The Year in (alphabetical) Review

The ABC's of 2010

A - Africa! & Ark-e-o-logy


B - Bats - at the Sixth St. Bridge in Austin, TX


C - Congrats to our College Grad! (Spokes)


D - Dual Enrollment (Playmaker)


E - Employee of the Year! (Husband)


F - First day of public (charter) school


G - Grampa's 90th Birthday!


H - Henna tattoos at the beach (The girls)


I  - Inner Space Cavern in TX - (husband & I)


J  - JV Ice Hockey Team (Playmaker)


K - Katie (our dog) died :(    -  Kites at the beach & Kayaking


L  - Started making homemande laundry soap! So simple!


M - Spokes moved out.  - Malakai's 6th Birthday


N - Ngaparu - had great fun there at a beach house in Africa


O - Ohio & Old Orchard Beach, ME


P - Canned pickles, peaches & pears - Hiked Purgatory Chasm - Pond Hockey/Skating


Q - Quote tacked above our kitchen sink: 


                    "To be different is easy. Making a difference - now that's a challenge!"


R - Retaining Wall - rebuilt ours


S - Sweet 16 & Soccer (Playmaker)


T - Strike's a teenager!


U - U16 Travel Softball Team (Strike)


V - Vermont & homemade vanilla


W - Worm Farm - Water Skiing - Wild Animals (in Africa)


X  - Cyclo-X Racing (Spokes)


Y  -  Yippee! (Planning how to celebrate our 25th Anniversary next year :)

Z  - Zing! Zang! Zoom! (Ringling Bros. Circus) - Saw Zebras there & in Africa too :)

O Holy Night

I'm enjoying playmaker's piano practice these days. She's learning a new techniqe & I love how she's applied it to this song.



O Holy Night from J L on Vimeo.

Hallelujah

Had I been there, I would have been compelled to stand & join in .... or at least to stand! :)      ....

Christmas Past

Was just thinking about Christmas when I was growing up in Arizona. I remember ....


Big colored glass lightbulbs along the front roofline of the house that got really hot to touch.


A small green plastic Christmas tree w/ red berries on it sitting on the counter between the kitchen & the den & a Bible open to the Christmas story laying on top of a blanket of artificial sparkly snow beneath it. How I wish I still had that and the kinda odd blue-ish & gold nativity scene that I thought was rather unattractive. No set up required. The figures were permanently in place in the stable.


Our Christmas tree....I was mesmerized by it...thought it was so beautiful! - until I started comparing it to others & realized how pretty it really wasn't :) Artificial...olive green (seriously) & decorated w/ a gold ribbon of tinsel & colored lights...rather gaudy if you ask me - but what I would give to go back in time and see it again!


Spray on snow decorations in the window.


My mom showing me how to make candycane cookies - the kind where you tint half the dough red & twist two strands together to make the candy cane effect. I loved doing that!


I vaguely remember going to the mall to see Santa fly in on a helicopter!


We opened our gifts on Christmas Eve & our stockings on Christmas morning. Some of my most memorable gifts....


A teddy bear - I still have him today!


A shiny deep teal new two wheel bike my big brother gave me because he felt bad about running over my tricycle! I can probably count the times on my fingers that I've ever been so excited in all my life :)


A Barbie airplane.  I imagined how fun it would be to be a stewardess (that's what they were called back then) & travel the world. The Barbie airplane was like an odd shaped suitcase of sorts and opened up wide to form basically half a plane. I had more fun w/ that. I loooved Barbies.  

Going to the midnight (11:00) service at church that ended with everyone gathered outside holding candles & singing.


Chrismas dinner was often at our house. My mom's Aunt Helen & Uncle Mart, an odd couple, would usually drive from Tucson to join us  - & "Aunt" Jennie - a family friend who never married & was more like part of our family would drive from Tucson as well. She'd stay overnight on Christmas eve & spend Christmas day with us. She'd usually bring a green or red Jello something for Christmas dinner. The day after Christmas she and my mom would go out shopping the after Christmas sales for Christmas cards & wrapping for the next year.


aaahhhh memories. I wonder what my children will remember most.

