Show and Tell Friday: Christmas presents

Posted on January 2, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky. Guidelines are here.

I wanted to show some of my Christmas presents my dear family showered me with this year.

My husband got me two new Boyd’s Bears:

I love this pretty winter one.

This one says around the bottom, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, Mother was right after all.”

Some new books:

My blog friend Anita in Germany often mentions these Tilda books. I just love her style.

This pretty cameo:

My future daughter-in-law sent me this beautiful tablecloth:

I love the lace and pretty stitching, especially the hearts in the corners.

It’s small, about the size of one you’d put on a round end table. It’s almost too pretty to use. But then again, I really hate it when I give something to someone and they stick it in a closet because they don’t want to mess it up. I want them to use it. So I will look for a place to display this.

Hope you are having a good first week of 2009!

New Year’s Meditations

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Barbara Harper

But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. Deuteronomy 11:11-12.

I seem to start each new year with those verses. but I like to think of them in that way: that whatever “hills” and “valleys” the new year may bring, the Lord will be with us and take care of us.

Laurel Wreath is hosting a New Year’s Meditation Carnival, where she invites us to post our hopes, dreams, desires, and goals for the New Year (and she’s even awarding one participant a $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com.)

My friend Susan at By Grace posted several days ago about making goals instead of resolutions and examining every area of our lives to see what we need to work on. I’d like to use that format.

Spiritual: To “keep on keeping on,” to stay in the Word to be more attuned to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and more obedient more quickly..

Physical: I don’t want to just say generally “I need to lose weight” though I seriously do. But for specific goals I want need to go back to tracking what I eat through SparkPeople — that in itself curbs a lot of intake, plus educates and motivates — and either walk or use my low-impact aerobic video at least three times a week.

Marriage: I need to be more willing to lay aside what I am doing to focus on my husband. I tend to feel “interrupted” and need to remember that he is my priority.

Children: To pray every day for them especially as two are on the threshold of leaving the nest; to seek specific ways God would have me minister to them.

Homemaking: To get those curtains made!! To get back into planning meals. To make a master-list for grocery shopping to hopefully help me remember things so I don’t have to make multiple trips by the store each week.

Creativity: I want to organize my supplies so it is easier to work on a project and find what I need. I want to explore some ideas I’ve been toying with for an Etsy shop. I want to make time for some “serious” writing.

Ministry: I want to make up a questionnaire for the ladies concerning our group and what things they’d like to see us do. I want to be more faithful: I’m ashamed to say I’ve gotten distracted and begun some projects/events very late. God helped and blessed after prayer and repentance, but I want to handle these things better. I think I have also about decided to pass on the tract ministry to someone else — ordering tracts and making labels with the church contact information and sticking them on each tract. I have been thinking since Jim’s mom came that I need to pare down somewhere, and this is a pretty self-contained ministry that someone else could easily do.

We have a big year ahead with the college graduation and wedding of our middle son, another son just on the verge of leaving the nest, another learning to drive, along with the usual events of the year and whatever unknowns it may bring. We’ll have the adjustments of a new president who is very personable, likable, and inspirational, but who had views I strongly disagree with.

One of my deepest desires is that some (preferably all!) of my lost loved ones would be saved. My prayer for all of us can be summed up in three of Paul’s prayers:

Ephesians 3:14-19: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

Colossians 1:9-12: “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light…”

Philippians 1:9-11: “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ, Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”

New Year’s links

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Barbara Harper

wishes-year-card

Rob at ivman has a great list of “New Year’s resolutions you can keep,” such as, “Procrastinate more. Starting tomorrow” and “Don’t jump off a cliff just because everyone else did.” If you need some attainable goals…or just want a good chuckle…check them out.

Gretchen at Lifenut posted 100 irresolutions that she listed last year along with her end-of-the-year progress report. It was quite funny — I might try that. It might be easier to come up with things I won’t do!!

A couple of years ago I posted New Year’s Resolutions for your dog (My favorite: “I will no longer be beholden to the sound of the can opener.”) and a list of New Year’s wishes that someone had e-mailed me (May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise,” etc.)

Here are some New Year’s quotes, a hymn by John Newton titled “The Year We Have Now Passed Through,” and another hymn by Frances Ridley Havergal titled “Another Year Is Dawning.”

Last year, for some reason, I was facing the New Year with anxiety and wrote about God’s help for that in “The year to come.”

