Christmas passages

Sunday night the Youth Pastor/Assistant Pastor preached. Pastor Kelley asked him to expound on the Christmas story in a different light. He did just that. He started out saying that he was going to read two really familiar Christmas passages and then have us turn to an unfamiliar Christmas passage.

"Please turn in your Bibles to the very familiar Christmas passage, Numbers 22:5"

He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me:

"Next please turn to an equally familiar Christmas passage, Daniel 2:24"
Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation.

"Finally we will turn to a very unfamiliar Christmas passage, Matthew 2:1-12"
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,...

He then asked us why we thought he read the first two passages and how they connect to the 3rd passage he read. Do you all know?


He said that it was the only two places in the Old Testament that "wise men" were mentioned. Balaam was considered the first wise man and Daniel saved the wise men from losing their lives.

The Wise Men who came to see Jesus were the same type of "wise men" as those mentioned above. They most likely were part of a king's court somewhat as "counselors".
These Wise Men in Matthew 2 teach us some things that we need to have in our own lives. Are we "wise men and women"?

First, they passed down some good traditions. Like gifts, giving your best, worshiping the King, and such. We need to pass good wholesome traditions down to our children and grandchildren. Going to church, reading the Bible, tithing, etc.

Second, they kept the Bible in the proper perspective. These were gentiles. The only part of the Scriptures that they most likely had were the prophecies of Balaam and Daniel. Balaam prophesied in Numbers 24:17 (about Jesus being born)
...there shall come a Star out of Jacob...

And Daniel about when Jesus would BE born.

They knew these two prophesies and had taken them into heart. These Gentiles knew that a King of the Jews would be born and they knew when He would be born. They were looking for the Star. The priest and scribes in Jerusalem also knew the Scriptures but they weren't looking. When Herod asked them where "Christ should be born" they replied "In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel."

They knew where it was to happen and they could have very well known when it would happen but they didn't go check it out. Instead these Wise Men came ALL THE WAY FROM THE EAST because they knew when but they didn't know exactly where in Israel. They went to Jerusalem because that was the capital of Israel.

I don't remember the last point but it had to do with that they worshiped Jesus even though He didn't look like a "real" king. Mary and Joseph were poor so their house more than likely wasn't very big. Not all the Wise Men fit in the house at once (never in the Bible does it say that there were only 3 Wise Men). They also did not take away any portion of the gifts they brought. They gave EVERYTHING they brought to this new King. Do we worship the King of kings as we ought to?

We need to set and establish good wholesome traditions.
We need to place the Bible in Its proper place in our lives.
We need to know what the Bible says.
We need to worship Jesus with the worship that He is worthy of.

ARE WE WISE MEN AND WOMEN? if not now then we need to start working on it.

Volcanos vs. People

So volcanos are worse than people. Do cars count in with people? Or is that a separate category?

work

I have told the Day Care that I am "not available" to sub while Jesse is off of work for Christmas break. I think they are only closed the Friday before Christmas, the Monday after Christmas, and one or two days for New Years but I am not sure.
I was asked last week to work Thursday (15), Friday(16), and Wednesday (21). Then on Friday (16) I was asked if I could work Monday (19). I said "yes". While leaving work on Monday I was asked "Do you have any morning plans for tomorrow?" (actually this is what she normally asked me either morning plans or afternoon plans.) I sort of smiled and I told her that sometimes I want to reply something like "sleep in". I told her that I could work.
Anyway, I was only suppose to work from 8:00 AM - 12:30 PM. About 9:30ish I was asked if I could come back to work at 3 and then leave when the numbers when down in my room to under 6 babies.
I agreed to work. I love working with the little babies and little kids. Recently I have been with the babies. We have two that are learning to walk. One walks better then the other but they still don't walk good enough to go to the next room.

If you are wondering (and even if you aren't)
Day Care needs the ratio of 1 adult : 6 babies, 1 adult : 6 under age 2, and 1 adult : 10 over age 2
There are 4 "rooms" at this Day Care.
1st: newborn to walking and eating table food
2nd: walking and eating table food to 2 years old
3rd: 2 years old to 3 years old
4th: K3 to K5 (this is only after lunch - K3 and K4, and after school K5)

Anyway, that is just a little bit about Day Care.

Have a very, Merry Christmas.

Fajitas

Finally, I understand why I never understood what people here in America meant when they said they were eating "Fajitas". I couldn't picture them and just had this big mental block when it came to "fajitas".

I hope you enjoy your French Fajitas.

"Merry Christmas" "You too"

That has been the transactions between cashiers and me lately. Yep, They can't say "Merry Christmas" but they can put on a big smile and say "You too" or "Same to you".
There is one incident that has stood out to me. I had gone into this one McDonald's and the guy at the front register kept on singing a part of a song while recieving money and giving out change. The song "Joy to the World" but that is all he sang. I suppose he couldn't say "the Lord has come".

