Meaningful Menu for Good Friday

 We did a little something different this week for Good Friday. 

I got the idea from a mother who did a Good Friday lunch for her children, but it was based on her Catholic leanings, such as the stipulation to have no meat on Friday except fish. 

I decided to tweak her ideas for our Christian family.

Danny carved swords from flat pieces of carrots to represent the sword Peter drew, thinking to help Jesus defend Himself.

He found the Scripture to go along with it, to read at supper when it was time to pass the carrots around. (John 18:10)

I had one can of olives, and I placed one per person on deviled eggs to remind us of Jesus going to the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. (Luke 22:39)

The pickles reminded us of the vinegar the soldier offered Jesus. (Mat. 29:48)

The main dish was chicken casserole, reminding us of Peter's sad denial of Christ just before the cock crowed.

And the buttered beets reminded us of the blood of Christ, so much better than that of bulls and goats offered for sin.

Hannah made each of us a "crown of thorns" from Ritz crackers, peanut butter, and cheese nips, which we had to substitute for pretzels.

Her finished product. (John 19:2)

The lady Rose works for had given her some tubes of cinnamon rolls, which I baked 

to remind us of Joseph of Arimathea "rolling" the stone to the door of the tomb.

Only, as the Scripture was being read, the children thought the cinnamon rolls were to remind us of how they rolled His body in linen cloths.

Either way worked! I got a laugh out of the children's interpretations of that dish!

Just for this evening I laid aside the lovely purple tulips Jonathan had brought me a few days ago

and instead put this unique bouquet on the table that Hannah brought me from outdoors today.

It was just dead weeds, but how beautiful they were!

One of the children asked me what they represented, and I said they reminded me of how even in death there is beauty, and that there was so much beauty in Jesus' death.

I asked each one around the table to share what made Jesus' death, despite being terrible and gory,

something incredibly beautiful.

Answers given ranged from the fact that His death was because He loved us, to that He rose again, He was coming back, and death didn't end it all, to the fact that His death meant our redemption,

but the best answer was that His death fooled the devil!

I loved that answer!
The kisses represented Judas's kiss of betrayal.

And these chocolate hearts reminded us of John 3:16 which one of the children quoted for us. 

Getting everything on the table for our Good Friday Remembering Jesus meal.

To help us remember that it was a different kind of meal, everyone sat in a totally different spot around the table.

I lit candles. This one is a homemade one made from beef lard. 

And this is one I found at a Goodwill nearly a couple months ago when it was still open.

Before partaking of each dish, a different person read the Scripture related to it, and then we'd pass that dish around and start eating it. Then read the next verse, pass it around, and partake. So we read the first four or five verses right after each other as we served out the appetizers and main dishes. Then we ate and conversed before reading the verses before the special desserts/sweets.

Granted, the meal was different, and not totally sacred, given all the youngsters around the table, 

but it was a unique and meaningful time for me. 

I hope the children will remember it.

And maybe some of you will get an idea from this to do something to make your next Good Friday supper a little more meaningful. 

The Catholics and Jews do not have to have all the traditions.

We can create a Christian tradition, and it doesn't have to always be the same each year. 

This was our tradition this year--just remembering Jesus in a special way.

Song of the Meadowlark for Palm Sunday

As Jonathan and I were walking hand in hand down our road this morning, 

we suddenly became aware of the singing of meadowlarks--more than one or two!

As if we weren't even there, the meadowlarks flew about, perching first on a wooden ranch gate,

and then flying nearer to us and perching on fenceposts.

Jonathan and I had to simply stop.

Two meadowlarks perched on two fenceposts next to each other, and a third lark flew across the road and perched on a fencepost there, while others stayed behind nearby.

Together, the three larks sat and serenaded a trio to Jonathan and me while the rest of the 

meadowlark choir sang in the background!

We did not know what to do except to stand and listen in awe.

It was as if God sent His own choir this Palm Sunday morning

to two hearts that love good music that glorifies Jesus. 

When those meadowlarks flew away, I wondered what God might be trying to say to us.

And these are the words that came to me, simple but straight from His Word

on a Palm Sunday in April during the Covid-19 pandemic:

"Be of good cheer!"

When the bad news piles up like this stack of cups one of the kids piled one morning,

and you hear conflicting news about nurses in New York with one patient dying every five minutes,

and other news about hoaxes and media lies, 

and the possibility of the mail service going kerflunk by June, 

"Be of good cheer!" is a welcome message.

When you're not supposed to hug anyone but people in your own family,
even at a funeral...

...the words "Be of good cheer" come at a good time.

When most churches are closed, and our own hearts feel uncertain about the future,

thank You, Lord, for sending Your own choir on wings to us this morning!
"Be of good cheer! It is I," said the Lord to His disciples in the middle of the storm.
"Be not afraid!"

Chicks, Kittens, and Books

Several weeks ago Timmy's order of chicks came.

That was during the sick spell, when four of the children were down sick.

Nothing quite as darling as baby chicks.

Unless it's baby kittens.

Or puppies. Danny was having fun with them one day while the others were sick. 

In between doing chores and running around the pasture.

And here he is with his miniature airplanes he makes from cardboard and then paints!

 I just had to get this picture of him through the branches. 

Meanwhile, here are some books we've been reading. This one I read out loud on a long trip several weeks ago. It's about Rhuben Lacy's life, edited by Bonnie Lacy. 

It was partly due to the Lacys asking my family to come sing at their 50th wedding anniversary

and me to speak about Kiev, where I was headed a couple  months later,

that Jonathan heard about me!

Friends of Jonathan told him about the young lady who spoke at the Lacy's celebration,

 about going to Kiev, and gave him tapes of the services where my family sang and played bells, and the service where I sang and spoke.

So it was very interesting reading this book Jonathan's parents loaned me.