New Shoes for Christmas

The last thing I really need is a new a new pair of shoes, but the two pairs delivered to our door the other day are special  - in a rather magical sorta way!   They'll give my husband & me the ability to...

 walk on frozen water crystals

over the river & thru the woods

amidst a wintery wonderland

 making memories (a favorite hobby of mine),

taking pictures

&

leaving only footprints behind.  

A thousand thankyous & then some, Santa, for the new showshoes!

Snow beautiful

Each one is an intricately designed unique work of microscopic art. They're so perfect! - But that's to be expected considering how nature reveals the nature of the Creator.

Wouldn't this make a lovely gift/coffeetable book:

Product Description


A cute giftbook packed with glorious color microphotography of real snow crystals by Dr. Snow—Caltech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht. His photos of snowflakes have appeared in National Geographic, the New York Times, and on Martha Stewart’s TV show, as well as numerous other places. This thick “cube” book is packed with a blizzard’s worth of amazing images as well as literary quotes on the beauty of snow.

or - for those who prefer children's books...

Amazon.com Review

Most children are captivated by snow, but how many go on to make it their lifework? This beautiful biography, winner of the 1999 Caldecott Medal, tells the true story of a Vermont farm boy who was mesmerized by snowflakes. Wilson Bentley was fascinated by the six-sided frozen phenomena, and once he acquired a microscope with a camera, his childhood preoccupation took on a more scientific leaning. Bentley spent his life taking countless exquisite photographs (many that are still used in nature photography today), examining the tiny crystals and their delicate, mathematical structures. Jacqueline Briggs Martin tells this tale with simple, graceful prose that will engage children's imaginations. Edifying and snowflake-scattered sidebars offer more information about Bentley's methods and snowflake science. The artwork of Mary Azarian, whose 19th-century hand-press illustrations decorate the charming Barn Cat, shines once again in Snowflake Bentley, with woodcuts that reveal an appreciation for detail as well as for the man who loved snow. The lovely illustrations and equally fresh text will inspire and comfort youngsters (and grownups too) who wish they could capture snowflakes all year long. (Ages 4 to 8) --Brangien Davis --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reflecting on Christmas - Here & Now & There & Then

In contrast to the chaos just outside in the bustling little town of Bethlehem as the census was underway, I picture the moment that birthed the most wonderful reason since time began to celebrate -  as quiet & quite peaceful in the humble stable where Jesus was born - and the focus of those in His presence on His presence...angels performing live the most beautiful background music ever & a touch of sparkle appropriately placed in the stars above and in the reflection from Mary's eyes as she gazed directly into the face God.


It's not so different here & now as it was there & then as busy-ness, noise and distractions vye for our time & attention - but in so far as our home is concerend, I want it to more closely resemble the stable than the world outside our door as we celebrate Christmas ... to be a sanctuary of sorts. Not necessarily picture perfect ... but picture peaceful music and just enough sparkle, appropriately placed, to shift one's focus now & then.


I picture too how dark, smelly, dirty & cold the stable must've been. How odd it seems that the King of Kings & Lord of Lords would consider such a place to be the perfect place to make His presence known - yet the better I get to know Him,  the more I understand about the why behind where He chose to make His earthly debut - so perhaps it shouldn't surprise me so much that he would choose such a similar place - that being my heart - to make His dwelling place. Nonetheless, I still can't help but wonder ..."Why...!?".  Yet He, as only He can, has transformed my skeptical "Why?!" into the very reason why I celebrate Christmas.


As I imagine the sparkle in Mary's eyes reflecting the light of Christ as she looked Him in the eyes, I wonder if perhaps we might enjoy a similar privilege should we choose to keep our focus on Him this Christmas.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6