News Flash

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are expecting their first baby! 
That was actually a news flash on TV today.
A slight complication in this story -- Kim is still married to her first husband, even though they separated after 72 days.

The media is celebrating this announcement as if it is such a wonderful event.

Doesn't anyone see a problem here?

I really have never figured out why Kim Kardashian or any of the rest of her family is famous -- maybe they're only famous because they believe their own press releases?

It's almost over

The year is almost at it's end...and the new year is right around the corner.  It's a clean slate again -- and I wonder what will happen this year.  We are in an age group where our friends are entering nursing homes or getting Alzheimers, or even dying, and I wonder who of us will still be able to celebrate New Year's Day 2014.  I don't mean to sound morbid, but it's part of life.

One of the blogs that I like to read is this one:  http://theresnoplacelikehome-family.blogspot.com/.  This is a family that already has adopted eight (Yes, 8!) children from China, and in January they are traveling back to China to adopt three more girls.  They do this because they love Jesus and they love children.  It is an amazing family. 

Another blog I follow is http://www.abeautifulroad.com/.  I have lost count of how many Chinese orphans have been adopted by this family, all of them have special needs like severe heart problems, blindness, one girl has no arms, etc.; the parents are adopting these children because they love Jesus and they love children.  They too are an amazing family.

If you want to be blessed, read these two blogs. 

Christmas Day in Pictures

Today the family was gathering at Tanya's house for the Christmas get-together; we were a little concerned because of the snow last night, but it only was a couple of inches, and in Colorado the intensity of the sun added to the mag chloride they put on the streets takes care of the snow very quickly.

We went early to help with some of the preparation, so while Bill, Tanya and Paul were working in the kitchen, I was playing the new game with Joey and Carly:

Bill and Tanya provided the meat and beverages, while the rest of us furnished all the side dishes.  Bill got busy carving the ham (he took his right arm out of the sling for a few minutes to do this).

Joey and Carly enjoyed playing with 8-month old Avery:



One of the benefits of being the Grammy, is that I could sit in the living room and relax while everybody else was in the kitchen getting the food ready.  I found myself wondering if the meat was done, and if the potatoes were ready and everything was on the table, but then I remember that I'm no longer in charge and I didn't have to worry about a thing!



With so many aunts and uncles, there were lots and lots of presents to open:

My two beautiful girls, Carly and Tanya:



Joey and his Kindle Fire;  he's only six years old, but he sure knows his way around any electronics:

He is such a relaxed, happy kid.  I get really emotional when I think of what his and Carly's lives would be like if they had never found their forever family.

Joey loves maps, so I found this Discovery Kids flannel map set; it has labels for all the states, rivers, countries, etc.  He loved it!



At one point, Joey's stack of presents was as tall as he is:

Carly received a new doll named Julie from Mom and Dad:

Aunt Sharlene gave Carly a pretty dress with a matching dress for Julie:

I gave Carly a pretty trunk full of outfits I had sewed for Julie:

This is beautiful granddaughter Heather and her Mom Janette:

Granddaughter Renee with Avery (8 months) and Rachel (3 1/2):  Aren't they all pretty girls?

Avery and her daddy Adam:

Joey and Aunt Cathy busy with the Kindle:

Aunt Janette and a giggling Carly:

It was a wonderful day.  Several people didn't get into any pictures today:  Sharlene, Dale, Cindy, Darold, Scott, Jerry and Paul aren't in any pictures, but they were all part of the celebration.

It was hard to say good-bye, especially to Cathy who was flying back to Nashville early tomorrow morning; Darold is staying a few more days.  We sure do miss her and Darold, but Paul and I will be going to visit them in spring.

And so - Christmas is over for another year, but it's been a wonderful time of family togetherness.  We are so blessed that when we get together, we all have a good time. 

We're having a White Christmas!!!!!

This was what I saw when I looked out the living room window this morning:

And it's Christmas in the house too:

Last night was one of the best Christmas Eves that I can remember.  We finished all our "to-do" list before noon and we were able to relax.  At about 3:00, Dale and Cindy, and Darold and Cathy came here, and we started playing the game "Suspend" which I had recently bought.  It's a simple but complex game of taking turns balancing rods on a center rod; we've been having a lot of fun with it.

