Every year for as long as I can remember, Dad read the account of Jesus' birth from Luke 2 before we could open presents on Christmas morning. He read from KJV, but I have been using GNT for my Devo's and really like it.
8There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, 10but the angel said to them, “Don't be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. 11This very day in David's town your Savior was born—Christ the Lord! 12And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13Suddenly a great army of heaven's angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God:14“Glory to God in the highest heaven,and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!”15When the angels went away from them back into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us.”16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and saw the baby lying in the manger. 17When the shepherds saw him, they told them what the angel had said about the child. 18All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said. 19Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about them. 20The shepherds went back, singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen; it had been just as the angel had told them.
Luke 2:13-20 (GNT)
Merry Christmas!!
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Kaelynn comes to TX!
We had so much fun with Kaelynn and her parents the weekend before Thanksgiving. One of the things I liked best was that she answered "yes" instead of "yeah" (I'm not even that disciplined). Apparently they taught her that at daycare. By far, though, I was most impressed by her newly (as in the last 7 days) acquired skill:
Daddy works at Apple and they had purchased an iPad for Kaelynn and Mommy had found a 2 year-old proof case/stand. She knew how to push the button to make the screen come on, then Daddy would say "OK, swipe", and she would, with her tiny little index finger. Then she could do her "ABC's". It was an app that was a word puzzle. It would display the word and then wipe the letters away to the side. She would then need to pull the letters with her fingers to the appropriate places. If the word had an "L" in it, the "L" would sound "la, la, la, la" while she had her finger on it, until she dropped it in the proper place. Similarly, the "S" would hiss like a snake - and on and on. It was really cute. She wasn't doing just short words, either. She did "xylophone" and "musician", which I thought was pretty good for a 2 yr old (though obviously I'm not biased!) She also had an app to build cupcakes (working on colors and shapes). K's parents limit her time on the iPad and it's not used as a babysitter. She's learning and having fun at the same time. While Mommy and Daddy went out and Granny, Granddad and Aunt Sarah had her, she wanted to do "hi-pad", so we got it out. She wanted to do "tuptakes", but I couldn't find the app for it. Turns out, she knew - it was buried as a game within a group of games and she found it!!
Another fun thing we did was that K went to "work". She had a glow stick necklace, her gift bag of "cookies" (2 stuffed Cookie Monsters from Granny and Aunt Sarah), and then the Fisher Price record player that she called her purse. She would make the relatively long commute from the kitchen to the front room, work for about 15 seconds, then commute back "home" to the kitchen. I don't know how many times she did that, but we were all for getting out energy. She loves to go "ou-si" (outside) and she couldn't because it was cold and wet, so we needed to tired her out before bedtime somehow! :)
During their visit, Mommy and Kaelynn and Granny, Granddad and Aunt Sarah were in the room and Mommy was pointing to the person and asking K "who's that?" Mommy pointed to my Mom and K said "Granny". She pointed to my Dad and K said "Granny" (she called both of them that!) Then when Mommy pointed to me, K walked over, took her little hands and cupped them around my face and whispered "Sarah". It was like a moment of time froze and just the two of us were in it. I hope I remember it forever, it was so sweet.
The next day we went to the mall for K to ride the carousel, one of her current favorite things to do.
Daddy works at Apple and they had purchased an iPad for Kaelynn and Mommy had found a 2 year-old proof case/stand. She knew how to push the button to make the screen come on, then Daddy would say "OK, swipe", and she would, with her tiny little index finger. Then she could do her "ABC's". It was an app that was a word puzzle. It would display the word and then wipe the letters away to the side. She would then need to pull the letters with her fingers to the appropriate places. If the word had an "L" in it, the "L" would sound "la, la, la, la" while she had her finger on it, until she dropped it in the proper place. Similarly, the "S" would hiss like a snake - and on and on. It was really cute. She wasn't doing just short words, either. She did "xylophone" and "musician", which I thought was pretty good for a 2 yr old (though obviously I'm not biased!) She also had an app to build cupcakes (working on colors and shapes). K's parents limit her time on the iPad and it's not used as a babysitter. She's learning and having fun at the same time. While Mommy and Daddy went out and Granny, Granddad and Aunt Sarah had her, she wanted to do "hi-pad", so we got it out. She wanted to do "tuptakes", but I couldn't find the app for it. Turns out, she knew - it was buried as a game within a group of games and she found it!!
Another fun thing we did was that K went to "work". She had a glow stick necklace, her gift bag of "cookies" (2 stuffed Cookie Monsters from Granny and Aunt Sarah), and then the Fisher Price record player that she called her purse. She would make the relatively long commute from the kitchen to the front room, work for about 15 seconds, then commute back "home" to the kitchen. I don't know how many times she did that, but we were all for getting out energy. She loves to go "ou-si" (outside) and she couldn't because it was cold and wet, so we needed to tired her out before bedtime somehow! :)
During their visit, Mommy and Kaelynn and Granny, Granddad and Aunt Sarah were in the room and Mommy was pointing to the person and asking K "who's that?" Mommy pointed to my Mom and K said "Granny". She pointed to my Dad and K said "Granny" (she called both of them that!) Then when Mommy pointed to me, K walked over, took her little hands and cupped them around my face and whispered "Sarah". It was like a moment of time froze and just the two of us were in it. I hope I remember it forever, it was so sweet.
The next day we went to the mall for K to ride the carousel, one of her current favorite things to do.
Then, it was party time! Since the TX family had never met K, we were having a 2nd birthday party for her a week early. Here is our pretty girl all dressed up. You can see how much she looks like her beautiful Mommy here.
