Catching Up - Boogie's Solo

Sorry I have not been posting lately. There has been a lot going on in our family and I have also been focusing on some projects with digital scrapbooking. I thought I would try to start tonight, to catch up before it was June and I still hadn't gotten December's pictures posted!

First we start with our kitty Abbie and the boxes from Aunt Shelley. They came in the mail a couple weeks ago (and were opened finally tonight!) and Abbie considers herself the official guard!

On Sunday December 21st the kids had a concert at our church. Sunshine and Princess are showing off the new skirts I made them. As you can tell they were intended to be warm weather clothes but I was a little slow getting them cut up. They love them however.

They also love their big brother Boogie. Unfortunately he was feeling pretty rotten the day he was supposed to sing with a sore throat and congestion. You can tell in the pictures he doesn't have his usual charm in his smile. Poor guy.

Here's Boogie in his new church outfit. On the armoire behind him is an ornament he made in church a couple years ago. Instead of getting out the nativity this year, we hung that up on the knob. Then we he came across his Washington State Ferry boat that he got with Grandma and Grandpa this summer, he wanted to hang it on the other knob! I thought Grandma and Grandpa would want to see that.

Here is the group of kids singing during first service. He sang both services. The girls were going to sing. Princess was very excited about it as we practiced. But Sunshine was too shy. When she decided that she didn't want to go up on the stage, Princess just lost heart. She didn't want to go up without her sister! It's a twin thing - no arguing with that. So they sat with us and sang in the pew, which shows up on the video that Hubby took - priceless! They sang What Child is This, The First Noel and Joy To the World.

On the left is Boogie's friend G who along with E had a duet for one stanza of The First Noel.

At first Boogie didn't tell us that he had a solo, so I was surprised. He nonchalantly says, "Yeah, I signed up for a solo." It turns out he had a really hard stanza:

Then entered in, there Wise men three

Full rev'rently on bended knee

And offered there in His presence

Their gold and myrrh and frankincense.

The phrasing is a little peculiar, but he did just fine in spite of the croaky sore throat. I was really amazed. You couldn't pay Hubby or I to do that! LOL Before hand he was a little nervous. Afterwards I asked him if he was nervous or afraid when he was up there singing and he said he wasn't. The picture above is him singing the solo.

Afterwards we had a delightful "sermon". As I wrote earlier, we honor and study the significance of Christ's birth (even if it is highly unlikely to have occurred 12/25), but we do not celebrate Christmas per se. So, sometimes we don't feel comfortable with Christmas sermons. I have to say that this, while quite unusual, was one of the more meaningful Christmas sermons I have heard.

Pastor Mike has been doing a series on the life of Abraham and Sunday he acted out Abraham giving Isaac as a sacrifice, correlating this to God giving His own Son as the Ultimate Sacrifice. It is a powerful image and I believe that God allowed this to occur so that we could, in human terms, understand a little, the significance of God's Gift. Without giving His Son, first as a little baby, then sacrificed on the cross as a full grown man, we would be in eternity without Him. His cost was emotionally dramatized before our eyes as we considered Abraham's faith in offering Isaac.

Here Pastor narrates, as Abraham, the events leading up to offering Isaac.

Pastor placing Isaac (our friend L) on the altar. He jokingly said that when he lifted the dagger to sacrifice him, he covered L's eyes, because he didn't want him to have images of his Pastor raising a dagger above him! We all rejoiced as Isaac/L was released! A friend of mine had a blog called Ram In The Thicket, which sadly, she stopped. She chose the name because it reminded her of how God always provided for her. That image has stuck with me. Ram in the thicket. My God always provides for me. Not always what I want, when I want or how I want, but always on time and always the right thing. Thank you Lord that You have provided for so much!

I'll end with a picture of our Sunday School teachers A and C. C will have baby N on 12/29 and he will join big brother M. Our children adore M even though he is several years younger.