Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

From Luke 2:10-17, ESV:
"And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased! When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child."

We are thankful for the birth of our Savior! We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Last night we had dinner with our community group and then on our way home, stopped by a house in West Seattle that is known for their phenomenal light display. We were mesmerized. The lights are synchronized with music, so we sat in our car and enjoyed the show.

We're definitely adding this to the list of holiday traditions!

Check it out!

Wizards In Winter - TSO from Jim Winder on Vimeo.

Coffee Toffee

I made this toffee as a holiday gift for friends at work. It was my first attempt at toffee and it turned out great! I'll definitely make this again. Enjoy!

1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts (toasted, skinned and cooled) or another nut of your choice

Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a heavy saucepan with a candy thermometer attached, melt butter, brown sugar, white sugar, molasses, salt and espresso powder together over together. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a whisk until the temperature approaches 250 degrees, at which point you should stir constantly until it reaches 300 degrees.

Pour immediately into the prepared baking sheet — you can spread it more evenly with a offset or silicon spatula. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the toffee and let them sit for a minute until soft, then spread the chocolate evenly over the candy base. Sprinkle the chocolate with chopped nuts and then, if you’re as impatient as we are, you can slide the sheet onto a cooling rack in the freezer until the toffee is set.

Break into pieces and store in an airtight container. If you’re kitchen runs warm, you might prefer to keep it in the fridge so the chocolate doesn’t get soft.

Testimony

One of the web wizards at the Ballard campus, Haden Sutton, recently updated the pastors and staff page on the Ballard campus website. In preparation for the update, Haden asked us to videotape the abridged version of our testimonies.

Trying to narrow down all that God has done in my life to a few minutes is a difficult task. I'm continually reminded of his mercy and grace each day. But the video below captures some of the highlights for those who are interested (or who just want to see me be nervous on camera).

In the Tank

Well over seven hundred people have been baptized at Mars Hill this past year. It's been amazing to see God change so many lives and an honor to get to help perform some of those baptisms the past few weeks. Standing next to someone in the tank and holding their hand as they profess that Jesus is their Lord and Savior never gets old.

The video below is from last week. Pastor Bubba starts off by recapping the day and then you get a front row seat as eighteen people are baptized. (See if you can find the one where I almost slipped and fell on my butt.)

The Web Economy

Mashable, "the world's largest blog focused exclusively on social media news," has quickly become one of my favorite blogs. Pete Cashmore does a great job providing helpful news and information for utilizing various forms of social media, as well as technology in general.

In a recent blog post entitled, "Twitter Ads are Evil: Here's Why," he explains what he calls the "web economy." According to Cashmore, the web economy is built on trust and attention. He says that "Brands need to befriend us, build relationships, and offer so much value that we broadcast our positive experiences out to our own networks of trust. They might entertain us. They might help us. They might become enablers of our own personal goals. And when they do, we’ll return the favor. 'Spend your attention on this', we’ll say, 'It’s important!'"

Before reading this, I hadn't really considered the power and influence individual consumers have thanks to the internet. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it at this point, but I thought I'd share this in the meantime.

What are your thoughts? How have you seen this in action?

Thanksgiving

We had a great time this past week. Mackenzie's sister, Katie, and her husband, Brent, were in town from Kansas City. We stayed busy, but also enjoyed some quality time together.

During the week, we took an Argosy cruise through the Ballard Locks, went for a hike at Rattlesnake Ridge, took a tour of Safeco Field (and saw Ichiro!), and enjoyed tons of food.

Extreme Kitchen Makeover

Okay, so it wasn't that extreme, but we've definitely enjoyed the results. Mackenzie had been wanting to replace the floor in our kitchen for a few years now, but I was convinced it wasn't going to be worth the hassle. As usual, I was wrong. Not only was the Allure flooring from Home Depot inexpensive, it was also easy to install (I should get paid for this promo). Honestly, the hardest part was just finagling the stove and fridge out of the kitchen.

