Right on

For Christmas I got a . . .

Hark!

Early in this Christmas season, I began to meditate on this carol. I started singing each line and really thinking about what it meant. I began to put the song into my own words, to make it more real to me. "Listen! sang the angels designated for singing. God and sinners have been reconciled! After all these thousands of years of separation and longing to be near, they can be friends again!" The angels rejoiced over this. "Christ, who is adored by even the highest beings in heaven...Christ, the Lord who is everlasting...Look, He's come to earth through the womb of a virgin! He gently laid aside all of His great glory and came to earth so that no man would ever have to die again. And He, all the Godhead seen in the flesh, was pleased to come dwell here with his friends. Listen to us!! Rise up joyfully, and join us as we give glory to the King!"


Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display Thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

'Twas Right Before Christmas

by Chelley, Catrina, and Joy Lin

(We wrote this for our Christmas party's gift exchange, thus all the "right" and "left"s.)

‘Twas right before Christmas

And all through Admissions

Surviving ‘til five

Was our one final mission

The students were headed

Right straight to their homes

While staff were left waiting

And tending the phones

When right in the middle

Of our very last hour

Right then it went dark

We had lost all the power!

(What?!? You’ve got to be kidding. This happens all the time. The lines get icy and then they break and it takes the City of Claremore forever to come fix it. Like that one time, when someone drove into the pole at the intersection and we were left without power for the whole afternoon.)

Right away it was noisy

Oh! All the beeping!

Tye knew right then

He’d not be left sleeping.

To the window we all rushed

“This isn’t right!

It’s icy and snowy

We’ll be left right here all night.”

There’s ice on the cars

and ice on the streets

To the right and the left

roads are covered in trees

If Kristi hadn’t left

her ‘sploder at home

‘round Markham’s dark halls

We’d not have to roam.

Roasted nuts are so good

when left without heat

Too bad that Catrina

did not bring us that treat!

“Is Julie all right?”

Lindsay said with a shout.

“I’m right as rain.”

But her tears left some doubt.

At the switchboard sat Andrea

Just scrapping away.

There’d be no more ringing

Of phones on this day.

And way down the hall,

Last door on the left,

Sat Tara and Onesmus,

A Kenyan distressed.

“This ice, it come

From the sky and it fall.

Right on the ground

Is more left at all?”

Left without heat,

The building got frigid.

“A comfortable 70” Lenn writes.

“Yeah right,” laughed Bridget!

Down the dark hall came running

Both Hillary and Heather

“We were left all alone

We must all stick together!”

“The girls have all left,”

Kristin said with a sigh

“Let’s just call them,”

Was Joy Lin’s quick reply.

They left with their sleds

To rescue us fast

They left right away

Before more time had passed.

We waited and watched

At the window for them.

“Girl! Here they come!”

Exclaimed Vivian.

There’s Ashley and Heidi

And Leslie and Holly

And right over there

Is Paula, so jolly!

We all loaded up

On their sleds oh so tiny

Of course Chelley slipped

And fell right on her hiney.

We laughed and we laughed

And we laughed and we laughed.

We laughed and we laughed

And we laughed and we laughed.

We sled down the hill

To the left and the right.

Merry Christmas to all

And to all a good night!

The End … Right?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Years one through seven of my life were spent in Coalgate, the county seat of what was, at the time, the poorest county in the state. In the whole county, there was not one stoplight. But we loved living in that town. Dad was a pastor, so we lived in the parsonage next door to the church. I still remember our address. Every time there was something going on at church, we were there. Even if there was nothing going on, we were there. That's just what happens when you're a kid and live a hundred yards from the place where your dad is sort of the boss. It was so fun. His office was on the second floor, which is, to a shy small-town girl, pretty awe-inspiring.

One perk of being the preacher's kid is that everyone knows you, and you pretty much know everyone. Not only does the congregation know who you are, but special guests do, too. Like the Singing Fishermen that came every year to do a revival in Clareta. Or Susie Luchsinger.

Susie Luchsinger would come to our church every couple of years or so. She and her husband were about my parents' age, and had kids probably somewhere around the ages of us. I really don't remember the kids, but I sure remember Susie. She was a singer. Think Reba-McEntire-sings-Christian, and you have Susie Luchsinger. No, you really do, because they're sisters and sound a lot alike.

I remember that one time, not too long after Susie had been at church singing, we filled out a worksheet at school. One of the questions was, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I wrote, "gospel singer." Oh, how I wanted to do that! If I remember correctly, I also put "or teacher."

For some reason I thought about this tonight. A gospel singer or a teacher. Funny how, at the age of 6, two things were in my heart: education and music. And at 27, two things are in my heart: education and music. I still want to be a gospel singer! (OK, maybe not quite the style of Susie, but you know what I'm getting at.) And even though I don't want to be an actual teacher, education is still what I love.

God really does set the course of our lives. Even before I was born, He knew the plan for me. He knew my days. He knew my future.

Strategery

Everyone else gets an opinion, so I say that I get one, too...

Texas messed up.

Instead of yelling for two weeks about not going to the Big 12 Championship game, they should have set their eyes a little higher...the National Championship game, for instance. Here's why:

Texas knew Oklahoma was going to beat Missouri. All Mack needed to do was paint the scenario of Florida beating Alabama (which ended up happening) and then talk pure numbers. UT's one loss was to Tech, who was #7 at the time and then securely held the #2 seat for three consecutive weeks. At the end of the season, Tech (whose one loss was to Oklahoma) is at #7 again. Texas beat Oklahoma when OU was the #1 team in the nation. After the end of the season, Oklahoma is #1 again. (This would have been the time to bring up 45-35.) Florida has one loss, as well. They lost to Mississippi (I'm sorry, who?) who was unranked all year until they snuck in at #25 in the final ranking when Florida, a team they beat, jumped to #2. Doesn't it make more sense to send a team to the National championship who lost to the best team in the country than to send one who lost to a 4-loss team?

It's not an air-tight argument and could actually back-fire and send Alabama to the game. But then, it doesn't have to be air-tight. When you have the choice of arguing with a rule to which you agreed before it turned against you and campaigning for subjective votes...Go with the subjective option. It's better strategery, as some Texans like to say.

House of Bread

This week is the Bethlehem candle. 'Bethlehem' means 'house of bread,' so....

Mom and her stable.

She even made pretzel people.
Jesus is a little pretzel in a caramel manger.

Dad and his farm.

Backyard.
Notice the wagon. It actually rolls.

Bekah and her coal mine.

Complete with a spring-fed stream.
Who says coal miners don't celebrate with a Christmas tree?

Dad was convinced this was where the Abominable Snowman lived.
So he made a snowman and tried to sneak it into the mine.

Me and my house.

Now I know why people don't put lights on their houses.
It takes forever.

Candles in all the windows.

You may have noticed that none of these are typical gingerbread houses. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't. One year dad's ended tragically...It appeared that a man died on his roof while putting up his lights. Sad. Then we have the infamous roof Bekah put on her house. It was made out of icing...Just a giant pile of shaped icing. Missy's trailer house was a big hit, too. Oh, funny days!

My sister, the TV star

During her senior year of high school, Bekah earned the very prestigious honor of being named a National Merit Scholar. She is now a senior at OU and had the opportunity to be in the new student-produced commercial that is run on national TV during sporting events. Be sure to watch the commercial when you're watching OU! I've seen it twice. This week, Kelly took my picture with it. I was trying to point to who I think is Bekah.

First try...


Not her...

The general area...

And in this one you can see me, too...