She's a preacher's kid alright....

So my little girl amazed me today. We are on our 3rd snow day and have been cooped up in our house since church on Sunday. Overall my kids have been great and I haven't heard "I'm bored" once. So today I gave Eden some old Christmas cards and told her she could write out some cards to her teachers, friends, etc. She decided she would write to her kindergarten teacher first. With no prompting from me, (I wish I could take credit....but the girl just came up with this on her own) she wrote and I quote, " I am loving school. Did you know Jesus is Christ?" She also has been wanting to give a cookie she decorated to our elderly neighbor, so she wrote out his card "We wanted to give you this cookie to remind you about Jesus' love!" (By the way, the cookie was heart shaped). I was pretty amazed at her innocence and her boldness all at the same time. I'm pretty ashamed to say that I do not think I have ever directly asked someone if they knew Jesus is the Christ, besides someone who gave the Great Confession to be baptized, but even then I already knew the answer because they willingly came forward to talk to me. Needless to say I am proud of her and shared that with her; the fact that she is focusing on the real meaning of Christmas and what it is all about at such a young age (Did I mention she was only 5 for those of you who have forgotten?) warms my spirit. It encourages me to think her dad and I are doing something right. I'm sure on Christmas morning, I will have to remind her while she is digging in her stocking and fighting to unwrap gifts first, but until then I will savor the moment of my daughter not being a "preacher's kid" and actually being the preacher!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

So Tuesday evening, we decided to put up our tree. It normally would have been done on Saturday, but traveling and a messy living room made me put it off till Tuesday. However, everyone was looking forward to putting the tree up. I think Chris and I should have planned our "family moment" a little better, because it seemed like the first hour as we assembled the tree, fluffed the tree, lighted the tree, etc. we we continually snapping at Eden and Eli. "Don't touch that!", "Not yet", "Be patient", "We'll get to it!" They were so excited and we kept dampening their excitement. Not to mention we had to take several time outs and keep Tobe out of the way as well. (He army crawls everywhere!). But even with mine and Chris' initial frustrations, the kids LOVED hanging their ornaments. They each have several of their own given to them by loved ones. And they hung them all at their own eye level. I had to save a few back so the tree would not be bare at the top. For the first time, it did not bother me that the tree wasn't pretty or themed. Instead it is eclectic and was put together with eyes of wonder. Eli even said it was "going to be the best Christmas ever!" That is a tribute to his Uncle Brent's optimism at the beginning of each holiday season. My brother would say this each and every holiday and Heather and I would just laugh. But the other day I could not help but smile when Eli said it. I am so glad that my kids are beginning to understand how special the holidays are and are ready to experience happy traditions with our family. Next year Chris and I will simply do the hard stuff while everyone is asleep and leave the decorating to the kiddos.

Strickland Sentiments

So I have putting this off for some time, but my wonderful hubby nudged me a long time ago that I should start my own blog....so I finally have started it. I don't know exactly how much time I will devote yet to this, however, I love to write and I love to talk about my family and how much they mean to me or how funny they are, etc. I plan on writing my feelings and opinions to different topics or daily events that are happening in my life. Hence, the use of the term "sentiments". Even if you don't enjoy (I'm not sure why you wouldn't), I know I will enjoy penning or typing them out to remember.