2 mysteries.

"Here are two mysteries

for the price of one--the plurality of persons within the unity of God,

and

the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus.

It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas,

that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie.

"The Word became flesh";

God became man;

the divine Son became a Jew;

the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby,

unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises,

needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk

like any other child.

And there was no illusion or deception in this:

the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality.

the more you think about it, the more staggering it gets.

Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is

this truth of the Incarnation."

[knowing God.] --j.i. packer

-j. shae

{I will find rest}

"God is God.

Because he is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience.

I will find rest

nowhere

but in His holy will

that is

u n s p e a k a b l y

beyond

my largest notions

of what

He

is up to."

[elisabeth elliot]

hope.

Hope can be such a precariously happy thing.

You never know when the curtain will be

pulled away and you'll see

what you were hoping in

for what it actually is, a total sham.

[unless]

My hope is firmly attached to the

One thing or Person

that will never prove to be less than I was hoping,

but in fact will always be better

than anything I could ever ask or think.

That is, the personhood of

Jesus Christ.

["Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think...to Him be glory" -eph. 3:20,21]

-j. shae

{11.29.09}

Tonight I came home from running errands and dropping my little brother off at basketball practice to find a house empty of people. Now for any of you that are from a big family, you know how rare this is. Apparently my family all went to my little sister's soccer game (we like sports in this family...can you tell?:) leaving me at home all.by.myself.tonight.

I was pretty excited. Not because I don't like being around my family, but because it is really nice to have alone time every now and then. So, what did I do? Well first, I posted a status about it, asking you all for ideas on how I should spend these few rare moments alone. After reading the little (very little) bit of feedback I got, I decided I was on my own when it came to my evening planning...so here's what I came up with:

• I turned on Christmas Music
• I lit all my new "Christmas scented candles" in my room
• I ate popcorn and hot chocolate for dinner. Very nutritional, I know.
• I wrapped Christmas presents.
• I did a load of laundry (ARE YOU READING THIS MOM?? I DID A LOAD OF LAUNDRY. Proof that I do work around here. So how cares that we all have rainbow colored socks now? At least they're clean:)
• I finished up the last bit of work on a client package.
• I got %67 of my packing done
• Packing for what, you ask? O my, did I forget to tell you that I AM GOING TO DENVER IN APPROXIMATELY 33 HOURS?!?!?
• Because I am. Yessir-ee Bob I am. And I think, I might just be excited about that. Let me check. O YES, I definitely am :) And I get to be there for 12 whole days. With my Krista BFF no less...and a host of other awesome friends :) And take pictures of awesome people. And meet awesome photog's. Yeah, this is one h.a.p.p.y girl right here :)
• And I have no idea why I am bullet pointing my trip plans when I am supposed to be telling you about what I did tonight....O well.
• I caught up on emails, well....kiiiinda caught up on emails. All the really urgent ones anyways :)
• I chatted with my bro, the one that I haven't seen in 102 days and the one that I GET TO SEE IN 17 DAYS. Yes, that one.

Aren't you proud of how productive I was? I am happy. And as a friend said when I told them everything I had accomplished tonight, "isn't it just the best feeling when you have had a really productive day and you can look back and feel good about it?" Yessir-ee Bob it is :)

And a lovely evening was had by all. . .

Much Love,
jessica shae

P.S. For anyone who was worrying, I didn't really turn all of our socks rainbow colored. Honest I didn't... :)

P.P.S. The picture at the top was taken last week at Thanksgiving dinner. Isn't my fam amazing looking?!? Except we are missing Ben, you know...the brother I haven't seen in 102 days, but I get to see in . . . yeah yeah, you know all about that already :)