Mitchell Family Christmas

Ever since I can remember we have gotten together with my mom's side of the family to celebrate Christmas. It's really hard to believe that Grandma Mitchell has been gone from this earth now for 12 years and Grandpa for 8. Even though they are not physically with us anymore, there are many reminders of them. The biggest one is the fact that we would not all be here without them!

This year we all met up at a Nature Center that my Aunt Ginny is a member of. It was really fun and it's always good to be with family.








Mikayla, Abby, Will and Josh with my dad watching a tortoise go for a carrot.



Luke, Angie and Cheryl also were enjoying some of the reptiles! That's my cousin Jeff and his son Nicholas in the back of the room.


Daring Josh...



No Mitchell Christmas party would be complete without at least one napper!

Sleepover

Not only is it Christmas time, but it is my sister Angie's birthday (yesterday). So, part of her birthday present this year was watching Will and Mikayla for the weekend. The kids just had a blast. We went sledding and went to Chuckie Cheese to play and Pizza Hut for supper. Good times.


Josh's fort at his school - the kids have been working on these forts for the past couple of months


Mikayla making a sledding track at Josh's school


Abby having some winter fun!


Josh won 200 tickets playing a game at Chuckie Cheese - we were all quite proud of him!




Abby loved having her older cousin Mikayla over for the weekend!


Will and Josh reading books before bed

De Vries Family Christmas

We were blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family this afternoon. I say blessed because of many reasons, but one was the 2nd snow storm in the past 3 days that we are receiving. Plans were rearranged a bit so that Todd and I could be back in Holland before dark, but we had a great time. The kids stayed in Grandville tonight as Todd and I both have to work tomorrow, so I'm sure they will have a blast tonight and tomorrow. Meantime, I have some time on my hands to post right away!

The WHOLE family gathered for dinner!

Mike, Luke and Micheal


Todd and Cheryl and Mike's dog "Bear" - looks like a bear, huh?!


Isn't this a beautiful picture of my mom?


Ang, Jim, Will, Mikayla and their dog "Moe" - yes, there were FOUR dogs gathered as well!

Thanksgiving -Part 1

Actually, the pics I'm posting are of our Thanksgiving get-together in the evening with the Kuiper family. We met up with the De Vries Family in the afternoon. I forgot our camera, so we had to take pics on Todd's cell phone. I'll have to post those pictures in a Part 2 segment. For now, here's some highlights of our evening at Todd's Aunt Von and Uncle Randy's house. Again, I have so much to be thankful for. I may do a tad bit of complaining about going to two Thanksgiving parties in one day, but, really, what a blessing to have so much family.


cousin Grant


Evelyn, Abby, Von, Mom K. and Karen



Randy, Andy and Elaina


Evelyn and Mike


Joel and Kara (the newlyweds!)


Traci snuggling Elaina (I love this picture)


And I couldn't resist posting this picture of our children enjoying a cartoon on the day after Thanksgiving. My mom says that I used to sit like that. I don't know how because there is NO WAY I could do that now!

Thanksgiving

Does anyone else feel like the Thanksgiving holiday may get overlooked?? Halloween is hardly over and the stores have up Christmas decorations and have fall decorations 75% off and we still have weeks to go before Thanksgiving. I have to confess that I have often not given much other thought about Thanksgiving beyond remembering to think about what I'm thankful for, the family getting together and eating too much.

Well, this year the reality of why we really celebrate Thanksgiving has really struck me. Who are we thanking? Why are we thankful? Who were the Pilgrims? Where did they come from? Why did they leave there? These are some questions that have been looming in my mind.

Of course I know about the Pilgrims sailing on the Mayflower and the Indians that helped them, but who really were these pilgrims?? Why did they come to America? How can I teach our children about this important holiday?

I found a wonderful resource on FamilyLifeToday. They had a weeks worth of a "history" lesson on the spiritual and historical heritage of the Thanksgiving holiday. In fact, I actually was directed to a gem of a book/audio book to go along with this. Barbara Rainey wrote this for her children to teach them the real meaning behind Thanksgiving.


In listening to our heritage as Americans, it is mind-boggling to think where we started and what those before us went through to gain the freedoms and luxuries we now have. Our freedom has come through much suffering and sacrifice by many of our ancestors.

I would encourage you to go to FamilyLifeToday and listen to the audio series on Thanksgiving (dated Nov.10-13,2008). It is a reminder of why these Pilgrims came to America (to be able to worship God) and why they stayed. There are some things that either I forgot or learned for the first time on how God's hand was in what happened with the Pilgrims. For example, the land that the pilgrims came to (Plymouth) had previously belonged to a tribe of brutal Indians. These Indians killed all white men they came in contact with. Well, 4 years before the Pilgrims landed, a plague wiped out all of the indian village (except for 1 indian named Squanto who had been taken captive earlier and brought to England). For the 4 years before the Pilgrims came, no other Indian tribe attempted to take over the land because they were afraid of the plague. So, the land was unowned. And, the relationship of the Pilgrims with the Indians of the area is more evidence of God's interventions. These Indians taught the Pilgrims how to live in this land. Unlike the settlers of Jamestown who were most reliant upon ships from England for their survival, the Pilgrims were able to work the land and get their food and supplies from what was around them. Unlike Jamestown who lost 90% of it's population in the first year, Plymouth lost 50%. By the time the first harvest came, the Pilgrims had much they wanted to Praise God for.

