Advent: Joy

In a Christmas letter I received this week, Mandy Caley wrote that their year had been extra full of prayer needs.  I wrote back and said that I have felt overwhelmed with so many prayer burdens.  She responded, "Ah, but God is not overwhelmed, eh?"

God is not overwhelmed.  As I sit and pray in the mornings, I call out, "Come quickly, Lord; the world is falling apart!"  But He is not overwhelmed.

 "A Mighty Fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.

Our helper He, amidst the flood of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe, doth seek to work us woe.

His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate.

On earth is not his equal.”

This year, I have found joy in remembering that God "delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver; in Whom we trust that He will yet deliver us." 2 Corinthians 1:10.  Past, present, and future.   Joy, Joy, Joy!

Advent Week One

Christmas is Hope

"Jesus, Messiah, ... all our hope is in You."

Ordinary Stuff

I was listening to these guys'    Podcast  last week, and they interviewed this lady , who cautions us against measuring our spirituality by the fabulousness of our calling.

Here is my response, which I shared with some friends walking through the cancer battle of their teen daughter:

Have any of you had your own set of "light momentary afflictions" in your homes and marriages lately? And thought to yourselves, "I should not be struggling with this when other people have real problems like cancer?" We have.

And I think that ourselves and Satan try to tell us that it's important to pray for and support a family with REAL problems. But at the same time we struggle and fail to apply God's word to our "ordinary" lives. I am guilty of it, recently. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've thought we have had a pretty cruddy year, but nothing "fancy, like cancer" to put in our Christmas letter.

I have been guilty of apathy and independence in my marriage. I have not been content to serve my family in housewifely ways. Instead, I want to do something awesome like go to Africa or adopt 5 kids (notice I did not ask for sickness or loss). So far God has not opened those doors. But He is helping me to understand that He honors ordinary, non-newsworthy, daily faithfulness, including the ministry of prayer. He may use it to prepare us for a harder trial or responsibility in the future. Or, this may be "all" He requires of us in this life time.

Just like our sin has long-lasting ripples of consequence, so does walking by faith. So as Scott & Lina choose to walk by faith, by God's grace through these trials, let's choose to benefit and be encouraged to walk our current paths by faith, as well.

We long to share their burdens in many ways. May spiritual growth be one of our consequences.

Happy Thanksgiving.

This is my official favorite Thanksgiving song this year. I begin nearly every fall morning listening to it.

Here is the Sevier River in Utah.

May all your weeds be wildflowers

Dear daughter and I went out to the neighbor's CRP last night, and look what we found still blooming at the end of September.

In a Perfect World

I would be reading these while leading my children through an Ancient Rome study. 

Back to School Fun

We had a little end-of-summer bash with some of the kids' friends.

 

 Are we ready for 2 middle schoolers?

Are we ready for 2 First graders?

And we have our anchor man, holding down center position.

I present to you the members of the Sandcherry Schoolhouse, the best students anyone could teach.

Here is the awkward dog shot.

The Library

We got it done!  A few years earlier than planned, even.  We have already used it as a spare bedroom, and hopefully it will be a quiet place for kids to study.  I am very excited to have emptied every box of books that was in the basement.

 This wall was already built in.

I copied a Pinterest idea to frame favorite books.  

 These file cabinets were given to me.  They now hold curriculum.

 Here is another free find and Pinterest idea:  a sliding closet door.  

There are 2 antique big story books on the wall, which I clipped on a board using tiny clothespins.

Happy Anniversary to Us

July 4th, 1999 was quite possibly the very best day of my life.

It had been a few years and our kids had been asking, so last night we sat down and watched our wedding home video.  You never know how you're going to feel, reliving such a highly-charged emotional day.  But, I loved every minute of it!  I was determined to have a wonderful wedding day, and after watching it all, it was wonderful, and I would go back and do it over again.

