The Welcome Home – Page 81 – The Next Chapter

blessings

There is immeasurable value in seizing great opportunities and making significant sacrifices on behalf of our families. These sacrifices might include, time, money, missing other good things, discomfort, inconvenience, etc., etc. But, through the years we, as a couple and as a family, have seen the greatest blessings come from great sacrifice of any one or all of the sacrifices listed above.

I think we often underestimate the value of hearing great teaching and, perhaps, we overestimate the retention of things we’ve heard or think we remember from past teaching (especially when we’ve heard and agreed with great teaching but never bothered to apply it). For example, one might say: “I’ve already read that stuff.” Another might say,”I’m getting too old and that sort of teaching or that sort of conference really isn’t applicable to me at my stage or phase of life.” Still another might say, “Been there; done that.” O, may we never become so egocentric or so complacent that we’re satisfied with our experience enough to reject future opportunities with: “been there; done that” mentality. That mentality is selfish and dead-end. But our lives are so not dead-end. We mustn’t let the world creep in and destroy or distort that message and the world is creeping in—so much so, it’s creepy.

For example… what if I said and lived the “been there; done that” in mothering or motherhood? Would I be living according to the Word? Where’s the Titus2 message in the “been there; done that” mentality or way of living. It’s not. No Titus2 message there. But that’s the world’s message, it’s the world’s mentality, isn’t it? Once you’ve been there, once you’ve done that, your done. I’m seeing now, it’s only the beginning! It’s not over!I have to guard against that humanistic tendency—that self-centered view or the “been there; done that” mentality. I must guard against the “I already did all that stuff or heard all that stuff” sort of thinking—and believing.

O, more and more I see the tremendous value in sitting down and listening to men and women who open the Word of God and teach – teach the Word of God. We’re reticent to spend time in study or spend time in the Word but so readily open the Times newspaper or People mag or other tales and fables, but it is in The Bible we read from God’s perspective: man’s position, proper aim and end and God’s plan and design for all three.

So… we were at the Christian Heritage conference this past weekend… and my-o-my, what a blessing. What a blessing to spend time with believers seeking to train up children in the ways of the LORD by homeschooling instead of relinquishing children to the care and training of government schools. O, what a blessing to see all the young(!) families training up faithful sons and daughters. I smiled as I watched them soaking in all the teaching and I prayed that they would stay on the path and not dabble in the things that derail families and destroy convictions. And, what a sweet blessing to meet men and women I’ve only talked with on the phone or corresponded by email… and to see old friends. And I do mean old. ~smile~

I must say, the messages of truth and purpose of parenting/homeschooling as presented by Voddie Baucham were, undoubtedly, among the greatest I have ever heard. And I do not say this boastfully, but we have had privilege through the years to see, hear or read some incredibly gifted and powerful teachers and teaching—but the impact of his life, training, and understanding was tremendous. I’ll be sharing a few of the notes and quotes in the days ahead.Incidentally, I was also so very blessed to finally meet Stacy McDonald as I have talked to her by telephone and chatted by mail numerous times throughout the last 8 years, but, as yet, never had opportunity to meet face to face nor to hear her presentations -all of which were very encouraging. It’s easy to feel like a lone voice in the “christian world” today on matters of home, modesty, feminine dress, homeschooling, design of marriage and family… but contrary to what the enemy would like us to believe, we’re are, indeed, not alone and these truths neither fall on deaf ears nor are spoken by the lone few.

So: Homeschool!
Home’s cool. It’s where it’s at. It always has been.

More later…

I stayed up a bit too late last night corresponding with Kathryn, sending out her letters and reading through more notes.
I need to go… I am the mother.
I need to live it. And I am glad.

Kathryn’s Letters

Another note of celebrating this son

Samuel’s favourite hymn is: O Love that wilt not let me go. I smiled through tears just now as I listened to him play that hymn on the piano. He occasionally reads music, the rest of the time it just flows… and beautifully, I might add.

Here are the words to that hymn. See Cyberhymnal to read more about it and to listen to the tune–it’s lovely.

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Celebrating the boy and the azalea bouquet

This is a great and marvelous day in history! A great day in His-story for our family… and it’s been a great day each year for the last 17 years. Even as I type this -17- s-e-v-e-n-t-e-e-n, I say: wow.

