Happy thing #2

This picture almost feels like cheating, because it has so many good things in it.

This is a picture of my sons, walking together to church for dinner on Christmas afternoon. For the purpose of this blog post, it is my church. At the end of my street. I can see it from the sidewalk in front of my house. I can walk there in minutes. I can hear the bells in my room.

I don't leave my house or come home without the reminder that God loves me and has given me a wonderful church home and church family.

Happy thing, indeed!

Can we call it even?

I didn't blog last night, but I did blog twice two days ago. And I promise I'll blog again today.

Last night was our sauerkraut supper at church. In spite of the fact that I thought we should do something different and I wasn't in charge of it--because I *did* say no, as I am so often encouraged to do--I still spent 12 hours at church yesterday working on it.  So when I got home at 9:00 last night I was complete mental and physical toast.

Today's agenda: getting ready for a sixteenth birthday party for my baby and his friend tomorrow night.

Groceries, baking, cooking, and some visiting with out of town guests. And--oh yeah--I have to work today.

Better keep moving.

Friends at Christmas

I really like this picture. It's not that it's great photography, it's the people and the place. This is in our church basement on the afternoon of Christmas Day. It's a combination of  family, old friends, and newer friends. It really feels to me like it captured a moment. Something important.

Summer

Yes, I know. I know. I haven't been here in months. The old blog has been sorely neglected.

I promise to do better.

Maybe it's because I'm in the midst of so many creative or semi-creative projects right now, but I feel like writing. I'm getting to do my favorite kind of cooking right now: ad-libbing with what comes from the garden, digging up new recipes, or making it up as I go. We brought home 29 pounds of blueberries. We have frozen a nice chunk of them, made a batch of Boy Bait, taken a few to friends, and today is a little jam for Andrew. I would like some more berries, but Patrick started his new job this week, so he isn't available to drive the boys up to the patch. I guess I'll just need to be satisfied.

We've have a nice amount of zucchini, with more coming. The beets have been delicious, greens and all. I'll be roasting some turnips while Colin is gone, since he doesn't like them. Tomatoes are about ready and I think I'm going to have a lot this year. I hope so!

Two weeks ago we were in Nashville for the Higher Things Conference. Two weeks from today is the start of our family retreat at Redeemer, and we still have some work to do.  After that, I'm going to take a couple of weeks to focus on projects around here with an eye to having the house on the market by the end of August.

Hats!

Last year I posted about wearing our hats to church on Easter. A picture of the ladies from Redeemer was in the local paper, and then later there was an article in The Lutheran Witness. It has been fun this year to see friends at other churches talking about getting women to wear hats, and to hear from former Redeemer members who took the hat-resurgence to another congregation with them. Here's a post from one friend who has started the tradition at her church.

We wore ours again this year. I hope to have a picture of all of us soon, but until then my favorite from the day (thanks to Nancy Nus):

Patrick's Easter Post

I love this kid.

Tre Ore 2009

O, Christmas food!

Although the true feast--the Christ Mass--was held at Redeemer, we did a fair bit of feasting at home, too. In fact, it seems like cooking and eating have been the main occupation the last few days. We chose to ignore the well-meaning suggestions for lightening up our holiday food that Bethany found.

Instead the day of Christmas Eve started with orange rolls. Before dinner, during the afternoon, we had cheeses, and olives, and smoked oysters, and dates, various crackers and a couple of kinds of snack mix. For dinner we had a gorgeous, delicious, perfectly medium-rare standing rib roast, twice baked potatoes, carmelized brussels sprouts, salad, and herb yeast rolls. We had an Argentinian Bonarda that I bought over a year ago and had been saving for a perfect piece of beef. It was lovely, especially since we had excellent company in my mom and my Wicked! Dessert was cookies.

Today we had what has become our traditional Christmas day meal of chicken tetrazinni. It is a wonderful, rich recipe and perfect because I can make it ahead and just pop it into the oven after church. We had a salad, some roasted garlic bread and a french baguette. We opened an Oyster Bay Pinot Noir, but it was a big disappointment. It was thin, almost no legs, and its citrus notes were mostly reminiscent of slightly sour orange juice. So we finished up the ends of several other bottles.

I baked some more cookies this afternoon, because tomorrow we will celebrate with Colin's parents at their house. For supper tonight we had cold roast beef sandwiches. And of course the house if full of goodies: cookies, candy, toffee, nuts, snack mixes, egg nog....

For a bit more food, this for the mind and soul, check out Pastor Petersen's Christmas Eve sermon.

