Book Critique

I thought that, as I am scrabbling to think of things to blog about... :)  I would tell you what I thought of some books I have read over the last few days.


The first on my list would definitely be The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico.  If you have not read this book and you have the opportunity to read it, please do so.  It is only a short story (I read it in less than an hour) but it is so sweet and defines metaphorically the meaning of true love and true sacrifice.  I loved it.

I also recently read Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity by Robert Cwiklik.  It was kind of interesting to see what kind of background Albert had, but other than that, I didn't particularly enjoy this one.  It was written for an audience of about twelve years of age, and I felt some things were rather poorly put to try and sooth 'sticky topics', particularly when we got to World War Two.  For one thing, Cwiklik tried to justify the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan.  He said that unless it had been done, thousands of American and Japanese soldiers would have died.  I find this to be a poor excuse.  For one thing, soldiers know that when they sign that paper, they may not return home again.  The Japanese killed by the bombs were innocent civilians - men, women and children - who had no say in the War but who suffered the consequences there of.  The affects of the radium are still lingering today.  You didn't have to be alive to suffer from it today.
The other thing that got me about Cwiklik's book was the way he continually referred to Hitler and the Nazis as madmen.  If Hitler was something, it wasn't mad or crazy.  Cruel, heartless, wicked, hateful and blood-thirsty, yes - but he was not mad.  He was very crafty, strategical and clever.  Not mad.

Currently, I am reading Tom Appleby - Convict Boy by Jackie French.  I don't like all of French's writings.  Some of them can be positively, downright weird.  But Tom Appleby is a really good book.  As the title implys, Tom Appleby is a convict boy who is sent to Australia on the First Fleet and starts a new life there.  One thing I do appreciate about Jackie French is the way she describes things "as is".  Some parts of the book make me physically cringe while reading.  She is colourful in her descriptions, but doesn't try to lace them up at all.  It was as it was.

These Few Lines by Graham Seal is a non-fictional account of William and Myra Sykes who were torn apart when William was charged with poaching and sent to Swan River for life.  The book contains letters that passed between Myra and William (mainly Myra - William wasn't exactly an affectionate husband and didn't write more than two or three letters to his wife).  The poor woman's hope is to be able to scrape up enough coins to transport herself and her four children to join William in Australia.  He doesn't do anything to assist her.

Well, that sums up my reading, although I have read a few other books, these ewre the main ones.  I am having to re-train myself for the Summer Reading Competition the library holds annually.  We have to time all our reading, two hours for a ticket.  At the end of the competition, all the tickets are put in a box and drawn out to find a selected number of winners.  I think I have about 5 hours so far.  :)

God bless you all.

No Surprises

By the time we all dropped into bed Friday night, we were absolutely flattened and drained.  What a day!  I honestly can't remember a day in our family before that turned itself on its head like this one did.

My day had started at 1:15 in the morning when Mum took Dad to the hospital for the pain in his eye.
Once morning actually dawned, we were able to get in to an optometrist, who sent us straight away to eye specialist over an hour away.  By the time we found out that Dad would be OK in a couple of days, we had been scared - and a bit shaken as even us older girls don't remember Dad being so much pain before.

After dinner, I went out on the verandah to have a moment of quiet and strength renewal.  I had to smile in spite of myself because the song that stated playing in my head was Colin Buchanan's "Nothing Takes God by Surprise".  He saw all of this coming - orchestrated every detail.  Looking back a few days on, I can see how God controlled every moment of our day.

One of the Bible passages that held us up was one that we have been memorizing as a family.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”? 
 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.  
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:27-31



Though it was a troubled day, I can honestly say that I had a real sense of peace when things seemed to be going from bad to worse.  Our God is so good and we know that even if things are rough, we can be confident that He has our best interests in mind and that He loves us more than life - He proved that once and for all. 

