MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

What do you have the biggest collection of in your home?

My friend and I were talking about the things we stock-pile and we related it back to when we were growing up. People who were born in the 30's and grew up in the 40's and early 50's may can relate to this more than the younger ones.

My friend and I determined that...what there was a shortage of in our homes (the material things) when we were growing up....was what we had a lot of at the present time.

She remembered they didn't have enough cover  (ie quilts and blankets, etc.) So she has every closet filled with them now. lol

I remember being in the kitchen drying dishes on really cold mornings and the dish towel would be so wet and soooooo cold...and I would look for another dry one and there wouldn't be one.  My hands would feel like they were freezing. We were raised by our Dad alone, because our mother died when I was three, and I doubt he thought about such things much. We were short on wash cloths too...and many times we would wet the end of a towel and use that for a washcloth. I have about 150 wash cloths....and about 40 dish towels.............I pick up a clean one for every little thing in my kitchen, so I use a bunch of them.

Bobby and I were talking about it this morning while I was folding about 35 of them right out of the dryer...and he was playing on the laptop that he just spent $749.00 for... to play Solitaire and Freecell on...and I said..."I bet you didn't have many toys when you were growing up." lol

He said I bet right!

His mother didn't have enough dishes during her years of raising a family of eleven...so from the time she was about 60-98, she would go to garage sales and buy....yes... dishes...and more dishes, and she was the only one living in her house!

So...it seems to be related to what we had to do without when we were growing up.  I thought it would be interesting to know what some of you stockpile. lol

Our daughter made this little "Frosty" and painted it.   She was especially good about painting eyes. She had a friend who cut out her wood projects and then she painted them and added the music boxes.  This one plays "Frosty The Snowman" when you twist his little red nose.   

A MODERN DAY IDOL

When I was about 20 years old, living in Borger, TX and worshiping with the church there, I served as one of the bus drivers in the bus ministry. We had a fantastic work, running four buses with as many as 130 children being brought to the assembly from the community.  We sang, played Bible games and had a Bible lesson for the children on the bus as we picked them up and took them home.  As you can imagine, with 30 to 40 children on each bus, discipline was quite often a problem and the teachers used many tactics to control the children.  It was on one of these trips in mid December that I had an epiphany (a sudden flash of recognition and insight) concerning a character that is very popular this time of year.  In an attempt to get the kids' attention and keep them quiet, the teacher made the statement many times during this trip: "Santa Claus is watching you!" As I thought about the statement this teacher made and the characteristics "Santa Claus" is said to possess, it dawned on me that our society has truly created a "modern day idol".  Throughout the year we had been teaching these children about the all seeing, all knowing, all powerful God of the Bible and Jesus Christ, His Son, but now in the month of December, we were calling on the children to remember another "divine (?) being" who was watching them, "Santa Claus". Have you ever considered the divine characteristics that are attributed to "Santa Claus"?  He is "ALL SEEING", as the song goes. "He sees you when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake"  He is ALL KNOWING, "He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake?"   "He is ALL POWERFUL. Controlling time, he is able to visit every home in the world in a single night. Defying the laws of gravity, he travels around the world in a flying sleigh.  He is the GIVER OF GIFTS." Children are encouraged to ask "Santa Claus" for what they want and we ask children, "What did Santa Claus bring you?"  He is the essence of GOODNESS.  He is the "spirit of Christmas", and he lives in a place of magical wonder where everything is beautiful and good. God spoke these words in the first of the Ten Commandments, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:2-3.  Have you ever wondered what God must think when parents lead their children to believe in this fictional character that possesses a divine nature? We are told in James 1:17, EVery good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly light... Have you ever wondered what God must think when parents encourage their children to ask "Santa Claus" for what they want, and then lead their children to believe that Santa Claus is the one who has granted their request? Parents are to be the most trusted individuals in a child's life. Children readily accept the word of their parents without question. Most if not all, of a young child's belief system is based on the information they receive from their parents. When children are led to believe in "Santa Claus", what happens when their peers begin to tease them for believing in a fictional character?  What happens when they run to their parents for reassurance in their belief, only to have their parents reveal that this character, "Santa Claus", in which they led them to believe, does not really exist?  What does this do to their belief system.  What does this do to the trust they once had in the word of their parents?  What does this do for the parent's credibility and integrity in the eyes of their child?  What does it do to their concept of honesty? There is also another consideration.  What effect might this have on children when later in their teen years they face challenges to their belief in God?  If children have found that their parents were not truthful about "Santa Claus", how can they be sure their parents have been truthful about God Almighty? As Kathy and I raised our children, one thing we would not tolerate from them was dishonesty.  We wanted them to always be truthful with us and we were always truthful with them. We enjoyed playing the games of "Santa Claus" and the "Tooth Fairy" with our children, but we always impressed upon them the "truth", that these characters were make believe and not real.  We never wanted our children to believe in a fictional character.  We wanted our children to grow up with an unwavering faith in the One and only true God, Who alone is GOOD, Who alone is ALL SEEING, ALL KNOWING, and ALL POWERFUL...Who alone is the "GIVER OF ALL GOOD THINGS". By Wendell Ingram Note: These are my grandchildren he is speaking of and we are very proud of them and their faithfulness.  They are now 21, 23 and 25 and and God is still first in their lives.