I do not think we made our wedding vows glibly.  I had wrestled through the "what ifs" before entering into that covenant.  I felt like I was going into marriage with eyes wide open.  But still, at age 22 1/2, we had no way of knowing what it would be like to actually live out those promises.  Right now, I'm sure any of you who have been married for decades are smiling knowingly, thinking that at only 14 years we have no idea.  I agree.  Nevertheless, each year that passes adds more layers of the "for betters," and the "for worses."  And already we smile back on our younger selves, knowingly.

Yet, there are things to learn from those 22 1/2 year olds, too.  We had energy (daughter said, "Mom, I've never seen you so hyper.")  We had soft and tender hearts toward God.  We sought help from our mentors and teachers.  We were content to have little but each other.

May we go on in God's grace.

 

Homemade subway art

Here is what we love about summer in our family.  At first potato bugs were on there, but the kids vetoed it.  I created this as a Word document, and so far I cannot find a way to attach it to blogger
without losing the format.  Advice is appreciated!  Meanwhile, enjoy the ideas, though they are not arranged the way I designed them.

S’mores

THUNDERSTORMS bare feet   VBS peaches & berries     CAMPFIRE    mom time SWIMMING    BASEBALL

reading for fun                    waterfight

hammock

Clothesline  garden

grilling weeds

 BLOOMING FLOWERS

TWILIGHT HOURS    sprinkler      Bible Camp

Honeybees   4^th of July Fireworks   kittens

CLIMBING TREES         SAND BOX

ice cream camping trips

lemonade lazy afternoon

WATERMELON

Don't Worry; Bee Happy

Here's J in his shiny new bee veil 

We installed 2 "nucs" last week in our back yard.  We were thankful to find them this time of year, but there is a little risk because we didn't know much about the supplier.  

The man who sold them to us had a Duck Dynasty look about him, but I could tell he was a real beekeeper because he constantly scratched his forearms.  Even though he pronounced it "nooks."

A. is very helpful, and the cat wants in on the action, too.

I saw the queen! 

When the Desire Comes, It is a Tree of Life

ASPARAGUS every day = Heaven on Earth

RAIN, Thank You, Jesus

The little cheepers hatched, and we got to watch them break free. 

Jason & A. are the best! They salvaged this gate from a (real) soddy, and brought it to our garden. 

Here is the structure for the kids' "Garden of Giants" they planted.

Tulips and daffodils may have frozen, but the lilacs and phlox are blooming now.  

Pinch yourself; spring is really here.

This is by me... Aiden!

        If I was a weatherman, I would quit. The weather would have my head spinning. First of all, let me just say that I think we skipped spring. Started in winter and BOOM! we hit summer. Prepare to expect weather temperatures up to 90 degrees!!! But keep your coats and long sleeve shirts because it's going to hit a high of 32 by tomorrow. Pants and long sleeve shirt today. Shorts and tank top tomorrow.
       Even the nice days are a little crazy. Makes mowing feel weird. There I am, sweating and puffing away in the hot sun trying to push the 1 ton lawn mower up the hill in our front yard. Suddenly a cloud comes over the sun and it's nice. Now I want to mow forever. Weird. Yesterday was that kind of day. Sunny, cloudy, sunny, cloudy. On, off, on, off.  It was hot yesterday. Looks like it's not going to be as nice as it was yesterday. But then again, with Nebraska weather, it'll probably hit at least 80 today. So I say keep those long sleeve shirts and pants out all summer-you're going to need them.  Gotta stop now- my typewriter's running out of ink.

 

 

                                                   My fatiguing long jump in hot weather



Hope on the Homestead

        Spring is all about hope, and we have been hoping like crazy.  We hope every cloud holds rain. (It doesn't.  It holds snow, but we'll take it.)  We hope grass will grow in the pasture this year.  We hoped to start our first hives of bees.  (They died, tragically, on a semi in a snowstorm.)  We hope our cat doesn't have too many kittens, but we also hope none of them die.  We hoped that the eggs cooking away in the incubator would show signs of life.  (Through a flashlight beam, we saw little embryos swimming around.)  We hope the buffalo don't escape, and that they have babies next year. We hope to plant the garden, whenever it gets warm enough, and we hope the chickens don't destroy it.  We hope to eat our first garden asparagus very, very soon.  

