Isaiah 40:5

⁵ The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Hebrews 1:1-4

¹ God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, ² has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; ³ who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself^a]">[a] purged our^b]">[b] sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Luke 2:14

¹⁴ “ Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”


The glory of God has been revealed from the beginning. First in His creation that surrounds us, then through His Word spoken through the prophets, and finally the full manifestation came and dwelt among men.

Luke 2:11 (New King James Version)

¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Is it any wonder that the angels cried "Glory to God!"? Indeed, His glory had stepped down from heaven to be wrapped in the form of a human baby. That, my friends, is love.

~Annemarie

For a few years now, I have had a fascination with the shepherds. These shepherds:

^"8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
¹⁴ “ Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

¹⁵ So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷ Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. ¹⁸ And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds." ~Luke 2:8-18

Why shepherds? What made them so special, that they were the first to receive the news? Well, I can't claim to know the mind of God and all his numerous reasons for choosing shepherds, but several years ago, I had a thought and it been something that I joyfully meditate on each Christmas. Bethlehem lies 5 miles south-west of Jerusalem. During the time of Christ's birth, the temple was located in Jerusalem. This temple was the place where the Jews worshiped God through sacrifices. According to the historian Josephus, there were about a quarter million lambs sacrificed during the time of the passover. A lamb, by the way is a sheep under 12 months old. So here we have shepherds, within five miles of Jerusalem, keeping watch over sheep, during what was most likely the month of October (within the week long Feast of Tabernacles. This feast is all about God dwelling with men. Thanks Mikie!).

Since the Passover was held on the 14th of Nisan, which was the first new moon of spring, we can surmise with a fair amount of accuracy that these shepherds were watching over lambs that would eventually be sacrificed during Passover. How incredibly neat is it, that those that were first told of the birth of the perfect Lamb of God, were these shepherds?

From tending lambs destined for sacrifice, the went to see the perfect Lamb, the final sacrifice.

That's why Jesus was born. To die as a sacrifice for my sins. For your sins. To shed His perfect blood, so that you and I may stand before God. Amazing grace, indeed.

~Annemarie

It finally happened. I am so glad because I was beginning to think that it was dead. My brain is finally rousing from it's post-baby slumber. It only took almost 17 months. Now, however, I am faced with the task of sorting through all these thoughts and ideas. With a 17 month old running around, that is not an easy task! In real life, most of us have little phrases that we say frequently. One of mine is "You know what I wish?" and then then someone in my family dutifully responds with "What?". But since they are all snug in their beds... you know what I wish? I wish that I had a detail oriented person at my beck and call that I could tell my ideas to. Then they could make them happen. Wouldn't that be great? Then I could be really famous and one day I would sing Wind Beneath My Wings and tell the world how they did all the work and without them nothing would have been accomplished. Just a thought.

I am composing a 2010 reading list for myself in an effort to stave off Alzheimer's. Really. They say that the more active your brain is, the less likely you are to suffer from Alzheimer's when you are older. At least I think that is what they say. Anyway, I am planning on reading a chapter a day (besides the Bible), on weekdays. That will leave the weekend to catch up if I fall behind. Who am I kidding? When I fall behind. Right now, I am only choosing books from our shelves. And trust me, there is a wide range of choices on our shelves! But at some point I will break away and maybe purchase a book or two. Do you have a book that you read that you would recommend?

We are enjoying the Christmas season in way that only comes when you have an almost 3 year old. He has no memory of it last year. He believes that it is made up entirely of lights and trees. I cannot wait to see his face Christmas morning! The two older children used money that they had saved throughout the year to buy presents for the entire family. My husband overheard them saying excitedly "This year we get to be part of putting presents under the tree!" This is a big deal in our house because presents go under the tree only on Christmas Eve, when the kids are in bed. It is an amazing site. From an empty space to gifts spilling out everywhere. It's a tradition that we adopted from my family. I love it! I never knew until I was an adult that some folks put out presents throughout the season. What?! Ya'll are weird. :-)

I have a couple of Christmas posts that I am mentally composing. Hopefully I will get them up before Christmas. This is such an amazing time of the year for me. For me, it is a time when I focus on studying God's plan of salvation throughout the years leading up to Christ's birth. All I can say is WOW! What an wonderful God I serve.

