Prayer Request

I know there's so many who are struggling with the same thing,
but if our praying friends could join us. We're asking prayer
for our very, very dear friend Mrs. Wilkerson. She's been
diagnosed with cancer! She's scheduled for surgery
on Thursday. Please pray that the disease hasn't spread to
her liver!! Also pray for Mr. Wilkerson and the children.

We love Mrs. Wilkerson very much. Please keep her in your
prayers.

Things to Come

I can't believe today is New Year's Eve! Christmas is past, already?!
Right now we have a very pretty snow falling, making everything look
white and lovely. I'm thankful God created snow. It's so beautiful.

Right now Mom is on the couch trying to rest from a cold. We hope
she's better by tomorrow as Lord willing, we're planning to have
some people over tomorrow.

I'm hoping to post soon of our Christmas celebrations, but I wanted to
wait 'til they were accomplished. And we have to tidy up the house
for tomorrow. But I'm hoping we'll have fun tonight as we wait for
the countdown to midnight.

Everyone have a safe, blessed, hopeful, happy New Year. And may
God's protection be over you, blog readers, and be spared any heartache.

Love, Rebecca

Kellum Christmas Message

May the Lord Jesus Christ fill our hearts with His love and
may we go out to be bright shining blessings to all around us.
Greetings from our home to yours.

"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

John 1:29

Merry Christmas!

Who is He?

This is one of my favorite songs, for Christmas or any time.

Who is He in Yonder Stall?

1."Who is He in yonder stall,

At whose feet the shepherds fall?

Refrain: 'Tis the Lord! oh wondrous story!

'Tis the Lord! the King of glory!

At His feet we humbly fall, Crown Him!

crown Him, Lord of all!

2. Who is He in deep distress

Fasting in the wilderness?

3. Who is He the people bless

For His words of gentleness?

4. Who is He to whom they bring

All the sick and sorrowing?

'Tis the Lord! oh wondrous story!

'Tis the Lord! the King of glory!

At His feet we humbly fall, Crown Him!

crown Him, Lord of all!

5. Who is He that stands and weeps

At the grave where Lazarus sleeps?

6. Who is He the gathering throng

Greet with loud triumphant song?

7. Lo! at midnight, who is He

Prays in dark Gethsemane?

8. Who is He on yonder tree

Dies in grief and agony?

'Tis the Lord! oh wondrous story!

'Tis the Lord! the King of glory!

At His feet we humbly fall, Crown Him!

crown Him, Lord of all!

9. Who is He who from the grave

Comes to succour, help, and save?

10. Who is He who from His throne

Rules through all the worlds alone?

'Tis the Lord! oh wondrous story!

'Tis the Lord! the King of glory!

At His feet we humbly fall, Crown Him!

crown Him, Lord of all!"

"He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as 

many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become

children of God, to those who believe in His name."

John 1:11,12

"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one

who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."

John 6:37

"...neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."

John 10:28

Anyone can come to Jesus and be saved! He's

waiting for you to realize your need for Him and 

ask Him. He won't force you, He waits for you

to invite Him into the door of your heart. You

don't have to say any magic words. It's 

asking Him to come in and make you one of

His. II Corinthians 5:17 says," If any man be in

Christ, he is a new creature; old things are 

passed away, behold, all things have become

new." Just as a butterfly becomes a wondrous

new beauty when it leaves the cocoon, so can someone's

heart be transformed when Jesus enters.

 

I Have Something to Say

It seems that every time I post some sort of picture with my parents in their
wedding clothes, it gets very unnecessarily criticized. I would appreciate it
very much if whoever is doing that would quit. For your information, my mom
did wear makeup on her wedding day and just because she's not the skinniest
person in the world doesn't give you a right to say nasty, unkind things about her.
She's my mom, I love her, and that's that! My parents love us and care for us deeply
and that far exceeds any outward looks that bother you. I'm 21-years-old and my
parents don't control my life-just so you know. I have my own will, and believe me-I use it!
They let me make my own decisions, but they try to help me make wise ones.
Oh yes, and if my sister and I don't wear makeup, it's because we each personally
 made that choice: we were not forced to! That's our decision, not yours. I don't have to
wear makeup if I don't want to! Even though we dress differently, we're people just as much as you are.

PLEASE, stop cutting down my parents!!!! It's unkind, it's unfair, it's unnecessary,
totally and deeply unappreciated, and it's completely unacceptable!
I'm letting you know now, that comments with any such content will be rejected.
 Any such comments are not filled concern for our welfare, they're only made
out to slander and hurt people. So you could save yourself the trouble of sending it.
 I love my family very much! Please stop being so deliberately mean and unreasonable.
Oh yes, and my father does NOT abuse us! He's a wonderful dad!