For those of you reading this, if you get around to it... :)  we would very much appreciate prayer this week leading up to our Church Christmas Carols in which we are heavily involved.  We feel like we (and the whole production) could be under a spiritual attack.  Satan doesn't want us moving forward, proclaiming the Words and the love of Jesus - we need to fight back.  This morning our pastor said the when Satan's fighting us, he's fighting God.  What an encouraging thought.  But we do need to be persistent in prayer warfare.

Thanks so much everyone.  God bless you and keep you.  :)

How I really feel about Being the Eldest of Eight and Homeschooling. :)

Often when I am talking to people I don’t know very well (and sometimes even people I thought knew me fairly well :P) I am often asked questions concerning large families and home-schooling as though I  am a martyr or silent sufferer and that they are willing to listen to all my woes.  So I thought I would put down the most frequent and annoying questions and answer them as I see fit – and yes, I really mean all I say… ;)

Do you like being the eldest of a large family?

Let me be honest.  Being the eldest of eight isn’t always fun.  There can be a lot of noise, mess, and if someone catches the flu, you can count us out of all social events for the next two to three months while it takes down the entire family, usually end on end – one at a time… :P  But the benefits of a large family far outweigh any amount of disadvantages.  For one thing, in a home of ten people, love is more than abundant.  Sometimes if I am over everything and just about to break down in tears of frustration, all I have to do is look at my younger siblings and see their adoring eyes watching me, confident that I can handle all and every circumstance.  My heart melts every time and I quick prayer for meekness and patience (NOW!) and try again.  Little Annie has just learned to call us older ones by name.  She often goes around the living area calling out, “Emmie!  Emmie!”  And then she flashes me an adorable toothy smile.  She and Rose (as well as the others) look to me every day for advice, for praise and for love.  

Let me say right here a special note for those who have younger siblings.  You don’t have to be a big brother or sister – you get to be a big brother or sister.  It is such a privilege.  Don’t ever underestimate the influence you have on their lives.  They adore you.  They want to be with you.  They want to be like you in every way they can.  To them, you are the ultimate role model.  Don’t let them down. Include them wherever you can and remember that the choices you make will affect them, even if you are unaware of it.  Friends come and go if life, but until death comes, you will always have your siblings.  Make effort to become best friends with them.

Don’t you wish you could go to school?

No.

Do you like being home schooled?

I love it!  And there are several reasons for that.  :)

1.        This is a personal thing, but it could apply to anyone.  I am a natural follower.  Unless it comes to a point of moral standings, I am pretty happy to do what people want me to.  I can only imagine what might have happened if I wasn’t at home where Mum and Dad faithfully trained me to choose the right way, and shielded me from the world’s forceful influence.

2.       I love the way home-schooling hones in on your strengths, but allows opportunity to improve on your weaknesses.   I was an early reader, and well and truly advanced in my literary skills.  When it came to Algebra, however, I had to restart the book three times before it ‘clicked’.  But I have been able to work at that at my own pace and master it.

3.       I also love how home-schooling makes learning a family affair.  We do zoology all together as well as reading and other subjects like art and music and we love discussing our discoveries and competing to see who gets the most nuts at quiz time.  ;)  :P

How do you cook for ten every night?

My response to this usually runs along the lines of, “We’re used to it.  I don’t understand how you cook for two every night!”  Peeling a dozen potatoes is normal.  Ordering two kilos of one kind of meat is an every shopping trip experience, and having three rows of plates all lined up for easy dishing is absolutely essential.  I like to remind people that there are no twins I our family.  We all came along one at a time, and so it was a slow increase in number.  An extra potato or carrot every three or four years or so…

Home-schooling… does that mean you get to do what you want when you want?

Umm… no.  I get a variation of this question a lot from other kids.  They seem to be worried that I will miss out on the joys of maths, or essays, or science.  It’s kind of them to be so considerate, but I hasten to assure them that it is not so.  :)

Those are the questions that come to mind right now, but there are plenty of them out there.

God bless you – have a great week.

