Typing Through Tears...

Every once in a while I start to post a Facebook status, and it just gets so long I decide I need to move it to the blog instead.  This is one of those posts...unplanned, unedited, and a bit raw, but words that needed to come out tonight.  This is what I started to post on Facebook:

Reminded again tonight how very thankful I am that Christmas isn't over on December 25...that the birth of the baby in the manger was neither the beginning nor the end of God's plan...that the message of Christmas is the HOPE that that Baby brings to the earth...not a "wishing" sort of hope, but a sure and certain hope...that for those who have accepted that Christmas Gift of salvation, God has promised that He is with us every step of the way on earth, and then we are in His presence forever.   Remembering Bro. Gary's message Sunday morning on Isaiah 9:6, and thankful that although I do not understand the "whys" behind God's plan so often, I know that He is in control, He loves us more than we can imagine, and He is good, always.  Grieving tonight and praying for friends whose grief is even deeper. 

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
~Isaiah 9:6

We lost a dear friend tonight.  We came to love Mr. Roy and Mrs. Beverly very quickly upon our move to Grace last summer.   Roy went to be with Jesus very suddenly and unexpectedly this afternoon.  It's amazing how sometimes you can know someone such a relatively short time, and yet they become such a huge part of your life that they leave a big gaping hole when they are gone.  I know that is multiplied many times for his family and close friends. 

There are four things I'll always think of when I think of Mr. Roy...

1. He loved Jesus.
2. He loved people.
3. He was always ready to help meet a need.
4. He had one of the best laughs ever.  And he used it often.  And his eyes twinkled.  We are going to miss that laugh and those twinkling eyes!


I'm thankful for the months that we've gotten to share with Mr. Roy as part of our Grace family.   As we ache and pray for Beverly, Justin, and their family tonight, and for Bro. Gary and Becky and all those who loved him, these verses keep coming to mind...

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. ~ 1 Thess. 4:13-18

We know where he is...we are thankful that he is rejoicing with Jesus...but we sure are going to miss him!  

Wrap It Up! {Quick, Easy, Last-Minute DIY Gift Wrap}

"What's your favorite Christmas tradition?"  That question has come up several times recently, and I always have a hard time answering.  Most of our traditions in recent years haven't been of the big, fancy sort, but we do have lots of special little traditions we enjoy.

One of the "little things" that has become a tradition for us is our annual trek to the newspaper building to pick up an end roll of newsprint.  For years we've gone downtown to the dock of the old green newspaper building and bought a roll of newsprint to use for our Christmas gift wrap.  A big roll costs $3.00, and it lasts us all year for gift wrapping, crafts, and other projects.

I didn't realize what a tradition our trip to the newspaper building was until we called this year and discovered that they no longer sell the end rolls at the old building downtown.  Instead of pulling up to the back dock and ringing the bell to make our purchase, this year we went to the {much newer} newspaper building and bought our end roll right at the front desk.  (The change took a bit of the fun out of it for some of us. :))

It's been fun over the years to come up with creative ways to spruce up our newsprint packages.  I've drawn with crayons and markers, used punches and hand-cut lettering and paper-piecing, and made yarn pompoms.  Here are a few examples...(if you don't have newsprint handy, kraft paper, butcher paper, or even solid-colored wrapping paper can be used instead)...

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Sunday Morning Funny...

Spurgeon on Christmas...

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12 Days of Treats {Lottie Moon Cookies}

Day 2 of 12 Days of Treats!  As I mentioned yesterday, December 12 is the birthday of Lottie Moon, Southern Baptist missionary to China.  When Lottie first went to China,  she was called the "foreign devil" because the Chinese people...particularly the children...didn't trust the white woman among them.  Lottie began to bake cookies for them in an attempt to win them over.  Once they realized that her cookies weren't poisoned, they began to warm up to the cookies *and* the missionary lady.  She was no longer known as the "foreign devil", but was known as the "cookie lady".


Yesterday we talked about Lottie Moon in school, and then I decided it would be fun to make "Lottie's cookies".   They were very simple and quite good.  Best of all, the ingredients are things I always have available.  That's always a plus! :)  (Note: I found several recipes for Lottie Moon cookies online.  This is a composite of several. :))

Lottie Moon Cookies

2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp. cream (I ended up using about 2 Tbsp.)

