Sheets to the wind, or to the trash

 I’m sure this is going to be one of my more bizarre posts. I mean, look at that picture!

 

So, it was the week before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even whatever this face was on my bed. 

 

Ok, just kidding. Seriously. The week before Christmas, I washed the sheets and was putting them back on the bed when I noticed this grimace. I knew the sheets were getting thin, but I didn’t realize they were this worn until these rips started staring at me. 

 

Good thing I had bought a set of sheets for Santa to give Hubby and me on Christmas morning. Except that my OCD would definitely not allow me to leave a fitted sheet in this condition on the bed. 

 

I didn’t have time to wrap the new sheets, much less get them on the bed – “Surprise, Honey, looks like Santa got us sheets a week early and even put them on for us!” as we were crawling under the covers that night. 

 

Looking at the calendar just now, I should have been really quick-thinking and wished him Happy Hanukkah! 

 

Anyway, that’s how my week before Christmas began. Yes, it got better, and actually, the thing with the sheets was just that – a dumb thing that happens to us all. And it’s not like Hubby really thought Santa was bringing him any presents this year. Or was he?

 

Hope you had a good holiday and that we all head into the New Year safe, healthy and prosperous. 

The Everlasting Light

           That night, some shepherds were in the fields nearby watching their sheep. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord was shining around them, and they became very frightened. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good news that will be a great joy to all the people. Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ, the Lord. This is how you will know him: You will find a baby wrapped in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding box.”

Then a very large group of angels from heaven joined the first angel, praising God and saying:

“Give glory to God in heaven, and on earth let there be peace among the people who please God.” (Luke 2:8-14, New Century Version)

Merry Christmas one and all.

Light in the Darkness

“The sun shall no longer be your light by day, Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory. Your sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the Lord will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning shall be ended.” (Isaiah 60:19-20, New King James Version)

This picture is of the moon about to set early one winter morning in March. Sometimes we watch the moon come up in the eastern sky, but I don’t remember ever seeing the moon this bright as it was sinking in the west. I wanted to write something about the first Christmas today, but nothing came to mind, except this picture of the moon.

The Old Testament book of Isaiah is filled with prophecy, some pretty obvious (such as Isaiah 7:14 – “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”), but many more are quite obscure.

The verses above, for me, seem like the obvious kinds. God is sending a Savior, One brighter than the sun or the moon, One who will never dip beyond the horizon to leave us in darkness. A Savior who will be the Light of the world, who will last forever.

And it all began when Jesus was born on that dark night in Bethlehem.  

LIGHTS

 A year ago this past Monday, my blog post here told about an amazing pre-Christmas gift we received. The linemen for public service showed up at one a.m. to fix the power line that had been down for three days, leaving us without electricity, which meant no lights, no heat and no water. When their trucks pulled into our yard, lights lighting up the entire yard, it must have been what the shepherds witnessed when the angels appeared, declaring Jesus’ birth.

This morning I was thinking about that Christmas miracle, and it brought tears to my eyes.

We take so much for granted – that our houses will be warm in the winter, that water will come out of the tap when we open the valve, that the food will stay cold in the refrigerator.  Even that when we flush the toilet our waste will magically disappear!

But, man, those lights in our yard that night! The lights in the field on the night Jesus was born. And as much as I like heat and water and power in my house, I really like the thought that a tiny Baby came to this earth so that I have received the greatest gift of all – eternal life.

We’re in the home stretch to Christmas now. Remember what it is all about.

I took this picture yesterday afternoon looking in the general direction of where that power line
was down. God is good. 

 

What is in your head? What was in Joseph's?

      As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21, New Living Translation)

It's so hard to believe that it’s only one week until Christmas. There’s so much to do yet – cards to get in the mail, presents to buy and to wrap, cookies to bake.

I’ll never understand why we get so consumed with preparations this time of year. Every year, I tell myself that I’m not going to make myself crazy doing all this stuff, and every year, I’m right there, running myself ragged.

We all need to step back to that first Christmas. Joseph, who just found out the woman he was betrothed to was pregnant with a child which wasn’t his. My head spins with all I have to do, but can you imagine what went through Joseph’s head? Yet, the only upcoming task he had to accomplish was getting Mary to Bethlehem so they could be counted in the census. When they left on that trip, I’m sure he never realized the Baby’s birth was so near.

This time of year, I think that’s what we need to focus on – the one and only thing that is truly important. Jesus Christ was born as an innocent Baby so He could grow up to save us from our sins. Everything else at this time of year is just frosting on the cookies or snow on the trees.

