A Charlie Brown Christmas....

Luke 2:8-14

...And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night. 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 city of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the LORD. The will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rest."

A Savior has been born indeed....good thing...because we need Him so desperately!

Merry Christmas 2008!

Christmas laughs....for dog lovers

watch this:

http://www.dogwork.com/dogsnow/


Thanks to my mountain buddy Kah-roll for sharing!

Happy Birthday Beauty!!

Ocala Lights...at Christmas...

Today is the day we celebrate Miss Adah's birthday...woohoooooooooooo!!!!!

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday dear Adaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Happy Birthday to yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

And many moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooore!

A day of birthday shopping in Orlando, dinner at the Melting Pot, presents and cards at home followed by a "Betty Cake" (mmmmm)..what a "wild" birthday was had by this 20 year old! ha hahahahaha

Life is WAY better because you were created! We love you doll!

amusement

I have a new friend...she passed this onto me...and she's really quite crazy ....if you would like to amuse yourself too....check out this website....just in time for Christmas.....www.elfyourself.com GO!

Christmas time...mmmm

Ring-a-ling, hear them sing....it's Christmastime in the city....even in little slowcala!!! Today, Miss Whitney finished up the last of her finals and she is F-I-N-A-Y....til January...and...SO IS ADRIANNE!!! Delight...starting tonite at about 1 AM I will have both my girls home, under 1 roof...and all mine for a month. Hurray!!! Adah has a b-day tomorrow...She will be 2-0! No way, how can my kid be 20 when I am still holding on at 25? Hmmm??

moving on.....I have a new outlook on our President-elect....my Pastor passed it onto me...and so did Chuck Swindoll this morning on the radio. My Pastor, when reading us the Christmas message in Luke 2:8-19 reminded us of Isaiah 9:6-7...which says, "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (mmmmm , breathe out) of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. HE will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this."

Now we know all this is yet to come...but what a wonderful reminder...yes, we do have to live under this government now...but there is a day coming...when all evil is in hell...and Believers will be with the Lord...under a government that is upheld with justice and righteousness....forever....that gives me hope!

Chuck Swindoll was talking about our "thinking". I like Chuck S....maybe because he is calm...speaking like a soothing balm. He used Phil 4:6... the verse that says, "do not be anxious about anything but in all things with prayer and thanksgiving make your requests known to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds...." then he goes on to tell us what we are to do once we've "unloaded that burden onto the Lord"...we are to think on (Phil 4:8) "whatever is true, noble, right, pure lovely, admirable....if anything is excellent or praiseworthy....and the God of peace will be with you".

So, no more complaining about B. Hussein Obama....this is his heaven on earth...I choose this day to think on "lovely" things. When I say that I like to say it with a British accent and make it have more syllables...luv-uh-ly!

Today, as my Pastor says...."relax, let God put his arm around you and save you...for His purpose". He uses the example of a Lifeguard swimming toward a drowning person...they are to stay at a close distance from the flailing swimmer...then once they relax (or stop trying to save themselves) the lifeguard can approach and safely put his arm around them and pull them to safety! mmmmm, comforting word picture.

Breathe in, .....out......relax and think on good things...it's Christmas time in the city....ring-a-ling!

Simple Christmas

Ok. Now, it is time for Christmas and all that it entails....always in the past there have been "Christmas Spectaculars" to perform, trees (plural) to put up, lights outside and many tables to cover in Christmasy things...this year....in what we refer to as "The Unit"...there will be none of that. We have a 4 foot tall and 1 foot wide fake tree that was given to us by a sweet, sweet friend.....I spent $4 at Wal-mart decorating it...no there is no wedgewood, or lladro, or swarvoski anything on this tree....just jingle bells, ha.....no tables are being filled with stuff...I do wish I had my Nativity Scene from home....but it feels good. When I braved Super Wal-mart to spend my $4....everyone was there hustling and bustling FILLING FILLING FILLING their carts with that strained look on their faces that I used to have...with the pressure of making "the house" look Christmasy....all I had to do was pick up 3 things, pay my $4 and walk out....big deep breath in and then out....house is decorated. This Christmas will be calm.

