the Solarek's Sweet Christmas 2011

It has been a wonderful celebration of Christmas this year. December started off beautifully! We went to see the play "Scroodge" Dec 1st. Our friend gave us wonderful seats up front and we had a blast. By the end Erin was playing James' i phone, and Conor was saying "this was way too scary for me. You should not have brought me here" :0) All in all, it really was a great night and I loved going as a family. Dec 2 brought the lighting of the Christmas tree in down town Roanoke. I felt like I was in a cartoon when the Mayor of Roanoke told Santa his number one wish for christmas was snow... we went down town with Elijah's family (one of conor's best friends) and then we came back to our house and built ginger bread houses - What a wonderful start to the holidays! Oh - I don't remember if I mentioned on here that our christmas tree fell down in the middle of the night and scared the life out of me?! The kids didnt hear a thing and james didnt even want to go down and check what the huge crash sound was??!! My tree sat naked for two days - it was naked while we had friends over to decorate the gingerbread houses... it bugged me but not enough to stress out. If you know me and james by now - it is our motto to enjoy life and not stress out about silly things like undecorated christmas trees.
A fun thing I like to do during the sundays of Decemebr is entertain the teen girl's sunday school classes (i did make sure the tree was re decorated for them!) It is special to have them into our home and hear from each one of them about their lives.
One of our teens organized a teddy drop off - the teddys would go to children who lost everything in a house fire or natural disaster. This was a wonderful thing for us to do with our children bc they have so much. It was special to collect some of their teddys and send them to children who really need them.
We went christmas carolling a few times which is always fun to see people smile at our small gesture. Singing at the old folks home was awesome and the macdonalds on 460 :)
James and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We went to Olive Garden, came home and watched our wedding with the children. It was precious. This kids thought we were the prince and princess... We (thank you Ashley and Kathy!)painted the basement and hung a world map, map of ireland and map of america - that was our gift to one another and we are delighted with how that room turned out! When we were in mexico the leaders talked about putting maps up in your home and teaching your children there is more to life than their neighborhood!

Now to the good stuff - Christmas Eve. We went to our friend's house and baked some cookies and they made a feast for us! I love being around people so for friends to have us over on christmas eve meant so much to me. We did leave earlier than expected bc our kids were whiny and we put them straight to bed when we came home! :) Christmas Eve we went to the Baptist Community Center to watch the children perform a play for us. James, along with the youth group and Smith family go to the BCC each wednesday so it was special for James to come and watch their play. When we arrived, James did not see (i did - ahem!) a concrete ditch between the road and the curb. He popped the tire good let me tell ya! Well, being the stress free people that we strive to be (it is a decision/choice people) we went in and enjoyed the play and said we would worry about it after. For those of you who know where the BCC is located you may be smiling! The Smith family gave many hours on christmas eve to help the children prepare for the play and helped serve the food and clean up. This family is a wonderful example to me and I love their heart for God and people! Mr Smith helped James after the play and God blessed us fix the car for 15 dollars. Being at the BCC was precious. The children did a great job sharing the message of Christ. Their parents came to watch them and I pray that someone came to Christ through their efforts and the Truth they spoke of.
We ended the night at i hop with more friends who ministered over at the resuce mission. I love all of these people and I love being around like minded believers. We are blessed. We came home, put the kids to bed and prepared the dinner for the next day.

