Christmas Reflections

This Christmas season I was reminded of something we don't often focus on - how God purposely uses "lowly" people to shine through.  First my church did a series in December leading up to Christmas called "The Mother of God" that focused on the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Most people are familiar with the nativity story and as someone who grew up going to church it's easy to overlook things and just remember a familiar story.  I learned a few things I didn't know from this series, like the fact that Joseph probably took Mary with him to Bethlehem to spare her from the gossiping since she was pregnant before they were officially married.  Also, that the part in the story where the shepherds follow the star and visit Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus would not have been a good thing - in that day shepherds were considered the lowest class of people and they were not even allowed to testify in court, so their visit would have been seen by most people of that time as something bad.  I also learned that when Joseph and Mary took Jesus to be presented in the temple after 30 days they were so poor that they had to get special permission from the priests to sacrifice a pair of doves instead of the typical lamb.

This reminded me that God does everything for a reason and every aspect of Jesus' birth was done to make a point.  In Isaiah Jesus' birth is prophesied and he is described as "...[having] no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account." (Isaiah 53: 2b-3).  God did all of this purposely because if Jesus came from a wealthy family or royalty then the common people wouldn't be able to relate to Him at all.  People would say He was who He was because of a privileged background, but He came to lift up the broken and humble the mighty.  If He came from a family that was "something" that would have been the focus not God.  One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 12:9 that says "My grace is sufficient for you; my strength is made perfect in weakness."  If God used strong, powerful people to fulfill His will people might not see God in it, but when He uses weak, lowly, despised people it is obvious that something beyond that person is at work.

The second thing that reminded me of all this was an annual Christmas concert that my church hosts called "Behold the Lamb of God" which was written by Andrew Peterson.  Chad & I have gone to this concert for 6 years now and every year I'm reminded of how powerful it is.  Andrew Peterson basically decided to write a Christmas concert that really focused on Jesus.  He starts in the Old Testament and the prophecies about the Messiah who was to come and goes all the way through the birth of Jesus.  Not only is Andrew Peterson and the other musicians who join him extremely talented, but the songs and the perspective of the Christmas story is very powerful and moving.  This has become one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

So the combination of this series at church and the "Behold the Lamb of God" concert just really reiterated to me how God does everything for a reason and it's all to try to bring us to Him.  One of my friends recently posted a quote on Facebook from a Penn Jilette book that was talking about how if every religion was wiped out with no trace it would never be recreated the same again - more nonsense might be created, but not the exact same nonsense, whereas if all the scientific discoveries were wiped out science is true so it would eventually be rediscovered.  While I agree that "religion" does not always represent God well, I don't agree that anything to do with God is nonsense.  God has been revealing Himself to us since the beginning of time and He will continue to do so.  Humans tend to screw things up even with the best of intentions, but that doesn't mean that God isn't real.  There are so many layers to God that we'll never be able to comprehend with our small human minds.  But, yet He is always there showing us that He is at work in our lives and everything down to the smallest detail was done for a purpose.

Christmas at our house

We had a very relaxing Christmas this year.  I had 4 days off work and even though we saw a lot of family, it was very relaxing to have that time off.  Christmas Eve is when Chad & I do a lot of our traditions.  We go to the Christmas Eve service at church, eat dinner at Outback, then drive around looking at Christmas lights.  When we get back home we watch the movie "The Family Stone."  On Christmas Day we open our gifts and we also have some gifts for the cats too.  Here are some pictures from our Christmas at home and also a short video of Sandy & Roxy playing with new toys and hiding in wrapping paper:

Christmas with Family

This year for Christmas my Dad and Grandmother came up on Friday December 23 and we had our Christmas with my family that night.  It was really good to see both my Dad and my Grandmother and get to have our Christmas celebration a little early.  Then we saw Chad's family on Christmas Day at his Grandmother Ruby's house.  Here are pictures from both Christmas celebrations with our families:

Christmas Concert and Light Show

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is going to see the Behold the Lamb of God concert at our church.  This is a very unique Christmas concert in that the songs tell the story of Christ's birth from the Old Testament all the way through Christ's birth.  Andrew Peterson is the singer/songwriter who created this awesome concert.  The concert features Andrew Peterson and quite a few other musicians, singer/songwriters, etc.  The first half of the concert is the individual artists performing some of their work, then the second half is the Behold the Lamb of God songs.  It is so powerful and moving and it's one of my absolute favorite Christmas traditions.  This year I brought my camera and took a few pictures from the concert:




This year we also went with our friends Adam and Tiffany to see the light show at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. You drive through a light display and then actually get to drive on the Speedway track. It was VERY crowded when we went and we waited over an hour to get to the lights, then it took almost another 2 hours to get through all of it. It was OK, and I probably wouldn't go again, but we really enjoyed hanging out with Adam and Tiffany. Here are some pictures we took:

