I want to share our Christmas with you here in Las Vegas. Our son, Doug, daughter and son-in-law, Katie and Chad, my mother, Mary, husband, Tim, and our friends, Carli and Logan. Of course my Humpty Dumpty and Ms. Humpty Dumpty celebrated with us too. One of our little doggies, Mr. Higbee is in a picture. Our other doggie friend, Diamond, is picture shy. I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year. We all have 360 days left in 2011 to make it GREAT!
Las Vegas 2011
A spectacular fireworks display lit up the midnight sky from seven resorts on the Las Vegas Strip for New Year’s Eve 2010 to welcome in 2011.
My city of Las Vegas is packed with New Year’s revelers for this holiday weekend. They have come to celebrate a new decade, a new year, a new hope for the future.
Yes, Las Vegas IS BACK, let the city and the New Year ring!
Our family Christmas tree may not be large but it is filled with peace. Each year we “theme” our tree. This year of 2010, the theme is PEACE. Every ornament on the tree proclaims that word in the form of a prayer. We pray for peace for our world and for our nation. We pray for peace for our neighbors and for our family. Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with ME.
Visit Humpty Dumpty and his friends as they pose for more Christmas pictures under the Peace Tree On the Road with Humpty Dumpty.
by Brenda Wendling
I received this original artwork on a beautiful Christmas card from my wonderful, talented, friend, Brenda Wedling, Las Vegas, NV. I love it and want to share it with my readers. The serenity of the mountains, pines, and cabin portrait the peacefulness of the Christmas season.
Thank you, Brenda. This is certainly a keeper ~ as are you.
I took my mother to a beautiful Christmas concert tonight at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. It was A Christmas Celebration by the Desert Chorale and the Nevada Pops. There is always one selection that stands out at any concert. Yes, one melody, lyrics, or singer that steals your heart. For me, that selection was “Still Believe” sung by April Taggart. April’s voice filled the auditorium with melodic richness. I want to share the lyrics of this beautiful song with you ~ it glows with a Christmas message and so much more for life.
I haven’t seen His face
But I have seen His miracles
I haven’t heard His voice
But His spirit speaks to my heart
I haven’t felt His hands
But I have felt His peace
And blessed are those who haven’t seen
And still believe that He lives
And still believe that He walked upon the earth
And though my faith is just a seed
I still believe
I didn’t walk with Him
But each day He’s here by my side
I didn’t watch as He healed
But His love has changed my life
I didn’t see the cross
But I know it was for me
And blessed are those who haven’t seen
And still believe that He lives
And still believe that He walked upon the earth
And though my faith is just a seed
I still believe
I haven’t seen His eyes
But someday He’ll look into mine
And if He bids me come
I will worship at His feet
For blessed are those who haven’t seen
And still believe.
Merry Christmas
Children love to read at night. Words of children’s books are like fireflies that twinkle in the summer skies and blink to the rhythm of dreams. They keep a cadence in little minds that linger long after the lights dim. Oh, as we turn back the pages of our own childhoods we all reminisce how we wanted to read one more story, just one more page, and one more picture, to tuck our minds into the silence of another night’s peaceful slumber.
Kiara’s room is abundant with choices of books to take to bed. At eight years of age, she can choose from Cupid Doesn’t Flip Hamburgers, the Julie B series, Lizzie McGuire’s, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Ella Enchanted ~ or many, many more.
“Kiara,” her dad stood in the doorway, “time for lights out. Your big soccer game is early tomorrow.”
“One more, daddy. Just one more book. Only a few pages. I’m in the middle of this good part right now.”
“Two minutes,” came dad’s reply, “then lights out.” Chris couldn’t distinguish what his daughter was reading because she was flipped over on her right side - back toward the door.
Two minutes passed, in fact, it was more like five when Chris entered Kiara’s room. “Time’s up,” he said as he walked toward her bed to plant a goodnight kiss on her cheek. As he did so he studied the tears that glistened in Kiara’s eyes and the tremble of her hands as she placed her book on her pillow. Their eyes met and their hands clasped as they lay them down, together, on the Holy Bible.
Inspired by Chris Trethewey and his daughter, Kiara, from Central Christian Church, Las Vegas, NV.
Here is the note I received from Turtle. He’s certainly Moving Fast on his football team. Turtle’s dad is Coach Phelps. They work together, as all parents should. You go, Turtle!
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Coach Phelps
A champ!
This isn’t a new story and it didn’t happen yesterday but it’s a story that I love about my son, Doug. He fulfilled a golfer’s dream of making a hole-in-one and Doug, has autism. “A Hole in the Sky” will inspire you. Enjoy.
A Hole in the Sky
By Kathie Harrington
It was early in October. The air in Las Vegas was still not crisp but it was better than the 120 degree temperatures that had baked the desert golf courses for the last three months. It was a good day for a hole-in-one.
Doug took his typical stance at the tee during a routine round of golf for his University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) golf class. His arms were stiffer than most players. His body was rigid and didn’t sway with the perpetual breeze as did the leaves of the palm trees that lined the fairway. Doug’s
Doug’s eyes were on the ball and he never took them off the ground until he was sure the ball had landed, usually 20 to 30 feet in front or to one side of him. When Doug did stroll off of the tee and onto the lush greenery of the Black Mountain Golf Course, there was a difference to his gait, a stiffness to his walk like an unsynchronized action to every movement, as if his rhythm was off.
The rest of Doug’s foursome watched where the ball went for him. On this October day, six eyes traveled down the fairway and onto the green of hole #6. They couldn’t see it all but they knew where their eyes took them as the ball rolled over the edge of the cup.
“WAY TO GO, DOUG!” Hands came flying in Doug’s direction as they landed upon his shoulders and back. He stiffened once again.
“What a guy!”
“Can you believe it?”
“Pretend you hit that one for me, Doug.”
“I’ll buy you a beer at the end of this, Doug.”
“Nope, I don’t drink beer.” Doug looked at them with a poker face and added, “Where’s my ball?”
“Where do ‘ya think, Champ?” asked one of the guys.
A sudden smile loomed across Doug’s face. “In the hole?”
“You got it! You, Douglas Harrington, made a hole-in-one.”
“Can I get it now?”
All four of the young men smiled in harmony. “Now’s the time, Doug,” said one of them.
“My grandpa made a hole-in-one once. He got a trophy but he’s dead now. I remember he kept the ball,” proclaimed Doug.
“Are you going to keep your ball, Doug?” asked the young man with the baseball cap.
“Sure. Maybe grandpa dropped it there from heaven,” said Doug.
“Just maybe he did help, Doug, but I think you hit it on your own. This one’s for you to keep, buddy,” said the friend as he plucked the ball from the metal lined hole and handed it to Doug.
Doug’s eyes glanced quickly to the ball and then up toward the sky. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.
Three young men learned something that day in October that will hopefully remain with them for the rest of their lives. They learned that, although handicapped by the disorder of autism, one of their own experienced the greatest triumph in a golfer’s life – a hole-in-one.
Front page of Iowa Falls Times Citizen by Eric Mandel, September 11, 2010
(double click on the papers to magnify)
