Relatives, Old and New

Many of you know of Danya's affinity for genealogy - something that Paul and I, to a lesser extent, share with her. She does all the "real work" while we just get to traipse around cemeteries looking for relatives, cool or old headstones or pretty flora and fauna.

Unfortunately, a distant cousin passed away in Virginia, who was originally from Guthrie, KY. Another cousin, close to the deceased, came for the funeral bearing tons of "stuff" pertinent to the family - some pictures, family Bibles, etc. - and tons of "stuff" not (like car deeds from the 1950s).

We had a great time with them, and hope they'll visit again under happier circumstances.

Paul, Danya, Bill, and Bill and Kathy Voegli, cousins from Atlanta.

Below are several headstones from our family - several Northingtons, which you can imagine are very important for many reasons :) And, of course, Snadons. Paul may be able to chime in and edit to clarify the exact position of these Northingtons on our family tree. I can't believe we don't have a picture of Paul Northington's, though! For shame. I am really disappointed. Maybe a trip to Clarksville in the spring?

This cemetery is in Clarksville, TN, the Greenwood Cemetery, and we were there on the day of the SEC Championship. Since that was, um, quite some time ago, you know that Auburn killed South Carolina, and it couldn't've happened to a nicer guy. /sarcasm

Big Blog Update Coming Soon!

...a good thing, since I haven't updated since December 7 :)

It's a good night, though. This is back on TV (for the last season!), and Paul's cooking this, and there's no work tomorrow - and tomorrow night, I'm going here with some friends, and can pick from this menu for restaurant week. Input? :)

Anyway, much has happened in the past month! Be on the lookout!

P.S. - Just because we neglected Advent III (Gaudete!) (and GOW-DAY-TAY thick-accent sing along here!) and Advent IV, and Christmas - doesn't mean they didn't happen. Again, the forms found here proved awesome for our devotions, and we made special use of the information here and here for the O Antiphons. So definitely make it a point to use these resources next year!

Advent II

We had a very busy weekend! I anticipate pictures eventually, especially of Elle's baptism! Until then, though, here are our readings and prayers from Sunday evening. Sorry I'm late in getting them up - even if nobody's reading them, it's nice for them to be here :)

Prayer:
Stir up our hearts, O Lord,
to prepare the paths of thine Only-begotten Son:
that we may worthily serve thee
with hearts purified by His coming:
Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
ever one God, world without end. Amen.

O King of all nations, Jesus Christ,
only joy of every heart,
come and save your people.

Scriptures:
Micah 5:2
Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11
Isaiah 2:1-5
Matthew 3:1-6

With the advent of Advent...

...I know, I know, I start things waaaay too early. It's always been our tradition to get the tree and most everything up the weekend after Thanksgiving. I much prefer this to my days in retail, which never afforded me this luxury! Now we're back to work, and it's all done - except for packing the empty boxes back in the attic until "next year". I did recognize the need for better organization - most of the boxes are falling apart, and Christmas decor has absolutely taken over our attic - so maybe some shelving is in order for the big clean-up.

...sit down, don't fall down!

...Paul's big contribution! Well, that, and "crowd control" - all those unruly greyhounds...

The finished product part 1...

...and part 2, shifting right - although Lana is totally embarassed to have a Titans stocking and it may well behoove her not to, given their embarassing performance yesterday. Cortland Finnegan was formerly her #2 favorite behind CJ, and, well, after this the honeymoon is OVER!





Our Nativity scene! We wait in joyful hope for the coming of Jesus! I was on the lookout for another "nicer" Nativity secene, but after making this arrangement this year I kind of like this one after all. It's just "not what I grew up with" (Mother's Nativity scene is sooo pretty!)...
but I guess that's OK!

Even the mailbox is gettin' with the season! I don't know how this will stay. I did it with elastic double-knotted and a hair elastic, of all things - the bows on either side twist-tied together - the magnolia leaves came from the magnolias outside my building at work, the Sisters were so gracious to let me have some for decorating and also for our Advent wreath at church. The mailbox needs a fresh coat of paint - maybe in the spring - I also dream of a mailbox with a tiny space for a planter (like this)... anyone know of a handyman that could help me with it? :)

Here's our china cabinet. I'm kind of proud of how this whole thing turned out. I didn't take down anything that's normally up there, I just put other things in front of it. With the cabinet under the TV, I took everything down - but that area needs a decor facelift, and I need to really think about what I want up there.

...PLUS...drumroll, please... you can see my now complete set of the twelve days of Christmas champagne flutes! They are in the top shelf and not very visible - but I know they're there. Oh, I know they're there :)

...and the table is set! We did our first reading/lighting of the first purple candle in the Advent wreath last night. We used the form found here, and here's the information for the first night if you're interested.


Blessing for the Advent Wreath:
O God, by whose word all things are sanctified,
pour forth thy blessing upon this wreath
and grant that we who use it may prepare our hearts
for the Coming of Christ,
and may receive from thee abundant graces.
Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Prayer:
Stir up thy power, O Lord, and come,
that by thy protection we may be rescued
from the dangers that beset us through our sins;
and be a Redeemer to deliver us;
Who livest and reignest with God the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
ever one God, world without end. Amen.

O Emmanuel, Jesus Christ,
desire of every nation,
Savior of all peoples,
come and dwell among us.

Scriptures:
Isaiah 11:1-10
Luke 1:26-38
Isaiah 7:10-14
Matthew 1:18-24

Superstar!

Last month, Paul was asked (at the 11th hour!) to speak at the City Cemetery's "Living History" tour. It was a long day and consisted of him missing some key football games (the very close LSU/UT and Georgia/Colorado games chief among them!) but all in all it was a good time for him, and then we forgot about it, more or less.

On Halloween, our neighbors mentioned they saw Paul on TV! We were incredulous, but they were right. The spot made it on local access programming, and here it is on YouTube for your viewing pleasure :) The guy before him is VERY important - but Paul shows up at the 4:00 mark.

Paul's Office

This is a "creepily awesome" picture of the St. Dominic's building, aka the "Little White House", where Paul works. He says it's from 2008, but it just looks so much older. Appropriate since we're still so close to Halloween, I guess!

Thomas Tallis!

One of the greatest ever, and a fantastic blog post over at English Catholic about him.

I know there's no cute dog pics, house pics, flowers, plants, or even all the adorable children's Halloween costumes yet - I further know my husband will harangue me for trying to be a "hip religious blogger" in the vein of Jen Fulwiler - but he can get over it, because Thomas Tallis is my hero and I want to share his music with all of you who may not be familiar.

Not to mention, I dare say it may even be edifying to speak of things holy on the blog from time to time!

Read the article here. Hear Spem in Alium here. As a YouTube commentor says, "This must be what heaven sounds like." As always, when in Nashville you may visit St. Andrew's Parish (we'd love to have you!) and hear our fabulous organist play Tallis some Sundays. It's just so reverent and wonderful and really adds to your understanding of and meditation on Truth.

This, too, (while kind of unrelated) is pretty awesome. If that doesn't bring a smile to your face, then you're hopeless.