Month: December 2011

Crowned with Goodness

May the Lord, indeed, crown your year with goodness ♥ and may the coming year be your most blessed year in the Lord.

 


Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
2  O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
3  Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.
4  Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
5  By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea:
6   Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power:
7  Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.
8  They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
9  Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.
10  Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof.
11  Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
12  They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.
13  The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.
——Psalm 65

Another Year Is Dawning

Another Year Is Dawning
Lyrics ~ Frances R. Havergal, 1836 -1879
Music ~ Samuel S. Wesley, 1810 – 1876

Another year is dawning!
Dear Father, let it be,
In working or in waiting,
Another year with Thee;
Another year of leaning
Upon Thy loving breast;
Another year of trusting,
Of quiet, happy rest;

Another year of mercies,
Of faithfulness and grace;
Another year of gladness
In the shining of Thy face;
Another year of progress,
Another year of praise;
Another year of proving
Thy presence all the days;

Another year of service,
Of witness for Thy love;
Another year of training
For holier work above.
Another year is dawning!
Dear Father, let it be
On earth, or else in heaven,
Another year for Thee.

 

 

It’s the week before Christmas and…

It’s the week before Christmas and all through the house, mother is ____________ and the family feels ___________.

I posted this @ Welcome Home on Facebook… but it’s so important that I thought I’d share it here.  I’ve been posting brief year-end countdown thoughts on Facebook @ Welcome Home.  In the new year I hope to post daily home notes and verses for encouragement.

More housekeeping and sorting today. Don’t be afraid to box up stuff you really don’t use — as you’re cleaning and preparing for festive dinners and/or visits from family & friends. Whatever you box up today, just set it aside and after the first of the year, you can decide if you really wanted to part with it or not. As you work in the kitchen, do some cleaning as you go. If you get seldom used items out, wipe the cabinet before putting things away.”
If you haven’t ironed your table linens, do it today, hang the ironed cloths in your closet — first hand a thick a towel over the hanger and put your cloth on the hanger — less creasing this way. If you still need tea-lights or candles — be sure to add them to your shopping list.  

Minimize your steps and trips… you’ll get more done in less time with careful planning and —-minimizing — without apology!— at this point.

And… really… do yourself a favour: If you haven’t gotten things done by now, you probably won’t get “big” things done — forget it…. really. Cross those things *off* your list. Concentrate instead on doing nice things with your family — it’s not worth it to you — or to them — to stress about not getting all those big things done. Believe me… a couple of nice, fun things are *much* better than a bunch of regrets and apologies for not getting all the big things and plans done – or done poorly.

As I have written for years: Mamas, be sweet to your family. They need you — and I will say again and again… they may not remember all the stuff you did, but they’ll remember how it felt at home and how you loved them.

Trust me… a fretful mother, a distracted mother, an always sorry mother is tough to be around — if you’ve talked candidly with your children and have sought to be ‘right’ with them, they’ll tell you these things. You’ll be surprised how loving, forgiving, supportive they’ll be with you as they experience your daily desire/effort to be a godly woman and joyfilled mother.

Join me in working at attending to the best things… and being a loving/loveable mother… a mother worthy of all the cards. ♥ ”

The Vacant Chair

I’ve entitled this blog entry The Vacant Chair — a title that’s not original with me, but the title of a poem I’ll add to this post in a moment.  The poem was written by a dear saint, the husband of a precious friend who passed into heaven earlier this year.

It’s interesting that the poem should come in the  mail today… as I have been thinking of several different ones who have ‘vacant chairs’ at their tables again this year.  I think of the mothers and fathers who stand at the glass watching for the wayward son or daughter, hoping he or she will be home to occupy his or her chair at the table this year.  I think of the families who won’t have a baby to hold, a parent to care for, a friend to visit at Christmastime… more empty chairs.  I think of friends who have a vacant womb — bruised heart this Christmastime.

I think of families who will visit and look into the vacant, dim eyes of loved ones with vacant minds — long ago leaving vacant chairs.  I think of couples with vacant chairs of children they never bore or only hold in their hearts. I think of those whose choices keep them afar off — who’ll not be home again this year — vacant chairs.  I think of those whose husbands are off fighting in a war they never wanted to fight — the family tables with a vacant chair again this year.  I think of friends or family who’ve moved away and they’ll miss sitting in the chairs around a familiar table this year.  I think of mothers and dads who’ve married off a son or daughter this past year — a sweet sadness may wash over them — as they set tables with fewer chairs.  And there are innumerable other scenarios… innumerable empty chairs.  Vacant chairs will tell many stories… some, only in the heart.

The Vacant Chair was written by a loving, faithful husband whose eyes are growing dim, but whose memory is sweet and keen: for a wife who lived such a remarkable, long, full life — occupying the chair beside him for some sixty-seven years.

VACANT CHAIR

I love you dear with all my heart,
True love was ours to share,
God has called you to His Home,
I’m left with a vacant chair.

I think of things I’ve done today,
My toil and my care;
I praise the Lord you’re free from pain,
But I’m left with a vacant chair.

