Christmas Caroling at The GreenHouse

Q:  What do you get when you mix various ages, languages, ethnicities, income levels, and religious backgrounds in a group of about 100 people and send them all off singing Christmas songs with one another in a community that they all care about?

A.  A whole lot of fun, laughs, and Christmas cheer! 

Let's do it again next year! 

Melvin's Hope Christmas Store

Our Melvin's Hope Christmas Store was open this past Friday evening and Saturday and it was a big success!  There was a line around the building the entire time and everyone left the store with big smiles on their faces.

We had several awesome parent volunteers who worked hard both days at the store, as well as an amazing group of other volunteers from Sanctuary, Adventure, and Bridge of Life who served as personal shoppers, re-stockers, and gift wrappers.

I honestly loved everything about it and had so much fun!  The whole experience filled my heart with joy. I'm so glad we revamped the project this year - there were many confirmations along the way that we had made the right decision.  Thank you to everyone who donated or volunteered!

Let the Family Festivities Begin...

On Tuesday, Steve finished his last final. Five semesters down, ONE to go! The end of finals came just as a flurry of Christmas activities was ramping at The GreenHouse - making for a nutty (intense, grueling) couple of weeks in our household. But once again, we made it out alive. Marriage still intact. Children still breathing. Stress levels back to normal.

The kids could not wait for their Daddy to be done with his "big tests" so that we could go and get a Christmas tree. Poor Jonah was distraught over the fact that we didn't have one yet! So on Wednesday night, we shimmied over to the tree lot just down the street and let the boys pick out the one they wanted.

That same night, we headed over to The GreenHouse for the Oasis Christmas Party where a large group of people from Sanctuary was gathering to go caroling with the teens. We had a blast! (more on that event in a subsequent post).

And today, the kids got to perform some Christmas songs at church.  Riley was much too grumpy to participate.  Nicolas was cute as a button and did everything he was asked to do.  And Jonah hammed it up like the rock-star that he is.  Classic.   

It feels good to finally be able to partake in some Christmas festivities together as a family - just in the nick of time!

Being Present during Advent

Throughout this season of Advent, our church is reading a daily devotional book that was written by our pastor called Living the Christmas Story.  The book is challenging us to let Christmas be a season of Prayer (closeness with God), Presence (connectedness with others), and Participation in God's love.

I read this post on another blog yesterday and thought it correlated very well with the devotional.  (plus, I love Henri Nouwen):

The Ministry of Presence
More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems.

My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.

- Henri Nouwen