A Raleigh Christmas

This year instead of Carter and I travelling to Roanoke for Christmas, our parents came to Raleigh to spend the holiday with us! I got to play hostess (my favorite!) and cook for most of the weekend. Our parents rented the rental apartment our complex offers, so they each had their own bedroom and bathroom. Koda was crazy the whole weekend with all the attention he gets from our parents...as if Carter and I don't give him any love.

We had a great time hosting Christmas here. Since we couldn't be 'home' for Christmas I decided to be a little non-traditional in our choices of food. On Friday we ate at Simply Crepes, a new experience for our parents...they LOVED it. For Christmas Eve I cooked a Balsamic, Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Loin, roasted brussel sprouts with bacon, homemade mashed potatoes (Carter's specialty), and corn muffins - I must say it was delicious. On Christmas I made Lemon and Rosemary Roasted Chicken, roasted winter vegetables, mushroom and walnut stuffing and collard greens - it too, was tasty. We finished the evening with a German Chocolate Pecan pie and coffee.

As always our parents gave generously and got us way too much for Christmas, but it was much appreciated. Our extended families sent gifts with them as well, so we had tons to open on Christmas morning. Koda also had some gifts to open as well. He spent most of the morning running from one new toy to another. We attended Summit's Christmas Eve service (which was great) where I saw a former co-worker. I was so surprised to see him there I asked him, "What are you doing here?" He laughed and told me that he and his wife were now Christians and were baptized about a month ago!! Seeing them there at church worshiping God was definitely one of the highlights of my weekend!

Unfortunately in all the packing to leave, my camera was mistaken for someone else's and made its merry way back to Virginia, so I don't have any of my pictures to post. But thankfully with the iphone I received for Christmas, I took a picture of our Christmas tree and one of Koda and his new toy pheasant.

Better Late than Never...

Thanksgiving was great - we took a week off from work, packed up the car and Koda and headed to the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. Carter spent a week hunting in West Virginia with his cousins and shot the buck of a lifetime! I'm so proud of him, even though I'm not really sure how big the average deer is....be impressed.

I spent the first half of the week with my parents and Koda. We had a great time! My parents took turns being off from work, so I had a mom day and a dad day. They took me to some of my favorite restaurants...Macados and Three Little Pigs, yum! We went shopping and visiting with some family. Carter came back on Thanksgiving and we spent some time with my family and then headed over to West Virginia, where we spent the rest of the week. 

On Friday, instead of fighting the shopping crowd, I went with Carter's cousins (girls only), mom and aunts to The Greenbrier, a beautiful resort in West Virginia. I had never been before and was amazed at the architecture and design. A few of us signed up for free passes to the Casino and we all played the slots...I doubled the dollar my mother-in-law gave me, woohoo! One of Carter's cousins put in $20 and won $400! We were so excited for her! 

Here's a picture of us all taken by the only man brave enough to come with us...so a special thanks to Jennifer's boyfriend, Jason.

All in all, we had a wonderful time. As for Christmas, we have decorated...pics are to come. Our friends Catherine and Becky helped us pick out our tree.

Koda LOVES Catherine and Becky. He's under the impression that he's a small lap dog.

Koda and Carter are doing well...just a man and his dog. We're looking forward to Christmas! Carter's parents and my parents are coming down here this year. I'll be doing all the cooking :) Can't wait. There's much more to come in the following weeks...so stay tuned.

Merry Christmas...dammit!

I'm writing this not to offend anyone (although I'm sure this may happen), but more so to inform and hopefully sway some people in their thinking. Around this time last year, and again this year, I noticed a war being waged on the battlefield of the holiday greeting. The struggle is between- 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy Holidays'. I do not believe either of these greetings are bad or that preferring one over the other is wrong, however the view that 'Merry Christmas' is and should be the sole greeting of the season, I do believe, is misguided. Perhaps it is not the view itself but the attitude that often accompanies it. There is a self-righteous attitude sometimes evident in this fight - an 'us' versus 'them' mentality that is just plain sinful. As a result there is a zealous, though wrong-headed, effort to ensure that all people, businesses, media stations, advertising, etc. are saying 'Merry Christmas', not 'Happy Holidays'.

