7 quick takes Friday.......

1. My pastor told this incredible story Sunday and I thought that I would share it with everyone....Hope it makes you think about the gift that Jesus is to us.

A young husband loved is his new wife very much. They had not been married for long when she shared with him a desire of her heart...When her grandmother died a few years back she was supposed to have received a special ring from her grandmother but it could never be found. It turns out that her grandmother's father fought in World War I and right before he was killed in battle he sent her grandmother a beautiful diamond ring. Her grandmother cherished this ring her whole life and always promised it to her beloved granddaughter. But when the grandmother died, the whole house was searched as family when through all the belongings...the ring was never found.

This husband listened to his young wife's story and decided to go on a quest to find this ring for his wife. After much investigating and interviewing, he found out that a distant cousin had taken the ring from the house during the funeral. He explained the importance of this ring to the cousin, but she was unwilling to give it to him. She made him purchase it from her for an exorbitant price. The husband was sad...He had anticipated giving it to his wife for Christmas, but he would have to save money for a long time.

Several years went by. The husband saved money and finally had enough to buy the ring for his wife. He went and got it....He put it in a box and wrapped it. He put it under the Christmas tree and waited for his wife to open this ring...He knew that this would be the best gift he would ever give to her...

Well, if you haven't guessed by now, here is the point of the story.......God felt the same way this young husband did the night that he gave us Jesus. He was giving us the greatest gift ever, and even though later there would be suffering and His Son would take on the sins of the world, God still felt so much love and anticipation as He gave us this most wonderful and saving gift. This story really made me think about the birth of Jesus and God's gift to us this Christmas....I am so loved by GOD! So loved that He would give me the most precious gift of my life......

2. We are actually having having Christmas with my family tomorrow!! AAAHHHHH! How did this sneak up on me so fast....So much to do before we travel this weekend...Hope I can get it all done!

3. I am thankful for my best friend today. Yes, Beck, I mean you. Her family is so sick and I just want them to all get better for Christmas.....Who wants sick kids for Christmas? I don't ever remember being sick on Christmas.....Get better soon my sweet friend!

4. I noticed that Jen at http://craftbugjen.blogspot.com/ asked what everybody's favorite Christmas song was! Wow! I had to think about this one for a while......But I think that it is "Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel"....at least that it is my favorite hymn. I really love it when Bing Crosby sings "The Christmas Song" too....

5. Jen at http://conversiondiary.com/, the one who hosts all these great quick takes, wrote in her blog today that she was scared of carolers coming. I just had to laugh at this because I remembered back when I was in college and Christmas carolers came to our apartment. It was about zero degrees outside and we were standing there with the door open with these silly grins on our faces while they sang, and sang, and sang.....We didn't think that they would ever leave!

6. OK, I am NOT a Starbucks junkie and I do not go there very often, but I just have to share this one little tidbit. I got a White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha there this morning, and seriously people, it tastes like Christmas in a cup. Yummy.

7. I hope that all of you bloggers out there have a really, really wonderful Christmas!