Week 52

A Belated Merry Christmas

     I had a post all ready to publish on Christmas Day, but our internet has been down for over a week.  It has been very frustrating to not have it for so long, but it is now working again.  Now my Christmas post seems totally outdated.  I will still post some of the Christmas pictures that I had prepared for last week and will add some of the ice storm that we had here in Southern Ontario on Dec 21st and 22nd and also some of the family over the Christmas season.

      Thanks to all of you loyal followers of my 52 week photo challenge blog.  It has been fun doing and it did help me to learn to operate my camera better due to taking pictures so regularly.  This will be the last post unless I take up another challenge sometime in the future.

"For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2:11 KJV

                                                                                                                                                                                                 Dec 2013

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Dec 2013

                                                                                                                                                                                               Dec 2013

                                                                                                                                                                                                 Dec 2013

        Ice Storm - taken from front step as too slippery to walk around              Sunday morning Dec 22, 2013

                                                 Ice Storm - photo from our front step              Sunday morning Dec 22, 2013

                                                      Ice with a little snow on top                                             Dec 24, 2013

                      Ice covered bushes and trees even prettier with a back drop of a blue sky          Dec 24, 2013

 The photos don't show how sparkly the trees really were (and this is 2 days after the ice storm)                   Dec 24, 2013

                                         Maybe next year's Christmas card?                                              Dec 24, 2013

                                        Ice covered everything, not just the trees                                      Dec 24, 2013

                                                 My grandson's first ride in a sled!                                          Dec 24, 2013

                                                       Grandpa and grandson!                                                   Dec 24, 2013

                         My oldest son scraping ice off the sidewalk and driveway                              Dec 24, 2013

                What a cute little visitor!                                                         

                                    Looking for cars or trucks or dogs out the window                               Dec 25, 2013

The "gentle" touching sometimes turned into pulling - we only lost one ornament!        Dec 25, 2013

                                              Family picture on Christmas day                                           Dec 24, 2013

                              My youngest son taking his turn entertaining his nephew                            Dec 25, 2013

                    Thanks again for following my blog - Happy New Year!  (photo by Dave)                Dec 24, 2013

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine upon us."

Psalm 67:1 NIV

Week 51

One More Week

     One more week until Christmas, and one more week until I've completed my 52-week photo challenge!  Here are a few pictures of Christmasy things around our house.
     Tomorrow evening, the first of our sons will be arriving home for his Christmas holidays.  It will be good to have some other living souls, besides my husband and I, in this house, and I will have opportunities to take some photos of real live people and not just inanimate objects!
     The anticipation of seeing my youngest son, whom I have not seen for two months is great - I can not even imagine the Jewish people waiting hundreds of years for their Messiah to arrive!  It is a miracle in itself that Mary, Joseph, Zachariah, Elizabeth and others believed the visions and the angels' announcements to them that God was finally sending the Redeemer that had been promised for so long.

"Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet [Isaiah]:  'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel -- which means, God with us.'"

Matthew 1: 20 - 22 NIV

                                               Figurine with Christmas tree bokeh in the background                            Dec 14  2013

                                                Lego Santa from when my two oldest sons were little                                Dec 2013 

                                          Some of my pretty coloured glass ornaments                                     Nov 2013

                                Wooden sleigh that my father-in-law made many years ago                       Dec 16 2013

                                                               Poinsettia                                                                Dec 17 2013

                                      Christmas Teddy who always looks a little forlorn                                Dec 16 2013

                                              Some of my Christmas book collection                                       Dec 17 2013                 

Week 50

A Closer Look

    I was hoping that by now we would have had a significant snowfall so I could have had the opportunity to take some beautiful, outdoor, snowy scenery photos.  However, we still have only had little amounts of snow. (Update:  Today as I am posting this, it is snowing nicely, but I am in no shape to go out and take pictures as I am recovering from some arthroscopic knee surgery that I had yesterday.)  The following are a few pictures of somewhat ordinary objects, that I took on a walk around my house the other day.  Sometimes you have to look closely to see beyond what seems to be very plain and insignificant.

     God used many "ordinary" people, things and events surrounding the extraordinary birth of His Son:  a census, shepherds, a stable, a donkey, a carpenter and a teenage girl. 

                             "And Mary said; 'My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, 
                                                for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. 

                                                         From now on all generations will call me blessed, 
                                        for the Mighty One has done great things for me -- holy is His name.'"

