Cold and Lovely

On Pilgrims and Pilgrimage

Me: "Who can tell me the pilgrimage feasts?"

Belle: "OH! OH! Thanksgiving!?!"
Me: "Pilgrimage feasts, Sweetie...not feasts with pilgrims."

Belle: "Oh."

The Three Pilgrimage Festivals - The Shalosh Regalim

The Three Pilgrimage Festivals are referred to in Hebrew as the "shalosh regalim". All three festivals have both agricultural and national significance.  The Three Festivals consist of Passover (Pesach), the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost (Shavuot) and the Feast of Booths (Succoth or Tabernacles).  Click on links for more info. The name Shalosh Regalim derives its origin from the following Biblical verse: (Exodus 23:14-17) 23:14: Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year. 23:15: The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep; seven days thou           shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time           appointed in the month Abib - for in it thou camest out from Egypt;           and none shall appear before Me empty; 23:16: and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labours, which thou           sowest in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of           the year, when thou gatherest in thy labours out of the field. 23:17: Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God... Within the word "regalim" however, is also expressed the idea of a journey on foot or a pilgrimage, an important element in the celebration of these three festivals. "Three times every year shall your menfolk appear before the Lord your God in the place that He will choose, in the feast of Pesach, in the feast of Shavuot, and in the Feast of Succoth" (Deuteronomy 16:16).  Why do we teach these things to our children?  Because our Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) is found in every detail of each of the Biblical holidays...and the more we explore these things, the closer we get to understanding Him.  It's really that simple.   :)

For the Man who has Everything

What my nephew Drew got my Dad this year (warning: for more mature audiences and those with strong stomachs only!):

And the try on...*shudder*!

Yes, this man is my father.  He will never run for public office now, that's for sure.

When Roan plays

My nephew Roan plays on top of the train table. My sister says he can play like that for hours, which is pretty impressive, seeing as this little guy is a bundle of energy and constantly on the move. Maybe the height of his perch is enough to still the frenetic beast in his little heart. Who knows, but my sister is grateful for the time he is not climbing in the pantry, rifling through various toiletries in the powder room, playing in the dog food bowl or causing general chaos in the home.  I love being this little guy's auntie, because his poor mama is tired! 

My Poor Grandma

She's been saying for years that she doesn't like to come up here to visit during the winter months.  Fate, almost helping to prove her point that this place holds no good thing for her, has conspired to visit upon my poor 96 year old grandmother numerous afflictions during her visits. Sore hips, hands, legs, and now...poor thing...a broken nose from a middle-of-the-night fall. We told her that we expect her to stay down in Texas next winter.  This coming weekend she is scheduled to serve dinner to 175 residents of the retirement village where she lives.  They love it when Ida cooks--and I don't really think they care what the great chef looks like!

She looks way worse than she feels  When I asked her if I could take a picture, she quickly quipped, "What do I care!?".

One of the main worries she has is whether or not to go get her hair done once she is back down in Donna, TX.    She still gets her hair done regularly, occasionally gets a pedicure, and arrived for this visit with bright red acrylic nails complete with snowman nail art!  Here was a short video that I took of her when she first arrived, before her fated nose-breaking and bruising:

We love you, Grandma!

To answer your question, yes!

What question did I imagine that you had, fine reader?  

I imagine that you said: "Good grief, will she blog about any and everything?"

The answer--yes!  Why?  

Because this is my blog, and I blog about what is going on in MY world, and what makes ME happy...or sad...or interested...or inspired.  

That said, the following pictures are of the coolest thing I got from my sister:

A simple ceramic coffee filter thingy.  Drat...I can't remember what it's called.

It is designed to fit right over your coffee cup, and with the aid of a simple filter and a tea pot, it helps deliver a perfect cup of coffee.  As the only person in my household (now called the Grant Sorority) who drinks coffee, this makes a lot more sense than a coffee pot.  The simple, low-tech design won me right over!

A view from above.  You have to play a little with the right amount of ground coffee beans to get the strength that you like. 

December 2010

December has been a full month in our home, as in households everywhere. I didn't have the time to blog as the month progressed, so here is a classic "picture dump" blog post.

Remember those cookies that Dad sent to Moo?  Well, they lasted only a few days.

My Belle has her own sense of style.  Nope, she doesn't need glasses.  These are just a fashion statement of some sort.

In the following pictures, you will see the tie-dye shirts that the girls made for themselves, myself and their Dad, and the whole bunch of their cousins.  But this picture is of my poor, wretched and tie-dyed hand after dyeing and rinsing 10 shirts. 

Belle is pretty proud of her one-of-a-kind shirt design.

This shirt is just as bright as Moo's personality.

Shameless bragging-rights photo--my first tea cozy that I knitted up for my Aunt Swede.

Extreme close up on brother-in-law Nick.

Nick and up-and-coming vlogging sensation, Drew....aka Rabbi D 2213 (he says it is rabbid2213, but whatever.)

Little Drewbie and I.  He's all grown up.

There is always a flamingo ornament entered in the ornament exchange.  We ALWAYS walk away with it.

Sweet Roan.

Aside from the flamingo ornament, there was the mosquito ornament.  Of course, right?

From left to right: Aunt Swede, Grandma Ida & my Mom.

A cow on roller skates...how cool is that?  Well, to answer my rhetorical question: about as cool as we get.  :)

Roanie & Mimi.