Seventeen years -years!- we have been celebrating the birth, blessing and life of our Samuel—yep, seventeen today.

hannah 'n samuel
hannah and samuel eating strawberries on the lawn…
a ~~long time~~ few years ago.
It looks like they’re eying the ~~tree~~ stump doesn’t it? ~wink~

Gotta tell a funny story. This’ll be sweet for the gramma’s and will be, hopefully, encouraging to younger ma’s. As you can see in the pic above, Samuel and Hannah are sitting on the front lawn. We used to live in a home that was situated at the center of a cul-de-sac and all the gardening done there was in containers and hanging baskets. So, I had an azalea plant that I had, for a few years, pruned and had trained into an azalea “tree” and it was quite beautiful! Well, earlier that spring, the other children had been bringing me bouquets of beautiful spring and wild flowers and so, imagine, if you will, my surprise(!) when Samuel came in and brought me the *whole* top of the fully blooming azalea tree. I am *so* glad that at that moment I exclaimed *delight* at the gift – instead of anger! Part of that delight, actually, was stunned surprise! I told him that was the most beeeeeutiful bouquet I had *ever* received. I kissed and thanked him.

Later that day, I took him and the rest of the children outside and showed them the type of things we cut and the type of things we look at – flowers that always stay *outside* in the yard. That was the beginning of “outdoor bouquets” and “outdoor flowers.” I am still telling the children that today… only, the children I am telling that to are *grand!*children.

Just this morning, I was telling Samuel that I haven’t ever received as gift that was given with such love and joy as the gift of the azalea bouquet… and I hoped his birthday was sweeter than that.

And you know what? I’m still wondering how he ever lopped off that azalea tree.

Cooking for a large family

I thought I’d share a bit about cooking today for a large family. Oooops, wait a minute… you might just call it: cooking for a family with lots of chairs around the table. I’m getting a little sensitive to the term large family… you know… what with the need to be on another umpteenth-and-one diet and all. Okay… so here’s a little bit of my TNT advice for you:

TNT advice is Tried ‘n True

LEARN TO COOK IN DOUBLES. When you make special meals, MAKE TWO: ONE TO SERVE AND ONE TO SAVE. When you cook meat, grate cheese, chop onions, make breads, make cookies, or whatever: ALWAYS THINK AHEAD… Think in terms of TOMORROW’s food needs! Think ahead about what’s ahead and plan for it by cooking for it. REALLY… cooking ahead will save you LOADS of time and money. Try it… you will see and you will not be disappointed. This is not like some cottage industry that you put out oodles of time and then discover that you have only made a few dollars in a year!

REALLY! Try cooking in quantity… you will have less waste, less trips to the store, less impulse buying, less mess, less wasted time, less frustration over what to fix for dinner, less guilt over what you didn’t use in time or what you could have made but didn’t. Buy quantity, cook quantity and serve quality meals. Really… whatever you call it: freezer cooking, mega cooking, quantity cooking, cooking ahead… it doesn’t matter what you call it, just do it. Even if you don’t do it “just right” or how you think other women do it… just do it. Make a few and try it; then another time double what you did before… and then, before you know it, your freezer will be like a treasure trove… filled with time savers and your cook and serve/cook and save method will be a life saver to you and a blessing to your family! By the way, that concern over doing things the way you think other women do them? Forget it. It’s a myth. Most moms are just like you… doing the best they can with what they’ve got at the time. Just glean what you can and forget the rest. Today’s a good day to start…

Remember TNT… tried ‘n true; these are things that have benefited other women; but you need to do what you can at the time… but stretch a little: TNT (try new things).

missing Kathryn

Now two thirds of the way through her stay in Uganda, East Africa, we are sooooo missing our precious girl. I’m not sure which gripped me more today… finding out that she’d just received a package that was carried into the country or calling her and getting cut off as she was, in mid sentence, describing to me her delight at the things we sent and how glad she was tha…

I attempted many times to call her back… thirty-seven numbers over and over… and each time hearing: “The number you are attempting to call is not in service at this time…” So, I wait, and in three hours I will attempt to call again. I miss her more with each passing day and with each passing day I think of more things I wish I could tell her or show her and I so wish I could hear her play the piano. But even having said all that, I would not wish for her to have missed this trip for anything and I would not wish her home a day earlier than the time planned for the work there, and I surely would not trade these days here praying for her, watching for her, reading her letters or hearing her long-distance calls; no, I wouldn’t trade these days for anything.

