Christmas 2014

Another Christmas has come and gone. I'm so thankful for my family and the sweet memories we made today. 

Christmas at Nana and Papa's

The cousins patiently waiting for the present opening to begin.


Nana, Papa and their grandchildren.
Kent and Madeleine.

Our three nieces.
The beautiful stockings that my mother in law needlepoints by hand for each of us.

Christmas in Indiana

In December, we drove up to Indiana and had a great visit with friends and family. While we were there, we spent a lot of time together as a family, celebrated my Grandma Jane's 80th birthday and visited with dear friends. We always cram it in while we are there but it is always worth it. We celebrated Christmas a little early and enjoyed having our traditional Tyner family Christmas brunch type food. The boys enjoyed seeing their Grandma Cindy and Papa Stanna and great grandma Nanny and great grandma Jane. We are blessed!

The boys playing the find the monkey game.
My mom, Aunt Angela, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Kevin and grandma Jane at her birthday party.
Cousins and Grandma

Josh playing with my dear friend Kelly's daughter, Camille.

A new Christmas tradition.

This year we started a new Christmas tradition called the Waiting Tree. It was a lot of work putting it all together but I am excited that I now have it done and it can hopefully be used for many years to come. In an effort to transition our home from being too focused on Santa and presents, this helped us get a jump start early in December to keep the focus on Jesus, the true meaning of Christmas. I am hoping that as the boys get older, they will be able to sit through it easier and pay attention better.

Here is how it works. Starting December 1 through December 24 you read a small paragraph and a scripture verse to go along with it then you place the corresponding ornament on the tree. The topics discussed start in Genesis (creation) and go throughout the Old and New Testament until the birth of Jesus and the purpose is to teach the children how everything in the Bible points to Jesus and how we wait for His return. Other examples of what is covered include: a man (made in God's image), a piece of fruit (temptation in the garden), ark (trusting in His word), basket (baby Moses), etc.

Christmas time 2011...finally!

Every year I take the boys to Hobby Lobby to pick out a new Christmas ornament for their small Christmas tree. Below are the pictures of the ornaments they picked out this year as well as some pictures from our trip to Hobby Lobby.

Josh showing off the Elmo ornament he picked out this year.

Will showing off the soccer ball ornament he picked out this year.

"Going Home For Christmas"

Christmas Eve 2009

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Steven Curtis Chapman song, "Going Home For Christmas" but it is a good one. I had heard it before and thought, "Wow...that is a sad song." That song became my reality last Christmas. As I mentioned in our Christmas letter, my grandpa Skip really did go home for Christmas. We knew that he was going to leave us soon but we all seemed to hope that it wouldn't actually be on Christmas day. Well....that is the day God had planned all along. It wasn't by chance. It was on purpose. God's sovereign plan is perfect. He called my grandpa home on my grandpa's favorite day, Christmas.

I wanted to share the lyrics with you. I changed them from being about a grandma to being about a grandpa. Just like the song says, our whole family gathered at his house on Christmas Eve. It was a very special time each year.

His house was where the family gathered every Christmas eve;
A feast was set on the table and gifts were placed beneath the tree.
Everything was picture perfect, Grandpa would laugh and say,
That woman spends the whole year getting ready for this day.

One year the leaves began to fall and his health began to fade;
We moved him to a place where they could watch him night and day.
But he kept making plans for Christmas from his little room;
He told everyone, I’ll miss you but I’ll be leaving soon.

I’m going home for Christmas and I’m going home to stay;
I’m going home for Christmas and nothing’s gonna keep me away.
I’ll be with the ones I love to celebrate the Savior’s birth;
This gift will be worth more to me than anything on earth.
I’m going home, home for Christmas.

All the leaves outside have fallen to be covered by the snow;
The family comes with food and gifts and Grandma comes alone.
There’s a sadness in our silence as the Christmas story’s read,
And with tears, Grandma reminds us of the words that Grandpa said.

I’m going home for Christmas and I’m going home to stay;
I’m going home for Christmas and nothing’s gonna keep me away.
He'll be face to face with Jesus as we celebrate His birth,
And this gift will be worth more to him than anything on earth,
‘Cause he’ll be home.

