Whew!!

Posted on December 20, 2007 by Barbara Harper

The Lord has really blessed — I got everything on my list from this post done plus got most of my shopping done and a handful of other errands. I found some really great deals — that I can’t tell about til after Christmas — the stores weren’t too crowded, people were pretty pleasant, and I got a special little project for my siblings done (actually Jeremy did most of it) — that I also can’t elaborate on til after Christmas.

I feel about like I’ve just run a marathon, though! After I wrap presents and kind of assess where I stand, I’ll see if I need to do any more shopping tomorrow. I do still need to make a pre-Christmas grocery store run, but I want to avoid other stores Saturday and Monday!! (We don’t usually shop on Sundays, anyway.)

Oh — and I need to do laundry and declutter in there somewhere.

My learning style seems to be “Do it wrong first and then you’ll see a better way.” I’ve been kicking myself for not getting some of this done earlier and I have seen ways I could do better next year. I am thankful the Lord is gracious and helps us and gives us strength.

It just might be worth putting your hands in someone’s mouth, then…

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Last night at dinner we were discussing Jason’s wisdom tooth extraction (he’s doing great, by the way. Thanks to those who prayed!) Though technically the medical person involved was an oral surgeon, we tend to use “dentist” as a broad generic term for anyone who has a career involving teeth.

Jesse: Do you keep the teeth or does the dentist?

Jason: I think he just throws them away.

Jeremy: No, he keeps them all and puts them under his pillow and makes money that way.

Me: So that’s why people become dentists! I always wondered.

😀

An event-full week

Posted on December 17, 2007 by Barbara Harper

My entry for BooMama‘s Christmas tours of homes is a few posts below — or you can click here. I have enjoyed the ones I have seen so far and have even found a couple of cute decorating ideas.

Last week we had something going on just about every night. Monday evening was our church ladies’ group Christmas party where we also revealed our Secret Sisters for the year — lots of fun! We have several places in the area that you can drive through all done up in holiday lights, so we chose one and went there Tuesday night. Jason’s girlfriend was here for a few days before going home for Christmas break, so it was especially fun to take her. The place we went was one of those drive-through zoo type places and at the end they had an area where you could get out and get refreshments or visit a petting area. Jesse got to feed a bottle to a baby goat.

Wed. night was regular prayer meeting; Thursday night was Jesse’s piano recital.

They have kids from early elementary age all through way through twelfth grade, so there is a variety of pieces and abilities. It’s an enjoyable time.

Friday night was the last night before Jason’s girlfriend left, so we all went out to eat at Red Lobster with gift cards just received from my stepfather. Then, they had been watching our DVDs of the Lord of the Rings films through the week, but we didn’t have the last one, The Return of the King. I had Jason get the extended version of it that day and we watched it that night (though I confess I dozed off a time or two — it’s very long!! We had seen the regular version before, so I knew what happened).

Saturday evening was our adult Sunday School class’s Christmas party. We didn’t make it to this last year — we tend to be homebodies anyway and had been out a lot with other activities and were just too tired. Plus the year before it was at this event that I received news that my mom had passed away, and I was a little too emotional to go and have those memories stirred up. I wasn’t feeling really excited about going this time for the same reasons, but I am glad we did — it was a lot of fun.

Last night was the Christmas cantata at church. It’s always enjoyable. This year we didn’t have any participants from our family: at various times in the past we’ve had one or two of us in choir, and a couple of times one of us (not me!!!) has had speaking parts. But this year we just observed and enjoyed. It was a cantata I had never heard before: with all new songs it is a little hard to take it all in, but there were some lovely pieces in it. It’s events like that that help us stop for a moment and reflect on what Christ did for us by coming to earth to live and then die for us. Not that we don’t do that at home or at other times, of course, but these events help keep us focused.

As I mentioned in the last post, Jason had two wisdom teeth out this morning. Everything went well and he’s asleep upstairs, getting up every now and then to change the gauze. On one side where the root was close to a nerve in the jaw, the doctor said he didn’t encounter it during the surgery, so it should be fine — he might have some tingling there. I’m off to get his antibiotics and pain medication in a little bit.

