And since we can't be there for the birthday song.....
Happy Birthday!
We love you!
"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." Corrie ten Boom
Happy Birthday!
We love you!
Posted by Chelsea Gour at 6:00 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Something that troubles me today is the recount of how "all things Christian" are often attributed to pagan beginnings. Take the Christmas tree for example.
The legend of the first Christmas tree goes something like this:
The "Apostle to the Germans", Winfrid, also called Saint Boniface, was sent as a missionary to Germany. Around 723 he was said to have happened upon a pagan ceremony where a young boy was to be sacrificed at the foot of "a holy oak tree" . In his anger, Boniface took an axe to their oak. With pagans looking on, he called on their god, Thor, to strike him down if he cut their so called holy tree. Of course, the impotent god did not strike Boniface dead and it is said that he won some hearts for The Kingdom based on this display. He is also said to have used the wood from the oak to build a chapel at the site. So, where does the Christmas tree come in? Well, legend has it that a little fir tree grew in the roots of the felled oak and was claimed by Boniface as a symbol for Christ. He cut in down and told the others to do the same and to place it in their homes.
"This humble tree's wood is used to build your homes: let Christ be at the centre of your households. Its leaves remain evergreen in the darkest days: let Christ be your constant light. Its boughs reach out to embrace and its top points to heaven: let Christ be your comfort and guide.”
Did Boniface call on a symbol familiar to the pagans to reach them on their level? Perhaps.
And, yes I know that tree worship was very common and very important among the ancients and that the evergreen tree represented eternal life, rebirth and replenishment during the long winter months.
I don't live under a rock.
But let us not forget who created those trees long worshiped by the pagans! God was here before the world began. Above all the wisdom and ways of man, He was here before the world was even created. And, He made the trees! Evergreen trees and all other trees were perfectly created on the third day, by our loving God and placed on the Earth to serve many purposes for us. For us! He created them for us. Beautiful to behold, they provide shade and shelter, food and clean air. For His purposes, regardless of what man would later do!
So take or leave the legend of Boniface and the Christmas tree. That is up to you. I'm sure you can go looking for all sorts of stories about ideas of where Christmas trees came from and how trees were once a part of pagan traditions. But, don't tell me about it. The evergreen tree was here before the pagans, and it has long served to point us to the Mighty Creator. My Christmas tree serves as a symbol of Christ for me and my family.
A Post Within A Post
I decided that now would be a good time to show you what pre-Christmas activities look like at our house! We have been very busy, but I have caught some of it on film.
Then they had a wrestling match!
'Cause that is what friends do around the Christmas tree!
Next it was off to The Festival of Lights. No, not a Hanukkah celebration. One of those light shows where you drive around and look at a gazillion lights and think, "boy I'm glad I'm not paying that electric bill!" Claire oooooohed and ahhhhhhed.A posed for pictures here!
We roasted marshmallow
And, ate them!And rode the carousel!
Then we had some company in the form of cousins from out-of-town.
Presents were exchanged!
Today we will have a family lunch, go to church to watch our towns people, finish watching It's A Wonderful Life and watch The Nativity....while we eat the all-natural kettle corn our wonderful neighbors-who-know-me-so-well sent over for us!
Then we will tuck our sweet babies into their beds and enjoy the peace and quiet...for a few hours!
Merry Christmas!
*check back later for a special Christmas Eve post*
Posted by Chelsea Gour at 11:00 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Holiday
Posted by Chelsea Gour at 10:00 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Did you know that ice skating was invented as a means of traveling in countries with long cold winters? Countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland and Holland. The first ice skates were merely bones with leather straps. You didn't so much skate as you glided along the ice. It was not a leisurely sport, but rather a practical way of life. The way that made the most sense if you lived in some place like Finland, that sports the highest concentration of ice in the world!
Isabel is practicing for a future career in the Ice Capades trying to master turns and doing anything at all that might make me think she has a future on the ice.
So I'll remember to sign her up for lessons, if we ever win the lottery!
This is a good clip of the boys new skillz. Parker is in the brown Gap hoodie and Noah is in the black Old Navy jacket.
Still working on that twirling thing she has going on!
Why yes, she even mastered the backwards skate before we left.
After all, we were there for almost four hours, what did you expect?
She is obviously a prodigy, and we are just holding her back. Oh well.
I guess I'll have to live with that!
Posted by Chelsea Gour at 4:00 PM 1 comments Links to this post
No need to thank me for this little Christmas gem!
I accept Pay Pal!
Just kidding.
Posted by Chelsea Gour at 9:29 AM 0 comments Links to this post
And this little bit is showing off a new skill. She just figured out how to finesse getting from the floor to standing without pulling up on something. As a matter of fact, she only mastered it last week!
We watch her walk everyday. So, sometimes I forget how much of a difference it can be as she grows stronger and learns new tricks!
