Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung,
of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a flow’ret bright, amid the cold of winter,
when half-spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Savior,
when half-spent was the night.

The shepherds heard the story, proclaimed by angels bright,
how Christ, the Lord of glory, was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped and in the manger found him,
as angel heralds said.

This flow’r, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
dispels with glorious splendor the darkness ev’rywhere.
True man, yet very God; from sin and death he saves us
and lightens ev’ry load.

O Savior, child of Mary, who felt our human woe;
O Savior, King of glory, who dost our weakness know,
bring us at length, we pray, to the bright courts of heaven
and to the endless day.

The MESSIAH-the savior of the World!!

Here are my favorite verses about Jesus. They are my favorite for many reasons, mainly because they show His love and majesty, His compassion and beauty, really His perfection. We who hope in Him have no other way into heaven and into His eternal presence than through His sacrificial death and magnificent resurrection!! These verses point back to my utter depravity, that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." and as the scripture says, "by His wounds we are healed." what a savior we have!! This takes me back to the time in my life where there were moments when i would have said "I'm a Christian" in some circles, and in others, i was ashamed to claim Jesus as mine, and in truth, He was not yet the One who held my heart and who i lived for. I hope this takes you back to the day of your salvation and that you continue to tell others of the Majesty of Jesus!!

^{Isaiah 53}

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors."

Merry Christmas to YOU!!

Merry Christmas from the McCoun's! Camus says merry Christmas too!! You can't see it good, but that's her velvet Christmas collar, given to her by Jessi, my friend who's on staff with us at PC!! We are having a great time with Jake's family-my first Christmas with the McCouns!! While students have been away from Clinton, Jake and I did ALOT of work around the house (well..mainly jake!) He's been hard at work on our screened in porch. We had it built on our house a while back, but it still needed to be completed, so jake worked 3 WHOLE DAYS on it!! I was such a proud wife!!! Meanwhile, i tried some new recipes and wrapped some Christmas presents, i love playing Mrs. Claus! We also took Camus to my parents to stay for a while because she's been home by herself a lot this month!! :( I was sad to see her go but will see her Christmas night!! Jake already gave me part of my Christmas present-a flag pole!!!! If you know me, you know one of my BIG loves in life is seasons and flags and decorating, so i was so excited!!! I already have about 10 flags from my childhood to put up so i can't wait to start in January.

We are with Jake's family for a few days up until Christmas, and we've already had so much fun with them!! I think Jake's mom is one of the most fun people to be around because she's hardly ever self--conscious and is truly herself!! We went bowling tonight, and are planning to meet up with some friends for breakfast in the morning :) i'll prob post again when we get our gifts, but for now, Merry Christmas. Here are some of my favorite prophecies about our Lord and my best friend and redeemer, Jesus!

jeremiah 23:5-6 (NIV) "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.

Galatians 3:16 (NIV) The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.

2 Samuel 7:12-16 (NIV) When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me ; your throne will be established forever.'"

Staff Training!

We have been on the road alll week!! I love going on road trips, and my FAVORITE part is getting to stay in hotels ;)! This weekend, Jake and I went with my family to Winston-Salem to one of my favorite Christmas traditions, The Nutcracker Ballet!!!!! I have been going to the ballet since I was 3 and only missed 2 years since then :) Then, on saturday, we went to Jake's little sister's Charity Ball!! It was so much fun, my only regret is that i didn't get to dance with Jake :( But it was great to spend time with his family and even get to go to the Christmas concert with them at Perimiter Church in Atlanta. They recently joined the church, and if you haven't heard of it...it is AWESOME! So many ministries to so many different groups of people in the Atlanta area..all the way to the nations!! it really gives me a true picture of the gospel, reminding me of James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Then, on Monday, we headed to Atlanta for the week for some staff training. I wasn't really

looking forward to it, because i was pretty exhausted from travelling all weekend, but it's been

SO fun! I've gotten to meet some other staff wives from Campus Outreach Atlanta which has

been so good for my heart because there aren't very many young wives without kids on staff

with us in Greenville. We're meeting to talk about the DC conference we're having in a few

weeks, as well as talking about how to be effective leaders on the campus. I'm excited but sad

to be away from home during the holiday season!! I'll leave you with a picture of my most

recent purchase from Ulta (the best beauty product store EVERRR!!) I got this bubble

bath/shower gel/shampoo for 4 dollars!! it was originally 16 but was on sale for 9 and then i

had a 5 dollar off coupon!!

SNOW DAY!!!!

Jake and I are in the mountains this weekend for a little winter retreat!!! :) We love to come to the mountains and fix dinner together, read together, and watch movies. So far we've watched 2 of my fav Christmas movies, Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Wish. Yesterday we went to the Christmas parade in downtown Burnsville and it started snowing!!!! Right now we are snowed in and doing one of my favorite things-listening to a sermon together :-) Here are some recent pictures from the last few weeks!!