Complacency.

I was reading in my Bible; reading in First Chronicles,
but since it was so late, and all those "this man had this son, and they lived for this long, and then his grandchildren were him and him and him . . .", so I sort of was paging through the Bible.
(i know, I shouldn't really do that.)
 And I saw this:

"And it shall pass at that time that I will search

                                Jerusalem with lamps,
              And punish the men who are settled in complacency, 
                               Who say in their hearts,  
         
                'The Lord will not do good, Nor will He do evil.' "


                               - Zephaniah 1:12

Complacency: 1: Self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by actual dangers or deficiencies.
That's me.
I am the one 'settled in complacency', saying exactly that.

I can talk big and act big, but am I really on Fire for my Savior?
do I really Try to honor Him, in All that I do? in All that I say? in All that I think?
do I truly Trust Him? with All that I am, have, and enjoy?

(and no, I do not normally read in Zephaniah. I barely knew it was a book in the Bible.)

- C.Celise.B.

Feeling the Love.

I'm feeling quite loved, with all these birthday gifts and letters and notes and songs.

A day filled with shopping and laughing and singing and . . .

all sorts of happy things.

After turning 16, 

I am a new person.

that was a joke.

16 is . . .

weird. 

and exciting.

and scary.

Here is my theme song for my Sixteenth year,

I hope You See Jesus / / by Bebo Norman.

(bebo norman. it looks cooler without uppercase letters.)

(yes, i did sing this at my bat mitzvah.)

Lyrics: Instead of fear, instead of blinded eyes Instead of shame, instead of all my lies Instead of an orphan without a name I hope you see Jesus Instead of anger, instead of unbelief Instead of weakness in the heart of me Instead of a wounded soul that sometimes loses faith I hope you see Jesus Instead of voices in a faceless crowd Instead of prophets crying out from behind a shroud Instead of fingers pointing out the blame I hope you see Jesus Oh my God, when you look on us A broken people who have turned from love Instead of the words we throw and the wars we wage I hope you forgive us I hope you see Jesus I hope you see Jesus I hope you see Jesus Standing in our place Bearing all our shame I hope you see Jesus

     I hope you see Love.
   
    (pray for me?)

      - Me.

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas . . .

HI FOLKS.

Merry, Merry, Merry, VERY Merry Christmas to all of you, whether you have snow, or soggy grass, or are in florida enjoying the snow (or lack of it) from a distance.

A FEW CHRISTMASY THINGS:

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

 . . .Christmas isn't the same without snow.

I need snow. . . 

It is good to be children sometimes,

 and never better than at Christmas

 when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.

  ~Charles Dickens

When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. 

 Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?  

~G.K. Chesterton

I want to look on this Christmas with the eyes of a 5 year old.
all of the wonder, the awe and the imagination that they feel when hearing the Manger Story,
     i want to bring that back into my own Christmas.
this year we aren't doing Christmas presents, which, I admit is going to feel very strange.
but then, if the presents were the only things i was looking forward to, how ridiculously ungrateful I am.
(don't get me wrong, I love presents as much as the next person, and perhaps more.)


I want the wonder of my Christmas to be in the birth of my Jesus, the way he humbled Himself to almost the lowest degree.
I know that we've all heard that a billion times already, and you'll probably hear it a billion more times.
but it's true.
unbelievably true.
I can only pray that God will show me the incredible, incredible story, in a way that I never thought of before.
or just open my eyes to how incredible it really is.
because if I could grasp that, truly, my life should never be the same.

thank you for reading, and now, you really really need to visit this link:
http://vimeo.com/17742404

The Christmas Story, 
from a slightly different perspective.

God Bless Us, Everyone.


- C. Celise B.

Just A Hint.

ITEM #1:
For all of you who may be charmed by our family's photogenic-ness (cough),
let me just tell you that this was how it really was. ^
 (when we weren't frozen stiff, mind you.)
(cherie and i were are behind the camera, goading them on..)

ITEM #2:
For all of you who have been wondering, NO.
I have not fallen prey to a deadly cold and have been in bed for a month.

               I AM IN THE PERFECT STATE OF . . . WARMNESS.
                         (any of you recognize that quote?)

I have simply been very busy, and also am now and currently and right now and this very day,
working on a blog post.
but, it shall take a while to complete, so don't hold your breath.

- C.C.B.

A Bat Mitzvah To Be Reckoned With

Wow.
What an incredible weekend.

Friends and family were invited, and some of my dearest friends from Colorado and North Carolina weren't coming.

