Need a bear hug?

It has been too long since we've posted - but we just had to share this contest with you!  Ginger at Bearbits is having a wonderful contest for this little adorable little bear named Jillana.  Isn't she a sweetie?

Why We Love Lambs

Have you noticed that we have a sizable flock of sheep here at the Baybeary Cottage?  Well, we thought that since today is their favorite holiday, we'd explain why!

A long time ago, the first man and woman made a huge mistake, and that brought something called Sin into the world.  Sin makes us imperfect.  We do things we aren't supposed to do, and we don't do the good things that we should do.  No matter how hard we try, we mess up and sin.  In Old Testament times, God gave his people, the Israelites, a way to gain forgiveness for their sins.  They would sacrifice a perfect lamb without blemish to God to pay for their sins. When they were slaves in Egypt, God sent a series of plagues to show Pharaoh who is the true God and to persuade Pharaoh to release them.  He told them to pick out a special lamb, kill it, and then spread the lamb's blood on their door posts and over their doors.  That night, the Angel of Death went throughout Egypt and killed the first born son of every household.  But the Angel of Death Passed Over the homes with the lamb's blood on the door posts.  After that plague, Pharaoh told the Israelites to get out of Egypt!  The Jews celebrate this holiday as Passover.

Many, many years later, a Jewish man, who was born in a town called Bethlehem, rode a donkey into Jerusalem.  The people were really excited because they had heard about how he had raised Lazarus from the dead.  They hoped that he would be their new leader.  The man, Jesus, and his disciples celebrated Passover together.  But there were a lot of people who were jealous of his popularity and insecure in their positions of power.  Those people conspired to arrest Jesus and persuaded the political powers to crucify Jesus.  But that was all part of God's plan, because Jesus was God's son, the Messiah, He was perfect!  His sacrifice paid the debt of ALL sin, from the first man to the last.  There's nothing we can do wrong that God won't forgive, because Jesus already paid the price of sin with his suffering and death on the cross.  All we have to do is believe it!  God let us know that Jesus' death was sufficient when Jesus was resurrected from the dead on Easter Sunday!  Jesus appeared to women, the disciples and hundreds of other people before he ascended into Heaven.  The disciples went from being frightened cowards, hiding from the authorities in a dark, locked room to being bold proclaimers of the good news.  They were willing to die martyrs' deaths because they knew the Truth of the Gospel message and that they could look forward to eternal life with God in Heaven.  And centuries later, we have the same hope.

So now we don't need to sacrifice lambs, because the Lamb of God paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.  We may be dumb, stupid, stubborn sheep, but God still loves us and offers us the gift of salvation for believing in Him.

HE IS RISEN!  ALLELUIA!!!

Presenting Paisley

Perhaps you've thought that the Bears have been hibernating, since it has been so long since we've made any posts to the blog!  While some may have been, the rest have been very busy.  We've finally taken a break and are pleased to present the newest lamb in our flock, Paisley. 

Paisley is packed full of personality, and she is positively passionate about:

• Periwinkle, purple, pink and other pastels
• Psalms, poetry, parody, plays and practical prose
• Peacocks, pandas, pekingese puppies
• Peanut butter, pancakes, parsley potatoes, pasta, pineapple pizza, peaches, pudding, pastries and pecan pie
• Practicing piano in the parlor
• Preparing pots of petunias, pansies, primroses and peonies
• Playful prancing
• Purposeful pursuits

Perhaps you presume that Paisley is passionate about all things starting with P?  Not so! Paisley positively protests:

• posing for photographs with porcupines
• painful pricks from pediatric practitioners
• passwords preventing purchases
• people phishing for private points
• politicians paltry promises
• pickled pigs feet, and
• pasty peas!

Psssstttt...there's a Bear Give Away in Progress

Ginger at Bearbits is having a give away!  The prize is an adorable little bear who looks perfectly spring like.  She's really, really wonderful.  You can leave a comment on her blog to enter!  That's it.   So, what's keeping you?  You've gotta get over there!

Here's the link:  http://bearbits.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-spring-giveaway.html

We've been Tagged

Sir Woodstock has awarded us our very first blog award - a sweet friendship reward!  Here are the award rules:

Rule #1 - Copy image to your blog (check).

Rule #2 - List 10 things that make you happy and try to do one today!  

In no particular order:

1.  Sipping hot tea with honey and cream.

2.  Watching water drip from long, shiny icicles from a nice warm home.

3.  Finding a cozy quilt or afghan to wrap up in for a nice nap.

4.  Watching Chuck (we want to be Spy Bears like Bob T. Bear).

5.  Reading a good book.  Our favorites are The Complete Tales of Winnie The Pooh and A Bear Called Paddington.

6.  Playing with the buttons in the button box.

7.  Having a teddy bear picnic under the crepe myrtle.

8.  Picking out a new sweater or dandy ribbon to wear.

9.  Listening to music on our iPod.

10.  Catching up on our friends by reading all of their blogs!

Rule #3 - Tag 10 bloggers who brighten your day.

