Year End Letter

Hello and Merry Christmas to all my beloved friends!
This year has gone by so fast it seems. I feel like I was just writing a year end letter! Where to begin with life this year?

Derek has grown so much in this past year. I feel like we were just celebrating his first Christmas, but here we are at his second, and when I look at him and at the progress he has made in the past year it becomes clear to me how far we have come! We celebrated his first birthday in February with a huge airplane themed birthday party. We had invitations that looked like boarding passes, an airplane shaped cake, lots of food, and the center piece- a runway table cloth! Derek's Grammy and Grandpa (Sarah's parents) came down for the party and airline pilot Grandpa helped ensure that the runway table cloth was accurate to real life! :)
Last year Derek's vocabulary consisted mostly of sign language, but now he is a little chatterbox! He is stringing words together into short sentences, and understanding the concepts of things belonging to people. He will point to things and say "Momma's" or "Dadda's". It's great! Over the summer he discovered he LOVES swimming. There is a park not far from our house where we would go on walks first thing in the morning, and there's a little fountain there that he would have a blast playing in. We even got to go to the city waterpark a few times and he thoroughly enjoyed that. In August Derek went and spent a fun week at Grammy and Grandpa's while Mom and Dad got away on a much needed vacation. He had a blast and didn't even a shed a tear when he said goodbye to Mom and Dad! Although he was pretty happy to see them again after a week! In November Derek got treat. His cousins came to visit for Thanksgiving. He loved playing with his cousin Caleb who is four, and his cousin Isaac who is 2.

Nathan has been plugging away at growing his youth group at our church. He just loves his job and loves the kids he works with. He has been busy with trips and events Over the last year he has led trips to Minnesota, Kansas City, and Colorado, as well as several local events including an all church picnic and swimming party in July. That was a great event that everyone is looking forward to doing again next year. Nathan has been enjoying his work schedule. It allows him to be at home with Sarah and Derek as much as he possibly can during the week. Wednesdays and Sundays of course are the long work days for him, but he is able to have Friday and Saturday as his weekend. WE have decided that having a weekday as an off day is wonderful! It allows us to do things together as a family (like the zoo, and the mall) that would normally be very crowded on Saturdays.

Sarah has had her hands full with an active little boy, and making new friends. She has a regular standing playdate on Mondays and of course sees our good friends Ben, Jena, Kadence and Liam regularly. She started working very part time in March at a transitional home for single women called Mt. Hope Sanctuary. This home is a ministry supported by our church, and reaches out to help single women who need assistance getting back on their feet after a messy divorce, or being incarcerated, or leaving a dysfunctional family situation. Sarah has enjoyed her work here, and feels like she is finally using her psychology degree to s certain capacity, although her primary role remains stay at home wife and mom to Derek.

In family news, Nathan and Sarah were finally able to take the trip to Hawaii they had been planning for 5 years. It was always Sarah's dream to go to Hawaii for our 5 year wedding anniversary, and the Lord was gracious enough to allow us the means to do that. Derek stayed at Grammy and Grandpa's and Nathan and Sarah spent a much needed week by themselves enjoying tropical paradise! While in Hawaii we visited Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial, and the battleship USS Missouri. We toured the Dole pineapple plantation, and hiked to the peak of Diamond Head, an extinct volcano on the island of Oahu. We spent the rest of our time on Waikiki Beach lounging in a cabana and reading, talking, listening to music and soaking up the sun. We also enjoyed getting to eat at restaurants that were local to Hawaii. We were very proud of ourselves for only visiting one chain restaurant, Cheesecake Factory, which of course, is forgivable. :)
In other family news, we discovered in September that we will become a family of four in June of next year! That's right! Derek will be a big brother!! We are thrilled, and although Sarah has not been feeling well, she has been a trooper.
Calvin and Piper, our two cats, are doing well. Calvin still has no great love for Piper, but the little kitten has grown on him some over that past year we have had him. They like to play fight at night after all the lights are off, and boy are they loud! Hopefully Piper will mellow out a little as he gets older. :)

We are so blessed with all that has gone on this past year in our family. I hope that this letter is a testimony to God's goodness to us. He is good all the time. I love that we get to take this time of year to reflect on that, and to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ, who was God's ultimate gift to us. His ultimate display of goodness. That He would send His Son as a human to take on the sins of the world. We are always so thankful for Jesus Christ, and for the way He paved to have a relationship with Him so that we might be saved. Praise His Name at Christmas time, and forever more! May the Lord bless all of you this coming year. We love you all!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Nathan, Sarah and Derek Metcalf

Missing You...