Tomorrow night is Jesse’s Christmas program at school, Thursday night he has a teen caroling party, and Friday night is Jeremy and Jason’s college and career class Christmas party. Friday is also our 28th wedding anniversary. ♥

After that we’re back to our regular life schedules except for Christmas and New Year’s and vacation days. :p But the special events will be over. Though sometimes all the activities do leave me exhausted (one year in the past we had kids in two recitals and two school Christmas programs in the same week!), this year I have been really enjoying them.

I spent a lot of last week getting most of the last of the missionary Christmas packages out. I still have a couple of stragglers — people who signed up to bring things but haven’t gotten them in. Thankfully these packages are going to folks in the States.

My goals for today:

1) Mail out one more package.

2) Look on my family’s Christmas lists to see if there is anything else I need to order and take care of that.

3) Edit our family Christmas letter and print it off. I finished it last night but wanted to let it sit overnight before reading over it one last time and tweaking anything necessary.

4) Print Christmas pictures.

Here’s the one I think I’ll be using for Christmas cards:

Jason’s in a bit of a shadow there, but in the ones where I used my flash, there’s a glare on Jeremy’s glasses.
This…is real life: 😀

5) Work on getting Christmas cards ready. I say every year I am going to get that done earlier — I actually had most of the letter done Dec. 2 and the boxes of Christmas cards have been sitting here. But there have been other things going on…

6) When my family came up in October they brought a ton of pictures for us all to go through. We took some of the one-of-a-kind ones to scan and put on a CD. Jeremy has been scanning and editing them (and I am amazed at how much clearer he’s made many of them!) I’m going to work with him some time today to choose which ones to put on the CD (many are my baby pictures and I figure the rest of the family won’t be as interested in those. 🙂 ) and rename them so they know who the people are in some of the older pictures. Then hopefully we’ll get that CD made and I can get them ready to send out.

Then maybe I can get some Christmas shopping done….

Monday Morning Miseries….

Posted on December 16, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Jason, my middle son, is having two wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow. Fun way to spend Christmas break, eh? We saw the oral surgeon last summer, and the x-rays showed the bottom two were coming in at an angle that would push the rest of his teeth in, and the roots of one were very near a nerve. He said we could wait til Christmas to have them pulled, but he wouldn’t advise waiting much longer.

He only has the bottom two — the x-rays showed no wisdom teeth at all on the top. So that’s good.

I’d appreciate your prayers that all will go well with no complications as he heals. He’s never been under anesthesia before. He usually handles physical problems, the few he’s had, very well.

I told him at least this will take his mind off the fact that his girlfriend is five states away for the rest of Christmas break…

I Hear Thy Welcome Voice

Posted on December 16, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I hear Thy welcome voice
That calls me, Lord, to Thee,
For cleansing in Thy precious blood
That flowed on Calvary.

Refrain

I am coming Lord!
Coming now to Thee!
Wash me, cleanse me in the blood
That flowed on Calvary!

Though coming weak and vile,
Thou dost my strength assure;
Thou dost my vileness fully cleanse,
Till spotless all, and pure.

Refrain

’Tis Jesus calls me on
To perfect faith and love,
To perfect hope and peace and trust,
For earth and Heav’n above.

Refrain

All hail! atoning blood!
All hail! redeeming grace!
All hail! the gift of Christ our Lord,
Our Strength and Righteousness.

