Because the angels are, in fact, STILL singing and because some of us need a messenger of the Lord right here, right now, I wanted to highlight this portion of the Rhoades Family Christmas card from 2010. Because the angels that sang and rejoiced in the sky pronouncing PEACE & GOODWILL on the night Jesus Christ was born are the same angels who now attend to the household of faith!
“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1.14
REJOICE, friends and familia! The angels of the Lord are near. Listen for the song – it’ll be good news for sure.
Now please go back and notice how many times the angels said: Fear not (do not be afraid)!
Thank-you, Jack Hayford, for preaching Christmas up year after year!
Remember that song from the 1980s Hosanna! Integrity’s music???
Oh, I loved singing it. And I just found myself singing it a few minutes ago as I am glittering up 3 sets of angel wings for a certain Nativity photo shoot this Saturday. There are sparkles everywhere!
I hear angels singing praises,
I see men from every nation
bowing down before the throne
Like the sound of many waters,
like a rushing wind around us
Multitudes join the song
And a symphony of praise arises
Tears are washed away from eyes
as men from every tongue and tribe all sing
Holy, holy, God almighty
Who Was, who IS and Is to come
All the angels are crying holy to the Lamb who sits upon the throne.
I think I love this song so much because I was 4 when I first {heard} the songs of Heaven and {saw} the multitudes in the Spirit. And sometimes I still do. Call me crazy, but as soon as my breath returns when I hear it (awe-awe-awe), I sing along.
You would not believe how much food the Grand-poppa made for them. No you would not.
They posed themselves “with Santa” who is ever-so-barely visible. They know I like to chart their growth each year next to my “fake Santa,” as Amelie calls him.
This year, Gavin is 9 1/2, Hunter is 8. Guini is 7 1/3, Gemma May is 5 1/2. Averi will be 5 on Feb. 2 and Amelie will turn 3 in the spring.
Needed something that would not get in the way of lots of good food with a few dozen people (those who acted/sang/danced/built and created the “Merry Gentlemen” production last weekend) milling around (and maybe dancing).
Enter a tray and 5 candlesticks I had on hand. Plus a roll of the $1 foil wrap from Target. And a small bag of old-fashioned tinsel. And one partridge. For my pear tree, don’t ya know?
Just rolled some paper cones and finished with a piece of Scotch tape. Place them over the candlesticks and voila. Quick, simple, reasonable and plenty of room for EATING!
PLUS? 17 days until Christmas! Merry one, everybody!
Over 70-degrees yesterday shopping**? Totally ruined my outfit + scarf, wrapped nonchalantly around my neck as though it didn’t care. Too dang hot. I actually saw the rare, but dreaded December fly out back.
Come on, sweet Colorado Christmas snow! Oh, but don’t ruin the Brighton Parade of Lights or “Merry Gentlemen” cast party on Saturday night. That would just be rude.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good-night.
Blue skies of Colorado over the green grass (covered with brown leaves) on a yellow-sunny December afternoon.
**I was a lucky girl, out with niece, Lori, and great-niece, Emilee, even if it was hotter than Hades. They did see some snowflakes this morning at their house up in Estes this morning, though. Good times!
Ok, I have been thinking about one of my all-time favorite 1980s movies recently and I feel like I am having some amazing thoughts about the love of God from the movie. You probably have seen it a few dozen times: “An Officer and a Gentlemen” starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger.
So, I may be writing about that soon. And I had the thought I wanted to say to my single girl (the baby, whose shall remain nameless at this juncture), make sure-make sure-make sure if you get an officer (some wonderfully awesome guy who is at the top of game and powerful in his field), that he is a gentleman, too. I want that for her. :)
Then this!
The story of a police officer in New York City who came across an older homeless man who was barefooted on a cold, cold night. The police officer went to a Skechers store and bought him a $100 pair of boots and some nice socks and went back out to the man and gave them to him.
And a tourist caught the image of it and everyone is incredulous, surprised, warmed, taken off guard. We RARELY see these types of stories.
It is so heart-warming, it could practically be a storyline off the popular Friday night TV show, “Blue Bloods.” But it is a real life story of a real life NYPD officer who was on counter-terrorism duty in Times Square and he just cared. He was a flesh and blood caring person who took time to treat another human being with dignity, like we all should be and do.
I am ashamed to say there have been times and seasons in my life where I’d have been wary. I might have said, “The guy was sitting there trying to get people to buy him shoes.”
But the people in the Bible who needed healing sat as close to the healing waters as they could. It is where they needed to be. Or those who were so crippled they had to beg for a living – they begged at the gate where people walked by who could help them. It makes sense, now, sure.
In times of distrust of people’s hearts and motives, though, I might have wondered aloud if this particular cop, who has only been with the department for 3 years, would still have been so soft-hearted with a few more years under his belt, more scarred over time having been used, abused and lied to and fed up with those who can’t seem to help themselves? Because, haven’t all of us middle-America, middle-incomed types pretty easily reasoned aside the example of Jesus to see needs and meet needs (spiritual AND physical) among the people we pass daily? I know I have.