~Annemarie

Yesterday I was out shopping with my 10 1/2 year old son. As we were driving, listening to Christmas music, I realized what a delightful time in my life this is. Have you ever been there? Where the life phases of your family suddenly seem to line up for one brief second? Where the Lord graciously takes off those blinders that cause you to only see the what needs work and instead floods your vision with what has already been accomplished?

I saw that my oldest son is quickly approaching manhood and he acts like it. He listens. His desire is to read God's Word and to identify sins in his life before I do and deal with them. He wants to have adult conversations and is interested when I talk to him about the one child policy in China, trickle down economics, the doctrines of atonement and sanctification (no, he doesn't know them by those names yet. :-) ). Even though he is by nature quiet around those that he doesn't know, he is consciously working on speaking loudly and clearly, and with confidence. In short, he is one amazing kid.

My eyes were opened to the fact that my daughter is delightfully caring. She is an independent worker, holding herself accountable to memorize verses, all the lines for her part in the church play and her solo. She is rapidly becoming a piano player, with no help from me. She practices on her on, with little or no prompting from me. She is creative, constantly making or doing things that add beauty to our lives. She understands deep things. I don't know how, but she does.

I saw my almost three year old as the truly obedient child that he is. I mean how many toddlers can actually make themselves stop crying when you tell them to? He is witty and extremely funny. He has an affectionate side that melts me heart. He is stubborn and passionate. I wonder where he gets that from? He sings Hallelujah randomly, and doesn't stop when we all turn to look at him. He asks me to sit down with him and cuddle. And when I was laughing at him last night over something silly he had done, he looked at me and said "What's so funny Mommy?" Just like that.

With no small ache in my mommy heart, I mentally gazed at my one year old and his budding personalty. His unabashed friendliness and his oh-so-adorable giggle. The way he seeks to please us and forgives his older brother so quickly for the times when he is pushed, pulled and knocked down. I wondered at his hourly need to hug me and hoped that it continues. His pride in his new found ability to climb anything.

I remembered a few years ago being extremely sad/worried/anxious over the fact that it felt like all I ever did was discipline my older two. I thought that there would never be a day when they would be consistently obedient on their own. In short, I felt like the biggest failure. It was only through constant encouragement that I kept with it. I am so glad.

Thank you, Lord, for honoring this woman's feeble attempts to be a godly mother. Thank you for answering in abundance my countless prayers that my failures be overshadowed by Your mercy and goodness. Thank you for showing me that it is never to late to start over.

~Annemarie

I have never been an athletic person. Never. I shunned all sports as a participant. I used to think that it was because I was out of shape, until my college years when I became a gym rat. I remember spending 2 hours a day at the gym (oh, the bygone days!) and biking several miles. I felt great. Yet, when my college church group would get together for some type of sports activity, I was seriously the last person that you would want on your time. Why? Competition doesn't drive me. I believe that I have my parents to thank for this, in some part. They were never what you would call "fair". For which I seriously thank the Lord. They never were careful to make sure that everyone got just the same amount of ________. Nope. What they did do, was strive to meet our needs on an individual basis. And trust me, no child has the same needs. In anything. For instance, I remember wearing some of the same clothes for years, until they wore out. Not my brother. He grew so fast that he was always getting new stuff. He needed it. Competition and the Parental Fairness Doctrine, I am convinced, serves very little purpose other than to foster hateful, selfish feelings. The emphasis is always on how good you are, how well you are performing, how deserving you are. All in comparison to others.

Competitive sports attitudes in life can be destructive. But what I wish that I had done, is trained myself to be a marathon runner. OK, maybe a marathon walker. I hate running. Participating in a marathon of any sort, requires discipline. Life requires discipline.

Doing what you need to when you feel like it is easy.

This article deals with Homeschool Burnout. It is an inspiring kick in the pants. It was a great reminder to me of what I must do to discipline myself to be what God requires of me in my life. And yes, it takes discipline.

