Category Archives: Faith and Religion

A Blessed Weekend

We celebrated Easter today. Being a Christian, this is one of the most important days of the year. Our Savior rose from the dead over two thousand years ago and lives today. One day we will see Him again. Easter isn’t about colored eggs, the Easter bunny or baskets of candy. Those are fun, but it’s not what Easter is all about. It’s about a risen Savior who came to earth to live and He died on the cross for every one of us in the world. He loves us that much. He arose from the dead and sits at the right hand of God, His Father, and one day He will come again to gather his church and judge us all. Our church choir sang an amazing cantata today and it was wonderful to be in church this morning. Wish you could have heard it.

We had a family get together today also. I always enjoy having family around. We took pictures.

Two of our three children were here. Am I getting shorter or are my children still growing?

Three of our grandchildren and our daughter-in-love were here.

This is our daughter and her family. Shoes were optional. Now I know why I wanted these big wide steps. For picture taking!

We had an Easter egg hunt after dinner. There were one hundred and three eggs to find, plus a golden egg with money inside. Grandkids always like candy and money.

The smaller boys got to hunt in a special area. They wouldn’t have a chance with their bigger cousin standing there.

Then they all hunted the rest of the eggs. It didn’t take them long to find all but two of them.

It was a fun day and a tiring day. Not a half hour after everyone had left David and I both fell asleep. Him in his recliner and me on the couch and I slept for two solid hours. Not saying we were worn out or anything, but we were tired.

The building of our porch is going gung ho.

This big truck parked across the street with our lumber.

With this vehicle, it was easy to unload the lumber to our yard.

The steps looked like this just a couple of days ago.

The cedar siding is going up on the house. I am going to stain this.

Piles of lumber still sit on the porch for the railings and the rest of the siding. My little magnolia tree has made it through all the tearing down and building up. It opened its flowers fully this morning, just in time for Easter.

David is already enjoying the porch. We hope many memories will be made as they were on the old porch. Come and sit a spell with us sometime. Bye.

I’m a Believer

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Today I am going somewhere completely different from what I usually write about. There are things going on in this world that cannot be explained. There are portents of things to come in what is happening all around us. Those of us who have studied the Bible are not surprised by what is happening. Did you know the Bible mentions ghosts? Not the Holy ghost, just ghosts.(Perhaps I should clarify that yes, the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Bible.) When Jesus first appeared to some of the disciples, they thought at first that he was a ghost.

There are some things I believe in. I believe there is a God, that Jesus died for me and that He sits at the right hand of God right this minute. I believe in angels and I believe there is a devil and his demons who roam the earth wreaking havoc on all people. I believe in heaven and in hell. I believe there is a battle going on all around us that we cannot see between angels and demons. I believe there are many things we cannot explain. I believe God does not want one of us to perish. He sent His only Son after all. I don’t think I could love that much to give up one of my sons to die for everyone. But God did. But this post is not about that. I hope you will know I am being sincere in what I am telling you. I couldn’t make up things I am about to tell you.

There are many things that cannot be explained through science or through practical knowledge. We are all spiritual beings whether we are believers or not. Some have just shut off the spiritual side of themselves and I believe they are missing a lot of what God has planned for them. But I am not talking about this kind of spirituality.

I have never believed in ghosts. That said, I have some really strange ghost stories to tell.

Years ago, our family went on vacation and we stopped at this park where there was a fire tower that we wanted to climb, but our daughter was too little. So David walked up with the boys taking the camera with him. He took a picture of my daughter and me standing beneath the tower. When we got home and had the pictures developed, we noticed something odd about the picture of my daughter and me. It appeared there was another figure standing beside us. A very distinct shape of a person. There had been no other people around us that day.

We live in a 100 year old house. From the very beginning of living here I began to see a cat running in the house. Up the stairs usually. We had cats later, but at the time, we had no cats. Then a few years ago I was sitting in our living room and saw a cat run across the room right into the wall. The hairs went up on the back of my neck. I called to David in the kitchen and said, “You are not going to believe what I just saw.” I don’t think he did.

When my father died, a few nights after his death I was lying in bed and heard who I thought was David walking into the room. I lay there with my eyes closed. Suddenly, I felt a presence standing over me and felt the most wonderful feeling of love. I opened my eyes and David wasn’t there. He was downstairs. I have always thought it was my daddy coming to say good-bye.

