Monday, December 11, 2023

Noel! Noel!

 

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?  

(Hoping your New Year is laced with less pain than this last picture!) 

A treasured memory in December? 

Our nine-year-old grandson's fingers fly to announce the sound that made CERTAIN poor shepherds. 

 In a season of light shining in darkness, of what are you certain?

In the midst of uncertainty how do you feel when you hear the resonating ring of, WE BELIEVE? 

“WE BELIEVE: in God, the Eternal Father. And in His Son. And in the Holy Ghost”!
 (Articles of Faith, 1:1) 

As we celebrate a beautiful Christmas gift of a Savior to our earth, we offer gratitude for a remembrance of belonging.  

We applaud the blessing of a nearby daughter to orchestrate 

a painting party at the home of a younger sister working full time and studying the art of mastering processes, while manufacturing pressure tanks in Colorado.   

Answers to prayers for a talented, responsible son to provide for 

and spend more time with his family 

by changing his work to direct sales with a nearby painting company. 

Comradery of this son's eldest two with their cousin a few miles south perfecting their personal best in cross country running,

 while such a cousin’s family fosters cats. (Kindness can be contagious!)

   

Visits to the table of another cousin include a homemade stick game during his break from volunteering stints at a summer scout camp.  

This cousin's younger sister and many of her well-read cousins count hours and days to await the newest volume to emerge for a favorite dragon chapter book series, while they try out for solos, or help with school plays, or try new skills such as sewing and sorts.

 


Kaysville grandchildren are trying their hand at organ pedaling, 
snare drumming, code busting, robotics, and climbing gyms,
 along with a "weekly home blessing" 
(orchestrated chores where everyone pitches in
to help with complete a list, with 10 minutes a room. Another race!) 
How will I make MY home a wonderful tree house, a castle, this year?
Some bike to school and pause on their return to visit a nearly 94-year-old great grandma.  

(often making time for another Grammy, measuring near!) 

Georgia grandchildren prance (by bus) to first grade 
parading pumpkin patches, art galleries, launching pads or watching Nutcracker dancing, with baby sister in tow wherever possible. 

 
As we acknowledge progress for an eldest grandchild 
who prepares to graduate from college,     
         
we rejoice at connection.  
Strides in home renovation. 
 
 Sounds of service in holy halls, old and new, 

 celebrating an anniversary of three meaningful decades 
graced with gathering and giving.  
        Memories of summer and September include sauntering of stomping grounds of pioneers past. 
(What do you feel as you explore the paths of a progenitor?  
What brings to life the stories better than to imagine or actually see fields and frames?)
 Above is a farm in Firth, ID where a young Shirley chased rabbits and ran to catch her small yellow school bus, which at times stopped coming, due to donning its torn-out cardboard roof.
How quick will I be to finish my chores 
and triumphantly reach the other side of the road in good time?  
Will I respect property? Will I exercise patience with others?
("West Virginia, mountain Mama," can you "take me home, country roads?") 
After miles of sleuthing and searching pieces of the past, 
what a better pause and ending than to visit an East Coast, 
where one of us harbors early memories and 
where a mission president's family hangs a hat and hosted us royally?!

 Looking ahead to horizons of hope, we learn to look for God in the details. 
 
 Salvation in song! 
Holiness in hopes to improve incrementally! 
Joy comes in watching loved ones walk in truth. (3 John 1:4) 
Thank you for sharing scattered puzzle pieces in your walk.  

May your shepherd slings be stocked with effective stones 
and your dragon tails be cut short!
                     
Blessings in this season.  We love you!
(If "by light of star, they traveled far,"
May the light of His star illuminate your path!)  
Val and Laurene Starkey (Christmas 2023)
   

 

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