Christmas Carol Favorite #3: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

--Hark! The herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconcile!

Joyful all ye nations rise! Join the triumph of the skies! With

Angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem! Hark!

The heral angels sing, Glory to the newborn King!--

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! God bless!

--Emily--

Another Christmas Favorite: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

--Come Thou long expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free!

From our sins and fears release us, let us find our rest in Thee!

Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art!

Dear desire of every nation! Joy of every longing heart!--

-Charles Wesley's "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" (verse 1)-

Merry Christmas!

--Emily--

Christmas Carol: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

I love Christmas music! I absolutely love the carols we sing at church, and listening to different artist’s (especially Chris Tomlin’s! : >) versions of these beautiful songs! I thought it would be fun to post some of my favorite carols on here. If you have favorite, please feel free to share it with us (we’re in love with comments, so you’re going to hear me talk about feedback a lot!)!

It came upon a midnight clear, that glorious song of old! While angels bending near the earth did touch their hearts of gold! Peace on the earth, goodwill to men, from heaven’s all gracious King! The world in silent stillness lay to hear the angels sing

       --It Came Upon a Midnight Clear--

Merry Christmas!

--Emily--

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 

An Update....by Emily! :)

Hi Everyone!

Is it just me, or is a blank document intimidating? I mean, I think it's inviting, but at the same time, kind of scary! :)  I don't know...is that just me, or are there any other bloggers out there who feel the same?  I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts-on this seemingly silly matter! :)

Well, Christmas season 2010 is here.  I find it hard to believe how quickly the months pass by anymore.  I guess time does go by faster as you grow older.  I have a December birthday, so the year always seemed to drag on especially slow when I was little...but not anymore, that's for sure! :)  We have yet to get out our decorations (we have some remodeling going on that's hindering us a bit!), but we're hoping to soon!  I have to go do some Christmas shopping-which should be fun! One of my favorite parts of Christmas is buying gifts for my family, espeically for my siblings.  It's always heart-warming to see my sisters and brother open their present and find something that they're (hopefully!) going to love.

On top of gift giving, I also enjoy marveling over the fact that almighty God, Creator of the Earth, left His throne in heaven to came down to earth.  He gave up His position as the King to become a man and actually died for ungrateful, sinful mankind.  Amazing when you think about it....

 I know that some people, around the holidays, enjoy donating money to charity.  If you are looking for an organazation to make a donation to, I highly reccomend CareNet (We list their website on our favorites list.).  They are a Christian group who are dedicated to ministering to pregnant women who are considering abortion.  Our family has made a few donations to this group, and I feel wonderful knowing that our money is being used to help save lives!  If you'd like more information on this group, check out their website!

I want to remind y'all that we would be glad to post any prayer requests y'all may have on our prayer request page.  If you have a need in your life, please feel free to share it with us!

Also, I'd like to mention the fact that V.O.T.I. loves hearing feedback from our readers!  Please leave a comment and let us know your opinion on a particular post, V.O.T.I. in general, or you could ask a question! :) 

Enjoy your Christmas season!

--Emily--