One night I was in my bedroom in bed and heard David come into the room and when he didn’t get in bed I opened my eyes and he wasn’t there. I got up and called downstairs and asked him if he had come upstairs. He said he hadn’t.

Something happened that makes me think we have something going on in our house. Our grandsons stayed overnight one night and the next day going home one of them said he didn’t want to stay overnight anymore because a bad man came into his room. That sent the hairs on the back of my neck up because our daughter had the same experience once when she was small and had screamed from her room one night waking us all up from a deep sleep saying there was a man in her room. We searched everywhere. She doesn’t remember it now. Now when I ask her about it, she says it was bees in the window, which did happen once, but not that night.

Well, this week two things happened that were really strange. Okay, more than strange. David and I were in the kitchen when out of the corner of my eye I saw a man in a white shirt with dark hair coming into the kitchen. He seemed to be surprised that we were there and backed out immediately and disappeared. I said, “David, there was a man there just now.” He just laughed. Soon something strange would happen to him.

Yesterday I was out in my shop and David was in the house. He came out to the shop and said,”Were you just in the house?” “No, I said, why?” ” Someone whistled at me at the back door and I whistled back. It sounded just like you.” Okay. Ummmm. I don’t know what happened, but he definitely heard someone whistle. So we have a cat owning, white shirt wearing, whistling ghost I guess. As long as he’s friendly, I will be okay. Sometimes I think someone is standing right behind me while I type here. I feel nothing scary about it. It just is.

The husband of a friend of mine is a doctor and he ran into a ghost with no feet floating down the hallway at the hospital. He smelled gangrene. He said the ghost was just as surprised to see him as he was to see the ghost. I’m not the only one seeing them.

When my grandfather died, my mother said she saw him at the foot of her bed just standing there looking at her.

Do you have a ghost? Do you believe in ghosts? I really don’t believe in them, but what is happening at my house? The explanation must be supernatural.

I saw a show on Netflix about a guy who one day started to see angels, demons and dead people. It was causing him much angst. He was really having a horrible time about it. He went to a psychiatrist who said he was mentally stable. He went to many people to have his brain studied. Everything was fine. What makes one person see these things and another doesn’t? He did say that angels are very tall, beautiful creatures with large wings and they sparkle. That is what I think angels would look like.

I believe there are things going on all around us that most of us cannot see. There are battles being waged. I have heard that all time is going on at the same time, just in different dimensions. Could it be that someone or something gets caught in the wrong dimension? God sees it all from the very beginning of creation to the end of time as we know it. We only see a very tiny bit. Hope I haven’t scared any of you because I’m not scared. Much. Bye.

Happy Valentine’s Day

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Today is a day for love. I don’t know why we just pick one day when we should be loving on people all the time. Have you a loved one with you today? Or are you alone and thinking no one loves you? That isn’t true. Have you lost a loved one this year? Has someone spurned you that you loved? Just remember this. There is someone who loves you more than anything.

If you are alone today, get out if you can and go somewhere and just smile at people. Do you know there are people in this world who never get one smile in a day? Not one. If we were the one to smile at them then quite possibly we could make their day just a little bit brighter. Or even say, “How are you today?” Have you ever said that to someone who was checking you out at a store? It makes all the difference in how they treat you and it makes them feel like they are a person instead of just someone doing something for you.

Do you have a talent you could share? Do you knit or crochet or quilt or play the guitar or anything? Teach a child how to do something today. Hug a child. Hug your mother and your father. Are your parents gone? Love on some older folks whose children aren’t around.

You see, Valentine’s Day isn’t just for couples. It’s for everyone to try to show love to others. Jesus loved each of us so much He died on the cross to take away our sins so that one day we could be with him in Heaven. What greater love is there? I never feel unloved. I do have a husband and family and friends that love me, but even if I didn’t have them, I know I am loved. You are so loved today. I love you for spending some time here. If you could be with me I would bake us some biscuits and cook up some of my chickens’ good, fresh, organic eggs. We’d have a cup of coffee or tea and sit a spell and talk. I bet your life is more interesting than you could ever imagine. Every life is special and God loves you. Talk to Him today. He’s been waiting.

