The Welcome Home – Page 74 – The Next Chapter

Jesus Stood Still

I’ve been mulling over this thought all day: Jesus stood still. And so, I’ve been considering that for me, for you — for anyone who calls on Him in faith: Jesus stands still. Though He was on the Jericho Road… knowing full well that He was about to be delivered into the hands of the chief Priests and Scribes… and there along the way was blind Bartimaeus. Now, it’s not so much that he was there, or that Jesus knew he was there or even that He passed by him. It’s remarkable that when He passed by, He stopped.

Bartimaeus was told to come to Jesus… and he did so. He obeyed before he received the blessing of sight. I think that’s remarkable. I believe he would have followed Jesus even if he had not been healed. Instead, Jesus did heal him after asking Bartimaeus what he wanted. Bartimaeus wanted sight. And Jesus granted it and sent him on his way. But his way became the way of Jesus, for the Word says that Bartimaeus immediately received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Jesus affirmed to him that his faith had made him whole.
Many are blind and in need of the healing touch of the LORD… many will never see a daisy or a full moon or into the eyes of a newborn or face of a bride or the sky at sunset… but even they will see Jesus. But there are none so blind as those who will not see.

There is never a time when Jesus ignores the prayer of faith. Faith is the gift of God… for we all, like Bartimaeus, are born blind – figuratively or literally or both. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. All of us are as pitiful as beggers and unless or until Jesus stands still and stoops to hear us, we remain in that destitute state: beggers. Beggers without hope… as Ephesians 2.12 says: “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:” No hope and without God. But God! And this is the sweetest truth: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5.8)

Jesus stands still to hear your cries. He stands still to make intercession for you. He stands still to hear your faithful prayers. O, the enemy will attempt to convince you otherwise. O, the enemy or naysayers will attempt to thwart your faith, your hope, your love for the LORD. But God… but the LORD still hears and still answers… still stands still for you. Do you see that? The enemy and naysayer you know might shame you into thinking you aren’t heard or that you aren’t worth it or that you have failed too many times………. Ooooo, that’s the biggy: too many failings… too many mistakes… too much sin… too much time since your last Bible reading or too much time since your last act of faithfulness or act of kindness. Ah—but that’s not God — and you know it. You know when you call on Him… in faith… He hears you. There’s not a ticking time-clock and your time’s about to expire… no. Today if you will hear His voice. (Hebrews 3). Today.

Taste and see. Prove Him. You will never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever find Him unfaithful. Never. He stood still for me. He will stand still for you.

Oatmeal and Chicken pox… round 3

A month and a half ago we were oblivious to the intruder that would dominate our home. This weekend we have our final two ~~victims~~ chickenpockeybabies. I hadn’t any idea that I would be over and over again trying to recollect where we’d been, who we’d been with, how much contact there might have been, etc., etc. O, it’s not actually been such a difficult thing (easy for me to say, sans pocks), or such a hardship on anyone. Here. But what I wasn’t ready for was the constant mantra I’ve now been repeating:

To every visitor: “We have chicken pox, have you had chicken pox?”
To family and friends: “Do you need/want chicken pox in your home?”
To hosts and hostesses… “We were with you _______, and we just discovered that ________ has chicken pox. You’ll likely be thinking of us ~~warmly~~ in two weeks.”
“We can’t come over (or you might not want to come over) unless you want a gift that keeps on giving.”

And on and on the last several weeks have gone. I’m both heartened and disheartened that this is the last “round” of chicken pox I will experience as a mother of many children. Each time we face a “last” time of some experience, I feel a little melancholy and suddenly am awash with memories and mental images of days/children gone by. With each passing I’m more keenly aware of just how much water is or has been flowing under the bridge… season after season… the water flows. Though faster now.

