Monday Musings

Posted on March 24, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I love holidays, but part of me is glad when the fuss is all over and life gets back to normal. But I was thinking of that first Resurrection Sunday and how it changed “normal” completely. I hope the impact of the resurrection stays with us even though the time of particular focus on it is over.

My leg is better, but the day after I saw the doctor a dark red splotch developed near where the original wound was and the area under the original wound, which was all clear, now looks a little bruised. Don’t know what that’s all about, but I figured since I am already on antibiotics I’d just keep an eye on it and wait unless it spreads. If it is not all clear by the end of this week I’ll go back and see my regular doctor. Meanwhile I am trying to keep it elevated as much as possible.

Easter time is one of my favorite times to go dress shopping because you can actually find dresses in stores then. But I didn’t get out to look last week. At the end of the week I had to keep my leg up, and before that I just didn’t get to it. Let this be a lesson to me to shop early next time!! There were a couple of shops in particular about 20-25 minutes away I wanted to go to: maybe they’ll still have some items by the time I can get there.

This week is Jesse’s spring break. My thoughts leading up to this week were joyous over not having to set the alarm clock and being able to sleep a little later. I do enjoy not having to set the day’s schedule around the school schedule. But Jesse’s my one who, when left to himself, tends to spend more hours than he should on computer or video games or TV. I could put specific time limits on those activities and might, but I am thinking I should have some other projects for him instead. I don’t want his break to be all work and no fun, but a little work never hurt anyone. 🙂 And since I have to be sitting with my foot up anyway, maybe we can play some games or something. I determined a long time ago that I was not going to be my children’s one-woman entertainment committee — I wanted them to learn to amuse themselves (I know adults who don’t know how to do that) — but Jesse is more of a people person and still young enough that he could use a little direction.

Terry at Ornaments of Grace has an excellent post this morning about the fact that those women who stay home with their children are not always those whose husbands make a lot of money, as the prevailing sentiment seems to be now among feminists. Most that I know have to work at it and sacrifice in some areas and are staying home for greater reasons than economic ease.

When I was lying awake at 3 o’clock this morning, it seems there were other things I was going to post today…but that’s all that’s coming to mind just now! And since my posts seem to always come out longer than I had planned, that’s probably a good thing. I did want to share a couple of amusing videos. Well, the first one is somewhere between amusing and disturbing….if you have too many chocolate Easter bunnies in the house or are trying to diet and need a way to get rid of them, here are a few ideas. The second one shows a a way to keep a dog amused for hours. Love the expressions on the dog’s face!

Alleluia!

Posted on March 22, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;
Death is strong, but Life is stronger;
Stronger than the dark, the light;
Stronger than the wrong, the right;
Faith and Hope triumphant say
Christ will rise on Easter Day.

– Phillips Brooks, An Easter Carol

The strife is o’er, the battle done;
The victory of life is won;
The song of triumph has begun:
Alleluia!

The powers of death have done their worst;
But Christ their legions hath dispersed;
Let shouts of holy joy outburst:
Alleluia!

The three sad days are quickly sped;
He rises glorious from the dead;
All glory to our risen Head!
Alleluia!

He closed the yawning gates of hell;
The bars from heaven’s high portals fell;
Let hymns of praise His triumphs tell!
Alleluia!

Lord, by the stripes which wounded Thee,
From death’s dread sting Thy servants free,
That we may live, and sing to Thee:
Alleluia!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

~ Author Unknown

May you have a wonderful joyous, blessed Easter remembering the resurrection of our Lord and Savior!

And the winner is…

Posted on March 22, 2008 by Barbara Harper

The winner of my 1,000th post giveaway is Need A Nap 2. I’ll be contacting you shortly.

Thank you all so much for your kind comments (some of you made me teary!) and for coming by and reading and commenting! I am honored. I wish I could send something to each of you.

Easter Reading

Posted on March 22, 2008 by Barbara Harper

People say the cross is a sign of how much man is worth. That’s not true. The cross is a sign of how depraved we really are, that it took the death of God’s own Son. The only thing that could save a people like us was the death of God’s own Son under the wrath of His own Father paying the price, rising again from the dead. Powerful to say, this is the Gospel of Jesus. — Paul Washer

I haven’t posted much about Easter this year because I posted a lot of material last year. I’ll recap some of it:

Thirteen quotes from scholars about the resurrection and thirteen witnesses to the resurrection.

Hope you have a blessed day tomorrow!

(Graphic courtesy of Julia Bettencourt)

(Updated 2/22/22 to repair and eliminate broken links. I had several other links here, but the sites are no longer operational.)

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: Metal

Posted on March 21, 2008 by Barbara Harper

PhotoHunt

Theme: Metal | Become a Photo Hunter

There are several interesting metal sculptures around town –at least I think they are metal. They look like it.

This is one I tried to get a shot of when the theme was “Row,” but it was too late in the day and too dark. Since I am supposed to be keeping my foot up today, I asked my oldest son to see if he could get a better shot for me.

This is a view from the back:

Here are a couple that my middle son took a while back:

This is another one my oldest son took of my youngest son a few years ago (he’s at least a foot taller now!)

I enjoy seeing these and others around town.

Know and Tell Friday

Posted on March 21, 2008 by Barbara Harper

To Know Him hosts Know and Tell Friday, and we’d love to have you join us. The questions this week are:

Question 1
Do you color your hair (give me some background info on this one)?

