Category: In Family

Christ in Christmas

How to Keep Christ in Christmas

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Keep Christ in Christmas… Don’t become stressed and over-worked planning and preparing for this most blessed holiday.

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Luke 10:41-42 The Message (MSG)
41-42 The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”

How Do We Keep Christ in Christmas?

In our anticipation of Christmas, we often become stressed and over-worked planning and preparing for this most blessed holiday. Somehow, in the mix, we end up forgetting what it’s all about. I want to do whatever it takes to find Christ in Christmas so that others will see Him too.

Here are a few ideas I have that will help us throw out the unnecessary and help keep the focus on Christ this year.

First of all, Limit the Decorations

SImple Christmas

We’ve found that we can get in the spirit with very little decor. We’ve limited our decorations to a small tree, a wreath on the door, and one special seasonal spot in the living room (the mantel if you have one.) We have a little cubby in the entertainment center which used to hold a TV. My hubby installed a mirror in the back of it and this is now our one place to put some seasonal decorations.) We have little or no cost and little or no headaches getting it done! Make you decorations things that will remind you of Christ such as a nativity scene.

 

How about a family tradition decorating the tree. Try this idea :

For every ornament placed on the tree be able to relate it to Christ somehow or a prayer for a person or nation.

Secondly, Limit the Activities

Choose Christmas activities that include the whole family and that keep Christ in Christmas. Attend a religious Christmas concert or presentation. Participate in selfless projects where you are showing Christ to others. Such as serving at the homeless shelter or even caroling. My family went caroling to friends and neighbors every Christmas Eve and delivered Cinnamon rolls. What fond memories I have of this annual event.

We had a family friend who limited attending Christmas parties to ONE for the season! Some activities are unavoidable, such as school concerts or workplace events, but think of the time and money saved if you stop attending every party for which you receive an invitation. Give your regrets and move on.  This will give you so much more family time and reduce all that rushing around trying to get places.

In Contrast, Add Family Advent Devotions

When I was growing up, we always took time for advent devotions. We added a piece of the nativity each night through Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, We read the final devotion and placed baby Jesus in the creche BEFORE passing out gifts. This is still a vivid memory for me. I do my best to read advent devotions with our family every year.

Ann Voskamp’s Unwrapping the Greatest Gift {affiliate link} is a wonderful book fo advent using the Jesse Tree. The Jesse Tree teaches us how God had a plan from the very beginning of time. You will read about the people in Jesus’ ancestry beginning with Adam and Eve. The theme uses the scripture from Isaiah 11 “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot.”

Ann gives the scriptures and beautifully tells the story with family discussion questions and an activity for the day. If you do these activities, Christ will certainly be kept in Christmas.

Join us as we  Keep Christ in Christmas!

Reunions: The Whole Family Together

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I’m writing on the prompt, WHOLE family inspired by Write 13 days challenge and the Five Minute Friday crew. We’ve almost made it to 31 days. You can see what we have written here and what others have written here.

I have 5 siblings.

Here’s a picture of our family maybe in 1966. back row: Mom, Doug, Dad Front Row: Marcy, Kandy, Mandy, Alex.  Too be added later a few years later .. LeAdam.

Dawson family before LeAdam

There’s me – in the blue dress.

. the whole group

Oh, here’s all 6 of us ..me on the top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that we are all grown and have families of our own. We all live in a different state … Wisconsin, Texas, Georgia, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Kentucky. So you can imagine how difficult it is to get the whole family together at the same time.

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from generation to generation

From Generation to Generation

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Memories of Generations

One of my earliest memories is a sleep-over at my grandparents. I remember standing at Grandma’s knee while she crocheted a yellow hat for my dolly. I can still taste the frozen tart applesauce made from the apples in her yard. But my favorite memory is the nighttime devotions. A plastic loaf of bread held tiny cards printed with Scripture promises. I chose one card, then sat as close to Grandma as I could. With her arm around me, she whispered word by word, so I could “read” the verse.

It was the beginning of a legacy – the love of God and His Word. Before I was a week old, my parents took me to church, and faithfully continued to make sure I was taught the Word by Sunday School teachers and pastors. On an everyday basis, we looked to Scripture for guidance in our home.