Erin woke us up Christmas morning and she got to look at the goodies in her stocking. Then she woke Conor up saying "it's christmas conor!". He came in to our room with his stocking and dumped it out to see his treasure. We came down stairs, read luke 2 and prayed to God, thanking Him for His gift to us. Conor took this seriousally because he realizes what this day is really about. We skyped my family and they got to see the kids open their gifts. Conor got a remote control dinasour from our neighbor. Her boys were finished playing with it and she thought of us. How sweet of her! That was conor's favorite gift! They each got a new Bible, dress up clothes and a pillow pet. They had a lot of fun!
We got to go to church which was so special to me bc we do that in Ireland and I love it! The kids sat in with us and were far from angles but it was special for james and i to share this with our children. Conor was wearing a tie that sang jingle bells when you pressed the button... bad judgment on my part haha. Erin has learned that we will take her out if she says "i gotta go potty" so she uses that to her advantage ;0) life with a 2 and 4 year old - gotta love it! I really enjoyed singing with the kids and letting them be apart of the worship service in that way.
We had a feast of a christmas dinner and were joined by two sweet families. I felt blessed to the top of my soul being with these people. Our turkey looked (and tasted) so good and very pretty if i do say so myself! it was one of those turkeys that deserved a spot on the table for all to admire :) last years thanksgiving turkey tasted great but didnt earn a spot on the table. So where are my pictures? my camera is broke (note to self - dont let the children use the camera in the future)... sorry folks! James took some christmas pics with his phone so i will put them up soon. After dinner three familes visited friendship manor and sang christmas carols to the elderly. It. was. priceless.
You know my kids by now... far from little angels. All the children were marvelous but since this is my blog I will brag on conor and erin. Erin was as sweet as can be and sang all the words and the people loved watching her precious 2 year old self. Conor was a gentlman. He handed out lots of candy canes and made sure he gave them all big hugs. As a parent, I was soooo very proud of them and how kind they were. All of the children knew the candy canes were for the elderly and didnt moan about it. They loved singing and blessing others - so precious! At the end conor said we didnt tell them about Jesus and we didnt share the story of the candy cane. I told him we would do that next time and that we told them about Jesus through our songs. To say we were blessed would be an understatement. Then we went to our friends house and watched a movie while the kids played :) We have a lot of friends whose families are not in the area so our kids are like cousins. God always blesses!
We had a great christmas! I loved being at home and getting to celebrate the way James and I prefer.
Some blessings that happened for our family were 1) we recieved a christmas card with 100 dollar bill. We wanted to buy a cow from the compassion book to give to a neady family in Africa and God blessed us with that 100 dollar bill - He provided for us! :) 2) James recieved some gift cards to restuarants from some friends in the church. if you know james - he loves eating out (no wise cracks about my cooking) so that was God's gift to him!
3) we got some precious cards from people sharing how much they love us and how thankful they are for us. Being in the ministry, those cards always mean so much. Thank you! James got a plaque for his office from one of the guys he is mentoring with the sweetest note.
That was our christmas. Beautiful. Filled with Christ. Filled with family and friends. Thank you God for your gift of Jesus Christ and thank you for the gift of knowing you now and forever more. I love you!
I am just like my mother and i will go out this Christmas Season singing 'oh i wish it could be christmas every day!' :0)

Tuesday Morning Outreach

Today was the end of our first season of ladies' outreach. We went to the Mall to hand out candy and say thank you to the cashiers. I bought something in Old Navy and was not brave enough to hand the lady candy and a Bible tract. I was talking to her but was too nervous to do something out of the ordinary - I'm slow sometimes! I met my kids at the mall - their teacher was having them buy christmas presents for a child whose parents are in prision. What a great idea! (the angel trees by the train). I helped them shop for their gifts... I went into the dollar store to buy a big bag for the gifts and while I was there God made me brave. I was able to talk to the cashier about christmas and what his plans where. He said he will not get much time to shop because he is so busy working. I gave him some candy and a Bible tract, along with our christmas program invitation. I said you may not be able to come but maybe your children can. He said he was off sunday night and would like to bring his family to our church. I was delighted! I wont win any prizes for being the most out going christian in the mall today... but I am praying the little I was brave enough to do will be alot for the sake of the Gospel. Little is much when God is in it??
Be brave, friends and ask God how you can be a light in your ordinary activities.
Next season we are going to focus our efforts in three places. The first and fourth tuesdays will be spent at the Baptist Community Center. I will tell you all about that sometime. Our teens go there each wednesday and I am so very proud of them. The second tuesday will be spent at the rescue mission doing various ministries. Our church goes there tuesday nights so we love going and seeing the residents twice in the one day! The third tuesday will be spent at the Roanoke Child Development Center. We have gone there to read to the children and make a craft with them. Our time there was so very precious that we would like to invest into that ministry each month.
God has blessed us with alot of women who have a heart for reaching out. It has been an honor and a blessing to work alongside each of the ladies. May God bless you and if you would like to join us on tuesday mornings from 9 am to 11 am - let me know! We will be starting back Jan 10th :)

I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my Dreams...

