Turning Your Back on the Old

Sometimes you have to turn your back on things.
Let it be very seldom that you turn your back on common, ordinary people,
but sometimes you have to turn your back on things.
Things like wrong thoughts and old injuries and insults--
real or perceived.
Things like memories of backs that have been turned on you--
whether they actually were or it just appeared that way to you.

The other morning I was struggling with that very picture in my mind--
of a big, wide back turned on me--
a picture the enemy was using to get my focus off of Christ and onto
a perceived insult.
My mind was riveted on that back and all the insults that it said to me.
Messages like, "You aren't worth anything.
"You have no value.
I detest you.
You don't even exist."
 I had to go to my room and ask the Lord to please replace that picture with another one.
And then I looked out the window and this is what I saw.

A sparrow on a branch.

And then more and more sparrows.

"Look at the birds of the air...Are you not of more value than they?"

That was my devotions for the morning. 

I kept standing looking out my bedroom windows--at the sparrows,

letting God gently replace the ugly, rude, miserable, hurtful, insulting picture that was riveted in my mind, of a back turned on me,

to this precious thought of His care for even little brown sparrows.

Someone like me often comes to God calling myself His little brown sparrow.

That's okay, I guess.
Or is it? 

Does He respond with this, "O ye of little faith?

Aren't you worth more than a sparrow, my daughter?

Aren't you my very own daughter?"

And so, as this little reminder says, that Jonathan printed off of Facebook recently,

we can go into our prayer room like a little brown sparrow

or a tiptoeing pussy cat.

But God will make us strong like a lion through the knowledge of His love and care for us. 

Whether the New Year holds honey from the Rock for us,

or whether we end up in a few pickles,

we can know that God knows all our needs and will care for us.

He can replace negative emotions and opinions we have of ourselves

into thoughts of trust in Him and personal security and confidence.

So sleep peacefully, Child.

 He Who cares for sparrows and kittens and baby bunnies and flowers of the field

cares for you, too!

Sweet Sharon's Rose and Crystal Dawn

"I'm glad I found Thee, Sweet Sharon's Rose," 

sings George Beverly Shea on the Christmas CD that Crystal put on more than once this week.

And how do you express the feelings of the heart when you see a scene like this at the

kitchen window on a morning after Christmas,

while the thought of "Sweet Sharon's Rose" lingers on your mind?

How do you capture in words the feelings of your heart?

There was that beautiful red rose, sillouetted against the snow outside.

 The red contrasting with the white--just as the precious blood of Jesus brings such a contrast between the black of the heart of sin,

and the white purity within that happens when we repent and surrender to Him.

That rose in the crystal dawn of the morning

reminds me also of the morning 20 years ago when we held our own beautiful Crystal Dawn 

in our arms and looked out the window of the birthing clinic near Stoneboro, PA, 

to see the rolling mounds of glittering white snow--

and felt that God had blessed not only us and our precious first baby

but also her beautiful name!

So last week we celebrated God giving Crystal to us 20 years ago.

Twenty candles!

It's been a blessing having her around with her cheerful laughter and helpful ways

these two short weeks that she's home before heading back to college.

Her opening gifts.

Ever since Sam's friend Michael Gohde gave him an orange flavored chocolate candy like this one, it's been something on our Christmas time list, or what we get for their December birthdays.

We all love it!

Always work to do after all the fun!

And always--the darkness, drudgery and draining drabs trying to press in and close in and make us forget
Sweet Sharon's Rose.
But there ahead of us, the road white with snow,
lit up by our van's headlights.

In the middle of the darkest night, 

white snow falls, glistening in the morning sun,

sparkling in the crystal dawn as we get up and around,

drinking our morning brews,

with a beautiful red rose on the kitchen window sill blooming

against the backdrop of frost,

reminding us of that sweet rose that bloomed 2000 years ago--
Bethlehem's Rose!

His Gifts to Me for Christmas!

It came to me as I was scrubbing a whole pile of dirty socks in the kitchen sink--
how Irina was God's gift to me this Christmas.


Just thinking again about Ukraine and the heartbreak of having to leave when we had felt God's call to missions,
 there at  my kitchen sink, in the middle of Mexican soap and dirty socks,
I felt God let me know this was His Christmas gift to me.

I'd tried to give Christ gifts this Christmas in whatever way and opportunity presented itself--
but somehow, it seemed to me that He wanted to give me a gift, too, this Christmas,
right there at the kitchen sink.

Just in the letting me know that all was not lost about missions or about Ukraine and that part of the world.
That He was giving me a little piece of the part of the world that I had loved
in Irina, a new aunt,
someone I had little idea till a couple weeks ago would end up practically in my back yard!

