Aria was very specific this year in what she wanted her Christmas dress to look like.

She tried several times to explain it to me, struggling through the details. I asked her to draw it, and she tried but couldn’t quite get the message across.

So, I headed to Harry Hines Blvd. in Dallas with a friend in search of the perfect fabric.

I found a red stretch knit along with a satin fabric covered with fabric roses. I also planed on including red tulle in the layers.

I laid the fabric out on the bed and called her in to look at it and I could tell immediately that she was unsure. She felt like I had misunderstood her directions.

I explained how I would sew it together and I could see her processing it carefully as I spoke, her eyes carefully searching the fabric as I described what her dress would look like.

She finally agreed to trust me even though I could still see the uncertainty in her face.

I did understand that she wanted layers, so I gathered the lace on top of the tulle, with the tulle being longer than the lace, and made three rows for the skirt.

The rose fabric was big so I only used it on the bottom front. It is beautiful but a little bit goes a long way.

The back is lace, so I lined it with some shiny stretch fabric. It closes at the top with a dragonfly button.

The sleeves are 3/4 length lace.

When the dress was completed, she seemed happy with the outcome, however I am still not sure that it is the same dress she had pictured in her mind.

I think mammy and Aria may be working on some designing skills to be sure that we will be on the same page next year.

And of course, no dress would be complete without Ruby Slippers.

And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ram skins dyed red; badger skins, and acacia wood. Exodus 25:3-4

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.             Isaiah 9:6

Some of my most treasured memories are those spent with my girls.

But I especially love the times when we can come together and relish in the love and excitement of Jesus.

The telling and retelling of the Christmas story, stopping along the way and just resting in the miracle moments. The moments that need no words, just a hush and a stillness.

And the wonder of it all draws us in and we are mesmerized by Him!

And I often wonder at her, what did she hear and what did she take in? What will she walk away with and carry with her, within her own little beating heart?

I don’t wonder for long, for as soon as mommy picked her up I saw my answer. And my heart whispers soft to Him still hanging heavy in the air. “Thank you Father!”

I can’t bear to position the Nativity back into place, so I leave it as a reminder.

She really, really gets it!

And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. Matthew 2:11

My dear friends, would you travel on a journey with me?

The journey will take us to a place far, far away. A place beyond our reach or even beyond our comprehension. A place so glorious that it will cause us deep, deep pain at it’s splendor.

As we enter our destination, please be still. Really, really see it, be all there. Do not let one detail escape from your memory. Sear it in deep through the thick layers and remember it well. Remember dear friends.

We will need a guide for this journey, the only guide that could possibly make any sense. Our guide’s name is Isaiah. Come now my friends and let us enter, with Isaiah into the Throne Room of the Lord.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”

And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was fill with smoke. So I said; “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”

Isaiah 6:1-5

Did you see Him friends? Did you lift your head upward, stretching the muscles and and pulling at the fibers of your neck as you look at Him who is high and lifted up?

Did you happen to notice His robe, filling the whole, entire temple? So majestic and magnificent is His splendor that is fills the room with it’s beauty.

Did you also feel the humility of the seraphim, did you cover yourself in His awesome presence? And did the words spill out of your mouth, pouring forth in praise, “Holy, holy holy is the Lord of Hosts?”

Did the sound of the shaking reverberate within the chambers of your heart, thump, thumping to the sound of Him? And did the smoke sting at your eyes, or was it the tears that really stung at the realization of your own uncleanliness in the presence of holiness? For it is you and I dear friends that Isaiah was speaking of, and he said it well when he said that he ‘dwelt in the midst of a people of unclean lips.’

Were you there friends? Were you in that Throne room in the presence of the Most High God?

And now once again we will take another journey. A different kind from the last one. A quiet sort of place marked with the scent of manure and urine. Quiet except for the soft bleating of sheep and the continuous chewing of oxen, the occasional swishing of tails. Damp and cold. Animal dander and dust floating in the atmosphere around them, but still the only resting place for the mother of our Lord. Peer into the interior of this worn out stable and see the only cradle available for the Most High God, a trough still with the remains of the animals fodder. . . .

And now let us return once again to the most Holy of places, the Throne room. Lift your eyes upward and see Him there. Our Lord. The ancient of old. The Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. Don’t tear your eyes away from Him. Hold fast. See Him as He slowly stands.

He removes the crown from upon His precious head. He releases the clasp that holds His robe and lets it fall from His shoulders, and He starts the downward trek. Step by step He leaves His throne, His position, His rightful place. He turns away from the continuous praise and walks away from the sovereign reign with His Father. And He puts on flesh and steps down into earth, into the stable, small and helpless.

And why would He do that?

Who would do that?

And the answer rings loud in this season of grace. Love was the driving force. It was love that took Him from the throne room straight into the manager that Christ~mas long, long ago.

Please . . . . . let us remember!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

I  once read a story and it was so profound that it stuck deep within the folds of my heart. It was one of those stories that hang just on the surface of your memory, rising up at every opportunity to give you deep seeded faith and the exceedingly great joy that comes with it’s truth. A constant reminder.

Simple as it was I reveled in the true knowledge that it offered and often ponder it deep. It went something like this:

A woman once said to her pastor, “Pastor, I only ask God for the big things. I don’t bother Him with the little things.”

The Pastor’s response, “Madam, They are all little things to Him!”

Because we tend to place on God our own limitations based on our earthly knowledge and experiences, and because we view things in size and time through our finite minds we can not comprehend His greatness and His vastness! There is nothing too great or too small for Him. We can not wrap our brain around our Mighty God!

And so, based on the knowledge of this truth and in remembering that our very precious Lord cares for every little detail of our life and has even numbered the very hairs on our heads, ( Matt. 10:30 ) here is my wondrous story:

The Christmas order had been placed early in the summer, and since I had a few months to complete the Christmas pajamas, I thought it within my reach to get them done.

But in my busyness time completely got away from me and Christmas was closing in and I had not even started.

With just a few weeks left we at least purchased the fabric and all of the required notions . . . . except for the buttons. We could not find buttons to match.

I went ahead and spent my day off from work and sewed the pajamas as far as I could go until we could find buttons. The sewing project sat in my sewing room for over a week with no luck, until I finally decided to go through my own button collection to see if there were any that would work.

As luck would have it I found an old card of buttons that would work perfectly! I needed seven buttons and the card held the exact amount that I needed. I was so excited to finally get to mark this project off my list.

I laid out the top and placed each button down the front and marked the button holes. I then turned my attention to my sewing machine, making sure I had the right setting to make the button holes, then I reach up and grabbed the top to start working on it, and buttons went flying everywhere! OH NO! For those of you who know me know that this was a hopeless situation. A needle in a haystack.

I searched for the buttons and found all of them, except one. I now was one button short. I would never be able to match this old button. So I searched some more . . . and some more. And suddenly I stopped and said, “Father, I need one more button.”

Within my heart I felt I needed to go through my bags of old buttons. As I was nearing the bottom of my third bag I began to feel like it was a lost cause and with just a few more buttons left I was throwing in the towel. I was giving up. But then I felt the urge to keep going, and I did. The very last thing I pulled out was a card of old buttons, the card was empty, except for one button.

The very button I needed.

And I felt His delight in showing Himself to me in this way. In answering what would seem like a silly little prayer to most people: nothing big, nothing important, nothing that most would bother Him with. But just because I asked, I received and my heart burst with Him and His tender care of me, and I have had a little skip in my step ever since.

And friend, it wasn’t really about the button. It was all about a Father taking care of His girl!

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”~Words spoke by Jesus~ Matt. 10:30