We have had more storms and more storms. What started out as a very dry spring, has turned into a very wet summer. Our Florida Room has flooded several times now, but hopefully we have that figured out. Fingers crossed. It has also been a particularly windy year all around. This is beginning to be a familiar sight:
(KMOV photo of damage in Ferguson, MO)
God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah (Psalm 46: 1-3)
Meanwhile I am working on getting everything ready to send off to the printer for the next KHS Review. Life goes on between outbursts of bad weather.
This seems really obvious to me, but clearly it is not. “Reading doesn’t begin as an activity your child does by himself. It begins with fathers and mothers. It begins with us reading aloud. We increase our kid’s appetite by narrating books that they enjoy and understand. These books are not the books you would choose to read in your alone time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy them together.”
How was your weekend? I redeemed a gift card from Mother’s Day and had an hour-long spa pedicure, which had me walking on air for quite some time. Wow.
We had a guest preacher in church and he preached on Daniel 6–the lion’s den! I love Daniel so I was pleased. We need reminders of heroes like Daniel to keep us on track. We also had interesting musical accompaniment to all our hymns–a harmonica. Not the usual for A Mighty Fortress is Our God, but not bad. The OM and I stayed for a luncheon with our “fold” after the service. They acknowledged his birthday (today) but refrained from singing Happy Birthday.
We celebrated the OM’s birthday later on Sunday when everyone came over for a barbecue and party. (Even Mr. Smith)
Good times…and presents!
We watched McClintock! (1963), one of my favorite movies extolling the Patriarchy. It is loosely based on The Taming of the Shrew. (And Maureen O’Hara is one helluva shrew.) It has a smart script which moves along at a brisk clip. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It has nothing good to say about bureaucrats, the government or college boys, but is very sympathetic to Native Americans and free enterprise.
Anyway, when you have had enough of our modern day BS, I recommend a good dose of John Wayne at his most John Wayne-ish. “I know, I know. I’m gonna use good judgement. I haven’t lost my temper in forty years, but pilgrim you caused a lot of trouble this morning might have got somebody killed. Somebody oughta belt you in the mouth but I won’t, I wont…the hell I won’t.“
In other news baby Ida got her first taste of solid food…
It was a big hit.
And ol’ Ricky Skaggs is nominated for several Dove Awards this year, including this song which is a favorite of mine…
…as well as this banger version of Go Tell It on the Mountain with Crowder (for a little Christmas in July):
Today we remember Frederick Buechner (1926-2022), Presbyterian minister, writer and theologian. He died last year and I miss him. Presbyterians do not have feast days, but if they did, today would be his, as it is his birthday.
He made a big splash in literary circles when his first novel, A Long Day’s Dying, was published in 1950. But then he entered seminary and the shine wore off. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and for the National Book Award for Fiction, but he never won any big awards.
He said:
I wanted to learn about Christ – about the Old Testament, which had been his Bible, and the New Testament, which was the Bible about him; about the history of the church, which had been founded on the faith that through him God had not only revealed his innermost nature and his purpose for the world, but had released into the world a fierce power to draw people into that nature and adapt them to that purpose… No intellectual pursuit had ever aroused in me such intense curiosity, and much more than my intellect was involved, much more than my curiosity aroused. In the unfamiliar setting of a Presbyterian church, of all places, I had been moved to astonished tears which came from so deep inside me that to this day I have never fathomed them, I wanted to learn more about the source of those tears and the object of that astonishment. (Now and Then)
To this day, I am still crying those same tears (and in a Presbyterian church!) that he described.
I did the flowers for church this weekend and they were a rather humble offering–Hydrangeas–not too inspiring.
C’est la vie. Meanwhile the summer is flying by.
And just when you think the Anglican Church cannot dig itself any deeper into its hole, another Archbishop says something really, really stupid. As usual, Ann comments better than I am able.
Funnily enough our sermon this Sunday was all about God as our Father, since we are still working our way through Hosea: When Israel was a child, I loved him (Hosea 11:1). As J.I. Packer wrote, “‘Father’ is the Christian word for God. Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.”
“Christians don’t always see how disbelief in one thing affects belief in another.” This article talks about the ripple effects of not believing in hell.
