Christmas break

Though I promised myself I would meticulously document my 10 days of Thanksgiving break, these are the only pics I managed to take.

 Aww.  They're just so cute. :)

And now...I am finally on break!!!!!

Everyone just join with me for a moment of enthusiastic rejoicing.  After having 10 days off for Thanksgiving, the last thing in the entire world I wanted to do was go back for 10 measly days, take finals, and then come home again.  But I decided maybe taking my finals would be a good idea and headed back to NMSU.

Those 10 days honestly felt like the longest of my entire life.  Anticipation is really horrible because it makes time drag by.  Plus my finals weren't really that hard so I was bored out of my mind.  Here's some of what happened.

 

I took a bunch of selfies, and my hair sort of went crazy.  Seriously, where did all this curl come from all of a sudden?

I painted my nails a lot.  And then made myself sick off the fumes because the ventilation in my dorm room is not great.

 

I read a lot.

Some actual studying did happen in the middle of all that.  I also went out to lunch with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, who I haven't seen in awhile.  It was great to spend time with them!  Then I went to dinner with my grandparents.  And finally, I took care of finals, packed up, and came home.

Yesterday Rachel and I went to the graduation of a close friend of ours that we've known for eleven years now.  And today I reread a book that I used to love when I was about ten.

It was still just as good. :)

And now I'm so glad to be home for an entire month!  I'm going to try and get a ton done--hopefully lots of reading, I have an insane idea to try and teach myself to knit (again), and also enjoying Christmas, New Year's, and Chloe's 8th birthday (how did she get so old?!).  It's so nice to be home, both with my family and church family.  I forget how awesome they all are until I go away for awhile. :)

There will possibly be more updating on this dusty old blog while I'm on break, but I'm not promising anything.  At the very least I'll put up my resolutions for 2014 and maybe go over some of my favorite books that I read this year. :)

Merry Christmas!

girl behind the blog : : Christmas traditions + merry Christmas!

Hey everyone!  So today I'm linking up with Ashley and Kerrie for The Girl Behind the Blog: Holiday Traditions.  I'm kind of late getting on this band wagon since it actually started last week, but I didn't have a camera until today!  It's awesome; I'll be posting some new pics from it within the next couple days!  Anywho, now I can finally join in to this link up.  I hope you enjoy hearing about my Christmas traditions--I had such a good time thinking about them!  I thought it would be really weird to film myself, but it actually wasn't so bad. :)


It took a mere four hours for this video to publish...needless to say, I was a bit upset.

Here's the ornament I mentioned in the video.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

and then there was a party : : kids these days

I hope everyone's having a great Christmas Eve so far!  Mine's been pretty ordinary--I just cleaned up the house.  Tonight we're having a Christmas Eve service that I'm really looking forward to.  I really enjoy gathering as a church family for these special events.  It helps focus my mind on the real meaning of holidays and what is taking place.

I found this retelling of the Christmas story today and love it!  It's so cute.  I hope you enjoy it. :)

Merry Christmas!

decorating for Christmas!

Tonight we decorated the house for Christmas!  We had such a good time, even if we did all reek of dust afterwards.  Enjoy the pics!

Ellie decided to take a break and practice her handstands.

Chloe set up her toy horses to pull the sleigh.

I got this ornament years ago when I was obsessed with Little Women.  This is Beth March.  I used to have Meg, but she broke. :(

five weeks

I can't believe that I've already been here at Glorieta for 5 1/2 weeks!  Time is just flying by; I love this place so much!

My time mainly consists of working five days a week, and then hanging out with people or doing laundry.  Last Saturday afternoon I played paintball for the first and last time. :) The first wound I received was to my temple, and I couldn't hear for a few moments.  After that I was shot another time in the head, four times on my back, twice on my arm, and once on my leg.  I finally bowed out halfway through because I just wasn't having a good time, but more power to all those paintball fanatics out there!  I certainly admire your courage. :)

This week is Christmas week for all the summer staff.  We each drew a name, and we give our person little gifts throughout the week, finally culminating this Sunday.  We each filled out a form that kind of described what each person was like.  I'm having a great time thinking up stuff for my person!

