the humility of Jesus

just thinking this morning about Christmas, and what it says about the nature and character of God...thinking about what Paul said about Jesus to the pridefully Roman church in Philippi...

"let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

What a God we serve. The reality of Christmas is this, that our God, who rules the universe, and who spoke it all into existence, wrapped Himself in human flesh and washed the feet of his disciples, even those who would betray Him. There is no greater example of humility. Our God really is an awesome God...and Christmas speaks to that in the biggest way. The story of Christmas elevates Jesus far beyond simply being a good teacher, or a good example to follow. If we are to believe the claims he made about himself, and the testimony of his early followers, then he can be nothing less than THE HUMBLE KING of the universe, who exemplified humility in a way none of us could ever emulate. The reality of Christmas calls forth in me this morning one main response....worshipful gratitude.

she looks like my mom...

ESBS Christmas party

we had a great time celebrating together. lots of good food, christmas carols, gift exchange, and an awesome gingerbread house competition...(which my team won...yeah!

fear the lion

Anna at the beach over Thanksgiving

Ross and Jennifer get the credit for taking and editing this awesome photo!

Bike trip in WVA

In October we took a 4 day bike trip in West Virginia on the Greenbriar river trail. It's a rails to trail conversion that stretches across about a 80 mile swath of beautiful countryside near snowshoe mtn wva. We took four days to ride just over 100 miles on it, camping along the way. Anna rode in her custom bike carrier...snug as a bug, and happy as could be. We all had a great time, and we're looking forward to tackling the New river trail next, before Anna gets too heavy to pull.

thanksgiving in Florida

We had a great time in Florida for thanksgiving visiting Julia's grandparents in Ponte Vedra beach. The whole family was there. Julia's parents, Ross and Jen, the uncles...it was a great time. Tom had to come home earlier than Julia, and he made the mistake of driving on Sunday after Thanksgiving (oops)...it took him 10 hours to do what otherwise would have been a 7 hour drive...taking backroads all over Georgia to avoid I 95.

Dispite the trip home, our time in Ponte Vedra was wonderful as always.

Anna's First Birthday

I know we must have masses of Phillips' family followers who have missed their monthly dose of Anna news. To the faithful few, I apologize for our delinquency in updates. Anna is now 14 months old and loving life! Her first birthday party was tons of fun and fortunately, the paparazzi was there so we have lots of pictures to share. Enjoy!

Our New Home

This morning as I was making some food for Anna, I looked out the window and there was a turkey in the driveway. Yesterday there was a deer in the same spot. Our home borders the state forest land, so I am sure it is a surprising open spot of civilization for many furry creatures. Anyway, when I saw the turkey I tried to take a picture of it. Since I had the camera out, I took some more pictures to show you all our new house that we are absolutely enjoying. The location is perfect for us. We can walk to downtown Lake Lure where there is a beautiful park and access to the water. There are amazing walks around our neighborhood too. Yesterday Anna and I walked to the small farmer’s market and the post office and then we went for a jog in the park. It felt so metropolitan (ha ha). We have posted some pictures, though we haven’t done much decorating yet. I’m sure some of these shots could be candidates for the “before” photos on an HGTV interior design show. But, we love it. I am constantly amazed that we live here. We believe that the Lord provided this home for us. We’ve been looking and waiting for a house for about 3 years now, but the market in this resort town has been way out of our price range. So, when we purchased this house at an auction, with no one bidding against us, it felt like an unexpected gift!

Of course, no blog update would be complete without pictures of Anna. She is at the stage where she constantly wants to walk (with our assistance) and climbing stairs is her favorite pastime. When I’m not helping her walk, I’m honing my skills as an object interceptor. Sometimes I fail at that, which is how I have become a professional at the finger sweep.

Hot Fun in the Summer

From 7.13 blog update

Camp Lurecrest is in full swing for the summer. As I write this from Tom's office, I can hear him out on the basketball court playing dodgeball with some campers. It sounds a bit painful, but he is enduring the bouncing ball, as well as their yells of, "Come on preacher man!" This is Tom's second week as the camp pastor and it is going really well. He is keeping the campers laughing, as well as communicating God's love for them. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for him!

Anna is also enjoying the joys of summer. She has been swimming in the pool at camp, as well as the lake. Below are some pictures of a cookout we had at the lake with our good friends and Anna's little friend, JP.

We also just purchased our first home last month! We are really enjoying it and feel so blessed to have received it. It's on a mountain and surrounded by trees. In the winter, there is a view of Rumbling Bald Mountain (very rocky and beautiful). Below are just a couple pictures of the house on the day we bought it. We had a bunch of friends over for ice cream and they are sitting on the floor of the empty kitchen there.

Beach Fun!

Hey Everyone!

We are hanging out at Ocean Isle for a few days. Anna loves crawling around in the tidal pools and splashing in the waves. It has been a while since we've posted pictures, so I also posted a few pictures of her from back in April. She is growing fast. Right now she is crawling around, pulling up on everything, and she loves to walk when we hold her hands. She says, "hi", and waves to everyone, and her vocabulary also consists of the words, cup, cat, dog, and bye.