"Oh well, I completely understand." I thought, "It's not like they'll BUY plane tickets and come just for my bat mitzvah. And Deborah, Deborah has a wedding, so she can't make it."
I was resigned.
I understood how ridiculous it would have been for them to come, it was just too unhandy and too much of a mess.
November 10th.
We were all sitting in the Living Room, relaxing and taking deep breaths before the craziness officially began.
Dad was in a weird mood that night, all jittery and excited.
Him and Zach randomly burst into laughter over things that hardly anyone else could see humor in.
"IS ANYBODY HOME??"
followed by uncontrollable giggles and screams.
I was absolutely thunderstruck.
There, IN OUR LIVING ROOM, stood Monica and Kelci Miller, my friends from Colorado.
It took about 10 seconds for everything to register in my little overtaxed brain.

'monica, and kelci, are in OUR LIVING ROOM.
monica and kelci are in OUR LIVING ROOM.
monica and kelci are in OUR LIVING ROOM.
monica and kelci are in OUR LIVING ROOM.
MONICA AND KELCI ARE IN OUR LIVING ROOM.'
I was literally shaking and almost speechless for about ten minutes.
I never knew I couldn't take surprises. 
Wow.

    this photograph was taken a little while after the initial shock wore off, for the good of all humanity.

                                              We immediately began being strange.
                         life is short, we always say.

Soon, my vocabulary returned, and my brain stopped fuzzing, and my limbs stopped vibrating, 
                                The very next morning, some of the illustrious aunts arrived.

They traveled through rain and snow, sun and cloud, night and day to arrive.
(they seriously left at 12:00 P.M.)
     (they are the bomb.com)
We began our day in preparation for the big day.
(We Barkmans are normally so organized and plan-aheaders. I have no idea what happened to us.)
eHEM.
We began the preparation by . . . 

                                              carving pumpkins and . . .

                                                            gutting pumpkins.

                 Reader, have you ever, in your whole life, gutted a pumpkin?
                      No, you say? Well, the next photograph is basically pumpkin gutting summed up.

                                      Please, please click on this picture for utmost clarity.

                                         And then, we began cutting holes into them.
                                               
moving on.


                                    The setting up at the church began.
                                 It turned out beautifully with my aunts' ingenius suggestions.

                                                     . . .

       My window, filled with a few of my favorite things.

                                         We stared at random people from the windows . . .

                                      Zachary and Sheila really did all of the dirty work.

                                           Trevor serenaded us with music.

                                          and I received my very FIRST bouqet of flowers.
                                                  it made my day. week. month. LIFE.

                                         And then, the other family members began to arrive.

                                           We had an absolutely topping time.

                         
                              The blessings I received that night (and the next night)
                               were absolutely wonderful. 
                               I think I could live on them for the next five years.
                               They absolutely blew me away.


                    We had around eleven girls sleeping in one room for about two nights.
it was wonderful, all the inside jokes, and embarrassing moments, and uncontrollable giggles we shared.
Then the very next night, we had the "Main Event" at our church house. I don't know how to explain this evening in words, so I shall simply post random pictures of the evening 

                                                    Zachary was thrilled at the menu.
                                                          Soups and burritos.
                                                                Poor Seg.

                                                   Grandpa was able to come!
                                           P.S. I shall not take credit for most of these pictures,
                                      my lovely cousin Victoria was shooting most of the ceremony.

                                            Father's blessing. Father cried. I almost cried too.

                                 Now, let's all stand back and laugh as the innocent Christy gets
                                   doused with whipped cream. She got quite a few back, I must say.

 

                                            I would never tell you to click a picture, but . . .

                                                       Oh, Deborah.
                                              DEBORAH. I didn't tell you the Deborah story!
                                 deborah had been invited, but she was so so sad because, she had a wedding on friday, and she said she probably couldn't go all the way back to N.C., and then back up here the same night.
                        *enter gullible Christy nodding head and trying to be sympathetic.*
                     Friday night, (the night with only family) she came and surprised me.
               how she surprised me, I shan't tell, but I'm quite sure that I'll never be able to live that one down.
                            ( I don't think I can take one more thing that's not planned out 20 years ahead of time)

                                             Some of my lovely, lovely friends.

                                                And almost the whole group of us.
                                                      This is how we really and truly are . . .

                                                         When we aren't like this.

                                                        Or this.

                                    Now, before you all begin to think that I am an absolute mess,
                                           and that I have no sense at all and that I am a grasping fool,
                                                        just understand that my love language is gifts.
                                       So, this wonderful pile warmed the "cockles of my little heart".

                                        Isn't this wonderful printed wrapping paper? you may say to yourself.
                                       I am here to say that my friend Kelsey spent a LOT of TIME STENCILING
                                         a bunch of French words, and Eiffel Towers, and a whole crowd of lovely things.
                                                   I am enraptured.

                                               The pen of my dreams.

 I just want to spout a HUGE thank you to everyone who came and blessed me so wonderfully. 
     I don't know what else to say, but that it means SO MUCH to me.
             I shall now leave you with a few pictures that make me exceedingly happy right now.

                                                                   -----------------

         
                                                       -Me