As most of you know, my oldest son is in RI, and this will be the first time he has weathered something like this on his own away from home. For many even beyond the hurricane’s direct impact there are possible heavy rains, winds, and resulting power outages.
Praying for all in Irene’s path tonight and tomorrow.
Update: Jeremy lost power and Internet this morning and it is still off — don’t know if they have an estimate yet about when it will be back on. They had some heavy winds and intermittent rain, but as far as I know at this point no major problems in his area. His work is dependent on both electricity and Internet, so I don’t know if he knows yet whether power is on there. Thanks for your prayers! It seems like the main thing I’ve been hearing about Irene is that it is not as bad as it could have been. But if you’ve ever lived within an area even on the fringes of a hurricane or tropical storm, you know it can still cause problems. Praying those without power get it back soon.
Update: Jeremy did get his power back later Sunday night. He went to a friend’s for the evening and said there were some fallen branches, but otherwise things were fine in his area. Thanks for praying! I’ve seen some new coverage even Tuesday morning of those still without power and with flooding — I’ve been praying for them and will continue.
It’s a beautiful Saturday morning here in TN. I’d never know there was a hurricane heading for the East coast if not for the news. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who may be affected.
Here are a few things that stood out to me in this week’s reading:
Parenting by Prayer, HT to Challies. Quote: “One of the main lessons that the Lord has been teaching me especially with the older three is the need to parent them first by prayer, and then by persuasion. As they have gotten older, I’ve come to believe that I spent too much time talking to them about them and too little time talking to God about them.”
Peach Cobbler For Two. With the kids in the process of leaving the nest, I love finding recipes for two.
I saw this at Nikki‘s yesterday, and at first I balked at the length of it, but, oh, my, it was so sweet. Not only the nostalgia it brought in remembering boys playing with boxes, but the creativity and unexpected twist at the end. Almost made me cry.
(Unfortunately sometimes the video seems to get a little hung up. I don’t know why. But other times it plays just fine. If it’s not working, maybe trying it again later will help, unless you know of some other trick to make it play smoothly. If you do, please share!)
I saw this going around Facebook: I know some drivers would love to have these posted at regular intervals. 🙂
And I know people who would love this. I miss caffeine sometimes!
Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week. This has been a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.
Here are a few favorites from the past week:
1. My birthday was Sunday, but as Sunday is a busy day for us, we spread the “festivities” out over the weekend. My family did a wonderful job making me feel special. 🙂
2. An unexpected gift. In our family, by request we usually try to give some ideas of what we might like for gifts so that we can get something the recipient truly likes and wants rather than fodder for the next yard sale or donation box. But sometimes people like to veer off the list, and that’s fine, too. After HP announced that they weren’t going to make their Touchpads any more, the prices dropped, and my husband got one for me. You may remember a few weeks ago I was pondering what kind of iProduct to get, and this wasn’t even on my radar, but it works nicely! My regular computer is a desktop, so it is nice to be able to take this in the family room when we’re watching TV or when everyone else is using their laptops. I put all the music from the computer on it yesterday (all by myself! Almost…I did have to make one phone call to Jeremy…), so now I can take it from room to room to listen to whatever I want.
3. Four Layer Dessert. Instead of making one 9 x 13 pan of it, I made one 8 x 8 pan with chocolate and another with banana pudding and bananas and strawberries for a dinner we went to Monday night. It was nice to have both options, and now I’ve found a way to make a smaller version. I used to only make this for company or potlucks because the whole pan was too much for just us (and I love this stuff so much, I was afraid I’d eat the whole thing….:oops:)
4. A weekend free of cooking. We went out to dinner for my birthday Saturday night, and then Jim grilled hamburgers Sunday (so good!) And I only had to make dessert Monday, so I had a nice little break.
5. A cake stand from Jason and Mittu…
…that can also be used in several other ways as well.
(BTW, to my family, I liked ALL my gifts, but just wanted to highlight a couple here. 🙂 ) I also got some books (always a fave!), some exercise equipment I had wanted (resistance bands and a stability ball, which I used to think was silly but have really enjoyed using), a gift card to Joanne’s, and a Scrabble Flash game. They do spoil me, don’t they?
Bonus: This stuff:
I keep their Carolina Sweet flavor of barbecue sauce on hand, but I didn’t know they made this! Jim discovered it at the store and used it on the burgers Sunday. Mmm, mmm, good!
