Dancing with the Daffodils

Daffodils (1804)

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

Easter Art

Here are a few fun Easter art projects the kids worked on this week to send to some folks in Texas. I remember doing the tissue paper artwork when I was a kid. Malcolm is all about yellow these days so the yellow chick with his hands traced for tail feathers was perfect. And I thought it was neat that Ethan wanted to make a Legos Easter bunny for one of his crafts.

Books, Books, Books

On Tuesday, Canada Post came to the door and brought us two delightful boxes of books. We received an order from Amazon and Christianbooks on the same day. A book bonanza! Clint had placed an order of Frank Viola books and Gene Edward's The Divine Romance a couple of weeks ago, and I had finally used my gift certificate from my birthday at Christianbooks. (Thanks, Maria) Of course, I had such a hard time deciding what to buy, I ended up with a few more items than I had originally intended. But good books are so enticing to me, and now I can't wait to dig in. I am particularly excited about my Charlotte Mason Companion book and Books Children Love to Read. I've had my eye on these for some time now. They are homeschooling books for those of you who are wondering, "What in the world?" And I am hoping that Hints on Child Training by H. Clay Trumbull will inspire me to be a better parent. I've read raving reviews of this 19th century grandfather of Elisabeth Elliot. Hopefully I will get a few moments to browse through my little jewels this evening. Since I got them in the mail 2 days ago, I haven't had a free moment to peruse yet. I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

Happy 40th Clint

Last night we celebrated my husband's 40th birthday. His actual birth date was last Saturday on the 21st. We have not celebrated Clint's birthday in any official capacity since Ethan was born 7 years ago. But this was a landmark birthday which deserved a landmark kind of affair. This was the sort of event that required white linens and flowers and candles. I ran across these silver placecard frames at Michael's and put several of Clint's baby pictures, high school photos, and our engagement photo in them. And, ironically enough, I used the doily placemats that I bought in Victoria 10 years ago on our honeymoon, but had never had a fitting occasion to use during all these years.They were crisp and pristine. And to set off the place setting, I folded the napkins in a rosebud origami fold and set a teacup in the middle. I invited a few of our closest friends and cooked up a lot of food. We had pork tenderloin with raspberry chipotle sauce and tri-color potatoes (sweet, white, and red) Raspberry vinaigrette spinach salad, and carrots with lemon, butter, and nutmeg glaze. I also made a batch of deviled eggs. And for dessert, my first ever German Chocolate cake adorned with 40 candles. Ethan helped me make the icing for the cake on Friday night. So while all the kids were in the other room with a sitter, we drank wine and ate good food by candlelight. Afterwards everyone tried his best to match world events from the past 40 years with the correct year. Clint opened his gift from Aaron (Yes, it was a "business socks" t-shirt. And yes, I was surprised that over half of our guests knew what this was all about.) Pretty hysterical. Clint also read letters from our good friends Charley Cameron in Shreveport, and Thad Jennings from Waco. (And yes, he teared up when he read the sentiments from these two incredible brothers.)Thad and our friend Johnny had also videotaped a memory lane video that was sent earlier in the week. It was a nice evening. We ended by singing some songs together, though by this time, some of the smaller guests were busy turning into pumpkins, and had to be carted away to dreamland. Later that night, I found that our friend Adam, from Shreveport had also sent a letter for Clint's birthday and Greg and James had made a computer gaming video personalized for the big occasion. Both of us are so blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Birthday Party

We celebrated Ethan's 7th birthday today with a catapult party. Ethan and Clint made 2 catapults this week for the event. We went to the park down the street and had the kids try to hit golf balls into the buckets in the center of the field. At the house we sang Happy Birthday to Ethan and had cake and ice cream. Some folks brought non-perishable food goods for a local food bank --the Mustard Seed. Ethan will get to take the items downtown with Clint sometime later this week. To go along with the catapult theme, Ethan picked out a shield cake that had a mace on top of it. And all of the treats on the table mimicked some type of ammunition that was used with catapults. There were baskets of snakes (gummy worms), heads from the enemy (tootsie roll pops with googlie eyes), piles of horse dung (really Crispex puppy chow),barrels of gooey toxic stuff (rolos candy), and lead balls (Whoppers)