Alliteration Game

Every first and third Fridays of every month, the homeschoolers of our town meet at the library and do stuff together.  Last Friday, I brought a game inspired by Scattegories.  Here's what you do:

Write out different Bible stories on slips of paper by title (you could also do fairy tales or some other well known literary writing)  My list included Noah's Ark, Baby Moses, Mary and Martha, Paul Becomes Saul among others. (I had twenty all up.)

If you have the game Scattegories, use the alphabet dice to draw letters.  You could also draw tiles out of a Scrabble bag or write out the letters on paper and draw them out of a hat, or a bowl, or whatever comes in handy.  :P

Every person draws a story and a letter and has a set amount of time to rewrite the story using as many words as possible that start with their given letter.  The results are hilarious!  (If you're are playing a winners/losers game, count how many words are used with each person's letter - the highest score wins.)

There are several ways you can play the game.  Each person can have their own letters and stories; everyone can have their own story but all work off the same letter; or everyone can have the same story but different letters.  Alternatively Everyone could have exactly the same criteria, but personally that would be just a bit boring... :P

The example below is The Tower of Babel written on the letter 'b'.  I was about thirteen when I wrote it, I think, so it isn't my best piece of work ever, but it is pretty funny!  :P

Once some blabbering bear like barbarians with baffling bad behavior decided to bake a batch of bricks and they began to build a becoming barrier that would boggle and bewilder the brain.  They hesitated but a brief moment, then, slapping their brothers on the back, they made a beeline to the place they bet would be the best to behold such a bulk of brickwork.  Boys began to bustle and bestow bricks, big and little, on their fathers who banked them up to the brim of the bucket shaped canal.  But the thing which beckoned and bound the men together was that they all babbled the same basic language. They believed they could build a brick building, and it was to their belief that if they could make it balance, they would be the first people to bide near the bright Betelgeuse.  That’s where the builders blundered. They did not bless but blasphemed, and how they bragged.  Their boasting of how big they were was so bad it began to become bothersome and burdensome.  So God said, “Let’s bring a big and abrupt end to this and ban their balky brickwork.”  So God made brothers speak different languages.  Everyone packed bags and baggage and they bawled like babies to leave their bulky brick work, but they had no choice.  That’s why that place is better known as Babel.

Why I Believe

For my studies on world views, recently, I had to write an essay that answered the following questions: What is a worldview? What is a Christian worldview? Why am I a Christian?  This is what I came up with.

It can be a challenge for unbelievers to grasp what Christianity is about when many Christians themselves are not sure what or why they believe what they claim to believe.  Half the time, it seems, the stands that Christians make don’t differ that much to the stands made by a non-believer.  It is sad when our beliefs don’t weigh our opinions on issues.  I suppose that if this is the case, then you don’t really believe in what you claim to believe, or you are denying the power thereof. 

That is a depressing state to be in for that is the definition of a worldview – the way one views the world based on one’s beliefs.  A Christian worldview, therefore, will always – I repeat always – view things in light of God’s word the Bible.  One example that springs to mind is one of the hot topics at the moment: abortion. People argue that a woman has the right to control her own body.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body^[a] and in your spirit, which are God’s.    Many people consider an unborn child to be less than a human, not technically a person yet.  However, we read in Exodus 21:22-25 that a man is held responsible if he injures a pregnant woman and she or her child suffer harm or die.  By this we see that God values unborn life, thus the Christian worldview also takes strong stands against abortion.

Earlier this year when Tony Abbot, who is a Catholic, was voted into place as prime minister of Australia, he made a statement on ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet saying, “…Faith has certainly helped to shape my life, but it doesn't in any way determine my politics.”  I have trouble believing this for if his faith truly doesn’t affect his politics at all as he claims, then he doesn’t really believe in what he claims to regard as truth.  I have noticed, however, that many of his standards on different issues actually exemplify his religion, even if he does not realize it.

The question unbelievers want to know much of the time –and believers need to be able to answer– is why choose Christianity?  Why not Islam, or Buddhism, or some other religion/worldview? It is a good question, one that I have asked myself and God.  To find the answer as to why I believe, I must go back to the beginnings of my Christian life.

