Christmas 2008

Well, I know we probably all agree that we blinked and Christmas was gone. I know by the end of the 26th it was hard to tell that Christmas had even been at my house. I look forward to the season but am pretty much saturated by the time the day gets here. I think we need a law that says no one or any store can even think about Christmas retail wise until the first day of Advent.

We spent Christmas at Chase's and Laura's again along with he boys and my parents.

Christmas Eve

Wes and William making cookies for Santa

Chase tries out one of the plasma riders as Lance figures out how it works

Christmas Day

We ate food, watched some t.v., ate some food, played games, ate some food, waited for Santa Claus, ate some food, opened presents, ate some food, put a puzzle together, and ate some food. I heard on the new yesterday that the average person gains 5 pounds over the Christmas season. You might want to check with Lance on that stat. In his case, I think it was more than 5 pounds.

Wes catches on quickly to opening presents that come from Santa

William delivers stockings

Poppa has William's attention

William and Laura check out the John Deere Walky Talkies

Mamoo and Poppa check out a Christmas present

William explains how to play Hungry, Hungry Hippos

Ask Laura why she is so excited over a ladle!!

Out of the mouths of babes: When we went to the Christmas program to hear William sing, he informed us that Jesus did not show up for the program. He again reminded us that He did not come to the birthday party in His honor at Honey and G's house. I was excited to know that William associated Christmas with Jesus, whether He showed up or not.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I hope Jesus showed up in your heart. DK

Mine Is the One in the Front

"The more things change the more they stay the same." I don't know to whom to credit that quote, but the older I get the more true it is. When Laura was growing up, we could always count on the grandparents being at our side whenever she did something special: an awards ceremony in school. a Christmas program at school or church, kindergarten, CDA, Pillow, Ole Miss and Pharmacy School graduations, basketball games galore, and even more tennis matches. Well, I became the grandparent this week when William was in his first church Christmas program. And yes, I was just as proud as our parents were even though he did pick his nose a bit, yawn, and almost get into it with the little boy who wanted him to change places where they were standing. It was high 5s all around when the program was over. I guess there were other children up front, but I didn't see them!!

Check out the video. He's the cute one in the middle in the white shirt.

A Mayberry Christmas Parade

As you know we live in Inverness, Mississippi. It is a small delta town that can boast of some of the most wonderful, colorful and caring people anywhere on this earth. Most of the small delta towns use to be thriving communities centered around farming. However, now as you drive through some of these towns there is a sadness that can be felt since many of them are just a mere shadow of what they use to be. Inverness, on the other hand, has been able to keep some of its small town appeal and is a bedroom community for Indianola and the surrounding larger towns. We still have a bank, a private academy, public elementary and middle schools, town hall, police station, 2 grocery stores (I use that description lightly), three white churches and 4 black churches, one of the best restaurants for several miles around, and a card entry gas pump. Our community is fairly united when it comes to the black and white population. Our crime rate is nominal, pretty much the petty stuff of breaking into cars and business after hours. We have had a couple of armed robberies, the latest being this past week. For the most part, parents feel safe about their children riding their bikes around town.

I have given you this recitation as a preface to a town activity we attended today. We went to our local Christmas parade. Yep, we have an annual Christmas parade complete with a marching band, the obligatory fire truck with Santa, horses and riders, clowns, thrown candy, and even a gentleman singing Christmas carols through a karaoke machine strapped to the bed of a pick up truck. Oh, I forgot to mention the Gangster City Riders.

Mayor Weems heads up the parade

The CDA float

Clowns on a cart

Told you we had the Gangster City Riders

Inverness version of horses and riders

Sparky the fire dog

Santa's elves a.k.a. Smith Construction Company employees

The big man himself

The only thing that made this day even better was that William got to share in the "excitement." We rode to town in our red golf cart and found a prime spot to watch the parade.

Waiting for the parade to start

I almost forgot. This is Cecil, our karaoke singer.

A Few Comments

If you look at the subtitle of my blog, you will notice that I have allowed myself space to make comments on things that give me pause. So, I am going to make a few comments on the book I just finished listening to yesterday, The Shack. There have been a lot of reactions to this book from it being the best book many feel they have ever read to it being condemned as heresy. Laura even made her recommendation in no uncertain terms: "Mama, don't read it!"

Being the educator I am, even thought I am not in the classroom any more, I have often told my students they can not make an argument against an idea unless they know something about which they are arguing. Emotion leads us down a precarious path, especially when we try to make our arguments known about something we feel strongly about. So, I felt if I was going to weigh in on the book (not that anyone really cares how I feel about the book) I needed to read/listen to it.

