A Walk Through Bethlehem Topic: God things We went to Phoenix on Friday and Saturday for our family Christmas party with the desert relatives. It was a really nice time, highlighted by a trip to a Bethlehem village. I was picturing a live nativity scene, but A Walk Through Bethlehem was a huge surprise and blessing to us. It was put on by Crossroads Nazarene Church in Chandler, AZ and they went all out on their production. My niece Bobbie had gone to get the tickets that afternoon, they are free tickets, but they encourage a canned food donation in exchange. She received registration forms for each family and a paper ticket and a plastic golden coin for each person.
As we started the tour, we came out into the night air and were greeted by shepherds, warming themselves by their fire. They invited us to get warm and visited with us about being shepherds. I took a picture with flash of some shepherd children who were tending some live sheep and turned around to find a woman who was part of the production staring at me with her huge eyes and asked me what kind of magic was this that I could capture their souls. Yikes, I’m sorry! LOL She acted suspicious of me the whole rest of the tour and kept giving me the eye as she walked along with our group. Suddenly (really!) the angels appeared on the roof of the church with a glow of light and smoky haze, announcing the Savior’s birth and entreating us to go and find Him. The shepherds were amazed (of course) and we all went to the gates of Bethlehem to enter the city.
The Roman guards at the gate were gruff and loud…informing us we should have our registration papers ready and that there was a tax to be paid as we entered. My brother in law, who has a habit of making little comments under his breath, said he wasn’t going to pay any taxes. Well he was just kidding, but he was promptly pointed out (by his loving family…heehee) and whisked off by the rough guards, who made an example out of him not to mock them. The rest of us entered the city, handed in our census registration papers, which will be used by the church for outreach purposes, we paid our taxes which were ogled over by Roman soldiers, and were all of a sudden in the middle of an old Bethlehem village recreation. There were ladies doing a Middle Eastern dance with scarves (Maggie and cousin Eleanor were invited to join in), there were people baking unleavened bread in stone ovens over an open fire (there were samples and it was good), there was a man playing an old game with some children in an alcove, there was a woman spinning fuzzy wool into smooth yarn and there were people selling fish….stinnnnnky fish (they offered samples too, but didn’t have many takers). It was all so well done and planned out.
Next we were hurried into a narrow city street where women were excitedly talking from window to window above our heads. They were discussing the angels coming to announce to the shepherds about a Savior’s birth. Maggie caught one woman’s attention because she was wearing a Christmas headband with a gold halo that hung over her forehead. This woman shocked the wits out of Maggie, as she loudly and excitedly asked her if SHE was one of the angels who talked to the shepherds. It took her a minute to compose herself and answer….it was so funny. Then the women told us to come back and please let them know if we found the Savior…..all of this happening while we craned our necks up to watch them. LOL
Through the street, then into the city synagogue, where the priests opened scrolls and read ancient prophecies about Messiah’s birth and life. Then we went out to a quiet manger set where we sat on bails of hay and watched Mary and Joseph taking care of the Baby (a real baby) in the still, dark night, surrounded by donkeys and sheep. One of the pastors of the church gave an evangelistic talk about how everyone is searching for something in their life to give it meaning and fulfillment, not realizing that it is only found through a humble, servant Savior. He then offered a sample prayer of giving your life to Christ and said there were counselors in tents behind us to pray with us or answer any questions we had about it all, adding that the tents had heaters for extra incentive. =) As we headed to the parking lot, there was a petting zoo and kind church members offering assistance to people.
It was wonderful to see a church that put so much effort into a community outreach! This production must have taken hours upon hours of preparation, hard work, practice and planning to pull off. I would drive down to Phoenix every year to see this awesome tour through Bethlehem….many thanks to the Crossroads Nazarene Church!
Christmas with family.... Topic: Holidays/Vacations Oooo, don't we look all 80's? heehee I found this old pic of me and 2 of the sisters on my computer. That is Becky, me and Julie on vacation in 1986.
I mentioned a few entries ago that my inbox was full of my sisters trying to organize an early Christmas weekend get together. One sister came forward and got us organized with wisdom, skill and wit. My sister, Julie, got tired of the 20 emails a day in her inbox, as I did, with sister talk just going round and round without actually planning one thing. LOL So she wrote a very commanding email advising us what we would each bring and do for the weekend fun.
