Merry Christmas!

(By Raphael)

And now, just for fun, a Christmas poem:

Christmas Bells

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;

"For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Mexico, Continued

Hi again, everybody! Just a reminder from last time: posting about my family vacation to Mexico.

The same day that we went to Villadolid, after a delicious lunch of pork slow-cooked in achiote and bitter orange juice, our tour guide took us to the Mayan ruins of Coba'.

Okay, hold on for a second as I give a quick history lesson.

In Mexico, the only part of the country inhabited by Mayans is the Yucatan peninsula, which is where we were. The other major ethnic groups/civilizations were located in northern/central Mexico were the Olmecs and Aztecs. The Olmecs were more like the mother of all Mexican civilizations, so they were the oldest. The Mayan golden age came next, then the Aztec golden age. However, as the Mayans declined, the Aztecs were flourishing and expanding. So, many later Mayan ruins show strong evidence of Aztec influence, including human sacrifice (or, at least more human sacrifice than previously, if I understood the guide correctly) and temlples built in platformed pyramids rather than towers.

Coba', the ruins we visited, had its peak rather earlier than other ruins, such as Chichen Itza, Coba's rival, so It exhibited more destinctly Mayan flavor. It is also huge!

This is the first temple/plaza that we visited.

Inside one of the passages into the temple. Unfortunately they had blocked the path into the heart, otherwise we could have done some more exploring.

A wall from one of the local Pok-a-Tok ball courts. These were probably practice facilities, the big games being played in Chichen Itza.

These are some images of the large temple that we got to climb.

(Note tower shape)

Looking down on the top of the Jungle and all those ants, er, people down below.

A funny little relief sculpture on the crown building of the temple.

My family (minus Mom, who was taking the picture) climbing down the temple. It's steep, so I held on to the rope (Explaining my awkward position in this photo :D)

Okay, once back on the ground, we peddled (did I mention that we got around the site on bike?) over to another ball court, were this smily stone skull was sitting right in the middle of the court. I can see why its a skull, the players would trip over it and kill themselves! But seriously, what it really represents is the fact that in the real ball games played at religious ceremonies either the winning or the losing team (they haven't decided which one, yet) was sacrificed. I guess this is something like a Mayan motevational poster ;).

These are Mayan glyphs carved into the side of the ball court. What they mean I don't remember (They probably weren't another motevational poster, though. Not many Mayans could read).

With this I shall conlude, because I got photo-tired and didn't take any more pictures.

Bye, all!

Mexico

Hello everyone! I know I haven't posted in a while, but life gets busy. My family got home from vacation in Cancun, Mexico three weeks ago or so. I thought maybe you'd like to hear a bit about it, so, whithout further ado, here we go!

Flying over the Ocean...

Land Ho!

Over the Jungle...

A piece of coral we found washed up on the beach!

What we think are fossils stuck in coral/rock eroded on the beach.

Water rushing in to the palm trees...

Me, being goofy...what can I say?

While there, my family visited a Spanish colonial town dated back as far as the 1500's called Villadolid.

An old convent that we visited.

Inside, It was decorated with the most beautiful frescoes!

A view of the bell tower.

Next, we went to see a large church in the same town.

Only in Mexico!

The outside...

...and a small part of the inside!

We saw much more in Mexico, but, you'll have to wait untill next time for more!

A Poem

A Covered Bridge

I stroll along a bubbling brook,

Exploring every crevice and crook,

Until at last I hap upon,

What you will learn here anon.

A swift step over hill and dale,

Will quickly take me there,

And, like a pigeon flut’ring home,

To the end soon will I roam.

A squatting toad athwart the creek,

Now have I found the thing I seek.

‘Tis white and russet and quite long,

A bridge for me to march along.

With peaking roof and creaking bed,

With beams, so that I bump my head,

And windows, out of which I look,

And spot bellow the bubbling brook.

Book Review: Northanger Abbey

Hello everyone! I've decided to begin doing book reviews, perhaps once a week. You will probably see many classics, or books that you might not be interested in at first glance. I would like to encourage you to branch out!

Title: Nortanger Abbey

Author: Jane Austen

Quote:

" 'You think me foolish to call instruction a torment; but if you had been as much used as myself to hear poor little children first learning their letters, and then learning to spell, if you had ever seen how stupid they can be for a whole morning together, and how tired my poor mother is at the end of it, as I am in the habit of seeing almost every day of my life at home, you would allow that to torment and to instruct might sometimes be used as synonymous words.' "

Plot Summary/Discription: This book is one of Jane Austen's earlier novels, so it is perhaps a little less refined then her later works. That aside, it positively oveflows with wit and humor. A heart-warming coming of age story, it tells the tale of 17-year-old Catherine Morland. Catherine is a young, nieve, girl, who is just barely pretty. The first exciting thing that happens in her life is a trip to Bath that she goes on with some family friends. While there, Catherine meets new friends, such as the coquettish Isabelle and her brother and the Tilneys, a rich family of a father, two sons, and a daughter not much older than Catherine. This unusual number of single young people causes love affairs to explode left and right, to all of which Catherine remains blissfully oblivious for most of the story.