Ethan is 7

I can't believe that my little boy is 7 years today. He is such an affectionate little guy always taking the time to tell me that he loves me and initiating a big hug for no reason at all. His latest thing is to make a paper airplane and write a message on it such as "let me play x-box" and then fly it into my lap or Clint's lap for permission. As the week wore on, his messages got longer, and he thought funnier. But, 7 year old humor is a strange creature, especially when the same joke keeps getting repeated. I have to keep reminding myself how precious these days are. This week Ethan appeared with a straw contraption taped to his forehead. I told him he reminded me of one of those anglerfish that live in the ocean deep and have a suspended light to attract prey. Well, the next thing I know, he has this orange golf ball taped to his straw contraption. I had to take a picture. Who needs to buy Halloween costumes. Here's a list of a few things about Ethan that will hopefully help me to remember what he was all about, say 10 years from now when he's going off to college and I need to revisit this time.

Ethan
1. favorite things to do--play x-box, play board games, build stuff with Legos, etc, snowboard, go on hikes, swimming,making pillow mountain, going to Upside-down-Kingdom on Sundays
2. Favorite foods-- pancakes and bacon, stromboli, oranges, pizza,
3. favorite dessert-- brownies with ice cream
4. what he's learning/studying this year--his multiplication tables, Explode the Code level 4,Horizon math workbook 1st grade, how to sew a quilt, units about owls, weather, gingerbread men, quilts, bridges, the ocean, birds, plants, skyscrapers,
5. Favorite books -- King Midas and the Golden Touch, Animal Encyclopedia,
6. Favorite color --black
7. Favorite movies -- Indiana Jones and Star Wars
8. Best Friends -- Benjamin and cousin Josh
9. Favorite thing to wear -- Lansharx t-shirt and UT hoodie
10. What he wants to be when he grows up -- an engineer

Fun with Bridges

Ethan and I are currently learning about bridges together. I didn't know much about these structures before we started. I can't say I have ever had a huge interest in them or really even noticed them except to make sure they were sturdy enough when I had to pass over one. So thus far, this has been a really neat study for the both of us. Last week, we started out by discussing the forces at work on a bridge Both kids enjoyed building bridges out of blocks. We also made various paper building structures like arches and tested how many paper clips the different ones could hold. I don't think I got any pictures of that. This weekend we went with Clint on a leadership retreat to Shawnigan Lake outside of Victoria. On Saturday, Clint accompanied Malcolm and Ethan along with some others from the retreat up to a trussle bridge. (Laurel and I had to turn back because her shoes were not snow worthy and we were having to walk most of the way in the snow.) So we missed out on this adventure, but by the pictures, it was way cool. So today, Ethan and I built a similar bridge from craft sticks. We also were finally able to make our Roman-like rock arch from play dough and rocks.

