Merry Christmas!

"The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Alleluia! Alleluia!"

Merry Christmas!

Much love,

The Poff Clan

Life in Pictures~Almost Christmas Edition

The weather outside is now frightful, even though it's so delightful. I've lost count of how many snow storms we've had.  I think it's 4 so far this month. 

There are cars stuck on the road, and my Beloved almost didn't make it home last night. He had to drive another route and then fight just getting in our driveway. The men of the house will be building more muscles as they shovel lots of snow today.

I can't believe it's just a couple more days until Christmas. Tonight we're supposed to enjoy our annual "drive around and look at Christmas lights" event, followed by our traditional hot chocolate and french fries. :) But, we might have to postpone that activity until next week. Hopefully, we'll still be able to enjoy our amazing Christmas Eve service.

There's been quite a bit of snow cream in our home this month. Have I mentioned Ink is a master at whipping this stuff up? If you're not looking, he might throw in a bit of maple syrup. I think that's to make sure he gets to eat the entire bowl of cream by himself.

We've been enjoying Behold the Lamb of God for our Advent readings. Are we behind? YES. Am I upset? NO. 

Advent chocolates are like socks around here. They mysteriously end up missing. Nonetheless, it's been a sweet way to mark the approach of Christmas Day.

Oh my. I've been the recipient of the kindness of a couple of friends I've met through blogging, and their thoughtfulness has been overwhelming.  This friend sent bookmarks for all our the ladies in the house, paperweights for the writers in the house, a homemade checkers set, the only kind of mouse I like--a stuffed one...for Cap'n to enjoy throwing around, and lovely washcloths and scrubby for my Beloved and me. Everything except the rocks was handmade!

This sweet friend sent me a cookbook (I'm a collector of them) AND chocolate! She knows me so well. :)

Both gifts left me teary-eyed and very thankful and so humbled that these sweet friends would spend their time and money and talents to bless our family.  Thank you!!

There's been a lot of this going on this month....watching for snow and watching the snow.

For those tough guys who are still too short to survive mountain snow drifts, there are always the famous green army men. Daddy threw in a few M&Ms, too, because he felt sorry for Cap'n.

Clairesy enjoyed the snow for a bit, but she's still waiting for her snow boots to arrive. If they've been shipped FedEx, it might be a while before we see them. 

Views like this in Albuquerque made Christmas shopping all the more fun.

There's something special about the sunrise after it's been snowing.

We've spent our days watching sleeping baby, too. That's never a waste of time.

I've made lots of comfort food...soups and casseroles and yummy hot drinks. 

Our original plans to get a real tree this year fizzled, so we stuck with our artificial tree. It's a humble one that provides endless fascination for the Littles. 

We had fun buying ornaments this year that reflect Christ and the story of our redemption....a piece of fruit to remind us of sin entering the world, a cluster of grapes to remind us that Christ is the vine and we are the branches, a sheep to remind us that He is our Shepherd,  and a star to remind us that He is the Light of the World. We'll continue to add more each year, and this is my favorite "new" thing we've done this Christmas.

There's always lots of reading going on. It's exciting to watch Ella read to her little sisters now. The girl is unstoppable! Here she's reading from The Big Picture Story Bible, one of our favorites.

Storytelling and handiwork make a perfect pair for snowy days. Emma is finishing up a cross stitch kit she started when Grandma was here, and Luke is sharing adventures from his many readings.

It was wonderful to watch him get into the part of a Storyteller and to hear his captivated sisters say, "More, more!"

Yes, lying on the back of the couch is allowed during story time. :)

We attended our annual Mountain Man Christmas party. Lots of good food and a great bluegrass band. There was even a drunk woman who offered her comments about the size of our family. "Wow. You've been busy." "You need to get a tv." It's ok. I stopped her from sharing her more explicit thoughts, and she was later escorted away from the party. The whole scene was an opportunity for our children to be reminded of life without Christ and to pray for her.

This gets my "Decoration of the Year" award! Isn't is wonderful? WE ALL FIT!! Our names never fit on anything.  The personalization stops at 6 people on most everything. Yes, Elisabeth is misspelled, but she's quickly getting over any psychological trauma.

Cap'n has been battling our "Jingle Dog." The stuffed pet sings Jingle Bells and causes quite the fright for our little guy. Yesterday we caught Cap'n throwing Jingle Dog across the room. We're thinking they're finally becoming friends.

