A Very Special Baby

*This was originally posted on this day in 2007. Here is what my baby Kate looked like then, and following is the lesson she taught me that Christmas....



Well, it's done. The Christmas decorations are up. I know, I should sound more excited, but I have to tell you, getting them up was not exactly the experience I had in mind. First of all, we moved the week before Christmas last year and apparently I was so sick of packing and unpacking that I just randomly threw my decorations into the laundry room in any crack or crevice they would fit in. This meant digging through those boxes and boxes of random stuff we never unpacked after our move.

Every year I have visions of holiday music playing, cookies baking, and my family dressed in Christmas sweaters as we decorate the tree. Isn't that sweet? Well, in reality Josh was drugged (legally) playing PS2 on the couch, the kids were running around half naked breaking every decoration I've been given in my entire life, supper was burning on the stove and I was in the laundry room screaming as I was attacked by wooden deer falling out of boxes onto my head. It was a special time.

However, before the chaos I had to rearrange the living room to make a place in front of a window for the tree. I had everything situated and then I looked at the place that was supposed to be for the tree. In the rearranging I had moved the bassinette and it was sitting where the tree would go. For some reason that moment struck me. I thought about putting the bassinette together all by myself at 8 months pregnant because I was so excited I just couldn't wait for Josh to come home. I remembered how for a few weeks it sat empty in the living room waiting for Baby Kate. And then, it made me think about this season we are celebrating and how it never really was about Christmas trees, cookies or spending too much money. It's about a baby.

I have to say that there is nothing in the world that compares with the excitement and anticipation of waiting for a baby. Having recently had Kate and finding out that I am an Aunt-to-be (just call me aunty em!) I know that no other event equals the anticipation of wondering what the baby will look like or the eagerness of dressing the baby in all of the clothes that have been waiting for months.

I thought how Mary didn't have any of those preparations done and I wonder if her nesting instinct was driving her crazy as she was stuck on a donkey traveling to another land. Did it bother her that she didn't have the perfect outfit for her baby boy? I doubt it. I'm sure her mind was filled with much more serious questions. How do you raise the Son of God? The messiah who has been anticipated not for 9 months, but since the beginning of time!

I know, only my mind could wander that far from rearranging the living room. But I'm so glad God gave me that moment. I pray that this holiday season as the busyness takes over that He will continue to fill my heart with thoughts of the Baby Jesus who would grow up to be my Savior! I pray that we will all feel an even greater rush of excitement over the baby who the prophet said, "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which is translated, 'God is with us." (Matthew 1:23) That baby came to be God with us!!! To experience and feel everything that we feel and experience. To enable us to say, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was at all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14)

What a very special baby!!!!!!

This Is How We Christmas

You would think it is December or something the way I've been posting these Christmas blogs. :) For someone who is having trouble getting in the holiday spirit this year I have posted a record number of Christmas pictures. I'm hoping that at least my Mom and Dad will still be reading my blog after I bore everyone else to tears with my Christmas memories. Just hang in there for 22 more days....:0)

Today, I am taking part in a fun little blog party Lisa is doing at The Preacher's Wife called This Is How We Christmas: Quirky Traditions. You can link up at her site if you want to join in. You don't even have to be a preacher's wife. It is so neat to learn all of the different traditions and celebrations people have for Christmas. Here is what she wants to know:

1. The Santa Thing- I believed in Santa until I was 16. Okay, not really, but I really wanted to. I LOVED the mystery and the excitement of Santa. My sister Jenny and I would lay in bed for hours waiting for him to come. She would often go looking for her presents early, but I never wanted mine until Christmas day. The surprise was the most exciting part to me.

My kids believe in Santa, but I really struggled with that. Not so much because I thought they would lose focus on the real reason for Christmas, but because they ask so many stinkin' questions!! I really stink at lying to them. And Josh stinks at keeping secrets. He gets excited about stuff we've talked about getting them and just talks about it in front of them! We're trying to get better though. Actually...can you keep a secret?

Josh was Santa. In the year 2000 at Winn-Dixie. You would think he would be better at this whole thing. :) This is the Christmas before we got married. I was away at school and he sent me this picture and I'm sure you can guess what was number one on my Christmas list that year!! So, now you know. Not only am I a preacher's wife, I'm also Mrs. Claus. It's a lot of pressure y'all....

