Life In Abundance

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10

Another Christmas has come and gone. And oh what a memorable Christmas it was. As I mentioned in my last post, the 3 of us got a stomach bug right before we headed to Dallas for the Keiffer Christmas festivities. We were quick to make sure we wouldn't be contagious by the time we left on Friday. As far as we know, we weren't. However, there must be some nastiness going around because Mark, Tammy, Josh, & Jared all got the stomach flu. In that order. Nevertheless, we were able to enjoy some fun family time despite the viruses and a teething Austin. On Christmas Day, we headed back down to San Antonio after lunch to spend the evening with my family. It was another special time and many memories were made. Here's a quick look at our celebrations. (The first few are a little small since they were emailed :) )

Luke and little A: quite possibly my favorite pic of them so far!

New bike! Thanks, Grammy & Pops.

Playin' with Aunt Lindsay :)

A big thanks to Aunt Lindsay & Uncle Jared for the new toolbench!

Cute couple :)

Me & my sweetie celebrating our 4th Christmas together as a married couple

The whole family

Leave me alone, Mom. I'm teething and I'm grumpy!

Hangin' out with the great grandparents

Opening gifts with Grammy

Future rockband star! Gotta love the no pants look :)

I am sad to say that I didn't get many pictures from the Bauerlein Christmas festivities. The fact that I was exhausted after our drive home might have had something to do with it. That's okay, though, I have plenty of other family pictures. However, I did muster enough energy to capture one of the many funny moments while opening gifts. Claire was sweet enough to get each of her brothers a gift. The only problem was that she only had 2 bags to wrap them in.

Pink and purple. Perfect colors for these 2 boys, don't ya think?! Excellent choice, Claire!

I have to admit that Christmas has been a little more challenging this year than I expected. Between all the Christmas parties and shopping for gifts, I was pretty worn out halfway through December. Add to that the fact that we all got sick within a day of each other and it's not hard to imagine how weary I was by the time we left for Dallas. I was hoping that Luke and I would have a few days to really relax and get back to our old selves, but Austin would have none of it! He decided that he'd rather NOT take a nap during the day and forget sleeping through the night. Despite all the extra help we were blessed to have, I think we left just as tired as we arrived.

All of these challenges and frustrations got me thinking, though. Jesus came that we may have life...and have it ABUNDANTLY. The good, the bad, and the very ugly. I know, it's a hard concept to accept as you're hugging the toilet while knocking on death's door and begging it to let you in! It's so tempting to put on your best face and act like you have it all together, especially at Christmastime.

But let's be honest, NO ONE has it all together! Just ask Beth Moore. She said the exact same thing at her conference this summer. :)

So here's the deal. I don't have it all together. But that's ok, because when I'm weak He is strong. Plus, I really do believe that the "not so good" times are the perfect opportunity for God to reveal Himself to us and through us.