Happy New Year greetings slideshow + a few other good online reads from the week


Friends, I'm still blogging my heart out with daybook posts for Advent and Christmas.  See the Christmas daybook posts here.

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Only 1 quick take this week, a greeting from our home to yours.  We are grateful for all good gifts at the close of 2014 -- a good and hard year. 

Shalom, friends.


Happy New Year from the Murphy family! by Slidely Slideshow

--- Other good words online this week ---

I somehow missed this series at Jeffrey Overstreet's blog as it was happening all the weeks leading up to Christmas but binge-read the posts in time to add a few tunes to my own beloved songs of the season.  So fun to hear the voices of 20 different artists (well, not all artists, but most) speak on the music that moves them. As for the music that moves me, I offer you links to my Advent and Christmastide playlists. 
On the subject of playlists, this is just a super fun Tumblr site that works like magic.  You select a year you want to remember in music and the blog "machine" spits out a whole bunch of songs (via video) from that year.  Try it when you're feeling nostalgic! 
10 People Who Made No Difference in 2014 at The Onion:
A snarky spin on all these end of year lists we humans (or is it just Western humans) love to crank out this time of year.  Still, in between laughing at ourselves, there might be a bit of wisdom to be gained looking at the ordinary lives in this post. For my own end of year list, I offer my 5 Favorite Reads in 2014.
Pope Francis' suggested New Years' resolutions at the Catholic News Service:
This church father (like many before him, I presume) is not afraid to meddle.  Still, any list of resolutions that includes the challenge to "Heal wounds of the heart with the oil of forgiveness, forgiving those who have hurt us and medicating the wounds we have caused others" is worth my attention.
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Hoping for a forgiving and healing sort of week for us all, friends.



Peace....