I was brought up in a Christian home and as a child, my parents were responsible before God for my faith and my spiritual input.  I resented much of this, not enjoying devotions or private Bible reading and avoiding it when I could.  However, when I was about thirteen (or thereabouts), Mum told me that I was coming to an age where I was responsible for my own faith.  Perhaps it was the responsibility I now felt that made me start taking charge of my own Bible readings and prayer times.  I am not sure.  I do know, though, that once I started, Jesus gently started moulding my hard heart until it became like soft, pliable clay and He started shaping me.  I noticed changes in my attitudes and behaviour and I felt the love and the peace of God like I never had before and I never wanted to leave that.  Not having God gave me no boundaries, but it gave me no security either – the sense of belonging and purpose.  Most other religions and worldviews are centred around chance, fate and works.  What a hopeless prospect!  We all know we struggle with doing the good we want to do, and if we are just here by chance, what is the point of doing good anyway – chance has no high purpose.  Just the fact of knowing that we are created gives one a sense of purpose.  No one deliberately makes a useless object.  Even delicate collectables that sit on a sideboard for years scream out the skill and the handiwork of the one that so carefully moulded them.

That’s why I chose to be a Christian and choose to be one every day. – nothing else satisfies or makes perfect sense ot logic like the Bible and God’s presence.  All of science and history points to a Creator and a Saviour who died.  Who am I to ignore Him?

The love we can't understand

When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
He shall not return into the land of Egypt, and the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.
 And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.
And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. They shall walk after the Lord: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.
They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the Lord.  (Hosea 11)

Isn't that just beautiful?  Whenever I read it, I always hear the heart of a parent behind the words.  How often we are like wayward Ephraim!  The Lord gives us so many blessings, assists us in so many ways, helps us up when we fall, feeds us, and above all He loves us!  Yet how often we fail to recognize His love for us.  We can even forget that He is with us at all.

Last night, Rose was crying in bed, so I went to see her.  I gave her a cuddle and covered her back up.  "You know what you do when you are sad?"  I asked her.  "You talk to Jesus, because He loves you and He is here with you."

"No He's not," Rose replied.

"Yes He is - He is always with you," I asserted.

"No, Jesus is in heaven," Rose corrected me.

While this dialogue is amusing, we are very often like Rosie - we view God as being in heaven, that far distant place above the stars.  We forget that He is actually here with us, loving us, crying with us, wishing we would cast all our burden on Him.  One of Jesus' special names is Emmanuel - God with us.  We can't even begin to understand the love that would incarnate the Holy eternal God into the body of a man only to die for the sin and the guilt and the sickness and pain of billions and billions of wicked people.  Such love is beyond us - but it is the love that saved us, and the love that is living inside of us.

Praise the Lord!

Writing, Maths, Baking, and a Poem by Me :)

Yesterday being Friday, Mum decided we would do a couple of different things - just to be different, I suppose.  :)  The first thing, she said, would be a 'free-write' where each of us writes on the same topic, but interprets it in our own way.  The topic was "The Perfect Day".  James had to write for ten minutes; Elise on up had to write for fifteen minutes.  The result was rather interesting.  Jess wrote a story set in the war about a girl who finally got her perfect day.  I wrote a poem about things I like to do, but it isn't exactly realistic.  The younger four all outlined what would happen to make their days perfect.  This was interesting in itself as they all differed quite a bit.  Grace's perfect day included cleaning the pergola and pealing potatoes - activities she hates - simply because what she does like is to keep busy and have things to do.  In Joy's perfect day, the dishes magically did themselves and we had a great day with lots of dear friends.  Elise's perfect day started with horse riding all morning, and James' perfect day was to play different sports all day at the park.

After we had read our papers aloud, we played a maths game that I haven't played in years.  We have heaps of maths flash cards with simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems printed on them.  (Elise and I sorted them into their respective piles before we began writing.)  The rules of the game are: you set a timer for a minute.  Mum holds up the flash cards and you answer as many of them as you can before the timer goes off, but if you get one wrong, you start again but the timer keeps ticking. 