Passing the Faith Along

My favorite parenting verses are found in Deuteronomy 6: Continue reading →

Complete lyrics

Searching for Completeness

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Today’s Sunday Lyric is inspired by the FMF Prompt, COMPLETE

Building Puzzles

Our family enjoys building puzzles together. In recent years, my husband has sneaked into the den to take a piece of the puzzle. We would work for weeks to finish the puzzle only to find the last piece missing. We would look everywhere for the piece to no avail.

Just at the right time, my husband would walk in and place his one piece into the puzzle and claim the “prize” as the one who finished the puzzle. He did this several times. Soon the kids caught on and more quickly ran to him for the final piece.

Incomplete

Then one time, he swore he had not taken a piece of the puzzle. So the puzzle was incomplete. There is nothing like not being able to complete a puzzle. It feels like all the work was to no avail. So what do you do? Leave it sitting there until you find the piece or just through the whole thing away? My husband tried finding another piece from other puzzles or from the edge to fit in, but nothing ever looked right.

Do you Feel Complete?

It is similar in our own lives. You see, God created man in His image and he said, “It is good.” But he wanted to give us a choice of letting Him be a part of our lives. So He took one piece, a God-shaped piece and He waits for us to include Him in our picture. He waits for us to ask for that piece.

Typically, we put our lives together but something is missing. We try all kinds of things to fill the void in our lives.

  • sports,
  • music,
  • art,
  • family,
  • good things.

But the problem remains that it does not fit in the void.

God waits patiently, for us to ask Him to come in and complete our lives. Have you asked Him in to complete you? It’s as easy as A,B,C (click here to learn more)

Pray this prayer in song. Complete by Parachute

Following the Truth

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3 John 1:4

Photo credit: Guenther Dilligen @Pixabay Modified by Mandy Farmer

Following the Truth

I woke this morning and read this scripture. And immediately thought “THIS is what makes me most grateful.” That all my children are following the Truth.

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In a world where truth is whatever you think it is, I thank God that somehow Michael and I have managed to lead our children to The Truth and they have chosen to follow it. It is only by the grace of God and prayer.

 

What is Truth?  Continue reading →

How to Be an A+ Student

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Psalm 119:10-16

I have tried hard to find you—don’t let me wander from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. I praise you, O Lord; teach me your decrees. I have recited aloud all the regulations you have given us. I have rejoiced in your laws as much as in riches. I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word.

 

It’s Time to Put on Our Thinking Caps!

As school is about to begin (or already has for some), I would like to share some thoughts on how to become an A+ student. It is quite a challenge these days. I think most of us that have finished our education will agree that we wouldn’t want to go back to school now and have all the demands that the schools expect today.

 

But “Trying Hard” isn’t what “cuts the mustard.”

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Getting Kicked in the Shins

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It’s Friday! It’s Sunday! Time for the Five Minute Friday Writing Challenge. 🙂

FMF Purpose

Five Minutes Fridays

 

Time to write for five minutes on a prompt.

Click on the image to see what bloggers came up with.

The Prompt is Purpose.

 

“He kicked me on purpose!”

As a preschooler, my son often said these words or words like them coming off the soccer field. He didn’t seem to understand that when playing soccer, you are bound to get kicked in the shins occasionally. The players are not trying to kick you on purpose, but rather they are trying to kick the ball away from you. Sometimes, that results in getting kicked in the shins.

Some of us have never learned this simple lesson:

In this life, you will have trouble. Once in a while, you are going to get kicked in the shins.

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Why?

The Bible says “In this life, you will have trouble…” (John 16:33) We live in a fallen world, full of sin at every turn.  God allows each of us to make our own choices.

  • Many people are out only for themselves. But their choices affect the lives of others.
  • It may be that a person is reacting to their own demise. Possibly they just got kicked. Maybe they are sick or grieving causing them to react to life negatively.
  • Other times it is merely an accident, such as in a soccer game.

But regardless of the “why” behind our injury, the question should really be, “How do we respond?”

The answer is to respond “with a purpose”.

In other words, make a plan to respond positively when you get kicked in the shins.

And then follow through with it.

Christ had a purpose.

His purpose was to treat others with humility and love.  We are instructed to treat others as we would want to be treated. We should have the same attitude as Christ. His purpose was to bring all people to Him. (see Philippians 2 and Matthew 7:12).

What is your purpose?

  • Do you think of yourself as better than others?
  • Do you care only about your own interests?

