I'm Done!

Well, at least with the beadwork!

I am very happy about this progress. So far I have glued the beadwork to a piece of thin leather and it's drying tonight.

I will attach it to Doug's bass guitar strap. I wanted to add a border of beads to it, but I will wait and see what it looks like attached and complete first.

This stupid blog editor bugs me so much! Oh well, you can see the pictures and see the words, I will be happy with that and go to bed!

I will post a final picture after this project is done.

Have a happy day!

Light

I have been reading about light. There is much I can't fathom about light. I read about spectrum's and how Scientist's can look at the light coming from the stars and tell you what elements it is made up of! You can heat things up and look at it with special glass and tell what is in the stuff. I had a CD out and was walking around looking at the light reflected in the shiny side. The CD separates light too. All this is hard for me to absorb, but I know this, I appreciate light!

After December 21st here in South Central Alaska the amount of daylight begins to grow. YIPPEE! Way up on the North Slope where Doug goes to work, light is very scarce this time of the year and the sun does not even show up. Even up there light begins to make a come back after winter solstice. By summer, they will have light all day and the sun won't set!

I ran across some information about SAD. Seasonal Affective Disorder. An actual ailment many suffer from when they do not have enough daylight. Just like my poor Shamrock plant!It has just one little shoot left. I guess that is the little lucky shamrock there in the picture!

I moved it closer to the window. I will show a picture when it begins to revive. We have done this for years. It looks so lush and full and keeps sprouting flowers when we have a lot of daylight, but right now it shows you just how much daylight we have been having up here. Not much. BUT, December 21st has past and we are going to be looking for signs of Spring before too long!

For ten days after winter solstice the length of daylight remains about the same at both solstices. This website has a cool picture taken of the sun at the same time every day for an entire year. Curious About Astonomy? After this ten day period we start gaining daylight 3 minutes each day and working up to 5 minutes a day.

I was at this website playing with creating colors while I read different articles about light. There is a java program there that lets you mess with color percentages to create colors. It's fun. Try it. The Science of Light.

A few light quotes:

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong. Abraham Lincoln

Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness. Mother Teresa

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning. C. S. Lewis

My darkness has been filled with the light of intelligence, and behold, the outer day-lit world was stumbling and groping in social blindness. Helen Keller

In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength. Robert E. Lee

We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine. Dwight L. Moody

May your new year be filled with lots of Light! Happy New Year!

His Name Is Jesus

"Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" Luke 2:14

The last few posts were a sad attempt at trying to present a picture of a very dark world. Then a tiny light (Jesus) that draws your attention with it's shine. And the light also give a hint (cross)of the death that this Babe would die someday.

I was in the template messing around with all that code, when I noticed things beginning to move around and change on the webpage. I got out of there before I messed this up so bad I would not be able to get back!

I wanted to show pure darkness, which would represent the world before Christ. Today, we live in a world that is ruled by the Prince of Darkness. This prince continues to do all he can to slander the name of the Person he hates so much, Jesus Christ. He especially wants to blind the spiritual eyes of the whole world, keeping people from seeing the gift ---Christ's salvation out of spiritual darkness.

Back in the days when I was busy with running kids to games, practices, having birthday parties and sleep overs, we were at Colony Middle School and the wind, (which gets really bad there sometimes in the winter), blew something too hard and all the lights went out. Suddenly it was so dark!

The emergency lights came on. That was enough to take us to the doors safely. I counted heads (five of them) and when I knew all the kids were with me, we headed out the door into the pitch black darkness.

I can remember how dark it was and trying to see. I was also trying to figure out- where in the world did I park and are we even walking in the right direction? Just when I was thinking this might take awhile, someone across the parking lot turned on their headlights.

Everyone's eyes immediately turned towards the light. I heard a lot of loud sighs and laughing as people struggled against the wind. After we got our bearings and turned in the right direction we all walked to our cars in that light. Soon other drivers had turned on their lights too.

Light is incredible. It is something we can easily take for granted.

