Day 4

Christmas has come and gone. We had a great day. My wife and I were up until 2am or so Christmas eve and the kids were rousing us at 5am. We finally gave in to them close to 6am. The kids were very happy with what all they got. The main gifts for the kids were a GameboySP for our boy and a sewing machine for our daughter. They were both thrilled.

After the gift exchange, we headed out and went to see the Chronicles of Narnia. This was a great way to spend the afternoon with the family. The movie was better than I thought it would be. My kids were thoroughly pleased.

From the movie, we headed over to the kids' Godparents were they received even more stuff. That fmaily looks at our kids like grandkids and does an ample job of spoiling them on every occasion possible.

We ended the evening watching White Christmas. The whole family gathered around and watched one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time.

It is important to us that Jesus be proclaimed as the Reason of the Season. We even hang a stocking for Jesus every year that the kids can place gifst in. Usually the gifts are slips of paper that the kids write what they are giving God such as "a good attitude" or "obeying mom and dad".

The picture with this post is the Nativity scene from our house this year.

Day 3

So I am feeling much better thankfully. I am sitting here at nearly midnight with my wife as we wrap presents for the kids and other family members. I should say as my wife wraps. She is good at it and frankly I am not into it.

This weekend should be a blast. We are cooking a prime rib roast. Pumpkin swirl cheescake and a bunch of other great stuff. Perhaps I will post a pic of it later. On Christmas day we are going to see Chronicles of Narnia. I am looking for ward to the movie.

It is hard to believe that 2005 is almost over. I have said for several months now that I felt that doors were going to close and others open here at the end of the year. My wife and I are looking at doing some relatively radical things over the next few months. 2006 should be full of excitement that is for sure.

Day 2

Am at home sick as a dog. I finished watching the Band of Brothers series today and a Ihave to say that is one incredible series.

Christmas is rapidly approaching and I can hardly wait for it to be here and over. I am looking forward to time with the kids and my wife, but I am so not into Christmas this year it is shocking.

On a lighter note. I received Misty Edwards' new CD Always on His Mind in the mail yesterday. It is awesome. Many of the songs she played while we were at the International House of Prayer in October are on the CD. I stronlgy encourae any of you to go out and get it.

I am including a picture with this post as well. This is a picture of the Ft. Wainwright airstrip. I took this awhile ago, but it applies to my life right now. In a lot of ays I feel that life is doing a "touch -n- go" of sorts. Some parts of life are coming in for a landing and others are about to take off. One of the coolest parts is that my wife and I keep praying God's Will and believe that is exactly where we are.

Day One

This is the opening day of this blog. I named it By the Grace of God because that is my life in one phrase. Much of what has unfolded in the first 33 years of this man's life has been by the grace of God.

Over the next several months many chages are going to ccur in my life and the lives of my immediate family. Some willbe planned, others will not. One thing is certain. By the Grace of God it will all be fine in the end.

I encourage any reader here to look at two websites that I find a great blessing.

http://jasonupton.com
http://thenightwatch.com

God Bless you and Merry Christmas,