But this police officer, a couple of weeks ago, saw a man and was moved with compassion. He went to the store and got nice boots and warm socks and then he went back to the man got on his knees and put socks and boots on those cold, homeless feet.
Where have you seen that imagery before, you wonder? Something about Jesus tying a towel around His waist and getting on His knees and washing the disciples’ feet?
NYPD Officer Lawrence DiPrimo – he is an Officer AND a Gentlemen. And he was the closest thing to Jesus that man met that night, I will guarantee you! Bravo, Officer DiPrimo!
JESUS SPEAKING (Matthew 25) // “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
SOAPbox:
I keep seeing graphics all over Pinterest and Facebook and in emails where my spiritual-family, that big, crazy Family-of-God bunch, is admonishing people to “KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS.
I say: BE Christ in Christmas. That’ll keep Him there better than all your militant internet graphics and email forwards will.
‘Cuz hey look! A secular news agency called the policeman’s act “showing the Christmas spirit.” If he can do it and they can say it, we can live it, too!
They turned out pretty cute and were so easy. I am a total graphics novice, but I am going to show you how I created them in less than 3 minutes.
Step 1: I googled “white” and grabbed the first image of a white rectangle and saved it to my pictures. THREE SECONDS! Here is the image I got if you want me to make it easier [click].
Step 2: I opened www.picmonkey.com and uploaded the white image. Maybe 5 seconds? 7?
Step 3: I rotated the white image to vertical. 1 second.
Step 4: I opened the snowflake image (Winter Wonderland) from the tools to the left side of the PicMonkey screen.
Step 5: I selected a font from the ones they suggest in this holiday collection. In this case, I typed these words (2 separate word boxes) December, and 23. I resized the word and then the number and then selected colors for them. Maybe 30 seconds trying to decide.
Step 6: The longest of all steps, just because they have so many fun flourishes and branches and wreaths. You can do whatever you want. I used two different sprigs of holly on the bottom, then I use a sprig up top. Since I already knew that my sign needed to be simple, I didn’t play much and it was done in less than a minute.
Step 7: I saved my image to my computer. 2 seconds.
Step 8: I opened a blank page on Publisher and used the page-setup feature to make sure it was the 11 x 17 size I needed.
Step 9: I inserted the image I had created onto the blank (from my computer) and enlarged it to fill the space. The dimensions were not exactly correct and they didn’t have to be for this project. But please note that. This is why it took such a short time to design and finish. It is a casual sign. If you are going to be precise, your original background needs to be proportionately exact to the size you’ll be printing. :) Mine didn’t need to be, so: 5-10 seconds.
Step 10: Add a thin line around the edge with Publisher tools. SAVE IT! Print. :)
Three minutes or less. Seriously.
ALSO the cool thing with PicMoney.com is that after I originally saved the December 23 image to my computer (name it, of course,), I was able to just change the date to 24 for my second sign and save it without having to start over. So really, I made TWO signs in 3 minutes or less. Oh, yeah, baby!
These have been mounted on a piece of black foam core (cut in half) and will twinkle away onstage at the opening night performance tomorrow night.
A little bit o’ glitter.
I am trusting you all to NOT let Stormie know that while adding just a little glitter to the signs (for that extra sparkle every show needs) I accidentally may have dumped a pile of red Martha Stewart glitter on her camera. I am not saying it did happen. Just that it may have happened. So, don’t talk about it.
It seems just a couple of months back, but it has been a year. It has been a whole year since two families got together and laughed and loved and took a gazillion photogrpahs and hand-designed-and-crafted a million of the most intricate wedding details ever.
Like your sisters before you, there was not a lot of time between the will-you???-YES!!! part and the actual walking down the aisle, but you had a vision and it was family and heirlooms and close friends and individuality, and sacred (those vows!) and silly (permanent marker all over that groom) and wow it was sweet. It is a day I treasure and I think the whole family feels the same. I would love to be in that barn again tonight under all the twinkle lights, dancing and rejoicing and reprising the family rendition of “Dance Me to the End of Love.” Haha.That darn “such great times” was supposed to have been deleted before I saved this image. Grrrr. But you can see what I meant. And they were great times!!! Happy Anniversary, my loves. The wedding was wondrous, the life is sweet. I love that you have each other. I bless your lives and love and marriage and now: get me a bunch of grandbebes, please! :)
Dave’s first stage-performed play (that HE has written) is coming up soon – 5 days!!! We are so lucky and grateful for all the people who have worked to put this together. AND it is pretty exciting to see posters in store windows and on coffee shop bulletin boards! Have you seen them???
There will be 2 performances and a lot of our kids and grandbebes are involved and the niece and great-niece, too. Plus the greatest friends on earth, acting and taking tickets and building sets and helping us spread the word.
So if you see this and you are in the area, you should come! Friday November 30 at 7 om or Saturday December 1 at 7 pm. The cost is $5 per person (children under three are free) and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Adams County Cold Weather Care program (Mission: To provide life saving shelter and support to individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Adams County). You can buy your tickets online (www.callbacktheater.com) or at the door.
Be watching the local newspaper for an article this week!