I am humbled and amazed by God's blessings.
This is the best Christmas present we could ever get!
Posted by Chelsea Gour at 12:19 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: Claire
This weekend there was flour and sugar flying everywhere in our kitchen. We had our annual see-how-many-cookies-we-can-bake-in-one-day-without-losing-our-minds bake off. We got 11 dozen in before I had to stash the rest of dough in the fridge for another day! I do love to bake with my kids, but five in the kitchen at once.....whoa!
Posted by Chelsea Gour at 2:30 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: Christmas
I'll be the first to admit that I don't spend bunches of time or money on a beauty regime. As a matter 0f fact, the contents of my bag 'o tricks consists of a tub of Noxzema and a pot of Ponds. Yep. That's the sum of it!
While my teenage self would consume a painstaking hour with customary cosmetic applications and beauty treatments, my almost 40 year old self spends about 10 minutes a day primping. Total, y'all.
And, maybe you think it shows. I'm okay with that.
What I am not okay with is gray hair. Gray. Hair. Gray hair just makes you feel old even when you didn't before you noticed you had gray hair.
Being the frugal-stay-at-home-mom that I am, I tried self coloring kits. Years ago. That didn't go so well. So, I gave in and that is the one expense that I am willing to fork out for. Unfortunately for me, my colorist/stylist/hair doer person skipped out and didn't tell anyone where she went. Yes, she did!
Thankfully, I have some friends with good hair. Friends with good hair = good hair dressers, because I am too old to have friends that don't need hair color!
It was LONG overdue, but I went to my "new" salon today. And just for kicks, I took all the kids. Because doesn't that sound like fun to you? Two and a half hours in a salon with four kids. No?
Posted by Chelsea Gour at 5:17 PM 6 comments Links to this post
Labels: Random
Posted by Chelsea Gour at 6:00 PM 0 comments Links to this post
You get a lot of this.
And this!
You give into the kids, and you get this!
You might get one of these!
Or these!
And, this one will make it worth all the All for the sake of a Christmas Card!
Posted by Chelsea Gour at 10:14 PM 4 comments Links to this post
Labels: Family
These are questions we are often asked. We have four beautiful, healthy children and we should be happy, right? Well, we are! We feel that we have been extremely blessed, and that is exactly why we are on this journey!
We have always known (okay, I have always known, but it didn't take Paul long to realize it too!) that we would have a large family. We have been discussing adoption since the beginning of our marriage and through the years we have researched all the options numerous times. We felt certain that at some point we would adopt and in 2006 the Lord made it clear to both of us that it was time.
We had done so much research on the topic that we pretty much knew that we would go the international route. Yes, there are children in this country that need homes too. But, there is not a shortage of parents waiting in the line for healthy American infants and we knew we were meant to provide a home for a child that might not otherwise have one. When we looked into the Social Welfare system we found that most of the children only needed a temporary home. We also knew of foster families that were not allowed to adopt the children they fostered and had become attached to. So, for these reasons and more, we felt that our child was out there somewhere in a country other than ours. Now, to find her. Yes, her. That was also something we felt pretty certain of, our next child would be a girl.
After much prayer, I got online again and this time I came across an agency I had not seen before and could not take my eyes off now. No matter how many agencies I looked at I kept coming back to Children's Hope International. I just knew that they were going to help us find our daughter! They had five programs at the time: Columbia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and China. I had had an inkling for a while that China was our country but I was trying to stay open minded and wait for God's confirmation. Suffice it to say we were given plenty of confirmation over a short period of time and it made us certain that our daughter was waiting for us in China. Thousands of children are abandoned in China each year with the majority of them being girls. China has a "one child policy" making it illegal to have more children. Boys are preferred over girls due to the fact that it is culturally believed that a son will provide for his parents in their old age. Girls are abandoned in an effort to try to have a son and many of the children are abandoned due to medical need or economic reasons. They are usually institutionalized until they are adopted and have little hope for a "normal" childhood without families to come forward and bring them home. So, our journey began!
During our home study we discussed possible special needs that we might be open to. We leaned towards considering the mild and correctable special needs. Our thinking was that if these children needed a family then we could certainly provide for a child with mild needs without disrupting our other children. Our agency gets a list of special needs children every few months and so for the past year and a half we have looked at the list and put our names in for young girls with mild needs. But we have found that we were one of many families that would jump at the chance to parent a mildly affected child. When the list began to include some harder to place children, I began to find myself considering them. If no one looks at their files then they will not get a chance at a life with a family, right? I began to think, "is it too much to ask to have us step out of our comfort zone and think about parenting one of these children?" What if I had given birth to a child with a major disability? We know we wouldn't turn our backs on that child so why were we limiting ourselves just because we had a choice?
Once we removed the limitations we had set on God's blessings we found our long wait over, for God has blessed us again!