Christmas with our Families

On Christmas Eve, we went to our church for its annual Christmas Eve service. I had the privilege of singing one my favorite Christmas songs in a quartet - In The First Light. I have wanted to sing this song since I was in college, so I was extremeley happy when we put it together. The ironic thing - we almost didn't get to do it. Our piano player and fifth voice was too sick and couldn't be there, but by the grace of God it all came together.

Please take a minute and read these words and remember the true reason for this season:

In the first light of a new day

No one new He had arrived

Things continued, as they had been

While a newborn softly cried

But the heavens, wrapped in wonder

Knew the meaning of His birth

In the weakness of a baby

They knew God had come to earth

As His mother held Him closely

it was hard to understand

That this baby, not yet speaking

was the Word of God to man

He would tell them of His kingdom

but their hearts would not believe

They would hate Him and in anger

They would nail Him to a tree

But the sadness would be broken

As the song of life arose

And the firstborn of creation

would ascend and take His throne

He had left it to redeem us

but before His life began

He knew He'd come back, not as a baby

But as the Lord of every man.

Hear the angels as they're singing

on the morning of His birth.

But how much greater will their song be

when He comes to rule the earth?

Here are a few pictures of our families from this Christmas.

The Tilden Family

Front: Selah, Lesa, Adam and Amanda.

Middle: Valerie, Mike, Kira and Liz.

Back: Jamie, Richard and Deborah.

Cousins

Even Noel got a present, which she played with the rest of the night!

The Meyer Family

Front: Adam, Selah, Lesa, Kira, Kaitlynn, Anthony and Liz.

Middle: Linda, Dennis, Amy, Phyllis, Mandi and Ken.

Back: Mike, Chris and Vince.

Cousins, sort of...

Merry Christmas!

Here is the Christmas letter. It wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't have my annual "Printer Fiasco." Let me just recommend that you never purchase an Epson printer. They have programed the printer to quit working and demand you replace the printer cartridge after a certain amount of prints. I guess I'm naive to think you shouldn't have to replace your cartridge until you're actually out of ink.

Anyway... here is our Christmas letter. You should be able to click on it to see a readable-size copy. Hope this finds you well! BTW - I'll be snail-mailing these on Monday.

Ding, Dong, Ding, Dong...

My dad, Lesa and Selah spent a couple hours one Saturday morning ringing the Salvation Army Bell at Price Chopper in Bonner Springs. They were pretty excited when a man came up and put a 20 in the bucket. By the end of their shift, their bucket was full.

Guy Trip 2008 - "Play Ball"

For several years now Mike has gone on a "Guy Trip" with his friends from high school. This year they traveled the Midwest to watch four baseball games in as many days. They went to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago.

(from left) Mike, Clem and Mike Stoker

Stoker, Mike and Clem

Wrigley Field in Stoker's eyes...

Giordano's Pizza

Mike, Clem, Stoker and Josh at Giordano's.

Clem, Stoker, Josh and Mike

Notice the KeyBank logo in the back.

He can't get too far from the place...

Miracle on Main Street

This weekend the kids participated in our church musical, "Miracle on Main Street."

All the kids were so cute the first time they saw the set. "Ooh, Ahhh...," was the common response. We had such a talented set crew!!!

Toward the end, the preschoolers/Kindergartners set up the Nativity scene while the big kids narrated and sang behind them. Kira made a cute shepherd the first night and was a great wise man the next night.

Selah belted out her solo "I Believe." Watch out Natalie Grant...here comes Selah!!!

Lesa (pictured right) was the hippy wife who tried to brush off the carolers who were asking them to allow their Christmas pageant to be allowed in the town square. She wanted to laugh so bad when everyone responded to her costume, but she did a great job keeping a straight face. She was also a narrator later on in the show.

Adam played as Blake, a caroler trying to convince the town to allow their show to continue. Let's just say we got lots of comments on Adam's enthusiasm...

All of the church kids worked hard on this production, as did their directors, the helpers and all the staff. It was a lot of fun!

Lessons from a Child

Well, we almost made a trip to the Emergency Room today.

I usually let the kids have candy after they eat lunch, and today was no different. A little bit later, Selah came to me grabbing her throat and crying. She said she was messing around with Kira and accidentally swallowed the whole mint she'd been sucking on. Once I got her to calm down, I realized she was breathing fine, but obviously uncomfortable. I began having flashbacks of when Kira swallowed three coins...haven't we been down this road before???

This time, things seemed different. Selah was not gagging and drooling like Kira had been. I quickly got on the Internet to see if drinking water and trying to get the candy to melt would be a good plan, or if that would cause more problems. I also tried to call Ask-A-Nurse, but just got put in a holding pattern. It was then that my darling Selah thought of the most important thing we should do..."Mommy, can we pray?" she asked in her sweet voice. Pray? Why hadn't I thought of that? Of course we can pray, and pray we did.

A couple of minutes later, she started acting like she was going to puke. Ahh...now this was looking even more like Kira's money fiasco, so I quickly had everyone jump in the van and wait for Selah, who had gone to the bathroom thinking she was going to hurl. Before we got everyone loaded, Selah came bouncing down the stairs declaring, "My throat doesn't hurt anymore! Mommy, I think it's gone." Before the words could even cross my lips, my 8-yr-old quickly said, "Thank you, God!" and thank Him we did...

"And he said: 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.' " ~ Matthew 18:3-4