Irreverent Fun at the Art Museum

I took the afternoon off and Rachel, Patrick, Nicholas and I headed to the Richmond Museum of Fine Arts for a fun time of frolicking among the artwork.

Christmas with the Super-Heroes

You really can't have Christmas without the superheroes!  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day!

First, Some Memories of Christmas Eve:
- Opening our presents to each other
- Candlelight Christmas Eve service at Grace with Rachel and Patrick playing the piano
- Reading of the Christmas story from Luke
- Daniel and Rachel's dramatic reading of The Night Before Christmas

Daniel and Rachel take over the tradition of reading The Night Before Christmas, with a dramatic flair.

- Putting reindeer food out on the front lawn

Feeding reindeer

Then, the big day:
Christmas Day was a blessing.  Santa had come the night before so we got up (not too early) and everyone went down to the Family Room.   

The obligatory Christmas morning on the steps picture

We open presents one at a time on Christmas morning so that we can enjoy the time together without rushing through it all.  Santa was good this year and we laughed a lot.

 

 After breakfast, we made the trek down to West Point to spend the rest of the day with Lisa's parents,  her brother Tim and family, and Granny.  AND IT WAS SNOWING!!

Yes, we had our white Christmas this year.

Wright and Elliott cousins

Patrick, Daniel and Nicholas

Snow in West Point

A Savior is Born!

"...Fear not:

for, behold,

I  bring you good tidings of great joy,

which shall be to all people. 

For unto you is born this day

in the city of David a Saviour,

which is Christ the Lord." 

Luke 2: 10-11 

Adoration of the Shepherd by Charles Le Brun

Falling asleep...counting my blessings!

Lisa and I went last night to the Empire Theater in Richmond to celebrate her birthday and see the musical "WHITE CHRISTMAS".  It was a fabulous show!  We thoroughly enjoyed the songs, the costumes and the entire production.  A fun date night out on the town for us.

One of the songs was "Count Your Blessings" and some of the words are as follows:

"If you're worried and you cant sleep,
just count your blessings instead of sheep
and you'll fall asleep counting your blessings."


What a great message for this time of year (as well as any time really).  I could start counting my blessings:  Lisa, the kids, our home, mom, my bros, a bed to sleep in, food for breakfast, a car, coffee, a Bible to freely read, clothes, friends, etc etc.   I could go on and on and on and fill pages with blessings from the Father.

What a great reminder of God's love toward us!

Christmas with the Wright Clan in Lyndhurst

This past weekend, we went up to Mom's and "did Christmas" with her, my brothers Tom and James, and their families.  There was snow on the ground which really gave it the white Christmas feel. 

 

My home church SherLynd Baptist had their annual Christmas cantata on Sunday morning.  James was the narrator and Mom, my sis-in-law Tammy, and my nieces and nephew were it in.  What a great picture it painted of the night Jesus was born and how He changes lives!  Rachel and I wished that our church in Richmond would do something like it.

Christmas presents around the tree, good deep fried turkey, the old Christmas record playing on the record player and lots of laughs.  It was again sad that Dad wasn't there, but brought back wonderful memories of him and past Christmases.

All the grandkids!

Jaden.

Everyone got Christmas socks!

Mom and her grand-daughters!

"Count your many blessings!" - Wright Christmas 2010

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia research still needed

Ahh well.....another article that is a good reminder that although there is good treatment for CML (Chronic Myelogenous or Myeloid Leukemia), there is still no cure.   Keep supporting cancer research!   I am thankful that God has provided skilled and intelligent researchers who may someday figure this thing out.  One day there may be a cure!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New Approaches Needed for Treating Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Published: Monday, December 13, 2010 - 14:41 in Health & Medicine

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) was transformed from a fatal disease to a chronic condition by the development of a drug known as imatinib, which targets the protein that drives this disease (BCR-ABL). However, imatinib does not cure patients, they must take the drug lifelong, as disease recurs if they stop taking it. This is because imatinib does not kill all the CML cells; some, which are known as CML stem cells, persist.

A key to therapeutically targeting CML stem cells is knowing whether they rely on BCR-ABL to persist. Answers to this will determine whether more effective BCR-ABL inhibitors are likely to be effective treatments or whether new approaches to targeting these cells need to be developed. A team of researchers, led by Brian Drucker and Michael Deininger, at Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, has now shown clearly that human CML stem cells do not depend on BCR-ABL activity for survival and are thus not eliminated by imatinib therapy.

As noted by the authors and, in an accompany commentary, Alexander Perl and Martin Carroll, at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, the data indicate that therapeutics targeting BCR-ABL will not improve CML treatment and that new approaches are needed if further advances in patient care are to be made.

Celebrating Lisa

In honor of Lisa's birthday, I collage her face!

Unsung Christmas Heroes

Sometimes there are threats to Christmas that mere mortal man is often unaware of.

In these times of Christmas trials, the world needs heroes to make sure that bells will be ringing, that Christmas joy will be bright, and that gifts will be delivered through the dark and snowy night.


If reindeers are AWOL and Santa needs a lift,

  

if too many toys weigh down his bag,

 

should too many Christmas cookies make a tight fit,

 

or Scrooges try to make Christmas a drag.....