kg josephine

I was thinking of her piano playing and was just reminded of a special blessing of the LORD. She’s been longing to play the piano… sort of as one is thirsty on a hot day, that’s how she longs to play the piano. Several weeks ago she began asking different ones she’s met if there was a piano somewhere. She had been telling us how she so longed to play something – anything! We smiled and prayed she’d have some opportunity somewhere. But, pianos are extremely scarce and even keyboards are rare and though she ordinarily does not like keyboards, she would more than gladly play one if even for a short time. So the weeks went by and as God would have it, there was a sweet and unexpected opportunity to play the Good Friday service in a church in Jinja. She loved that so much and shared with us how much it meant to her. Anyway, that was just one of many of the sweet serendipities she’s received or experienced while there in Jinja.

I think that opportunity will fill a sweet spot in her heart as she looks back on days in Jinja. Music is “everything” to her – or so she sometimes says. I know her favourite to play is the grand piano and we’ve often teased her that that’s how she will know it’s time for her to marry… a grand piano will be delivered to her home since she’s often said that’s the only thing she really wants. And, knowing that one would never fit in this old farmhouse – it will have to be in hers ~smile~ someday… that is unless the LORD would have her in Jinja… then… well… pianos would diminish in significance.

A mom’s gotta be pretty sharp…

to stay ahead of boys. And even a semi conscious state of prayer blesses a mom and gives practical wisdom. I have to stop and thank the LORD often for His intercession on my behalf. I suppose I’d lose my mind, otherwise—that, or I’d sure lose a lot of ground each day.

It was out on the counter… I know, probably beckoning the boys to go by and take a piece or two. And, you know, it wouldn’t have been so noticeable had a knife not been utilized in the removal of bit of the ham. I’d probably hardly take notice of a couple of bits of ham missing. But the knife… that was blatant. So I told the few gathered around me that there are just some lessons in life that need to be learned—not to just hear, but to hear and heed!

So, I had to use some “boy examples” to get my point across—and mom’s have to talk quick, keep rapt attention and be relevant. Well… I remembered that after I gave a couple of girl examples—one being, the example of having six hard-boiled eggs in a pan and an egg plate that will hold 12 deviled eggs. If a boy comes in and eats just one of the boiled eggs, the egg dish will not be complete. So I told them that when things are on the counter, you can just look at them… no touching. Like—don’t touch the eggs or when there’s a ham on the counter and you see it is sitting next to the soup kettle on the stove, don’t touch it—it’s got a use. Well, I saw that I was met with sort of glazed eyes and I could sort of see there might be a response coming… “And so, would you have to boil more?” I nodded and squinted a bit and said, “yes, yes you would.”

Okay… it was time to utilize man sort of logic… so I told them, it’s sort of like hood ornaments on big guys’ trucks. You just don’t touch em. They are not even to be used, in reality. They’re just to look at—it’s something everyone knows: you just don’t touch them. If you’re building a picket fence and you need one hundred pickets, if I just come by and take a couple for some woodstove kindling, that will totally wreck finished appearance of the fence you’re attempting to complete. If you go to someone’s home, do you just go in and start eating their foods? If you’re making a pan of brownies, and I just come a take away the egg (and you don’t have anymore) then you cannot make the brownies.

“Oooo, that’d be so terrible.”

Seeing that I was getting somewhere, I noticed a sparkle in the eyes of one of the boys. And then he gave me an example he’d heard. He told me that guys have to learn when they get married that there are two kinds of towels in the bathroom. Some you use and some you never use. You gotta get that straight: the ones you never use.

I nodded. And I said, “Okay, then keep it straight: there’s some stuff you just don’t touch. Ever. And if you can, I’ll let you know.” That boy said, ” Or my wife will.”

I said, “Right… but get it straight before that happens. And… leave the rest of the ham alone… it’s for the soup for dinner.”

Elation in the kitchen… it’s hailing outside!

new crusaders

Okay… I must say that I was ~~outraged~~ discouraged by that mock drill in the Burlington, NJ high school the other day. And, I admit, I was particularly offended by the inferences that Christians are gun-toting rebels who are propelled to hysteria if they can’t (or as in this case, their children can’t) pray in school. I hate the hijacking of the Constitution, the smearing of the Bible and mocking believers and the faith.

