My favorite christmas story

Though I have heard this story many times, when our new (yay!! go craig!!!) senior minister told this story on christmas eve, it touched me more than anything. It didn't help that Maddy was sitting in my lap. I almost got all teary eyed (which is amazing for me) and i dont know.. i guess i felt something special about this... so here the story is...

A Russian Christmas Story: "For Always"
by Will Fish



In 1994 two Americans answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics (based on biblical principles) in the public schools. They were invited to teach at prisons, businesses, the fire and police departments and a large orphanage. About 100 boys and girls who had been abandoned, abused, and left in the care of a government-run program were in the orphanage. They relate the following story in their own words:


It was nearing the holiday season, 1994, time for our orphans to hear for the first time the traditional story of Christmas. We told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger. Throughout the story, the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word.

Completing the story, we gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each child was given a small paper square cut from yellow napkins I had brought with me. No colored paper was available in the city.

Following instructions, the children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown an American lady was throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the baby's blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt we had brought from the United States.

The orphans were busy assembling their manger as I walked among them to see if they needed any help. All went well until I got to one table where little

Misha sat—he looked to be about six years old and had finished his project. As I looked at the little boy's manger, I was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger.

Quickly I called for the translator to ask the lad why there were two babies in the manger. Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at his completed manger scene, the child began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy who had only heard the Christmas story once, he related the happenings accurately—until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger.

Then Misha started to ad lib. He made up his own ending to the story as he said, "And when Mary laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don't have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn't, because I didn't have a gift to give him like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much so I thought maybe if I kept him warm that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, "If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?" And Jesus told me, "If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me." So I got into the manger and then Jesus looked at me and told me I could stay with him—for always."

As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone who would stay with him—for always.


XOXO
Sarah

Berkley, Maddy, and Christian's First Christmas.... yeah

Lets just say i think i went a little overboard on miss priss. She got Pink cowgirl boots, disney princess light up shoes, a high chair for her baby, a skirt and a shirt. Just from me! she also got a stroller, a purse, lip chap, an outfit from bubby and logan, feast from the east, a play dough creativity center, and a whole bunch of other stuff that i can't even remember! LOL. It was so much fun having christmas with two little ones around though because it makes for more of a christmas spirit. I can't wait until they are old enough to be excited about santa and what not and not just getting presents. We went to church services on Christmas Eve and maddy and i sat on the stage and listened to the greatest story ever told. Well maddy actually sat there and crunched on mints. But she sat still and didn't cry. that was amazing in itself.
Now for me... obviously i got a puppy (kids all over the world are jealous i know i know) from mom, marty, dad, and lucy. From dad and lucy i got: a toaster which i actually haven't opened yet, a gps for my car because i get lost so often, a cinderella blanket, and some other random stuff. from mom and marty i got: a greys anatomy calendar,HSM2!!!, a $20 gift card to starbucks (yummmm!), lip gloss, candy, and some other small things.
From myself: A new camera :-), berkley, and a new hair straightner
from brooke: cinderella snow globe, automatic wine bottle opener, ssu t-shirt, placemat purse
Berkley got: a milkbone play kit from adam, toys and a sweater from aunt brooke, pupcorn from ikie boy, treats, a toy rope, and another toy from grandma and pop pop, a chew man, 1 1/2 lbs of treats, chucker, fetch me ball, bill jack treats, t-shirt, caraboo costume, scarf, vera bradley winsdor navy leash, and other small random items from mommy.

So all in all, i think we did pretty well :-)

XOXO
Sarah

Another future dentist in the family

Merry Christmas! So it's 8:45 and since maddy doesn't understand Santa yet, shes still sleeping. As mom and marty say shes a teenager in training :-). I must have taught her well. Yesterday Maddy had her first taste of Mexican food at Mi Jalepeno's and she LOVED it. She seems to like all the same foods I do, except she is more into sweets than I am. You should see that girl and anything that has peanut butter. When mom gets out the peanut butter jar she just starts screaming and is so excited. Haha. I think its so funny. So i'm going to include a few pictures of miss maddy brushing her teeth, training to be a dentist, and eating her mexican food!!!

XOXO
Sarah



Brushing my teeth.


I think Sissy's teeth need cleaned too!



Two future dentists!


Eating my first taco


Yummmmmm! I love tacos!

ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING... WAIT its raining?

Haha so instead of this ice storm, us here in ohio end up with some snow and then it warms up enough to make it melt and we start getting rain.. what can i say? i love global warming :-) I know its bad and all but it does have its perks.

So today was christmas with Krystie, Andy, Tessa, and Laila. Our family has about twenty christmases just to let you know. I'm going to include some picture of that so you can see miss priss in action. oh yeah... I also have pictures from shopping the other day. Maddy is quiet the diva i'll tell you. Over all though, she is really well behaved compared to some other children ;-).

Berkley does not enjoy snow when he has to go potty, but LOVES to play in it. But when he's done, he wants in now and then all the poor thing does is shiver!!!

The best part about berkley right now is that he has like 4 bald spots where we were trying out my new clippers on him. The ones cut him a little too short. and thats where the bald spots came from. Thanks grandma robin. Berkley has also decided that he does not like his reindeer outfit that is WAY too big on him, but is an elf instead. And by elf i mean that he "helps" wrap christmas gifts by stealing the tape, scissors, and tearing the paper so that it is unusable. Just like a little kid. Well, I'm going to leave you with some pictures so that i can go do my own blogger stalking :-)

XOXO

Sarah

Maddy and I opening my crock pot

i DO NOT do boas

however, i am a princess

we look awesome in our footie pjs

berkley and maddy taking a bath

yeah i was in the snow... what of it?

getting all snowy so i can get mommy's floor wet

my outfit is too big :-( and i dont like being a caraboo

a little less snowy but snowy all the same, hey i can't be perfect all the time

UGH I HATE OLD PEOPLE!!

