Family + Hiking = Great day

Yesterday we spent the day with my family from Tucson. We went on a six mile hike at South Mountain. It was wonderful. The weather was great and the company was splendid. Here's a picture of the family.

Flowers

Flowers are one of those things that make me smile. A friend came over for dinner a few nights ago and she brought me these flowers. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures. :)

Jesus is my passion

Today at House Church we were taking a look at Joshua and looking ahead to the coming year. We sang the song One Pure and Holy Passion. The words to the song reflect my prayer for my life this next year.

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after you
To grow as your disciple in the truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you

Jesus, my life is all about you. This next year I desire to know you better, to follow after you in all I do, and to grow as a disciple of your truth. You are my passion.

Light

We celebrate this time of year with light. As I look around at all of the beautiful lights, I am reminded of the Light of the World that we are celebrating. We are honoring the birth of Jesus who is the Light of the World. He came to show the way to a relationship with God our Father. His birth was celebrated by the light of a star and angels over 2000 years ago, and today we still honor his birth with lights. I pray that as we see the beautiful lights, we are reminded of our Guiding Light, Jesus Christ.

Lights on the trees:
Lights on the houses:

Lights lining the walkways:
The luminarias are one of my favorite decorations. I think that they are so beautiful.

Greatest Gift

Today I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Many years before he was born, prophets said that he would be a "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6) He is all of these to me. The prophets wrote of his birth, his life, and his death. He was born as a baby, lived a perfect life, and died for me. He fulfilled all that had been prophesied about him. He is true, He is King, He is Lord of my life.

As I give gifts to friends and family today, I am reminded of the greatest gift that was given to me. "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10)

My Savior is born

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Tamales

In my family we have a tradition of eating tamales for dinner on Christmas Eve. Christian, Carina, and I spent a few hours last night making them. As with most activities that the three of us do together, the evening was filled with much laughter.

Christian is in charge of the meat sauce.

Carina is in charge of the corn husks.

I am in charge of the masa.

Then we all work on making the tamales.

Laughter

One of my favorite things about visiting my family is LAUGHTER. We have a great time together. As we sit around the dinner table there is always plenty of laughing and story telling. I am so thankful that we have the ability to laugh and have a good time together. What a blessing!


Christian, my brother, has the ability to say the funniest things and keep a totally straight face. Of course this makes Carina and I laugh so hard, which only encourages him. :)


They are going to love me for these pictures. :)

Arizona Winter

This morning I went out on a bike ride with my Dad. I love to be outside and really enjoy this time with him. I took my camera along today, so here are a few photos from our ride.





I must admit that I feel slightly guilty about how warm it is here when it is so cold in Ames. But I, for one, am sure enjoying it! :)

Christmas Tea

Every year I host a Christmas tea for a few friends from high school. This is one of the only times that we all get together. The time is filled with much laughter, sharing, and good memories. It is so fun to see how things change over the year. Some of us are still in school, some are working full time, and others are full time mom with beautiful children.

A girl and her dog

I always love my first morning back in AZ, especially in the winter because it is so warm. The day starts with some pavement pounding along my old running route. Yesterday morning I went out with Cocoa, that's our dog who we affectionately call Coke. We went on a 5 mile run/walk. I am pretty excited because we ran a mile, walked three, and then ran the final mile. Due to my hip, I haven't run that far since mid-October. It was lovely!

Joy to the world

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Right now this is my favorite Christmas song. This song is filled with so much truth. The Lord is come! He is the ruler of all things in heaven and earth. My Savior reigns! He is the commander in complete truth and grace. The beauty of these two interwoven and displaying His glory, majesty, and splendor. He loves me!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

When I was little we would drive up to Northern Arizona the weekend after Thanksgiving to cut down our Christmas tree. It usually ended up lopsided, too big, and too fat for the house and sometimes they looked a little bit like Charlie Brown's. But it is so hard to judge size when you are out in the forest. But they were always special because we had picked it out.

Let's see, there was the year that we had a REALLY thirsty tree. It drank a lot of water. Unfortunately, it was actually the carpet that was 'drinking' the water and not the tree. The stopper in the tree-holder-thing had come out and so the water was actually all over the living room floor. Yep, the day was spent soaking it all up.

Oh, or there is the year of the falling Christmas tree. It fell over not just once, but twice. And then we tied it down with bricks. They were 'new' ornaments that year.

And then there are the ornaments. My brother, sister, and I always race to see who gets to put there hand-made ornaments from elementary school in the front and center position. There are the ornaments made out of marshmallows, paper plate angels, and shredded wheat wreaths. Ah, the fond memories. There is also the ornament made out of cookies that someone took a bite out of when it was like 12 years old. Gross, but it sure makes for a good story. :)

But I love the memories. Aren't they what make this time so special?

