Merry Christmas!!!
“An
angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around
them, and they were terrified. But the
angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I
bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been
born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and
lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great
company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his
favor rests.” Luke 2:9-14
This is the true
meaning of Christmas!!! When Jesus was
born as a baby and came to this sinful world to live amongst us and then lay
down His life to save us from our sins!!!
It’s through Jesus Christ that we can be forgiven from our sins and if
we except Jesus into our hearts we will live with Him in eternity forever!!!
I love the story of
Jesus’ birth and often try to put it into real life. How must it really have been for Mary when she
received news from the angel of the Lord that she would conceive from the Holy
Spirit and have a baby boy that was to be named Jesus!?! For many years their ancestors longed for a
redeemer! Mary was the chosen girl to
become the mother of Jesus and she was probably afraid, anxious and honored all
in one package of emotions. How would
this all take place? How would she
explain to Joseph that she loves him and is faithful to her engagement to marry
him? How would he believe that all this
news and miracle came from God above?
The only thing Mary needed to remember was that the angel did tell her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son,
and you are to call him Jesus. He will
be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his
father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever, his kingdom
will never end.” Luke 1:30-33
Joseph pledged to marry
Mary. What is this news that Mary is
telling him? She is pregnant through the
Holy Spirit? This must have been the
news of the town and Joseph “did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he
had in mind to divorce her quietly. But
after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your
wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to
give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:19-21 “When Joseph woke up, he did
what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.”
V.24
Both Joseph and Mary
must have had excitement and butterflies to be the chosen couple to raise the
Son of God. This would bring
responsibility. And loyalty to one
another, through the hard, tough days and remembering that God is sending His
son to the world through their family!
They traveled to Bethlehem because that was their hometown and they
needed to pay taxes. But why would it
have to be timed so wrong? Mary was
great with child and about ready to give birth any day. Now they needed to travel so far just to pay
their taxes. They remembered the words
that the angel had told them and needed to trust God through all these
travels! “While they were there, the
time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a
son.” Luke 2:6&7
Jesus entered this
world in a cold stable. It wasn’t the
ideal place for the birth of a King but Joseph and Mary were grateful to be out
of the cold wind and some place warm and dry.
Mary wrapped Jesus in swaddling clothes while Joseph found a manger to lay
Jesus in. Shepherds came and worshipped
the baby while trying to explain the wonderful sight they had just witnessed
out in the field. Hundreds of angels
sang in the night sky and told them to go find baby Jesus and worship him! As they bowed low and looked at the face of
baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary must have again felt honored and reminded that God
is watching over their little family on this special night!
“After Jesus was born
in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came
to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the
Jews? We saw his star when it rose and
have come to worship him.” Matthew
2:1&2 “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and
they bowed down and worshipped him. Then
they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense
and myrrh.” V.11
Go read the birth of
Jesus for yourself! Luke and Matthew
have all the details! Because Christmas
time is Jesus’ birthday, remembering that He
is the reason for all the festivities is important. Keep Jesus number one in your holiday
celebrations this year!!! (Over)
Now for some of our
family updates:
Michael – Happy 40th
Birthday!!! Mike turned 40 in June and
we surprised him with a big party in the back yard! Thank you everyone for coming and eating some
cake and ice cream with us as we celebrated!
Michael is the employer and still working hard at Lapp Structures. We are very blessed to have the best shed
crew out there!!! J In
February, his father, Amos, was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. We were on our way to Belize when we got that
dreadful news from his parents. Dad Lapp
fought a hard battle and was taken to Mexico and Arizona for alternative cancer
treatment but in June Dad was brought back home to live out his last week’s
here at home. On July 12th,
Dad Lapp went to be with the Lord. We
miss him greatly and we know that Christmas will never be the same again
without him at our family gatherings and dinners. The passing of Mike’s dad has brought many
tears and sorrow but we are still wishing for a merry Christmas! Golfing is the hobby of choice for my husband
and he got to go to Arizona again this spring.
He helped coach Matthew’s little league team! After Dad’s funeral, Mike got some bike
training in and biked the 125 mile ride from Black Rock Retreat to Rehoboth
Beach, DE, in September. Mike is the
best daddy to our four children and spends as much time with them as
possible. He bumped so many volleyballs
with Hadassah. Threw so many balls back
and forth with Matthew. He gave ride after
ride on the moped to Ashlyn and Austin.
