Easter

I think I read or heard this somewhere years ago; that after Jesus’ ascension, when believers would meet each other in the marketplace, one would say, “He is risen,” while drawing in the sand half of the fish.  The one being greeted would finish drawing the fish and reply, “He is risen indeed!”  I don’t know if that is true, but on Easter Sunday, I always greet the kids in Sunday School with ‘He is Risen” and teach them to reply back, “He is Risen Indeed!”  Love hearing their little voices sound it out so loud and clear!  I like to greet my kids and my family the same way or vice versa!  It’s kind of fun.  Now I know our celebration of the Resurrection is over, but really, we should never be over it!  All of that to say, we had a wonderful Easter Celebration and I have a few pics to share with you…I’m not yet over it!

Here’s my sweet girls in my Sunday School Class in their pretty spring dresses!

Here’s their little Basket of treats I made for them

Our traditional Easter picture taken at church.  Usually everyone groans at me for taking it but this year Wally said, “don’t forget the camera.”  He also told me,”This will be our last picture with Wesley.”  But I reminded him that we said that the past two years!  I’m also thinking it might have been awhile since the trees were leafed out at Easter. 

After church services concluded, our family gathered for dinner at our house this year. Nothing too traditional about our meal, we had Italian Beef, chips and dip, layered salad, fruit salad, Jell-O salad---I think I’m missing something.  It was all tasty and so easy.  Followed by cream cheese pie, coconut cream pie and cherry!  Left us lots of time to chat and laugh!

              Here’s my Mom and Dad with only three of the grandkids present this year,         Wesley, Nathan and Aaron

                                My sister Robin with Mom, Dad, her boys and Terry

There were other pics taken but in each one, there was at least one person looking none too good! (Maybe I’ll have to snag some from you Robin!)  Guess I’ll see you back here for more family stuff in just a couple weeks…for Mother’s Day!

Thankful Thursday

I feel like I have been riding a whirlwind since last Thursday. Just lots of stuff I had to do, wanted to do, and committed to do.  Things were coming to a head Tuesday and I was pretty much thinking I would sink.  Our church is having special meetings this week with the Steve Pettit Team.  Lots of great music and some special nights.  Monday night was set aside as Men’s Night.  They had BBQ and a salvation message.  Tuesday was Ladies' Night, with a baked potato bar.

I was asked to make some name cards for the tables, only with a verse on them.  The tables were being decorated with wildflowers and pastel colors…kind of a spring feel.  I really wanted to do it and quickly said yes.  But that was a good week ago…and did I mention I have just had a lot going on?  My scrappin’ time kept getting pushed aside.  Tuesday I was sure I could get them finished, but I was gone a good chunk of the morning.  That afternoon, Wes got finished delivering flowers early.  Then his friend Tim stopped by.  Wally also dropped by home for something and saw me sweating bullets.  So he asked if Wes could do anything.  Well, the most time consuming part of the project, was putting it altogether.  So Wes and Tim came up and pitched in.  I showed them one of the completed cards, gave them all the pieces, and they just had to duplicate it several times!  Tim took over the gluing and Wes got pretty good using a corner rounder!  I am so, so thankful for their help!  Not to mention they do make me laugh!

As well, Tim helped brown my meat I was taking for the baked potato bar.  Honestly I was running downstairs to iron, telling him to throw some seasoning in as I passed through the kitchen.  Then I ran upstairs to dress, yelling down to the kitchen to add this and that!  I can’t believe it even turned out to be edible! 

Thank you Wes and Tim for your wonderful help!

The Easter Parade

There’s no fancy hats in this Easter Parade, just some cards I sent out this week.

Have a Blessed Easter!

Thankful Thursday

Today is the day of the Holy Week where we remember Christ on the cross.  How can I be thankful for anything else except Jesus’ sacrifice for my sin?  I cannot put into words all I understand and appreciate about it, but my heart is full of praise and thanksgiving to Him.