Eventually, Catherine is invited to accompany the Tilney's to their country estate, where Catherine, a great reader of horror mystries, thinks she has uncovered a gruesome murder. The series of events leading to this discovery--and eventually to its refution--are full of tongue-in-cheek satire. Haven learned a lesson from this misadventure, Catherine is perfectly ready to enjoy the rest of her stay when something unexpected happens.

Objectionable content: As with all Jane Austen novels, this is pretty mild. However, their are some suggested  cursewords desognated by the first letter of the word followed by a dash.

A Random Post...

DIY:Paperdolls

Hello everyone! I haven't posted for a long time because of technical difficulties that I've been having with blogger. But now, I want to do a fun DIY, on paper dolls.
I adore paper dolls. I hardly ever play with them, but there's just something about cutting out the dolls and putting on the outfits that I find somewhat addicting. Buying them, however, can be expensive, so I've taken to making my own. Here's how:

Supplies:
-paper
-colored pencils or another coloring method
-scissors
-a sharp pencil


1)Draw a person. It can be a totally made-up person, a charater from a book, or a person in real life.

 2)Next, color your person in. With paper dolls, its best to color lightly to give them a nice soft texture.



3)Cut the person out.

4)Trace a basic outline around her body and elaborate it to create clothes. Don't forget tabs!                       

5) You can make more clothes for the doll, as well as more dolls. I traced the first one  to makd the others so that they can all wear the same clothes. 



Happy Independence Day!

Just think, we've been a country for 237 years!

Glorious

To continue from last time.... Its Glory. Not the fleeting fame that we mortals call glory. I'm talking about Glory, the weightiness, mightiness, and total majesty of God. God has created us in such a way that we are not complete without Him. The fact is, we all go through life trying to fill our own little thimble of glory, when we ought to be participating in reflecting God's ocean of Glory. His Glory is so great that Moses, in the book of Exodus begged to see it again. One more point before I go. Jesus is the manifestaion of God's Glory, and, by proxy, the church (as the body of Christ.)Think we ought to be participating in the church.

Newsflash!

Hi All! Today I have something of a more weighty disposition to share with you. For those of you who don't like serious stuff, all I can say is sorry, but this is important. I promise to do a more light-hearted post soon.

Well, for Sunday-School at my Church, we recently began a study called "The Vertical Church," which is to point Churches back in the diretion of God. One of the first things we learned was this startling truth:

We are all the same.

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, we are all the same. This doesn't sit easy, does it? That is because for years we have been taught by every social media outlet possible that we are special, unique, like snow-flakes. That we must like for our own uniqueness. And certainly God created us differently so that we could reflect his Glory in different ways, (for reflecting God's Glory is the sole reason that all creation exists, but that is a discussion for another time) but underneath all that, at the very core, we are all the same.

We all long for something outside of and greater than ourselves. We long for transcendence, something completely outside of the realm of normal human experience. God has put this longing in our hearts, so that we have it whether we know it or not. We try to stuff it full, by money, or friends, or forbidden pleasures. We try to ignore it, but it never goes away.

You'll have to wait until next time to find out how to fill the hole.

Spring Snapshots.

Hi, All! Well, I am ashamed to say that I did not post an Easter post. Oh well, there is always next year. However, since the weather has been so gorgeous, (up until today) I went outside a couple of days ago and took some spring snapshots.

 This is a funny little tree down at the end of our driveway.

 These are some little buds/blooms on a little shrub in our woods. This is also my favorite picture.

 This is one of mom's plants. I have no clue what it is.

 This is a daffodil.

 If this doesn't cause some of you to scratch your heads, I'd be impressed. I've entitled it "Fire and Ice." does that give you a hint? Guess in the comment box, and I'll tell you in the next post. (I did not take it outside.)

My Spring Fasion

Well, for those of you who have no intrest whatsoever in clothes, I apologize, but I just had to do this post!

Scarf~Charlotte Russe (Gift)

Polo Shirt~JC Penney?

Cardigan~Salvation Army (Hand-me-down)

Jeans~Walmart?

The Aquarium

Well, I did charge my camera, and it is my pleasure to share with you some of the most intriguing, beautiful, and intricate of God's creatures.

 Daniel and the jaw of a Megaledon Shark

 A Seahorse

 A Minature coral reef

 A puffin

 A monkey ( it turned its head away just in time for me to take the picture)

 A poison dart frog

A couple different types of jellyfish.