At the end of last year I began a study based on different statements in the Bible beginning with “I will…,” which I though a sort of resolution: “I will trust in thee,” “ I will declare thy name,” “ I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy,” “I will confess my transgressions,” and others. That led to a post called “Biblical Resolutions.” I see there I only got through Genesis to the Psalms at the time: I’ll have to look up my notes and see if I ever finished looking through the rest of the Bible for those “I will” statements. That study was a blessing to me, with much food for thought.

My friend Susan at By Grace posted several days ago about making goals instead of resolutions and examining every area of our lives to see what we need to work on. I am hoping to do that in time for Laurel Wreath’s New Year’s Meditation Carnival, where she invites us to post our hopes, dreams, desires, and goals for the New Year (and she’s even rewarding one participant and $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com.) That would be a great way to start the year!

(Graphic courtesy of Antique Clipart.)

Repost: Planning to read the Bible more this year?

Posted on December 30, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Many people begin with new year with a goal to read the Bible through, or at least to read it more. And that is a worthy goal. There are many good reasons to read the Bible.

I’d like to suggest, though, that if you don’t have some kind of plan of action, this goal, like many others, will likely fizzle out and you’ll get discouraged: likely either making the time will fall to the wayside, or you’ll hit or miss in favorite passages and not venture out into others.

So I would like to suggest that you make some kind of plan. Let me say up front, though, that not every day will go according to plan, and that’s ok. Don’t let it discourage you that you can’t do the exact same thing every day, when someone is sick, when on vacation, when something unexpected comes up. On “those days” just do what you can and then get back into routine as soon as you are able.

That’s one reason I like the Daily Light devotional book. I like to use it to begin my devotions and get my mind in gear, but there are some days that that may be all I can do, and on those days I know I’ve had a good “bite” into God’s Word — kind of like those days that you don’t have time for a proper breakfast but you grab a multi-grain nutrition bar rather than a donut.

I’ll confess that on Sundays I only read Daily Light (and sometimes other devotional books I am going through). Our routine is different on Sunday and everyone is home, making it a little harder to find a quiet time to concentrate, plus we’re at church 3+ hours with Sunday School and the morning and evening services. I look at it like going to Grandma’s house for a big Sunday dinner rather than eating at home: I am going to church for the “family meal” my pastor and teachers have prepared that day.

There are a number of plans online for reading the Bible through. One here is based, I believe, on the One Year Bible plan. BibleGateway.com has a few different ones: a comprehensive one for reading the Bible through in a year, a 121-day biographical one covering some of the major people in the Bible, a 61-day survey schedule, and a 61-day chronological reading plan.

There is a plan developed by Robert Murray McCheyne (or M’cheyne) here that will take you though the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalm twice in a year’s time.

The 52-Week Bible Reading Plan has you reading from different parts of the Bible (Epistles, Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy, Gospels) each day.

There’s a free online version of Alexander Scourby’s audio reading of the KJV for those who learn better by listening than by reading (or who sometimes like to listen while reading).

There is a list of thirteen other Bible reading plans here.

The Bible Broadcasting Network has free Bible studies. They used to have a Bible reading plan in pamphlet form, but I can’t find a link to order it. They do, however, have several useful Bible study tools and they have websites in several different languages, even Chinese and Russian.

Surely with all of those plans there is one to strike everyone’s fancy.

I’ve mentioned many times that I love reading the Bible through, and when I first started a plan kept me at it and on track. Over the past several years I have continued to read the Bible through, but not in a year. I usually read a chapter or two a day. I’ll sometimes read more at a sitting in some of the narrative passages or some of the shorter epistles. There are some places in the Bible that I don’t comprehend well if I try to read a lot at a time. That’s the goal — understanding and meditating on what we read, not just getting through a list. Plus I want to be free to study out something that strikes me in my reading or look up cross references, etc., without feeling like I don’t have time to because I need to keep with the plan.

Sometimes I take a break in my regular reading to do a particular study or to go through a Christian book, like Changed Into His Image.

Joe’s Goals is a free tracker for the goals you set for yourself.