Friends Christmas Party

For the past few years we've had a Christmas party with some of our friends.  We've known these friends for years now and this has become one of our Christmas traditions.  We have a potluck meal and do a white elephant game with Christmas ornaments.  It's a lot of fun and now that some of our friends have kids we get to see the kids open up some gifts and just hang out with everyone.  Here are pictures from this year's party:

Christmas Cats

Sandy and Roxy LOVE to hang out under our Christmas tree.  Thankfully for the most part they leave the ornaments alone and don't try to climb the tree or anything.  They just like being under the tree.  Here are a few pictures of them at Christmastime:

Here are Roxy and Sandy both under the tree!

Sandy LOVES to get under the tree skirt - Roxy's trying to figure out what she's doing under there!

Sandy "hiding" under the tree skirt.

When it's colder and I wear more sweaters and Sandy likes to sleep on them on the drying rack!

Christmas Decorations

I love decorating for Christmas!  This year we spread it out over a few days since there was a lot to do.  First I pulled out all my Christmas candle decorations - and I have a lot thanks to Partylite over the years!  Then we put up the tree and our other decorations, and on another night we decorated the tree with ornaments.  Chad is always saying how we have too many Christmas ornaments, but you can never have too many!  And our tree is not overly full or anything.  Maybe when we're in a different house I can convince him to let me have more than one Christmas tree...  Here are most of our Christmas decorations:

Thanksgiving

This year Chad & I had two Thanksgivings.  We had a Thanksgiving meal with Chad's family at his Grandmother's house and my brother came to that with us, and we also had a small one at home just us.  For the one at home we roasted a chicken from the farmer's market and made a few side dishes.  We also gave the cats some turkey wet food for their own little Thanksgiving meal.  Here are the pictures from both our Thanksgiving celebrations:

Random fall photos

These are just some random photos that didn't fit in with any other posts.

This was a beautiful sunset in mid-November.

Roxy taking a closer look at the TV stand!

Tree Transition

You can definitely tell the seasons based on the tree in front of our house.  Here are a few pictures showing the transition in our tree this fall and heading into winter:

This first one was taken in early October when the tree was just starting to change.

This one was taken in early November when the tree was completely red.

This one was taken in mid-November after some very windy days cleaned off our tree.

If you look hard you can see a visitor to our tree - a cat!  I think it was after the birds who come to our feeder, but with no leaves to hide in I don't think any birds would have been fooled.

Ashe Co. Cheese 1998 and 2011

When Chad and I stayed in West Jefferson for our anniversary this year we visited Ashe Co. Cheese.  When I was a kid the church that my family attended had a retreat site in Blowing Rock, NC and one year we visited Ashe Co. Cheese while we were at our church's retreat.  I'm pretty sure it was 1998 and myself, my friend Nicole, my Mom, my brother Fielding, and another friend Ryan all went together.  When Chad & I went back to Ashe Co. Cheese this year the building had been expanded, but they still had their mouse mascot!  He was inside instead of outside and has been re-painted, so when we got home I started looking for the pictures from my 1998 visit.  I FINALLY found the pictures this week!  So, here is the 1998 and 2011 pictures of Ashe Co. Cheese:

Ryan, my Mom, Nicole, and Fielding with the Ashe Co. Cheese mascot.

Ryan, me, Nicole, and Fielding.

This one is my favorite - me & Fielding whispering to the mouse.

Me with the Ashe Co. Cheese mouse and the expanded store in 2011.

A close up of me and the mouse!

Partylite Candle Show

I have been a big fan of Partylite candles for quite a few years.  When I was in college my Mom actually was a consultant for a few years, so I have a LOT of Partylite stuff!  About every two years or so I have a party so I can get more candles for free.  I had a party on October 16 this year and ended up getting $300 in free stuff!  Here are some pictures from my show and also of all the free stuff I got for hosting a show:

Jay & Carri's Wedding

One of Chad's childhood friends got married on November 5, 2011.  Jay & Carri's wedding was absolutely beautiful!  It was outside, so it was pretty chilly, but the reception was in a heated tent so it wasn't outside the whole time.  Chad & Jay grew up in the same neighborhood, so Chad's Mom Brenda came with us to the wedding.  Also, one of my friends Mark actually officiated the ceremony, so that made it even more special for us.  I was also able to get Chad out on the dance floor which is VERY rare!  Here are some pictures from their beautiful wedding:

Rosa Lee's Birthday

We went to Wilmington for a quick weekend trip to see my Grandmother Rosa Lee for her birthday.  Normally my Mom comes to NC in October for my Grandmother's birthday, but since my Mom was here so long in April and May when my Grandmother was recovering from her hip replacement surgery she wasn't able to come back this October.  So, Chad & I wanted to go visit my Grandmother and celebrate her birthday with her.  The weather was overcast and cold while we were there, but I still love going to Wilmington any time of the year.  Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween

We always get our Halloween pumpkin from Hodges Farm.  It's one of the only working farms left in Mecklenburg county.  Here are pictures from me & Chad's trip to Hodges Farm, carving our pumpkin, and Halloween.

