Phoenix

Tags

Arizona, cacti, Christmas, Petroglyphs, Phoenix, photography, Travel

North Mountain Park

When you think of traveling to Phoenix, Arizona, the first thing that comes to mind is a dry heat, right? Bizarrely, this particular December, we left pouring rain and cold on the east coast for pouring rain and cold in the desert. My suitcase, and many of the clothes inside it, were literally soaked when I picked it up at baggage claim.

So, while it didn’t rain nonstop while we were there, for the first five days, there wasn’t a lot we could do outside. Fortunately, we don’t have Disney+, so we were able to watch the newest version of Lady and the Tramp, which was filmed in our hometown of Savannah, with our daughter. We also got to watch the first season of The Mandalorian. And, Griffin’s boyfriend and I were able to enjoy a couple of Manchester United games.

Finally, on Saturday, the sun came out and Frank and I took a quick hike at North Mountain Park:

Desert Spoon, also called Sotol

Then the four of us headed out to find some petroglyphs in North Phoenix. Amazingly, these rocks were on a hillside overlooking a heavily populated valley.

Griffin’s boyfriend kindly took a decent family photo of us. See the petroglyphs on the rocks behind us?

I love that spirals are universal.

That evening, we headed to Glendale, where my daughter is in vet school, to enjoy Glendale Glitters, their annual light show. We finished the evening with pierogis, paprikash, and goulash at a Polish (serving Eastern European food) restaurant.

First Responders statue against a glorious sunset.

 

Second Week of #AdventWord

Tags

Advent, AdventWord, photography

December 9-Advent Word: Root

December 10-Advent Word: Grace

December 11-Advent Word: Confess

December 12-Advent Word: Harmony

December 13-Advent Word: Water

December 14-Advent Word: Gather

December 15-Advent Word: Turn. This is actually a screenshot of a video as WordPress won’t let me upload video to my blog.

 

First Week of #AdventWord

Tags

Advent, AdventWord, Christmas

December 2–Advent Word: Visit

December 3–Advent Word: Time

December 4–Advent Word: Humble

December 5–Advent Word: Raise

December 6–Advent Word: House

December 7–Advent Word: Unity

December 8–Advent Word: Worthy

Advent Word 2019

Tags

Advent, AdventWord

Last year for Advent Word, I focused on shooting a black and white photo for each word. This year, it is my intention to use Christmas-related decorations (ornaments, Nativity scenes, etc.) for each word. Wish me luck!

December 1st is the first day of Advent this year, and fortunately, the first photo was easy: Unexpected.

 

I inherited this little Goebel Nativity scene from my grandmother and have added the other creatures, all of which I’ve received unexpectedly.

A Way to the Manger

Tags

Advent, Books, Christianity, Christmas, Devotional

Now available for pre-order, my husband Frank, and I, have written a week of devotions for this book from Forward Movement:

Explore Christ’s birth as recounted in the Gospel of Luke through the lens of the Way of Love and the seven practices of turn, learn, pray, worship, bless, go, and rest. With daily devotions of personal stories, modern examples, art, and invitations to prayer and journaling, the authors challenge you to discover and incorporate these practices into your own life. During Advent and Christmas, walk with the shepherds and the angels, Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, and Anna and Simeon. All of their paths—as well as yours—lead to the same destination: the humble manger where Love was born.

For more info, see here: A Way to the Manger

A 7-Week Advent

Tags

7-Week Advent, Advent, religion

A Seven Week Advent? Yes! There was a time when liturgical churches used seven weeks of preparation for Christmas to match the seven weeks in Lent leading to Easter.

This tradition remained in the Orthodox churches–Russian, Greek, etc.

Nest Sunday, November 11, is the first day of this year’s Seven Week Advent and begins with this collect:

Eternal God, your Word of wisdom goes forth and does not return empty: Grant us such knowledge and love of you that we may perceive your presence in all creation and every creature; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, now and forever. Amen.

Frank and I created a booklet for a nightly service for a Seven Week Advent, which can be found here if you are interested: Seven Week Advent

You can also find more resources here: The Advent Project