Merry Christmas from the Reeds!

We have had a wonderful Christmas season together! My break from school has been so relaxing and refreshing for me. I have been able to catch up on some much needed sleep, read books, watch old Friends episodes, see friends and family, bake and cook new meals, and spend some uninterrupted, quality time with Gabe. It was been wonderful. You might think I don't want to go back to school, but I am actually excited to see all of my students! I went into my classroom the other day to grab something, and I was happy to be in there! I am able to say that I LOVE my job, but a break from the hard, time consuming work is great for me. It makes me appreciate it more.

Enjoy the picture update of our Christmas gatherings! It lets you in on our little world this Christmas season!

Instead of buying each other gifts this Christmas, Gabe and I decided to spend a day together instead. We don't really NEED anything right now, and we both love spending time together.....just the two of us! We decided to spend the day in Indianapolis last week at the Children's Museum and downtown. We LOVED the museum! I guess that tells you we are really two big kids! :)

Gabe is making a boat to float along in the river.......it didn't make it very far though.

I won in the big tic-tac-toe game!

They had an exhibit on superheroes and comic books which featured the real Batmobile!

We went to the huge Borders on Meridian Street and looked at all the books, games, and music.

Gabe took me to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown Indy! I had never been there, and wow, it is a great restaurant. We got to sit in a traincar to eat our dinner! It was a wonderful Christmas date with my hubby. I love him!

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated my Grandpa Brown's birthday! Almost all of my Brown family was together and it was an evening of SO much fun! Gabe had never been with my family on Christmas Eve, and he loved it all! He said he loves having cousins......me too!

My cousin Chris and Grandpa.....I love this picture. Chris, who is probably one of the funniest people I know, just finished kissing Grandpa on the head and they were laughing about it!

Another set of cousins, Tom, Eric, and Alyssa with Grandpa. I am thankful for these beautiful people. They all have such sweet hearts.....even if Tom and Eric would roll their eyes if they knew I said that.

My brother, sister, and I with Grandpa! (I have to apologize....I didn't get a picture of my two cousins Amanda and Carrie....I didn't have my camera out fast enough!)

My grandparents are some of the most giving people I know. They go out of their way to help other people and build relationships with almost anyone they meet. We all look up to them and are thankful for all they do for our family. I love you Grandpa and Grandma!

Four out of five Brown kids with their parents!

Sister picture......Kate's short hair is SO cute!

Gabe got to read the Christmas story, The Night Before Christmas this year to our family. It has been a tradition that one of the cousins read this story every year. Since Gabe is the newest cousin, it was his year to read. I think his Santa hat was a little small.....

My dad always leads our entire family in some Christmas carols. This year he had my brother in law help him lead, and then they had Katie up there too! We sang the whole 12 Days of Christmas song with motions and everything! The Brown gang sure knows how to have fun and to really celebrate Christ's birth!

All of the Reed family came to Anderson to celebrate Christmas together! We got a great shot of us all. I really love this picture of us all.....we are so happy to be ALL together!!

What a cutie.....Ezzie!

Keziah looked like a little Santa princess in her red and white outfit. I couldn't get her to look at the camera though.

Ezra goes crazy over Uncle Gabe! He LOVES to wrestle with Gabe!

And we love to take the silly pictures together! It doesn't take much for this kid to become silly! I love him and the rest of my "new" family! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Reeds! We are both resting up today because we are taking a bunch of middle school and high school kids bowling tonight until 1 a.m. to kick off the New Year! I hope Gabe and I can make it!

Christmastime is here....

I cannot believe it. With only a couple days until I am on my Christmas break, we have had two days (Wednesday and Thursday) cancelled due to ice on the road! I had all of these wonderful activities to do with my fifth graders. The weathermen are calling for a big ice storm in central Indiana tonight, so we will see if I go to school tomorrow. And we were supposed to make gingerbread houses too....

We have not updated lately, and that has been my fault! It has taken me so long to get the pictures off my camera and on to our computer. This is a quick look at some 'holiday happenings' at our home. We both LOVE this time of year and have had so much fun being married for the first time during the holidays!

Joe, Natalie, Ezra and Keziah came home from Africa on Thanksgiving! It was so awesome to spend time with them. Keziah is so beautiful!

Ezra loves his time with Grandpa!

Gabe and I are in the car going to cut down our first Christmas tree together! We were so excited to start our own traditions!


We found our beauty of a tree! A 5'2" Douglas pine....we searched for awhile for just the right one!

Happy and in love....








They had a cute sleigh out front of the tree farm and the lady inside insisted we take a picture together, being our first Christmas together and all. I love this one.


I forgot to take pictures while we decorated the tree, but here is the finished project! We made homemade pizza (thanks Elise for the dough recipe!) and rearranged our whole living room to show off the tree. It smelled so great.



My sweet friend, Marcia, and I planned a holiday party for all of our friends from the Bridge last weekend! We had everyone come over to our house to have dinner together! My aunt and uncle gave us their kitchen table this fall and I finally was able to put in the four leaves to make it seat twelve people! I didn't get lots of pictures from the night, but here are a few before our friends ate their wonderful dinner!



We want to make this holiday party a tradition for our friends. There were about 15 of us this year.....I wonder how many more we could have next year!

Phil and Kylee.....beautiful friends inside and out. We love them!
Chris and Rachel......they are going to be parents soon and adopt four children into their home!

David and Marisha......just as sweet as their amazing homemade Alabama ice tea! :)

I feel better now that I have updated the blog world....or maybe just a couple friends on the Christmas happenings in our life. There is much to come and much to celebrate. Joy to the world!

Embracing Truth

So I've been on a kick with some worship music lately. One of my favorite things to do in my car alone is to turn on Shane and Shane and just sing it out! Don't laugh, you do the same when you're alone! But there is a song that gets me every time. It talks about how the devil is whispering in our ear that we are cursed and the penalty for our sin is death. How true. It's so weird to know that the devil is right! But the ending is cool because they say how he's forgotten one thing...one very important thing, "JESUS SAVES"

This got me thinking and I've been thinking about this for a few days now. Normally I write while things are burning in my heart and I just need to get it out. But instead, I've been spending time seeking in my own heart what I believe, what I feel like God is trying to teach me. What I have come to realize is that we miss it. I have friends of mine that like to get into theological debates all the time and convince each other their way is the right way. There is nothing wrong with discussing theology, I believe it stretches your understanding and it's a good thing. But when we get into the liturgical stuff of today's church, there is a huge disconnect between God and the church that He came to save. We are his bridegroom and we let that slip past us too many times.

What am I getting at? I don't care how you take communion, how you pray, how you worship, how you are wired spiritually. I care about you understanding the relationship we have with Jesus Christ. He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Period. That's it. It's about a relationship with Him. We won't always get it perfect, we'll make mistakes along the way. But do we ever look at the relationship He offers us? We get too wrapped up in the details of things and trying to always be right. Instead, we just need to be, to exist, to be in love, in relationship with our Heavenly Father.

If we pause for just a minute and really look at the love of God in our lives...what will that do to you? It wrecks me today. I'm in my office right now listening to a song called "How He loves us" and I can feel that burn in my eyes because it messes me up. I know how much I love my wife and to know I want nothing more than to be near her, to be close to her and to never see her hurt. When I even imagine it, it hurts me. To know that God loves me so much more than that. I pray I never lose sight of what He has done for me. We are in a relationship - do you treat it that way? Or do you treat it like a business, doing what you know needs done so you can call yourself a Christian for the day?

When you encounter the love of God - you should never be the same. Embrace Him, Embrace the Truth. Embrace it and know His love for you.