Thursday, December 29, 2022

Thursday Thankfuls

 








Happy Thursday all!  Wow Christmas has come and gone and it almost a New Year.  Had a very blessed Christmas and a nice day of making memories.

I am thankful for

  • My Salvation
  • My Freedom
  • Food in the fridge and cabinets
  • Heat for the brutal cold weather we had
  • Unconditional love of my pets
  • Dependable transportation
  • Getting released from the ortho from my surgery June 28 2022 which is not a normal thing usually a year Dr said I was doing well enough on my own he was going to cut me loose.  However I still have to be careful up to the year and gave me the do's and don'ts after that year is up
  • Warm covers
  • A nice safe place to call home and no nasty landlord

Prayer Request

  • Our country
  • Health of all people sick
  • stranded families at SW Airlines 
  • friends suffering depression
  • family members needing general prayer
  • Our pastors I believe right now they need all the extra prayer as well
  • Medical, EMT, Officers, Firemen/women
  • That family that has lost a loved one during the holidays

Friends if you need prayer please type in the comments.

Have a safe and Happy New Year.

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Merry Christmas memories

 

Sammy and Carter enjoying their first Christmas (boxes were the delight of the day)  they are now 10 1/2 months wow time flies







Aunt Gina couldn't get enough of this cuteness








my beautiful neice the mom of the twins.  This has been a tradition since she was 9 yrs old before then she didn't like her pics taken






These kids were so excited all the great nephews and the cutie little blond the only great neice.

Sammy picked the bow up and put it on his head so stinking cute. Besides Jesus,  he was the best present of the day







Sunday, December 25Luke 2:10-1210 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”




Friday, December 23, 2022

Festive Friendly Fill-Ins

Joining in on the Fill ins today if you want to  join Festive Friendly Fill-Ins

Hello, friends! I'm so sorry we're so late to post yet again. The good news is that we're late because in a desperate attempt to get my decrepit laptop working better, I managed to get it to do a ton of forgotten updates yesterday evening. It took it the entire night and only just finished a bit ago, which is why we're so late, but since doing these updates, the laptop is still decrepit but much less so. Before it croaks again, right after this we'll be topping off our entire Christmas weekend posts and the beginning of our Twelve Days of Christmas posts so that they're good and ready to go.

Now, moving on, we're ready for a festive Friendly Fill-Ins challenge,                                                                                                and we hope you are as well. We'd love for you to join us!                                                                                                                My amazing co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the                                                                                                            first two fill-in statements, and I came up with the second two.


1. My favorite holiday tradition is _________.

2. On Christmas (or Hanukkah) I plan to fill up on _________.

3. 'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house _________.

4. _________ is the best way to spread holiday cheer.


My answers are below in bold.

1. My favorite holiday tradition is  

used to be making pies with mom and all the Christmas events

2. On Christmas (or Hanukkah) I plan to fill up on 
Whatever food my brother and sis n law make.  
We are starting our own traditions

3. 'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house 
The girls(fur babies) were all sleeping  The elves on shelf were                                                      
were awaiting santa for their hopeful return to the north pole.

4. Saying Merry Christmas is the best way to spread holiday cheer.

Legend of the Poinsettia

 








With Christmas upon us thought it would be appropriate to post

The History & Legends

The popular Christmas flower know in this country as the poinsettia was first called a cuetlaxochitl by the Aztecs. It represented purity, and its name signified "Flower that withers, mortal flower that perishes like all that is pure". The cuetlaxochitl was cultivated as an exotic gift from nature and admired but never touched. Its bright red color had been given by the gods as a reminder of the periodic sacrificial offerings in accordance with the creation of the Fifth Sue. The intense red represented chalchimatl, the precious liquid of the sacrifices offered to the gods. 