After installing the floor in just under three hours--nearly half of which was spent over-thinking the process--the floor was completely installed. Mackenzie then painted all the walls and molding. I know what you're thinking: Why on earth did you paint after installing brand new flooring? Well, I only had Saturday to contribute to this project, so my part needed to be done first to allow Mackenzie to paint on Sunday and Monday.



Again, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I always have a tough time envisioning the finished product based on a tiny sample of paint color and flooring. Honestly, I didn't expect the paint color to be so vibrant. Mackenzie tends to like blues and greens, which is somewhat contrary to what you'd expect to brighten and warm a home in the Pacific Northwest--particularly during the soggy, gray winters--but it actually does the trick.

Overall, it was one of the smoother home improvement projects at the Ellis household. Typically, I get impatient with Mackenzie's numerous questions throughout the process, and she gets frustrated with my impatience (rightly so), but in this particular case, God allowed us to be gracious with each other and actually work well together.

I can't say I'm in a rush to start another project, but I'm pleased with the way this one turned out.

Yard Project: Raised Veggie Beds!!

We often refer to our house as Ellis Orchard, because of our two prolific fruit trees in the backyard. Now, however, we will have to start refering to it as Ellis Farms. This weekend we built and planted two 8' x 4' raised vegetable beds. (By we, I mean Cliff.) It was a project, but fun to do and the finished product is awesome! So in a few months we will harvest: tomatoes, sugar snap peas, brussel sprouts, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, celery, onions, bell peppers, 2 varieties of lettuce, blueberries, strawberries, rasberries, and blackberries.

Of course in order to grow veggies, you need soil. We were surprised to learn how expensive dirt is to have delivered to your house, so being the deal seekers we are, I got on CraigsList and found free dirt. Not only was the dirt free, but the guy was also willing to deliver it to us. Now that is a deal! So, Thursday afternoon, we came home to a very large pile of dirt. Emphasis on VERY!

The next morning we laid out our boards, and then Cliff made the raised beds. Gunner was a huge help as you can only imagine. :)

After the bed frames were constructed, we staked and leveled the beds, and then made them very sturdy by screwing the frame to the stakes. Then we filled the beds with dirt, compost, and finally with the veggies! We can't wait to harvest our crops.

Swan Lake

Yesterday, because I have a very kind, loving husband, we went to see the ballet, Swan Lake. It was so beautiful and incredible to see such precision. Even though I knew the music because of years and years of ballet class, I didn't know the story of this ballet.

Essentially, it is about a prince who must get married. He falls in love a woman who is a swan by day and a woman by night. Then he is dooped into believing he marries his love, when in fact the local sorcerer plays a switcharoo.

Thanks, honey, for loving me enough to endure the ballet!! I appreciate that you went without one complaint and a lot of smiles. I'm a lucky girl.

Good Friday and Easter Services

Our church, Mars Hill Church, is streaming the Good Friday and Easter services live! Check it out.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/live

In the Word

For pretty much my entire life, I've neglected reading my Bible. My laundry list of excuses included....

-I'm too busy.
-I don't have time to read.
-I don't know where to start.
-I can't get up even earlier than I already do!
-I'm tired when I get home from work.
-etc., etc., etc., blah, blah, blah...

My desire to read my Bible does not stem from a religious desire to earn God's love, because that is not possible; it comes from a response to the call to know Jesus personally and in order to know Him, I have to spend time with Him. What better way to do that, then to read His Book?

Since February 1, I've been reading my Bible just about each morning. It is a treasured start to my day that really prepares me for eight hours filled with 30 children.

Cliff suggested that I read through the Bible in a year. (He knows how much I like to make lists and check things off to feel a sense of accomplishment.) I've tried this before, but this time around, I prayed that God would give me the desire to seek Him each day, and He has. So, with my Daily Reading Plan in hand, I gave it a go. I've currently read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and have just started Deuteronomy.

My prayer is that I continue to meet with Jesus each day. By God's grace, so far, so good.

Oh how fast they grow...

I guess dogs and kids both grow so fast....can you believe Gunner is 10 months old? He is also huge! :) He has been a great addition to our little family.