I just rediscovered this in my files and thought I’d share it with you. I don’t remember where I first saw it: it says it came from the Yankee Kitchen Cookbook, 1969.
A Real Home
A Real Home is a gymnasium. The ideal of a healthy body is the first one to give a child.
A Real Home is a lighthouse. A lighthouse reveals the breakers ahead and shows a clear way past them.
A Real Home is a playground. Beware of the house where you “dassen’t frolic”–there mischief is brewing for someone.
A Real Home is a workshop. Pity the boy without a kit of tools or the girl without a sewing basket. They haven’t learned the fun of doing things, and there is no fun like it.
A Real Home is a forum. Honest, open discussion of life’s great problems belongs originally in the family circle.
A Real Home is a Secret Society. Loyalty to one’s family should mean keeping silent on family matters–just this and nothing more.
A Real Home is a Health Resort. Mothers are the natural physicians.
A Real Home is a cooperative league. Households flourish where the interest of each is made the interest of all.
A Real Home is a business concern. Order is a housewife’s hobby. But order without system is a harness without a horse.
A Real Home is a haven of refuge. The world does this for us all: it makes us hunger for a loving sympathy and a calming, soothing touch.
Sometimes I am hesitant to bring up a stray thought I have wrestled with because I don’t want to implant it in anyone else’s mind and cause them the same problem. One of my college professors did that once: he brought up a question that he didn’t really answer, and every now and then it comes back to mind and plagues me. I don’t know if I was too timid to ask him to elaborate — I don’t think it really occurred to me to do so then.
But part of “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5b) is looking for Bible answers with which to combat errant thoughts, and, if we can’t find a direct answer, trusting what we do know of His character.
One of those thoughts that threatens my peace from time to time has to do with God’s care in our suffering. As much as I have thought and read about suffering and looked for Scriptural reasons for suffering, and know that He does have a reason for everything He allows, He does care and is with us in our trials, still sometimes the thought comes to mind that this is all for His purposes and His glory and we’re just expendable casualties. And though I am not suffering anything in particular just now and hadn’t thought about this lately, the passages in Daily Light this morning provided a welcome balm against such thoughts:
I know their sorrows.
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. – Touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. – Jesus being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well.
When Jesus … saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. Jesus wept. – For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
He hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death. – He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. – When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.
He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. – In all their affliction he was afflicted; and the angel of his presence saved them.
EXO. 3:7. Isa. 53:3. Heb. 4:15. Matt. 8:17. -John 4:6. John 11:33,35. Heb. 2:18. Psa. 102:19,20. Job 23:10. Psa. 142:3. Zech. 2:8. Isa. 63:9.
There are many others as well, such as:
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Isaiah 43:1-2.
Maybe it would be a good idea to collect them all in one place and add to them as I find them so that I can come back to them when that thought comes around again.
And while I was looking for something else this morning, I came across a video of a song along these lines sung by Christy Galkin. I hope it is a blessing to you.
The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.
These months in which the fourth Tuesday is not the last Tuesday catch me unawares! But here is what I’ve finished since last time:
The Way into Narnia: A Reader’s Guide by Peter Schakel, reviewed here. Excellent. I had checked this out of the library but then bought my own copy before I turned it back in so I could transfer my sticky tabs.
A Heart Most Worthy by Siri Mitchell, reviewed here, about three very different Italian immigrant girls making their way in 1918 Boston. My first book by this author, and I immediately bought another.
She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell, reviewed here, about a young debutante during the American Gilded Age who finds society life is not all it’s reputed to be.
Learningby Karen Kingsbury, the continuing story of Bailey Flanigan as she struggles facing life on her own, not reviewed.
A Big Little Life by Dean Koontz, a memoir (and a little philosophizing) about his dog, Trixie, not reviewed. I’ve never read any of Mr. Koontz’s books before, and, honestly, I bought this because I was looking for books for my mother-in-law to read, it was in the bargain section, and she likes dogs. I liked his humor and pathos, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like his other books are in genres that I’d like.
Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World edited by C. J. Mahaney. I’ve had this on my literal nightstand for weeks and want to get to it. Worldliness is one of those difficult concepts: as Christians we know the Bible warns us away from it, but everyone has a different idea of exactly what it is.
In She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell, debutante Clara Carter finds that society life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in New York City circa 1891. Even the snow was grimy from passing through smoke and soot, making the carriage drives to a ball not “as sparkly and festive as they always seemed to be in novels” (p. 135).
