The holidays come with some of our favorite traditions. One of those favorite traditions is the giving of our yearly Christmas ornaments. It started with those very first ornaments, Baby's First Christmas. Each kid started with one. And every Christmas since, we've added to their growing collection.
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It's fun to take a minute or two to look back and think about the things that helped to shape the year, and to consider how life is shaping your children. It's equally as fun to hunt for an ornament that speaks to the year. 2018 was a great year. But what happens to the ornaments when the kids move out? Well, the ornaments go with them! That's part of the fun of this tradition, we get to watch their collection grow then the collection goes with them. They get to keep their treasures and memories to use on their Christmas trees as adults.

We shared in a number of adventures that made the year sweet. We also crossed a number of important milestones along the way. As we think about this Christmas season, the reality that our kids are quickly becoming adults is more real than ever. It's causing us to slow down, to think a little more intentionally, and to take advantage of the time that we do have with them. We often say that we want our kids to WANT to come home for the holiday's, to get excited about seeing each other, and to look forward to spending time with each others families. I (Jay) dream of the day when all five kids and the families are gathering in our living room opening gifts, laughing, and sharing in the season of Christmas. It will be a sweet time together.

​Merry Christmas!

The holiday season is in full swing! Following a great Thanksgiving Day, the Higham's welcomed Christmas with a weekend full of activity! We'll talk about Thanksgiving in a blog post later this week. But Christmas, well, Christmas is here!

We love Christmas! It is truly one of our most favorite time of the year. And, this weekend, as is our tradition, we welcomed Christmas with a weekend of decorating and Christmas lights!

Every year, we take the Friday after Thanksgiving to begin transforming our house into our very own Christmasland. From the tree to the living room to the outside bushes, we fill our weekend with decorating and Christmas fun.

But new to this year, Amy, Jay, and Breya, traveled to Beaver, PA for their light up night. The main street was decorated with lights on trees in storefront windows, and around the buildings. It was beautiful. It felt like a Hallmark movie only without the snow!

There was a light-up parade, live entertainment, the lighting of the Christmas tree, and fireworks. We stayed for the parade hoping to grab dinner then the tree lighting, but the local eateries were packed. So instead, we left a little earlier than planned to grab dinner at a near by restaurant. It was a great night and a great way to kick of the Christmas season!
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Saturday we spent the day decorating the house. The kids were all busy with sports, jobs, and projects, so Amy and Jay took the time to decorate and complete a few projects around the house.

On Sunday, after school, we rounded up the kids and decorated our 2018 Christmas tree. It's not easy to get all 5 kids together. But, we did it, and did our best to decorate the tree. There is a fun story/tradition that comes with our ornaments. Be sure to watch the vlog below!

All in all it was a great weekend. We are so excited for Christmas! We love this time of the year. It's so much fun us. We are looking forward to a great Christmas.

Be sure to check in throughout December as we share our Christmas Adventures!

- the higham family

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Even in a good marriage there are up's and downs. You have good days and bad days. You experience tremendous joys and agonizing hurts. There are wins and those wins are awesome. Then there are the losses, and those loses can be devastating. Throw in financial struggles, issues with children, jobs and careers, temptations and failures, and you can see why some marriages come to an end.

We have had a good marriage. The blessings are countless. The troubles, few and far between. We have had Godly men and woman, husbands and wives, who have mentored and cared for us. We have had pastors and their wives befriend and speak into our lives, our marriage and our family. We have been married for 22 years, and in full-time ministry for 20 of those years. And, we have continued to see God hand of grace and blessing throughout our marriage.

​That's not to say that we haven't experienced our lows. We have experienced financial struggles. We have relocated a number of times, asking our kids to say goodbye to friends, begin new schools, and start all over again. In 2013 we learned we were pregnant with number 6. We were thrilled, surprised, but thrilled. Then we lost number 6. We were heartbroken. But then there was number 7. Then we lost number 7. Then number 8, 9 and 10. We lost each one, with number 10 being a still born delivery at 18 weeks. That's 5 miscarriages in 4 years.
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Through it all, we've learned just how important it is to pray for and with each other.

Early in our marriage, we were introduced to the books, The Power of a Praying Wife and The Power fo a Praying Husband, by Stormie Omartian. These two books became instant tools as we learned the importance of praying for each other. I (Jay) still pull out The Power of a Praying Husband, every couple of months or so, just to be reminded and refocused to be in prayer for Amy. We recommend these books to couples that we do pre-marital counseling with, suggest them to friends and couples, and consider them to be a truly amazing way to begin the practice of praying for your spouse!

Now, let's be honest, we are not saying we are perfect. We're not. As much as I would love to say that we pray together every morning and every night, and pray over every little matter, question, doubt, fear, and situation we don't. But, we do pray. And, we pray a lot.

Prayer is a significant part of our marriage; one of the foundational building blocks. Over the years we have developed better habits of prayer, both as individuals for each other and as a couple with each other

And that's the key. Prayer is a habit, something that you develop over time with practice. It's making the commitment to pray. Pray as a husband. Pray as a wife. Pray as a couple. Develop the habit of prayer with short simple prayers and watch the discipline of prayer become part of your life and your marriage.

We want to encourage you to practice the habit of praying for and with each other. Start by ordering the books, The Power of a Praying Wife and The Power of A Praying Husband. With each chapter covering another aspect of your spouse to pray for, you can read a chapter a day with as part of your daily quiet time. At the end of each chapter, Stormie provides a prayer that you can pray over your spouse. Like we said, a great tool to use to develop your habit of prayer.

​- the higham family