Well, the Imperial Walker was back yesterday and blocked the entrance to our street for awhile. We were told by a neighbor that we would have to park our cars on some other street blocks away once they start resurfacing the street. This is all very stressful and I am stressed. And the noise, noise, noise, noise! Zut alors.
May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!
–Psalm 29:11
In other news, the iris are beginning to bloom.
They put on quite a show, don’t they? Also the bud’s other front tooth fell out.
He announced this to me when he and the boy came over while Lottie was in dance class. We had fun sitting outside.
The wee laddie got a good look at the Imperial Walker.
The OM and I made it Mahomet and back again–an easy peasy drive across the Illinois prairie.
We had absolutely fabulous weather–beautiful blue skies and not too windy.
We celebrated a couple of birthdays and walked around the neighborhood. We drove through the lovely Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve along the corridor of the Sangamon River, which is practically next door to daughter #1’s house. I am looking forward to visiting the Museum of the Grand Prairie on a future visit. We had dinner in Champaign, but mostly we did a lot of sitting outside, soaking up and frolicking in the sun.
Say cheese! Photogenic ladies
Unfortunately the boy was not around to take wonderful blog photos, so this is the best I can do. I didn’t even get a picture of the birthday girl. C’est la vie.
We had a wonderful time, but you know I’m always happy to cross the river and see the Arch and come home.
I watched the Masters Sunday afternoon. Scottie won! (And Ida got a popsicle!)
And here’s this to start your week off right:
My Shepherd will supply my need: Jehovah is His Name; In pastures fresh He makes me feed, Beside the living stream. He brings my wandering spirit back When I forsake His ways, And leads me, for His mercy’s sake, In paths of truth and grace.
When I walk through the shades of death His presence is my stay; One word of His supporting grace Drives all my fears away. His hand, in sight of all my foes, Doth still my table spread; My cup with blessings overflows, His oil anoints my head.
The sure provisions of my God Attend me all my days; O may Thy house be my abode, And all my work be praise. There would I find a settled rest, While others go and come; No more a stranger, nor a guest, But like a child at home.
Tomorrow the OM and I are heading over to Illinois to visit daughter #2 and celebrate her birthday on Sunday.
In the meantime I have a lot to do. The boy is coming over tonight to help load up the car with stuff to take for her new house. Thankfully she is an appreciative recipient and welcomes all the odds and ends I can shove her way.
It goes without saying that I think she is a wonderful daughter, wife, sister, and mother and that we all love her.
But I will say it anyway. We love you, Susiebelle! Happy birthday!
Watch over thy child, O Lord, as her days increase; bless and guide her wherever she may be. Strengthen her when she stands; comfort her when discouraged or sorrowful; raiseher up if she fall; and in her heart may thy peace which passeth understanding abide all the days of her life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
How was your weekend? Mine was a quiet one, mostly spent hanging out at home. Although it was chilly, we could sit out on the patio and soak up some vitamin D on Saturday.
I went to a few estate sales and picked up two books.
I am reading the Keegan now and really enjoying it. I am no scholar, but I find it accessible and readable. And I love reading about all those guys, especially my heroes: Grant and Sherman.
There is much to be learned from them.
Church was held outside on Sunday morning and luckily it was not raining, although it was chilly, overcast and windy. I dressed appropriately and I enjoyed it. We started a new sermon series on Paul’s letter to Titus, having finished the gospel of Mark, and our new young (29 years old) lead pastor gave a good sermon. He does not cut and paste from the internet, but gives a good exegesis of the text, in this case Titus 1:1-4. Stonewall Jackson would have approved–it was all about the doctrine of election.
Meanwhile Anne “enjoyed the astonishing delight of getting to see my name in Not the Bee underneath the Andrew Walker tweet that went viral.” Take heart, not all the news is terrible. As the Bee says:
We’re here, and we’re fine.
Growing up Baptist and going to VBS didn’t hurt anyone.
There’s no book because this is how normal, well-adjusted, salt-of-the-earth Christian men and women are raised. Nothing is extraordinary about this story. And that’s the point – God uses the weak and mundane and insignificant things in the world’s eyes to shame the things that the world considers #StunningAndBrave.