I am a Christian, and I try to live my life in a way that reflects God's love for me. I know that it is through His grace through Jesus Christ that I am allowed to be called "an heir, a co-heir with Christ" (Romans 8:17). I know I fall short everyday in my effort, but I also know I have an intercessor in Christ who allows me to confess those sins and who reconciles me to God. I know God has given me the Holy Spirit to be with me here on this earth as my guide. I know God is also just and will judge me according to my life lived here on earth. I believe the Bible is the inerrant world of God given to man through inspiration. I know as much as I study God's word to understand Him there are aspects of God's will I will never understand and I accept those things on faith.

With that said, I will preface this by saying it is a wonder I am still alive. I listened to the book, and many times I tried to write down my thoughts on something that was said as I was trying to drive down the road. Not a good thing to do.

As with the DaVinci Code, The Shack is fiction. However, Young left himself open, as did Larry Brown, to both the accolades and criticism when he chose to have his fictitious story centered on the Deity that is the center of a religion that is practiced and studied by so many. Young explores the matter of God's unending love for us and what it does for us and how it should be reflected in us as believers. I have no problem with that thought. He also examines forgiveness and how our lack of it only serves to entrap us more and rarely affects the person to whom our lack of forgiveness is directed. I have no problem with that premise either.

However, his view of truth is troubling. It appears Young considers truth to be relative, a concept based on past experiences, such as the experiences of Mack Philips, the protagonist of the story who had a harsh childhood and who later loses his daughter to a serial killer. He goes to seminary, in my view, to work out the conflicts he had with the way his father treated him and the faith his father professed to have. All of us have had experiences that influence the way we think, yet the truth is always the truth; it is an absolute.

Young, also in my view, takes a dim view of the church both as a local body of believers and as a universal entity. In a conversation with Philips, Jesus explains organized religion is not a priority in the greater scheme of things. I know that cruel events have played out in the name of organized religion, but I also know that the church is Christ's bride, whom he loves and who awaits his return. To dismiss the church is irresponsible.

The most disturbing concept, and one that almost made me run off the road, was Jesus' explanation of his purpose. Toward the end of the book Jesus states he came to reconcile God to us. God does not need to be reconciled to anyone. We need to be reconciled to God, exactly what Jesus does for us. Jesus also states in his discussion of the church that there all kinds of paths for the Buddhist and Jew and others to come to him. They may come to Jesus, like many who believe him to be a wonderful person to emulate but doubt his divinity such as Benjamin Franklin, but unless they come to God through faith in Jesus as their savior they have misunderstood God's plan.

Another point that bothered me was the acknowledgement Young gave at the end of the book to several universal and existential thinkers, in my view an endorsement of New Age thinking. This fact is reinforced by the name Saru that he gave to the Holy Spirit. This endorsement also reflects part of what has happened within the church today. It is what I call "feel good religion." In many of our churches, we don't want to chase away potential members, so we don't or won't mention sin, consequences, and responsibility. Back to my point, we must teach the truth.

Okay, I have had my say. Read The Shack or don't read The Shack. However, if you are examining your faith and the One you can place it in, read The Bible.

It's about Time

My mom and Lance are probably two of the most content people in the world. As long as it is working, there is no need to replace it, even if it is out of date. This is pretty much their philosophy. I, on the other hand, watch too much Home and Garden TV and Designed to Sell to know that updating, at the most, definitely raises the selling price of a house and at the least makes the inside look new and contemporary.

I remember when we broke up housekeeping for Lance's mom, I was amazed at the age of some of the furniture--a couch that was 40 years old, lamps that were even older, and a turquoise Formica kitchen table (now known as mid-century modern) that had its beginnings in the 50s. The kitchen appliances were the brown that was popular in the 60s, and the kitchen counters still had the original turquoise laminate counter tops that were installed in '63.

I know many of you are saying, " Yes, I know what you are talking about." And I also know there comes an age when we just don't see any sense in making changes for the sake of making changes, but I hope I don't get in that rut. I like classic things and don't go for the faddish stuff, but when a refrigerator is 28 years old, it is time to get another one.

So this past week, I got a new stainless steel side-by-side frig. It is pretty and holds more stuff than my old frig. There is nothing really wrong with my old frig other than it is old and a bit worse for wear and tear and that it is as old as Laura. As a matter of fact, it is older than she by 6 months. Anyway, the old one has been retired to the shop for extra frig space, and the new one now takes its place of honor in the kitchen.

