28 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-4-15”

  7. Musical Advent Calendar – Day 4: The Babe of Bethlehem – This early American carol was written by the Baptist singing master William Walker (1809-1875), known as Singing Billy. He published several shape note tunebooks, including ‘Southern Harmony’.

    Ye nations all, on you I call, come, hear this declaration.
    And don’t refuse this glorious news of Jesus and salvation.
    To royal Jews came first the news of Christ the great Messiah,
    As was foretold by prophets old, Isaiah, Jeremiah.

    To Abraham the promise came, and to his seed for ever,
    A light to shine in Isaac’s line, by scripture we discover;
    Hail, promised morn! the Savior’s born, the glorious Mediator–
    God’s blessed Word made flesh and blood, assumed the human nature.

    His parents poor in earthly store, to entertain the stranger
    They found no bed to lay his head, but in the ox’s manger:
    No royal things, as used by kings, were seen by those that found him,
    But in the hay the stranger lay, with swaddling bands around him.

    On the same night a glorious light to shepherds there appeared,
    Bright angels said, “Be not afraid, although we much alarm you,
    The angels said, “Be not afraid, although we much alarm you,
    We do appear good news to bear, as now we will inform you.

    “The city’s name is Bethlehem, in which God hath appointed,
    This glorious morn a Savior’s born, for him God hath anointed;
    By this you’ll know, if you will go, to see this little stranger,
    His lovely charms in Mary’s arms, both lying in a manger.”

    When this was said, straightway was made a glorious sound from heaven
    Each flaming tongue an anthem sung, “To men a Savior’s given,
    In Jesus’ name, the glorious theme, we elevate our voices,
    At Jesus’ birth be peace on earth, meanwhile all heaven rejoices.”

    Then with delight they took their flight, and winged their way to glory,
    The shepherds gazed and were amazed, to hear the pleasing story;
    To Bethlehem they quickly came, the glorious news to carry,
    And in the stall they found them all, Joseph, the Babe, and Mary.

    The shepherds then returned again to their own habitation,
    With joy of heart they did depart, now they have found salvation.
    Glory, they cry, to God on high, who sent his Son to save us
    This glorious morn the Savior’s born, his name it is Christ Jesus.

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  8. I had to get out early this morning. I had a 7:30 conference with one of BG’s teachers. On the way to school I passed a house that had an old tow truck in the front yard. It was “towing” a sleigh and had lights on it. I was going slow enough to read the name on the said of the tow truck. “Dick’s Towing”. Dick Turner is a legend. He towed many a Fairhopian. Most teenagers who got into any kind of trouble needing a tow truck feared Dick more than their parents. He would come get you no matter the time, but he would fuss and cuss at you all the way home until he delivered you safely to your parents. Most of the time you were only charged $20.
    True story–When Dick Turner died they “towed” his casket through town before delivering him to the cemetery.

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  9. Good Morning everyone….oh the sunrise this morn….majestic!
    Sitting at Panera waiting to walk across the road to work at 9….hope you all have a most blessed day, knowing our precious Lord is watching over thee..

    .. … (hope Elvera finds some wonderful deals at Belk! 🙂 )

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  10. I went through ads yesterday, noting what I should go buy, but am so very reluctant to go! I may just have to go out after work today to get started, but I’d rather scribble on my Christmas cards.

    Just as I pushed “print” on the Christmas letter last night, my daughter-in-law sent me a bunch of more-up-to-date photos of the Adorables . . . So I cancelled the printing and will make alterations yet again. When you write a blog post about writing Christmas letters and when friends start commenting on FB they can’t wait for your letter, you have to work a little harder. As in, all day yesterday.

    But it’s done and everyone is happy and I’ll get to play with photos at some point today.

    Picked up a horrifying book two nights ago: So, You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson and was traumatized with fear by the second chapter. I set the book aside and returned to my biography for several hours, notating where I found what information, in particular ideas were based on whose writing.

    What a nasty world we live in and the more you write and post the more vulnerable you are. It was a good exercise I had meant to do all along, and it was only four chapters, but still . . . had a long conversation about journalism and ethics with my boss on the phone yesterday and how to protect yourself!

    Yesterday’s rain was perfect. I’m so thankful.

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  13. That is a great column about the university president’s remarks, Cheryl — and it’s getting a lot of circulation on FB. World also posted a piece about it yesterday.

    michelle, that is sobering about the online world and how mean it all is. 😦 I’ve seen people pile on others in our community to the point of embarrassment (even when they have a point, it winds up sounding like a teen-aged screaming match that deteriorates to the most vile levels). Ugh.