Amen, brother.
The young bud played in his first lacrosse game and was, by all accounts, a scrappy competitor.
*And here’s a blast from the past which has new meaning for us since Decatur is just up the road now from daughter # 2 et famille.
I am told it is Katie’s favorite song right now and she always sings along to the line, “Sangamon river it overflowed.”
It’s April again! Woowee, I can hardly believe it. It came in like a lion–stormy!
I spent yesterday getting the house back in semi-order after our busy and fun-filled weekend. Laundry, dishes, toys.
Just the usual.
I had DVR’d Godspell (1973) when it was on TCM on Easter and I watched about 20 minutes of it. It is of an era, for sure, but it is pretty unwatchable I’m afraid.
Is that Grant’s Tomb?
I remember in high school the choir from another school came and sang selections of it in chapel and I thought hearing the words to old Anglican hymns sung to sultry tunes was pretty cool. (Turn back, oh man! Forswear thy foolish ways!) The whole thing is really kind of high school quality though. Seriously I wish they had done it at KHS–the boy would have been great in it! I loved the cast album and listened to it a lot in college, but I don’t think I ever saw the whole play performed. Day By Day was a big hit. I had forgotten that DC Talk covered it in 1995.
Now you gotta love that.
It is also interesting to note that in the movie, which takes place in Manhattan, the city looks terrible–dirty, run-down. Central Park is a mess. Thankfully the park was renovated in the following decades. We are so used to seeing NYC photographed to look good, but not so in this movie. The production values are generally very low.
As is often the case, things you thought were great as a teenager do not hit you the same way years later. Thank goodness, right?
And I really liked this about a man who died in the pulpit.
How was your Easter weekend? We had our whole family together so it was joyous, if not sometimes a bit overwhelming. I mean seven adults, four children under seven, and a small dog. I am very grateful.
On Saturday daughter #2 and famille arrived and we hung out with daughter #1 and Mr. Smith.
On Easter we all met at church. Lottie and the bud set an excellent example of non-depraved behavior for Katie and Ida in their first visit to church. On their way out of town, daughter #2 texted me Katie’s comment about church:
The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, (Act 15:21; Rev 1:3); the sound preaching, (2Ti 4:2); and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith, and reverence, (Jam 1:22; Act 10:33; Mat 13:19; Hbr 4:2; Isa 66:2); singing of psalms with grace in the heart, (Col 3:16; Eph 5:19; Jam 5:13); as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God, (Mat 28:19; 1Co 11:23-29; Act 2:42):
–The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XXI. 0f religious worship, and the sabbath day
She’s got it, man.
We all reconvened back at our house for pork tenderloin, Presbyterian souffle, salad, and crescent rolls. I prepared them ahead of time and daughter #1, who went to the early service at her church, came over and put everything in the oven, so it was ready when we came home. Teamwork.
No fuss, not much muss. If a menu works, I stick to it.
And, of course, we had an Easter egg hunt.
I washed dishes after everyone went home. And I felt like Ida who practically fell asleep going down the driveway.
Happy Monday! Happy April!
And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
Easter, unlike Christmas, is not a time one thinks of taking pictures unless one is immortalizing a new Easter outfit. But I have a few classics from days of yore…
My infant DP does not seem to feel very secure in my 3-year old lap, but check out those bunnies and eggs on the table. Lots of books (of course) and my father must have been going through a pipe-smoking phase because there is quite a collection above my head.
Here, my brother and I are posing for a picture before we head off to church on Easter morning when our baby sister blunders into the frame. A classic! Of course, this was back in the day when there were just so many pictures on a roll of film so you couldn’t just click away. I remember yelling at her for wrecking the picture and then being reprimanded for yelling at my precious angel of a sister. C’est la vie.
Here’s another one in front of that same sad tree with my same sad brother forced to hold my hand.
And here we are, having moved to a house, with our dog, Teak. My DP and I are wearing matching dresses. Mine was white with little pink flowers and hers was white with little blue flowers. They had attached petticoats so the skirts really stuck out. This was about 1963-64.
I have seen these pictures re-enacted many times over the intervening years. Some things–like family photos–never change. Thank goodness.
