Monday, December 31, 2007

Christmas Card Round-up


I think the annual Christmas letter may be on its way out. This is not a prediction of sorts.....just an observation. The trickle of Christmas cards to the Hesterfamily Mailbox is just about over....with a few last minute stragglers coming in behind. (I am not being critical. I have no room to talk. I didn't get ANY Christmas cards out last year. Shame on me!) But I am noticing that the popularity of the annual Christmas letter is not as prominent as it once was. Case in point....we received 11 "letters with family picture," in comparison to 25 "picture only/no letter" Christmas greetings. And I must not forget the "Christmas Card/handwritten message" people. Those people out numbered the "letters with family picture" category by a landslide.

I haven't written a Christmas letter in two years. And it is not because I don't want to. I love to write and have always enjoyed the prospect of summing up the ways we have seen God move in our family over the year. But I think there are two reasons why I haven't written one lately. The main thing is time and the other is transition. I have a hard time finding the time to do it. Secondly, we just aren't experiencing a lot of news like we did in the years of moving from place to place, babies being born, Gregg's jobs in the Navy changing like the seasons. Simply put, we just don't have a lot to tell....at least not the kind of things that you find most people including in their Christmas letters. I could tell you the things I feel God has been trying to teach me, (and trying some more), or the ways in which we have grown as a couple/family, the things of the heart that we are trying to overcome with help of the Holy Spirit. But those topics don't usually make the TOP 10 discussed in Christmas letters. And I think that is OK. Maybe topics like that are saved for other occasions.....not Christmas letters.

I would imagine I would return to letter writing at some point. But I certainly have enjoyed those that I have been able to read this Christmas. Some have brought me to tears.....missing so much the people who have sent them to us. Wishing we could see them more...live life with them more. Receiving any form of a Christmas card is such a little gift to me waiting in my mailbox. It reminds me all the more of the importance of God-given relationships in your life and how abundantly I have been blessed by them, and will continue to be. God is good!!!!

Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Gift that Keeps on Giving


There are two things I received for Christmas this year that I wish I could take back. But unfortunately, they must not have come with a gift receipt, because I can't find it anywhere. Not under the tissue paper....not taped to the inside of the box...not resting neatly in a cutely decorated envelope on top. Returning the items is impossible. The demand for them is extremely low, if non-existent. Nobody wants these....not now, not ever. Once you get them, you are stuck with them. However, the potential of "re-gifting" is very high. And if you are not careful, you can "re-gift" to more than one person, making you the enemy of many. Thankfully, I only "re-gifted" to one......and she has a very forgiving heart. (Sorry, Faith!)

This Christmas, I experienced the "gift that keeps on giving" in both a cold and the stomach flu. It is amazing that your body is willing to host a series of different germs at the same time. I was hoping one might say to the other, "Sorry, there is no room at the inn," but that didn't happen. On our last day of visiting family in MI, I felt it coming on.....the flu that is. I was sitting next to my step-mom in a movie theater, enjoying Enchanted for a second time with the girls, when I leaned over to her and whispered, "I'm sick." I think Enchanted is just a little over two hours....but it lost its "enchantment" with me. The movie felt like it lasted well beyond "they lived happily ever after," and I kept dwelling on the cleanliness of the theater bathroom, wondering how close I would come to having to know it well.

We returned to my Dad's house, and it was a welcomed sight. Except.... one thought occurred to me. "It is difficult to be sick in someone else's house." You feel terrible about it. You know that you are just one big mass of contamination, but there is very little you can do about it. This is where people with the gift of hospitality have to draw the line. And I don't blame them. I am very grateful that my "re-gift" hasn't seemed to hit them. They are in the clear.

Our ride back to Columbus was sprinkled with blurred visions of each Rest Area through the passenger side window, as my husband raced home at feverish speed. (Get it....feverish??)
My house, my bathroom, my bedroom, and my bed never looked so beautiful as it did then. The taste of 7-Up and crackers will be removed from my diet for a while. I think I have had my fill. But I am totally grateful for God's healing of the body. He is truly the "Gift that Keeps on Giving."

