Posts Categorized: Love

We Missed You!

| Love, Peace

I was chatting with a young friend of mine, recently. She’d missed school the day before, and I said, “I bet your friends missed you.”

She grinned a little bit, and shyly said, “Yeah.”

“And I bet they were happy to see you back today.”

She nodded her agreement.

And I had a great idea!

“You should take a picture of yourself and have a print made of it. Then, you can give it to one of your friends, and when you’re sick, she can put it on the table at where you usually sit at lunchtime. Then all your friends could see you and think about you, and maybe make a plan to text or phone you after school’s over.” (Texting isn’t allowed during school hours.)

I got a bit of a grin in return. Then I went on . . .

“No! I have a better idea! You should all have photos made! Then, when anyone’s sick, you can put her picture at the place where she usually sits. And the rest of you can think happy and supportive thoughts for your friend. Great idea, huh!”

I’m not completely sure she’s totally on board with the idea.

New plan–what if there are just name cards. And each friend can have the cards of their friends. And if they don’t want to put their cards out on a table, they can at least look, individually, at their friend’s name and think about their quick recovery. And, for the praying sort, they’ll have a nice photo to look at while they’re sending up those prayers.

Great idea! Don’t you think.

 

And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

Matthew 6:6 (The Message Translation)

Maybe I’d be a better prayer partner and warrior if I made a little photograph album with family and friend photos. I was about to suggest that I pull it out at red lights for some quick praying, but I’m thinking that I’d just hold up traffic. I can see I’m going to need to do some more thinking and planning for this project. And, praying.

 

 

 

 

Breath of Heaven

| Faithfulness, Gentleness, Goodness, Joy, Kindness, Love, Patience, Peace

Two or three times a year, my church publishes a devotional book, for Advent, for Lent/Easter, for support for teams of church members on mission trips, and other occasions. Church members are asked to write devotionals for the booklets, and sometimes I’m asked to write one. This year, for Advent, our assignment was to choose a favorite Christmas carol and a scripture passage, and to write a devotional based on our experience with those things. This is the one I wrote, inspired by the song Breath of Heaven. The song’s title has the link to  Amy Grant’s singing the song.

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I trust you to save me, Lord God, and I won’t be afraid. My power and my strength come from you, and you have saved me. Isaiah 12:2 (Contemporary English Version)

Breath of Heaven

We have a niece who had a baby about a year and a half ago. While her husband rushed into the hospital’s emergency room to get a wheelchair for her, she gave birth to their third child, a baby boy, in the front seat of their vehicle. Now there’s a birth story.

The birth story Mary has to tell is pretty impressive, too. Well, more impressive, I guess. After all, it is Jesus.

There’s not much detail about Mary, herself, in the Bible. If you go online, there’s lots of information about her, but it’s all pretty much speculation.

I do wonder, though, if Jesus ever said to her, “Please tell me about the night I was born.” It’s not a matter of his not knowing all the facts, but I like to think that he would appreciate hearing her tell the story.

(He listens and responds. As she narrates the tale, she’s also pondering about her own feelings and struggles.)

 

“Oh, Mother! An angel? Were you surprised? Were you scared?”

         Holy father you have come
         And chosen me now to carry your son

“And Aunt Elizabeth, too? Cousin John? Really?”

         Must I walk this path alone?
         Be with me now

“I remember hearing about that census. All the way to Bethlehem. Quite a trip.”

         Lighten my darkness
         Pour over me your holiness

“No place to stay? Then what happened?

         Do you wonder as you watch my face
         If a wiser one should have had my place

“Shepherds came all the way into town? That was a hike!”

         Help me be strong
         Help me be
         Help me

“What was the hardest part for you, Mother?”

         Breath of heaven
         Lighten my darkness
         Pour over me your holiness
         For you are holy
         Breath of heaven

“You are the bravest woman I know, Mother. I am grateful that you were willing to do what you were asked to do.”

 

 

Reflection
You may have heard two people tell the “same” story, but from really different points of view. This holiday season, think about spending time with friends and relatives that you think you know pretty well. Listen to their stories and appreciate how the details may be different from the way you might remember those occasions.