Jesus said that He is the Light of the World.

We who know Him can also shine as lights in a very dark place as He is reflected in our lives. Even a feeble light can still light the way for those stumbling around in the dark.

Anyway.

Merry Christmas to every one of you that stops by here. I pray that your Christmas is filled with His Bright presence.

Happy birthday, Jesus. I love you, only because You loved me first and came as a Babe to thwart the plans the evil one had for my eternity... I am so thankful.

Yippeee! Winter solstice today! Look out Spring! Here we come! (I am very optimistic on this day.)

Away in a Manger

Light in Darkness

Darkness

Jesus is the Light of the world.

Snapshots From Twin Lake

Three tent builders.

Unwilling tent dweller.

Busy bee station.

I had a bad dream this week, I dreamed that I could not get things done in time for Christmas! It was not a restful sleep. When we get too busy something has to slide and this time it was blogging! Here I sit, with a table full of written, addressed, licked and stuck shut Christmas cards that now need to be mailed out. Better late than never! That's a great quote!

I came in to share this cute Christmas story with a lesson that I read:

The African boy listened carefully as the teacher explained why people give presents to each other on Christmas Day. "The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship with each other," she said.

When Christmas Day came, the boy brought the teacher a seashell of lustrous beauty. "Where did you ever find such a beautiful shell?" the teacher exclaimed. The youth named the spot---a bay several miles away. The teacher was touched. "Why... why, it's gorgeous... wonderful, but you shouldn't have gone all that way to get a gift for me."

His eyes brightening, the boy answered, "Long walk part of gift."

Some gifts may seem insignificant, but they may be the best ones to express something more important, love.

We had HAIL today! Strange.

I shall return!

A Cave

Jesus was born in a cave!

I was reading Our Daily Bread this morning and The Door of Humility is mentioned. Sounded like a great topic to surf! So I did. I found a great site! Homelands of the Bible.

Interesting facts about Biblical places including O Little Town of Bethlehem. The reading was all very interesting to me. The cave that is said to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, where Mary and Joseph stopped in Bethlehem, we now know as the inn that had no room. I learned that many times homes and other buildings were built in front of a cave, then the cave was used for storage or a place to keep their animals.

This knowledge has changed my idea of how I see the manger scene. My stable has wooden stalls! The Biblical manger was carved stone and probably not a wooden manger like I have drawn and pictured for my whole life.

In the Matanuska Valley (at least in Wasilla) we are still able to see Nativity scenes displayed. Some cities which celebrate Christmas forbid this! My guess is that majorities of citizens have no problem with seeing the Nativity here and there while they are out looking for places to spend their money! The majority of the rest don't care one way or the other! I also believe there are more people who have a problem with it NOT being displayed than those who don't want it displayed! How did it come to be that they are removed and forbidden from our cities?

Someday the One that was born in a hidden, back-room cave is going to return as a KING and no one will be able to ignore Him! Then what, you self-important cities? Who can you hide behind when He returns as the Mighty King of Glory that He is! You will have no excuse worthy enough to be excused!

"Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
He is the King of glory."
Psalms 24:8-10

You probably already heard that Jesus was not a tiny baby when the travelers from the East saw him? I've heard that because King Herod had all the male babies two years old and under killed, Jesus may have been as old as two when they saw Him.

Three magi? There could have been and likely was more than that. Many say because of three gifts (gold, frankincense and myrrh) there were three visitors from the East. There could have been as many as 12 traveling in a caravan that followed that star.

If you enjoy reading about Biblical places then you will enjoy this website. Check it out when you have time to read. There is a lot of information there. I loved the pictures!

Raining

Sidewalk lights covered in snowslide.