The day will come, I’ll join you there,
In Heaven, bright and fair,
We’ll praise the Lord, with all our heart,
And there’ll be no vacant chair!

Paul R Turnidge

From Paul’s Christmas letter, I’ll leave you with this very encouraging thought:

God has shown Himself wonderful to me. Every day I am amazed how He directs my path. Sometimes I look through my windshield of life and wonder where I’m going, then I look in the rear view mirror and see how far I have gone,  and amazingly exclaim, “Surely the Lord has led me.””

Christmas Letters

I love receiving Christmas letters each year — I read them — some, many times. I read them to the family and take the enclosed photos and hang them on our kitchen cabinet doors.  I love the letters for so many reasons — maybe for as many different reasons as the number of letters received each year.

I often wonder how many drafts some writers attempted before the resulting letter was complete.  I say this because I attempted to write our Christmas letter no less than a dozen times this year.  Each draft wordier (no surprise there!) than the previous — then I’d write a rather perfunctory letter — and it sounded like it. Then I wrote intending to add photo highlights. But then I thought of all the things I wouldn’t have space to include.  After each sort of attempt — some, far along in the process:  I think, no… no, that’s not it.  Click: Ctrl A.   Click: Delete.  Computer lid: click.   Lights out: click.

Maybe tomorrow, I’d ponder as I drifted off to sleep… maybe tomorrow… maybe tomorrow I will write in such a manner as to concisely convey,  in less than a thousand words,  the story of a year in the life of a family.  All I could see was the hand of the Lord over two extremely thankful parents in rocking chairs: observing the marvelous lives of nine very busy adult children living at home and more beyond.

And so, more treasured letters and cards have arrived… more beautiful photos are on the cabinet doors… more tears of joy have been shed for the changes and blessings and losses and accomplishments the Lord has given family and friends.  Melancholy tears of joy… and the passage of time.

The Christmas letter is finished.  It’s even been printed.  And it’s incomplete to convey all the things I wish I could’ve written, because there’s so much more the Lord has done and taught us this past year than time or space allowed.  But… I’m glad we have something to send and a photo to put with it.  I’m really grateful it mattered enough to enough of our family here to push to do what I know I’ll be glad we did.

♥

Cookies… and more.

Of all the cookbooks I have — and I have many — surely, among my favourites are by Susan Branch — the different “Heart of the Home” cookbooks I began receiving as gifts after Kathryn was born in 1986.  They were then, and are now, among my treasured books — not only bcz I have enjoyed the recipes so much, but also bcz the books are simply lovely to read… you’ll see.

This afternoon, I received her email-newsletter — which I will save —  as I do each newsletter she sends.  They’re far too beautiful not to keep and far too useful to delete!  I think you’ll enjoy her site… her books, her ideas, her gifts and fabrics.  Browse her site HERE — that’s why I entitled this blog entry “Cookies and more.”  The *more* is her site.  Yes, I’m a fan.

Click any Cookie name in the picture and a cookie recipe will open or View HERE  to see the specific cookie you’re looking for. To see all the different recipes in this and any other category of food.  You’ll love any one of these cookie recipes — they’re always just perfect!!

 

Florentine Cookies Profiteroles Lemon Squares Jelly Filled Cookies Rice Pudding Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons Christmas Nut Cookies Eggnog Cappuccino Chocolate Poached Pears Candied Orange Peel Almond Brittle Homemade Marshmallows Fudge Spiced Cider Annie Hall's Butter Cookies Snow Clouds Cookie Cutter Cookies Mary's Mother's Snowballs Croquembouche Bourbon Balls Christmas Wreaths Rum Truffles Creme Caramel Popcorn Balls Pots de Creme Sweet Potato Pie Hot Cocoa Snowflakes Roll Cookies Fairy Cones Grandma's Frosted Molasses Cookies Ginger Crisps www.susanbranch.com

 

It’s a Time to Rejoice

Through the years we’ve celebrated “Christmastime” many different ways — some years a little, some years more.  A family tradition here and a family tradition there, but no set (read: unchangeable) tradition.   I think this comes from a mixed reaction to cultural influence/cultural traditions.  It also comes from an ongoing inner debate:  should believers celebrate Christmas?  We’d immediately say: Yes, we should celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but that’s not really the question when people ask: should Christians celebrate “Christmas.”  They’re asking: should Christians celebrate the twisted mix of  truth and tradition, pagan and sacred.  The question opens a quagmire of debate.  What’s pagan, what’s tradition, what’s the socioeconomic influence, what’s the reason, what’s reality, what’s Scriptural, what’s not… whatsamattah whiddit anyway?

We met friends who ignored the year end “holiday” and stay completely out of stores, etc.,  much like I totally ignore the event at the end of October.  And stay out of stores, etc.

We just did what we’d always done… our home looked like a lot of homes that were ♪♫ beginning to look ♫ a lot ♪♫ like Christmas…

And then we had a baby girl born on Christmas Day…
And then we met more friends who love the wonder of the Christmas and the glorious celebration, music, prayers and rejoicing over the Greatest Gift ever Given.