Today I received my first gifts from my secret Santa.  First was a box of corn Chex on my doorstep, since I'd said that that was one of my favorite foods.  The second gift came tonight when I was eating dinner.  I had finished my meal, and I noticed that one of my fellow staff members had his guitar with him.  It was definitely strange to have it with him in the dining hall, but I didn't give it more than a passing thought.  Suddenly, however, he came over to my table and starting yelling for everyone in the dining hall to quiet down--and I mean everyone: Fuge kids, Fuge staff, volunteers, and everyone in between.  I still didn't know what was going on, though, until he suddenly announced, "This is a Christmas present for my girl Sarah here."  I literally almost fell out of my chair.  It was such a surprise!  Then he played me a song, but I don't know what it was.  There were a lot of ooohs that everyone sang along with.  Halfway through another one of the guys on staff came up and gave me some flowers and a card, because on my form I'd written that I've never gotten flowers from anyone.  It was probably the best gift I've ever gotten!  I felt so loved. :)

Have a great week, everyone! :)

31 Days of Song, Day #31

It's the last day!  I'm glad that I'm done with this, but kind of sad at the same time!  I think two of the things I've learned most over this past month is: (1) music is a critical part of Christmas, if just simply by bringing to mind the fact that God became a man and by turning our thoughts to Him; (2) the truths of Christmas continue throughout the entire year--just because December is over doesn't mean these songs and that story are meaningless.  If anything, it's all more important to remember throughout the year!

I honestly kind of ran out of songs towards the end of the month.  It's hard to come up with 31 good Christmas songs!  However, in light of my last point in the paragraph above, I actually found a song that sings about just that!

And that's a wrap! (till next year, at least)

31 Days of Song, Day #30

Today I got some extra hours at work, and tomorrow I'm working an 8-hour shift.  I don't really want to, but hurray for more money! :)

"O Little Town of Bethlehem" is another classic Christmas song that's really hard to find a good version of!  I pretty satisfied with this one though.  Enjoy!

* Bethlehem . . . though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel.  Micah 5:2

At nearly six feet six, weighing three hundred pounds, Phillips Brooks cast a long shadow.  He was a native Bostonian, the ninth generation of distinguished Puritan stock, who entered the Episcopalian ministry and pastored with great power in Philadelphia and in Boston.  His sermons were topical rather than expositional, and he's been criticized for thinness of doctrine.  Nonetheless he's considered one of America's greatest preachers.  His delivery came in lightning bursts; he felt he had more to say than time in which to say it.
   While at Philadelphia's Holy Trinity Church, Phillips, thirty, visited the Holy Land.  On December 24, 1865, traveling by horseback from Jerusalem, he attended five-hour Christmas Eve service at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  He was deeply moved.  "I remember standing in the old church in Bethlehem," he later said, "close to the spot where Jesus was born, when the whole church was ringing hour after hour with splendid hymns of praise to God, how again and again it seemed as if I could hear voices I knew well, telling each other of the Wonderful Night of the Savior's birth."
   Three years later, as he prepared for the Christmas season of 1867, he wanted to compose an original Christmas hymn for the children to sing during their annual program.  Recalling his magical night in Bethlehem, he wrote a little hymn of five stanzas and handed the words to his organist, Lewis Redner, saying, "Lewis, why not write a new tune for my poem.  If it is a good tune, I will name is 'St. Lewis' after you."
   Lewis struggled with his assignment, complaining of no inspiration.  Finally, on the night before the Christmas program, he awoke with the music ringing in his soul.  He jotted down the melody, then went back to sleep.  The next day, a group of six Sunday school teachers and thirty-six children sang "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
   Brooks was so pleased with the tune that he did indeed name it for his organist, changing the spelling to ST. LOUIS, so as not to embarrass him.  The fourth stanza, usually omitted from our hymnbooks, says:

Where children pure and happy pray to the blessed Child,

Where misery cries out to Thee, Son of the mother mild;

Where charity stands watching and faith holds wide the door,

The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more.

* excerpt taken from Then Sings My Soul Special Edition by Robert Morgan, pages 52-53

31 Days of Song, Day #29

Today I'm supposed to be going to a tea with some college girls from church.  I'm excited about it!  I'm working on a post about my new year's resolutions, and one of those resolutions is to "build friendships".  Here goes! :)

"His Favorite Christmas Story" by Capital Lights is just a sentimental, sweet song that I really like.  I hope you enjoy it!