 

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(We writers are asked to include some bio information. This is what I wrote: My sister was born the October that I was 4 1/2 years old. My mother says that, that December, I would drape small baby blankets over my head and shoulders and wander around the house, stopping at each room, and shaking my head and muttering “No room. No room. No room.” Then, I would erect my toy ironing board, drape IT with blankets, and sit under it, holding a doll. Apparently I would do that for hours, leaving her free to take care of the new baby in the house.

 

Let’s Read a Book! Let’s Read Another One!

| Joy, Love

I’ve been going back to the elementary school near my church for Reading Club again. I just have one girl now, whom I’ve had for the past two years, also. They may add a couple of more kids, but for now, it’s just the two of us, which is nice, because she gets to read more. We chat while she’s eating her lunch. Sometimes I make hangman games on a white board for her; she can eat while figuring out the word. Then, we read.

The first book she chose was about Clara Barton, a brave woman she’d learned about in class. Then we started a Dr. Seuss tongue twister book, which was pretty challenging, because it was made of nonsense (but rhyming) words, and it didn’t really make any sense. Then, last week, was “Game Week,” when card games are available for us to use for a change of pace. She chose Uno, and she plays with her family. A lot. She knew the rules and the strategy and won two out of three games.

This week, I brought a book that I’d seen advertised, A Stone Sat Still, and I had checked it out from the public library. It’s a new book from a writer and illustrator who won a Caldecott Award for the book They All Saw a Cat. It describes how different animals see parts of a cat and think what they saw was a part of a plant or a toy, and so on, until the reader realizes that all those parts belonged to a cat.

 

The premise of the new book is similar to the Cat one. Here, the stone is described with a variety of adjectives, like high, low, rough, smooth; and nouns, such as a kitchen, a maze, a map. My Book Club girl read all the pages, easily recognizing most of the words and being able to sound out the others. She read it all, but wasn’t quite as entranced by it as I was.

I turned back to the beginning and talked through it.

“How can this same stone be high AND low?” She realized that to a snail, the stone might be high. But to an elephant, it could seem low. We went through the book again, page by page, with her explaining how the different descriptors could all be true, depending on what animal was nearby.

“Now,” I said. “Let’s think about some words that are true about you.”

 

“You are a daughter. You are a cousin (and I knew this for sure because a younger boy came up to her in the library for a hug, and she said it was her cousin). You are a granddaughter. You are a student. You are a friend (and this is obvious to me, as most every kid we walk by says ‘Hi’ to her). You are a cheerleader (some guys in her family are part of a football team that plays on the weekends). You are many different things. Lots of words describe you.”

“And I’m a basketball player!” she said. “And,” she said shyly, “I think I’m going to be an aunt.”

“And,” she said … (and I am not making this up) … “I’m a reader.”

It just doesn’t get any better than that.

 

God made the four young men smart and wise. They read a lot of books and became well educated.

Daniel 1:17a (Contemporary English Version)

 

We needed a few weeks to read the Clara Barton book, because it was a biography and had many pages and many, many words. And, we read the Stone book twice. We’re on a roll!

 

 

 

In With the New

| Goodness, Love, Peace

Our first computer was little more than a toy. It used (you may need to sit down to process this) cassette tapes to copy and store data. Once, I lost an entire Vacation Bible School session: activities, group time plans, snack ideas, recreation suggestions, and information for preschool teachers, for a session that would be three hours in length. I still, of course, had my notes and plans, but I had to immediately sit down and re-enter it, while it was all fresh in my mind. Ordinarily, one would save material, and then print it out, just in case there was some glitch in the printing process. Not this time. After I’d completely re-entered all the material, I printed it out. Then I saved it. And that time, the saving process went smoothly. I don’t remember how long we had that computer, but when the family of a friend of Kevin’s was getting a new computer, and he was talking to Kevin about the computer they weren’t going to keep, Kevin suggested that we buy it from them, and we quickly did. And, while it was nothing like the computer we have now, it was a mighty improvement over what we had. It was an Apple II. It used floppy disks to store data.

Some time after that, we had a brown-out at our house. (That’s what the electric company guys called it.) A branch fell from our big pecan tree onto the electric power line, in the middle of the night. Jeremy, who was ill and not sleeping well, noticed that the numbers on his clock were dim. He came in and woke us up. When we turned on the lights, they also were dim. David called the electric company, and repair people came right out, in the middle of the night. There’d been a surge before the brown-out, and we discovered that a few things had been damaged by that surge. The air conditioner!! (Of course, this thing happened in the heat of the summer.) The VCR.  Jeremy would be unable to watch movies we’d gotten for him to watch while he was under the weather. And, yes, the computer. Actually it was some box (which had important wiring) that was part of the electrical wire that plugged into the socket.

