Merry Christmas!!

Christmas greetings from Juneau, Alaska!!  As we celebrate the day that God came down to earth to be born in human form - fully man and fully God - may we truly be awed by His mercy and grace, and sacrifice.  And be filled with His love, joy and peace. 
Please enjoy this tribute from the Yupiq village of Quinhagak in Alaska.  As the post says on youtube.com from their teacher, "this video was intended for an audience of about 200 (it is now over 1.2 million).  The 5th grade kids worked very hard on this project. They put in 10 hours of work shooting all the scenes (on a weekend nonetheless!!) I am very proud of them!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyviyF-N23A

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

Matthew 1:18-25

New International Version (NIV)

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

 ¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.  ²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”
 ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[d] (which means “God with us”).
 ²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.