{"id":1599,"date":"2010-12-21T18:56:16","date_gmt":"2010-12-21T23:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/?p=1599"},"modified":"2010-12-22T09:54:09","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T14:54:09","slug":"christmas-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/2010\/12\/21\/christmas-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry Christmas 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dauphin<\/a>

As oil washes ashore on Dauphin Island, ducks refuse to flee - photographed June 9, 2010<\/p><\/div>\n

28 years ago, Rosie and I were expecting our first child, Vera. On a mid-December day, not unlike today, I was worried about our child\u2019s future and how Rosie and I might do and make do as parents. A sudden thought crossed my mind: Jesus was born in a stable. It hit me hard – like I had never heard the Christmas story before. Being welcomed by animals, with nowhere else to go, Mary and Joseph wrapped him in rags and laid him in a manger. But the angels sang, \u201cGlory to God in the Highest!\u201d Somehow the paradoxes of it all showed me the path of trust and the knowledge of who to trust in.<\/p>\n

Today, I think of so many who are suffering, who like Jesus have not been given a place, and yet I am filled with hope that not poverty, oil spills, wars, or anything else can take away the glorious future that is reaching out to the human family.<\/p>\n

Reviewing this past year, I can hardly believe its momentousness. I\u2019ve gathered\u00a0some pictures below to tell something of this extraordinary year (click on pictures to see larger photo).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Vera Marries Ryan<\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

\n

\n

More Family Pictures<\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n

Responding to Oil Catastrophe<\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n

Loving Nature and Life<\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\"Herons<\/a>

Herons making do during the spill - photograph by Edward Denton<\/p><\/div>\n

\"My<\/a>

My very old friend the magnolia tree of the Audubon Bird Sanctuary<\/p><\/div>\n

\"We<\/a>

We were also blessed by dancing friends, birds, plants, and fish<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Friends<\/a>

Friends gather awaiting the midnight solstice lunar eclipse<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Gatherings<\/a>

Gatherings with extended Toomer family<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Merry Christmas Everyone!<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28 years ago, Rosie and I were expecting our first child, Vera. On a mid-December day, not unlike today, I was worried about our child\u2019s future and how Rosie and I might do and make do as parents. A sudden … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,65,28,27],"tags":[145],"class_list":["post-1599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement","category-endurance","category-nature","category-oil-spill","tag-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1652,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions\/1652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}