Anticipation

Today it hit me: It's almost Thanksgiving. That led to the exciting realization that it's almost Advent. (Really, doing the Thanksgiving and Advent I bulletins was a clue.) And that of course, made me realize that it's getting closer to Christmas.

I love Christmas.

For a number of years, when we were living away from our families, Christmas lost its sparkle. It was stressful. It was a hassle. We had to pack up our kids and the presents, suffer hours in nearly stopped Chicago traffic, arrive at my mom's late at night. We would spend a couple of days racing from relative to relative, never getting to see enough of anyone and seemingly never able to please everyone. I'm not sure how many years we went without going to a good Christmas Eve service. We would return to Chicagoland tired and cranky.

When we moved to Fort Wayne, I was determined to recapture Christmas, both for me and for our kids. The Christmases of my childhood and teen years sparkled in my memory, and I wanted to reclaim that joy. So I searched back through the memories and realized that through the years the family gatherings happened, gifts were given and received, and things changed as things do. But there was one anchor: church on Christmas Eve, mostly at my grandparents' church in Decatur. It is the standout element of my Christmas memories over the years. And this was what had gone missing.

Not that we had left the true celebration of Christmas behind. We hadn't. We attended Advent services and did our Advent Calendar. We always tried to go to church somewhere on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The kids knew WHY we were celebrating. And yet, it was not the centerpiece. It was squeezed in.

Not anymore. As much as I loved Christmas before, I love it even more now. We made the decision to build our Christmas plans around the services at church. Whatever our extended families have going on, we are going to be at Redeemer on Christmas Eve early so that the acolytes and choir members in the family can get ready for the service. Then we will have beautiful music, and candles, and poinsettias, and a fantastic sermon and the Holy Communion in our beautiful church surrounded by our church family. And, in spite of the fact that we are seldom asleep before 2:00 a.m., we are up for the Christmas service the next morning. As a bonus, we can continue the Christ-mass for the entire twelve days, with services each morning. And that is our Christmas. Everything else is extra.

And it is back. I love Christmas again.

Now that that's out of my system, I'll enjoy Thanksgiving and Advent, and the anticipation of the coming Feast.

Unexpected things heard at the square dance

Last night we had a square dance and line dancing at our Wisdom & Eloquence Retreat. When it became obvious that the really little kids weren't getting it, someone offered to take them to go do crafts. So the first unexpected thing heard at the square dance?

"Little kids can join Pastor Petersen in the Youth Room for crafts."

Yep. It's true.

Second unexpected thing? The square dance caller calling him Pastor Dave.

You certainly don't hear that every day.

Family Retreat at Redeemer

Pastor Petersen has posted more information about the retreat we're having in August. It's going to be good!

Athanasian Creed

Okay, I missed a couple of days. I had an excuse: I was preparing for, executing, cleaning up after, and recovering from a big party. I could have popped on and posted, "Too busy to blog," but didn't see the point.

As I was catching up on Facebook statuses today I saw several people with status updates from yesterday mentioning that they didn't get to say the Athanasian Creed yesterday. This is just another of those odd things about us confessional Lutherans. We get all excited about reciting a REALLY long creed once a year on Trinity Sunday.

Now to start the rumors going: We didn't say the Athanasian Creed yesterday at Redeemer.

Nope. We sang it. Set to one of the tunes used for the Te Deum, we sang the Athanasian Creed. I don't remember if this is the second time, or if we did it before, but I love doing the creed that way.

Ladies in hats

I hope this is the beginning of a tradition at Redeemer. A pretty good chunk of the ladies in the congregation wore hats today. I think there are a few more who will when we do it again. Have I mentioned recently how much I love these ladies, and the rest of my church family?

The service was of course, lovely. The music was glorious! The sermon was excellent. All in all a wonderful Easter.

Reading, funerals, & headaches

Really, those things have nothing to do with each other, except they all are reasons that I haven't blogged in a few days.

I retreated into books this weekend after having a couple of particularly bad internet experiences. First, on Friday night, while searching for old friends I found out something about one that I wish I didn't know. Then I had the experience of being present in a chat room where someone made a racist remark. I left immediately, un-followed the person on Twitter, and told her why, but I still felt dirty, simply from having been present.

Saturday we had a funeral at Redeemer for the sister of several women who are very dear to me, and we ended up spending a good chunk of the day at church. Saturday night my headache made its return , and by Sunday afternoon it left me with only one option: sleep. It has been a long time since I had a headache that put me to bed, but yesterday's did.

One upside of having a funeral, is that we get a great sermon. As soon as Pastor Petersen has it posted, I'll link to it. In the meantime, if you are interested you can listen to the audio from the Redeemer Free Conference featuring Rev. Dr. Rick Stuckwisch and and Rev. Dr. Burnell Eckardt.

