Wishing For You the True Blessing of Easter

Shelter From The Storm

There's a project I've had on my to-do list that has been too long in the making.  That is to have a storm shelter under the stairway.

Since living here in Tennessee, we've had about 10 tornadoes hit in our county.  On 22 January 1999, an F3 hit the downtown area and did a lot of damage.  In 2003, I spent the night in my storm shelter as straight line winds and a small tornado caused damages.

Both of those above mentioned storms happened in the night.  I've spent many nights watching tornado 'signatures' on the weather radar pop on and off.  Nerve wracking.

So I finally decided to get my shelter fixed up.  I gave myself the deadline of today to have it done.  Why today?  It's National Disaster Day.

Here's what I started with after removing a lot of junk that was stuffed in there.  Kind of depressing...

After a lot of cleaning and painting it looks pretty good.

A carpet and bench make it much more comfortable to wait it out.

Under the bench is the fire safe (no jewels...just papers), one crate with 4 gallons of water, and the second with containers holding munchies, flashlights & batteries, candles & lighters, and cat food.

Yep, cat food.  Miss Persia has her crate with a water bowl and soft bed.  Her crate will soon be sitting in a clean cat pan with high quality scoopable litter.

The tub to the left is for iced/snowed-in storage.  Some blankets and extras you don't want to run out of.  On top of the tub is a weather alert radio that has a battery back-up.

We'll probably use the shelter 3 or 4 times a year.

But I wanted to use this closet for another sort of storm... a storm that is daily.

Ever since seeing the movie "War Room" I have really, really wanted to have my own prayer closet.

So the right side of the closet is now my prayer room.

I'm not done setting it up, but it is ready to go and today will be my first day to use it.

A Christmas Hallelujah

Wishing you all the blessings that Christmas is.

The Little Drummer Boy

One of my 'must see' Christmas movie... The Little Drummer Boy.  (And one of my favorite Christmas songs too!) 

 Been crying over this for 48 years!

12 Days of Christmas

Does it seem strange that on December 25th WE expect to receive presents... and lots of them?  On that very first Christmas when Jesus was born, He is the one who received gifts-- the adoration of the shepherds, the songs of the angels, the gold, frankincense, and myrrh of the Magi.

Perhaps you could entertain this thought:  How about giving good gifts to the King – by giving to others IN His Name?  Then something like this could be your song of Christmas...

(Abbreviated for space sake)

On the TWELFTH day of Christmas I gave to my True Love…

... Twelve Peeping chicks

…Eleven post surgery bandages

...Ten fish for farming

...Nine mosquito nettings

...Eight ducks a ‘laying

…Seven Warm blankets

…Six shoeboxes for OCC

... Five loans to widows

…Four walls for a family.

…Three sponsor children.

...Two eyes seeing

…And a radio to receive the Good News

https://gobgr.org/

…Seven Warm blankets

...Ten fish for farming

http://www.compassion.com/

…Three sponsor children.

...Nine mosquito nettings

https://www.febc.org/

…And a radio to receive the Good News

https://www.kiva.org/

... Five loans to widows

https://www.mercyships.org/

...Two eyes seeing

…Eleven post surgery bandages

https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

…Six shoeboxes for OCC

https://www.samaritanspurse.org/

…Four walls for a family.

... Twelve Peeping chicks

https://www.worldvision.org/

...Eight ducks a ‘laying

JOY to the world, the Lord has come!!

How To Shop Frugally for Operation Christmas Child Items

People are often surprised when they hear we do 6 boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  They ask if it is very expensive for us.

Um no... not when you have this Scots woman shopping!

We get tools for the big boys for FREE through Harbor Freight stores.  They offer many items we use for the boxes - screw driver sets, tape measures, volt meters, scissors, hammers, and so on - free with purchase.  That's not an issue because there is ALWAYS something we need from there.  Tape, nails, and so on.  And sometimes you can score free with no purchase needed!  And the coupons are everywhere.

After season sales are great too.  Last February I scored those little panda bears for .73c each and the glasses were six for .50c on a Valentine clearance sale.  August I get school supplies... at Walmart the notebooks were .20c each, rulers were .10c, crayons were .25c, and so on.  

And of course there is Dollar Tree for soap, toothbrushes, certain toys like balls, and so on.  Just shop carefully to make sure the quality is good.

Stopping for fast food?  Order a kid's meal and get the toy for your box.  And you'll have the bonus of a smaller meal.

If you have a Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or JoAnn's around use their 40% to 50% off coupons to buy plastic tubs for your 'shoe box'.  The tub becomes part of your gift as it becomes bug free storage for food.

When you spread your Operation Christmas Child shopping out over the year, it's actually quite easy to do six boxes.  We store the items in one of 3 under-bed boxes (you can see one in the second photo).  Almost everything we need is already there in late October.

Try it and see how well it can work for you.

A Living Nativity

One of Clarksville's regular Christmas events is the Grace Nazarene church's living Nativity.  It's been several years since we've been.  It was a drive-thru event but is now a 'ride-thru' on a tractor pulled hay wagon.  (I suspect there was an issue with cars taking too long at each scene).  You parked a couple miles away and were shuttled up to the church.

Each wagon had someone who would narrate the scene with story interlaced with Bible verses.  They did an excellent job.