We called the air conditioning repair guy as soon as we could. Even though it was August, it was a rainy few days and we didn’t swelter too very much before they were able to come and fix it. Then, I went and purchased a new VCR. I called the computer people. I don’t remember how much the new electrical cord with the important box on it cost, but it was a lot and, really, the computer was old. In computer time.

I made the suggestion, over dinner that night, that instead of replacing the damaged cord, we put that money toward to new computer. BUT. That new computer would be an early, family Christmas gift. And, given the cost, that would be what we would be getting for Christmas. No other gifts. It seemed like a good idea. Maybe not a great idea, but a good idea. I reminded them that they would be getting gifts from grandparents and other family members. And, we would have, right now, a brand new, fabulous computer.

We got a Mac. Next, we got an iMac, that blue, roundish kind. Then we got a red iMac, because the first on got stolen. Yeah. Really. And then David got a computer, too. And then we upgraded.

And now, I’m as bad as anyone when I complain that my present computer seemed so slow! It WAS so slow.

A few months ago, I was complaining to Kevin about it, and his immediate reaction was, of course, that I should get a new computer!

This is the new computer. The picture is a dune from the Mojave desert. It changes during the day, and at night, the sky will be dark, as will the dune.

And it is way too easy to get a new computer. Kevin made the choice for me, I gave him my credit card number, he ordered the thing, and Bob’s Your Uncle.

Kevin was planning a trip to Waco soon, and he got it all set up for me while he was here.

 

 

Meanwhile, I also had, on a shelf above the computer, a television set. It was a verrrrry old television, and I didn’t watch it a lot, but, I did watch it some. And it just seemed like a nice, new, up-to-date television might be nice and work well and look nice. So I got a television, too.

The television we have in the main room is a nice, newish, television, and there’s a TIVO box that brings a lot of television programming into the house. We don’t really watch that much of it. The box that was in the room with my archaic television is a smaller version and only provides something like 90 channels.

When Kevin came, we got the computer out of the box, and he got it all set up. He moved all my mail/work/photos/etc. from the old computer to the new computer. And it is very nice.

The new television with the remotes

The television proved more challenging. There were lots of cables and wires, and after several tries, he finally got the right cable in the right place and used the television’s remote to get all the channels up and running. But they didn’t quite run. Kevin said to call the cable company and tell them that and find out what to do. And, after a few weeks, I finally did, earlier this week. First, I had to call the cable people. I had to wait a long time for a human being, but a guy finally came on. I explained that I had this new television and it came on all right, but I couldn’t get the channels to come up. He said was I using the cable company’s remote. I said I was using the television’s remote. I didn’t have a cable company remote. He was confounded. How did I use the TIVO box if I didn’t have the cable company’s box? I said that I didn’t have the TIVO cable box on my television. The main television, in another room, had the TIVO box. My box was small and it didn’t have its own remote. We don’t use those small boxes any more. You need a TIVO box. Okay. But someone will need to come and bring it, right.

So he said, “Tomorrow. Times are ‘between 8 and noon,’ and ‘between 1 and 5,’ and ‘between 5 and 9.’ ” I went with “between 8 and noon.”

A very nice young man showed up at 8:00 a.m. and went to work. Turns out, I do not need a big TIVO box. I just need the small box, which is what I said. However, my small box wasn’t working well, so I got a new small box. And he had to do some work with wires outside, where he found a wasp’s nest. He said did I have some dishwashing liquid, which I did. I put it in a cup with some water and he went out to take care of those pesky wasps who had made a nest right by the wiring he needed to work on. And, turns out that the little box does have its own remote, which must be a new thing, because for years, I didn’t have one to use and watched all the channels by using the television’s own remote, but none of that matters now, does it.

The cable guy was gone by 9:30, and I sat down to enjoy my new equipment. I checked the television schedule (conveniently on my computer) and ended up watching 9/11 programming for most of the day.

