Come Let Us Adore Him

"Wishing all of you a blessed Christmas, adoring the One who came as a babe those many years ago!

O Come Let us adore Him; O Come let us adore Him; O Come let us adore Him.......Christ the Lord! "

A White Wedding

One Sunday a couple of months ago, we had a couple of visitors to our church. One was a very friendly young woman, full of vitality and joy in the Lord, the other a quiet and reserved young man with a warm smile and and sweet spirit. Our congregation is somewhat small, so visitors seldom go unnoticed. I went over to meet these two young folks (age about thirty), and was cheerfully greeted by Noelle expressing how thankful she was to be there. Then she proceeded to tell me that she and the young man were probably going to be coming to our church and that they hoped to be married there. I thought they had probably called our pastor that week prior, but he later informed me that he had never talked to them before. The following week he told us that these two folks wanted to be married and wanted to be baptized. They have been saved not too very long, had met each other after a fairly long search for a mate on both their parts, and God had used E-Harmony to bring them together. They wanted to do things in a godly way, not worldly, and wanted to be married quietly, simply, and quickly.

Well after some counseling sessions, it was decided that they would be married by our pastor and hopefully, he would soon baptize them. He talked them into having a wedding with just a few trimmings and a small reception. The bride decided to get a vintage dress from the fifties and the groom decided to have his dad as the best man. We ladies will serve the thirty or so folks who will be attending. We've been excited, especially those who have been helping them put this ceremony and reception together.

And today is the day. But there is a hitch: I am about to go to bed now (it's a little after midnight) and when dawn comes, our first major snowstorm should be just starting. The forecast calls for snow all day and at about the time of the wedding (3:00), it's supposed to be coming down heavily. I hope and pray that this little Christmas wedding can go forth as planned. I pray the best for this couple and covet your prayers as well. Since they have been among us, their commitment to Christ and His ways have been quite a blessing to behold. I hope they are okay with their white Christmas wedding! Seems rather appropriate for a bride named Noelle.

UPDATE: It is now evening and it has turned out to be one of the biggest snowstorms in this area in recent years. Who would have thought that our family would have ventured out on such a day? But we did, and the wedding was WONDERFUL! I wish I had had the presence of mind to ask them if I could post a picture on this blog, but I forgot and I don't like to do that without permission. It was the sweetest and most precious wedding ever. As I said, it was small and intimate and particularly Christ focused. As we sat watching the ceremony, with the church decorated for Christmas, it was so beautiful to look out the window at the snow falling behind the wreaths. Just lovely. The bride was beautiful, the grooms eyes sparkled with that look of the husband taking his long awaited wife, and the words of their vows which they had written were absolutely God glorifying. It was so refreshing to be there. Then, at the end of the reception, the groom's thank you speech was more than anything a presentation of the gospel to his family. Wow. Thank you, Lord, that we went; it was worth the aggravation.

And it's still snowing!

Room for Jesus

I am so glad that there is room for Jesus in the White House this year. The nativity scene creche pictured above is being displayed in the East Room, as it has been every year since 1967, by every administration. Apparently, there was a consideration that it wouldn't be this year and I don't know all the details on that, except it has something to do with the President's family planning a "non-religious Christmas." From what I read, "tradition" won out after all, and that certainly is a good thing from my vantage point. A Christmas without Christ would be like Valentine's Day without love if that makes any sense. That would have been sad indeed.

Now that that has been apparently settled, what about us as individuals? Is there room for Jesus in your home and mine this year? Or will we be too busy with decorating, cookie baking, and running to stores? Not that these things are wrong, of course, but they are if they crowd out Jesus. Let's make sure we give the Christ child His rightful place in our lives and remember the reason we celebrate this holiday in the first place. And most importantly, I hope we remember why His first coming was so important and what He accomplished when He came. Is there room in your heart for Jesus?

Thou dost reign on high with a kingly crown,
Yet thou camest to earth for me,
And in Bethlehem's home was there found no room
For thy holy nativity:
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for thee.

Cookies and Things

My two little sweeties and their mommy came over on Saturday and this is what we all did. Now that was fun! Aren't grandchildren the best? One of these days we may pass on the recipe; they were yummy. I am not a great fan of gingerbread cookies, but we adjusted a recipe from Allrecipes. com and they came out delicious. Or maybe we should keep it in our secret family recipes, so that Selena and Shana can it put away in their hope chests.

And Selena even helped us trim the tree for the first time! (Sorry I don't have a photo.) And what was Shana doing then? She was dancing around the room with ornaments! Well, it was one of those days we nannas love best. And this particular nanna needed that day. Lots of less fun things going on around here these days which I'll share at another time. All is well, though, and as you know, God is good...all the time.

Proving Myself

I've recently made a rather strange discovery: I like geometry. In fact, I really like it--a lot. When my older daughter Bev was going through this unpleasant experience (for her), we had folks in our life who were available and willing to help her get through it, but Neesie's situation is different and there is really no one convenient to help, other than the teachers at ABeka.There are times when that may be useful, but you can just imagine how needful it is to have someone right on the spot to work with any student. Unfortunately, her dad and I never had the subject when we were in school. Well, at this late stage in my life, I am trying to learn it as best I can so that I can better talk to her about why the answers are what they are in my teacher key. And I am learning! And wow, is it ever fascinating! (I think my daughters view me as a bit odd that I enjoy it so much, but they shouldn't be surprised considering their mom is one of those weird people who likes to do logic puzzles while sitting in waiting rooms and riding in the car.)

Neesie says it has helped that I can talk to her about things and make some sort of sense when I couldn't before. I'm still behind where they are in class, but pray I can keep up enough to help her with the many ins and outs of angles, quads, triangles, and the rest. At least now I know what S.A.S. means and what a transversal is ! (Okay, I'm showing off.) Now if I learn to do a proof all by myself without looking in the teacher's book, I will really have proved myself! I'm getting a lot of help from Geometry for Dummies (appropriate for me), so by and by, maybe I'll get there.

Anyway, I can't spend my days doing geometry. I have to cook, clean, drive the mom taxi, grocery shop, and all that boring stuff. So. . . . blogging is being pushed aside again. But I'll be back! And I'll sneak in to see you my dear friends every little chance I get. That is, when I'm not doing geometry!