Advent Now and 'Till He Returns

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." - Micah 5:2

I'm not an Old Testament scholar, but from what I understand, 400+ years transpired between the prophet Micah's prophecy -  that the awaited King, the Son of God, would be born in Bethlehem. This is just one of the many prophecies that the people of Israel were waiting upon to be answered. 

But God was faithful and He sent His Son to earth. The years leading to the time may have been dark, and filled wih questioning of his intent but The Lord fulfilled his promises. 

The beauty of Christmas is celebrating the birth of our Savior and treasuring that season of Advent - of waiting for Him. Let's not forget we are now in another stage of waiting - for His return. The world is dark and evil, but our Savior - who came to earth as both God and man- has a perfect plan for all of history. His birth was foretold and The Lord knows when he will come again. 

We can't lose hope, but must press on for His Kingdom. His Birth is cause for reflection and celebration as his period of Advent concludes. May our hearts always be in a state of Advent for his second coming. 

Morning Glory

I knew it had been a long time since I did an updated blog post, but almost a year!?!?! Where does the time go?  Life was so slow and wonderful when I was a child...there is still much wonderful-ness to my life but...there are also children being murdered with chemical weapons in Syria, Christians in the Coptic community in Egypt are being killed and their churches burned, and musical entertainment in this country has reached a new low.  Sigh, okay, sorry for the downer, but we can't keep our head in the sand!

Being a news, history, and culture junkie, I can't keep from getting sucked into the headlines and analysis.  Unfortunately, that has left little time for my little blog!  Hopefully this should change.  I've already got a really fun post in the works, so stay tuned...

In the meantime, I wanted to share these lovely photos of a beautiful sunrise this morning in the Nation's Capitol...because, well, they're beautiful!  I've seen many late nights at the Capitol, but I'm not often out this early to start the day!  Many years ago, when I was a young pup working in Congress, I gave Capitol tours (history heaven for someone like me!) and would always point out that Lady Freedom atop the Capitol dome faces east - thus, "the sun never sets on freedom."  I always thought that was so poetic and a reminder of how blessed we are in America! (Of course, a recent court ruling saying that Christians can have beliefs but not act on them, does not bode well for freedom and religious liberty...)

But this beauty invokes another kind of poetry that will never fade - from Lamentations chapter 3, verses 22-23: "Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  That is cause for joy!  No matter what else we might face.

 

 

 

 

The Colors of Fall

How many colors belong in the palette for fall foliage?

This past weekend, as H.H. and I drove back to D.C. from a beautiful wedding of dear friends in Buffalo, New York, that was the question on my mind.  For about 5 hours we drove through the Allegheny Mountains in PA and the colors were G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S.  And it was such a pleasant surprise, for all the time I've spent in my beloved Pennsylvania (including lots of hours of driving) I was not familiar with this drive so it was fun to see some new sights!

We found an absolutely quaint and picture perfect roadside stop where we picked up some pumpkins.  It was soooooooo beautiful.  That's probably annoying and obnoxious to read, huh?  I mean, really how many "o"s do I need?  Well, try spending anytime in nature with me...every single o is needed for emphasis!

The best part, though? 2 large pumpkins, 3 small pumpkins, 5 gourds, and 3 ears of fall corn...all for $17!

So I was just going to post 1 picture, but the colors are just too vibrant and gorgeous not too share.  And I'm starting to learn how to be all artsy-fartsy with my photography!  Really though, how many colors can you pick out on this palette?

 

 

 
 

Have a wonderful fall!  



First cookout of the summer

Roomates and I had our first cookout of the summer! One week after Memorial Day so were close to being on time :) It was a beautiful evening spent outside, and capped with a visit to a friend's rooftop deck. What a reminder that I have a blesses life and want to use my resources/time/blessing to give back to the Lord!