I think that the rhythmic phrase “Remember, remember” was first used in a poem dated as 1870. The event, poetically described, refers to a rebellion in Britain led by Guy Fawkes on November 5, 1605. The poem’s title is “The Fifth of November” and the first lines are:

Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

There’s also a song, “8th of November,” that refers to a military event from the Vietnam War.

We’re encouraged to remember! Remember the Maine!    Remember the Alamo!

And it is easy to recall and say “Remember. Remember, eleven September.”

My children do remember. Kevin will be able to explain it to Peter, who can say to his kids, “Yeah. I remember my dad telling me about that.” And we can hope that in Peter’s generation, the rallying cry “Remember!” could refer to a different kind of event. One that doesn’t make you cry.

 

I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;  I will remember your wonders of old.

Psalm 77:11 (New Revised Standard Version)

 

 

Remember! Remember! The great deeds! The wonders! Remember!

 

 

 

 

Friends Add to the Fun!

| Joy, Love, Patience

I went to the post from two years ago, where that year’s Fun with Friends photos are. And, I have to say, they’re much like the photos from this year. Different kids. Same sorts of messes. Same sorts of FUN!!!

A number of years ago, I was wanting to have some more time, beyond the hour of Sunday School on Sundays, and beyond what we did in Bible School, to be able to provide some creative, interesting things for preschoolers to do. Music Camp was happening for school-age children, and I proposed to have some creative activities for preschool kids who had finished Pre-K and Kindergarten. I followed the Music Camp schedule and called the event Fun with Friends. The first group of kids who came to Fun with Friends are eighth or ninth graders now. We do Science one year and Art the next. This year was Art year.

We usually follow the Music Camp schedule, which is five days, sometimes mornings, sometimes evenings, in late June. Music Camp has been put on hold for a while, so I could plan a schedule that worked for more preschool families. We went with a four-Saturday schedule, 9-to-noon. It worked really well. Peter was able to come for the last two.

Saturday I-Collage

 

Saturday II-Drawing

 

Saturday III-Painting and Printing

Saturday IV-Sculpture

 

Jesus called a small child over to him and set the little fellow down among them, and said, “Unless you turn to God from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore anyone who humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And any of you who welcomes a little child like this because you are mine is welcoming me and caring for me.

Matthew 18:2-5 (The Living Bible)

It’s interesting to me that, when Jesus’ disciples came to him to ask the question about which of them would be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, He calls over a small child. This means that there just happened to be a little kid nearby. I hadn’t really thought about the day-to-dayness of Jesus, and how there must have been people around Him and them, wherever He happened to be staying, visiting, walking by. I certainly feel better when there’s a little kid nearby. And ready for some fun.

 

BAKE!

| Love, Patience

I’ve mentioned before that Peter really enjoys the Great British Baking Show. When he was here, a year or so ago, I was watching it while I was walking on my treadmill. He got interested, and now we watch together when he’s visiting.

This past week, he’s been a little under the weather, and we’ve spent several mornings watching the Brits bake and also some Mr. Rogers episodes.

After the first morning’s baking encouragement, he thought we should make an apple pie. With chocolate chips. If Peter had his way, all fruit would come with mini chocolate chips already inside themselves, so when you peeled, chopped, opened them, there the chips would be! Maybe scientists are working on that right now!

I’d gotten a few different kinds of apples when I went to the grocery store a few days earlier. It looked to him like a good mix, and I began to peel them and chop them up. Peter had been a little under the weather, and in the middle of my peeling and chopping, he went to lie down. Then he went to sleep. I doused the apple pieces in lemon juice, and started on the crust. We’d gotten out cookbooks and he decided on a two-crust pie with a lattice top (instead of a plain, easy-to-do top crust). I followed the recipe until the addition of shortening, and I searched my cabinets for Crisco. No Crisco. I just don’t cook/bake very much at all these days. So, now what?

Since several cookbooks were out and opened to the Pastry/Pie sections, I looked and found a pie crust recipe that uses oil instead of shortening. I had oil, and it went together well. The instructions said to cut two pieces of waxed paper into 12-inch squares, and to put half the dough between them and roll out the dough. When the circle of dough reached the edges of the paper, then the crust would be the proper depth. Okay. That was easy. I rolled out two circles, and waited a while for Peter to wake up, which he didn’t do. So I finally put the pie together, adding the requested chocolate chips.

