Christmas Thoughts

As it is Christmas Eve, and almost Christmas, I found myself thinking. I was thinking that despite the craziness of life and all that is going on right now, the Christmas season is a somewhat peaceful and calm time of year. Well, it should be anyways...Maybe some will disagree with me. There always is the craziness of unplanned emergencies or sickness, trying to get those last gifts bought and wrapped, and trying to get the house ready for visiting family. And yet, it the midst of that when you just sit back and think about Christmas and what it means, it can be calm, peaceful and beautiful.
As I sit here writing this post, my mind is going back to that lowly stable that night. I doubt that Mary and Joseph were experiencing anything but peace as they made the final leg of their journey to Bethlehem. Mary was about to have a baby and Joseph was frantically trying to find a place for them to stay and where Mary could give birth to the Savior of the world. There was no room for them in any of the inns and they took shelter in a dirty stable. I think though that after Jesus was born, and Mary sat there holding him and looking into his little face, that she must have felt not only wonder and amazement, but also peace of heart. But those are just my thoughts. Imagine it though, holding the savior,,,,YOUR savior in your arms as a tiny new born baby knowing that one day that little baby would grow up and die on a cross for the sins of everyone ever to live. What a feeling that must have been!
My church had a Christmas eve service tonight and at the end, we all had little candles and as they were lit, we stood and sang "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World". The lights were off except for the ones over the stone wall where an oak cross hangs. As the candlelight flickered and voices sang in unison, It truly was a lovely and peaceful moment that I think will stand out in my mind for a long time. Life has been busy and even stressful at times as of late, but in that very moment, I felt peace and contentment as we sang about Christ's coming. I am so thankful that God sent His Son so that by Him we might be saved. That most certainly is the most wonderful gift of all.
So this Christmas season, even if there are difficult times, maybe even stressful times, I just want to encourage you to sit back for a moment and observe and remember what Christmas is truly about and about the peace that we can have through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. It in Him that we can find peace which transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
Merry Christmas!

A Plan and Purpose

You really never know what could happen or what God could do in your life. He has a plan though and He knows the end to each of our stories. Jeremiah 29:11 says: "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (NIV). I am so very thankful that He does. If we were in charge and the ordainers of what happens in our lives, I feel like it would be a mess. A very sticky mess. I often feel like we WANT to be in control of our lives and what happens, but it is not so. It would be comforting to know the end, who we will marry, what our jobs will be, where we will be ten from now and yet, that is not how it is. God knew from before the creation of the world who we are, who we would be, what we would become, and whether or not we would believe in Him and be His child. How AWESOME is that?!  It's kind of mind boggling to know that He knew everything before He even created the world. That day on the cross, He suffered for and knew every sin that you and I would commit. And He loved us enough to die for us that day and give us new life in Him. What a wonderful glorious gift that is! We are so undeserving of it. We are dirty, helpless, lost sinners who deserve nothing more then the wrath of God. I am so thankful that He loves us and sent His Son to die for us.
Anyways, that just a short quick reflection on my end. May we always be trusting God's plan and purpose for each of our lives.

What's in a name - Brogan Locksley

Hello All!
  Hope you are all doing well and having a lovely start to the Christmas season! It's hard to believe that Christmas is now only 13 days away!!! I thought I would take a moment and write about my pen name and why I chose it. I really like that as an author or writer that you can give yourself a different name just for the fun of it. There are several writers who throughout history have used pen names. Plus, it is fun to look into names and find one that you like. I found this to be true and very enjoyable.
I used a website to look up ideas. The website is called behindthename.com, which I found out about when a friend sent me the link to the site. I highly recommend the website if you are even looking for a name for book characters or something else. On the site you can search names and it will give you all sorts of "behind the name" information such as where it is derived from, the meaning, gender, etc.
  I remember I was trying to figure out what I wanted my pen name to be, I had been attempting to come up with something for awhile and just hadn't found something that was satisfactory yet. It was early in the morning, I think around 2 am or something like that when i was taking a brake from studying for finals. It was then that I stumbled upon the name Brogan. "Brogan" is derived from the Irish word for shoe which is brog (fun fact of the day) and can be either and male or a female name. For some reason the name really stuck out to me and I liked the sound of it. It was then that I decided that I had finally found the first part of my pen name. I don't know how to describe it, but it just seemed to fit.
  For the last name, I chose Locksley after Robin of Locksley, better known as Robin Hood. Robin Hood was an outlaw who lived with a band of men in Sherwood Forest where they robbed from the rich to feed the poor who were being oppressed by the Sheriff of Nottigham and Prince John which King Richard was away fighting the crusades in the Holy Land. Robin Hood was also a very skilled archer and considered one of the best. He sacrificed much to help the poor and his story of bravery has been passed down through countless generations. I have always liked the story of Robin Hood and admired the courage and the adventures that he had. As it always tends to be with a legend, there are many different versions of the story as it has been passed down from whence it started. My favorite and take/version of the Robin Hood legend is the television series made by BBC. In that version of the story, he is known as Robin of Locksley. Locksley was where Robin came from, and as you can guess it is a place in England.
  And there you have it; the story behind my pen name and how I got it. I was very excited to have a pen name at last to write under and use when I write childrens' stories, short stories, my blog and who knows what else.

