View from the Prairie Box

I made an agreement with myself that I’d only buy regular coffee—and then spruce it up with Splenda and creamer and various flavors found in free shakers at coffee shops. I promptly forgot my agreement with myself and have enjoyed numerous lattes since.

But today’s drink, an Espresso Truffle (mmm), was completely legit and myself couldn’t get mad at me for this one. Hello, sweet gift card/birthday present. You provided guiltless caffeinated pleasure on a windy and cold December afternoon. Thank you, dear giver of aforementioned card. And thank you, Starbucks, for not carrying “rainbow” cookies, because then I didn’t have to share my present with my daughter. (Kidding, kidding. But not really.)

I am a poor representative for the Jesse Tree, but I’ll tell you what I know. The Jesse Tree is a way to count down to Christmas Day with your family, a method of accounting for the larger story that lead to the birth of God as a human baby. I’ve been reading New Way to Be Human by Charlie Peacock and, as result, have thought quite a bit about the larger Story that exists. In the author’s words:

It doesn’t matter whether I’m confused and unsure… a novice spiritual traveler, or someone with a heart full of certainties. If I’m serious about following Jesus as his student, I should know the Story he was sure of. Following means stepping into his controlling, explanatory Story.

Luke’s gospel tells the Story of Jesus and the two disciples on Emmaus Road. Luke 24:27 says, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Jesus told stories in the context of the larger Story he and his Jewish contemporaries already knew—The Book of Beginnings, the Law, the Prophets, the Wisdom Books, and Songs.

Jesus knew the Story he had stepped into. His follower Matthew knew too. Matthew started his gospel account with, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1). It’s an account of the genesis of Messiah Jesus, his beginnings, his origins. Matthew 1:17 says, “Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from Christ to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to Christ.”

Why begin with genealogy? Matthew’s message is: “Get this first. You won’t fully understand what I’m about to tell you unless you have the right starting place. If you really want to understand Jesus, you have to know the Story in which he’s participating (and is in fact the climax of). If you know this, you will know better how to participate, and you’ll be less likely to find yourself inside the wrong story or in an insufficient one.”

Peacock’s book had made quite an impact on me so far. It’s encouraging me to learn more about this family I’ve been adopted into (Romans 11:17) and to relish the rich history of God’s people. I like the Jesse Tree because it acknowledges, to quote Sally Lloyd-Jones’s excellent Jesus Storybook Bible, that “every story whispers his name.”

Full disclosure is called for here. The holidays do not generate crafty feelings within me, which means there is no way I would’ve created a Jesse Tree this year on my own. The other members of the Mom-to-Mom leadership team graciously undertook the HUGE project of creating 30 Jesse Trees for Zion, Grace and Redeemer moms this year. So this cool Jesse Tree banner was a gift—and I am grateful! We’ve enjoyed reading verses that correspond to little ornaments each day, then hanging the small symbols on the felt tree. If you want more info on Jesse Trees, I recommend Googling it.

Speak now or forever hold your peace. Or something like that.

If you’d like to have your name added to the roster in the right sidebar, you must sign up for the December Photo Project by midnight on December 8. You can join the project and sign up for it on the blog up until the last day, December 25, if you’d like. But I won’t add anymore names to the list of participants after tomorrow. FYI!

When real life and Kung Fu Panda play meet:

Jeremy: Do you need to go potty, Shifu?

Shifu-Livia: I might. But my kung-fu bladder’s not full.

Thirty-one years ago, and a few odd minutes, one amazing woman delivered her second child, a baby girl. She must’ve been completely exhausted as that baby weighed a whopping 8lb, 9oz. Thank you, mom, for going through all that pain and effort just to get me to this earth. Since I was your second child, I’m sure you knew that the delivery was just the beginning… You had many more years of pain and effort—and joy!—ahead of you. Now that I’m a mother, I know how much you sacrificed for me. I love you! You began a legacy, continued it in many ways, and for that I am thankful today, on my birthday.

My birthday is tomorrow, but yesterday I received a stellar present: Canon Rebel XS. It is so cool, so fabulous, a really awesome birthday gift from Jeremy. (Thank you, thank you, thank you!!) I’ll continue to use my Powershot S1 IS for brief outings with Livia and for shooting short movies. But oh my goodness, I’m already having loads of fun with the dSLR. I have a lot to learn about photography… and I’m certain the world will see it all in action here on the Prairie Box.

**About my Powershot, which didn’t really die but was only mostly dead (ah, what would we do without the Princess Bride? Anybody want a peanut?). While checking out cameras at a local shop, I was informed that Canon would repair my camera for free—no warranty needed. So I packed up my camera with a repair slip, paid a small fee for insurance coverage with USPS, and sent it off to see what happened. Within eight days, my camera was returned with a new optical something-or-other (see how much I have to learn) and a repaired lens. It also came back with a wonky zoom but at least I can use the camera again. Thank you, Canon!

Right around the time I became a mom, our church began a program for mothers. And boy, am I thankful. I love these women and I really enjoy our times together each month. It’s a joy to belong to this community of believers.

There are at least 109 of us celebrating the month of December by posting photos to our blogs. Isn’t that cool? I’m excited that so many of you are enjoying the DPP and taking advantage of a “project” that allows room for creativity and intentionality. Continue to surf through the blog list to the right and encourage one another to keep on snapping away and posting the results.

Speaking of that blogroll to the right… A huge thanks to my husband Jeremy for keeping everything running smoothly—without his help the DPP would be a much quieter, less organized affair in 2008. Also, what’s up with the letter A? Popular, isn’t it? We have a bevy of Angelas, a boatload of Jennys, a bunch of Jamies and quite a few Kristins and Loris, too. We are by and large a group dominated by estrogen, but the male participants are clearly holding their own.Stop by a new blog tonight and cheer someone on. Happy shooting, everyone!