Even the aroma of baking apples and chocolate chips wasn’t enough to rouse him. Peter slept on.

Quite some time later, he woke. I said, “Smell that delicious aroma? That’s your pie.”

The sleepy, feverish boy had a bite and said, “Maybe I’ll have some later.”

The next day, after the pie had sat around for many hours, I sliced it up and froze the pieces. A couple of days after that, Peter said, “Why did you cut up the pie?”

“Because,” I said, “you weren’t eating any of it, and if it sat around for a few days, it wouldn’t be any good. So I cut it into slices and put them in the freezer. Now, anyone who’s hungry for pie can get a piece of your tasty apple and chocolate chip pie, and warm it up, and enjoy it.”

“Oh,” he said. And it seemed like a good idea to him. I don’t think he’s eaten any of it, and maybe he never will. Sort of the thrill of the hunt, I guess.

 

 

 

 

Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts

Acts 2:46 (Christian Standard Bible)

 

I’m grateful that I never have had to go hungry. I’m grateful for family with whom to break bread with a joyful and sincere heart. I’m grateful that I get to make apple and chocolate chip pie with a grandchild. I have a sincerely joyful heart.

Maybe It’s Just a LITTLE Bit Too Early

| Joy, Love, Patience

When David would complain about the huge holiday (Christmas) merchandise displays at the local craft/hobby store, in July, I went to bat for them.

“If someone’s going to create their own holiday decorations and/or gifts, they can’t wait until November to start working on them. Needlepoint stockings take a while to complete. Hand-crafted angel ornaments are not a week-before-tree-decorating-time project.”

One of the *several* aisles of Christmas stuff.

I still feel that way, but what I’m seeing now are full-blown trees, swags, boxed ornaments, lights, tree-top stars (all ready to plug in), ready-made wrapping paper and reels of ribbons, along with co-ordinated bows and to/from labels.

I don’t know that I saw any holiday kits or areas that had supplies for creating special Christmas stuff. Of course, there’s always supplies for drawing and painting and tee-shirts to decorate and yarn and fabric. So, of course, people who want to create special, one-of-a-kind gifts can find what they need. And then they can wrap the gift in matching paper, ribbon, and bow. It might look prettier in the box than it does after the box is opened.

But, you  know, “crafted with love for . . . ”

 

 

 

 

A few years ago, I needed a picture frame for a gift I was making for David’s mom. I went to the craft/hobby store and was delighted to find that all the frames were 50% off. Yay, yay, hooray! I found the perfect thing to take to her for Mother’s Day.

Then, I began to notice, when I would go there, that the frames were always 50% off. ALWAYS.

Hmmmmm. That made me feel rather fooled. And used. If the frames are always 50% off, does that maybe mean that they’d been priced at twice the price they should be? I guess I could go to Wal-Mart and Target and Michael’s and other places to compare the prices of frames at those places, also keeping in mind the quality and diversity of all those other frames. I’m not going to, but someone might should go. Why don’t you go and compare prices and tell me about it.

I should have gotten closer to this sign on the door to take the picture. A little hard to read, it says, “Furniture, always 30% off Market Price.”

Really. Always? Maybe the store chain always does so very well, financially, that they actually can always take 30, or 40, or 50 % off their items. Or maybe the manufacturer inflates the market price so that stores that purchase their stock can say always 30, or, 40, or 50% cheaper that the market price.

Anyway, I purchased the colored DuckTape in colors I didn’t already have, and I bought extra paintbrushes so kid can make Painted Toast  for Fun with Friends snack. It’s art this year, and this session is “Painting and Printing.”

 

 

 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was barren, with no form of life;
it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness.
But the Spirit of God was moving over the water.

God said, “I command light to shine!” And light started shining.

God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness.

Genesis 1:1-4 (Contemporary English Version)

 

When it’s Science Fun with Friends, I start every day saying, “God made a wonderful world for us, and science is how we learn to understand that world.”

When It’s Art Fun with Friends, I start every session by reading Genesis 1:1. And I say, “God created our world. God creates. And you can create. You create different kinds of things, but you have good ideas and you can plan and work. You are creative, too.”

