First Colorado Christmas

We wanted to share some of the sights and shenanigans of our Christmas season.  We have many traditions that we look forward to each year - some passed down from our childhoods and some newly minted.  This was our first Christmas without the blessing of extended family visiting or us traveling to them.  I thought the house was a little too quiet!  But the calm and staying local allowed us to more easily focus in on the truly important this holiday season - Christ's wondrous gift to all, the blessing of family, and peaceful rest.  Hubby was VERY ill the week before Christmas, so that put a bit of a damper on our plans for holiday outings.  But Colorado did not disappoint and there was a chill in the air and snow on the ground for the week leading up to Christmas and even beyond.  We enjoyed the warmth and glow of our family room fireplace and made and ate FAR too many sweets.  We are looking forward to our flight to see some of our beloved family for a belated Christmas in January!

We have a tall and stocky fir tree in our backyard.  And with its branches glowing from snow lit by lights, it was the perfect Christmas sight!

Caught this beautiful sight just after sunset.

One of our beloved traditions - working together to build a gingerbread house.  This one was top notch!

Christmas makes us crazy!

This year's ornaments - a mini beanie boo and a Steve from Minecraft

Hard to see, but this is one of the many gifts they were blessed to receive.  Legos!

A gift from brother :-)

His favorite gift - a de-cellularized phone.  A glorified iTouch, as hubby calls it.

It was a Shopkin Christmas!

Another favorite - Calico Critters ballet theater

A gift from sister (he was doing an air fist-pump!)

Merry Christmas to me!  Get in shape, girl!

Captain America for our Chaplain America

Colorado winter preparedness

Look who preached Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas, from our clan to you! (Photo by R. Ball)

Homeschool life

Our kids are enjoying the blessing of being a part of a homeschool enrichment program here in Colorado.  It is funded and run through one of the local public school systems. (= FREE!) They go to "school" one day a week and get a bunch of fun and amazing stuff that we couldn't (wouldn't?) do at home.  They also get skilled instruction from very credible and capable teachers - my favorite part!  (Did I ever mention that I'm a nurse by trade - not an educator?!)  In early December the school hosted a winter showcase and parents were encouraged to attend.  Below are some sweet pictures of the great projects they created over the fall semester.

D and his buddy at winter band concert

Art class creations

Cafeteria buddies

Technology class

Social studies project

Art class...

...and more art.

Art is her favorite!

And, of course, a cat.

Technology class - movie making

Learning to log in

THANKS-giving!

This year we stayed home for thanksgiving and Chaplain's parents came to our place!  We fixed a traditional turkey dinner and on Black Friday we went up on a mountain top instead of into a store.  A much better way to spend the day!  Below are pictures from our food feast and Pike's Peak.

Mom's famous cornbread dressing recipe

Nanny's sweet potato casserole recipe

My man, the meat carver

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving walk near our home

Tree full of turkeys (not partridges in a pear tree)

Picturesque Pumpkins

Chaplain would never label himself as the artsy-fartsy type. Ever.  But he does have mad skills when it comes to pumpkin carving.  His artistic designs and his passion for the perfect picturesque pumpkin have resulted in a family tradition that each of us enjoys.  Here are 2016's models.

J's kitten pumpkin

D's Nightwings emblem

Jen-uine??

Several times over the years - in the arenas of personal friendships and various religious ministries -  I have spoken with other Christian women about the very charismatic Jen Hatmaker, and in those conversations my lack of agreement with her has surfaced.  I wanted to take this time and use this space {my blog} to further explain.

Jen Hatmaker is a very popular Christian author, blogger, and speaker.  Her family has even hosted a reality TV show that was featured on HGTV.  She is beloved by many Christian women.  Her books, with their visually appealing covers, always seem to strike a deep chord with spiritually minded women and are often the desired choice for women's Bible studies around the globe.  Her husband Brandon is a church planter/pastor in Texas and her family has adopted children from Ethiopia.  She speaks what she believes loudly and doesn't hold back.  Her public audience is enormous and her voice and influence reach millions. 

Over the years I have read, stalked, perused, and listened to her comments, thoughts, theology, and teachings.  But something has never set well with me about her teachings as a whole.  At times I have seen language in her writings that, out of conviction, I would never use within the company of people I love - much less on a platform to millions of people.  I have also found her stance on the sin of homosexuality to be weak and unbiblical, at best.  

