12.26.2024

25°F Fog SE6mph SR0736 SS1631

Morning Offering given

Village sleeps

Coffee good

Memory Verse – practice the ones you already know

Good Morning!
I’m up a bit early this morning, probably due to going to bed early last evening.
We had a delightful day with our children, their families, neighbors, good food, fun games, and lots of conversation. I’m on day 4 of the monitor, so far nothing of importance has happened. Typical for me, this is my 3rd time doing this and there has never been an incident. Which is great, except when they are trying to find something and it is so intermittent and fleeting (which is good) they are unsuccessful.

Recipe for Disaster Cookies (Chocolate Chip)…
my friend’s daughter makes these. It is a large batch recipe (think 3-gallon pail size) It seems each time she gets a batch made something happens-fire-death-hospital- and the cookies go somewhere other than their house.
8 eggs beaten
1 1/3 C evaporated cane juice sugar
5 C brown sugar
2 C vegetable oil
4 tsp vanilla
4 tsp salt
4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 C instant vanilla pudding
3 C chocolate chips
9 C spelt flour
Using a bowl, beat eggs, add sugar, oil, and vanilla, stir well.
Add dry ingredients, plus chocolate chips, mix well
Bake at 350° for 15 mins NO LONGER If cookies seem too hard lower heat, if too soft increase heat a degree or two. Her uncle called these cookies MUSTE as in Must Eat more than one.

Today is the 2nd Day of Christmas… the Wise Men continue their travel, following the Bethlehem Star. These learned men, spent years following this star, wondering about it. On their journey, they met many people, speeking to them about the babe that this star should lead them to. In those days the Israelites knew the Messiah was coming, it had been prophesied for generations. They actively looked for him. Ending up not seeing him when he did come because they were expecting something else. How often I have done that. Missing the boat because it wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. Marriage is like that too. We marry because we have “fallen in love” been perhaps “sexually awakened” or have “a movie view of love”. Then reality hits and we realize how hard it is having to work at a relationship, how difficult it is to not get our own way, or the situation isn’t seen through our eyes. Marriage makes us look at ourselves and our flaws and how those affect the person we are in love with or how that person’s flaws are seen where they were not previously. The Magi had years to prepare to see the Christ Child, to ready themselves for the great moment of love. It is time for us to take a long invasive look at ourselves. To ferret out those defects in our character, make them right, and ready ourselves for the love of our life. Whether that love comes in marriage form, religious vocation form, single adulthood, etc. We pray…

Jesus take me as I am
Summon out what I should be
Set your seal upon my heart
Send the Holy Ghost to me

Know you are prayed for.