Living Nativity

Our story begins at the very beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. Out of nothing, God made everything. He formed our world and all the universe. He separated the seas from the dry land and covered the earth with luscious vegetation. He filled it with every imaginable kind of creature. And then the Lord God created a man and a woman in His own image and placed them both in the paradise of the Garden of Eden. But the first man and woman disobeyed and rebelled against Him. By their sin, they severed the close relationship they had with God. God was forced to expel them from the pure environment of the Garden. They had rejected God and led the human race into sin. But even as God cast them out, He promised that one day a Savior would come not only for them, but for the whole human race.

Through the centuries God spoke through His prophets to remind the people that the Savior was coming. Isaiah, writing in 700 BC, proclaimed that the Savior would be God Himself and be miraculously born to a virgin. "The Lord Himself will give you a sign, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Emmanuel, 'God with us'." The prophet Micah predicted the specific town in which He would be born. "But you, Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

Each of the hundreds of prophecies heightened the world's expectation for this coming Savior who God promised would one day come.

As the time neared for the promised Savior to come, God sent an angel to a young virgin girl named Mary. "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High."

The angel of the Lord also appeared to Joseph, Mary's fiance: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping a lonely watch over their sheep. Suddenly, the night was interrupted by a brilliant light and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them: "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you: He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." And there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God...
BETHLEHEM

And so it came to pass, that in the humble stable, in the presence of donkeys and sheep, that Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world as a tiny baby. There he lay...God clothed in human flesh, the Savior, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. And they called his name Jesus, for He would save His people from their sins.

Months after Jesus' birth, King Herod's palace in Jerusalem was honored by the presence of princes from the East.

These princes, or "wise men," expressed their desire to see and worship the Child. A star had miraculously led them from their own homeland of Persia or India. When they found Jesus, these mighty princes, honored and feared by men, bowed before Him and worshiped Him.

To be continued...

Gobble, gobble

Not much to tell this week. We ate left over turkey nearly every day: Andy had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch on Monday, we both had that on Tuesday night for dinner, he had it again on Wednesday for lunch. On Thursday - something different - I made turkey noodle soup for dinner. I cut up the rest of the turkey and froze it so I can make another batch of soup later...much later. Actually, we both like turkey so we didn't really mind having so much left over.

On Tuesday, Andy and I went up to Christian & Christy's. Andy helped Christian put some finishing touches on his house project. They put up the soffits and fascias. Christy and I worked on a project in the house. She had been wanting to switch the girls' and boys' rooms around. Most of the work came in moving girls' clothes to the boys' closet and vise versa. We also moved the beds and cleaned and vacuumed under them. We found all kinds of little treasures!

Tonight Amy and Ricky came down to see our church's Living Nativity. They brought Ricky's parents and sister and her family. I went through the Nativity scenes with them. It's such a blessing to see the story of Jesus dramatized - it always speaks to my heart. And it's also exciting to see it with the children. Joanna was interested in the sheep but got tired of being carried. She wanted to get down and run around. But Chase seemed to be understanding what was going on. Of course, everyone loved the cookies at the end. Joanna was stuffing as much into her mouth as possible. She's funny and very entertaining!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I thought last weekend was busy. This one was, too. Because all our daughters are married with their own families and in-laws, we had our Thanksgiving dinner with them at our house on Friday. That worked well, not only so we could all be together, but also because it gave me the whole day on Thursday to prepare. I cooked the turkey and carved it, as well as a fully cooked smoked turkey I had bought. I also made 2 batches of rolls, au gratin pineapple, cornbread stuffing, and a cherry pie.While I was baking and cooking, Andy needed something to do. I had been thinking we needed to have his paint supplies a little more organized, so encouraged him to build shelves to store his paints in a more pleasing way. So we went from this:to this:
Nice!!! I love organization.

On Friday morning, Andy and his dad set up the large tent in our upstairs attic room. There are 2 twin beds in that room for guests when all our other spaces are being used. But it is a large room and kids like it in there because it's cozy and feels like a den. We had told the 4 oldest grandkids they could stay overnight with us on Friday after their parents left for home.
Early in the afternoon, a young girl from church came over to take our family pictures. That was an interesting adventure trying to get 8 adults and 8 children all looking the same direction with a reasonable expression on each face! She did manage to get 91 pictures. Don't worry, I won't post them all!