    I’m off to the craft fair today and wrestling with roof decisions regarding permits, etc. Neighbors skip them (they put on a new roof a few years ago without pulling all the permits which they said also will hike the property taxes), Miguel, guy doing my roof advised skipping it as it will slow everything (and him) down. I dread the idea of adding on a layer of cost & LA city bureaucrat-inspectors to this already belated and very expensive project (ouch, ouch). But … real estate friend says city officials are sharp-eyed these days with El Nino coming and everyone scrambling to fix their roofs in time. Speaking from experience, he said the fines are double what permit fees are. …

    I never even thought of permits from the city for something as basic and necessary as a new roof. Ugh.

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  14. Made it to Claire’s at the mall last night — clerk directed to me appropriate 9-year-old jewelry. 🙂

    It was a real stab in the dark, though.

    I much prefer buying toys. 🙂 🙂 I’ll aim for a younger kid again next year, this is why I stay away from picking teens (but you have to grab early to get the little ones).

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  15. In most areas of life I would tell you to beg forgiveness rather than permission–it’s the salesman in me–except when it comes to the Government, especially any time they can fine you. Suck it up, pay for the permits.

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  16. I think I am too late to post on the Pigskin Picks. These days just get away from me.

    I love seeing the Mouse in the snow! I am at the office so I can see it on the big screen.

    The inside weather is cold on this side of the office. I brought a little heater that I got from my friend when I helped her clean out for the three kittens to get to have a home with them. I did not know if it would work, but it does. And it oscillates, too! That’s good so I don’t have to keep running back and forth in front of it to stay warm. 😉

    Earlier I did a little shopping therapy at the Newly New Store (Atlanta Junior League) and I found two tops, a gold luggage tag, and a few small wallet type thingies I want to try to see if I can use to organize the cards in my purse. I have punch cards from stores, discount cards, business cards, etc., all in a jumble. Lately I keep losing my Kroger card in the mix so I am looking for a better way to keep up with them all. I found a cute little Vera Bradey print key ring/flat wallet that may work for the Kroger card since I need it and lose it the most.

    I was at Sam’s this morning at 7:30 a.m., which was a great time to shop there. I am spoiled by shopping such early hours. A business membership card will get you in as early as 7:00 and it works for me.

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  17. Not too late Janice. Get to it.

    Three guys were walking down the beach.
    A software engineer, a hardware engineer and the program manager.
    They saw a bottle on the beach and picked it up.
    Out came a genie who thanked them for letting him out.
    The genie said, “I usually give three wishes, but since there are three of you, I’ll give each one wish.
    The software engineer said, “I wish I were on m y motorcycle in the Nevada desert with a beautiful girl on the back.
    Poof, he was gone
    The hardware engineer said, “I wish I were on a tropical island with a beautiful girl.
    Poof
    By now the program manager was alone. He said, “I wish those two guys were back at work right after lunch.”
    The lesson here. Always let the program manager go first.

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  19. it is my report card day. I have all the assessments, now to enter the info. Doing okay today after getting sick last night. Not sure what it was
    It will be quiet at school today
    I need to take in the Christmas decorations that I have
    and I just found out that I will have a new student on Monday, which will make 18 and then two more next term
    and more coming by the end of the year. Good thing that the numbers are in God’s hands.

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  20. Miss Bosley would like for Mouse to share her toys! That is such a cute picture. I received the Oster roaster oven yesterday so Miss Bosley has two new big boxes to claim as her own. She is a happy camper in her cardboard.

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  21. Jo, my son will soon have to give out grades for the classes he teaches. That will be a first time for him.

    I asked previously, but you may not have seen it, about where you found the idea for the felt Nativity scene. Do you have a template for it? That sounds so neat.

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  23. Janice, it has been so long, I don’t remember where I got the pattern. I have patterns that we follow. Since I purchase most of the felt, I have my aide cut the felt into smaller pieces the size of the pattern. Otherwise you lose so much. I think that I took a set of patterns home and then made them with the grands. There is more to the set, animals, wise men, angels, but we only o the basics. I will link to the picture that I posted last year or earlier on facebook and maybe one of my facebook friends here will send you the photo.

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  26. Roscuro, I’ve been sharing the videos you’ve been posting, and your commentary on them, with the four youngest kids each day this month. We are enjoying them.

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