Sermons Up and Running

I am very excited to be announcing that we now have the ability to record Andrew's sermons each week. This week we have today's (December 28, 2008) sermon, "Hidden in Plain Sight" from Luke 11:29-36. Please forgive us that the beginning Scripture reading was partially cut off, however the entire sermon is available.

Keep checking back each Sunday or Monday to be able to listen to Andrew's sermons weekly.

To LISTEN please scroll down on this blog and you will find our Sermon Player, or click on the following link and choose a sermon.

Once you are listening to your selected sermon you can also click on "PDF" and with a number of the sermons, outlines are included.

http://sermon.net/sermons-Rev_Andrew_WG_Matthews-15474.html#

Christmas Day is FINALLY Here!!!

This is what we all woke up to on Christmas morning (plus a beautiful lit fire)!
Gaius was gob-smacked when he came out of his bed to find that Santa had eaten his cookies and drunk the milk he put out, and that there was nothing but an apple core left from the reindeer's apple! The boys where thrilled to see that their stockings were full of goodies!
After breakfast we opened our stockings.
They had so much fun!
And enjoyed the goodies as well.
We did not get through too many gifts before Gideon needed a nap. After his nap we opened up a few more gifts before we had to stop and Mommy had to get very busy with cooking for the 10 people we had over for Christmas lunch. The kids enjoyed playing with their new gifts and reading their new books. This is what our Christmas tree looked like at about 5pm after the Williamson's left.
The Williamson family came over for Christmas lunch, they are 5 of the sweetest kiddos and their lovely grandma. We had so much fun! After they left at about 5pm I asked Gaius what his favorite part of Christmas was. He said, "The boys." They have two sweet boys who played with Gaius tons. We ate a huge turkey meal, then opened up presents(I had got each person, including Grannie, four gifts so we went around youngest to oldest and each opened one gift at a time - it was a lot of fun!), ate dessert and played together!

After the Williamson's went home we cleaned up a bit then started opening presents again. By the time the kids were ready to collapse into bed we had still not finished opening all the gifts so we finished up on Boxing day morning.

T'was the Night Before Christmas

After everyone left from our Christmas Eve party Gaius put out his M&M and Peanuts cookies, an apple for the reindeer and a nice glass of milk, then tootled off to bed and fell asleep with sweet dreams. Ha!ha!ha! just kidding - well he did put out his cookies, apple and milk but then he fought sleep with every ounce of strength in his body. The Lord truly blessed us this year and not just with gifts under our tree, though needless to say there were a lot of gifts.

Shhhh! Santa came, Santa came, look at our stockings he filled, shhhshshhh don't wake Gaius and Gideon - morning will come soon enough.

Christmas Eve

In our family (and when I say our family I actually mean my Ferguson family from whom the Matthews family unabashedly steals traditions), we have really great Christmas traditions. One of these is that on Christmas Eve we invite friends over to have yummy treats and read the Christmas story, and then each person gets to open up ONE present - as a bit of a pre-Christmas Day taste of Christmas. Andrew read the Christmas story. "Auntie" Joanie and "Uncle" Angus, the Bird family and the Kuzma family were here for Christmas Eve.

I could not believe it but the children (including my two for the most part) sat still and listened. Perhaps the fact that I said to them, "for all the kiddies that sit quietly and listen there will be a Christmas present" may have had something to do with it!

I had made a ridiculous amount of food--this reality will continue through Christmas Day and Boxing Day. I have a problem with going overboard!

We had lovely "mood" lighting and everyone enjoyed opening up their gift (I had bought gifts for everyone there) Actually, the kids got to open three presents so they really scored this year.

For the most part the kids played beautifully together--though as the night turned into nearly the wee hours of the morning they were very ready to put there cookies and milk out for Santa. Alissa was sharing her lollypop with Gideon. It was so cute - who cares about germs when your amongst friends, hay!

The Assassination of Our Christmas Tree!

Our poor assassinated Christmas tree looks like it has been sitting outside for a year when really it has been only a few days.