For our dinner on Friday, we had 17 adults and 10 children at our tables in the dining room. (Andy's mom and dad, his brother, Dan, and 3 of his married sons and their wives also were with us.) The kids had fun playing. I have a toy chest in the front room and they go right to it when they arrive. Chase always looks for the trucks and cars, and this time, Joanna found the high heels.After everyone left, Grace, Aiden, Naomi and Chase stayed with us to spend the night and most of Saturday with us. The kids slept in the tent and Andy and I slept in the twin beds. I thought I would read to them to put them to sleep, but they kept sitting up to look at me and ask questions of the stories I was reading. I finally had to tell them to lie down, close their eyes, and try to get to sleep. I was too tired to keep reading. And believe it or not, I slept till 7:30. I don't know that I've EVER slept that late. Wow!So Saturday was more fun...we ate breakfast, read some stories, watched a movie (The Fox and the Hound), wrestled and beat up PopPop, went over to the church to help Andy clean up a little, and the kids played in the church gym, had lunch and got ready to go home.

I left our house at 3:00 pm and got back around 6:00, in time to get my bass and music together and get to the church for 6:30 worship team rehearsal. This morning, Andy and I played in all three worship services. At 11:00, Dawn hosted a choir breakfast and rehearsal at our house.

I am very grateful for the many blessings I enjoy:
1. Knowing God and enjoying his grace, mercy and love.
2. The family He has given me.
3. The home He has entrusted to us.
4. The abilities and gifts He has given
5. etc. etc. etc.

Here are 3 favorites from the 91 pictures of the family:

Could life get any busier?

I'm not sure we could have crammed one more thing into this past weekend. It was packed full of people and activities.

On Thursday night, I made a batch of oatmeal scotchie cookies. I managed to resist the temptation to taste test them, although Andy let me know they passed the test!

On Friday night, I made a loaf of chocolate chip pumpkin bread and a dozen cinnamon chip muffins.

Also, on Friday night, our house guest for the weekend arrived - Ross McAfee. He is a missionary with Operation Mobilization (OM) who was involved in our Sunday services yesterday. He stayed in our upstairs apartment 3 nights, leaving this morning. He ate meals with us several times and although he (as well as we) were in and out, we did get to visit with him and catch up with each other.

Saturday morning there was a Ladies' Coffee Connection at the church. I went and took the chocolate chip bread and cinnamon chip muffins as my contribution. There is really some great food that arrives at those functions. I try not to eat too much, but I admit I taste nearly everything.

Christy and her 5 kiddos and puppy arrived around noon. We walked the dog, then had lunch of English muffin pizzas. Christy had come down to help a neighbor get started with Discovery Toys, so I watched the kids while she was gone. Andy came home early in the afternoon and was able to help with the children so I could start dinner.

At one point Asher was in the kitchen with me and my glasses were within his reach on my desk.
Christian did a tree job for someone in our church but was able to join us for dinner. I made minestrone soup, my homemade rolls and a Caesar's salad. I was going to serve the cookies I had made, but not too long after we finished our dinner, Naomi came walking out into the dining room carrying 2 cartons of ice cream. I was told the kids had been excited about coming to Grammy's house because they would get ice cream. So we had cookies AND ice cream. We were amused that Naomi had pushed a chair over to the freezer, opened it up and taken out the ice cream. I'm glad the cartons were almost full. How disappointed I would have been to disappoint the kids.

On Sunday, I was prepared to take care of Kira while Dawn was busy with choir. But her other Grammy was also at church, so I had to share. I did get to hold her in the 3rd service, so I guess that was better than nothing!

I spent the afternoon in the kitchen preparing for dinner with our small group. I fixed a new recipe that a friend had given me. I'm not sure of the name of the recipe, but it's a chicken dish. It was so delicious and everyone raved about it. I also made a rice pilaf and cornbread with blueberries. Others brought the vegetable dishes, salads and desserts. It was quite a feast.