Monday, December 17, 2007

Reconcilosec

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!


Truly....there is no sarcasm in my title. I really mean that. Seriously!! Stop it!! How can I convince you that I am not joking around??!! Just returned from Chicago, where we celebrated Christmas with Gregg's family. His sister and her little guy surprised us as they flew in from San Diego to celebrate along with us. It is such a blessing to watch our girls enjoy their cousin. They have 4 male cousins and were blessed this year with their first female cousin (yeah, Isabelle!!!) I love to watch their interaction...so neat to see the next generation bonding and forming memories together!!


The drive home was intense at times and took us 3 hours longer than normal (9 hours total) , as winter in IL seems to be worse than any other Midwestern state this time of year. Not really...but it felt like it. We had terrible "get-home-itis" around Indy...which wasn't a good sign, since we still had at least 3 hours to go. Thankfully, we packed enough "to do" stuff for the girls and were graciously given a DVD player to borrow from some dear friends. It is amazing how far Season 3 of I LOVE LUCY can go when you are driving through hazardous road conditions. And to make sure their momma was duly entertained, I had my book "A Year of Living Biblically" with me and I am so enjoying it.( Thanks, Mom!! You know I am too cheap...oops, I mean frugal, to buy it on my own. You beat the library with your prompt gift giving and I appreciate it!) I think it is another one of those books that Gregg will be glad when I finish, as I keep talking about things that I have read, etc. That always annoys him for some reason.


With all of the family gatherings at Christmas time, I am reminded of a hilarious video I ran across last year from a church in Chicago. You may have to watch it a couple of times...just to get all the "one liners" in it. But don't refrain from laughing out loud when you watch it....wherever you watch it...because I know you are going to want to. It's a perfect parody "when you are around the ones you're supposed to love." (You'll get what I mean after you watch it.)

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Waiting a "year" for the Year of Living Biblically



Today, I am number 74. Yesterday, I was 77. At this rate, I will have it by the end of January. I am eagerly anticipating the library's email (oh! How I love to hear from them!) that my copy of "The Year of Living Biblically: One man's humble quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible" is ready and waiting. Have you heard of this book? I was flipping through the channels the other day and AMAZINGLY found something of interest on MSNBC when they were interviewing the author AJ Jacobs. What a fascinating character!! Now, don't run out to your local Christian bookstore to find the book. I don't think it will be there. I am pretty sure they are opposed to carrying anything on their shelves written by a self-labeled "reverent agnostic."







What first attracted me to this book is the title itself....The Year of Living Biblically....because I wondered if I too could write this book. Couldn't every Christ-follower sum up their experience after receiving Christ as the "Years of Living Biblically" or maybe the "Years of attempting to live biblically?" I am anxious to see how his year and my years compare to one another. Not out of judgement, of course, but just simply pure evaluation. I know Jacobs has taken everything in the Bible literally...where I, in a sense, haven't. I haven't stoned any adulterers and I don't avoid wearing clothing of "mixed fibers." But I am pursuing my life under the moral guidelines that God so graciously set before me as a way of protecting me from my own evilness. And I am curious to see how that matches up with the changes in Jacob's life as he literally lived out the Bible. Here's a little snippet from the book to pique my interest regarding that very thing:






It's impossible to immerse yourself in religion for twelve months and emerge unaffected. At least it was for me. Put it this way: If my former self and my current self met for coffee, they'd get along OK, but they'd both probably walk out of the Starbucks shaking their heads and saying to themselves, "That guy is kinda delusional."




You could say, "If you are so anxious to read this book, why don't you just go out and buy it, instead of waiting around for it." Well, in my "Years of attempting to live biblically" I am trying to follow Isaiah 55:1 (The MSG):




Buy without money—everything's free (even libraries...)! Why do you spend your money on junk food (or books...), your hard-earned cash on cotton candy (or DVDs...)?




Yes, that's why I am waiting. And in addition to following Isaiah 55:1, I must follow Exodus 20:16 ("Do not lie to your neighbor") and tell you the truth.....I am really just too cheap to buy it anyway. :)