My Birthday--and Not Worrying About Tomorrow

I woke up late this morning since I hadn't gotten to sleep till about 1:00 last night.

Yesterday had been very rough. Yesterday I felt about seventy-four instead of fifty-four.

Reading verses where Jesus said that in the last days we His people will be delivered to tribulation and death because the world will hate us didn't help me feel comforted.  

I was in tears, praying about our children's future.

It looks bleak when you only look at that verse. It looks like all we have to look forward to is

to endure.

But how long? Jesus said things would be so bad that if God did not shorten the days, no flesh would be saved. But He will shorten the days.

For our sake, He will shorten the days, so that we will be saved.

He will do whatever He has to do to make the days short enough that we can endure them.

Then this morning as I was getting up, I remembered the verse where Jesus also said, 

"And do not worry about tomorrow, for the morrow will take care of the things of itself;

sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

So in other words, today's problems are sufficient for us. Don't add to them by worrying about tomorrow's problems."

Today I was back to about fifty-four again. And today didn't have nearly as many problems as yesterday! God's grace was abundant today!

And please ask me what two little piggies have to do with a Colorado ranch lady's fifty-fourth birthday.

Well, today someone was knocking at the door. It was a neighbor from down around the circle coming to give us a piece of mail, and when I almost didn't invite her in because of possible germs,

she acted not the least bit afraid. She just wanted to give us our mail back (it was a check Jonathan had been waiting a while for), to see how we were doing and wanted to let us know that she has tomato plants nearly a foot high already and wants to give us some!

I told her what a lovely birthday surprise!
We showed her our piggies the children brought home Monday and our kittens. 

She liked the flowers coming up in our hanging baskets. Hannah planted them.

She is such a dear, down-to-earth neighbor, so kind. She asked Rose to help her down the steps as she is about 80 years old. I'm thankful for all that neighbors are doing for each other in these difficult days, esp. sharing garden plants, and so on.

Later in the day, I was going to make a quick trip to town and Jonathan needed some boards from the garage. Yay! Getting rid of a bunch of boards that had been stacked in the garage for about a year was a good birthday present! They were supposed to be turned into shelving for a restaurant, and finally it is going to happen hopefully. 

Here I am at the office building where Jonathan's work crew was remodeling, and I was washing the fly specks and dust off the boards in the sunshine. It was a beautiful day!

I made the discovery that a block from where Jonathan was working, on the corner of Academy and Montebello I think, is a Life Network Thrift Shop that must have just opened recently (and then had to close for Covid)..

I'm assuming this thrift shop will help fund Life Network, an organization that helps mothers when they choose to keep a baby instead of abort it. I definitely want to check out this thrift shop when stores are allowed to open again. Crystal had been signing up last year to volunteer to help with such work as sorting clothes for the thrift shop. Everything takes a long time for all the paperwork, etc., before she can actually do anything to volunteer.

When I got back home, I rushed around getting my birthday supper ready.

I made one of my favorite salads--layered salad.

I had picked up some after-Easter things like tablecloths and napkins at 90% off at Walmart a couple weeks ago, and decided to do a spring theme for supper.

It was fun. Hannah helped decorate.

I prefer to celebrate Jesus for Resurrection Sunday, and save the bunnies and chicks for other times during the spring, with the added bonus that I can get the Easter decor 50% to 90% off!

My kids know their mom loves pretty wrapping paper with pastel bows or burlap bows. I had to get a picture of the gifts on the piano bench before supper.

I made venison meatballs with lots of extra quick oats in them to stretch them, what with concerns about shortages in meat down the road and our freezers getting more and more half-empty shelves. And I parboiled half a bag of fingerling potatoes which had been sent home from the restaurant with Carrie because they were almost out of date.

But they were still delicious!

Carrie helped by making this utterly luscious icecream cake. The crust is made from rice krispies, so it is a gluten-free cake. She basically used the recipe for No-Bake cookies, only substituted rice krispies instead and did not put in peanut butter. Then since the store was out of butter pecan icecream that I'd asked for, she bought vanilla icecream and made our own pecan icecream--

without pecans! I was out of pecans, too, so we substituted cashews which I had bought on clearance and frozen. The toasted cashews were at least as good or better than pecans.

Thank you, Carrie, for this outstanding cake!

Danny had to tease me with a Christmas bow on one of his gifts!

With everything going on in the world, we are getting mixed up!

We had Easter decorations and a Christmas bow!

