It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

As I look over the past year it has honestly been one of the roughest, richest years of my life. It is marked by strained relationships, the loss of two babies to miscarriage, a tumultuous job situation, the loss of loved ones, and damage from our own hurts, habits and hang ups. And yet, somehow, in the midst of it all, God has met us and ministered so deeply to our hearts. He has grown us and steadied us like never before. He has better equipped us for the remaining journey and has allowed us to better fix our eyes on Jesus Christ and things above. He has healed past wounds and allowed some new. Through our trials, He has changed us. And though the job is far from complete, I feel stronger and more prepared to focus on things that really matter in this world.

This Christmas season we have tried to do that. One thing that never seems to lose its luster is the opportunity to tell others about Jesus!! He so radically changed my life that January night in 2000 the first time I encountered Him. He filled me with the love, joy, hope and peace I so desperately searched for all my life. And it all happened that night when the walls were closing in on me and I saw no other alternative, but to end my life. I cried out to God for the first time and said, "If You are really there, take my life or it is over." He very much took me up on that offer.

Shortly thereafter, I admitted to God I was a sinner, believed that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sin and chose to accept the gift of eternal life with God. In that instant I entered into a forever relationship with the living God of the Universe. It isn't something I could have ever earned on my own. It was given. Though it was given at great cost to Jesus Christ, it was freely given to me in love and it is available to you too. I can handle the trials of life because I have Him by my side and in my life. I want others to know that freedom and joy. If you ever need somebody to pray for you, or if you aren't sure you've ever entered into this relationship with God that I describe, I'd love to help. Shoot me an email (dana.racquel.olson@gmail.com) and we can get in contact with each other.

You, God, are good. You alone satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts. No matter what my circumstances are in life, I praise You, for you alone are worthy. "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13.

Here are few glimpses into our life this past week! I love the anticipation of Christmas!!

Aaron, Elijah and I trying to get a decent shot
for our first attempt ever at Christmas cards!

Aaron helped to coordinate a Christmas Party
for families in our community and Santa himself made
an appearance! Here he is with my favorite 3 year old!

There were between 50 and 75 kids there. I was excited to see
many new faces. There were several children we met through
Angel Tree Ministry. Angel Tree is a Prison Fellowship program that
connects parents in prison with their children through the delivery of
Christmas gifts. Our church purchased gifts and we will deliver them and the Gospel to children in the name of their prisoner-parent.

We did a little skit to present the gospel. Aaron let me coordinate the group and write the skit they were performing, but I didn't plan to be in it until the last minute when one of our performers was sick. It was a lot of fun despite my lack of preparation and several kids responded in faith. I love these youth girls!

This just makes me happy to see Elijah's joy!

Random and Sometimes Bizarre Glimpses!

As usual, life is traveling far faster than I can keep up. Here are a few cute shots of my little ball of energy!

Hello there!

Just some cute, random friend Elijah made at an open gym.

Teeter-Totter buckin' bronco style! She held her own!

That's one big bear!

Christmas morning!

SO busted! Notice the smashed gingerbread train
on the ground and the kid chowing down? Yeah.
Guilty! In all honesty, Aaron fell backwards into
the shelf that housed the train and he destroyed it.
Elijah just came to scavenge what he could before
Mommy ruined the fun.

Bevo! Thanks to Aunt Karrin and Uncle Chris,
I may have a chance against Aunt Kristin's attempt
to brainwash my son with the silly notion that A&M
is the way to go! After Aunt Kristin stayed with
him for four days straight, I came home and tried
to dress him in his longhorn pajamas. I was
told that those were the "yucky pajamas."

No idea!

Run for your life! On guard! Touche! This is Aidan,
Elijah's little friend I watch one afternoon a week.
Sword fights are a frequent method used to pass time.

Aaron getting schooled in arm wrestling. Notice
the band aid head. One of those band aids stayed
on for several weeks despite the fact there was no
wound. Granted, he did run into a door frame during
a growing spurt which inspired the band aid, but he is
just generally obsessed with them and it's not a battle we
are willing to fight. He sure gets lots of sympathy
points from people this way though.

Relatively prepared for the elements minus the pants!

Strike a pose Mr. Male Model!