In Conclusion, let’s follow the Apostle Paul’s instruction:

“Work hard to show the results of our salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.” Philippians 2:12

 

Finding Purpose;

Mandy Farmer

 

10 Ways to Get on a Budget and Stick to It

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staying on a BudgetIt’s quite a challenge to stay on a budget when you are in the ministry. Our hearts want to spend money on projects and ideas for the church. But sometimes, the funds are just not there and the temptation is to pull out the credit card. As easy as this is, it’s important for us as stewards of God’s resources, to resist the temptation and spend only what we have the cash to spend.

I asked a friend of mine to share how their pastoral family manages their budget. She does the budget thing so much better than I. We should all take this very seriously and try live within our means. Chrystal will take over from here.

Mandy Farmer

Getting on a Budget and Staying On It

Living Within Your Means @ggmandy

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Hi, Friends, I’m Chrystal and I’m excited to be sharing on Mandy & Michele’s blog today!

the SmallwoodsMy family blogs over at The Smallwood Parsonage about all things life…recipes, simple living, adventures, gardening, music and book reviews, and gatherings all from the unique perspective of a parsonage family. My husband and I have been in full-time ministry close to 20 years. We are both ordained, though at this season in life he is the breadwinner, serving as the senior pastor of our rural Pennsylvania church. I am currently a stay-at-home, homeschooling, blogging, sock-washing, dog-cuddling mom, who still keeps her hands busy in ministry.

Over the years God has led us to live a simple, intentional lifestyle…

… teaching us every day what it means to let go of material goods and dwell on the important. It hasn’t been easy, and it certainly has been a journey, but let me explain how we have gotten here. After we had been married for three years, both graduated from college and beginning our careers in ministry we wanted to start our family. Hopes and dreams were building as we both planned and prepared for the babies God would bless us with. I had always dreamed of having four children and becoming pregnant with our first baby only made me even more excited. Life, though, and pregnancy didn’t go as we dreamed it would. In the following three years we miscarried twice, suffered the loss of a twin baby to Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, and gave birth to two beautiful girls. It was a difficult three years.

After losing three children, we decided that life could either become a misery or a celebration.

We chose that it would become a celebration and we continue to live that way 15 years later.

We choose to …

  • a simple life,
  • intentional living.
  • spend our money on making memories, rather than on what some might consider essentials.
  • believe in eating from the earth’s bounty.
  • believe in giving back as much as we can.
  • aim to live life beautifully and authentically.

 

Purchase Chrystal’s book about her miscarriages, Choosing Joy

 

We live on a small income by American standards, though we realize it is much compared to much of the world.

Many pastor’s families live on small budgets. But living on a small budget doesn’t mean life can’t be well lived. We think it means just the opposite. A small budget forces us to consider each purchase, each dollar, what our priorities are. It gives opportunities to decide what matters and what doesn’t. I’m listing below some things we keep in mind and practice to help us live within our means, perhaps encouraging some of you to implement some new ways to live within your means as well.

First, I want to let you know eight things we DON’T include in our budget:

1. Housing-Like many pastors we live in the parsonage and all basic housing expenses are paid for by the church.
2. Cable television– We just don’t have it. *see below for an explanation
3. Home Phone: The church pays for our basic local service and Jeremy’s cell phone; we use our cell phones unlimited talk and text plan for long distance.
4. Internet-the girls charter school reimburses for internet expense for their students. So while we pay this out every month, it is reimbursed to us at the end of the school year. We really only pay for the internet three months of the year when school is not in session.
5. Car Maintenance-Jeremy drives the local ambulance and works one day a week as an EMT. These extra incomes, along with weddings and funeral honorariums are put aside for car maintenance.
6. Car Payments-our cars have been paid off for a number of years.
7. Home Educating resources-We use an online public charter school and they provide all the needed materials for the girl’s education free of charge.
8. Debt-We have no consumer debt.

10 Practical things we have found that help us to be good stewards of our resources. @ggmandy

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Here are some practical things we have found help us to be good stewards of our resources.

Maybe you will find a new nugget of information that will help you to live within your means:

1. Tithe. This must be a priority. God can do exceedingly more with 90% of our income than we can ever do with 100% of it.