Pictures with Santa are a must for us. Even if they cost more than our water bill. Even if my children are terrified and screaming in the picture. Why? Well, we've just always done it that way. :)
I will never forget the first Christmas that Sarah was old enough to really know what was going on. We wrote a note to Santa and he wrote back! Oh, if you could have seen her face! I'm not sure what was up with this plate from last year. Those cookies look pretty pitiful. I'm sure that is some traumatic baking experience I have blocked from my memory. Anyway, I'm not sure how long we will do the note thing. I think that is what gave it away for me. Santa's handwriting looked just like my dad's!

2.Christmas Eve Day- Lisa shared the best Christmas Eve tradition ever. Breakfast at Cracker Barrel and a day at the movie theater! Oh, that is so going to be one of our traditions as soon as my children can sit through a movie!

Honestly, since Josh and I have gotten married we have had so much change that we don't have many set traditions, especially on Christmas Eve as he had to work that day in the past. I wanted so much to carry on my family's tradition of driving around Christmas Eve looking at everyone's decorations. Bless Josh's heart. Our first Christmas together he had worked like a 14 hour day out delivering bread all over Tallahassee, FL and as soon as he got home I said, "Let's go ride around and look at lights!" I am pretty sure he was sleep driving. Thankfully no wooden deer or inflatable snow globes were injured in the making of that memory.

Coordinating Christmas clothes have always been a big deal in my family as evidenced by this very stylish picture which may cause my sister to never speak to me again. :) I just had to put it on here. Don't you love my Gilda Radner hair? You know, the "Gilda" came before the "Rachel". :) Those stockings hanging behind us were sewn by my Mama and my family has the exact same ones. I attempted to sew Josh's when we got married. My Mama was nice enough to sew one we could actually hang up in public and she has since made one for all 3 of my children and our dog Abby. You can't tell in the picture, but I have the biggest stocking and I still like to point that out every year. :)

My most memorable Christmas Eve EVER happened last year. It feels like it was last week! Anyway, it included pep rally skirts, hannah montana wigs and candlelight. :)
In keeping with the clothing tradition, our longest standing Christmas tradition is Christmas Eve pj's. You can see this one goes way back...........



3. Food and Parties- Our month of December is full of church specials, dance recitals, the downtown parade and the city party we always get invited to so Josh can bless the food.


Unfortunately I do not have much to share as far as food goes. The kids and I always make a birthday cake for Jesus and I buy a gingerbread house kit for them to put together. See this picture on here? Yea, that's not our gingerbread house. In fact, I may go to jail for using this picture. Will you visit me?
Isn't that pretty? We're working up to that. But let's face it, it's hard to make a gingerbread house when most of the candy gets eaten, y'know?

This year I am totally planning to make candy for our neighbors. Y'all hold me to it okay?

One of my favorite things to do with the kids is read a story called "What God Wants for Christmas". It has little boxes with different characters from the Christmas story and as you read along it asks you to open each box at the point that character enters the story. My kids love it.


Well, these are just a few of our memories and traditions. I am hoping to create some new traditions for my family this year and can't wait to read about how everyone else celebrates. Thanks for stopping by! Y'all come back now, ya hear!

Makin' A List.........

Let's just pretend that I am really famous and popular and people care what my favorite gift ideas for the holidays are. Let's just pretend. :)

I have spent today in my pj's doing some online shopping and can I just say that I think online shopping is the greatest thing since sweet potato casserole! I know some people just love the atmosphere and experience of getting up at the crack of dawn in really cold weather to fight the crowds and kill their feet, but I am not one of them. So here I sit. I obviously cannot share any gift ideas for the grown ups as the grown ups I shop for read my blog. :) But I am really excited about a couple of things for my kids and just wanted to share in case you are seeking some inspiration.

First, I have to tell you that I felt really challenged this year to not go crazy with the shopping. 1. My kids already have a ton of stuff. They just do. 2. I really want them to enjoy gifts, but also learn to be as excited about giving them as getting them. 3. I have become an experienced enough parent to know what my kids will actually use or play with or what I will be stepping on in the middle of the night that gets tossed aside and broken. With that said, these are my favorite gift ideas.

Illustory is a book where your child can write and illustrate their own story. You then send it back to the company and they will make it into a hardback book. Is that not the coolest thing ever??? Am I just the biggest dork ever??? My friend Karen assures me that not everyone actually LIKES to write the way that I do, but lately Sarah has been writing her own stories and taping pieces of paper together. I LOVE IT! Couldn't make this Mama happpier. I think this could be a neat idea for anyone who would like to create a short story for their loved ones. AND, it is on sale right now. I found this one at Target for $19.99. You can only get it online, but today it is on sale for $14.99. With tax and shipping you come out at $21.99.

