Christmas Light Overload

 We have had our share of Christmas lights this year. We shared the Lights of Texas in Joshua, Texas,  with the Gees, and then the Lights of the Ozarks in Fayetteville AR, with our daughters. We have not spent Christmas on AR for many years, so it was quite a thrill to be here. The lights on the square are so spectacular to see, but it always so cold where we decide to walk and view them. There were al lot of folks out, everyone wearing their masks and being careful about social distancing. In years past, there were vendors, carriage and camel rides, etc. but because of Covid we just exclaimed the beauty of the displays. A fun evening for us all. 

                                                    

                                                               the entire downtown square was ablaze with lights

                                                     

                                                                     imagine the time it took to do this

                                                          

                                                              there was a breeze, so the lights in the trees swayed in the wind

                                                     

two of our girls and their Dad!

Christmas Eve found some of our daughters, grands, and great grands enjoying the weeks of baking before Christmas, as well as numerous snacking foods, such as stuffed mushrooms, taco salad, small hot dogs in sweet sauce, potato skins, nachos and various dips, and much more. I am sure there are a few extra pounds that we all have added.  

                                                            

                                                                               brother and sister love - 2 greats      

                                                                

                                                                    4 dazzling girls in dazzling dresses - great grands

and a sassy but loved great

As we reflected on Christmas Eve, I wondered how Mary and Joseph felt at the birth of Jesus. It was not a clean, beautiful stable, but the Baby Jesus was born in a food trough, in a dark and smelly stable, with only  2 very nervous parents in attendance - no doctors, sterile delivery rooms no pain killers, no birth coaches to make the delivery easier, no grandparents waiting in to hear the news of a successful birth. But because of their obedience to the Lord, Jesus was born the son of Joseph of Nazareth, but best of all Jesus the Son of God, who came to free us from the chains of sin and allow us to be able to spend eternity with Him in heaven. 

After a few days of eating frenzy, our daughter made a delicious breakfast pizza - perhaps the most nutritious meal in a few days. A pizza crust, gravy, onions, peppers, sausage, and egg. You really need to try it!!   

so good and easy to make

We leave tomorrow to return to the Valley and Caring Hearts Ministry, but thank God for the time He allowed us to spend with family and friends here in NW AR. The weather was colder than we experience in S Texas, but we must adjust as we are still trying to sell our place and return to AR, but we know that God has a plan for us and we need to need to be patient and wait upon Him. 

We wish all of you a very blessed, peaceful, and wonderful New Year. These times seem to be very trying, but the Lord has this!!!  Trust in Him.

                            

Blessed Christmas

                                                        A Merry and Blessed Christmas to All

 Yes this is a bit late this week, but after a busy busy past two weeks and then travel to family in NW Arkansas, this is the first chance I got to do justice to the blog. 

As I said, God so very much blessed the ministry with donations. On Sunday we packed many bags for the Christmas Distribution, as well as gathered all of the presents for the kiddos in the colonias. Guess I posted pictures of that last week.  All week donations continued to come in, so we collected, wrapped, and packaged, as well as doing a Tuesday distribution, where each family received a small frozen chicken, just right for Christmas dinner. Friday we arrived in the colonias with a truck and trailer load of food as well as a back seat filled with Christmas gifts. As the girls started to unload, another pick up arrived with all of the bags we previously packed (each one containing many canned goods and a small canned ham) and all of the presents we wrapped, followed by a flurry of activity as we prepared to distribute the food and gifts. After the distribution (thank you Lord for providing enough for everyone who showed up, as well as enough gifts for the kids) we gathered for prayer and a short devotion that I had prepared about Joseph and Mary's obedience to the Lord, which I will reprint at the end of this blog. This was followed by gift distribution to the loyal ladies who help out every week, as well as a gift card for us to use for travel. After thanks and praises, a bountiful meal prepared by the ladies. Homemade tamales (a Mexican Christmas tradition), fried rice, potato salad, and various salsas. And for dessert one of the ladies made a scrumptious strawberry flan. we soon left to tie up loose ends and prepare to leave the next day to visit Chaplain Roy and Paula Gee in Joshua, Texas for a short visit and then onto Arkansas to spend Christmas with our daughters, the first time we spent Christmas with them in about 15 years. 

