Dares Noah!

Strange title? Well, that is what Grant says when he sees a picture of "Santa Claus" anywhere. "Dares Noah!" Ha Ha. I told Matt...we must be doing something right when our 2 year old sees a picture of Santa and thinks it is a Bible character! He doesn't even have a clue who Santa is. Brooklyn on the other hand....is so analytical....there's no way she'd ever believe in him. She always has to know exactly how things work and why and the reasons behind it...JUST like her mama! That is why I can't STAND sci-fi or horror movies or anything unrealistic. If I can't reason it out...I will drive myself nuts trying to. Anyway, I spent a couple of hours tonight wrapping Christmas gifts and I couldn't believe how close to being done wtih my shopping that I am! I guess I've accumulated a lot more over the past couple of months than I'd realized. I've actually accidently double-bought for a few people...which is fine because I just re-arranged things and ended up having almost everyone bought for! We haven't gotten the kids much but I don't think I am going to either. They don't NEED anything...and we just spent a fortune building them that playroom upstairs...so I think I am going to go really light on their presents this year. I've spent about $30 on each of them so far...and I'll probably leave it at that unless I see something really special. They get so many gifts from our family anyway...they won't even notice.
Anyway, in other "news"...I found out from my brother in law last night that my sister divorced him last month! Yes, you read that correctly. My sister left her husband and moved to a different state and didn't tell a single member of our family. I found out b/c I called to invite them to our house for Thanksgiving. Her (wonderful) husband, well ex now I guess, told me that he came home one day and she was gone and had left the divorce papers on his desk for him to sign! That is JUST crazy! What's even CRAZIER is the fact that she has a 19 year old daughter there who is 2 weeks away from having a baby..and she just left. INSANE! Obviously I don't know all the details or reasons behind everything...but again, I am trying to analyze this out and make sense of it all and it just DOESN'T! Meanwhile, Brooklyn overheard the whole conversation so I got to get into a long discussion about what happened and why we may never see her Uncle Steve again. She's still pretty confused about what divorce means and why it happens to some people and not to others. I just tried to really reassure her that nothing like that will ever happen with her daddy and I because we have Jesus in our lives, holding us together. What an uncomfortable subject though. Of course, then she wanted to know if my sister, her aunt, is a devil-person. (everyone to her is either a Jesus-person or a devil-person)---and really she's right...but that's such a "blunt" way to put it, I guess. I tried to tell her that some people don't follow after Jesus even though they know it's the right thing to do. It doesn't make them a "devil-person" but it does keep them from having God's best for their life when they aren't diligently seeking after Jesus. Whew! How do you explain all that to a 5-year-old?
Anyway, the whole situation is very sad and it makes me despise divorce even more than ever! I know marriage isn't easy, and we've certainly had our share of times where we've wondered if we "missed it" when we married each other...but one thing Matt and I agreed on before we even got married was that divorce would NEVER be an option for us....that the very word would never be uttered in our home. We've 'slipped up' a few times in the middle of a giant argument...but in our hearts, we feel the same...it will NOT happen to us. We even have a sign above our bed that says "Forever, For Always, No Matter What."
Okay, well, those were some deep subjects.......don't know how I got off on all that...but anyway, this will be an extra busy week so I probably won't be posting much. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and take a moment to really be thankful. Love you!