Happy New Year 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!
2010

Looking For A Tree

The Saturday before Christmas, we went to a Christmas tree farm to find our Christmas tree. Hannah and I got to help our Dad cut it down. We had fun being together as a family.

Here is the Noa family Christmas tree

Here I am helping Daddy cut it down

Here is Hannah giving it a try too

We got it!

Mommy and Daddy putting the lights on it

Hannah and I putting on the ornaments

Daddy topping it off with the angel

All done, doesn't it look GREAT!

Christmas and the Retirement Home Visit

One of the things I like about being home schooled is that once a month we go and visit a retirement home. We have been doing this for three years. At first, I was scared and very shy, I hardly talked, even if I was sitting next someone.

Once we were used to going, Alicia and I made friends with this one lady, she was a very nice, cheerful lady. She would recognize us when we came to see her. She would tell the person sitting next to her that "my girls are here". Then she would ask us what took us so long to come back. We enjoyed going and visiting her. A couple of months ago she got really sick and passed away.

The next month when we returned I met a new lady, her name is Esther, who I now visit with each month. She has a friend who is there taking care of her, and has been for over 10 years. I really like visiting with Esther and her friend.

I think God led me to her for a reason, here is why:

This month we went with a couple of other families. We sang songs, some Christmas
carols and some hymns. Then after wards we passed out Christmas cards
we had made. Each person received at least three cards. I had made a special one for Esther.
She left before I was able to give it to her, so I gave it to one of the lady's that works there.
She went to give it to Esther, while I finished passing out my cards.
A few minutes later, here came Esther with her friend. She came looking like she was ready
to cry. I walked over to her and she gave me a hug and said, "Thank you for the card. I have not received a card in a very long time." It made me sad to think she had not received a card
in a long time. But it made me happy to know I was able to help her in a small way.

I hope a lot of people will help brighten the day of an elderly person. Even if you are just walking past them in the store, you can smile at them and you just might get a smile back.

I am glad that I have been able to help the elderly and remember they have the most interesting stories to tell, plus it is what Jesus would do.

A Woman's Heart

♥ A women's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man should have to seek Him first to find her. ♥ Brenda Rutherford

My Friends the Seppi's shared this.

Pachelbel Canon D Major

A beautiful, soothing, calming song. Need to relax during this busy time of the year, sit down and listen to this song.

Micah 4:10-5:5

"Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion,
like a woman in labor,
for now you must leave the city
to camp in the open field.
You will go to Babylon;
there you will be rescued.
There the LORD will redeem you
out of the hand of your enemies.

¹¹ But now many nations
are gathered against you.
They say, "Let her be defiled,
let our eyes gloat over Zion!"

¹² But they do not know
the thoughts of the LORD;
they do not understand his plan,
he who gathers them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

¹³ "Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion,
for I will give you horns of iron;
I will give you hoofs of bronze
and you will break to pieces many nations."
You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the LORD,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Marshal your troops, O city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel's ruler
on the cheek with a rod.

² "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times. "

³ Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.

⁴ He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.

⁵ And he will be their peace."

Mary Did You Know by Mark Lowry

If you have never heard this song, please listen to it, it is very moving and powerful. If you have heard it before just sit back and enjoy it again!

Merry Christmas

Homily on Marriage

A selection from On Marriage and Family Life by St. John Chrysostom:

"Paul has precisely described for husband and wife what is fitting behavior for each: she should reverence him as the head and he should love her as his body. But how is this behavior achieved? That it must be is clear; now I will tell you how. It will be achieved if we are detached from money, if we strive above everything for virtue, if we keep the fear of God before our eyes. What Paul says to servants in the next chapter applies to us as well, ...knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same again from the Lord (Eph. 6:8). Love her not so much for her own sake, but for Christ's sake. That is why he says, be subject...as to the Lord. Do everything for the Lord's sake, in a spirit of obedience to Him. These words should be enough to convince us to avoid quarrels and disagreements. No husband should believe any accusation he hears from a third party about his wife, and vice versa; nor should a wife unreasonably monitor her huband's comings and going, provided that he has always shown himself to be above suspicion. And what if you devote the day to your work and your friends, and the evening to your wife; but she is still not satisfied, but is jealous for more of your time? Don't be annoyed by her complaints; she loves you, she is not behaving absurdly--her complaints come from her fervent affection for you, and from fear. Yes, she is afraid that her marriage bed will be stolen, that someone will deprive her of her greatest blessing, that someone will take from her him who is her head.

A wife should never nag her husband: "You lazy coward, you have no ambition! Look at our relatives and neighbors; they have plenty of money. Their wives have far more than I do." Let no wife say any such thing; she is her husband's body, and it is not for her to dictate to her head, but to submit and obey. "But why should she endure poverty?" some will ask. If she is poor, let her console herself by thinking of those who are much poorer still. If she really loved her husband, she would never speak to him like that, but would value having him close to her more than all the gold in the world....Furnish your house neatly and soberly. If the bridegroom shows his wife that he takes no pleasure in worldly excess, and will not stand for it, their marriage will remain free from the evil influences that are so popular these days."

To read the homily in its entirety go here.

God Came to Rescue Us

"I stand on the field’s headlands, snow crusted up to knees, and pray the combine can keep pushing through. Pray that we'll somehow haul the corn up onto glassy roads. Pray that the temperatures stay low enough.

Pray about the absurdity of all this, the craziness of a December harvest and a Christmas tree hanging with the symbols of the wildest story of all: A God pulling on flesh, wading out into the muck of this world, the stench of the barnyard, all to wrench us free from endless winter."

Read this beautiful story written by Ann Voskamp at Holy Experience. She is a gifted writer and takes some great photos too.

Sin and Their Consequences

Balloon Sermon Illustration from David Whiting on Vimeo.