Christmas Spirit

A few days ago Jose and I were at the mall and took a taxi home. The mall was insane with shoppers and getting a taxi felt like an impossible task because so many people were trying to get one. We were on a date and hadn't been shopping so we were pretty relaxed about the whole thing, and finally found one. Jose was making conversation with the driver and mentioned how crazy the mall was. The  driver told us he actually hadn't planned to work that night but a friend needed his help to buy something and he saw the opportunity to make a little extra cash. Then he started complaining about the commercialism of all the people shopping for Christmas and explaining to us how Jesus wasn't born on Christmas anyway. In the end we found out he was a Jehovas witness and doesn't celebrate Christmas or any holiday or birthday (ok, honestly we already knew they don't celebrate anything) I left the cab feeling kind of sad. I mean, he chose that religion and he has chosen not to celebrate any of those things. But the thing that made me sad was how...angry he was about Christmas. I told Jose "I can't imagine a life without celebration" I love celebrating birthdays and holidays. Gifts are my favorite both to give and receive. And even non gifting holidays are so much fun! Holidays mean time with family and friends, yummy food (which is my second love language) and generally a time to relax and enjoy life. I love holidays!

I've had that taxista on my mind a lot though. What he said and how I felt afterwards. I've been thinking about it and I realized that while he was saying what he said because of his religion. I've heard a lot of people say similar things. They celebrate Christmas but they can be rather "bah, humbug" about the whole thing. We get all up in arms and angry at stores for not saying the word "Christmas" I understand the sentiment behind the anger but what if we came at it a different way? What if instead of getting mad and complaining about stores not using the term Christmas, we made a point of showing the employees (who really have no control over company policy) of those stores the meaning of Christmas. Not passive aggressively or pointedly saying "Merry Christmas" but warmly wishing them a Merry Christmas. Being kind and patient with them. Not losing our tempers because whatever we need is out of stock, or not enough registers open, or they let the person with 11 items go through the "10 items or less" register. Even if they don't seem to know what customer service is. Lets not let that be the thing that ruins our days.

 The same thing goes for other shoppers. I joked the other day that there are some fates worse than death and one of them is shopping on the weekends in December. I stood in line for an hour on Saturday because I hadn't planned ahead and I ran out of diapers. I am a person who needs personal space. I don't prefer to have people closer than about a foot  from my body at any given time. It just feels very awkward for me. But God in his infinite wisdom and with his sense of humor. Decided I should live in a place where personal space isn't important to the average person. Especially at grocery stores. If the person behind you has a grocery cart they will make sure it touches your back. If they don't have a cart they will just stand that close to you. I've never been the person standing that close in the behind position so I'm still not sure how they feel comfortable that way but apparently it's just normal. I've found coping mechanisms that help me, like standing in front of my cart in the line so that I can control the distance between me and the people around me. But sometimes I can't do that and if I spend a lot of time crowded like that I get very tense. I have to actively not get upset with the person who keeps accidentally grazing my behind with their hand or ramming my ankles with their cart.

The other area is with family. I have plenty of holiday memories where I felt like X family member "totally ruined Christmas." And I have a tendency to feel a little sad on the holidays that we are over here and so many of the people we love are over there. But that is not what I want my Holiday memories to be like and I don't want my kids to remember me being sad, annoyed or angry on the holidays. So instead of letting other people ruin things. I'm going to modify the adage that "nobody can make you feel bad about yourself without your permission" and say that "nobody can ruin the holidays for you without your permission" I want love and magic and joy on the holidays. I want my kids to grow up thinking that nothing bad can happen on the holidays and even if it does it doesn't have to ruin our fun. I want them to look forward to Christmas music and decorations that make it look like winter even though it's summer here. I want to make up new traditions every year so that you almost can't go a day in December without a tradition for that day. So instead of new years resolutions I have holiday resolutions.
I resolve to not complain about Christmas or any "problems" I encounter related to the holidays. But instead to look for the bright side of things
I resolve to find opportunities to enjoy my family every single day
I resolve to instill in my kids a love for the holidays
I resolve to make up new traditions every year and never let them be stressful but fun.
I resolve not to lose sight of the reason for the holidays. To celebrate the ultimate gift that God gave us. His son Jesus. Without whom we would have no hope.

I know that celebrating Christmas will not make me a "better" Christian. I probably won't change the world by enjoying this time of year. But I can be much more effective at sharing my hope to those around me with a smile on my face than with a frown.    

A day I thought would never come

The average christian parent has certain expectations or at least assumptions that they live with. One of them being that their children will be christians and get baptized or follow whatever example they set. Even so those parents are thrilled and excited when the expectations are met. A child coming to christ is a huge celebration and the same can be said of baptism. However sometimes there is a kink. Some reason why you might set your expectations aside. For example you might have a child who has sensory issues and can't stand the idea of water on his head because it might get into his eyes. For a child like that the idea of putting your head under water for any reason sounds like a really horrible idea. (and that's putting it mildly.)

I just described Timothy. Logan is the one who led Timothy to the Lord and ever since then has been trying to talk him into getting baptized (Did I ever mention that 3 different people who don't know each other or me prophesied that Logan was going to be like John the baptist while I was pregnant with him?) Sometime last week while Jose was talking about this baptism service Timothy volunteered to be baptized. I wasn't there so when Jose mentioned it I looked something like this

I should mention that Jose and I have different kinds of faith. When we have no money or are getting close. I have gotten to a place where I just expect God to take care of it. While Jose does a lot of math. I know he's worried about money when I find sheets of paper with numbers scribbled all over them. I on the other hand really struggle to have faith that everything will work out with Timothy. In my heart I know that God is taking care of it (just like Jose knows that God will take care of our finances) But when I'm looking at it day in and out it gets easy to think that he will always be set in whatever particular way he's currently set in and will never change. But Jose doesn't have that problem. He pushes him and believes he can and will get and be better than what he settles for currently. So, I admit, I got annoyed with Logan for continuing to ask. I even told him that Timothy would do it when he was ready (which was true) but I realize now that he needed that peer pressure from his brother to recognize the importance of making that decision. 

