Santa Claus is Comin' to Town!

Jeremy and I took Katelyn to meet Santa Claus today! It was so much fun...She looked so adorable in her new Christmas dress and she wasn't scared one bit of Jolly Ole Saint Nicholas! Jeremy and I opted not to pay for one of the professional pictures and just snapped a few quick photos with our camera instead...I know, we'll regret that later~you live and learn.
I wanted to share this with you all because I think it was more fun for Jeremy and I then it was for Katelyn...it's funny how a child brings out hidden feelings of nostalgia for the man with a round belly that shakes when he laughs like a bowl full of jelly!
I couldn't help but begin thinking back to Christmas' past...sleeping with my sisters, staying up telling stories and giggling, Melanie and I being scared to death when ever the Sugar Plum Fairy song played on the radio, waking up at 6am and yelling down the stairs for mom and dad to wake up so we could run down stairs to find all of our gifts from Santa....the way all the Christmas lights looked dream like on Christmas eve and early Christmas morning, driving to Tennessee and Chicago/Canada/St. Louis to be with family on Christmas day after all the gifts had been unwrapped, the excitement of knowing we had even more presents to come...staying up late playing games with Adam, Aaron, Aunt Nena and Grammie...bowling, movies, return day at the mall...I could keep going, but I won't. I'm sure you all have your own memories, some similar to mine, and others unique to you and your family history...
I am so excited, not only for this 1st Christmas with Katelyn but every Christmas to come with Katelyn and any other children we may have...helping with lists and letters to Santa, trips to the mall to sit on Santa's lap to make requests, staying up late with Jeremy putting together who knows what will be asked for, waking up early because I'm the parent that is being yelled at to wake up, watching Katelyn's face as she opens her gifts....
I am so thankful that God gives us a Holiday to not only reflect on His birth and all that means to our Christian heritage, but to reflect on our childhood and all that means to our family heritage...
I leave you with this..."So, you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm tellin' you why~Santa Claus is comin' to town!

Thankful

Thankful as defined by Webster means; impressed with a sense of kindness received and ready to acknowledge it. Well, as Thursday gets closer I have found myself taking inventory of all the people, and things I am thankful for in my life. Today, I added my mother in law to my ever growing list of people I am so grateful to have in my life.
Girls, you know how when we are little we are taught to start praying for our future husbands...well, why don't we learn to pray for our future husband and their family? The infamous saying, "you don't just marry the boy/girl, but the whole family"...it's true! Unfortunately, for some people this is a curse that they endure their entire married lives. I got lucky in the department of in-laws and I know that...but there are certain times when I acquire a new understanding for just how blessed I am as far as Jeremy's family is concerned. Today was one of those days and I had to share it!
My mother in law Dawn is my Naomi. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about here's a brief history lesson: Naomi was the mother in law of Ruth and she was a selfless woman. Even after her husband and two sons died and left her without any blood relatives in Moab and Israel for all she knew, she still insisted that her two daughters in law go back to their own families in Israel. Ruth wouldn't leave Naomi and once Naomi realized how determined Ruth was to give up the possibility of security and children in order to care for her, Naomi gave in and allowed Ruth to stay with her. The story continues with Naomi devising a plan to find a new husband for Ruth and so it goes that Ruth and Boaz meet, fall in love, marry and have a son, Obed...Naomi's grandson, the grandfather of David. Neat, isn't it? God always works for the good of those who love Him!
Anyway, back to present day...my mother in law is like Naomi, a selfless woman and I think that this is a very rare quality to find in a person today. I can't count the number of times she went out of her way to make me feel welcome and apart of her family before I was an official Vastola. She is always showering Jeremy, Katelyn and I with gifts (definately a love language of hers) and there is nothing she wouldn't do to make mine and Jeremy's life as easy as it can be. Today, in particular I realized how lucky I am because I met up with her to do some shopping at Hometown Threads and grab a quick lunch before meeting my mother, and grandmother at Reeve's. Dawn accompanied me to Reeve's with my mother's invitation (another selfless woman in my life) and it occured to me that this probably wasn't a normal picture for some, because not only do I have a friend in my mom, but in my "mom 2". To top that, Jeremy and I get to spend Thanksgiving with both of our families together, and even though it is due to a last minute emergency in my brother in laws family...I still feel so blessed to have two families that get along, because they have common ground...they love Jeremy, Katelyn and I and they love the Lord!
I only hope that Katelyn will be as blessed in this area of her life one day as I am...in fact, I'm not just going to teach her to pray for her future husband and his family, but I'm going to pray for them as well....don't worry, I'll wait on Katelyn's part of this lesson for a long while!..but, I figure I don't have to wait, you can never pray for something too much!
I hope that all of you take inventory of everything you have to be thankful for this year...it's fun and it will open your eyes to how good God is!
"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever"!! ~Psalm 136:1

Christmas Spirit

Christmas is fast approaching! This week is Thanksgiving and after Thursday the holiday season will officially have begun. This is my favorite time of year, maybe because I was born amidst all of the celebrating this season brings, or maybe it's because I'm a Christian. As I get older, the reason for this season becomes more and more real to me. I know, how cheesy can I get...but have you ever taken the time to simply reflect and take in all that Christmas truly is?!
Now, in my household Christmas music is not allowed until the day before Thanksgiving, and no decorations can go up until the day after Thanksgiving...I'm sure this is a result of how I grew up, but I love how everything surrounding this holiday season is sacred. (On a side note: it makes me sick how the retail industry sucks the life out of Christmas by putting out Christmas decorations and advertising by Halloween! YUCK!!) Anyway, I really like to try keeping everything "Christmas" special....but this morning I had a revelation, and I may be changing all of my "rules"!
I was having my morning coffee, watching the Today Show as I usually do during the week. Today, Faith Hill was a musical guest and she sang a few Christmas songs...now, I don't particularly care for Faith Hill, and that will have to be another blog, but I stayed seated on my couch and watched as she belted out JOY TO THE WORLD. As a singer, sometimes I have a problem when people sing to get past how they sound vocally, but this morning I wasn't focusing on her voice, but the words of the song...and I began to cry! I know, you're thinking, well that's not surprising-you cry all the time Courtney...but this time I cried for a reason.
Let me share with you the words to this song, one of so many that I'm sure we all tend to over look because we have heard them our entire lives and because of this reason take for granted the message the writers so beautifully put on paper for all the world to hear:

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Isn't that BEAUTIFUL!! I was sitting there in my family room just taking in the lyrics...and I couldn't help but think to myself that this was the perfect song! I mean, "let every heart prepare Him room"?! There is no better way to say what each and every one of us should be doing, not only during this time of the year, but the entire year through! Yes, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus...but really, it is so much more! It's the birth of our Savior!! It is the foundation of all I believe!! Without the virgin birth, we would have nothing!! How can you not celebrate this truth!!...and why do we only celebrate it once a year?!
Well, as I was sitting there pondering all of these thoughts, I decided to google "Joy to the world", and did you know that there is an entire verse that is left out of this "perfect" song?!...and it's the best one! Here it is:

No more will sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He's come to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse was found,
Far as the curse was found,
Far as, far as, the curse was found.

Doesn't that make the song even more perfect?! What a wonderful reminder that because of Jesus, we are FREE from our sin! Why don't we sing this verse?!!
I have decided that this song will forever be the first "Christmas" song I listen to each year, and I may not wait until the day before Thanksgiving to play it because there is no other song that can put me in the right frame of mind for the best time of the year.
I hope amidst all of my rambling, I've made some sort of sense and that you too have been reminded of why this holiday is so wonderful...it's not because of the food, gifts and time with family, although all of these things are nice. It's because of Jesus...it's His birthday, and it's ours too...it is the birth of our freedom...and I can't think of any other gift I could want but freedom in Christ! To quote one of my favorite worship songs..Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM...there is Peace, there is Joy, there is Love....go give these gifts this holiday season, and the whole year through!!

"Oh the Places You'll Go!"

We had a very exciting evening in the Vastola home today! I just had to share it because it was such an incredible experience!
Every night after Katelyn gets in her pj's and before she eats her last meal of the day, we have playtime in her room. Now, this is a new addition to her daily routine as of the last two weeks because she is sitting all on her own now!! Anyway, we were having playtime, which until tonight consisted of me showing her toys, while she stared at them with her beautiful blue eyes and tried holding them...well, tonight I was showing her the Fisher Price Ring Tower, you know the one, it has five different colored rings that stack up one on top of the other...I think every child within the last 25 years probably had this toy. Well, tonight as I was showing Katelyn the different colors and taking each ring off the tower and then replacing each one, she began to get really excited! I decided to sit back and watch what she would do and all of a sudden Katelyn reached out for the tower, knocked it over and began hitting each ring off of the tower!! I was so excited! I still I am...I'm a mom, what can I say?!
I know it doesn't sound too exciting but to watch my daughter began to understand how that particular toy functioned was an absolute joy! It brought tears to my eyes and I couldn't help but begin to think about God-how awesome is He!!
It never ceases to amaze me, all the things the Lord reveals to me on a daily basis through and because of Katelyn and this moment was one of those times. God formed Katelyn with His own hands, He fashioned her hands, feet, eyes and nose...He chose who she would most resemble...but most importantly, for this particular milestone, He developed her mind. It blows me away!...I could not help but be reminded of Psalm 139:13-16 which says:
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
God is so good!! I really treasure moments like these and I couldn't let this one go unshared...I hope each one of you know how incredible you are, because the Creator of the Universe made you...and not just that, He knows you-everything about you...even the little things like when you learn how a toy works!!

Katelyn's Dedication

Yesterday Jeremy and I dedicated Katelyn to the Lord! Actually, we dedicated ourselves to raising her in a Christ-filled home and I couldn't help but think back to the day she was born...it's been 5 months and 13 days since that wonderful June night. That was the day, June 4,2008 when Jeremy and I really dedicated Katelyn to the Lord, and I don't think I could honestly say that if we had not gone through her being in the NICU the first 6 days of her precious life. The experience of not being able to hold my daughter until 12 hours after her birth was one I would not change for anything, because through that I learned very quickly that Katelyn does not belong to Jeremy and I, she belongs to the Lord! I would like to think that if we had been able to have the normal labor/delivery experience that I would have learned the same lesson before leaving the hospital, but I don't think I would have and I am so thankful that God gave me that freedom in the beginning of my life as a mother.
In preparing for Katelyn's dedication service, Jeremy and I chose a life verse for Katelyn that we have made a daily prayer. It is Philippians 1:9-11 and I not only love these verses but the entire book, because it is Paul's letter of joy. Each chapter Paul writes to the Philippians to have joy in different circumstances; 1-Joy in suffering, 2-Joy in serving, 3-Joy in believing, 4-Joy in giving..."Rejoice in the Lord always"! I feel like this is such a wonderful synopsis of everything the Lord has been doing in Mine and Jeremy's life since June.
I have been wanting to blog about our family and life for awhile now, and I am so glad I am finally doing it. I desire for this to not only give you a glimpse into the daily happenings in our family, but more so into all the things God is continually doing in our lives.
I want to finish this post by leaving you with the words Paul penned in his letter to the Philippians, that we have dedicated to praying daily for Katelyn because I want you all to know, that I pray this for each one of you.
"This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God."