THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

These are my 2021 Christmas favorites!

1. Christmas Joy: "Let It Be Christmas"

Click HERE for "Let It Be Christmas"

2. Christmas Wonder: "His Name is Wonderful"

Click HERE for "His Name is Wonderful"

3. Christmas Love: "This Christmas Love"

Click HERE for "This Christmas Love"

4. Christmas Gift: "Emmanuel" by Hannah Kerr

Click HERE for "Emmanuel" song

5. Christmas Cheer: The Glory of Christmas videos    

Click HERE for Mary video

Click HERE for Joseph video

Click HERE for Shepherd video

Click HERE for Wisemen video

WALKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND

I know snow removal is hardwork (Thank you Andrew).

I know driving in snow can be tedious and at times dangerous 

(Please Lord protect those traveling today).

But there is a very beautiful side of snow.

How lucky am I that I got to walk in a winter wonderland today?

 

NEED MORE TIME

Jonah usually needs more time than typical kiddos to accomplish milestones and tasks.

I guess Jonah's left kidney is following that pattern also.

Today's ultrasound shows little improvement from the September one which showed little improvement from the April one.

However, the doctor is hopeful.  He sees improvement in today's ultrasound that the radiologist didn't indicate on his report.  

It's his opinion that Jonah's body is just going to take more time to reduce the size of the left kidney.  

So we continue on a 2 hour voiding schedule, continue on the medication to help with voiding muscle control, and continue with the daily antibiotic- for another 6 months.

The doctor is not having us come back in 3 months because he feels that would be too soon since he feels this is going to be a slow process.  

If at 6 months, there is still little to no improvement, then he might pursue a renal test that would check kidney flow.  

Jonah already had a renal scan last fall to check renal function, and his left kidney contributes to 41% of his renal function which is good (usually kidneys are a 50/50 split).

So not good news because this kidney saga is still not over, but good news in that the doctor seems hopeful we are on going in the right direction, just very slowly.  

I'm glad the doctor warned me the ultrasound report would sound worse than the doctor's impressions.  Report states: 

"Persistent severe SFU grade 4 [most severe grade] left hydronephrosis."  

Yikes...

 

FLASHBACK VIDEO WITH A CHRISTMAS LESSON

 

This morning I remembered Jonah's performance in the 2015 Christmas program at church.

The preschoolers walked down the aisle up to the stage looking for Baby Jesus as the words of the song indicated.  

Jonah, much to our fear, took the lead.  He marched down that aisle and up the stage steps with determination.  

When he reached the top step, his eyes locked on what he was looking for: Baby Jesus in the manger.  

He went and grabbed the baby out even as his classmates were still trying to position themselves on center stage.  

We were both mortified and amused by Jonah's antics as we watched from the pew.

Jonah went off script since the children had been instructed to gather around the manger, not wildly yank the poor baby out of his bed, holding him by one arm.  

However, as I thought about his misbehavior, it actually made sense.  

For weeks, the children had been practicing the actions to this song in their Sunday School room.  During those practices, there was no manger with a baby.  So on this night, Jonah heard the familiar words of the song, directing him to find Baby Jesus by following the star.  Jonah was probably filled with great excitement when he started to walk down the aisle that Christmas Eve and he finally had Baby Jesus in his sights!  He was determined to claim the victory.

I think there is a larger life lesson in Jonah's enthusiasm to get to Jesus on that Christmas Eve in 2015.  

How many Christmases have we celebrated talking about the birth of Jesus but then never really claiming Him as a presence in our lives the rest of the year?   How many Christmases do we lose sight of Jesus by getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of gift-giving, Christmas get togethers, and all the other things we do to prepare for Christmas?  

Maybe this Christmas we should be very determined and excited to march down that aisle and claim Jesus as the most precious gift we could ever have in our lives.  And then keep Jesus with us all year long instead of storing Him in the storage closet until next year's program.  

Once again, a little boy with Down syndrome has a wealth of wisdom to share...

Now watch the video and be prepared for a whole lot of cuteness and comedy!

Christmas Even program from 2015 

Click HERE for Christmas Program video

SOME MEMORIES

Came across some good memories this morning:

Click HERE for Adoption Songs Playlist

These songs all had special meaning to us during Jonah and Ben's adoption processes.

Click HERE for Jonah and Manger Scene video

This video is so cute.  It was used as part of the Advent devotions at our previous church.  Since Jonah was non-verbal, this was how he shared his part in the devotions.  Video is from November 2015 so Jonah is 5 years old.

 

EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS

A community an hour away from us experienced horrific tragedy late yesterday afternoon.  

Someone broke through the barricades of a community Christmas parade and raced down the parade route, killing 5 people and injuring over 40 people.  

Obviously, the investigation is ongoing so we do not know all the facts of why this person did this.  We also don't know the official number of victims yet as many are still being treated in 6 different local hospitals.

Click HERE for the news story of this tragedy.

When I heard this news last night, I was shocked and saddened.  

Now even a Christmas parade cannot just be an innocent and fun celebration anymore?  