31 Days of Song, Day #28

This morning I was struck by some verses I was reading in Jeremiah.  I've never really enjoyed the books of Isaiah or Jeremiah, but I'm getting a lot out of them this time around!  Anyway, I was reading from chapter 33, verses 14-16: 'Behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth.  In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD is our righteousness.'

The LORD is our righteousness.  Isn't that great?  The only righteousness I could ever have is actually His anyway.  What a blessing!

"Thou Who Wast Rich" is a beautiful song that I found yesterday.  It's not specifically a Christmas song, but it comes very close.  The only information I could find on it was discovered here.

This hymn was written at a particularly difficult time in the history of the missions to China. Missionaries had been captured by the communist Red Army and released in poor health after over a year of suffering. Others had been captured never to be heard from again. In 1934 the young missionaries John and Betty Stam (my great aunt and uncle) were captured in Anhwei and beheaded. The news of these sorrows had reached the mission's headquarters in Shanghai. Though this was a very dangerous time for both the Chinese Christians and the foreign missionaries, Frank Houghton decided he needed to begin a tour through the country to visit various missionary outposts. While traveling over the mountains of Szechwan, the powerful and comforting words of 2 Corinthians 8:9, "though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor," were transformed into this beautiful Christmas hymn.

I hope you enjoy it!

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,

All for love's sake becamest poor;

Thrones for a manger didst surrender,

Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,

All for love's sake becomes poor.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,

All for love's sake becamest man;

Stooping so low, but sinners raising

Heavenwards by thine eternal plan.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,

All for love's sake becamest man.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,

Saviour and King, we worship thee.

Emmanuel, within us dwelling,

Make us what thou wouldst have us be.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,

Saviour and King, we worship thee.

-- Frank Houghton

31 Days of Song, Day #27

Today is a nice, relaxing day.  I plan on doing a lot of reading, some cleaning, etc.  I love getting ready for a new year!

"O Come All Ye Faithful" is a song I've really been thinking about lately, especially the chorus.

O come, let us adore Him

Christ the Lord

Do I really adore Him?  Do I realize that that little Baby was God too?  I was trying to explain this to Chloe the other day, and it's really very difficult.  I want to adore Him, though, more and more.

* And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.  And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Matthew 2:11

John Francis Wade, author of this hymn, was hounded out of England in 1745.  He was a Roman Catholic layman in Lancashire; but because of persecution arising from the Jacobite rebellion, streams of Catholics fled to France and Portugal, where communities of English-speaking Catholics appeared.

   But how could he, a refugee, support himself?  In those days, the printing of musical scores was cumbersome, and copying them by hand was an art.  In the famous Roman Catholic College and Ministry Center in Douay, France, Wade taught music and became renowned as a copyist of musical scores.  His work was exquisite.

   In 1743, Wade, thirty-two, had produced a copy of a Latin Christmas carol beginning with the phrase Adeste Fidelis, Laeti triumphantes.  At one time historians believed he had simply discovered an ancient hymn by an unknown author, but most scholars now believe Wade himself composed the lyrics.  Seven original hand-copied manuscripts of this Latin hymn have been found, all of them bearing Wade's signature.

   John Wade passed away on August 16, 1786, at age seventy-five.  His obituary honored him for his "beautiful manuscripts" that adorned chapels and homes.

   As time passed, English Catholics began returning to Britain, and they carried Wade's Christmas carol with them.  More time passed, and one day an Anglican minister named Rev. Frederick Oakeley, who preached at Margaret Street Chapel in London, came across Wade's Latin Christmas carol.  Being deeply moved, he translated it into English for Margaret Street Chapel.  The first line of Oakeley's translation said, "Ye Faithful, Approach Ye."

   Somehow "Ye Faithful, Approach Ye" didn't catch on, and several years later Oakeley tried again.  By this time, Oakeley, too, was a Roman Catholic priest, having converted to Catholicism in 1845.  Perhaps his grasp of Latin had improved because as he repeated over and over the Latin phrase Adeste Fidelis, Laeti triumphantes, he finally came up with the simpler, more vigorous "O Come, All Ye Faithful, Joyful and Triumphant!"

