off to washington dc

We fly out this evening to spend a couple weeks with Matt's family in DC for Christmas. We haven't seen them all since last Christmas so we're all pretty excited to get together and be Hogans. On another note, this will be my first time flying Southwest. I'd say that I've traveled quite a bit more than the average person in my lifetime and yet I've never flown Southwest. We were pretty psyched to get tickets roundtrip & non-stop at Christmas time for $175. Quite a change considering I was paying almost $400 this summer to fly from Iowa to Nashville (what a hot and in demand route!) So for now, since I'm still not completely packed and we leave in 4 hours, here are photos of Matt's dad & brother bungie jumping in New Zealand in November. David studied abroad there and Jim went to visit him in Middle Earth. Can't wait to hear all about the Hobbits!

may it be as you have said.

Christmas is commercialized. I don't think many people will argue that. What I didn't realize was just how much the story of Jesus' birth has been commercialized. We assume we know what happened from seeing the manger scenes and Nativity plays. We assume that there were 3 wisemen that showed up the night Jesus was born after a conversation between Mary & Joseph and the inn keeper at some sort of primitive motel. We assume that an angel with pretty white wings and a smiling cuddly face appeared.

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As we are going through the real Christmas story and reading what ACTUALLY happened around the time of Jesus' birth I am learning that I have taken what the world told me without question and never truly taken the time to get to know this servant that I call my Savior.

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Seriously, actually READ the Christmas story. And not just the few sentences about laying Him in a manger. There is so much that surrounds the story and affects its outcome. Until this week I never really considered the foretelling and birth of John the Baptist as having anything to do with Christmas until I actually read it and considered what it had to say about the birth of Jesus.

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If anyone is interested I have a word document with all of the gospel accounts of Jesus' birth put into chronological order so you don't have to flip back and forth to get the whole story.

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We read Luke 1:5-2:40 the other night. As we read through we discussed some things that really opened my heart to a deeper understanding of what I worship. I'm including them here if anyone is interested in delving deeper into the story.

*What do you picture angels to look like? If you picture them like the majority of society does with the pretty white wings and sweet little face why do the angels almost always end up telling people "Do not be afraid" when they are upon them? The bible says that no man can look on the face of God and live. You have to wonder what a being would look like and how they would radiate having spent all their time in the presence of God and if they put on the armor of God to fight spiritual battles with demons I somehow feel like we should be putting G.I. Joes in our nativity scenes instead of the little cuddly haloed butterflies everyone has come to love.

*How did Zacharias respond to the angel when he was told Elizabeth would bear a child? Why was he made mute?

*Contrast this with how Mary responded to the angel when told she would bear the Son of God.

*What is the symbolic importance of Jesus being placed in a manger and why it was one of the few details mentioned in the minutes surrounding his birth.

*What is the significance of John & Jesus' names? In a culture where the firstborn son was always given his father's name or a close relatives name to pass on the family name (this was a much bigger deal at that time then it is now), going against the culture and following God's commands showed the utmost submission to His will. We also discussed that Jesus in that time was probably pronounced Joshua and was not an unusual name for the time and further demonstrated his coming to earth as a lowly servant.

*When was Jesus cognisant of being God? This one really has no answer but we discussed trying to wrap our heads around the concept of a child having no sin and when Jesus went from being a sinless baby/child/man to God incarnate. This ties into the concept of God coming to earth as a lowly servant and truly experiencing life while still remaining God.

what a snowstorm looks like in tennessee

Apparently when our world looks like this it means no school in Tennessee! We went to our bible study tonight and we were the only couple that showed up because no one wanted to go out in such treacherous weather! The other couple at our bible study said the grocery store was packed yesterday in anticipation :)

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It snowed tonight from about 5 pm until maybe 7 or so and the streets are pretty much just slushy but according to the news it looks like every county in middle Tennessee has already closed schools. Time to go make a microscopic snowman!

i love my family

Some more photos from the Beckman Hogan family Thanksgiving in our new place!

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We still have a little bit to do as far as decorating but I'll get those photos up once we actually get it all finished (aqua dining room and actually making paintings out of those canvases above the couch are our next projects...and of course Matt's neverending search for the PERFECT color lime green for our bedroom curtains, to give you an idea we're on our 3rd set and they still aren't just right to him, sigh) Michael & Aubrey making peanut butter cheesecake pie, yum!
Momma & Poppa putting the turkey in!

Love the husband.

Alyssa opening the Wii, it looks like Christmas!

The feast!

Johnathan attempting some football?

