These lines are from "The Gate of the Year," a poem written in 1908 by Minnie Louise Haskins:

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."
And he replied, "Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!"

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

A Few of Our Christmas Decorations (for Rachel)

Luke 1:38 & 45

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."

"Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

What We Were Doing a Year Ago The Friday Before Christmas

(Those are the Hawaiian Islands the little plane diagram is flying to.)

And what the deck looks like today:

Well, at least we have great memories from last year.

Isaiah 52

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,

"Your God Reigns!"

Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the LORD returns to Zion
they will see it with their own eyes.
Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted His people.

Northerners Are Crazy

In my previous post I moaned about the cold. And a fellow blogger who lives a lot farther south, commented that she thought she would never survive living this far north.

I want to post a picture and tell her about a quite ridiculous tradition these Northerners have. It's called the Holidazzle Parade.

Yes, it's a parade. Yes, it's outside. Yes, people actually go and voluntarily sit outside in COLD weather to watch. No, we have never gone to see it. Don't plan to either.

Last weekend I heard the weather man say that it was going to be a nice night for the parade because the temperature was going to be 10 degrees!

I found these pictures on the web:


Northerners Are Crazy