Kaelynn likes Sesame Street right now, particularly "Cookie" (Monster) because he is her favorite color, blue. So that was the theme of her party.
Cupcake cake with TONS of frosting holding it together...(it tasted great, though! The adults scraped off the blue icing so we wouldn't have blue teeth!)
Last year, K didn't want anything to do with her 1st birthday cake - even after Mommy put frosting on her lip. She actually cried. Not so this year. She's had a year of her friends' birthday parties to practice! She dug into that cupcake with reckless abandon! :)
When we started laughing at her after she had blue frosting on her face, she realized she was funny. So then, she purposely tried to get more blue icing on her face. This next one is one of my favorite pics, and one I posted earlier. Because she wanted her Daddy to share in her blue fun, and because her Daddy adores her so much that he will do any reasonable thing to make his baby girl happy! Nothing melts my heart more to see my brother be a tender Daddy to his baby girl!
After cake, she got to open her presents. She got a little Elmo game with colors that talked. Apparently K thought it was something else. Perfect example of what era we live in:
By far the best part, though, was just being with our sweet, funny, beautiful girl and her parents.
And my parents were over the moon to show off one of their grandbabies to their friends at church in person (vs. all the pictures they've seen from the brag book!). I have very rarely ever seen my Dad smile this big!
We're so thankful our precious redhead and her parents were able to come for a visit, and we can't wait to she her again, probably after the first week in July when her baby brother or sister comes!!!
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Thankful
I will re-cap last weekend's visit with my youngest brother, his wife and his daughter as soon as I can, but for now, here are a couple pictorial "teasers". Miss Kaelynn turns two Friday and so we had an early birthday party for her when she came to TX to see Granny, Granddad and Aunt Sarah - and the extended TX family on Granddad's side.
I am so thankful for her little life - her health, her laughter, her smile; how she says "yes" instead of "yeah", how she has to know where all her people are at all times. I am thankful for the most precious moment of last weekend when we were quizzing her, asking "who's that?" and pointing to the person. When she got to me, she took my face in her little hands, cupped my cheeks and whispered my name. It was like a moment froze and just the two of us were there. It's hard to describe, but it was so sweet. :)
I am also thankful for other loved ones whose privacy I must respect and not mention specifically here.
I have so many blessings. I try to be thankful not just on Thanksgiving, but every day. Because our Heavenly Father, the Giver of all Gifts, is worthy of all our praise and thanks!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I am so thankful for her little life - her health, her laughter, her smile; how she says "yes" instead of "yeah", how she has to know where all her people are at all times. I am thankful for the most precious moment of last weekend when we were quizzing her, asking "who's that?" and pointing to the person. When she got to me, she took my face in her little hands, cupped my cheeks and whispered my name. It was like a moment froze and just the two of us were there. It's hard to describe, but it was so sweet. :)
I am also thankful for other loved ones whose privacy I must respect and not mention specifically here.
I have so many blessings. I try to be thankful not just on Thanksgiving, but every day. Because our Heavenly Father, the Giver of all Gifts, is worthy of all our praise and thanks!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Monday, November 11, 2013
Thankful for our Veterans!
"Thank you" somehow doesn't seem quite enough. But it's all I have to say, from the bottom of my heart, to all our veterans. Thank you for serving and fighting to keep our country free. We certainly owe you more than one day of gratitude! God bless you and your families!
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Remembering His Faithfulness
(12) All you that are righteous be glad because of what the LORD has done!Remember what the holy God has done,and give thanks to him.--Psalms 97:12 (GNT) this verse reminds me that no matter how overwhelmed or stressed I get in my exhaustion level at this point in the quarter, The Lord is still the same. He has been faithful, and will continue to be!
Friday, November 1, 2013
Where strength comes from...
(31) But those who trust in the LORD for help will find their strength renewed.They will rise on wings like eagles;they will run and not get weary;they will walk and not grow weak.---Isaiah 40:31 (GNT)
This was the theme verse of my local chapter of Teens for Christ growing up. I just looked it up in the GNT version I have on the iPad, and it's still just as encouraging.
The worst month of this quarter is over, all 283+ hours of it! by God's grace. I have a ton of studying to do this weekend since I worked all last weekend and didn't study. Of course, this section has lots of graphs, formulas and math! I know the LORD will continue to be faithful.
This was the theme verse of my local chapter of Teens for Christ growing up. I just looked it up in the GNT version I have on the iPad, and it's still just as encouraging.
The worst month of this quarter is over, all 283+ hours of it! by God's grace. I have a ton of studying to do this weekend since I worked all last weekend and didn't study. Of course, this section has lots of graphs, formulas and math! I know the LORD will continue to be faithful.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Hanging on by a thread...
(5) You, LORD, are all I have,and you give me all I need;my future is in your hands.
(6) How wonderful are your gifts to me;how good they are!--Psalms 16:5-6 (GNT)
These verses have been so encouraging to me, as I've been working 60-70 hrs/wk, doing PT for my ankles and hips twice a week, and taking an online class. I struggle several times a day with feeling overwhelmed, but The Lord is faithful to get me through. Only a few more weeks at this pace, and by Thanksgiving, things should finally slow down a little! It can't come soon enough.
(6) How wonderful are your gifts to me;how good they are!--Psalms 16:5-6 (GNT)
These verses have been so encouraging to me, as I've been working 60-70 hrs/wk, doing PT for my ankles and hips twice a week, and taking an online class. I struggle several times a day with feeling overwhelmed, but The Lord is faithful to get me through. Only a few more weeks at this pace, and by Thanksgiving, things should finally slow down a little! It can't come soon enough.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
