Thursday Thirteen (a day late)

13 Highs and Lows since I last blogged

1. I had an awesome "girls' weekend" with some ladies from church as we went to Atlanta to check out a Children's Ministry event (high).
2. I came back to turn in my notice that I will be leaving my position at Seacoast at the end of January (high/low, depending on when you ask me).
3. I had a great Thanksgiving with my family, and made sweet potato souffle for the first time (high).
4. I did not get to spend a lot of time with my dad's family (low).
5. We decorated our house for Christmas (high).
6. Dan started his new job and absolutely loves it (high).
7. We finished most of our Christmas shopping (high).
8. None of it is wrapped yet (low).
9. And now we are really broke (low).
10. But Dan makes a lot more at his new job, so hopefully we'll be able to recuperate some of that (high).
11. We have been watching Christmas movies--they always put me in a good mood (high).
12. My uncle died last week. It is so hard to see your family go through such a deep tragedy and want nothing more than to be able to take the pain away from them (low...really low).
13. The whole situation has made me realize what I feel like God has been telling me for a few weeks--that is what Christmas is all about. It's about God having such intense love for us and compassion on us that He would give us the gift of His Son. I was reminded that while we all like to think of the sweet first Christmas with the angels, the shepherds, and the wise men, that it was really about God coming to fight the very real and very powerful satan--who wants nothing more than to get a hold of our hearts and minds. But God loves us and wants the best for us and gave us the best gift that He could have given us.