Songs of the Saviour

Tonight is the second performance
of The Songs of the Saviour at church.
Ken and Emma are in choirs and last
night was absolutely magnificent. Part
of the Charlotte Symphony plays with
harp, flute, strings, harpsichord, oboe,
brass......and most of the songs are from
Handel's Messiah. By the time we got to
O Come All Ye Faithful, you had to contain
yourself for that is right after the Hallelujah
Chorus from the Messiah! How can you
not pour out in praise unto the Lord.


Emma said the audience looks so colorful
from the stage! She said it like she was looking
at a Christmas Tree!


another Angel from Fra Angelico

Laundry hung and Angels singing

Listening to Mass of the Children by
John Rutter. He wrote it in 2002 because
he had never written a Mass. Performed
first in Carnegie Hall . The Children's
Choir opens with Awake , My Soul
and frame the ending with Glory to Thee.
In between , the Adult Choir sings as one
waking up to the end of the day and
falling asleep!
It's very, very heavenly and
angel like! Don't you like when the
composer tells you , just as an author in a
Preface, what and when it all happened ~~
that spark of creative energy, sort of electric!

The laundry is hung on this very warm
day in Advent as the third load is in the
washer!

Karin By The Linen Cupboard,1906

A Walk with Jane Austen

Thursday night our Book Club gathered
with a festive spread that included "Rout Cakes
for Mrs. Elton" ~~ IN Jane Austen's day, a rout
was a fashionable evening party and these were
served:
( a shortbread cookie from Tea With Jane Austen
by Kim Wilson)
and a telephone call to the author! What
fun! We were all so excited to hear her voice
and ask her questions. Imagine doing that with
other authors! Lori Smith's second book is
about her journey to England to follow Jane's
steps and she wove her spiritual journey right along
side it. Very well written and I missed Lori's
voice when I closed the book. Her honesty and
struggles as a single , amidst the joy of knowing God,
reached past the issue of singleness-marriage.
Such delight in God's grace in her book:

" And this is where my walk with Jane Austen
comes in again, because Jane taught me
something about the value of an ordinary life~~
things I'm not sure I understood before I
was stripped of being able to do the ordinary."


....."there's no end to God's grace -- which is big
enough for every single day that I got up..."


Good book to recommend! Thank YOU Lori for
the blessing you gave us in a conversation with
you! Check out her blogs:
Austenquotes.com and
FollowingJane.com.
You'll find her in good company .
May God bless you , Lori and answer our prayers for
you!

From a friend's blog:

Whose Head?

Got Tagged!

This is a first ~~ being tagged!
It's from a lovely blog called
Letters from a Hill Farm. I was
introduced to Stacey Kent's magical
voice from Nan's blog and even had Ken
look up her blog when I was at Borders
to find this singer's name!
So here goes:


What is your most enduring Christmas memory?
Getting our puppy collie on Christmas morning.
How my mother kept it from us 8 kids, I'll never
know. My older brothers knew Brandy was in the
house Christmas Eve , but we younger ones didn't.
She came bounding out into the living room Christmas
morn!

Do you have a favourite piece of Christmas music?
I keep listening to different versions of
On a Bleak Midwinter, in particular a CD
from Redeemer PCA in NYC....
and the Hallelujah Chorus!
Can't help but sing from the depths of my heart
..And He will Reign Forever and Forever! Amen!


Do you stick to the old family traditions?
Yes, because they always feel good like my
old slippers. We have introduced some new
ones as the boys have gotten to be young adults.
One is going out to lunch on Christmas Eve to
celebrate our oldest's birthday, we started when
he turned 21. A friend told me
that they do "secret" gifts within the family. Her
neighbor picks the names out of a hat and they
have to give something that doesn't cost anything.
She likes to get the ones still at home ~~ she makes
their bed and picks up their room every morning for
a year!!! I wanted to be in her family! May start that
tradition this year, once my college sons are home!


What makes your mouth water at Christmas time?
We have lamb on Christmas. I love to light candles
and put on music with dinners. We have Christmas cookies
and we have a Honey Bake Ham dinner sent by
Ken's brother on the week of Christmas. That is such
a gift ~~ the boys always ask if it has arrived!

How soon do you put the Christmas tree up and
when will take it down?
I grew up decorating the tree on Christmas Eve!
My dad would get the biggest tree for a bargain.
We now decorate it about 2 weeks before Christmas
and keep it up until just past New Year's. This year
I may keep the white lights I strung across the mantle
up all year. They have brought a warmth as soon as the
sun goes down! Even my husband said "That is so nice!"

You'll have to read Evan's letter

Those were Emma's words about her
letter from her brother away for one more
week ~~ in college! She giggled while she
read it late this afternoon. I was trying to
do Yoga. I did and hopefully can keep it up
to stretch out these old limbs!

I also got our second Christmas card-letter
today. The first being the Fairy Calendar and
card! Both are from those called by the Lord
to serve in missions. These know much about
prayer and communication!
I'm trying to get cards to college students
before they come "home for the holidays!"
It can be a lonely place and mail always
brings a hug.


I do love this card maker who makes
them to support college ministry~ Coalition
for Christian Outreach. I've never met
Bonnie , the artist. I do help evaluate her
new cards she's designed, which is a blessing
to a letter writer!

OUTSIDE TEXT:
Gold Foil G-clef against the stars
And suddenly there was with the angels a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased. —Luke 2:13-14

INSIDE TEXT:
Merry Christmas

Will let you know what the giggles were about
when I read the letter!

Shepherd's Abiding

We started the morning at the library
for the Symphony Talk to hear the
Baritone from the Opera , one of the Wise
Men in the production of Amahl and the Night
Visitors. I picked up several new books
and the audio of Shepherd's Abiding.
Jan Karon's book (Christmas story) came
out 4 years ago. I read it out loud to my
mother, who was out of the hospital
with 24 hour care! We started just about
when the story does ~~ October 1st. She loved
Mitford and Father Tim. She fell asleep with
the lull of my voice reading
about Father Tims' surprise for Cynthia.
She only heard half the book, for God
took her on the 22nd to be HOME for
Christmas. How she longed to see her
parents and she had healed down to the
bottom of her soul with any bitterness
towards my father. ( divorce) I saw
the Gospel ringing true to Jesus' words.
"Forgive those who trespass against you..."
He healed a deep wound in her.
We sang Hallelujah as my dear sister
in tears said "We have to sing!" She
was Home for the Holidays!

We're listening to the audio in the car and
the rest of the day was a "Mitford" one.
Heard from a good young mom this morning.
That blessed me! Saw my neighbor at the
grocery store. Then a quilter friend of a friend
right after that. Two at the Harris Teeter!!

Here's what we need ~~ from the first
chapter, the first paragraph:

"The rain began punctually at five o'clock,
though few were awake to hear it. It was
a gentle rain,rather like a summer shower
that had escaped the grip of time or season
and wandered into Mitford several months
late."

Jan Karon's site has the first chapters
online. You turn the pages of the books
on the bottom corners of the page JUST
like you would with a real book. Amazing
technology!

Christmas Fairy from Worthing

A dear friend's friend in Worthing,
England sent Emma a Fairy Calendar
and a sweet Christmas card that is
an English mailbox. They are different
over the great ocean.
We were so surprised and so deeply
touched that someone thought of her
from afar! She writes:

"and may 2008 be a good year for
you all as you learn more about Jesus."

Something so sparkly and magical in the
Spirit of God!