 

And speaking of God’s wonderful world, here’s what I saw a couple of days ago, while I was sitting on the porch, reading. A very active butterfly, it flitted all around the yellow flowers. I’m happy to have created such a pleasant, attractive space for it.

 

And, I keep forgetting to give the kitten report. A couple of days after I had first seen it (and hadn’t seen it since), I went next door to say goodbye to neighbors who were moving out of state. While I was talking to the mom, I was watching her toddler daughter, who was enjoying a chocolate doughnut. Then, all of a sudden, I saw a kitten scamper past, into the flowers.

I turned to my neighbor. “You took the kitten!” Yes, she said, and they had felt the same things I had, that I couldn’t touch it, I would have to take it to a shelter. But then, she said, she thought that a new, tiny pet might be the thing that would help the daughter and 5-year-old son adjust to the big change in their lives. So they had taken the kitten to the vet, had shots and medications to get her all well. And, she now had a bow around her neck, and was jumping and playing and trying to get a bite of that delicious doughnut. Turned out well.

 

 

What a Holiday!

| Goodness, Joy, Love

For my July 4 breakfast, I had the same thing I have every morning: a cheese and egg breakfast burrito. It’s not, I’m pretty sure, what the the Founding Fathers had for breakfast on July 4, 1776, but it is certainly an early American food. Very early, early American.

The word tortilla originates from the Spanish word tort meaning “cake” and its first documented use was around the mid-1600s. The food itself, a thin flatbread made from dried and finely ground corn, can be traced back many thousands of years to people of the Sierra Madre Mountains. Today, tortillas are second only to sliced bread as the number 2 packaged bread product sold, passing bagels and muffins.

I put some cheese on my tortilla. Apparently, not an American discovery, but I suppose we invented American cheese.

It is thought that cheese was first discovered around 8000 BC around the time when sheep were first domesticated, in Middle East, Europe, and Central Asia. Rennet, the enzyme used to make cheese, is naturally present in the stomachs of ruminants. The leak-proof stomachs and other bladder-like organs of animals were often put to use to store and transport milk and other liquids. Without refrigeration, warm summer heat in combination with residual rennet in the stomach lining would have naturally curdled the milk to produce the earliest forms of cheese.

East Indian history indicates that wild fowl were domesticated as early as 3200 B.C. Egyptian and Chinese records show that fowl were laying eggs for man in 1400 B.C. Europe has had domesticated hens since 600 B.C. There is some evidence of native fowl in the Americas prior to Columbus’ arrival. However, it is believed that, on his second trip in 1493, Columbus’ ships carried to the New World the first of the chickens, which originated in Asia, related to those now in egg production.

Most people of the world eat the egg of the chicken, Gallus domesticas. Nearly 200 breeds and varieties of chickens have been established worldwide. Most laying hens in the U.S. are Single-Comb White Leghorns.

My breakfast, then, has some American, and very, very, early American roots. I took my hand-held breakfast to the computer.

I enjoy working online jigsaw puzzles on the computer. They have a bit of an edge over regular jigsaw puzzles that come in a box. You do not have to worry about lost puzzle pieces, pieces that fall on the floor and no one notices, or, the ruthless friends and family members who will sneak a piece from the table and hide it in their pocket, so they can be the person who places the last piece into the puzzle, completing it. (No one like that in your family? Really?)

Anyway, I like the site Jigsaw Explorer. They put up a couple of new puzzles each day, and they have a big inventory of previous puzzles. The best part is that I can adjust the number of pieces into which the puzzle will be divided, from 6 to 1026. I like the 140-150 range myself. I enjoy completing a puzzle, but I don’t want to spend the entire day working on one. Thursday morning (July 4), I did the puzzle version of the painting “Congress Voting Independence,” by Robert Edge Pine.

For lunch, David said, “Where?” and I suggested D’s Mediterranean Grill, self-described as “Counter-serve Mediterranean-Middle Eastern eatery serving gyros, falafel, salads & kebabs in a casual setting.” He wasn’t so sure, but after looking at a couple of other places, he said OK. April and I had been there the past weekend and enjoyed it. They’ve been in business for several years and have expanded their menu quite a bit. In addition to their Mediterranean fare, they’ve added things like grilled chicken breasts, which is what I had, and, seriously, chicken fried steak, which is what David had. You get sides, and, last weekend, I had Fried Green Beans, which is why I suggested going there. More Fried Green Beans! David had some of those, too, braiding together Mediterranean/American cuisine in the most delicious way!

