I know that it has been over a year since we posted anything to our blog but, Lea and I have been challenged to simplify our Christmas and we wanted to share our thoughts with you since we have been asked a lot of questions over the last few weeks. Probably the most popular questions I (Jeremy) have been asked have been, “are you done with your shopping” or “what did you get Lea for Christmas.” These have been wonderful opportunities to share our heart for Christmas in 2011.

From the start of our marriage Lea and I have been intentional about making decisions that align with a simple living lifestyle. By no means do we have this all figured out but we know that Jesus calls us to live a lifestyle that is different from the world we live in. Situated in North America Christmas time seems to have lost it’s true meaning, even among the Christian community. Every year we (Christians) try to make it meaningful but instead we end up with shopping, spending, credit cards, traffic jams, and crazy schedules. Somehow Christmas has become something we barely survive.

How would Jesus Celebrate? I don’t think he would be racing from one event to another, and I don’t think he would spend money on stuff people didn’t need. I think Jesus would be giving generously to meet real needs and making time for the people around Him. So what if our Christmas looked a lot more like Jesus? What if we bought less “stuff?” One less present, a few less gift cards and used that money to bless someone in need? What if we all carved out quality, uninterrupted, unhurried time to truly celebrate with the people in your life? What if worship was more important than a perfect Christmas? We all know that consumerism does not equal happiness, memories, contentment, fulfillment or meaning but when Christmas begins with worship it all becomes meaningful. SO, this Christmas is going to be different in the Denlinger house. This Christmas less means MORE; we are doing less spending and more giving, trying to slow down and not get wrapped up in shopping and running from this thing to that thing so we have more time taking the focus off of ourselves and putting it on Jesus.

A few months ago we notified our immediate families that we would not be buying them traditional gifts but instead would be make donations in their honor and asked that instead of buying us gifts they would give in our honor to a worthy cause. This experience has been rewarding knowing that we really have everything we need and out of our abundance we are able to bless others in need.

A number of you have asked where are good places to give? Here is a list of the organizations that we supported this year (in no particular order).

• Charity: water “Water Changes Everything.” Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. We’re working to change that.
• Love 146  ”End Child Sex Slavery & Exploitation” Love 146 has initiated two core program areas to combat the issue of child sex slavery and exploitation, Prevention and Aftercare.
• Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)  ”Relief, development and peace in the name of Christ” MCC, a worldwide ministry of Anabaptist churches, shares God’s love and compassion for all in the name of Christ by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice.
• Bethany Christian Services “Keeping families together. Finding families for children in need.” 
• World Vision “Building a better world for children.” World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
• Soles4Souls “Changing the world, one pair at a time.” Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. The charity distributes these shoes to people in need, regardless of race, religion, class, or any other criteria.
• International Justice Mission (IJM) “International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.”

Today is an exciting day! Lea and I have found and decorated our very first Christmas Tree as husband and wife! Lea and I both grew up with “real” Christmas trees, none of this “fake stuff.” Now, I know that I might have ruffled a few feathers making such a stance against fake trees but this is not the first time I have debated this topic. The smell that currently fills our home is wonderful. This year we picked up our tree for $35.00 (it’s about 7ft tall) at Honeysuckle Hill Farm they are located along 741 across from Circle M Campground. We were impressed by the overall quality of the trees and the large selection. They had trees starting at $10. We have included some pictures taken while we decorated the tree as well as the final result. This baby took 300 lights! The rest of the house is also looking rather Christmasy. Now I think we are going to sit down and watch “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.”

Watch Photo Slideshow

On Sunday Lea and I, along with our good friends Dan & Lynnea took a trip to Philadelphia to see Brooke Fraser live in concert at “World Cafe Live.” We left in the early afternoon so that we could spend some time wondering around downtown Philly before getting a bite to eat and heading to the venue. Lea and I had never been to World Cafe Live before, but we would both recommend it. The concert was awesome. Brooke Fraser is a talented musician and song writer. Most of the songs she performed were off her newest album “Flags.” If you don’t have this album I would certainly encourage you to check it out. You can listen to some of the songs on her website by clicking here. Below are some pictures from our adventure!

On Sunday Lea and I had the opportunity to attend a special child dedication service. We gathered with family and friends to witness Adam & Melissa give back to God the gift he has given to them as parents. Although we all know that salvation only comes to a child through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The act of dedication shows that Adam & Melissa along with everyone in attendance will do our part to model Godly principles with the desire that one day, Alexis Rae will receive Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. I admire Adam and Melissa choosing to dedicate Alexis. In today’s turbulent world, parents desperately need help raising their children. Lea and I plan to stand ready to help in any way to help mold Alexis into the woman of God she is meant to be.

Below I have also included some pictures from the special day. Feel free to check them out. It was a wonderful fall day at Pheasant Run Bed & Breakfast.

