Mine, mine was the transgression…

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O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown;
O sacred Head, what glory, what bliss till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine.

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor, vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

Men mock and taunt and jeer Thee, Thou noble countenance,
Though mighty worlds shall fear Thee and flee before Thy glance.
How art thou pale with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
How doth Thy visage languish that once was bright as morn!

My burden in Thy Passion, Lord, Thou hast borne for me,
For it was my transgression which brought this woe on Thee.
I cast me down before Thee, wrath were my rightful lot;
Have mercy, I implore Thee; Redeemer, spurn me not!

What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.

— Bernard of Clairvaux

Easter quotes 3

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We greatly need the cheer of this precious Easter truth. We make too little of the place our Lord has gone to prepare for us. We rob ourselves greatly when we try to reduce heaven to a mere state of ecstatic feeling. We need the cheer which comes of having the eye of faith fixed on the better country and the city that hath the foundations. Such a certainty of an inheritance that is real and that cannot fade away goes far to mitigate the pangs which come of the fires and floods and disasters and frauds which so often despoil God’s people of their earthly possessions; for we know that the things seen are temporal, but the things not seen are eternal, and they are only a few heart-beats away.
— E.P. Goodwin

IF you come to seek His face, not in the empty sepulchre, but in the living power of His presence, as indeed realizing that He has finished His glorious work, and is alive for evermore, then your hearts will be full of true Easter joy, and that joy will shed itself abroad in your homes. And let your joy not end with the hymns and the prayers and the communions in His house. Take with you the joy of Easter to the home, and make that home bright with more unselfish love, more hearty service; take it into your work, and do all in the name of the Lord Jesus; take it to your heart, and let that heart rise anew on Easter wings to a higher, a gladder, a fuller life; take it to the dear grave-side and say there the two words “Jesus lives!” and find in them the secret of calm expectation, the hope of eternal reunion.
— John Ellerton

(Other Easter quotes are here, here, here, and here.)

5 Blogs That Make Me Think

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Janeen (aka ChupieandJ’smama) at Our Story has named me one of the bloggers that makes her think and passed on the Thinking Blogger’s award. Thank you, Janeen! That was very kind of you. 🙂

The instructions that go along with this reward are to then name five bloggers who make me think. Probably all the bloggers I read make me think in some way or another. Some of the ones that come to mind have been named for this particular award more than once, so I want to try to name some that I haven’t seen awarded yet (which is harder than I thought it would be! I keep putting people’s names down, going to their blog to copy the url, and finding they have received this award already!).

1. Mrs. Wilt at The Sparrow’s Nest makes me think about creativity and joy in homemaking.

2. Erica at Butterfly Kisses began Psalms Sundays, which causes me to think through rather than just zoom through one Psalm each Sunday.

3. Elle at A Complete Thought makes me think about doctrinal issues and spiritual truth.

4. Mrs. B at Cherish the Home makes me think all across the spectrum, from homemaking to Scriptural truth.

5. I wanted to include at least one of the craft blogs I love here. With raising three boys, crafts have kind of drifted off my landscape over the years, but some of the craft blogs I have found have been truly inspiring to me, causing my to think about ways to include crafts in my life again, both for the joy of creating and the meaningfulness crafting gives to one’s home decor and to gifts for others. There are so many great ones out there it was hard to narrow down, but I decided to name little birds handmade, because she not only caused me to think about crafting again, but to actually do some: button wreaths and soft trees.

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

You can choose from silver or gold:

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Booking Through Thursday: Truly Biblical

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btt3.gif The questions for this week’s Booking Through Thursday are:

  1. Just out of curiosity, as we enter into Passover and Easter season . . . have you ever read the Bible? Just the odd chapter or Psalm? The whole thing? (Or, almost the whole thing? It’s some heavy reading, of course, and those “begats” get kind of tedious.)
  2. If so, was it from religious motivation or from a literary perspective? Stuck with nothing else to read in a hotel room the Gideon’s have visited? Any combination?
  3. If not, why not? Against your religious principles? Too boring? Just not interested? Something you’re planning on taking care of when you get marooned on a desert island?
  4. And while we’re on the subject . . . what about the other great religious works out there? Are they more to your liking?

