Mountain Musings

O Lord How Joyful is the King

It's high time for another "Sunday hymn," so today I'll be posting a psalm; it's one we decided to learn to sing for Dad's birthday celebration yesterday. Out of 150 psalms, we settled on the 21st (select stanzas of it). It speaks of God's blessing in King David's life and seemed quite appropriate to sing in honor of Dad's 50th. Below are the verses we sang--the parts where it says "the king" we changed to "our dad." :) Hey, it's already a paraphrase, right?

Psalm 21 from the The Whole Book of Psalms Collected into English Metre

      O Lord, how joyful is the king
         in thy strength and thy pow'r !
      Exceedingly he doth rejoice
         in thee his Savior.

      For thou hast given unto him
         his godly heart's desire;
      To him thou nothing hast denied
         of that he did require.

     Thou didst present him with thy gifts
         and blessings manifold;
      And thou hast set upon his head
         a crown of perfect gold,

      And when he ask-ed life of thee,
         thereof thou mad'st him sure
      To have long life, yea, such a life
         as ever shall endure.

      Great is his glory by thy help,
         thy benefit and aid;
      Great worship and great honor both
         thou hast upon him laid.

     Because the king doth strongly trust
         in God for to prevail;
      Therefore his goodness and his grace
         to save him will not fail.

This website has psalms from several different psalters and the tunes used with them. You can click on each tune to listen to the melodies. We chose the tune Arlington (Am I a Soldier of the Cross) since the version we selected of Psalm 21 is in common meter. I wish we'd had more time to practice so that our parts would have been more fine-tuned, but I think Dad enjoyed our musical gift nonetheless!

~Hannah

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Well, the head honcho around these parts is having a birthday today--and a B-I-G birthday at that--sshh! Don't tell anyone, but it's the big 5-0!

We have some plans in the works and hope to make sure a very special Dad has a very special day! :)

Happy 50th Birthday, Tom!

~Deb

Happy Bloggy Birthday to Us!

Happy Birthday, Mountain Musings!! That's right, our 2nd Blog-a-versary rolled around this week!! It's hard to believe Mountain Musings had its humble beginnings two years ago when Aunt Bet gave us a Christmas gift of a blog! What's a blog we thought?!

Well, after 809 posts, 3,004 comments, and blog visitors from across the United States and many foreign countries during the past 24 months, we are now well-versed in what blogs are all about! It's been great getting to know so many wonderful people across the country that we now call our friends! But, I have to be honest and say it was nice to enjoy a blogging break and relax over the Christmas holidays.

Our Typepad account tells us we have 28 days remaining on our blog subscription. Last night the family was discussing if we should continue another year. Here's what the conversation sounded like around here:

Deb: "Should we even renew the blog?"

Hannah: "I can't believe you just said that!"

Sarah: "But that's how Connecticut relatives keep up with us!"

Jonathan: "Well, if you would lower the expectation and just not post every day maybe it would be better."

Tom: "What about Blogger or another free blog instead?"

Deb: "Too many problems. I'd rather pay the $$ for Typepad."

So...stop by and join the conversation. It's our birthday, and we're celebrating a two-year milestone! But, we're also wondering what we should do--28 days to decide... 

~Deb

Merry Christmas!

The Girotti Family would like to wish everyone in blogland a very Merry Christmas!

We appreciate all of you who wander by our little neck of the woods, stop a few moments to read about our lives, and take the time to leave us encouraging comments. Thanks for making our year very special by allowing us to get to know you through your presence and words here on the blog.

We will be taking some time off during the next few days to enjoy being together as a family. We'll be back sometime mid-week to celebrate our 2nd Blog-a-versary!

Have a blessed time as you celebrate the Christ Child's birth. Thanks be to God!

~ Tom, Deb, Micah and Elizabeth, Hannah, Jonathan, Sarah, and Pepper

A Christmas Suggestion

~ Taken from When Holidays Get Out of Hand by Ken Pierpont. Go here and subscribe to receive your own weekly emails from Ken or to read his 35 Christmas Stories.

"It's Christmas week. Can I make a suggestion that might help you have a delightful Christmas?

Take a quiet walk or drive just to be with the Lord sometime this week. A winter evening walk can be a delightful pleasure. Walk slow. Take your time. Listen with your ears and your heart. Savor God's creation around you.

Before the family is up or after they are quiet in their beds, turn off all the lights except the lights on the tree and be silent with the Lord. Maybe he will prompt your heart to worship him or confess wrong. Maybe he will flood your soul with thankful thoughts.

Mary, the mother of Jesus did this. When the shepherds told her of their angelic visitation she, "...treasured these things and pondered them in her heart." I am suggesting that you follow Mary's pattern. Treasure truths about Jesus and quietly ponder them in your heart.

Ask God to gift your heart and your home with love, joy, peace, and patience. Ask him for increased kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control...These are the fruits of character that are present wherever Jesus is present, and he loves to grant these things to us when they show up in our prayers and on our Christmas list.

I wish those you love a blessed Christmas. Slow down. Be silent. Keep it simple. Savor the moments. Listen to the children. Pray more. Cherish your Bible. Try to be understanding with people. Life is short and people are precious. Give in. Be kind. Have a heart. Show mercy. Learn to forgive. Make things right.

It's Christmas after all. Be Christian."  ~ Ken Pierpont

~Deb

Because He Came

I have referenced particular Turning Point daily e-devotionals in the past, and today's was a good one for the Christmas season. You can sign up to receive your own daily email here.

