Time Marches On

Awhile back, I was readying the house for some company. While doing my own work, I was also assigning jobs to the children. As usual I was in a hurry because we were behind and the kids weren't pleased with the fact that I was barking out orders. Apron clad, I rushed outside to inspect the progress on the back patio.

Just then, I looked up and saw Jude running across the lawn and suddenly time stood still. I stared at that little toddler boy as his chubby legs carried his little body across the grass. As a stood watching, a vision of that same boy walking across the lawn as long, lithe young man passed before my eyes. It was a though the Lord was saying, "All that you're worried about at this moment in time is so very unimportant. Your children's young years are fleeting."

The last few months my older kids have had opportunities to help others outside of our home and also to travel with Grandma and Grandpa. When one of the older kids is gone, those of us who are left at home notice a gaping hole in our family. It's disconcerting, especially to the little ones. Though I know that the goal of parenting is eventually to release and let fly, I hadn't really considered that the release part would be coming so soon. When you're busy wiping noses and bottoms, cooking, feeding mouths and then washing the dishes, you think things will always be as they are now.

This past summer I reread the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls to the kids. It was just like old times, with my little ones all gathered around me while I read. Even the big girls joined us sometimes.

When we got to the second to last book of the series, These Happy Golden Years, all of the children were listening and even Matt was present to catch the last chapters. At the end of the book, preparations are made for Laura and Almanzo's wedding. When all is ready and the wedding is to be the next day, the Ingalls family eats supper and then Laura brings Pa his fiddle.

"Please, Pa, make some music." Pa took the fiddle from the box. He was a long time tuning it; then he must resin the bow carefully. At last he posed the bow above the fiddle strings and cleared his throat. "What will you have, Laura?" "Play for Mary first," Laura answered, "And then play all the old tunes, one after another, as long as you can."

The passage goes on to describe the many songs Pa played through the years and during the family's many travels. I remember I cried when I got to reading this part the first time around four years ago. I cried this time, too. I had to keep stopping to wipe my tears, catch my breath and gird myself to keep on reading.

After I finished reading the book with its happy wedding ending, we all got ready for bed. Matt said something to me about having a tender heart or some such thing. I said, "It was all too real for me. It won't be much longer before we have our last night with our Gracie." Then he turned away, tears in his eyes.

Yes, time marches on and things are never the same as they once were, but the fiddle still plays and the Lord of the Dance has us ever in His care.

Turkey Tale

The kids decided to make paper bag turkeys instead of pine cone turkeys yesterday. They all worked happily at the kitchen table while Grace worked on her homemade rolls and I cooked the salmon chowder for dinner.

Then I heard someone say, "Mine's better than yours." I gave a verbal reprimand. The next thing I heard was Joel saying, "I really like the way one eye is bigger on your turkey, Lydia."
Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful

Today I am thankful that I don't have to leave my house. I cleared the decks so that I could be HOME today. On the docket: Thanksgiving worksheets and pine cone turkey crafts for the kids, pumpkin pie and cranberry relish making for me.

After lunch, I'll continue reading The Landing of the Pilgrims to the kids and I might even get a nap, which would put this day over the top. We'll have our annual Mayflower Dinner tonight. I splurged this year and bought beef jerky instead of canned dried beef (that stuff is gross). My dad gave us some lovely king salmon that he caught up in Alaska a couple of months ago. I plan to add it to the potato chowder we'll have after we "disembark" the ship (the cold downstairs fruit room).

We'll be hitting the hay on the early side tonight. We've got plans to get Isaac on a better sleep schedule which will involve some tears for both Momma and Isaac, I'm sure. I'll be ever so thankful if that boy can start sleeping for a good chunk of time each night. My brain just might start rebooting and that would be grand.

Sharp Dressed Man

Grace took these pictures of Jude. Notice his favorite shirt. The one he keeps pulling from the dirty laundry to wear again (and again and again). Once every couple of days I peel it off him to wash it, thinking it won't make it back onto Jude's body, but will instead go downstairs into the summer clothes box. Then I turn around and he's wearing the shirt--again!

Also, notice his front tooth. It's grey. He fell off the counter about six weeks ago (shouldn't have been up there, but he was) and knocked his tooth back when he hit the counter edge on the way down. I called my dad. The prescription was simple. Push the tooth back into its proper position and hold it there for ten minutes. All it took was two grown adults and plenty of sweat (Momma and Daddy) and tears (Jude). Dad said the tooth might be a gonner. Or it might turn black. It turned grey. Lovely. Apparently it's a very common childhood occurrence.

Fresh From China . . .

. . .Two new cousins escorted onto US soil at 6:20 p.m. PST by Grandpa Bob and Uncle Trevor. God is good!

Gift from Afar

Yummy Guatemalan hot chocolate from some missionary friends.

Das Reformation Tune

Years ago we were given a little packet of Reformation songs, all sung to familiar tunes. For example, "O Wittenburg" is sung to the tune of "O Tannenbaum." The words go like this, "O Wittenburg, O Wittenburg, you are so small and lowly."