The Moonbunny- A children's story

The Moonbunny by Lissy Kurlander

Intro:

Not everyone may know this, but there are bunnies that live on the moon. They are called moonbunnies and they aren’t a normal bunny at all. They have very big, tall ears, which they can use to fly, and they glow in the dark at nighttime. Moon bunnies live on the craters of the moon and eat marshmallows. There is one particular moonbunny I want to tell you about…

Page One: 

Once there was a moonbunny named Spazzy and he lived in a moon crater with his momma, daddy and fifteen brothers and sisters.  He was the littlest of all of the moonbunnies and yet he had the largest ears. Often times his fifteen brothers and sisters would laugh at him because of his ears. All of them had normal moonbunny sized ears, but not Spazzy...

Page Two:

He would try and play tag or hide and seek with them, but it just wouldn’t work. If they played tag, Spazzy would just trip over his ears and get crater dust in them. If they played hide and seek, he had trouble staying hidden because his ears would stick out. “Look at Spazzy!” they all would laugh. “He doesn’t know how to hide at all!” “Yes I can!” he would protest as he tried to pull his ears in the hole where he was hiding.

Page Three:

One of Spazzy's favorite things to do was to look at the earth from the moon. He would sit atop one of the crater rocks and gaze off at the little blue and green planet. “I wish I could fly to earth and see what it is like,” he would say to himself. “I think it would be fun to go on an adventure like that all by myself!” Whenever he asked his daddy or momma what it was like they would tell him there were strange creatures called “earth-bunnies” and other strange creatures that walked on two legs instead of four. This made Spazzy even more curious.

Page Four:

One day, Spazzy decided that he would go to earth and see for himself what it was like. As he walked to the edge of the moon, his fifteen brothers and sisters asked teasingly, “Spazzy? Don't trip over your ears!” “I'm going on an adventure!” he replied.  And with that, he jumped off the moon and with his big ears, he began to fly towards earth. Back on the moon, his brothers and sisters could just make out his small form glowing in the distance. “He really is crazy!” they said and went back to their game of hide and seek.

Page 5:

When Spazzy had reached earth, he sat there and stared at his surroundings. There was this itchy green stuff on the ground everywhere and strange things that started on the ground but were very tall and leafy on top. There were also white puffy things in the sky that looked like marshmallows to Spazzy. He had never seen grass, trees, or clouds before. “This isn’t like the moon at all!” he said to himself and he hopped around a bit. “Where are the craters? Why is it so bright out?”

Page 6:

As Spazzy hopped along, while tripping over his oversized ears, he came upon two strange little creatures that looked a little bit like him. They looked like a moonbunny but their ears were much shorter and smaller. “Hello? What are you?” he asked. “Are you earth-bunnies?” One of them stood up on his hind legs and replied, “I'm a rabbit! WHAT ARE YOU?” “I'm a moonbunny,” Spazzy answered. “A WHAT?” the second rabbit asked. “A moonbunny!” he repeated.

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“You are the strangest rabbit I have ever seen!” the first rabbit said, hopping around Spazzy. “Why are your ears so big?” “I don’t know. Why are your ears so small?” Spazzy asked. “Come and eat some cabbage with us!” the second rabbit invited. (You see, rabbits really are kind and like to make friends with anyone they meet). Spazzy hopped over to her and when he took a bite of the cabbage, he spat it back out. “What's the matter moonbunny? Don't you eat veggies like all rabbits do?” they asked. Spazzy shook his head and explained that moonbunnies ate marshmallows, not vegetables.