Obviously there are those (Christians and non-Christians) who are indifferent to either greeting. They realize they are able to use one greeting or both greetings without any hard feelings. Their purpose is not to offend but just to be cheerful...good for you! For those of you who feel so strongly about this issue that it makes you angry and invokes in you a sense of injustice, I hope you will hear me out. I'm trying not to judge, knowing I myself am a sinful person and don't always think rightly. Hopefully what little humility I have will be evident in my writing. My main concern is for people to be informed and for the Gospel not to be muddied by an unnecessary struggle. So here are a couple of observations I think everyone (although I'm writing more specifically to Christians) should consider before donning sandwich boards and ringing bells shouting, "Don't take the 'Christ' out of Christmas!"

#1 - Why would we force people who are not Christians to say "Merry Christmas"? Are we so prideful that we'd make other people recognize and unwillingly hold to our beliefs? Sometimes this mindset is in conjunction with the idea that, "America started its journey to hell when prayer was taken out of schools."  No it didn't...taking prayer out of schools should have never changed a Christians' prayer life. 1Thessalonians 5:16-17 says, "Always be joyful.  Never stop praying." Although, that's for another blog post, the underlying belief is the same...taking the 'Christ' out of Christmas should not change how Christians view Christmas. Protesting the use of 'Happy Holidays' and 'Holiday Tree' does not convey the message of hope, forgiveness and love found in Jesus. We can still celebrate Christmas as a remembrance of Christ's birth no matter what greetings people are using. Our energy and zeal should be utilized in growing in our relationship with Jesus and sharing the gospel daily, not in demanding others to conform to our preferences.

#2 - Does anyone know what "Happy Holidays" actually means? The word 'holiday' is literally translated 'holy day' and since we celebrate December 25th in honor of Jesus' birth...that makes it a holy day! I'm not sure all Christians know this, but what we celebrate as Christmas - December 25th - is not actually Jesus' birthday. Most scholars think it was sometime in the spring. The earliest recorded celebration of Christmas was in Constantine's Day (336AD) and December 25th was declared the official date by Pope Julius I, a few years later. There is some historical evidence that this date may have been chosen due to some Pagan winter celebrations that also took place in December.

One more closing observation - I do find it slightly ironic that some can have such a problem with the 'holiday' jargon, yet will remind their children all season that a fat guy in a red suit is coming down the chimney to bring them presents, but only if they're good...again, that's for another blog.

image courtesy of US News

Mercy Hill Retreat

For those of you who don't know yet, "Our life in Raleigh" is soon to be "Our life in Greensboro". Carter and I (and Koda) will be moving to at the end of May to plant a church with a group from the Summit. Most church plants start with a couple of families...so far there are around 25 of us going, which is pretty amazing and definitely a result of God working in each one of our lives. The church is called Mercy Hill, here is our official website...check it out...http://www.mercyhillgso.com/

This past weekend we all took some time to get to know each other and headed for the mountains of North Carolina! We rented a house and spent the weekend praying for the church plant, getting an understanding of what our goals for Greensboro would be, and of course, eating, playing games and hiking. It was a great weekend - I am thrilled to be a part of what God is going to do in Greensboro, and am excited to be going with such an awesome group of people. Enjoy the pics...there are lots...

Beautiful sunset from the porch

Most of us were pretty creeped out by this picture

Some of the boys. I like how Carter is as far away from the group as possible, and none of them are touching...very different from the girls' pictures

A friendly game of Kan-Jam

View from the roof

How many guys does it take to grill?

What a beautiful backdrop for a game of football

  

The cheerleaders

While the boys played football, the girls took a hike.

Spider dog...a new phenomenon thanks to Tony and Tina

Andrew worked really hard on the fire

Well done Andrew, well done.

Halloween...and Koda update, of course

Halloween is probably our favorite holiday.  Dressing up, eating candy, watching scary movies...what's not to love? Friday night we carved a pumpkin and chose a pretty intense face as you will see. Koda wasn't too sure about the whole pumpkin situation. Like last year, we hosted a party at our house and yes, there were costumes. We had a great time visiting with friends and laughing at each other's choice of wardrobe.

Not too sure about this...

Deb (from Napolean Dynamite), a zombie and Strawberry Shortcake

'I'gor, he was such a good sport about his homemade costume, you can barely make out the hump on his back

If you haven't seen "Young Frankenstein" you need to.

Dan as Sweeney Todd (another great movie)

our beautiful decor

Halloween just happens to be Koda's birthday, yet another reason for us to love this day...Koda turned 1 today. We bought him a doggy cupcake at Gourmutt's here in Raleigh. It's a great little shop that sells homemade dog treats, bones, food, toys, etc.