   So two brave Englishmen, Catholics, lovers of Christmas and lovers of hymns, living a hundred years apart, writing in two different nations, combined their talents to bid us come, joyful and triumphant, and adore Him born the King of angels.

O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord

* excerpt taken from Then Sings My Soul Special Edition by Robert Morgan, pages 14-15

31 Days of Song, Day #26

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas yesterday.  I certainly did.

I feel kind of weird continuing to post Christmas music, but then, if you really think about it, most Christmas songs speak about what happened after Christmas.

The song I chose for today is "There's a Song in the Air".  May there be a song in your heart today as you rejoice in His birth!

* Praise the LORD!  Sing to the LORD a new song, and His praise in the assembly of saints.  Psalm 149:1

For a long time, Josiah Gilbert Holland was known to his friends as a failure at just about everything he tried.  Dropping out of high school, he tried his hand at photography, then calligraphy.  When those professions didn't pan out, Josiah, twenty-one, enrolled at Berkshire Medical College.  After graduation, he practiced medicine in Springfield, Massachusetts, for a while before quitting to start a newspaper.  The paper folded after six months.  At length, he joined the editorial staff of another newspaper, the Springfield Republican, there he finally found his niche in writing.

   In 1865, the world as stunned by the tragic assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  The next year it was Josiah Holland who published the first major biography of Lincoln.  In it, he presented Lincoln as a "true-hearted Christian" and provided a number of stories to reinforce the point.  When Lincoln's free-thinking law partner, William Herndon, read the book, he refuted it.  Lincoln was an "infidel," declared Herndon, and he died as an "unbeliever".  To this day, historians argue about Lincoln's religious faith, or lack of it.  But the notoriety put Josiah Holland on the literary map of his day.

   In 1870, he became a founder and the senior editor of Scribner's Magazine.  He continued publishing books and was quite prolific.  In 1872, he published The Marble Prophecy and Other Poems.  In it were the four stanzas of "There's a Song in the Air."  It was an unusual poem, in that the first four lines of each stanza contained six syllables each, but the fifth and sixth lines were twice as long.  Two years later, it was set to music in a collection of Sunday school songs, but didn't achieve widespread popularity.

   Several years after Josiah's death in 1881, a Latin professor named Karl Pomeroy Harrington read "There's a Song in the Air."  Harrington was an amateur musician who had begun writing melodies as a youngster on the small organ in his childhood home.  Harrington later inherited that old Estey organ and moved it to his vacation cottage in North Woodstock, New Hampshire.  While spending the summer there in 1904, he sat down at the old instrument, pumping the bellows with the foot pedals, and hammered out the lovely melodic tune to which "There's a Song in the Air" is now widely sung.

There's a song in the air!

There's a star in the sky!

There's a mother's deep prayer

and a baby's low cry!

And the star rains its fire

while the beautiful sing,

for the manger of Bethlehem

cradles a King!

There's a tumult of joy

o'er the wonderful birth,

for the virgin's sweet boy

is the Lord of the earth.

Ay! the star rains its fire

while the beautiful sing,

for the manger of Bethlehem

cradles a King!

In the light of that star

lie the ages impearled;

and that song from afar

has swept over the world.

Every hearth is aflame,

and the beautiful sing

in the homes of the nations

that Jesus is King!

We rejoice in the light,

and we echo the song

that comes down through the night

from the heavenly throng.

Ay! we shout to the lovely

evangel they bring,

and we greet in his cradle

our Savior and King! 

* excerpt taken from Then Sings My Soul Special Edition by Robert Morgan, pages 54-55

31 Days of Song, Day #25 - Merry Christmas!!!

It is here!  At last, it is Christmas! :) I think I've never enjoyed a Christmas as much as I am enjoying this one now.  There is something so special about having Christmas fall on a Sunday so that believers everywhere can gather together and have a church service that's both "normal" and special.  I enjoyed this so much today.  Now I get to spend the rest of the day with my family!

The song I specifically chose to post for today is one of the ones from Keith and Kristyn Getty's new CD.  I love this song, and thought it was perfect to save for today.