Preheat oven to 425.  Beat together butter and sugar, add the egg and mix well.  Add the flour and cream.  (I had to add a second tablespoon of cream to make a dough at this point...with 1 tablespoon I just had a bowl of crumbs. :))  Roll into 1 inch balls, place on cookie sheet, and bake about 9 minutes.

I'd love to hear from you!!  I'd love to hear about your favorite holiday treats in the comments section.  Also...a friend and I are on a quest for a great recipe for cornmeal biscuits (similar to the Grands Cornmeal Biscuits that apparently aren't made anymore).  If you have a great cornmeal biscuit recipe, we'd love to try it!  You can post in the comments or email me using the email link in the "About Me" section.  

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12 Days of Treats {Chocolate Chip Cookies}

I've decided to try something fun for the next couple of weeks on the blog...12 Days of Tasty Treats for the holidays. We'll see how it goes...consistent blogging doesn't always work the way I hope and plan. *Sigh* :)   Hopefully, though, this will give me a bit of a push to actually make the treats I plan to make and then blog them. 

I'm starting out today with a pretty basic, simple recipe...but sometimes basic and simple is good when you're looking for something tried and true.  There are hundreds...probably thousands...of chocolate chip cookie recipes out there, but this one from the folks at KitchenAid definitely qualifies as "tried and true".  

This was the first recipe I made after we were gifted with our new mixer this summer, and I think I've made them at least once a week....and sometimes more...since.  My children have decided they are the best chocolate chip cookies *ever*. :)  

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened {My son says "No margarine!" :)}

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla in mixer bowl.  Beat with flat beater 30 seconds on speed 2.  Stop and scrape bowl and beat 30 seconds on speed 4.  

Mix baking soda, salt, and flour.  Add to mixer bowl gradually while beating on stir speed for 2 minutes.  Stop and scrape bowl, then mix on speed two for 30 seconds.  Scrape bowl again, add chocolate chips, and mix on stir speed for 15 seconds.  

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet about 2 inches apart.  Bake 8-10 minutes.  Let cookies sit for 1 minute before removing to wire rack.  

{Dough keeps well in refrigerator for several days.}

Did you know...that in addition to all the buzz today about it being 12-12-12 (and yes, I took a picture of the kids at 12:12 on 12-12-12...but they made me promise not to post it online! :)), today is also Lottie Moon's birthday?   And did you know that Lottie Moon was known as the "Cookie Lady"?  The Chinese people didn't trust this foreign lady, so she decided to make cookies for them to gain their trust.  At first they thought the cookies were poisoned, so they wouldn't eat them, but in time they realized that the cookies were delicious and the lady was kind, and the door was opened for Lottie to share Jesus with them.  I think we'll try Lottie's cookie recipe for tomorrow's "12 Days of Treats" post!

I'd love to hear from you!!  I'd love to hear about your favorite holiday treats in the comments section.  Also...a friend and I are on a quest for a great recipe for cornmeal biscuits (similar to the Grands Cornmeal Biscuits that apparently aren't made anymore).  If you have a great cornmeal biscuit recipe, we'd love to try it!  You can post in the comments or email me using the email link in the "About Me" section.  

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Remembering 8 Years Ago...

It's Sunday...and the last day for Keyboards at Christmas...and I don't really have time to be blogging...but I can't let this day go by without a remembrance.  So...I'm going to repeat last year's post with a few changes...

Funny how eight years can seem like an eternity and a blink of an eye all at the same time.  December 9, 2004 seems like forever ago and just yesterday all at once.

I've been thinking a lot about my daddy lately...how much he would have LOVED Keyboards at Christmas, how excited he would have been about our new church, how much he would have enjoyed digital photography (and what a great blogger he could have been! :)), what he would have been saying about the recent election and the state of our country (it wouldn't have been pretty...), and mostly, how proud he would have been of his grandchildren.  

Remembering eight years ago...

missing dress rehearsal, friends helping in so many ways,
Isaiah 40:11,

Diet Coke in a bag, 

half the choir showing up at the hospital when dress rehearsal ended, 

just the right people being there at just the right times, 

watching every breath and wondering if it was the last...

until it was, and all the suffering was over, 

and we were left with a great big husband/daddy/father-in-law/Papaw-sized hole in our hearts.

And his funeral a few days later right in the middle of the sets from the musical...which was somehow so fitting, with his great love of all things choir-related...and the choir singing one of his favorite hymns, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", so beautifully.
 