This year A. gets to try some wrestling.

200 Minivans

     Yep, we did.  The kids and I pulled our minivan into the line of 200 others and went to a home school conference.  I thought the kids' favorite part would be the motel pool.  I thought my favorite part would be meeting my friend over lunch.  Instead... every one of my 5 children had a deep, joyful retreat experience at Kids Convention.  They were bubbling with worship songs and quoting scripture for fun.  They made new "best friends":  their leaders, who starred in a 2-day WWII drama.  They beg to go back next year. 

      Meanwhile, I self-consciously donned my name tag, left the coffee in the car (regulations), and slipped into a row of other un-relaxed mothers ready to take notes.  The very first presenter spoke my language with a garden analogy.  He told us that we need to be careful not to get over-zealous in our weeding and thereby wound our little "plant-children."  I was convicted.  Then I got completely hooked when I peeked in the vendor hall and saw floor-to-ceiling bookcases with cloth-bound used books.  New and old books were on every wall waiting to be felt and smelled and hugged.  I was tempted to just disappear in there for the weekend.  Instead, I got out my map and plotted my workshops.  I really enjoyed being taught for a change, and the cherry on top was meeting new people.  Plus, my friend and I shared lunch, two days in a row.  

Here are the bookstore people that inspired me with their display:  Gary and Jan Bloom

Blessed Redeemer

(Thanks, Liz J, for the title.)

Here is the most wonderful time of the year.  My heart overflows with sorrow and thankfulness to my Redeemer Jesus, who endured the cross and came back alive one glorious day.  Jesus, I hug You, I thank You, and I recommit my whole self to You.

The parents aren't supposed to get sick, but we have the past couple of weeks.  Consequently, we haven't celebrated as richly as in other years. But the Truth, and sharing it with children, puts wonder in every day.

We made Hot Cross Buns.

It Would Have Been Enough

We learned a new song for the Passover.  We had our own little Seder, after learning about it in school.

And we are practicing a skit from Clubhouse Magazine for our church's sunrise service

May you have a meaningful and blessed resurrection Day tomorrow. 

Paid Out: What Happens in Good Stories

SIR RICHARD CARLISLE
Who'd've thought it? The cold and careful Lady Mary Crawley. Well, we know better now. I'm surprised you haven't given me some extenuating circumstances.

LADY MARY
I have none. I was foolish, and I was paid out for my folly.

       

          Good stories usually hurt.  When you read them, you identify with the character and beg her to choose rightly because you can see the train wreck coming.  In good stories, words, attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors have consequences.  Have you ever groaned when you've read of Samson giving away his secret by inches to Delilah?  Do you feel like kicking King Rehoboam when he takes his lap of luxury and throws it to the wind?  Do you then remember your own little teeny commits or omits and shudder to think you might have a price to pay?  

           In 2011 and 2012 I read Gone with the Wind, Jane Eyre, and I watched Downton Abbey.  It takes Scarlett until the end of the book to finally be able to see herself for what she really has been.  Together with her, our hearts wrench to think of life we may have wasted.  Lady Mary Crawley understood herself a little sooner than Scarlett, but that might have to do with being a television show.  Heroines from Jane Austen sometimes learn their morals from books and observation, but their moments of personal decision come when they have to sacrifice temporary pleasure for the long term benefit.   Look for both good and bad consequences when you take in stories.  It is a good story when it teaches you a realistic, maybe not politically-correct understanding of righteousness... without preaching.

"I was foolish,
and I was paid out for my folly."
-Lady Mary

It's A Family Thing

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES, Y'ALL

The Other 5 Themes of 2012

Our Town (s) 

Our Church family 

Family Gatherings.  

The Hill's Namesakes  

What we dreaded to see