Darold, with Cathy's help, tries his hand at the balancing act.



Dale next - with Cindy helping him concentrate:

     At about 5:30 we all headed off to our church for the Christmas Eve service, Jim and Janette joined us there. Our church has a puppet ministry, I had never seen them perform, but they opened the program and absolutely amazed us!  They were very professional!  After that, the praise band and the congregation sang several Christmas songs and then our pastor led us in partaking of communion.  It was a lovely service made even more so because the church has been decorated so beautifully for Christmas.

     Then we all headed back to our house where Darold started cooking the oyster stew; the rest of us started munching on all the good food that was prepared, and again started playing the game.

     This is Janette having a bowl of the oyster stew; Cathy is just enjoying the evening after a very stressful year of moving out of state and having a very demanding job:

Back to the game - Cindy trying her luck:

Besides the oyster stew, there were lots of munchies:

Jerry and Sharlene joined us later after having their Christmas with Jerry's family.  We no longer draw names to exchange gifts, but to my surprise, I received some beautiful gifts from everybody.  I am blessed!

Dreamin' of a white Christmas

If the weathermen are right, we'll have a white Christmas, and I really hope they're getting it right this time!
The forecast is that it will start snowing this evening (like while we're at the Christmas Eve church service) and continue through tomorrow morning with about three inches of snow.  That works for me!

Coming home for Christmas

I've been thinking how it used to feel when I lived a long distance away from my parents and I would come home for Christmas.  There would be such a feeling of anticipation and as the car or the airplane, whatever the mode of transportation was, got closer to the destination, the anticipation grew till finally I walked in the door and was home again!  It was always such a good feeling.  A feeling of safety and security.  And even though the word "love" was never mentioned, the feeling of love was there. 

After my Mom died in January of 1972, I could no longer go "home".  Home didn't exist.  And when my Dad died almost twenty years later (two days after Christmas in 1991) I realized that I was the "older generation" now.  So now I am the "home" that family comes to. 

I am blessed because my daughter and her family live in this state; it's about a 45 minute drive from where we live so we are able to see each other quite often.  And Paul's children all lived in this state till this summer when Darold and Cathy moved to another state.  But last week, they came home - and it was so good to see them again.  They were here Friday evening and we enjoyed visiting over dinner and then played a new table game I had recently bought.  Yesterday eleven of us met for lunch at the Cracker Barrel restaurant; we enjoyed good food and lots of conversation and laughter.  Tomorrow evening all of Paul's children will be here; we'll first attend the Christmas Eve service in our church, and then we'll all be back at our house for oyster stew and other goodies, although for me - oyster stew isn't a "goodie".  Our Christmas Day dinner and gift exchange will be at my daughter's house and everyone will be there except one granddaughter and her family from out of town, but we did get to see them yesterday.  Nine-month old Avery is the newest great-grandchild in the family; her older sister Rachel is 3 1/2, and then Joey and Carly are 6 and 7, so it will be a lot of fun watching the children open their gifts.  We all used to draw names for gifts, but it became hard to buy for each other because we all have everything we need, so now we just give gifts to the children. 

There were many years in my life when I was very lonely, when my daughter and I were alone, and later after she left for college and marriage - I would often be alone and lonely.  This was especially true at holiday time because my friends would all be with their families.  But one year, I think it was in the early 1980's, God gave me a special promise, it was the verse found in Psalms 68:6 "He sets the lonely in families".  Those of you who have received a special promise from God know what I'm talking about.  You know that you know it's a special promise!  But time went on and my circumstances really didn't get better and I would think of that verse and wonder if it was all my imagination -- but it wasn't -- I knew it was a promise. 

And God kept that promise.  He set me in a loving family; on Christmas day there will be 18 of us, enjoying each other's company.  He also set me in a larger non-related family; I now have a wonderful group of friends that are as close as family, and then I have the special "family" of the ladies in my Sunday School class at church.

All I can think of is "Praise God from whom all blessings flow!"

About yesterday's post

The first story was that in China, a man had invaded a school and stabbed 32 children to death.

Later, the story was corrected that he hadn't killed anyone, but slashed 22 children and one adult.
And it was a relief that 32 children had not been killed.

What kind of world is it when it's a relief that children were only slashed, not killed??????