Some people found this a little bit stressful, but it was good fun.  We started with division.  Grace absolutely blitzed that section, answering fifty problems in a minute.  We then did multiplication, but I can't remember who won that one!  :)  At the end of each section, Mum subtracted our age from twenty and added it to our score (So I got two extra points, Jess got 3, Grace got 5, Joy got 7, Elise got 9, and James got 11) It even us up a little bit.  :)  I think the overall winner was still Grace, but no one could beat her fifty she got on division.

When we had finished that, Mum took Jess through to James to swimming lessons and I stayed to mind Rose and Annie.  Annie hasn't been too well lately, so she sat in the lounge room and watched DVDs  (or as she calls them "DDDs"!)  Rose and I went to the kitchen because I had promised to show her how to make bread.  We make a loaf of bread and some rolls for lunch.  You should have heard her squeal with excitement when she realized that the dough was growing!

So that was my different day day.  I got next to no 'school work'  done, but I did writing, maths, child minding, bread making, home economics - they don't teach you half that stuff at school!  :)

Here's the poem I wrote; I'm sure all of you could relate to at least parts of it!  :)

Waking up one morning,
I heard the rain on the roof
And the window, just above my head.
My heart started soaring
Til it was far and aloof,
For these are my favourite days.

I started with reading
Sitting up in my bed.
Then I went and made pancakes to eat
With dishes succeeding.
Then I went back and read -
Oh these are my favourite days!

 With the rain still coming,
I went and I baked
Bread and and cookies and scones.
All the while I was humming,
Over slices and cake
For these are my favourite days.

After lunch I examined,
The patterns I like
And sewed the whole afternoon through,
A quilt - mint and lemon -
Then dinner (not pike!)
Oh these are my favourite days!


Disclaimer:  I couldn't come up with anything to rhyme with 'like' that would fit, so I just put 'pike' in to clarify that my favorite days do not include seafood!  :P

Books and Braces

Mum has introduced us to a lovely new custom: Common place books. As "common-place" as the name may sound, these books are a real treasure.  What we do is when we read a passage we really like or that means something to us, we copy it into our book.  (Mum bought each of us a pretty journal.)  Eventually, our books will be full of all sorts of things.  So far, I have copied "My Jesus, I Love Thee", "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" and a passage from "A Merchant From Venice" by Shakespeare.  Tomorrow, I plan to copy out Isaiah 40:27-31.


Jess and I have discovered a really good author by the name of Kim Vogel Sawyer.  Her style of writing is very Janette Oke-ish, and her books are actually Christian, opposed to some that are sold in Koorong anyway... :P  The one I am in the middle of is called "When my Heart Remembers", or something like that.  I am really enjoying it so far.

I also really enjoyed a book by Anthony Hill called "Young Digger" which I borrowed from the library. It is about a little French boy who happened into the Australian 4th Squadron mess room on Christmas Day, 1918.  He is adopted by one of the soldiers who smuggles him out of war-revenged France and back to his wife in Queensland.  Incredibly, it is a true story.


We went to the orthodontist the other day.  He said that I only have to wear my retainer what he calls "three-quarter time," which means I can have it off for about eight hours over the day.  Yay!!!!!  It feels really weird not having it on all the time, though.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!  God bless you.  :)

Not too Busy

We have a crazy week this week.  With Mum heading up the church carols and the girls' violin concert approaching and just the things that pop up, as well as school and keeping the house relatively presentable ;), we are flat out like a lizard drinking (as Mum would say. :))

Be still, and know that I am God... (Psalm 46:10)

We can so often get caught up in the thirty-two appointments on this day, and the fifty-seven requirements that have to be met tomorrow, that we forget to stand back and look at the whole picture.  What are we actually trying to achieve, and are we giving God glory by the way we are doing it?  I don't think that rushing around from place to place, telling everyone how stressed you are, how busy you are, etc. gives glory to God.  If we were really trusting God with our day and our time, then we would be able to sit down and encourage someone who needs it, or listen to someone who just wants to 'download'.  Psalm 119:143 says (NLT) "As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands."  When you're stressed about anything, just whispering the Word of God over to yourself helps to put everything in perspective.  God is God - nothing can change that.  Sometimes you might have to say it a bit louder to reassure yourself.  You may have to shout the words out.  (Contrary to what many people believe, God doesn't mind loud noises, and shouting out Hid Word won't bother Him! :))