Gingerbread Friends

Last month we used various versions of the Gingerbread Man story as our unit focus. This was too fun. Of course we had to bake gingerbread men. And I had promised them we would make a gingerbread house out of graham crackers and candies I had purchased on sale at Michael's after Christmas. Clint happened upon a gingerbread tree kit and so we built that too. We read a vast array of stories ranging from the Gingerbread Cowboy to the Gingerbread Girl to a story about an ice cube that runs away from a host of creatures only to be eaten by a whale. I had no idea there were so many versions of that story. We own 3 books ourselves, and the library had quite a few unusual renditions to add to our selection. It was great comparing all the stories and showing how they were alike and how they were different. So, I had the kids do something I probably would not do again. It might have been a good activity for a 6th grader, but perhaps a bit advanced for my kindergartner and 1st grader. I had them complete a chart that compared the various stories (their characters, title, author, and endings) I made them fill out the chart in their own handwriting. So, you can imagine that this took awhile for my budding scribes. However, it was a good lesson to build perseverance. And the English teacher in me wanted them to know what an author and character and illustrations were. They were quite proud of themselves when they finished their charts. (And for the record-- Ethan had to report on more stories and on more topics than Laurel. (my feeble attempt at being age appropriate) They enjoyed making their gingerbread puppets much more. Laurel made a gingerbread girl with blue yarn hair and Ethan made a Gingerbread boy. What I really liked was their own gingerbread story creations. Back at Christmas, I had purchased two booklets shaped like people from Mardel's with just this project in mind. I had the kids write a story and illustrate their story. Ethan came up with the idea of a Gingerbread man on vacation-- in Hawaii. This was so clever. His character basically came to be, because the cooks at a hotel tired of making seafood for breakfast and made a gingerbread man instead. After his escape, the cookie gets chased by a giant orchid, a seagull, a crab, a lava flow, and finally ends up being eaten by a chameleon that is hiding in the bushes and snaps him up with its long tongue. His book cover was quite fitting with a green grass skirt and a lei made of sequins. Laurel's gingerbread girl encounters more of the traditional story's enemies, but I loved the twist she made at the end. When the fox tries to persuade the girl to hop on its back, she spies a bridge over the river and refuses to accept his invitation, opting instead to use the bridge. I wanted her to end there, thinking it a perfect ending, but she insisted that something sinister happen to the villain and so the fox ends up being stung by a whole bunch of electric eels that happened to be hanging out in the river. How about that for an ending. I plan on treasuring those books for many years to come. Who knows. One day I may see their name on the spine of a book at Barnes and Noble.

Thoughts on Mary: Handmaiden of the Lord

OK so back in early December I was asked to speak at a Ladies' Dessert at our church- Oaklands Chapel. It was such a blessing to me. At first,I had no idea what the Lord would have me present and so had to spend a lot of time in prayer and then in study. The following is a basic transcript of what I presented, except that I didn't read it verbatim and I can't even tell you what parts got left out or added to. Anyway, I intended to post this back in December, but the day after I printed out my copy to use at the upcoming event, our computer crashed and wasn't up and running again until a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, I was so glad I had my printed copy before the crash. It may seem a little lengthy of a read,(I know my attention span for reading blog entries is limited) but I believe it has a lot of Truth (a lot of JESUS) in it so it may be worth breaking up into a couple of sessions.


Title was --Mary: Handmaiden of the Lord
First I read this scripture from Luke 1:26-38 from the Amplified
26Now in the sixth month [after that], the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth,

27To a girl never having been married and a [a]virgin engaged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

28And he came to her and said, Hail, O favored one [[b]endued with grace]! The Lord is with you! [c]Blessed (favored of God) are you before all other women!

29But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled and disturbed and confused at what he said and kept revolving in her mind what such a greeting might mean.

30And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace ([d]free, spontaneous, absolute favor and loving-kindness) with God.

31And listen! You will become pregnant and will give birth to a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus.

32He will be great (eminent) and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His forefather David,

33And He will reign over the house of Jacob throughout the ages; and of His reign there will be no end.(A)

34And Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I have no [intimacy with any man as a] husband?

35Then the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you [like a shining cloud]; and so the holy (pure, sinless) Thing (Offspring) which shall be born of you will be called the Son of God.(B)

36And listen! Your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is now the sixth month with her who was called barren.

37For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment.

38Then Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to what you have said. And the angel left her.


Have you ever imagined yourself in Mary’s place? I’ve never seen an angel, that I know of anyway. But meeting face to face with a direct messenger of God would most definitely be a breath-taking experience. Don’t you agree? I wonder how fast was Mary’s heart beating? The adrenaline flowing within. The fear of what was happening mixed with the awe and excitement of an encounter with an angel of God. Obviously, she was incredibly frightened and confused. And the angel addresses her astonishment and assures her that she does not need to be afraid because God is blessing her. And then Gabriel tells her what is about to happen to her. Mary is still confused because after all, she knew how babies were made. And she was a virgin. How could this be? And so Gabriel reveals to her “ The Holy Spirit will cause this child to be conceived within you”. “God’s power will come upon you” Next, Gabriel affirms the miracle in her older cousin Elizabeth’s life. The story of John the Baptist’s arrival is spectacular in its own right. See how God intertwines the lives of his saints into His story. Mary’s story becomes intricately woven with Zechariah and Elizabeth’s story, both rooted in the coming of the Savior. This is good stuff.