Nick gave my hubby the weirdest present EVER. 

Aunt Swede opens the lovely tea cozy while Josh looks on.

Kris & Jaiden.

The Rothrock boys receive their friendship bracelets from the girls.

And then the tie dye shirts were opened.

Andrew opening gifts.

Andrew modeling his new tie dye shirt while his biggest fan watches.

Kris with the hand soap and washcloths I knitted.

Dani opening her gifts, which also included the washcloths and also a picture frame that Moo painted for her.

Aunt Swede again; this time with her "footprints" themed picture frame.

Moo made Mimi a music themed one.

The girls also made watercolor and inkwork art for their grandparents.

Once opened, this pillow pet stayed in Belle's clutches.

Drew received several gifts that dealt with hair removal...

The big hit for Moo was the sweet nesting doll set she received from my folks.

What can I say?  These are the gold lame undies that my sister Kristen gave my Dad (in Andrew's name).  The joke was that lame can be pronounced two ways: "lame" or "luh-may".  Either way is appropriate here! 

Here is to a blessed 2011 that is full of laughter, love and peace.

The Streak Continues...(subtitle: Yippee!!!!)

My husband may be the only one who knows of my incredible winning streak when it comes to drawings and door prizes.  But now I'm so excited, I have to share it with a broader audience.

(Okay, my blog is seldom read by anyone outside of my family and maybe a couple of tolerant friends...and so I wouldn't really call the handful of y'all a "broad" audience. Oh no, I just used the word y'all, and we haven't even moved south yet! Not good.  Anyway...)

I used to be the one who NEVER won anything.  Now, over the last few years, my increased chances of winning has my husband convinced that we'd win the lottery if only we played it.  Yeah, sure we would! :)

He called me last night to tell me that he had just won something at his company's holiday party.  I wouldn't even be able to speak about it right now without my voice getting all breathless and squeaky--I am so excited!  I will let the poor quality cell-phone picture that my husband sent me speak for itself:

You have NO IDEA how much I was chomping at the bit waiting to purchase this little treasure for myself.  I'm fairly certain that the guys at Best Buy were about ready to turn me in for stalking the Kindle kiosk.  Good things come to those who wait...or procrastinate...or drive their family and friends looney with their single-minded focus on such wonderful things.  

*Happy Dance*

Whittling Away the Time

My girlfriend Gail has her kids in a whittling class taught by a member of her church.  I was really impressed with what they were able to do with a chisel and a soft piece of wood, so I thought I'd try my hand at it for an anniversary gift for my husband.  We're big on handmade gifts in the Grant home, so I thought of what would be most meaningful to him.  The first thing that came to mind was the word "shema" in Hebrew, as in the "hear" of Deuteronomy 6:4 fame.  For one little word, it is PACKED with meaning when even a cursory look is made at the Hebrew.  I could go on, but let's just say it has become a precious and meaningful word to us.  I did my best to sketch out the 'shin', 'mem' and 'ayin' (שְׁמַ֖ע), and whittled away.  The grapevines along the edges allude to numerous biblical references, my favorite and the most well-known being the vine imagery found in John 15.  When I was all done, I rubbed some stain on it, wrapped it up, and rested my poor hand.  It was a gratifying project to do, but ideally, one should give themselves a little more time than the three days that I gave myself.  Yikes! 

Despite the Distance

The technology of the 21st century can allow friends who live 8,000 miles apart certain luxuries that are new to this generation.  Take skype for instance--Moo and her bff Lyd have still been able to see each other's faces, compare hair lengths and make crazy faces at each other via web cam.  Email has allowed a quick note to be sent to her friend across the globe instantaneously.  Now Photoshop can let the girls pose for a photo "together".  Moo was so happy when she saw this picture:

Birthday Stuff

Well, the last two days have been full of birthday stuff. Last night, we went to my folks for our yearly Dad/Moo birthday celebration. My Dad's birthday is December 14th, and being the ALMOST perfect daughter (snicker), I missed having my eldest daughter on his birthday by one day. :)

The cake...OOoooooooooo.  I will NEVER be a cake decorator, so oooing and ahhhing over Jewel bakery cakes will have to do.

The celebrants are twelve and sixty-nine this year, but don't look a day over eleven and sixty-eight. 
Celebrants...that's a word, right? 

Video of singing and very short speeches by the birthday boy and girl.  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.  :)

Day of Moo's birthday--a rare trip to the mall...to get her ears pierced!   She was so nervous, but handled it well.  Moo is so pleased with her little birthstone stud earrings. 

Seriously, what birthday trip to the mall would be complete without a visit to Panda Express?  We love that place a little bit too much, I think.  We had worked up an appetite, what, with all the ear piercing and posing for the camera at the Picture People, so Orange Chicken and Kung Pao Chicken were in order.

Another video:

After a long day of messing around at the mall, going to violin lessons, sitting for choir evaluations, then rushing off to a salon appointment, a yummy cookie bouquet from her Daddy perfectly capped off a very full birthday.

Celebrating the Light of the World, Day 8

What joy!

A game of marbles...

A seed bead bracelet loom...

And the thing that qualifies hubby and I as "Mom & Dad of the Year" in the girls' eyes:  The Brady Bunch, all seasons DVD set, complete with green plush carpeted case.  Yes, welcome back to the '70s.