More snow fun pictures

This is a spiral slide

The little snowman wanted to join in the singing.

A Carolina wren.  We almost never see them on the feeders.

Part way down the slide

Tucked in for the night.

"Snowboarding" on the sled.

It actually worked really well.

We had some help with the igloo.

This one on campus put us to shame.  I hear some people actually slept in it one night. It was really roomy inside (and light).

Are you feeling overwhelmed?

Here is a verse of encouragement for you:

                                            Psalm 61:1-4

         Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.

From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For thou has been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

                  I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in

                                   the covert of thy wings.

Have a wonderful day!

Why is it important?

What, you ask?

Why is important that we keep a specific day holy - the seventh day?  Other than the fact that God made ONLY THIS day holy, what difference does it make? It seems arbitrary - and perhaps it IS.  That might be one key to understanding why it's important, actually.

By whose authority was the Sabbath made holy?  Answer: God's. (Genesis 2:3)

When did He make the Sabbath holy? At the end of the creation week - the beginning of us and our world. (Gen. 2:1-3).  Many people mistakenly believe it was first given in the 10 commandments at Sinai to the Jews - no - that is why God had to say "remember", and referred them BACK to creation in the very 4th commandment ("for in 6 days God created...")

If the Sabbath, as a memorial of creation, had been kept SINCE then until now, I doubt we'd be having the same issues with evolution....but that's a side note.

Contrary to what a lot of people believe, keeping the seventh day holy because God set aside that time FOR us - to rest, to worship, to fellowship, to enjoy His creation, to visit the poor, sick and needy, to be free from the cares of work and gainful labour, to bask in His special blessing and redemption - is NOT legalistic.  We choose to keep the 7th day (Sabbath) holy because that's the day HE chose.  We accept God's authority to do that!

The Sabbath, which means "rest", also has a fuller meaning of rest in Christ's work FOR us - another reason to cease from our own work and accept His re-creative work in our lives.

So we have, so far,  2 meanings.

1) it is kept as a sign/remembrance of God's creation of our world and us - our origins - which gives us purpose and meaning in life.  God had a direct part in creating us. So the weekly Sabbath brings our minds back to God's active involvement in our lives.

2) It is kept as a sign of God's re-creation in our hearts - His redemptive power to re-create something "supernatural" - a snow-white pureness from something scarlet. "Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as snow...." Isaiah 1:18

Going back to one of the original questions - by whose authority should we worship on the 7th day, the next question could be, Well, who chose the first day and what authority did that person/being have, to change the day from the day (written in stone with the very finger of God) that God Himself chose, and decide that the new day should be Sunday, the first day?

Well, that answer is a very long one....I'll have to address it in a following blog.  But let me just say briefly, that God did not change it!  It was "someone"  who usurped that authority and took it upon himself to "change times and laws".  By this act, he thus claimed to have authority OVER God Himself.

Should we give this usurper authority over us, or is God our supreme and sovereign Ruler? 

I'll leave you with that ponderous thought until next time!                         

Another Snow day (s)

We had another 7 - 8 inches (about 18 or more cm) of powdery white cold stuff starting on Sunday night.  Yay, we get some more snow days!  I thank the Lord our electricity is holding, but if not, we have plenty of water and wood for the fire!

The wind must have been blowing as the porches are covered too.

I just LOVE this stuff!

These are inches.  After this it snowed some more.

A drift in the trampoline

Magnolia and Pine patterns

I see someone's been on the swing already!

Building an igloo

Getting higher - today (2nd day) the snow is packing like glue!

and higher......

2nd day the sled goes easier

Mush!

What's wrong with the Husky!?

Addicting Stats

Stats are interesting - almost addicting to follow.  Today's visitors were from the US, Russia, the UK, Netherlands, South Korea, Poland and Slovenia.  So far this week you can add Germany, Romania, France and Hungary to that list. 'Twould be interesting to know who you fine people are (and what you're looking for.) It sometimes helps to know who one's audience is, yes?
Anyway, the Clustrmap has a lag time of a few days it seems, which is fine I suppose, though why it should have to be longer than an instant, I don't know!  We get so used to technology and it's instantaneous results that our expectations may be unrealistic! Or are they?  Why shouldn't the results be instantaneous?