Clairesy tries her hand at covert ops. Because we'd never notice her trying to play an electronic game under a pillow.

I never knew little white lights could bring me such JOY. I love having these hanging throughout the house, and I'll probably be leaving some of them up throughout winter. They are such a simply way to get COZY. Cost: less than 12.00. 

This is how things look this morning. Remember this tomahawk stand has much longer legs. :) And it's still snowing.

And finally, I'll leave you with this little ditty from my heart:

FedEx, FedEx, where are you?
Yes we know that out there it's a mess
FedEx, FedEx, where are you?
To get the job done, you should hire UPS.

Much love to you all,
Trisha

The Humility of Christ

~John MacArthur on the Incarnation of Christ

****

Do you ever think about the humility of Christ? I mean, I see Him and there He is as a little boy or a young man and He's helping Joseph make a yoke in the carpenter shop to put on some oxen that He had created. I mean, He's washing the feet of twelve disciples and He it was who designed their brains. He's hungry and it was He who created the universe. The place of humility. He adopted a selfless posture...utterly selfless.

For us He did this, people. Humility is the theme of Christmas...humility. Filthy stable. Our family was in one this summer in the bottom of a barn, ankle deep in the mire and the filth where never the light of day or the sun shone, foul stench that nauseated you, almost gagged you...humiliation.

St. Augustine wrote so beautifully of His humility, so beautifully. "The word of the Father," he said, "by whom all time was created was made flesh and born in time for us. He without whose divine permission no day completes its course, wished to have one of those days for His human birth. In the bosom of His Father He existed before all the cycles of the ages. Born of an earthly mother, He entered on the course of the years on that very day. The maker of man became man that He ruler of the stars might be nourished at the breast, that He the bread might be hungry, that He the fountain might thirst, that He the light might sleep, that He the way might be wearied in the journey, that He the truth might be accused by false witnesses, that He the judge of the living and the dead might be brought to trial by a mortal judge, that He justice itself might be condemned by the unjust, that He discipline personified might be scourged with a whip, that He the foundation might be suspended on a cross, that He courage incarnate might be weak, and He security itself might be wounded, and He life itself might die." Humility.

And how humble? Look back at verse 8. "He humbled Himself." How far did it go? Well, certainly He became mortal but it went beyond that. He also became obedient unto death. You see, it was an act of obedience. He learned obedience, Hebrews 5:8 and 9, by death. The greatest act of obedience to the Father was in dying, that was God's will. And even in the garden when He said, "O Father, let this cup pass from Me," the humanness was crying out against dying, the deity was crying out against sin bearing and yet He said, "Not My will but Thine be done." He was obedient to death. He didn't just become mortal, He died. That's the worst that man can ever ever endure...all the way to the grave.

And He didn't just die, either. Look at the end of verse 8, "Even the death of the cross." It's one thing to die, it's infinitely beyond that to die the death of the cross. The ancient writers used to say that to die on a cross is to die a thousand times before you take your last breath. The pain is excruciating, unimagineable. The suffocation of the organs when the body is suspended by four great wounds is more than you can believe. The pain, the fiery pain pulsing through the body is more than we can conceive. It was a painful death.

And it was a shameful death. It was reserved for the vilest and most wicked of criminals. And you hung suspended in space, naked before the gaping gazing mocking throng. It was a cursed death. God Himself had said, "He that hangs on a tree is cursed." It was a lonely death. There was no companionship, even God was gone. And I wonder so often as I hear the words "Still, O soul, the sign of wonder of all the ages see; Christ thy God, the Lord of glory is on the cross for thee."

Incomprehensible humility. But what's so marvelous is that even in His dying, even in His dying, even in such abject depth of human suffering, He still wielded the power of God to redeem the human race. In His dying He could do that.

There was a battle fought long ago. The story came back to the king of one soldier who had a sword, who had single-handedly destroyed the enemy. And the king said to one of his soldiers, "Bring me that sword. I want to see such a sword that can do such damage."

The soldier got the sword and brought it in. Gave it to his majesty and he looked it over and he said, "Take it back. This is but an ordinary sword."

The soldier said, "Your majesty, you should see the arm that wields it."

You look at Jesus Christ and you see His humanness.

So, what do we see then? What is the Christmas story? The Lord Jesus Christ abandoned the sovereign position, accepted a servant's place, approached a sinful people, adopted a selfless posture. That's the Christmas story.

~John MacArthur

Entire sermon here.