Hosanna!

Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!

If you’ve never seen The Gospel of John, this would be a great week to see it. Keith & I watch a Jesus movie during passion week every year & declared this one our favorite when it came out a few years ago. It shows the real human emotions Jesus would’ve felt, not a stuffy wig-headed guy that’s usually portrayed. It is also taken word for word from John & is narrated by Christopher Plummer (Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music). My favorite part is chapters 15-17, Jesus’ last words with His disciples & praying for them. Powerful!! This was the only clip I could find, but it’s a good one, too…

PS – OK, so I’m excruciatingly behind in LOST. Just found out this guy is Desmond in season two. Don’t tell me any more!! I want to be surprised.

Happy Birthday, Little Guy!

For Anders’ party this year, we thought it only fitting for the two soon to be four year old boys to spend some time at Great Uncle Jim’s excavating business. Sam & Anders had a blast! They came home with great big plans tucked under their arms, JT hard hats, & big voices filled with stories of their adventures.:) I love it! Thanks again, Charley & Sara for all the planning & giving up your office! Sara’s office became Anders’ for the evening.

This weekend will be just Anders & me for a change. Callie’s off to see Uncle Paul with Thelma & Louise, I mean Mom, Charley, Grandma Jean & Sara. Word was going around the neighborhood that cousin Carson would join them, but he must’ve chickened out – can’t understand why! Nate & Daddy are off to try their first father-son fishing extravaganza. They bought waders & everything. They are planning on eating & bringing home fish for us to eat. So, that leaves me to snuggle with my little guy. We need some “mending fences” time after this last week. He has tried my patience in a number of areas!! He’s such a sweetie one on one, so this will be good for both of us.:)

I’ll post Flicker pictures when I get a chance. Right now, I’m pooped! Here’s a replica of Anders’ cake this year…

Anders’ Song

Andrew William

“A spiritually alert man
with a clear vision for his part in furthering God’s Kingdom
who possesses both the God-given abilities
& the relentless persistance to accomplish
all that God has called him to do.”

Namesakes: Andrew, the first disciple who shared Jesus with his brother Peter, Brother Andrew, William Tyndale, William Carey, Billy Graham, William Wilberforce, Bill Gothard, Bill Bright, & Bill Gaither – all men of God who were used in mighty ways when God gave them a clear vision & they followed that path relentlessly in His strength.

– to be sung to the tune of “Jesus loves Me”,
Anders’ all time favorite…

Andrew William is God’s man.
Valiant protector in His plan.
God gives Anders all he needs:
Vision, persistence, & abilities.

Yes, God made Anders.
Yes, God helps Anders.
Yes, God gave Anders
A special job to do.

Pass It On!

Psalm 78:1-8
“O my people, listen to my teaching.
Open your ears to what I am saying,
for I will speak to you in a parable.

I will teach you hidden lessons from our past
– stories we have heard & know,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
We will not hide these truths from our children
but will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord.
We will tell of His power & the mighty miracles He did.

For He has issued His decree to Jacob; He gave His Law to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children,
so the next generation might know them
– even the children not yet born
– that they in turn might teach their children.

So each generation can set its hope anew on God,
remembering His glorious miracles & obeying His commands.
Then they will not be like their ancestors
– stubborn, rebellious, & unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.”

I love this passage! Just finished listening to Nancy Leigh DeMoss of Revive Our Hearts use it on Counter-Cultural Women, part of her series on Proverbs 31. If you get a chance to read the transcript or listen to the broadcast, it would be worth your time. You can also subscribe to her free podcast – she just finished going through Proverbs 31 & you can find the whole 25 part series on her site – excellent stuff!!

New Blog On the Block

After giving it consideration, I’ve decided that a children’s church ministry blog would be handy. This WordPress is so easy – it only took a couple hours to get it pretty much done! I think the parents & teachers that use the computer are going to like it. I am very excited about how organized & connected it could get us!! That is, if we can all get accustomed to checking in on it every once in a while. We’ll see how that goes. If you want to see what it is & what it does, check out Pass The Baton.

March School Musicals – Reprise

The kids & I saw the dress rehersal of Beauty & The Beast yesterday at Gilead Christian. Excellent job!! Callie fell in love with the Beast & thought all of Belle’s dresses were wonderful. We knew most of the orchestra pit from church & the kids’ babysitter was a giggly towngirl. Also a couple little girls who are in Nate & Callie’s class at church were wolves, so that made it extra fun knowing people in the cast!

Had to take Coach Hines off. My conscience was bothering me too much. There’s so much wrong with that skit. He’s a combo of a few teachers I have known; that’s what is so funny! But he is so inappropriate! So my better judgment won & off he went. If you got a chuckle out of him, good. If you were offended by him, sorry. I’ll try to control myself next time.:)

I always love a live production any day over any movie! There’s just something about the theater. In late April, we’re scheduled to attend Sleeping Beauty at The Ohio Theatre. Callie will go absolutely nuts at that one! Her favorite princess! Will post afterwards.

PS – The other musical we took in this spring was Honk a couple weekends ago at the school where Keith works. It was cute, too – the ugly duckling story. It’s getting to where more & more of Keith’s former students are in the cast now – fun!

Living On Mt. Guiltmore Or Graceland?

I just finished listening to the last two of the three part series on Focus on the Family. Julie Ann Barnhill wrote a book called “Motherhood: The Guilt That Keeps On Giving”. If you’re anything like me & at times get down on yourself because you’re not all you want to be as a mother (don’t we all?), this is for you! Good stuff. Listen to the three parts here, here, & here.

It’s A Jolly Holiday With Hubby; No Wonder That It’s Hubby That I Love!

One of the many reasons I love my husband is that he can have fun without having to spend a lot of money. He loves to just have fun & make life fun. God knew I needed that in my life!