My other 2 sisters and 1 grown niece probably had the same reaction that I did upon receiving ‘orders’. Julie thought we’d feel bossed around and apologized for taking charge. But I just stared in sheer amazement that one of MY sisters could take those dozens of emails, with all the lists and food and entertainment possibilities and come up with orders for each person, gleaning from all of our chaos and turning it into a plan.
We all thanked her and are in awe of her skill. Then we got this email, which I am using with her permission, explaining the whole weekend in hilarious detail. You might have to know some of these relatives to really get giddy laughter going, but I think you’ll see the humor in it without further explanation….after all, you all have relatives I’ll bet!
Without further adieu….heeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Julie!
After several requests from dazed and confused family members, here is the schedule for Christmas as best as I could guess:
Friday Dec 16
2:00-ish pm - Julie will bring Mom, Dad and Eleanor to Becky's house and hopefully Christie and family will arrive by then as well. At some point, we may heat up some appetizers to snack on (Mom will provide).
4:30 - Jodi leaves work and picks up Steve at home. They drive to Becky's having pleasant conversation and enjoying the carpool lane.
4:30 - Bobbie leaves work and picks up tickets for Bethlehem tour for 12 (including herself) with many cans of food, which she has secured ahead of time. She gets the latest tickets possible and then comes to Becky's house.
6:00 - we eat Becky's food and Christie's salad. We may play a game or so. We will have birthday cake and ice cream. Some may choose to sing "Happy Birthday."
7:30-ish - everyone leaves Becky's house for either home in Glendale or Bethlehem tour. Many will return to Becky's house for the night and may require hot chocolate.
Saturday Dec 17
8 am? - Steve will leave Becky's house for freeway opening party. He will try to talk Eleanor and Maggie into coming along. They may or may not be convinced.
9 am? - The Lords and the Adams' will leave for Glendale, someone will give Julie and maybe Eleanor a ride, since Steve will have the van.
10 am - Lots of people and commotion will descend on a small house in Glendale. We will have activities that are sticky and require frosting and candies. We will divide baked goods and other homemade treats. At some point, Steve will rejoin the crowd.
Noonish - we will eat deli meats on bread, dips and chips. We will feel a little sick from all the sugary treats.
1-ish - we will give and receive gifts with the Lords and the Jimenez'. Paper will fly. Someone will stick a bow on their head. Many thank-you's will be heard.
2:30-ish - the Lords will have to leave to get back to Williams before dark. On the drive, they will regret that Maggie wanted a Rescue Pet...
….uh, it’s me again….We’ll be following orders starting tomorrow…see you all after the weekend!
Scared of Santa Topic: Holidays/Vacations Take a look at The Scared of Santa Gallery ….I knew there was a reason for not taking my kids to sit on Santa’s lap all those years. They will thank me when they see this!
Seriously though, we have some Santa ornaments around, we watch the Miracle on 34th Street and Rudolph, but from day one, I let my children know that Santa was just a make believe game some parents play with their kids, along with telling them why the legend began. I don’t think they suffered at all from it…although I have been chewed out before by Christians who thought I was mean not to let them have a little fun believing in Santa. My kids have never thought it was mean and grew up to be perfectly normal (some may even say above average…ok, well that may just be me) and also to be truth seekers, each with a deep faith in God. I’d rather teach them to have faith about things that are real, rather than possibly confuse them or lose their trust in my truthfulness.
This is not meant to be cynical at all. I respect those who play the game and tell my kids not to ruin the game for other kids. (after all, I grew up slightly normal after believing in Santa) But I did want to let those who might wonder how this approach turned out in case they’re afraid to be mean….er, truthful. ;)
Christmas ideas! Topic: Crickl's Recipes
I’ve been gleaning ideas from TV cooking shows and magazines!
From Rachel Ray’s Christmas cooking show....2 recipes:
Snowball macaroons
2 egg whites, beat til thick 1/3 c sugar, beat til stiff peaks form
Fold in gently: 1 1/2 c sweetened coconut (start with half, then add rest) 1/4 tsp nutmeg 3 T flour 1 tsp almond extract
Use an ice cream scoop for good sized cookie piles onto parchment paper lined pan. Bake for 12 minutes at 350. Cool on wire rack and decorate with melted chocolate chips and candies.
Italian bread pudding
Half a loaf of pantone (or sweet bread or cake) cut in cubes, put in large mixing bowl.
Pour over bread cubes in mixing bowl. Let sit for a few minutes. Scoop into greased muffin tins. Place muffin tin into larger baking dish with an inch of water in it under the muffin tin. Bake til lightly browned on top. The water underneath keeps the puddings moist.
