Update.... by: Olivia!! =)

Hello everyone,

I am sorry that you haven't heard from me in a while!!  I miss being on the computer!!  I have just gotten back from a basketball tournament near Binghamtom, NY (I live two hours away north from Albany, so Binghamton is about three in a half to four hours away from me)!  We (the boys, and the girls teams) had a great time even though we, boy and girls, lost all of our games. =(  But our main goal was to bring honor, and glory to our God through our attitudes on the court, and toward the other teams after the games as we interacted with them a bit, and I think that we did that!!  Now I don't have practice until after Christmas.... I am going to be a LONG 2 weeks. =(  I normally have practice 4 times a week from 3:30-6:00, or 3:30-4:30, so that really take up a lot of my day, and time, not counting the time it takes to get there which is about a half an hour.  So you get the picture..... I'm doing a whole of basketball right now, and I don't have much time for anything else.  But I'm not complaining!!.... I love having a full day, and being on the go.... I hate having nothing going on during the day!! =) 

Anyway, enough about basketball.  Guess what!!  Last nigh we just got our first snow fall!!  I personally don't like that snow.... but for some of you that live in parts of the world, or U.S. that don't get snow, it might seem really cool to get snow.  I'm telling you - you are NOT missing much!!  All you have to do is come to the Adirondacks up in New York, spend a winter shoveling snow, and being cold, and you will change your mind about that snow!! =)  

But there is a good side to the snow!!  It blankets the ugly, gray earth with a beautiful, pure blanket of white, glistening powder!!  It is soooo.... beautiful really isn't the word for it!!  It is a really good example, or picture of what Christ did for us on the cross.  The world was ugly, dirty, sinful, and dark.  But God sent his Son, who gave up everything for us, who went through so muck humiliation for us, an extremely sinful, prideful, and arrogant people, and took God's wrath on His shoulders to be a ransom for all who believe!!  
As the business of the Christmas season approaches, I see, a lot of the time, even Christians get caught up in the business, too.  And I know that many of us do, and I'm not pointing fingers, but this Christmas I want to really, really reflect on why Christ came to be born in a humble stable.  Even I get caught up in the presents, and making sure that I get what I wanted this year, and if I am going to have enough money to get my parents, and grandparents something, that I lose sight of that true meaning of Christmas, and don't take it seriously.  I hope that you will do the same!! =)

Well, I hope that you have a great Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from Voices of the Innocent!!  

~Olivia~       


"Emmanuel, Emmanuel
God incarnate here to dwell
Emmanuel, Emmanuel
Praise His name Emmanuel!
The son of God, here, born to bleed
a crown of thorns would pierce His brow
And we beheld this offering, exalted now, the King of kings
Praise God for the hallowed manger ground"
"Hallowed Manger Ground" by Chris Tomlin