Certainly when Lea and I got married there were many decisions that needed to be made, purchasing a home and beginning a life on our own forced us to create a realistic budget. One of the things that we decided to cut was our cable TV subscription. I think each of us can identify with the high cost of cable TV and the desire to cut out unnecessary expenses from our budget. Apparently we aren’t the only ones, recent reports show that cable providers are losing subscribers at an all time high rate. Lea and I have successfully cut the cable bill and we are still enjoying watching our favorite TV programming for little or no cost at all! So how did we do it, can you do it?

First step is to evaluate what it is you watch, what you are willing to pay for, and what you can “give up.” Let’s face it, we all have different tastes in TV and entertainment so, this is an important step when determining whether or not you can live without Comcast, DirectTV, or some other provider. We have been pleased to find that many of our favorite dramas like “The Office,” “White Collar,” and many others are available for free from web services like hulu or directly from the major network’s websites like NBC.com and FOX.com. It is worth noting that these services “stream” video, if you want to purchase these shows for viewing on portable devices such as iPods or when you are disconnected from the internet many of these shows can be purchased from Amazon video online or iTunes.

Since the switchover to Digital TV major networks have been broadcasting HD 1080i quality video and Lea and I have tuned-in with an aerial antenna attached to our roof. Obviously an antenna on the roof is the best option for reception but, indoor antennas can be a viable solution for you to pull in major network TV for free over-the-air. Lea and I get about 30 channels from our antenna for free including all the major networks like NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX. This allows us to watch local news, some of our favorite TV shows, and some sporting events.

The Sports Exemption; It should be noted that if you’re a fan of watching live sports at the moment they’re happening you will have some difficulty watching this programing without a subscription to Cable. There are a few exceptions with MLB.tv and options like ESPN3 which streams content in HD for free. If you have an antenna you can watch sports that appear on the major networks like NFL, and the MLB Playoffs but you will miss out on sports on ESPN and other specialty sporting networks. The biggest disadvantage to ditching cable TV for Lea and I has been missing out on Phillies Games that are not broadcasted on the major networks or WPHL. MLB.tv is a great subscription based option but the major TV networks still blackout local sports fans so even though I would be willing to pay for an MLB.tv subscription as a local Phillies fan I can never watch the games using MLB.tv.

So what do we pay for?

Lea and I decided that we prefer access to the internet over access to cable TV. Lea and I are currently paying for a monthly internet connection from Comcast Cable at $29.99 per month. This connection gets us access not only to the video streaming services discussed above but also gets us connected to the many other benefits of the internet. Other internet solutions are available but are required to access services like hulu and network video streaming. One benefit to subscribing to Comcast internet is that they will provide basic cable service to your house even if you don’t pay for any cable service, just plug in your coax. This is helpful if you don’t want to deal with an aerial antenna.

We also have a monthly subscription to Netflix. Netflix offers a monthly subscription of unlimited DVD mail-rentals and unlimited video streaming for about $10.00 per month. Netflix is a great place to find past seasons of shows like Law & Order, LOST, Deadliest Catch and many more TV shows including classics like “Charles in Charge.” Although we do pay for this subscription it provides us with regular movies and media content at an extremely reasonable rate.

Access to TV shows beyond the subscription to cable TV is getting easier and easier all the time. Set-top boxes like the boxee box, AppleTV or Roku Player allow you to connect directly to your TV and stream video to your TV so you don’t have to hassle with connecting your home computer to your TV or being forced to watch shows on your computer. Also, some TV manufactures and DVD players are building apps like Netflix and Vudu right into the device, in fact you may have even heard of the recent launch of “Google TV.”

This post is a little longer than normal, and we didn’t even cover all the details of our experience in cutting the cable. We hope that this provides a reference point when you consider cutting the cable. Maybe you didn’t even realize that you can get TV shows for free? Remember most of the time you don’t sign into a long term contract with your cable company so it won’t hurt to cut the cable and try it for a month…you might be surprised what you can live without. If you can’t make it work, your cable company will be more than willing to take you back!

If you have any questions use the comment feature below to keep the discussion going!

We started with nearly 4,000 photos and we have narrowed it down to around 850 photos that celebrate our wedding day! We are so excited to finally be able to share these photos with you! It has taken some time to get them all edited and sorted through but, we hope that you find it worth the wait. Our photos were originally taken by Daniel Mast. Our wedding ceremony and reception was held at Pequea Church in Lancaster PA. Our outdoor formal photos were taken at Silver Mine Park. If you are interested in printing these photos you can download them in full resolution from Flickr or you can print them from flickr using snapfish. You must have a flickr/yahoo account to print the photos. If you don’t have any account, it’s easy and free to set up just go to flickr.com and click “create your account”. When you find a photo you like just click the actions button above the photo and select “order prints”. View the photos in a slideshow by clicking here.

Technical Details:

The primary camera for our photos was a Nikon D3. You will also see photos from a Canon 5D. Special thanks again to our wedding photographer Daniel Mast, we were so excited to have him be a part of our special day. Daniel did an awesome job and we would recommend him to anyone looking for a photographer! Being a photographer myself it was so nice to have a photographer that we could trust, I knew that he was doing a great job which put my mind at ease. All of the photos were then edited and organized using Aperture. If you have any questions let us know!