Quilt of Holes

Quilt of Holes:

As I faced my Maker at the last judgment, I knelt before the Lord along with all the other souls.

Before each of us laid our lives like the squares of a quilt in many piles; an angel sat before each of us sewing our quilt squares together into a tapestry that is our life.

But as my angel took each piece of cloth off the pile, I noticed how ragged and empty each of my squares was. They were filled with giant holes. Each square was labeled with a part of my life that had been difficult, the challenges and temptations I was faced with in every day life. I saw hardships that I endured, which were the largest holes of all.

I glanced around me. Nobody else had such squares. Other than a tiny hole here and there, the other tapestries were filled with rich color and the bright hues of worldly fortune. I gazed upon my own life and was disheartened.

My angel was sewing the ragged pieces of cloth together, threadbare and empty, like binding air.Finally the time came when each life was to be displayed, held up to the light, the scrutiny of truth.

The others rose; each in turn, holding up their tapestries. So filled their lives had been. My angel looked upon me, and nodded for me to rise.

My gaze dropped to the ground in shame. I hadn't had all the earthly fortunes. I had love in my life, and laughter. But there had also been trials of illness, and wealth, and false accusations that took from me my world, as I knew it. I had to start over many times. I often struggled with the temptation to quit, only to somehow muster the strength to pick up and begin again.

I spent many nights on my knees in prayer, asking for help and guidance in my life. I had often been held up to ridicule, which I endured painfully, each time offering it up to the Father in hopes that I would not melt within my skin beneath the judgmental gaze of those who unfairly judged me.

And now, I had to face the truth. My life was what it was, and I had to accept it for what it was.

I rose and slowly lifted the combined squares of my life to the light.

An awe-filled gasp filled the air. I gazed around at the others who stared at me with wide eyes.

Then, I looked upon the tapestry before me. Light flooded the many holes, creating an image, the face of Christ. Then our Lord stood before me, with warmth and love in His eyes. He said, 'Every time you gave over your life to Me, it became My life, My hardships, and My struggles.

Each point of light in your life is when you stepped aside and let Me shine through, until there was more of Me than there was of you.'

May all our quilts be thread bare and worn, allowing Christ to shine through!

Gift Giving Idea #2

I received this once as a gift from one my most cherished friends.

I LOVE the idea so much that I thought I'd share with all of you as my gift giving idea #2.

You simply make a donation in the name of the person your are "buying" a gift for to a ministry called Love without Boundaries (http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/).

This ministry feeds orphans in China.

The ministry will send the recipient a card with a picture of a beautiful orphan getting her tummy filled with yummy food.

It's a brilliant gift idea!! And I hope your will consider filling an orphans tummy for all those hard to buy for folks on your Christmas list.

Merry Christmas

Gift Giving Idea #1

Consider giving the gift of reading this Christmas to the children on your Christmas list.

A Beka Book is pleased to offer several series of classic novel and biography sets. Readers of all ages will enjoy these interesting and timeless favorites. For a limited time these sets are being offered at a 10% discount and FREE Shipping. Order Online at https://www.abeka.com/ABekaOnline/SpecialOffer.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 today!

See below for examples.

Elementary—Classic Historical Fiction including Martha of California and Stephen of Philadelphia. (4 books) Ages 8–12

Heroes of the Faith—This series of fascinating biographies features a special class of heroes—men and women who answered the call of God on their lives. These life stories show ordinary people in an extraordinary way when their hearts are surrendered to Him. (4 books) Ages 12–Adult

Sons of Liberty Series—Character is the theme of these inspiringbiographies. Every young patriot should read the life stories of these American Heroes. (5 books) Ages 12–Adult

The Abbott Series—History comes to life in these thrilling biographiesof great men and women who left their mark upon the pages of world history. (5 books) Ages 12–Adult

Adventures in History–Classic Historical Fiction including The Black Arrow and Remember the Alamo. (6 books) Ages 12–Adult

Santa's Breakfast Cake

Santa's Breakfast Cake

From the kitchen of Sarah Williamson

1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs 2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together margarine, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs and beat well. Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda before sifting into the creamed mixture. Stir until moistened. Add the vanilla yogurt and mix well. Topping: Combine chopped walnuts, sugar and cinnamon. Grease and flour 1 large loaf pan or 3 mini loaf pans. Half fill the pan(s) with batter. Sprinkle topping over batter. Fill pan(s) with remaining batter and then top with remaining topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick.