From the book, The Incomparable Christ, the author shares this thought about the arrest and trials of Jesus; “that they were so utterly illegal that had He but spoken one sentence of assertion  of His rights…the crucifixion would never have occurred.”   That struck me because I don’t know how many times I am thinking about my own rights, and demanding them!  How glad I am Jesus gave up His rights and his very life, in order to pay for my sin.  

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Oh, that old rugged cross so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above,
To bear it to dark Calvary.

In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see;
For ‘twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true,
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

Ladies Luncheon

Our church has a Ladies Luncheon each spring.  A lot of churches do.  My Mom’s and my sister’s church both do .  Some years we get to hit all three.  Some years, the schedules don’t always work out.  But we always make it to our church’s event.  It is always well done!  Last year and this year my friend Sharon attended with us. 

Here is the invitations that we all received this year.  I helped make them.  They are a cute little purse and the invite was inside. 

The decorations were great.  I forgot to get a picture of the banner with the verse on it, but here is the front where the speaker stood.

I thought it was adorable the way they made the podium look like a dress. Pink tulle hung down the wall as well.

And our table decoration…

Each side of the vase had black and white photos of shoes

And here we are…

Sharon, Sherry, Mom, Robin

I tried to get rid of the light shining behind my head…but there it is.  Must be angelic!

Sharon drove with me in Nellie.  You gotta love a friend who loves your car.  Old cars are cool to look at but are far from the comfy ride of our cars today!

Nellie and I had matching outfits.

Sharon fits in with my Mom and sister…same corny humor.  As we were getting ready to leave the church my Mom says, “Be careful you two!  Don’t let some hoodlums get you on the way home in that car”  Sharon says, “Quick, Sherry, get your lipstick on!” 

Growing up we had “Mother-Daughter” Banquets.  Here’s a picture from the archives of us girls going to one of those events.  I think we even sang a song together as part of the program…including Jo!  My Mom made the matching dresses and I remember they were all gingham check. 

Either the sun was in our eyes or we were all dreading singing!

The Incomparable Christ

Back in March I decided to read long with Nancy Leigh Demoss’ radio series following the book called The Incomparable Christ.  It probably won’t surprise you to hear that I am quite behind.  I think I let my mind go to mush reading books by Jeanette Oke and devotionals.  This book takes a lot of thinking for me.  I find myself reading and rereading sections many times to figure out what is being said.  But it is good.  I think I have highlighting on every page!  I have done better on keeping up with the podcasts.  And I do not think I am being cheated in my desire to focus on this in anticipation of Easter.  It has been very good…did I say that already?  Here’s just a couple of thoughts I have had.

I enjoyed the chapters of Jesus’ birth and boyhood and youth.  It brought humanness to my thoughts of Jesus to picture Him as a toddler and young child.  Andrea and Elaine were visiting at the time, so I had a living example in front of me.  Jesus grew and played  and learned and discovered the same way as Elaine was.  He did not take any shortcuts or have any miraculous advantages…He laid all that side to come to earth for us.

I think I have benefited the most, so far, from the chapters on Jesus’ temptation and His prayer life.  Probably because that is where I live and struggle and fail a lot in my relationship with Christ.  I listened to the podcast on His temptation twice and intend to listen again…it was so helpful!  You can read or listen to it here.  Twice if you want too!  It was encouraging to me just to be reminded of our enemy Satan and His tactics.  And that we have the same resources in our battle with Satan that Jesus did, the Word of God! 

Here is where you can hear the Prayer Life of Christ.  Also worth a double listen!  Do you ever get so busy or so overwhelmed that you think you don’t have time to pray?  I do.  Nancy shared this which really convicted me. “We make busy schedules and pressing demands a reason for not praying; Jesus made it a reason for praying.” 

Yesterday I listened to the podcast about Gethsemane.  The purpose for Christ coming to earth is now in focus. Here is a quote from the book, The Incomparable Christ: “He drank a cup of wrath without mercy, that we might drink a cup of mercy without wrath. The agony was not the fear of death but the deep sense of God’s wrath against sin that He was to bear.”

