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Archive for the ‘holidays’ Category

Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies

Arrived home yesterday
after a long weekend
traveling to a family wedding
in California.

Memorial Day…
A day to remember
those in the military
who died to keep us free.

Big Skies in Montana

O Beautiful for spacious skies,
for amber waves of grain …
(well, not grain, but lovely amber) …
Home sweet home!

For purple mountain majesty…

Above the fruited plain…

California has miles of grape vineyards…
(Talk about a “fruited plain!)

Switzerland has miles of vineyards, too.
This is where our daughter, De, lives in Valais, Switzerland.
All the mountainsides there on the sunny side
are terraced with vineyards!

(We, in America, are not the only
Land of the Free!)

Back home again, we are so grateful
we live in one of the “Lands of the Free!”

America, America,
God shed His grace on Thee!

Thank you to all our veterans
and all the men & women
who died to keep us free.

May God bless them all
as they receive their reward
in heavenly eternity!

1959

This is what Bob looked like when I first met him
(actually I had known him a year before he joined the army).
Anyway, I am grateful that he survived those years in the service.
I am thankful we survived a very stressful trip
to CA and back this weekend…
More about that in the next post.


God bless Bob
and all those who
serve(d) our country.

In the midst of Pentecost Sunday,
baptisms and weddings,
picnics, and travel plans,
may we not forget the real reason
for the three day weekend!

Rest in Peace, dear ones!
God bless you all!
Happy Memorial Day!

Love to you,
and hugs, too…
JanBeek

Category:

blessings, Family, Gratitude, holidays, Life and Death, Love, Montana, mountains, music, peace, Serving One Another

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A Bud of Hope for the New Year

At the base of each drying leaf Is a bud full of life and potential Waiting patiently for summer’s heat Or winter’s cold to pass Knowing Spring will …

A Bud of Hope for the New Year

I hope you can open the link to read the blog I am posting. It is such a beautiful poem by Dwight at Roth Poetry. .

Category:

blessings, Faith, flowers, Gratitude, holidays, Love, nature, Poetry, Sharing

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Let Us Celebrate!

Let us celebrate
Every reason and season
Thank God we’re alive!

It’s Bob’s 84th
We’re celebrating big time
With his brother, Bill

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

Time to visit friends
Time to enjoy each other
Just let your light shine

Our great-granddaughters
Well… two of the three of them
Shine their light on us

Friends from long ago
Ignite the memory’s light
So blessed to see them

At that magic hour
On that very special day
With very dear friend

Bob’s known Monica
Since he was about fourth grade
She’s my high school friend

Time with Bob’s nephew
And wonderful wife, Sarah
So special, indeed!

Adorable pair
People we have loved so long
Welcomed our visit

Then we visited
Bob’s younger brother and Ann
So good to see them

Bob and I are blessed
With so much to celebrate
We hope you are, too

Let your light so shine
That others can feel its glow
Celebrate each day

Today, Bob’s birthday
We are feeling very loved
We hope you are, too

God bless Bill and Marge
They’re fixing us some meatballs
Bob’s birthday dinner

It smells delicious!!!
I’m outta here.. gonna eat
Happy New Year, Friends

Let Us Celebrate!
Love and hugs to you,
JanBeek

Category:

blessings, Christmas, Faith, Family, friendship, Gratitude, Haiku, holidays, Love, Poetry, relationships

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Family Christmas

We are very blessed
To be with family today
A Merry Christmas

Four generations
With fourteen of us in all
God bless our family

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Generation One
With sweet Generation Four
Thank God for babies

Children grow so fast
Remain babies a short time
Enjoy while you can

As a babe Christ came
Helpless and vulnerable
To live as we live

Mary and Joseph
Provided a loving home
Knowing He’s Special

Peace- John 14:27

So when did they know
The Truth of His intentions
Did God prepare them?