That afternoon, after load after load of laundry washing and drying, I had slipped out of the house and walked up the hill, clear up to the little hillside where there are little pine trees and pine cones and a little sunny patch where I could sit down in the cold air and let the sun warm my face as I gazed at the pond and the windmill.

As I sat there in winter coat and gloves and scarf and boots and long janes, 

just telling God thank You.

Thank You for this precious gift--a bit of Russia on my back doorstep!
In the picture below, Uncle George and Aunt Irina are in the very back with tall friend Lawrence beside Irina and Amelia, Lawrence's wife, next to Uncle George. This picture was taken in the front of our church where they came Sunday. Grandma and pa on the right. Our family is on the left and middle in front, minus Rose and Timmy who were sick.

Up there by the windmill and the frozen pond, I just tell God,
"Thank You!"

  And maybe something in your life has also seemed in vain.
Maybe it seems like all is lost.
Maybe your dreams are in ashes, and your hopes scattered to the wind, and you live in some sort of barren land of disappointment, drought, debt,
discouragement,
disallusionment
 or drudgery,
or all of the above.
Take heart.
God has a Christmas gift for you, too, this year!

Highlights of our Christmas Week!

I wanted to post a few highlights of our Christmas week.

The night before Christmas eve, Jonathan and Sam were both gone late, and to cheer us up and deter further squabbling among the little ones, I picked up an old book I'd found downstairs recently,

Guideposts Favorite Christmas Stories. 

So while Rose knitted by the Christmas tree,

I read story after story.

It worked. It was such a cozy, fun evening, the girls knitting or reading another book while listening to mine (that's called multi-tasking, I guess!)

And Hannah made up a bed right in the middle of the living room floor to curl up in while listening!

Christmas Eve, we had a spontaneous candlelight supper.

Afterward, Jonathan helped me in the kitchen, stirring up the nuts and sugar/honey mixture for Rustic Nut Bars,

Here are the bars, along with a little wood-burned cardinal that Timmy had made for me from scratch.

We opened part of our gifts Christmas Eve, interspersed with Christmas carols. In between a round of gifts, each person took a turn choosing whether to sing a carol, read a Christmas poem or story, do brain teasers, play a game, "sit silently for three minutes," (Sammy's choice who doesn't care to sing) or whatever they wished. 

That is how we did it this year. 

We like spontaneity as well as predictability.

Below, sorry it is fuzzy, is Christmas morning breakfast. We made sausage patties, and Jonathan and I like avocado slices alongside our scrambled egg.

As usual, the most delight is over home made gifts such as the apron Carrie made for Hannah, to match her own.

Carrie and Rose had knitted socks or slippers for four of us, and Jonathan had bought me a pair of slippers, so we had to get a picture of our delightfully cozy feet--

with someone's big bare feet stuck in there real quiet like.

Danny is totally thrilled with the train engine Timmy cut and woodburned for him.

Hannah was thrilled at the bathrobe I'd found somewhere and saved.

Carrie had made this apron for Crystal.

Jonathan found this drawing easel for Danny.

There were a number of skirts for the girls, and this winter sweater which Crystal and Carrie both tried to get into all at once!

I had ordered a few embroidered towels from my niece, Amaris, who is making these to sell 

to earn money for nursing school.

The girls had found this lovely deviled egg carton for me.
I was totally surprised and totally delighted.

They had also knitted me new dishcloths and scrubbie, and sewed me new hot mitts.

I hadn't been able to resist this lovely popcorn can for Jonathan, with the red covered bridge,

something we remember from where we had walked near my folks in Pennsylvania just before we got married, and then where we had wedding pictures taken.

Sam breaking the ice at the pond Christmas morning, for our steers.

Eating that popcorn.

Rose wanted a cowboy calendar rather than anything fun!

I tried to make absolutely sure--did she really want a cowboy calendar and not something like--

well, something more girlish?

No.

Decidedly not.

This expensive cowboy calendar from Big R was what she really wanted.

So, okay, cowgirl! Here it is!

And all this Christmas season, the Lord had blessed us with the gift of a batch of

five baby bunnies that most of the time the children kept in the house--

or in their pockets!

They had such a ball with those bunnies!
Sunday evening, our family played a game I'd gotten a long time ago and saved for this Christmas.
It's called "Ungame." And it's recommended by Focus on the Family.
There are piles of cards of questions about Biblical values and applications to our personal lives.
It was a great Sunday evening game to help with discussing spiritual things.

And Christmas evening, the girls made popcorn balls before we went Christmas caroling to our neighbors!

Christmas caroling to our neighbors was a hoot!
We will spare you the details, but despite the mishaps, we had a good time and got to meet at least two new neighbors, plus cheer three others.
One called the next day to thank us, and another came outside her door and sang with us--
under the moon!
It was a very, very happy Christmas season!