But I also hate some of the stupid things that are going on in the “church,” too. I put quotes around that bcz I know that not all believers are part of the circus and things like Giving Kiosks in church building foyers. And, pretty soon, Al Gore won’t be the only one nicknamed the Shaman of Global doom and gloom or the shaman of global goofiness…. I won’t be surprised if many well known preachers get slapped with such a label. But… it won’t be the kinder-gentler contemplative, emergent types who’ve on purpose made themselves as inoffensive and fluid as Cool-aid. I was purpose driven in spelling Kool-aid that way, btw.

But as much as I was irritated by that school drill and another such drill a few years ago… I don’t think Christians ought to stoop to that abysmal level of immaturity and attempt to retaliate with some new crusade. Now that name’s taken from the mock drill and the label given to the terrorists who entered the school armed and dangerous in revenge over a daughters’ being denied the right to pray at school. Okay… so we know that it was a hit on Christians, and we know that some unbelievers, pagans, atheists… yada, yada, yada are hostel toward Believers—those whom they see as a threat to their “rights” and activities. Okay… fine. But you know… to it’s incumbent on us to behave rationally and to see these attacks for what they are. And to stir our hearts to pray and then, obviously, to live according to the Word.
The New Crusaders site does this quite well—showing first the absurdity of possible retaliation and also cleverly points out, by way of hypothetical questions, what *truly* would happened if the “gunmen” were, say… homosexual, or say… ah: Muslim, or say… any defined ethnicity and if the reason was any thing other than the stupid oppressive fundamental Christian activities. And then, finally, to shed true light on the situation.
These sorts of news pieces should not cause us furor, but rather should truly be a wake-up call to believers. I share some of these sorts of things to show one thing: the apathy of believers and what’s happening in the wake of the church today.

He *I*S* Risen… just as HE said. It is good news. It is The Good News.

All hail.

He is Risen, as He said. Just as He said He would do, He did. And because He did what He said He would do, He will do what He said He will do. We have His Word on that and not only that, He died and rose again that it would be so. He alone is Faithful and True.

Think about what it would have been to be those to whom He said, “All hail.” (Matthew 28.9) That “all hail” comes from the word, “chairo” and could well have been translated: Rejoice! as that word, chairo, was translated “rejoice” in many other places in the New Testament. He could have met them by the way saying: Rejoice! And because He did meet them by the way, and He has met us by the way, we truly can say: Rejoice.

I was a senior in high school when I came to a saving knowledge of the LORD… but, O, how grateful I am that He had His loving hand of protection on me my whole life. I will never forget the day, it was as though I was going along unaware of the total depravity of my life, that, apart from Jesus, I had nothing — was nothing. O, I wasn’t a naughty girl and I wasn’t a wayward daughter and I would have proclaimed my own goodness (as in Proverbs 20.6: “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?”) and if asked, I would have thought that on my own merits I was going to heaven—you know, because I was a good person and all. But then I came to see that it was not at all on my own merit that I would be judged and saved, it was specifically and only because of faith in Jesus and the finished work of the Cross. In and of ourselves, there is no salvation. And, in fact, in and of ourselves is no good thing. But the enemy would attempt to convince otherwise. Woooooooo… that’s something that’s hard for most people because most people consider themselves to be good people. You know, not robbing banks, not killing people, not stealing from stores or spitting on sidewalks. You know, we all wish to see ourselves in the best possible light, and it’s true, in fact, that most people are “pretty good” characters (some of the time).

But God doesn’t judge on all that, for actually there is truly no one who measures up to the holiness,goodness and pure righteousness of God. And it is against that righteousness that we are judged. That’s the whole what and why of Jesus. Jesus came to save sinners—us. Jesus stands in our place on the day of judgment. Jesus didn’t come to give us trinkets and health, wealth and prosperity as many seem to proclaim and promise. No. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, to redeem them to Himself and to secure their redemption that in life and in death we would not be eternally separated from God. That is it. For apart from Jesus all men perish. All men. All women. In all places. For all time.

But then there’s the Good News. He came that we might have life and that, life everlasting. The Bible says, Believe in the LORD Jesus Christ and you will be saved. I know when I was first saved, it was such a foreign thing to me to realize that thou I thought I was doing okay, I realized that I truly was a sinner in need of a Saviour and that day began a journey with the LORD, who sought me and bought me with His precious redeeming blood. It was not of works but solely by His grace that He saved me and keeps me to the end. I stood that day in the Little Brown Church in Pacifica and I stand today: on the precious promises of my LORD and Saviour. My Risen LORD and Saviour.