Here’s some flowers for you. I hope you like them. I wish you the very best today. Happy Valentine’s Day. You are loved. Bye.

Juggling

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Right now I feel like a juggler, juggling several different things at once. And it’s all my fault. No one makes me do these things.

I am a creative person loving to sew, quilt, knit, embroider and do just about any handwork. My problem is I love to start something, but I don’t always get it done. Right now I can say I have at least ten quilts that need to be completed. Probably more. One I just have a very little bit of quilting to do and it just sits there waiting on me. Making me feel guilty.

Then there is the knitting. I just started knitting after years of not knitting a thing. Suddenly I am in love with yarn and the working with the two needles row upon row as a hat or a scarf takes shape. This week I have made three children’s hats and a scarf. I want to start another hat. I’m thinking these hats would be nice to put in Christmas boxes for Samaritan’s Purse. I only knit at night right before I go to bed, but the problem is I don’t want to go to bed until I get a hat done. I can knit one in an evening. They’re small.

Then I decided I needed to make a couple of new ironing board covers. That entails making almost a twin size quilt and cutting it down to size to fit the ironing board. I almost have one done. I don’t waste any time when I get an idea in my head.

Then I went to a fabric store last week with some friends and got an armload of felts and decided I needed to make needle holders right away. Today I cut out two, plus a scissor holder. They will be so cute, I think, if I get them done. Lots of handwork on these. I will show them to you when I get them finished. They are not the hand needle holders I made last week and showed you. I bet you are wondering what I am going to do with all these needle holders. I have a plan.

Now I am on a roll and want to get a Christmas quilt completed before gardening time gets here. I almost have the quilt top finished.

Today it suddenly hit me I have way too many things going at once and need to finish a few and tidy things up a bit before Spring. Plus I have been neglecting the pups and the chicks. They demand my attention and I have given them very little in the past couple of weeks. And I need to get to the beauty shop and get my hair cut or it is going to be to my waist before I know it. Plus my “true” color is showing and I can’t have that. But every time I think I will make an appointment, we get another big snow and I don’t want to get out in it.

I need to plant tomatoes now. Before we know it, we will be in garden planting season and last year my tomatoes were late getting out. I had cherry tomatoes clear up to frost last year, but so many of them were wasted that way so this year I hope to get them out earlier. The chooks really cleaned out the old garden and even flattened the compost pile so I won’t have much cleaning up of the garden before we till it. I am amazed what good little dirt turners they are. They have scratched up every inch of the garden area. That is why you don’t let chickens into your garden when something is growing there.

I am sounding rather hyper here, aren’t I? I said a while ago I have never been bored. Now I see why. I am where I think a boring day might be nice. A long day of nothing. Maybe just me, a hot bath and a good book. Sounds pretty wonderful. But that isn’t going to happen for a while. Next week I start a new Bible study for six weeks. Since it is going to be at my house this time I am going to have to do some cleaning. And some baking.

Our Sunday school class is going to a dinner theater and I am so excited about that. I love plays and musicals and things like that. This is a special one for Valentine’s Day.

My chooks are doing well in this bitter, cold weather. It doesn’t seem to affect them much. We do have a heat lamp on in the sub zero temps. They are still laying from three to five eggs a day. I still have to give eggs away because we cannot eat them fast enough. I notice someone is molting because I see a lot of loose feathers when I clean their coop. And it sure isn’t me!

Finished my granddaughter’s book. I find myself excited about reading the next one to see what is going to happen next to her main characters. She is a really good writer. As she matures I see her writing more and more and getting the public’s attention. Her book is geared toward middle school aged children, but she used some big words I had to look up.

Another snow is expected this weekend. Feed the birds. They can’t find food under the snow. I have the fattest birds and squirrels around because they are always feasting. The squirrels just look at me when I go out to fill the feeder and just keep on munching. I guess by now they know I don’t eat squirrel.

Here’s to sewing, quilting, knitting, reading and never being bored. Bye.

Needles and Pins, Pins and Needles

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I go through a lot of needles in my sewing projects. I have lost so many needles and never have been able to find them anywhere. One day last week David said he would look through my pin cushions because he just knew that is where my needles were.

