Sometimes I am greatly embarrassed by my fellow Christians

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I was reading an article earlier this week wherein the author quoted from a source that had a Biblical fact wrong, and the snide, ridiculing comments were just atrocious. Of course, not all of the people who responded that way were professing Christians, but I am sure some were. Good grief, people. What does it say to a non-Christian when Christians come across with such arrogance and self-righteousness? How does that reflect on Christ, whom we’re supposed to be representing? Where is the grace? Then another friend spoke with sorrow on the attacks his friend received online due to a lifestyle that most professing Christians could not condone.  How did Jesus deal with people — the women at the well and the adulterous woman, for two examples?

I Timothy 2:24-26: And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Colossians 4:5-6: Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

In Philippians 4:5, “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand,” the word “moderation” means “a sweet reasonableness” according to Word Studies in the Greek New Testament and is translated “genetleness” or “reasonableness” in other translations. The KJV translators probably meant moderation in the sense of moderation of spirit.

And of course I am not saying we should just condone everything. I’ve written before on what “judge not” doesn’t mean and the fact that sometimes the most loving thing you can do is confront someone about their sin.

Contending for the faith doesn’t mean we have a generally contentious nature. We can stand for Biblical truth without being obnoxious and driving away the very people Christ loves and for whom He died. We need to show the same grace we have been shown. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Friday’s Fave Five

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friday-fave-five-spring

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites.

1. Graduation weekend. Both the graduation ceremony and our celebratory dinner were highlights of the year!

2. Having my son’s fiancee back for a visit. She’s nice to have around. 🙂 It was fun just to have her here, but talking over wedding plans and such was a delight, too. And, I don’t know how to word this exactly, but I enjoyed seeing her and Jason’s relationship deepen and seeing them take “adult” steps like looking at places to live, etc. I’m seeing aspects of Jason I haven’t seen before. 🙂

3. Having my computer crash was NOT a fave thing, but having a son capable of handling it is. Plus with reinstalling everything I have newer updates, and getting rid of some old unused files streamlined everything. Thanks again, Jeremy!

4. Jesse’s piano recital Tuesday night and spring concert Thursday night. He did a great job!

CIMG2808

5. Having the above major events and a few others throughout the spring OVER!! There is not much outside the home on the schedule next week besides the usual church services and shopping, and it feels so good!

Bonus: 6. New shoes! I’d been needing some new everyday shoes, but hadn’t had time to shop. My feet are hard to fit and it isn’t always easy to find something I like that works that isn’t too expensive, but one day when I was in W*Mart I whipped by the shoe section, and voila! Found some nice ones for $11.

I didn’t mention Mother’s Day because we decided to postpone our own celebration since last week was so busy with graduation and company. We did have cards and gifts for my mother-in-law and my son’s fiancee’s mother and hope they had a great day! And all my guys made their awesome traditional Mother’s Day dinner.

If you’d like to see others’ favorites or join in with your own, stop by Susanne‘s. I’ve been enjoying this weekly opportunity to stop and reflect on good things from the past week.

If you left a comment recently…

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…on the post “Caring for Elderly Parents,” I apologize, but it was accidentally deleted. It was in my spam folder, which I do check every day, because sometimes legitimate comments get caught in there. But I only skim those posts lightly because they are so often vile (why do spammers not find better uses of their time??!!) I skimmed through the spam comments, clicked delete, and just before it disappeared saw what looked like a legitimate lengthy comment on the post about elderly parents, mentioning something about coming up to the one year mark of having moved my mother-in-law near to us. I checked with the WordPress support forum, and there is no way to get it back.

I hope whoever left that comment sees this and resubmits it. I would very much like to read what you had to say! My apologies again.

By request: gold curlicues and bookmark tutorial

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When I posted about our ladies’ luncheon at church, Sally said she wished she could see the gold curly things in the centerpieces a little better, and Mama Bear asked if I might do a tutorial on the bookmarks we used as favors. I am happy to do both.

Here are those curlicue thingys en masse.

Gold curliques

They were a dark reddish brown and came four to a stalk at $1.98 at Hobby Lobby, and I got them at half price. I don’t know what they’re called, but they were in with the floral stems. I spray-painted them in gold to go along with our color theme. We used about three per bud vase, varying the heights. Here’s a hastily reassembled one to give you an idea of how we used them.

