...here comes santa claus...

so we saw santa today at the mall of millenia. he's the coolest santa in orlando, so we went to visit him on a weekday hoping to miss the crowd. and pretty much did. the girls looked incredibly cute- the photos don't do them justice. (i think it was the washed out green in the chair :)) after leaving the mall, we headed over to bass pro shop so that steve could spend some birthday money on a fishing reel. of course they had a santa there also. anna katherine asked me, "is he another santa? a different one? are there two santas?" i just looked at steve, repeated her questions to him, and we all kept walking. we didn't even answer her. and she didn't even press us or ask again. shocking that we escaped that discussion. whew!!
i'm so torn by the whole santa thing. obviously christmas is about the most important event in history- the birth of JESUS, our redeemer- not about a chubby old fellow delivering toys. we make sure the girls get that, and we make a concerted effort not to talk too much about santa. in fact, i've only resorted to bribing them once this season with the whole "he sees when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake" song. i'm ashamed of myself for that one, by the way, but most people i know bribe for at least a few months prior to christmas. so i figure i'm better than most on that scale... but no rationalizing....
my friend nikki tells her kids that santa is "an american cultural tradition." i think that's great. that way, when they find out the painful truth, she can honestly say she never lied. hmmmm. i'm thinking about adopting that description. i guess i can just repeat that line over and over when the girls ask various questions- "is santa real? he's a cultural tradition. are there two santas? i don't know about that- i just know he's a cultural tradition. is santa going to put coal in my stocking because i disobeyed? all i know is he's a cultural tradition."
i'll take any ideas and advice you have. until then, "he's a cultural tradition."

...a franciscan benediction...

stolen from my friend tammy's blog... (it was too amazing not to share)

"may God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.  may God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.  may God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.  and may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done."

...zechariah's song...

this can be found in luke chapter 1 verses 67-79. it moves me. 

"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, 

because he has come and has redeemed his people.

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David

(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),

salvation from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us-

to show mercy to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant,

the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,

and to enable us to serve him without fear

in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;

for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,

to give his people the knowledge of salvation

through the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our God,

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

to shine on those living in darkness

and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into a path of peace."

yes and amen.

...the deal...

big news in the hambrick household--- we're moving! it's official.  we are heading to georgia to church plant through Riverstone (our home church) at the beginning of june.  MANY emotions and thoughts about this entire transition and decision- so many that it's overwhelming to even process them or begin thinking about how to share them on this blog. i will say that on one hand, this change is very exciting.  steve will be able to work with tom tanner again, as well as other men he respects greatly.  it will also allow us to be near family, which will especially be good for the girls.  they have always lived at least 7 hours from extended family.  for me, this whole church plant thing is REALLY scary.  i've heard horror story after horror story about how incredibly difficult church planting is, and what a tremendous strain it can put on a marriage and a family. i do believe that the model we will be following at Riverstone will help with all of that, though. we will move there in june, begin building relationships with people from the community we'll be planting in, build up a core team to plant with us, and then begin meeting independently from Riverstone in 12+ months.  it won't be easy, but it will be good. we know we are being called to this, so we are being obedient.  i really do trust that god will bring provision in every way. i'm banking on it.

we told the wesley leadership team on tuesday night, and the rest of wesley yesterday.  we will truly miss wesley, and are incredibly sad about leaving.  wesley has become family for us, and the thought of leaving is a bit heavy.  we have some good friends in orlando, and it will be hard to move.  we've been dancing with jesus in one direction for 5 years (steve has been in college ministry for 10), and now he's changed directions on us.  we know the future will be fulfilling and fab, but steve and i will always look back on this season with much affection.

i would love for you to be praying for us.  more than that, we NEED you to be praying.  we have so much going on-- with trying to sell our house in one of the worst markets in the nation, deciding exactly where to move and plant, beginning the process of finding someone to fill steve's role at wesley, helping our girls deal with the impending move (anna katherine is already a bit distraught about it), and all of the mental wrestling that goes on with a huge life change like this.

so there it is.  the latest. thoughts?

i liked....

mike huckabee tonight.  he did a great job during the republican debate. he was incredibly witty and bright. he's cool and he's my choice. the end.