As you can see, I have purchased several packages of needles in the past and quite a few are missing.

This is generally how my pin cushions look when I am busy sewing something. Just ram the pins any which way. My needles usually end up in one of these also and then, they disappear.

So David pushed and pulled on my pin cushions, getting bloodied fingers while doing so, and this is what he came up with. About fifty needles that had got themselves deep inside the pincushions. Wow, I was impressed.

He also replaced all the pins very neatly back into the pin cushions. Wonder how long that will last? Hmmmmmm.

A friend gave me this cute pincushion a while back.

I began looking for cute pins to stick in it.

I am a sucker for cute. I don’t use these. They are just for display so I can enjoy all the cuteness.

What?! Where did he come from? Hope there are no needles up his nose!

I got busy and made a needle case. I am not going to put any more needles into my pincushions. I had a little bit of this Mary Engelbreit material that worked perfectly for this project.

I can put my needles just inside the case.

Or on this little needle pad I can put inside the case. Now I will know where my needles are and won’t lose them in the pincushion, at least.

And while I was working with felt and felt the urge, I made this little British looking purse. I love it. I had made one in white for my granddaughter and wanted one for myself. So easy to make, yet so cute. Did I say I was a sucker for cute?

Speaking of cute. The Sunday school class I work in studied blind Bartemaeus and how Jesus gave him back his sight. As the project, the children made glasses. First I traced them on poster board. Then they colored them and put on some cute stickers.

They got to choose from these stickers. Honestly, I love stickers. I can stand in Hobby Lobby and gape at all the stickers for scrap booking for long periods of time. That is why I will not take up scrap booking because I would be obsessive with it and have to buy stickers all the time. I got these stickers at Wal-mart. They had a nice selection.

I had to make glasses for the teacher who likes to fish.

Then I had to make one for myself because I am obsessive like that.

Then I made two of these for my grandsons to wear while watching football.

I think they liked them.

The children in Sunday school enjoyed making them.

One more project I completed this week. More on that later. By the way, what group sang, “Needles and Pins?” Crystal Blue Persuasion. That’s all I can remember about the song. So many of the songs back when I was a girl were about drugs although I was too naive to know it at the time and glad of it.

Here’s to pins and needles and husbands who find them. Bye.

Feasting at the Birdfeeder and Elsewhere

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The birds cannot find food when everything is covered with ice and snow, so I try to keep food out for them at all times. Besides making the birds happy, it makes me happy to watch them.

Sometimes there are over thirty birds sitting around waiting for a place to eat.

Mr. Cardinal sits on a limb waiting for his chance at the feeder.

Cardinals are the beauties of the bird world. Then there is the sparrow. Plain and not distinct from many birds that look almost the same except for a stripe here or a different color head there, but they still just kind of melt into the crowd. Kind of like people. Some of us just kind of melt into the crowd and others stand out like the cardinal. Doesn’t make us any less important, just like it doesn’t make the sparrow any less important. After all, the song says, “His eye is on the sparrow,” not “His eye is on the cardinal,” so God thinks we are all important.

Look, who is that lurking behind the bushes?

One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn’t belong,

Can you tell which thing is not like the other?

By the time I finish this song. Sesame Street.

Yes, a bunny came to dine at the bird feeder. He even chased the birds away for a while until finally they were all dining in peace together.

While the birds are eating, David and I aren’t doing too badly in the house. I made my new favorites sugar cookies this week. I got the recipe off the internet where I get a lot of my recipes.

They are soft and have just the right amount of sweetness and they are super easy to make.

Have you ever eaten at Olive Garden and gotten the Zuppa Tuscana? I found a similar recipe online and made it today. We will eat it tomorrow after all the flavors meld together. Some things are just better the next day.

Looking forward to eating this. Maybe I will need to bake some bread.

Hope you are keeping warm and feeding the birds. Bye.

Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

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Here in the midwest and in other parts of our country, we are suffering sub zero temperatures right now. Well, I won’t say suffering exactly if you have a nice warm home and food to eat. But, anyway, it’s darn cold. I mean go outside for one minute to run back to check on eggs at the coop without a coat on and coming back almost frostbitten cold. Why did I do that?

