News Brief - December 2012

Eleven days before Christmas

a 20-year old shoots his mother four times in the face

then storms an elementary school and guns down dozens more.

A reporter remarks on the darkness behind him –

no one in Newtown feels like celebrating Christmas

so they’ve turned off the lights.

There’s to be a royal baby,

and a nurse who leaks news about the mother,

humiliated, hangs herself.

Darkness covers the earth,

and gross darkness the people.

The Light shines in the darkness.

But there is no room

for the royal Babe

Whose hanging

brings hope for a New Town.

the christmas letter

December 2012

Loved ones,

B.J. signed a contract to teach at the new Protestant Reformed Christian High School in Loveland, Colorado, last January.  The months immediately following our decision blur.  In late spring Leah came home with a worksheet.  She and Mrs. Van Den Top had read Jan’s New Home at school.  Jan doesn’t want to move: her house, her school, her friends will change.  The final question on the worksheet reads, “What did Jan learn about her new home?”  Leah’s answer?  The important things stayed the same.

We left our little white schoolhouse the day after Memorial Day.  Three generous men and two of their sons drove from Loveland to transport our belongings.  After walking through our empty home one final time, B.J. and I held each other in the doorway and cried.

We now own a comfortable red brick ranch.  Leah is no longer the only student in her class.  Instead of fields and gravel roads, neighbors surround us.  We don’t have chickens, goats, or a dog anymore.  I used to be able to see Mom and Dad’s place out the kitchen window; now there are mountains.  Many things have changed.  But the important things?  They’re still the same.

Leah is a social bug at school.  At home she usually has her nose in a book or is busy coordinating play with her younger siblings.  Of all the kids, she most misses Iowa and is looking forward to visiting there over New Year’s. 

Willem began riding his bicycle without training wheels this summer.  When he rides, he sits rigid on the seat, every muscle taut, and pedalspedalspedals.  The only brakes he applies are his shoes on the cement.  He approaches life the same way: at a furious pace and often without knowing when or how to apply the brakes.  He’s three months into kindergarten and I can no longer S-P-E-L-L some things to B.J. in his presence and get away with it.

Hardly a day goes by without 4-year-old Marie donning something sparkly and pretending she’s a princess.  Conveniently, Prince Charming also resides here.  Never mind the fact that he’s a towheaded 2-year-old who wears Thomas the Tank Engine undies.  Cinderelly has learned that if she hollers hard enough he just might leave his LEGOS long enough to retrieve the dress-up shoe she deposited on the living room floor before making a hasty exit.  Truth be told, Nathan charms everyone from Daddy’s students to the thrift store clerk with his big blue eyes and beautiful smile.

Dark-haired Eli Caleb arrived two days into the school year.  At 3 ½ months old, he sports chubby thighs, a darling grin, and – if you can catch him when he’s in the mood to be tickled or play peek-a-boo – a delightful giggle. 

B.J. enjoyed working with the Walrite concrete crew this summer.  Now he’s busy teaching 6th-11th graders science, algebra, drafting, and PE.  We are always happy to see him walk in the door at the end of the day, and Leah and Willem look forward to hearing him read from the Tolkien books at bedtime.

I am honored and humbled to be wife and mom to this bunch.   I’m thankful for prayer on the days when I feel homesick or inadequate and on the days when I’m overwhelmed by the Lord’s goodness to us.  I’m thankful for our church family and for the preaching that motivates us each week.  I’m thankful to know that our Father does all things with purpose.  Whether we move many miles or weep when family members forsake the faith, He is the Important One, and He stays the same.

­We pray that the Lord will bless you as you remember His advent and stand at the beginning of a new year.  May we be among the wise men who still seek Him, His Word the star that guides us until the day we see our Savior face to face.

B.J. & Sarah Mowery

Leah, Willem, Marie, Nathan & Eli

a mother ponders the manger

Quiet here.  "My" computer is down, Christmas program tonight, and in the meantime we're busy baking and crafting Christmas.  For this week's Enterprise...

At 3 ½ months old our little Eli smiles and sees well enough to track me while I work.  He’s almost doubled his weight, and when I sit him on my lap he holds his head upright and looks from side to side.  But in many ways he is still like the newborn he was: helpless, able only to cry when he’s hungry or needs his diaper changed.  After man’s fall, we were worse off than a newborn is – we were like dead men, who couldn’t even cry to God to save us.  “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ…”  Ephesians 2:4-5.

And so our Savior was conceived and born.  The omnipresent Son of God, the Word who made and upholds the galaxies, allowed Himself to be confined by a body, to be wrapped a woman’s womb.  Mary experienced the sorrows of motherhood that every mother has known.  For it was the woman who being deceived was in transgression, and so the woman received this chastisement, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow you will bring forth children” (I Timothy 2:14; Genesis 3:16).  Mary endured the arduous final stages of pregnancy as she and Joseph made the 100-mile trek to Bethlehem.  She experienced the raw pain of contractions and giving birth on the floor of a cold, smelly stable. 

But there’s more to motherhood than sorrow, isn’t there?  Praise God, the way of our chastisement is also the way in which we experience our salvation (I Timothy 2:15).  It’s there, in the throes of noses that need wiping, bellies that need filling, diapers that need changing, and hearts that need reaching that we’re brought face-to-face with our helplessness, our sin, and the helplessness and the sins of our children.  With our shortcomings, and theirs.  With our joint need for the Savior.