And this devotional book below is what we are using for a while for family worship.

It uses antics and issues in the lives of the authors' cat Moses and dog Drover and other pets 

to teach good spiritual truths. 

It has Scriptures, a poem, and a song along with each devotional. 

Very recommendable!

My mom gave me this book the last time we were in Missouri, and I'm reading it out loud to the younger children after supper dishes and chores are done. Such an exciting and sweet story for children.

These are books we use almost every day. Sometimes Carrie plays the hymn on the piano, or we sing a cappella.

One of our delightful meals.

So much to thank God for!

Is the Storm Blowing You Away? Ordinary Duties Are an Anchor.

I am thankful for the simple duties of life that help me keep going instead of just worrying about the corona virus or the government's taking advantage of it to seize more power--

and more money.

Laundry, for example, that ends up blowing furiously in the Colorado wind.

Cooking. 

I pulled out a recipe-in-a-jar that my sister-in-law Regina had given me back before Christmas, 

which unfortunately had gotten stuck in the pantry.

It was a delightful Cherry Crumb cake, just needing butter, (we used homemade butter that had been made and frozen a while back) eggs (from Timmy's hens) and a can of cherries.

Thanks, Regina! It was so good with ice cream!

And of course, there is daily school which we keep doing whether others are in school or not.

Timmy is nearly done with his geometry.

Grading papers so I can fill out report cards for third quarter.

Rose, Timmy and I survey a spot where we want to plant a garden.

It has to be fenced in and covered by hail screen if we want to even hope for anything from it.

Rose pulling the water hose over to water the rhubarb and mint.

Finally we had found a spot where rhubarb and mint thrive--at the corner of the house.

That rhubarb is just starting to show itself!

Here I'm sauteing onions and red pepper for barbecue sauce for on beef ribs.

And here I'm making about three gallons of homemade laundry soap.

I do this every couple months, whether there is a corona virus scare or not.

It saves a lot of money on laundry detergent.

Another sister-in-law, Ruth, gave me this bag of homemade laundry soap supplies since she couldn't use them...

...and I turned the bag of shredded soap into several jugs of detergent

by melting it in one gallon of water with half cup each washing soda and washing borax,

which I get usually at Walmart in the laundry section.

Here is my kit that I keep in a shelf above the sink. 

An old shredder to shred the Zote soap bar from Walmart or the Fels Naptha soap bar from Ace Hardware (0r the orange Mexican style soap Ruth shared). The soda and borax and old empty jugs.

And here are the full jugs ready to stow in the basement after leaving one on the laundry machine.

Making soap, washing dishes, cleaning the counter, cooking the next meal, hanging laundry,

planning a garden, watering the rhubarb, stacking wood, tarping hay, and checking schoolwork--

ordinary duties that are an earthly anchor when ordinary life is facing a storm.

Lord, thank You for ordinary duties!

I'm so thankful for them right now!

What the Wise Old Owl Says About Covid-19

A couple weeks ago, we were just starting to hear how serious things were getting about the corona virus.

That Sunday afternoon, I took my two youngest children a few miles away to the Peyton Cemetery to look for birds. They have been wanting to go see if they can find any new birds there.

And one of the first birds the children discovered was this big old owl peering out at us

from a bushy evergreen tree.

 I don't know how the children found him, except that they were looking.

He was so well camouflaged!

After he (or she) flew away to another tree across the way, Danny climbed up the tree to see if there were any eggs in the nest.

No eggs.

Just a very big nest.

A very big nest of twigs, hidden right there in that tree. 

No one would have known it was there if they weren't looking for it.

The owl flew away to one of these trees and hid itself away again.

But my children found him (or her) all over again--because they were looking for him.

Here they are taking pictures of Wise Old Owl hiding up in his tree.

While Covid-19 is scaring the whole world, Wise Old Owl continues living his life, 

sleeping in his own nest, peering out at visitors, and flying to another place of refuge when strangers come too close. 

Nearby, doves of peace perch on the bare limbs of deciduous trees standing in the middle of the quiet place.

There is peace, away from the panic of the world. 

Wise old owl has found a refuge, a nest in an evergreen tree, hidden away from the noise and clamor and fear of the world.

I think Wise Old Owl is telling us something--

Fly away to your Refuge!

Build your nest near His heart, where no evil can harm you.

God will take care of you!

Ordinary Duties During Extraordinary Days

One of the best things we can do during these extraordinary days
is simply to do the ordinary--
laundry, mopping, vacuuming, tending the animals, filling the dishwasher (over and over again), and the list goes on.

Ordinary duties end up being a blessing when you don't know what to expect about what is going on in the world. 

One day I patched four holey knees in Danny's two pairs of black jeans.

(The first day he wore one of those patched pants, he wore another hole above the patched ones!)
Here is my sewing machine at the end of the table where the younger children are doing school.

View from the other direction--with Rose behind everyone by the woodstove, checking on the baby chicks in the box by the woodbox.
(So happy for three baby chicks hatched in Timmy's incubator from his own hens' eggs.)

Ordinary duties are the stuff of which life is made--even unusual life.
While others are glued to their screens, pacing the floor, wringing their hands, and calling certain politicians choice names, someone has to see that snow is shoveled, houses remodeled, plumbing fixed, packages and mail delivered, floors swept, meals cooked and served and cleaned up after, clothes washed and ironed and hung, vehicles power washed after driving on icy and slushy roads, coats and boots picked up and put away.

In these days of wondering if we can stave off the virus,
(and also wondering if we didn't already have it a few weeks ago), good hot borsch with garlic toast is one of our favorite healthy meals.
Just an ordinary meal for extraordinary days.

Man does not live by bread alone!
Sometimes he needs garlic bread!
And always, he needs God's Bread--the Word of Life!