And a happy belated birthday to DN whose big day was yesterday! We love you!
How was your Palm Sunday? The little kids from the Covenant School sang in church and it is always a treat to see them expressing the joy, joy, joy, joy down in their hearts. They processed around the sanctuary with palms and we all sang “All Glory, Laud and Honor”.
We finished up our class on the Westminster Confession and I was happy to hear we will be moving forward with more installments (33 chapters!)
God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; He alone is the foundation of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom, are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever Himself pleaseth.
Amen, brother.
We didn’t have brunch or driveway sittin’ time because the wee bud has lacrosse now on Sundays. Our schedule has changed for the duration, but I can’t complain as the twins are still coming to church/Sunday School. C’est la vie.
Lottie plays on Thursdays.
It struck me recently that I must be very weird (and my entire family) because a) we watch old movies and b) we watch them over and over. I guess most people do not. When the subject of leprosy came up in my Bible study group I reminded everyone how it is a theme in Ben Hur and I got a lot of blank looks. I suggested everyone watch it at Easter. Of course, we watched Ben Hur (1959) once again this weekend and it was great! No computer-generated action scenes. All real.
I ask you, what actors nowadays could be trained/would be willing to drive a chariot? And carry off all the dramatic scenes as well?
Well, for me, the redemption of Judah Ben Hur is still quite powerful after multiple viewings: “And I felt his voice take the sword out of my hand.”
I finished cleaning up the Florida room and started getting ready for next weekend when daughter #2 and DN et al will visit. Hopefully everyone will be well (Ida has an ear infection) and we will be all set for egg hunts and family worship.
Have a good week. Watch an old movie, re-read an old book, call an old friend. Thank God for His mercies which are new every day.
Yesterday the wee twins came over to play at my house while their father went to work. They are on spring break and their mom is out of town. On Monday and Tuesday they went on adventures to the zoo and the art museum and to work with their dad.
Lottie said, “It looks like Mamu’s house in here”–referring to the old brown furniture I guess. Smart girl.
At my house we played inside…
…we played outside…
Then we went to Dewey’s for lunch and had a lovely cheese pizza…
…and we went to Kirkwood Park to frolic on the playground.
Then we went home and started to watch the original Star Wars (1977)–until the boy came to pick them up. Interestingly, the twins thought everything in the movie looked like Legos. I said it was the other way around, but why argue?
Then I took a nap.
Later I went and picked up daughter #1 at her house and we went to a concert at Central Pres, featuring the violin virtuoso David Kim from the Philadelphia Orchestra backed up by five musicians from the St. Louis Symphony. They played a Vivaldi program which was quite a treat. It is good to avail oneself of some culchuh sometimes.
In my daily Bible reading I have been sojourning in the book of Joshua. I am always impressed with Joshua. He is a real role-model, a mighty man of Israel: steadfast, obedient and brave. Funnily enough, over at desiringGod.com someone was thinking the same thing and wrote this about the humble young leader.
Yes, Joshua learned to trust God’s word, and it guided his life. We all have a lot to learn from him. “Today we know that the LORD is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the LORD. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the LORD.” (Joshua 22:31)
Speaking of humble young men, I was pleased to see that Scottie Scheffler won the Players Championship, the first professional golfer ever to repeat, a back-to-back winner!
Today we remember Thomas Ken (July 1637 – 19 March 1711), English Anglican cleric, who died on this day in 1711. He wrote many hymns and was one of the seven non-juring bishops when James II reissued his Declaration of Indulgence. Along with his six brethren, Ken was committed to the Tower on June 8, 1688, on a charge of high misdemeanour. Ken was put on trial with the others, which resulted in a verdict of acquittal. He is commemorated on the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar on March 21. I always think of him when we sing the doxology.
Here’s a good word from Randy Alcorn about being a Christian in today’s hostile world. “Jesus is the Audience of One. We will stand before His judgment seat, no one else’s. We should long to hear Him say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ What other people think won’t matter.”
And in nutball news…
It was cold but sunny here in flyover country yesterday. (Note the down coats.) Today should be warmer. Hopefully I’ll get some more work done on the Florida room and we can open it for business soon.
dual personalities 