Lost In the Prairies.....Found by God

We have had an amazing November. It was beautiful and warm. We usually have snow mid November but we really had nothing. The kids wore runners and lighter winter jackets all month. Gloves and toques were optional. However, December has brought us winter weather. We finally have a small skift of snow. The temperature has dropped from highs of 8 C to -18 C within 7 days. What a difference. However, the one part of winter that I enjoy about living in the prairies is the hoar frost. I love the way it looks. Everything is covered with a thick frost. It makes everything pretty, including the storage center across the street from my house. It reminds of how Jesus covers us with His grace and love making us shiny and new before God.

First of all - Thank you Caffeinated Chieftain, for bringing back Caffeinated Randomness. I will have something to do on Friday's again. It was hard to think of something of my own to talk about on Fridays. I have many ideas floating around my head that seem to get lost or mushed together when I try to blog.

Today Andrea wants us to talk about our craziest or favourite ornaments. Before I do that I have to tell you about the trees I grew up with. They were not "Martha" trees. There was no organization and no colour concept. They were decorated with love and kindness. The decorations that we decorated were either ones we had made or ones that had been given as Christmas presents. Some of my favourite Christmas memories are of making popcorn strings that went around our large living room, let alone the tree and making decorations in Brownies to put on the tree.

Leroy's and I first Christmas together, I talked him into getting a tree and letting me decorate it for him using decorations I had been given over the years and few he ended up purchasing. We had friends over after I decorated it. I was so excited as I finally had my own tree and loved it. When our friends came over (by the way they had a blue and silver "Martha" tree), I was informed that I had an "interesting" tree. I loved our tree and this small comment took away some the enjoyment of my tree.


My great grandmother was always making crafts to give to the family. I am the happy owner of numerous beaded dolls and Christmas decorations. However, the ones that I really loved were the ones she made out of Styrofoam egg cartons. I grew up putting these decorations on our tree every year. They were sparkly and they didn't break unless you sat on them. The Christmas before she died, she made me a box of egg carton decorations for my own. I treasure these decorations and love to see my kids putting them up. The picture does not do them justice. I hope that my children will see the love that she placed in these simple decorations.


Now go to Andrea's blog and blog about your favourite Christmas Ornament.

Crackdown continues against church in Shanghai, China

On November 15, nearly 700 church members from the Wanbang Missionary Church in Shanghai met together for worship despite ongoing harassment from Chinese authorities Before the service, 10 police officers attempted to prevent Senior Pastor Cui Quan from attending the gathering by blocking the entrance to his home. They also threatened the taxi driver responsible for driving Pastor Cui and his wife to the service. Several church members received text messages containing threats and claiming that the service had been cancelled. Despite this opposition, the believers gathered for worship, though plain-clothes officials filmed the entire service.

On the morning of the following Sunday, November 22, Wanbang Missionary Church pastors Cui Longguo, Liu Quanqin, and Huang Yun were summoned to the police station in Minhang District. The pastors were interrogated on allegations of "engaging in illegal organization and activities." Pastor Liu's fingers were reportedly injured and his personal property was damaged. Officials detained the three along with Senior Pastor Cui until the afternoon to prevent them from leading the worship service. However, the detention of the leaders and threats from authorities did not prevent over 500 dedicated church members from assembling outdoors for their two scheduled services. (Source: ChinaAid)

Pray that the pastors of this church will be strong and effective leaders to their congregation.

Thank the Lord for the enduring faithfulness of these believers.

Pray that they will be permitted to worship freely.