I am so undeserving of this love He has for me.  We are looking at future events in our study of Isaiah, the Millennial kingdom and eternity.  Last night Alethea was sharing about God’s restoration, both of Israel and our future as believers also.  She gave the definition for restoration; to return to a former condition, to repair or renovate.  But God’s restoration is not about restoring us to our former condition.  He is restoring us to a place we have never been before, a life without sin!  That is an awesome thought to me!  Because Christ drank the cup of wrath for me, I have that restoration now!  Sin does not have power over me.  I will have it more fully in eternity when there will also not be any presence of sin!  Truly Christ is Incomparable!

Oh Deer, Oh Deer!

Wally had told the kids that when they shot their first buck, he would pay to have it mounted.  Andrea made a pretty good deal with dear old Dad by getting him to agree to pay for her wedding bouquet to be preserved and mounted since she would not be around to hunt for a buck. (BTW, she did kill--and gut--an elk!)  Dear old Dad agreed.  A very good deal for Andrea!  Kenny shot his buck quite a few years ago, seven or eight we think.  It has hung on our family room wall right next to Wally’s…they were called Lucky One and Lucky Two.  Last year when Kenny was home he loaded up the last of his belongings and Lucky Two vacated the wall.  It has been a little bare.  This past fall Wesley shot his buck - a nice 6x5!  His hunt is here.  So, off to the taxidermy he went.  To be done the middle of March.  Well March came and went completely.  No call.  Then into April!  No call.  Wesley has been muttering about “when is my buck going to be done?”  Well, the middle of April arrives and so does the call.  Only Wally says, “I’m not going to tell Wes.  I’m just going to hang him on the wall and see if he notices!”

Here is the wall.  The top hook is where Kenny’s buck hung, Lucky Two.  Wesley’s buck, Lucky Three would not fit.  So Wally had to put a hook in quite a bit lower.

He is supposed to be Lucky Three, but Wally keeps saying, “He’s a pig!”

So, we wait for Wes to come home.  He wanders in and sits down and then leaves the room, never looking up at the wall!  He goes into the kitchen to find something to eat.  I told him his Dad wanted to ask him something and back into the family room he goes, checking his phone for texts and hardly looking up.  So we run out of dumb questions to ask him and I finally said, I don’t think that Lasik was effective!  (Wes recently had it done).  At last he looks up and looks beyond the gadget in his hand!  And smiles! 

Sweet deers!

Thankful Thursday

Isaiah 55:10 and 11 says,

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven

And do not return there,

But water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud,

That it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater,

So shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth;

It shall not return to Me void,

But it shall accomplish what I please,

And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

I woke up to rain today, it actually had been raining on and off all night.  I immediately thought of this verse. We studied this passage in BSF recently.  How thankful I am for the things in everyday life that cause us to recall some truth about God or His Word, or teaches us to apply it.  It wasn’t hard to picture the renewal that the rain brings. After all it is spring. The bulbs are blooming, the trees budding, everything is greening up.  Very visible examples of the work of God’s Word in our lives.

We have been very dry here and we are thankful for the rain. It is needed and the ground is soaking it up.  That’s how my heart gets sometimes too…kind of hard and dry. The number one reason I have discovered my heart gets that way is because I do not water it with God’s Word. But just opening up the scripture and beginning to read, I feel like the ground absorbing all the rich, satisfying, renewing moisture! 

I know it’s the end of my Thankful Thursday, but I have had these thoughts as well as a song called, “This Is My Word”, taken from the Isaiah passage, wandering around my thoughts all day.  And although its been busy, its been a very good day! 

Thankful Thursday

I don’t have anything really big to write about. But I do think I have had lots of little moments where I just felt thankful.  I like that.  Call them tidbits of thankfulness, grains of gratefulness, bits of blessings….okay, okay!