The saying “an army marches on its stomach” has been attributed to both Napoleon and Frederick the Great. It is recorded in English from the early 20th century.Which makes me wonder, “What did revolutionary was soldiers eat?” Or, rather, what were the revolutionary soldiers supposed to be getting to eat?

 

When in Rome . . . Well, IF in Rome

| Joy, Love

To people who question why I’ve spent so many years in Sunday School with preschoolers, I say, quite honestly, “It’s ‘way more fun.”

And quite interesting, in different ways, of course, from an adult Sunday School class. But interesting.

One Sunday last summer, the Bible story was Paul’s trip to Rome, which was interrupted by a storm that caused a shipwreck. Paul’s group and the sailors made it to Malta, where they stayed a while before going on to Rome, in a nice, new, sturdy ship.

I told the children the story, ending with, “And then Paul went on to Rome.”

One boy, a six year old who would be going into first grade in a couple of weeks, said, with aplomb, “I’ve been to Rome.”

And I knew he had.

Then, one of the youngest kids in the group, a four-year-old, said, as though everyone might have done the same thing, “I’ve been to Rome.”

And I knew that he, also, had been to Rome.

They both had done that traveling just a month or so before.

Because I live in a town with a Baptist-affiliated university and a Baptist-affiliated seminary, and I attend a Baptist church, I know folks who go really interesting places and do and learn really interesting things. The six-year-old’s mother is a professor of Old Testament, and she goes on digs, looking for bones and shards. The four-year-old’s parents teach in the language departments, and they spend a summer semester in Italy, teaching there.

I said to the boys, who’d been to Rome, “Some of the old buildings you saw in Rome are the same buildings that Paul saw, when he was there.”  And, yes, they smiled and nodded, agreeing with me, without having assurance, or, frankly, strong memories of what they’d seen. Their memories were mostly of what they’d eaten there.

And how can a four- and six-year-old really understand: “You’ve seen buildings that Paul saw.”

Those families will most likely keep on with these summer travels and experiences. As the kids grow, they’ll know and understand more of the uniqueness of their experiences. I hope there are lots of photographs.

I did a little bit of research and learned that the buildings that existed in Rome in Paul’s time* were the mausoleum of Augustus, and the Temples of Saturn and Castor and Pollux . None of the other ancient buildings that we see in travelogues and brochures, existed in Paul’s time. The Biblical World article mentions the Pantheon, which was a building in Paul’s time, but it later had significant damage from two large fires, and was rebuilt, completed by Hadrian around 125 C.E.

 

 

Paul, a loving and loyal servant of the Anointed One, Jesus. He called me to be his apostle and set me apart with a mission to reveal God’s wonderful gospel.  I write this letter to all his beloved chosen ones in Rome, for you have been divinely summoned to be holy in his eyes. May his joyous grace and total well-being, flowing from our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, rest upon you.

My commission is to preach the good news. Yet it is not entirely new, but the fulfillment of the hope promised to us through the many prophecies found in the sacred Scriptures.  For the gospel is all about God’s Son. As a man he descended from David’s royal lineage,  but as the mighty Son of God he was raised from the dead and miraculously set apart with a display of triumphant power supplied by the Spirit of Holiness. And now Jesus is our Lord and our Messiah.  Through him a joy-producing grace cascaded into us, empowering us with the gift of apostleship, so that we can win people from every nation into a faithful commitment to Jesus, to bring honor to his name.  And you are among the chosen ones who received the call to belong to Jesus, the Anointed One.  I write this letter to all his beloved chosen ones in Rome, for you have been divinely summoned to be holy in his eyes. May his joyous grace and total well-being, flowing from our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, rest upon you.

Romans 1:1-7 (The Passion Translation)

 

Jesus then took the barley loaves and the fish and gave thanks to God. He then gave it to the disciples to distribute to the people. Miraculously, the food multiplied, with everyone eating as much as they wanted!

John 6:11 (The Passion Translation)

 

Several years ago, a guy at church, a high-school history teacher, planned a summer field trip to Europe. He was really interested in World War II, and the students who went visited places like Dunkirk and Paris. They even went to Haarlem, in the Netherlands, to see Corrie Ten Boom’s Hiding Place. His wife and 5-year-old daughter went, too.