So thankful for these years he's spent rejoicing and worshiping instead of suffering, and for the certain hope that that night eight years ago was not good-bye.  Almost the last words I heard him say, in the midst of incredible pain, were "God has been so good to me."  So thankful for that memory that challenges me when I get caught up in earthly stuff and forget to see His goodness...

So thankful for my Daddy...

 

focused on Glory {in Christmas Music}

Short and sweet this week...I've been listening to this over and over the last few days and just basking in God's glory expressed in amazing music.  This is one of my favorite Christmas hymns {O Holy Night}, arranged by my favorite arranger {Oak Cliff's minister of music, Lyndel Hobbs}, sung by my favorite choir {the Oak Cliff choir}.   I'm usually in the choir singing it {which I love, because Lyndel has written some beautiful alto harmony parts that are just a joy to sing}, but Sunday night during rehearsal I got to sit and listen {and record :)}.  Wow.  It's like a 5 minute, 44 second worship service all by itself!

{Arrangement copyright Lyndel Hobbs, used with permission.)

Doesn't that just whet your appetite for more??!! :)  I am amazed to think that the awesome beauty and creativity of music on this fallen, broken earth is but a shadow of what it will be in Heaven.  The glimpses of God's glory that we see here...as incredible as they seem to us...can't begin to compare to the glory we will see when He has restored all things. (Romans 8:18-25) 


For those who are within any kind of driving distance of Fort Smith, I encourage you to come experience all of Keyboards at Christmas this weekend.  There are three opportunities...Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, and Sunday evening...all free!  For more information {times, directions, etc.}, visit the Keyboards at Christmas website. 


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 focused on Glory is a {not terribly regular these days :)} collaborative effort between Ponderings of an Elect Exile and Creative Confetti.  We've both had a bit of a crazy fall, but hopefully this feature will be more consistent soon. :)  Be sure to visit Tauna at Creative Confetti to see her latest! 

 

Word-Filled Wednesday {Delight}

Linking up with Word-Filled Wednesday today...

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focused on Glory {Feathered Splendor} + Giveaway WINNER!

No matter how much time I spend watching them, they always amaze me.  The intricacy of God's design in these small feathered creatures shouts His glory in the quiet of a cool fall day.  


focused on Glory is a {not terribly regular these days :)} collaborative effort between Ponderings of an Elect Exile and Creative Confetti.  We've both had a bit of a crazy fall, but hopefully this feature will be more consistent soon. :)  Be sure to visit Tauna at Creative Confetti to see her latest! 
 

Giveaway Winner!!

Congratulations, Tammy!!  And thanks to all who entered!!  (And just a little side note...I have discovered that I LOVE Rafflecopter!  If you have a blog, check them out for running giveaways...Rafflecopter makes it super-easy!) 


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Food on Friday...Cherry-Pistachio Bark

I have to start this post by saying that this recipe is not original to me.  Our friend Valerie found it online last year and brought it to a church Christmas party, where I became immediately addicted.  When she shared the recipe with me, I discovered that not only is it extremely delicious, it's also extremely simple.  It has since become one of our favorite go-to holiday recipes...because you just can't have enough "simple and delicious" this time of year!  An added bonus is the fact that the ingredients can all be kept in the pantry for those last-minute get-togethers.  

Cherry-Pistachio Bark

1 1/4 cups dried cherries

1 1/4 cups pistachios, shelled

2 11-ounce pkgs. white chocolate chips

4 3-ounce squares vanilla almond bark

Microwave cherries in 2 T water for two minutes and set aside.  Microwave white chocolate chips and almond bark together until melted, stirring frequently and being careful not to scorch.  Stir cherries and pistachios into white chocolate mixture and spread into 15 x 10 inch pan lined with wax paper.  Chill for an hour or until firm.  Break into bite-sized pieces.  Store in tightly closed container.  

Linking up today with Ann Kroeker's Food on Friday...visit Ann's blog for more food chat!

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(Be sure to enter our giveaway for Kim de Blecourt's book Until We All Come Home if you haven't already! :))

Book Tour ~ Until We All Come Home Review and GIVEAWAY!

"While this book describes my journey, it is really God's story, because there is no other logical explanation for how things ultimately worked out except by God's hand.  I don't know what God will choose to do with what happened or how he will use it--but I know he will use it...if in no other way than to change me, because I have been changed." 