In closing, here are some quotes from other well-known voices of the past about reading the Word of God:

“Above all theologies, and creeds, and catechisms, and books, and hymns, must the Word be meditated on, that we may grow in the knowledge of all its parts and in assimilation to its models. Our souls must be steeped in it; not in certain favorite parts of it, but the whole. We must know it, not from the report of others but from our own experience and vision,…Another cannot breathe the air for us, nor eat for us, nor drink for us.”
–Horatius Bonar from They Walked With God

“It will greatly help you to understand scripture if you note – not only what is spoken and written, but of whom and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goes before and what follows. “
–Miles Coverdale

“Some people like to read so many [Bible] chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart! “
–Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.” –AW. Tozer

“When you are reading a book in a dark room, and come to a difficult part, you take it to a window to get more light. So take your Bibles to Christ.” –Robert Murray M’Cheyne

“If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend, the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures. If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.” — Daniel Webster

Other posts on this topic:

Devotional tips
Having devotions when you’re not feeling very devoted
God’s Word
When there is no hunger for God’s Word
What do you say about this book?
Praying When You Don’t Feel Like It.
God’s Unchanging Word, a poem by Martin Luther.
Encouragement for mothers of young children about trying to have devotions with little ones afoot.

The Christian’s Bell

Posted on December 29, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God's  child (John 1:12)
I am Christ's friend (John 15:15 )
I am united with the  Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20)
I am a saint  (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ.  (Acts  1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)
I am a member  of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation (  Rom. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3:20)
I am  free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)
I am a minister of  reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy  Spirit (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph.  2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)
I am  established, anointed, sealed by God  (2 Cor 1:21-22 )
I am assured all  things work together for good  (Rom. 8:28  )
I have been chosen and appointed  to bear fruit (John 15:16 )
I may approach God with freedom and confidence  (Eph. 3: 12 )
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil.  4:13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15:  1-5)
I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16).   I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I  am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).. I have been justified (Romans  5:1)
I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship  (Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be  perfected. (Phil. 1: 5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven  (Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child (Eph 1:5)
I belong to  God
Do you know
Who you are?

Seen at Strength for Today

Christmas 2008

Posted on December 29, 2008 by Barbara Harper

We had Christmas in stages this year.

We met up Tuesday night with two of my sisters who live about 40 minutes away at a Mexican restaurant between our locations.

Jason left Christmas Eve afternoon to spend a few days with his fiancee and her family, so we opened his presents to and from us as well as our stockings earlier that day.

Christmas morning we brought Grandma over. While I finished up a few things, Jesse played his piano recital piece, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”

(All of these picture, by the way, were taken by Jeremy except the one later on of him.)

Then Jim read the Christmas story.

Then we opened presents. See that big box right in front? It’s mine. 🙂

I had thought these were really neat and been wanting one, but thought they were way too expensive. But my husband found a great deal on one.

Grandma had a great time.

Living alone and then with a daughter who did not want to celebrate Christmas at all, I think it was a nice change for her to experience a family Christmas again.

We did have a little bit of frustration, though…We used to open one gift at a time while everyone watched and then we talked about it, but that took all morning, so now we kind of go by rounds. Jesse passes out a present to everyone, and we each open that one gift at the same time before we move on, and that gives us a chance to explain or tell the story behind the gift. Grandma, at this stage, can’t seem to wait for anything (I’m wondering if this is true for others elderly parents with some degree of dementia?), so she would be wanting help with her present while Jim was trying to talk to one of the boys about theirs — no waiting patiently in between. But overall that was a relatively minor blip in the day though it was frustrating at the time.

Jim here is opening a globe from Jeremy with constellations on it (astronomy is one of Jim’s interests, plus he likes interesting things on his desk).

Jesse playing one of his new DS games:

For the past several years I have made these for Christmas breakfast:

Sister Shubert’s (or Schubert?) sausage wraps and cinnamon rolls. In the frozen section of the grocery store, only 15 minutes or so in the oven. In the past the boys didn’t want to have breakfast first, but I have low blood sugar and couldn’t wait til mid-morning, so these were a nice compromise. I could heat them up before we got started, and then people could wander in and out of the kitchen as desired. I also opened a can of sliced apples and added sugar and cinnamon and warmed them up.

Jeremy waiting for Christmas dinner…

Which usually consists of a spiral-sliced brown sugar glazed ham that our local grocery store always has on sale for Christmas, plus Cheesy Potatoes, Vegetable Medley, and brown and serve rolls. Later on we had pumpkin pie and apple pie.

We took Grandma home after the pies, then crashed for the rest of the day. I heated up a plate of leftovers for dinner while Jim and Jeremy made ham sandwiches and Jesse ate leftover Mexican food.

Then Friday we all pitched in for a cleaning marathon. One of Jim’s nephews with his wife and five children, who used to live near Grandma in ID but moved to TN, were coming up for a surprise visit to Grandma. They arrived late in the afternoon while Jim was out picking up Grandma.

