Our church offered three Christmas eve services this year so we attended the 5 PM service so we could get to Duke's Mom's house as close to 6 PM as possible. This was the second year that we attended Christmas eve service at The Vine but this year was even more special because my parents, brother, John and Pat were able to go with us. This was also the first year that our church was in it's own building (last year we met at Chateau Elan) so that was even better.
I am so glad that our family adopted the tradition of attending church on Christmas eve. I can remember attending midnight Christmas eve services when I was younger and I remember how much I enjoyed it. I'm sure it will be a while before we ever attend a midnight service with Addison but I'm glad we are able to go to an early service with her.
Addison really enjoyed the service this year and just like last year, we left with a few memories I know we will never forget. First, Addison LOVES listening to our band play and she spent a good bit of the time front and center watching them. There were multiple times I thought she was going to walk right up on stage and was thankful we had chosen an end seat so Duke could grab her. Maye we have a future musician on our hands??? Or maybe she's going to have a thing for guy's in bands?? Let's hope it's the first one! ;)
Second, our church closes out our Christmas service by lighting candles and singing Silent Night. I had not given any thought to the fact that Addison would want to hold her own candle until right before it came time to light hers. I went ahead and lit her candle, thinking I would help her hold hers and blow mine out. Well, right as I went to blow mine out, Addison leaned forward to see what I was doing and put her hair right into her candle. All I can say is God was defiantly looking out for her that night because I happened to see all of this happen out of the corner of my eye and Mom and I both grabbed the end of her hair before much of it burned. Needless to say, I was done with the candles before we had sung the second verse of Silent Night. :)
The last thing is something I know I will never forget and I am so thankful Jason, our outreach pastor, found me after the service and told me this. At the end of the service, our pastor was leading people in prayer and talking to everyone about asking Jesus to come into their heart. At the end, he asked anyone that had prayed that prayer for the first time that night to please raise their hand. Jason said that a few moments passed and then you saw Addison's little hand come up. She raised her hand! How precious is that?!!?
Now, I know that at 3 years old she was probably doing what she told to do (raise your hand) but the thing that got me was the fact that she was listening (which is HUGE for a 3-year old!). Also, Addison does not attend regular service with us on Sundays so I wondered if she would be so overwhelmed and distracted by the band, stage set up, etc. that she wouldn't "get" anything that was said that night. I just couldn't believe that she had done that and thought it was so sweet. I have to say that I was so humbled at that very moment, knowing that God is doing wonderful things with her and her heart. It was such a special ending to a wonderful service!
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