It dawned on me today that it has been four very long years since we last saw all of our dear friends who live in South Carolina(/North Carolina). In my opinion this is far far too long. I think I'm actuely aware that I'm missing so much in their lives, and they're missing so much in mine right now. I have close friends from down there going through a very tough and uncertain time with one of their children right now, and I long to hug them and physicaly be present with them. I have dear friends who are experiencing one of God's greatest blessings right now with a pregnancy they didn't know if they would ever have. I wish I could hug them and sit and talk with her for a long time and comiserate pregnancies, and help assuage the inevitable worry that comes along with it. I have wonderful friends who have had two new babies since I saw them last, and the baby they had the last time time I saw them just turned four. She's not a baby anymore!! All of our youth group kids from LBC have grown up. Some are getting married, some are graduating from college soon, one has been to the other side of the world and back and is fighting for recovery in a Naval Hospital. There are so many more people that I miss. Even our alma mater campus has changed drastically in four years. I hate how when I look at our finances I wonder if we will ever be able to go back. I hate wondering if I am ever going to see these amazing people again. I'm thankful for facebook, but there comes a point when writing ((HUGS)) just doesn't cut it anymore. With a second baby on the way, i just don't know how we will do it. But I do know that we have to at some point Even if we have to save for the next couple years. We HAVE to get back down there. So, if my SC friends are reading this, know that I miss you all!!

Why My Family Will Celebrate Christmas

I recently was reading a seemingly innocuous post on Christmas tradition by Mark Driscoll on Facebook, and was shocked to discover that there are many Christians who feel very passionately that celebrating Christmas is sinful. Their rationalization is that Christmas is a pagan holiday (Saturnalia) assimilated by the Catholic Church. Now, this is actually true. The timing of the pagan celebration of Saturnalia, and the pagan celebrations for the Winter Solstice were considered by the Church when choosing a date for the Christmas celebration. However, I do not feel that it is sinful to celebrate Christmas. I've listed a few arguments below used by people against Christmas, and why we have chosen to overlook said argument.\

1. It's a pagan holiday assimilated by the Church. We shouldn't celebrate any pagan holidays.

-True. We shouldn't as Christians celebrate Saturnalia, or the Winter Solstice. But that's not what I'm celebrating at Christmas. I don't even know all the ins and outs of Saturnalia, nor do I care. And as far as the Winter Solstice goes... If we never had another Winter Solstice ever again I would be the happiest person in the world. No winter celebrations here. Not for this summer lovin' girl. :) No, I do not celebrate those things. Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' incarnation on this earth. It is a great miracle that God had a plan of salvation in place from the very beginning of time. He knew that Adam and Eve would screw up in the Garden of Eden. He knew before the creation of the earth that He would need a plan of salvation for the humans He was about to create in His image. Jesus was that plan. God sent His Son to earth in human form so that He might live as a man for a time before completing His salvific work by dying on the cross and rising again on the third day (but that's another holiday altogether!). Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birth as a human baby. Amazing isn't it that we can take this time every year to specifically remember this sacrifice that Jesus made for us? Philippians 2 tells us of this sacrifice: "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,b being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. " (ESV) While we should give thanks for this all year round, it is only fitting that we take time to especially honor what Jesus has done. That brings me to the next argument...

2. We should celebrate Jesus' birth all year.

-Yes, but like I said, it is only fitting that we dedicate our minds for a season to really marvel at what Jesus has done. I mean, we should be thankful for Jesus' death and resurrection year round too, but I don't see anyone arguing against Easter. (Although I say that and there probably are those out there who do.) We can only give God more glory by dwelling on the miracle of the incarnation, and in the end isn't that what life is all about?

3. Jesus wasn't born on the 25th of December!

-Who gives a flying flip? The only reason you know when you were born is because of the careful records kept by this country. You could have been an orphan from some other country and have not a clue when your birthday is. Wouldn't you still want to celebrate one if you could? Besides, I have heard very few people actually argue that Jesus was born in December. That's obviously not the point. The point is we take time in December to celebrate the incarnation. We could do it in June if we wanted, although then you'd probably have the naysayers up in arms about the Summer Solstice. :)

This certainly isn't an exhaustive list of arguments, it's just the ones that I heard most frequently while I was reading. I don't feel the need to defend my decision to celebrate Christmas, but I thought it would make for an interesting blog post!

Rejoice with Those who Rejoice!

Oh you have to pop over to Aaron and Jennifer's blog to see what God has done!!! How great and how good is the God we serve! Praise His name forever! Merry early Christmas you guys!

Why I've been MIA

Sorry I haven't been blogging as regularly as I would like. There are a couple of reasons for this.