A couple of weeks ago when Joseph was “itching like crazy,” we decided to try the oatmeal bath we’d read would bring some relief. So… after running a bit of water, we dumped in a bunch of oatmeal – left the room and Joey soaked in the tub. He loved it! I don’t know if he loved it bcz of the fun of soaking in the deep, old claw-foot tub or bcz he was using up oatmeal ~~instead of eating it~~, or if he was the only one getting to do something sooo bizarre! Whatever the case, he did enjoy it, and, in the process, he was relieved a bit! Later, we skimmed out the oatmeal ~~put it in a kettle, heated it up and served it for breakfast~~ and just threw it away.

Okay, but here’s why I told you about the oatmeal bath. When I was describing the process to a friend, she assumed that I rightly knew what to do. Wrong assumption. Often! So when she continued on and confirmed that I had put the oatmeal in a sock and let the bath water run through it… and that oatmeal has something in it that sooths itchy skin and brings comfort… I was nodding… and sort of glazed over. And she smiled when I said, no, I just put it right in! She gulped, she smiled — I’m sure she was wondering how in the world our family has survived my mothering of them all.

Okay… so… you put the oatmeal *in* the sock; tie off the sock; let bathwater run *over* the sock with the oatmeal in it. Okay. Okay. Got it. I’m still laughing and my friend probably marvels that Washington State issued me a driver’s license, too.

And another “last” experience? Dolly’s got a loose tooth.

Young Couples

For a few years now, we’ve had the privilege of having a weekly Bible study in our home. It’s been interesting and encouraging to watch the LORD work and show us new things, confirm or affirm old studies or understanding and to sharpen us in our walk with Him (and one another). Another tremendous blessing we’ve experienced is the blessing of walking with a young “newlywed” couple. I say “newlywed” that way bcz though they may feel like they’ve been married a long time now, to us it’s been a short time… not yet a year.

So last night we were talking together in our living room, after our study, and we were hearing some ideas they had about work and business opportunities and their plans. It’s always delightfully refreshing to talk with them as they’re so open, teachable and receptive to advice — now, that’s not to say that we tell them things and they automatically do them. No, no, no… that’s not what I mean by: receptive. What I mean is that they hear, consider and ponder their course. Perhaps what we share will be valuable to them and perhaps just a part of it will be useful. Whatever the case, they’re pliable… sort of like clay in the Hand of the Potter. O, and isn’t that just how we all desire to be to the LORD — pliable, yielded and tenderhearted toward the LORD?

Well, we were talking over some series of events early in our marriage and I was sharing with them that I’ve observed that most older folks — folks who’ve been married a number of years, would likely give nearly the same advice to young people. It’s really immaterial where they live, what they own, where they’ve been, etc., etc. What they would advise is very nearly the same. If they had it to do over, they would have saved regularly, they would have been more careful with their time and they would have developed healthful eating and exercise habits early on. We shared that we heard that advice early on. We heard it over and over and over. We didn’t heed that advice. We didn’t need to… we could keep working and we didn’t feel all that bad… so diet was sort of insignificant and exercise unnecessary. Oooooooooooo, wrong.

I shared that they could ask any couple and they’d likely hear the very same answers. That’s why marriage and finance books keep being written, that’s why health, diet and exercise books keep being written and that’s why New Year’s resolutions are essentially the same year after year. So I suggested that maybe they’d be ones to “break the mold” that maybe they’d hear and heed; maybe they’d be sitting in our place in thirty years telling the same thing to a young couple… only this time, from the perspective of having done so through the years and not later in their marriage.

We cautioned them about things not always being as they seem and that things never stay the same – of that they could be assured. We cautioned them about businesses offering grand income and little investment. We cautioned them about motives and how the accumulation of wealth –for most people– changes their outlook and a little more is always better. We talked about contentment and work and the necessity of having or doing both! It’s really easy to think that wealth wouldn’t change us and easier still to think that we’d be very, very generous if we made a large amount. Truth is, we’d all likely change and take care of ourselves first and then if, and that’s a big if, we had extra, we’d spread it around liberally.