My answers:

1. Yes, I have read the whole thing, several times. When I first became a Christian as a teen-ager, the pastor of the church I was in at the time encouraged his congregation to read the Bible through in a year. I don’t try to get it in in a year any more — I’m not quite sure how long it takes me, but I want to feel free to stop and ponder things along the way — but I think reading the Bible is the best way to get grounded spiritually and to grow. Romans 10: 17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

2. My motivation was to learn more about God, His character and works, the way of salvation, and what He expects of me. God speaks to us today through His Word — reading it and hearing it taught and applying it are the only ways to really get to know Him. But I do believe it is the highest and best of literary works as well.

3. Different times I have gone through where I haven’t read it have been mainly due to distraction and business. But when I don’t read it, even for a day, I feel out of kilter, and I can’t go too long without reading it without feeling the loss. It keeps me on track.

4. No, I’ve had no desire to.

Edited: When I first answered the last question, I was thinking of “sacred texts” of other religions, and so the answer would be no. But I saw some participants included any general religious works. In that case, I’ve read many: multitudes of Christian biographies and Christian fiction, some of Spurgeon and David Martin Lloyd-Jones and C. S. Lewis and others.

If anyone is interested, a few previous posts on this topic are Reasons to Read the Bible,  Devotional Tips (ideas to enhance one’s Bible reading), and What Do You Say About This Book?

Thursday Thirteen #26: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

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You get a double thirteen today. 🙂 With Easter, or Resurrection Day, coming up, first are quotes, mostly from scholars, about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; then there is a list of people who saw Him after His resurrection.

The following quotes are all taken from chapter 20, “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ” of the book A Ready Defense by Josh McDowell.

1. “I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.”– Thomas Arnold, author of History of Rome and chair of modern history at Oxford

2. “If all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable, according to the canons of historical research, to conclude that the tomb in which Jesus was buried was actually empty on the morning of the first Easter. And no shred of evidence has yet been discovered in literary sources, epigraphy or archaeology that would disprove this statement.”

— Dr. Paul L. Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University

3. “My faith began with and was grounded on what I thought was revealed in the Bible. When, particularly, I came to the New Testament, the Gospels and other writings of the men who had been friends of Jesus Christ seemed to me to make an overwhelming case, merely as a matter of strict evidence, for the fact therein stated … The same approach to the cardinal test of the claims of Jesus Christ, namely, His resurrection, has led me, as often as I have tried to examine the evidence, to believe it as fact beyond dispute.”

— Lord Caldecote, Lord Chief Justice of England

4. Dr. Simon Greenleaf, Royall Professor of Law at Harvard University and author of A Treatise on the Law of Evidence, examined the value of the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ to ascertain the truth. He applied the principles contained in his three-volume treatise on evidence. His findings were recorded in his book, An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice. Greenleaf came to the conclusion that, according to the laws of legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in history.

5. Dr. Frank Morrison, a lawyer who had been brought up in a rationalistic environment, had come to the opinion that the resurrection was nothing but a fairy-tale happy ending which spoiled the matchless story of Jesus. He felt that he owed it to himself, and to others, to write a book that would present the truth about Jesus and dispel the myth of the resurrection. Upon studying the facts, however, he, too, came to a different conclusion. The sheer weight of the evidence compelled him to conclude that Jesus actually did rise from the dead. Morrison wrote his book-but not the one he had planned. It is titled, Who Moved the Stone? The first chapter, very significantly, is called, “The Book That Refused to Be Written.”

6. “What does the critical historian do when his evidence points very strongly to the reality of an event, which contradicts his expectations and goes against the naturalistic view of reality? I submit that he must follow his critically analyzed sources. It is unscientific to begin with the philosophical presupposition that miracles cannot occur. Unless we avoid such one-sided presuppositions, historical interpretation becomes mere propaganda. We have a right to demand good evidence for an alleged event, which we have not experienced, but we dare not judge reality by our limited experience. And I would suggest that we have good evidence for the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.”