...rob bell and silliness...

so i went with most of the wesley staff to see rob bell this week at hard rock. earlier this summer when i saw that he was coming, i thought it would be an amazing surprise for the staff. so we bought the tickets. and THEN realized this event was on a tuesday night. for those of you who don't know, WESLEY is on tuesday nights- hence, not the best night for the entire staff to be off. SO steve stayed back (bummer) and ran the show at wesley. melody missed rob also because her dad is in the hospital. besides mel and steve, the rest of the staff went. and rob was REALLY good. i even had a lump in my throat at the end. and i wasn't the only one- even katie said she felt like crying but didn't know why. i guess rob does that to you.
i thought i would include a few pictures from the evening. one is me giving the arm pump for rob, another is showing sheer, dorky excitement outside of hard rock, another is with gina and katie (katie is trying to imitate my smile- doesn't she look like me??:)), and the last is of me and my new buddy rob.
i love fun, silly nights like this one.

...tragedy on so many fronts...

so why wouldn't today be fabulous? i mean, it's my birthday. and i'm ONLY 39 (yikes)... unfortunately, the girls had quite a hard day. (hence, steve and i had a hard day)
it started when we found out that centracare was giving free flu shots. we dropped our minivan (i know) off for an oil change and headed that way. anna katherine was in school, so sara was the unlucky recipient. i was getting one too. she was a bit clueless about what was about to happen, and the nurse warned me to hold her arms tightly. as soon as the needle went in, sara jerked her hand out of my grasp and yanked the needle right out of her arm. she was crying hysterically of course. then the nurse tells me that NONE of the medicine went in, and that she'll have to stick her again. yikes. so steve held her this time, and for the remainder of the day she was beyond distraught. crying that never really stopped, despite offers of candy, cake, ice cream, etc... and it was basically my fault. :(
then we get a call from tuffy letting us know that our brakes AND tires need replacing. fabulous. moving on...
anna katherine had her pre-k thanksgiving program tonight. she and her classmates were dressed as indians, and she looked quite adorable if i can say that. she did a fabulous job singing and doing all of the song motions UNTIL... everyone in the audience laughed at her. there was a time in the program when the director asked, "where are the turkeys?" (some kids were dressed as turkeys). anna katherine yells out, " over there!" and everyone in the audience starts laughing. and there must have been 300 people there. well, anna katherine was VERY aware that they were laughing at her, and she basically crumbled into a pile on the floor weeping for the remainder of the program. she was embarrassed. and we felt really sad for her. what makes this even a bigger deal- this is the first time she has actually willingly and excitedly performed with her class. last year she had terrible stage fright, and we had finally gotten past that. up until this point in the show, she was awesome. we're hoping she's not scarred for life. even as i type, steve is putting her to bed and trying to convince her that people weren't laughing at her.
maybe the sun will come out tomorrow?

...so you say it's your birthday...

today steve turned 34. i am grateful for his birth- and wish his mom was still alive so that i could thank her for raising an amazing man. we ate sushi for dinner (yum) and later partook in a piece of the famous hambrick family strawberry cake. (it's a secret recipe so don't even ask.) :) what could be better?

...a full fledged scream...

i think it's been a while since i've let out a full blown scream. that is until today. steve and i have been working around the house the past several days, cleaning various areas that have been untouched for a while. as i was cleaning up the back porch this afternoon, i picked up a dead plant (yes i have a black thumb- no secret there.) i walked through my house on the way to the garage to dump the poor dead plant into the trash can, when out from under the plant leapt a slimy green frog onto my arm. i was shocked and stunned, and end up throwing the plant into the air and letting out a blood curdling scream. i had no idea what had landed on my arm, i just knew it was wet and unwanted. he looks so cute and sweet in this photo, but that amphibian scared the daylights out of me today. anna katherine and sara had quite a time with this entire event, and are thrilled to finally have something to put in their bug catcher house. (i promise to make them release him tomorrow.... but he deserves a little punishment for torturing me, don't you think??)

...this makes me smile...

if you are a fan of "the office," you will love this video. these are clips of andy singing on various episodes. i couldn't help but post it. get ready to smile.. and come back as much as you need to for a good laugh. :)