I didn’t hear how long to cook these (she got to the bake time when I was away helping Maggie turn off the water in the shower), so I’m just going to wing it, but they sound wonderful!
I saw Martha Stewart on a morning show and she did this:
Dip rim of holiday coffee cups into melted white chocolate, then into crushed peppermints. Fill with eggnog or hot cocoa! (I think you could use it for coffee too.)
crickl's scalloped potatoes:
4-6 large russet potatoes 1/4-1/2 sweet onion Butter Coarse salt, cracked pepper Dried or fresh rosemary Garlic cloves (1-3), crushed 1 cup milk
Grease a 9x13 baking dish (a stone dish really makes crispy edges!). Use a slicing plain set on thin setting or hand slice potatoes as thin as you can. Do this also with the onion…long, thin slices, not in chunks. Melt butter (amount is up to you) and put the crushed garlic in the butter. Layer potatoes and onions in dish, sprinkling each layer with spices and melted garlic butter. When top layer is in place, pour milk around the edges. (It will be soaked up by the end of baking.) Cover with foil and bake at 375 for an hour. Take foil off and bake uncovered for about 15 minutes or until the top is crispy and browned.
This is really good with ham or meatloaf. If you add cheese into the layers, it is almost a meal in itself with a salad or asparagus.
Happy Holiday.....Merry CHRISTmas! Topic: Holidays/Vacations I got this article as an email forward and did a search to find out where it had come from. It is a column written by Debbie Daniel on a GOPUSA sight. But it is not a GOP party article, it is an article for all Christians on the recent negative hype of saying 'Merry CHRISTmas' in public places. I almost posted it here, but it is long. She makes a lot of good points.
Reminder for moms at Christmas Topic: Holidays/Vacations For the sake of time and my family, I will just be posting some fun or devotional types of things I have collected on Christmas or on contentment as I find them. With all the obligations and extra activities of the season, I want to share encouraging things, yet have the time to put more into our family life here.
This is an email from my friend, Sue, at church. It is a dear reminder of how we can get sidetracked, sometimes by good things, and neglect the ones closest to us! I wish the author was listed, but on these email forwards, it usually is not. 1 Corinthians 13 has long been a chapter of the Word that I study and try to use often…..it is so basic…so fundamental in how we treat each other…….so read on this for a few minutes and then meditate on the real thing.
If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.
If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way. Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love will endure!
Bustling about Topic: Holidays/Vacations
I just finished voting for my favorite Christian women’s blogs over at Two Talent Living. There is a long list of great blogs written about all kinds of subjects by Christian women there. Take a minute to bookmark it and browse through the blogs when you have some time.
December is a crazy, wonderful month. I love all the festivities and busyness of the season, buying people gifts and celebrating. We are trying to spend most evenings at home and enjoy our family more this year. It has to be a conscious effort for us because there are so many things to do! I hope to have no regrets about how I spent the season of the Incarnation celebration. ;)
Things that I’m spending time on lately:
My inbox: My email box has been FULL almost every day the past couple of weeks…not from lots of people….but from 4 people who are driving me crazy! My 3 sisters and my grown up neice! We write these group emails when we’re planning something (currently our family Christmas weekend the 16-17th) and everyone has to ‘reply all’ to all of them. By the time the day is over, I could have up to 15-20 emails….each one growing longer because no one erases all the other replies! It’s crazy….but then it wouldn’t be us if it wasn’t crazy….at least it wouldn’t be them if it wasn’t crazy! LOL
Cooking: I am hosting my daughters and their teenaged friends for gingerbread guy decorating on Saturday. Click here to see last year's creations. We had pirate guys, island guys, guys in tuxedoes (Nate Sallie), santa guys, a creature from the Black Lagoon guy, Spiderman guy, and lots of other cute cookies including a gingerbread girl in a swimsuit, ankle bracelet and lei from Hawaii. I will post pics when we're done of the surviving gingerbread guys and girls. (Some don't survive until picture time, losing limbs and heads, eventually succumbing to cannibalistic teenaged girls.)
Taxi service: Mom's taxi service is roaring with business lately! I'm glad the girls have so many fun and wholesome activities, but I can't wait til my 15 year old gets her license and can run some errands for me! (January 25 she turns 16!) The big attraction lately? Our town has just finished an outdoor ice skating rink downtown! I hope to have pics of this soon too.