In this season of much singing I ask those who love our Lord Jesus to ask very specially for singing hearts.  It would be sad if the lovely Christmas hymns and carols sounded only like a noise--even a noise of music--to Him.  But if they are the glad and wondering adoration of our hearts, then I think they will give Him joy.  Do not forget what Christmas cost Him--Gethsemane and Calvary.

-- Amy Carmichael

Have a wonderful Christmas!  Make sure to take some time to read the story of how it all happened.  My favorite part of the Bible that talks about this is Luke 1:1-2:40.  Enjoy!

To grant to us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

Luke 1:74-75

31 Days of Song, Day #24

"Be Born in Me" by Francesca Battistelli is one of my favorite Christmas songs.  I think it depicts so well what Mary's thoughts must have been as she prepared to give birth to the Son of God.  Enjoy!

It's Christmas Eve!!! Hurray!

Today has been really great so far. I went to work, got off on time, and came home to find that Chloe had lost her first tooth! I'll try and post a picture within the next few days.

31 Days of Song, Day #23

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!  Hurray!

Today I got the day off from work because we got another foot of snow and the roads are terrible and no one's going to be going out to eat anyway today.  It's so slow they didn't need me, which is great!

Yesterday I discovered Joy - An Irish Christmas by Keith and Kristyn Getty, and I love it!  This couple does such great renderings of any song they come to, and their Christmas CD is no exception.  I already posted on song yesterday, and I have two more I want to include before this month is over.  The one I chose for today is "O Savior of Our Fallen Race".  Originally it's a 6th century Latin carol, but the Gettys made some alterations to it "with the aim of turning the song into a missional prayer that emphasizes the return of Christ."  Enjoy!

31 Days of Song, Day #22

I have decided that I love Christmas break.  Mixing the best season of the year--Christmas--with a much-needed break from school just makes it all the better than usual!

I usually can't stand "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman", but then today I found this version of it by Keith and Kristyn Getty.  They can seriously make the worst song sound amazing.  Enjoy!

"He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy;

Then it was well.

Is not that what it means to know Me?"

Declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 22:16

31 Days of Song, Day #21

I got to work extra hours today!  I've hardly been working at all for the last few weeks because there's just no work, but I got to work extra today!

"Who Is He In Yonder Stall?" is such a beautiful Christmas carol that I recently discovered.  Enjoy!

* For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. Psalm 149:4

Would you believe it?  This beautiful Christmas carol about the birth of Jesus Christ was written by the same American who composed "Up on the Housetop," arguably the first popular Christmas song emphasizing the role of Santa Claus: "Up on the housetop, click, click, click, / Down thru' the chimney with good Saint Nick."

   Benjamin Russell Hanby was born in Rushville, Ohio, in 1833, to a United Brethren minister.  As a young man, Benjamin attended Oberlin University in Westerville, Ohio.  Those were the days leading up to the Civil War, and young Benjamin became a passionate and outspoken abolitionist.  His home in Westerville became a secret stop on the famous Underground Railroad.

   According to reports, a freed slave named Joe Selby stopped at Hanby's home one day, looking for work and wanting to earn enough money to purchase the freedom of his girlfriend, Nellie Gray.  Joe fell ill, however, and died of pneumonia before he could free her, and Benjamin deeply grieved as he watched Joe die.  It was reportedly from this experience that Hanby wrote his most famous song, "Darling Nellie Gray."

   Hanby sent the song to the Oliver Ditson Company, a Boston publishing firm, but heard nothing back.  One day he learned that "Darling Nellie Gray" was a hit.  As it turned out, the executives at Oliver Ditson had filed for the song's copyright in their own names, though still listing him as the author.  When he wrote asking for his share of the profits, the company sent him a dozen copies of the sheet music along with a note saying, "We have the money and you have the fame.  That balances the account."

   Hanby went on to become a college employee, a school principal, a pastor, and a songwriter before dying in his early thirties just after the conclusion of the Civil War.  "Up on the Housetop" was published in about 1860, and "Who Is He in Yonder Stall?" was published in 1866, the year before Hanby's death.  Today his home, located a block from Otterbein College, is owned by the Ohio Historical Society and in his memory is managed by the Westerville Historical Society.

