Christmas Blessings

Well this doesn't have much to do with my VIA process, but God was good to our family this past Chistmas and I just have to share it.

The story starts way back at Labor day in Sept. On the Friday before Laborday my dad was let go from his job. In the months since he has been looking for a new job and gemerally met little success. Thankfully he was able to start collecting unemployment checks when he was let go. However, right about Thanksgiving he recieved notice from unemployment that he would no longer be elligible and in fact would have to pay back $1,000! Suddenly money seemed very tight at our house and with Christmas just around the corner it looked as though the only gifts we'd have would be fellowship with each other. Don't get me wrong that's a wonderful blessing in it's self and of course presents under a tree aren't the real reason for Christmas anyway, but they seem a nice way to Celebrate Christ.

On Dec. 15 my brother graduated from College in Arkansas and so Mom, Dad, and I made plans to attend the ceremony, not really sure how we could afford the trip. We were to leave on Dec. 14 for the 12 hour drive, on the evening of the 12th I heard mom telling dad about several bills they had to pay and how that would leave them with only like $80 in their checking account. But on Dec. 13 the first of several blessings came dad recieved word that Unemployment would resume paying him, we did not owe them the $1,000 and in fact they were going to pay him $1,500 back pay for the weeks he hadn't recieved a check! Praise God!

The next day we set out for Arkansas early in the morning. As dad was filling the car with gas mom pulled out some Christmas cards she had picked up at our church. As I slept in the back she opened the first one and started saying "oh my goodness!" over and over. Waking up to see what the commotion was about I saw her holing up 4 crisp $100 bills, an anonymous gift from someone in our church. Filled with joy and thankfulness for God's blessings she opened the next card only to find that God wasn't done yet. This card contained a note "I hear there is a family trip that involves a lot of travel in the works, hope this helps." this card was not signed either, but contained another $300!

Thanks to all of these blessings from God and those around us, we had a wonderful trip to Arkansas, and were able to have a wonderful Christmas. We were each able to give and recieve gifts to show our love for each other and reflect on the gifts God had given us, both in the past few weeks and 2.000 years ago when his Son came to live as a man.