Shopping: can't tell! *wink wink, nudge nudge* =)
Projects: Working on a project for my parents for Christmas….I can tell you because they do not know how to look at a computer screen! My sister has been telling my Mom about my blog for a while now and she was all sad because she ‘can’t’ read it…I will clarify so you don’t think I have an illiterate mother. She thinks it’s too hard to learn to use the internet. Silly people. So I am making a notebook with all my blog posts from this last year. Converting it to Word and adding and resizing all the pictures took hours. It is 178 pages long on Word! It is also taking hours upon hours to print because our main computer, which is connected to the printerrrrrrrrr, keeps crashing….right now, it’s about every 25 pages. It ain’t fun people. I may have a permanent twitch developing.
I also need to finish my youngest daughter’s Christmas stocking. I made each of my 3 older daughters these nice counted cross-stitch stockings that hang proudly each year, displaying intricate counting and stitching abilities and the love of a Mom who had the time to go through all that work for them. I had each of their stockings finished and hanging up by their second Christmases. Maggie’s is still in process…and she is 8 years old. You cannot imagine the guilt I feel when we decorate the house each year and she has a store-bought red fuzzy stocking, while the other sisters all have cute homemade stockings. =(
Homeschooling: We are trying to catch up from the time I was gone to Israel and the time we have goofed off doing Christmas things.
Focus: We are focusing on gratitude in our devotional times. It has been wonderful. I am so unorganized that this November devotional idea came a month late. Good (or God?) timing though! It's a perfect thing to focus on in December. Our main theme is from an article in the November issue of HomeLife magazine. Contentment is acheived from a heart that focuses on gratitude for what we have...instead of focusing on what we do not have. More later on this!
White Chocolate-Raspberry Slices Topic: Crickl's Recipes Another really fancy cookie that is easy to make. It's like a tea biscuit. I found it last year in a magazine. It is a Challenge butter recipe.
Important Note: I made these last night and doubled the batch. It was very hard to work with the dough....very crumbly...so I had to sprinkle the dough with water. If I made it again, I would not use the whole amount of flour. I suggest just using a cup of flour for the regular recipe and add more flour if you can't form it into the ropes. Otherwise, this is a very good recipe!
White Chocolate-Raspberry Slices
Ingredients 1/2 cup Challenge Butter, at room temperature 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup raspberry jam 2 ounces white chocolate, chopped
Instructions 1. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in flour, then beat until dough comes together. 2. Divide dough into thirds. On a floured surface, with the palms of your hands, roll each portion into a 9-inch long rope about 1-inch thick. Place ropes 3 inches apart on a buttered 12" x 15" inch baking sheet. Press your finger into dough to make 1/2 inch wide indentations at 1-inch intervals along each rope. Spoon 1/4 teaspoon jam into each indentation. 3. Bake ropes in a 350?F regular or convection oven until edges are lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet. 4. Place white chocolate in a plastic sandwich bag, pushing to one corner; secure bag just above chocolate with a twist-tie or knot. Immerse corner of bag in a cup of hot water until chocolate is melted. Dry bag, then with scissors, cut off the tip of the corner. Squeeze bag to drizzle white chocolate decoratively across ropes. Chill until white chocolate is firm to touch, about 1 hour, then cut each rope diagonally into 9 slices with the jam in the middle of the slice.
Walnut Raspberry Brownies! Topic: Crickl's Recipes This is a recipe my sister started making for Christmas...giving it away in little tins...years ago. It is a Baker's Chocolate recipe I think. It is wonderful with or without the walnuts.
Walnut Raspberry Brownies
3 squares unsweetened chocolate 1/2 c shortening 3 eggs 1 1/2 c sugar 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp salt 1 c flour 1 1/2 c chopped walnuts 1/3 c seedless raspberry jam
Melt chocolate with shortening, cool slightly. Blend together eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt; stir in chocolate mixture, then flour. (hint: Mix these ingredients by hand, not with a mixer. A mixer makes the eggs too fluffy and gives the brownies a different texture. The brownies are supposed to have the consistency of fudge....or a little brownier than fudge.)
Fold in walnuts. Pour into well greased 8 inch square pan. Bake at 325 for about 40 minutes.
Spoon jam over hot brownies, letting it sink in. Let cool.
Make velvet chocolate glaze to spread over cooled brownies.
Velvet Chocolate Glaze
Melt: 1 square of unsweet chocolate in microwave.
