The Pillow Chronicles continued...

www.mypillow.com

This could be the answer I have been looking for!! Last night I was flipping through the channels and landed on an infomercial for pillows, yes pillows!!! Who knew?

So, in my desperate attempt for a pain free sleep I watched the show and this morning went online to check out the price. Wow, $89.95 for a pillow.

Me: Dialing phone, ring, Oprah is that you?

Oprah: Yes, who is this?

Me: An occasional viewer who saw your show a few years back on pillows.

Oprah: Oh.

Me: I just spent $89.95 plus 25% discount, plus $9.95 for shipping, total $77 and change, on a pillow!!!

Oprah: Oh.

Me: This could be the real reason you are no longer on the air.

Oprah: Oh.

Me: Sleep tight Oprah.

So, as you can see, I just ordered "the pillow" hoping all those testimonials are true and my sleep life will dramatically change as promised. 10 year warranty, 90 day money back guarantee. We shall see...

Me: Honey, can I order "the pillow"?

Hubby: Really, you are going to spend that much on a pillow?

Me: It has a 10 year warranty, a 90 day money back guarantee, it's worth every penny to get a good night's sleep. There are testimonies.

Hubby: They pay those people to say that.

Me: So, can I buy it?

Hubby: Really, you are going to spend that much on a pillow?

Me: That is not an answer. Yes or no, ugh!!! (Men, really can't they just answer the question posed to them)

Hubby: What are you going to give up?

Me: What????

Hubby: You know, which bill are we not going to pay so you can have "the pillow"?

Me: Sorry kids, no dinner tonight, momma needs her sleep.

Stay tuned...

The Pillow Chronicles

UGH!!!! Pillow #7... I have now purchased 7, that's right, 7 pillows and none of them are comfortable.

This is all Oprah's fault. She had a show on that talked about how you need to replace your pillow every year. Okay. We had our pillows for like 4 years!!! So, the hunt was on, of course hubby found his after 2 pillows and he's sleeping like a baby. Me, well, my backs hurts with that one, my neck hurt with this one, etc. The latest pillow, my shoulders are pinching in pain. I decided at dinner to wash my old pillow in hot water and dry it in the dryer and hope for the best. Forget Oprah, what does she know, she can buy millions of pillows. I bet the pillow people love her now. Sales have probably quadrupled since that fateful episode aired.

I will keep you posted on the pillow chronicles.

Sleep well my friends.

Merry Christmas

It's all about JESUS!!!! Jesus is the reason for the season...

And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Do you have room for Jesus?

He is the Savior of the world, that is why He came.

Savior
One who provides salvation, The word Savior often includes the related meanings of Deliverer, Protector, Preserver. One who would offer Himself as a sacrifice to provide redemption for all.

Luke 19:10 sums it all up, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Are you lost today?

Come to the Savior, today is the day of salvation, do not wait. There is always room and wise men and women still seek Him.

Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King!

The Wise Men & The Shepherds

It's Christmas Eve, Yikes!!! I am a little behind in my blog so this will be a double post...





THE WISE MEN

The wise men understood the following verse;

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:1-4

They were astronomers, wise men, magi from the the East, these were very educated and smart men.

"For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him". Matthew 2:2

Behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. Matthew 2:9-10




THE SHEPHERDS

I love that the angel of the Lord appeared to ordinary shepherds tending their flock. Remember Jesus is the great shepherd who watches over his "sheep". This is what happened to those shepherds;

Behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around then, and they were greatly afraid. The the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you, you will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. Luke 2:9-12

And if that was not enough, SUDDENLY, I love when God does a SUDDENLY!

And SUDDENLY there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" Luke 2:13-14

1 More day..

Joseph continued...

First things first, Joseph was NOT the physical father of Jesus! Matthew makes that very clear in the previous genealogy post, Joseph was the husband of Mary. Joseph was a direct descendant of David.

Let's pick up where we left off in the book of Matthew.

Mat 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just [man], and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." 22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," [fn] which is translated, "God with us." 24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. [fn] And he called His name JESUS.

Verses 1- 17 in the previous post establishes Jesus as a legal son of Joseph, verses 18-25 deny that Joseph was Jesus' physical father. The first was necessary to establish Jesus' lineage to David and His royal right to be King. The second was necessary to establish His qualifications to be the Savior of all people. Jesus was God's Son and not merely Joseph's.

I hope you learned a little more about Joseph, he was a gracious and just man. He obeyed the Lord.

4 more days until Christmas...

Next up, the wise men.

Joseph

Today and tomorrow we will look at what the Bible tells us about Joseph (Mary's husband). The Gospel of Matthew tells us the genealogy, and in my opinion, it is SO important. It's lengthy but crucial, God preserved his line, all the way to Joseph!!!! I will let the scriptures speak for themselves...


Mat 1:2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.


Mat 1:3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.


Mat 1:4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.


Mat 1:5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,


Mat 1:6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her [who had been the wife] [fn] of Uriah.


Mat 1:7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. [fn]


Mat 1:8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.


Mat 1:9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.


Mat 1:10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, [fn] and Amon begot Josiah.


Mat 1:11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.


Mat 1:12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.


Mat 1:13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.


Mat 1:14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.


Mat 1:15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.


Mat 1:16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.


Mat 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David [are] fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon [are] fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ [are] fourteen generations.

Mary Did You Know - Kathy Mattea

This is a beautiful song!!!

