handsful

Our church, each year, encourages us to join in corporate fasting. Last year, we had only been home from China for about 3 weeks…jetlag was only slightly a thing of the past, we were still getting used to being a family of 8, I couldn’t even begin to think of adding something new.

But, when I heard about it this year, something clicked…I felt called to this, as I never had before. But, how? And, what? Fasting isn’t just giving up food for a set time period, but it’s the process of giving up food (or some other “idol” that’s taking your time away from God) for a spiritual purpose. It takes your focus away from worldly comforts, and puts your focus on God…hunger for food is replaced with hunger for God. The bible talks about “when we fast” (Matthew 6), not “if we fast”. My goal is to grow closer to God, be more aware and intent on listening to God, and spend more time with God.

This past Sunday, our pastor talked about having idols in our lives. Not gold covered cow statues, but things that steal time away from the time we would be giving to God in bible study, prayer, etc. TV, internet, hobbies, even other people can be idols in our lives.

When I decided to join in this fast, I prayed and asked for clarity as to WHAT to fast. I came up with these…

Facebook – chocolate – hot tea

Ouch. I’ve felt for a while now that FB absolutely takes up so much time. Even if you’re just “checking it”, you can get sucked into reading the news feed, watching a video, clicking over to an article…and, suddenly you’ve been sitting there an hour. I’m going to miss it, I won’t lie. But, I’m glad I’m doing it.

Chocolate? I mine as well give up breathing. That’s enough about that.

And, I just got a new Keurig and boxes and boxes of lovely new teas to try. Which I can’t drink till January 30th. Hot tea in the morning is as routine for me as coffee is to most. Yep, I’ll miss it. But, that’s part of the point, right? The bible talks about bringing a sacrifice of praise to God. Sometimes we don’t feel like praising…it’s been a rotten day, we’re sad about a situation, etc. We choose to praise, even on the bad days. It’s a sacrifice to make that choice to be joyful when we feel no joy. Sacrificing comforts is a sign of our complete trust and dependence on God, despite how loud our stomach growls or how much we’re craving chocolate.

I’m still in prayer over anything else I might do…a short, 3-day Daniel fast maybe? More on that later, if I go that route. We discussed it with the kids, and they’ve all chosen things to sacrifice, too. I loved Lainey and Dylan’s, which they came up with on their own. Lainey is giving up hot chocolate (she loves it…) and Dylan is giving up whining. Ha!

Expect me to be HERE more than usual, since FB is off limits. Oh, and today is Day 1. In case you’re keeping track along with me. ;)

At least that’s what we eventually decided.

Abbey’s good friend from Florida, Angelina, invited her to go to Disney with her family to celebrate her 16th birthday. At first we thought “how do we GET her there”? It’s a long way to FL, and it seemed a waste to have Randy drive her there and back by himself.

So, we ended up making it a quick family vacation to Magic Kingdom. Dylan’s first time, Lainey’s second, who knows what time for the rest of us. We had yearly passes when we lived in Jax, and took advantage of that quite well.

We arrived Thursday night, big kids had a quick swim in the heated outdoor pool, and then we all headed to bed. After a quick breakfast at the hotel on Friday, Angelina’s family picked up Abbey and we all headed to the park.

It was odd, having just 5 kids with us…the group shots are missing something! Or someone.

They still had their Christmas decorations up, and were playing Christmas music. We were told it was the last day for that…

Payton’s favorite attraction

Obviously…same shot we took back in April 2010! I think he’s changed the most since our last Disney trip.

Zurg captured Dylan!

Tea Cup ride…given my dislike for anything that spins (and knowing full well that Randy would spin it as FAST as he possibly could), I took pictures.

Payton does a perfect Stitch voice, so he and the blue guy had a conversation.

I think Lainey has gotten over her fear of characters…finally.

January 2012

April 2010

He almost got it!

I caught the boys doing a little dance to polka music.

Then, Randy found a friend in the Haunted Mansion graveyard. Will the goofiness ever end?

This wall played music when you touched the different instruments…very cool!

Sadly…

I must…

post all…

of the stocks pictures.

And, then it was nighttime.

Electric parade :)

Then, we headed up to Main Street for the fireworks… The castle was so pretty, draped in Christmas lights!

Yes, there’s a big bush in front of the castle. We did the best we could to find a spot to watch. Apparently, everyone in the free world was at Disney that day. So much for lower crowds in January!

The fireworks were put to music…it was really beautiful.

Finally met up with Abbey! Her and Angelina have been great friends for years, I’m glad to see that hundreds of miles haven’t changed that.

All 6, together at last. It was a fun, hectic, incredible, exhausting day. Disney, you really know how to throw a party.

We crashed at the hotel Friday night, and got back on the road the next day. But, not before meeting up with some special friends of ours in Orlando. Pictures of that next…

It’s confession time…

I was reminded today that I over-looked posting one of our Christmas celebrations. I think I missed doing it because there aren’t many pictures of that day.

I did so well in the beginning…taking our camera to everything even remotely “Christmasy”. Then, somewhere along the way, I just wanted to enjoy the moments without looking through the view-finder. Which is why I have ZERO pictures of our get-together with Randy’s extended family last Thursday, and my extended family today.

I’m sure others will share their pictures with me. But if they don’t, I’ll just think back to the moments…Randy and Tony trying to out-do each other with “when we were kids” stories; the conversation I had with my sweet Grandmom as we sat together on the couch; reminiscing with my cousin about a special Christmas present given years ago.

Back to the original problem…I never wrote about my parents coming here to spend Christmas Eve with us. There aren’t many pictures of that day (guess I was enjoying myself…). But, in the spirit of fairness (heh), here goes:

Given we were going to be a bit rushed on Christmas Day, my parents decided to come spend Christmas Eve with us. I roasted a turkey breast and we had yummy sandwiches and fixings for lunch. Afterwards, we passed out presents…

The kids took turns opening first…the boys got a slew of new shirts.

We all loved this sign for Marley – Abbey keeps threatening to steal it.

Can you tell what Dylan opened? A MONSTER truck. This is his best monster face. Payton joined in as well.

She was one happy camper…she forgot totally that she had asked for a HK backpack (to replace her Dora backpack which she now can’t stand!).

Randy got a really cool Steelers shirt. Which he immediately had to smell (have I ever mentioned he LOVES the smell of new clothes??)

Abbey got some shirts, which she loved…she really wanted clothes this year! Sadly, there are no pictures of her. Or me, for that matter. Like I said, I wasn’t focused on the pictures, people!

Granma and Granpa also gifted the big kids with some cold, hard CASH which they quickly pocketed. I know Marley plans to buy some new English riding boots. Not sure what the others have planned. I think Abbey has already spent some of hers on…yep, shirts.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten to mention something on this post, but I’ll take my chances and hit the “publish” button. We really enjoyed having my parents over and hope we can do the same thing next year. Maybe I’ll take more pictures? Or, maybe not.