May you and yours be blessed this Christmas

Twas the night of thanksgiving and all through the house .Not a creature was stirring except this Grandma’s “mouse…………


It came upon a midnight clear…..hmm, I have being seeing “midnight” quite often lately.

Hark the Harold “angels” sing…..yes the “angels” (our grandkids) woke up at 6:00 am this morning “singing?”

Silent night…….ahh …..an emty nest….lock the doors…..turn out the lights

Oh Come all ye Faithful…….our nest may be emty but many still gather at the “home” place quite faithfully.
It is not unusual for me to be up late at night. I love the quiet…….the time when all is on place and I can putter around the house….catch up on things….chat with a friend …… read a book or answer a phone call from one of the kids who is just checking in.

Tonight as I was thinking about the annual Christmas letter and what changes we have had in the year 2011 I realized that in one years time our whole family has moved. One year ago this week we moved my parents to town ……. we moved to the home place…Chad and Jenna followed 2 days later and moved to our farm. They are wonderful neighbors….. Justin and Kate got married June 4….…We moved Kate to Monticello to be with Justin………….at the end of the summer we moved Kate back to their home near Hospers so she could finish up at Northwestern. (Yes Justin still lives in Monticello…..they see each other about every 3 weeks )The next week we moved David to Northwestern to go to college. Last week we moved Daniel and Brianne and their family to a house in Boyden. What a lot of work…. Dan and I told everyone to stay put for a while!! When you move you realize just how much “stuff” you actually have…it made me question about our values and goals in this earthly life………

It also made me think about the Holidays…all the gimmicks to buy “stuff”…..people frantically running around in the midnight hours to get “stuff” ….or trying to come up with a gift for someone who already has everything.

I love Christmas….. I love buying special gifts for the people I love… I love baking and decorating and all the hoopla that can go with Christmas .But this year I am getting rid of “stuff”….. I have been cleaning…making piles for each kid (they have their own house now!) and what a wonderful feeling . This year I want Christmas to be about giving instead of receiving and focusing on what God gave . I wonder how God felt when He Gave the gift of His Son. Giving a gift is a wonderful feeling……I love it much more than receiving . So instead of giving “stuff” I want to do something different this year. I want to give something that comes from the heart and keeps on giving…hmmm I don’t have it all figured out yet. I challenged my kids a few years ago to do a random act of kindness each week of December and then tell me about it. I did it too and it was SO rewarding. An old man that I helped at Walmart will still thank me every time he sees me.

If only we could give our family and friends the peace…peace …peace …. that comes with a Silent Night. If only we could give them the TIME it takes to sit and read a book to a child ….watch a sunset or capture fireflies on a warm summer night…..that is the kind of gift I am shopping for this year…. One that touches the heart and keeps on giving! One that makes you grab your faith and look to God who has been so faithful another year.

May you and your family be blessed in the year to come!

Fa la la la la…. la la…la….la………………may your year be filled with laughter.

What child is this….??? Hmmm I think it is David…..we very rarely see him!!

Grandma got run over by the John Deere…….well that too is a possibility.

I’ll be home for Christmas……………..our door is always open and you are always welcome.

From a MOM's heart...............

After 12 years of following Kate across the state of Iowa playing volleyball....tonight may have been her last season....As I went down the bleachers to be there if she needed me I had mixed emotions. As I saw the big eyes fill with tears, I blinked and  I saw the tall skinny 5th grader get her first all tournament medal ......the tears were the same because her team had lost the championship game......she has always put team first.... I saw the girls hugging her and I remembered all the friendships she has made all over the state of Iowa. Parents came to her and thanked her for taking care of their own daughters...that reminded me of some of the wonderful friendships we have made over the last 12 years. We traveled to conference games.....AAU games.....Club ball games and now college games. We have met wonderful people.

I think back to all the accomplishments and honors that Kate has recieved.....the papers filled with photos and interviews....the all tournament teams she has been apart  of.....the State tournament championships that she has been a part of....the club ball sucess that came from a few girls ...a devoted  coach and a couple of practices. The Jr Olympic team that put together a few Iowa girls and played teams from countries all over the world. These things were all wonderful and fun and I am proud of her for all the accomplishments BUT I am even more proud of her for having such a love and compassion for all the people that were with her on this journey..... To see her help her injured teammate off the floor...to see her cry with a teammate who  has tough things going on in her life..... to see her celebrate with and for those around her....... I love to watch all the little girls from camps come and find her after  a game  knowing that she will take time for them......I am proud that she kept her love and passion for the game even though things were sometimes very difficult........ I saw her reach for every ounce of courage and strength with in her  to stand on the sidelines for the first time in her life and cheer for her team after she  she tore her ACL... ...the long hard rehab it took to come back and fight for a position on the team...... I am proud of her for putting others ahead of herself......and  having a servant heart. At  Kate's wedding her husband gave a wonderful speech that thanked all of those people at the wedding that were a part of kate's life that made her in to the person she was today....... I too want to thank  all the volleyball people that supported and encouraged her  on this journey.

  So...all the hardware is on a shelf....all .her medals are all in a box..... volleyball is now over....... but who she has become because of it all is just beginning........  I wasn't ready to shut the chapter of this book but tonight I realized that the book is actually just beginning and I can't wait to see what is next for Kate Buyert Boersma.!