The location is the totally cool Armory @ Brighton. Here is how to get here, 300 Strong Street:
Plus LIVE music by some pretty cool-awesome-amazing musicians, if we do think so! :)
FABULOUS way to kick off your Christmas season, I promise! Please plan to come and tell everyone you know about it. And LIKE the FB page and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I find it crazy the amount of food we gobble-gobble up on Thanksgiving. But there is something so ingrained about it, isn’t there? I was watching an old movie the other day and they mentioned the Thanksgiving meal: there was turkey and ham and stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry, too. For all the dishes that come and go, the menu doesn’t stray too much. Even when we get crazy and add Cajun or Mexican sides (or even go vegetarian), it is pretty hard for most people I know to do away with these traditional fixings all together.
My own very cosmopolitan and trend-setting children by day, at Thanksgiving, are among the most traditional in their desires. They will gather here today, Dave and Tara and Hunter magoo, Steph and Tris and the three Kelley kids (Guini, as always, will have first dibs on the wishbone), Tredessa and Ryan (this is their first Thanksgiving as a married couple, because the wedding was 2 days after Thanksgiving last year). Rocky and Jovan and the 2 little girlies will be here and Stormie and Saber-the-German (Shepherd) and The Garcias and Leif (Ryan’s younger brother) will join us, too.
And as I stood at the counter this morning chopping vegetables and mixing ingredients in a quiet, sunny kitchen (Christmas music drifting in from the room where Dave is rearranging every piece of furniture we own to accommodate our little table for 23), I just found myself loving that we go to the trouble anyway. There is something in the ritual of it, in fixing this huge meal that reminds us of the sacred and sweet and all the blessings we have had and all the blessings that will come to be. And it is just this bountiful moment in time to thank God for all of it.
In everything GIVE THANKS for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5. 18
And standing there, knowing we will have more than we need to eat and eat too much, I remembered all the Thankskgivings of my life (there have been more than 50, now) and how the crowd has changed so much. All the Grandmas and Grandpas are gone now. Some of the aunts and uncles have passed, too. I remember thinking as a kid they were all trying to starve me to death because the meal was never ready “on time,” but when finally we could eat, ooooooh-delish! Then later: mommy, my tummy hurts, I ate too much (Tara was 4 the first time this happened to her). How glorious to have all the pumpkin pie I could ever want (and my mom always made THE BEST pumpkin pie, until Stormie came along).
I thank God for it all, the family I was born into and all the times they crammed all of us into tiny house with tables and tables and food and we ate all day long (pre-microwave, people!). Mostly at Grandma Bakers, we also met Aunt Sue’s once. But Aunt Rosie’s quite a bit, too…Aunt Rosie introduced me to the romantic notion of one very long table for all of us eat together – no kid table! I am doing that for my grandbebes now. They like it! And I love that the aunts and uncles and all the cousins would descend from near and far because even though we were wall-to-wall people, the importance of all of us together saying “Thank-you, Lord,” was valued. Stop life and say thanks – this was the message imparted to my heart. We may not have a lot, we are just regular people, but we are blessed and we say thanks to You, Lord.
Oh my, in spite of their humanness and mistakes and oddities as a family (plentiful, for sure), oh how I cherish the fact that they all helped me settle on the solid foundation that is Jesus Christ.
Then there were the years the extended family times dissipated as grandparents died, and my siblings and I, with our growing families, would gather with my parents (the new matriarch and patriarch). The last time were all together for Thanksgiving was 1991, I believe. That era ended too soon as we were living all over the nation, but we’d always touch base and today I think of each of them with so much love my heart actually hurts. Happy Thanksgiving, my brothers (by birth and the one we got when my sister married you) and my little sister and all my beautiful sisters by God’s design (and marriage to my little brothers). Happy Thanksgiving to the nieces and nephews and to the whole big, colorful family I married into. Be blessed, I decree it.
And how blessed and grateful I am to get to have this Thanksgiving feast with my own babies and their families today. The little cousins will file away so many details of this day as trivial: running up and down the stairs, playing dress-up, maybe coloring and painting together or playing a board game. They will eat and eat and be back in an hour for more. They will go home totally unaware that in 40 or 50 years they will be standing at their kitchen counter assembling food on a sunny morning for a Thanksgiving meal for their beloveds and suddenly the memories in sharp detail, of being at Nonna’s house so many Thanksgivings past, will suddenly rush back in “like waves upon the shore” and they will, like I am today, thank God for all the Thanksgiving Thursdays family gathered just to show gratefulness. And they will know that is it good to give thanks unto the Lord.
Psalm 71.17-19
Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your mighty acts to all who are to come.
Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,
you who have done great things.
Who is like you, God?
My intent in writing this blog, when I began it a thousand words ago, was to say this (I am so wordy, huh?) in ONE paragraph: Happy Thanksgiving, from our family to yours. Like all families, the treasure must be guarded and tended like a garden to make sure it lives and thrives. We are just normal people with issues and oddities, too. But today, we gather in His name to tell Him we are grateful. This foundation is firm. So, I pray you will be blessed and happy in all things today, just as I am praying for my family.
I simply cannot help being so graphomaniacal. Just can’t. xxoo
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