Ninety

Today is my grandpa's ninetieth birthday.

He's a man of few words, but I thought I'd write a few words about him in celebration.

I have tons of wonderful memories with my grandpa.  I remember:

~fishing with him until my stomach hurt or the pigs came to eat our fish, whichever happened first depending on our fishing hole

~riding on the fender of the tractor while he cut or baled hay

~him pulling over his truck on the way home from town and telling me to drive (I was WELL under 16)

~riding with him (just the 2 of us!) up to VA to get some furniture (or something, the reason doesn't really matter, but we did split a Snickers bar)

~eating popcorn and watching baseball

~MASH and almost knocking Grandma out of bed

~strawberries and mashed potatoes!  (yes, it's all his fault)

~"picking" potatoes

~sitting with him in church

~going to his house on my lunch break to eat grilled hotdogs

~building a metal shed and trying to hide the ribs from Mom

~spending time with him when I had chicken pox

There are lots more, and it doesn't matter if anyone else understands the references.  I know what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about some of my favorite times of life with one of my very favorite people.

Grandpa has his code word for love, but I'm just going to come out and say it:  I love you, Grandpa.

Eat a piece of something sweet for me; I hear that there will be no shortage of such things today!

Happy Birthday!

An (unfortunately) Unusual Happening

The other day I thought Nadia was awake, but she wasn't.  My mistake however has started a trend that I'm trying to keep going.  I went ahead and got up, and I got so much done!  I got to read my Bible, reply to some emails and even finish a book!  And that's what brings me here, the book.  I want to tell you about it.

Elyse Fitzpatrick has written several books, but I've only had the pleasure of reading this one:  Helper By Design, and I greatly enjoyed it.  I appreciated her honesty.  Sometimes I read this type of book, you know, a book for Christian women about how to be a better Christian woman, and I get a weird feeling from the author.  It just sounds fake to me.  I realize that's probably more about me than about the author, but that's how I feel.

This book feels like a conversation.  About half way through the book I talked to one of my friends about it.  She told me about actually hearing Elyse Fitzpatrick speak, and then she sent me a clip.  From that point on I could hear Elyse's voice "talking" to me - don't panic, I'm not going crazy.

An author will often give examples from his or her own life in books such as this one.  I often find those examples tedious or bragging in some way (again, I know that has a lot to do with me), but with Elyse's book, it felt natural and open.  I really liked that.

Elyse begins by looking at the essence of who people are.  We are created in the image of God.  You can't go wrong with that foundation!  She then goes on to talk about different aspects of being a woman in general and being a wife in particular, highlighting what God has called us as women to do.

Every little girl (I suppose) dreams of meeting her true love and living happily ever after.  Elyse focuses first on the true love of God and how that should change all of our relationships.  Realizing God's amazing love for us changes the way we relate to others.  This love-filled life doesn't start with my contemplating my own goodness or even the goodness of my husband.  It begins with my remembering my great need and God's indescribable love -- and immersing myself in it. (129)


She wrote a great chapter on submission, explaining first what submission is not while also reminding her readers that a wife's submission flows out of our sincere, faith-filled submission to the Lord. (152)

There are plenty of other good points about this book.  I'm sure that each reader will find some nuance that she appreciates or that she disagrees with, but on the whole I appreciated this book, and I recommend it.  I don't remember who gave it to me, but I'm grateful.  And I'm really glad that I finally got to finish it!

A Love To Celebrate

It Was Love

(Words and music by Mark Altrogge
As recorded on Valley of Vision)


It was love that brought You from above
To walk upon the earth
And love that caused Your weariness
Your hunger and Your thirst

It was love that caused You to be tried
And tempted by the foe
And love that brought the nails and cross
And love that bought my soul

How wonderful Your love, the mystery of mysteries
Filling up my heart, more glorious than I know
How wonderful Your love
There's nothing else so sweet to me
I'll never be apart from the Lover of my soul
From the Lover of my soul

Your love is filled with holiness
O Spirit, fan this flame
Your love will never cease or cool
Your love will never change
O let me see Your love for me
Around me everywhere
The shining sun, a gentle rain
Remind me of Your care

© 2005 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

I pray all my friends and family will know this love.

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An Excited Helper

Nadia's been doing really well with her new little braces. To sum up her therapist's comments the other day, her ankles aren't turning in and her stance is much more narrow. She sits with more control. We are very encouraged!

Today I decided she finally seemed to have her balance under control enough to help me wash dishes. And she was so excited!












Thomas came downstairs, and it was all Nadia could do to contain her pride at her new accomplishment.

Here's to many more years of fellowship at the kitchen sink, my precious little girl!

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I Long For Nothing Else?

I love music.  I make no claim to be a musician or even musical, but I love music.  And I love when musicians combine great music with great words.

The last few weeks and months have been fairly smooth for our family, but we have a few friends who have been enduring difficult times (a slight understatement, really).  As I listened to the Sovereign Grace station we "created" on Pandora, this song came on:

As Long As You Are Glorified by Mark Altrogge Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings Yet not welcome any pain Shall I thank You for days of sunshine Yet grumble in days of rain Shall I love You in times of plenty Then leave You in days of drought Shall I trust when I reap a harvest But when winter winds blow, then doubt Oh let Your will be done in me In Your love I will abide Oh I long for nothing else as long As You are glorified Are You good only when I prosper And true only when I’m filled Are You King only when I’m carefree And God only when I’m well You are good when I’m poor and needy You are true when I’m parched and dry You still reign in the deepest valley You’re still God in the darkest night Oh let Your will be done in me In Your love I will abide Oh I long for nothing else as long As You are glorified As I listened I thought about my friends and their intense struggles.  I thought about the losses that I am not experiencing but that have seemed to pierce my heart deeply.  I felt as though my breath had been knocked out of me.  Do I really want this?  Can I honestly say, Oh let Your will be done in me, In Your love I will abide.  Oh I long for nothing else as long as You are glorified. I want that to be my heart's prayer and cry to God.  I want Him to be glorified, and I find myself trembling inside just thinking about it because truly nothing else matters, but I know that my selfish and self-protective desires get in the way.  So I ask, Lord, help me.

What's New With Nadia....

We got these on Saturday, these cute little girlie braces. Her stance is already narrower as she's been getting used to
them.

And, She's Up!

Forgive the angle in the video below, but Nadia wouldn't "perform" if I had the phone in my hands to record her newest trick.

And here's an update on our sweet girl:

If you recall, Nadia had an X-ray of her back that showed the very slightest curvature in the lower section (lumbar region). She was scheduled to have an MRI February 2 to check some things in her head. Since she would already be sedated for that MRI, we asked the doctor if it would be wise to go ahead and check that lumbar region now rather than taking the chance that we might have to repeat the procedure. The doctor agreed this was a good idea, so Nadia's MRI was moved to February 21 and will include her head and lumbar region.

Thank you for your prayers for our precious bundle of energy. We are certainly encouraged by her progress and trust that in time God will "catch her up" so to speak.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone