Victory Christian School Christmas 2023 program

 Destiny had a part in her school Christmas program again this year.

Christmas 2023

 We had Christmas dinner with my older daughter, her boyfriend, his two daughters, and his mother.

Christmas choir 2023

Christmas party

Christmas message from my pastor, Brother Richard

Windshield, Rear-View Mirror, and Christmas

The windshield and the rear-view mirror are a great team. Every driver needs to see both forward and backward. Christmas is like a combination of windshield and rear-view mirror.

Christmas enables us to look back on things that matter. For many of us, thinking about Christmas in the past is a way of measuring changes in ourselves and in our families.

I remember Christmas as a kid, anxious to open presents and eat candy. Christmas as a young adult, going to parties with friends and coworkers. Christmas as a dad, watching my son open his presents and play with his new toys. Christmas as the years add up, missing family members who have passed away and are now absent from holiday gatherings.

Christmas helps me think about things that happened in my past, reminding me of who I am and where I came from.

Christmas also enables us to look forward. We make plans. We put up the decorations. We purchase presents. We send out cards. We prepare for special times of worship and family gatherings. Christmas Day becomes a focus of anticipation and hope, always moving closer in time. In addition, there’s always another Christmas next year.

This year, Karen and I were planning to go and spend Christmas with my sisters and brother, with our son and his girlfriend, with our family. Christmas plans remind me of who is important to me now, who I want to see and spend time with now and next year.

Christmas is more.

Christmas enables me to look back much further than my own lifetime and to see things much broader than my own personal family and friends. Christmas gives all of us the eyes to look back two thousand years and see God’s personal presence entering our world in a remarkable way, through the birth of Jesus.

Christmas is a marker in time that reminds us about some essential things. God loved us enough to send Jesus. Jesus’ birth was God joining us in history, bringing good news. God has not forgotten or forsaken us despite our disobedience. God cares about us and has deep compassion for us.

Christmas is a reminder that God fulfills his promises. He promised to send a Savior. Jesus is that Savior. He came, just like God promised. So we can believe in God’s promises that are still pending. If God did what he promised on the first Christmas, then God will do what he has promised to do in our future.

God promises to send Jesus again, his Second Coming. The first time Jesus came, he saved us. Next time, he will come to gather us and bring us home to him and to his eternal blessings. Be amazed! Be encouraged! God started something on that first Christmas. He will finish it!

May the Lord give us eyes to see clearly both backward and forward this Christmas,

Brother Richard

Christmas 2023 decorations

This is Destiny being funny wearing the new jacket I bought her at the Titanic Museum in Branson. 

I didn't decorate this year. I wanted to encourage my mother to decorate. Destiny helped. 

Mom's TV.

Christmas village. 

Mother made and painted these nativity pieces in a ceramics class when we lived in England. 

She also made this Christmas tree in the class. For those who don't recognize it, this is my office. 

These are some souvenirs we bought in Branson on vacation to give as Christmas gifts. The bear and key chain are for my older daughter, and the rest for my mother. 

Silver Dollar City (8 of 10)

 Silver Dollar City

We woke early on Saturday, knowing that we had to get an early start. The condo wasn't far from Silver Dollar City, but even arriving a half hour before opening, there were already many people there. They have a huge parking area, and like everywhere else, most of it wasn't level. At different locations throughout the parking area, they had shuttle stops where you can get on a kind of bus to take you to the front gate, instead of walking. We parked near one of these stops, boarded the bus, and soon were entering the park.

The first thing we did was to treat it like a maze and picked a direction to go and start exploring. We turned left.

There was lots to see, many shops to look in with stuff to buy, plenty of places to eat different kinds of food, Christmas decorations everywhere, and many activities.

Destiny saw a booth where they were making wax hands. There was a cost, but I don't recall how much. Because we still had all day in the park, the booth offered a service to have the hand delivered to the park gate for us to pick-up on the way out.

We found a fun house with unlevel floors, upside down rooms and crazy mirrors.