Flash! Flash! Flash!

Elijah is talking a LOT these days. He has his feisty moments for sure. He lets his will be known, but is quite polite when reminded. He growls and grunts at people who try to say hi to him or who approach him too quickly for his taste. He is a bit of an antogonizer if he has friends he knows he can get a big reaction from. We've been talking a LOT about that. He makes me think of his Uncle Bubba in that regard often. :)

He loves narratives and oh my, he LOVES his daddy. They crack up together, run through the house playing swords and tag often and unfortunately gang up on me. Elijah is so like me when he sings songs...can't remember the words to save his life so he makes them up as goes or just jumps from song to song. I see the Spirit of God working in his heart to change him. This is a comical example, but the other day, on the way to church, we were praying together as a family. Elijah thanked God for his friends, Ryan and Puah, before he earnestly asked God to help his friends not to push him and to help him not push his friends.

He's in a big boy bed now...well, his crib that was converted to a day bed anyway. As soon as he hears the garage door open, he runs to hide so he can jump out and scare whoever is coming home and he constantly runs up to people and shouts, "BOO!" He can be a bit of a handful, but mostly he is simply a delight!

He's Kind

The course of the last week has been interesting and marked with extremes and while I don't generally journal much these days, especially publicly, God is working in Elijah and I'd like to record, share and reflect a bit. I posted about Elijah "getting" mercy yesterday and tonight I had a conversation with him that just really caused me to pause. To give you a bit of background, last week, I went to Moms Group and had to do childcare in Elijah's class since the normal teacher had a car accident on the way to the church. At Moms Group we have childcare while moms drink coffee, have delightfully complete sentences with each other since there are no children and we break into small groups to discuss either a parenting book or a Bible study. I was bummed to miss my time with the moms, but glad to get a glimpse of Elijah with his peers.

To be honest though, it was like a kick in the stomach. Elijah was one of the worst behaved children. He was taking things from others, pushing, hitting, fighting for the only green chair in a sea of red chairs during musical chairs...he had to be reminded to listen often and he was just plain not very nice in how he spoke to other children. Oh, did I mention he was super bossy too and that he seemed to enjoy instigating others to act out. I was embarrassed and started to jump in, but then decided to just observe as much as possible. When I had a quiet moment with the assistant that is usually in there, I asked if this was how Elijah always behaved. Sheepishly she nodded with a look that communicated an element of pity.

Sin. I see it every day in this broken world we live. I see it everyday in my own heart and interactions with others...in my selfishness and impatience. Seeing it blatantly in your own kid though...man, that is hard.

When the normal teacher showed up she assured me he wasn't the "difficult child" I was apologizing for him being and she reminded me that he was the youngest by as much as a year and half to some of the other kids in the group. She shared that developmentally, he is right where he should be and that the things he is doing are normal for his age. I realize those things are true, but there were a few other little ones his age that were not pulling those shenanigans! Don't get me wrong...I LOVE my kid and think the world of him. Often I think too highly of him and let him get away with too much maybe. I am not sure. I feel quite blind and alone in this task of parenting at times. I may be getting a lot right....or I may be getting a lot wrong...and to be honest...I never know which is it for sure.

A few days before the Moms Group incident, Elijah got something he knew very well he wasn't supposed to have...it was a candle. I didn't even know he had it, but he took off at the speed of light and I found him hiding with it. Man, it was such an image of Adam and Eve hiding in the garden. I told him the story and prayed for him to be a person of integrity even when no one was looking.

Today, I go into the gym where we got a membership recently because I had been struggling with some ongoing depression that I couldn't seem to get to lift (it helped a lot by the way). There is a kids' klub there where the kids are supervised and have toys and a play-scape. When I went in today, one of the childcare people asked to speak with me about Elijah. She proceeded to tell me that Elijah hit people on a consistent basis and wanted to know if she could give him a time out if needed. I told her absolutely and to let me know every time anything happened because I will follow up more severely. I explained to Elijah that if he hit anybody, that he'd get a time out and a spanking when I got back. He agreed that he would not hit anybody. Upon my return I asked if he got any time outs. "No, no," she said, "he did well. He only got a few warnings for pulling hair." My eyes bulged out. Pulling hair? I was able to find out his heart in the matter after talking to him and the little girl he had hurt. She had a back pack and he is really into them so he was trying to take from her...doesn't make it much better, but some!

