His Truth Is Marching On!

"Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [Fourth of July]?  Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity"?


-- John Quincy Adams, 1837, speech at Newburyport, MA

The Best Mother's Day Ever

What else could a mother ask for on Mother's Day than to see her daughter on the platform prophetically painting for worship?

3 John 1:4 

"I have no greater joy

than to hear that my children

are walking in the truth."

(Please forgive so many shots of essentially the same thing, but I'm a proud Mama and didn't post all 25 or so pictures.  Please put up with the seven I am posting.)

Our family in the front row....close to the action.

SO REMEMBER YOUR PEOPLE

REMEMBER YOUR CHILDREN

REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE O GOD!

For those that did not know, Meg has been taking art lessons since August.  We are so proud of her creativity, her heart for worship and her passion for Jesus!  She has talent, that's for sure.  (Thank you to Gina, her instructor for lovingly teaching her!)  But, even more than that we love to see her being free in worship.  As she painted during the worship service, she would stop now and then, lift her hands and just worship.  That blessed me the most.  It's not all about the art; it's all about Jesus.

[rephrase: Upon pondering my closing sentence, I think it is rather: "The best art is all about Jesus."  Amen?!]

May 10: National Wear Your Apron Day!

Mama/Wifey, do you wear an apron?  Why or why not?

I love wearing my aprons.  I posted a musing on apron wearing on Eden Rock, our marriage connect group blog.  Please check it out! 

"With her pretty hair tucked into a little cap,

arms bared to the elbow, and a checked apron

which had a coquettish look in spite of the bib,

the young housewife fell to work,

feeling no doubts about her success..."

(Little Women)

Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day.  My friendly neighborhood Ralphs put the following non-recycled paper flyer in my plastic grocery bag when I ran in to buy mayo last night.

I would really like to meet the person who buys a pre-made-laden-with-hydrogenated-fat-bleached flour- aritificially-colored-non-organic cake or individually wrapped paper lined cupcakes to celebrate Earth Day.  Better yet, I'd like to slap the person who buys soda in plastic bottles or cans in order to "go green."

Maybe I'll just skip Ralphs suggested observances and write my check straight to Monsanto.

And in case you're wondering how I'll be observing Earth Day, I'll be spending the day (weather permitting) outside in the garden, avoiding the housework.  Because as we all learned in school, nature abhors a vacuum.

A Place For Elijah

(I didn't take a lot of Passover pictures.  In the midst of the food and wine, laughter and dancing, presents and afikomen search, friends and family, and being radically challenged by the Lord to move into freedom, I just forgot to snap pictures.  But here is the place we set for Elijah.  You can see the Seder Plate there as well.)

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.  And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”  Malachi 4:5-6 ESV

Thank Heaven For Little Girls

There's nothing quite like a group of little girls.  The unabashed femininity.  The giggles.  The charm.  Would you like some tea with your cream and sugar?  One more piece of cake, one more bit of brie, and no talk of diets or waistlines.

On Easter Monday Meg and I hosted a mother-daughter tea time.  Tea cups and saucers.  Pinkies raised.

A game of cards in between infinite cups of tea.

Tossing a ball on the lower lawn.

The art of mothering is to teach

the art of living to children.

~ Elaine Heffner

"The best Easter ever!" --Meg

Ariunaa making the yummy salad.  Recipe here.

Head out to hunt for eggs, youngest children going first.

Is this not the bestest backyard ever for an Easter Egg Hunt?!

Our dear friends Lizbeth and Steve and their adorable babies spent the day with us. 

The big kids scouting out some eggs before I set them free to collect for themselves.

Yes, my children are collecting eggs in shopping bags.  You may call that being really "green."  Or you may call it frugal/cheap because Mama wasn't spending $5 x 6 kids on Easter baskets.  Or you may call it forgetful, because Mama didn't think about Easter baskets until the day before.  Or you may call it creative, because that's just the way we roll.

I love her walking around barefoot in her little lemon colored pant suit.  What a hippy!

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

This is what Meg did on Saturday:

She gathered a bunch of random stuff from around the kitchen and yard, boiled it with a bit of vinegar and added eggs.

Purple cabbage, red onions, seaweed, green tea, grape juice, rose petals, mustard seeds, herb cuttings from outside, coffee, etc.

Here is the final result:

See our Easter Table and the egg centerpiece on The Gomboblog.