Refrain

~ By Lewis Hartsough

His Dear Wife

Posted on December 14, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Several years ago I heard Claudia Barba speak at a ladies’ conference at a nearby town. Her husband had been a church planter and an evangelist and currently has a ministry helping church planters get their churches established. He had spoken at a missions conference at our church a few years earlier and his family was there: I may have met Claudia then, but I didn’t know she spoke to ladies groups and I didn’t know she was the sister of a college friend, who was the pastor’s wife at this church. You know how some people can speak and convict you and you feel like you’ve been beaten up, and others can speak and convict you and leave you feeling hopeful and encouraged and looking forward to what the Lord can do in and through you. Claudia is the latter kind of speaker. Her talks were practical and convicting and went right to the root of my selfishness, but they were tremendously encouraging as well. At that time she mentioned an e-mail list she had started called “Monday Morning Club.” It was primarily for minister’s wives, but was open to everyone, so I subscribed. I’ve been enjoying Claudia’s Word-based instruction and encouragement ever since. Later our own ladies group was blessed to have Claudia as a speaker at our spring Ladies’ Luncheon.

This particular “Monday Morning Club” e-mail has spoken to my heart again and again. Even though my husband is not a pastor, every Christian is a minister of the gospel in some way, and I found much to convict and inspire in this piece. I don’t know what brought it to mind again, but when I thought of it this morning I e-mailed Claudia to ask permission to publish it here, and she graciously gave it.

If you would be interested in receiving Claudia’s Monday Morning Club e-mails, you can e-mail her at cbarba@ipresson.com. The Barba’s web site is Press On! Ministries.

His Dear Wife

by Claudia Barba

It happened again recently. Sitting in church, I heard the pastor welcome us to the service: Dave Barba and his “dear wife.” I think that pastors use that phrase as a graceful way to introduce me when they have forgotten my name. But it always makes me want to laugh as I imagine my husband as a majestic buck in the deep woods, and me as the docile doe by his side. My son (Bambi, I guess) added to my amusement years ago when, during a similar introduction, he grinned at me and formed antlers with his fingers on his head.

This time, after my invisible (I hope) laughter, I began to think about that word—“dear.” It was okay to daydream; none of the pastor’s announcements applied to me.

“Dear” people are precious—beloved, highly esteemed, valuable, cherished, and treasured. I like to believe that that is how my husband thinks of me. But “dear” also has another definition, and I am sadly aware that sometimes that meaning can apply to me as well. “Dear” can mean expensive. A wife can be precious to her husband, or she can be costly to him.

On a literal plane, I can be a drain on his budget or a plug for it. When money is scarce, I have to make every dollar stretch a mile. I can do it cheerfully and creatively, or I can do it grudgingly. One attitude makes me precious to him; the other makes me just another burden—his doe spending his dough.

When he preaches, I can be his silent cheerleader. I can stay awake. I can nod and smile at him from the pew, listen and take notes. I can thank him for praying and preparing, and tell him how the Lord has used his sermons to help me. That makes me precious. On the other hand, criticizing or ignoring his preaching costs him dearly, for it damages his confidence in the pulpit.

When enemies attack our ministry, I can crumple, weep, and blame him for my pain. After all, if he would just be perfect like me and please everybody all the time, no one would criticize and life would be bliss! Or I can bravely and tearlessly remind him in our most painful times that the Lord is the One Whose approval we need. Pleasing everybody else, all the time, is impossible.

If he has worked hard for few visible results, I can “dearly” remind him of the laws of sowing and reaping. I can point him to the future, when God will reward his labor. Or I can drain his spirit by questioning if the ministry is really worth all the work.

When he gets discouraged, I can find ways to lift his heart: a picnic in the park or a love letter slipped into his briefcase. I can pass along compliments from others and promises from the Lord. I can be steady, patient, prayerful, and dear until he’s himself again. I can be his ladder for climbing out of the pit. Or I can jump in with him and then expect him to lift me out.

I can praise his leadership at home and his skill working with people. I can honor the hidden character and steadfastness that I know better than anyone else. I can point out the good I see in him. How precious it is for a man to know that his wife admires him! Or I can take the good for granted and focus on his flaws—costing his self-image dearly.

Someday (long before your funeral, I hope), your husband may say that you are a woman with a price “far above rubies.” That can be true because of your incredible value to him, or because of what it costs him to keep you around. I want to be precious, not expensive—don’t you?

