Merry CHRISTmas

Star of Bethlehem

A couple of year ago my friend Tighe let us borrow a documentary called "The Star of Bethlehem." It made a HUGE impact on me. I think I may have posted about it then as well. I just had to watch it again. The night the Lunar Eclipse took place we watched it and I had chills once again. It doesn't matter where you are on your journey with the Lord, Frederick Larson, has an ability to explain the wonders of God's Beauty through this film that speaks to anyone young or old. Here is a small clip I found. If you ever have a chance and feel like being blown away by God's Magnificence sit down and watch this!!! You wont be sorry.

Lunar Eclipse

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

Psalm 19:1-4

Last night at about 1 am Bryan and I sat outside for an hour and watched the Lunar Eclipse. It was really so beautiful. More than that I am blown away by the photos we got of it. I helped set up the speed and ISO along with the exposure and Bryan ended up taking some REALLY AMAZING photos. I just looked at them for the first time and got chills. I sprawled out on our only lawn chair and just stared up in the sky and watched the moon slowly disappear until it was all red. If you were able to see it along with us, I wonder if you sensed the same thing...it looked as if the moon were literally a round reachable Christmas ornament dangling only hundreds of feet from our heads. It was so tangible, near, and distinct. I couldn't get over its size, shape, and texture. Bryan took over 100 photos in that hour, and I could only choose a couple to post.

Slowly the moon is becoming a shadow.

Only a little sliver is left seen. But the brightness of that one spot was almost blinding to look at.

A full Lunar Eclipse!!!

What If Mary Had a Facebook?

Saw this at church today and really enjoyed it.

Cozy

Bryan and Gracey peering through the tree as we were setting it up.

Our home feels very cozy right now. We have a pine candle burning, the Christmas tree lit and my favorite part: our candles in the windows. I get so excited for night to come, just so I can see all the lights in the house.

A Little Treasure

"He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart."
Psalm 91:4

* I found these white feathers today on my daily walk all bunched together. I decided that once you begin to look for small little treasures, God puts reminders in your path. It might be easy to dismiss these encounters (as Angela says!!!), but I rather see everything as a miracle then nothing.

Inspirational Music

I actually cried at this song by Nichole Nordeman titled "Beautiful for Me." It was featured on a Veggie Tales DVD about self image and finding worth in the Lord rather than the world called "Sweetpea Beauty." The verse where she sings "You should have seen me smile the day that I made you beautiful for me" is so touching to my heart.



A ten year old little girl named Jackie Evancho completely stopped my breath with her beautiful voice. I am not a fan of the show, but I believe the Lord has blessed this young woman with a gift. I pray she will continue using it to draw people closer to the Lord.

Some Applause Please!

This morning was a tough one. I had good intentions to get a lot of things done today and last night I plotted out my plan of attack with great excitement. But I had a series of very bad migraines where your eyes go blurry and flash all morning. And by 10:30 I gave up at the risk of putting myself or others in danger. I couldn't drive to where I wanted to go because if it happened again I wouldn't be able to get home. It's just been one of those weeks, where any little thing takes a lot of effort.

So by lunch time I still had the migraine, but my vision was not blurry. What happens with these type of migraines is it starts out with the onset of blurry or spotted vision and then it fades and the actual migraine comes into play. But, I refused to sit at home and feel sorry for myself. I decided to stay close and drive Gracey to take a walk nearby at a local university. Believe me when I say it really took some faith on my part. I was feeling kind of down and sad.

When I pulled up through the main entrance I noticed hundreds of people and camera crews lined up on the main drive. As I pulled through towards where I was going to park everyone started clapping and cheering and shouting with excitement at Gracey and I as we drove by. I have NO IDEA what they were all doing there, but WOW, did the Lord know I needed some encouragement and applause today! I just soaked it it, smiled and waved and kept driving as I hysterically laughed my way to a parking spot. I know it was probably some sort of hurrah that had nothing to do with me, but just for today I will take it as my own personal cheering section!!!! And that after we drove by everyone promptly dispersed with an "Oh, Olivia and Gracey drove by, that's a rap, good work guys."

During our walk, I literally laughed out loud a dozen times. It was just one of those moments where you feel like you are in a dream. I should've gotten out of the car and thanked everyone for coming out today to cheer me on, continued with a lengthy 5 minute speech of who I wanted to thank, and so on. It really couldn't have happened on a better day or a better moment.