One Sunday morning, lots of kids in Sunday School were talking about summer trips they made. One went to “a big, big mall; with a roller coaster!” Another went to a beach. Another went to Six Flags. The European traveler was listening to her friends, but not chiming in. I finally asked, “Did you take a trip with Mom and Dad?” She looked at me confused. “Did you fly on a plane with Mom and Dad and Dad’s students?” She nodded. “Did you see anything interesting?” Hmmmmmmm. “Did you have anything interesting to eat?” She brightened. “One day,” she said, “I ate all my meat and all my salad and all my vegetables.” Wonderful.

At the end of worship service that day, I went to find her parents and described what she remembered most about her wonderful trip to Europe. “She told me,” I said, “how she ate all her meat and all her salad and all her vegetables.” They looked at each other and rolled their eyes. “That,” they said, “was on the plane on the trip home.”

That was many, many years ago. This summer, that same girl, who is a lovely young woman now, is doing an internship at an agency in Africa. I can’t wait to chat with her when she returns. I’d love to know what sort of things she ate.

 

In so many different ways, we feed, and are fed.

 

* The Biblical World, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Feb., 1894), pp. 87-96 (10 pages); Published by: The University of Chicago Press: Henry F. Burto

The Fauna

| Love, Patience, Peace

The plants in the yard are looking quite nice and healthy. We’ll see how things go, now the the rain’s slacked off and temperatures will be rising. I’m being more diligent with the bug spray, but the more recent animal interactions have been a little startling.

Really. When you just glance at it, don’t you think it really LOOKS LIKE A COW!

 

 

 

I was taking a little bit different route home last week, and was seriously startled when I drove by this house, which is not one I usually pass. I just noticed the animal from the corner of my eye, and was breathlessly startled. Seriously. At first glance, I really and truly thought it was a calf. I’m not sure calves are allowed in the city limits. Of course, upon sensibly looking at the animal, I realized it was a dog. A LARGE dog. That looked very much like a young cow. I did go around the corner and drive by a second time, to snap a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t take this photo, but it looks exactly like what I saw a few days ago, as I walked across the yard. I was seriously startled because the squirrel was standing up, watching me approach, not moving, and a little bit confrontive, and not scampering away, as most squirrels do. I stopped and then took a few tentative steps ahead, and then he turned and ran off.  When the squirrels begin to stand their ground, I’m feeling pretty anxious.

 

 

 

The frightened kitten, huddled up by the porch.

And the most touching fauna encounter happened a couple of days ago. There’s a small flower bed at the front of the house that doesn’t get watered from the sprinkler system, so I always have to hand water that space. I’d planted some new plants, and, on Tuesday, I was watering there. I watered the new shrimp plants I’d put in and the Tuneria, an annual flower that I plant each year (both of those are heat tolerant). I watered the existing Yarrow plants and then moved the hose to a lantana plant that’s been in place for several years. To my great astonishment, something alive leapt from the center of that plant and scampered around the edge of the porch. I inched over to look and saw a huddled-up little furry animal that seemed to be a kitten. I moved back away and watered some more. I looked around the corner again, and the kitten looked at me and began to mewl. And mewl and mewl and mewl. I was very reluctant to interact because I didn’t know from where and from whom the kitten had originated. I didn’t want to make friends, just to need to take it to a shelter. And, if there was an owner nearby, I thought the kitten might be rescued by somebody who’d lost it. By time David came home from work, the kitten was gone.

Whew, I was relieved, but David said it was on the sidewalk by the porch the next morning. As of now, Thursday evening, we’ve not seen it again. I hope it has made its was to a safe place.

 

I should have saved the worm photos until today, I guess, to complete the invertebrate/vertebrate arc.

 

All creatures on earth, you obey his commands, so come praise the Lord!  Sea monsters and the deep sea, fire and hail, snow and frost, and every stormy wind, come praise the Lord!

All mountains and hills, fruit trees and cedars, every wild and tame animal, all reptiles and birds, come praise the Lord!

Psalm 148:7-10 (Contemporary English Version)

 

I don’t hear much from the worms and ladybugs, or the butterflies and the moths, but the birds in my backyard are certainly doing their part!