First Snow Pictures

Thanksgving and Praise

This doxology has been sung by Christians for hundreds of years now. In a few very short verses, theology, praise, and thanksgiving come together in a glorious way.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Amen

Go here to read a short, but very good article on this doxology and thankfulness. After that, go here to read a Puritan prayer of thankfulness and praise.

And may all of your days be filled with thanksgiving and praise unto the One from whom all blessings flow!

The Day of Good Food

My Culinary Feast began this morning with a delightful breakfast of pumpkin cream cheese muffins, sausage, Promised Land chocolate milk, orange juice, and coffee with peppermint mocha flavor. Oh my. My sister set the table with candles and cards with "thanksgiving" verses on them, cute plates and napkins. It was so pretty that I nearly thought that I had slept through the day and had just woke up in time for dinner. But no, the day of feasting had only just begun...
In two hours I will be gorging on turkey, ham, my grandmother's famous dressing, cranberry sauce, my mom's famous sweet potato souffle, bread, corn, carrots, green bean casserole, and whatever other people are bringing that I won't know about 'till I get to the feasting site. For dessert there is Hunter's apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, Ashley's famous cheesecake, cookies, and I don't know what else.

Every year it is tradition to go to my Gran's house for the dinner. Anyone and everyone are welcome and there is always enough food for all. It is a tradition that I love and can't imagine life without. I think that I will always, for as long as I live, envision Thanksgiving as that delightful day of feasting, family and memories made at my Grandmother's.

I think I will be starving myself tomorrow. But today will surely be worth it...

Candy Cane Scarf

My first holiday project for '06 is finished! It is destined for an auction at a family reunion Thanksgiving weekend.

Does not my little sister look adorable? :-)

Special thanks to the highly-creative Rachel, who gave me the pattern which I only slightly modified.

 

It's Official...

The Holidays are here! 

Election Rally

I know, it's blurry. It's bright. And you can't see the President. (Cell phone cameras. Need I say more?) But here is a video that you can watch to make up for my bad pictures. I think that President Bush's speech ran over 30 mins., but I'm not positive. And would you believe, most of the crowd stayed on their feet during the entire rally? Wow. I lasted about 10 mins. into the President's speech before I had to sit down. 

President Bush in Dallas

I'm not an enthusiastic Republican. I'm not always crazy about what the President does (okay, I'll admit - he does a lot less than he should). But give me a seat at a rally with him speaking on the eve of a big election and I'll be there. And enjoy the experience, too.

After a performance by Casting Crowns, someone came out and pumped the crowd for the Lt. Governor up for re-election. (Oh, yeah, this is really supposed to be about the gubernatorial race). After about ten minutes of extolling his virtues, he vacated the platform and for about ten minutes we waited for Governor Perry and the President. They entered at last to a wild, resounding ovation. Rick Perry spoke first, the President followed. He flattered us, cajoled us and convinced us that everything was okay, especially if we just keep the Republicans elected. It was everything you would expect a campaign speech to be. People stamped, applauded and "amen-d" throughout his entire speech. Clearly he was the man of the hour in Dallas that night. Say what you want to about the President, but give him this: he knows how to win with the people.As I analyzed, criticized and took apart his speech in my mind, I did remember that with all of his bad points, his failed promises to his conservative voters, and his ambivalent faith, I did vote for him and this is why:

1. He's Texan. (Okay, so my priorities were a little off :-) )
2. He was shown to be a strong leader after September 11.
3. He has kept the economy and nation together.
4. It was speculated that he would replace at least one Supreme Court Justice in his term, turns out he has replaced two, and will possibly replace another. Who would be sitting on the Supreme Court bench had John Kerry been elected? I shudder to think..
5. Although not as straightforward about his beliefs as I think he should be, and though a little too ambivalent for my tastes, he certainly isn't reticent about his faith, either.
6.He was better than John Kerry. Period.

There are others, but I probably don't need to go on. I just want to make it clear that I am not blind to the President's faults, his double standards, or his bad policies. But I honestly believe that he has been a not-so-bad and a better-than-I-expected President. I feel as though progress has been made on the war on terror. I applaud him for stating the facts of terror and terrorists as they are and not trying to sugar coat them as the Dems. have done. Thank goodness one evil maniac has been brought to justice now.
All in all, it was quite an event and I am grateful to have been able to witness it.

Oh, I can't forget about the protesters. Especially since this was my second encounter in a month's time with political protestors.(It just isn't a political anything without protesters, eh?). They made some really idiotic remarks, and waved around some really ignorant and dumb posters. They stayed busy chanting, yelling and fighting with the Republicans. It was interesting to walk into the rally with them vigorously protesting everything under the sun pertaining to the President. Thank goodness they were contained on the other side of the street, because as the night wore on they got worse, and it was very unnerving to walk out after dark and have to face their jeers and all-around weirdness. You wonder what sort of people these are by day, and are they safe? :-)

It was finally time for the announcement...
Alas, the boys did not win.




They claim that it was because they sat on the "loser's row". Apparently, none of the semi-finalists and finalists sitting on their row won anything.


Instead of being discouraged at not winning anything, my brothers came away on fire with ideas for next year's submission. No trailers this time; they are now working on a movie instead. Details forthcoming... 

Outside of the Lila Cockrell theater.  

On the way to the awards ceremony Saturday evening.
Hunter and Mom were on their phones messaging family members.







































Beaming faces. Beautiful smiles. :-)

Vision Forum's San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, Day 2, was a long (and interesting) day. In the early afternoon, we had the privilege of hearing Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr., lecture, which, as always, is a treat for those who will stay to listen. We were not disappointed in this second of of his lectures delivered at the festival.
Sorry for the blurry picture above.


On our way back to the hotel, we stopped over a bridge to look over this scene. I grabbed the camera as fast as I could, but still missed a perfect photo op with a bird taking flight over the water. Bummer! So I took pictures of my brothers taking a moment to contemplate the scene, and who look a little nervous at this point in the day. Finalist results were only a few hours away...

Friday night at the Festival featured Stephen Kendrick, producer of the church-made film Facing the Giants.

 

 

Laughter and fun at dinner
 

Coffee on the Riverwalk on the first day of the film festival. These pictures were taken at a Starbucks/Hear Music store, one of only four in the Nation. It is quite a departure from the coffee house ambience that Starbucks is traditionally known for.

Random shots from Day 1 at the Film Festival

Making our way to dinner on the Riverwalk 

Riverwalk at night