And it was all such fun!

Rose made me two patchwork hotpads. This one was my favorite.

Carrie got me kitchen shears, and Crystal got me new sewing scissors which I have needed for years!

Sam got me a sweet card (I almost cried) with the kind of orchids that will last a while and that I can share with others (stamps)!! 

A knitted scrubbie. Garden gloves and an Easter chocolate cross from Danny.

Hannah made this plaque with a scrap of wood leftover from the rustic wooden corner shelf Timmy made me.

Rose made me a pile of homemade cards from a collection of cards my Mother shared with me

after a lady who collects cards for my mom had given Mom more than she could use.

Hannah's card to me had 54 cents taped inside. It said, "Dear Mom, On your birthday today, your (sic.) worth one more cent than you were worth last year. But that isn't true. Do you know why? Not even all the money in the whole world could buy such a good mother as you. Happy birthday! I love you! With love, Hannah.

Well, do I have one creative ten-year-old or what?
Here is the rustic corner shelf Timmy put together. 

Jonathan had ordered me a three-in-one book by my favorite blog author, Dorcas Smucker. 

I can hardly wait to read it! 

It was a happy day, a time to celebrate something special. 

A time to only worry about today's problems, (what problems?) and not worry about tomorrow's.

The Next Thing--Is it Cutting Up Pineapple?

With all the anxiety about what is happening in the world around us, 

it's easy to get caught up in the worry and frustration and fear. 

For me, usually the best way to cope is to simply

do the next thing

right where I am--

in the kitchen,

cutting up pineapple Carrie got on sale, for example.

Doing the next right thing right where I am, 
which obviously is home right now. 

Can't go on a Mission Helps trip, and we haven't been supposed to even go visit friends.

Can't shop at a Goodwill, and can't assemble in a crowd. 

So--I vacuum the floor,

fold laundry.

and help make meals. And do dishes afterward--and in between, and nearly all day long it seemed one day!

And for days I sewed masks.

I had some quilting strips I'd gotten at an estate sale, and I turned a bunch of those into masks.
It's a good thing I had these because our Walmart ended up being completely out of any cotton fabric. It must have all been bought up for masks or sewing projects during the shut-down.

I sewed two or three of those strips together and then cut out the pattern.

It was fun. Hardly any two masks were quite alike. I did that on purpose, because twenty of the masks were to be sent to the orphanage in Papua New Guinea, whose head had asked me for masks.
I wanted the children to be able to distinguish whose was whose.
The only problem was that when I took the package to the Post Office, I was told that as of April 10, they are not shipping to Papua New Guinea,
probably because of the virus.

We have a layer of fusible interfacing between the cotton layers to add somewhat of a filter.

I spent hours working on masks for ourselves, our pastor's family, the orphanage, and others.

It seems we never ran out of someone needing masks for a while.

And in the evening after supper and chores, I would read out loud. This book from TGS, Int'l, subsidiary of Christian Aid Ministries, is outstanding. The two younger children love to listen to these stories from Merle Burkholder's missionary adventures in Canada and Haiti.

One of the most fascinating missionary books I have ever read.

Very honest.

 The day before Easter, I was helping Hannah gather pieces of a new skirt for her to sew together.

She did almost all the sewing on a new, three-tiered skirt, with me helping her pin and gather.

I also started sewing a table runner with more of the quilting strips.

I just love using quilting pieces to make things, though I don't have the time or patience or perfectionism for quilts.

The Saturday before Easter, the men of the family worked around here, putting a big window into the side of the greenhouse, a window left over after a construction job.

Timmy stripping unnecessary stuff off the greenhouse we got last year and never fixed up yet.

Sam getting ready to put window in.

A friend had seen Timmy's American flag painted on a pallet, and wanted him to make him both an American flag pallet, and a Colorado flag. 

So Timmy made a Colorado flag by painting an old pallet.

I'm thankful the children keep busy with many projects like this besides their other work.  

And here is a link to a very cute blogpost of amusing advice from "Aunt Dorcas" Smucker in Oregon regarding how to deal with corona shutdown issues, including whether to send a gift to a wedding to which you have been UNinvited because of the social-distancing and shutdown.

Read to the end. 

https://dorcassmucker.blogspot.com/2020/04/abc-post-8-ask-aunt-dorcas-advice.html

Crystal Home from College!

Crystal has been back home now for a few weeks since Penn View had to close down.

Here she is on Easter morning.