— Historian Ronald Sider

7. “If the stone were simply rolled to one side of the tomb, as would be necessary to enter it, then they might be justified in accusing the men of sleeping at their posts, and in punishing them severely. If the men protested that the earthquake broke the seal and that the stone rolled back under the vibration, they would still be liable to punishment for behavior, which might be labeled cowardice. But these responsibilities do not meet the case. There was some undeniable evidence, which made it impossible for the chief priests to bring any charge against the guard. The Jewish authorities must have visited the scene, examined the stone, and recognized its position as making it humanly impossible for their men to have permitted its removal. No twist of human ingenuity could provide an adequate answer or scapegoat and so they were forced to bribe the guard and seek to hush things up.”

— Dr. Bill White

8. “What gives a special authority to the list [of witnesses] as historical evidence is the reference to most of the five hundred brethren being still alive. St. Paul says in effect, ‘If you do not believe me, you can ask them.'”

— Dr. Ewin M. Yamauchi, associate professor of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio

9. “It is noteworthy that these appearances are not stereotyped. No two of them are exactly alike. The appearance to Mary Magdalene occurred in early morning; that to the travelers to Emmaus in the afternoon; and to the apostles in the evening, probably after dark. He appeared to Mary in the open air. Mary was alone when she saw Him; the disciples were together in a group; and Paul records that on one occasion He appeared to more than five hundred at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6).

“The reactions also were varied. Mary was overwhelmed with emotion; the disciples were frightened; Thomas was obstinately incredulous when told of the Lord’s resurrection, but worshiped Him when He manifested Himself. Each occasion had its own peculiar atmosphere and characteristics, and revealed some different quality of the risen Lord.”

— Professor Merrill C. Tenney of Wheaton College

10. Dr. Maier accurately observes that since the testimony of a woman was deemed unreliable, the “initial reaction of the Eleven was understandably one of suspicion and disbelief. Again, if the resurrection accounts had been manufactured … women would never have been included in the story, at least, not as first witnesses.”

11. “A third factor very crucial to interpreting Christ’s appearance is that He also appeared to those who were hostile or unconvinced. Over and over again I have read or heard people comment that Jesus was seen alive after His death and burial only by His friends and followers. Using this argument, they attempt to water down the overwhelming impact of the eyewitness accounts -but this line of reasoning is so pathetic it hardly deserves comment.

“No author or informed individual would regard Saul of Tarsus to have been a follower of Christ. The facts show the exact opposite. He despised Christ and persecuted Christ’s followers (Acts 8:1; 9:1,2; Philippians 3:5,6). For Paul it was a life-shattering experience when Christ appeared to him (Acts 9:3-6). Although Paul was not at the time a disciple, he later became one of the greatest witnesses for the truth of the resurrection.”

— Josh McDowell

12. There was the skeptical family of Jesus (John 7:1-5). His brothers did not believe in Him. They were embarrassed to hear their brother say to the people, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me,” and “I am the vine, you are the branches,” and “I’m the shepherd, you are the sheep” (John 14:6; 15:5; 10:11). What would you do if your brother did that?

There was James, His brother. He was found in the company of the Pharisees. James and his brothers mocked Jesus. However, after Jesus went to that degrading death on the cross, disgracing the family, and was buried, where do we find those hardest to convince -His own family?

We find them in the upper room with the disciples waiting for the Holy Spirit to be sent (Acts 1:13,14). Now, since they mocked Him while He was alive, what happened in a matter of a few days to turn their lives upside down?

James became a leader in the early church and wrote an epistle stating, “I James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ [his brother]. . ” (James 1). Eventually, for the cause of Christ, James died a martyr’s death -he was stoned.

What happened?

The best explanation I know is recorded by Paul: “Then He appeared to James” (I Corinthians 15:7).

