Smitten with mittens

Laura, I'm just smitten with my mittens.  On this COLD day, they are so great!  And I've got to have the cutest gear knitted by the cutest girl of anyone on campus today.  And trust me, I pay more attention to knitted hats now than I ever have--none are as great as my getup today!  Thanks!

My little McKenna just absolutely cracks me up!  Not only is she one of the funniest 3 year olds around, she's got to be one of the funniest PEOPLE around.  Last week she proudly announced in the van, "Mommy!  I figured it out!  I figured out how to count with my eyes closed!"  If only you could have seen her with her eyes squinted shut, counting on her fingers!  This weekend she was watching a "new part" of Fantasia.  (The second half is all new since she has always fallen asleep during the first part.)  She was watching the "horsepeople" fly around, commenting on how pretty the colors were.  Then, as the creatures landed in a lake and began swimming she exclaimed, "I didn't know horses could SWIM!?"  It didn't even occur to her that the more outrageous thing (the thing they really COULDN'T) do, was fly.  We laughed...  And then she referred to herself later as "Max.  Push the button Max.  You know, from the 'Gweat Wace'."  She's comic relief for me every day.  

A few other thoughts...

I'm SO excited about Christmas this year.  And not about the gifts--receiving OR giving them.  Not even about the great food and general spirit of cheer.  It's been particularly refreshing for me to focus on the celebration of Christ's birth.  The simple truth that the Bible is true-it's real-it's living...  The events that are recorded in the Gospels (and the rest of the Bible) happened a long time ago.  But they've never been more real to me.   I am so grateful for the women's Bible study at church for encouraging me to go deeper in my study at home...and coaching me through that.  So as we've studied Daniel there, and marriage in our small group and prayer in Sunday school, it's just all coming together in a new and refreshing way.  It's all related.  You just have to believe what the Bible says about marriage and the events in Daniel and the whole thing if you're going to believe any of it at all.  And when you do, it can be nothing less than transforming.