Visions of Sugar Plums

Harmless Ponies? I don't think so.

I was working on the computer when I overheard my daughter watching a video. It got me thinking about this whole "My Little Pony" product. Am I the only one who's concerned about this? These girl ponies are crazy, and I find at least three lines of fundamental reasons to reject them:

1) Should Amazon nags really be a role-model for my little girl? What happened to all the men ponies? Hasbro appears to be completely infected with "the feminine mystique." I first suspected this when I realized I couldn't buy a G.I. Joe army-wife. The only wives you could have for them had grenades strapped to their shoulders.
2) Aren't these ponies behaving exactly like the meddling women of
1 Timothy 5? Fun and relationship-fixation is not healthy for the soul. I know that if there was a Paul-pony, he would exhort these lasses to settle down, find a mate-pony, and have baby-ponies. Work is good for the pony's soul. I want to see the next line of ponies include a yoke.3) The world has completely bought the myth that says tattoos are a way of expressing your individuality. Seriously, c'mon. There's all kinds of problems with this. You know the verses in Leviticus, so I won't even bother. But more than that, what's wrong with conformity? Isn't there something ungodly about trying to be different from everyone else? God already gave us fingerprints.

"I've got to express my own unique pony personality," says sparkly Cherilee, sporting her new flower tats.

It's sad.

I know I've got other things to worry about, but I think this at least merits starting a Facebook cause page. But at least my daughters won't be playing with the heathen trots this Christmas. They'll have real, fake horses, that teach real virtues.

"Christmas Letter"

We want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very blessed Christmas in the Lord. For believers in the Lord, we have so much to celebrate. We cannot celebrate big enough to show our gladness that God is with us, God is for us, God is in us. And in that spirit, we hope that your Christmas will be filled with joy inexpressible and full of praise.

We have had a very full Christmas season so far, filled with giving, singing, and feasting.

The first weekend of Christmastime, we decked the halls with red and green. Evergreens to show that, though we are living in a season and world filled with death, life has come and has conquered. Red to show that only Christ's blood could make this life possible. Thank you, Lord for these visible reminders.

The second and third weekends of Christmastime, we celebrated, sang, and feasted. Who but us have more to be thankful for? So we went to a Messiah sing-along, Grace Community Christmas concert, and Jonathan's preschool Christmas show. We also had the opportunity to sing at Glenwood Convalescent Home for our friends there. The children got to pass out homemade treats and cards and talk and pray with many of the people there. One of the sweet ladies gave her cookies to Geneva with a big smile on her face. Being unable to get out on their own, they do not have the opportunity to give very often and it was a blessing to see her face light up at the chance. In the end, I think we were more blessed by the experience than the patients!

We are looking forward to feasting with my side of the family on Christmas Eve and then having them spend the night to celebrate together early Christmas morning. This is the first year that we do not have to take down the Christmas tree first thing Christmas morning and we are really looking forward to that!

For us, Christmas is a taste of heaven on earth. We send our love to all we won't be with this year but look forward to the day when we never have to say good-bye and never have to stop celebrating, the day when we will see Jesus face to face and forever praise him together.

Goodie Time!

As you might already know (See "Top Ten Christmas Traditions"), one of our favorite things to do at Christmastime is make chocolate covered pretzels for our friends. I used to make them with my mom and in college I made them with my life-long friend Carlee. But this year, I made them with my 3 little elfs. It was great fun.

And before you lose your appetite, you must know that I monitored the finger-licking and made sure they washed their hands right away!

"Winter Storm"

For all of you dealing with the trials of winter weather: snow shoveling, snow days, flight cancelations, we feel your pain! We had a terrible winter storm here in Southern California. Jonathan had to wear a coat to school! Devin had to scrap ice off his windshield! We even saw our breath! Alas, there is hope...should be bright and sunny and in the mid 60s by the weekend. ;)

Busy Birthday Weekend

It was a lovely weekend, full of wonderful memories.

Friday was Jonathan's preschool's Christmas show. He barely sang, bless his heart. But he sure looked cute as a sheep. He spent the first few songs looking for us. Then came the fun, upbeat songs. He spent that time laughing and dancing with his buddies.

He's a social butterfly, my Jonathan. It's a gift that I admire, but do not possess myself. So as I watch him, I'm thankful that the Lord has given him such a love for and ease around people. God's got big plans for that one.

Here's a picture of him with his new buddy, Silas. He reminds me of Aiden, so it's no wonder why these two became fast friends this year.