I worry about our eggs freezing. We have had a few freeze before we could get out to gather them. Those we feed to the dogs. Sometimes one hen will sit out there for an hour or two on three eggs and I will have to reach under her to get the eggs and she says a few bad clucks to me, but I am not leaving those eggs out there in this freezing weather.

Our outside dogs are staying in my shop during this weather. Normally, I don’t worry about them getting too cold because they have an insulated doghouse with several inches of cedar on the floor. One winter when it got really cold I was worried that they were not warm enough in their doghouse so I crawled inside and they came in too and believe me, it got hot in there. But with these temperatures and the wind that is blowing I just feel so much more comfortable knowing they are in my warm shop. I don’t think Bonnie has left the recliner I have out there once except when we take her outside to go. She’s getting old and her old bones are enjoying the comfort and warmth.

We took the Christmas tree down today. I decided to leave our decorations up for the twelve days of Christmas. Did you know there were twelve days of Christmas? You probably know the song and it has a Christian meaning. My girly room looks kind of empty now without the tree, but I have a wonderful view outside and can see the birds eating at the bird feeder. Oh, be sure to put out some food for the birds right now as the snow has covered much of their natural food. There were about thirty out there at once eating. Several cardinals which brighten up the landscape. I am so glad we have cardinals in the winter because everything else is grey and brown and white.

As I told you my last blog I am working on Christmas gifts for 2014 already. I have so many ideas in my head and cannot wait to try them all. I have butterflies flittering around in my girly room right now and that is all I am going to say about that.

David was coming home from work last week and the brakes went out on his truck. Thankfully, he made it home okay. He called AAA and a tow truck driver came out. Our plan only paid to tow the truck for three miles and it was one-tenth of a mile over the limit to the repair shop. But the truck driver was nice and said he would just put down three miles and didn’t charge us the extra. There are good people in this world despite the fact the news tells us differently.

David is lost without his truck and feels it is beneath him to drive the Pt Cruiser to work. I don’t know why. He drives it every place else. Funny guy, my husband. But he is my hero. I opened the door to the basement this morning to go downstairs to get some canned goods and a freezing wind came up the stairs. David went down and saw a window had blown open and broke the glass when the window struck the wall. So he got some cardboard and taped it and sealed it so the wind couldn’t get in. It will have to stay that way until Spring because we are not having a window out to repair during the winter. I wonder sometimes what I would do without him. A somber thought. I guess I could have repaired the window myself, but it is nice to have a man around to do those kind of things.

How is your new year coming? I have friends who have already lost loved ones so it isn’t so nice for them right now. Hope it will get better for them as the year progresses. We never know what each year will bring. Joy, sorrow. new jobs, travel, getting new family members, losing others. It’s all part of life. Have to take the good with the bad which is why when things are good we should rejoice in that and savor every minute. May you all be blessed this year. Keep warm. Bye.

Finishing My Last Blog

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My computer went all whacko on me last night and refused to let me post anymore pictures. I think it was tired. So I will try to finish what I began yesterday. What was I talking about??? Oh, yes, traditions.

One of my favorite traditions on New Year’s Day is to put up new calendars. I didn’t get it done yesterday, but they are all up today.

I didn’t even know there was a Susan Branch until a year or two ago. She is an author who hand writes all her books and water colors each page. They are beautiful. She includes quotes and recipes and stories about her growing up which is very like how I grew up. Since we both grew up in about the same era, that is natural. She also produces a calendar each year and last year was the first year I bought one.

How can you not like a calendar which has on one of the dates in January to visit your local fabric store today? I visited one a little early already, but this made me smile.

Each calendar page is a work of art and very interesting to read. There are probably a few left out there, so run to your local calendar store and get this calendar.

I have to have a labrador retriever calendar which I put in my downstairs bathroom. This one has all puppies which really makes me want to get that lab pup this year.

I have been buying Lang calendars for years. This one was a gift and will hang in my dining room. This is the one on which I write all the birthdays and anniversaries in our family.

This Lang calendar will hang in my shop. I love all the old timey pictures in it. Makes me wish I had lived in those simpler times. Especially on a farm. With a horse.

Did you make any new year’s resolutions this year? I quit doing that long ago. Too much pressure. I have a lot of plans and things I would like to do this year.

I want to spend as much time as possible with my children and grandchildren.

