St. Nicky

Here we are, the 17th of December and I am putting up information from the 6th. Great.


St. Nicholas, whose day is now celebrated on December 6th, is the ancestor of Santa Claus. St. Nick was a Bishop a long time ago (very specific) and gave gifts in secret to people. In keeping with a long tradition which my parents picked up from their two years in Germany, we also celebrate this special day by putting our shoes out in the hall on the eve of St. Nicholas Day.

Here we are waiting to open our shoes very patiently.

"That last picture cut off heads, let's spread out more."

This is what we got in our shoes, with some variation. I got a pomegranate, some chocolate and only three sticks. Others got some different fruits.

We also got some clothing, which I here model for myself in the mirror. This really is a nice shirt.

Thank you, St. Nicholas and Thank you, God who has given us many good examples of people in the past who lived first for you.

~Tim

creación de Dios

I may anger some of you, but I will be bold.
I like squirrels. Exciting to say, we have one that is making a home in a tree in our backyard.

This little guy is a bit chubby since winter is coming. Here he is half out of the whole in which he is making his home.

I think this is so cute of him. He is just making sure all the details are working out in there.

Here he is gathering fresh leaves from the tree to pad his home. It was so much fun to watch him stuff his face, run over to his nest, drop the leaves and arrange them, then run back for some more.

Like the title of this says, la creación de Dios es muy buena.

~Tim

YES! Yes! Yes.

SNOW.

I love the stuff. Just a few days ago, I got up and there was snow all over. It was a wet sticky snow that covered all the trees properly. What a joy to see.

I took both of these pictures at 6:15 in the morning, and the only light came from city lights reflecting off the clouds and the streetlight here.

I took this picture later in the week during the daylight.

I love snow. God definitely has a beautiful creativeness in His characteristics.

~Tim

What do You think?

"Consumerism makes you think you don't have to suffer to follow Jesus. It makes you think you can have lots of things, and Christ as well. In reality, you just end up with lots of things, and most of the time you don't even realize Christ has gone."

~Li Tianen
A Shanghai pastor

Cuisinier

Apparently, school has decreased in intensity recently. That being the case, I have been able to spend some time playing with food.

Last night, I grabbed a recipe and made an dish with a strange name-Spinach Flan with Tomato Thyme Sauce.

It had just come out of the oven when this picture was taken.

You can easily see the spinach and bread crumbs in it.

This is a picture of my sister's plating. It has here the tomato thyme sauce on it.

While those in my family who have no taste buds for spinach declared it a disaster, the others of us who have better cultured palates found it excellent. I was pleased with my "go" at it.

~Tim

coffee (decaf of course!)

One of the perks of having a sister that works at a chef school is that she brings home great food and recipes. The two of us just made a recipe for a Starbucks' mocha frappuccino coffee with lowfat decaf 3 squirt chocolate whip (or something like that).

It was definitely worth the work.




~Tim

Old and New

Dad installed this ceiling light when they moved into our house before I was born. Even though it looks like the seventies, I've always liked it. In fact, when we were updating our house in 1996, I begged for it to not be updated. (If for no other reason, it takes three bulbs and the new ones only took two!)

Well, when our kitchen fan seemed to be giving up the ghost, Dad purchased and installed a new one. Only then did we realize that the old light/fan were not the problem, but it was the light switch. However, kind of late to take back the new fan.

This left us with the problem of what to do with the old-but-still-working kitchen fan. Of course, we couldn't throw it away! So, someone suggested that it go into the "Girls' Room" (i.e. Lilac Bush). As much as I still loved our old bedroom light, the idea of four bulbs and a ceiling fan were attractive. So, I succombed.

So, we finally "updated" our bedroom light. The only difficuty...Dad purchased the old kitchen fan in about 1987. So, though we did updated, we didn't really moderize!

A day in the life of the Joneses! -EJ

Cousinly Love

Some nameless cousin decided that the Jones's desktop would look best with a picture of Kyle and Gretchen. I wonder which one it could be....

Each day when we see your smiling faces, we are reminded to pray for you and thank the Lord for the amazing work He does in every life!

How delighted we are for your engagement! We look forward to seeing how the Lord will use the two of you together in the future. With much love.

Yeah!

School can be hard work, but today I am satisfied. Although I still will have a lot of work still to do, I just checked out my two final books for classes.

So now I just have all the hard work to do.

Apple Picking

Indiana's fall has been very beautiful this year! Some of the family took advantage of the weather this weekend to enjoy apple picking at Tuttle Orchard.

The apples were sparce, but it was fun anyway!

Like mother, like daughter. :)

Weddings

As the Assistant Wedding Coordinator at church I have the pleasure of seeing many beautiful and creative celebrations. Each has its own unique touches that mirror in small ways the creativity of our Master Creator.

Very elegant--nearly all the decorations came from church.

The ceremony itself was also very sweet and simple.

The ivy was real. I understand it was less expensive that way!


I liked the way they set up the food. She had variety, but it was very easy to prepare.

The cake and the bridal table.

Each of the four sheet cakes, plus the wedding cake itself, were different flavors!

In the end, it was all beautiful. However, I did not get pictures of the rush to the tux store...the kitchen staff before the food arrived...the sanctuary before the flowers arrived late...the inexperienced cake cutters. I guess all's well that ends well. :)

-EJ

School

I am back at school now. Study, Study, Study. No time for pictures, just words.

What to do...?

What should one do on a hot summer Saturday...but help coordinate a wedding!

They did a beautiful job decorating our church.

I had never seen arches like this. I hear the family will be renting them out in the future

Here is the final product.
-EJ

Mundane Business

Yesterday, I went to a Primerica educational speech. It was rather fun to see real business since I am just a college student. At this point in my life, I enjoy putting on a white shirt and nice pants to go to learn about business. They discussed how good their business was and how they help other people. I was glad that I went.

~TD

ICHE Lessons Learned

I learned something yesterday from my good friend Voddie Baucham. He was discussing the way that people during the New Testament would reference what we now call the Old Testament. Since they did not have chapters and verses, they would say the first few lines. So Jesus, while hanging on the cross says, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Psalm 22 is titled My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus calls attention to this Psalm as he dies. Why would he do that? Find a Bible and read for yourself keeping in mind Jesus' circumstances.

Arizona Beauty

This is some pictures from our trip in June--a sunset in the Southwest desert.