There are so many blogs that delight us, but here are a few:

1.  Craggy Moor Bears At Home

2. American Girl Dolls Mia and Eva

3.  Hummingbird Corner

4.  Northern Crow Country

5.  The Nisse Chronicles

6.  The Dolls in the Big Red House

7.  The Friendly Company of Bears

8.  TiggyZCabin

9.  Children of Atorox

10.  Rowan's Ramblings

Meet Zach

There's a new bear in the Baybeary Cottage.  His name is Zach.  He is a curious fellow.  He is playful and fun one moment, spouting off witty commentary on everything, and quiet and reflective the next.  He is an upper class bear with mohair fur, glass eyes and cotterpin joints.  He says his pattern is like those of "Old World Bears", but he is very much a bear of the 21st Century.  He is trying to decide what attire he would like to have - a collection of collars and ribbons for every occasion or an entire wardrobe like that of the popular Build A Bear gang...

Perhaps he needs to think on that one for awhile.

Faith finds new wings

Faith went digging in the sweater box, and found a sweater that has wings.  She thought that was pretty nifty, since she packed up her wings with the rest of the Christmas decorations.  She's such an angelic little bear!

Sweater Time!

Faith came to me as a little angel.

But even little angels get cold.

 Since the wind chill is making it feel like 7 degrees outside, we decided to exchange her wings for a sweater. Since there are still a few days of Christmas left, we thought this sweater could still be deemed appropriate.

Faith is now nice and warm in her snuggly sweater! She wants to let everyone know that removing her wings was not painful and she still feels quite angelic.

Begun in 2009, To be completed in 2010

I've begun work on my next new bear. I'd planned to sew this one with my sewing machine, since he'll be much larger than my last bear. Unfortunately, my sewing corner is in my eat-in kitchen, which is being repainted and crown molding installed. It could be weeks before I can resume this project unless I break down and decide to do it all by hand - I'm not sure my hands are up for that! In the meantime, I can dream about what a wonderful teddy this will be!

A Bear of Very Few Days

A new little fella was born into the hug at our cottage this week.  We don't know what his name is yet, but he can already stand by himself, and climb into Christmas trees!

  What do you think his name is?

Beary Christmas

The Christmas Bears wish all bear lovers a very Beary Christmas!

Baking Cookies

One of our favorite cookies to make for holiday get togethers are Meringue Surprises.  Ginger Snap, a little brown Christmas bear, is making sure that no other bears try to steal the cookies while they cool.

Here is the great-grandmother's recipe:

4 egg whites at room temperature
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. cream of tartar
2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat egg whites, salt, cream of tartar and vanilla until soft peaks form.  Add sugar gradually and beat until the mixture is stiff.  Fold in the chocolate chips.
Cover cookie sheets with brown paper if you have it.  Drop meringues by teaspoonfuls into small mounds.
Bake at 300 degrees for about 25 minutes, reducing heat to 250 if they begin to show signs of browning.

Meringues should be creamy white and crisp dry when done.  Let cool and store in a sealed tin.

Snow Pooh

Snow Pooh came to the Baybearys' Cottage way back in December of 1999.  He was living in Florida, of all places!  He reports that he is much happier living in the Mid-Atlantic state of Maryland, where the winters are more agreeable.    We will have to watch him carefully to make sure that he does not try to catch a ride in Santa's sleigh, because his dream home is the North Pole!

The First One Out and Into the Snow

We had a blizzard between Friday night and Sunday morning.  The bears could not go outside on Satuday because it was too cold, snowy and windy.  It was a good day to stay indoors and hibernate while the human beans did housework.  But on Sunday morning, Corey Allen Bearsmore, who already had his winter coat on, was the first one to dash outside to check out the snow.  It was over his head!

He climbed up a mound and sat a top what was left of the butterfly bush.  The flag pole was something good and sturdy to grab should he start to sink - but he didn't sink.

So he climbed up onto another snow hill which was a little smaller and was going to lean on the fence. He did start to sink into the white fluffy snow.  He decided to head back inside and have a nice hot cup of hot chocolate instead!

 

A Pogo Named Benjamin

Benjamin Pogo lives in the Baybeary Cottage.  He sleeps safely in his heather green sleepsack in a dresser drawer.  Today, he stowed away with the lady of the house and went to the office. 

First, Benjamin checked out the bookcase.  There was some serious technical reading.  Not much fun.

On the next shelf, Benjamin found some more spiritual reading and some warm fuzzies.  Maybe this wasn't such a bad place.

On the top shelf, he found out about going above and beyond.  So he looked above, and realized that he was being watched.

On to the credenza, Benjamin found a nice, lush green Christmas catcus.  But this Christmas cactus appearantly doesn't know that next week is Christmas!

Benjamin found a pretty pink African Violet in full bloom.  This place is nothing like the Pogo Forest, but at least there's some green, healthy foliage!

When Benjamin got tired of exploring, he decided to take a rest in one of the guest chairs until it was time to head home.