Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!


I hope today finds you enjoying your family and celebrating the risen Christ. 


 I encourage you to search out what he accomplished at the cross and how His resurrection changed everything.

1Who has believed our message 

   and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, 
   and like a root out of dry ground. 
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, 
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, 
   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. 
Like one from whom people hide their faces 
   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

 4 Surely he took up our pain 

   and bore our suffering, 
yet we considered him punished by God, 
   stricken by him, and afflicted. 
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, 
   he was crushed for our iniquities; 
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, 
   and by his wounds we are healed. 
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, 
   each of us has turned to our own way; 
and the LORD has laid on him 
   the iniquity of us all.

 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, 

   yet he did not open his mouth; 
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, 
   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, 
   so he did not open his mouth. 
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. 
   Yet who of his generation protested? 
For he was cut off from the land of the living; 
   for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, 
   and with the rich in his death, 
though he had done no violence, 
   nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, 

   and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, 
he will see his offspring and prolong his days, 
   and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 
11 After he has suffered
   he will see the light of life and be satisfied; 
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, 
   and he will bear their iniquities.  Isaiah 53: 1-11





Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Creating Traditions: Our special Christmas Eve



I am all about traditions and making the different holidays special.  It is exciting to me to plan fun things for our family to do.  Having a young family, we are just getting the ideas going.  This past year we decided to start creating a new tradition for Christmas Eve.  We came up with a really unique meal, and worked all day on cooking it & setting up for my in-laws, our special guests to arrive for dinner.  We followed the meal by attending the Christmas Eve service at their church (a surprise for them), checking out Christmas lights and ended the evening by opening up our first gifts of Christmas, new pajamas, and took a family picture all wearing our new snug pjs.  


Some of you may know that my husband is a phenomenal cook.  He took classes in culinary arts and is very gifted in creating savory dishes.  So I have to give him all the credit for our delicious Christmas Eve meal: Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon.  It might have taken hours to make, but boy was it worth it!  I will say I helped a little (pealed the pearl onions), but Andrew did pretty much everything else.  It was amazing- seriously best soup I have EVER had, and really made the night feel special.  I thought I would post about it, since Monday night I thawed the remaining soup and we finished it off, it still tasted as good as the day it was made.  If you ever have the time to make a delicious creation, this is definitely one you should try.  We followed this recipe: 
http://www.food.com/recipe/boeuf-bourguignon-a-la-julia-child-148007