God's Grace - A Christmas Blessing

Christmas has come and gone, and as I sit here thinking over the events of the past couple of weeks I find myself truly at a loss for words. I do not deserve the grace God has shown me. I am a worthless sinner, but God has shown me grace and blessed me with six wonderful children and a loving, God fearing wife. I still have a job after a reorganization than left many long time co-workers without a job. We have a roof over our head and food in our belly. God is good.

We celebrated Christmas with family and we tried to explain to the three younger children what we were celebrating - what Christmas was all about. For the past two weeks, all the children could talk about was Christmas. Once we put up the tree, their eyes got bigger and bigger. Dawn took the four youngest to the dollar store and gave them each about ten dollars to buy presents for each other. To say they were excited was an understatement. Nastya kept wanting to tell me what she bought for me and I kept telling her to wait and let it be a surprise. When they got home to wrap the gifts, then they wanted to wrap everything they could find and offer it as a gift to a family member. So, our Christmas tree was packed with odds and ends from around the house (books mostly).

A few weeks ago, we also went to the local Christmas parade. The three youngest did not know what to think. They stood in amazement as people rode by and thew candy at them. The next morning, Nastya and Dima walked up to me asking if we could go back to that parade. They were a little disappointed when I explained it was gone.

After visiting family, we had our special time together Thursday night. The kids were excited and wasted no time opening their gifts. Their expressions were priceless and I can not do them justice here tonight in trying to describe them.

Like any family, we have had our moments the past day or two with children misbehaving and getting into trouble. But I repeat myself by saying, I am unworthy and truly thankful for the blessings God has provided.

Merry Christmas!

T-Shirt

Christina created the above t-shirt. Below is a link to the site.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/thesilent/t-shirts/2204115-1-slava-bogu