Blend in: 2 Tblsp each of butter and light corn syrup.
Stir in: 1 cup of powdered sugar 1 Tblsp milk 1 tsp vanilla
Mix well. Spread over cooled brownies. When frosting is set, cut into 1 inch squares and place on a beautiful platter with a paper doily.
Which Jane Austen character are you? Topic: Humor/memes
I took my three older daughters to see the new Pride and Prejudice last week, the first day it was out. We are quite the Jane Austen fans. My oldest daughter raved about it and wants to see it over and over. I think I prefer the story told in the more lengthy five hour A&E production. I love the story and since we have four girls, there is a lot of material to use from it for teasing or quoting.
One of my favorite parts is the scene where Mrs. Bennet wants Jane to ride a horse to Mr. Bingley’s house because it looks like rain and she will have to stay the night.
Jane Bennet: May I have the carriage, father? Mrs. Bennet: The carriage? No indeed! You must go on horseback for it looks like rain. Then you will have to stay the night! Jane Bennet: Mother! Mrs. Bennet: Oh, why do you look at me like that? Would you go all the way to Netherfield and back without seeing Mr Bingley? No indeed. - You will go on Nelly, that will do very well, indeed.
Tsk, tsk….anything to marry off her daughter to a rich man. I hope I don’t ever have to come to such desperate measures to get rid of mine…lol.
Today, while browsing some new-to-me blogs, I found this Jane Austen quiz on Gentle Art of Learning.
I’m glad I came out as one of my favorite characters…although I don’t know how true it is…
You are Emma, you like to talk of gossip and want to be the center of attention...these are not bad qualities because you genuially care about everyone around you but are oblivious to what is going on in your own life...
[Talking about Mrs. Elton] Emma: She'd never seen him before, and she called him Knightley! Harriet: I saw her at church. She seemed... Emma: Vulgar? Base? Conceited? Crass? She actually seemed pleased to discover that Mr. Knightley was a gentleman. I doubt he'll return the compliment and find *her* a lady. She proposed that we form a *musical club*. Is it possible that Mr. Elton met her while doing charitable work in a mental infirmary? [sighs] Emma: There is only one thing to do with a person as impossible as she. Harriet: What? Emma: I must throw a party for her. Otherwise everyone will feel at once how much I dislike her.
[In the middle of a heated discussion, Emma tries to change the subject] Emma Woodhouse: Did I mention we are having a new drain installed?
Order shmorder My daughter, Hannah, drives by this flamingo every day on her way out of her housing tract. It is a unique flamingo in that it wears costumes. She said every month or season she has lived there, this pink bird sports different costumes. For October he was dressed as a witch, now for Thanksgiving, it is dressed as a turkey. I was with her when she showed me the turkey suit and I laughed so hard, she took a picture of him. I will keep you updated on his changing looks.
I was trying to find a certain post, a recipe, on my blog today and realized I needed to organize a little bit. I have begun the process of putting the posts in catagories. Right now, I only have the topics of Recipes and To Israel 2005, but soon I will add more. The posts people ask me about or comment on most are also listed in the left column.
I hope to put up a lot of recipes for the Christmas season, so stay tuned.
The most wonderful time of the year.... Topic: Holidays/Vacations Thanksgiving is over and it caught me a little off guard. My plan was to put up the Christmas tree today, but the man of the house was ready to do it yesterday. It's a good thing when a husband wants to get decorating done and I'm not about to argue!
We never put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving before...at least not that I remember. The thing I remember about the day after Thanksgiving is getting up before dawn cracks (which is before God gets up, btw) and standing in long lines in the cold dark morning to go Christmas shopping. Standing in line to shop! Oh, the pain! We always got it mostly done though in one day and that was worth it. Things have changed now. Our oldest daughter is in college, we have 2 teenage girls and an 8 year old girl. These ages are a little hard to buy for, except the 8 year old. She wants roller skates, some Barbie movie and a 'rescue animal'....whatever that is. It turns out, the man of the house took it upon himself to order some mail order Christmas gifts for some of them. HUGE relief! Amazon.com loves him and is always sending him coupons and love notes. lol
I usually use the day after Thanksgiving to shop til noon (that's 7 hours of shopping when you begin at 5am!), then clean house and take down Fall decorations in preparation for Christmas decorations! I love the Christmas season...a whole month dedicated to celebration and awe. I think it is appropriate decadence for the celebration of the Incarnation! As I have studied Jewish holidays for the Messianic meanings hidden there, I am surprised by the lavish way they celebrated and enjoyed. (For some reason I always thought of Jewish folks as solemn and serious...wrong!)
