He is Risen!

He is risen indeed!

I know Easter was a whole week ago- but I can’t NOT share with you what happened on Easter Sunday…

After several years of talking to my daughters about being baptized, they finally took the “plunge”! And what could make that even more special?!

I got to baptize my daughters!

It was one of my proudest mom moments of all time…

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me- Galatians 2:20

Oh Happy Day!

You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
    Lord my God, I will praise you forever.- Psalm 30:11-12

You’re Sew Vain

My Sewing/Vanity Table 

Since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted an antique vanity- with a big fancy mirror, and those little drawers to put all your make up and pretty things in.  Unfortunately we don’t have a good place for me to put one, so I have re-purposed an old sewing table as a vanity.

Several years ago, my Granny was getting rid of things and my mom asked if I wanted Granny’s old sewing table.  I thought it would be neat to have, so I  brought it home one day.  It sat in our guest room downstairs for a while, and then I decided to bring it upstairs and put it in my room.   Now it has become my make-shift vanity.

I keep my make-up bag on top, and I have a stand up mirror that I keep on top of the desk.   And there are all sorts of little treasures in the side drawers…

I find something new every time I look in these drawers! 

 I wonder how many times my Granny sat at this same table to sew on a button, or fix a hem?  Even though Granny has been gone for almost 2 years now, I think about her every day.  And every time one of my girls needs something hemmed- or a button repaired-  I go straight to this sewing table! I think to myself- “Granny to the rescue”!

My white Easter dress 

This past Good Friday would have been Granny’s 89th birthday.  It’s hard to believe she’s been gone that long!  I had a white dress to hem for Easter, so naturally I went to Granny’s old sewing table for some help. Yep- Granny to the rescue, again!  

Sure enough, there was a sturdy pair of sewing scissors in the middle drawer… and snow white thread with a spool that must have been 50 years old! And plenty of different sized sewing needles- good for every type of fabric.

What a blessing it was for me to sit at this old table of Granny’s on her birthday, and to spend some of the day remembering her- making use of all the little treasures that are in this sewing table.  One of the things I loved most about Granny was that she was a good listener.  Sometimes when I sit there to sew, or to put on my make-up- I imagine that I’m talking to her…telling her all kinds of tales about raising my girls…and I imagine her listening intently, smiling back at me.

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens…

    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak-  Ecclesiastes 3 

Jesus Our Lord is Crucified

Jesus Our Lord is Crucified

O come and mourn with me awhile, 
O come ye to the Savior’s side 
O come, together let us mourn, 
Jesus our Lord is crucified.

Seven times He spoke seven words of love; 
And all three hours His silence cried 
For mercy on the souls of men; 
Jesus our Lord is crucified.

O love of God! O sin of man! 
In this dread act Your strength is tried; 
And victory remains with love; 
Jesus our Lord is crucified!

A broken heart, a fount of tears, 
Ask, and they will not be denied; 
A broken heart love’s cradle is: 
Jesus our Lord is crucified.

lyrics written by Frederick Faber – 1849

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Moved by these beautiful words, I took the lyrics of this old hymn and set it to a new melody and piano accompaniment.  I would be happy to share the chord chart with anyone who would like to have it.  Be blessed!

Jesus Our Lord is Crucified

Piece by Piece

putting together

history- and His story

one piece at a time

I picked up the tattered puzzle box off my bookshelf and carefully dumped out the pieces.  Little parts were stuck together, weathered from age.  Would all the pieces be here?  I thought this phrase in my mind many times as I carefully sorted the edge pieces from the rest of the bunch.  I wouldn’t know until I actually made an attempt to finish it.

It’s pretty awesome how I ended up with this puzzle.  I have always enjoyed putting puzzles together, and my husband and our girls have started a tradition of doing puzzles when we take vacations to the beach.  Well, I had written a blog post about how our family enjoys doing this, and one of my family members happened to read it.

Several months had passed, and I had taken the girls with me to visit my granny.  My aunt was also there when we arrived and she said she had something for me.  My granny had been cleaning out the attic, and she had found a bunch of things she wanted to give to the Salvation Army.  This Last Supper puzzle was one of them.  It sat in the trunk of my aunt’s car for months.  Then she read my post, and thought I’d like to have it.

When she handed it to me, I immediately looked at the box, and it was marked with the exact year I was born- 1977! How cool was that?!  My granny couldn’t remember how she got it, but it was like the puzzle had been waiting for me all this time.

What my aunt didn’t know was that I have always wanted a picture of the Lord’s Supper to hang in our dining room!  Isn’t God the coolest gift-giver?  Not only was I given a Lord’s Supper picture- but one I could spend hours of quiet time with Him putting together.  A double-blessing for sure!

I finally took it out of the box the Saturday before Easter to work on it.  It looked like someone had put it together before- little groups of 4 or 5 pieces were stuck together- just enough to help me get going.

I kept hoping all the pieces would be there. After all, it was 37 years old! I finished putting together the jug and there was one missing brown piece. I didn’t give up.  I started on another section and kept going.  The next day, I looked under the tablet to pick up a napkin, and sure enough- there that little brown piece was- resting upside down on the floor!