Recent comments by Jen have compelled me to speak out once more against her stance and views.  In an interview last week (read her interview here), she spoke out on many topics considered controversial to our country and our culture.  In a segment of the interview which covered politics and the election, she went on record to say that she would be open to voting for Hillary and she vehemently opposes Trump.  Certainly in this country she has the freedom to vote how she chooses and the freedom of speech to voice her views on such matters.  Interestingly, further in the interview, Jen states "I've always had a pro-life ethic and still do," and that her ethics definitely include anti-abortion.  

This is where Jen loses me.  She is open to voting for Hillary but believes she can still maintain her pro-life ethic.  Mrs. Hatmaker, you cannot.  Hillary Clinton is an avid supporter of the pro-choice movement - as evidenced by her past political policies and her current declarations during this election.  She has backed and funded Planned Parenthood at every turn, one of the nation's largest providers of abortions.  Mrs. Hatmaker, you cannot serve two masters.  You cannot call yourself pro-life and support Hillary.  That vantage point is inconsistent, double-minded, and unbiblical.

At another point in the interview, she says, unequivocally, that she supports gay marriage and its legal protection, that she would attend and support the gay marriage of any of her friends, and that an LGBT relationship can actually be "holy."  Holy, meaning dedicated or consecrated to God; sacred.  This is where Jen slays me.  And not just me, but a holy and righteous God, who not only created the male and female forms, but gave them their intended purposes and meanings - which are clearly laid out in the first book of Scripture.  Jen uses her platform of speaking into the lives of millions of women (and probably thousands of men) to give her blessing to that which the Bible clearly labels as sin.  She goes on record in black and white print to directly oppose the inerrant, truth-filled, word of God, to speak in favor of that which God opposes.  Mrs. Hatmaker, you cannot serve two masters.  You cannot teach the Bible and speak against its Author. To me, this is double-speak and you have rendered your teachings/books useless.  

Sin is sin.  There are no greater sins, no lesser sins.  All have sinned and that sin separates us from God. My intention here is not to show hate for or incite fear amongst the LGBT community.  Instead, I long to bring peace and love to them.  True, biblical peace and love.  Imagine a friend of mine being trapped in a burning building.  It would not be unloving of me to inform my friend that harm is befalling her and death is imminent if she does not escape her current circumstances.  It WOULD be unloving for me to NOT tell her that and allow her to perish unwarned.  Sin is the burning building we are all trapped in when we don't know Jesus Christ, God's Son, as our Lord and Savior. And being rescued means being told we are trapped by our sins and need a Savior who will deliver us from the wages of sin {=death}.  What is unloving about that?  What about that doesn't bring peace?  Surely Mrs. Hatmaker can see the Biblical wisdom behind this analogy.

English professor Rosaria Butterfield is a former lesbian who, in 1999, converted to Christianity and walked away from the LGBT community.  She has written a couple of books about her life-changing experience.  And who better and more qualified to speak out on such a topic?  In response to Hatmaker's recent interview, Rosaria had this to say:

If this were 1999...Jen Hatmaker’s words about the holiness of LGBT relationships would have flooded into my world like a balm of Gilead. How amazing it would have been to have someone as radiant, knowledgeable, humble, kind, and funny as Jen saying out loud what my heart was shouting: Yes, I can have Jesus and my girlfriend... {but}  If I were still in the thick of the battle over the indwelling sin of lesbian desire, Jen’s words would have put a millstone around my neck...Conversion to Christ made me face the question squarely: did my lesbianism reflect who I am (which is what I believed in 1999), or did my lesbianism distort who I am through the fall of Adam? I learned through conversion that when something feels right and good and real and necessary—but stands against God’s Word—this reveals the particular way Adam’s sin marks my life. Our sin natures deceive us. Sin’s deception isn’t just “out there”; it’s also deep in the caverns of our hearts. How I feel does not tell me who I am. Only God can tell me who I am, because he made me and takes care of me. He tells me that we are all born as male and female image bearers with souls that will last forever...{S}in and Christ cannot abide together, for the cross never makes itself an ally with the sin it must crush, because Christ took our sin upon himself and paid the ransom for its dreadful cost...{W}hen we advocate for laws and policies that bless the relationships that God calls sin, we are acting as though we think ourselves more merciful than God is.

My point in speaking out about Jen and this topic is this: to uphold the infallible, absolute truth of God's word.  The Bible is and always should be our cornerstone as Christians.  And as you build your life upon this cornerstone, if a piece comes along that doesn't fit atop it - throw it out.  No matter how outspoken, well-known, or charismatic the piece is.  And Mrs. Hatmaker, from one Jenn to another Jen - please stop leading my fellow sisters - princesses of the One True King - blood-bought women, holy and dearly loved - astray from the sacred, inspired, and perfect Word of God.