I love Aslan!

I do not find it amusing or cute when movies have talking animals. Although I am very much an animal lover, I really think that making them talk in movies is a bit too cutesy and, just well over the top of anything necessary. (Too harsh yet?)

Then I go with my coworkers to see the latest Narnia movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, in 3D I might add. I have not read any of these fantastic C.S. Lewis books and have only seem two of the movies. I didn't even know what a "Dawn Treader" was! (psst..it was the name of a ship)

So having said all that, why was it every time Aslan appeared I cried? (December must be confession month for me.) I love Aslan! What he represents is so great and wonderful and beautiful. It is the same feeling I get when I allow myself to truly worship my God at church. It's kind of an overwhelming, happy, humble cry.

I don't really care too much for movies where kids are heroes either. It always seemed so corny to me (there is a reason I am not a mom). But I totally understand the meaning behind the children in the movie, that is what God wants us to be like. Jesus says in Mark 10:14-15 "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

(I know you are very afraid now, Vicki is quoting scripture! Yikes!)

Another thing I liked about the movie is that the dragon was not a bad guy. Oh yes, he started out as a brat kid, but ended up being a good dragon. Since dragons are special to me, I appreciated this. :-)

Anyway, Aslan has been on my mind since I saw the movie last week. I am sure there is a reason for all this. Maybe I will even blog about it when I discover what it is.

Christmas at VCC

Confession: I get too wrapped up in the technical aspects of our Christmas Celebration every year. I have always been a late bloomer too, which means I catch all jokes after the fact, I catch everything after it is too late...including Christmas.

Today I have some "my" time, and our Christmas Celebration is all that is in my head. Where else will you take a trip through space to the farthest galaxy and see stars you have never seen, see and hear opera and rap sung live together on stage, hear a classical pianist and rock band, watch a candle mysteriously light all by itself, and listen to two extremely smart guys explaining the reason that Jesus was born, all in an hour?

Sounds overwhelming doesn't it? I think that is because it is.

It all kind of hits home now, in my private time, how much I love my church and the message that it brings. I feel so strongly about it, yet I am not an evangelist. I know deep in my heart what has happened to me, I just cannot articulate it as well as most people so I usually don't.

I am so lucky and blessed to be able to take part in something that can actually change lives. I know, it changed mine!

I hope everyone's Christmas was as meaningful as mine.

I don't get it! What's the big deal?

Growing up in Detroit, snow was something to look forward to. Between our house and the 'party store' next door, Cincinnati calls these pony kegs - where did that name come from? Now they are referred to as convenience stores. But I am already off track with my story. (Is that a squirrel?)

Anyway, I remember my parents and the guy who owned the store would drag their garden hoses out and let the water run in the field between us. Remember this is in the city - "field" is a relative term here, it was really just a vacant lot. Because the ground was hard, the water would have no where to go and it would freeze. That made our own personal ice skating pond. No side rails to grab onto, no helmets, no lights at night...just sheer unprotected fun.

Skating, snowball fights, snowman building, angels in the snow, and when we were real lucky we would go snow skiing. There was also this fun thing called "bumper riding." This is where you would grab a car's back bumper as slide down the street like water skiing. This was only if the streets were slippery enough and car was going slow enough, usually down a residential street. Of course, I never did such a thing. :-)

Oh, all the memories of winters in Detroit.

I don't ever recall a 'snow day' when I was young, nor did I ever ride a school bus, we walked to school, and made it as fun as we wanted it to be.

Another memory I have is one time my dad digging a path into the family car from the passenger side (because you couldn't even find the car from the drivers side), and then insisting on "driving" the car out of the snow. It was a big ole car, come to think of it, all cars were big then. Anyway, he managed to do it, and it left a wall of snow that was higher than the top of the car. Funny the things you remember from your childhood, isn't it? It probably wasn't like that at all, but that is what I remember from my young impressionable age, and I'm sticking with it.

One good thing about growing up in Detroit, is I learned at an early age to love the snow as much as the summertime. See Detroit isn't all that bad! So what's the big deal here?

How do they do that?

I read a lot of blogs of friends. Most don't know that I read about them and their thoughts on a regular basis. Then I try to blog. For me it is hard. Do I really have that blank of a mind? Is there really no thoughts up there worthy of typing into this space that no one reads anyway?

Some people write extremely long blogs on a very regular basis, and I can't even put together a paragraph or two a couple times a week. Seems like a blog more when I am on vacation than any other time though. Umm...what does that say about my life? Should I be concerned about this? Is it just a sign of old age, or laziness?

Whatever the reason, I love my life and wouldn't change it. Blessings are all over my life and I am so very thankful. Besides, blogging is overrated (hence the byline on my blog title above), but I am still happy for my friends who blog so I can stalk their lives. Keep up the good work, guys!

Time for funny stuff

Here are compilations of the top 10 funny dog and cat videos. I just had to share, they made me laugh. Hopefully you will too.

First the cat videos. Now the dog videos. I just love these little creatures!

Hope you enjoy!