Saturday, December 13, 2008

3rd Sunday in Advent - The Shepherd’s Candle

This child, this babe wrapped in swaddling clothes who was both The Shepherd and The Lamb, was born in the shadow of the cross.

"And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And the angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them...And they went with haste, and found...the babe lying in the manger... And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen...(Luke 2:8-9, 16, 20)"

The Savior had been born. The Messiah, the Christ, had come into the world. The One who carried the hopes of all mankind had arrived. Indeed the shepherds probably understood very little of the glorious meaning of His coming. But there was a certain kinship between the shepherds and Jesus. This child was the Great Shepherd who came to give His life for His sheep, yes, to give His life for the sins of the world. This child, this babe wrapped in swaddling clothes who was both The Shepherd and The Lamb, was born in the shadow of the cross.

It is fitting that the announcement of the Lord’s birth should be given to shepherds. The imagery of sheep and shepherds is repeated many times in the scripture. With this in mind, the following meditations call attention to the imagery of Christ being both the Shepherd and the Lamb.

Monday – John 10:11-15 “I am the Good Shepherd…”
Tuesday – John 1:29-31 “Behold the Lamb of God…”
Wednesday – Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd....
Thursday – I Peter 1:18-21 …a lamb without blemish or spot…
Friday – I Peter 2:24-25 For you…have now returned to the Shepherd…Saturday –Rev 5:1-10 “…I saw a Lamb…”


©2008 M.E.G.

Saturday

I got a lot done - you can do that when you only waste 1 1/2 hours on sleep. ::snort::

Seriously, I began the search through facebook and whitepages.com for lost addresses. I'm down to a handful that still need to be located.

I also went out to breakfast with the Chaplain spouses.

I scheduled some posts for the Central Region PWOC blog. I posted some yummy looking recipes over there today. You might want to check it out. ::snort::

I fine-tuned our Christmas Letter. I'm excited with this. More about that later.

Mike came home with three cold/cough/flu remedies. Nyquil, Delsym (back you foul stuff) and some powder you mix with hot water and honey. I opted for the drink. It isn't bad if you gulp it HOT - sort of scalds your throat....it's nasty as it cools. Imagine crushed aspirin and such dissolved in hot water. I don't meds often....and it knocked me out. "Slight drowsiness may occur", I guess sleeping 6 hours is slight. I tried to wake up twice during that time but just couldn't. I drank another cup about 30 minutes ago and am hoping to sleep better tonight.

That's a wrap.

©2008 D.R.G.

Advent Fun

Due to our schedules and my lack of energy by evening, we've not had our Advent hunt for several days. Mike had the kids find 3 tonight.

"I can do it myself!"
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We laughed HARD when Jared plopped down and put the recliner back...the clue was sit down and put your feet up - and Nolan was ON it as soon as the clue was read. This is a kit to make a talking alarm clock.
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The kids also got another set of Ocean Toobs.
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My thought was the older children could put this together and it would go in the younger boys' room. Mike and Jared started in on this and discovered some of the pieces for the first step are missing. We've called the 800 number. ::sigh::
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We've also not done our Advent Activities....We opened 4 tonight. I plan to combine three of them tomorrow...but this one was "Dance like crazy"....and so Mike played ragtime music and the kids did just that.
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Ummm...Happy Feet? Jared danced his feet
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©2008 D.R.G.

Wreaths Across America

You can read more about this campaign here.
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Today was a big day for the G men. I had hoped to attend, but was OUT OF IT with this cold/flu whatever bug. Mike had planned to attend anyway so all was not lost.

Jamin was contacted by the local newspaper and ASKED to go cover this event. His first ASSIGNMENT! Jared was a CAP participant.

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Our CAP Cadet Commander organizes this event locally.

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Jamin at work.
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Jared at "work" (notice how windy it was).
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Jared the tallest cadet in this photo
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Three PKs (Chaplain's sons)
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©2008 D.R.G.

A Girl and her Chocolate


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Stacia brought this bag of Chocolate to me this a.m. She said she found it under the recliner. Being the quick draw that I am, I immediately discerned that this had to be one of the "advent hunts" that wasn't completed last night. She gave them to me with no fuss.
©2008 D.R.G.

Piano Update

I've been meaning to write a piano update. Zander opted out. That was fine with us. He did it for a few months and still likes to sit and play. I suspect he'll pick it up again in a few years, and we never planned for him to take lessons this year. LOL

Nolan and Arielle continue to enjoy their lessons. We love our teacher....and most weeks we get some social time in with Sarah and Eric (or is he an Erik or an ERICK....or ERIKKKK) as well.
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Some days are.....
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...better than others (never clown around when I have my camera out. ::snort::)Photobucket

And, now, dear friend you've attained your goal of infamy...published on an international blog. ::snort::

Well, I've just remembered I have a spouse breakfast at 8 a.m. I've had 2 hours of sleep. I am fading....I've worked on my address book, I've updated the blog...now I'll try to sleep a few more hours...and ladies if I don't make it for breakfast, you'll know that cough syrup finally kicked in and I'm sleeping. ::snort:: I'll be there.

©2008 D.R.G.

I Did it Myself

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These words now strike fear into my heart.

©2008 D.R.G.