November 23, 2013 Saturday

3 minutes of aerobics and 1 minute of weights for 30 minutes.  Got my heart pumping.  Just what the doctor ordered.

2 Corinthians  Chapter 3 - It says we are the letter that the Holy Spirit sends to others with the good news.   Our lives tell the story best of who Christ is.  Love one another.

2005- On this day, we headed up north to my brothers to have Thanksgiving.  Usually, a 2 1/2 hour drive took us 5 hours.  It was a blizzard, blowing and slowing traffic to a crawl.  The trip was always worth it though.  Their friends had a big, old farmhouse and had a huge crowd, with 2 turkeys and one longgggg table to sit everyone together.  I loved  it.  (The following year it was in the 70's).  Must be Michigan.  What weather memories do you have of Thanksgiving, maybe at the parade?

Parenting - Nicole and I prefer to sit at home in front of the TV and watch the parade, but one year we did go to downtown Detroit with Teresa & Joe Whitenight and their kids to experience it.  We had great seats till the Distinguished Clowns parked their big truck right in front of us.  Tsk.  I like my couch, so does Nicole.  And we are not to fond of clowns, there is a reason they are called that.

Tsetserleg Mongolia- last week of our stay here.  Check out one of the religions:

ShamanismThe native religion of Mongolia is, like the language, related to the Turkish tradition and would also have similarities with the Tibetan Bön. In general this religion is referred to as shamanism (Heissig 1980). Rather often shamanism refers to a specific form of this religious phenomena present in Siberia, and although there is a relation with this form it is not the same (Heissig 1980: 6). Above this `shamanism´ implies that a religious specialist is needed and central to it’s faith and practices while in fact it is an animist religion with an arsenal of beliefs and practices in which a shaman not necessarily is involved. 

This native religion is not unequivocal, with a unequivocal doctrine,  but rather a diversity of  local beliefs and practices, which by a number of common characteristics can be lumped together. Central in this belief is the worship of the Blue, Mighty, Eternal Heaven (köke tngri, erketü tngri, möngke tngri) (Heissig 1980: 6, 47-8). There is a total of 99 tngri or heavenly creatures of which Köke Möngke Tngri (Eternal Blue Heaven) is the chief. According to European sources from the thirteenth century this would be one god, from whom it is believed he is the creator of the visible and invisible (Heissig 1980: 48). In Asian Mythologies it is referred to as monotheistic with multiple gods. Next to Köke Möngke Tngri there is Qurmusata King of the Gods. He has a special relation with the origin of fire. It is said that “Buddha struck the light and Qurmusata Tngri lit the fire” (Heissig 1980:??). And fire still is considered sacred among Mongolians. One of the many etiquettes that applies in a ger is to never stamp out the fire, or put rubbish or water on it.

Enjoy the Day!  Make it memorable!