If Mary and Joseph Used Facebook

7 more days until Christmas...

Okay, so we have talked about lights, cookies, movies, songs, all things Christmas. Really?

Mary did you know that your Baby Boy, would someday walk on water?

The rest of the week we will look at the most important event in human history, HIStory.

Let's start with Mary.

Today at church we talked about Mary, it was an excellent teaching. Listen here at:
New sermon posted: "Favor - The Story of Mary" http://bit.ly/sdfvmr It will be time worth spent.

Enjoy this very creative video.

Christmas Lights!

I love crazy Christmas Lights!!!


2012 In Lights!!!



The second house is a lot of different characters, Tigger, Snoopy, etc..



Santa's Landing Strip



Pretty House with white lights


8 More Days until Christmas...

Christmas Cookies

Another one of my favorite things...

Christmas Cookies!!

When we moved into our house 13 years ago, we started a tradition, I baked lots of cookies with the help of my husband :) and we delivered them to our neighbors on Christmas Eve. I should say that my husband and the kids delivered them. Now that the kids are older, it's hubby on his own in his Santa hat. The territory has enlarged too, we've expanded to other parts of the lake community we live. HOWEVER, this year I have NO OVEN!!! Hello, how do you bake with NO OVEN!!! So, the tradition will have to take a break this year and there will be no cookies. We have found ourselves apologizing to the various cookie recipients and telling them there will be no cookies. I will keep you posted on the oven chronicles as we figure out whether to fix it or get a new one. Anyway, the following is a recipe of one of the cookies I put in the cookie bags for the neighbors, enjoy!!!!

Secret Kiss Cookies

1 cup Soft Butter

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

2 cups Flour

1 cup Walnuts (Chopped)

Powdered Sugar

Hershey Kisses

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Blend in the flour and walnuts to form a dough ball. Form about 1 tsp of dough around a Hershey Kiss and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until golden (do not overbake) While the cookies are hot, roll in powdered sugar and let cool.

YUMMY!!!!!!!

The pic below are simple cutouts, you can use ready made dough like Pillsbury and roll and cut your favorite shapes and decorate. This is fun to do with kids.

Happy Baking.

11 days till Christmas...

The Nativity Story Trailer

A few more of my favorite things...

Christmas Movies

A Charlie Brown Christmas - Love this, have it on DVD, who can not sing along to Hark the Herald Angels Sing at the end

Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer and Frosty - Classic cartoons still on TV today

The Preacher's Wife - One of my favorites, see clip above from the movie which features Whitney Houston at her finest, it is said that when they made the movie and this part was filmed, the presence of God was so evident in this scene that director Penny Marshall was amazed!! She sings I Love the Lord/Joy to the World in this clip. Makes you want to shout Hallelujah!!!!! One of things I miss about being in a Pentecostal church, sometimes you just have to SHOUT unto the Lord.

The Nativity Story - If you have not seen this film, you must!! Beautifully written and directed. The Wise Men's role (they were astronomers who understood the signs in the sky, hence, following the North Star) is like the Bible come to life.

Joy to the World, the Lord has come!!

Christmas Songs

16 more days until Christmas!

I decided to blog about all things Christmas and a few of my favorite things...

Christmas Music - Here is Third Day performing Oh Come all ye Faithful

Enjoy!

12 days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me;

A partridge in a pear tree...

The Origin of the Twelve Days of Christmas

You're all familiar with the Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" I think. To most it's a delightful nonsense rhyme set to music. But it had a quite serious purpose when it was written.

It is a good deal more than just a repetitious melody with pretty phrases and a list of strange gifts.

Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England, were prohibited from ANY practice of their faith by law - private OR public. It was a crime to BE a Catholic.

The songs gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith. The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, it refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so..."

The other symbols mean the following:

2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

Very interesting...

People I admire...

Tim Tebow - Quarterback, Denver Broncos - Standing firm in his faith

Jackie and Sue - Dear friends and the most generous people I know

The people who make up the TV show Extreme Home Makeover - Giving back to those less fortunate, I cry every time I watch the show

My husband - Always doing what it takes to support his family

There are many people I admire but was thinking about these tonight.

Who do you admire? Can you name three and why?

Admire - to regard with high esteem

Quote of the Day

I really like A.W. Tozer, he really got it, he would not recognize Christianity today. A prophetic voice that still speaks after all these years.

"The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it." -A.W. Tozer

Aiden Wilson Tozer
Born	April 21, 1897 La Jose (now Newburg),Pennsylvania, USA
Died	May 12, 1963 (aged 66)
Occupation	pastor, author
Religion	Christian and Missionary Alliance(C&MA)
Spouse	Ada Cecelia Pfautz

Movie Review - The Grace Card

I had movie night with my friend Diane last night and we watched The Grace Card. A three hankie movie with a great message. There are some powerful scenes and a few twists and turns. The main message of the movie is grace, the grace we have received and the grace we should extend to others.

"I promise to pray for you every day, ask your forgiveness, grant you the same and be your friend, ALWAYS."

There is a scene in the movie where the two men go down on their knees, and in my opinion, there is nothing greater than humbling yourself before a Holy God. I have been thinking about this, bending your knee and what the Bible has to say about it, stay tuned...

I highly recommend The Grace Card to be reminded how important grace is, to us and to others.

Grace - unmerited favor

Santa on Facebook