December 2005

It's amazing how fast time is flying! In fact, tomorrow we leave for our Alabama Xmas. It's hard to believe that another year is almost gone!

In a previous post there was a pic of the house. But Kim later told me she liked another better. So, I'm including it this time.

This past Sunday the kids had a devo at church with a guest appearance from the Big Guy! (I'm not sure what Kyle was doing/thinking!

For the first time ever our house has Christmas lights! Molly and I put them up one coooold Saturday. We laughed the entire time; mostly at our complete lack of a clue about what we were doing!!! :-) We warmed up with a hot cup of tea afterward.

This week 3 guys from church and I went deer hunting in Boyd County, Ky which is up near Ohio. (pronounced: long O-something caught in your throat-hold the I-long O) The first day it snowed on us all day and the second morning it was 13 but later turned into a not-a-cloud-in-the-sky beautiful day. But the deer were smarter than we were and stayed somewhere warm!

This past Sunday we had our Holiday Open House and about 75 came and mingled. We all had a great time. To add to the holiday spirit, there were snow flurries and several saw deer on the way up the mountain.

I hope everyone has a merry Christmas and that no one has a Xmas. If you do have a Xmas I hope it's more like Porky Pig's version and not Elvis'! :-)

Special announcement!!!

Last night (Nov. 30) Molly was baptized!!! It was a very happy and emotional night for us.

I've included 3 of the pictures for you to see and at the end is a piece I wrote this morning. I originally intended it for the bulletin but it became kinda personal (translation - it might embarrass Molly!) so I'm only sharing it with our family and friends.

THE DAY MY DAUGHTER BECAME MY SISTER

For years I trusted that the day would come. Even before her birth, as with all our children, we prayed for Molly’s spiritual well being. I had hoped the day would come that Molly would become a Christian by being baptized for the forgiveness of her sins. That day came on the last day of November, 2005 when I had the honor and privilege of seeing my daughter become my sister! What took me by surprise was the flood of emotions! She was baptized in water and I was baptized in emotions!

The day my daughter became my sister I was reminded how quickly time goes by. It seems, not like yesterday, but not long ago either, that I stood in D.W. McMillan hospital and held Molly for the first time. I was amazed at the amount of pride and joy that I felt. I had held many babies before but never my baby! That feeling was surpassed last night as our “baby” made the very mature decision to give her life to God. And as I was being forced to see how quickly time is moving, it hit me – she is half way to 23! That can’t be true...but it is! The moldable days are moving rapidly and I must use them wisely.

The day my daughter became my sister I was reminded that Molly is on loan to us. I am proud to say that she is my daughter but more accurately she has simply been entrusted to her mother and I. “Children are a gift from God” [Psa. 127:3] and we are stewards. The fact that I am accountable for what I do with this precious soul reminds me how serious this business is. I must provide the right example, give the proper direction, and instill Godly values in this young lady who has been loaned to me. If a friend loaned me their car I would be careful to not let so much as a scratch cross it’s surface. How much more care should I give God’s child?!

The day my daughter became my sister I was reminded how much joy faithful children bring their parents! Could there be any greater joy?! I believe that Christian parents would rather have faithful children than all the “stuff” the world has! All day 3 John 4 kept rolling around in my head. “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.” We have a looooong way to go but I am more resolved than ever to do what it takes to get to Heaven and take my children with me!

I have baptized quite a few people over the years but never such with such emotion. Why wasn’t I even able to make the announcement without getting choked up and having to stop several times? Maybe this is why. That’s a lot to digest! The how’s and why’s aside, the day my daughter became my sister was one of the best days yet!


Keith Kasarjian