20 + C + M + B + 09
20+C+M+B+09 translates into the year of our Lord 2009 and CMB means Christus mansionem benedicat, may Christ bless this house. We had a marvelous first-time celebration of EPIPHANY with our friends who are veterans in regards to celebrating this church holiday! I am not going to elaborate when my friend did such a great job of writing about it already and had much better pictures too! Here's a link to our friend's summation of the night because she wrote it so well:
http://frankfamily.vox.com/library/post/epiphany-further-revealed.html
One other thing about Epiphany that is very meaningful is that it is the revealing of the Savior to the Gentiles; those outside the nation of Israel - that means US! and the magi were kings from other nations coming to worship the King... Christ, the true light, was revealed to the NATIONS!
On the left are photos of the kids exchanging gifts with one another in the spirit of the magi giving gifts to the Christ child! Instead of doing this on Christmas day, we waited till after Christmas for the kids to shop for one another (drawing names) and then opened them on Epiphany! They actually enjoyed having another surprise 12 days later. Next year, we hope to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas between Christmas day and Epiphany.
January 6 was also the last night we had with Pa and Lola who flew back to Cali the following day. So, we had one last night with them making smores together and then we all prayed for them both; every child, in-law and grandchild. We feel so blessed to have them around and are thankful for each time they sacrifice their money and time to fly out to visit us. Lord willing, they will return in May for another graduation; Meagan and Paige's who are graduating from 8th grade to HIGHSCHOOL!