I love Holidays

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Well, well, well...another holiday has come and gone ...and we are better because of it. We traveled back to the land of ice and spent Thanksgiving in the "Big House"....and nearly froze to death....we are quickly becoming Floridians!! Yeah!!

The thing I like best about vacation is the "doing nothing" part....being quiet...reading books, looking at magazines, watching the fire, and sipping hot things in mugs. I like waking up slowly, drinking coffee until I'm finished...eating when I finally think about it...and never, ever rushing getting dressed...then when I do...it's something sloppy...mmmmmmm

I like moving from one room to another in the "big house"....deciding which room I want to relax in next. See....where we are now...there are no choices...and I KNOW that is temporary...but it does feel like forever....but coziness is good too....I think!?!

So this holiday was spent relaxing, taking walks, seeing movies, eating and visiting with some friends....but mostly just "doing nothing"....my favorite thing!

Thanksgiving break and all that it entails....

Hip Hip Hooray Adah is home! When was the last time you actually said, Hip Hip Hooray and felt good about saying it??? I like saying fun things...it's fun for your mouth. We are all so happy to have Adah back in our midst....she fills our cups....but, as we all know...when our kids go off to college they form new affections...and her little heart longs for her buddies at college and her "honey" in TN...soooooooooooooooooooooooo, we will have to just love on her enough for all the people she misses. Oh, and she has LOTS of laundry...LOTS AND LOTS....argh!

Some Things that make me laugh...

Can you spot the 44th President?

Welcome to Heaven, Leon Wayne "Butch" Talbott

Well, sadly today we bid 'farewell" to our dearly loved cousin Leon....or Butch, which is what we called him his entire childhood. He was Susie's baby brother...but grew to be probably 6"5". His lovely wife went to heaven before him...they are reunited now....they are (were) very young. We know they are happy. But, left behind are their 2 sons, 18 and 21, and grandchildren...and the rest of his immediate family...a family that has had to bear way TOO much hardship. The Lord tells us He will never give us more than we can handle....I think this family might argue with that. We will miss you Leon...a quiet, gentle giant....we will take care of your boys! Say, "hello" to my Dad.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick" Proverbs 13:12

I do not like the President elect. The more I see and hear...the more disappointed I become.

We are called to "hate what is evil and cling to what is good." (Mt. 12:9) So I shall cling to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith. He will never leave or forsake me and he is near to the broken-hearted.

I will also just say...DRILL BABY DRILL!

I DO NOT like the President-elect...not one bit!

'Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my savior and my God." Psalm 42:5

"Vindicate me O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men. Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? Send forth your LIGHT and your TRUTH let them guide me, let them bring me to your holy mountain to the place where you dwell. Psalm 43:1-3

Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. HE changes times and seasons; HE sets up kings AND deposes them, HE gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. HE reveals deep and hidden things; HE know what lies in darkness, and light dwells with HIM. I thank and praise you O God of my fathers; YOU have given me wisdom and power..." Daniel 2:20-23b


God's ways are not our ways...and no, I do not understand the Lord's setting up this "king"...I shall just have to be patient and wait ....I will not be downcast....for one day this President-elect shall be deposed!......yeah, Amen!...

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!!!!!

...another birthday....I no longer care about getting older...I like where I am in life ...I would like to have a 25 year old body....but I wouldn't want to be 25! I am thankful for a wonderful family and great friends who make life better because I know they care! Happy Birthday to me, 2008! Yippee!!!Hurrah!!!! Delight!!!!

beauty queen of only 15

Whitney goes to Homecoming, in a limo, via dinner at MY favorite restaurant "Sky Fusion", escorted by Justin ....he's a cutey.....she's my baby....hmmmmmm?????? A good time was had by all. He got the "purple dress" memo...but have you ever tried to match purple? There are 100 shades.....but they look darling!

Barrack Hussein Obama is scarey!