But Clara isn’t given much choice. The De Vries heir is back in town, and it has been determined that Clara must catch him in order to save the family’s honor. With the determination of a drill sergeant and the zeal of Mrs Bennet, Clara’s aunt does her best to train Clara for her debut, while Clara would rather be studying or reading Byron. Both her natural good humor and budding social conscience are quashed with propriety, To complicate matters, Clara’s best friend, Lizzie, is debuting at the same time with the same goal.
At first She Walks In Beauty seems like a light-hearted romp as Clara learns the “rules” and foibles of “the game,” but it takes a more serious and darker turn as Clara discovers that even her father is not the man she thought he was, and the falseness and temptations of the life her family is pushing her toward weigh on her conscience. When someone tells her God knows her and loves her as she really is, she doesn’t know whether to believe it at first: no one seems to love anyone just as they are. But a glimmer of that kind of love is reflected in one man, drawing her heart yet highlighting the conflict between duty and reality.
I empathized with the conflict Clara experienced as her eyes were opened more and more. I loved where she ended up on her journey. And I loved that in both books I’ve read by Siri, the dresses on the cover have significant roles in the book!
(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)
Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.
Here are a few thought-provoking quotes that caught my eye this week:
“Can an acorn become a rose, a whale fly like a bird, or lead become gold? Absolutely not. You cannot be anything you want to be. But you can be everything God wants you to be.” ~ Max Lucado
Is anyone else as tired as I am of sayings like “You can do or be anything you want” and “If you can think it, you can do it”? This was a wonderful answer to those philosophies.
And another from Robin:
“As we grow in Christ, we will learn how to appreciate peace over personal preferences. Remember, Christ is the Prince of Peace.” ~ Beth Moore
Though a little different, this reminded me of a quote from a forgotten source that it is not surrender to the Lord that causes us problems and anguish, it is the struggle against surrender. As long as we cling to our own preferences, our own way and will, we won’t have that peace of fully yielding to Christ. So why, then, do we keep doing it?!
“The arts are the John the Baptist of the heart, preparing the affections for Christ.” ~ Jacques Maritain
And finally, from another friend’s Facebook:
“Revivals should not be necessary. God intended that His people should grow in grace & holiness without periodic spells of backsliding & repenting. But so long as we have such a malarial brand of Christianity, a fever & a chill, a fever & a chill, we shall need revivals.” ~ Vance Havner
If you’ve read anything that particularly spoke to you that you’d like to share, please either list it in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below. I do ask that only family-friendly quotes be included.
I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share! 🙂
I’ve posted this for New Year’s Day before, but it is appropriate for a birthday, too, I think:
O Lord,
Length of days does not profit me
except the days are passed in Thy presence,
in Thy service, to Thy glory.
Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides,
sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,
that I may not be one moment apart from Thee,
but may rely on Thy Spirit
to supply every thought,
speak in every word,
direct every step,
prosper every work,
build up every mote of faith,
and give me a desire
to show forth Thy praise;
testify Thy love,
advance Thy kingdom.
I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
with Thee, O Father as my harbour,
Thee, O Son, at my helm,
Thee O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,
my lamp burning,
my ear open to Thy calls,
my heart full of love,
my soul free.
Give me Thy grace to sanctify me,
Thy comforts to cheer,
Thy wisdom to teach,
Thy right hand to guide,
Thy counsel to instruct,
Thy law to judge,
Thy presence to stabilize.
May Thy fear by my awe,
Thy triumphs my joy.
She Will Come – For the Single Missionary. Sweet, poignant poem about finding contentment in Christ alone written by missionary Dave Hosaflook in his single days. Good for non-missionaries as well. 🙂
Book Filtering. I haven’t read the book this is promoting, but I love the introductory thoughts, pertinent to anyone who has lamented over “too many books, not enough time.”
How to Make Cake Stands — that hold multitudes of things beyond cakes. Really neat idea for receptions, luncheons, etc. More are here (giveaway is closed, I am just linking for the photos and ideas).
Some of you might have been following and praying for Amy Bixby‘s battle with cancer. She just went Home to heaven yesterday, and a friend posted this rendition of the precious promise of No More Night. I hope you’ll pray for the family left behind, a father and seven children, plus the father’s father just had a heart attack a few days ago.
