One of my favorite gifts this year was the Willow Tree Nativity (I actually received it twice!). I don’t have the whole collection yet, but I’m well on my way. Here is a picture of my cat reflecting on the Christmas story behind my Mother-in-law’s nativity (really, he just likes the view out the window, but it’s a nice thought, right?). As we move on from our Christmas celebrations and into the new year, may we remember Christ and His sacrifice the whole year through. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
A couple of Saturdays ago, we took our cat, Bert, to the vet for his yearly check-up. When we left, the clinic gave us several samples of cat food to try. The next day we set out a ‘kitty cat buffet’ to see which food Bert prefers. Apparently, he prefers his regular food. By Tuesday afternoon, he had eaten up every last bit of his ‘regular’ food from his buffet and wanted more. He would repeatedly walk in to the kitchen and meow as if to say ‘please feed me!’
I pointed out to him several times that he had a buffet of food and plenty of water. Eventually he did start to eat the other foods. Here are his preferences based on which food he cleaned up first: 1. Regular Purina 2. Complete Health - Chicken 3. Healthy Weight - Chicken 4. Complete Health - Salmon 5. Dental Health 6. High Protein - Fish & Fowl 7. Indoor Health He is visiting relatives this Thanksgiving and is happy that his parents brought only his regular food for him to eat. He’s excited about the possibility of some turkey too!
To celebrate the changing seasons and hang on to autumn as long as I can I'm posting a pic of my fall decor. The large ‘jack-o-lantern’ (can you really call it that, since it’s not a face and there’s no actual holes?) was contributed by our neighbor. I think he did a great job with his design. His pumpkin is no longer displayed though. His door is the one on the left and ours is on the right. My parents gave me the small pumpkins and the Indian corn from their garden. How fun to have decorations grown by your own family!
For our fifth Anniversary, my husband and I enjoyed dinner at the 1913 Room in Grand Rapids, MI. It is the only restaurant in Michigan to have received the AAA five diamond rating. We had a wonderful time. Pictured here is our dessert, the “Forbidden Apple”. It is chocolate ice cream with a red candy coating and chocolate liquor inside, served with a small candied apple. This dessert is a special of the restaurant and quite tasty! As a special treat, the restaurant included an edible anniversary plaque (and complimentary champagne!).
This summer I was able to attend a performance of the West Shore Symphony Orchestra (for free)!! I arrived early and got front row seats. I enjoyed the performance quite a bit. At one point the conductor taught us a little bit about conducting and then let some volunteers try it out. This short video is just one of the 'contestants'. Enjoy!!
One of my pics from my Labor Day activity: the 51st Annual Mackinaw Bridge Walk! It was my first time. My husband and I did it in under two hours (even though I stopped to take a bunch of pictures)!
It is almost the last day of August and if I want to keep up my pattern of posting, I need to post! Since I’m short on time; I’m leaving for the weekend soon, here’s an interesting picture I took this summer (interesting to me anyway). Enjoy!
My small group Bible study has been discussing passages from the book Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, a book on the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew. Last week we discussed Matthew 5:22 “22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother [1] will be liable to judgment; whoever insults [2] his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell [3] of fire.” (ESV) According to Willard, “Filthy language and name calling are always an expression of contempt. The current swarm of filthy language floats upon the sea of contempt in which our society is now adrift.” Discussing these things made me realize how often I judge people on superficial levels, I don’t see people the way that God sees them. I saw this video on the blog of a friend of a friend later in the week and it caused me to think even more about how judgmental I can be, without even realizing it. God works in the lives of all sorts of people, who am I to judge those around me, especially those I don’t even know. I hope this video touches you in some way, for HIS glory.
“I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free” is a line from a song that brings out the patriotism in me. Generally speaking, we have it pretty easy here in America. Our faith is rarely tested as it is in countries that don’t know freedom as we do. As we reflect on our independence let’s get out of our comfort zone and stretch our faith to see what God will do when His people believe. Here’s a video of some fireworks I watched to celebrate the independence of the United States of America.