Abraham Lincoln was the first President to declare Thanksgiving a national day "of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father." Here is the text of Lincoln's proclamation:
By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union. (The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler)

So, as Thanksgiving approaches, I have an encouraged heart. The Lord is with those who call on His name. As the Pilgrims read on the day they landed at Plymouth, Psalm 100 reads:
"Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, And His faithfulness to all generations."

I would LOVE to hear comments on what my blog readers are thankful for!!
Happy Thanksgiving!!

America Again

I found this song and thought it was great, even though it must have been written in the 1990's. Things are better in some ways, but much worse in others and it has nothing to do with the economy or who is President. I'll post my thoughts on that later, but Todd did an excellent job at articulating his thoughts about the election, which tend to be pretty similar to mine. I am praying for the Nation and our President-elect (who, by the way does not want to use the Bible to help govern this nation as we are no longer just a "Christian nation". In his words, we are also "muslim, buddhist,jewish" -see video)! Well, I am a Christian and I know what biblical history says about nations that are not with God. So, I will be praying that America comes back to God.

AMERICA AGAIN
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams,
first Chief Justice John Jay.
Names synonymous with the spirit of our country.
The Founding Fathers of the USA.

Over Two Hundred years ago, they shook of the chains of tyranny
from Great Britain by Divine call.
Citing 27 biblical violations, they wrote the Declaration of Independence,
with Liberty, justice for all.

But something happened since Jefferson call the Bible the cornerstone
for American liberty, then put in our schools for a light.
Or since "Give me liberty or give me death" Patrick Henry said,
"our country was founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

We eliminated God from the equation from American Life.
Thus eliminating the reason why this nation first began.
From beyond the grave I hear the voices of our founding fathers plead,
"You need God in America again"

Of the 55 men who formed the constitution,
52 were active members of their church.
Founding fathers like Noah Webster, who wrote the first dictionary,
could literally quote the Bible, Chapter and Verse.

James Madison said, "we've staked our future on our ability to follow
the 10 commandments with all our heart"
These men believed that you could not even call yourself an American
if you subvert the word of God.

In his farewell address, Washington said "you can't have national morality
apart from religious principle," and its true.
Because now we have nearly 150,000 kids carrying guns
through these war zones that we call public schools.

In the 40's and 50's student problems were chewing gum and talking.
In the 90's rape and murder are the trend.
The only way this nation can even hope to last this decade
is put God in America again.

Chorus:
The only hope for America is Jesus.
The only hope for our country is Him.
If we repent of our ways, stand firm and say,
We need God in America again

Abe Lincoln said, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation,
will be the philosophy of government in the next."
So when you eliminate the word of God from the classroom and politics,
you eliminate the nation that Word protects.

America is now number 1 in teen pregnancy and violent crime.
Number 1 in illiteracy, drug use and divorce.
Every day a new holocaust of 5,000 unborn die,
while pornography floods our streets like open sewers.

Americas dead and dying hand is on the threshold of the church.
While the spirit of Sodom and Gomorra vex us all.
When it gets to the point the people would rather come out of the closet than clean it,
it is the sign that the judgment of God is going to fall.

If there has ever been a time to rise up Church, its now.
And as the blood bought saints of the living God proclaim,
that its time to sound the alarm from the church house to the White House
and say, "WE WANT GOD IN AMERICA AGAIN."

I believe its time America, to stand up and proclaim,
"that one nation under God is our demand."
And send this evil lifestyle back to Satan where it came from.
And let the Word of God revive our dying land!
For Jesus Christ is coming back again in all his glory.
And every eye shall see him on that day.
That’s why a new anointing of Gods power is coming on us to boldly
tell the world you must be saved!

Because astrology wont save you.
Your horoscope wont save you.
The bible says these things are all a farce.
If your born again, you don't need to look to the stars for your answers,
cause you can look to the very one that made those stars.

History tells us, time and time again,
to live like there is no God makes you a fool.
If you want to see kids live right,
stop handing out condoms and start
handing out the word of God in schools.

Chorus:
The only hope for America is Jesus.
The only hope for our country is Him.
If we repent of our ways, stand firm
and say, We need God in America again.
©Carmen

Here We Go

I have much to say this evening before the election. But, the time has come and now we need to trust the Lord. So, I decided to just post some Scripture. If there is only one thing that I have learned from this election (I actually have learned quite a bit, but I'll spare you all that), it is that now more than ever Christians need to be in the Word. We need to know it. So, at the end of the day tomorrow and every 'morrow I am so thankful that I will always have my faithful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as my Deliverer and King!

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 'For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinithians 2:14-16

Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, lest it become a snare in your midst. But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Adherim - for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God-” Exodus 34:12-14.

"Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him." Psalm 91:14-15

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

"Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall." Psalm 55:22

"This I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfullness" Lamentations 3:21-23