I love books, so for Christmas, there were a lot of books. Mrs. Clause chose the presents this year!!

I love the feel of a book when it is new and crisp. When the Sonlight box arrives or the UPS man drops off the Amazon order, I can't wait to open it and see a brand new book.

I will write a book one day in order to be able to feel that sensation!

Still, the books I really love are the ones that are worn out. "Tell me not what a man reads, but what he reads over and over again." Those are the books we have a relationship with.

For us Richard Scarry, Busy Town books are worn out and taped up and worn out again. We have owned and torn and loved more copies of Goodnight Moon than I care to tell you. Our Little House on the Prairie series is missing pages and taped and tattered from being read over and over. Charlotte's Web, Jan Karon's Mitford Series, Anne of Green Gables. These are the books that I love to pick up. We love to read our favorites scenes over and over again.

My Bible, I must say is not as tattered and torn as these. We have a lady at church whose Bible is duct taped together. Now that is a woman you know a lot about. She is far from perfect, but I know where she goes when the days the tough and when the days are good.

Praise the Lord for the written word. Teach your kids that men died that we would one day read the Word whenever we desire. Learn to read and Tolle Lege!

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
Twelve Lords Leaping

The Twelve Points of Doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy *catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

Merry Christmas!

The Eleventh Day of Christmas!

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Eleven Pipers Piping.

The Eleven Faithful Apostles!

The Tenth Day of Christmas

On the Tenth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
Ten Lords Leaping.

The Ten Commandments.

The Ninth Day of Christmas

On the Ninth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Nine Ladies Dancing

The Nine Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control

The Eighth Day of Christmas

On the Eighth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
Eight Maids a-milking.

The Eight Beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3-10

The Seventh Day of Christmas

On the Sixth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
Seven Swans a-swimming.

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading and compassion

The Sixth Day of Christmas

On the Sixth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
Six geese a-laying.

The Six Days of Creation

The Fifth Day of Christmas

On the Fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
Five Golden Rings

The Pentateuch: The First Five Books of the Old Testament

The Fourth Day of Christmas

On the Fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Four Calling Birds

The Four Gospels: Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John

The Third Day of Christmas

On the Third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
Three French Hens

The Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope, and Charity

The Second Day of Christmas

On the Second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
A Two Turtle Doves



The Gift of the Scriptures: The Old and New Testaments.

The First Day of Christmas

On the First day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
A Partridge in a Pear Tree

God's One Perfect Son!

Lessons from a cat

My family is experiencing a new epoch right now. We have lost the first of our pets (at least any that they remember and are close to). I joke about all our pets and getting rid of them (we have 8 of them too), but everyone knows it is a joke. Because everyone knows that I really make all those kind of decisions and if weren't for me we would not have all these pets anyway. Daddy is the head, but I am the neck (at least about the sappy stuff).

Still, my kids are sad, and they are grieving in different ways. Just like they are different; their ways of experiencing life are different. That is what makes life so good. Coco loved us all the time literally. He was by far the most affectionate animal ever. The kids pray, they cry and all of us have realized we did not love Coco enough when he was here.

There is the rub. Now that I have moved into a time when people I love die (my dad, my babies, my friends' babies), I know that life hurts and when someone is gone, truly gone, you never have that moment again. You know the moment. The one where you could have hugged one more time or said something in your heart about how much you truly want them to know Jesus. Because, though we grieve for a cat, it doesn't hurt like saying good bye for eternity.

I have friends that are adopting right now in a far away world. I have thought many times how much I should have offered her a kinder word in the last year. How much her life is changing, and she will need a lot of support. She is ushering in 3 children who without her might never know Jesus.

It seems that we must look to Jesus to do great things, and we must never forget to love people where they are. If they have Jesus or not, they still need a Savior every day, every moment.

So the lesson I learned from this cat was more than just pets are kind of a pain. Pets are part of who we are because we love to love something that loves us - no matter what we do or don't do. Losing Coco reminds me again that life is short and every moment you have someone to love is a gift of the greatest proportion from a God who gave us the One He loved the most.