In interacting with various moms and authors, I've come to understand that often, kids raised in the church don't fully recognize their bankruptcy in regard to sin because they often learn the right motions. They don't often understand the depth of grace and mercy so those are things I am working on with Elijah. When he doesn't do what I say, I don't say you aren't listening....I say, you not obeying. When he hits, lies, says no to me, I tell him it is a sin. He has to recognize his need to be saved in order to be saved. Tonight, after we read his children's Bible and brushed teeth, we went to read a bedtime book in his room. Afterward I asked if he wanted me to pray for anybody for him. He asked me to pray for Maddie, Reese and Trevin, three of his closest friends. That was new as he usually just wants to thank God for milk, toys, food, or even more spiritual things like Jesus or angels. I just found it neat that he wanted to pray for his friends.

He also looked around the room to list things to thank God for as usual. He wanted to thank God for his animals and books and then he looked at the crucifix in his room from his Great Grandma Weber. He looked at me as if he was telling me because I didn't know and said, "Jesus died on the cross." I asked Him if he knew why Jesus did that. He explained to me that Jesus' friends did that to Him, that it hurt a lot and that he said, "Help! Help!" because He didn't want to do it. I told him he was right that Jesus didn't want to have to die on the cross, but that nobody made Him do it. We have been talking a lot about Jesus' birth over the weeks of advent. We've read from Scripture that Jesus came to save us from our sins. That has really stood out to Elijah and every time I asked him why Jesus came to earth as a human baby, he says with glee and celebration in his voice, "to save us from our sins!" So, I asked him tonight. Do you remember why we celebrate Christmas? Whose was born on Christmas? Then he thought he'd be funny and kept saying it was Isaac...not Jesus. After we giggled about his joke and his silliness, I asked him what Jesus had come to earth to save us from. "OUR SINS!" I then looked back at the cross and told him, "Elijah, that is how Jesus saved us from our sin. We were supposed to be punished for our sin. We were supposed to die, but Jesus died on the cross for us. It's the mercy we've been talking about. We deserve to be punished for sin, but we aren't because Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sin. Nobody made Him do it though, Elijah. So why do you think he did it for us?" Heartfelt and in all seriousness, Elijah responded, "He's kiiiiind."

You are kind indeed God! I thank you Lord God that You are working in my child. I desire nothing more fully if I am honest. I am such a disaster and yet, in your grace, You allow me to get such glimpses of your grace....your mercy.....fruit from labor that truly is a joy. Lord, I ask you to penetrate his heart with the truth of the gospel. May he recognize his sin and absolute need of You. May he truly understand the depth of grace and mercy You've supplied to Him because of Your great love and glory. I ask for wisdom and guidance for Aaron and me as we walk this journey of parenting as we are clueless, insecure and blind without You.

Grace and Mercy

I've been teaching Elijah about concepts like grace and mercy lately. A few times he hasn't been punished for something and I explained to him that he was receiving mercy by not getting the punishment he deserved. Tonight when I told him he was going to get a consequence for something he said, "No, I get mercy." My jaw literally dropped as I looked to Aaron to confirm whether I was hearing him correctly. I doubt so often that he is listening or absorbing. Mercy is a concept he is hanging on to....me too! Praise God for being a God of mercy!

We proceeded to talk about justice!

Uncle Chris and Aunt Karrin

Elijah had some special visitors at the end of August! I started to type that we had special visitors, but my sister and her husband would be the first to admit, they were here to see Elijah! Elijah adores them and they clearly had mutual feelings for him. They came for a week and it was such a fun time for all of us. I am ashamed to say, Karrin and I lost spades a few painful times, but some day, revenge will be had! We laughed a LOT playing games and really enjoyed our time with them.

Chris and Karrin spent the first couple nights seeing what Elijah's routines were like and then they did some sight seeing for a couple days. They returned and Aaron and I spent three glorious days and 2 nights by ourselves at a friend's cabin in the mountains. It was our first weekend away from Elijah since he was born. I spent a couple days before we left for the cabin feeling a bit sad and anxious to leave Elijah. I really tried to embrace all of those emotions and work through them beforehand so I could really enjoy our time away. I had heard from friends that they didn't enjoy their trips away because they missed their kids so much and by the time they got over it, it was time to come home. By the time we were ready to leave to go to the cabin, I really was ready.