Surprise!

3141202433_dc9e98e075

They just stayed over one night, but we had an enjoyable visit. It was good to catch up with them. Their kids range in age from 4 to 12, and I don’t think I had seen them since the oldest was about 4. It had been a long time since we had young kids in the house, and I was expecting a lot of noise and commotion. but they were very quiet and exceptionally well-behaved.

After they left on Saturday we again crashed except for laundry and had pizza for dinner. It was nice to have the house all clean! Usually it takes a few days after Christmas to get things in order.

Yesterday was a fairly normal Sunday. Jason gets back this afternoon, and I have an inkling he’ll bring a couple more presents with him. We’ll probably take the tree down later this week, then it will be “back to normal.” Though in many ways getting back into routine is nice, I often miss the Christmas festivities, lights, gatherings, etc.

Updated to add: I saw after I posted this that 5 Minutes For Moms was hosting a Christmas Photo Carnival, so I linked this post to that.

Retrospectives

Posted on December 27, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I like end-of-the year retrospectives. The Today Show on NBC had a prime-time hour-long look back at 2008 a few nights ago. Time Magazine has a list of the Top 10 of Everything. I am sure there will be more of that type of thing in the next few days.

My family experienced many firsts this year: My husband’s first trips to China and Brazil; Jeremy’s first trip out of the country accompanying his dad to Brazil; Jesse’s first time to make the JV basketball team; Jason’s engagement, the first of our children to take that important step. My mother-in-law moved to SC from ID, the first time we’ve ever had one of our parents living so near us.

At the end of the past two years I’ve taken a look back at my blog, reposting the first sentence of the first post of each month. So let’s see what ushered in each new month of Stray Thoughts:

January:

Biblical Resolutions: “I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions any more — not the kind you forget about by March.”

February:

A Winner!: “I used the Random.Org Integer Generator to determine the winner of my Bloggy Carnival Giveaway of the book The Greatest Love Stories Ever Told.”

March:

Whom God Has Joined: “Next to reading the Bible, reading missionary books has had the greatest impact on my Christian life. Isobel Kuhn’s books have been among the greatest of those to me.”

April:

Thanks!: “Thanks so much for your kind words and prayers concerning my earlier post. I saw the doctor today. She said I did still have cellulitis, but did not prescribe another round of antibiotics.”

May:

“You can’t say ‘No’ until you pray about it“: “I am “rerunning” this post because…I need it!”

June:

Prayer Request: “Heather’s daughter, Emma Grace. whom many of you know, appears to be in heart failure or rejection of her transplanted heart.”

July:

Caring for elderly parents: “I mentioned a while back that my mother-in-law is moving here to SC from Idaho.”

August:

Show and Tell: Paula Vaughan Collection: “Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts ‘Show and Tell Friday.'”

September:

A Laborious Meme: “Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer is hosting a meme for Labor Day about labor — the kind that results in delivering a child.”

October:

Peace Child: “I first encountered Peace Child by Don Richardson several years ago in the Reader’s Digest Book Section.”

November:

A winner!: “The winner of the Christian Victorian Christmas novels via Random.Org is Katelyn.”

December:

Blue Monday & etc.: “We had a bit of drama this morning when Jim’s mom called about 7:30 a.m. saying her hearing aid was broken.”

Contests, memes, book reviews, thoughts from Scripture, prayer requests, family happenings, and assorted other stray thoughts — yep, that just about sums up my blog. 🙂

Updated to add: Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home is hostessing a Mr. Linky where those who do this exercise can link and enjoy looking back through the year together here.

The “Aw, you’re gonna make me cry” present

Posted on December 26, 2008 by Barbara Harper

After seeing my post on our anniversary with the song “The Voyage,” my husband put together this montage of pictures to the song and made a DVD of it for me.

I probably won’t be around much today — we just found out earlier this week that one of Jim’s nephews and his wife and 5 (!) kids are coming for the weekend as a surprise to Grandma, so we’re busy cleaning the Christmas clutter — and other clutter. 🙂 We haven’t had young kids around for a long time — thankfully we saved some of Jesse’s toys for just such an occasion.

Hope you all had a good Christmas and have a good weekend!

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 24, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with those you love remembering the birth of our Savior and Lord, who came from everything familiar, comfortable, right, and glorious to live among sinful people who would misunderstand and reject Him, in order to provide salvation for us.