SONGS that moved me this year:
There you have my probable two favorite songs of the year. One is the reflection upon the heavenly eternal Christmas where we think of eternity with Him and our place in the heavens. I do think about that, though, of course, I want to be sure to serve others here on earth and do my best here as well – our home is here, but There as well —
Worthy is the,
Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He
Sing a new song, to Him who sits on
Heaven’s Mercy Seat
[Repeat 2x]
(Chorus)
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And I will adore You…!
Yeah!
Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and
Glory and power be
To You the Only Wise King,
Yeah
(Chorus)
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I – will – adore You!
Yeah!
Filled with wonder,
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your Name
Jesus, Your Name is Power
Breath, and Living Water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah…
(Chorus)
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I – will – adore You!
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come,
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I – will – adore YOU…
(Chorus) (Repeat at a cappella)
Come up lift up His Name
To the King of Kings…
We will adore YOU Lord…
King of heaven and earth
King Jesus, King Jesus
Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya!
Majesty, awestruck Honor
And Power and Strength and Dominion
To You Lord,
To the King, to King
To the King of Glory
(Singer: Kari Jobe)
More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/g/gateway_worship/#share
Then more recently I have heard the Selah Christmas song, above, that I never heard until this month. What a beautiful tribute to the Babe in the hay whose birthday is tomorrow, and who I keep reminding Ryan is the reason for the gifts, and the reason for the story of Santa (St. Nicholas) who also worshipped 🙂
Hail, hail to the newborn King
Let our voices sing Him our praises
Hail, hail to the guiding Light
That brought us tonight to our Savior
Halle, hallelujah
Halle, hallelujah
Halle, hallelujah
Halle, hallelujah
Come now, let it shine so bright
To the knowing Light of the stable
Kneel close to the Child so dear
Cast aside your fear and be thankful
Hail, hail to the newborn King
Let our voices sing Him our praises
Hail, hail to the guiding Light
That brought us tonight to our Savior
Chorus
Hail, hail to the newborn King
Let our voices sing Him our praises
Hail, hail to the guiding Light
That brought us tonight to our Savior
Chorus
More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/selah/#share
There are so many traditions about Christmas that I love, and we try and do every year. Beautiful boxes of Christmas cards in front of me are one thing that just makes me feel inspired about the whole season — I got the most beautiful cards this year – even though I vowed at the beginning of the year I wasn’t going to do any. But here I am, ended up buying them anyway – because after all even if I don’t “send” any I still need them for teachers, friends receiving gift cards, etc., and I ended up starting them to mail anyway – Started to write them out yesterday and will probably not get them out until next week before New Year’s. But it’s a very special tradition to me, and I miss getting as many as I used to, and even sending as many as I used to, and I’m just not ready to give it up. I love receiving them and sending them – the way they feel and the different color pen colors on the ones I display, and the different kinds of envelopes, and even how some have a foil stamp and others may have a unique picture, and still others may be handmade or with a family portrait. Christmas cards – they are an art, and something I am not ready to give up. Click for the rest of our letter —
I did all my wrapping in three days this year – finishing off at 5:30 a.m. this morning – probably took me about 10 hours already. I did it in the wee hours at night and then like I said today in the wee hours of the morning. I like my tradition of wrapping – I have my wrapping paper all in an old blue and red holder made of cloth that used to have a hanger in it that hung in the closet. Now I just set it in our workshop over the Christmas season until it goes back in the attic in January. I have about 6 rolls of paper in the 3 or 4 long tubular holders in the front, and I usually buy 2-3 new rolls a year. There is also a pocket that holds scraps of paper and ribbons, etc., and some other pockets that hold scissors, tape, and pen.
I bring that holder into the family sitting area of our basement and sit on the carpet squares we have down there, surrounded by gifts, and wrap in front of the big tv. I’ve done that ever since we moved here in 05, and it’s one of my favorite quiet moments of the holiday season. I’m not the best cutter of paper in the world! Left handed, I can only cut with right-handed scissors for some reason and it’s always jagged. But I know the “fold the paper over” trick and am pretty good at making neat corners so I think I end up with a pretty present in the end 🙂 I used to do a lot more with ribbons and bows but admittedly have gotten lazy with that.