— Josh McDowell

13. “It was therefore impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths they have narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact. The annals of military warfare afford scarcely an example of the like heroic constancy, patience, and unflinching courage. They had every possible motive to review carefully the grounds of their faith, and the evidences of the great facts and truths they asserted.”

— Harvard law professor Simon Greenleaf

Bonus from Evidence for the Resurrection by Josh McDowell:

“I claim to be an historian. My approach to Classics is historical. And I tell you that the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history . . .”

— E. M. Blaiklock, Professor of Classics, Auckland University


Witnesses of the resurrected Christ:

Between 518 and 641 people are recorded to have seen the risen Christ.

1. Mary Magdalene—John 20:14, Mark 16:9
2. Women returning from the tomb—Matthew 28:9-10
3. Peter—Luke 24:34, 1 Corinthians 15:5
4. Two disciples (not the 11 Apostles) on the road to Emmaus—Luke 24:13:33
5. Ten Apostles without Thomas—Luke 24:36-43, John 20:19-24
6. Eleven Apostles with Thomas present—John 20:26-29
7. Seven disciples by the Lake of Tiberias — John 21:1-23
8. A multitude of more than 500 on a Gallilean mountain—1 Corinthians 15:6
9. James—1 Corinthians 15:7
10. The eleven Apostles—Matthew 28:16-20
11. 120 (?) at the Ascension—Acts 1:3-12
12. Paul—Acts 9:3-6, 1 Corinthians 15:8
13. Stephen—Acts 7:55
14. Paul in the temple—Acts 22:17: 23:11
15. John on the Isle of Patmos—Revelation 1:10-19

Compiled by The Thinking Christian

 I Corinthians 15: 3-4:  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures…

Happy Easter!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Book Reviews

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I finished two of the books on my spring reading list: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen and Forever by Karen Kingsbury.

I have to say I didn’t like Sense and Sensibility as much as I did Pride and Prejudice, though I liked the film version of it more. It may be because I read it in kind of a disjointed way. The “show, don’t tell” mantra of writing apparently wasn’t in vogue then. 🙂 And there seemed to me to be a lot of derogatory sarcasm rather than a gentle poking of fun at the foibles of others. I felt that I got a fully-fleshed out version of Elinor, Marianne, Mrs. Jennings, and a few others, but not really of Edward Ferrars and Colonel Brandon. I liked Marianne’s progression in the book. I was disappointed that one of the main  storylines was wrapped up with the anticlimactic, “About three hours after his arrival he had secured his lady’s hand, engaged her mother’s consent, and was not only in the rapturous profession of the lover, but in the reality of reason and truth, one of the happiest of men.” I thought, “That’s all you’re going to tell us after waiting for this moment all through the book?!” It may be that in that time such moments were considered private and handled with discretion — I can’t remember how the similar scenes in P&P were handled. It also may be that the events leading up to a climax just before this were considered the major components of the story, and this result considered just a natural outflow. Overall I am glad I read the book, though, and want to continue on exploring Austen’s works.

Forever is the last in the second series about the Baxter family: the first was the Redemption series with five books; the Firstborn series followed and ends with this fifth book. The Baxter saga will continue and conclude with the Sunrise series, the first book of which is due out May 8 (I didn’t know that when I made my reading list, but will definitely add this one on!)

One thing that you can definitely say about Karen is that she knows how to spin a story, how to draw you in and make you care about the characters.  I have heard her speak three times now, and between that and her comments at the end of her books, I know her heart is to convey Scriptural truth to her audience. And I think she does do that. My only relatively minor criticisms are that I think she overplays the emotional aspects of a story a little bit, and I have heard her say that she tends to write fast, and I think that shows just a little (I didn’t think to make note of particular examples).

Some of her books do have kind of a made-for-TV-movie feel to them. But I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I have heard some criticize many of the modern Christian fiction writers for not being very “literary.” But, you know — a high-end literary classic style just isn’t going to appeal to everyone. I think of it kind of like this: I love some of the meaty, doctrinal, literary hymns of the 1700s. But I also like short and simple choruses that emphasize one truth that I hum around the house while I’m dusting. I think there is a place for both styles. And I think that’s true in literature, too. Some of these thoughts have me considering a post along the lines, “Just what does make a classic, anyway?” I might explore that some time.