And thanks to Tim Challies for this great snippet from De Witt Talmage (1832-1902). “In many of the churches of Christ in our day, the music is simply a mockery.” As he says, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”
The boy and his petite famille made it back safely from South Carolina and we look forward to hearing all about it soon!
It’s pretty quiet around here since the boy and his family are in Hilton Head for the week.
Before they left early Saturday morning, daughter #3 brought the wee twins over after soccer camp on Friday to have lunch and hang out with Mr. Smith.
Daughter #1 has a new chuck-it throwing toy which is great and wears Mr. Smith out with fetching.
Five stars for sure! The best part is you don’t have to pick up the slobbery ball with your hand. Of course, getting Mr. Smith to release the ball is an ongoing issue.
We had some wild weather over the weekend with a lot of downed trees and detritus everywhere.
Unfortunately, people were actually killed this time around in crushed cars and houses.
(Photos from KMOV4)
In church on Sunday we heard more from the prophet Hosea. His message, as our pastor put it, is “harrowing and brutal”–but maybe we need that.
“Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, For you have played the harlot against your God.” (Hosea 9:1)
Food for thought.
Tomorrow, of course, is the 4th of July and we send happy birthday wishes to my older brother. He was always a hit with the ladies.
The little girl in the picture was a neighbor of whom my mother was particularly fond. (Her name was Katie.) Anyway, here’s hoping he does something fun tomorrow.
And here’s a song–the boy introduced me to this rendition:
*”Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” (Psalm 100:3)
Well, I am thankful that I no longer am a member of a church where they might say the “Sparkle Creed“. And “I’m gonna laugh endlessly at their stupid “sparkle” god like Elijah laughed at the prophets of Baal.”
Moving on, I loved this by John Piper about his most influential teacher.
Well, I have made it through two days of VBS. The weather has been beautiful so no complaints there.
Everything is going according to well-laid plans. This is necessary when you have over 200 kids in attendance. And the boy assures me that the wee twins are practicing their songs and praise hands at home.
Besides praise singing, we do a lot of scripture memorizing using a variety of games. I ask you, what could be better for small children to learn and internalize than this:
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
My girls won the “Multi Verse Games” yesterday in our age group, so I was very proud. (Not that there are prizes or anyone pays attention to who wins or loses, but still, I was pleased.) We also tied in our field hockey game using pool noodles.
So onward and upward and here’s part of a prayer by John Calvin:
Grant that I may hear your voice in the morning since I have hoped in you. Show me the way in which I should walk, since I have lifted up my soul unto you. Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, I have fled unto you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good Spirit conduct me to the land of uprightness.
We had a quiet weekend. The twins came over with their dad on Saturday after their swimming lesson and they ran around wrecking some havoc. We ate bagels before they left to go to a birthday party. I watched our local auction house online auction, but didn’t make any rescues. When I suggested to the OM that we might go to dinner at the Cracker Barrel, he literally leapt out of his chair and was in the car before I could powder my nose.
We enjoyed our homestyle meals and were home by 6:00 pm. Such oldsters. I noticed later on Not the Bee that there has been some controversy surrounding Cracker Barrel and a boycott because they are too woke. That might explain why there were so few people there! (Note the empty tables above.)
In church the sermon was about Hosea as we have been delving into this book for the last month or so. Interestingly, Anne wrote about it too. “Just to recap, in case you haven’t cracked open ye olde holy scriptures recently, (paging Rick Warren…and basically everyone), Israel, upon settling into the Land that the Lord her God had given her, decided that worshiping the gods of the people who lived there was at least as interesting as offering sacrifices and praise to the Lord. It’s not that they didn’t “worship” God, it’s just that on the way home from the place God put his Name, it was expedient and sensible to also stop at various other shrines and sacrifice a child or two along with pouring libations on the ground and depositing other kinds of offerings in the nooks and crannies of their inheritance. The all-or-nothing nature of Temple worship didn’t really suit the people whom the Lord had called out from all the nations around, to worship him alone.” God just wants your steadfast love. Is that too much to ask?