Another thing to keep in mind is why you are striving so hard.  What is the purpose of it?  If the purpose is to promote self, then it could probably be deleted from the list of to-dos.  But if the purpose is to build the kingdom of the King, to extend out to the community - to glorify and honor the Name of our God, then it is all worth the rush and hurry it took.

Keeping our eyes on the eternal goal is the key to doing a busy week (or month or year, or whatever!)

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:

“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
But you would not, 

 And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”—
Therefore you shall flee!
And, “We will ride on swift horses”—
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift!

(Isaiah 30:15-16)

Accept God's offer of rest and strength - He knows we need it and has prepared it for us.  Don't run away with your to-do list: leave room for God on it and He will sustain you through your busy day. 

“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”  - Martin  Luther

Lord of the Sabbath

What is Sunday for you?  We generally are up pretty early 6:00 - 6:30) and I make baked oatmeal for breakfast because it is Dad's favourite.  Sadly I discovered that this morning, I haven't enough berries to make it today.  :(   Since our church's drummer had a bad road accident, Dad has been helping to fill in on the drums, which - combined with Mum regularly on keys and singing - means that there is usually someone on each week.   Rushing to church at 8:00 for practice, then church, then Grace, Jess and me on coffee shop, etc it can sometimes seem that Sunday, our day of rest, isn't very restful!

Jesus said that man was not made for the Sabbath day, but the Sabbath day was made for man (Mark 2:27)  and we see proof of that right from the word go.  Have you ever noticed that the first whole day Adam and Eve lived was the Seventh day of rest?  If man had been made for the Sabbath, then the Sabbath would have been made first.

When Jesus said that we were not made for the Sabbath, he meant that it is not meant to oppress us with rules and regulations.  It is supposed to be the jewel of the week - a day of fun and joy and peace in worshiping and in delighting in the Lord.

It is interesting that Jesus also makes the point that He is Lord also of the Sabbath day.  Sometimes we can get so caught up in trying to organize Sunday, and even so busy in doing what we think God wants, that we can lose sight of that fact that He is Lord of the Sabbath and that all He wants is us to come to Him in worship.  I'm not saying that all the other things are bad and that God doesn't appreciate them, but what God really wants is you.  He doesn't mind if you didn't quite get all the breakfast dishes done before church;  He doesn't mind if your hair refuses to behave (David had spit running down his beard when he worshiped!) and God doesn't mind if you sing a bit out of key, play the wrong note, write down the wrong order... it has to do with you heart.  If your heart is there just wanting to honor, serve and worship God, then the rest will follow.

So keep it in mind, and remember that if you can't make it church today or some other day, don't stress.  You can worship our omnipresent God wherever you are.  Praise the Lord!

November and the Christmas Season

Now it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them,...  (Deuteronomy 1:3)


Can you believe that it is November already?  The year has whizzed by so quickly, I feel as though I have hardly been able to catch my breath.  The shops have had Christmas stock out for two months now, and it is actually time to start thinking about gifts and Christmas dinner, etc.

One thing I love about the first day of November is that now the shops can pack up all their hideous Halloween stock.  Ugh!  :P

Just remember as we enter some of the most busy months of the year to keep in mind Him Who this season is about.  Mary and Joseph had to use a stable because there was no room at the inn.  Lets leave room for Christ this Christmas season, because without Him, it is all just a loud noise and expensive, useless propaganda.  Also remember that, wonderful as the birth of Christ was and is, we have hope today because of His death and resurrection.  Jesus didn't stay a baby - He came as one to grow up to save us and to give us eternal life.

Praise the Lord!!!