Friday, December 21, 2007

The Word Became Flesh....













So here goes the preacher in me....

I just heard an amazing revelation (to me)about the date of Christmas. If you have been a believer for any amount of time, you've probably heard the Biblical Historical evidence that Jesus was almost certainly NOT born on December 25th.

Unlike my son Thor -- who was was trying to assure me that baby Jesus really was born at midnight on the 24/25th. (Got to LOVE that childlike faith... he doesn't need all the reasons why... he just believes). On the other side of that argument, I don't think there is anything wrong with going through the historical records, or scientific evidence to prove the Word of God. I know God's Word is true, because the Spirit living in me has given me the internal and external proof I need....

The clues given in Luke and Matthew's accounts of the birth of Jesus, give us a timeline for the actual birth date of our Savior -- likely sometime between September 25 - 29th. If you remember, there is an account of Jesus being circumcised on the 8th day, and is mentioned that is was also the Great Feast of the Tabernacles. This feast lasts for 8 days, meaning her was born on the First Day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Isn't it interesting how God chooses to have significant things happen on the same dates... consider also Passover and Easter. I really do love that about God.... His Word says that he will give us signs, all we have to do is keep a watchful eye open for them. (I think that also means a watchful Spirit, since not everything that is REAL is "visible" from our human perspective).

Is there any spiritual significance to December 25th, or was it really just a Pagan holiday turned "Christian" by the early believers/church? I have to say that in my heart of hearts it never bothered me if Dec. 25th was just a day someone "picked" to celebrate the birth of Jesus... In our modern world, people have tried to take Christ out of Christmas -- and focus on the material and commercial aspects of the Season... but for centuries before that Christmas really was (and is) a Holy Day for believers. The word "Holidays" derives from the Jewish "Holy Days." God created us with a need to celebrate and to honor special events.

Did God have a hand in helping the early church in choosing December 25th? I happen to believe so... and now there is evidence** of the significance of the 25th of Dec. In Jewish tradition there is a Holy Day late in December that is called the St. Michael and the Angels Feast... not recognized much now... but it is in their historical records. Isn't it interesting that we have a lot of Angels in our Christmas account too? ."


This is the MOST fascinating point.... If you count back 9 months, from the date of Jesus assumed actual birthday - September 25th, you arrive at a conception date of December 25th!! This was the day when the Angel Gabriel visited Mary.... and to quote John 1:14 "The Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us."

How Awesome is that!!! I believe that life begins at the moment of conception... and perhaps this was God's way of marking Jesus REAL entry into this world... the day of his conception! The Holy Day for St. Michael and the Angels Feast was one small sign set in place centuries before... to mark the time when another Angel would play an important role in our Christmas Story!

**from Bruggerman's Bible Commentary - Appendix, page 198.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Liv is growing up!!


ok.. It's probably unfair to post new "happenings" with Liv, and not post a current pictuer... but I don't have a picture a the moment... Liv is sleeping... so I'm not going to wake her... and if I don't get this blog done now, while she is sleeping... I'm in danger of never getting it done!!

Liv has had a big month as far as baby milestones:
- she started sitting up on her own
- she can pull herself up to a standing position
- she is crawling
- she is waving bye-bye
- she wants to give kisses, but trust me, no one really wants one from her (too WET!)

Pretty good for our little 8 month old! This morning I left Anika and Liv at home with my dad for the morning while I went to Zion to make Julekake with Thor's 2nd grade class. (christmas bread) As I was leaving, I waved goodbye to Liv and said in my best baby-mommie talk "bye-bye"... Liv was doing her usual "mommie I don't want you to leave - laugh - cry" and said clear as a bell..."bye - bye"... My dad and I were both speachless... I have a witness for this, so it's not shameless mommy bragging!! But I couldn't get her to repeat it when I got home today???

Since I didn't have any good pics of the kids today, I thought I'd share some pics
from one of our favorite Christmas books -- The Christmas Treasury by Jan Brett. The stories are wonderful, adventuresome and fun, even for growing-up boys... but the drawings are the MOST amazing kids's-book illustrations I've ever seen. Thor, Anika and I all love "The Trouble with Trolls."

