Daily Devotion

 

He Shall Save His People By Paul Chappell

"No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."    1 John 4:12–14

There were many reasons that Jesus came to Earth, but the primary purpose for His coming is found in His name. In Hebrew, the name Jesus means “Jehovah saves.” This was not a name that Joseph and Mary selected. Instead, it was a name given to them from Heaven. The angel told Joseph, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

The ultimate message of Christmas is not a long trip by an expectant woman, the search for a place to stay, a baby in a manger, the angel’s message to the shepherds, nor the journey of the wise men to see the newborn king. The ultimate message of Christmas is that there is a Saviour who has come to deliver us from sin. This is the greatest need of a lost and dying world. God loved us enough to provide a way of salvation for us, and that is why there is a Christmas at all.

We hear people talk about “keeping Christ in Christmas,” and it is important that the holiday not be overtaken with commercialism and secular pursuits. But Christmas is not just a religious event. Christmas is the story of God’s plan to redeem those who have been separated from Him by sin. Christmas is a redemptive story. As we celebrate with family and friends, we should never lose sight of that primary truth.

Germany to Georgia - June 2012

Many of you have been wondering what happened to us.  Well, too much to report in one sitting, but I will let you know we've moved again.....to Georgia, back to the USA.  Stay tuned for a brief update of the past year!

Sölden - days 3 and 4

So we finished up our ski vacation with yet 2 more beautiful days. The weather was warm, sunny, and no wind! This trip was just like a spring ski trip - just the way Madeline and I like it!!

Here's a few more pictures from the last 2 days.



Like father, like children: no fear



Don't worry, they all landed without falling!

Loved this guys hat so much, I asked if I could take a picture. Angry Bird.


The overall thought of the trip - two thumbs up from these two.....

Complete exhaustion from this one!

Happy 9th Birthday Jack!

Here's a quick posting of Jack's 9th birthday here in Sölden, Austria.

This looks like it could be our last birthday celebration on the slopes. Who knows where we'll be for Jack's 10th birthday next year. But for now, we're loving the beautiful weather here in Sölden!

Here's what Jack thinks about this being the last year for birthday celebrations on the ski slopes:


First birthday wishes of the day!


A hug"e" thanks for birthday breakfast

Two thumbs up for pancakes and bacon (little Alan)


Me and my "not so little" birthday boy!


The Gang at the top:




Birthday Tacos (every year)

The candle looks better on the birthday brownie!

See those bunny ears waiting for the picture?

Dinner for two....I mean four

Home Ec 101:



The kids have been asking for over a year to be able to plan a meal for Brad and I. So this week we finally made the time for the whole project.

Brad had been traveling the whole week for work and so Friday, his return, seemed like the perfect time for a romantic dinner for two! The kids picked out the recipes, made their first Power Point invitation, emailed it to Daddy, made the shopping list, went to the grocery, cooked the meal, decorated the table and BONUS...clean-up!


Takes after his Dad in the kitchen!

The invitation read something like this: You're invited to a candlelight dinner for two at Buona Punta (the Good Point in Italian - this was all their idea).

The Menu:
Stuffed Shells (w/ Italian sausage, ricotta, mozzarella, parmasan and fresh basil)
From scratch Red sauce
Garlic bread with homemade garlic spread
Tossed salad and
Frozen chocolate dipped, peanut coated bananas


Making homemade sauce requires getting your hands messy!


Tossing of the salad

Prepping the pasta

Making the chocolate dipping sauce

Banana Assembly

The Final Product

They did such a wonderful job, and the food was amazing! We couldn't let the "hired help" eat in the kitchen, so we insisted that they eat with us!

Job Well Done!

The Latest Project

Preparations for our church Thanksgiving is well underway. Here's a photo of my latest project. One of this year's gifts for the missionary ladies is a rice and lavender filled bag. These can be warmed in the microwave or oven and used during the cold months or for those aching muscles!

If you want to make on your own it's very simple.

Supplies Needed: 2x 10" sq. pieces of fabric, 2x 10"sq. pieces of muslin, 2 pcs. of ribbon, rice and lavender. *I harvested the lavender bush in my yard this late summer and laid it all to dry in my dark/cool basement. The just remove the lavender from the stalk and you're ready!

1. Cut your fabric and muslin into 4 10"sq. pieces. Iron all 4 pieces.
2. Sew the muslin squares together leaving an opening (large enough to insert funnel) to fill with rice and lavender.
3. Sew the 2 pieces of fabric together (wrong side facing out), leaving a large enough opening (approx. 7") to insert the rice bag later.
4. Snip the sharp corners off all corners, then turn both squares right-side out and push out corners.
5. Fill the muslin bags with the rice and lavender and sew the opening closed. Be sure to check that the bag is completely closed and no rice falls out.
6. Take the fabric square and iron in the the opening fold.
7. Center the ribbon on one side and sew at opening. Repeat with other side and ribbon.
8. Insert rice filled muslin bag into fabric/ribbon bag and tie.
9. Viola! You're finished.
10. Heat at 45 sec intervals in microwave or at 200 degrees F in oven. Be sure to always keep an eye out as they can catch fire if left unattended for long lengths of time! They will burn also, if heated too long. Please help your little ones!

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Columbus Day we took a short road trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, an old walled city. Last time we had been there was back in 1999. Notice the rain jackets and drab weather. Winter is coming, you can just feel it in your bones. What you don't see in these pictures is the wind howling down the side streets. We definitley weren't dressed warm enough for the day!

Brad thought it would be a highlight if we went to the famous Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas store. This bus parked outside was about as interesting as it got. We like to kid him anyway that we drove 2 hours for this!

A view from another entrance into the city.

Jack has added this car to his 16th birthday wish-list! I'm sure we'd get really good insurance rates on this one! Not sure about the gas efficiency though!

Either this was a very short door, or the kids have really been growing!

Another side street view.

I think they could use some Round-Up to help with this ivy problem.

Any guesses how old this barn is? Scary thing, the sign is advertising parking inside and rooms available! Maybe it's the cheepest place in town?

The first thing we saw coming into town was the local bakery! This should be on no surprise to anyone! The locals favorite is the Schneeballen. We decided we would wait until the last stop of the day to buy some - then we'd have a nice snack on the way home.

Look at how yummy they look! Well, we were highly disappointed. They were nothing more than a deep fried, elephant ear-type concoction, covered with powdered sugar, cinnanon/sugar, chocolate or maple. So just enjoy how good they look, and save the calories!

We took the back roads on the way home and came to this bridge that supports the autobahn above. Pretty impressive! I was able to capture this photo while sticking the camera outside the window!

The Kochertalbrücke (Kocher Viaduct) near Schwaebisch Hall, Germany, the Autobahn 6 crosses the Kocher valley between Heilbronn and Nuremberg. With its maximum height of 185m above the valley bottom, it is the highest viaduct in Germany, and was also the bridge with the tallest pillars in the world before the Millau Viaduct in France was completed in 2004.

The nine spans of this prestressed concrete girder bridge cover a length of 1128m, the individual span lengths being 81m for the outer two and 138m for the remaining seven. Pillar height varies from 40m to 178m. The bridge table is 31m wide. Construction was from 1976 to 1979.

Okay, these photos below, I was able to find online.