I don't like Obama....at all. When I see him I think these things:

• White Washed Tomb
• Symbolism over Substance
• Cold and Angry disquised as "Very "cool"....(gag)
• Author of lies
• Masked
• Friend of Terrorists and not ashamed of it
• "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." (John 10:10)
• "Everything is permissible -- but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible -- but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good but the good of others" (1 Corinthians 10:23-24)

I almost like Hilary Clinton now...Barrack makes her seem..hmmmm, less awful....maybe that's the plan? Maybe the Democratic Party wants us to hate Obama so much that we will elect Hilary in 2012.....now that's a thought. God help us.

church...and all that it entails....

Basilica of St. Francis and St. Francis of Assisi!

Sistine Chapel

I'm a Christian... raised in a Lutheran church...born again in a Baptist Church....now spending time in a Presbyterian Church...and content. But after reading...and I'm not finished yet...."Chasing Francis" (a book about Saint Francis of Assisi)....I'm beginning to take another look at the Catholic Church....not that I"m considering converting to Catholicism....but I have a new appreciation for what they do in "their" church...something I haven't considered in ages. I"m all about head knowledge application of Scripture to my life...you know...the message!!


The Author of Chasing Francis, "Ian Morgan Cron" writes: Medievals built huge, ornate churches so that people walking into them would feel like they'd left one world and entered another reality -- the kingdom of God. ...{You see} stained-glass windows, frescoes and paintings, dimmed lights, flickering candles, the smell of incense, vaults and arches pulling your spirit upward, angels soaring on the ceilings. God {sneaks] up on you through the architecture...


He continues...."Augustine said the human mind was particularly delighted when truth was presented to it indirectly, like in symbols and sacred space. Unfortunately, most churches today are designed without any sense of the iconic because moderns like straightforward, unambiguous communication. We want 'worship centers' where hominess is more important than holiness."


THAT'S SO TRUE.....we focus more on 'lights, camera, action rather than "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost".

I just have to keep quoting this book....it has me enraptured! It's a story about a Pilgrimage and these quotes take place between 2 characters in the book. One is a Catholic Friar, the other a Baptist Minister...who is at the end of himself....tired of playing church....a place so many of us find ourselves these days....we just want more...and something different.....here's more...


The Friar says, "Next come the liturgy and the Eucharist".....most churches today downplay Communion...we 'just do it' ...sometimes. I always thought it odd that Catholic Churches and others serve the Lord's Supper almost every Sunday....in my piety I thought they should spend more time on 'the message'....but I learned something here in this short paperback.....

The Friar continues..."Church start[s] the moment you get in the car. ....Liturgy (the consecrating of the bread and the wine and it's consumption) is a journey that proceeds from the kingdom of this world into a brief encounter with the kingdom of God, and then back out again to bear witness to it. The liturgy began the moment you started separating yourself from this world so you could join the rest of the body of Christ. In liturgy, every act is a metaphor or symbol."

"The word liturgy literally means 'the work of the people.' It's an ancient text that helps us reenact the redemption drama. What we're reciting is a compressed version of the redemption story. At the end of it, we can't help but be moved to cry out with all the angels and archangels. "Thanks be to God! and give our lives to the God who gave his life for us.

So -- (when you enter one of these grand cathedrals) you entered sacred space, heard and spoke the Great Story. Next, you were mystically confronted with Christ at the climax of the liturgy, the Eucharist." (i.e. the Lord's Supper...it means "thanksgiving")

It's that moment in the 'work of the people' when we partake of the divine life and experience the presence of Christ in a way that can be particularly intense...Jesus draws very near at the Eucharist, and that can be unnerving. But think of it as a homecoming celebration. In the Eucharist, we are united with God, all the saints, the earth that gave us the bread and wine, and the whole universe.!"...

...the Eucharist is the sacrament of love and joy...

"We need more than reason or information to nourish our faith; we're built for firsthand experiences of God through things like the Eucharist as well. Gandhi (and I don't particularly care for Gandhi) said, "The world is so hungry for God that God could only come as a piece of bread. We so long for joy that God even risked coming into the world in the form of intoxication, that risky thing called wine."