After church I helped decorate for VBS. And, thank you Jesus, I now have a teenage helper assigned to me so I do not have to go it totally alone with the 4/5th grade girls this week. 🙌🙌🙌
I thought this was very interesting, especially considering my post last week about outlawing insult. Now Monty Python is in trouble (again)…Forty-four years later we’re certainly not allowed to laugh at this nonsense because it has become the truth:
I mean who would have guessed how spot on the Pythons were back in the day!
And just in time for VBS, Matt Mitchell has a new video about…VBS!
P.S. Look at the wee pup and how his training is going: Sit, boy!
Yes, it is full-on summer here in flyover country–hot and humid–and you better not walk barefoot on your asphalt driveway, that’s for sure. Heavy sigh. Well, we had a nice long spring and it was great while it lasted.
We kept a low profile this weekend, but Katie turned three in style back in Maryland.
She celebrated appropriately. (She is wearing her favorite vintage nightie, which my mother made for daughter #1/Aunt Mary about 36 years ago.)
Aunt Mary made her a tote bag with Pete the Cat fabric she found at Joann’s!
She immediately filled it up with books–a girl after our own hearts. Love the matching bow!
And, of course, there was cake!
I stayed after church on Sunday to go to a meeting for VBS volunteers–because, yes, I am once again doing my part, even after I said never again last year. This year I am on my own with 14 4th/5th graders! Am I crazy? Yes, yes I am. I will never be able to remember their names, much less keep track of them. I am praying for a teenage helper to step up to the plate.
I got a new t-shirt, since I threw mine away last year thinking I would never need it again. Well, I have a week to psych myself up for this. Please pray for me.
How was your weekend? Mine was very nice although the weather has turned hot and muggy in flyover country and that is never a cause to rejoice (although we try to rejoice in all things).
I helped set up for the Kirkwood Historical Society attic sale. And I bought a stack of books (just what I need, right?)…
I have a small collection of books on the Santa Fe Trail, so the Diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin is a great addition. The Seifert novel is about Magoffin. Shirley Seifert was a mid-century writer from Kirkwood who wrote quite a few historical novels, published by J.B. Lippincott. She was really into her research, but her writing is pretty dry, but I have a growing collection of her books. She also wrote the centennial history of my old church, Grace Episcopal, where she was a member for many years.
Daughter #1 and I went to the actual sale on Saturday and she got a nice table for $20 on which to put her Civil War officer’s desk, which I had bought at auction a few years ago.
We also got some more books. Afterwards we went to a couple of estate sales where we were successful again, rescuing a nice Hitchcock chair for $10.
She had many other adventures dealing with Lowe’s delivery men, UPS men, and ADT installers, but I will leave that to her to describe to you.
I watched the Kentucky Derby–whoop-di-do–but my horse did not win. I remember when Secretariat won fifty years ago. My Sunday School teacher went to the race and he assigned everyone in our class a horse. Mine won, but I think all I got was a $5 gift certificate. Typical Episcopalians–betting in Sunday School!
I did not watch any of the coronation, but Anne wrote a long article about it. Read the whole thing.
It was so strange for example, to listen to that glorious Colossians text read in that exquisite church by a practicing Hindu. Dissonance, at the very least, is the word one gropes for, if not blasphemy. How can that person stand there, after reading aloud about how all things are put in subjection under Christ, how he is the Firstborn in whom all things hold together, and then say, “The Word of the Lord” if he doesn’t really believe it? How can Justin Welby face Charles and command him to stand on the authority of the Bible when he himself has been unwilling to do any such thing?
On Sunday the kindergartners received their very own Bibles in front of our whole Presbyterian congregation. The wee bud stood up beaming with his father and I was very proud. (Lottie was home sick, bit she still got her pink Bible!) I may have gotten a little verklempt.
Afterwards we all went home to eat bagels and sit outside. Good times.
Savior, if of Zion’s city, I through grace a member am, Let the world deride or pity, I will glory in Thy name; Fading is the worldling’s pleasure, All his boasted pomp and show; Solid joys and lasting treasure None but Zion’s children know.
–John Newton
P.S. On Saturday we had three blue eggs in our Robin’s nest, but sadly they have all been destroyed by other birds. Nature. C’est la vie.