I know the above verse from Revelation 22:20 is actually referring to the second coming of Christ, but as this verse entered my mind this morning, it made me think about Christmas this year.

After all the ugliness of this past year and half: COVID and all its controversy and tension, politics and all its controversy and tension, race issues, police issues, and senseless acts of violence like yesterday that continue to happen,   I am made aware once again of the brokenness of our.  The effects of our sinful choices are heavy and leave many feeling hopeless.  

Our hope and prayer this Christmas as Christians is that the Lord Jesus come into all our hearts and comfort and strength us as we face this difficult life.  

Our prayer as Christians should be that those who are rejecting the Lord as their Savior would instead be awestruck by His love and sacrifice for them and that they would come to know Him as their Lord and Savior.

Yes, it would be nice if all the problems of this world would be fixed, but what we need most is that hearts would turn to Jesus.  He is the way, the truth and life.  Only He can heal us from the brokenness of our sinful ways.

"So Lord Jesus, please come to us in a powerful and meaning way this Christmas.  Let the beauty and wonder of your birth that we celebrate at Christmas be the start of seeing your love and sacrifice.  For it is you Christ that showed us amazing love when you gave your life as a ransom for us when you died on the cross."

That is my prayer this Christmas.

Click HERE for resources about how know Jesus as your Savior

 

A TENDER SOUL PLUS A WOUNDED SOUL HOPEFULLY EQUALS

two tender souls....

I witnessed something very heartbreaking but beautiful this weekend.

Ben hit Jonah on the head with a recorder instrument.  Jonah cried.  Andrew directed Ben into our bedroom so he could talk to him about hitting his brother.  

Ben has very unique reactions to getting caught.  He often lies and says he didn't do it.  He often tries to blame Jonah.  But when you really push through and continue confronting Ben on his wrongdoing despite his denials and excuses, he goes into shut down mode.  He hides his face and will not give you eye contact.  This is the pose he took in our bedroom.

At this point, Ben usually reacts next in one of two ways:

1. Very defiant and angry at you as you scold him/talk through the situation OR

2. Very remorseful.  This reaction happens less frequently.  Ben tends to react with anger.

So Andrew went to talk to him and as he approached Ben, Ben let out a gut-wrenching scream combined with a growl like an animal.  To us, it sounded like Ben was trying to protect himself and keep Andrew away.  

Now I can never know this for sure because Ben can't or won't talk about how he was treated at the orphanage his 1st  6 years of life, but this is my guess why Ben screams/growls like this.  

Ben probably got away with lots of stuff at the orphanage because he would react with this way.  If he got caught, he probably growled and screamed and hissed so the orphanage caregiver would back off and leave Ben alone.  Of course, the other possible scenario I'm thinking could have happened, is God forbid, if the caregiver was more rough with Ben, this is probably how Ben defended and protected himself from getting hurt.  

Again, I can't say this for sure, but these are my thoughts of how things may have happened at the orphanage.

So Ben, even when guilty of doing something wrong like hitting his brother, comes out fighting and protecting to keep himself safe.  He reverts to survival mode.  

What he still doesn't understand at these times is that we are not orphanage caregivers.  We are his mom and dad.  We love him.  We want whats best for him. 

Yes, we will discipline him and talk to him sternly if its warranted, but we will follow that with love and comfort and then getting back to the fun of life.  We aren't just there to give him food and clothing and shelter.  We are here to live life with him, through the good, the bad, and the ugly.  His home and his family are his safe place where he will be loved unconditionally.

He is a wounded heart who is healing and learning to love and be loved.

That was the heartbreaking part of this incident.

The beautiful part was after Andrew talked to Ben about how wrong it was to hit his brother, Ben was still curled up in a ball in the corner of our bedroom.  He did not want to look at Andrew, and we felt he needed some minutes to collect himself before coming back in the living room.  Andrew left him with our bedroom door open so we could keep an eye on him.

A few minutes later, after Jonah settled down from being hit, Jonah approached Andrew as the red bump began to form on his forehead.  Jonah indicated he wanted to go in the bedroom by Ben.  Andrew let him go in, and Andrew watched as our tenderhearted Jonah went up to Ben and gave him a hug.

I was so proud of this little boy.  He had just been hit by his brother and his first reaction after getting over crying was to reach out to that brother and comfort him.   

How much could we all learn from that?  Is this not the epitome of "turning the other cheek" that Jesus commanded us to do?  

Those two little boys are a lesson in humanity.  

Ben, with his wounded soul, being brave and courageous as he learns to trust and love.  

And Jonah, with his tender soul, guiding and loving this brother that was thrust into his life 5 years ago, and choosing to forgive and forget when Ben hurts him.

It is our hope and prayer that with Jonah's continued guidance, patience, and love (and ours of course, but Jonah actually humbles me- I think he is better teacher than us grownups), one day Ben will have only tenderness in his heart.  The wounds of abandonment, loneliness, and fear will be healed.

One tender heart + one wounded heart = 

hopefully two tender hearts.

That's the math we pray for...

How blessed am I that I get to watch and learn these amazing life lessons from these two amazing little boys.  

Thank you Lord!