Who is He in yonder stall, at whose feet the shepherds fall?

Who is He in deep distress, fasting in the wilderness?

'Tis the Lord!  O wondrous story!

'Tis the Lord!  The King of glory!

At His feet we humbly fall,

Crown Him!  Crown Him, Lord of all!

Who is He the people bless for His words of gentleness?

Who is He to whom they bring all the sick and sorrowing?

Who is He that stands and weeps at the grave where Lazarus sleeps?

Who is He the gathering throng greet with loud triumphant song?

Lo! at midnight, who is He prays in dark Gethsemane?

Who is He on yonder tree dies in grief and agony?

Who is He that from the grave comes to heal and help and save?

Who is He that from His throne rules through all the world along?

* excerpt taken from Then Sings My Soul Special Edition by Robert Morgan, pages 50-51

31 Days of Song, Day #20

Only five days until Christmas!  I'm so excited.  I'm really thankful to live where I live--somewhere out of a big city where there's hardly any crowds, but we have everything we need right here.  It's such a blessing.

"Come, Thou Redeemer of the Earth" is a Christmas song I'd never heard before, but I find it very beautiful now that I've discovered it.  The best version I could find of it is in the credits of a movie.  Try as I might, I cannot figure out what the last verse is saying.

Let every age adoring fall;

Such birth befits the God of all.

* I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. Job 19:25

This carol stretches back into the early, misty centuries of Christian history.  It was written by the mighty Ambrose, bishop of Milan, whose personal story is as remarkable as his carol is wonderful.

   Ambrose was born about AD 340 in Gaul (modern France), where his father was governor before moving his family to Rome.  In the empire's capital, Ambrose became a noted poet, a skilled orator, and a respected lawyer.  At age thirty-four, he was named governor of an Italian province and headquartered in Milan.

   A crisis arose in Milan after the death of popular Bishop Auxentius as the city argued about his replacement.  Tensions ran high.  Assembling the people, Ambrose used his oratorical powers to appeal for unity; but while he was speaking, a child reportedly cried out, "Let Ambrose be bishop!"  The crowd took up the chant, and the young governor, to his dismay, was elected the city's pastor.

   Taking the call seriously, Ambrose became a great preacher and a deft defender of true doctrine.  He wrote books and treatises, sermons, hymns, and letters.  He tended Milan as a shepherd would.  Under his preaching a young, hot-blooded infidel named Aurelius Augustine was converted to Christ, and St. Augustine went on to become one of the greatest heroes in the history of Christian theology.

   Ambrose continued preaching until he fell sick in AD 397.  When distressed friends prayed for his healing, he replied, "I have so lived among you that I cannot be ashamed to live longer, but neither do I fear to die; for we have a good Lord."  On Good Friday, April 3, Ambrose lay with his hands extended in the form of the cross, moving his lips in prayer.  His friends huddled in sadness and watched.  Sometime past midnight, their beloved bishop passed to his good Lord.

   Sixteen centuries have come and gone, and today the hymns of Ambrose are better known than his sermons.  His beloved Christmas carol, "Veni, Redemptor gentium," was translated from Latin by John Mason Neale in 1862 and set to a lovely, lilting fifteenth-century melody named PUER NOBIS NASCITUR.

Come, thou Redeemer of the earth,

And manifest thy virgin birth

Let every age adoring fall:

Such birth befits the God of all.

Begotten of no human will,

But by the Spirit, Thou art still,

The Word of God in flesh arrayed,

The promised Fruit to man displayed.

The virgin womb that burden gained

With virgin honour all unstained;

The banners there of virtue glow;

God in His temple dwells below.

Forth from his chamber goeth he,

That royal home of purity,

A giant, in twofold substance one,

Rejoicing now his course to run.

From God the Father he proceeds,

To God the Father back he speeds;

His course he runs to death and hell,

Returning on God's throne to dwell.

O equal to the Father, thou!

Gird on thy fleshly mantle now;

The weakness of our mortal state

With deathless might invigorate.