We’ve continued growing older.  So have our children. So has our baby girl, born on Christmas Day.
And then we met more friends who didn’t simply ignore the whole year end events, but hotly debated the atrocity of participation in anything remotely associated with the pagan rituals.
And then we met more friends who celebrated a little.
And then we met more friends who celebrated a lot.
And then we met more friends who shuddered at the thought.

So… one year we exchanged only homemade gifts.  Another year, none. Another year, we played the “present game” where a pile of assorted gifts was placed in the center of the room encircled by seats where we sat passing around a gift until the time was called and each could keep or trade away their little gift.  Another year, none.

Through all the years we’ve made cookies and treats and our annual most-special family dinner.  And celebrate the baby girl’s birthday.

Then, last year, our daughter-in-law suggested we “draw names” for gift giving (according to the agreed upon theme).  We’d never done this before.  I think some [of us] balked at the idea – some wondered what papa thought(!!).  But then as we, each one, thought about and planned and shopped for the person whose name we’d drawn, the thrill of finding just the right present seemed to add to the joy of the celebration of the birth of our Lord.

As we come to this “Christmastime” season… we do rejoice at the wonder of the Greatest Gift ever Given.  We read and reread every Christmas letter we receive.  We hang up every photograph we receive.  We have plans for baking special treats and cut-out cookies to decorate… plans for Christmas candies to make and for cutting out snowflakes and gathering greens for the ledges where the red and white pillar candles will be placed.  We have printed music for singing around the piano.  We have nuts for cracking and a most-special dinner to plan and prepare.

We have another birthday to celebrate… for the little baby born to us on Christmas Day.

But… most of all, we rejoice over the birth of the Greatest Gift ever Given.

The Latest Cool Stuff

You know when you’re sitting in you Doctor’s office waiting room and you sort of mindlessly thumb through the  magazines on the coffee table and you see things you didn’t even know existed or you see a half torn page and wonder what it was you missed?  Do you  log into Facebook or browse Google  News and see offers or Web ‘gadgets’ you don’t even understand?  Trend watchers, social engineers, movers and shakers all look for them: the latest cool stuff — the next big thing.

I remember when I first started blogging… I was keeping a journal of sorts on my website that I would update most every day — it was to keep visitors updated — it was a sort of  blend of In my kitchen today, things I was reading in the news, things I was doing around our house or what I’d added to the site.  I felt much more “folksy” or in touch with readers in those days than I do today — not just sure why — I didn’t have “comment” capabilities set up or anything like that, I just felt more in touch.  Anyway,  I’d delete the page and start a new one at the beginning of each month — each page decorated according to the season — even if it didn’t match the overall ‘decor’ of the site.  It was around that time that I started seeing the word: weblog.  I wondered, what in the world is a WEblog?    Yep, I read it that way, sought to understand it that way: WE blog.  A whaaa??    And I clicked links to WEblogs.  And I read them.  Duh: WEB(site) logs = Weblogs.  Those web-logs eventually became known simply as Blogs.  They were the next cool thing.   Thus, I began saving the old pages and starting new ones.  I didn’t know about blog software and couldn’t have imagined the proliferation of free publishing platforms and templates.

Around that time, “social networking” was also making its debut — though, technically, forms of internet “social networking” had been in place (internet bulletin boards, group lists, chatrooms, etc.)  for years.  But networks like Myspace, Facebook, etc., were the next cool thing.

Giant leaps of mind-boggling, technological wonders have dominated the “next cool thing” in the last few years.  And, if you’re over 30-35 years old (or so), I’m going to guess you’re in the “astonished” crowd — astonished, technologically speaking, anyway.  You’re in the crowd that had records, film cameras (the kind you had to pop a flash cube on top to take flash photos), 8-track tapes, tape-recorders, VHS movies, etc., etc.  And if you’re a lot older than that, you still think of carrying money in case you need to pay for gas or groceries, make a phone-call or leave a tip at a restaurant.  You still can’t believe you can drive in your car and talk to someone in, say, India, about your banking or your child in Africa.  In fact, you may still marvel that you can walk around your home talking on the phone instead of having to stand only as far from the permanently attached wall phone as your tangled up, coiled phone-cord would allow.  Maybe you still instantly think money when you hear a reference to: CD’s, you may still prefer/and use paper… paper sacks… subscribe to a daily paper, paper magazines, paper calendars, paper day-planners, paper letters, etc.  You may be like me… wondering what could come next…

And everyday there’s a new latest cool thing!  Not just in the technology/communication sector — but everywhere!  Just think of all the stuff we all *need* now… things we never *needed* before!  Things we now NEED, we never -ever- gave a thought to fifteen years ago.  Or ten years ago.  We never needed as much stuff as we need today.  It’s amazing.  And the need are seemingly exponential — there’s just too much cool stuff!  And, by the way… I’m not limiting needing cool stuff to tangible things. 

Just consider all the *ad-ons* and internet tools!!  Clothing, home decor, books, (per)versions of the Bible, methods for cooking, cleaning, studying, writing, music…

So, if you’re wondering what the latest cool thing is… stay tuned… maybe you and I will discover a new cool thing — or, you can look here: Cool Things.