Beautiful botanical gardens existed throughout the Aztec empire in pre-Hispanic times. Flowers and herbal plants were cultivated for their beauty and medicinal purposes. From October to mid-May, the cuetlaxochitl was admired and observed as it flowered like "birds aflame". Circa 1440-1446, the great Aztec leader Tlacalel and his half-brother Montezuma Ilhuicamina visited the most beautiful of these gardens in Oaxatcpec, in what is now the Mexican state of Morelos, and revitalized the cultivation of the cuetlaxochitl there as a reminder of the importance of the blood sacrifices. 

One legend from sixteenth-century Mexico explains the flower's origin. Franciscan friars evangelizing the area of Taxco celebrated one Christmas with a lavishly decorated nativity scene. The rosary and a litany were prayed, a pinata was broken, gifts were exchanged, and a mass was held, during which a miracle occurred: the flower decorating the nativity scene turned red. After that night, the flower was named flor de nochbuena, Flower of the Blessed Night. 

Many other legends sprang forth, including the following:

A charming story is told of Pepita, a poor Mexican girl who had no gift to present the Christ Child at Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked slowly to the chapel with her cousin Pedro, her heart was filled with sadness rather than joy.  

"I am sure, Pepita, that even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes," said Pedro consolingly.

Not knowing what else to do, Pepita knelt by the roadside and gathered a handful of common weeds, fashioning them into a small bouquet. Looking at the scraggly bunch of weeds, she felt more saddened and embarrassed than ever by the humbleness of her offering. She fought back a tear as she entered the small village chapel.

As she approached the alter, she remembered Pedro's kind words: "Even the most humble gift, if given in love, will be acceptable in His eyes." She felt her spirit lift as she knelt to lay the bouquet at the foot of the nativity scene.

Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into blooms of brilliant red, and all who saw them were certain that they had witnessed a Christmas miracle right before their eyes.

From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the Flores de Noche Buena, or Flowers of the Holy Night, for they bloomed each year during the Christmas season.

Another version of this story is:

Also known by its beautiful Spanish name of flor de nochebuena, or "flower of Christmas Eve," the poinsettia is indigenous to Central America and tropical Mexico. The story goes that a poor Mexican child on her way to church on Christmas Eve wept because she had no gift to place before the altar of the Virgin and Child. Through her tears, an angel suddenly appeared and instructed her to gather weeds from the roadside. When the child arrived at the altar with her wilted offering, starry crimson "blossoms" burst forth from every stem. 

During the following centuries, the flor de nochebuena, or cuetlaxochitl, became a symbol of Christmas and of Mexico's evangelization, and the flower's bloom in October signaled the coming of Christmas. 

The flower spread throughout the Mexican states. In Chiapas it is known as Sijoyo, in Durango as Catalina, in Guerrero, Michoscan, Veracruz, and Hidalgo it is known as Flor de Pascua, and in Oaxaca as Flor de Santa Catarina. 

Chile and Peru called it the "Crown of the Andes," and in Argentina it became the Federal Star because it served as a symbol for the republicans in their liberation struggle. Today it is their flor national. 

In the United States, the flower has another history and another name, but its origin is still Mexican. It all began when Joel Robert Poinsett was appointed as ambassador to Mexico. On Christmas day 1825, Ambassador Poinsett visited the Taxco church in Santa Prisca, where the Franciscans had adorned the nativity scene with exotic red flowers that gave it a very elegant and uncommon appearance. 

Enamored of the flowers named Nochebuena, he shipped some to his friends back home in Charleston, South Carolina. This was the origin of naming these flower poinsettias in this century. 

Ambassador Joel Poinsett was a multi-talented man. He studied medicine in England and was an amateur architect who built a state road, a bridge with a Gothic arch, and a church in South Carolina. He was a congressman and an unofficial U.S. ambassador to South America and Europe. Early in Poinsett's career, prior to his Mexican ambassadorship, president Martin Van Buren, who served between 1836 and 1840, appointed him Secretary of War. Besides being a botanist who traded seeds with friends on a worldwide basis, Poinsett was also an unabashed nationalist, experimenting with war rockets, lobbying for a national powder factory, and trying, without success, to establish a military draft system. He increased the size of the army by a third, and many of his soldiers helped transport Indians westward. During Poinsett's term as secretary of war, more Indians were displaced than at any other time. 