Aubrey (Michael's girlfriend) & my favorite sister Alyssa :)

Mr. & Mrs. Hogan's Official Christmas photo. Nice huh? There were ALOT of people taking their family photos like this in front of this tree at the Opryland in Nashville. So of course Matt had to drag us up there to make fun of everyone :)

We went to see the Christmas lights at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville. It was like nothing I've ever seen. This hotel is massive (I think they said 17 acres?) and every bit we saw was covered in lights and Christmas decorations.

From left to right: Matt, me, Michael, Johnathan, Aubrey, Alyssa & Dad (Mom was taking the photo as usual)

Matt & Michael playing Wii Boxing...it was quite funny.

a buggy?

I'm learning alot about Southern culture as I become immersed in living amongst all this Southern charm. Today in our church small group we were discussing how our leaders had gone to Wal-Mart with their youth group to buy some gifts for a family in need. They were talking about the experience of all the kids "running around to their section of the store, screaming when they found the things on their list, pushing each other around in the buggies, yada yada yada....."

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I stop them mid story, laughing and completely confused, "WHAT is a buggy?" (I'm thinking...I don't think they have Amish modes of transportation in Wal-Mart, but hey this IS the south)

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The rest of the small group looks at me as if they are thinking "duh, who doesn't know what a buggy is?"...So, after a bit of translation, I am told that a buggy is a shopping cart. And that, in fact, a buggy is what they call the contraption you put your items in when shopping in Tennessee.

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Who would have known :)

the matchless wonder of all that He is.

i just finished reading "i am not but i know I AM" by louie giglio, founder of Passion. this is my favorite passage:

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And how would we know when we have slipped back into the story of us?

We know when we see these telling signs.

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When I live like I'm privileged. I have lost the plot. In other words, when I start acting like I deserve a certain outcome or a higher standard of life, I have failed to strike the fatal blow to self and am living like I actually have rights in this world apart from God.

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When I am demanding, I have lost the plot, insisting that God and others meet my needs on the timetable that I see fit.

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When I crumble under the pressure, I have lost the plot, declaring that the outcome of life rests sqaurely on my shoulders, not His.

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When I start protecting, I have lost the plot, marking turf as though it were actually mine and forgetting that everything I have comes from above.

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When I crave the spotlight for myself, I have lost the plot, losing sight of the story line and the one true Star.

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And every time I do it I waste one of life's fleeting chances to make my life truly count by amplifying Him.

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When I fail to celebrate the successes of others who are living for His fame, I have lost the plot, thinking that possibly we are on different teams when we actually share supporting roles in the same story.

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When I dwell on feelings of being unloved, unnoticed, or insignificant, I have lost the plot, abandoning the miracle of knowing God on a first-name basis.

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All of these privileged, demanding, arrogant, frazzled, turf-protecting, glory-stealing, self-loathing moments are nothing more than a clarion call alerting us to the fact that it's time to die again, reminders that the life of smallness requires a vigilant watch and a constant willingness to strike the fatal blow in the heart of me.

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But to die to self is to gain on an unfathomable scale-- a daily funeral that is nothing more than the doorway to a life filled with the matchless wonder of all that He is.

christmas movies!

There is not much I love better than Christmas and with that I really love watching Christmas movies...So I found www.christmasmovies.us and found all sorts of good suggestions for movies to watch this holiday season while I work away at the computer. Some of these I've seen and some I haven't so I want to know from all of you, what should I watch? What's your favorite Christmas movie(s)? It can be cartoon, classic, comedy, and definitely doesn't have to be from my list below, whatever! Leave me a comment because I need some good suggestions.

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Some of my favorites...

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (duh!)

Elf (I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!)

Little Women (not completely a Christmas movie but one of my favorite movies of all time and has a winter theme)

Santa Clause The Movie (I watched this one ALOT when I was little so it has a special place in my heart)

The Santa Clause (Again, a childhood favorite but I haven't seen the 2nd or 3rd)

Home Alone (just thinking about this I really want to watch it!)

Jingle All the Way (Turbo Man Doll! My sister and brothers have to remember this one) :)

turkey week: the point & shoot version

my family came down to nashville last week to spend thanksgiving with us. we had a great time and i really enjoyed just having uninterupted time to spend with them which we don't get very often. we took alot of better pictures with the "real" camera but i'll post those later this week. for now, enjoy these point & shoot shots. since we have a 1 bedroom apartment they stayed at the embassy suites and we all used the hot tub and pool as much as possible. johnathan massaging matt's head?
mom wouldn't let aubrey (michael's girlfriend) and michael pass up a photo in front of the christmas balls!

then we all decided to go to the shooting range, a real southern activity...this was an experience and the boys got aubrey and i to shoot a machine gun!

my dad likes to brag about his skills

johnathan went a little nuts with the machine gun

that place seriously freaked me out. but atleast i can...kill someone with a machine gun now if i ever needed to?

johnathan posing in...victoria's secret.