Luncheon centerpiece

Bookmark tutorial:

1. You can buy book-marked sized cardstock at craft stores, usually in white or off-white. You can also cut them out of any color or style of card stock. If you cut them 2″ x 6″ you can get 12 out of a sheet of 12 x 12″ card stock, but you can make them larger or slightly smaller than that as well.

Unless you have a very steady hand, it’s best to use a paper-cutter. Either the craft or office variety will work. I don’t usually use decorative scissors on this base piece, though you could.

2. The second layer is usually decorative paper. Scrapbooking paper works great, but anything will do. If the base is a solid color, I like for this part to be patterned, although a complementing solid color will do. I often do use decorative scissors or paper punches on this layer. It should be cut slightly smaller than the base piece and glued on with a glue stick. You could use two different patterned pieces as well — one on the top third or half and another on the bottom.

3. The next layer is usually where a verse or quote goes. Those can be printed on the computer or with stamps or hand-written on solid-colored paper. If I am making several bookmarks at once, I’ll print several on a sheet of paper from the computer or stamp several on one page so they’re “at the ready.”

This layer should be cut slightly smaller than the decorative second layer — maybe 1/8 of an inch less or so all around. It can be cut back way more, depending on what else you might be using for a design, but be sure to leave the same margin of “white space” all around so it doesn’t look lopsided. Again, decorative scissors or paper punched can be used.

4. Add embellishments — stickers, bits of ribbon, etc. Just remember that for the main part of the bookmark you want it to lie flat, so put anything that is raised near the top so that part can stick out of the book.

If you are laminating the bookmarks, you don’t have to glue things that securely, but if not, be sure that everything is glued down really well.

Here are some examples. Most have appeared on my blog at some time, but I wanted to put them all in one spot here.

This is the one from the ladies’ luncheon. It’s very simple, all solid colors, little embellishment or decoration, mainly because we needed to make so many of the same type.

Ladies' Luncheon 09 favor

You can see what I mean here by trying to have the same “margins” all the way around — though, technically, the white part with the verse should have come down a little. The circle at the top was printed on the computer using clip art and Avery 1″ circular stickers (#5410).

Here are a few our ladies’ group made to send to our missionaries:
Bookmarks

You can see that some use the decorative scissors and paper punches on different parts. The two in the middle have corners rounded off by a paper punch made for that purpose.

Here are a few more:

Bookmark

This one also has most of the corners rounded off. The little heart design across the bottom of the white paper is from a paper punch.

Bookmark

Some people like to put ribbons at the top that would then stick out of the book. Personally I don’t really care for ribbons sticking out of my book, and this adds an extra step in the process. But you can punch a small hole or two at the top and add a ribbon if you’d like (I’ll have to add a picture later as I am running out of time.)

These make for a fun group project, especially if everyone isn’t making the exact same type. Everyone brings their own equipment, and we all are spurred on by each other’s ideas. It is good to make more than you think you will need, as you’ll have to go through them and do a little quality control afterward.

I hope this is clear! If not, please let me know and I’ll try to clarify.

I am linking this post to Kelli’s Paper Crafting Wednesday. She’s much better at tutorials than I am!