With such a busy life, Mike always finds the time to still go on dates with
me and I’m the luckiest women on earth to have him as my husband!!!
Lori – Wife, mother of
four and homemaker. Enough said
right? J It’s my life and I am loving it!!! The beginning of the year started off with a
funeral for my Grandfather Riehl. He
passed away suddenly on New Year’s Day. Mike
and I celebrated 16 years of marriage in January and we went to Belize for an
anniversary trip. We enjoyed this
getaway together so much!!! After Dad
Lapp was diagnosed with cancer, Mike and I got to fly down to Mexico and to
Arizona to visit his parents during treatments.
The days that Dad Lapp was home, we would visit him often. With the title “homemaker” and a mom of four
keeps me stepping! The days that are
filled with fun and laughter are much more enjoyable than those that are piled
high with laundry. With a toddler to
entertain, a first grader to listen to read, a middle school son to scrub out
grass stains after many ball games and a high school girl to provide transportation
to take everywhere … I’ve got a busy life!
But I love a clean house and happy kids so that’s what we do. We enjoyed many days at the pool this
summer. We went on a weeklong family
vacation to the beach in August. Mike
and I just got back from spending a weekend in New York City watching the
Rockettes, looking at all the city Christmas lights and attending a football
game. With losing a grandfather and a
father-in-law this year, God is still good!!!
Hadassah – She is a sophomore
at Linville Hill Christian High School. She
is looking forwards to turning sweet sixteen in just a few weeks. Hadassah has been such a help around the
house with mowing the lawn, helping keep the house clean and babysitting for
me! She is enjoying youth group and
LOVES all the time she has playing volleyball!
The high school team had an outstanding season of 15-0!!! Hadassah was nervous at her very first
Districts Volleyball Game and even though they didn’t advance from there, it
was all so much fun!!! She cannot wait
to begin BLAST Volleyball in January.
Matthew – Playing some
little league in the spring is always a good time for our 12 year old son! Matthew played first base and loved every
minute of it!!! When they got to the
finals, second place was what they celebrated!!! Way to go Tigers!!! Matthew will never forget when his “Daudy
Lapp’s” funeral was. On Matthew’s 12th
birthday, we buried his grandfather. He
was so sad that this has to be on his birthday but we still had a cake and
everyone sang happy birthday to Matthew after the funeral! Seventh Grade is going well but summer
vacation is what he loves best!!! Time
to sleep in, swim, play catch and golf with his dad is a great summer. Matthew was able to take some golfing lessons
this summer/fall and really did well!
Golfing is a fun sport for both Mike and Matthew!!! Matthew is the best babysitter for Austin and
really helps me a lot with playing with the children!!!
Ashlyn – Our “Sweet
Pea” is six years old and loves first grade!!!
Her cousins and friends mean the world to her. At the beginning of summer, Ashlyn did her
first ballet lessons!!! What a cute
darling in her tutu and shoes!!! She
loved it!!! Ashlyn also loves to play
with Austin! These play doll house, play
do, ride bikes, swing, hit baseballs, swim, look at books together and so much
more. Ashlyn also loves every minute she
can spend with her daddy! The summer
moped rides are a favorite. Watermelon,
strawberries and cucumbers remain her favorite healthy foods! Ashlyn is so excited for Christmas and begged
to finally go pick out a tree. After we
decorated the tree, she asked if she can just sit on the living room floor and
eat some cheddar pretzels while gazing at the tree. I love her enthusiasm for Christmas!!!
Austin – High energy
with a touch of sweetness is this youngest of ours!!! Austin is two years old, potty trained and
loves to watch kids YouTube on my phone.
He loves all things tractors! He is
a trooper as we hauled him to the many volleyball games and baseball practices
and will be excited to watch Matthew play basketball this winter. He’s an early riser but loves to interact
with the school children before we drop them off at school. Austin is at the stage where holding still is
all but impossible making churches services challenging. But he’s also the one asking for a hover
board or moped ride and jumping on the trampoline or being pushed on the
swings. He keeps me stepping but is loved
so much!!! This kid’s energy is great
and he’s going to keep us young for a long time!!!
Our
family wishes you God’s absolute best for 2018!!!
~
The Lapp Family