Over a week before Christmas Andrew said to me, "I think our Christmas tree is dead!" Well, it was not just dead it was "really" dead! Every green needle on each branch was no longer attached and if you touched a branch all the needles would fall to the ground. We had to take it out as it was a fire risk. So a week before Christmas we were taking the Christmas presents out from under the tree, the decorations and lights off, and wrapping it up with a sheet so as to catch some of the needles. It was the strangest feeling to take down a Christmas tree before Christmas. When we got the tree out of its water we realized that the water smelt rancid and there was fungus and mold growing in the water. Upon closer inspection I found a clementine (little orange) in the water. It had exploded open and was filled with all sorts of living organisms.

Our tree was assassinated by clementine!

One of our children--though we cannot prove which one--put a clementine orange in the Christmas tree water and KILLED our perfectly beautiful Christmas tree!

We had no choice but to go into town to get another one as we are having people over for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. When we got into town there were no cheap trees left - the only trees left were the huge expensive ones.

Andrew Wylie to the rescue!! Andrew cut us a perfect little tree from the west coast, for FREE!!! He saved us 25-30 pounds. If you saw my grocery bill for all the Christmas events we are having at our house you would fully understand why 30 pounds is very valuable in our family. Thank you Andrew!

Our Second Christmas Tree this year---it is a beautiful one!

Dad at Bed Time

I thought this was the cutest scene and had to take a photo so I could remember this moment in my life for ever! Andrew is reading bedtime stories to the kids. Gaius climbed into Gideon's bed to take part in the reading of Gideon's bedtime story. Gaius goes to bed a bit(some times a lot) later.

Christmas Parties

Christmas party at Toddlers in at the Free Church in Muir of Ord. We really like this Toddlers and it is much closer to home then the other one we really like, which is in Dingwall.

Kirkhill Toddler group's Christmas party.

Gaius walked up to the scariest looking Santa we have ever seen and got his present.

Gideon was terrified of him! So were we! But he had fun.

Gaius had fun with all the balloons.

They ate yummy snacks.

Kirkhill kids' school had their Christmas program at the local Church of Scotland. Lots of the kids (10 or so) from this school come to our Sunday School program and we just love them all. We had a lot of fun watching them all sing.

The kids singing.

Mommy and Gaius had fun watching too!

Dad and Gideon watching the kids.

ASDA

ASDA is what Wal-mart calls itself in the U.K. It is not quite as good as Wal-mart back home but it is by far the cheapest shop that I have been to in Scotland.

Andrew and I decided on a day when Andrew has been in the house a bit to much and had cabin fever (he works from our tiny little cottage and it does get a bit much at times), he decided to take us west in hopes of first finding sledding, and secondly taking his wife to ASDA to shop!!!

We had no success in finding sledding but we had success in finding ASDA. I think we spent about 2-3 hours there and it was so much fun!!!

Andrew or Gideon??? Who Can Tell?

Andrew's mum recently sent us this photo of Andrew at 12 months(photo on the left). Most people think Gideon looks like me and I think this is because he has my hair for sure. However, here is prof that he is "his father's son!"

The Future

Our family's "Student Visa" runs out in a year's time. This means that it is time for us to be praying and seeking out were the Lord is leading us in the coming year. We need your fervent prayers as we seek the Lord's guidance.

Whenever we meet people they tend to ask us the same question, "How long are you here for?" Well, it is becoming very real to us that the time is quickly approaching when we will need to be in different circumstances.

Andrew and I were talking about churches who are seeking ministers in a general way. He said something simple yet profound, "When a Church seeks a minister it is similar to a woman being courted by a suitor(suitors being ministers)." This took me back and was an explanation for a number of thoughts I have been having toward the future. I believe it is much more difficult for a minster's wife than for the minsters themselves when they embark upon seeking a specific church. You see, women are designed to be sought after and not quite as naturally keen on seeking after.....this brings me back to Andrew and my courting days. Andrew was so wonderful! I never had to guess how he felt about me and I always felt confident that I knew he desired me and only me and I was also always clear as to where the relationship was headed...This is not the case for women when their husbands seek a church. For that matter it is the opposite. So often they are called upon to wait in great insecurity and perhaps even feel the pain of rejection multiple times without ever understanding why they were rejected. No matter how many churches love you and are interested in you it is still difficult for pastors wives(and pastors also) to endure this process. Men's natural hard drives are designed for such events much more than we women.