Graduation dinner and assorted stray thoughts

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  • Poor Jeremy! It took all of yesterday to rectify my computer issues, but he made a disk that should shorten the process if it should ever happen again. Everything is up and running beautifully, even faster than before since, in selecting files to be backed up, we got rid of several we hadn’t used in ages.
  • The housework got mostly done — I’ve learned I never get everything done I’d like to before company comes, so have earned to prioritize. All of the major, regular stuff got done and we were presentable. There were just some spring-cleaning type things I would like to have gotten to, but likely no one but me knew they were needed.
  • The visit with out of town company went well, I think. I had mentioned being concerned about Mittu’s mom’s Indian accent since I have to really concentrate when we talk on the phone, but, as expected, it was much easier in person. It was a whirlwind weekend — I felt bad for the lack of down time to just sit and visit. But overall I think it was a good first visit. I thought, between her accent and Grandma’s hearing problems, they’d have a hard time understanding each other, but that didn’t seem to be a problem: in fact, they had a real affinity for one another.
  • Graduation day was very. very long, but good overall. The ceremony began at 9 a.m., so to account for being 45 minutes away, needing to get there about an hour early to be sure to get on the main floor, and getting 7 people through our one shower, I had to get up about 4:30. I had some things just sitting out for breakfast for everyone to get whatever they wanted whenever they weren’t in the shower. We got there in good time and did make the main floor — there is a balcony but no handrails on the steps and I get really wobbly up there. One little personal thing I was worried about: after the ceremony starts, if you leave the building you can’t reenter, just so there is not a lot of commotion and distraction, but you can go to another building where the overflow crowd can see the events broadcast. The thought of sitting for 2 and 1/2 hours without getting to the bathroom made me nervous, but God answers even such prayers. There were a few tummy troubles, but I think they were just from “nerves.” Believe it or not, I did stay awake the whole time! I lost focus and kind of zoned out a time or two, though.
  • Instead of having a graduation speaker, they have various students share a testimony while diplomas are being handed out (instead of calling each name out, they have a big screen showing each student as they receive their diploma and have their name displayed, so we did get to see them “close up” at that moment.) The testimonies are always a blessing as students share something about their college experience. I wish that people who think BJU is racist could see and hear the diverse group of graduates praising the Lord for what they’ve learned there and what He has done in their lives.
  • After graduation we met up with Jason, took pictures, greeted several other folks we knew, met a few of Jason’s teachers and friends as they stopped by. That’s always a fun if noisy and chaotic time.
  • A lot of people have some kind of drop-in party graduation afternoon or evening, but since we were too far from campus for most of the student friends to come, and there were four other graduates from church each having their own celebrations (plus a wedding that day!), we just went out to a nice restaurant for a family celebration that evening. We went to a Japanese place where they cook the food right there at your table.

Jeremy said this guy at the entrance looked like a Japanese Darth Vadar.
Japanese restaurant

Graduation celebration

Graduation celebration

Grandma had never been to a restaurant like this. She was taken aback — literally! — when the flame shot up at the beginning while the cook was cleaning the grill:

Grandma

Our cook was great. This was the lava onion rings:

Graduation celebration

Graduation celebration at Japanese restaurant

Japanese restaurant

Graduation celebration

Grandma at Graduation celebration

The happy couple in life…

Graduation celebration

…and on cake…

Graduation celebration

Mittu had finished in December, but she chose not to “walk” for graduation. We wanted to honor her accomplishment as well, though.

We all attended church Sunday morning, then Mittu’s mom went home that afternoon. We decided to postpone our family Mother’s Day celebration til next week since we hadn’t really had time to do much for it, but Jim and the boys did make lunch and we had cards and little gifts for Grandma and Mittu’s mom. I had planned for Monday to be kind of a “day off.” It turned out not to be that exactly, but, still, it was really nice not to have to go anywhere! Jason and Mittu worked on creating a slide show for the wedding reception, so it was fun going through baby and childhood pictures. Then they spent hours printing off their wedding invitations and RSVP cards and stuffing envelopes. Though they’ve talked about wedding stuff for hours on the phone, it helps to discuss a lot of that kind of thing in person or with family around. I feel a lot of progress was made on that front.

Mittu goes home today, and Jason’s starts a new full time job Monday while continuing to work his part time one through the summer. I had thought the whirlwind of busyness would slow down this week, but Jesse has a piano recital and spring concert on two different nights this week. But, still, it is a lot less busy than last week.

Though usually I am a pretty sentimental person, somehow I haven’t really had those teary moments I’ve heard other moms express over a weekend like this. I think it was just too busy getting through everything! I have had “those mements” throughout the last several months, realizing this was Jason’s last Christmas at home before getting married, having him share something he wanted to do next Easter and then experiencing a pang when I said, “You won’t be here next Easter,” etc. Originally they had planned to go to CA after they got married, but since finding out they are going to be fairly nearby instead, I don’t have the feeling I am “losing” them. But I am sure between now and the wedding there will be several sentimental teary moments mixed in with the joy! For now there’s just joy.

Thank you, Lord, for such a great weekend!