Christmas is my mam's holiday. She LOVES Christmas. I know. Who doesn't? Last year I planned on going home for Christmas but Ireland had so much snow that my flight was cancelled for a week! Craziness! Needless to say I did not get to spend Christmas with my mam. This year James and I will spend Christmas in our home in Virginia. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year... It's a little sad for me too. I know so many who have burdens this time of the year. I feel for you. May we fellowship with Christ during HIS holiday. May we fellowship with each other and share each other's burdens.
Happy Monday, friends. If anyone from Ireland wants to suprise me for Christmas - come on over! :)

The happenings of November

What did November bring? Well, it brought our family car new tires. Then the very next day the transmission died while I was out with three teen girls with the under the bridge ministry. Made for a fun car ride! Anyways - it would have been easy to say goodbye to the dumb car if we hadnt payed 900 dollars the day before on the thing! We put a transmission in the car the week before Thanksgiving. The same week brought a hair cut to Erin (given by her four year old brother Conor) She brought the scissors to him and asked him to cut her hair... he said why not?! James had to take a trip to Georgia the same week, where someone backed into him and put a hole in the borrowed car he was driving. Friends of ours allowed us to borrow their car to visit James' family for Thanksgiving in Indy. Family gatherings are a sweet and precious time. James got to see his grandma on his mom's side and his grandma and grandpa on his dad's side. Special memories. We thought about cancelling our trip because of all the unexpected bills but we are very glad we got to visit with James' family.
We also got to visit people from our previous church and got to attend a Sunday service. It was a precious time! Hugging the older people brought a tear to my eye because some of their friends have passed away since we have been gone. What a blessing to hug Betty Hough, Aurand and Woods :)I was so proud of the teenagers and how much they have grown in the Lord. It was great to see David leading the music time and wonderful to hear of how well Ashley Bliss is doing and to hear of Brett's engagement. It was a shot in the arm to see teens as adults and know you had a small part in helping them be where they are today. We had a lovely visit with so many. We drove by our old house and it looked like she was away for the weekend. Yes, I would have knocked on the door and invited myself in :) you know that country song 'the house that built me'? i would sing that to her - ok, i wouldnt go that far but i would def knock on the door! :)
The week of thanksgiving brought special guests to our house. His Little Feet ministry had four of their orphan boys stay with us and two chaperones. Having them in my house kept me very thankful for all God has given me. In Christ I am very rich. In Christ, I am a part of the family of God. One of the chaperones is from Ethiopia and grew up in an orpahange. He told me he scribbled out the word 'complain' from his english dictionary. He said we have no reason to complain. So true!
I read the book 'Made to Crave' during the month of November. Very good book and it applies to all of us! Food may not be your issue but we all go to other things at times (most times) instead of crying out to God.
That was my November. It was a full month and it came with a few downs... but the thing I love about downs is the sweet fellowship with God. For some reason, downs help me focus on what it's all about.

Under the Bridge

We have had a few weeks of under the Bridge ministry since my last post. We have always been blessed by God as He uses us in this ministry. This past Sunday I told Rachel I felt led to go to Friendship Manor, which is a nursing home for the elderly. I told her I didnt feel comfortable going to the park today with out a man with us. To be honest, I was discouraged and tired. I believe God wants me to go out on Sundays to visit the homeless and I bleieve He wants more than me and two teen girls to go. So before we went into the nursing home, we prayed. I said 'Lord, I dont know what this is going to look like but lead us and guide us and we will see what you have for us.' (Those of you who know God - Know He showed up and blessed our hearts!) We walked in the door and there were these beautiful teenage girls there with christmas hats on. They were there to sing to the residents! I was blessed by that because God said 'you are not alone'. Then Rachel K saw someone she knew and that girl told her she was in Teen Challenge. Then Rachel K and Rachel B knew another girl that they had been in school with who was in the program. Rachel B had a picture of this girl on her phone as her screen saver and she had told this girl that her picture would remain on her phone for her nine months of treatment and Rachel would be praying for her all the time. You should have seen the sweet reunion of these friends! I was so blessed. God wanted us there and He wanted us to hug on these teenage girls and cheer them on in their journey of recovery. I walked in carrying a cup of tea because I needed a pick me up - let me tell you, friends, I left singing and praising God because He came and met us there!! It was so awesome! The girls had pictures and candles they had made as well as some jewlery. We got to buy some of their crafts and plan on putting the picture in our Sunday school class to remember to pray for these sweet girls. What did I learn today? Be obedient to God, even when you are unsure of what it is going to look like. Allow Him to lead and be ready to see His miracles. The girls in Teen Challenge are not allowed to talk to people from their past but because it was so random, the teacher allowed them to talk. Random? God!! :0)