1. I found out on Sept. 28th that we are expecting our second child!! We are extremely excited, but I have been really sick. I spent 3 weeks unable to function aside from making the trip from my bedroom to the bathroom to throw up, multiple times a day. Thanks to my amazing doctor, I am now back on the Zofran I was taking while I was pregnant with Derek and my life is much better. I still don't feel 100%, but I feel much much better. Still, it's hard to get motivated to blog when I'd rather be using Derek's nap time to sleep myself! Haha!

2. Nathan and I have been dealing with an immense issue in our ministry that I am not able to discuss in a public forum such as this. All I can say is that we covet the prayers of our brothers and sisters. We have never faced anything like this before, and while we know it is for our sanctification in Christ Jesus, we are still at a loss as to what to do. We are thankful for those of you who do know about the situation who have offered up your advice. Please continue to pray that the LORD would grant us wisdom.

That's all for now. Like I said, with these two things eating up most of my remaining brain capacity (after it's been fried by hours of PBS Kids and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and picking up the same mess over and over again...) I may not be blogging as much. Hopefully the second trimester will bring the return of my energy!

I am Finished...

I have come to a point in my life where I am extremely discouraged with the terrible attitude displayed by others toward me lately. I have been judged to be a sub-par human by more people in the last 4 weeks than I have ever encountered in my twenty-six years of life. I am done. I will not stand for it any more. From now on, no one may tell me that I am a bad mother because my child sleeps in a crib. A crib is not "baby jail", a crib is not evil. A crib is not going to cause my child to die suddenly in their sleep. No one knows what causes SIDS. I will no longer tolerate being told I am terrible because of the choices I have made in the raising of my child. I will no longer be told that I can't take care of myself as a woman because I am a mother. I am both. I am a woman, and a mother. I am a mother and wife. Both relationships are important and I will spend time on both relationships. If that means leaving my toddler with a trusted babysitter for a few hours so my husband and I can go out, so be it. Do not judge me for taking care of my marriage.
I will no longer tolerate being gossiped about. The minute I hear of someone speaking ill of me or my family behind our backs, I will go to them and lovingly confront them as is exemplified in Matthew 18:15. If that is not received then I will react with following Matthew 18:16 and bringing another party in on it. And if that still is not received then I will go to the church with no hesitation. It's people from church doing it anyway, so hopefully it won't get to that point. But I cannot continue to live my life in fear of these people and what they might say.
I will no longer tolerate the attitude of believers towards one another. I will no longer allow it to be swept out of sight, but rather shine light on it so that the sin can be dealt with. When someone judges me based on my appearance (as happened last night when I was told I was not going to "get into heaven" because I have pierced ears), I will lovingly remind them that man looks at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
I will no longer respond to someone speaking in anger, but will rather encourage them to correct in love if it must be done. I will not grovel before people who are too immature to accept an adult's sincere apology. If they do not accept a sincere and godly apology then I will shake the dust off my feet and be done with them (while still loving and praying for them to come around).
I have reached the point where I cannot ignore these things any longer. Christians have HORRENDOUS attitudes, especially toward one another. It is disturbing to finally be in a place where I am seeing what the non Christians are talking about. I have never been in a place where Christians are so unloving toward one another. It is shocking, and it is heart breaking. Something must be done. That is why I am finished with looking the other direction while everyone eats each other for breakfast. To quote Derek's current favorite movie "I didn't come this far to be breakfast!" (Finding Nemo)

One More Rant...

Ok, maybe I'm the only one bothered by this but every tine I see someone suggesting that a child be drugged for no medical reason I freak out. For example: a friend's Facebook status this morning was asking for tips on a long car trip with two very small children. Most responses were decent enough but there's always that one person who says "Benadryl!" WHAT????? Ok seriously, I know my friend is smart enough not to do that but it really pisses me off. How bout we tranquilize you? Childrens' bodies are so tiny and at very young ages (under the age of four) their systems are still underdeveloped. This is why you can't give a child under 4 cold medicine. This is why Robitussin can't be given to children under age 6. The amount of medicine could literally poison a child. So that being said, don't medicate your children just to shut them up!!! How stupid and lazy can a parent be? You chose to have children and that means putting up with them on car trips if you choose to take them. Now let me clarify that I'm not against medication. I give Derek infant Tylenol (or whatever the knockoff is) when he is in pain. If your child has allergies and your doctor says its ok and gives you the correct dosage then by all means give your child Benadryl. Use medication for its intende2d purpose, not for a tranquilzer.

Ok. Rant over. Anyone out there agree with me? Or am I going nuts?