~Annemarie

One thing that was new to me, when I moved to the South, was extremely dry skin. Particularly my hands, which were known to crack and bleed every winter. Totally painful and not fun. I tried everything. All the different types of lotions at Stuff Mart, homemade lotion bars, homemade, super-fatted soap, commercial body wash, oil and herb mixtures, paraffin hand dips...everything! But I always ended up with several fingers wrapped in band aids, with triple anitbiotic ointment. Really attractive. Last year, I decided to spend big. I was desperate and thought that maybe the high end products would work, so I splurged.The grand total for these suckers was almost $50, which I told myself was pretty much what I spend annually on band aids and ointment. And it worked. For about 2 hours everyday, my hands were so incredibly soft. But the end result was failure. Maybe I was supposed to put it on every couple of hours, but it felt like I was rubbing gold on and frankly, my hands aren't worth that.

So this year, I decided to use a stick of coco butter that I had left over from my soap making adventure (oh boy, is that another post!). I keep it by my bed and each night for the past 3 weeks, I have religiously applied it to my hands. Nothing miraculous happened, but I can see improvement. Real improvement, in the middle of the day even. So I have expanded my usage by keeping a stick in the kitchen. I use it after I clean the kitchen, which happens about 7 times a day. (That is actually a real figure and not one of my notorious exaggerations.)

This is how is works. I pop the coco butter stick out of it's little nifty tube and hold in my hand for about 30 seconds, sometimes a little longer. The heat of my hand begins to melt the butter. Then I rub it vigorously over my hands and return it to it's little nifty tube. I continue to rub my hands together until they no longer feel greasy, but simply soft. I highly recommend it. Not only because it is working, but because it's cheap. Very cheap. You can find it at the Family Dollar store for a whopping $1.65. I love cheap stuff that works well!

~Annemarie

Can life get any faster? As I was watching my oldest run around yesterday, I was struck by how big he is. How old he is. I felt my chest start to tighten and breathing was just a little bit more difficult as I told myself not to blink because that's how quick the next 8 years will go. Sometimes I think that I need a kick in the pants like that. I need to see clearly that time is really the most precious thing I have with my children and that it can never be reclaimed. That realization helps me to suck it up and do what I need to do. To set aside my wants and desires. To realize that this season is short.

Because it is.

We live in a culture that finds virtue in telling us that, as Mom's, we need "Me Time". It's a myth. That's right, it just isn't true. It leaves you wanting more Me Time. Not recharged and ready to go. It creates animosity in marriage because it is usually born out of thoughts like "Well, he gets a day off from his job and mine is 24/7." If I could go back, say 6 years ago, and give myself some advice, it would be this:

Take your eyes off yourself. Selfishness is just about the most destructive character trait you can have. Quit thinking that you deserve something, like time off, and realize that every moment is a gift. That's right, every moment. Because someday most of those moments will be lost to a failing memory. Are you tired and grumpy? Fake it. Smile. Be nice. Clean. Cook. Go to the park. Marvel at beauty around you. Look at those children and see yourself through their eyes. Did I mention take your eyes off yourself? Know this, that fatigue, that not so great feeling? It will probably only get worse. Yep, aging stinks, but it happens. One last thing, by taking your eyes off yourself, you will quit obsessing about your weight. I mean really, is that the one over arching theme that you want your life to be about? Good grief. Get over yourself. View the roles of wife and mother as what the really are, God's unique gift that teaches servanthood in an amazing way, with rewards that are unparalleled. So quit complaining. Make the choice to close your big mouth and enjoy the life that you have. Yep, that's what I would tell myself.

~Annemarie

My friend Kelli, posted this link on Facebook. It is a fabulous article and I highly recommend reading it. It renewed my passion to instill in my children the joy of hard work.

Puritan Advice for the Jobless

~Annemarie

I am so thankful that I can look back at my blog and see what we were doing last Christmas. Because without a written account, I assure you that I would not remember a single thing. In fact, just perusing my archives has inspired me to blog again. There is something very nifty about looking back over the passage of time and seeing my thoughts in black and white. OK, cream and red, but you know what I mean.

School is going supremely well. The other day, I was driving with my eldest in the car and he confessed to me that he had not been looking forward to studying the Eastern Hemisphere because American History had been so great. He then told me that he was surprised that he was actually enjoying this year's studies! I had to agree with him on both counts. I was not looking forward to this year, but indeed, it has turned out to be very interesting. Go figure. We are currently studying China and I am amazed how easy it is to go back and see what led up to communism. If you are using a curriculum that doesn't study the history of other countries, I highly encourage you to find out about it on your own.

