For unto us...

I absolutely love Christmas. And with each passing year, I praise God for revealing more and more the true meaning of this time. As much as I love giving gifts, I am drawn more and more to the true meaning of this time of year...We were given the perfect gift from our Heavenly Father. What a perfect example of love. As I have reflected deeply this year, I am so blessed for each person God has placed in my life, especially my family. This Christmas has been a great reminder of how important and God ordained each person in my family is. We have started a new tradition in our family of Joe (my step dad) sharing some scripture and encouragement to each of us kids. This year we all took a turn. As we each shared, I was overwhelmed by the importance of love, support, grace, and encouragement within a family. I think it's often easiest to take advantage of the special bonds between a family that we tend to disregard the need to still be loving, patient, and kind. I have realized over this Christmas holiday, unfortunately, how much harder it is to be a reflection of Christ to my family than to others. I am thankful God has helped me realize this, and challenged me to be an aroma of Christ to my family. Here are some pics from the day:

Opening presents Christmas morning:
Me and Cam

Caleb

Matt


Mom and Joe


Going to my Dad's after:
Me and my youngest brother, Ryan

Ryan, Dad, me, and Matt

My stepmom, Lisa

My dad