Saturday was my (Amy's) 30th birthday. It was perfect. We went to the Camarillo Christmas parade, a great small town style parade. The highlight was the appearance of Mrs. Kromka, Jonathan's teacher (see above picture) on one of their fire trucks. They actually collect fire trucks. They buy old ones and restore them. Super fun.

Later we had my mom, dad, and brother over for a small party. They had created a "This is Your Life" photo album of my entire life, mostly with pictures I've never seen before. Wow. What a treasure. They included all the most memorable times, and yes Carlee, you were in it too. Also, they had found old 8 mm film of baby Amy that not even they had ever seen before . Dad sent it to Costco and they put it on DVD. It was so fun to watch me at one and compare it with Abby and the others. Thanks so much, Mom and Dad!

My dear grandma sent some beautiful roses. Thank you, Abuela!


The Lord's Day was also busy and wonderful. After service and potluck lunch, my mom, Geneva, and I saw the Nutcracker, performed by a terrific youth ballet company in town. This was Geevie's first ballet and she was mesmerized. She did not move the entire 2 hour ballet! It was a fantastic performance. The highlight being the hilarious cooks, starring Faith Community's own McKenzie Souser! Great job, McKenzie!!

Moments Like These Make It All Worth It

So today at lunch Jonathan said, "Mom, your gift to me is that you love me. And God's gift to me is that he lyed (sic) in a manger and was born."

White Christmas

I told my mom I'd post this. Geneva woke up one night and decided to deck the halls with baby powder. I'm not sure Abby didn't like it. Love you, Mom!

Christmas Traditions

This is Aiden's 7th Christmas and the 8th Christmas Devin and I have spent together. But this is the 1st year that I have caught myself saying things like: "We always do ________ at Christmastime." Or: "On Christmas Eve, we like to_____________".

Traditions! We are creating our own family traditions!


Here are our top ten favorite Christmas traditions:

10. Decorating gingerbread houses the day after Thanksgiving.

9. Decorating the Christmas tree the first Saturday of December and choosing a "child of honor" to place the star on top
.8. Taking our Christmas tree down Christmas morning to drive to Oregon. (Except we're not doing that this year...sniff, sniff)


7. Drinking peppermint mochas. 'Nuf said.

6. Singing-along at the MessiahSing with the Farises.

5. Watching the movie A Christmas Story (Fra-gi-le...it must be Italian!)

4. Making white chocolate covered pretzels with my mom.

3. Attending the Grace Community Christmas Concert (Phillip Webb singing "O Holy Night" is the best moment of Christmas)

2. Walking down historic F Street in downtown Oxnard on Christmas Eve and enjoying the AMAZING Christmas light display.

1. Piling on the couch together singing Christmas carols with all the lights off in the house except the tree. A perfect moment.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Don't read your Bible--Just kidding--But not really

Someday I intend to write a book telling people not to read their bibles. Somewhere in the book I'll say "Just kidding," but only after I've thoroughly made the point that the Bible never commands people to read their Bibles. It might be inferred from some places that reading the Bible is a good thing to do, but it's just not commanded--and for good reason. Most people didn't own Bibles (just a book of the Bible would have cost about a month's wages in the first century), and most people couldn't read em if they did own them. What the Bible does require is regular meditation, which just amounts to a careful pondering of the Scripture truths you have learned. Here are a few implications of this that I would like to have all consider:

1) You don't need to feel like you're sinning if you weren't able to read your bible that morning. Instead, feel bad if you don't think about the truths of Scripture throughout the day. Change of emphasis--shift your guilt where it belongs, and make the adjustments that will bring real change in your life.

2) A person must be able to live a godly life without even owning a Bible--otherwise God would have required first and foremost that all people be taught to read and own bibles. This is not saying that a person can live for one moment without the Word of God. It's our bread. I would love to do an experiment one year, not doing any private reading of the Bible, and making every attempt to regard it as bread like Jesus did. (Amy is scared I would actually do it.)
But how would I listen to it in church if I thought this might be the only time I hear it for the whole week?
How would I listen if I happened to overhear others reading the Bible?
I heard a Chinese-American Christian who was raised in China say that the Chinese underground church knows the Bible far better than typical American Christians do--and most of them don't own a Bible. I think there's something about putting it on our shelves that makes us feel like we've got it in our heads.

3) Devotional meditation can be done in many situations while reading the Bible cannot. Singing is a form of meditation. Do your "devotions" while you vacuum. Why do the commands to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians) and to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly (Colossians) immediately follow with a command to sing?

