You wouldn’t think that in a new home we would already be having to do home improvement, but that’s just what we spent lots of time this week doing.  Thanks to my wonderful husband, Crisana’s room is now painted (a lovely shade of pink, very similar to the color of her nursery in our previous house) and today he/we painted the utility room!  It’s the same color as the kitchen/nook/garage hallway, so now that entire side of the house is the same color on all the walls.  It looks GREAT!

Tonight we celebrate New Year’s Eve in our traditional fashion, hosting SB and RC and their clan.  We hang out, play games, let the kids tear up the playroom, then ring in the new year (hopefully this year Matt will remember which glasses he used to pour champagne and which he used to pour sparkling apple cider…) and collapse into whatever bed/couch/air mattress is closest at some point after midnight.  This year, RC promises to make his German pancakes for breakfast.  We’ll see if we can convince them to try some traditional black-eyed peas for lunch.

OMG. Not only no, but…..

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THE PATS DID IT!!! 16-0, BABY!!

What a game. It was an interesting night at our house, with both the Pats/Giants game and the Alamo Bowl (Aggies vs. Penn State) being televised simultaneously. So Matt watched the Aggies on the living room tv, and I watched the Pats in the bedroom. Though in support of our beloved we ALL wore maroon t-shirts today (the kids having received some for Christmas, and Debbi borrowing one of Matt’s).

Throughout most of the game, I really thought the Giants had the Pats’ number. Eli Manning played like I have never seen him, scrambling, completing passes, keeping the ball in the hands of his OWN players…I mean who was this guy? The Patriots defense couldn’t seem to stop the Giants from moving the ball, as evidenced by the 5 TOUCHDOWNS the Giants were able to score.

But as I’ve said before, great teams find a way to win. And that’s exactly what the Patriots did. When it was crunch time, key players stepped up. Brady and Moss connected on a thrilling, record-breaking TD catch to seal the game. The defense, which had not produced a turnover, pulled a key interception out of thin air. It wasn’t a pretty win, but it was a win, and the Patriots are now in the history books with the only undefeated season since the league moved to 16 games.

I realize this doesn’t mean squat if they don’t win the Super Bowl and end the season 19-0. But having been a Pats fan all my life, and suffering through many many forgettable seasons (and endless years of ugly uniforms), this is sweet redemption.

(And once again to my dear husband, I am sorry about the Aggies.)

The past few Sundays, Cottonwood Creek has been sharing these videos as part of their “A Simple Christmas” series. While I’m not sure exactly how they’re connected to the sermon notes, I do have to say they make great entertainment! And so, I give you, “Miracles”:

And now, “Jesus vs. Santa”:

You’ll have to go directly to the Chronicle Project page to see the “Making a List” short film.

And last, but not least, “Gift Exchange”:

Have fun and enjoy!

Literally!   Check us out!

The Speer Family as Santa’s Elves

Merry Christmas!

This happy thought comes courtesy of my son, Trey.  While I was putting him to bed a couple of nights ago, right after we said prayers, he came up with this:

T:  “Hey, mom, did you know that every day is a great day?”

M:  “Really?  Why is that?”

T:  “Okay, Monday I don’t have to make my bed.

Tuesday we have really cool den meetings and pack meetings and do cool stuff.

Wednesday Chaz comes over.

Thursday is pizza day.

Friday is no homework.

and Saturday I get to play with Ryan and have no school!”

While I was greatly impressed with his positive outlook (one of his Cub Scout Character connections - Woot!), I was a little concerned about the glaring omission that was Sunday.  So I asked him about it.

M:  “What about Sunday?”

T: “Well, Sunday we have to go to church!“  (which is not as much fun now that we are visiting different churches every week.)

In steps Dad to the rescue.

D:  “What show do we watch on Sunday?”

T:  “Oh yeah!  The Silly Show!” (a.k.a. America’s Funniest Home Videos)  “Hey, mom!  Sunday’s good because we get to watch The Silly Show!”

So you see, every day has its own reasons to be happy.  Let’s all celebrate today because after all, it’s Friday and there’s NO HOMEWORK!!  Woot!

In the spirit of the holidays, I give you one simple wish…

and one HILARIOUS video.  Enjoy!

We were seen with The Big Guy!!

Last Friday was our annual trek to Stonebriar to see the world’s greatest Santa.  Real hair, real beard…he’s the Real Deal.  And he takes his job seriously.

Last year, we brought notes to Santa, but he told us to take them home and leave them out for him on Christmas Eve.  Though a little disappointed, we did what he asked and left out the cookies and milk.  Santa did write us back and managed to bring everything we wanted.  Because of that experience, we didn’t bring letters to Santa this year.  But other children did, we noticed, and I happened to see some examples in his big bag next to him: pictures carefully cut out of catalogs and glued to paper, hand-drawn illustrations with mom interpretations, entire advertising circulars with items circled in colorful marker.  And I had one of those “moments.”

No, not one of those moments when I get all sentimental about the innocence of childhood and the sincerity of a childlike faith - though I did have that, too.

What I’m referring to is one of those God-moments when He uses something very ordinary to reveal something extraordinary about His character.  You see, these children came to Santa with very definite desires, requests that they felt absolutely passionate about.  And they came to him in full assurance of their faith, believing with all their heart that if they could count on someone to give them what they wanted, it would have to be Santa.