No. Not yet anyway. 🙂 I never had a desire to as I was growing up and in my 20s. My hair was kind of a honey blonde and then started darkening a lot as I got older. I don’t mind that it got darker per se but it became kind of a blah color. I thought about coloring it, but I really, really hate to see people’s roots showing and felt it would drive me crazy trying to keep ahead of that with coloring. Now I do have some gray — a streak on one side and more and more sprinkled throughout. Twice in the last month or so I have been offered a senior citizen discount at restaurants (and I don’t qualify yet!!!) and twice in the last couple of years I’ve been thought to be my youngest’s grandmother. 😕 So I have been thinking about it. A friend recently told me about a type that washes out after 30 days, so that might be a good one to start with.

Question 2
What is one thing that you do with your family (or by yourself) to celebrate Easter?

I wrote about our Easter traditions here, but highlights of the day are the special church services.

Question 3
How old was your oldest living relative (still living or in the past)?

I am not really sure, but I think one grandparent on each side lived into their 80s.

Question 4
What is one thing that can be a “time waster” to you?

The computer.

Question 5
Most annoying bug?

Is there such a thing as a non-annoying bug? I know they have their purpose and I don’t mind them as long as they stay outside and away from me. Even ladybugs lost their appeal a while back when we had an invasion of them. But I guess the top of the list would be roaches, mosquitoes and what my husband calls “no-see-ums” — little things that fly around your eye and head outside in the summer.

Question 6
What does Easter mean to you?

It means to me a confirmation of all that Christ taught about Himself; it proves that there is life after death; it shows that Christ is victorious over death.
Question 7
(Feel free to pass on this question) Is there currently a sin that you are holding onto, and you know you should let go of?

There are some that I struggle with regularly, yes, but I don’t want to go into them here and now. Sometimes in church or after devotions I get to a point of yielding — or at least I think I have — and may have victory a time or two, but then fall right back into old patterns.

(By the way — I am celebrating my 1,000th post with a giveaway here. Hope you’ll check it out!)

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted

Posted on March 21, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Isaiah 53:4: Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis a true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.

~ Thomas Kelly, 1804

Cellulitis…again!

Posted on March 20, 2008 by Barbara Harper

This morning after I woke up I noticed a red band across my ankle. I thought maybe I had brushed against something, but the red area spread a few inches down my foot. I debated with myself all morning about whether to call the doctor or not and finally decided to after lunch. But this was her day off, so they told me I could go to urgent care or call my doctor in the morning. I wanted to go ahead and have it looked at, so I went on to urgent care, and was diagnosed with cellulitis. I had a bout of it last January when I banged my shin on a shelf and had a small wound there. This is the same leg but a lower area and there’s no wound to speak of. I don’t know what triggered this. Perhaps the last bout wasn’t fully cleared up.

But I am on two antibiotics this time, so hopefully this will take care of it once and for all.

I was dismayed about it all day — that it popped up again and that I’m going to be on antibiotics again — they tend to do a number on my system. But at one point in the car today I had the Christian radio station on during their prayer request time, and so many people had such awful things they were going through. I really don’t have any right to complain.

I am supposed to have my leg elevated 20 minutes out of every hour. So it looks I’ll be digging right in on my Spring Reading Thing list!

Happy First Day of Spring!

Posted on March 20, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Spring Cleaning

March bustles in on windy feet
And sweeps my doorstep and my street.
She washes and cleans with pounding rains,
Scrubbing the earth of winter stains.
She shakes the grime from carpet green
Till naught but fresh new blades are seen.
Then, house in order, all neat as a pin,
She ushers gentle springtime in.

– Susan Reiner

(Graphic courtesy of Graphic Garden).

Spring Reading Thing 2008

Posted on March 20, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Katrina at Callapidder Days is hosting another Spring Reading Thing, beginning the first day of spring, March 20, through the last day of spring. The idea is not to make a hard and fast list that you will feel guilty for not completing: it’s entirely flexible.

As Katrina says here, “Spring Reading Thing 2008 is simply an opportunity for you to set some reading goals, share them with the blogosphere, and work toward them this spring. Perhaps you want to add some variety to your fiction reading. Or maybe you’ve had very good intentions as far as reading that book on budgeting or marriage or starting a home business, but…you haven’t even cracked the cover yet. Some might want to read more with their children; others might feel guilty for never having read Wuthering Heights. Or maybe you just love to read and want to share your reading list and check out everyone else’s.”

More information and a Mr. Linky sign-up is here.

Here is my list:

The Restorer’s Journey by Sharon Hinck, third in the Sword of Lyric series. I am in the midst of this one right now (and loving it!)

Dawn’s Light, Restoration Series #4 by Terri Blackstock. The series deals with a cataclysmic event that knocks out all electrical power all over the earth and the ways people have to learn to cope, and this is the final book, due out April 18.

The Forbidden, The Courtship of Nellie Fisher #2 by Beverley Lewis, due out April 1. I had read the first in the series several months ago and am looking forward to the sequel.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I’ve wanted to read this for a long time and had it on a previous reading list but just never got to it.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. This will complete my reading of Austen’s books.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Somehow I have never read it or seen the film, but I often see it on people’s lists of favorite books.

In the Best Possible Light by Beneth Peters Jones, subtitled Godly Femininity in the Twenty-first Century. I started this last year but never finished it.

I will probably read more than these, but these will get me started. I have about 28 books on my to-be-read list that I can draw from plus I am sure there will be others that catch my eye along the way.