Christmas Miracle

Christmas is the time of year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, born in a manger so many years ago. We celebrate, not because Jesus was a baby, but because He willingly humbled Himself and came to earth to save us from our sins, by taking every single one of them on His perfect self.

Jesus' birth was filled with many miracles: a virgin birth; an angel announcing the birth and then a choir of angels telling the shepherds in the fields; a census at the right time to lead them to Bethlehem, as foretold;  Elizabeth and John knowing the significance, even in the womb; a special star leading wisemen from a faraway place; Joseph's dreams; plus, fulfillment of prophesies made hundreds of years before. 

Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

This Christmas, let's try to really think about the birth of Jesus as if we were there, seeing the miracles happening before us. How would we have responded? Would we have been like so many of the people of the day, not realizing the majesty of the babe in the swaddling clothes? Would we have come to worship with the wisemen or shepherds? Would we have prepared a room for Him or pushed Him out to the stable? The people of the day weren't prepared to welcome the King of Kings, Savior of the world, at His birth; but are we ready to welcome Him when He comes again? Let's take time to prepare Him room in our hearts this season.

God's Mercies

Today I'm thankful that every day God's mercies are new. Several mistakes happened today, due to my lack of forethought and planning, which could have been avoided. I'm glad that despite my failings, God is still the same God and shows us mercy. I'm thankful that He already knows everything about our circumstances before we tell Him. I'm praying for wisdom for the life that I live now. I'm so glad that God has it, and wants to share it with me.

Lamentations 3:22-23

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

Give Thanks

Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1

I have been especially enjoying the weather and beauty of fall this season. This is the first fall here at our new house and the neighbors in front of us have a big yard with huge trees that had bright orange leaves. It is so beautiful. It is amazing how different places have different types of beauty. God is so creative. When you think of all the places in the world and all the different landscapes with their own beauty it's incredible. Thank you, Lord, for all the beautiful colors and smells of your creation. Thank you that you are good and your love endures forever.... We serve an awesome God. No other "god" is like our God. He knows the stars by name and knows even the hair on our head x 6 billion+ people!!! We must be thankful. We take so much for granted, not even thinking about it. God really is so good.

Surprises in the Kitchen...

Yesterday I went out to the kitchen after changing Ian and found the refrigerator door open and a dozen eggs scrambled on the floor... Jabin was in the other room playing with crayons. He came into the kitchen and said "uh-oh" several times. I'm just happy that I cooked eggs the night before; otherwise there would have been 2 dozen eggs on the floor. :) 

Canning Day

So, yesterday I canned a big box of tomatoes and actually used the pressure canner and it came out! This was my first time to do it by myself, and I didn't even have to call my mom. Last year I tried to use the canner, but couldn't get the lid on right so I just used a hot water bath. I'm so happy. I want to can some more vegetables, but we'll see. Last week I made applesauce and canned that too. I got some apples for $.38/lb. at Walmart. Then I got some more the next week and so they were just sitting around, so I decided to can them. Here are some pictures of the finished products.

MAJOR Update

So, it has been quite awhile since I've posted.... Just to update everything, skipping ahead 9 months.... We moved into our new home in February. We are still in the process of getting everything together. We still haven't painted, so we haven't really decorated much at all. I tried to make some curtains, but my sewing machine messed up, so we have some make-shift ones on some windows, but we definitely need some work done around the house. We moved in to the Himelick's house and are actually buying it. It has a nice fenced in backyard which is very nice. Hopefully, we'll get to paint at least some of the rooms soon. I really want to get the bathroom redone. Its got quite a bit that needs done to it.

 Jabin just got moved into his new room in September, after sleeping in our room and sometimes in our bed. It was rather crowded with 4 people all sleeping in one room... 4??? Yes, that's right.... We found out I was pregnant right after moving in here, and I've already had a baby boy!!! Ian Keypeng Oki was born August 4, 2012 weighing 7 lbs. 7 oz. at 3:28 pm. Ian means "God is gracious." The story of his birth is actually kind of long, but to make a long story short, we had to go to the emergency room to have him. I was "rushed" to the delivery room, without even being properly entered into the system at the hospital. Labor was totally different from Jabin's birth. Much less painful and so much faster once everything was started. I'm so thankful for God grace to us in his birth. It was really amazing, and I didn't even know when I was really due. I thought I was due September 12th!!!! ... HAHA!!!  Ian's already 2 1/2 months old and 13 lbs. 8 oz. He's a big guy and so sweet. He smiles and laughs. Jabin loves him and gives him lots of kisses and tries to hold him too. :) Jabin, of course, is a great help. He runs around the house and loves to play ball and read books. Every time I sit down to feed Ian, Jabin comes with a couple books that he wants to have me read to him. It's so fun having 2 little babies to take care of. Ian sleeps very well at night, and during the day, too. They are both sleeping now, so I have this time to write. I would love to write on my blog more, but time is limited these days... :)

New Things in the Okie Household

We had a very nice Christmas, going up to Kokomo, the Friday before, to spend Christmas with my parents. We went to Beech Grove during the weekend of Christmas, then the next Friday we went back to Kokomo to celebrate my Grandma's birthday and Christmas with them and my aunt and uncle. It was nice. Jabin enjoyed trying to eat the paper and his new toys. He's getting into everything he can now. He goes into the bathroom and tries to eat Win's soap. Today, he went in and figured out how to get the diaper pail open and started unloaded the trash :( -not good. Hopefully, he won't remember how to do that. I've started feeding him some table foods. He likes cereal and toast. He hasn't tried a lot of things, but he's interested in them.

We are hoping to find out the details of our next big adventure on Friday. We are planning to move to a new house!!! YAY! It will be much bigger, with a room for Jabin to stay. I'm very excited about it. We only have about 13 days left til the end of the month, when we are hoping to move out. It will be nice to be in a bigger place.

We've been working a lot at the church lately. Monday, a bunch of guys layed down carpet in the sanctuary. It looks really nice. There are lots of improvements going on there. We had a work day this month and will have another one next month. I'm sure we'll be busy working on our new house too, so we're going to have a busy next couple of months. It will be interesting trying to get everything settled before Jabin's birthday. It will be good to have the extra space of the party though. That's enough new stuff for now, I'm so tired. Good night.