And as we sing ‘Joy to the World’ I can’t help thinking
Of the joy that’s shining in his eyes right now.
And though our hearts still ache, we know that as we celebrate,
he’s singing with the herald angels and heaven’s glowing on his face.

And now he’s home for Christmas and now he’s home to stay;
he’s home for Christmas, and nothin’ could’ve kept him away.
he’ll be face to face with Jesus, as we celebrate His birth,
And this gift will be worth more to him than anything on earth.
he’s home, he’s home for Christmas.
he is home, he’s home for Christmas.

My grandpa wasn't sick very long. He was diagnosed with cancer right before Thanksgiving and gone four weeks later. It was sad, hard to understand, overwhelming, etc. but my grandpa knew where he was going and he yearned for it. Like the song says, "Nothing's gonna keep me away." That is how I want to live...longing for heaven.

I miss my grandpa and there is a void in my heart with him gone. He is the grandpa that every granddaughter would love to have. He loved us and told us all the time, he came to our events and gave willingly of himself to his family but most importantly, he loved Jesus. As we get closer to Christmas and the memories of that day come flooding back, my desire is for my heart to be filled with joy that my grandpa gets to spend his second Christmas in heaven celebrating our Savior's birth. How amazing that must be!

Amazing!

Yesterday, our pastor spoke on Luke 2: 1- 7 and the title of the sermon was, "Restore Simplicity in Christmas Chaos." It was a great message with a lot of great points and you can check it out for yourself at www.hhbc.com.

I thought the message was great so I wanted to share some of the key points with you. I don't know about you but I have read/heard these verses so many times but I have never heard it taught quite like this.

In those days of Herod the Great the language was Greek, it was a time of peace (Pax Romana) and roads had been built. All of these things put together made it the perfect time for the coming of Christ and for the gospel to be spread more easily. God worked over a long period of time to make sure everything was just perfect for the birth of Christ. He orchestrated a lot of events working behind the scenes to accomplish his will. Did you know that Micah (Micah 5:1-2) prophesied the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem 700 years before? Amazing! God is never too early or too late. His timing is perfect just like it was when Mary and Joseph had to ride through the barren wilderness to go to Bethlehem for the census. Perfect timing!

God used common people (Mary and Joseph) to accomplish his work. Little is much when the Lord is in it! Mary could have been as young as 12 years old when she said yes to the Lord! In that time she risked her life because a pregnancy out of wedlock could be grounds for death. Joseph was a small business owner who risked his reputation and business to stand by Mary. What do you risk? What do I risk? Do we take the road less traveled and say yes to God or do we feel more comfortable going along with the crowd for fear of rejection and shame? God calls us to put everything we prize in his hands just as Mary and Joseph did. I am sure they valued their lives, their friends, what their families thought of them and their business but they did it anyway because they trusted God.

Now this is amazing! There were 8 prophesies fulfilled in the birth of Christ in Bethlehem and 322 total prophesies fulfilled by Jesus. Math experts have said that the probability of Jesus being born in Bethlehem that night were 1: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (17 zeroes)! Here is something I found in an article that illustrates this.

"To help illustrate the odds of this, it would be like taking 10 to the 17th power of silver dollars and laying them on the surface of Texas. They would cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can go anywhere he wants, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? The same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man."

In a season of busyness, stress, overeating, overextending, overspending, etc. it is easy to get burnt out and miss the whole point of the most amazing gift that can ever be offered to us. It is a free gift and it costs us nothing other than recognizing our need for Jesus to be our Savior. It isn't about jewelry, iPads, iPhones, Ugg boots, Coach bags, etc. It is about Christ! The only one who can give us life eternally with Him in Heaven.

Christmas Letter 2011

Hello friends and family! I am so glad that you stopped by our blog to read our Christmas letter for this year.

2011 has been a good year and we have so much to be thankful for! I thought I would share a little bit about each person and then some things about our entire family.

