be a time to enjoy getting ready for Christmas.  I haven't had time to bake yet, so I am hopeful tomorrow will find me doing that, cleaning up my house, and I am especially looking forward to our church's Christmas Eve service.   It is a wonderful family event.  

Hopefully I can get Hannah to help me upload some photos of the happenings this week to share.  

Till later,

Debra

Christmas Spirit

It has been about a week since I posted last, not surprising as I have had a busy week with school, work, and trying to get myself in the "Christmas spirit."   Earlier last week I spent most of my time getting things together for Hannah's transcript.   I managed to finish up 9th grade year and most of 10th.   Organization is something I long for but never quite achieve and the boxes and boxes of papers/books/notebooks was just another indication of well laid plans that never seemed to take flight.   I don't know if it is because of the loss of my grandfather, the impending graduation of my oldest and only daughter, but I seem to have lost my "Christmas Spirit" this year.   On Saturday I had the privilege of accompanying a group of teenagers and parents to work the Convoy of Hope in our community.   I'll have to admit that at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning I had to drag myself out of bed.  I really had to pray about my attitude, but once we arrived and started serving, I realized just how wonderful that experience is.   I wrapped what seemed like 3000 hot dogs, literally, and I don't think I want to see another hot dog for a long time, but it was great to serve the community to share food with them and give them a smile of encouragement.   It was great to be a part of a ministry that brings the HOPE of Jesus to the community.  It was good for me to get out of feeling sorry for myself and focus on others.   Then, on Sunday, guess what my Kick lesson was on????  JOY.  How do I share the JOY when I am less than joyful??  As usual, God graciously worked.   I realized that the joy that I have is not from what material things I have or the people God has placed in my life but from the fact that Jesus came first as my savior and will come again as my king.  For the rest of this Christmas season I want to keep forefront in my mind that my JOYFUL spirit comes from God gracious gift of Jesus and the salvation that He brought to this world.  My hope is that you all will be filled with this JOY and Christmas Spirit as well. 

Joy

Tis the season for Joy, "Joy to the World" always comes to mind when I think of Christmas and the precious gift of Jesus.   At our house we try to focus on Jesus at Christmas but you can't help get excited when you see little ones at Christmas.   We had a great experience last night to kick off our season of celebration at our church.   Hannah and John Henry participated in the Metro North Dance Christmas Program.  It was beautiful and all the dancers were outstanding.    Over the summer our youth group had the opportunity to meet each week before their youth meeting to learn dancing, have dinner, and a devotion.   They learned the waltz and the jitterbug.   Carole, our pastor's wife and Metro Dance Director, included the youth in the dance companies' Christmas fund raiser.   I've included a couple of pictures of Hannah and John Henry with their partners.   It was a great way to start our celebration focusing on God's precious gift of Jesus.