Friday, December 21, 2007

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Christmas Past, 1981 (part 2, a repost) Today my guestblogger, my mom, finishes the story she started yesterday. (Just FYI, the pics are from 1979 and 1980--it's the best I could do with what I have here with me in Taiwan.) It was a warm Texas December night and a very special one for us (ok – very special to me, the sentimental one!). It was our first time decorating a tree with a child old enough to participate. We purchased a small Christmas tree from the local grocery store and carted it home on top of our Pinto station wagon. Ken crafted a tree stand out of scrap wood and we placed the tree on top of our end table, hopefully out of the reach of our toddler’s (Sarah’s) grasp. We placed the lights on the tree and Amanda and I began hanging ornaments. She was so excited we were celebrating! I was so excited – I got to keep the traditions! It came time to turn off the overhead lights and plug in the Christmas tree lights. As soon as the lights on the tree began shining, Amanda, overcome at the beauty of what she was seeing, spontaneously began to exclaim “Oh! Oh! Glory to God in the Highest! Glory to God in the Highest! Glory to God in the Highest!” She raised her arms and began dancing around that small glowing tree praising God, repeating that phrase over and over just as the angels must have done on the first Christmas night. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed worship as genuine as the worship I saw that night! Worship from one with such a pure heart and pure motives – a precious three-year-old, who knew only that we were celebrating the birth of Jesus and that our Christmas tree was shining just as the heavens were the night of His birth when angels praised God and proclaimed His glory. And, she wanted to celebrate and praise Him in the same way! That Christmas, God gave us just what we needed through the faith and actions of a three-year-old child. That experience changed our perspective on Christmas celebrations. We both realized that a Christmas tradition held its meaning only in the heart of the person participating in the tradition – you could focus on the warm and fuzzy feelings felt by reliving the tradition or you could focus on the original intent of the tradition or you could focus on the One for Whom you were celebrating as you participated in the tradition. In our family, we choose to focus not on feelings or original intent, but on the Reason we were celebrating. Each year, as we decorate our tree, it is a family tradition to tell the story of the night we worshipped with Amanda around our first family decorated Christmas tree. We seek to have the same worshipful heart as a three-year-old who, though only looking at the lights on a small Christmas tree, saw a sky filled with a host of heavenly...
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happy, happy birthday!! Guess what is two years old today?? My blog! That's right, Following an Unknown Path is two years old today. I started playing with the concept of blogging many times in past six years, I even tried to make a "blog" on my website (that after ten years of owning I finally let go of this year), but because I didn't truly grasp the concept it didn't quite work. I started playing with different blogging platforms starting in the spring of 2005. But it wasn't until December of 2005, that I created the concept of Following an Unknown Path and got hooked on blogging for real. (After Following an Unknown Path was birthed, I carried over some of the content from those other blogs I had played with. That is why the archives go back into the spring of 2005--in case for some random reason you were wondering why my archives go back further than the birth of my blog.) Following an Unknown Path has changed quite a bit from its original. Content, layout, purpose, intent, some of the audience, design and look of the actual posts, writing style . . . .its all changed over the past two years. I guess--in some ways--that is a good thing. Honestly, I can't believe it's been two years! Time goes SO fast. There have been times in this past blogging year that I've wanted to throw in the towel and call it quits. But, I've not done so . . . yet, at least. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy photography, and I need an outlet for sharing with others what God is doing in my life and what is going on in the world I find myself. And, blogging seems to be a great outlet for all of these. So, for now, I continue with my little hobby. It is also such a blessing to be able to update my family on the other side of the world in a matter of seconds about what is going on in my life. Now, if only I can convince them to start blogging about their lives so I can keep tabs on them. (Wanna know a secret? My paternal grandmother comments on my blog posts in handwriting and my grandfather scans in the letter and emails it to me as an attachment. Pretty cool huh?) It's been a neat blogging year since I've actually gotten to MIRL with some other Taiwan bloggers. I've also been put back in touch with some college friends and their blogs. And, twice this year, blog readers told me to go check out some other blog they thought I might like . . . and BOTH times I actually knew these people in real life--just didn't know that they blogged! How cool is that!?!? Oh, yeah, and I entered my first bloggy contest and won an x-shot--thanks to readers voting for me! :) I've made some neat and special friends as I've blogged about my journey along this...

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