Christmas Came Early!

Just thought I'd put up a quick post, and a bunch of new pictures! As the title denotes, Christmas came early this year... at least at the Christensen house. "Nanny Mary" is visiting, and they chose to use this time while she was here to celebrate with her! She brought fun presents for everyone, and everyone had a blast!





From what I'm told, there is supposed to be some kind of card showdown sometime this week. We played a little bit on Sunday night, but only a few of us, and not for very long... one nice thing about it though... we got cake two days in a row!!!





So until next time, I hope everyone will enjoy the pictures!

Clean at last!

Well now that the Thanksgiving holiday is over, it will be back to the normal thing for a while, at least until Christmas time. I didn't end up taking any pictures during Thanksgiving at all, because I was just not in the mood to take any. Instead I was just taking the day in, being thankful for what God has done in my life.

This morning I got up with a mission... Clean! Now that Jesse has moved out, I have the room to myself, and I decided that I'd much rather have a clean room than a messy one. So, for most of the morning, I was moving stuff around, vacuuming, and doing laundry... the end result, a room that is actually nice to walk into, instead of scary! I've done quite a bit of rearranging as well, since now I have much more room than I did before, so... for all of you wondering just how clean I can actually get... LOL... I'll post some pictures soon.

After much of the cleaning was done, I was invited to come to Anna's 4th birthday party, to which I gladly accepted. We had a really fun time, especially Anna of course. I took quite a few pictures, which I will post some, and put some on the ol' picture page. Ruth made a beautiful and very tasty cake, and I'm finding that I really like my now photo filter and playing around with lights, notice the candle in this one, I really ended up liking this picture!

So, after the part, and everyone leaving, it was decided to pop in the movie Karate Kid... Now there was a movie I hadn't seen all the way through in a long time... it was interesting, that's for sure. So in all, it's been a fun extended holiday weekend, and in just over a day, it's back to work!

Psalm 23 "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though i would through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou are with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

A Success...

Recently at Yamaha we had a food drive to try to help to restock the food pantry in the local area... as the title denotes... it was a success. The employees there donated a total of about 13,000 pounds of food!!! What an opportunity to help out the county.

It may not always seem like a big thing, and one may feel like they only have a small part... but it is a part none the less. God gives opportunity, and even when it seems like your own part may seem insignificant when put up against the whole, it is not. When God gives opportunity to do something, whether it is big or small, if we do it with all our heart, to minister to people, and to glorify God, we are doing exactly what He wants us to do!

As a side note... we did have a little extra motivation in our group. There was a small contest among the office workers, it was done by department. To make it fair it was judged by the number of items given per person in the department. IT... where I work... got 50 items per person... and WON!! Ken had the good idea, that he remembered from back in high school, of collecting money from everybody in the department, then going shopping. We did that on Thursday, then we waited till that night, and brought everything in! As a prize for this, we will get a private luncheon, and get the privilege of dressing up our boss for one day... which should be pretty amusing.

So anyway... it's Thanksgiving week... it's especially a week where we should all be thankful for the many blessings that God has given us. Really we should be thankful all the time, but in this time, when we especially set aside a day just for it, we should really be remembering just how good God is!!!

So... with that said... I'll leave you with a couple pictures and say HAPPY THANKSGIVING, I'm thankful so much for all my friends and family... God put you all in my life for a reason, and I can't help but being thankful for it!!!! No matter what wealth we have, no matter how "successful" the world considers us, if we have Christ, we have all sufficiency in Him!!

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy one

Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son

And now let the weak say "I am strong"

Let the poor say "I am rich"

Because of what the Lord has done for us

Give thanks!

(all the pictures I put up here, plus more can be found in the "Joe's Photos" link to the right.)

Quick Pic...

Just thought I'd quickly share one picture that I took last night... More from this photo shoot to come tomorrow... as well as news of the weekend... Enjoy!!




(Click on it if you want to see it full size)

E-mail From My Mum! and Pics From My Bro.!

My mom sent me an e-mail that I liked, so I thought I'd share it! Also my brother sent some pictures that he asked if I found "blog-worthy." Obviously the answer is yes... as I wish I was there to actually see the fall!!!


LOVE IN THE EYES OF KIDS

What Love means to a 4-8 year old . . .
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 'What does love mean?' The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.' Rebecca- age 8

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.' Billy - age 4

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.' Karl - age 5

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.' Chrissy - age 6

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.' Terri - age 4

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.' Danny - age 7

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss' Emily - age 8

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.' Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,' Nikka - age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.' Noelle - age 7

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.' Tommy - age 6

'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.' Cindy - age 8

'My mommy loves me more than anybody You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.' Clare - age 6

'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.' Elaine-age 5

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.' Chris - age 7

'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.' Mary Ann - age 4

'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.' Lauren - age 4

'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (what an image) Karen - age 7

And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry'



Mark 10:14-16 "...Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them."

A Prayer for Godliness! and a picture =)

Oh that God would give us the strength to stand in the face of adversity, to flee from temptation, and to live a Godly life! That when the world comes to pound down our door, trying to bring us down to their ungodly standards, that we would beat it back with the power of God's Word, and be an example in the face of hypocrisy! That when everyone around us is giving in, that we would be a bright light for God that cannot be ignored, but that we would stand out, and not just be another Christian trying to fit in with a dark world... Oh that God would prepare us to serve with all of our heart in His harvest.

How easy it can be sometimes to give way to Satan. He has a way of making the bad things look like "gray" areas, and the "gray" areas look good. He has the way of twisting our thoughts from thinking, that's not good, to that's not sooo bad, to, that's no big deal. Beware of this falsehood!!!! I believe it is something very prevalent in the "Christian" life today. God calls us to be different from the world, to stand out, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid! Once God establishes His standard within us, we can never look back, when we do, it is sin... and it destroys our fellowship with our Lord and Savior.

I will share an example from my life with you... music is one area that God has given me strong conviction. Some have this conviction, some do not. For me, many times it can be a struggle. A lot of people around me like certain kinds of music, kinds that I once found very enjoyable. Eventually God established a standard regarding music in my life, and from that time I have realized for me to turn on that kind of music again is wrong... I'd like to say that it's easy for me now, and that I've won every victory, and that I have no desire for it anymore... but I can't...

Certain circumstances tend to bring it out, and Satan knows just what these are. Recently I have had a very hard struggle with the desire to listen to it again, but I know, once I start again, it's going to become easier and easier every time I flip it on. It will be like I mentioned it before... this isn't good, I should turn it off....... Well... it's not that bad..... to, oh, it's no big deal.... and Satan will have won.

It probably wouldn't be as big a deal if God had never given me this conviction, but now that He has, I don't want to go back on it... I want my ways to be pleasing to the Lord, at all cost... even if it means my friends thinking I'm weird... because the moment I go back on it, I've lost something that God has given me, and I want every bit of what God has for me!!!!!!!! Nothing in the world is worth sacrificing God's best! I know too that when I stand for what I know is right, and do what God has convicted me to do in every area of my life, that I will stand out, and that really, it actually has nothing to do with me, just God shining through me, and I don't want to do anything that would hinder, darken, or obstruct God's glory shining forth!

So please... pray with me, pray for me, pray for our country, for our families, for our siblings, for our children. Let this world be so awed by God's light shining through us that they can no longer deny the all powerful, amazing, and wonderful God, that we have the privilege of calling our heavenly father! And at the last I beg you, and beg God that he would help you and me, to never, never, turn back to the things we once enjoyed in the world, but that we would always be looking for fulfillment and joy in the righteousness of our Savior Jesus Christ!


Luke 9:62 "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

John 4:35 "...Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."