I thought about how easy it is for me to give up.  Sometimes I can visualize my goal, but can’t see all the little steps in between.  I think that really is God teaching me to turn to Him- every step of the way.  As silly as it might sound, I trusted that these pieces would all be there.  They just had to be!

As the evenings passed, my youngest daughter sat with me for short bursts of time, fitting little pieces together.  We cheered a good “woohoo” every time we got another part finished.

I thought about how every single piece matters.  Every little piece- an important part of the whole. God uses all the pieces- even the seemingly insignificant piece of our lives to teach and mold us.  And we wouldn’t be complete without them. Every acquaintance, every relationship…every situation, every circumstance…all these little pieces make us who we are.

And when we got down to the last few pieces, I asked my youngest daughter to help me.  I wanted her to have the joy of putting the last piece in place.

Every piece was there. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was.  I was grateful. Grateful that every piece was there- and grateful for all the little pieces of my life that have made me who I am.  I am thankful for this beautiful picture, and even more thankful for the time I spent praying, thinking, and spending time with my daughter putting it together.  God sure is awesome 🙂

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you. Psalm 139

 

My not-so-Martha Stewart “silk tie-dyed” eggs…

Our bird’s nest from last year!

I am definitely not the most creative mom on the planet.

But, I do try to do fun things with the girls.

Around Easter time, we do little things like bake bunny cakes and we have mini Easter egg hunts.  It’s those fun little traditions that will make great memories for them when they are adults.

This year, I took a stab at dying eggs with silk ties.  Yes, it sounds a little strange, but it was also another great opportunity to go thrift-store shopping to find some super awesome ties to use for our little project!

So we tugged and pulled the ties apart…

while my youngest patiently (not) waited for the scissors to cut her ties…

and then we wrapped them with tender loving care…

Oh no…I forgot the twist ties to secure the material around the egg! So I used mini rubber bands instead…

Epic fail

I ended up fishing for broken rubber bands in the boiling water…

And burned my fingers replacing the broken mini rubber bands with clamps and fabric coated rubber bands. We let them boil for 20 minutes and then allowed them to cool for a bit.

I must say that the colors were slightly disappointing, but it could have been because I didn’t secure the fabric as well as I should have, and it would have been better if the silk ties we purchased had been darker, more vibrantly colored…

But my oldest daughter said it all with this comment-

“Momma- they didn’t really come out that good.  But I think we had a lot of fun anyway!”

That’s my girl!

There is much JOY to be found in the JOurneY!!

 Just because someone else can do it better doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try it yourself!

What a relief to know my girls didn’t want “picture perfect” eggs… they just wanted to spend quality time with their momma!

The morning after

Easter Sunrise from our church

 the morning after 

we continue to proclaim-

“He’s risen, indeed!”

Easter Sunrise

The joy of celebrating His resurrection grows sweeter as the years go by.

The thing is- I don’t want to stop celebrating!

 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”.

¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.  John 20:16-18

I love reading the story of Mary and Jesus.  I can hardly imagine how overjoyed she must have been to realize that He was, in fact, alive!  He immediately tells her not to hold on to Him- but to go!  There is some Good News to be told and although she probably wanted to “tarry” in that garden with Jesus, she was ready to go when He said go!  For me, there is always a little bit of a “let down” after Easter… so much preparation for the “big day”, and then before we know it, the day is over with. Sometimes I wish I could “tarry” in those sweet moments of worshipping Him!  Reading His Word today reminded me that there is still lots of work to be done, lots of Good News to share, and that the Resurrection Day isn’t just “a day”- He is Risen- in the present tense!

And that is worth celebrating and praising Him for every moment!

Deactivate my what??

Flowers- the last item on our shopping list!

In search of the perfect shrug to compliment our Easter Sunday outfits, the girls and I headed out to the mall yesterday. Shopping with my daughters is always an adventure- one that I often have to give myself a “pep talk” to do. Gotta have a planned route, set clear expectations, and we buy absolutely NOTHING that is not on our list…okay, I mean the imaginary list that is in my brain because even if I did write one, it would be lost within seconds of finishing it…

Anyway, we arrived at our first destination, and much to my delight, the return I had to make first went off without a hitch!  I quickly found the perfect shrug for myself and made the purchase.  It was almost too good to be true- no lines, no hassle, girls were as good as gold…. and then we proceeded to exit the store.

As soon as I passed by the tag sensors, the alarm went off.  Boy is that thing loud!  I think it’s even louder when you are the one setting it off.  My face turned beet red, and the girls were mortified. I stepped back, and at that same time an elderly lady was walking towards the sensors with her bag in hand.  We stepped through at the same time, and sure enough- it went off again.  The elderly lady shot me a disapproving look, and I quickly went back to the check-out counter and they checked my bag.  Nope- no sensor tag. I tried to exit the store a third time, and once again, the alarm went off.  The sales associate waived me on, and the girls and I journeyed onto store #2.

