But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. But about that day or hour no one knows, either the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come...in the evening, or at midnight, or at dawn. Keep awake. (Mark 13:24-26)
Such amazing things happen in the sky to herald the return of the Son of Man:
...Jesus, coming in the clouds
...The sun grows dark
...the moon doesn't shine
...and stars fall from the heavens
So different from that first coming more than 2000 years ago:
...with angels singing of God's glory and peace on earth
...with the single star guiding the way to the manger
...with shepherds and wisemen--rich and poor--coming to worship.
And so we watch, and wait, and stay alert, waiting again for the coming of Jesus. And we light a single candle in preparation for that glorious day.
...And even if the sun should grow dark
...even if the moon refuses to shine
...even if the stars should fall from the sky
...we will have Jesus, the Light of the World, to shine brightly in our hearts, lighting our way.
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This is what I read in church on Sunday, the first day of Advent. I read through it once before I had to do it in front everyone and it really hit me. I just wanted to share it with everyone that is willing to read it. Maybe it can touch someone else the way it did me.
It is really cold here, we have the fireplace going to keep us warm. It smells so yummy outside from the smoke!!! We are still getting large eggs from the big chicken (Zoom) but no more little eggs.
We are really getting in the holiday season. I am going to get off of here and start addressing cards!!! I need to make Christmas labels to use, maybe I will do that before I get to the cards, hmmm.
I leave you with some pictures of the house, HOHOHO, Merry Christmas!!!!!!!
With the tassels, I went to Hobby Lobby and picked out some pretty ornament looking things with a stick (not sure of the technical name), glued ribbon around the bottom, and finished it off with some black fabric on top. I know my instructions are very vague but it is all what you want in it. I picked colors that I love and went to town with the hot glue gun. 
We are fixing up baskets filled with homemade goodies and giving them as gifts to our family adults and giving gifts to the children. Next year I think we are going to draw names for the kids but stick with the homemade gifts for the adults.