But for now, back from general principles to this book, this continues the story of Dayne Matthews and Katy Hart and a major obstacle to their wedding plans, while the rest of the Baxter family is still coming to grips with the reality of Dayne’s being part of the family. The underlying theme has to do with loving and serving others, and this is played out in several different directions. One of my favorite scenes was when Regan thinks her husband, Luke, is leaving her alone with the children when he gets home in the evening, cleaning the stovetop in the kitchen piece by piece, after she’s been alone with the kids all day and wants not only a break but time with him, but later realizes that that’s his way of showing love (“acts of service,” if you’ve ever read or heard of the Five Love Languages.) I think Luke’s and Regan’s struggles to find a way to get on the same page in the midst of the problems in their lives is probably pretty typical of many couples.

I was a little disappointed that one of the major storylines wasn’t wrapped up at the end of the book — I discovered that accidentally at an author event with Karen Kingsbury when someone from the crowd mentioned it, so I was a little sad knowing ahead of time. But, when I got to the end, I could understand why it was written that way.

I am looking forward to Sunrise. I don’t know how many books will be in this final series, but it will be a little sad to have the Baxter’s story come to an end.

I went to the library this morning to try to check out A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or The Princess Bride, but they didn’t have a copy of either one at any library in our system. :O  There’s always Amazon.com, I know, but I hadn’t intended to buy them (my bookshelves are over-flowing). I guess I can always resell them if I decide I don’t want to keep them. I just got a Barnes and Noble coupon in my e-mail this morning — I may go see if they have one or the other.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Car Clutter

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wfmwheader_4.jpgThis week’s WFMW is a themed one, the theme being car tips — anything related to your car upkeep, traveling, etc. I’m afraid I don’t have much in the way of car tips, so it will be interesting to see what others have.

I’m even hesitant to mention this, because I am thinking several others might, and we never did get it down perfectly. But it is a good goal to aim for, and that is to have everyone be responsible to take what he or she brought to the car back out of the car when we get home (including anything bought along the way, like drinks, meals, or snacks). That should help to cut down on the clutter — if you remember to remind everyone when you pull to a stop in the driveway, because they are not likely to remember on their own. 🙂

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Also, we never used these, but friends who were on missionary deputation did, and I thought it was a great idea: backseat organizers. The kids could have things within arm’s reach, have them separate from their siblings, and have a storage place so things weren’t strewn all over. You can find this one at Lillian Vernon’s.

Head over to Shannon’s at Rocks In My Dryer for more car tips.

Easter quotes 2

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The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the birth of a new, glorious, immortal life on the realms of the midnight of death, the rising of the new sun on the terrors of darkness and night. It is the opening of a bright and noble highway to Heaven where everything had been closed and sealed and every hope withered. The resurrection of Christ not only lifts darkness and dread from the tomb but also spans the abyss which separates us from our loved dead and puts into us the strength and hope of a glorious reunion. — E.M. Bounds

God expects from men something more…at such times, and that it were much to be wished for the credit of their religion as well as the satisfaction of their conscience that their Easter devotions would in some measure come up to their Easter dress.
— Robert South

(Other Easter quotes are  here, here, here, and here.)

(Graphic courtesy of Anne’s Place)

One of life’s little pleasures….

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…..is a crossed-off to-do list:

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 “The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul…” (Proverbs 13:19a). I had originally desired to accomplish those things by last Saturday, and got all but one of them crossed off. But I just couldn’t get the remaining one taken care of til this morning.

It’s funny how things that have been needing attention for weeks months get taken care of with ease once they are on a list. I had been needing to sew a couple of buttons on clothes here and there and remove a patch from Jesse’s old Awana shirt before giving it away for ages. It only took me a few minutes to take care of that — I just kept forgetting about it.