And it is quite wonderful to see our whole country...the country that wants to ban the words Jesus and Christianity from it's vocabulary....actually celebrating with us Christians lavishly! As much as 'they' try to make it a 'winter holiday', the world doesn't easily forget that it is the Savior's birth we celebrate. As you walk through the mall or Walmart or see Christmas specials on TV, listen and hear Jesus being sung about in traditional carols and images of the creche scene out there in the secular world. I don't think 'they' will be able to totally secularize this holiday.
Because of our woodstove, which we love and gather around daily, we cannot have a real tree anymore. The year we got the woodstove, our Christmas tree disintegrated before our eyes as it dried to a crisp. The needles would cascade down every time your walked by it or touched it. By Christmas day we were praying that no one would light a match within a few feet of it and misting it with water each day......my apologies to any hand painted ornaments we had. =(
So instead of hunting for the perfect tree, bundling it up on the roof of the car, sawing off the base and trying to prop it up to balance in the tottering stand so it wouldn't topple (and it did at least one year), we go to the shed and drag the huge box that houses our brand spanking new artificial tree into the house, hoping it's cold enough outside to prevent any spiders from coming in with it. (that was on long sentence baby...maybe a new record!) Once it is up and decorated, I am not so disappointed, but seeing our Christmas tree come out of a box, all in color coded pieces is just not right. So I try to hide while the man of the house and the girls put it up. And it is a pretty one...people always come closer and feel it before asking if it is fake...but it's still not right in my eyes. There is no Christmas smell or the job of watering the base or exploring between the branches for critters or pine cones....no bare spaces to cover or balancing act to entertain us, no comparing how this tree is better than last year's tree.....since it looks exactly the same each year now. Then we look at the fire crackling in the woodstove and settle....it's worth it I guess. *pout*
Today I will be taking down all my Fall decorations amid the already strewn around Christmas fluff all over the place. I will pack away all my tiny colored corns and fake leaves, my pumpkin candy dish (which we actually just found yesterday tucked into a Christmas box! I can't tell you how I searched high and low for that thing in October.), my scarecrow, my corncob basket and cornucopia. I'll more carefully pack away my cornhusk pilgrim and Indians, since the pilgrims were kind of squished and falling over when I got them out this year....had to prop them against a pumpkin. And I'll throw out my tiny gourds and pumpkins, which did NOT mold this year...yay. I will pull down my Fall door hanging and put up a wreath, scrape out the candy corn bits from the candy dish (not the pumpkin one, a Christmas one...since I couldn't find it) and put out Christmas hard candy.
I hope you enjoy the Christmas season this year. No matter what hardships we've been through or where the months have taken us, seeing the twinkle lights, wreaths, and beautiful city streets decorated will inspire you to turn your thoughts to Jesus....to the wonderful, unspeakable joy of the Incarnation. God came to earth, to dwell with us.....celebrate!
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail, the incarnate deity Pleased as Man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.
To Israel part 7 Topic: To Israel 2005 The last day of our tour in Israel was really meaningful. Piling onto the tour busses that morning, we drove to a place called the Garden Tomb. We entered and were given a talk by a small elderly man with a thick Scottish accent. He was a member of the Garden Tomb Association of London, the caretakers of this beautiful place, full of green foliage of all types, which cool the air and put your heart at peace. He enthusiastically told us about the history of the area, why they believe it is the place where Jesus was buried and rose again, and then showed us the tomb. The tomb is in a place of bedrock, partially used as a quarry where they got stone from to build in Jerusalem. It is in the side of a hill….a small hill…that looks distinctly like a scull from the front. Unfortunately, and as with a lot of the historic sites around Israel, it is right beside an Arabic bus terminal. The scull is still visible though and I got a very eerie feeling looking at it, knowing this could be the place Jesus died, paying the penalty for my sin. They can’t be sure of course, but it is most like the garden tomb described in John 19:41-42. After viewing the hill, we got to step inside the tomb, which had two areas carved out for bodies. Only one had been used. They know this because when they laid the body in, they cut a place for the feet to slip in under the rock. Tombs were made a uniform size, then made longer at the feet depending on how tall the person was after they had died. At the entrance to the tomb, there was a track cut out of the bedrock to put a large round rock in and roll it into place.