4) Finally, I would highly recommend the reading of the Bible--but only as a means to the end of having a meditative, Scripture-filled day. It is not an end in itself, and I know by personal experience that it is too easy to pick it up, put it down, and think the grace will come by checking it off a list.

Of course the greatest fear would be that someone would read my book and wrongly use it to justify their Bible-less life.

A Black Friday Tradition

This year the Saruwatari kids joined us in our Fourth Annual Black Friday Gingerbread House Decorating Party. The Lord planned for us to be neighbors in Port Hueneme and now again in Camarillo and we just love these guys to pieces!

A Joyful Noise

The house resonates all day with Geneva's singing. I love it and now understand why God says, "Make a joyful noise to the Lord." It doesn't have to be on key to be precious to Him (thankfully). In case you don't speak Geneva-ese, I'll give you the lyrics so you can sing along:

He made the stars to shine,
He made the rolling sea,
He made the mountains high,
And He made me.

And that is why I love Him,
Because He bled and died,
The God of all creation,
Became the crucified.

Fall adventures

Just want to post some old pics before I hit you full force with the Christmas photos. Someday I'll learn how to make collages...

Stars and Rocks

I was speaking to a lady today at church who has been having a hard time with an old-earth Creationist friend. I hear this again and again, so I want to make this observation for all to consider. The old-earth people say that the scientific evidence points to an old earth. I agree that it does. Stars are a long, long ways away from us. It would take millions of years (if our calculations are right) for the light to reach us. The science is "right," but when did God put his stamp on the findings of the scientific method? If you ask certain questions, and it's the asking of the question that is wrong in the first place, don't be surprised if you get a messed-up answer. For instance:

1) Stars are given for light on the earth, not for clocks to measure the amount of time from the present to the beginning of creation. It's a radical idea, isn't it. Stars aren't clocks. They're lights.

2) Rocks are given to be . . . rocks. Hard things. Build your house on them. Make a necklace. Etc. They're not given to be clocks. "Radiometric dating of rocks places the formation of the world at roughly 3.5 million years ago." Do you understand the assumption that's inherent in this? Did God place rocks here so we could tell time?

I like to imagine that creation is a stage, and we're in the audience. The thing about stages is that their primary function is to work audience-ward. Creation is amazing because of all the spectacular machinery off-stage that makes the show go on. But if you're trying to understand the show by peeking behind the curtain, you are certain to misunderstand things. "No, Romeo is just some guy who sits at a mirror and puts on make-up." Back to reality--if you are peeking back stage and trying to put everything together that way, you going to be told to go back to your seat.

The Best Bibles

Here are a couple of questions to consider:

1) When you first became a Christian, wasn't there a thrill about owning your very own Bible? Wasn't there something in you that said, "This is my greatest possession"?

2) Didn't that first love, that zeal you had at the first, begin to lag as you bought one bible after another only to see them deteriorate after five or ten years of use? Isn't it true that Bibles are just commodities to you now?

My how low you have become.

Those of you who have put up with leather bibles that come apart at the seams need to wake up and . . . smell the bibles that don't do that. It is a well-known fact that there are a good many bibles today that fancy themselves as "premier editions," when in fact their binding looks like it was assembled by Mrs. Granger's third grade class. For those of you who are interested, it is acknowledged by Bible collectors that the very best Bibles in the world are produced by a company called R. L. Allan and Sons out of Scotland. They have recently put out an ESV in Highland Goatskin that is supposed to be amazing.















Their bibles are distributed through this website www.bibles-direct.com
In second place, although some would say first place, comes Cambridge Bibles. Cambridge has been considered the best Bible maker in the world for many, many years, but Allan has not be as widely known. Cambridge is now offering a semi-compact edition of the ESV called a Pitt-Minion edition. This is a type-setting that was developed many years ago that was designed to be small and very readable. Whereas the Allan Bible is basically the same type-setting as the Crossway ESV Reference Bible, the Pitt-Minion is truly unique. Cambridge Bibles are distrubted in the US by Baker Book House through www.CambridgeBibles.com.

You have the Allan ESV in Tan Goatskin above, and several colors of Goatskin Pitt-Minion ESV's below.



























You may be wondering, "Devin, where did you become so savvy about Bibles?" I learned it all on my new favorite blog, Bible Design and Binding, by J. Mark Bertrand.

More of you are probably wondering, "Devin, how much does a Bible like this cost?" You can often find them on eBay for less than $100, but the Bibles I have described here cost about $130 new.

I want to see all of you in the pew with one soon--and can you mention it to my wife before Christmas?