"Ultimately, this is the story of an orphan who found a forever home. This is also a story of a mother who, alongside her husband and daughter, felt a call to adopt a child and remained resolute to make that a reality.  But more important, this is the story of a God who will move mountains for one abandoned child, who will stop at nothing to show how much he loves and cares for the orphan, and who knows each one by name. Soli Deo Gloria." 

These words are from the Prologue to Until We All Come Home, by Kim de Blecourt, whose life...and heart...have been truly changed by her family's experience in international adoption.  That experience began due to their desire to add to their family in the wake of the disappointment of secondary infertility.  It has led, however, not only to a forever family for a little boy from a Ukrainian orphanage, but also to an impassioned ministry of hope for orphans all over the world. 

When the opportunity came to participate on the Launch Team for Kim de Blecourt's book, I seriously debated whether to even apply.  I was already committed to another Launch Team, for a long-awaited book by a favorite author, and I really wasn't sure I had the time or mental energy for another.  But...as I read the intro material for Kim's book, I was hooked.  I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to read a preview copy of this book and participate in its launch.

I read the entire book in less than 24 hours, riveted not only by the drama, intrigue, and suspense, but also by similarities I saw in our stories.  No, I've never adopted a child, internationally or otherwise, but her experiences struck a chord with me. As I said about Kim's post "Why I Wrote 'Until We All Come Home'":

I've never been out of the country, never adopted a child, never been physically assaulted or threatened with arrest or told that I would have to return a child I had come to love as my own to a heartbreaking orphanage in a foreign land.  Our circumstances are very different, but this post resonated with me, nonetheless.  I have known the determination to protect my children whatever the cost...and seen Jesus become my Everything in a whole new way as I realized that only He can truly protect them.  Our family has dealt with post-trauma issues and wondered if life would ever be remotely "normal" again.  And I have experienced that urgency to share "my God in action"...that story of His glory and grace that just has to be shared!

International adoption is rarely a smooth, simple process.  However, it typically doesn't involve physical assault, arrest, or 11 months spent dealing with hostility in a foreign country.  As a former foster care/adoption recruiter/trainer and caseworker for state-sponsored programs, I appreciate Kim's raw honesty about her family's struggles.  

I've often counseled parents considering foster care and/or adoption that they need to be absolutely certain that God is leading them to pursue those paths, because they are not easy roads to travel.  Kim's story dramatically confirms that.  However, the ordeal her family endured to bring little Jake home has not turned them against international adoption...far from it.  She founded the ministry  Nourished Hearts "to encourage, inspire, and create community around those who are adopting or have adopted, provide foster care and/or work in orphan care ministry internationally".  She is an international orphan advocate.  And all of the author profits from Until We All Come Home go to Food for Orphans, a non-profit organization that feeds orphans around the world.   

Photography by Tammi Dryden, More Than Words Photography.  Used with permission.

This book is definitely recommended reading...for the dramatic but true storyline, for the encouragement to become a part of helping orphans around the world, and most of all for the glory it gives to God, the Deliverer who brought them through and continues to lead them today.  




I've been provided with a copy of Until We All Come Home by the publisher to give away to one wonderful blog reader!  It's super-simple to enter...just click on the Rafflecopter link below for instructions and options, as well as opportunities for multiple entries!  


a Rafflecopter giveaway






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Choir Flashbacks...

Keyboards at Christmas 2010

Sitting in the choir loft last night with a bunch of teenage girls, my mind went back about 30 years...I was 14, sitting in the choir loft at FBC, Conway, with veteran altos Myrtle Lee Selig, Wanda Landers, and Cynthia Lamberson.  I learned so much from those ladies and others there through the years!  I was a bit taken aback last night to realize that now I'm one of the "veteran"  (sounds better than old! ;-)) choir members in the midst of a group of young girls. :)

Fast forward a few years, and I was in the brand new choir at a brand new church...what fun we had in those early days at Woodland Heights!  I remember our very first rehearsals in the Gobers' living room, and then the excitement a couple of years later of rehearsing in our brand new choir room in our brand new church building...we could almost still smell the fresh paint! 

Then came Grand Avenue...where I was the recent college grad in the midst of ladies who had sung in the choir at Immanuel with my grandmother and with my parents when they were dating. I loved hearing the stories they had to tell about those days! Loved, too, the "grand" musicals we did there. :)

I've been in choir at Oak Cliff now for almost 16 years. That doesn't seem possible!  LOTS of memories there...so many I can't even get started or I'd be here forever!  I've made dear friendships and sweet family memories, sung tons of wonderful music, and learned a "tremendous" amount about music and true worship from Lyndel. 