Christmas At Our House By Connie VanWingerden We are going to do Christmas in the snow! Snowflakes are still falling And Christmas tunes play low. Gramppa's kept the sidewalk shoveled, Dreaming of a snowy ride! We could have a weenie roast! While the grandkids play and slide! Temper'ture's dropped! It's very low, So we'll bundle up for the cold. Snowy Christmas fun's still planned, The cold won't make us fold! In came the clouds all dark and black, They hovered big and wide. Rumor says: "It's gonna warm up and---rain?" Good grief, let's set that story aside! The wind blew all that night- Then the snow slid down the roof! Oh my, now look all the drips! Our snow-- it's melting! - Poof! If this keeps up 'til Christmas, I guess we'll have to say--- Bring your Christmas mud boots! It's warm outside! Let's play!

It's warm today in Southcentral Alaska. Warm, cold, warm, cold! Weather can't make up it's mind, just like me!

Happy Christmas Fido!

Now here is something for that dog for Christmas. NOT! But if it's out there I suppose there are a lot of people willing to give the money for this gadget. It's a phone that you can call when you lose your dog. It even has gps in it.

"PetCell is a cellphone specifically designed for pets that comes with its own dedicated phone number. You can call the number, enter a code, and connect to your mutt to talk to him/her. The PetCell also features GPS for tracking your pooch and will support a wireless camera for checking in on him." Gizmodo

This blog has been having problems the last few days, anyone else notice? Strange! I could not see the blog for a whole day, but I could go to the Dashboard! Then I could not see other friends Blogs too. Now, this editing program seems to have some problems! I hope it all gets fixed soon. Maybe Blogger is doing updates???

The weather here has warmed up so much. Now it is 30 f ! The snow is drippy and the icy snow is sliding off of the roof! It can be deadly when it slides off of the roof like that. I am always glad no one is here, especially the grandkids when that decides to go! I tried to shovel that up, but it's going to take this ol' Gramma a while to get that done. Maybe... days! :-D

Back to that doggy phone. I call my dog and leave a message on the answering machine sometimes when we are gone a while. I say something like, "ChewChew? Be a good boy! I will be right back, ok?" When I get home I play it back and he runs over and sits down below the phone and listens!

My big dog, Chevy would totally scratch that thing off of his neck, and who knows whose phone number he would dial while he was scratching! I can imagine, people getting phone calls that go something like this someday:

Ring! Ring! (Or maybe a cool song or laughing little critters, whatever ringtones you use!)

Hello?

Scritch, scritch!

Hello??

Snuffle, snuffle!

Hello???!!!!

Slobber!

"Alright Mister! I hear you! You better hang up now or I will have this call traced and you will be in big doodoo bub!"

Shake!

[CLUNK!]

Sit! BooBoo! Sit!

The Wreath Party

This wreath was made using a wire frame. The spruce limbs were harvested by Karla's husband Chris.

We wired short pieces (6 to 10 inches) to the frame. I made sure I used gloves this time, since the last several times working with the pokey needles made me get itchy. It was MUCH easier on the skin and fingernails!

After completely covering the frame with spruce I added other evergreens to the wreath then wired on the bow and the sparkly decorations then sprayed it with fake snow.

Now it is hanging on the front porch.... a whispering picture of God's gift of eternity, well... eternity will be a gift only if you go to Heaven!

The night of the party (friday) the roads got a bit slick and it was lightly snowing. Some of the invited guests called to say they could not make it for that reason.

While she was on her way home from work my daughter slid part-way into the ditch. She has four-wheel drive but could not quite climb back on to the road. She tried to rock the car back and forth but finally called me to come and get her. By the time I got to her, she said that a kind man had helped her out.

She also told me that four guys stopped to ask if she needed help before I saw her and she was just right down the road a little bit! (Not a long drive away.) Two of those persons drove past her, turned around, came back, to be certain that she was okay. I was very encouraged to know that we still can see chivalry on our streets in Houston, Alaska.

Just in case you forgot what it means:

chiv-al-ry
knightly skill
gallant or distinguished gentlemen
the system, spirit, or customs of medieval knighthood
the qualities (as bravery, honor, protection of the weak, and generous treatment of foes) of the ideal knight
chivalrous conduct

Hip-hip-hooray for chivalry!

Chivalry is alive and well in Alaska ...at least it is in our neck of the toolies!