Happy Monday

Last week a Texas lady in a Chewbacca mask broke the Facebook record of most views to a video with 130 million views! Did you see it? Probably, 130 million views! And the remarkable thing is it wasn't that fancy, didn't have fancy effects and wasn't R rated! She was laughing, experiencing good old JOY, and it was contagious. You couldn't help but laugh along with her.
Have you ever watched the videos of "babies laughing"? Same thing there, babies get the giggles over one thing or another and next thing you know you have them too.
It's wonderful!!

When my grandson Ezra was younger he would get the giggles watching our dog Turf chase bubbles!  It was great!               The face of pure Joy!

Proverbs 17:22 says "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

I hope that today we are all able to experience that kind of Joy.  Throw your head back and belly laugh. If you need help getting started you can look up "lady in Chewbacca mask" or "babies laughing" on YouTube.

Or better yet think about this, 

"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  Psalm 118:24

Life's Reset Button

My kids play video games. The games have a really neat little feature called a save and reset button.  It seems that each time you reach another level if you hit the save button then if you have to start over you can actually start from that point... Pretty Cool really.
I wish life had that feature.  We could just go back to the last saved place and have a do over.  I think I could really use a do over.  I wonder if I'm just at my mid life crisis point or I really have gone mad.  I just want to find the reset button.

My Christmas letter (Christmas Magic)

  I Love magic and fantasy!
I  always  have, I love mythical tales of of magical forest creatures and fairies and elves, of very wise talking animals and always "they lived happily ever after".   I love all the fantasy and wonder of outer space, Star Trek and the Star War's stories of the force and of course good always  conquering evil.
My family even has a way of rating movies, "this is a Renee movie", meaning it has a happy ending or "definitely Not a Renee movie", if things don't go so good.
This past year my life seemed like a real life HallMark movie, our "situation" was Crystal and her surprise pregnancy, the "dilemma" came when we found out Olivia had HLHS, our "journey" took us to medical specialists, a special hospital, to the NICU and Ronald McDonald House but then the "ending" came, we didn't get the Renee ending.  We didn't conquer her broken heart, we didn't triumph and I was shocked and devastated by her loss.
It has been a little over four months now and I confess my recovery is going slow, I've searched for the answers in all different places, some places so silly I've laughed (people really believe this junk?) and some places I do not wish to revisit ever again,  but all the places I've been looking have not held the answers I need so I've pulled the covers up over my head, (life sucks) I just can't process this reality.  Do very bad things really happen to good people?
Today a friend of mine shared the above link to the song "O Holy Night".  I listened and I cried, then I listened again, and I cried again and then I realized, Our Story Hasn't Ended, there is still the hope of God's Christmas Magic because in the grand scheme of things Good Has conquered evil.
It's all coming together for me (somebody's been praying).
My life is like a HallMark movie but a much bigger one than I have been focusing on,we are still in the middle dilemma part of our story as long as we are here on this broken earth. The ending of the movie comes at our death and we Will Live Happily Ever After.  Olivia is healed and whole and in perfect peace in Heaven and I will see her again when my story here is through.
We win because of God's Christmas Magic,"Oh Holy Night" because of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Please watch this video and follow the lyrics and feel the Christmas magic.
Merry Christmas to all of my friends and family, and many, many wishes for a much better Year in 2011.

Winter Solstice 2010 Marks Shortest Day

This highly oblique image of northwestern African captures the curvature of the Earth and shows its atmosphere (Photo credit: NASA)

Regular Photo Size

Updated: Tuesday, 21 Dec 2010, 9:57 AM EST
Published : Tuesday, 21 Dec 2010, 9:56 AM EST

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - Today at 6:38 p.m. EST marks the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the beginning of winter.

The winter solstice is the start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and marks the point when the north pole is tilted farther from the sun than at any other point in the year.

The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, though the exact hours of daylight will vary according to region. The number of daylight hours depends on latitude and the day of the year. For example, New York City will have only 9 hours, 15 minutes, 5 seconds of daylight, according to the Math Forum .

Daylight hours will begin to increase each day going forward.

The celebration of the winter solstice has been observed for centuries, predating Christianity and celebrations of Christmas. As The History Channel reported, cultures in Europe and Scandinavia celebrated the dark days of winter and the winter solstice.

The Norse of Scandinavia commemorated the winter solstice with the men bringing home large, wooden logs and setting them on fire. Traditionally, the family would then feast, until the fire burned out. That could take up to 12 days.

Ancient Romans would celebrate for a full month surrounding the winter solstice, honoring what they referred to as a god called Saturn with the holiday of Saturnalia. Today, the Winter Solstice is still observed and celebrated by many cultures and by people of various faiths throughout the world.

This year, a lunar eclipse fell on the winter solstice for the first time since 1638, according to National Geographic . This morning the earth passed between the sun and the moon, creating a reddish-yellow, bronze-like shadow over the moon, which was best be seen from North America and South America.

The Holidays and History

Caleb and I are studying ancient history this year and I am finding it, as I do all history, very interesting.  I have recently become especially interested in the origins of  our holidays.   I just did a  study on Halloween, All Hallows Eve (the eve before All Saints Day), Samhain, the Celtic observance of the end of summer, kind of like our Harvest Festivals.  A lot of legends and traditions are mixed into this day to bring us trick or treating, wearing masks and carving Jack-O-Lanterns. Very interesting stuff, some things things that make you say hmmmm but not really an exceptionally evil beginning.

Of course Thanksgiving is a no brainer on its beginnings, all of us have read "Squanto", but how it actually became a national Holiday is interesting;
http://tarrytown.patch.com/articles/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-thanksgiving-but-were-afraid-to-ask-2

Now I have started looking into the origin of Christmas, Wow, Very interesting stuff here, how did I get to be 53 years old believing in so many things that are not true?  No Santa? Really? (haha jk) It seems  that Christmas tradition is really a hodge podge of all sorts of old pagan Druid celebrations that "the Church" tried to get the people to forget by introducing the celebration of the Christ Child's birth  (that was not really even in December!).
I am really a little put off at the thought of being spoon fed these very nice ideals that are untruths made up by some old bishops during the time of the Roman persecution, and I am feeling rather moronic that I have so staunchly defended "keeping Christ in Christmas" when He really is not the "reason for the season", that would be the Roman Saturnalia, a winter festival that marked the winter solstice- the return of the sun-and honored Saturn, the god of sowing. Pretty crazy huh?


Now, no need to worry, I nor any of the family will be wearing togas on Dec. 25th this year and none of this has anything to do with my belief in the Gospel truths surrounding the birth of Christ, the Messiah. Please don't call an exorcist. lol  I am just stating that for me knowing the 'true' history of things is very important.