Kent: Kent continues to work at MidFirst Bank in the treasury department. He recently celebrated his tenth anniversary with the company and was honored at the employee recognition dinner for his ten years of service. It was a great night!

In August, Kent accomplished a big goal and climbed Mt. Yale with three of his best guy friends in Colorado. Mt. Yale is over 14,000 feet. It was a great weekend trip for Kent.

Kent is a very loving and active father to our two boys. He not only shows them he cares by playing with them and taking them on special outings, he teaches them about the Lord in our home and desires for them to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The boys are blessed to have Kent as their daddy.

Christin: I continue to be a stay at home mom to the boys. I have been in this role now for over five years! I am blessed to be able to do this full time. The boys are at a very active stage and some days are challenging but I am very thankful to get to spend so much time with them.

My family in Indiana has been going through a tough season as we mourn the loss of my beloved grandfather, Skip Pearson. He passed away last year on Christmas day so as we get ready to celebrate Christmas this year, we are reminded of our loss and the void that we find in our lives, especially this time of year as it was his favorite. We are thankful though that he knew Jesus as his savior and is celebrating his second Christmas in heaven with Him! Praise God!

I am thankful this year for our church and the ten families that make up our small group. What a blessing they are in our lives! I am also thankful for Bible Study Fellowship as it continues to be a big part of my life.

William: Will turned five in July. He is a big boy in every sense of the word, except for maybe weight :) He attends a pre k program especially for five year olds and is thriving there. He loves to play and rough house with his little brother and is very loving and caring towards him...most of the time. He continues to love to play with cars, trucks, trains, fighting jets, etc. He can play with just cars for hours. Will got a new big boy Trek bike for Christmas and has enjoyed riding it around the neighborhood. Will is becoming more and more active in sports. This past year, he participated in spring and fall soccer and summer tee ball through the YMCA. He is a blessing in our lives and we praise God for him!

Joshua: Josh turned two in October which is hard to believe! He is talking in complete sentences now and it amazes me every time he says something new. Yesterday he said, "Whoa Baby!" He also loves to yell a lot when we are driving as he gets excited when we pass a police car, school bus, trees lit up with Christmas lights, fire station, truck, etc. It is fun to watch him get excited over little things. Josh is a happy little guy and loves to play with his big brother. Even though he is over three years younger, he is only about 10 pounds lighter and we have the feeling he will catch Will sooner rather than later. Josh attends a mother's day out program two days a week and thankfully has gone from crying every day all day to running right in with a smile on his face. Josh and I attend a mother/tot gymnastics class once a week and he loves to go to "nastics." We are blessed to parent this spunky little guy!

Family: This past year we traveled to Indiana in the summer to welcome my parents home from their year in Bolivia. We had a great trip and spent a lot of time visiting and catching up with family. In August, we traveled to Colorado where we spent a week at Deer Valley Ranch. It was a great week of concentrated family time. Also in August, we went to Great Wolf Lodge in Texas for the first time. We went with Kent's parents and sister's family. That was a fun adventure!

We are thankful for a year of fun memories. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season as we remember the ultimate gift of Jesus.

Christin, Kent, William and Joshua

The True Meaning of Christmas

I found this picture on Pinterest and I wanted to share it with you.

This is the true meaning of Christmas!

It isn't about finding the perfect gift for others or asking for all the gifts we want for ourselves,it is about THE gift given to us.

The gift of Jesus.

Jesus was God's plan all along.

He wasn't an afterthought when the world started to make poor choices. He wasn't the "plan B." God knew we would need a rescuer so he set his plan in motion from the beginning of time.

The Old Testament points to the coming Messiah over and over. In Isaiah it says,

"For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

The awesome part is that the book of Isaiah was written well before the birth of Christ.

This Christmas, I challenge you to make Christ your focal point.

I am challenging myself to do this too.

How awesome would it be if this year Jesus' birth wasn't just a part of Christmas...right next to the tree, gifts, lights, stocking, parties, decorations, etc. but was the MAIN point of Christmas? I know Christmas would be calmer, simpler and most of all....more meaningful.

Let's all strive to not miss out on the reason why we are celebrating.