3rd Sunday in Advent - The Shepherd’s Candle MEG

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…”

Linking a photo.....

Now, THIS is totally easy to do.....I'm going to test it out. ::snort::

Hmmm....I should make this a real blog entry.....Tonight we gave out our 3rd Family Advent gift. I bougt a cool calendar which hasn't arrived. I also bought a series to read during Family Read Aloud time this winter. I've heard a lot about this series....has anyone read it? What did you think? Click the photo and it SHOULD take you to the website....I think I've figured out an EASY way to add links to photos......

This is what the website says: "The Kingdom Series novels are Biblical allegories that are set in a medieval time period. They cover the span of time from Genesis through the book of Revelation. They are full of action and adventure where swords, knights, and battles are all Biblically symbolic. The allegory teaches Godly character, the adventure captures the imagination of all ages, and the action keeps teenagers engrossed from cover to cover...even non-readers! They are GREAT read-alouds! Deep symbolism with an action story makes excellent reading for ages 8 to adult. "

Easy directions for linking a photo:
To link to a picture using Blogger:
Insert a graphic into your post.
Highlight it by clicking on it one time.
Click on the Link button on the Create Post toolbar (it's a picture of a chain link and the earth). A window will pop up asking you to type in a URL.
Type in the URL you want your graphic to link to and click OK.

Our BABIES are coming HOME....

I interrupt our busy Sunday to share the most joyous news that our babies will be home shortly. This thought caused so much excitement and emotion, that I went to their myspaces and shamelessly snatched some photos. I'm trying hard y'all not to start up those hourly/minute count downs....but we're excited!

The funny thing about babies growing up, and God calling them to different states to live, is that you dont' always know all the "little things" going on in their lives.....

For instance: Krista cut her hair - and Bre has let hers grow. Cool

Nicholas & Krista


We made two advent wreaths at the Chapel's advent wreath workshop this year and sent them to the girls. Here is Krista with her wreath - and signs she made explaining the symbols.


Bre - our first baby - Twenty-two years old - wow!


Can you BELIEVE they go on and have FUN after they leave home????? Without "the family"? ::snort::

De'Etta's Sanity-Saving Tips for Life

OK - point one and two have been heard often if you are a friend of mine:

1. Do first things first...determine your priority and do it first. Then the most important thing is always done.

2. Do the next thing...just keep plugging along.....

BUT here's the new Christmas TWIST!

3. Make a list....put the IMPORTANT things at top, balanced with the urgent things, keep going...list every little thing you need to accomplish - in order of importance.

4. Tear the list in half...throw the bottom 1/2 of the list away....don't stress.

It works. It was hard to do the portfolio instead of the Christmas cards...but hey... It will be much better for friends and family to get late cards than to have to pay a late fee on the portfolio...and this way I can glean current addresses from friends who send cards etc...because I've still not found the address book on the computer. LOL

Scenes from the Day

Early this a.m. I got a load of bread baked. I need to do this a few more times before next weekend. Deja - THESE are all natural, fresh milled, organic.....

It appears that we have "mice" - what else would account for a nibbled loaf of bread???? ::snort::

Darshia, the tree has a new look - thanks for the idea.

Um...when mom is busy on portfolios you can get permission for nearly anything! Note to self: clarify what is meant when you hear, "Mom can we paint?" ::snort::

I don't do coffee. I used to do tea. Then I began to worry about the caffeine. Deja introduced me to CS mint decaf green tea....but THIS stuff is really, really good. I'm stocking up.

Yeah, I know. I've been told that decaf is worse than caffeine...but the caffeine may trigger my migraines...not sure what to do on this one. LOL

PROJECT NIGHT (Friday Night)

I chose to work on:

Yep, the portfolio. My goal is to have it out of here on Monday. I worked a few hours last night and hours today. I had all the data, not sure what takes so long. I have created a progress report form for the boys this year, but didn't have it last year. I recreated one and added all Jamin's graded work. I had to come up with a chart that would show HOW I arrived at numeric grades for the more non-traditional of classes. We hit on a compromise between pass/fail and numeric that will satsify all. There are a couple of non-traditional classes where 50% of the grade is based on goal setting and attitude....in one class the whole grade was based on that plus logged hours. I had to write course descriptions for the classes that Jamin created. I had to assign number grades to all of Jamin's Christian Writer's Guild assignments.

I need a couple of hours WITH Jamin now to go over everything, gather the extra credit work he's done, grade it and make the final adjustments to his grades etc. We really need time when we are BOTH available, so that I can answer any questions he has and he can find any loose ends I'm searching for. I'm not sure how I'm going to carve that time out before Monday - but I'm going to try!

Family Photos

We took these a few days before Mike deployed in September of 06. Then my computer crashed - but now I'm looking for photos of Krista and Mike and found THESE again....so without further ado here are the most recent family photos we have. The photo IS over a year old.

Girls


Family


Boys


We hope to take a current photo when everyone is home. Family photos are HARD to come by when those children start moving out of state!