Of course, I need to make another whole list for this week. But it’s nice to savour that moment of getting things done. 

I don’t know why it always seems to happen this way, but so often when we schedule one event when the calendar looks clear, as the time approaches then the calendar seems to fill up. We signed up to host a teen fellowship after church April 15. We had never had one since living in this house because, though the house itself is not small overall, the individual rooms where you’d have company are. We had a family of five over once and ended up with people sitting on the floor. So having a big group over just wasn’t something we felt we could handle. But this year they are splitting up some of the teen fellowships into smaller groups — jr. high and sr. high or guys or girls or one team or the other. So we’re having the junior high over that night.

Then the seniors at our school sponsor a “Spring Fling” on a Friday and a yard sale on a Saturday as a fund-raiser for their senior trip. I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to participate in this year’s yard sale — and found out a couple of weeks ago that it is Saturday the 14th, the Saturday before the fellowship. Aaauugh!!

One problem with going through things in the attic and shed that we know we want to get rid of is that the prime times for doing that, when there is not much else going on, are summer and winter after Christmas. But that’s when those areas are the hottest and coldest. Spring and fall, when it would be easier to get into those places, are busy times on our calendar.

I think what I have resolved to do is spend this week sorting through things for the yard sale as much as I can, reminding myself it’s not likely I’ll get through the whole attic and shed — will just have to have another yard sale later on, maybe, or take the remainder to Salvation Army when we can. Then next week I’ll be getting ready (read: more than basic cleaning — you know how it is when company is coming) for the fellowship. Because I know if I clean the burner pans on the stove today, I’ll have a major boil-over between now and the fellowship and will have to do it again. 🙂

Jesse is on Easter break this week and was going to sort through some things in his room as well as have a friend over one night. Sunday evening he said he had a sore throat and a few sniffles, but we thought it was just allergies. He even had a friend over yesterday with plans to spend the night, but felt progressively worse during the day, then started running a fever, so I guess he has a full-blown cold or flu. We sent his friend home to hopefully come back later in the week. Then last night Jesse asked for the “throw-up pan” because he felt sick — and lost his lunch. I don’t know if there is a stomach bug, too, or is just the gunk in his throat is setting off his gag reflex. Jeremy used to have problems with that when he was younger, too. We were doing cold medicine and acetaminophen on an as-needed basis yesterday, but today I am giving it to him every four hours, so hopefully he’ll feel better than he did yesterday. He hasn’t eaten much — a little applesauce, Jello, and Sprite — and he’s the only one of us who doesn’t have any extra to lose.

The “throw-up pan” is a bigger pan that I don’t use much — somehow when the older guys were little we’d let them keep it near by when they were sick in case they couldn’t make it to the restroom. Once we got alliterative with it and called it the vomit vessel, the barf bucket, the upchuck urn….

Then they’d get really grossed out when I’d use that pan for things like corn on the cob. I’d assure them it had been well-cleaned and sterilized since they last used it.

One thing I am dearly hoping to be able to get done before the fellowship is to get the curtains up in the family room that I mentioned here and here.  I did finally order fabric this morning — that was the last thing on my to-do list from last week. In case anyone is waiting on pins and needles to know this ( 😀 ), I decided on this fabric –the blue check with the toile as an contrast lining for the valance — and this pattern (bottom right-hand corner). All the other fabric I looked at around town was more expensive (even at outlets) and I just didn’t like it as well. The pattern is fairly simple, so I am hoping I can whip them up. By the way, Fabric.Com is a great site — easy to use, and no charge for shipping on the first order.

I guess I have rambled on enough and should get busy. 🙂 I’ll post a couple more Easter quotes in a separate post. Oh, and I want to remind you that a month from yesterday, on May 2, I’ll be having a Q&A session with Lynn Walker, author of Queen of the Castle. She’s doing a “30 Blogs in 30 Days” author tour, and I am delighted to be one of her stopping-places. I am jotting down questions as I think of them, but if you have any questions you’d like for me to ask, let me know!

Have a great day.