Computer woes

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I was all set to post more about graduation day and our celebratory dinner last night when some strange things started popping up on my computer — some fake spyware thing added several files. I ran the virus scan and it dealt with several of them, but something is still wrong — my computer now crashes in anything but safe mode. 😦

My computet wiz son worked on it til the wee hours this morning and is now backing up files and reinstalling windows — hopefully that will work! meanwhile I am using my husband’s antique old computer, but I don’t have access to my pictures from here.

I’m so glad Jeremy’s here and knows what to do! Hope to be back in action soon!

Quotes about books and reading

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booksflr

No Booking Through Thursday for me this week: the question was about graphic novels, about which I know next to nothing. But as I am used to doing a bookish post on Thursdays, I decided to share several quotes I’ve collected over the last few years about books and reading.

“And indeed, what is better than to sit by one’s fireside in the evening with a book, while the wind beats against the window and the lamp is burning?”
~ Gustave Flaubert

“Books are chocolate for the soul. They don’t make one fat. One need not brush one’s teeth after reading. They are quiet. One can bring them anywhere–no passport required. Books have only one downfall: even the fattest book has a last page, and then one needs a new one again.”
~Antonie Schneider

“Consider what you have in the smallest chosen library. A company of the wisest and wittiest men that could be picked out of all civil countries, in a 1000 years, have set in best order the results of their learning and wisdom. The men themselves were hid and inaccessible, solitary, impatient of interruption, fenced by etiquette; but the thought which they did not uncover to their bosom friend is here written out in transparent words to us, the strangers of another age.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We read literature for a lot of reasons, but two of the most compelling ones are to get out of ourselves and our own life stories and–equally important–to find ourselves by understanding our own life stories more clearly in the context of others’.”
~ From Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books by Maureen Corrigan, page 34 (I haven’t read the book and I know nothing of the author, but I saw this quote somewhere and liked it.)

“…and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”
~Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“In reading, a lonely quiet concert is given to our minds; all our mental faculties will be present in this symphonic exaltation.”
~Stéphane Mallarmé

“These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. From each of them goes out its own voice… and just as the touch of a button on our set will fill the room with music, so by taking down one of these volumes and opening it, one can call into range the voice of a man far distant in time and space, and hear him speaking to us, mind to mind, heart to heart.”
~Gilbert Highet

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”
~Francis Bacon

“A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity, and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.”
~ Robertson Davies

“Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep; for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as by the latter.”
~ Paxton Hood

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
~ Charles W. Eliot

“Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.”
~William Hazlitt

“A little before you go to sleep read something that is exquisite and worth remembering; and contemplate upon it till you fall asleep.”
—Erasmus

“A good book has no ending. ”
~R.D. Cumming

Where My Books Go

All the words that I utter,
And all the words that I write,
Must spread out their wings untiring,
And never rest in their flight,
Till they come where your sad, sad heart is,
And sing to you in the night,
Beyond where the waters are moving,
Storm-darken’d, or starry bright.

~ William Butler Yeats

Do you have any good quotes about books or reading?

I am connecting this to today’s Thursday Thirteen.

