December activities

Laundry.

Keeping a house uncluttered and cleaned.

These are things to be thankful for after being reminded of the comforts of life we take for granted far too often.

The girls baked peanut butter and molasses cookies. Also bread and cinnamon popcorn.

Exodus 15:2 - The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my victory. He is my God, and I will praise Him.

God is my never-ending source of power. Sometimes I still muddle along on my own power. When will I learn to give God the first portion of my day? When I don't, it shows up. I get easily frustrated with my children for the simple reason that I haven't tapped into God's-power.

I have been seeing a pattern in my life. And I am aiming to break the cycle.

Looking back, I see that I've grown in my Christian life.

But oh, I've got a long way to go. Sometimes it just itty bitty steps.
Yet my goal and aim in life is to please my Father.

The girls and I practiced this song today. The words ministered to me.

Sweet Jesus

Sweet Jesus, my Savior

You are my faithful friend
You made me, You know me
You see my every sin
And my soul is amazed
By this gift of your grace
And these arms that take me in
Sweet Jesus, my Savior
You are my faithful friend

Sweet Jesus, my shelter

You are my faithful friend
The refuge that I run to
When my world comes closing in
Why should I be afraid
When I know I am saved
By the arms that take me in
Sweet Jesus, my shelter
You are my faithful friend

Sweet Jesus, my shepherd

You are my faithful friend
You hold me, you lead me
I'll follow till the end
And once more I will say
On that beautiful day
When your arms take me in
Sweet Jesus, my shepherd,
You are my faithful friend

Tag:

Sweet Jesus my Savior
You are my faithful friend.

Amber tries to practice her violin every day. She is a very goal-oriented motivated person.

So is Allison. Although, she must wait a few more weeks to continue her piano lessons. The reason, we have no piano or keyboard.

We finally purchased a Roland keyboard over Ebay for a few hundred $$$ rather than the new price of $3,000 that the previous owner paid several years ago. Many hours of watching ebay and craigslist proved waiting and patience is best even though it seems like I wasted tons of hours. But the end result paid off. Now we need to pick it up at my folks' house.

We can still practice music. I've been teaching the girls harmony. Today we were singing acapella and changing parts which was challenging to the girls. I sing and play music by ear, I'm not really good at following the notes. Basically, that's what the girls do, too, but maybe it would not be so difficult for them if they had some notes to follow.

Anyway, the main part is to sing to the Lord without trying to please men.

Tonight we took in a drive thru Bethlehem at a local church. It was a COLD night!

Everything was quiet except the hammer hitting wood and the swish of the broom.

We drove through the marketplace. One vendor had fabrics to the left. To the right were baskets and baskets of bread and rolls, beside that was a fruits and veggies stand with a fresh chicken hanging just like you'd see at a marketplace in D.R. Next to that was a carpentar shop.

Then a few feet farther on the left was the Inn at Bethlehem. The door was closed and the 'innkeeper' was sweeping the porch.

Around the church corner on the left were two angels in white robes edged with tinsel praising God and making angel motions. They were on some type of raised platform and yellow lights were shining on them.

Following was the manger with Joseph and Mary and a doll as 'the newborn baby'. A woolly sheep and live donkey completed the scene with the wise men and a wooden camel standing next to them.

Next was a person accepting donations to be given to a needy person.

To the right on exiting, a light shone on the empty cross with Santa Claus kneeling at the foot of the wooden cross.

The message we got was that all men, even Santa, will face God and declare that JESUS is LORD to the glory of God the Father. The devils believe, and tremble.

Or another message is that Santa Clause got saved.

We dined at Pizza Hut, which is quite rare for us. It was a treat that we didn't need to cook. Amber reminded us that we had a no-calorie supper. In other words, our diet was empty calories - junk food which she learned in Home Ec.

Working on the family calendar completed the day. It takes a lot of time. But the family enjoys the personalized calendar from Costco.