 

our CHRISTMAS HEROES will be there to save the holiday!

 

The umbrella closed

As I am working this morning, snow is falling outside my window.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We woke up to snow here in Richmond this morning.  Not much on the roads, but maybe 2 inches on the ground and it is still flurrying!  

My phone just notified me that "A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for Richmond, VA."  Yes, again I repeat, here in Richmond, where there is usually a **ginormous, invisible umbrella that covers the major metropolitan area. 

I guess God decided to close that umbrella last night.

**Did you know that "ginormous" is a real word now? It was added to the dictionary in 2007 and the official definition is “extremely large.”

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat!

I'm starting to get excited!

Alliteration Adoration

I co-teach a Sunday School class of 9th and 10th graders, and a few weeks ago the 11th and 12th graders joined us.  Trying something different, I talked about creative ways to worship and I passed out note cards with a letter of the alphabet on them.  Each student wrote a creative phrase of praise using their letter.  Here's what happened.

Read and worship with our "Alliteration Adoration!"

You who are Awesome created all astounding beings.

Brilliant Bible writer who bubbles and beholds our souls,

Our Caring God is catastrophically comforting.

Dominant. Divine. Drastic God.

I get Excited to enter into the extremely awesome presence of the everlasting God.  I enjoy being enlightened of eternity.

He is Faithful to the fatherless in times of fear, filling them with strength.  He is full of forgiveness and reigns forever and ever.

He is Good, gracious and He is God.

The Holy Spirit is hallowed in heaven and humbles the hearts of men.

God's Incredible intelligence is displayed in creation.

My Joyful soul jubilantly jumps for joy.

He is the King of all the kingdoms.

The Lord of life loves and listens to our loquacious laments from His lofty location in the land of eternal living.

Mighty God is majestic.

We Need the neat, never-ending love of God.

Omniscient God makes otters.

We Praise a powerful prince of peace.

Quickly and quietly He created the quails and the quills and the queens and the queers.

Our Rare redeemer who rescued us from our rebellion and His roaring wrath - ridiculous!

God my Savior from sins, You wash me clean like snow and I am Your son.

We Talk to a terrific teacher.

God gives me Ultimate understanding of unknown things.

You are the Victor and you give victory to those that love You and make us victorious.

We worship whole fully while weeping wistfully with tears of utter wonder.  What word would one even whisper which would wow us? Woe? While we walk unaware of what words He wills, we worship the worldly, unworthy and wicked.

You X-ray our hearts and are excellent and extreme.

I Yearn for Your love, for You are lovely!  You are holy and heavenly, and worthy of praise,

A Zealous God that made zebras.

The Bethlehem Experience

"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people . Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2: 9-12

We went to the Bethlehem Experience tonight, which was hosted by Cool Spring Baptist Church in Mechanicsville, VA.  This interactive experience took you back to the night in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.  The church was transformed into Bethlehem, including a marketplace with people selling their wares, blacksmith shop, inns, and a jail among others.  We got to interact with those in Bethlehem, although Patrick was a little embarrassed when I joked around with them.  

It was an added blessing to see my good friends from college Debby and Danita, and their spouses Paul and Brent who played Joseph and a Roman guard.  It is always inspiring to see my friends who have remained so grounded in their Christ relationship and are serving Jesus with their talents so faithfully.

A great reminder that this season is not about serving others, or giving gifts, or family and friends...although all these things are good.  The season is all about Jesus.

Java Jive

I love a cup of hot coffee!  Morning, noon, or night; summer, spring, winter or fall - there is almost nothing more satisfying to me.  If I never had another beverage ever, there would be no big loss.  There is just something about having a mug of piping hot java held in my hands that gets me going.   I leave you this morning with these coffee words from one of my favorite groups.

JAVA JIVE by Manhattan Transfer

I love coffee, I love tea,
I love the Java Jive and it loves me
Coffee and tea and the java and me,
A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup! 

I love java sweet and hot,
Whoops, Mister Moto, I'm a coffee pot
Shoot me the pot, and I'll pour me a shot,
A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup! 

Oh slip me a slug from the wonderful mug
and I'll cut a rug 'til I'm snug in a jug
A slice of onion and a raw one,
Draw one!
Waiter, waiter, percolator! 

I love coffee, I love tea,
I love the Java Jive and it loves me
Coffee and tea and the java and me,
A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup! 

Boston beans (soy beans)
I said the little itty-bitty green bean
(cabbage n' greens)
You know that I'm not keen about a bean,
unless it is a chili chili bean! (Talk it, boy!) 

I love java sweet and hot,
Whoops, Mister Moto, I'm a coffee pot (yeah)
You shoot me the pot, and I'll pour me a shot,
A cup, a cup, a cup, 'an dat zat bootle! 

Blow me a slug from that wonderful mug
And I'll cut a rug that's snug in a jug
Drop a nickel in my pot - Joe
Takin' it slow
Waiter, waiter percolator 

I love coffee, I love tea,
I love the Java Jive an' it loves me
Coffee and tea and the java and me
A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup - BOY! 

By Ben Oakland and Milton Drake