Okay, my second exciting gift idea is for active children who like to draw on EVERYTHING. I mean everything, y'all. I keep telling myself it is a sign of a brilliant child who will one day become a famous (and rich) artist and will replace all of the things in his poor mother's trashy looking house with the colored walls and furniture. :) Eli has been telling me for months that he wants a skateboard. All the older boys around here have them, but I wasn't sure Eli was ready for one. Josh assured me Eli is the age he was when he got one. So, I started checking out skateboards and look what I found!! The design your own skateboard will allow Eli to have something else to decorate besides my furniture and then he will have a skateboard! The only negative I read in the reviews of this product is that it is smaller than a normal skateboard. That is actually a bonus to me because I think it will be a better fit for Eli's size right now.

So, these are a couple of the gifts I am really excited about. Will I hate myself and wonder what the heck I was thinking when we actually begin working on this book and skateboard? Very likely. Will it be worth it if my kids are as excited about them as I am right now? Definitely!

How about you? Do you have any gift ideas you are really excited about?

Thankful

After a record month of blogging (btw, did you know that November is National Blogging Month? Now you do!) I have hit a dry spell, a writer's block, a complete loss of motivation. Whatever you want to call it. But alas, I am tired of my latest blog being a post about my hormones. :)

As Thanksgiving approaches I thought it would seem very ungrateful of me to not share the many, many things I am thankful for. Such as, I am thankful that we are going to Mamaw's tomorrow and my only time in the kitchen will be making a cake. Is that bad?

Seriously though, this year of 2009 has been one that has been full of super highs and devastating lows. Thinking back I realize that you can never really term a year "good" or "bad". There are just too many ups AND downs for it to be one or the other. Some of the lows have included my Mamaw losing her house and everything she owns to a fire, Josh losing his job last March, and some health problems experienced by family members.

But this year also saw the beginning of the Fidler Academy of Higher Learning as I began homeschooling. Josh and I finally got to take our honeymoon and it was worth the wait! My sister and her family moved back to the south from Alaska and we are looking forward to a new addition to the family. Um, to THEIR family. :) Which makes it even more exciting for me that I will soon have a baby to rock and cuddle and play with and yet I will have no financial or sleep deprivation responsibilities whatsoever! Josh's sister got married and we added Brad to the family. He quickly moved them off to Italy and I am living vicariously through their pictures. Perhaps the most exciting news for me in 2009 was that my firstborn asked Jesus into her heart and was baptized. See, I knew I needed to write this out because really, there was nothing that could have happened this year that could take the joy away from that event!

The day in, day out routine of life can sure drain the joy and peace from us. As the holidays approach I know that it is easy for anxiety to take over as plans and expenses become overwhelming. The thing that I am MOST thankful for (apart from my salvation, my amazing husband, wonderful children, loving family and awesome friends) is the way that God has used the last year of my life to speak through everyday life. I consider myself homeschooled. God has taken me on an intense spiritual journey by route of the mundane, ordinary and routine. He has used heartbreak and questioning to bring me to a greater trust in Him and He has peppered my life with just the right amount of exciting and happy events to get me through the grind of everyday life. He has met me right where I was whether it be in the laundry room, a hospital room sitting with a loved one, or at Wal-Mart.

Tomorrow my husband will have the day off from his job that he was rehired to just a little over a month ago. Just at the exact same time his unemployment was running out. And we will travel to Mamaw's to share Thanksgiving in her new home full of new things. I am so appreciative of that job and those new things for Mamaw, but I pray that more than anything my heart will remember to be thankful not just for those things, but for the God who provided them and the lessons learned in the days of waiting and seeking.

"It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name,
O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night."
Psalm 92:1

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM THE FIDLER 5!!!!!!!!!!
What are you thankful for this year?

HAPPY EASTER FROM THE FIDLERS!!!!!!

Me and my baby chicks!

Happy Baby Kate

Handsome Little Man Eli

My Sweet Little Lady Sarah Beth

Greetings From Sarah Beth, Eli and the Easter Bunny.
Kate would have no part in this!!

That wasn't supposed to happen!

You may say I'm a dreamer...and you would be totally right. Despite more days, events, holidays, and get togethers that have gone disasterfully wrong, I still cling to hopes of warm, fuzzy holidays. Christmas Eve this year was no exception.