"Night Before Christmas" Coffee Cake

"Night Before Christmas" Coffee Cake

From the kitchen of Kay Smittle

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup warm milk
1 pkg yeast (2 teaspoons bulk yeast) dissolved in 3 tablespoons warm water
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1/2 cup nuts or maraschino cherries, candied red or green cherries

Cream together sugar and butter. Then add eggs, milk, 1 package of yeast (2 tablespoons bulk yeast) dissolved in 3 tablespoons of warm water, flour, salt and vanilla. Beat all of these ingredients together. Then set dough aside and let it rise, until double in size. When your coffee cake dough has risen to double the size (this may take about 2 hours) put it in a 9x13" greased pan and spread with topping; Combine sugar, cinnamon, melted butter and nuts (you can use maraschino cherries or candied red and green cherries if you don't like nuts) Now place in a cold oven and leave it in there overnight to rise. The next morning turn oven to 350 degrees and bake for 1/2 hour. Take out and serve warm. This makes a large coffee cake or you can put the dough in two round pans instead.

SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE

SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE

It's just a small white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription.

It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas --oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it -- the overspending, the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma -- the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties, and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended.

Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford.

Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.

Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, 'I wish just one of them could have won,' he said. 'They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them. ' Mike loved kids -- all kids -- and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball, and lacrosse.

That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition --one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on. The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning, and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.

As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there.

You see, we lost Mike last year due to cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning it was joined by three more. Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope.

Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us. May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always.

Jesus Is Better Than Santa

Santa lives at the North Pole.
JESUS is everywhere.
Santa rides in a sleigh
JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
Santa comes but once a year
JESUS is an ever present help.
Santa fills your stockings with goodies
JESUS supplies all your needs.
Santa comes down your chimney uninvited
JESUS stands at your door and knocks.. and then enters your heart.
You have to stand in line to see Santa
JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
Santa lets you sit on his lap
JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, What's your name?"
JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too. He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.
Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly
JESUS has a heart full of love.
All Santa can offer is HO HO HO
JESUS offers health, help and hope.
Santa says "You better not cry"
JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you.
Santa's little helpers make toys
JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
Santa may make you chuckle but
JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.
While Santa puts gifts under your tree
JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.
It's obvious there is really no comparison.
We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about.
We need to put Christ back in Christmas.
Jesus is still the reason for the season.

Christmas Cards

Merry Christmas,

Sending Christmas cards or actually Christmas letters is something I truly enjoy doing. I love the time of reflection and counting the years blessings. It's a time for me to reconnect with those I may have lost touch with through out the year. It brings me great joy to send and receive Christmas cards.

As I spent time this week addressing my many cards my mind wondered to the soldiers fighting for our freedoms and for our rights.

I began to wonder just how many Christmas cards they might receive this year. So I decided I would add a few to my list. I actually decided to send mine to the soldiers that were wounded in the war and recovering here State side. It was a great opportunity for our family to thank the men and women whom we have never met who sacrificed so much for us!

And now it is my hope that you would do the same.

When addressing your Christmas cards this year please consider sending one or more to this address.

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington , D.C. 20307-5001

Merry Christmas.

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then thesure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.

To the window that danced with a warm fire's lightThen he sighed and he said "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.""It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me. My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile. Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,The red, white, and blue... an American flag.I can live through the cold and the being alone,Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the weight of killing another,Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..Who stand at the front against any and all,To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

" So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,Your family is waiting and I'll be all right.""But isn't there something I can do, at the least,"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,"Just tell us you love us, and never forget. To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,To stand your own watch, no matter how long.For when we come home, either standing or dead,To know you remember we fought and we bled.Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Getting To Know Your Friends....At CHRISTmas

Here's a little fun facts about me to kick of the Christmas Season:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I use both and like them both
2.. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial
3. When do you put up the tree? The Day After Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? The Day After Christmas (I actually start Christmas night after everyone has gone to bed) Is that wrong??
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, in small doses though
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My atari 2600 :-)
7. Hardest person to buy for? My HUSBAND and My Parents
8. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes -
9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail - on December 1
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of one - but I'm sure there's been a few...
11. Favorite Christmas Movie? The classics, Frosty, Charlie Brown, Rudolf :-)
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year - EXCEPT Black Friday
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes -Sad but true
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Snack foods
15. Lights on the tree? White only - you know I am anti color :-)
16. Favorite Christmas song? I LOVE them ALL
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? HOME!!! With a house full
18. Can you name all 9 of Santa's reindeer's? Donnor, Dixon, Comet, Dasher, Dancer...I guess not
19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star on one Angel on the other
20. Open the presents Christmas eve or Christmas day? Christmas DAY - except at my parents. We always spend Christmas Eve with them.
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? NOTHING!!!! This is my FAVORITE time of year
22. Favorite ornament theme or color? My ornaments all have a story, memory or meaning. None are just ornaments.
23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Prime rib roast -our family tradition
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? All pictures hung - its been 5 years!!
25. Who is most likely to respond to this? YOU - please leave a comment or link to your blog with your Christmas Fun Facts.