Put out to pasture

Wow, with the new frig sitting so close to the stove, it really shows the stove to be a bit dated, too. I feel a new stove coming on. This may be a harder job to pull off. I am not known for my cooking. Just ask Lance. He will tell you that he doesn't need a stove, old or new, to fix a bowl of cereal.

In all its shining glory

Thanksgiving 2008

We enjoyed a very quiet Thanksgiving. My aunt and uncle and my cousin and her husband and little boy, along with my mom and dad spent the day together. For the second year in a row, we ate at the country club. This could be a habit I could get use to. I love not cleaning up. Anyway, it was a nice day, and now the run is on for Christmas. Hope you all are making plans for a wonderful Christmas. I got a call from William today, and if the excitement in his voice over getting their tree up is any indication of what it is going to be like at Chase and Laura's house, it is going to be crazy.


(Front) My Aunt Georgia with Buttons, my cousin Jennifer and her son Colby, my mom
(Back) My Uncle J. C., me, Lance, my dad. Obviously my cousin's husband is taking the picture.
In the next picture, he is in and I am out.

No, I Am Not Thankful for the THE BUG

Okay, I was overjoyed when Laura asked if we could take care of the kids this past week-end since they had an event to attend Friday night and ballgames to attend on Saturday in Starkville. Lance and I met Laura in Stewart on Friday, picked up the "grands," and headed back to Inverness for fun times. After naps on Friday, we shared supper with Cindy and Grace and Bill and Gale. Grace and the boys enjoyed playing together and getting play dough all over the den.

Hey, Mama. Kakki said I could bring this play dough home!

Can I? Can I?

William's biscuits that he and Poppa made made using train-shaped cutters

Saturday was a busy day with Mamoo and Poppa Taylor's coming over to spend some time with the boys and my getting ready for our Thanksgiving lunch at the church on Sunday, plus our church hosting the Community Thanksgiving service that evening with a reception after. The kids are familiar with our church, so they played in the nursery and ran back and forth between it and the fellowship hall, endearing themselves to those helping get stuff ready.

Did you know you can stuff a whole cup cake in your mouth?

Told ya it would fit!

Sunday morning we headed to SS and Church, where William made a turkey out of rice crispy treats and fruit loops (Thanks, Mrs. Amy). We had a great lunch and then went home for naps. The big boy and the little boys were exempt from the evening service, after which I returned and gave baths and got the little people, as Laura calls them, to bed. I fell promptly to sleep on the couch and later stumbled to bed.

Monday morning started early at 6:45 a.m.; that's early for me, anyway. I didn't feel very peppy, but that is usually the way I am in the morning. I have to work on getting up, but when there are two little ones, I have to hit the floor running whether I want to or not. As the morning wore on, I could not shake the queasy feeling, and then it hit, THE BUG!!!!! You know the kind--you don't know if you are to sit on the commode or to hang you head over it. It was down hill from there, and Lance was now in charge. I literally died in the bed and did not know day from night. The only thing I did know was the path to the bathroom.

Later in the afternoon, Lance began to get sick, but being the martyr I am not, he did his best to take care of the boys on his own. Our only saving grace was that Laura called to say she and Chase thought they would come on to Inverness on Monday and head to Madison on Tuesday, instead of making a long trip of it on Tuesday. I know that Lance must have thought, "THANK YOU, LORD!" The reason I know this is that we have been studying in SS how important it is to be thankful in our daily lives "always and in everything" and because he was soooooo sick.

The kids got here and I did not lay eyes on them until Tuesday morning just before they got ready to head to Madison. They packed up and headed out to smiles and waves all around. As the taillights headed away from Inverness, Lance fell in the bed not to get up until 3:00 in the afternoon.

By mid morning I was among the land of the living and ready to get my house back in order. You know how I am about order in my life. Anyway, all is good now, and there is peace and quiet in my house except for the wonderful music playing on my new Ipod dock that Laura brought to me as a belated b'day present. Right now "How Beautiful the Body of Christ" is playing, and I am looking forward to the visit of family tomorrow for Thanksgiving.

There are so many things I am thankful for this year, and as think on them, I hope you will think on yours too and be sure to thank God for all those blessings. But I find it hard to say, "Thank you for the bug." Lord, you will have to help me with this one. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

P. S. I also found out that Lance and I were not the only ones to get THE BUG. Several members of our church have been fighting it or should I say giving in to it. I don't think there is any way to conquer it.