Gabriel completes his visit and his revelation to Mary by testifying to the power of God in accomplishing His purposes. 37For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment.
Mary has just received a word from God. And Gabriel assures her that God is fully able to carry out what He has said. I wonder do we believe what God has spoken to our hearts. I wonder do we really believe the Promises we have recorded in the Bible about his plans for us.
But do you know what really blesses me in this passage? Mary’s deliberate obedience by faith in God. What Gabriel has foretold defies all that Mary knows of the natural world and its processes. Nevertheless, her response: “Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to what you have said.” Mary believes. She doesn’t question. She doesn’t ask for more signs. She simply trusts. She takes him for His word. God has spoken. And she puts it all on the line by her decision to believe what He has said. Now it’s out of her hands. It’s up to God to bring what He has spoken to pass.

And do we take it for granted that this was an easy decision for Mary to make? Think about the consequences for trusting God with this matter. I wonder what doubts assailed her? What would Joseph think? Would he believe her? Would he abandon her? What about her family? Her best friends? Surely this would ruin her good name , her reputation as a righteous woman. The shame that would be cast upon her family. What about the plans she had dreamed of since she was a little girl. What would happen to those? She would most assuredly become outcast.

I don’t know if any of those doubts entered her mind when she was talking to Gabriel. But I am almost certain as the days and months past, she must have been haunted with such thoughts. That’s how Satan works and he’s pretty good at stirring up doubts. I wonder, then, if she remembered her declaration of faith “I am the handmaiden of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to what you have said.”

And God did not abandon Mary. Though Joseph was planning to discreetly call off their engagement (after all, what choice did a righteous man have?) God intervened and sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to reveal His plan to him, and so Mary was not rejected by her husband. And Joseph, also making a choice to yield his own dreams to the plans of His God took Mary as His wife. You see, Joseph also had to decide if he was going to believe what had been spoken to him. He, too, made the choice to be obedient by faith in God.
Of course, sometimes God’s best for us is to allow us to bear a hardship. Mary would still have to endure the false rumors about her illegitimate son. I can’t imagine how those hurt her when she overheard an insinuation while shopping at the market. And those hateful rumors never really ended. Even as a grown man, people would take an opportunity to scorn Jesus if they could. John 8:41 As Jesus is being challenged by a group of Pharisees, They said to Him, “We are not illegitimate children and born out of fornication; we have one Father, even God.”

It’s been 30 years. You mean those hateful rumors are still making the rounds?
When Mary overheard one of those horrible lies about her child, the Son of God, I wonder did she recall her promise. “I am the handmaiden of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to what you have said.” I wonder did she whisper it as she raised her face at Calvary and looked upon her dying Son? Who’s to say? We can only speculate how her vow of faith influenced her walk with God as she watched a little boy grow up into the Savior of the World. I am just blessed by Mary’s choice to let God have His way with her life.

So what does this mean for us today? How can we apply Mary’s absolute availability to God to our lives? We don’t have our own personal angel visiting us to tell us what God’s will for our day is. But we have something just as marvelous—I think maybe more spectacular than a whole host of angels. We have The Holy Spirit of God indwelling us. And we are promised this spirit will teach us all things. John 16:13-15 Jesus says, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”

This is no little thing that Jesus is promising us. He will guide us into all truth, not just little bits and fragments. He will speak to us directly what the Father says. How awesome is that? Do we believe that? And everything that the Spirit reveals to us will be by nature glorifying to the Son. We get to participate in glorifying Jesus.

Well, there must be something that is withheld from us. No. Jesus says All that belongs to the Father is mine. And he promises to make it known to us. How can we gloss over these words without getting pumped? This is good news!
And when we read 2nd Peter 1:3-4, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” God has equipped us with everything we need for life and godliness, and we can participate in the divine nature. Have you ever considered yourself royalty? Through Jesus, that is what you are.

Of course one thing remains to be done. We have to be willing to abandon our dreams for His, to make our ourselves available to God. We have to be willing just as Mary did, to take a deliberate step of obedience by faith.