                                                                           tomatoes anyone

                        the baskets ready to fill with a bountiful of food - the purple boxes contain papayas

                                                               boxes full of toys

                                            

                           some of the  kiddos who live in the colonias also received presents   

 this little guy was busy eating quavaus

                                           

While at the Gee's we drove through Christmas in Texas light exhibit which was so very beautiful - it took us at least 30minutes to drive through it all.  

                                                                    a drive through sparkling trees

                                                              country church

                                                                  the reason for the season

                                                             a quiet scene

                                                                  gingerbread house for everyone

                                                  homoring our firefighters

                                                           and emergency workers

Our daughter, where we are staying has decorated house house and patio so beautifully. We sat outside on the pation today with a fire in the outdoor fireplace, just enjoy the beauty (and the relaxation for us)

                                                             Christmas candles she made from 4 x 4 pieces of lumber

                                                              her outdoor tree

                                                               even the deer was decorated

                                          Joseph, An Earthy Father

Matthew 1:18-21

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. His mother, Mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

When God chose Mary to become the mother of Jesus, she did not fully understand but responded that she was the Lord’s servant.  God also entrusted Joseph to be Jesus’ earthly father. What did God see in Joseph? A righteous man, a man that God knew would act appropriately when he found out Mary was with child which was not his. Joseph’s first reaction was to break the engagement, and quietly put Mary aside, therefore causing her no shame.

Joseph was a man of God and accepted the words of the angel and went about his life, honoring Mary for the humble and obedient woman she was.

Because of his obedience and faith, Jesus was born the Son of God in Bethlehem but raised as Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth. How many times do we questions God’s plans for our lives (who me, Lord, I’m too old, or not smart or strong enough, etc.) thinking that we know better what is good for us. If we were more like Joseph and Mary, accepting God’s direction in our lives by obedience, imagine how much more amazing our lives would be.

Because of Joseph’s faith, prophecy was fulfilled, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel, which means “God is with us”.  Matthew 1:23

As we prepare for Christmas and the birth of our Lord and Savior, let us also remember what His birth means to us. God sent His only Son to earth to save us from our sins, to give us salvation that we do not deserve.   

This is always a special time of the year for us as Christians as we celebrate the first coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We have to focus on what that first coming means. He gave His life so ours could live in Him. This Christmas I encourage you to think about that first Christmas, to allow Jesus to become the Lord of your life. Let Him rule and reign in you so that in all of these present difficulties you can praise and give thanks for Him. Respond like Mary did with the words, “I am the Lord’s servant”.

A safe and wonderful Christmas holiday to all - remember the reason for this beautiful season.

 

 

Christmas Blessings

 We have panned this year to spend Christmas in Arkansas with some family - the first time in perhaps 10 or so years Because of this we have been working hard to try to supplement the food ministry in order to help the folks in the colonias have enough to keep them in food supplies for the 2 weeks that we are going to be gone. We also have been collecting new gifts for the children - Christian resort Ministries have come through from their parks to provide the gifts - and even many loads of canned goods - not to mention Ranchers Village Park which provided 155 little canned hams so far. These small hams do not seem like much, but the ladies prepare them with other veggies, etc. to make a full meal. Yesterday at our chaplains meeting, the ladies helped wrap the many presents, as well as help load the many canned goods they collected. As we attended the meeting, we were treated to a concert by Citizens for Glory, a traveling family Christian group of 10 kids (and their parents), all who are extremely talented. they combined classical music with Christmas Carols for an hour of great Christmas music. Then today we took all of the gifts and food to the church in Alton, where a group helped unpack and sort it all. After a luncheon of salad and chicken, we left, as another group were coming in to bag up all of the food for the individual families on Friday. We will do our normal food delivery on Tuesday, then the Christmas celebration on Friday. We are so thankful for those willing to help with this wonderful project.