The Girl Child and I are also enjoying school together. She is currently studying the Middle Ages. Since she is the princess type, this is very enjoyable to her. We just watched the Disney version of Robin Hood and it fascinating to see how they changed the well know tales to fit cartoons. And of course, after studying about Prince, later to become, King John, and what a cruel king he was, it is very amusing to see him portrayed as a thumb-sucking lion.

Spunkster continues to amaze me. The older he gets, the more I like him. He is challenging, yes. But to tell the absolute truth, I like challenges. He is way to smart for his britches and I love outwitting him. He will stand there stunned that I anticipated what he was going to do, then laugh his ever loving head off. He thinks that he can read, which really cracks me up. He enjoys curling up with a Sugar Creek Gang book and, um, looking like he is reading it. He has enough energy to power a nuclear sub and I pray that never changes. People with energy accomplish stuff. True, he has given me the gift of approximately 50 brand-spanking-new silver hairs, however, when I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this child gets every ounce of his....spunkiness from me, well, I just have to smile and give him a great big hug.

Rocky is my champ. I know, that's a little too pun-y, even for me, but it's true. He takes just about everything that comes across his path with the solid nature that the good and wonderful Lord has blessed him with. He is like no other person that I can think of in our immediate family. I think that he is like my Papa. Yes, I do. And he is not only a blessing to me, I know that in the years to come, he will be the biggest blessing to his spunky brother.

Me? You want to know about me? I am plodding right along. Does that create mental images of this:

If so, that would be exactly what I am talking about, plodding. Sometimes I really do feel like I have blinders on. I know what's ahead of me and my eyes are trained precisely on that. When I take my eyes off what is before me, to glance at what others are doing, I seriously misstep. Since I am by nature more of a wild horse, there are times that I am overcome with the drudgery that this season of my life is filled with. But fortunately, I have an almost 9 year old and a 10 year old. Those wonderful children are constant reminders that this period of very hard work will some day come to an end.

And that does not make me sad.

~Annemarie

ps. Parenting, when it is done right, is exhausting. Don't let anyone tell you any different.

This is the very first sentence of what is sure to be a long and rambling post about nothing. There. Now that I have the dreaded first sentence out of the way, maybe I can put together a blog post. I have been blogging for 5 years. I know that these periods come and go when I don't blog. No big deal. But this time...

Here are my thoughts on blogging lately.

1. I love to write. I have since I was 11. That was the year that I took journalism as an elective I was convinced that I was going to become a famous author or journalist. Why was I so convinced? Because, as every good 6th grade journalism teacher should do, mine was very forthcoming with her praise. I remember thinking that I had finally hit on something that I was good at.

2. I love to express my opinions. And I have one about pretty much everything. The older I get, though, the more I realize that many of my opinions are not shared by others and, since they aren't issues involving sin, well, I just need to zip it.

3. The perspective of the reader. I don't know why this finally occurred to me, after all this time, but I recently realized that when I write something, like say "I struggle with keeping my house in order", what others think can vary greatly. Some picture a house that is strewn with toys, others, a kitchen that has 3 weeks worth of dishes sitting in the sink. That actually bothers me. Because if my next sentence is "But, life happens and sometimes we have to live with a little mess." I am concerned that the woman with 3 weeks worth of dishes is going to think, "yeah! It's ok for me to leave those antoher week, because I have more important stuff to do. I need some me time!" So that's a lame illustration, but it makes the point.

4. Where do people find the TIME to do anything other than the basics? Holy Cow. I was filling something out the other day and I saw a blank that said Hobbies. I sat and stared at it. Finally I put the dumb thing down because I didn't think that I could list the 30 minutes I read before going to bed as a hobby. The is the busiest season of my life. It's also the most fulfilling.

5. Hypocrite, I don't want to be one. I was reading an article written by Clarence Sexton for his college's publication, The Baptist Vision, and he mentioned that his wife often has to remind him to be joyful because he struggles with that. Amen! I struggle with being joyful. And yet how many blog entries have I written that talk about how much the bible commands us to be joyful? Physician, heal thyself!

So, that's what I have been thinking regarding blogging.

~Annemarie