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."   ~Micah 5:2

"There's a beautiful gospel song, "Because He Lives," the chorus of which explains why Christ's resurrection is so important: "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone; because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives!" (copyright 1971 W.J. Gaither)

But we might also go back about thirty years to Christ's birth and write another song titled "Because He Came." Think how His coming into the world changed everything. Because He came, we can know God, we have have our sins forgiven, we can know purpose in life, we can be sure of our eternal salvation, we can understand the plan and purpose for all creation, and we can live in perfect peace. The entrance of no other man or woman into this world has provided benefits such as those. But to experience the benefits of Christ's advent, we must know Him! Don't let this Christmas season pass by without discovering why He came for you. Because Christ came, we can know He will come again and receive us unto himself."

"The fact is that the greastest mystery of all the incarnation comes at the very beginning [of faith] and is the central reason why we believe in God."  ~ Os Guiness

~Deb

Announcing the Winner!

The time finally arrived for drawing the name of the winner! We were all so excited after waiting all week for this. :) I shuffled all the slips of paper well and didn't look so everything would be fair. After a moment of suspense, I opened the folded paper to reveal that TAMMY was the winner! Congratulations! :)

Thanks to all who participated, and special thanks to those new to our blog and the lurkers who finally came out of hiding. ;) It was a lot of fun just reading all of your comments!

I shall be sending out your package later this week Mrs. C.! I hope you enjoy it. :)

~Sarah

Things Money Can't Buy

"Once upon a Christmas time, long ago, a man who had a big heart, but little money, dreamt he could give his friends endless riches. When he awoke, the dream kept running through his mind, over and over.

Finally, he asked himself: "If I could give my friends anything, what would I give?"

He smiled as he began to think of all the wondrous things he could buy for them. But then he thought: "I'm a happy man, yet I have none of those things."  And he began to think that perhaps real wealth could not be measured in riches. Perhaps there were gifts of greater value than the things money could buy..."    ~ Excerpt taken from The Legend of the Christmas Prayer by Brian Morgan.

I thought about this little book after reading what one of our commenters wrote on the Christmas Giveaway post as her favorite gift given/received. There are so many precious Christmas gifts you can give that take the form of giving of yourself--your time, your talents, and any loving act that you do for someone. In fact, a special gift I received one year was an envelope of "coupons" from one of the girls saying they would do various things for me like "cook dinner," "foot rub," and "anything of your choice." I always tell them..."I don't need anything - just give me coupons!"

Along with all the other nice gifts you're giving this year, are you saving time to give of yourself to someone? It's one of the best gifts!

~Deb

Ornament Show & Tell

It's finally time--the Ornament Show & Tell. We have been looking foward to this post ever since we put our tree up at Thanksgiving! A special thank you to everyone who sent me your link and participated by blogging about your favorite ornaments. We're all excited to visit your blogs and read all about them!

Ornaments definitely bring special memories of Christmases past. We enjoy unwrapping each one protected in its own tissue paper, and once again we remember where a particular ornament was purchased or what special friend gave it to us.

When Sarah was deciding which ornament was her favorite, well...she couldn't narrow it down to just one. So she's posting four of her favorites--an angel, Bible, bear, and nativity! She likes the angel at the top right because it was given to her by her Aunt Toots in Connecticut.  The Bible ornament actually has the entire New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs written on its tiny pages. The other two she picked--the bear and the stable--are just ones she really likes, and she always wants to be the one to put these on the tree each year.

Below are links to other favorite ornaments and the stories behind them.

Jenn at Reflecting Him posts her two favorites here--first Christmas as a married couple and first house. Very special memories for sure!

Susan P. over at A Place Called Home shares her special antique ornament she puts on the tree first every Christmas.

Cindi at Cindi's Sewing posted an ornament she and her husband think is special because it dates back to their first year as a married couple in 1986. Check it out here.

Randi at I Have to Say posted a precious little Precious Moments ornament from her first Christmas with her husband in 1987.

My friend Dorothy emailed me a picture and story of her favorite ornament:  "Here is my favorite ornament. It is a Hallmark Keepsake silver and crystal ornament that I bought at a senior's center rummage sale, It says, "Our First Christmas Together, 1980"...the year Jay and I were married. It was the first ornament I purchased (other than just balls) and got me started buying sentimental ornaments for family and friends."

Dawn at 4:53 a.m. has posted many wonderful homemade ornaments on several posts for the past week or so. Go check out her blog and see all her creativity. She says her favorite ones are the names of God ornaments like this one.

Courtney at Courtney's Contemplations posted pictures of her baking themed ornaments her family put up in their kitchen. Now that's different!

Amanda in Taiwan (Following an Unknown Path blog) posts about her favorite ornaments and the delight of sharing the decorating experience with friends.

Here are two of my favorites. The patriotic snowman was purchased our last Christmas in Williamsburg in 2001 just before we moved, so it isn't an old one I've had for a long time. I bought it as a souvenir of our nine years we lived in Williamsburg, so there are many memories of all the times we walked up and down Duke of Gloucester Street associated with it.

My #1 favorite is shown on the right--Tom & Deb on the front and 1980 on the back--our first ornament for our first Christmas together stitched by my long-time friend, Brenda. I'm always the one to put this ornament on the tree, and it's always near the tippy top.

Thank you again to everyone who participated and posted pictures of your favorite ornaments on your blog! It was fun and very interesting to read your stories!

~Deb

Reminder

Just a quick reminder that I'll be posting links for the Ornament Show & Tell tomorrow morning. Deadline for blogging about your favorite ornament and sending me the link is tonight at 9 p.m.

~Deb