Page 8:

“You really are a strange rabbit,” the second rabbit admitted. “Let's play tag!” She was it first and when Spazzy tried to run away, he tripped over his large ears, fell into a little heap, and got the itchy green stuff in his ears. As he got back up, they asked again, “Why are your ears so big?” Spazzy said that he used them to fly. “Is that how you got here?” the first rabbit asked and Spazzy nodded. When the sun started to go down, Spazzy began to glow in the dark, causing his new friends to jump back in horror.

Page 9:

“What's wrong with you!?” one of them asked. “Why are you glowing?” Spazzy said, “I always glow in the dark. How come you don't?” They had no reply to that question. “You're not sick or anything?” they asked, coming back over to him. “You didn’t eat anything strange?” He shook his head and they all went back to playing rabbit games among the fire flies.

Page 10:

It was then that Spazzy began to miss his moon crater home, his parents, his fifteen brothers and sisters, and the marshmallows they ate every day. “I think I better go back home to the moon,” he said to his two friends. “Earth isn’t a good place for a moonbunny.” His two friends were sad that he had to go and begged him to stay and play some more. “I'm sorry but I really have to go back,” he said and with that jumped into the air and with the help of his big ears, Spazzy began to float back home to the moon.

Page 11:

When he got back home to the moon, his brothers and sisters said, “You're back! You’re back!” Spazzy nodded and when his momma and daddy asked him how his adventure was, he replied, “I realized that I am special just the way I am made and that being different isn't such a big deal.” 

Page 12: 

They were all happy to have him home safe and sound. As Spazzy sat there, eating his marshmallow dinner, he realized that there is no place like home. 

The End.

The Beauty of New Adventures

  It can be so great to just to get to go out and experience all the wonderful things and experiences we have the opportunities to do. I think that is definitely a blessing to get out and enjoy God's creation. I was thinking about it recently and realized that before recently, I never really got to go outside and do different outdoor activities like hiking, camping or canoeing. I guess I just spent most of the time in past inside, or just out on my front porch reading. That was a summer break routine that I had during my early high school years. I would enjoy a lovely glass of apple juice and a bowl of pretzel sticks while enjoying a good book outdoors.
  This past year I have gotten to do some new things like canoeing and camping. I loved the canoeing. I went on my first canoeing trip back in May with some good friends of mine. We have an organized group that does different activities. It was the perfect day for a trip down the creek. It wasn't too hot or cold and the sunlight was warm, making it absolutely wonderful. I remember going down the creek with two of my friends and singing different hymns and worship songs.There were some other good memories from the trip, like trying to get the paddle from the guys' canoe, eating oreos, drinking Lipton Citrus Green tea for the first time, and exploring a little island thing that we found.
  We are SO blessed and privileged to be able to soak in all the beauty of creation that is around us. I think we can easily take that for granted and focus on the business of work, life and technology. Don't get me wrong, technology is very useful and I am glad to have it and be able to use it for school and other things, like blogging and keeping up with people that I don't get to see very often. Nothing beats being able to get out and see all sorts of thing like a beautifully colored sunset or the sunlight streaming through the autumn leaves on a crisp fall afternoon. May we learn not to take that for granted

The Joys of Writing

     Writing...the ability to pick up the pen and a piece of paper or to just sit down at the computer and type away on the keys...sometimes there is no better feeling. There is power in the written word. Writing was always something that I enjoyed and something I hope to be able to do for a long time to come. I can remember how much fun it was back in elementary school to have to do writing assignments and be able to create characters and ridiculous situations that my fourth grade mind could come up with. Then, as the years went on, I began to realize how much more I enjoyed writing and keeping a journal. For me, writing is a way of expressing my thoughts and my feelings. I love being able to create a story, a setting with a cast of colorful characters, and adventures by the dozens. I think that is one of the great things about writing. You can create whatever you want and are not bound by any limitations. You can create a world where dragons fly free and mermaids swim in the never ending seas. You can just let your imagination run free and do its thing. I am thankful for the creativity and imagination that God gives to each one of us to use for His glory. We are all gifted differently and that is something I am thankful for.
   I guess that's kind of the reason I decided to start this blog. I really enjoy writing and want to still be doing it and improving. I was talking to a friend about writing and they suggested keeping a blog. I thought that it was a really good idea and well, here we are.
   I had done some blogging in the past for a creative writing class in high school and had enjoyed it then.Since graduating high school, I had started another blog on which I intended to post chapters from a fantasy novel I started working on, but I haven't had too much time for that one due to work and school. Either way, I am excited to be blogging again and getting back into writing more!