Two of my favorite things!

These are a couple of the last photos I took of my girls in 2008.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree (or Jesus Christ?)

I came across this little history behind the song "The 12 days of Christmas" on Mercola.com and thought is was interesting.

"From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning, plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality that the children could remember.

1. The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ
2. Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments
3. Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love
4. The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
5. The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament
6. The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation
7. Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit
   1. Prophesy
   2. Serving
   3. Teaching
   4. Exhortation
   5. Contribution
   6. Leadership
   7. Mercy
8. The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes
9. Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
   1. Love
   2. Joy
   3. Peace
   4. Patience
   5. Kindness
   6. Goodness
   7. Faithfulness
   8. Gentleness
   9. Self Control
10. The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments
11. The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples
12. The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed

So there's your history lesson for today."

(Taken from Dr. Mercola's Special Holiday Bonus.)

Photo tag

ProudMom posted this interesting little tag on her blog and I thought it sounded fun so I'm going to consider myself tagged and participate!

The rules:

1)Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2)Select the 4th picture in the folder

3)Explain the picture

4)Tag 4 people to do the same

Well, I obviously didn't take this picture. This is a photo of my aunt & my mom on my aunt's birthday in 1964. My mom is the one with the beautifully dated glasses! I have spent a lot of time scanning my family's old photos into digital format so that I could have useable priceless pieces of family history like this gem.

Now it's your turn! Mom, Jill, Phaedra, Shay, Amy, Anyone who thinks this sounds fun.

W. Buffalo vs. Lion with special appearance by Crocodile

I watched this video today and found it fascinating and thought I'd share. It's kind of long (8.5 min) and starts out slow (if you want you could start at just under 2 min) but is worth watching. It is a battle for a baby water buffalo between the water buffaloes and lions with a couple of crocodiles getting in on the action. God's creatures are amazing!

A couple tags...finally completed!

A couple (maybe even several) weeks ago I got two tags. One from Sam on his blog Dwell & Cultivate. (One of the only blogs of a person I've never met that I read on a regular basis.) And one from Phae. I decided to fulfill my taggings in one blog today. Below are the rules for Sam's tag. And below that is Phae's tag (8 things).

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share seven random or weird facts about yourself.
4. Tag seven others and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each of the other people know by commenting on their blogs.

Here are seven random or weird facts about myself:

1) I don't like tomatoes.
2) I like the letter 'K' better than the letter 'C'.
3) I dislike the color orange, except in sunsets.
4) I was a history minor in college but can't remember squat about history.
5) I eat my meals one entree at a time, saving the best for last.
6) I wish I could have taken gymnastics or dance as a child.
7) I have a wart inside my nose.

-----------------------------------------------

8 TV Shows I watch:
1) The Cosby Show
2) Everybody Loves Raymond
3) The Simpsons
4) Scrubs (Thanks to Jordan introducing me to them last weekend)
5) ....I don't have television so I only watch Dvds.

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1) Olive Garden
2) Chic-Fil-A
3) PF Changs
4) The Outback
5) Beau Jo's
6) Ruby Tuesday
7) Jamba Juice (does that count as a restaurant?)
8) The Emporium

8 Things that happened today:
1) Jasmine threw a temper tantrum in Kmart.
2) Eden had dance class.
3) I ate at Quiznos.
4) I saw a huge, weird bird in the field by our house and tried to take a picture of it. (It may have been a goose.)
5) I got 3 Christmas cards in the mail.
6) I put away some clean laundry.
7) I ignored 2 phone calls from FFFF.
8) The thermostat in our van reported an outdoor temperature of 10 degrees.

8 things I look forward to:
1) Christmas Eve.
2) Finishing my Christmas video.
3) My photography lighting class.
4) Seeing my best friend pregnant.
5) My next meal.
6) Remodeling my house.
7) Traveling.
8) The rapture.

8 things on my wishlist:
1) A Speedlite flash for my Canon Rebel.
2) A slide scanner.
3) A dining room.
4) To find my original wedding ring.
5) Storage space.
6) A trip to someplace tropical.
7) To see our nation turn back to God.
8) To see my savior face to face.

8 people I tag today:
I am not going to tag anyone today...if you feel like answering the call of the tag then consider yourself tagged but I'm not going to drag anyone into this. (This time, anyway!)

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

When I was a kid I used to think that the true love in the "12 Days of Christmas" gave him a 'Partragenapare Tree' on the 1st day of Christmas. I guess I just thought it was a strange exotic tree that I'd never heard of before, and as a kid I failed to notice that birds were a common gift of his true love and perhaps I just didn't know what a partridge was at that point in my life. Even now at age 28, I still have a hard time not hearing/singing 'partragenapare tree' instead of "partidge in a pear tree". Perhaps mis-hearing the words to songs is a common thing. My family still can't sing 'He Arose' at church on Easter Sunday without cracking up remembering my little brother's lyrics. Instead of singing, "Up from the grave he arose with a might triumph o'er his foes", my dear brother sang, "Up from the grave he arose with a mighty trumpet for his nose."!