Gathering at an outdoor seating area, we heard a sermon about the resurrection and read the Scriptures about the women coming to dress the body, finding the tomb empty and running back to tell the disciples. We pictured John and Peter running in and finding the burial clothes and the linen cloth folded neatly and set aside. The pastor who spoke has researched this greatly, as well as studying Jewish traditions and life. He told us something we had never realized before. The Jewish men put on a prayer shawl, a talit, when they go through bar mitzvah and they wear it every day until they die. It is precious and holy to them, it symbolizes a lot of reminders about the Law and God to them. When they die, their tradition is to wrap it around the man’s body to be buried in it. This is the linen cloth that the disciples found, lovingly folded and left as a sign to them that Jesus had risen. What a wonderful thought, and so meaningful.
After we heard the teaching, we had communion there in the garden. Part of the history of the area is that a large cistern was found under the ground, the third largest in Israel, to collect rainwater. Also found was a large winepress, so the garden was most likely a large vineyard, watered from the cistern. Our communion was provided free of charge by the Garden Tomb Association, unleavened bread and wine served in small olive wood cups. The curator told us to keep the cups as a memento of our visit….they are beautiful. We sang hymns about the cross, the words pounding into my mind the real meaning….He died, suffered torturously, willingly paid my penalty. I just wept and ached from the hard truth, from the gratitude welling up powerfully inside me and drank the cup with trembling lips. It was the most meaningful moment of the trip and perhaps of my life. Until now I haven’t been able to put all of this into words. I’m thankful to have the medium to take my time and do it.
One more thing before we left the country…we left a gift, each of us planting a small tree in a forest park. Planting a tree is symbolic of growth in the blessings of God for Israel’s future:
“Let the field be joyful, and all that is within it; then all the trees of the wood will rejoice before the Lord.” Psalms 96:12
There were a lot of trees planted there, each watered by hoses with holes in them running along the rows of neatly planted seedlings. Israel was a blessing to us…it was a blessing to see their courage, strength, ingenuity, and generosity. It was a blessing to see the carefully preserved Biblical sites and to be safe while doing so. We are praying for the peace of Israel and the coming of Christ, so the Jewish people we met may be part of the remnant of Jews who believe at His coming.
We went to Phoenix on Friday and Saturday for our family Christmas party with the desert relatives. It was a really nice time, highlighted by a trip to a Bethlehem village. I was picturing a live nativity scene, but A Walk Through Bethlehem was a huge surprise and blessing to us. It was put on by Crossroads Nazarene Church in Chandler, AZ and they went all out on their production. My niece Bobbie had gone to get the tickets that afternoon, they are free tickets, but they encourage a canned food donation in exchange. She received registration forms for each family and a paper ticket and a plastic golden coin for each person.
Oooo, don't we look all 80's? heehee I found this old pic of me and 2 of the sisters on my computer. That is Becky, me and Julie on vacation in 1986. 
Take a look at 
From Rachel Ray’s Christmas cooking show....2 recipes:
then into crushed peppermints. Fill with eggnog or hot cocoa! (I think you could use it for coffee too.)
Make internet snowflakes 
I got this article as an email forward and did a search to find out where it had come from. It is a column written by Debbie Daniel on a GOPUSA sight. But it is not a GOP party article, it is an article for all Christians on 
For the sake of time and my family, I will just be posting some fun or devotional types of things I have collected on Christmas or on contentment as I find them. With all the obligations and extra activities of the season, I want to share encouraging things, yet have the time to put more into our family life here. 
My inbox: My email box has been FULL almost every day the past couple of weeks…not from lots of people….but from 4 people who are driving me crazy! My 3 sisters and my grown up neice! We write these group emails when we’re planning something (currently our family Christmas weekend the 16-17th) and everyone has to ‘reply all’ to all of them. By the time the day is over, I could have up to 15-20 emails….each one growing longer because no one erases all the other replies! It’s crazy….but then it wouldn’t be us if it wasn’t crazy….at least it wouldn’t be them if it wasn’t crazy! LOL 
Taxi service: Mom's taxi service is roaring with business lately! I'm glad the girls have so many fun and wholesome activities, but I can't wait til my 15 year old gets her license and can run some errands for me! (January 25 she turns 16!) The big attraction lately? Our town has just finished an outdoor ice skating rink downtown! I hope to have pics of this soon too. 