Thy cradle here shall glitter bright,

And darkness breathe a newer light

Where endless faith shall shine serene

And twilight never intervene

All glory to the Father be;

Glory, enternal Son, to thee;

All glory, as is ever meet,

To God the Holy Paraclete. Amen.

* excerpt taken from Then Sings My Soul Special Edition by Robert Morgan, pages 40-41

the best Christmas movies

I wanted to do a post on what I think are some of the greatest movies to watch around Christmas time.  I can't think of a whole bunch, but here's a few I could think of.  They aren't in any particular order; just in the order I thought of them.

You may notice that, contrary to what most people would choose, "It's a Wonderful Life" isn't on my list.  I can't stand that movie.

1. While You Were Sleeping.  This is a good, clean movie, which is kind of rare these days.  I really like it.

2. Little Women.  My sisters and I love this movie, although I think I like it more than they do.  We owned one of the "Little Women" movies from a few decades ago, but this more modern version is so much better.  I love how it's not a hugely dramatic movie, and how it follows really closely with the book, which I also love.

3. Frosty the Snowman.  My family watches this all together every year.

4. Charlie Brown's Christmas.  This another one we always watch together.  I love how there is a presentation of Christ.  It's kind of a miracle.

5. The Polar Express.  This is one of my most favorite movies ever.  It's so exciting!

6. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  This is another one of those classic Christmas movies.  That big white monster guy still kind of freaks me out. :)

31 Days of Song, Day #19

I don't love the song "White Christmas", but it's fun to sing about once a December.  I wanted to post it for today because it's six days 'til Christmas, and we got about another foot of snow today!  So it looks like we'll be having a white Christmas after all.

I'm thankful that God knows what's going to happen in North Korea now that Kim John Il has died.  It's a pretty uncertain future for the country, but He has it in His hand.

31 Days of Song, Day #18

"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is a really beautiful song.  I like this version by Casting Crowns.  They've added a chorus, but it's still very close to the original lyrics.

* Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121:4

The famous Longfellow brothers were born and raised in Portland, Maine, in the 1800s.  Henry Wadsworth was born in 1807, and younger brother Samuel arrived in 1819.  Henry became a Harvard professor of literature and one of America's greatest writers, and Samuel became a Unitarian minister and hymnist.

   While Henry was publishing his books, however, dark clouds were gathering over his life and over all America.  In 1861, his wife tragically died when her dress caught fire in their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  That same year, the Civil War broke out, tearing the nation apart.  Two years later, during the fiercest days of the conflict, Henry's son, Charley, seventeen, ran away from home and hopped aboard a train to join President Lincoln's army.

   Charley proved a brave and popular soldier.  He saw action at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, but in early June he contracted typhoid fever and malaria and was sent home to recover.  He missed the Battle of Gettysburg, but by August, Charley was well enough to return to the field.  On November 27, during the battle of New Hope Church in Virginia, he was shot through the left shoulder.  The bullet nicked his spine and came close to paralyzing him.  He was carried into the church and later taken to Washington to recuperate.

   Receiving the news on December 1, 1863, Henry left immediately for Washington.  He found his son well enough to travel, and they headed back to Cambridge, arriving home on December 8.  For weeks Henry sat by his son's bedside, slowly nursing his boy back to health.

   On Christmas Day, December 25, 1863, Henry gave vent to his feelings in this plaintive carol that can only be understood against the backdrop of war.  Two stanzas, now omitted from most hymnals, speak of the cannons thundering in the South and of hatred tearing apart "the hearth-stones of a continent".  The poet feels like dropping his head in despair, but then he hears the Christmas bells.  Their triumphant pealing reminds him that "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep".

   The Sunday school children of the Unitarian Church of the Disciples in Boston first sang this song during that year's Christmas celebration.  How wonderful that such a song should emerge from the bloody clouds of the War Between the States.

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along the unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:

"There is no peace on earth," I said,

"For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

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I found the website I Am Second several months ago, through another blog I think.  I've really been enjoying the videos, especially in the past few days.  They're so encouraging, and really show the passion that these people feel as they revel in the fact that Christ saved them from dark lifestyles and patterns and has made their lives glorious through Him, in His light.  The one below is one I found particularly interesting.

* excerpt taken from Then Sings My Soul Special Edition by Robert Morgan, pages 46-47