The Watchman on the Web

Hey everyone! My dad has been writing a newsletter for several years now containing spiritual lessons that he has learned and chosen to share. I have always found them very insightful and inspiring. As a result I have encouraged him to start posting them in a blog and he has! Please check out his new blog 'The Watchman Chronicles' and may the Holy Spirit bless you in doing so.

Nothing to write....than Thursday Thunks

Here's a little Thursday Thunks action since I haven't written for a week and feel I need a new post before I leave for the weekend.

1. Have you ever not thought about the possibility of suicide?

This question is asked really weird. I have never thought about the possibility of suicide. However there was one day (ONLY ONE Day in my entire life) when I was truly depressed and got a brief glimpse into what the world must be like for those without hope in Christ who suffer with depression on a daily basis. I thank God for that glimpse because it gave me a greater understanding of the world's need for Jesus. Suicide is not the answer--but to a world without Jesus I now see why it is unfortunetly such a problem.

2. How many dogs have you owned in your life? What kind? What were their names?

I personally have never owned a dog. I am not really an animal person. My parents had a few dogs when I was growing up on the farm. Most of them were bought under the guise of being my brother's dog but the first one they owned I sort of claimed as my dog. I don't know if they got her before I was born or when I was a baby but I am the first born in my family and the dog was around for as long as I was so she was "my" dog more than any other dog has been. Her name was Cindy & she was a good dog. Died long before I left home. As far as I know, she is one of the few dogs we owned that didn't get run over or shot for eating chickens.

3. In one word, what do most people describe you as?

It's hard to say...probably most people who don't know me well would describe me as 'shy'. Those who do know me well...maybe 'creative'. Although I feel as though neither of those words really describe me accurately.

4. Do you watch HouseMD? Why not?

Wow...this question certainly assumes an answer. I don't, however, watch HouseMD on a regular basis because I don't have television so I don't watch anything unless it's on DVD. I have, however, watched HouseMD a couple of times at my in-laws house and found it to be a rather fascinating program. My mom says she's never watched it because it looks 'disturbing'.
idk.

5. What irritates you most about your neighbors?

I suppose it's that they have such nice lawns and make ours stand out as the sore thumb of the neighborhood! Yeah...they are the best neighbors though. (Even though they make us look bad lawn-wise. ;)

6. Have you ever called someone in for some sort of abuse or neglect on humans, animals or property?

No.

7. What color is the sky in your world?

Well, being the practical sort--my sky is pretty much blue when it's sunny and gray when it's not. Sometimes though when the sun is setting...Wow!!

8. Did you see those 2 planets that everyone is talking about this week?

I beleive I did. I didn't know everyone was talking about them. All I know is that my husband pointed out these two bright "stars" and I said "I'll bet those are planets because I don't remember those being there before" and he said "could be" and so I'd have to say yes, I think I did see them. Which planets were they?

9. Would you like to submit your own question for future Thursday Thunks?

I don't care.

10. Do you have a skin condition? Are you gonna tell us what it is?

I little personal perhaps? I just recently have noticed weird skin happenings...pretty much since I had strep throat. I haven't had it medically diagnosed but my suspision is that it is mild case of psoriosis.

11. Have you ever had an STD?

No. (Now we're getting really personal!)

12. Do you do any crafts?

I'm not sure what qualifies as 'crafts' but I used to do all kinds of crafty, fine artsy things when I was younger (beading, crocheting, wheat weaving) but recently I haven't really been doing much of that kind of stuff. I stick mostly with computer or photo related creative outlets. (Scrapbooks, collages, videos, etc.) I wouldn't mind getting back into some type of craft but young children running amuck makes it more difficult.

13. Peanut Butter & Jelly - what flavor is the jelly?

Always grape. (I'm not sure I've ever even had a PB&J with a flavor other than grape.)

14. Stripes or polka-dots?

Uh...here's where my practical side comes out again. It depends on the stripes; it depends on the polka-dots; it depends on the objects for which they're meant. Perhaps I'll go with my instincts here and declare that I prefer neither.

15. What accent drives you crazy? Is it a good crazy or a bad crazy?

Well, most accents drive me crazy in a good way. My hubby has a talent for mimicking different accents and I find it quite appealing! My favorite is probably Latino. I love the way Spanish-speaking people sound when they speak English! It certainly drives me crazy in a very good way.