                                         

                                                         a portion of the talented family

 

                                                                           God has provided

                                                                          the overflow table

another view of the second picture

What lady in Scripture gave the world it's first musician? She was Adah, whose name meant adornment, beauty, and  pleasure. Adah, and co-wife, Zillah, are the first women to be named after Eve. Adah was one of the two wives of Lamech, who was of the the 7th generation from Adam. Adah was the mother of two sons, Jabal and Jubal.  Jubal was the first person to introduce music to the world. The is another women named Adah whom we will discuss  next week.

As we continue in the Book of Philippians, we realize that the city of Philippi was going through a difficult time - Nero was about to become ruler. There was much confusion and unrest as there is in the difficult times today. Just as the Philippians, we don't know what will happen. As believers, God sould make our lives easier, but He does not do that. Where do we find stability? God wants us to stay strong and hold our ground because we are in Him. "But our citizenship is in Heaven, and from it we await a Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to bel like His glorious body, by the power the enables Him even to subject all things to Himself." Philippians 3:20-21. Transformation and determination are how we stand firm in the Lord. Paul admonished the ladies in the Philippian church to quit arguing about non-essential things of the church. Their names were written in the Book of Life, so their earthly squabbles are worth nothing here on earth. Realizing what we have on store for us makes the things of the world mundane. We have to keep the right perspective, keep our eyes on the long view. The supreme lesson in life is what the centuries have taught us. Keep telling yourself the right story. "Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say rejoice.: Philippians 4:4 . We have to  keep our minds in the right place, not to follow the narrative of this world. If you are anxious, you will nor be able to rejoice. Learn to rest in God. Have a confidence in Him. God is near. He is with us in all of our struggles. Do not be anxious about anything. (Read Philippians 4:4-7. We have to keep our minds in the right place, not to follow the narrative of this world. If you are anxious, you will not be able to rejoice. Learn to rest in God. Have confidence in Him. God is near. He is with us in all of our struggles . Do not be anxious about anything. Anxiety sections off our thinking about God. Pray - prayer is stopping and letting God back into the story. Let Him be a part of what is going on in your life. We have a messed up world, but God uses the ugliness to bring joy to the world. Our responsibility is then obedience. Keep your mind focused in the right place. Don't fill your mind with the happenings in this world. think about what  is true, honorable, and pure, The voice you are listening to is the voice that disciples you. turn off the messages of the world. Put all of this into practice. You have to keep moving or you will fall over..   

Winter Coolness

The past week has been cool - yesterday it was rainy, damp, and cool. Just the perfect weather to do a bit of sewing and reading, except one of the chaplain arrived with a pick-up full of donations, including canned hams for the colonias for Christmas. Their park always seems to come through with the needed hams. There were numerous quantities of sheets and towels, clothes, and miscellaneous kitchen items which were separated for the colonias and also for Children's Haven International. The chaplain and his wife stayed and helped us separate and box up items, which was so  greatly appreciated. Right now our Texas room looks like a warehouse with boxes of canned food, and other items to distribute on December 18th in time for Christmas. This coming Saturday we have a chaplain's meeting where the chaplains have ben asked by our administrative secretary to bring a gift for a boy and one for a girl. I am gong to bring wrapping paper so we can wrap the items and mark them age appropriate. In a perfect world, we would like to  let the children choose their own gift but that could take hours and then some of them still would not have made a  choice. My blog next Sunday may be late (maybe even Monday) as we will be preparing bags of canned goods to give out on the 18th, as well as making up sets of sheets and towels to also give away. This last Friday's distribution was amazing - it was a good thing that we had a lot of help as we gave away 90+ boxes of vegetables, including coconuts and tunas ( not not fish, but those prickly pear fruits that the people love) , as well as cartons of cream of chicken soup and peanut butter. We again received boxes of dairy products from Donald J. Trump so the folks have plenty to help during this crazy time. The weather was cool, so one of the ladies, who lives next door, made a kettle of hot chocolate with cinnamon, and others brought Mexican street tacos with onions, jalapenos, and salsa, croissants, and the sweet crispy Mexican pastry. We were so well fed that day, as when we picked up the vegetable in the early morning, one of the missionaries gave us breakfast tacos - don't know what was in them, but they were good. Then our special lady, Magdalena, sent 4 warm breakfast burritos for us to take home. I never seem to have to cook meals!!I have been asked to give a meditation on the 18th as that will also be our Christmas celebration in the colonias. I finished writing it, and had it translated into Spanish also so the ladies could sort of follow along. It is from the Book of Matthew, and is centered on Joseph, Jesus' earthly father, and the type of person he was. We then will leave on the 19th for Joshua, Texas, for a couple of days. then on to Arkansas to spend Christmas with our family. We have not done so for over 10 years and feel strongly that we need to do this. It will be a time to relax in the true meaning of Christmas. 