The first scene told about the census that brought Joseph and Mary on the journey to Bethlehem.

A centurion.

Turned away at the inn.

The angels proclaiming His birth.

Magi visiting the stables.  We loved the live camels!

The reason for the season.

And why there IS a season...

After the ride, visitors came into the church for a bit of hospitality.  Cookies and hot cocoa were served to everyone.

In the sanctuary carolers sang Christmas music.  You could hear them out in the refreshment area or you could go in and enjoy.

When you were done, it was back onto the shuttle for a quick trip to your car.  As we got off, we were handed a lovely little olive wood ornament of the Holy Family as a remembrance.

What a lovely evening!

Six Gifts

Our Christmas tradition continues - the shopping for and packing of the Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes!

Our four boxes for boys age 11 to 14.

Yes, you do see soft cuddly lovies at the top of the box.  In developing countries something to hold on to is still a very big thing even if you're a boy who is getting big.

School supplies, hygiene products, balls and other toys, and caps are just a few of the things we packed.

And while we were in Missouri in October we went shopping with Little Bird and Little Hoss.  They love buying for the shoe boxes.  It's wonderful to see how excited they are to help "the poor babies".  Once again they both opted to pack a box for a baby (age 2 - 4) rather than their own age group.  At the stores, Unca Himself takes off with Little Hoss to do 'boy shopping'.  Little Bird and I do our chick shopping in peace.

Little Bird's box.

And Little Hoss's looking good too.

I wonder where these boxes will end up?

Advent - What Those Candles Really Mean

Yesterday was the 2nd Sunday of Advent.  So often when I hear the word, I am reminded of a line from The Princess Bride:  "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means".  Advent is not the "Santa Countdown" or some sort of December party time or how many shopping days are left.

The word 'Advent' is a noun noting the arrival of an important person or event.  In this case Advent notes both...the arrival of Jesus Christ and the events of His first and second coming.  Advent   contains repentance, remembrance, and anticipation.  It was intended to be a serious time of looking inside yourself, a season of fasting and renewal.

Advent candles are lit on the Sunday of each of the weeks of Advent.  As a group, they symbolize the difference between darkness and Light.  The four candles are traditionally purple or blue.  Sometimes the fourth candle is rose or pink for peace.

The first candle lit is the "Prophet" candle.  It symbolizes Hope...the hope we have in Christ.

The second candle lit is the "Bethlehem" candle.  It symbolizes Faith... as with the faith of Joseph and Mary.

The third candle lit is the "Shepherd" candle.  It symbolizes Joy...as was the joy of the shepherds as they heard the angels announcement.

The fourth candle lit is the "Angel" candle.  It symbolizes Peace... Peace on Earth and Good Will to ALL men. 

An Advent wreath can have a fifth candle in the center.  It is white and symbolizes Jesus Christ.  This candle is lit on Christmas Eve.

I wish you all a blessed season of renewal and joy.

(This post was originally written for a group that I am a member of.  We are doing advent messages this year and I was asked to write 3.)

Compassion Event

We've been working about one Compassion event a month.  Our latest was for a "Beth Moore" event.  Apparently she was in Nashville at the auditorium where there were 9000 women...but we were at the "overflow" location where 600 woman watched the program on a theater screen.  Weird.  I wonder if they had to pay the same $70 a person?

But anyway, our shift was the last shift of the day and a half event and was only half of the 3 hours we were scheduled to work.  Two people stopped at the table to turn in sponsorship info they had already filled out and the Compassion rep handled them.

So it was two sign-ups during the time we were there.

BUT...

173 new children sponsored over the course of the entire event!!

And that is what it's all about.

Basilica St. Lawrence

One of our stops in Asheville was to visit the Basilica St. Lawrence.  When we travel, if we know of a basilica or cathedral in the area we definitely try to visit.

The basilica was designed by Rafael Guastavino, an architect from Barcelona.  He emigrated to the US to work on the Biltmore House.  

He designed the church and construction started in 1905.  It was finished in 1909.  The style is Spanish Renaissance.  There are no wood or steel beams used in the construction.  It is made from layers of tile and mortar.

The roof is tile with copper covering.

The main entrance.

This is made from polychrome (glazed) terracotta and represents Jesus giving the 'keys' to the kingdom to Peter.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga

A beautiful detail.

The doors into the church interior.  On the left is Joseph.  These windows are from the old St. Lawrence and were moved here.  (You can see Himself sitting just through the doors.)

The main alter and side chapels.

The life size terracotta reliefs are Mark, Archangel Michael, Archangel Raphael, and Luke (Matthew and John are out of the view).  The crucifixion tableau shows Jesus, Mary and John.  It is carved from walnut.

Raphael.

A different angle.

The dome is the largest free standing elliptical dome in North America.  It is 82' x 58'.

The center window.

For my church pew series.

The stained glass was beautiful.  They were made in Munich, Germany.

Lovely, indeed.

This is the window in Chapel of Our Lady - to the left of the alter.  The window is titled "Mary, Queen of the Sea".

I'm not sure the story behind this representation.  She was in the vestibule.

Beautiful and so peaceful.

The rose garden was small and very nice.

The back of the building.

This sign made me smile.  In more than one way should we not "park here".

If you are interested in visiting these beautiful basilica and cathedrals in the US, this web site gives the locations:  http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/data/basUS.htm