Isn’t it curious how fast time flies? I know that each day is still the same twenty four hours long but they just seem to be passing me by. I’m not one to count down to Christmas and the shopping days left, so I don’t have that closing in, but I must say I’m so surprised at the marketing tactics during the holidays. It was not a week after Halloween had passed when the average store was donning lights and red and green decorations. It’s as if people want to pass by Thanksgiving all together! I think it may be because at Halloween people get free candy, and at Christmas they get gifts. But at Thanksgiving one is expected to ponder and give thanks for their blessings. Give? Who wants to do that? What a sad world we live in.

I for one am very excited to see the calender turn to December. We’ve been having cold rainy days now and even had enough of a storm–if you can call the mild rain and wind of California a storm–to have our power go out the night before last. I was thrilled and reached in the drawer for the flashlight only to find it’s batteries dead. Obviously we don’t have storms like that often. I lit a candle, but soon after the power came back on and the “storm” was soon over. I have several things I am looking forward to as this next month unfolds: visitors, events and the conclusion of my employment…it seems I’m approaching a whole new season in both nature and life.

I had a doctor’s appointment this morning and they were telling me how I will be visiting them every other week coming up here and then every week in my last month before the baby comes. I smiled to myself about this because it doesn’t seem that long ago that we were sharing our excitement with people and yet it is now just under three months left before the due date. Last night we set up the beautiful crib my parents gave us and did some sorting of gifts that we’ve been storing in the baby’s room. Some we will keep and some we will return. I’m pretty sure the baby would not be able to wear thirty different pairs of socks in three months time. The room is getting more organized and this weekend we even got the paint we will do in that room. I’m looking forward to a special gift from my mom as she is sewing the bedding for the crib which will be a replica of the [1] Nautica set we like. In time, I trust it will all be ready and I can see how the Lord is making us ready. I’m enjoying this time as He is clearly growing us individually and together and with our friends and families. He is so faithful to continue His work in us as we seek Him no matter what the time or circumstances are going on around us.

This last week I’ve started John MacArthur’s new book [2] Twelve Extraordinary Women. I don’t think I realized what godly examples we have to follow by a number of women in Scripture. I had always been aware that we learn a great deal from the lives of Abraham, David, Paul and Peter, but somehow had skipped the women in the Bible. In this book MacArthur takes a deeper look at the lives of twelve women including Sarah, Rahab, Mary, Anna and Lydia. Scripture may not speak chapters on these women, but we can learn a great deal from the little that it does say about them. I enjoyed the inspiring close to MacArthur’s introduction