More people have returned to the park and there are many activities that do not involve gatherings. A lot beautification contest was held with prizes awarded, nod now there will be a Christmas decoration contest. There are quite a few festive decorations up already. The music parade continues around 7 every night, as golf carts ride around the park, playing Christmas music and honking horns. And I do believe there is going to be Christmas caroling. 

I do love this time of year and had to sew another Christmas stocking this year. Many years ago, one of our daughters was with me at JoAnn fabrics and saw a Christmas stocking that she wanted me to sew for her. She is now 56 and still has it. Of course, since we had 4 daughters, I had to sew 3 more, then 2 more for us. As the girls grew up, there were boyfriends who needed stockings, then husbands, then children who grew up and had children of their own. So --many stockings were made. The pattern was copied many times as we all have a copy of it. I tried to search the internet for the original pattern and found one seller, but it was already sold.  Over the years the colors and fabrics have changed, but the original design remains the same. This year I made a buffalo plaid (black and red) with a silver flecked black toe and cuff. I imagine a person could tell when the stocking was made just by the fabric. 

another stocking to add to the list

Achsah was a lady in the Bible who wanted more. She was the daughter of a prince of the tribe of Judah and the only girl in the family. Her father promised her in marriage to the man who was able to capture Debir - the city of the Book. Othniel accomplished this feat and won Achsah, as well as a portion of the south land. Ascsah was not satisfied and wanted springs of water to irrigate their fields, so her father then gave her the upper and nether springs. She still was not content with the dowry she was given, she urged her husband to ask her father for more. Because she was human, as we, too, are, we must pray to be content where we are and for what we have. As a result, Achsah was never satisfied.

It was a great day at our home church in Prairie Grove as a mortgage of 1.25 million dollars was paid off and the mortgage was burned. This loan was for the addition centering on the spiritual growth of the children and was paid off in 5years!  What do you do when you reach a milestone. You keep going. God does not have plan for you as a spectator. If you are not moving forward in your spiritual life, you are moving backward. Your walk with Christ is to press on and take hope. God has a plan for your life. He loves you as your heavenly Father. He wants you in a relationship with Him. There are 3 branches of salvation: justification, sanctification, and glorification. Are you in Christ, and do you know that for certain? Have you made a profession of faith? If so, you are justified. You have to be justified to have glorification. Your citizenship is in heaven. God came once and He is coming again. When that happens, you are not gong to have the same existence as you have now. Right now you live in a sinful world. You are working out your salvation today - which God has worked in. It is God's work in us daily as we live in obedience. Sanctification helps us to deal with the practice of sin by obeying Him. Our heavenly father puts up fences because He wants to protect, just as humans do. You have to be obedient. You need to press on and take hold. Take hold of what God has called you into. There will be suffering as we continue to walk with Christ. There will be better things for us. There is only one God and only one way to Him, and that is through His Son, Jesus Christ. You cannot make any steps in following Jesus until you become vulnerable as you are a work in process. Progress not perfection - you are on that journey. We want the world today to be over (no more COVID or election problems), but we can still grow in that journey. Rejoice in the Lord, but also rejoice in your circumstances. Don't let your circumstances destroy your joy.  You are not at the finish line yet - forget the past but strain forward for what is ahead. Press on toward the goal - keep active in your walk with Christ. Press on to what God has called you to do. Live up to your identity as a Christ follower. Live up and olok up.