The Burnt-Over Blog: January 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Utah

My mom ended up in the hospital a couple of weeks ago, so we flew out to see her as fast as we could. She is doing great now and we are so glad that we were able to spend time with her and the family and for Link and Ella to play with their cousins!
Here they are reading books together!

Abbie loved crawling into this little baby doll cradle! So cute!

They also loved jumping on the beds! But who doesn't.

Papa, Gramma and Yosi took us all up Mill Creek canyon for a nice walk in the snow! We had a little sled we took turns pulling the kids in. Yosi even took his turn!

The one and only time Link has been dressed so warmly this year!

On the trail, we found a tree that had been decorated for Christmas!

Glad you are doing better mom! And thanks to Seth's family for putting us up for the week, and to everyone for such a great time! Yes I'm talking to you too Nate my little bro, it wouldn't have been the same without you!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

More Bryant Christmas

Andi sent us their copies of the pictures they took when they came out here for Christmas so I am starting with one of her!!

This was at Cedar Key.

I made some Christmas cookies and the kids love to help.

Although Lincoln's idea of helping is licking everything in sight, which included the flour on the counter used to roll the cookies in!!

So cute!

The gang at St. Augustine.

Becca is wearing Annies hat, which she loves to do, and pointing at Link's new McQueen pajamas.

Ella and her Papa.

The coolest Christmas present ever! How did Seth know I have always wanted a bow?! He is amazing!

And Link got his Kung Fu Panda after all.

Lastly is the boys cooking a nice steak dinner for us. It was the best steak ever!

Next time will feature Link's birthday and our little trip out to Utah a couple weeks ago! Stay tuned!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Is it December?

Here we are Christmas morning. The kids loved all their presents. Link was a pro at opening them but Ella had everyone else open them for her.

Our sweet Annie!

Lincoln opening his Kung Fu Panda! He did a great dance afterwards he was so excited!

Becca playing with the toy that Lexi and Brynn got her! She loves her animals.

And her she is hugging her puppy she picked out at the store. The dog from the Winnie the Pooh cartoon.

On the day after Christmas, we went up to St. Augustine and played on the beach.

As soon as the coast was clear, Ella went for Amma's drink!

Link loves to chase the birds and throw sand at them.

Papa kept saying "Its December 26th" over and over again. He just couldn't believe that he was at the beach in 80 degree weather on Christmas! In Utah it was snowing! Florida does have some advantages!

Link loves the beach! He says in this picture that he is pretending to be a dog.

Ella and her Papa.

She was very very upset when they had to leave and go home. In fact they are both at the front door right now knocking on it and saying, Annie?, Papa? Amma? The kids love their family and we just loved having them come out. In the words of Papa, "That was the best Christmas ever!!" Thanks.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Christmas in Florida

Christmas was so much fun this year. Papa, Amma, and Annie came and stayed with us for the holidays! We did lots of fun stuff. The first day we took them over to Cedar Key. Seth and Papa got up early and went fishing. Then we met them there and played at the beach, fed the birds, and played at the park. Unfortunately my batteries in the camera were dead so Sue has all those pictures.
The next day we went to Silver Springs! We took the jeep ride and here is a nice up and close picture of an emu!

Then off to the glass bottom boats! Becca actually enjoyed the ride this time and loved seeing all the fish down below!

Hooray! Link actually sat on Santa's lap!! Annie was right there by his side which helped him have the courage to sit there! And of course he still wanted Kung Fu Panda and Little Mermaid.

Ella didn't have a problem sitting on Santa's lap but all she was interested in was getting the candy cane. Come on Santa give me the candy cane already!

After that good time, we took them another day to Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. This is my favorite picture. They are so cute together!

Becca's favorite thing to do is push her own stroller!

Next time will feature Christmas morning and our day trip to St. Augustine!

Doctrine and Covenants 163:10a-b

Del Gue's Parting Words

I ain't never seen 'em, but my common sense tells me the Andes is foothills, and the Alps is for children to climb! Keep good care of your hair! These here is God's finest sculpturings! And there ain't no laws for the brave ones! And there ain't no asylums for the crazy ones! And there ain't no churches, except for this right here! And there ain't no priests excepting the birds. By God, I are a mountain man, and I'll live 'til an arrow or a bullet finds me. And then I'll leave my bones on this great map of the magnificent...

The Meaning of Christ on the Cross

At the heart of divine love is sacrifice-the willingness to be diminished so that another may be increased. This is the meaning of Christ on the cross. God, who could have insulated himself from pain, descended to earth, assumed the aspect of his children, and bore the greatest pain in his own person. Rather than hoard the heavenly feast for himself, he invites beggars to his table. He breaks bread with us and drinks from the cup our lips have touched. When he speaks to us, it is no longer from a great white throne, centered in a vortex of light, surrounded by celestial griffins, warding off the unwashed. He speaks to us eye to eye, from a traitor’s gibbet, with his blood and sweat and shame upon him for all to see, and with his wounds forever open. He comes not as king, but as slave. He comes not as judge, but as accused. He comes not as patriarch, but as bastard. He comes not to punish us, but to let us punish him. He does not ask us to love him until we are first certain that he loves us. He is the great failure who saves us from our success. He is the great fool who spares us from our wisdom. He is the rejected lover who will not, in turn, reject his love. He is a prophet without honor, a citizen of a despised nation, a poor relation, an unwanted guest. He is the voice of one crying in the wilderness of every human heart. He is the God of grief and sorrow who is the joy of our desiring. He is utterly good because he loves us in our sins and imperfections, because he freely made himself equal to us, and because he freely opened the way whereby we may be made equal to him.

--Paul Toscano's "Priesthood Concepts in the Book of Mormon," Sunstone (Dec. 1989): 17.

True Conversion

Conversion is a permanent process in which very often the obstacles we meet make us lose all we had gained and start anew. The fruitfulness of our conversion depends on our openness to doing this, our spiritual childhood. All conversion implies a break. To wish to accomplish it without conflict is to deceive oneself and others: "No one is worthy of me who cares more for father or mother than for me." But it is not a question of a withdrawn and pious attitude. Our conversion process is affected by the socio-economic, political, cultural, and human environment in which it occurs. Without a change in these structures, there is no authentic conversion. We have to break with our mental categories, with the way we relate to others, with our way of identifying with the Lord, with our cultural milieu, with our social class, in other words, with all that can stand in the way of a real, profound solidarity with those who suffer, in the first place, from misery and injustice. Only thus, and not through purely interior and spiritual attitudes, will the 'new person' arise from the ashes of the 'old.'"
--Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation, 118

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