God has done some amazing things in my life over the almost 30 years I've been an adult choir member.  I am so very thankful for all the memories and all the things He has taught me through those years in various choir lofts. :)  

I'm also thankful for the latest work He's done through choir...giving me peace about letting it go.  Singing in choir has been as much a part of life to me as breathing...not just these last 30 years, but since I started preschool choir with Neva Hayley and Shirley McCone when I was three. :)  I've loved {almost :)} every minute of it.  

And yet...I'm closing in on my last few weeks as a choir member for the foreseeable future.  As part of our "transition time", Bayley and I have been going to choir rehearsal at Oak Cliff in preparation for singing with them in Keyboards at Christmas.  I am so thankful that we've had the opportunity to be part of that for one more year.  Hard as it is to believe, Keyboards weekend is only four weeks  away!  :-O  Then our days of juggling the activities of two churches will be over, and I'll be on official sabbatical as a choir member. 

When we first started feeling our hearts tugging toward Grace Lavaca, one of my main thoughts was, "But what would I do about choir??  I can't leave choir!"  I knew that there was no choir at our little mission church, and I knew that it could be years...if ever...before there was one.  In those days when we were hearing God say, "Maybe someday", I think my subconscious thought was, "When they are big enough to have a choir!"

Our God works in amazing ways, though.  The night that we began to feel God might be changing "Maybe someday" to "Now!",  I suddenly realized that I had total and complete peace about leaving choir behind indefinitely.  That stopped me in my tracks and was one of the {many} confirmations that yes, this was God's plan...because only He could turn my heart on a dime from "I can't possibly leave choir!" to "I'm totally okay with this!"  

I really thought that after a month or so "off" between the time that we joined Grace and the time we started rehearsing for Keyboards, going back to rehearsal in September would remind me of all I was missing and make me sad.  But, again, God has given total peace.  I *love* our congregational singing time during worship at Grace, and I have truly not felt one moment of "lack" in not having or being in a choir.  

I have no idea what God's plans for the future hold.  Grace may never have a choir, or Grace may have a choir sooner than I think.  While Grace is "home" now and where we plan to be for the duration...we thought that about Oak Cliff, too!  So...one never knows if, when, or where God may move us from here.  He may someday lead us to a different church with a choir, and if so, I may or may not sing in it.  Or He may someday lead us to another church *without* a choir!  Who knows? 

Never in a million, quadrillion (as my kids would say) years would I have ever thought I could say this...but I'm fine with any of the above.  God has given complete contentment, and even joy, at the prospect of choir later, or choir not at all.  Quite a change of heart for the girl who thought she'd follow in her daddy's footsteps...he was still singing in choir just weeks before he was homebound, even when people had to {literally} carry him into the choir loft. 

I am so thankful for our church.  I'm thankful for the sweet music there...for Rachel's piano music every week, for John who leads us in singing, for Billy who does the sound, and for Bro. Gary who keeps them all in line. :)  I'm thankful for the 5th Sunday Singing we had a while back and I'm already looking forward to some of our family participating in the next one. :)  Most of all, I'm thankful for the ways that God changes the desires of our hearts to conform with His when we delight ourselves in Him.  

For those readers within driving distance of Fort Smith, I want to invite you to attend Oak Cliff's Keyboards at Christmas.  It's an amazing time of worship through music using four grand pianos, 18 pianists, and two choirs.  This year there are three opportunities to attend...Saturday, December 8 at 2:00 or 6:30, or Sunday at 6:30.  For more information, check out the Oak Cliff website, or contact me via the comments or the email option on the "Profile" page linked in the sidebar.

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"I Know Who Holds Tomorrow..." {Or Post-Election Day Thoughts}

Okay, I still have Monday's post and Tuesday's post to go...they are all composed in my head, but Blogger has been terribly uncooperative lately...but I'm going to go ahead right now and post Wednesday's post *now* and then work my way back to Monday and Tuesday later (I hope!)

Woke up with this old song on my mind this morning...

"Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand..."

 

Things may seem much more uncertain this morning, with "four more years", than they did even last night when I went to bed, with the electoral votes neck in neck.  However, I have to remind myself this morning of several things:

1. God is in control.  He is no less in control today than He was yesterday.   He knew before the foundations of the world who would win yesterday's election. The outcome of the election came as no surprise to God, and furthermore, it is part of His divine plan. 