     Heavenly Father, bless us this time of year, when we need help remembering what we are really celebrating. And thank You for sending Your Son to us as a tiny Baby. Amen 

The Best Day

As I write this, a winter weather alert is in effect in my area. The roads are just beginning to ice up, and the weatherman predicts we will have a foot of new snow on the ground within 48 hours. What better time to post pictures from my best day ever on Diani Beach in Kenya this past October. Where, by the way, the forecast for today is mostly sunny and 85 degrees.   

Goodness, I can’t believe it has been a full two months since we were there! Seems like a lifetime ago.

Anyway, one afternoon, Denise, Val, and I took a walk up the beach just to see what we could see. The tide was out, leaving behind a wide swath of jagged rocks, pools of seawater, and stranded sea creatures.

As we were wandering around, a young man pulled a five-armed octopus out of the water to show us. It is actually a brittle star, a relative of the starfish. 

Pretty soon, two of his friends joined us, and we all walked and waded back down the beach.

The boys continued to pluck sea creatures out of the brine and tell us what each one was.

I wish I remembered the names of them all. Some are easy, such as the starfish.

The middle one is pregnant and upside down so we could see her belly.

No idea what these were called, but the boys said that if a man ate a handful of them it would be like nature’s Viagra. No thanks.

 A crab.

Can’t remember.

A sea urchin.

What a fun afternoon! . 

And beautiful too. 

And what nice young men they were. They offered to take us on their boat the next day, but we already had plans. We did give them a nice tip, though.

Who Do You Recognize?

    When Jesus was at the table with them, he took some bread, gave thanks, divided it, and gave it to them. And then, they were allowed to recognize Jesus. (Luke 24:30-31a, New Century Version)

Hubby had a Santa gig yesterday here in town. It gives us a warm feeling when kids walk in the door, see him, their faces light up, and they squeal, “Santa!”. He’s probably the most recognized character in our culture.

I’d like to think that the face of Jesus is just as recognizable. How many of us have seen that iconic picture of Jesus, where He is looking to the right. His beard is neatly trimmed, His hair is shoulder-length, and His eyes are looking ever so slightly upward. Type iconic picture of Jesus in any search engine and it will come up.

Wouldn’t it be exciting if Jesus was walking down the street of your town, and children ran up to Him, calling in delight, “Jesus!” And then, when He asked what they wanted for Christmas, they would say something like, “Just to always be with You!”

That’s what I want for Christmas – for everyone to recognize Jesus, know Him personally, take His hand and tell Him what they want. And even more so, for everyone to know Him without having to see Him in person, to know Him in their hearts. 

MONKEYS!

Yes, monkeys, monkeys everywhere.

At our AirBnb at Diani Beach, when the monkeys started coming out to greet us, we thought they were so cute. Just adorable.

I took way too many pictures of them.

Once we were lulled into a false sense of security, they quickly turned on us. They had one goal and one goal only – to eat all of our food.

They got Denise first. We were all sitting on the veranda, talking and watching the monkeys. Denise was eating chips and videoing the monkeys, telling them that they were not going to get her chips. The little Cretans had it all planned. While one of the bigger ones was distracting her, two others attacked. The bowl and the chips flew all over. Somehow the bowl didn’t break, but the chips were gone, just like that. Like the turkey in the movie “A Christmas Story”. 

The next morning, Val was going to make French toast for breakfast. I don’t know what Denise and I were doing, but we weren’t paying attention. One of those bastard monkeys snuck into the kitchen and took the entire load of bread off the kitchen counter, within a foot of Val, and disappeared with it. I ran outside to look for the bread, but found nothing but monkeys with their mouths full, looking quite satisfied with themselves.

The next day, Val and Denise had taken a walk up the beach, while I stayed behind to lay out in the sun. I closed the doors when laying around, but then I got up to rinse out some of the clothes we had bought that morning and opened the doors to hang them on the line on the side of the house.

When I came back in, the bowl of fruit we had on the dining room table was empty. I saw a tail disappearing out the door. All that was left was one lone orange rolling on the floor. They got at least five pieces of fruit, including a hefty pomegranate.

The resident primates ate well that week. 

A Free Gift

         Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful for words. (2 Corinthians 9:15, New Century Version)

I finally started some Christmas shopping on Friday. I had coupons for two different stores and a gift card at another one. At the checkout at the fourth store, they gave me a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. I thought I did pretty good.

Here’s an even better deal. Turn your life over to God, accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you get eternal life! No need for coupons or gift cards or watching the fliers in the mail for in-store deals. This is a real deal because it’s Free. Like a get-out-of-jail-free card. And it kind of truly is.

We’re in prison because of our sins, but Jesus paid for our release by His death on the cross.

Advent started this past week. A time to prepare for Jesus’ birth, a time to learn and love. A time to buy gifts. And one of the most important gifts you can give is to share salvation with someone you love or someone you don’t even know. It’s a free gift. Start giving it away.