Demotivative Poster

If you've never checked out the website Despair.com it is hilarious!  It mocks all those inspirational and motivational posters that you see in offices with "demotivative" posters.  And actually a lot of their posters can also be purchased on mugs, mouse pads, etc.  I saw this one and thought it was so funny and I had to put it up on my blog!  I love posting on here, but I'm realistic and know I don't have a huge readership - it's mostly friends and family.  Anyway, I just thought this was really funny:

A Secret Gift

I just finished reading this very interesting book - A Secret Gift by Ted Gup.  Ted's Grandfather, Sam Stone, was a businessman in Canton, Ohio during the great depression.  Even though his business went into debt, he did not lose it.  Right before Christmas 1933 Sam Stone took out an ad in the local newspaper using a false name offering an annonymous gift of $10 to 75 families who were struggling that Christmas.  The response was so overwhelming that he changed it to $5 for 150 families.  A few years after his Grandfather passed away Ted's Grandmother gave him a suitcase of old family documents.  When Ted went through the suitcase he found an envelope with the original newspaper ad and all the letters his Grandfather answered with the $5 gift.  Ted goes on to research each family who received money to see what their circumstances were during the Great Depression, and how that gift helped them.  He finds descendents and askes about their families and how the Great Depression affected even future generations.  While researching the gift recipents Ted also researches his Grandfather's family and finds that his Grandfather had many secrets he hid from most of his family.  The book is fascinating as it takes you back to the Great Depression and you hear first hand accounts of how much people struggled to survive.

What struck me the most about this book was the VERY different attitudes of the people then versus people today.  In the past few years we've been in "the worst economic depression since the Great Depression", but the biggest difference to me is how much more the government is doing to help people - even though it doesn't really seem to be helping.  The author notes how all the people who responded only did so because it was annonymous - they would not have asked for help otherwise.  "It is difficult for Americans today to grasp the stigma that attached to government 'handouts' in 1933.  [in contrast] By February 2010, thirty-eight million Americans - one in eight - were on food stamps...For many today it is difficult to understand the stigma attached to going on the dole or accepting charity.  For men like my grandfather, who took such pride in escaping poverty and in providing for himself and his family, charity represented the final act of capitulation. It was not seen as a stop-gap measure to tide one over, but the repudiation of a lifetime rooted in self-reliance. The shame of poverty was tolerable - so many were in distress that Christmas of 1933 - but the loss of face that came of publicly applying for relief, of claiming that one's needs were equal to or superior to another's, of enduring the gauntlet of probing questions, of surrendering one's dignity and privacy, for many was too much to ask. They had already been stripped of so much. Self-respect was all they had left." (p.142-44).

It was very eye-opening to me to see the very different attitudes of people during the Great Depression versus today.  Today it seems like no one wants to take responsibility for anything - especially a mistake they may have made.  There were multiple stories of people in this book being allowed to pay only a fraction of their debts, but then however long it took, those people (including Sam Stone) paid back their debts in full.  Not so much today when everyone is clammoring for their mortgage to be reduced or a way for high interest credit card debt to be forgiven.  It honestly makes me sick to think about how much our society has changed in less than 100 years.  I think the incredibly hard working people who scraped by and survived the Great Depression would be ashamed of how our society is today - always with our hands out for more.

I rarely take this much time to write about a book, or really anything, on this blog, but this book was just so eye-opening to me I just felt compelled to.  Whatever you may think about government "help", this book is still a great book that looks back at a very hard time in our history.

September 2011 Concerts

It seems like there are always some good concerts around my birthday.  Last year we saw Jimmy Eat World and Flyleaf.  This year we were able to see Mike Garrigan and My Chemical Romance.  Here are some pictures from both concerts:

We saw Mike Garrigan at the Evening Muse on Sat. September 17th.  It was supposed to be Mike Garrigan and Mark Kano, but Mark had a family emergency and couldn't come.  It was still a great concert wtih Mike playing for over an hour - just him and a guitar.  He is definitely one of the most talented musicians I've ever seen.

We saw My Chemical Romance on Tuesday September 20th at Verizon Ampitheatre.  Chad is not a big fan and really hates going to Verizon for concerts, but he went with me because I really wanted to go.  I may have pushed him too far though because they frisked everyone on the way into the concert and he was VERY unhappy about that.  The actual concert was very good, but I don't think I'll be able to get Chad to go back to Verizon anytime soon.

