Rocking Horses – Christmas 2012

The horses are all built and in the stable – waiting to ride on Santa’s sleigh to the homes of the good little Jarding Boys, their wonderful wives and fiancé’s, and a couple of grandkids. Kolbe actually got their family’s horse last Christmas, but he has pastured him at our house this last year. Each of the boys will have one horse for their children to share.

I have enjoyed the process of cutting, shaping, sanding, and finishing these three oak rocking horses. As I was putting the finish laquer coat on this last week, I imagined Jameson, Kolbe, and all of our future grandchildren rocking back and forth on the horses off on some adventure. I also kept thinking about how I was blessed by God to be able to build wood things and pieces of furniture off and on in my lifetime. I used to build a lot of stuff - then got married – had four wonderful sons – built three family homes for us in there - got a job as a Sioux Falls Fire Fighter, and got too busy to have much “free” time. One of the gifts of this disease prognosis has been that God gave me a shortened schedule, so I had to get a few of those items built that I wanted to get done. I like to spend my spare time out there tinkering in my little shop, but I don’t like deadlines anymore. I plan to work on a few more items yet, God willing. There might be a doll cradle coming for Jameson, but don’t let her know yet.

I have had some light headedness, dizziness, and not feeling the best over the past three weeks. My blood pressure was quite high at my last doctor’s appointment. The Avastin I get infused with can cause elevated blood pressure. My pressure had held steady for several months, but then shot up quite a bit. That explained the headaches and weird feelings for me. I am now on a drug to lower the blood pressure, which will take 7 to 10 days to work. I got really bad headaches a couple of nights earlier this week. I was putting coats of a fast drying laquer finish on the rocking horses, and I suspect the fumes from that did not help my headaches. I got a script for pain pills to use for the headaches, and a little dose of steroids to get back on now. I know they will make me feel better - I just don’t want the side affects I had earlier – large red face and eat like a horse – can’t sleep. This is a much much smaller dosage, so I am hoping it won’t hit me so hard. I really have nothing to complain about - many better people than I are suffering a lot more from their cancers. I have been feeling pretty good overall, and feel that God has truly blessed us this Holiday Season. Make it a great week!

I am including some pictures of the rocking horses waiting to leave the starting gate. That older heavy set gentlemen is me on Christmas goodies.

Merry Christmas to all of you, and God Bless you for the many prayers you have been saying for our family.

Joseph’s First Christmas

I was reading from “One Incredible Moment” this morning. One of the first chapters is about Joseph and what he must have been thinking that first Christmas.

He had come to terms with Mary’s pregnancy by the Holy Spirit. He was probably thinking that the messiah would be born in the temple at Jerusalem with family and friends gathered around along with the high priests and much joyous celebration. At the very least, the baby could have been born in Nazareth where Joseph had a house and his work shop.

Instead, he had to take his pregnant young wife on a journey to Bethlehem with her bouncing down the road on the back of a donkey. Once there he could not find her a room or even a warm bed for the night. All he found for them was a manger - all he had for her to lie on was the blanket from the donkeys back and the manger filled with animals for warmth. None of Mary’s family or friends was present, no midwife to help with the birth - he did not have much to offer her, but she did not complain. They had to have a lot of faith in God.

The only guests they had that first Christmas night were poor shepherds from the fields. I would assume they did get to hear the chorus of angels that had sung to the shepherds, but we don’t even know that for sure.

So, the savior of the world slips almost unnoticed into the world with a confused stepfather wondering how God’s plan was going to work out. Joseph had a lot of faith, but he also had to have a few questions about this journey the Holy Family had just begun.

God Bless each of you, and have a Blessed and Joy Filled Advent Season!

Advent 2012

I hope this finds each of you in good health and having a good start to the Christmas Season. As you scurry about getting ready for the celebration of Christmas, I hope that you take some time each day in thoughtful prayer talking to God about the coming of His greatest gift ever - the birth of His Son. Advent has now started. Max Lucado wrote a great little book a few years back called “One Incredible Moment” Celebrating the Majesty of the Manger. It is one of the best books I have found to get you in the right frame of mind for the coming of Christ’s birth.

Faith Hope & Love

1 Corinthians 13:13

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

God is Love. It is as simple as that. God is pure Love. Do you know why the greatest of these three gifts is Love? When we pass from this life to eternity with God, we will not need to have Faith that God exists, because we will see Him. We will not need to Hope in the resurrection because we will have been through it and know that it is true. We will see that God is pure Love and his Love for us does not ever end. That is why “the greatest of these gifts is Love!”

God, who is Love, created man in His image and likeness. That means we are closer to God in our makeup than any other creature He created. He meant for man and woman to walk and communicate with Him regularly. But, we were tempted by Lucifer, made a poor choice, and fell into sin. God did not abandon us - He still Loves us and promised to send a Savior for all of us. We did lose the chance to see God and talk with Him face to face daily - we did get kicked out of the Garden of Eden, and we do now have to face death. But, God sent us the savior He promised - His Son, Jesus was born on Christmas and He came to bring us God’s own Word. Jesus dwelt with us - He lived, worked, ate, drank, and suffered like we do. He celebrated at the wedding of a family friend when He turned water into wine at His mother’s request. This first miracle shows us that God Blesses the sacrament of marriage between a man and a woman as a Holy Covenant. He cried at the tomb of His friend, Lazarus just as we cry when our loved ones die. Jesus cried, even though He knew that He would shortly bring Lazarus back from the dead and that someday Lazarus would be in heaven for eternity. Think about that one!

 Jesus walked this earth for thirty three years, preaching God’s Word for the last three. What did mankind do? We beat Him and hung Him on a cross - but God the Father still did not give up on us - rather, Jesus opened the way to heaven for each of us by His death and suffering. Think about that for just a moment, and thank God for that every night before you go to sleep.

This is the Year of Faith in the Catholic Church. Take the time to thank God for your Faith and then reach out to someone else and share some of your Faith with them. God Bless each of you, and have a Blessed and Joy Filled Advent Season!