 She is finishing her senior year online!

Every once in a while, in between all her studies, she sits down and plays wonderful songs on the piano.

At this point, she doesn't even know if there will be a graduation ceremony or not.

This was pretty disappointing to this mother, because our children have always been homeschooled, and I was really looking forward to at least one of our children getting to participate in walking the aisle with her class at Penn View. 

It's one of those things you have to surrender to the Lord and stop looking at

"why me/us?" 

"Everybody else through all the years got to walk the aisle.

Why did this craziness have to suddenly happen the year my daughter would have walked the aisle???"

I have to step back and remember this is not about her, me, or us.

This is affecting everyone. 

I believe it is part of the end times.

What if we looked at it this way?

My daughter gets to be here during the time when Jesus is getting ready to return.

We get to take part in influencing society.

When some doors shut, we get to go through other ones.

God's Word is not bound. 

Crystal made this squirrel visual for her Arts and Visual class.

Her teacher is the same one I had thirty-three years ago for that class,

only I took Arts and Visuals I, and she is taking II.

This weekend she is working on a paper about evolution vs. creationism for 

her Teaching Science class.

Heaven's Response to an Anxious Mother

I felt God gave me this poem as a sequel to the one I wrote a few days ago.

 "I Live to Pray for You"--
Heaven’s Response to an Anxious Mother

Dear Mom, when morning wakes your eyes,
    I bend My thoughts toward you,
Before you greet the bright sunrise,
    I’m there to strengthen you.

I meet you in the morning,
  Before your tea is hot,
And when your duties press you,
  Forget you I will not.

I see you at the window,
  Standing still each day.
I wrap My arms around you,
  And help you on your way.

I see you washing dishes,
  And praying as you cook.
I listen to the prayers you raise
  Within the laundry nook.

I care for your dear husband,
   For all your children, too.
And when your prayers can find no words,
  I intercede for you!

I know when crises happen,
   When tragic news arrives.
I care when sorrows deep and sore
   Are crushing others’ lives.

I know when pain becomes your guest,
   When burdens are too much.
Cast them on Me! I’ll carry them,
   And leave a gentle touch.

I know you have a prayer list made,
   It’s daily, weekly, long.
What if you gave the names to me,
   And took away a song?

And when you go to bed at night,
   Your hands all folded up,
Your anxious heart all clutched therein,
   Just change them to a cup.

Give Me your cup of worries,
   I’ll give you back My peace.
Give Me your cup of torment,
   And I your pain will ease.  

I’m watching, keeping, day and night,
   I have both eyes and ear.  
  My grace is all-sufficient.
   You never need to fear.

Tomorrow, always, I am here,
   No matter what you do.
Dear mother with your busy hands,
   I live to pray for you!

Is Easter Already Over?

It was hard to believe that Easter happened last Sunday. 

Singing Easter hymns each evening for family worship helped us remember it was coming up,

and these beautiful tulips (which are totally wilted now)

helped remind us, too.

It didn't seem like Easter otherwise, though.

It was freezing cold, temperature in the teens, with wind blowing snow cross-wise. 

But one brave pastor about 20 minutes away was still having a drive-in Easter service.

It was the only drive-in service Jonathan could find, so we decided to go.

It just didn't seem right to not go to church on Easter.

Many other vehicles were already there.

The pastor had to be bundled up in a big, brown winter coat, and the music director was bundled up, too, standing next to a make-shift windbreak made from a long table set up vertically between two stacks of chairs. 

We tuned in to the radio station written on a poster, and were able to hear the pastor well, but the singing was undiscernible due to static and the wind blowing, probably. 

Our van radio was so poor that we had to plug in a CD/radio player we'd brought along.

The pastor was so brave, to preach a very plain, simple, but interesting gospel message

about the resurrection.

After the beautiful benediction, the pastor came walking through the parking lot and out to our area of fields, waving at everyone.

Here he is coming to wave at our line of vehicles. 

It was a very unique experience. 

We are proud of the pastors who are not letting the Covid shutdown keep them from finding creative and safe ways to continue to minister and share the gospel.

Elsewhere, we read and see those who are preaching from church porches, from handicapped ramps, from trailer-turned-platform, and from the roof of a church!

Yay for them! That is some of the best news around!
God bless all those who are doing so, even the ones who stood up and did it even where the mayor said they couldn't.

Even a district judge ruled in the church and pastor's favor.

Praise God!