Heavenly Father, thank You for all the gifts You have so graciously given to us, us miserable sinners who don’t deserve anything from You. Mostly, thank You for the greatest Gift, Your Son Jesus. Amen.

Apparently, in 1973, the greatest gift for a 12-year-old was a cassette tape recorder.
Oh, how times have change. 

Belated Thanksgiving Greetings - and Food

Sorry that I didn’t post last Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. I had thoughts of sharing various meals with you, but sometimes company comes before food. Okay, company should always come before food.

Anyway, as usual, on any trip I take anywhere, I caught a few pictures of the food I ate on my last trip to Africa. So, instead of sharing my boring November turkey with the fixin’s, here’s some of the food from my October travels. 

I'm sorry about this one. The cat was not our food. But this was in Turkey (and not a turkey, it's still a cat). When we ate lunch at an outdoor café while in Istanbul, I didn't get a picture of what I ate, but I did take one of the cat at the next table over. 

 

This is breakfast while we were at the Masa Mara safari camp. Kenya has the most wonderful breakfasts! Simple omelet, potatoes and sausage, but man, they're good. 

This was probably the fourth time I ate at Bistro't Bistro Cafe in
Kikuyu town. Always great food. I had the zucchini lasagna. Just amazing!

My friend Denise's cheeseburger and fries. She'll eat other stuff but a cheeseburger is always her "go-to" meal.  

Last there was the pizza at that place. Cannot go wrong no matter what you order. 

Then we flew to our beach house in Diani and bought some veges at a street market to cook up for our first dinner. 

The next night we went to Oasis Bar and Restaurant at the Bahari Dhow resort. I ordered the chicken alfredo but got the spaghetti. But it was really good, and I didn't care because our waiter was a hotty named Raphael. 

And this non-alcoholic fruit drink was pretty good too. 

Our last night we went out to eat at Ali Barbour's Cave Restaurant. This restaurant is in an actual cave and is one of those must-go-to places while at Diani. This was my cheesy cave chicken. 

My tale of food and drink wouldn't be complete without this horrible picture of me drinking from a coconut on the beach. Ahhh, vacation!

I Pray for You All

         My friends, how I wish with all my heart that my own people might be saved! How I pray to God for them! (Romans 10:1, Good News Translation)

I feel so bad for people who do not believe in the Triune God or that Jesus died for our sins so that we may have eternal life. I don’t know how they can get out of bed in the morning and face the day, how they can find any joy in accepting that this is all there is to life and that once your body dies, you die.

My heart aches for those people. I just don’t understand how they cannot listen to the Gospel and be moved to faith. Or how they don’t go searching for the Truth to find peace in their hearts and minds. Or how they at one time knew Jesus as their Savior and turned their backs on Him.

It’s been a rough couple of months for me. Okay, who am I kidding, it’s been a rough year. I think it has been for most people. But I am able to get out of bed each morning and keep plugging away, because I know this is temporary. I know that someday, when God calls me to my eternal home, that then each sunrise will be more spectacular than the day before. I know that I will be with my loved ones who have died with faithful hearts. I know that all pain and anguish will be gone.   

Jesus said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, New Living Translation)

Jesus overcame the world for each and every one of us. All you have to do is have faith. Believe. Turn your hearts and your minds over to Jesus. I pray for you all.

Another place where we stayed

I still feel off kilter from all that has been going on the last few weeks. Trying to get back into the routine. And here it is Tuesday night, and I need to put a blog post together for your entertainment.

Back to Kenya we go.

My daughter, my friend, and I rented an AirBnb on Diani Beach for four days, as you probably already know.

It was a beautiful, large house, with three full bedrooms and two full baths. But the best part was that it was right on the beach, with beautiful views of the Indian Ocean, lots of privacy, and still a short walk to the main road through town. In walking distance to stores and restaurants. 

The living room and dining space

Val's bedroom 

Denise's bedroom 

My bedroom. 

                                                                                         

The bathroom Denise and I shared. 

Val's bathroom. 

The kitchen, which like most of the kitchens I've seen in Kenya, was nothing special. But we could still cook in it, once we figured out how to turn on the stove. There was a frig too but no microwave. 

The path leading up to the house, way in the back of the trees.  

The veranda over looking the ocean. 

The veranda again. 

If the house was lacking in anything, this view made up for it all (minus my feet, of course). 

Yes, that view. 

If you go to the AirBnb listing, you'll see that most of my pictures are exactly the same as their's. Not on purpose. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/46044023?adults=3&children=0&infants=0&pets=0&check_in=2022-10-10&check_out=2022-10-14&source_impression_id=p3_1669169650_JGDDOeL%2B7FKV1k9J