Well, that brought up another topic and that was the matter of dual, or two, incomes… and the need to adjust their living expenses/needs and expectations to one income. Now, lest it seem we went from teaching or sharing to meddling, it was actually all part of the natural flow of the conversation. They shared that they’d been considering that quite a bit and had worked to that end themselves. See what I mean about them being pliable? The LORD was already working in their hearts… He was just using our conversation to clarity or affirm it to them (and to us). It’s no secret to them how we see the hand and working of the LORD in marriage and family.
We shared how that the LORD had cared for every single thing that’s concerned us, our family, our children, our home, our business, etc., etc, for nearly thirty years. In nearly thirty years we have had all our needs met — that though there were/are some very low times, very tough times, there was/is never a time where we did not have just what we needed — and we *needed* those tough times — especially early on! We needed to see God be God and for our faith to be strengthened and deepened. We needed His care in that way — we needed to see that no matter how foolish, how careless, or how faithless *we* were (are), He never is. He is always and only good. He is always and only faithful. We needed to *see* that and now… in faith we see how He was guiding us all the while. He was drawing us all the while. He proved (though He did not need to) Himself strong on our behalf. He was (is) forgiving and He was (is) our provider. We needed to see that… we need it now. He *is* faithful.

So… what a delight to talk and walk with those who are not as far down the road in years… but who walk with God and we share that very sweet and very strong bond of family in Him.

today’s slices

I’m taking a break from watching videos… yep, that’s me, sitting around watching videos in the middle of the day. Yep… I even made popcorn and a cup of tea. I was falling asleep and decided I needed to engage in some meaningful conversation. So… I guess others will decide if this’ll be meaningful or not. O, the video? It’s a Micro$oft program training video. Yes… I need to get going on our store… more aprons came today — thus the impetus for buckling down and watching the training video.

I’m thinking, wow, I should’ve had a video for Frontpage when I first began to use that program years ago. Whew… everything’s got a learning curve. I guess in a few years people like me will be able to sit at the computer and simply dictate info to the machine………. here’s what I want, here’s how I want it to look and here’s what I want to say and voilà: a functioning website! Maybe that’s just what will happen.

I know, I know… that’s what web designers do every day. They’re probably a lot like tax guys. Or Creative Memories consultants. They get a bunch of stuff in a shoe box… hear all the reasons why a person didn’t/can’t/won’t get the job done on their own and then sort through it all and attempt to make sense of it and come up with a nice presentation… uh… to the IRS or to the family… which ever comes first.

So, I’m wading through the program and am attempting to just make sense of it enough to put together the pages necessary to launch The Welcome Home Store. O… and all the while I am thinking of some pretty good advice a friend gave… Seeing’s how I was attempting to get everything all lined up neatly in a row… he suggested that I just launch out with whatever I had… one product or whatever and then see what happens. A lot of wisdom in that guy’s mind, I tell ya. And so… seeing that my husband isn’t wasting days and days doing his work… neither should I with mine. So… I’ll get to figuring out how to utilize the program… and hopefully I’ve properly perceived that the merchandise is good… as did my P31 sister, I need to get a shopping cart implemented and see about selling some ~~girdles to the merchants~~ Good Things.

But first… I want to share another bit with you… O, and about the falling asleep at the video? Truly… it was just me… the presenter is doing a great job… very informative, very thorough and well spoken. She’s just got such a soothing voice… I wasn’t bored… I was jut lulled to sleep. It’s just what happens when I’m read to for any length of time… or when I read the children’s stories to them in the late afternoon. ;o)