Jesse and I worked on the blog last night. I found all these useless facts and stuff so I thought I would post one every now and then. I had such a difficult time trying to get it to look like I wanted. Actually, Jesse was the one to get it to look good. I didn't know how to do it. I am glad that he was able to help.

Jesse's birthday

Yesterday was Jesse's birthday. We celebrated it on Saturday though.
I gave Jesse some clothes and a DVD. After resting up and just enjoying being home together we headed out for the River Walk. It took us about an hour or so to go all the way from the begining of the walk to one of the two ends of the walk. I think it was about 5 miles.
After that exhilarating walk (ha ha) we went out to eat for 1. his birthday and 2. to celebrate being married 6 months.

Happy Birthday, Jesse

Rascal, to bed

For the last few nights I have said something like "Rascal let's go to bed". I believe she knows her name now because she will look at me when I say her name. I also believe she understands what I am saying because she will either follow me into the bedroom or run ahead of me. Then she jumps up on the bed and meows and meows telling me that I have not hurried fast enough for her (I suppose). After I get situated under the covers she gets on my stomach and I pet her. It is our little ritual now and she loves it. Itsuki sometimes comes and to get petted - I don't deny her the privilege but I think Rascal sometimes gets a little jealous. I try to make sure I pet both equally.

The answer to the cat puzzle

So how many cats are in this picture?


The answer is





3

Rascal and Itsuki are hugging each other. Sakura is that big lump or log in the bottom left hand corner.

This picture was not in any way, shape, or form planned by any outside human efforts. Jesse came into the bedroom and found all 3 cats sleeping like this and hurriedly took a picture of them.

How many cats are in this picture?

How many cat's are in this picture?

















I will give the answer after a substantial amount of answers come in.

If you are a sub...

does it mean you work everyday?

So far there has only been two days that I haven't worked. I could always tell them "I'm sorry I can't work today" but I don't. Well, I did once - I told them that I had to take Jesse to another dentist (a week after my dentist thrill).

I really enjoy working there. I have been three days with the baby room, 2 3/4 hours with the 2 year olds (nap time) and 4 days with the kindergarten day care. I like everywhere I have been. The baby room is in a sense more active because there is always feeding and changing diapers. But then with the 3-5 year olds there is the "peacemaking" attribute that you need to use.

I think the reason I have been asked to sub so much is that there aren't all that many subs out there. Anyway Jesse and I like it this way because I can always say NO and I get paid for doing something I like.

Christmas at our house

Well, I haven't been too good in blogging. We've been busy. Our plumbing hasn't been the best as the bathroom got stopped up and then it went into the MAIN. But my dependable plumber worked at it and got it all fixed. (I had wrote saying that the plumbing was fixed but then it got even worse. I think Jesse wants to write about it so I won't say another word about the plumbing.)

Two days after going to the dentist Jesse and I went to Harlem, Georgia for Thanksgiving. We were at Jesse's cousin's (PJ) house. After lunch, which was eaten around 2:30, Jesse's aunt
played Christmas songs while PJ sang. Others sang with her but since she has a nice voice she is always requested by Aunt Betsy to sing. I tried to sing but I couldn't see the words so it was hard to sing words that you don't really know.

Jesse and I have this tradition. Actually it was started by this lady who we call Aunt Rochelle. Last year we three and her two grandsons ate at this restaurant called "D&D's". Since it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving she mentioned that we should make it a tradition to meet there every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year sad to say, her two grandsons didn't make it, but Jesse and I plan to do something with them.

After eating at D&D's we came home and put up our Christmas tree. It is one of those that has 6-7 rows of branches with about 8 branches in each row. Needless to say it takes a long time putting up just the tree since you have to form each branch and make it look just right. We put up the lights. I put icicle lights in a "W" shape pattern. They aren't long enough to put around the tree in a circle so I had to be creative. Then I strung one strand of color lights all around the tree. Jesse got down on the floor and looked at the tree and then commented that for the kittens the tree would look plain because there are no lights under the tree for them. I laughed at him but he was dead serious. So I put a small strand of white lights all around the bottom side of the tree for the kittens. After turning on the lights on the tree I told Jesse that the tree lacked lights because it was so bottom heavy with lights that the rest of the tree looked dull and empty. My wonderful husband put another strand of lights on the tree and made it look real good.
We hadn't gotten started putting the ornaments up when the stand of the tree broke. We had to position the tree so it wouldn't fall over and run to Walmart to bye a tree stand. So far the tree is upright, in a new tree stand, with 4 strands of lights, but no ornaments. I think we will put them up tomorrow.