Show and Tell Friday

Posted on December 14, 2007 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.“

You know how we get used to the things we have around us and don’t “see” them any more (which is probably why we like to rearrange them sometimes), and then one day something catches our eye and brings a smile. That happened this morning with this little figurine. Jesse bought it for me at the gift store at the camp he went to last summer.

When he first went to camp in about the 4th grade, he used some of the spending money we sent with him to buy something for each of us. I’m not sure why he thought of it: traditionally none of us brings back presents when we travel. But he’s continued to do that every year. This morning I “saw” this again and it reminded me of the love of a then 13, now 14 year old boy for his mom. I’m glad he’s not afraid to show it.

Holiday Home Party and Christmas Tour

Posted on December 13, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Karla at Karla’s Cottage is having a “What do you love about your holiday home?” party and BooMama is hosting a “Christmas tour of homes.” I’m using this same post for both events. 🙂 All of these have appeared on my blog before — I don’t think we have added anything new this year. Yet. 🙂

So come on in…

Have a slice of Harvest Loaf Cake.

Even though its name sounds fallish, we like to use it for the holidays. I don’t make it at Christmas because we have all those pies then, but usually some time in early December I make some for us and some for gifts.

I am a Christian and believe Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ who came to die for our sins. I’ve been saying “Happy Holidays” for years, though, to include Christmas and New Year’s Day, so I am not trying to be “PC” by saying Happy Holidays. 🙂

Decorations on the piano. I did the calligraphy about 20 years ago in an adult ed. class — but I haven’t done any calligraphy since then.

My mom gave me this several years ago. I has a button in the back that you can push to hear Christmas music and watch the lights flash. The boys have loved this. Since my mom passed away almost exactly two years ago, these gifts from her are even more treasured.

This is something else my mom sent: a Nativity musical figurine.

This is one of my most special treasures, also from my mom. I collect Boyd’s Bear figurines, and somewhere she found this Christmas tree with little miniature scenes all though it.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

On the other end table are these snowpeople. I got the three snowboys because they reminded me of my three sons. Then the boys got each of the bigger snowmen in a crane game. So we put them all together as our family representatives. I should get a little feminine hat for one of the bigger ones to represent me.

I have pastel colors and a lot of pink in my home. That’s a bit of a dilemma at Christmas with all the reds: some of my ornaments and things that were given to me have red in them. In recent years I’ve leaned toward the maroonish bluer reds and dark pinks that would go better with the rest of the decor. But, as I said in the earlier posts about ornaments, I want this all to be family-friendly more than “designer” decorating, so for the most part I just don’t worry about it. However, I was delighted to find this little snowman in my living room colors:

One of my favorite decorations is this little mouse. If you light the candle in the back it looks like a fire in the fireplace.

Here is the fireplace in the family room with the stockings. I made the plaid ones after we were first married and a dear friend knit the others for each of the boys as a baby gift after they were born. The rest of this room is in blue, tan, and off-white, so the red doesn’t clash with pinks in here.

I need to redo the white fluffy parts on mine and my husband’s stockings and maybe appliqué something on them.

Here is our tree with a few favorite ornaments:

These are some felts ones I made early on in our marriage, I think from a kit. I love the little sheep.

This is a Boyd’s Bear ornament my dear friend Carol gave me:

This is from a set of Victorian ornaments that I love which includes a ball and a teardrop shape with the same little flower cluster:

This is a nativity ornament which clips on to one of the light bulbs so it shines through. Someone gave this to someone else at a Secret Sister Christmas party at church, and I liked it so much I went out and bought one for us. I think it is the only Hallmark ornament we have.

This is one I made early on. It has about 1/3 of a toilet paper roll inside and is wrapped in a strip of red felt. White felt circles go over the ends and cross-stitch floss is used to sew the tops and bottoms on in that drum-like pattern. Then little strips of felt are rolled around the end of toothpicks for the drumsticks, and they are glued on. This is made to sit on a branch, but you could use the same floss to make a loop through the edge of the top white felt circle.