One of Timothy’s papers…

Why do statistics tell us that 80% of Americans are “born-again” Christians and yet America is one of the most openly immoral and vile countries? Christians live practically no different than the world! We go to the same corrupt movies, listen to the same fleshly music. Girls dress like prostitutes and guys dress like punks, both showing no respect for themselves and those around them. From a young age they are engaged in dating and other promiscuous activities. The divorce rate of the “church” and the world is practically the same. Christian teens have as much honor and obedience to their parents as their unsaved friends. We have a fraction of the zeal JW’s do, it’s painful and embarrassing for most to share their faith; besides, we are to busy arguing when the rapture will take place. It is not a problem for a reprobate to go to church, in fact churches go out of their way to make them as comfortable as possible! With sermons bringing no conviction, one could get “saved” and still continue on in the same lifestyle as before and yet this is no cause for alarm. We use bible translations that are worse than even the New World Translation. No one has any respect for the Word of God anymore!

The Church today is at best luke-warm and at worse cold and dead asleep.
As Christians we are supposed to be a counterculture and yet we blend right in!

Our country is rapidly decaying and about to fall, no one would deny this. We kill our newborn babies by the millions and ship our parents off to nursing homes–they both are just too inconvenient! The country is obviously divided on most everything. The world–and even the church–almost universally tolerates blatant immorality of every abominable sort, an obvious trademark of a nation about to collapse. The statistics on the revenue of the porn industry is deplorable.
The family has/is being destroyed. The average American family has two kids at most while Islamic families have an average of 7 and immigrants from Latin America who are truly Catholic have an average of 8 to 9! It doesn’t take very much brains to figure out what is going to happen!
Psalm clearly states: “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” (127:3-5.) Our liberal friends would have us to believe that we need to stop having children! If they don’t want a reward and would prefer to go into battle without arrows in their quiver they can go ahead!

In short, when the world looks at the church it sees itself! The Christians of the NT and later years shook the world! They died for their faith and took the Lord seriously. As Paul Washer said, “The American idea of a radical Christian is one who wears a religious t-shirt or has a bumper sticker on their car.”

What is going to stop the slide of this country and turn it around?! Obviously Liberal politics is quickening its demise. Conservative politics aren’t fairing any better! They thought since Mr. Bush was a Christian he would turn us around and yet he is handing the country over to Mexico and attempting to divide Israel. No, it’s not going to be in the arena of politics. If you want to fight a shark you don’t do it in the water!

This country and the world needs Jesus. The “church” needs Jesus! We need the gospel to be preached. We need Christians who are light and salt! We must take the basket off of our lamps. We must be in the word and in prayer daily. We must be walking in the power and after the Spirit. There must be revival or else there will be persecution–and the Lord knows we have enough mediocre and flat out hypocritical Christians that perhaps persecution is the only option.

It is not only a dark hour for America but for the whole world.

Brothers and sisters, the whole world is sinking wholesale into hell because there is no light. We must live up to our name, we are to be witnesses! We are preachers of peace and ministers of reconciliation!

What are you doing for the Lord? There is a war going on, get in it!”

Timothy – April ’07

chicken pox update

Everyday I look at our children… the ones who have the chicken pox and the two who haven’t yet contracted them. It’s gotten to the point that Andrew walks in and I smile at him and he sort of instinctively reads the smile as: okay, lift your chin, show me your neck; extend your arms, show me some spots… lift up your shirt, show me your tummy. Nothing. Yet.

Here’s what dolly thought of her chicken pox. She drew this picture of herself… yes, there were poxes on poxes ~wink~ all over. The one on the neck was particularly bothersome to her.

amelia pox

It’s idea time…

Good morning girls…
I received a letter this morning from a representative of At a Glance (day planners) and he alerted me to some “broken links” I have on one of the homemaking pages. Ah-me…….. a never ending process of keeping pages up to date. So, that took a few minutes of corrections and checking and then I got to thinking… I ought to make mention of some links that might help you. These pages have been up for many years and even they might have corrections needed… but I thought I post some of them in hopes that you might find just what you need for your homemaking.