Last weekend my husband and I went to the Feast of the Strawberry Moon. It was held on Harbor Island in Grand Haven, MI. We have no idea why it is called the Feast of the Strawberry Moon. There was not enough food to call it a feast, we didn’t see any strawberries, and the event was during the day, so we didn’t see the moon either. What we do know is that it was a reenactment of life in the 1700s. People portrayed Native Americans, voyagers, crafts people, fur traders, and merchants. The most exciting part for us was one of the entertainment acts, a couple of juggling brothers. If you were a kid the candy cannon was pretty cool too. They had a small canon that they loaded down with candy and at appointed times kids would gather in the middle of the camp. A couple of men would shoot it off and candy went flying! Here's a video of the candy cannon. Unfortunately I shot it sideways and don't know how to edit it, so I guess you'll just have to tilt your head.
This weekend I went to a portion of the Great Lakes Kite Festival in Grand Haven, MI. It was a really cool event. I never realized that you could choreograph kite flying to music! This picture is of one of the kites that flew to a song. My husband took this video during the ‘mega flight’. Fifteen kites flew together. This choreography was not practiced beforehand as everyone with this type of kite was invited to join in. Everyone of course was experienced in flying kites.
Every year Holland, MI has a tulip festival called Tulip Time. If you are interested in seeing lots of tulips, of all different varieties, you should definitely come! It’s a great way to welcome in spring. Last weekend I went with my friend Nichole, her mom, and her aunt. We visited all of the regular tourist locations. I had a lot of fun! This picture is from Windmill Island. You can visit the island throughout the year and get a tour of the windmill. If you are lucky it will even be in use when you are there!
The kids Sunday morning program at our church is called Kingdom Kids. My husband and I work with the four and five year olds on a rotating basis. Last week the story during our worship time was about Jesus ascending into heaven from Acts 1:1-11. "And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’’’ (Acts 1:10-11, ESV) After the story, the kids have a response time where they pray and reflect on what they learned by doing a craft or drawing a picture. Most of the pictures and crafts that week depicted Jesus rising through the clouds into heaven. We had many cotton ball clouds glued to the drawings! I took this picture at the beach last Friday. When I loaded it onto my computer and looked at it, it made me wonder if this is what it will look like when Jesus returns. I’m sure it will be more glorious than this, but what an awesome thought. He will come in the same way he left. What a sight it will be!!
This past week I found out that my best friend from college, Jennifer Lynn Noonan, passed away. She was a dear friend of mine and I will miss her terribly. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding along with my sisters. We were college roomates for two years and went throught a lot together. We shared a love of horticulture. I don't think I would have survivied the woodies class without Jen. I called her Noonan and she called me "G". She was always giggling and smiling. She had a real servant's heart. I know that she is in heaven and rejoicing there. Knowing that she must be so much happier in heaven than here on earth is a comfort to me. Who can imagine the wonders of heaven? Noonan visited me for a few days in January. When she was leaving she signed my guest book "Till we meet again". Little did either of us know when that would be. She also added "P.S. When you coming to see me?" Lord willing it will be quite some time before I 'come to see her'. When I do we'll have all of eternity to praise our Lord God together! May she rejoice in His glory and marvel at His love forevermore. Till we meet again.
My husband and I went to a luge race on Sunday. Yes, that is right, luge. Muskegon, MI has one of the few luge tracks in the United States and it is open to the public. We didn't race, we've never been on a luge, you need training to go down it without injury. Watching them though made it look like we could do it too. I mean if a sled can go down on its own with no problems, can't we? Maybe next year we'll try. This is a picture of one of the racers.
Saturday my husband and I were watching the cardboard sled races during the Grand Haven Winterfest. It was very cold, but a lot of fun! We saw a set of triplets there. I am a triplet, so I thought I would go up an talk to the parents. Unfortunately I waited too long and they must have decided that it was too cold for the babies and left. Anyway, here's a picture. My mom never had a stroller like this! Of course I think you need a narrower one to get through doorways. Wouldn't it be fun to see someone jogging with this? Clear the sidewalk!
Well today I'm sitting around, not sure what to occupy my time with. I'm waiting for the Rose Bowl to start. My alma matter, the Fighting Illini, are playing in the game today. The first time since 1984! Anyway, I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and start my own blog. This year I hope to focus on fully relying on God (FROG). That's a hard thing to do in my opinion. Have a good 2008!
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