Grace Notes Blog Posts
As I write this, I am looking around my undecorated home wondering when our family is going to find the time to get our Christmas tree and the rest of the holiday décor out. As December is now upon us, I am ashamed that I have waited so long. You see, I am one of those annoying people that loves the sights and sounds of the holidays. The 24-hour Christmas music station has been blasting since the day after Halloween. It’s the most wonderful time of the year and I feel like Buddy the Elf most days. Read More
At the mention of Halloween, most people think of kids having fun dressing up and collecting as much candy as they can. It is a time to have some extra fun with hay rides and haunted houses. Dusk comes early and there is ample opportunity to enjoy being scared of what is imagined to be in the dark. Yet, is there more to Halloween than just fun, games, and wild imaginations? Is there really something lurking in the shadows that we can’t see? Read More
Seventeen years ago, on a picture perfect September morning, four planes took off into the beautiful blue morning sky never to return to an airport again. Nineteen men aboard these planes were set on a suicide mission to use these jets, full of passengers, as weapons of mass destruction against innocent civilians. Three planes hit their mark, one into each tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, NY, completely destroying the towers, and one into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. The fourth plane crashed into the Western Pennsylvania countryside. Almost 3000 people lost their lives that fateful day in September, in one of the most egregious acts of aggression our country has ever seen. It seemed as if we all suffered loss that infamous day, if not the loss of a friend or loved one, then the loss of naivety and a sense of security. Though terrorism was nothing new around the world, that day it became real to those of us who call the United States home. Shortly thereafter, a new phase arose in our nation’s vocabulary- “The War on Terror;” a war that has continued for seventeen years and still seems to have no end in sight.
Every Christmas Eve the whole Wilson Clan gathers at Grandma’s house for our Christmas celebration...This year, however, is going to be a little different, because for the first time, Grandma is not going to be there. You see on December 13th the Lord suddenly took her home to be with him. She was 101 years old, but still in good health, still living at home, and still blessing & spoiling us in so many ways. Read More