So… here you go… I’m just pasting in several ideas and page links directly from our site:

For Breakfast	We alternate a basic menu that’s served with whole wheat toast, milk and fruit: Farina, Oatmeal, Cold Cereal 1 day per week, Muffins and fruit 1 day per week. And we generally fix a “big” breakfast one day per week. Sometimes we serve hot chocolate and sometimes we make smoothies instead of the hot food.
For Lunch	We have a wide variety of foods for lunches… if not “left-over’s,” then we choose an item from the “Bunches of Lunches” list I made up a long time ago and taped it inside our kitchen cabinet. This list has helped me immensely over the years when I stand in the kitchen and wonder: what in the world should I fix today?
For Snacks when Dinner’s going to be later	We have fruits, nuts, bagels and cream cheese, veggies and dip, cookies or smoothies, pop-corn or chips and salsa.
For Dinner	Need some Ideas? Dozens of Dinners and Dinner meal recipes Print off the Dozens of Dinners and/or the Bunches of Lunches and tape the page inside one of your cabinet doors. You will have ideas at the ready… You just have to remember to look!! So… ideas for you: Make two main dishes at a time.. this way you will have one to serve and one to save for another meal. If you will do this every week at least once, you will have quite a “storehouse” of back up meals. Then each time you face a busy day, just pull out a meal from the freezer in the morning and you’ll have most of your dinner prepped in advance with little extra effort. Usually, the biggest effort is simply gathering the food and allotting appropriate time for the meal prep! Another helpful trick is to cook up LARGE batches of meat, beans or soup/stew. Freeze in ziplock bags in portions according to the needs of your family and you will have the most time-consuming portion of the meal already done!

What season is this?

I’m in my little room here… it’s what I’ve always called the sun-room though it’s not often sunny in here, it always feels like it ought to be. In the early morning the sun (if present) shines in a few little windows and then in the late afternoon, again, if present, the sun shines in the little window on the other side of the room. It’s a very tiny space in our home… but it’s where I see the world and where I study and dream. It’s also where I write and, through this screen, see the rest of the world. Some of my favourite books and favourite pictures surround me here in this little room… this little alcove serves as the quietest and busiest room in the house.
So, today I’m looking out at the world around me — though it’s nearly obscured by the now full and long branches of the weeping willow tree. I cannot really tell what season it is. The tree tells me it’s not winter or early spring… but the sky… the weather… it feels like the season of gray. It’s like gray’s the prevailing season here in the Pacific Northwest. It’s gray in the fall, it’s gray in the winter and it’s gray in the spring and summer. It’s gray lots of the year… and then, it feels as if the LORD scoops up a handful of sunshine every now and then and sprays it all around and then at other times, He flings some wind our way and brightens up the sky, sweeping it with the most brilliant blues imaginable. I attempt to recreate those days in the theater of my mind on days like today. Except for the constant whirring of the computer fan, it’s quiet enough to hear the birds in the trees outside. I can almost hear the different seasons’ children playing in the yard.

I can’t tell if someone ought to be bringing in a load of firewood… I can’t tell if I ought to be stirring some soup simmering on the stove. I can’t tell if I ought to get out the corduroy clothes or if I ought to be watching the flood tables. I can’t tell if I ought to be pouring over seed catalogs or if I ought to be pruning the rose bushes. I can’t tell if I ought to be canning applesauce or sewing or knitting. For outside, the skies look like fall? or winter? or early spring? or… yep, gray. It’s still gray.

It’s gray… it’s every season, but I know it ought to be summer-season. I can almost hear children jumping and splashing in the pool. I can smell the most delicious smells in the world… a curious blend of coppertone, iced tea with lemon, bain de soleil, dr. pepper and saltwater and sand… Ah… and it’s all happening here in this little alcove! If I stay here long enough, I’ll doze off with that dream and maybe fall off my chair… ah, that dream of summer breeze.