As I stack all the presents while we await Christmas Eve where we place the presents under the tree (to join Santa’s 😉 ) they sometimes are stacked against each other so I don’t do much with bows until they are under the tree, so they don’t smash the bows as they are stacked. And everyone knows I love to wrap, so they pretty much give me the job. So those are some of the favorites of my Christmas traditions, and offer comfort and familiarity in this time of uncertainty and change in our lives.
Situation-wise, we are still similar to last year. We are still waiting for a proper placement for Christopher, and he is still living with his grandparents, who are doing an awesome job but it can be overwhelming. He stays most weekends with us and we are all working with the state to try and get him placement but it is such a long wait. It is very concerning that it has been 13 months and we still don’t have a proper placement for Christopher. More info here, and probably more to be written.
https://criscollrj.com/2010/05/23/the-brick-wall/
Christopher still stays up all night often, but he does still have his aide Vicky so that is good news as that is a stable situation for him. Continued prayers for his well-being are appreciated, as well as our wisdom and direction. And Chris tolerates his hearing aides very well, and we got the good news that with his hearing aides he hears as well or possibly better than Ryan does without them, giving him more chances to hopefully begin to say more words again. He is currently saying about 4-5 words for which he was so grateful!
Colleen is getting even more beautiful every year, and it’s hard to believe we’re thinking of college and her driving. I imagine she may have her temps soon and we’ll be taking her on the practice drives. She also has a very nice boyfriend with whom she went to her first homecoming and went on her first car dates. I believe she is still planning to study animation and design in college. She loves her cat Sophie very much – we’re so glad we adopted Sophie last year!
Ryan is excelling in school and he has inherited my love of handwriting and writing different styles. He even invented his own kind of cursive and drawing all sorts of designs into letter shapes. He also draws very well, like his sister. The experts this year have determined that at this point the detriments of forcing him to tolerate hearing aides outweigh the benefits, so his hearing aides (brand new!) are in storage for now. I was kind of sad about that but am also so grateful that his hearing is good enough that he can hear well enough that he can still learn new words and phrases. And the hearing aides are ready for him when his system hopefully stabilizes as he gets older so he can handle the extra stimulation of the hearing aides.
After Roger had some health problems last year, which the Lord continues to deliver him through, he lost 80 pounds last winter, which he was very happy about! Prayers for Roger’s health are still appreciated. And we enjoy the work trips where we do work very hard all day but have evenings to catch up with each other and go shopping or just sleep! And we love the mountain scenery. We managed to see Pat and Tim from Maryland each time, usually in Morgantown but one time (September) in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. I am still transcribing (part time) and am in school still. So far I have progressed very close to graduating with my Associate of Arts degree and have recently taken Religion (Winter semester 10), Computers and beginning Algebra (Summer 10), and Intermediate Algebra and Human Biology (Fall 10). Spring of 10 starts in about 3 weeks and I’m taking College Algebra, Children’s Literature, and Health. Then I just have Economics next summer. I should graduate then and will be moving on to Kent State University in the fall to study towards my speech therapy degree along with certification in autism treatments and possibly deafness as well. Roger is tentatively also going back in the fall – he’s not sure where or in what but feels fairly positive it will be in special education of some sort.
In April of 2010 I began attending Lifespring Christian Church and have reaquainted with many friends there that used to go to another church with me. It is very close, and a wonderful set of ladies there, Valerie and Marie, watch Ryan during the services that I attend so that I can listen to the service uninterrupted. What a blessing that is! I also am blessed to have friends from MBC, 1st Church AND Lifespring all on Facebook to fellowship with!
So another year where there are many uncertainties, but as always we know Who holds our hand and Who Is with us. And we Worship Him this day.
EMAIL: transcribing.mom@gmail.com
EMAIL: (Rog) thedodger64@gmail.com
BLOG: – https://criscollrj.com/ It’s back home in its own domain after moving it twice last year – hopefully to never move again.
http://line-bright.com/ Also moved our business blog back into its own domain.
PICTURES: http://www.flickr.com/photos/criscollrj/
www.facebook.com – search for Dorene Enea Humphries and contact to be added.
Roger, Dorene, Christopher, Colleen & Ryan