12 days of Christmas

My family used to select a family (or some years multiple families) to give 12 days of Christmas. We would buy a Nativity set that contained 12 pieces. Then late at night we would deliver a piece of the Christmas set and the verses from the Bible that went along with the piece. For twelve mornings the family would find a surprise on their doorstep. On Christmas Eve the family would receive the final piece, the baby Jesus, to complete the set.

This was so much fun! There was the one year that we gave it to all of the families in House Church. I remember driving all over town with my Dad and siblings for deliveries. We enjoyed getting to bless other families in this way.

Still Here

I'm still here, it has just been a crazy past couple of weeks. I have been swamped with final projects, presentations, papers, and am now studying for finals. But I have been blessed because there has still been time for hanging out with friends and having fun, just not blogging.

Right now in Ames it is 6 degrees outside and the wind chill makes it feel like -17. In Tempe, AZ it is 52 degrees. That's almost 70 degrees warmer!!! I am excited to get into that weather in 4 days! :)

My plan is to spend the next two weeks writing about favorite Christmas memories and traditions. Keep an eye out for them.

Running thoughts

Today I had a great time with the Lord while I was working out. I have been working on scripture memory and listening to Pachelbel's Canon in D. I love that in the middle of the gym, I can spend time alone with Jesus. He is so great!

I have been feeling emotionally, spiritually, and physically weary lately and the following Bible verses really stood out to me this morning.

Lamentations 3:24 "I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.'"

Psalm 143:8 "Let the morning bring me work of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul."

Jeremiah 29:10-14 "This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

Jesus is so good to bring me the strength that I need for today. Oh how I love Him!

Weekend Happiness

Here are a few stories from this past weekend:

I had invited my neighbor Don to come over for Thanksgiving dinner. (You may remember him from the posts here and here.) He wasn't feeling well so he declined. I told him that I would bring him over some leftovers later in the day. Yesterday as I was coming home from church he poked his head out the door and asked me to come over. He had filled the containers that I had given him with Jello. It was so sweet of him. Granted, I probably won't eat it (I told my roomies they could have it), but it was such a nice gesture. It made me happy.

This isn't really a story...but I finished one of my paintings. It made me happy to get to spend some time relaxing and painting this weekend.

I was able to run two laps around the track, indoors of course. (Note: this should be read with sarcasm.) That is less than a 1/2 mile. Sigh. When is my hip ever going to get better?! Now that would make me happy.

I got three packages of rice tortillas. This may not sound too exciting, but for someone who doesn't get to eat a lot of things like this it makes me happy. I had a yummy turkey wrap for dinner tonight. :)

Beauty of the Lord

Jesus your love, has come one step closer
I will trust, that you will never let me go
Jesus your love, has won me over
All my trust has found no other

I will declare the beauty of the Lord
Nothing compares to the beauty of the Lord
Jesus your love takes my breath away
Now I'm living everyday for the beauty of the Lord
Jesus your love it takes my breath away

I listened to this song probably ten times today. Well actually I didn't just listen, I also sang along...sometimes loudly. :) My breath has been taken away today by the beauty of the Lord. It hasn't been any one thing in particular, but rather just getting to see the world through an 'artist's eye'. You can listen to the song here. But don't just listen, sing it loudly while smiling, dancing, and gazing upon something beautiful.

Praying the truth

Psalm 119:28-30
My soul is weary with sorrow;

strengthen me according to your word.

Keep me from deceitful ways;
be gracious to me through your law.

I have chosen the way of truth;
I have set my heart on your laws.

These are the words that I am praying for myself right now. They depict how I am feeling right now and what the Lord is doing in my life.

Time and Snow

Wow, where has the last month gone? I can hardly believe that it is already December. It seems like November faded as quickly as the leaves. Now Fall is gone and winter has taken her place.

This past weekend we got our first major snow storm. I have a real love-hate relationship with snow. I love watching the snow fall. It is like little stars dancing all around. Beautiful. As I sit behind my window watching it snow, it is like all of the cares of the world fade away and the peace, quiet, and purity of snowflakes take there place. I love watching it snow from the comfort of my home, wrapped in a favorite blanket, wearing fuzzy slippers, and sipping on hot tea.

I don't like to have to go out in the snow. I hate driving anyway and driving in the snow is far worse. I don't really like to shovel the snow. I don't care for the sludge and ice that it leaves on the sidewalks and streets. I don't really like the fact that it will be our companion until April.

But for today, I am going to continue to enjoy the beauty.