The Darting Sparrow: 2017

Monday, December 25, 2017

~NOEL

You'll find a helpful treatment of the word 'noel' here!

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Music corner ☺...

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About the songs I posted above...

*On Chris Tomlin's 2015 Christmas album, you'll find "The First Noel," along with an original song that is titled, "Noel."

*Lady Antebellum's cover of "The First Noel" is on their 2012 Christmas album.

*Check out Pentatonix's 2014 Christmas album for their version of the hymn.

*Hillsong Worship has included it on their new 2017 Christmas album.

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Other versions of the classic tune are below...

~ Kari Jobe did a pretty rendition on her 2007 Christmas album.

~ Also in 2007, Josh Groban and Faith Hill did a duet on his Christmas album.

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Sunday, December 24, 2017

~CHRISTMAS READING SUGGESTION

Recently I picked up a book that I bought years ago at a local used bookstore, and I opened right to a section that really spoke to me about some things and was revelant to my present.

This was interesting to me, as I hadn't read the book yet because I had felt like God hadn't wanted me to read it yet, though maybe that was just me imagining things.

After reading a bit through it, I decided to look up its author on twitter, and in doing so, I came across a tweet by someone expressing their affection for a Christmas book she wrote.

I've posted it below and have added it to my future Advent reading list ☺.

Immanuel: A Daily Guide to Reclaiming Christmas

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"'God with us.' When our sins made it impossible for us to come to him, God took the outrageous step of coming to us, of making himself susceptible to sorrow, familiar with temptation, and vulnerable to sin's disruptive power, in order to cancel its claim. In Jesus we see how extreme God's love is." ~Ann Spangler

You'll find a handful of other quotes from this book here.

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*A confusing aspect of this title is that there seems to be more than one subtitle associated with it, the second one being, "Praying the Names of Jesus Through the Christmas Season" (see here, here, and here). At first I thought this was the title of a second book by her but realized it is not.

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Thursday, November 9, 2017

~MAKE IT!...FALL PUNKIN' CRAFTINESS

After spotting some small, tiger stripe pumpkins at the grocery store that were a lovely shade of pale yellow, the idea popped into my head to sassy one up for my sister's two-month-old.

These sunshine-yellow punkins reminded me of Sunday Magnolia (aka, "Sunnie"), so I set to work.

I tied a pretty ribbon around the stem; stamped her name (using a permanent, not a water-based, ink pad); and finished by gluing on a petite decorative flower (which I bought many years ago).

And voila! Something sweet for Sunnie's first fall!

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Wednesday, November 1, 2017

~ALL IN GOOD FUN...HALLOWEEN HUMOR

It's the day after Halloween, and the candy has been collected and is now waiting to be completely consumed by...

Kids? Yes, of course, by *children*, people.

Well, maybe not.

I sent a picture of this shirt to my sisters (who are both moms) because we all know that, well, Halloween isn't just for kiddos (wink-wink).

Parents, make sure to share with your littles--BE NICE!

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Monday, October 23, 2017

~ALL IN GOOD FUN...PUMPKIN SPICE HUMOR

*Original source of images is unknown.

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~TOO TASTY: RECIPES FOR THE DAY...FALL PUMPKIN EDITION

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

via Dinner at the Zoo

No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

via Dinner at the Zoo

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Friday, October 20, 2017

~PUMPKINS + SUCCULENTS = PANACHE!

Source of two photos above: IG: @justbeingcon

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I think succulent pumpkins are soooo fun.

While looking over DIY's of them, I discovered that some are created by gluing elements onto the top of a pumpkin (with tacky spray, tacky glue, and/or hot glue), while others involve cutting the top off a pumpkin and putting the ingredients inside.

You'll find instructable videos of the former method here and here, and videos of the latter one here and here. In the first video I linked to, you'll also find out how to care for succulent pumpkins.

To make matters even more fantastic, faux pumpkins can be used instead of real ones; the glue method can be used, or the top of the pumpkin can be cut off.

*For the extra-adventurous, a squash can be used instead of a pumpkin.☺

Below are oodles of photos of these fall-festive things...