They walked far enough behind me that I could tell they didn’t want the horror of being stared at if we set off another store alarm.  I approached the sensor of the next store, and turned to smile at my girls. Surely it wouldn’t go off again!

Much to my horror, it did- this one seemed even louder.  I noticed people were staring at me and my face started getting red again.  I walked through the entryway and someone asked me if they could help me.  I said I needed to find a shrug for my girls to wear, and oh, by the way– I keep setting these darned sensors off!  She was baffled, too, and said not to worry about it.  Another sales associate approached me and asked me if I was wearing Ann Taylor Loft jeans.  What a strange question…why yes, I was wearing Loft jeans…

“Sometimes there is a sensor in the jeans that set off our alarm system.”

“Well, that’s crazy!  I’ve had these jeans for ever and they have never set off any alarms!”

“How about you follow me- I can deactivate it for you.”

“You mean deactivate my butt?” I asked her, trying to stifle my giggles.  The girls were completely mortified at this entire situation.  I followed her to the register and began feeling up and down the seams of my jeans.  She waved her magic wand up and down my sides and backside, with no luck.  So, I did the only thing I could think to do- I reached down into my pant legs and much to my relief- I found the culprit.  I turned my jeans down and she cut the tag out with her scissors.

There were way too many people staring at my backside at this point, and all I could do was laugh. Even the girls were hysterically giggling and hiding behind clothing racks.

So the next time you set an alarm off in a store- be sure to check your backside… you might just need your butt deactivated!

Dance for Joy

Sometimes I wanna

just stop everything …and dance

dance like King David

If only….I wonder if I would get any stares if I just all of a sudden busted out my cool dance moves in random places?  My best furry-friend does this all the time, and I must admit that I am a bit jealous… He isn’t worried about whether or not the people driving by are watching him, he doesn’t care who’s yard it is, or who might be standing outside watching.  He doesn’t care if we’re in a hurry, or what the temperature is outside.  When he feels like it, he just throws himself on the ground and dances- tongue out and all.

“In God’s presence I’ll dance all I want! He chose me over your father and the rest of our family and made me prince over God’s people, over Israel. Oh yes, I’ll dance to God’s glory—more recklessly even than this. And as far as I’m concerned . . . I’ll gladly look like a fool . . . but among these maids you’re so worried about, I’ll be honored no end.”  2 Samuel 6:21-22

Tomorrow is the celebration of Easter- He is Risen!  With each passing year, as I walk closer with Him- this day becomes even sweeter to celebrate!  I want to worship like King David- to dance with joy before my Heavenly Father!  To sing His praises and dance all day long…at church,  in my car, in the grocery store, walking through the neighborhood… no matter where I go, or who happens to be watching…

So if you catch a glimpse of me tomorrow and worry that I might embarrass myself with all my cool dance moves, not worries- I’m  dancing for joy because He is risen, indeed!!

Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.  

Psalm 149:3

New Life

 

The lovely nest found on my front door today!

Signs of new life everywhere

Spring ushers in winter’s rest

A Surprise

New life right at my door-

a perfectly crafted bird’s nest!

A warm spring morning prompted me to take a stroll through the neighborhood.

As I walked along, I looked for signs of spring- signs of new life buzzing around me.  It’s not hard to see it.  One good sniff and you can smell the pollen in the air, see the pear tree flower buds blowing in the breeze, and watch the kelly green leaves sprouting on tree branches. Birds are alive and well- singing their symphony for all to hear.  It is a wonderful time of expectation- expecting the beautiful things that spring ushers in.

As my dog stopped to sniff the ground, I looked down at my feet and saw a patch of clovers.  I remembered how much I love looking for 4 leaf clovers! I took a closer look, and lo and behold- I found a 5 leaf clover!  What a special blessing to start the day!  I used to lie in the grass for entire afternoons as a kid searching for 4 leaf clovers… and 5 leaf ones are definitely a treasured find!

Another beautiful sign of spring and new life…

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  

2 Corinthians 5:17

The Lord has had me thinking about being a “new creation”- and what that looks like as a Christ follower.  Am I living a life that represents the hope of the resurrected Jesus?  And I started thinking about signs of new life in me…. do people see Him in me?  His Hope? Peace? Joy?  In my countenance, my words and actions?  In the very way I am living out my life- do they see Christ in me?Am I a sign of His New Life- His Spirit at work in me?

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

He is always at work…doing a new thing. Am I surrendering to Him at all times and allowing Him to continuously work in me?

After a day of  contemplating signs of new life, I found the most wonderful sign of new life-a baby bird’s nest nestled in the basket on my front door! In 17 years of marriage, I don’t recall ever having a bird’s nest around my home…and to find this at the start of Holy Week… God is most certainly in the little details!

O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!  In wisdom you have made them all.  The earth is full of your creatures. Psalm 104:24

But the best news of all is that He is risen!  His Spirit is alive and well- living in each of us.  The old has passed away and the new has already come.  And He is making us new each day!

Lord, may I live my life out in such a way that people see the Hope of Jesus in me. May I surrender each day to You and allow You to bring new seasons into my life.   I want to  be in the center  of Your will and serve You in all I do!