I want to learn to play my ukelele and not be afraid to play it in front of people.

I want to make as many quilts as I can, especially the ones that will be gifts.

I want to learn how to water color like Susan Branch. She started water colors later in her life. She didn’t even know she had that talent until she just started one day. Isn’t that like a lot of us? We are afraid to start something new because we are afraid we won’t be any good at it. So what. At least you tried. There are so many things we can learn if we just set our minds to it.

I want to be a good witness for Jesus Christ. I have given this year and my family to Him and pray He will do His will in them.

I want to stay connected to old friends and family members I don’t see very often.

I want to keep raising chickens and maybe adding a few more to my little flock.

I want that lab puppy.

I want to see my grandson play his lacrosse game in Traverse City, Michigan where David and I honeymooned many years ago. There is a road in Traverse City named after my husband’s family because only his family lived on it at one time. I don’t know if any of his family is still living on it, but we will probably check if we get up there.

I want to see my granddaughter play her ukelele we gave her on her praise team at her school.

I want to get to Cincinnati and Chicago for personal reasons. I want David’s brother and sister-in-law to bring their grandchildren to visit us and meet our grandchildren.

I want our new porch to be built this year as the old one is pulling away from the house and playing havoc with the walls in our living room.

I want to write more blogs to include stories about my growing up on an Indiana farm in the fifies.

I want to have Bible studies in my home and have fellowship with other Christian women.

I want to walk more, eat less, lift weights more and just take better care of my body. Notice this is the last thing I put on my list. Hmmmmm.

Oh, I could add a few hundred more things I would like to do this year, but I think these will keep me busy for a while. Hope your new year is productive and creative. Bye.

I Can’t Believe, But I Do

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I can’t believe it’s less than a week until Christmas. I have lived through many Christmases and each one has been different, but still the spirit of Christmas lives on.

I believe we celebrate Jesus Christ’s birthday at Christmas time. Jesus was very probably born in warmer weather since the shepherds were watching their sheep out in the hills around Bethlehem when He was born. December 25th was picked long ago as the date Christians would celebrate his birth. Christ Mass is how the word originated.

Anyway, I believe Christmas is special because there is a spirit that surrounds the whole holiday. The spirit of love, joy, peace and giving of gifts like the magi gave gifts to the Christ child. I love the gift giving part. As I grow older, getting gifts just doesn’t seem as important to me as giving them. I wish I could give more.

David and I have put on our Santa hats and gotten to work building, painting and sewing Christmas gifts. This weekend I will be baking and making candy. Some of the grandkids will be here so they can help me.

Years ago when David and I had a quilt shop we sold this quilting book. It has so many wonderful projects in it and I have made a few.

I made this quilt and gave it to someone who is a teacher. I would like to make another because I really love it.

I made this quilt and it is put out every Christmas. There are a few more projects in the book I plan to make for next Christmas. Wish I had more time to get them done this year, but time is running out.

These are some of the things I am working on or will be working on this week. I forgot I had the Betty Crocker Christmas cookbook and am finding several recipes in it I want to try. I also am going to make gingerbread cookies. Something I haven’t done in years, but it just sounded like fun this year. I would like to make peanut brittle. I love peanut brittle. One time I was riding my exercise bicycle while eating peanut brittle at the same time. David came into the room and laughed and said “You’re defeating the purpose of riding the bike, aren’t you?” I just laughed and ate another piece of peanut brittle.

I told you I would show you my Jim Shore nativity set so here it is.

I found this in a Hallmark store one year and fell in love with it. Each figure has a quilt pattern on it.

Look at the beautiful quilt covering Jesus. He didn’t have something so lovely covering Him there in the stable with all the animals. All Mary had were a few rags with which to wrap Him. The Savior of the world wrapped in rags lying in an animal’s feeding trough. How lowly was the birth of the King of the universe. God’s son come to earth to save us all. The best Christmas gift anyone could receive.

This little lamb is so sweet. Another quilted covering. Jim Shore knew this added touch would make his figurines special.