When we were first married, he made every day a holiday, literally. There was “I Love Leigh Ann Day”, half way between his & my birthday – March 13th. Then there was White Day, March 14th – the Korean Valentine’s Day where the woman gives gifts to her “lover” (it always drove us nuts when our Korean students used that word & they did it frequently!). We have a book that tells different official days for each day of the year (remember we’re both elementary teachers) like “Bubble Gum Day” or “Backwards Day”. We still get it out every once in a while, but we used it all the time the first year or so.

Because of this propensity, it was convenient that we had a birthday in February & April & got married in December to spread the celebrating out throughout the year. When our first child was born, he added July to the especially festive months. Our second was a January baby, so made it even better.

Our third baby, however, was due one day before my birthday. From the get-go, Keith said he would like the baby to come in late March. Since our first two were early, we figured this one would come early, too, but I didn’t want him to come much earlier than two weeks early! Being due on April 13th, that really only gave him one desired birthdate, poor kid!

Castor oil has been effective for us when it comes to bringing on a delivery. This was not a unequivocally proven tactic – only tested twice – but both times, two days after taking the stuff, we had a baby. We tried it for the third time & sure enough, it worked then, too!

Anders came totally naturally on the very last day of March at 4:30 pm. He came in on the deadline his Daddy gave him by a mere few hours, but he made it! From the beginning he has been his Daddy’s little guy. He even listened to his Daddy about the day to be born!:)

So now, we have a special reason to celebrate March – no overlapping of months. It’s a minor thing, but fun fact.

Crocuses

Yesterday Callie came in all excited with a mini bouquet of crocus – spring has sprung! Seeing those little yellow & white flowers reminded me of when we planted them. For years Keith & I had wanted to plant spring bulbs around the farmhouse & for various reasons, it didn’t pan out. Fall of ’05 was finally the year. The long-anticipated order of bulbs arrived sometime in October & Dad of course, would be over to help me get them arranged in the ground just right. He really should’ve been a professional landscaper!

Time went by & before we knew it, it was November. God called Dad home that first Saturday in November so we didn’t get to plant that box of bulbs together like we had planned. But my little brother, Paul, bless his heart helped us plant them all the afternoon after Dad’s morning funeral. It was about the most appropriate thing I could think of to do & really was therapeutic. Dad loves flowers! He would love to see all of them coming up now. But I’m sure his garden There is much better. In fact, I would bet he’s on the gardening staff in Heaven & loving every minute of it as we speak.

Anyway, I told Callie to go look at Grandma’s crocuses because there’s a bunch up the front path. I told her she’s likely to see a purple one in that bunch because I remember planting quite a few purple ones there. Anders wanted to know if he helped plant them. That took me back to the moment Dad & I planted those around their house the fall before Anders was born. I remember telling Callie & Nate as they watched us that as soon as they see these flowers come up, a new baby would arrive at our house. Every year with the arrival of those little crocuses, not only does my heart leap at the excitement of the first glipse of all our beautiful spring flowers, but they give my heart a bit of a tug thinking of planting with Dad & anticipating our new baby with their arrival. Sweet, sweet memories!

These crocuses are for you, Mom. Happy Anniversary! Thanks for picking a great man to marry 42 years ago. I have been immeasurably blessed to have grown up in the home you two made together.

The Missing Link

I love this time of year! At Club these weeks, I am teaching the parallels between the Passover & the Passion Week. There are so many & some Christians haven’t heard them. To me, these parallels shouldn’t surprise me, but they still do! Every year I stand amazed at how great it all is. I mean, God planned all this & wanted to give us a clear picture of what He was doing. This was not coincidence. I give some of them here as I prepare for the lesson tomorrow…

Last week, we talked about the original Passover & how God told the Israelites how to be saved from the Angel of Death (see Exodus 12). We talked about how this is just like us when we trust in the Perfect Lamb’s blood to have God’s judgement “passover” us. When God sees Jesus’ Blood on the “doorposts of our hearts”, His condemnation passes over us. We are seen as righteous before Him only through Jesus’ blood & sacrifice.

I brought out Exodus 9:16 – “I have let you live for this reason – that you might see My power & that My fame might spread throughout the earth.” The nation of Israel was choosen so Jesus might be brought into this world through them. God brought them out of slavery & used them so they would praise Him & make Him known to the world. God does the same for us when He saves us from the bonds of sin! He did that for us so we would praise Him & make Him known throughout the whole world.

This week, I’m sharing about Passion Week. Did you know that…

– Lamb Selection Day, the day the Jews picked out their perfect lamb to sacrifice (see Exodus 12:6,7) is none other than Palm Sunday? The day Jesus rode into Jerusalem & the Jews “picked Him” to be their King!

– the Last Supper was Jesus celebrating the Passover with His disciples? When we have communion & take the little cup & bread, it is part of the Passover ceremony the Jews do every year.

– Pentecost is known as “The Feast of Weeks”? The nation of Israel was celebrating the giving of the Law on that day when God sent His Holy Spirit to us (see Acts 2:1-41). The Feast of Weeks is always fifty days after Passover, thus the name Pentecost (pente= five). They celebrate the Law God gave, the Ten Commandments. God chose to use that holiday to usher in His “updated version” – the Spirit – grace! Remember, Christ didn’t come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. Pentecost B.C., God gave the Law; Pentecost A.D., God gave the Spirit!

Next week I’m going to teach on how the Jews celebrate Passover today & where Christ is in all that! It’s pretty clear. Yet many Jews today don’t see it. They just continue to remember the tradition without knowing the fulfillment – Christ. This season, pray for them. That Satan wouldn’t blind their eyes anymore. That this year, they could see Him – that missing link to all the celebrating!