Great Grandparents in Virginia

Here's Anna with her great grandparents in Virginia, Helen and Linnie. As you can see, she isn't too sure about that avacado.

Having Fun in March

March has been a busy month for Baby Anna. It snowed almost a foot in our area during the first week of the month and we went on a fabulous blue sky hike. Only a couple weeks later, Anna woke up from her car seat to find herself in Florida with numerous members of the Wilsie clan loving on her. (Pictured are her great grandparents, Patsy and E.B., and her 2nd cousin, Andrea.) Anna also celebrated Grandma Phillips' birthday with her and hung out with her rock star Uncle Jon and Carolyn in Asheville (check out Jon's music at http://www.myspace.com/jonathanlindsaymusic ).

Wait a second...do you mean to tell me that I am actually 5 months old?

From Boone weekend 2/22

Yes! Baby Anna is 5 months old as of Tuesday.  She is having so much fun being a baby.  We just introduced her to rice cereal and she is devouring it.  She also laughs now when we tickle her. She is such a sweet girl and loves to smile and be around other people.  

Lots of friends and family have given Anna hats as a present, so today she decided to model a few for everyone.  There are also some pictures of Anna in her backpack during a walk we took with her buddy, JP.

Inductive Bible Study Seminar

We just had our first Inductive Bible Study Seminar at Lurecrest.  It was a lot of fun.  We took participants through the book of Titus teaching them the basics of inductive Bible study as we went.  We're planning another IBS day seminar in Charlotte March 21st.  

Ocean Isle

Last weekend the ESBS went to Ocean Isle for a time of rest and reflection. We all had a great time...played tennis...swam in the ocean...went for walks...good times of fellowship. It was Anna's first trip ever to the beach! My Dad said that Ocean Isle was the first beach that I went to also. Anna enjoyed watching large birds fly by as we walked around the sound one morning. She is growing fast and is in the 100th percentile for her height and weight (18 pounds now!) She loves to gaze at her hands. We have also discovered that she has a good sense of humor because she loves to laugh at our silly antics.

The Flood of 2009

Today is the first day I have used a brush in 1 1/2 weeks. On Saturday (a week and a half ago), we arrived home to find a growing puddle of water outside of our door. When we walked in, our feet sunk into the carpet and water squished into my socks. Daylight was fading and the electricity wasn't working. So, we quickly looked for flashlights to figure out the source of the water flow. It turned out that a pipe to the sprinkler system had frozen and burst in our closet. Tom was at the apartment that night until 2 am working with a restoration crew to try and fix things up. Our friend Carlos was staying with us for the long MLK holiday weekend, so we all packed a few essentials and moved into a house at Camp Lurecrest. We're still there and probably will be for another week or so. They have torn up our carpet, torn out the drywall, repainted, and now we're just waiting for them to put down new carpet and clean up some of the mess. So, it's a bit of an inconvenience, but we are doing fine. Most of our stuff survived without too much water damage. We moved out all of our books and framed artwork after the cleaning crew blew moisture all over them without using dehumidifiers. That was probably the most disappointing damage. And today, I finally decided I would do anything to get my brush and face lotion. I spent about 15 minutes climbing over furniture piled in our bathroom and moving it to get to my toiletries. So now I'll finally be a clean woman again.

Santa's Little Reindeer

Santa's cutest little reindeer has escaped! (Thanks Sarah!)

Growing Girl

We are enjoying watching Anna grow! She is a very vocal little one and is making all kinds of coos and new sounds. She is in the stage where she is becoming aware of herself as a seperate person. She loves to look at her hands- they fascinate her! She also loves to clasp her hands and put them in her mouth. I absolutely love being a mama. It is amazing how naturally I have evolved into this new role. I don't mean for that to sound conceited- it just surprises me that I could go from struggling if I got less than 8 hours of sleep (before Anna) to being elated if I get more than four. Or that finding chunks of curdled milk in my hair (hidden from previous spit ups) doesn't phase me. It's strange how easy it is to consider Anna's needs first. And it's fun! Her life is such a gift to us. I think one of the neatest things she has taught me so far is to cherish the present. I have never been able to just enjoy people and enjoy the moment as much as I can now. It is the outcome of a constant understanding that each moment with Anna is unique. I am watching her grow. She will not be the same tomorrow, so I have to enjoy her now.

Happy New Year's

Happy New Year friends and family!

We have had a Christmas filled with wonder. Being with Anna Grace during this season has made us marvel even more at the mystery of God being born as a baby.  When you think about shepherds and kings coming to bow before a tiny baby, it is obvious how humble God is.  First, He came to us  to meet us where we are instead of demanding us to be a certain way before we came to Him.  Manifested as one of us and as a helpless infant, He accepts all of us, from shepherds to kings. What a mystery!  Sharing life with our own baby has made this truth even more real this Christmas.  

We hope you enjoy perusing a few of our Christmas pictures.  You will see that Tom gave the sermon on Christmas day at my parents’ church in Virginia and I sang a solo of Ave Maria.  We both received standing ovations.