There were 13 people who attended the dinner and we ate in the dining room.I'm hoping to get to bed early tonight to rest up before our next round of activities this holiday weekend.

I'm very thankful for our dear family. The children and grandchildren are such a blessing to us. I can't imagine life without them.New family pictures coming soon...

Great Riches

Gold was discovered in Australia in 1851, a year after the gold rush of California. One month after it was discovered, "a thousand diggers were tunnelling, cursing and exulting on the banks of Summerhill Creek, and the road over the Blue Mountains was choked with a footsore, sluggishly winding column of men...stumbling toward unheard of wealth in mud-balled boots under the driving rains of the Australian autumn. It was as though a plug had been pulled and the male population of New South Wales had emptied like a cistern, in a rush toward the diggings. Business...was utterly paralysed...a complete mental madness appear[ed] to have seized almost every member of the community." (from The Fatal Shore, The Epic of Australia's Founding by Robert Hughes)I've always been of the opinion that it's not that great of an advantage to be rich. Oh, it would be nice to have a little more...but who needs to have it all???

That's why I was intrigued when I came to Psalm 119:14: "I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches."

So chewing on this idea...if I had great riches, there is a certain amount of joy I would have because I would be free from worrying about how I would pay the bills. And realistically, if suddenly somehow I would become filthy rich, I probably wouldn't be UNhappy.

Anyway, I thought it was a good analogy: to be as happy in following the Lord as I would be happy about receiving wealth. And not only being happy, but pursuing that wealth as the gold diggers did - with total abandon. Only one thing was important - to get to the gold and become rich.

Do I follow the Lord that wholeheartedly? Because being God's child leads to infinite spiritual wealth?!
2 Peter 1:3 ~ "His divine power has given us EVERYTHING we need for life and godliness."

The Calm Before the Storm?

It was a quiet week for me...not much going on. But that's good because in another week or so, the holidays will be upon us, and then it will be quite busy. So I'm enjoying the quietude!

I did go over to see Dawn on Tuesday. We went shopping at a nearby mall. Dawn tried on some blouses and I held Kira. She was in a happy mood, smiling up at me like she was really enjoying being with her Grammy.

I've kept my impatiens in the gardens longer than usual. I mean, here is it November and they were still doing well on Friday...But Friday night/Saturday morning we had a frost and they were all withered up and dead in the morning. So time to put in the winter pansies. This time, along with buying the pansies, I also bought a liquid "shot gun" to spray on the flowers to keep critters away from them. I hope it works.
I put the pansies along the driveway and in front of the front porch. I had dahlias in the front of the porch all summer and they were so pretty. I didn't think of taking a picture of them until I had dug them out. But I was impressed that from 6 dahlia plants I got all these tubers. Anybody want some?
Even though Saturday was a little on the chilly side, it was a pleasant day for strolling around the property. There is still some color to be found, although a lot of our trees have lost their leaves.
I thought the pond was beautiful with the leaves floating on top of the water and the reflection of the surrounding woods.
Then yesterday, we got to see Dawn and Kira most of the day. The choir sang in all 3 services, and I helped with Kira as much as I could. I was involved with the worship team, playing my bass, so I wasn't as available as I would have liked. But between Tommy, me and Kira's other Grammy, she was taken care of. She wasn't very happy in the morning, but by afternoon, when Dawn was here for lunch, she was much more cheerful.
Dawn & I took Kira on a walk in the afternoon. It was so sunny and warm, we didn't even need jackets on. Then Dawn left Kira with me for the hour she went to the church for choir practice. She did well then, too. But that little girl is getting heavy. Whew.

I'm gearing up for Thanksgiving, thinking through the menu and making plans. That's only a couple of weeks away. It looks like we'll be celebrating on Friday so our daughters can be with their in-laws on Thursday.

Good advice that I read somewhere once upon a time: "Enjoy each moment. Too often we live in the future, just waiting for the next thing to happen." So that's what I'm doing - enjoying these moments of quiet and stillness. Soon enough they'll be gone.