2013 THANKMAS

Our McCardle and Jaberg family celebrated our annual THANKMAS....  a Thanksgiving and Christmas event! We live in various parts of the world with obligations to loved in-law families... so we come together this one time of the year to be thankful and exchange gifts. Our family's young children selected the following "gifts" for families living in poverty around the world: A family of chickens, two goats and money to assist in purchasing a community water well...all through the Presbyterian Church USA. A fine day... a great family sticking together!

 

Looking forward to family gathering for Thanksgiving dinner. We will all be together with the exception of one nephew and his family, living in Moscow, Russia. I am ready for a day of photograph! Here is my camera looking forward into the day!

THANKSGIVING

I have discovered that thanks - giving improves the quality of my life. Focusing on what I have and remembering who provides, changes the landscape in profound ways. Practicing thankfulness curbs our greed and desire to always want more.... helps us focus on the positive aspects of our relationships instead of complaining about minor irritations... keeps us humble before Christ and others who care for us... Yes "Rejoice and Give Thanks"!
  
One of my favorite holiday menu items is jelly cranberry sauce... This is a cranberry bog found in Epcot, Disney World. If it is a bog, is this guy a "Bogger"? :-)

   

JUST MORE OF THE SAME!

Thankful for my "kids"!

Thankful

I am very thankful for my son's choice in a wife and mother to their children! Liz's care for her family is amazing! She is a thoughtful, compassionate and fun women who loves Jesus Christ and others. I am proud to call her a friend!

THE REST OF THE STORY

Some really good answers to yesterday's picture puzzle... yes it was repair guys for a lake fountain display. But they were trying to Flip over the fountain so they could slid it out of the water and thus replace it with a new one. With the rope attached to the far end, they huffed and puffed to pull it over and out of the water. Does this look like life as you know it?

Perceptions can get us into a great deal of conflict. The way you perceive the meaning of a set of circumstances can be vastly different from the reality or meaning of the actual event. We get ourselves alienated from others when we stubbornly believe "our perception" is the reality, when in fact we have read the event from a wrong viewpoint. We assume we are right in our judgments, when we are actually way off base! Take this photo - what do you believe is happening here? Check back tomorrow for the answer.

MISSING THE FLOWERS ...

Yes, I missed gardening this summer...greeting the Iris, purple cone flowers and clematis as they faithfully bloomed each year! But I do not miss the fall garden clean up!

Day 5

For over thirty years I have chased the fun of taking photographs! People.. mountains... animals... odd objects .. sunsets .. landscapes ... all are fair game for the eye of the photographer! I made this shot while hanging out the window of Ellie Lytle's car... she was driving or chasing the bear through our campground... as I yelled "get closer" over and over!
It was not only a photo op but also a great memory between two old friends. Well maybe good for me... Ellie was very patient with my irritating directions :-)  I am thankful for my camera and old friends willing to go on adventures! "Bear on the Run" at Jenny Lake Lodge in Grand Tetons, WY

Day 4

I am thankful for God's call into ministry...some 50 years ago, I fell in love with Christ's church. 42 years ago the Church confirmed that call by ordaining me as a minister of the Word and Sacrament. That call to feed God's sheep has directed and defined my life. Even now in semi retirement I get to live out that call ever day. Thank you Jesus! 

Day 3

I am thankful for my siblings! They took good care of their baby sister and they still support me in all I do.

Day 2

DAY TWO OF THANKSGIVING; need I say more about how this family fills my heart! —

30 DAYS OF THANKFULNESS

It seems folks are beginning a season of thankfulness...certainly appropriate for this month of November. So I begin with being grateful for the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. He paid a debt, he did not owe and I owed a debt, I could not pay...lyrics to a song say it well. Jesus ransomed me and now holds my life  {with all my flaws} in His loving hands.

Here is the ruins from a slave traders "booth" in ancient Corinth, Greece.