While ambassador Poinsett meddled so much in the affairs of Mexico and the rest of Latin America that the term Poinsettismo was coined to describe officious and intrusive conduct. When he took sides in a political dispute, Poinsett was finally declared person non grata by the exasperated Mexican government. With his life in danger, Poinsett was recalled to Washington on Christmas Day. 

During the last years of his life, Poinsett continued to employ the flower throughout the South as a symbol of Christmas, and succeeded in making a small fortune by introducing it to the United States and the rest of the world. He introduced the plant to the National Institute for the National Association of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institute. According to Dr. Robert Faden, a botanist at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History, the poinsettia belongs to a large and fascinating species of plants, the Euphobiaceac, that might provide a cleaner, renewable substitute for gasoline and other fossil fuels. 

It is ironic that the flower that originally symbolized Aztec blood sacrifice also came to symbolize the blood of Christ, Christmas, and the blood sacrifices of a U. S. Secretary of War who drove more Indians from their homes than any other government official. Five hundred years after the first encounter between Europe and this continent, we should attempt to recapture the history and the contributions of the indigenous peoples. It would be a noble act to give the flower its original name, cuetlaxochitl-"Flower that withers, flower that perishes, like all that is pure."


The Candy Cane









Look at the Candy Cane

What do you see?

Stripes that are red

Like the blood shed for me

White is for my Savior

Who's sinless and pure!

"J" is for Jesus My Lord, that's for sure!

Turn it around

And a staff you will see

Jesus my shepherd

Was born for Me!

Many years ago, a candy maker wanted to make a candy at Christmas time

that would serve as a witness to his Christian faith.

He wanted to incorporate several symbols for the birth, ministry

and death of Jesus. He began with a stick of pure white hard candy;

white to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus;

hard to symbolize the solid rock, the foundation of the Church;

firmness to represent the promise of God.

The candymaker made the candy in the form of a "J"

to represent the name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior.

He thought it could also represent the staff of the Good Shepherd,

with which he reached down into the ditches of the world to lift out

the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.

Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candymaker

stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes

to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received,

by which we are healed. The large red stripe was for the

blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the

promise of eternal life. Unfortunately, the candy became known

as a candy cane - a meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time.

But the true meaning is still there for those who have

eyes to see and ears to hear.


 

CHRISTMAS to me

 Christ is born

Heaven is real

Rejoicing

Icicle

Star of Bethlehem

Tidings of comfort and not

Morning dawn

Angels sing on high

Salvation

Thank you Lord for the birth of your son so that we may celebrate CHRISTmas

Friday, December 16, 2022

Happy Friday hope all is doing well


Truffles (on the chair)  Tilly up above the window are loving the sunshine today.  Its cold out but the sun is nice







Sandra likes cuddling with the stuffed animals and baby Crissy who will be 48 on Christmas day.




 



Graecie is growing like a weed she loves cuddling with mom and the sun







Millie tried to take over the whole table






And meet TUX somebody dropped him off (how sad)  he stays at Josh's such a sweet kitty.







Friday, December 16Isaiah 9:66 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.


I am so thankful for the Reason for the Season, thank you Lord for the precious gift of your son, so that we all may be forgiven and saved thru the blood of Jesus.


Sunday, December 11, 2022

Muskogee OK Christmas lights



 
















































Fiona Meets Friedrick



 
Fiona meets Friedrick  she is like mom is the my brother or my boyfriend.  Yes, Fiona it is your brother we are not to the boyfriend age yet.  Thursday Dec 8   I apologize again for getting behind    I am doing 3 advent studies, my zoo crew takes time also, plus my daily chores.