This is from a cute little felt snowman set I liked. I bought it rather than made it, but I made the little plastic canvas candy cane.

This one is special to me because it is one of the first ones I ever made. I found the little circle, stained it, found the little miniature tree, dipped the tips of its branches in glue and then it different colors of glitter, then glued it into the circle and added a gold thread loop.

This is one of our newer ones, bought last year at the Christian bookstore. Having all boys, I’ve loved cards and ornaments with little shepherd boys.

This is one of my two attempts at One Stroke painting.

This is one of several cross-stitch ornaments I made several years ago. I think these were the first things I cross-stitched. Sorry this one is a little blurry.

I made this ornament last year — after Christmas, actually — after seeing various button wreaths on a few blogs:

I realized afterward that the little Christmas tree is a charm rather than a button, but that’s ok. 🙂

Thanks for visiting! I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Psalm Sunday: Psalm 57

Posted on December 9, 2007 by Barbara Harper

1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. 2 I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.

3 He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

4 My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.

6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.

7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.

8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.

9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.

10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.

11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.

Other versions list a heading saying this is a “Prayer for Rescue from Persecutors,” a Psalm of David when he was fleeing from Saul in the cave. Even though we may not face that exact type of persecution, I think the day is coming when we might. Even now there is not a general favorable attitude toward Christianity as there has been in past decades in this country. Really, it’s unusual to have a general public attitude favorable toward Christianity — in many countries throughout much of history, persecution has been the norm.

And even if we’re not facing persecution for our faith or our stand for Christ, sometimes we can face opposition as David did when someone takes it upon themselves to try to thwart our cause or decides they just don’t like us. Many people battle “office politics” or family problems or bullies or any number of contrary people or circumstances. So I believe this Psalm can be applicable to any situation in which we face opposition.

Our first recourse, as David’s was, is to cry unto the Lord, trusting Him to undertake, protect, and deliver us. I love the way verse 1 is worded. I love that God is our refuge.

I love also that David is not only concerned for his own situation: he is concerned for God’s glory. He wants God to be exalted in his situation. You see this echoed throughout the Psalms. In Psalm 109:26-27, David says, “Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it.” Too often we just want deliverance; we want out of the problem or situation, as fast as possible, and we may remember to thank the Lord, but we don’t often think about wanting Him to be exalted or His glory to be seen in the midst of it all. I am touched by how, in many of the Psalms, David doesn’t just cry out for help, but his heart for his God is seen.

Once again David tells the Lord of his circumstances, then focuses on God’s mercy, faithfulness, and ability to deliver. My heart is fixed….other versions use the word “steadfast” instead of fixed. We could say David steadfastly fixes his heart on the Lord. In verses 7-10 he looks forward in faith. When he says he will praise the Lord, I am not sure if he means “I will praise you now despite my circumstances: I will focus on You and not the dilemma” or if he means “I will praise you in faith, knowing that You will save me.” I think there are ways that both views are applicable.

I am so thankful that in the midst of any calamity, we can trust in God’s mercy and take refuge in Him.

See Butterfly Kisses for more thoughts on this Psalm. and feel free to join us in meditating on them.

Never further than Thy cross

Posted on December 8, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I saw two verses of this in a book I was reading last night, and when I looked it up today I found it was a hymn. I’ve never heard it — it would be a good one to put back into the hymnbooks.

Never further than Thy cross,
Never higher than Thy feet;
Here earth’s precious things seem dross,
Here earth’s bitter things grow sweet.

Gazing thus our sin we see,
Learn Thy love while gazing thus,
Sin, which laid the cross on Thee,
Love, which bore the cross for us.

Here we learn to serve and give,
And, rejoicing, self deny;
Here we gather love to live,
Here we gather faith to die.

Pressing onward as we can,
Still to this our hearts must tend;
Where our earliest hopes began,
There our last aspirings end.

Till amid the hosts of light,
We in Thee redeemed, complete,
Through Thy cross made pure and white,
Cast our crowns before Thy feet.

~ Elizabeth R. Charles