Even though we didn't sing these songs at our Reformation party this year, the older kids taught the little ones how to sing a couple of them. Jude, especially, is often heard singing "O Wittenburg."

Special Guests

We had the pleasure of hosting Pastor Dave Horn and his wife Sabra for dinner one Saturday evening a few weekends ago--and I do mean pleasure. We enjoyed a Shabbot meal in which we happily slurped chicken noodle soup together, conversed about theology and Dr. Kenneth Bailey and heard about the amazing things that God has done for Pastor Dave and his wife, Sabra (they sold their house and are now full time RVers, traveling the country and sharing the Gospel)!

Pastor Dave lead worship at our church the following morning. I was moved to tears as one of my life verses (Heb. 12:1-2) was set to music. Wow, what an amazing ministry! I especially loved seeing how Sabra displayed the "helper completer" aspect so vividly. She not only completed Pastor Dave's music (through vocals and instruments), but she also set up their travel and CD table and talked with many people about their ministry.

Ever on the lookout for good music that proclaims God's truth, our family is loving Pastor Dave's music, especially the Now There is Mercy CD. The kids love the "Fruit Fly" song that's at the end of the CD. That song never fails to get the kids giggling. Pastor Dave and Sabra will be back here in two years and we can hardly wait for a rerun.

Reformation Party 2011

We started planning our Reformation party late in the game this year. Who am I kidding? We start planning late every year. However, when Matt told me his vision for this year's party was completely different than anything we'd ever done before, I started to get nervous, especially with the late start date. We normally follow the party plans laid out in Doorpost's Night of Reformation. This year, Matt wanted to start from scratch with an all new party format.

I was already feeling way overwhelmed with my packed schedule and the thought of reinventing the wheel for the party didn't sound very fun to me. When Matt told me he wanted to cover church history from Moses to Tyndale I about fell off my chair. I was told I wouldn't have to do any of the work to prepare for the party, but I knew better. I agreed to the new plan because I knew it meant a lot to Matt and the kids. And just like last year, we found that when we all work together as a family on a project, the Lord does amazing things.

Matt wanted the theme of this year's party to concentrate on one of the five solas of the Reformation--"Sola Scriptura," or "by scripture alone." Matt put together a worship service and thought of games for the kids to play all of which illustrated the truth that scripture alone is sufficient.


Grace took her Daddy's vision for the party and ran with it. She did tons of research, practiced (and practiced and practiced) playing the hymns her Daddy picked out for the worship time and put all the little details of the evening together. Elizabeth and Paul did a fantastic job of helping for the big event as well.

Matt's parents arrived early the day of the party to help as needed. They were extra hands that filled in the blanks for us. We had a total of twelve adults and twenty two kids in attendance. The big kids manned the games and crafts and the babies provided cuteness, so we had about fifteen kids actually playing the games.

After dinner, we all convened in our living room to begin the evening in worship. We then broke for games, which we had stationed all over the house.

The Ethiopian Enuch pinning the 95 Thesis on the Castle Church


Presenting the found scroll of The Law to King Josiah

Packing Tyndale's English New Testaments to smuggle across the English Channel and into England.

Wycliff's lollards smuggling English Bibles into the English countryside.



Showing off a finished matchbox Bible craft

Moses descending from Mt. Sinai with the 10 commandments

Elizabeth in the Throne Room of God. Hot coals (red licorice) to put in party goers mouths.




Pretty girls and pretty hair

After everyone had played all the games, we reconvened in the living room to finish our evening in worship. After all our guests went home and we had gotten our littles into bed, we had a debriefing time. We discussed improvements that we can implement next year, but mostly we came away thinking, "Wow. God is pretty amazing." We hope our guests thought the same thing.

Sunsets of Fall

by Grace

Catching Up

This poor, neglected blog. Between weekends full of house guests, the biggest Macduff Reformation party ever, an unexpected couple of days spent with my parents and my hubby leaving town for a business trip, I've hardly had time to breath.

I was lamenting to a friend of mine last week how very disappointed I was that I wouldn't be able to create a household binder (full of homeschooling and chore schedules and procedures) for my Mistress of the Domain project in my 5 Aspects of Woman Bible study. I just didn't have time to do the amount of thinking and planning it would take to figure out how to better use my time (how ironic is that?).

My friend wisely pointed out that I had been working on my Mistress of the Domain project. She said my project had eternal benefits because it was God's planned project for me, not my own. So when I went to Bible study last Thursday evening, I didn't have a tangible project to share with the group, but I had a story to share. The story of how I've been giving my time to the people who fall within my domain.

There are only two things that are eternal in this world--God's Word and people. I've spent the better part of the last few weeks investing in people. Honestly, I wouldn't have had the strength for all that people investing had it not been for my time in the Word and all the dear friends I had praying me through this busy season of my life. God is good. He did provide for my every need, so that I could attend to the needs of others.