No doubt Mary was a woman who, by God’s grace, met the difficulties of child-bearing and child-rearing with the faith, love, holiness, and sobriety that the Word of God demands (I Timothy2:16). Yet even though she received the epiphany regarding the child that she would bear in faith, she must have wondered how God’s people would be saved by the helpless infant she so carefully swaddled.  In His mercy the Lord sent others to confirm her faith.  The visit of the shepherds, the pilgrimage of the wise men, and the testimonies of Simeon and Anna served this purpose.  Mary’s life was not an easy one.  Those who denied her miraculous conception labeled her a fornicator.  No doubt she was humbled countless times as she witnessed her sinless son.  She watched Him enter public ministry only to endure the ridicule of the leaders of the church.  And she experienced the anguish of witnessing the death of her child, compounded by the knowledge that her sin accounted for His suffering.  Simeon had foretold her grief when Jesus was only eight days old: “Yea,” he said, “a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also.” 

But through her Son’s death, we were born.  Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12 -13).  Our Lord labored on the cross, and we were delivered from sin and made the spiritual sons and daughters of God.  The adoption papers were signed; the high price paid.  And now we’re waiting.  Longing for the day when we’ll be taken Home to Father’s house.  And so the contractions continue.  All of creation, Paul wrote in Romans 8, works to bring forth His second coming.  The little one who was laid in a manger will soon appear as the mighty Lord of heaven and earth.

Do you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ?  Though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, that through His poverty you might become rich and inherit all the glories of Father’s heavenly kingdom (2 Corinthians 8:9). 

twelve days of Christmas

Note:  HUZ, this is the post I said you must NOT read!  :-)

December is upon us.

Last year around this time I first heard about using the twelve days of Christmas to grow your marriage.   If I remember right, it was a post by The Generous Wife.  Anyway, I promptly decided I was going to do it, and I got so excited about the idea that I sent out an e-mail to my dear sisters and sisters-in-law encouraging them to do the same.

For many of us, December can be very busy.  Christmas concerts, gift exchanges, and multiple get-togethers leave us strapped for time, money, and sanity.  Many of us might spend a lot of time baking just the right dish for the party at Mom’s or choosing, crafting, and wrapping just the right gift for our children.  Meanwhile, the time we spend on or with our spouse often amounts to very little.  That’s where this idea comes in!

Here’s the basic premise: starting December 14, you give your spouse a gift that corresponds with the number of that day.  (Traditionally the “Twelve Days of Christmas” refers to December 25-January 5 -  not here.  Not married?  You can use the twelve days of Christmas to treat your significant other, best friend, or a child or the children in your life.)  I started last year with December 14 as the first day, December 15 was day two, etc.  It was my sister Erin who came up with the brilliant idea to count down instead of up – since the gifts you give on days 10, 11, and 12 tend to be smaller, counting up can be somewhat anti-climatic. 

Let me give you a few examples to make it clearer:

Day 1: something big, a coat, an electronic gadget

Day 2:  things that come in pairs, like shoes, gloves, tickets to an event for both of you, dinner for two…

Day 5: pack of 5 razor blades

Day 6: six-pack of his favorite soda or brew

Day 10: ten of his favorite candies or fishing lures

Day 12: a 12-month planner for 2013 or a dozen cinnamon rolls to share at work

Other ideas include books with a number in the title (Last year I bought John Gottman’s Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work so that we could read it together), things for his vehicle, hunting stuff, new undies, socks, t-shirts, or his favorite treats – monkey bread, Schwans’ orange push-ups, and beef jerky are three of B.J.’s favorites.

What if the budget is kind of tight?  Where one opportunity disappears, another presents itself.  What about ideas that are service or time-spent-together oriented?  A 10-minute massage (or coupons for 10 – 10-minute massages), seven minutes of smooching, a five-course meal, two tickets to hot chocolate and a dvd from the library in front of the Christmas tree (after the kiddos are tucked in, of course), one poem or love letter.  You get the idea.

One of the days I think I’m going to do an acrostic.  Day eleven, which is December 15 if you’re counting down, happens to be a Saturday and my birthday.  And we’ve got a few free babysitting coupons from B.J.’s 8^th grade students to use up.  So we could do:

Eggs for breakfast,

Loveland’s downtown (I’m thinking browse the shops for a bit),

Eat at _______ or eat _______ for lunch,

View from the Devil’s Backbone (I’ve been wanting to hike up there for a while),

Eat _______ for supper or End the hike/day with _______, and maybe a 

Night playing board games (If your hubby prefers video games or you own a Wii, let him pick.).

Day nine, a Monday, happens to be B.J.'s birthday...hmmm, I've got some more thinking to do on that one.

Think your hubby won't enjoy this?  I didn't know if mine would, either.  But I still remember Day 3 last year.  I had a package of three air fresheners for B.J.'s truck tucked in with his tea and his lunch, tied with a tag:  "On the 3rd day of Christmas..."  As he grabbed them on his way out the door, he turned around and gave me the biggest ol' grin.  "Is this going to continue?" he asked.  And the other day when we were talking budget and I got pouty and said, "Now I can't treat you to twelve days of Christmas!," he said, "Can't you just figure out a way to do it without spending much?"  So he did enjoy it...but not as much as I did, I bet!  :-)

So there.  For what it's worth.  A sipmle idea that'll help your marriage sparkle this Christmas season.