After walking around and exploring for a while, and having some expensive hamburgers for lunch, it was finally time for our first show of the day. The shows were included in the amusement park ticket, but I purchased a special pass that allowed us to skip waiting in long lines. We arrived only one minute before the show, and was escorted directly to our reserved seats front row center. The show started as soon as we were seated.

I didn't get a video of the show, but here is a video of the show someone else posted on YouTube:

The show was absolutely fantastic. Next, we had to cross to the other side of the park for our second show. Again, we arrived only one minute before it began, was escorted to our front row center seats, and the show began.

We enjoyed the second show also.

We finished the afternoon checking-out the rest of the park and after I got something to eat; Destiny wasn't hungry; it was time for two things, the lighting of the huge park Christmas tree, and our lantern tour of Marvel Cave. I will make a separate post about Marvel Cave.

https://www.arkansascarl.page/2023/12/marvel-cave.html (9 of 10)

Day before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving.

Tis the day before Thanksgiving, and in one part of the house, we've decorated for Christmas.

We tried something different this year, by stringing lights in the shape of a tree.

We also put out all the usual; a Christmas village, stockings, Elf, Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, and more.

This is the hand made and painted ceramic Christmas tree and Nativity my mother made.

Since I'm working on Thanksgiving, and it's just me and my two daughters, I cooked lasagna, green beans, and rolls, for today.

So if you think you know the history behind Thanksgiving, now learn the truth.

Christmas Prayer

Yahweh, Great and Mighty Father in Heaven, Provider, Lord and Master of all, hear my prayer.

I give thanks to you for bringing to us light and hope through Your Son, Jesus Christ.

It is only by Your mercy, His Love, and our faith that we can approach You.

May we continue to recognize You in our lives, and listen to Your guidance.

May we be good servants to You, and good witnesses of Your Love.

I pray now for the world, the world You created, and the people, Your children.

In this last year, we have suffered greatly. Sin of all forms have plagued us.

I pray that You will show us Your Mercy, and deliver us from all that tries to prevent us from seeing You and Your Love.

I pray that Your Will be done, and that it will strengthen us, unite us, and draw us nearer to You.

I pray for our nation Lord. We have been torn apart, selfish, and foolish.

Help us to see the errors of our ways. And I pray for forgiveness for our many sins.

Lord God Almighty, I also pray for my family, and our friends. Continue to be with us as we struggle in this world. Lift us up when we fall. Strengthen us when we are weak. Carry us when we think we can no longer continue. Remind us of Your Love for us. Help us to see Your Presence in our lives.

Father, I pray now for my mother. Thank you so very much for providing me with such a kind, caring, and wise mother. She has always been a good example of Your Love, even when sometimes I didn’t deserve it. Just as You always love us.

Yahweh, I also pray for Gil. When I fell, he picked me up. When I wandered, he showed me the way. When I was in error, he corrected me. When I did not know, he taught me. He has been an example of Your Love, by being Your servant.

God the Father, I give thanks and praise to You for my children. They have been a blessing that has sustained me. I have tried to do my best to raise them and care for them as You do us. I have learned so much being a father to my children about what I should be like as one of Your children. I pray that You will always be with them, in good and bad.

Merciful and Mighty Lord, I also pray for my grandson. He is as innocent as Your Son, Jesus was when He was born into this world. Just as Jesus had You watching over Him, I pray that You will watch over my grandson, and see to his needs according to Your will.

Finally Yahweh, I pray for myself, that You will forgive me, protect me, and guide me. Give me the knowledge and opportunity to be the kind of child that makes You happy. I return Your Love.

Amen. 

The Bible (TV miniseries)

THE BIBLE (TV miniseries)

During my life in China, I was pleasantly surprised to find Christianity everywhere I turned. There were home churches where believers would meet. There were jewelry and pictures depicting Christianity. I found the Bible in bookstores, that were in English and Chinese. There were even people would celebrate some of the Christian holidays, such as Christmas and Easter.

For most people in China, they saw the Bible as only another fiction story. The symbols, such as the cross worn as jewelry, were seen as just that, jewelry. Christmas and Easter are only seen as fun activities for the children, and for most of Chinese, have no spiritual meaning.