"Sometime back I heard someone say that the Bible is less a book that tells us what to do than a story that tells us who we are....The liturgy moves us...taking us on a guided journery where we are reminded of who we are, where we came from, how things have gotten so out of whack in this world, how God intervened, and how history is going to end.

Sometimes we feel dislocated...liturgy helps relocate us. We are not characters in search of an Author...we have a story.

Sometimes our spiritual lives feel like they are dying a slow death....maybe things would be different if, week after week, we sit in a community that repeatedly reminds us of who God is and who we are thru something like the liturgy. It's like someone says, "Don't worry, Faith might be hard for you to come by right now, but listen to these ancient words we're saying and 'rent' our faith until yours revives".....

shoowee.....touche' The End! 'Nuf said!

My cup runneth over!!

It has been said, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

.... BUT, I believe, when it comes to friends and family... absence makes the heart

BURST... with joy when you finally see them again! This weekend I was able to reunite with my doll, Adrianne, having not seen her since I left her at college abruptly back in August. I was also able to spend some quality time with my favorite gal-pal Cyndi...having not seen her since mid-September. The joy my heart felt at seeing their faces and then embracing them is difficult to put into words. I will just say this...my cup was completely filled.

Love of others fills you up!! I thank YOU Lord for family and friends!! The extra addition to cup-filling was the fact that Cyndi had her family there PLUS we were able to spend time with our new friends, The Kuykendalls along with their Little Phi SK as well.

Good friends, good food, bad football, but fun football game...SO...a grand time was had by all!!

Musings from a great book!

Sometimes we lose our composure when we ponder the painful parts of our lives and other times we lose it simply because our environment overcomes us . In the book, "Chasing Francis" the Author writes..."Not to worry, sometimes prayers are wet." I agree. Scripture says it best in Romans 8:26: ...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express...."

Ponderings

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

Moving...can be difficult. There are unpleasant parts and good parts. I was pondering them yesterday.

First, Whitney is moved from her home and School that she has been in since she was a first grader. She had "her place" in her comfortable school. Now she is in a new school...new home (however temporary), and on a new team....guess what? She loves it! God has added new friends to her life...and they genuinely love her. Whitney is content!

Next, Adrianne is taken from her home and moved to a city where she will probably not make new friends (as a college student)...BUT, at Auburn she has wonderful new friends that she #1 lives with, #2 has classes with and , #3 are in her Sorority.....they will be her life-long friends, as well as her beloved friends in A-vegas....Little Karina, Katah, Claire-bear, and Britley!!!

Both girls have added friends to their lives!

Then...Marc...he has no regrets leaving Ash-vegas....his hiking buddies will still be calling him to get out there and "die-hard" on the trails. As far as his job????.....well, in A-vegas that was going no where positive....I won't elaborate! As far as Florida??? Let's just say he is the happiest he has ever been work-wise!! Let's see.....tomorrow he is going with his boss and co-workers to check out a new Country Club golf course that is courting the hospital employees....yeah, he's alright!

Finally, me...I miss my friends. I miss my house. I miss my life.....BUT...I do not miss the weather....and that is VERY important....no one can take the sunshine from me. Every day is beautiful...if it doesn't decide to rain....and I will always keep my A-vegas friends....they are too wonderful. God will sell that house and I will have a new life here...there are hints of new beginnings. I have re-established old friendships here...and they are good! We have a home....a temporary one that is not my favorite...but it has access to a pool, has all the comforts necessary (not all that are desired) so I am trying everyday to be thankful.


MLS listing #406460

One last thing....we have a wonderful church. I love the Pastor, the music, the heart of the church AND the people are becoming more familiar each week. We even have people there we can now call friends!!

God is working all things for our good....according to his purposes not mine. So I will trust. Lord, help thou my unbelief....and not complain...but somedays....well, I whine.

But, in spite of me God is still good....all the time!