Okay, I dont really hate them, but they are horrible to talk to on the phone! They don't understand anything about technology and it drives me boinkers! I mean come on, if youre going to live in this age, figure it out already! A credit card isn't that hard to understand! UGGGH and just because you cant hear me doesn't mean i can't hear you and that you need to yell my ear off! LOL. And for any of you that think ordering from a call center two weeks before christmas is a good idea... well its not. We don't have anything that you want/"need" for christmas.

Haha.. So basically that has been my life all week. Well except that i went to the zoo last night for wild lights and then we went out to eat at a scottish pub or whatever. My chicken ceasar salad was very yummy besides the whole allergic reaction to the garlic part :-)...

On a happy note, I finally picked a christmas card picture of my little man and I. I'll post it for you guys so that you can see all the fun that we had. On my last post, I was trying to upload videos but i couldnt figure it out... I have some pretty funny stuff of miss maddy. Ill try to upload those this weekend though so you guys can take a peek.
So i have decided that i am more tired being out of school than when i am in school!!!! I stay up until about the same time, but im at work all day or constantly doing something that makes it imposible for me to take a nap. And i need a nap more than my two year old sister. Haha speaking of that, mom said that she was so tired yesterday that she fell asleep mid "chippie" aka mid eating of a chip, her most favorite food! I never thought i would live to hear of that day :-). Shes too funny. I guess she was tired??? I get that way sometimes too, but i like my food too much so i wait till im done eating. And i am in the process of teaching maddy how to swipe a credit card. She isn't too bad at it. I help her do it every time she and i go shopping and im buying something where i have to swipe my card. I thought i would start her early. i bet mom is going to love that trait. A girls best friend is her daddy's credit card after all ;-) Well i'm tired and have to run errands in the morning so i will leave you with some pics!

XOXO

Sarah

mr berkley with pink lips after giving mommy a kiss with her lipstick on

the final picture, un cropped

this would have been the best had it not been so bright and if i would have had my lipstick on :-)

Two year olds are exhausting!!!

Lol. Like you guys didn't know this. You are all crazy!!!! Between Miss Maddy and Berkley Boy, I am about to fall over asleep! Maddy was pretty good today, she didn't get up till 9:00 am and then mom was home about fifteen minutes after that so we were still eating our peanut butter toast at that time. But now, shes so tired that she wont fall asleep. And mom and marty keep blaming it on my fur baby and his barking...Okay well maybe he is to blame but he's just a puppy!! Lol.

I am so glad that i dont have classes right now. I have been more exhausted lately than i am when I am in classes. Doesn't it always work like that? you try to fit too much into the day and then you're more exhausted than if you have a schedule?

On the exciting/fun side, mom and i painted christmas ornaments today. They turned out pretty cute. Mine were a bit sloppy, but then again, I'm not as good of a painter as mom is. We're going to make cookies with Ms. Maddy tomorrow and I'm going to make a lemon cake with lemon icing. I'm hoping it will taste like the girl scout cookies before they changed them. You know, the reduced fat ones that were lemon with a tart white powder on the outside? MMMMM sooo yummy. Well here are some pictures for you all to enjoy since thats why you really stop by :-)

XOXO

Sarah

Finally over!!!

PTL! I made it through finals week. Lol. Ugh it was not fun. Not to mention the fact that i have been working everyday. So far I have two B's and a C+... go figure. Always have to have one to screw up my GPA. I get so frustrated though because its always a percentage point below a B. GRRRR!!!! i will just have to work even harder next quarter i guess. Not that school isn't already my life. Its been fun to be out of school, even if it has only been for two days. We had some friends over last night and we all just hung out and talked for a bit, which was nice because no one was stressed about finals.... well except for the few unfortunate people finishing up this morning.
Other than that, Berkley and I have been doing well. He is getting just a tad bigger all the time. One of these days he's going to be full grown!!! We got about 6 inches of snow the night before last and he had a blast playing in it, but he does not like to go potty on it. Lol. He's quiet a bitter though. i'm trying to work with him on it, but he loves to play and he's teething. But I mean ive got scratches on my hands from his teeth! Anyone have any suggestions? I'm very open to any way to get him to not bite all the time.
My christmas tree is up though :-). I'll tell ya, even though it was prelit... that was still an adventure. I've never had to put one together before and trying to decorate it and what not was interesting. Its a corner tree though so it only has branches on one side. it still looks pretty though.. Ill make sure to post pictures later when i get a chance to take some and up load them. Thanks to mom, i have decorations :-).
On the note of Maddy, I'm very excited because she says sissy... well her version of it, and berkley which comes out more like "gerky" which is sooo cute! She just loves little berkley and he loves her too. He lets her pick him up and carry him around, even though i don't. And mom said that if she sees a picture of him she says "gerky!!" I'm happy to know that they like each other.
I've almost got my christmas shopping done. All i have to do now is finish my best friends, get my stepsisters, my roommate magen's, and my dads present. My other roommate is Jewish so she opened her gift last night after lighting the menorah. I got her a Cleveland Brown's jersey so she could be what i call an "official" fan.
Okay well Berkley man and i are tired so we're going to head to bed!

XOXO
Sarah

Final stress

Haha get it? Yeah finals are on monday and tuesday. Well, i have one on monday and two on tuesday. I already had my ochem lab exam and my micro lab final. Blah to both. lol. Now its on to study study study. So berkley went to the doctor today and had a booster shot. He did not like that too much. So he's been a bit sleepy today. He did really well with Dad's dogs and is doing pretty well here at moms house. Okay, well i have to go study.
XOXO
Sarah