I had worked extra hard to get all of the shopping, wrapping, visiting, baking, and partying done this year so that we could have Christmas Eve to do NOTHING! I really wanted a quiet day of movie watching and quiet reflection. Ha! Do you remember that I have 3 kids? Apparently I had forgotten.

We went to Movie Gallery the night before and stocked up on movies and I was really excited about a National Geographic movie I got about Polar Bears for the kids. I thought it would be fun to watch and educational. Sarah set up a blanket on the floor for a picnic and I set to making some grilled cheese sandwiches. All was well until Kate grabbed Sarah's tea and Sarah grabbed it back out of Kate's mouth causing her to bite her tongue and bleed everywhere! I got that taken care of and was getting the sandwiches out of the sandwich maker when Sarah said, "Okay, I made room for you. Me and Eli have little spots, but we made a big spot for you since you have a big bottom." Thanks so much Sarah! After several attempts to sit down that included a few trips back to the kitchen for tea and paper towels, we finally started the movie.

Wow, I didn't realize exactly how that movie experience would go. Let me share what I remember; "Mommy, do whales bite?" "Do walruses bite?" "What do whales eat?" "What do fish eat?" "How many whales are in the ocean?" "Do foxes bite?" "Why are they fighting?" All I can say is thank the Lord for Google. Did you know there is a whale called the unicorn of the sea that has a big tusk that grows out of it's head? I do now! :)

About halfway through the movie Kate got choked on her sandwich and threw up on me. Yay. One movie, 900 questions, bleeding and puking. As Eli is famous for saying, "That wasn't supposed to happen!"

Christmas Eve night we had a come and go service at the church for families to come and take the Lord's Supper. I have to be honest, I was a little bit hesitant about this. Since Josh would be performing the Lord's Supper when I took it I was not sure who would be wrangling our children in a sanctuary full of lit candles. This was weighing on me when we began to get ready. I also realized that even though I had carefully planned and shopped for Christmas Day, we had nothing in our house to eat for supper that night. So, I called Pizza Hut. They were closing at 7:00 that night and it was 5:45 when I called. The service started at 6:30. We live 30 minutes from the Pizza Hut and no, they do not deliver to the metropolis of Montrose.

This was starting to feel like one of those math problems on the ACT. If you have 3 kids to dress for a church service and it takes 15 minutes to catch the 1 year old, 45 minutes to find a pair of shoes that match, and you have to make an hour trip to get pizza, what time will you get to the Christmas Eve service? a) 15 minutes after it starts, b) it ain't happening, give it up or c) how much time is alloted for the trip to the institution?

Well, since it was come and go I decided we would get ready, go get the pizza, get back toward the end of the service and that way maybe most people would have already been and my kids could wander without disturbing people.

Sarah got herself dressed and I was very thankful for that. But, once she was dressed she looked at me as serious as a heart attack and asked "Should I wear my Hannah Montana wig?" Now that had me rolling. But it got even better a few minutes later when kicking dress up clothes out of the way on the floor. My mom had given my kids a bag of my old dance costumes and I happened to notice that my pep rally skirt from high school was in there. I picked it up and Sarah asked, again as serious as a heart attack "Are you going to wear that?" First of all, that skirt wouldn't fit around my neck now, much less my "big bottom". Secondly, couldn't you just see us busting up in the church in a Hannah Montana wig and a pep rally skirt!!!! That was a visual that caused me to laugh hysterically everytime I thought of it.

Well, we were finally all dressed (sans wig and sans pep rally skirt) and headed out the door when I heard it. The bottom fell out. It was pouring!! We made our way to Pizza Hut anyway and I was so thankful for a drive through window I could've hugged somebody!

When we did get back to the church no one was there. In spite of the chaos of the day (or the normalcy, depending on if you compare it to my everyday life or someone else who really is normal), the time at church turned into quite a blessing. The sanctuary was completely dark except for the candlelight and that was the first time that I've ever taken the Lord's Supper alone. It was a very special moment especially since it was my husband performing it. Then, to make it even more special Sarah took her first Lord's Supper. It was really awesome being there just as a family and being able to explain everything to Sarah. This Christmas had extra meaning for me to think that God sent His baby to earth so that my baby could accept Him into her heart!

Things didn't go exactly as I had planned that day. Of course, that is how the Isrealites felt wasn't it? Jesus was supposed to be a mighty king and ruler, not a little baby. Things don't always go according to our plan, but we can rest assured that God is always in control and His plan is always best!!!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!