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

What is that thing called?

I just have to share Anika's latest...
As we are sitting at hockey practice, waiting for the ice to be reconditioned...

"Mom, when is the zambalonie going to come out again?"
"yes, honey... Zamboni... "

smiles

Can we EVER get the Lefse made?


I think most of you know "lefse"... if not, I've included a handy little photo.

It's been a family tradition for as many years as we can trace our family (at least back to 1890's). For my brothers and I, the connect is my Grandma Alice. In the years I knew her, she made lefse completely from scratch in her tiny little cottage house on the farm. I don't have a lot of memories of Grandma cooking anything... but lefse is kind of memorable because it's such a MESS!

Grandma was a pro, for sure. I still don't think my lefse is as good as hers. But I guess she had about 60 years experience under her belt before I even tasted it! I've been making it since I was about 20 (don't do the math, but I guess that makes 16 years for me). Grandma died when I was 12, and there was NO LEFSE for the family holidays. No one else had made it without Grandma before. (well, maybe Layne did once in college or something??) I was home from college and told mom, I think we need to make lefse. Thank goodness she knew the basic technique (also kind of messy)... becuase Grandma's recipe looked like a mystery to me.

As I recall it looked something like this:
10 pounds white potatoes with butter, salt, sugar and milk.
Mash. Rice.
Add
1 stick of butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt2 cups flour
more flour

Roll. Bake.


After a few tries and lots of severe mess ups... we finally arrived at a product that was soft, mostly round... and great with butter and sugar!

I remeber asking Grandma some other time of year,
"when are you going to make lefse again?" She replied quickly,
"lefse is for Christmas, ONLY."

Anyway, back to my point. I can give up a lot of things at Christmas, for the purpose of preserving my sanity.... we don't do stockings (or Santa), we have a VERY small tree (this year), we aren't doing a lot of Christmas cookies (becuase the two adults in the house would like to try to NOT gain weight this holiday season)... but I just can't have Christmas without some sort of lefse.... somewhere.



OK -- I have to re-phrase that.... "Some sort of lefse" does not equal mass-produced or commercially produced lefse. If I was satisfied with that, I'd go really cheap and schmear butter and sugar on a white flour tortilla. (sorry Jason).

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Christmas Crazy

Just got home from spending a fun afternoon at Gp's Moeller's. Not like it's far away... just down the street. But somehow, when we get there no one wants to move (after dinner)... even it it's less than 100 yards to get to our house!

Mom and Dad had a great dinner of baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravey, veggies, bread.... and warm apple crisp with ice cream for dessert. I REALLY wanted to take a nap after dinner, but Thor needed to get ready for hockey practice (3:30 p.m.) and Dirk wanted to get our drives and sidewalks "blown" of the snow. He hadn't had a chance to blow snow since the last snow fall on Friday. We have a lovely blanket, with a few inches of snow ... frosty trees, etc. It really looks like Christmas now!

Everyone has been asking.. I'm not sure why... but I give the same answer... Yes, I love the snow... all of November and December, snow is GREAT! Then, by the end of January I'm DONE with it. I'd love to spend February and March in 50-60 degree weather, with just nice rain... but no mud.... I know - it's not a physical possiblity... but that is my "dream" world. So yes, the snow now is great... we're supposed to have snow, it's Christmas!

Anika, Liv and I stayed home the rest of the afternoon and made Spritz cookies with Grandpa and Grandma. Liv was her normal happy self until JUST before I was ready to get the cookies put out on the pan. She just wouldn't be consoled by anyone... so Grandpa picked her up, to discover she was REALLY wet all over... how silly were we. She hadn't been changed since before she went down for a nap... and was quite upset about it all. 10 mintues later and dry diaper in place... and we were back on track... baking cooking and making memories!

Now we're getting ready to watch The Amazing Race -- eat a little popcorn and snuggle in for the night. Hope you are having a cozy eveing too?!