Projects: Working on a project for my parents for Christmas….I can tell you because they do not know how to look at a computer screen! My sister has been telling my Mom about my blog for a while now and she was all sad because she ‘can’t’ read it…I will clarify so you don’t think I have an illiterate mother. She thinks it’s too hard to learn to use the internet. Silly people. So I am making a notebook with all my blog posts from this last year. Converting it to Word and adding and resizing all the pictures took hours. It is 178 pages long on Word! It is also taking hours upon hours to print because our main computer, which is connected to the printerrrrrrrrr, keeps crashing….right now, it’s about every 25 pages. It ain’t fun people. I may have a permanent twitch developing.
I was gone to Israel and the time we have goofed off doing Christmas things. 
Another really fancy cookie that is easy to make. It's like a tea biscuit. I found it last year in a magazine. It is a 
This is a recipe my sister started making for Christmas...giving it away in little tins...years ago. It is a Baker's Chocolate recipe I think. It is wonderful with or without the walnuts.
My daughter, Hannah, drives by this flamingo every day on her way out of her housing tract. It is a unique flamingo in that it wears costumes. She said every month or season she has lived there, this pink bird sports different costumes. For October he was dressed as a witch, now for Thanksgiving, it is dressed as a turkey. I was with her when she showed me the turkey suit and I laughed so hard, she took a picture of him. I will keep you updated on his changing looks.
Thanksgiving is over and it caught me a little off guard. My plan was to put up the Christmas tree today, but the man of the house was ready to do it yesterday. It's a good thing when a husband wants to get decorating done and I'm not about to argue! 
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
The last day of our tour in Israel was really meaningful. Piling onto the tour busses that morning, we drove to a place called the Garden Tomb. We entered and were given a talk by a small elderly man with a thick Scottish accent. He was a member of the Garden Tomb Association of London, the caretakers of this beautiful place, full of green foliage of all types, which cool the air and put your heart at peace. He enthusiastically told us about the history of the area, why they believe it is the place where Jesus was buried and rose again, and then showed us the tomb. The tomb is in a place of bedrock, partially used as a quarry where they got stone from to build in Jerusalem. It is in the side of a hill….a small hill…that looks distinctly like a scull from the front. Unfortunately, and as with a lot of the historic sites around Israel, it is right beside an Arabic bus terminal. 
The scull is still visible though and I got a very eerie feeling looking at it, knowing this could be the place Jesus died, paying the penalty for my sin. They can’t be sure of course, but it is most like the garden tomb described in John 19:41-42. After viewing the hill, we got to step inside the tomb, which had two areas carved out for bodies. Only one had been used. They know this because when they laid the body in, they cut a place for the feet to slip in under the rock. 
Tombs were made a uniform size, then made longer at the feet depending on how tall the person was after they had died. At the entrance to the tomb, there was a track cut out of the bedrock to put a large round rock in and roll it into place. 
Gathering at an outdoor seating area, we heard a sermon about the resurrection and read the Scriptures about the women coming to dress the body, finding the tomb empty and running back to tell the disciples. We pictured John and Peter running in and finding the burial clothes and the linen cloth folded neatly and set aside. The pastor who spoke has researched this greatly, as well as studying Jewish traditions and life. He told us something we had never realized before. The Jewish men put on a prayer shawl, a talit, when they go through bar mitzvah and they wear it every day until they die. It is precious and holy to them, it symbolizes a lot of reminders about the Law and God to them. When they die, their tradition is to wrap it around the man’s body to be buried in it. This is the linen cloth that the disciples found, lovingly folded and left as a sign to them that Jesus had risen. What a wonderful thought, and so meaningful. 
After we heard the teaching, we had communion there in the garden. Part of the history of the area is that a large cistern was found under the ground, the third largest in Israel, to collect rainwater. Also found was a large winepress, so the garden was most likely a large vineyard, watered from the cistern. Our communion was provided free of charge by the Garden Tomb Association, unleavened bread and wine served in small olive wood cups. The curator told us to keep the cups as a memento of our visit….they are beautiful. We sang hymns about the cross, the words pounding into my mind the real meaning….He died, suffered torturously, willingly paid my penalty. I just wept and ached from the hard truth, from the gratitude welling up powerfully inside me and drank the cup with trembling lips. It was the most meaningful moment of the trip and perhaps of my life. Until now I haven’t been able to put all of this into words. I’m thankful to have the medium to take my time and do it.
