November has come to an end and now is the month of decorating trees, baking cookies, finding the best deals on gifts, and listening to Christmas music on the radio in the car (although I admit I gave in to listening to it in the middle of November when a station started playing it then much to my husbands chagrin because he wants to wait until after Thanksgiving).
Looking back at November, here’s some things I learned.
The Greensboro Science Center in NC is pretty cool. Our kids have grown up and we don’t visit places like that as much as we used to when they were younger. But our nieces came to visit so we made a trip there to see the new Sciquarium. We felt like we were at the NC beach aquarium and the NC Zoo at the same time. There were sharks, beautiful fish, tigers, otters, and the most entertaining monkeys we’ve ever watched. It was a fun trip and if you live in this area, it’s worth a family of all ages trip.
2) I also just learned as I went to link the GSC website to this post, TANKED caught my attention. Over Thanksgiving break, we got hooked on the show’s 24 hour marathon on the Animal Planet TV station. I had never seen the show before and it’s amazing the art of designing fish tanks! Then just now I read that the TANKED guys, Wayde King and Brett Raymer, were at the GSC and built a new tank right there for an octopus. We saw that at the museum when we were there and didn’t know they were there for a meet and greet right after they filled the tank! They truly have the artistic gift of creating beautiful aquatic tanks.
3) While visiting my parents, they had a man come in to look at a couple of rooms they wanted to hire someone to paint. He was a very friendly painter and started rattling off names of paint colors he suggested they choose. Well, those were interesting names and I casually said, “How does someone get a job title as ‘Paint Color Naming Specialist’? That sounds like a fun job.” Dynamo, Isle of Pines, Moonmist, Quixotic Plum, and Night Owl are just to name a few! Seriously – those are real names. This painter replied to my question and said that a few years ago Sherwin Williams inc. spent 25 million dollars to rename all their paint colors!
4) While watching my favorite TV show, The Amazing Race, I learned that France is the 2nd highest ranked country that likes hip hop music. One of the challenges was for the teams to rap a song in French. Entertaining!
5) A week after I learned that, the terrorist attack in Paris occurred. While listening to Christmas music a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, the words from Oh Holy Night rang in my mind – “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices”. More of that to come in a post next week, but learning that news along with the debates about rescuing refugees are things that cause us to cry and cling to Christ even more.
6) The Wizard of Oz was written and produced in 1939. Each year when a major network plays this classic and timeless production, our family finds ourselves watching it. I don’t ever recalling the first time it was shown though. While we watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, we also learned about the live performance “The Wiz” will be this Thursday at on NBC at 8pm. Check it out – it looks like it’ll be great!
May your journey down a yellow brick road this December be filled with a heart to love on others, courage for those who will face challenges this holiday season, and a mind to rest in the presence of God while we wait for our promised Savior Jesus to come.
What’s something you learned in November? Joining in today with Emily Freeman and others who are sharing what they learned in November.