The Wise men. Where did they come from? So far away, Jesus was about two years old when they finally found him. They brought gifts of gold, frankincense and Myrrh which is why people always think there were just three. It doesn’t say three wise men in the Bible. There could have been more or maybe only two with several gifts. Still, they knew this was an important enough birth to make the long journey to see the Christ child and bring him expensive gifts. Mary and Joseph probably used these gifts to help support their little family when they had to flee to Egypt because the evil King Herod was looking for this special baby who would be king.

To think, God’s son was threatened to be killed before He would have ever had a chance to die for us all on the cross. But God had a plan for His son and for all of us.

Mary probably rode a donkey on her and Joseph’s trip to Bethlehem to pay taxes, Yes, taxes have been around ever since there has been governments. How would you like to have to travel eighty miles sitting on a donkey when you were nine months pregnant? But Mary did it. It was foretold thousands of years before that a virgin would give birth in the town of Bethlehem so she was destined to go there by whatever mode of travel.

I love this little donkey. One year little hands dropped this donkey and then hid him under our couch where I found him with an ear off. David glued it back on and you can barely tell it was ever broken. Now I put this nativity up high where little hands cannot touch.

These cats did not come with the nativity, but I know from experience there are always cats in a barn where there are cows. My daddy use to spray milk right into our barn cats’ mouths straight from the cows’ udders. I always thought that was so funny.

I hope you are looking forward to Christmas as much as I am. Christmas will come whether there is a tree or gifts under the tree or a big dinner. It’s all about the spirit. I plan to spend a little time with Jesus this season enjoying His goodness and light and I hope you know Him and if you don’t, I hope you meet Him one day. He loves you and cared enough for you to die for you.

Peace, joy, and love to you all. Bye.

Grandparents’ Day and Whirling Dervishes

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David and I had the opportunity to attend Grandparents’ Day at three of our grandchildren’s school this week. I always love to go to these because it is always so uplifting to see the kind of education my grandchildren are getting. They go to a large Christian school and I believe they are getting the best education they can get.

When you enter the school you see all these inspirational signs on the walls. This is a Jesus Christ centered school. The children and teachers are all so friendly and happy and there is just a wonderful atmosphere in the whole school.

We grandparents were directed to the auditorium where a jazz band was playing big band music. They had us all tapping our feet and clapping our hands. Sorry my zoom lens wasn’t working. The boy playing the xylophone twirled the sticks as he played. The trombonist was amazing.

There were greetings from the principal and others and then this pastor gave a short sermon using the piano as an object of the sermon. There is a middle C. Christ should be the center of our lives. The black and white keys symbolize the good and bad that happens in our lives. There are major key people and minor key people. He played as he talked using music to enhance what he said. He played one song playing it fast for the young people, slow for the older people and then really fast to show how fast our lives pass. He was a great teacher and it was a wonderful object lesson. I could have listened to him much longer.

The Praise Team sang and that girl in the green shirt. That’s our granddaughter. She sings in all the chapels they have each week. I am so proud of her.

There were two days for Grandparents’ Day The middle school was the first day and elementary the next. This was on day one.

Our granddaughter took us around the school showing us where all her classrooms are. This is her locker.

She is on the honor roll.

There were photographs in the hall taken by middle schoolers. I was amazed at how professional they looked. When I was their age I could barely put one foot in front of the other without tripping!

The next day David and I had to split up. David went with our younger grandson and because he didn’t have the camera, we didn’t get any pictures of what they did. They made hand prints and put them together on a page and our grandson wrote a really sweet note to us. I got to hang out with this grandson. He is so much fun. I noticed he was seated in the front row in home room and I wondered why. Hmmmm. He and I almost started giggling when a man sneezed really loudly. Maybe he takes after me a little.

The students stood up around us and said a really long passage from the Bible from memory. I was impressed.

This is his locker. I looked inside it and was amazed how neat it is because I have seen his room. I love this kid.

Saw this sign on the side of one of the teacher’s desks. I think it could be parentisms also as I have said many of these things to my children.

In the evening we played Dizzios, a form of Dominoes. It’s probably one of my favorite games even though I think I have only won it one time. My grandsons are really good at this.

Speaking of grandsons, I will leave you with some pictures of my two youngest grandsons who spent the night with us last weekend. I brought out the old electric football game our sons use to play with and the boys were entertained for a long time. As you will see, I could not get a picture that wasn’t blurry because these boys were on the move all the time. Whirling Dervishes.