Instead… I have a job to do. Ah, yes… it *must* be summer! I’m making raspberry jam and jelly from the raspberries being picked by the bowlful. Yes, even if it is the season of gray… it must be summer! I’ve got to step away from here… I’ve got work to do. Gotta make hay while the gray shines!

just checking in…

These have been unusually busy days… and though there are many things to write, many things I’ve been pondering as I’ve been working around and many events to share, these days continue to roll along and time to reflect on them here has been too limited.

Probably the most challenging and sometimes disappointing thing about busy days and many events is that each event is almost covered up or obscured by the next event, and the next, and so on. You probably have days or seasons like this, too. There are days, lately, where I’ve wanted to say: stop, I want to hang around this day a bit longer… but the next thing happens and another day passes over it.

We’ve sure been blessed with many wonderful experiences, many visits, lots of miles on the van and now home again preparing for our annual “backyard party for family and friends.” This is by no means an exclusive party – in fact, it’s known that anyone’s welcome to bring their own family and friends, too. So we’ve spent the last few days getting things ready… browsing through Kathryn’s Africa pictures, and welcoming Timothy home and hearing all about mission’s school, talks he’s heard and books he’s read and the classes he’s taken… as well as some of his upcoming plans. And… last, but not least, we’ve been helping a couple of our children brave these hot and itchy days of chicken pox.

There’s never really a convenient time to get chicken pox… but, I must say, I think I’d rather have the children undergo this illness in the summer rather than in the winter. As I remind them, in a week, or so, they will look back and say: now, that wasn’t so bad. ~smile~ That’s what I tell them, anyway. I know… easy for me to say… but, actually, experience has taught me… that this, as with many things we initially think are too difficult, is a small thing to go through in the scheme of things.

I hope to get back on track here very soon. I’ve missed blogging… but… wow—has the “blogosphere” been buzzing. From government things, to feminism, to patricentricity, to the passing of Dr. Raymond Moore, to lots of wonderful things sisters in the LORD are sharing on their blogs. I’d just like to say to all of them: thank you… thank you, and blessings to you all for the wonderful ways in which you inspire me and others to press on… to stay the course and live in obedience to the Scriptures… and to be a blessing wherever you are. All the loud things pale in comparison to the truly delightful things many are sharing. O, the loud things grab attention and siphon life… but the sweet things keep attention and inspire living.

More in a day or so………………………….. when the garden torches are extinguished after the party.

great recipes and more

My chef brother called this morning… lots of great ideas and encouragement here in my kitchen. He was interested in hearing about my visit to the doc a couple of weeks ago and was concerned that maybe I was dealing with not so much a high level of uric acid (which I don’t have) but too much acid or, rather, acidic blood rather than alkaline blood.

And so… after telling him all about my talks with “my herbalist” and what I was attempting to do… he said… see? this conversation isn’t just a coincidence! I know that the LORD uses many things in my life that are co-incidences — times where the vertical meets this horizontal and speaks to me about whatever’s going on. I told him that, too. God meets us where we’re at—the vertical meeting the horizontal for the purpose of the horizontal becoming vertical. Well, that spiritual analogy breaks down, I suppose, but I was sure thankful to the LORD for His tender mercy and lovingkindness… it’s just what I needed right about now.

And so some of those recipes? Well… he shared a site with me and then began to read some of the recipe names and described them to me. I’m glad I didn’t suffer any dietary setbacks from the recipes and foods he was describing to me. You can talk all day long about making turtles or making appetizers… but I’m totally gone after a bite. So, for now, I need to stick to just browsing the site: recipes-from-friends.com. When he recommends a site, I know it’s a good one… cooks usually know the best sites.

Then, another friend called me this morning with some recommendations… and I’ll have to do some browsing to see what might be most helpful here in our home. This one’s the Beeyoutiful site… articles, supplements and essential oils. The other site I was looking at was Doc Shillington’s site: Academy of Natural Healing. So many things to read. I had previously searched the site and receive email updates — lots of great ideas and crazy names. So… lots to see today!