So as we are going, getting up in the morning, making breakfast, going to work, driving our cars, dealing with our families, dealing with our friends, dealing with the lady at the checkout counter. (I think you get the point.) As we are going, we come to moments when we realize that God by His Spirit, has revealed His will to us. And we have a choice to make right then: to be the Lord’s handmaiden or to not be the Lord’s Handmaiden. Daily life is packed with these opportunities if we will but open our hearts to see them.

And when you know—When You really know that God has given you a step to take, it is a truly wonderful thing to embrace it and lean into it. But many times, sisters, we may not be able to do the thing at hand unless we face that it is only God that can do it in us.

Some of you may be familiar with Corrie ten Boom, a sister who was imprisoned many years in a concentration camp during WWII for hiding Jews. Once, after a speaking engagement several years after the war , Corrie ten Boom met face to face with one of the prison guards from the concentration camp where she had spent a good deal of time and where her sister died. And this man who had been her guard approached her and asked for her forgiveness. She hit a wall. She knew she couldn’t forgive him. It was a sheer impossibility. And so right there as she was standing before this man who had his hand extended to receive a handshake. Within the depths of her Being, she called out to God for love and forgiveness for this man. And she was not disappointed. Love and forgiveness flowed like a stream from within her, and she took his hand and it was not counterfeit. God loved that ex-natzi through Corrie ten Boom.

And whether it is a spectacular feat like this one with Corrie ten Boom or whether it is, “Lord, I can’t wash dishes just now, I have no strength to do it. But they need to get done and I know it’s your will for me “ You see, in whatever task you are given how trivial or grand, God will use His Holy Spirit to enable you to do it. You can be honest with God. “Father , I don’t really comprehend how the death of your Son and the blood He shed can cleanse my heart from sin and clear the record—but this is what you have said! I am your handmaiden. Let it be done to me according to what you have said. “ Or, God, I do not fully understand how you can come by your Holy Spirit to live in me, making me a partaker in your divine nature, in the very life of Jesus Christ Himself so that - He through me, - can reveal the invisible God to a visible world, but this is what you have said. I am your handmaiden, Lord. Let it be done to me according to what you have said.

Do that, and the burden is on God to keep the promise He has made and to do what He has said. You can’t –but He can! And I believe He will.

Laurel's first teeth

Last week Laurel lost her second bottom front tooth. She lost the first one only a week before that when chewing on a piece of bread. And so she logically arrived at the conclusion that eating bread is the best way to make a lose tooth come out. She is now seriously contemplating how she can lose a few more teeth and so increase the funds in her piggy bank. Funny how after you get old, thinking reverses regarding the loss of one's teeth. Instead of the promise of gaining money, it becomes dread of being taken to the cleaners. So, anyway, here is sweet little Laurel with her new smile. I had to laugh a couple of weeks ago after she lost the first tooth. I caught her looking in the mirror at herself and smiling in a million different poses, admiring her missing tooth.

Santa's Workshop

Ethan and Laurel practiced their letters last week and made the Santa's Workshop banner. We hung it from the valance behind our dining room table and voila-- instant Santa workshop. We have used the table this week to design and put together our Christmas crafts which included a stocking that was laced together with yarn. Laurel made hers into a lady. Ethan opted for alternating stripes of red and silver glitter. There were 3-D Christmas trees though we eventually gave up on having them stand on the table and pinned them to the curtain. And my favorite -- reindeer made from a footprint for the face and two handprints for antlers. Laurel gave her reindeer a pink nose and used those pink eyes we had left over from her monkey party a couple of years ago. Oh, and what reindeer would be complete without pink hooves and a pink tail? Ethan made a more traditional "Rudolph" for his reindeer. We also used the area to make Christmas cookies. I am impressed how Ethan and Laurel are mastering the whole "rolling out dough and cutting it" thing. I think that all of us are really learning how to do this at the same time. And of course, Malcolm had to be in on the action as well. He didn't do too bad at all cutting out his snowmen though he was a bit zealous with the cutter. What great helpers Santa has!