Later:  Doing some more comparing, it seems the clustrmap is about ten days behind the regular stats! (and prolly those are behind a few days too).

A Snowman's Tale

Christmas day - Sabbath

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday - half a smile, and leaning a little.

Wednesday - a little more off balance...

Thursday - looks like a strange yoga pose.

Friday - Good-bye snowman....it was nice knowing you! (sniff)

Icicles etc

These are off the front eaves

Giant lollipops - actually I discouraged the girls from sucking on these....it's all from very yucky water!

We have a bit of a hill for sledding. These sledding pics are from next day after the snowfall.

Running back up the hill

Patiently taking turns

Where the water dripped from the melting snow, I guess.

We don't need the "icicle lights"

Our White Christmas

Double blessing - Christmas on a Sabbath!  Or should I say triple blessing - 4 inches (10cm) of snow to boot!  Here are some photos of the day.

We woke up to snow falling - already making our world white.

We decided to go on a drive.  Here is one of our favourite houses in the snow.

Side view of it.  Look at all the fireplaces!

Coating everything of course. 

We drove up to LBA - surprisingly there was less snow there!

At the "lake" we had some nice shots.

Back home we found all this snow waiting for us to play in.

Another one for the Comcam.

Our cosy house.

As you can see, it really IS 4 inches (and a bit...)

The trampoline is groaning under the weight.

Christmas/Sabbath lunch all ready to eat (at 3:30pm)

Our little centerpiece

Sunny loves his little snugglespot on top of the firewood.

A decent sized snowman for a change.

Let's play with our Xmas toys.

Having Christmas fun.

Who are these 3 little rascals?

Daddy opening his Christmas surprise! (he got the biggest present!)

And that's a little glimpse of our Xmas.  Hope yours was lovely too.  Next year, we've decided we need to tone down OUR Christmas and bring more cheer to the poor and needy. And perhaps we won't even have to wait til Xmas!

Feliz Navidad to all and sundry! and a very blessed new year!

Booboo

Here is the last photo I have of Booboo taken on Monday last week.  If he's in your back woodshed, please let him out. Thanks! :-)  I think if he had been attacked by animals, we would have seen some evidence....nothing so far!

Booboo not enjoying the snow

Clustermaps

Just started the little app. called clustrmaps on here.   Now you'll get to see where everyone is visiting from.  Also, there are some ads along with the blog.  If that annoys you, let me know and if enough people don't like them, I'll take them away. (They're not too lucrative anyway, ha ha, although some of them do look interesting.  Unfortunately I'm not allowed to click on my own ads! ) Oh well.

Today we got to celebrate two birthdays of friends at their house.  One of the ladies also visiting them was from Haiti and gave a very moving account of her escape from the recent earthquake.  I was fortunate to get most of it on tape so will put it on Youtube one of these days - as soon as I can arrange for a Creole translation to English.  So keep watching for that.


Here it is:

Haitian woman recounts earthquake experience.

Another bit of news is that Booboo is missing - has been since Wednesday.  Am thinking he has had a fatal run-in with raccoons!  Not a pleasant thought.  Very sad.  Spent 2 hours this afternoon tramping the woods and roads all around here to no avail....plus calling and some looking in the previous 2 days.  So I know he's not just having a little jaunt as usual.

PS: Looking at the regular "stats" they give for this blog, I see that today's visitors came from the US, the United Kingdom, Russia, Vietnam, Germany, Slovenia, Brazil, France, Croatia, Romania and Sweden.  However, the clustrmap doesn't show that - perhaps there is a lag...we'll keep watching!  Thank you for visiting.

PPS: Later on Booboo:  Several people from the area believe a coyote got the cat.  Apparently it's not uncommon for them to take cats!