Artwork from their album "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge".

Artwork from their album "The Black Parade".

Artwork from their album "Danger Days".

September 2011 Cat and Bird Pictures

The weather has finally started to cool down, and the cats really enjoy having the windows open.

Recently we've had a LOT of hummingbirds at our feeder.

I was able to get some really good close-up pictures.

Jessica's Birthday

I was lucky enough to have a nice long 4 day weekend for my birthday this year.  Chad and I went to eat at Carrabbas and basically just had a long, relaxing weekend.  Here are a few pictures from my birthday weekend:

The beautiful roses Chad gave me for my birthday.

The cake Chad got for me - it was VERY good.

Chocolate with cream cheese icing!

One of my gifts from Chad - these AWESOME shoes!

Harris Teeter had triple coupons the week of my birthday.

I got all this for less than $30 and SAVED over $37 with coupons!

Childhood Photos

After going to the Matthews Alive festival this year, I was inspired to scan some of my childhood photos.  I spent my first few years living at the beach, but we moved to Matthews when I was in elementary school and going to Matthews Alive (it was called the Stumptown Festival when I was a kid) was one of my favorite things to do.  Here are the pictures I scanned:

Personalized License Tag

For whatever reason I've always drawn and liked Plaid Cats - hence the name of this blog!  So, I was VERY excited to get a new personalized tag for my car!  Here are some pictures:

Jarren and Brystle's Wedding

Chad's cousin Jarren got married over Labor Day weekend.  We were very happy that we were able to attend and see them start their new life together!  Here are the pictures:

August Garden update

Well, we got a LOT of squash and zucchini this year, but some of our other plants were quickly overshadowed by the squash plants.  They grew so big so quickly that other things planted in the same bed didn't have a chance.  The cucumber plants did manage to get through all the zucchini and thrive - until some type of worm began eating them all on the vine.  I have to say my biggest accomplishment this year with our garden was that we were NOT defeated by the squash bugs!  I was definitely on the lookout for them and almost daily I would look for egg patches and squash bugs to kill them - I said that Chad & I were squash bug vigilantes.  We did still have some squash bugs, but not the infestation we had last year, so to me that's a big accomplishment - and I think the fact that we got more squash and zucchini shows that as well.

Unfortunately our second garden at Chad's parent's house did not fare very well.  It was just so incredibly hot in the early summer and we just couldn't get over there every day to water like we needed to, so everything pretty much shriveled up over there.  We wanted to take advantage of Chad's parent's offer to use their yard, but it's just too hard to maintain a garden that's not at your house, so I don't think we'll try that again.

Here are some pictures from our garden from August 2011:

Here are the garden pests we dealt with this year:

August 2011 Pictures of Sandy

Here are some pictures of Sandy - I'm not being partial she just kept getting in these cute positions!

Miscellaneous August Pictures

Here are some various pictures from August:

Chad surprised me with these roses!

A goldfinch on our feeder.



I think this may be a female goldfinch in our tree.

Second Garden

This year we decided to do a second garden at Chad's parent's house since they have more room.  We only planted corn and pie pumpkins at their house.  Last year we tried to do pumpkins at our house and it just didn't work because they just didn't have enough space to really spread out.  I'm really hoping we get some pumpkins this year!  I don't know how the corn will do, but we just decided to try it and see what happens.  Here are some pictures from our second garden:

Here are the pumpkin plants.

Here is the corn. 

Here is our ONE ear of corn!

Random Summer Pictures

Here are some pictures of our garden - it's really going strong now!

A close up of a squash flower with bees inside.

More bees and squash flowers.

Chad & Braden out on Becca & Jason's boat.

Becca with Katie in her immobilizing life vest.

Animal Pictures

Recently we've come across a few unique animals and were able to get pictures of them - some are from my cell phone so they are not the best quality.

I ate lunch at Panera one day and fed bread to some of the birds in the outside area.  Here is a picture I took with my phone of some of the birds waiting for me to give them more bread!

On our way to the lake with our friends Becca & Jason we saw a rafter of wild turkeys on the side of the road!  We turned around and went back to get some pictures of them.

 

When I was riding my bike in our neighborhood I saw this box turtle hanging out at the edge of the street.  I took this one with my cell phone too and if I got too close he started to go inside his shell.

This was definitely the coolest thing - we went out to eat and saw a swarm of bees flying around the parking lot.  When we came out they seemed to be gone, but they were actually all swarmed on a tree branch.  We went in and told the restaurant manager, so hopefully they will call a beekeeper to come take the bees.