You're entitled to your own opinion, but that doesn't mean my family and I have to
hear it if it's full of gossip. And I'm entitled to my opinion, and my family means a
great deal to me.

I love them! I LOVE THEM, and THEY LOVE ME and CARE ABOUT ME!

"But Jesus was saying,'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.' "

(Luke 23:34)

Christmas Decorations

Here's our Christmas decor. I hope you like them.  

One of my gifts from Annah last year.

Rough collies are my top favorite dog breed.

No tinsel this year.

One of my new ornaments this year.

My beautiful silver star. I haven't been able to find it for 2 years, and Annah found it this time. Thanks, Annah!

Our fireplace mantle

This year we put our Nativity scene on our piano.

"Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw

His star in the east and have come to worship Him."

Matthew 2:2

"Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written,

'JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS'... So the chief priests

of the Jews were saying to Pilate, 'Do not write, 'The King of the Jews';

but that He said,'I am King of the Jews.''

Pilate answered, 'What I have written I have written.' "

John 19:19-22 

It's That Time of Year

Well, Christmas is coming, the season where we celebrate and
remember Christ's incarnation, also the season when we
want to give a gift or kind word to someone.

I'm getting excited about Christmas and getting ready for it.

As we go about with family Christmas traditions, shopping,
memories, baking, singing Christmas carols, and the things
we look forward to at this time, let's remember Who and
what we're truly celebrating, and do our best to make Him
the center of our holiday.

Our tree's not up yet, but I'm getting ready for it.

"Whom having not seen, ye love." 1 Peter 1:8

6 months

It's already  been 6 months since Avery Notgrass went to be with Jesus.
I'm thankful he doesn't have endure pain and suffering anymore,
but yet it's still painful for his family not to see him grow up to be a
man and serve God and fulfill his calling in life. One of the things I'm
going to miss about him is not being able to snap photos of him as
he grows and share them with his family and friends.

But when I saw him, he was a cheerful little guy. His parents read aloud
to him from the Bible before he was even born, and I saw them invest
alot into him. We hope that they can still love and embrace Henry
just as much as their other children who are no longer here.

Right now Avery "sees the great scars of the hands of his Savior. But they
don't frighten him. Rather, they're reminders of the price the Savior paid,
in the other world to show His love and purchase Avery's entrance into
this world. He is so very happy. Joy is the air he breathes". And someday,
those of us who are covered by the blood of Christ will join Avery in rejoicing
and worshipping in awe the splendor of our Maker.

Until then, may his loved ones be comforted and do their best to guide
and love and cherish his little brother, Henry with their hearts
led by God's Word. May they look back on the wonderful memories

they had with Avery and make even more with Henry.

But let's also look around and reach out to others who are hurting right now too.

At this moment we have so many friends we care about who have been

diagnosed with cancer this year. It's very sad. Thankfully, a few of them are doing

better and making  progress with their health, but for the others, things are not so.

One of the sweet ladies in our assembly has it and practically all they can do

for her is make her as comfortable as possible. I believe she's a believer in Jesus

Christ, but it's still difficult to see this happen. These people need prayer as do

many others.

In Loving Memory of Avery John Notgrass

Mommy & Daddy with Henry

"For we are...created in Christ Jesus unto good works,

which God hath before ordained that we should walk

in them." Ephesians 2:10

Still Recuperating

Well, Annah and I were not super sick, and she is better.
I guess they've been sinus infections. But now I'm lying
around on the couch with laringitis. It's okay. I've had
it before, but the inside of my mouth sure feels weird! It feels like a spotless,
ashless fireplace. My voice sounds 1 of 3 things: loud
when I can get it to that point, whispery, or squeaky.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Game Night

Last Friday we, the Wilkersons, and others had a wonderful
time of fun and fellowship at the Jeffers' home. The moms
played games in the dining room, we played in the living
room, and the dads didn't play games, but they were
together in the basement. We had an enjoyable time.

Nora

Well, this was upstairs first.

Hannah and Garret

Playing Spoons, but in this case, we used plastic forks.

James, if the next card you get is an 8, you'd better grab a fork. Wait a minute. All the forks are taken!

Daniel and Garret were the lasting two for a final round of spoons. Any guesses as to who won?

Getting ready to play a game of Fruit

We used a pillow to tag people, which everyone enjoyed.

Get him!

It was so nice to have the Valeus join us.

Me

"Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

1 Corinthians 10:12