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I can’t imagine
Raising a loving child
For Him to die young

Some friends are hurting
On this day after Christmas
They lost a child, too

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Maybe their lost one
Is a sweet four-legged friend
That breaks your heart, too

On this Christmas night,
let’s reflect with my loved one from Zimbabwe
on Christmas Meaning:
God’s Plan by Taking the Human Form
– Birth of Jesus –

John 3
16 : For God loved the world so much
that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
may not die but have eternal life.

17 :
For God did not send his Son
into the world to be its judge,
but to be its savior.

11 :
“I am the good shepherd,
who is willing to die for the sheep.

It’s not about the day
as no one knows for certain when Jesus Christ was born.
It is a celebration of why He was born.

Here’s to our Salvation celebration
through the birth of Baby Jesus.
Let us make room for Him in our hearts 💕

Blessed Christmas beloved ones of God.
Shalom 🙏🏽❤️

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God Bless You, dear friends.
I pray you had a wonderful, family-filled Merry Christmas!

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Animals, Bible Lessons, children, Christmas, Faith, Family, God, Haiku, holidays, Jesus, Love, pets, Poetry, relationships

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Merry Christmas!!

It’s not Santa and elves, teddy bears and presents. That’s the fluff!!

It’s the Christ Child, Emmanuel, God With Us! It’s new birth and the Virgin Birth. It’s the promise of Eternal Life!

Photo by Jonathan Meyer on Pexels.com

It’s peace on earth and good will toward all God’s creations.

So, when I say “Merry Christmas” it us not a Merry Xmas! Don’t “X” Christ out of CHRISTmas!!

Love and hugs to you, my friends.

Have a faith-filled weekend!

Category:

Belief, blessings, Christmas, Faith, God, holidays, Jesus, Love, peace

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Hooray for Destinations!

Love destinations
Especially arriving
Thanks for safety prayers

Stopped to deliver
Thank you gifts to our neighbors
Then we’re on our way

Leaving Montana
The bitter cold Arctic blast
Headed for our son’s

Clear roads were ahead
Beautiful scenery, too
Later came the drifts

Stopped for our breakfast
At Bella’s Coffee Shop, Wells
Enough food for three!

Fascinating skies
Entertained us on our way
Sun tried to peek out

Blue skies in Reno
Promised sunshine up ahead
What a welcomed sight!

O’er Donner Summit
Evidence earlier snow
Roads were passable

Praise God we arrived
All your faith-filled prayers answered
God hears and responds

So good to be here
Blizzard conditions at home
Warmth and love are here

Morning coffee’s hot
Family’s well and welcoming
Merry Christmas Friends!

Hooray for Destinations!

Summers here are great
When more of our family comes
Love those gatherings!

May your holidays
Be filled with love and laughter
May God bless you all

May God bless your life
With love, joy, peace, and laughter
Stay healthy, my friends

May you get to all your destinations safely.

Love and Best Wishes,
JanBeek

Category:

blessings, Christmas, Family, food, God, Gratitude, Haiku, holidays, Living in Harmony, Love, Montana, mountains, Poetry, prayer, relationships, Travel

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Christmas Spectacular

What does it mean to “Press This” ??

Category:

holidays, Montana, music

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Christmas Spectacular

Yesterday Bob & I were treated to a wonderful opportunity.
Our friends, Ann & John, drove us in to Bozeman
to enjoy the phenomenal “Christmas Spectacular” by the Bozeman Symphony.

The players were joined by the Symphony choir
and an amazing tenor soloist, Tamar Green.
I broke the rules, held my phone down where no one could see it,
and recorded a bit of Tamar’s extraordinary voice. You just have to hear him!!

I held the phone down in front of the chair… Oh, please listen.
His voice is amazing!!

His personality is as enchanting as his singing voice.
When he is not here, he is in New York, on Broadway,
playing the part of George Washington in the musical, Hamilton!!

I had to peek between two tall heads to see him –
and lean over between two other heads
to see the amazing conductor, Norman Huynh,
but I managed…
and was mesmerized by the lighting,
the staging,
and the quality of the musicians.