Perhaps the Lord will call Andrew and me to a church full time in the coming year - perhaps it will be in Scotland or back in the USA, or for that matter back in Australia. We do not know and we wait patiently (well, most of the time) to hear what the Lord has in store for us. Please remember me as we embark upon this next journey. Oh, Andrew too but mostly me for I am not looking forward to the process as it is very difficult and perhaps even painful. Pray that the Lord will grant me a "man-like" attitude toward churches, like a man would feel about seeking after a women. Pray that the Lord would prepare a way ahead of us with a clear path.

The Advent Wreath

Yesterday in Time Out (City Church of Scotland mothers' morning out - baby sitting for kids and fun crafty things for moms) we made Christmas Advent Wreaths. Thank goodness I sat next to my friend Margie, who in retrospect deserves most of the credit for the fact that my wreath looks so good---if I must say so myself:) I have never done anything like this before, however I really enjoyed it. Perhaps I enjoyed the conversation and laughter a bit more than sticking leaves and branches in a foam container, but nevertheless I had a lot of fun. I would highly recommend making one if you have not yet!

My excitement for using it is far greater than the excitement I had in the lead up to making it. If I have not mentioned it before I absolutely love almost everything about Christmas!!! Advent and all that goes with it is such a wonderful way to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Jesus' birth. I can't wait to light the first (and second--we are behind a week) candles and read the passages that go with it!!!

My Advent Wreath is not perfect because I am using the wrong coloured candles--the red candles should actually be rose(1) and purple(3) representing penitence and royalty, two important Advent themes. The Advent wreath was likely first used in the Middle Ages. The design was borrowed from the customs of pre-Christian (primarily Germanic and Scandinavian) peoples. The Advent Wreath is a circular evergreen wreath with four or five candles, three purple, one rose, and (if you use the five-candle model), one white one for Christmas Day. If used, the white candle is placed in the center. The candles symbolize the light of Christ coming into the world. The evergreen symbolizes renewal in Christ, the kind of renewal hoped for by those before Christ's first coming, and the ultimate renewal we long for in Christ's second coming. The circular shape symbolizes the completeness of God.

Perhaps I will bore some of you more later with some themes and readings as the weeks progress toward Christmas DAY!!!! Only 21 days and counting!!!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

Andrew and I have a bit of a routine in the evenings. I go into bed and he follows shortly thereafter and sits up at the table in our bedroom for the night to do work. Last night as he walked into the room he opened the curtains enough for me to look out and see the snow falling to the ground. That moment was much more surreal than the rest of the night. Andrew stayed up to watch the Texans game(American football), which in Scotland requires him staying up till 1am when the game starts(it ends around 4am)! In the middle of the game Gaius wakes up quite disturbed saying his diaper hurts...later we realized it was his stomach, our first clue being projectile vomiting! Andrew woke me and I was up for a couple of hours, though he stayed up the entire duration of Gaius sick time.
I got up the next morning to find the ground blanketed in a white fluffy layer of snow. The first thing Gaius said to me when he woke up was, "I watch football with Daddy last night!" Praise the Lord that whatever it was that upset his stomach last night seems to have moved on.
This morning after a bit of a late start we put on our warm coats and played in the snow. It was so much fun!
The problem with Scotland is that these past two winters have not shown us much snow - just very dark, wet, gloomy and cold days. The First of December brought with it the first really great snow, so here's hoping for a snowy winter and not just a wet one!

Gideon was not thrilled about getting snow on his hands.

The dog loved the snow - he and Gaius got on the ground together and ate snow!

Michelin Man or Gideon? We may never know!

Can you see the brown speck in the middle of the field? Yes, that is Max the dog. It was really pretty to look at in person but the photo just does not due it justice.