2. Make a budget and stick to it. This might take some homework if you’re not an active budgeter. There are a number of solid Christian resources out there regarding budgeting tips and various ways to budget. They are worth a look. If you know someone who is a great budgeter, financial planner ask them for help. Decide who will be in charge of the budget-both husband and wife? Just one or the other? I am better at budgeting and bill paying and daily running of the family and household. Jeremy is better at saving. He is in charge of the envelopes (explained in #3)

3. Use an envelope system for keeping the cash. A portion of our weekly income gets taken from the bank and put in envelopes for safe-keeping. Extra things like monthly bills to be paid, money for clothes, summer church camp fees, vacation, bulk meat purchase, family treats, and Christmas are included in these envelopes. It might not seem like there is much money at the beginning of saving in envelopes, but that money adds up quickly. When a monthly bill is needing to be paid simply take the money from the envelope put it in the bank and pay the bill. If Vacation or Christmas is coming just take the cash from the envelope.

4. Cash in those coins. We keep a small green glass chicken next to our kitchen sink and a large water bucket next to the washing machine. Any and all change (that’s left from my kids raiding the chicken to go to Christian Skate Night at the local Roller Rink with the youth group) gets put into either the chicken or the bucket. We recently took our coins to a Coinstar machine at the grocery store to convert it to cash. I didn’t want to have to pay a percentage of the total so instead we redeemed our coins for over $100 on a no-fee required Amazon gift card and put the gift card in the Christmas envelope.

5. Commit to a No-Spend Month – For one month, don’t spend money on anything that isn’t a basic need or an emergency. Keep in mind children’s birthdays and holidays when planning a No-Spend Month.

6. Slash your spending.

A. Groceries: The USDA says that a typical family of four (2 adults/2 children) will spend between $150 and $300 per week on groceries that’s $600-$1200 per month! Use coupons, cut out Starbucks and going out to eat, cook from scratch.

B. Entertainment: Our daughter Anna receives free books in return for her review on our blog, play board games, host a potluck, enjoy a family movie night, start a new tradition. catch a free concert in town, go for a hike. There are lots of things to do that don’t cost money.

C. Shop at Thrift Stores: there are some serious name brand, high-quality clothing at thrift stores.

D. Exercise: Walk or run daily, take advantage of a friend giving away exercise equipment, head to a local lake and swim for free.

E. Extra-curriculars: limit the children to one extra-curricular activity per season-this cuts down on time and money. If you have someone who will teach a skill for free ask them or barter in exchange for lessons.

F. DIY as much as possible. There are so many tutorials online for DIY projects we almost have no excuse to not use them.

G. Use what you have: Use up the freezer foods, watch the old movies, wear the tie you’ve had for years but is still in good condition.

7. Get rid of non-essentials. We haven’t had cable for 17 years and have survived. For years we used antenna tv only, but in our current home, located in the mountains, we have to pay 20$ for basic cable or we wouldn’t get any networks, PBS or the “Old Shows” as my kids call them.

8. Prioritize: Decide what is and isn’t important to your family.

  •  Do you want to see the world? BUDGET
  • Do you want to take an expensive vacation? BUDGET
  • Saving for the kid’s college or wedding? BUDGET
  • Want to treat your spouse to a nice Valentine’s Day Dinner? BUDGET

9. I realize not everyone has time for preserving food as we do. It takes a considerable amount of effort and time but buying foods while they are in season, or gardening is very cost-effective, supports local farmers, allows God to provide you with food that He created, and is overall better for health and taste. Cooking at home, buying seasonal foods, freezing, canning, drying or dehydrating foods are all options for making healthier, budget-friendly food choices.

10. Organize and Simplify-One way to live within your means in to know what you already have. At one point years ago I realized I owned 20 glass vases. Twenty! I quickly got rid of all but 5 or 6 of them that had special meaning to me, but the others went to the thrift store. Getting and staying organized will tell you what you do and don’t need. Anything that’s extra? Get rid of it by giving it to thrift stores, social service agencies, needy neighbors. Be cautious about getting rid of family antiques though-you’ll likely never get them back.

Lastly, but most importantly, we must Pray and give God Lordship over our finances.

Ask Him …

  • .. to provide in miraculous ways.
  • .. to show you what is and isn’t important.
  • .. for a financial blessing.
  • .. to make you and your spouse partners in financial matters.

Always allow God to provide for you through miracles and through His people. If people want to share the bounty of their gardens, or buy those new tires for your car or offer to help in some other way let them.

Allowing people to be vessels of God’s grace to you is a blessing to you and to them. Allow them to be the givers God is asking them to be.

Chrystal

Allowing people to be vessels of God’s grace to you is a blessing to you and to them. @ggmandy

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