We asked him several times if he was sure he wanted to do it. Jose mentioned it every day this week and every day Timothy affirmed that yes, he wanted to be baptized. I let him wear his swim trunks to church and he was dressed before we woke up actually. He wanted to do it first thing when we got there but alas, he had to wait. 

He literally buzzed with excitement all through church. He sat with me and kept humming and clapping and asking me when he would get to be baptized. Then the moment came. He was by the pool the second they announced it. 

I love the progression of these photos. You can see how happy and excited he is and when he comes out of the water you can see how much he hates the water in his eyes.

I have been a mess all day. A happy mess. Every time I think about it I start to tear up and think about how good God is and how proud I am of Timothy. He may not act or think like most kids his age. But he has a very real relationship with God that he is working out in his own way. 

Today my son inspired me and showed me that he (and everybody really) has the ability to push through his discomfort and obey what God is telling him to do.  

And he did it with a joyful attitude.  

He was excited about being uncomfortable.

I wonder, when was the last time you got excited about being uncomfortable?  

When daddy is gone

Jose has been out of town for a thousand years... or since Monday if you want to get all literal about it.  Every time Jose goes out of town I think "this time I'm going to make it fun! We are going to do crafts and have slumber parties and do all kinds of amazing, fun, memory making things. Then about 2 days in I lose steam and we all miss daddy and our routine and I start to lose my mind without any other adults around. The progression is kind of like this (as told in song titles)

"Party Time"

"Love is all around"

"If it makes you happy" 

"Fun, Fun, Fun"

"Welcome to the Jungle"

"Go to Sleep"

"Everybody was KungFu Fighting"

"I can't fight this feeling"

"shh...Listen" 

"Another Sleepless Night"

"Baby hold on"

"Gimme' a Break"

"I'm Holding out for a Hero"

"S.O.S."

"Livin' on a Prayer"

"I surrender all"

Then when daddy returns it's pretty much 

 

My best friend

Yesterday Jose officiated the wedding of a couple from our church.

with the bride and groom

Jose officiating <3 br="">

We wanted to look nice so he got a haircut and I got a manicure. While I was getting my nails done he took the kids and got them a snack and they brought something back for me. Logan brought it up to me because Jose was downstairs with the other kids. The manicurist started asking me questions about my family. She was shocked that my husband was taking care of my 3 kids while I was busy. I didn't really understand why that was surprising and I said "of course, he's a great father. He even changes diapers" "No puede ser" (I can't believe it) she replied. Then she asked if he gives them baths, cooks, helps put them to bed. It was probably one of the funniest conversations I've ever had about my husband. "Yes, he does all those things. He makes some of the best eggs I've ever tasted. My children prefer he put them to bed over me. He's a really great dad." "That's amazing" she said "Peruvian men aren't like that at all."   "Oh, but he is Peruvian" I replied "many american men aren't like that either." I told her that my husband was taught that manhood isn't machismo but servant leadership. I told her that our ministry here is focused on helping men learn to lead their families with love. I told her my husband is teaching men to be like he is. She asked me what our church is called and where it is. :) (and if you were wondering. No, she did not speak a single word of english. I had the whole conversation in Spanish and managed to get my point across...GO ME! lol)

after the wedding enjoying the reception 

I'm really proud of Jose for so many reasons. He has taught me a lot even in the last few months about serving, humility and love. He sacrifices more than anyone could ever understand because of his desire to really truly serve God.

Jose helping a family move into the place he found them to stay 2 hours after they called to tell him they needed a place

He rarely gets a break and never complains when people (myself included) ask him to do "just one more thing." He does things that are outside of his comfort zone just to make me happy. He has one of the funniest senses of humor ever. I mean he can make me laugh like nobody else.

But most importantly to me he loves God more than anything else.

Preaching at the university to psychology students the kids with raised hands got saved that night

No matter what else is going on in our lives I'm confident that he will seek God and listen. He loves me and our kids second only to God. He is always seeking to be a better husband and father. I love him so much and am so grateful to God for giving him to me. I recently heard this song and it made me think of Jose.

Close your eyes
Let me tell you all the reasons why
Think you're one of a kind.
Here's to you
The one that always pulls us through
Always do what you gotta do
You're one of a kind
Thank God you're mine.

You're an angel dressed in armor
You're the fair in every fight
You're my life and my safe harbor
Where the sun sets every night
And if my love is blind
I don't want to see the light.

I love you Jose. 

Thank you for always being there, always showing up and always loving me.

~Kat

Share some love

I've been thinking a lot about friends lately. When you aren't in a position to just call a girlfriend up and grab a coffee (or whatever it is you normally do) it makes you realize how much you miss those people. 

I have some friends I grew up with. Some I met as an adult. Some I've never met in person but feel like I have because we've known each other so long and talked almost every day online. Some friends I've spent a lot of time with and other friends I haven't spent much time with them at all. But I know that most of the people I call friends would be there for me the moment I need them. For that I am grateful and blessed. 

I know this is a random blog and it's uncharacteristically short for me. But as I was thinking of my friends I thought. I need to share some love. So I'm putting it out there as a challenge to all of you. I think everyone has at least one person they know who deserves a shout out, a hug, a text saying "you are the best!" or some other show of love and affirmation. So do it! Tell someone you love them. We all need a little love every once in awhile. :)