Revised December 4, 2008

 

HERITAGE OF THE LORD

A child is born and Mom and Dad

Are happy as can be;

And for a while their hearts are turned

To God so gratefully.

 

The little fingers grip their hand

And the smile just melts their heart.

They want to train him up for God

And now’s the time to start.

 

Their hearts are touched,

Their plans are made...

"Now you just wait and see!

We'll train this little one for God,

He'll be the best that he can be!"

 

But then forgotten is the Lord….

As days turn into years;

And gradually the joy they held

Has turned to bitter tears.

 

How much gladness can there be

When grown, your girl or boy,

The tears you’ve shed on their behalf

Are mostly tears of joy.

 

Because you’ve shown to them a God

Who cares for them each day;

And only wants the best for us

Ev’n though we’re made of clay.

 

So let us please consider

The time when they’ll be grown,

And give to them a life on earth

That leads to a heavenly home.

-Edna L. Ingram

* * * * *

MOON, JUPITER AND VENUS IN DECEMBER 2008

December 6, 2008: Bobby has figured out what happened in these pictures. We turned our flash off on these two and when we do that the shutter is slower...so it wasn't through 'shuttering' when I moved the camera. Those little buds on the branches are the moon.

Wow!

My digital camera saw stuff that I didn't see up there Monday night. I think the reddish part may have been the sun still going down over there in the southwest. I also think that I wiggled the camera and made the moon look like 4 moons. lol It was very dark here when I took this picture.

My camera must have melted the moon and the two stars and they ran upwards! We took this through the tree branches in our garden and the tree limbs look farther away than the moon and planets. Very strange! In our newspaper there was a good picture of it...they must have better equipment. lol

*****

Cara Lynn's name plate her dad carved for her while she was working for Phillips Petroleum. This poem (?) was found among her papers.  We don't know if it is a song...or if it is something she composed herself.  (I wish I could call her up and ask her. :)

A FRIEND IN NEED

All of us, we go through life

Following our own little plan;

We fail to see that some of our friends

Could use a helping hand.

We're so wrapped up in our own lives,

Our worries and our needs;

It appears to others that we only work

To fulfill our own selfish greeds.

A friend in need is a friend in deed...

Love thy neighbor as thyself...

We've heard these sayings  all of our lives

And put them on a shelf.

Take them down, hear them out,

Try them on a friend.

Maybe the time we've sacrificed

Will be given back in the end.

If we would only stop and think

To help just one good friend;

Imagine what a good feeling we'd have

When our task had come to an end.

These thoughts apply to all of us

And we must do our part,

To show our friends and our neighbors

That we do have a heart.