• Breakfast with my husband two mornings in a row!  Yesterday, oatmeal at home and today chick Fila! 
• Wonderful fellowship at prayer meeting last night---and I was not really wanting to go
• Last week I felt like I had definitely taken five steps backward in my daily “disciplines”.  This week maybe, I regained a couple of steps.  I feel a bit encouraged!
• A clean floor and refrigerator in my house---such a nice feeling!
• The F-16’s flying overhead, reminding me of my freedom---and the cost of it
• Tulips in bloom!  Not in my yard but around the neighborhood.  And hyacinth and grape hyacinth!
• Catching my “nester” feeding her baby.  I even caught a glimpse of the baby peeking out. 
• I discovered one lone lupine growing from the seed I brought home from Maine last year! 

That’s it!  Have a blessed day!

Birthday Cards

Here’s my card I made for Marty’s Birthday.   I know you’ve all been wondering when I would show you!  I didn’t want to post it until he received it.  (‘Cause I’m sure he reads my blog everyday!)  Well, then I forgot about it.  So , without further delay (drum roll here)----

I found this cute paper and really, it makes the card.  I just popped the candles on top of it!  I also had picked up this Birthday acrylic stamp set in Michael’s clearance bins recently.  I thought the jumbo candles were cool!  And should be easy to stamp and cut them out if I wanted to.  I always need easy in the stamping department.

I used the same set for another card, for Cody’s 16th Birthday. I had Cody in my kindergarten Sunday School class years ago.  Cody attends BSF’s School Program.  (Did you know BSF had a school program?  They do!  Cody has been studying Isaiah all year with the adults!)  His Mom serves on the admin staff with me.  So they come early every Monday and Cody, along with his younger brother Kyle, help us set up the rooms, move heavy things and carry tables for us.  It is a tremendous blessing to my back!

It’s not his “sweet sixteen” birthday.  It’s sweet, he’s 16!  But you are a sweetheart Cody!

Spring Firsts

Tagawa’s is a really nice nursery near my home.  I love going there and just strolling through their gift shop, house plants and of course all the other plant departments.  They offer lots of free classes and they have wonderful help available for all your gardening questions.  Well, I have had a gift card for Tagawa’s since last spring.  I cannot believe I never spent it last year.  It was to expire the end of March (though they did tell me that they really never do expire) so I finally got myself in there.   And this is what I spent it on…

Yep,we are getting ready to plant!  The past couple of summers I have either not been able to find seed for something or I got bad seed and had to replant.  So this year, I bought early, got my pick and hopefully, a better seed.  Wally is planning to till the garden this week and so we going to go for it and plant! 

I also bought my first tray of flowers, pansies…True Blue and Primrose Yellow.  I don’t always find those colors when I hit Lowe’s or Wal-Mart.  There is snow on the ground today, but I hope to plant these tomorrow or Wednesday.  The dark purple flowers are johnny-jump ups. 

And wandering through the gift shop I found this garden flag at half off!  I have a mail box out back where I keep my garden tools.  I thought it would look cute next to that. 

Saturday was very nice here…81*.  So I pulled on a pair of capris for the first time.  Then I went out and worked in some of the flower beds for the first time!  It felt good to clean away the dead stuff and see all the new growth underneath! 

 

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.  ~Ruth Stout

Thankful Thursday…even though it is Friday!

I have had this verse rolling around in my mind ever since I read it earlier in the week.  I meant to make it my Thankful Thursday post yesterday, but you may have noticed I never got around to writing. 

Psalm 71:3a, “Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually”

A refuge is a place of shelter or protection from danger and distress.  I also think of it as a safe place where you can just breathe easier and relax.  Isn’t that just what Jesus is?  I just picture myself stepping into his embrace and letting it all out, like I do with Wally sometimes.

This week I have just found myself resorting to Him in prayer on a moment’s notice…no reservations needed here. If I find my thoughts dragging me down (which they do most days), when one of my kids is struggling, (like one is this week), or when I hear of situations others are in, (and so many are in need), -----in an instant, my mind is refocused and my burden drops.  I just love that!

I think the whole chapter of Psalm 71 is full of gems about placing your trust in God.  The heading at the beginning of the chapter reads “A prayer for old age”. But those words aren’t inspired! This is a great chapter for all times!  If you feel like you are needing to get away from it all, you can…and it’s cheaper than a cruise!