We are so blessed to have this delightful, talented conductor here with us in Bozeman, MT. He is such a gift to our music community! Thank you, Norman!!

The light show on the walls left, right, above,
and on the stage
was such an enhancement
to the show!

As you can tell by the menorah,
the music was varied
and celebrated many of this season’s traditions.

The concert ended with a rousing singalong.
I wish you coulda been there with us!

Did you sing along? Could you hear it?

Try not to let my scratchy alto voice distract you
from the fun of an auditorium of music lovers singing with gusto!

Silent Night is my favorite carols.
What is yours?

I hope you have a chance to attend a spectacular Christmas concert in your area, this season.

God bless you, dear friends!
Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas!

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Christmas, holidays, Love, Montana, music

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Montana Snow

The Christmas cards are done
They’re ready to be mailed
But we can’t leave our home
We’d surely be derailed

The winds were 40 mph gusts, and
The drifts have blown like crazy
I’ll have to ZOOM church tomorrow
And it’s not cuz I am lazy

I’d attend if I could get out
And after church I’d go
To the post office to mail the cards
But I can’t get through the snow

So we are at the mercy
Of a kind and helpful neighbor
When he comes with his bobcat blower
We’ll watch him work and thank him later

He’ll blow out the driveway
And clear a path for us
So we can get to church
Without shoveling and lots of fuss

But if you don’t see us
And if our card to you doesn’t come,
You might send out a sled team
To rescue us… we’re frozen and numb!

That’s our driveway that’s the culprit
The wind swirls the snow in piles
Inside between the rabbit brush
It blows in from many miles

That photo was a light snow
This time it’s at least two feet tall
After our neighbor plowed us out
The piles were a five foot wall!

We haven’t seen a winter like this
This storm has been a doozy
It started way too early this year –
The freezing wind makes me woozy

The Christmas cards are done
They’re ready to be mailed
But like I said, I’m stuck in here
Our Christmas travel might be curtailed

Try coming in through the drifts
I’ve some hot chocolate to share
But if you don’t make it here
Mr Snowman will be content floating there

Hope you’re having a happy December so far.
God bless you! Stay in touch.

Love ya,
JanBeek

Take a look at this photo I found!
That’s me – pregnant with our 1st child, Ty.
And that’s my sis and her hubby with my niece, Denise
and my mom and dad…
1964 Christmas …
Sweet memories!

Category:

Christmas, Family, holidays, Life's Challenges, Montana, nature, Poetry

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It’s Beginning

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

From my toes to my head … see that hat?

Christmas parties have begun

That’s the luncheon at our Madison Valley Woman’s Club yesterday.
45 ladies showed up from our little Ennis community!

My dear friend, Susan P, came and helped me decorate our house from tree to…

…fireplace mantle and lotsa places around the house.
She did things I could never do by myself.
God bless her!

Those candles on the mantle are battery operated
and can be set to change colors!!

Isn’t that fun?
They can all be one of any choice of 8 colors
or they can rotate.
Good ole CostCo.
They have lotsa fun things
to get you in the holiday spirit!

But nothing depicts the Christmas season
quite as well as this treasure
that I found at our Christmas bazaar last Saturday.
It’s a manger scene made by a darling lady in Nairobi.
She used the bark from banana trees!!

It’s not Christmas unless we
recognize the nativity as
central to the holiday!

Is it beginning to look a lot like Christmas at your house? Tell me about it!

Have fun fixing your home
to reflect this holiday season
in a way that is meaningful for you.

For me and my family, it’s Christmas…

Thanking God for the gift of
Baby Jesus,
sharing time with family & friends,
sending out cards,
decorating with trees, candles, music
and presents…

and the fun has just begun!

Our TazE looks just like this Boston on the right.
She has decided the blanket under the tree is her bed.
She thinks the presents are for her.
Help!

Have fun this Christmas season…
and good luck keeping your dog, cat or kids
out from under the Christmas tree!

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Animals, blessings, Faith, Family, friendship, holidays, Jesus, Living in Harmony, Love, music, pets, relationships

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