Aaron and I had such a nice time connecting. We slept passed 10:00am each morning and took naps! We read books for pleasure! We didn't cook anything of any nutritional value! We played games. We went through a long process of family goal setting. We prayed. We read the beginning of a great marriage book by John Gottman And Baby Makes Three: A Six Step Plan for Preserving Intimacy and Rekindling Romance After Baby Arrives. We talked. We fought. We enjoyed each other. I was really thankful for the time away with Aaron.

We didn't have phone coverage so we had to drive back to the highway to call and check on Elijah. Now, I was ready to be away, but I had no idea how Elijah would do so I was eager to find out about his first night away from us. I was half way thinking that I shouldn't call. What if he is doing fine and then he loses it when he gets off the phone with us. Yeah, well, that's not quite how it happened. The kid was at the zoo, said, "Hi Mommy!" and eagerly pushed the phone away because some exciting animal was in view! It was such a relief! He learned his Uncle Chris is a push over and he can get just about any kind of sugary treat he wants from him. And, he really bonded with his Aunt Karrin. He love, love, loves them. To be honest, it wasn't easy recovering from their departure. Chris and Karrin, come back soon. We all miss you! Here are some glimpses of your time here!

We're crossing over the railroad tracks to
Richmond Beach, which is close to our home.

Daddy and Elijah!

Uncle Chris and Aunt Karrin

Crazy Chris had to check out the
frigid water of the Puget Sound.

Gleneden Beach Vacation-August 2010

We couldn't have been more ready to go on vacation! Aaron and I coordinated Vacation Bible School this year along with a culminating carnival. It was a lot of hard work! I got to teach the fourth, fifth and sixth graders and got to see four kids receive Christ. I wrote skits that presented the gospel for the large group times and Aaron and my good friend Dawn did a great job performing them as Mr. Incredible and the Zapinator! VBS was Monday-Friday and then we packed the car Friday night for our vacation to Oregon. Saturday morning we went and set up the carnival and watched the festivities unfold. As soon as the carnival was cleaned up, we were on the road headed for Oregon! It really was insane, but it made the time away all the sweeter. Elijah and I were completely exhausted as we started the trip and we both slept for the first three hours of the drive thanks to Aaron!

The resort we stayed at was in the middle of nowhere, which was perfect for me because I really just needed to get away and truly relax. There weren't even many people at the resort or on the beach. It was perfect for Elijah because he loved the sand, the waves, the heated pool, the hot tub, the playground, and our hot chocolate ritual after swimming. Everything was literally right outside our door. We were on the top level, had the perfect view of the beach and went to sleep each night listening to the waves. We got to feed seagulls off our balcony. We were far enough away from the pool and playground to not hear a thing too so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. It was such a treat. God is so good to us. He provided in such extravagant ways with little expense to our pocketbook. It is all so undeserved, but He extends such grace.

Here are some of the images we captured on our trip! Enjoy!

Each morning started with a leisurely breakfast and
relaxing. Elijah and Aaron played catch a lot.

We discovered not all kites are created equal.

Here's where we stayed. Top far right balcony was ours.

Elijah loves to jump off things! He could
have done this balance beam for hours.

We'd have hot chocolate from the resort lobby
after each of our swimming excursions. There were
a few warmer days and we even ventured out to
the beach in swim suits once. The water was freezing so
we stuck to the heated pool and hot tub.

It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while
he'll sit still long enough to snuggle. We watched
a couple movies over the course of our week and
that kept him still long enough for me to love on him.

Oops! That was very cold! He was pretty scared of
waves by the time we left because they'd sneak up
on him and he fell a few times.

We didn't have a change of clothes so he sported
a diaper and my coat. We got some strange looks.

Elijah LOVED these birds. He'd cart them back and
forth between the balcony and the fireplace. On
the balcony, he'd line them up so they could see
what was going on at the beach. They were his little
buddies. When we left, he kissed each of them goodbye!

And....the journey continues....