It Says It All

As we enter into the Christmas season this worship song just says it all I think. I am sure my family has heard it many times but keep the lyrics in mind as you enter this busy and stressful time. This is what it is all about. Praise Him and serve Him.

 

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the World by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

This powerful song was written in 2002 as the collaborative effort of two songwriters Stuart Townsend and Keith Getty. Here is a site that tells about the writing of the song.

http://www.crosswalk.com/church/worship/song-story-in-christ-alone-1275127.html
You can go here to hear it performed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLy8ksqGf9w

 It is already becoming a classic after just 10 years.

I Never Would Have Guessed

On Thanksgiving we serve a very traditional dinner. There is the roast turkey, the garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, the green bean casserole, candied yams, the stuffing, the dinner rolls and the cranberry salad and of course some white wine and this year eggnog too.  What would you guess would be the apparent favorite food for young Maverick? What was he clamoring for more of almost as fast as grandma could spoon it to him? It was the cranberry salad!!! Ha Ha most of the adults only take a small token bit to add sweetness to the meal, but that is what he wanted the most. I thought he would like the candied yams because he liked the baby sweet potatoes so much, but no he hardly touched those. Oh well you never know with toddlers next year it will be something else entirely.

Argo the movie

We could have chosen to go to the new James Bond movie that opened this weekend but instead of fighting the crowds went to see Argo since it has been getting such good reviews.
We enjoyed it a lot and it brought back memories of the Iran hostage crisis. It is based on the real life events. I was pregnant with Phillip when the hostages were finally released in January of 1980 after being held for 444 days. It was a very tense time for our nation. http://www.fandango.com/argo_v542623/plotsummary

I only vaguely remember hearing that some other Americans escaped with the help of the Canadian embassy where they had secretly fled. They apparently escaped also with significant help of the CIA and one man in particular who risked his life to go in and bring them home all under the guise of looking for a middle east location to film a science fiction fantasy film.

It was all an elaborate hoax but it worked! There is language in the movie and a few glimpses of violence for which it got an R rating but it is still very worthwhile to see.

They also really nailed the clothing and glasses and hairstyles of that era. If our children want a glimpse of their parents era go to see the movie or rent it for that alone.

Our Busy Girl

We had a wonderful visit with our granddaughter and her parents last weekend. Callie is 18 months old and is quite a busy girl these days. She runs and climbs and even participates in a gymnastics class. One of her favorite things to do is to run and fall into her inflatable swimming pool full of plastic balls. She does this in her nice big family/playroom room downstairs. 

We had the pleasure of accompanying her and her mama to the park for some playtime and watched her climb the big long ramp up to the slide over and over and slide down by herself. She’s not a baby anymore really. She’s one of the kiddos. It is fun to see her paying attention to and interacting with the other kids.

She also has a fascination these days with figuring out how things work like the latches on buckles and on her swing at home. She will work and work at it until she can hold the ends and make it click together and then want it unlatched so she can try it again.

She can very plainly say uh-huh when you ask her if she wants to do something or have something and she also will plainly tell you nooooh if she doesn’t want it. I figured out when I got home that she speaks with an Irish dialect. Here is a sentence from a book I am reading by Jan Karon set in Ireland. “My da was a builder, I grew up with a hammer an’ saw.” Callie calls her daddy da too. Maybe someday soon she will add another syllable but for now he is just da.