Odds and ends

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  • Did you see The Amazing Race last Sunday, when one teamed missed out on the finals because of a bathroom break? That so would have been me. My family is very patient with my need to stop! In fairness, this girl had chugged down 4 bottles of water to try and wash down fried scorpions and larvae and other assorted gross stuff she had to eat. That team had overcome so much, I was so hoping they’d make it — especially as one girl on the team that did make it is one of the rudest people I have ever seen and I was hoping she’d be elimnated.
  • Jason’s Baccalaureate service was this last Sunday. I had forgotten the joy of singing hymns with 4,000 or so other people. If that was wonderful…I’m wondering what it will be like singing with all the saints in heaven?
  • The guest speaker was a pastor from West Ghana whom we knew years ago when he came to the US to study, so that was a pleasant surprise. I did have a harder time understanding him, though, than I did back then — may have something to do with the sound system, I don’t know. Plus he hadn’t been back in the US for a while so he was probably more heavily accented than when we knew him. But I enjoyed hearing him.
  • We’ve been “cleaning for company” this week as Jason’s fiancee and her mom were coming. Funny how having someone over spurs a cleaning frenzy. When Jeremy was little and we were cleaning before someone came over, he asked, “Why do we want them to think we’re cleaner than we are?’ 😳 I tried to explain that this is really how clean it should be all the time. I usually get all those things done — just not all at the same time!
  • The teen fellowship we hosted a few weeks ago actually ended up helping. Many things, of course have had to be redone even before now, but some of the heavier-duty stuff wasn’t too bad since they were so recently done.
  • Jason’s fiancee, Mittu, did get in late last night and we were all up til after 1 a.m. — then I had to get up at 5 this morning. So I am definitely going to need a nap some time today.
  • Her mom comes in later this week. I’m a little nervous about meeting her for the first time, but I found out she is, too. We’ve talked on the phone before, and she has much, much more of an Indian accent than Mittu does, and I really have to concentrate to understand her — but maybe in person that will be easier, and being around each other more will help, I’m sure.
  • I’m enjoying catching up on wedding plans but am reminded of how stressful all that can be, especially when you have multiple varied opinions. I’m pretty much only offering mine when asked, as she has so much of that to deal with already. Jim only half-jokingly offered them $1,000 to elope, but I don’t think her family would ever forgive us if they did.
  • Jason has applied to grad school but hasn’t heard back yet. He does have a job lined up and a pretty good lead on an apartment that will be available in August, so things are coming together. I am glad they’re going to be close by for a while.
  • This Sunday is Mother’s Day already! We’ve been so focused on graduation that Mother’s Day crept up on us. We tend to do up holidays pretty big and would be willing to just postpone what we normally do, but with Jim’s mom and Mittu’s mom here, that may not be a good idea, either.
  • Mother’s Day is one of the times I miss my mom the most. For the first year or two I couldn’t go into a Hallmark store anywhere near May when they had all the Mother’s Day things out. I can now. I thought I’d share this clip of Il Divo singing “Mama” as a tribute. I can’t say, as the song does, I owe it all to Mom: I owe it all to the Lord. But I am so grateful for my mom’s love and support and belief in me.

Famous Firsts

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I was working on another serious post this morning…but it was just not coming together. I’m going to let it incubate and give my addled brain a rest from thinking and from a busy week and do this fun-looking meme I saw at Melli‘s, who saw it at Thom‘s.

First Job: Besides baby-sitting for my Mom’s friends, I worked for a whole week at a fast food place. I don’t know if that counts since it was so short.

First Real Job: University Library.

First Favorite Politician: Ronald Reagan.

First Car: I’ve never had a car of my own. The first car I drove was my parent’s — I don’t even remember what it was. I’m not a car aficionado. It was small and tan.

First Record/CD: A set of Disney songs.

First Sport Played: Whatever we did in P.E. I’ve never played on an organized sports team.

First Concert: The Lutheran church I attended at the time took us to see Jesus Christ Superstar. Reading the words later — it doesn’t quite compute that a church youth group would go there…

First Foreign Country Visited: None!

First Favorite TV Show: Captain Kangaroo

First Favorite Actor: Bobby Sherman of Here Come the Brides. I wonder why we don’t see that one in reruns these days?

First Favorite Actress: The girl who played the daughter, Audra, on The Big Valley.

First Girlfriend/Boyfriend: My cousin Tommy when I was 2, so my parents tell me.

First Encounter with a Famous Person: My Girl Scout troop went to see Ladybird Johnson when she came to declare Padre Island in Texas a national site. I was near enough to shake her hand but too shy to.

First Brush With Death: None that I know of for sure, but I’ve had some pretty close encounters in the car.

First House/Condo Owned: A fixer-upper that was way over our heads, though we didn’t know it at the time.

First Film Seen: Oh, boy, I don’t remember. One of the first I remember is The Love Bug.

First Favorite Recording Artist: The Monkees.

First Favorite Radio Station: I don’t remember from growing up. From college, early married days, WMUU.

First Book I Remember Reading: A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.

First Meme You Answered on Your Blog: The first weekly meme: this “Works for Me Wednesday” tip. First random, general meme I saw on someone else’s site and “borrowed”: 4 things meme.

If you borrow this, let me know and I’ll come read yours!