Now, I’m not reducing God to the level of cosmic Santa Claus.  But I do think He was prodding me to understand how often I limit Him with my lack of faith.  I come to Him in prayer with conditions.  With “escape clauses”.  With parameters.  With doubt.  I ask - presumably in faith - but do I really believe He can do it?  Do I really leave the door wide open for God to move in amazing and indescribable ways?  Or do I hedge Him in, placing His infiniteness inside the confines of my finite understanding?  Oh, that I might come to Him with my wish list - boldly, but humbly, too - in full assurance of faith…holding unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who called us is faithful.  (Heb. 10:22)

And what was Santa’s response to these precious requests?  His comment to me was, “It’s the best part of this job.”  With a twinkle in his eye, and a wide smile on his face, you could tell he relished the opportunity to connect with these children…to give them a sense of hope, to renew their sense of wonder, and to help them know that they are loved and valued.

It hit me…how much more does our Heavenly Father - who knows us and made us - relish the opportunity to do the same for us… for me.  How much more pleasure would He receive at the opportunity to remind me once again how special I am to Him?  How much He loves me?  How much hope I have through His promises?

You know, I doubt the Stonebriar Santa has any idea how profound an impact that little 3-minute encounter had on my life, or my understanding of my God.  But God specializes in bringing the extraordinary out of the ordinary.  A mall Santa!  Who knew?

I neglected to do a “cross”-examination last week, not because we didn’t go to church (we did, and we have the pictures to prove it!), but rather because the church we attended isn’t really a serious option for us. We didn’t even fill out visitor cards. Since my brother David was in town, we joined Mom for a service at her church, Grace Bible Church in Dallas. The church has just completed a major building project including a new sanctuary. Very modern, very open and airy - not at all like the chapel they were meeting in previously. It’s a beautiful building and appeals to my architecturally minded husband.

Beyond that, though, GBC has a wonderfully rich heritage of solid Bible teaching because of their partnerships and connections with Dallas Theological Seminary. On any given Sunday, you’ll find DTS students leading Sunday school classes, working with the youth and children, or helping to lead in worship. Many of the staff members are DTS grads, or are spouses of DTS faculty. With this rich pool of scholars, teachers, and leaders to draw from, we always enjoy whoever the speaker is when we visit. We attended the second service, which was the contemporary service. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as energetic or inviting as I had hoped. The teaching was excellent - challenging, convicting, and applicable - but the worship portion left me feeling dissatisfied. I continue to pray that God will lead us to a church with not only great teaching, but also good music!!

Now, on to this week. We had determined when we left PCBC that we would take our time looking at churches and not rush into joining a new one. We had ideas of what churches we wanted to visit, but were keeping our minds and hearts open to wherever God would lead us. We did decide that we would choose one of the larger churches on our list to visit throughout the Christmas season - from Advent through Christmas Eve. We decided that Cottonwood Creek would be our church of choice for December.

Cottonwood Creek is a Baptist church (SBC), formerly First Baptist of Fairview (believe it or not). However, when they moved and built a new facility they were no longer located in Fairview but Allen, so they decided a name change was in order. Cottonwood Creek has grown to become one of the largest churches in Collin County, boasting a huge Upward Basketball program (around 800 kids) as well as Upward Soccer, and an average attendance of nearly 2,000 on Sunday morning in their 2 services. We weren’t sure how we would feel about such a large church - but it does serve the goal of allowing us to be “invisible” for awhile. Some former PCBC friends - and the current PCBC office administrator - attend Cottonwood Creek so we knew we would have a couple of friendly faces there.

What a morning it was! The music was great - both choir and praise team with full orchestra - the teaching was excellent, and the kids both enjoyed their classes. Trey had a couple of friends from school in his Sunday school class - a real answer to prayer for us! Thanks to our friend Vicky, we met the executive pastor, the senior pastor, and more friends than we knew what to do with. We were warmly invited to attend the Sunday school class Christmas party that evening (though we’ve never set foot in any Sunday school class here), and felt right at home even amidst the crowds. We spent some time visiting with the senior pastor following the service and felt genuinely welcomed by him.

At this point, we haven’t received any follow-up to report on, but I’m sure we will in the next day or so. Whether or not this church becomes our new “home”, I do know that this will be a special place to celebrate Christmas this year.

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This was my second official foray into the world of gingerbread house making.  Last year, we made an honest attempt that turned out to be nothing short of disaster.  My children still remind me of that debaucle regularly.  Bless their little hearts.  Little do they know what kind of blackmail I am storing up for THEM in the future.  But I digress.

This year, I got SMART.  I bought a KIT!  At COSTCO!  For $10, it was worth not having to figure out how to make graham crackers stand on their own!  I got out the kit and read the directions.  We kneaded the frosting in the little tubes, and we were all set to get going.

We  had a blast, even if it took a few hours.  Those kits may be cheesy for some, but they make me look like an absolute genius.  And a little like Martha Stewart, but not much.

This is the view of our finally completed gingerbread house:

From the front:

The back door:

And one more picture of my kids because they are just so darn cute:

Now, the hard part will be convincing them not to eat it!!