Find Us Faithful

I found out this afternoon that Steve Green, one of my favorite musicians, was doing a show at a church in town at 6pm. Dan and I loaded Jesse into the car and drove to the church, arriving about 20 minutes into the program. I last saw Steve Green in concert about 20 years ago and I've loved his music ever since. His song "Cherish the Treasure" was the highlight of our wedding. Well, that and, you know, the whole covenant marriage for life thing. That was pretty cool. Scary, but cool.

Anyhoo, I was very excited to see him perform again, and he did not disappoint. After the intermission, he did a few of his songs from early in his career, and one of them absolutely scorched my heart. I've loved this song since the first time I heard it on the DiscMan in my then-boyfriend's 1986 Honda Accord (music! on a shiny silver circle-y thing! that you don't have to rewind! it's a revolution!). The song is "Find Us Faithful" and tears streamed down my cheeks as I was reminded of the privilege and responsibility of living Biblically. The last stanza and the chorus are particularly meaningful to me:

After all our hopes and dreams

have come and gone

And our children sift through all we've left behind

May the clues that they discover

and the memories they uncover

Become the light that leads them

to the road we each must find

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful!

May the fire of our devotion light their way.

May the footprints that we leave

lead them to believe

And the lives we live inspire them to obey.

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful!

Indeed. May all who come behind me find me faithful.

For My Next Trick...

...I will compose a post, of the bloggy persuasion. I KNOW, right? It's a Christmas miracle!



First, a some late acknowledgments. Maggie at Life With Boys pronounced my blog fabulous, for which I thank her very much even as I apologize for the conspicuous paucity of fabulocity. Maggie is a lot of fun to read, and the Cutie-Pie Factor over there is off the charts! Check her out, why dontcha?

I'm passing this award along to my FIRL (Friend in Real Life) Tracy at Too Blessed to Be Stressed. She and her blog are, in a word, Fabulous!




Next, the totally cool and bloggily bodacious Heather of The Extraordinary Ordinary declared my blog brilliante! Didja see that? Brilliant-with-an-e? Pretty cool, yeah? Thanks, Heather!

Know who else is Brilliant-with-an-e? Barbie at Just Barbie. She is brave and kind and generous. Most of all, she's real and I think she's brilliant. With an 'e'.

I have so many things I want to write about. I have pictures and everything. I'm half afraid that if I start, it will all just come out in a great big slobbery jumble, resulting in a bloggy version of Jabba the Hut. The thing that's occupying most of my heart and mind today is that a sweet family I am acquainted with is grieving the death of their wife and mother. She was 39 and her death last Tuesday morning was unexpected. Dan and I attended her funeral this afternoon. I squeezed my children until their cream fillin' came out for the rest of the day. As happens so often, my resolve to be the mom my kids deserve was deepened. Because only God knows the number of my days.

I have a lot of things to tell you about, and I promise to be more diligent in updating the blog. I need to admit that I have a little problem, though. I can't seem to quit doing this:

Odd Things

This was my bedtime snack: German chocolate cake, vitamins and milk. Look for my new diet book at a fine retailer near you. NOT.

Also, is it weird that before I could eat this little gourmet delight, I felt I had to locate the camera and photograph it? That I thought Blog People from The Internet would want to see my weirdness for themselves?

Lastly, don't you love the pattern on that plate? Those are the paper plates we had our Thanksgiving Part Deux dinner on this afternoon, and I think they are so pretty!

Photohunt: Metal

Here's my contribution to Photohunt. I love this view of Olivia through the strings of her harp. The metal actions in the neck of the harp are moving parts that allow the harpist to play sharps and flats.

For more interpretations of this week's theme, go here.

Parenting by The Book

We had a really good week. We made fresh pumpkin puree (fun and easy) and cooked and baked our way through the week. We read some good Thanksgiving books and watched a PBS video about Pilgrims and talked a lot about being grateful. This lent itself to a discussion of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

It was interesting to get the kids' perspective on what those instructions might look like in everyday Pilgrim life.

"Give thanks in all circumstances." That really was the reason for the first Thanksgiving feast. Over half their number had died and the difficulties had to have been more than any of them ever imagined when they left for the New World. God's will for them, and for us, is to give thanks to Him in all circumstances. I've talked with the kids about how knowing what God wants us to do and having the courage to follow Him only means that we've decided to trust Him to provide for our needs. No comfort or ease is implied.

Anyway, good discussions around here. I'd love to read how the Scriptures came alive in your home this week.

New Parenting Strategy: Pretend They Belong to Someone Else!

We had a great afternoon with Dan's parents and his sister and her family. Much food was consumed, football was watched and it was mostly happy shrieks and thuds from the kids playing indoors and out (LOVE Oklahoma in the fall!). We got home about 7:30 and proceeded to veg away the evening. Before bed, a little tidying was in order, and it is Hannah's (age 17) week to keep the kitchen up so I reminded her to finish loading the dishwasher before turning in. When I went into the kitchen about 10 minutes later, there were many dirty dishes around the kitchen. I opened the door of the dishwasher and looked in to see that it was 2/3 full or so. This sort of thing happens with some regularity, and it is aggravating, to say the least.

The two older girls were in their room, but still very much awake. I went to inform Hannah that she had not fulfilled her duties. I've been known to "inform" rather unpleasantly. I mean, come ON. It's not as if the job is ambiguous, for cryin' out Pete. This time I decided to do it differently. I would treat her like she belonged to someone else. Like I would want someone to treat her.

"Oh, good. You're still awake. Come with me to the kitchen and let's get a few more of those dishes in the dishwasher." It almost didn't sound like me talking. Did I mention I can sometimes be unpleasant?

I encouraged her to rearrange the dishes and gave her some pointers. The same pointers I gave her when she got big enough to load the dishwasher. The same pointers I give her (unpleasantly) when she runs the half-empty dishwasher in the kitchen piled with dirty dishes. I instructed her to hand wash a couple of larger items, fill one side of the sink with hot, soapy water to soak some of the serving dishes from this afternoon, and wipe down the counter tops. I explained some of the whys and wherefores. Again. For the patrillionth time. I did not let one note of rancor into my voice, since I wouldn't do that with someone else's kid.

You know what? The kitchen is tidy. My daughter did the job and I don't feel like a giant, steaming pile of mean mom. You know what else? She is Someone Else's kid.

Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

Thanksgiving Blessings

Take your fun where you can find it!