Silly elves I am thankful you are patriotic however no matter how hard you try it will not fling you back to the north pole.  Friday Dec 9






Fiona that is very rude of you to try to steal Uncle Josh's coffee *You are spose to drink hot chocolate w marsh mellows SILLY elf you do no need caffeine.

Friedrick what on earth are you doing drinking out of Aunt Beth's coke as stated with Fiona you are spose to drink hot chocolate with marsh mellows  SILLY silly elves    However the people at the restaurant were all smiling with this 55 yr old mom playing with the elves while we were eating... *My job completed made somebody laugh*  Saturday 1210



oh Lordy now they think that the candy canes are edible, no sillies they are decorations. Sunday 1211






John 1:9-109 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him

I hope you have a blessed week ahead.









Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Dec 7 Fiona playing on the hay

Fiona you silly elf do you not know that those hay bales could squish you to death.    I see you sitting on the trailer and next thing I know your trying to get upon the hay.  

The horses were sure happy to get hay.  however they are hugs 3x4x8

winter has set in (it can be gone as far as  I am concerned  I do not do well with cold temps.



 


Wednesday, December 07Matthew 25:4040 “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.’


Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Dec 6 Fiona I strictly said NO to this

 



Oh my dear Lord.  Fiona escaped once again and this time thinking the skid loader was a new toy,  do you not think young lady that you are 1) not old enough to drive or operate this thing, 2) you can't even reach the controls much less the breaks 3) you are not even properly dressed for working construction.  Now I really wonder what is up her sleeve for tomorrow.    PSS She is getting a brother from Amazon tomorrow or Friday OH LORD HELP ME








Tuesday, December 06

Revelation 1:1818 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Dec 5 Silly Elf

 

Fiona, you silly elf how in the world did you get lodged up there to the trash cart like that?  I know your magical but gee.   I appreciate the help bringing it back to the house. truly I do.   

What adventures will we seek for the 5th? no ma'am the construction equipment isn't a place for elves.





Monday, December 05


2 Peter 3:1010 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.



The eye of God

 



I am pretty sure this is a close idea of what the Eye of God looks like.  

Dec 4 Fiona got caught

 Silly silly elf. JOSH caught you the last 2 nights playing and hiding under Jack's blanket to stay warm.

However tonight he called and Said you will not believe this. I caught Fiona red handed. The blurry one she was trying to get off before she got caught then running to hide in the brush by the watering trough. We have enough evidence that you have been escaping at night, crossing a very busy, dangerous street in the dark by her self.
Hosea 6:3
3. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth."











Saturday, December 3, 2022

Fiona the Elf has arrived

 Hi all Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.  I am so sorry for not posting   I am doing 3 advent studies with 3 different groups.   The fur babies take up a big amount of time.  I have also been fighting depression.  *The holidays are hard on me*    We are back up and running and hope you will find time to stop by.


I am going to combine several days into one then starting today will be a daily post

The Elfin adventures have begun. Fiona is watching mom play her FB game Supercity and says it looks fun and mom your cities are beautiful. It's kind of dreary outside so inside adventures it is.


November 27





Silly Elf Sandra isn't a reindeer, although I know she is the right color and size for you. Glad Sandra has good personality


November 28





Run Fiona run, Graecie thinks you are a chew toy. The blurry picture Graecie was shaking her.

November 29 Graecie gets 2 pics as this is her first time with Fiona















Fiona, young lady, why are you scaring Tillie making her think your eating her food? Silly elf is un bothered by Gina's zoo crew.


November 30




Fiona has found cuddling with Millie can be fun

Lamentations 5:19  But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations

Dec 1 with daily bible verse



Fiona, is being a good elf today, all but climbing on the plant stand to sit by the Christmas Fir Tree.

1 Samuel 12:24 Above all, fear the LORD and worship him faithfully with all your heart; consider the great things he has done for you.

Dec 2 with daily bible verse