                                                                                    Luke 1:46-49 NIV

                                                     a little frost and snow on the grass                                       Dec 8 2013

                                                           red berries by a fence                                                 Dec 8 2013                             

                                               inside ornament brought outside just for the photo                              Nov 2013

Week 49

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

      At least inside of our house  - we have no snow outside, here in Kitchener, so it isn't looking too Christmasy on the outside.  The tree is up and decorated, the nativity scene has been set up, the Christmas books are out waiting to be read again, the old ceramic Christmas tree that my sister-in-law made 34 years ago has made another appearance, and the stockings have been hung by the chimney with care!
     All the traditions, decorations, baking, shopping and more, help make this Christmas season special, but "things" on the outside aren't as important as preparing our hearts on the inside.  I need to remember to keep my focus on what is really important - being together with loved ones and celebrating the birth of my Saviour. 

"As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

 'A voice of one calling in the desert,

prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.

And all mankind will see God's salvation.'"

Luke 3:4 & 6 NIV

     
     
  

                                                  Newish Decoration on the tree                                                  Nov 2013

                                            A 16 year-old souvenir from Disney World                                        Nov 2013

               The first ornament for my husband & I - Next year we will be celebrating 35 years of marriage!         Nov 2013

                                                             Our Family Room                                                         Nov 2013

Week 48

Beauty in November

     

     This past week I did a little photoshoot around one of my favourite corners in Waterloo.  The building you see in several of the pictures is a replica of Abraham Erb's Gristmill.  Abraham Erb was one of the the first Mennonite settlers in Waterloo Region. 

     November can be a sort of dull, dreary, bare, cool, damp, dark, windy month!  However, if you look closely, you can still find beauty, even in the month of November; it sometimes is just a little more subtle.  I need to remember to focus on the positive!

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things."

Philippians 4:8 NIV

             A replica (built in 1998) of the original Abraham Erb's gristmill (built in 1816)                  Nov 19, 2013

                                         Silver Lake and Waterloo Park in the distance                                 Nov 19, 2013

                                              Ornamental Grasses waving in the wind                                   Nov 19, 2013

                                                            Some type of thistle                                                  Nov 19, 2013

                                  A colourful old train to brighten up this corner of Waterloo                        Nov 19, 2013

Week 47

Dramatic Clouds

     About a week ago there were several days in a row when I looked out and saw very dramatic clouds in the sky.  When there are dark clouds with sun shining on them from the other direction, it makes for some interesting photos.  

     We love having open space behind our house, but we do have some large hydro towers that can be a bit of an eyesore if you just focus on them.  Once in a while though, they actually look quite spectacular when they are lit up by the setting sun against a dark background.  

    The other couple of photos were taken on a very windy morning at the lake.  This time the dramatic clouds were in the western sky.

"The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.

His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet."

Nahum 1:3 NIV

"God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
II Corinthians 5:21 NIV

                                                  Hydro tower behind our house                                            Nov 11, 2013                 

                                                                                                                                         Nov 11, 2013

                                                         Lake Huron at Point Clark                                              Nov 10, 2013

                                                                                                                                         Nov 10, 2013

Week 46

Remembrance Day

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV

(written by King Solomon, late in his life - probably around 935 B.C.)

     Is there ever a time for hate or war?  We are commanded  to "love our enemies,"  but we certainly are to "hate" injustice, mistreatment and worse evils.  Today is a day to remember the sacrifice of many young soldiers and to celebrate the freedom and peace that we enjoy today in Canada because of them.  We need to pray for areas in the world where that peace still does not exist and do our best to make this world a better place.  

     My father was a Canadian soldier during WWII.  The following is an excerpt from one of the letters he wrote home to his mother from England on Sept 15, 1943, when he was not quite 21 years old.  "Somehow or other, I haven't much desire to get in to action, whether cowardice on my part, or not, I don't know.  More, I think that I don't want to hurt anyone, and war certainly hurts.  I have no fear, however, for I am in good hands - thank God for that."  In this same letter he mentions that things were "shaping up nicely for the end of the war."  Well, he didn't return home to his family until Jan of 1946...Thankfully, he did return home, which was not the case for many soldiers.

     My dad passed away in January 2009 at the age of 86, and I remember him with love today.

     

 

                  A cenotaph in front the beautifully maintained old Town Hall in Paisley, Ontario            Aug 2013

My father (23 years old) in Holland in 1945

My father, 50 years later, visiting Groesbeek Cemetery in Holland during "Thank You Canada" celebrations
 in 1995

My father (84) and my oldest son (21), who was then in the Canadian Military, leading the Remembrance Day parade, in the rain, out to the cenotaph in my home town in 2006
(my youngest son, then almost 11, is carrying the Canadian flag)

                                                      So proud to be Canadian!                                                Nov 3, 2013