I should say here, that in my opinion, these latest actions by the Chinese government, are not an attack on Christianity, but a response to disruptions in society because of extremist from other religions in China. Over the years, especially in the northwest of China, there have been numerous outburst in communities that are predominately Muslim in religion.

There are more Christians in China than there are people living in the United States of America. And now, the Chinese government is trying to eliminate all religion in China, and requiring people to denounce their faith and embrace atheism.

A student from Taiwan introduced a website to me last year where I could watch movies and TV series. Today, I saw they had added a new series that I want to introduce to you.

IT IS NOT FICTION.

IT IS A REPRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE.

THE BIBLE IS A HISTORICAL DOCUMENTATION.

THE BIBLE IS FACT.

THE BIBLE IS TRUTH.

You can also watch the 'Jesus' film here.

Christmas 2018

Destiny went to a children's Christmas party at church. They played games, ate pizza, and watched a movie.

Out church choir had a wonderful Christmas cantata.

Destiny's school class had a Christmas party on their last day, before starting a two week Winter break.

I wrapped Christmas presents from Santa, before going to bed Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning.

Everything in the boxes was 'Disney Frozen'.

Destiny loved everything.

From before to after Thanksgiving 2018.

Every year, right around Thanksgiving, the leaves of a tree in the middle of our front yard turn golden and fall to the ground.

I bought 200 Christmas lights and put them in my new car. 

Destiny had a friend stay one night, and I took them to see a Christmas light display. We met my older daughter, Suzanne there.

I decorated the front of my new car for Christmas.

Destiny loves to play in the leaves.

The day after Destiny had her friend stay over one night, Destiny went to two different birthday parties for her friends.

The second party was at night and outside. They had a fire to first tell stories around. And then after going on a hayride, the kids had S'mores.

I took Thanksgiving week off from teaching. We had family all Thanksgiving week.

Sharing old photos.

First, let me introduce my older daughter, Suzanne. She likes animals, including snakes, coloring her hair, piercings, tattoos, and Harry Potter.

This is Suzanne's snake, Banana.

This is our guinea pig, Moe.

And now, this is my younger daughter, Destiny. She is twelve years younger than her sister. She likes 'Frozen', animals, watching cartoons, and playing.

This is her school, Victory Christian School, which is only a ten minute walk from home.

This photo was taken just after Destiny was baptized.

This was in Little Rock just before Chinese Spring Festival 2018.

It was very cold to go see the lanterns and performers.

This is an old car we saw in a parking lot going into Walmart.

We were at Mid America Museum in Hot Springs.

Just before baptism.

Halloween 2015 at the nearby White Oak Lake State Park.

This is a little water park our town put in for the kids to have fun during the summer.

This is from Destiny's eighth birthday part.

This is at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum.

They have a real submarine, the U.S.S. Razorback, which you can go in. You can see a video tour here.

It was the longest serving submarine in the world, serving for 26 years in the United States Navy, starting in 1944, followed by another 31 years in the Turkish Navy.

This was our 2017 Christmas tree.

My little girl's bed.

I chop about ten different vegetables to make a large salad. The salad is seasoned, and I will have a little salad dressing on it for my lunch, and sometimes dinner each day. I keep the salad refrigerated, and it will usually last all week.

Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner.

 

We haven't had an American traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner since moving to China. For Thanksgiving we have had KFC and the first two years we had a nice dinner with our Canadian friends for Christmas, but no turkey.  Mainly because turkeys are hard to come by over here. We did see a live one in Jiamusi, but weren't prepared for killing, cleaning or cooking it. Now that we are in Beijing, there are several restaurants that fix complete meals you can order ahead and even have delivered.

 

We had purchased this large toaster oven and after Thanksgiving saw frozen turkeys for sale in one of the import stores. We decided to buy the turkey and have a Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner ourselves. We don't have a freezer so we had to cook the turkey once it was thawed. It only took 3 hours in our new convection oven and it turned out wonderful. Golden brown skin and juicy meat that just pulled off the bone.

 

Deb made deviled eggs.

 

It was a feast for the six of us, including Spot and the rabbit.

 

Turkey, deviled eggs and gravy.

 

Mashed potatoes, asparagus and cornbread dressing.