After that most oft quoted verse are these: John 3:17-21
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

He didn’t come to condemn—He came to save. Praise the LORD. Christ The LORD Is Risen Today!

How GREAT Thou art!! Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee… Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee: How Great Thou art! Christ the LORD is Risen today… Alleluia!

REJOICE!
And again, I say: REJOICE!

I forgot I didn’t ever want to ever…

…have a garage sale again. You know how I often say: write stuff down, for you will surely forget it? Well, this day reminds me to write stuff down, lest I forget and fall into temptation. So, the temptation was before me: should we have a garage sale or not? So… I was thinking this morning: O, what was I thinking? And then we had a couple of people come by and look at the things.

“What will you take for these?”
“Two dollars”
“O, that’s too much.”
“What? I paid 40 x’s that much for those.” (O, btw, that’s what I was thinking!)
Then I say… “Okay… one (1) dollar.”
“O, okay… I guess I could pay that much.”
“Riiiiiiigggghhhttt.” (O, sorry… I thought that one, too)
And sweetly smiled and thanked the man ~~profusely~~ for coming by ~~and parting with *ON*E* dollar~~.

“How much for the gate?
“Five dollars.”
“O, that’s too much. I wanted wood.”
I’m smarter now… “O, I see. Sorry, we couldn’t help you there.”
“We need it for the dog.”
“Hmmm…” (I say, smiling)
“O, well…. I guess we’ll have to… keep looking…”
“Okaaaaay. Sorry, Eeyore. Have a nice day!”
(O, c’mon, I’m just kidding —I don’t know if the man’s name was Eeyore or not. I *did* smile and tell them, Have a nice day!)
Here we have all this ~~gloriously valuable~~ stuff (well, maybe some of it is really junque) and we also have a ~~rainy~~ nice spot to set it out and, we do, after all, have all the traffic in the county driving by, so… how about a garage sale? That was two days ago.

Today we’ve tarped and untarped, tarped and untarped… the showroom area. ~wink~ And people have stopped by and have parted with hard earned ~~dollars~~ quarters. And the children have had opportunity to demonstrate sweet manners and self control (to not make comments about this or that “customer” and how much we originally thought we ask for this or that item) and to help keep things neat and orderly. They’ve seen free enterprise at work—read: free.

So, I’m inside taking a break, reading mail, drinking a cup of Earl Grey Tea and eating a Zone bar… and decided to blog this day… so that perhaps someone can remind me, in case I forget… that I don’t ever want to ever have another garage sale ever again. Ever. And I hope there isn’t a next time that I… blog on this.

Well, gotta go… it’s my turn to man the ~~can of quarters~~ cash box and greet the shoppers. The greeting the shoppers really has been nice. I’m thinking I’d be a whole lot better at just putting out a sign and say something like: Come by for a cup of tea… you don’t even have to buy it!

sweet sleep

I woke up this morning already in thought and already writing a message and as often happens, I completely lost the thought – though at the time it was complete and articulate (or so it seemed to me!). Isn’t it interesting how that goes or how “life lessons” are? We think, at the time of the event or thought, that it is something we shall never forget. We hear a message and it resonates with us and we think it was the most marvelous message. We might say that something we heard or something we read was of such significance that it was “life changing.” And then… as if to have never heard it or read it, it is completely gone – gone from our minds, gone from our consciousness into the sea of forgetfulness.

This has happened so many times and, sadly, happens increasingly as I get older… and I think to myself: why don’t I, or why didn’t I, write that down? O, the books I write in my dreams… compelling and succinctly written – in my dreams I have skill. And then I wake up… make the bed, prepare for the day and that once-wonderful work vanishes.

Sometimes I think it’s all for naught and then I stop to discover that even in sleep, the LORD is with me and blesses me. Now, that might sound arrogant and maybe even a bit off, theologically, but I don’t mean it to be so. What I mean to say is that as our hearts and minds are stayed on Him, even our sleep shall be sweet. I was thinking on Proverbs 3.21-25

My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.”

So if the thoughts of the night escape me in the day I will still rejoice at the sweet sleep the LORD gives and the protection and provision He seems to lavish on me. I should hope to write down the blessings and thoughts He brings my way. But even if I don’t and even if I should forget, I will still trust in Him and I will yet praise Him more and more. He is my precious Risen LORD!