"I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted." (Job 42:2)

2.  I wasn't thrilled with either option in this election.  I voted for Romney because his positions lined up more closely with Scripture than Obama's, but I had major concerns with the thought of Romney as president as well.  Neither man follows the God of the Bible.  

3.  Even if there had been a viable candidate who was a Godly Christian, he would not have been the savior of this country. Would I love to see someone in the White House who truly followed God and His Word?  Yes.  Would that mean that all of our country's troubles were over?  No.  Our country has massive political problems.  But abortion, same-sex marriage, government healthcare, and the
Benghazi debacle are just symptoms.  The problem isn't who sits in the Oval Office...the problem is sin.  And that won't change until Jesus returns.  Yes, we need to stand up for what is right.  Yes, we need to do what we can to make changes.   But we must always realize that we live in a fallen world, and the only true answer to any of its problems is Jesus.  

4.  I may be very unhappy about yesterday's results, but I have these responsibilities today and onward: (1) to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength (Luke 10:27), (2) to love my neighbor (even those with whom I disagree politically! :)) as myself,  (3) to nurture my children and teach them diligently (Deut. 6:6-9), (4) to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20), and (5) to respect and pray for those in authority (Romans 13:1-2).

I am thankful today that God is still on His throne, and that the same Hand that holds tomorrow and the king's heart (Proverbs 21:1) not only holds my hand, but has my name inscribed on it! (Isaiah 49:16)

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O Sacred Head...

 

We sang one of my very favorite hymns at church yesterday morning.  It was one of my dad's favorites, too.  The words are amazing, and the melody/harmony are gorgeous.

 

O sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down;
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, thine only crown;
O sacred Head, what glory,
What bliss till now was thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call thee mine.

What thou, my Lord, hast suffered
Was all for sinners' gain:
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Saviour!
'Tis I deserve thy place;
Look on me with thy favor,
Vouchsafe to me thy grace.

What language shall I borrow
To thank thee, dearest Friend,
For this thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
O make me thine for ever;
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
Outlive my love to thee.





I am thankful for my parents and for churches who have passed on a rich heritage of hymns.  As Guy Penrod says, "We don't sing them because they're old...we sing them because they're good!"


(Three times since I decided to attempt to post daily in November, Blogger hasn't let me post when I've tried to.  That's putting a bit of a kink in the plans. :)  This is actually Sunday's post.  Monday's post to come soon! :))

Thankful for Family Fun...

Tried to post this last night, but Blogger wouldn't let me...so I'm going to try to post quickly now for yesterday, and then post again later tonight.  I had planned to post last night that I am thankful for my in-laws.  I don't often say that, but I am. :) 

Last night Billy's whole entire family got together at his sister's house...his parents, both sisters and their spouses, Billy and I, and all the grandchildren.  That doesn't happen often...in fact, that may have been about the third time we've *all* been together at the same time since Sheryl got married.  (With Shelly working in retail, and Billy and Sheryl working in healthcare, there just aren't a whole lot of times they are all off work at the same time.)

How many Harrises does it take to solve a word puzzle?

I posted this on Facebook last night when we got home...

It doesn't happen often, but I am completely and totally "noised" out. 1 Italian mother, her 3 Italian children, 7 Italian grandchildren, and 6 dogs...it was great fun, but I am ready for about 12 hours of complete and total silence. So funny...the 11 Italians were talking non-stop, all at the same time...while Granddad, Larry, Tim, and I spent most of the evening just taking it all in. My children have been forbidden to speak above a whisper the rest of the evening. :-D

Actually, upon further thought, the grandchildren vary in their intensity levels.  Brianna is probably the quietest of the bunch, followed by Emlyn.  The boys and Ammah Grace are somewhere in the middle near the top, and Bayley and Aeryn...well, let's just say that there's not a quiet bone in either of their bodies. :)

Regardless, we did have a lot of fun last night.  It was fun for my kids to hear the reminiscing by Nonna and Granddad and Billy and the girls...took me back to the days of the Brown/Beene/Robertson clan reminiscing in Granny Kitty's living room (albeit MUCH more quietly), and the Folsom/Marks family dinners (with just as many stories, and a little more noise than Granny Kitty's house :)).

I am thankful for my in-laws, and for the fun family time we had last night. :)