THE GOOD EARTH

CHRISTMAS EVE!

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 8 orbit around the moon. Until this mission, our astronauts had only ever stayed in Earth's orbit. Forty years ago, we not only had astronauts orbiting another celestial body, but they were able to send a broadcast to Earth.





I can't tell you how I feel when I think of NASA and other space-related things. First off, I'm just completely awe-struck. There is NO DOUBT in my mind about God....our creator. The fact that all of this is.....well, only God could have done this.

Secondly, I want to be up there! Did you know that I actually applied to NASA? Years ago, they were looking for a math or science teacher to train as an astronaut. I was one of THOUSANDS who applied. I had a rather thick application, tons of letters and essays to have written and to write. I know that it worked out for the best. It would have been difficult to complete my family. (I only had 2 children at a time.) AND I get TERRIBLE motion sickness. Still, I wanted...no, I WANT to go into space.

I can't say that I have regrets about how things have been and how they are going. I love my life. I'm in a happy place. This is just one thing that I wish I could have done. I do have a great telescope and I try to "study" astronomy in my down time....ROFLMBO!!! Down-time....But, I digress.....

Have you ever seen a shuttle or rocket launch? I've seen 2 shuttle launches and a few rocket launches. One of the shuttle launches was a night launch. OH MY GOODNESS! We lived in Florida...roughly 70 miles south of Cape Canaveral. We had heard that there would be a launch. Being poor and not having the time to get there and back by the time my work and Hubby's flight training for the day started, we decided to see if MAYBE....just maybe we could see something.

My hubby and I went outside in the middle of the night and it was darker than....well....it was dark. My hubby told me to scan a certain area of the sky while he took another. We didn't want to miss a thing. We hoped to see something that looked like a fireball.

After standing outside for a few minutes we began to wonder if the launch had been put off. What we saw totally stunned us....it was like sun-rise....or should I say "shuttle-rise."

We immediately saw people sitting on top of their houses. After several minutes with our mouths hanging open, pain in our necks and "OH MY GOSH"ing dozens of times we decided it was time to go in. No sooner had we gotten in our room when there was a rumble and the sound of thunder....the shuttle!

Since I have trouble finding the words, I'll let this little guy help me out.



Funny, this wasn't the intent of the this post. I just wanted to recognize this day in a way you might not have thought of. It was something that, even for a short time, made the world stand amazed.

May you be blessed. Merry Christmas. "And God bless all of you - all of you on the good earth."