Busy week & miscellaneous

This is one of the busiest weeks of the year, every year. The Symposia at the Seminary always brings a lot of friends and a lot of activity. We had dear friends here last night and spent today at a conference at church. Tonight was a trip to Mad Anthony's.

I'll be spending a good chunk of my time at the seminary the next couple of days, and there are things going on in the evenings, so I may not be online much.

The happy news of today was President Bush's commutation of the sentences of Ramos and Compean.

I've found a house that I really like and am hoping to take Colin to see it. Yes, it is walking distance to church. No, our house isn't ready to sell. Yes, I have a lot of work to do.

If you're interested in my reading challenge progress, I'm keeping track of my reading on my book blog.

St. Michael Conference

Monday morning I got another of those little glimpses of Heaven. The sound of the voices of a goodly number of pastors singing hymns has to be very close to what we'll hear there!

I was privileged, once again, to feed the attendees at the St. Michael Conference. There is a bit of effort involved, but I enjoy feeding people, and the blessings far outweigh the work. The worship services were wonderful. The full-throated singing of "Praise My Soul the King of Heaven" by mostly male voices led on the organ by the Rev. Dr. Daniel Reuning was amazing. Kantor Reuning has the gift of playing in a way that makes the singing better and I am fortunate to be blessed by it every Sunday.

It was unusally great to hear my own pastor preach, because he has been on sabatical for two months, and will not be back until All Saints.. One of the things that I heard the Rev. Dr. Karl Fabrizius say in his presentation--I got to hear snippets of a couple--was that people learn the vocabulary, phrasing, etc., of their pastor. We learn what to expect. Listening to pastors we are accustomed to is easier for us, and it makes it harder for new pastors, or those filling in. This is so true. We, as listeners, owe it to those who are preaching to really listen and to realize that some effort may be required on our part when we are listening to someone new to us preach.

I always feel like I am getting a little bit of a privileged peek into the world of pastors when I help out at these events. I have come to appreciate more and more over the past couple of years the vast array of struggles that faithful pastors can be facing. It makes me so sad when I see and hear of faithful pastors who are being mistreated in ways small and large. And as I get to meet more and more of these men, I feel privileged to pray for them as individuals instead of just as an amorphous cloud of pastors.

We, as laypeople, need to encourage our pastors. We need to tell them when we get some new insight from a sermon. We need to pay them a living wage, and preferably more. We need to recognize that they have a huge responsibility--the care and feeding of souls--and support them in that. We need to encourage our pastors to take advantage of opportunities to be in the company of other faithful pastors. If there is a financial impediment to this happening, maybe we could forgo a night out and allow our pastor this oasis. We should also support our pastors by studying and learning, reading our Bibles, knowing our Confessions, and being Lutheran. And, it should go without saying, we should pray for them and their families.

Praise, My soul, the King of Heaven
By: Henry F. Lyte, 1793-1874

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
To his feet your tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Evermore His praises sing;
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King.

Praise Him for His grace and favor
To His people in distress;
Praise Him still the same as ever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Glorious in His faithfulness.

Father like He tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame He knows;
In His hand He gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Widely yet His mercy flows.

Angels, help us to adore Him;
You behold Him face to face;
Sun and moon, bow down before Him,
All who dwell in time and space.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise with us the God of grace.

Not the usual Bunco night

We had a bit of an unusual Bunco night tonight. We had a small crowd because of vacations and things were pretty laid back. We played Bunco for about 1/2 hour and then we decided to stop pretending and just watch the Olympics. Our conversation was wide-ranging, although we did spend quite a bit of time talking about the age of the Chinese gymnasts.

We are enjoying the Olympics, especially when we can watch at home with our DVR and fast-forward through the annoying Bob Costas commentaries and the multitude of commercials.

Bunco

As I catch up with all of the blog posts I missed this past week, I may be moved to post. If you want to know what a Bunco night with the Redeemer ladies is like, here's a look.

Shower

This is why I haven't blogged for a couple of days:


We had a bridal shower for Bean on Saturday. I spent the two days leading up to it cleaning my house and fixing food. Saturday morning was spent frantically assembling food. After the shower, my dear hubby took my friend PPP--who was tremendously helpful in getting the food together and also provided me with the photo-- and I out of for a much-needed relaxing dinner.

Sunday was our semi-annual voters meeting at church, followed by a brief nap. The nap was needed because Sunday night was Bunko. It was a record-breaking Bunko night for the Redeemer ladies! We had 23 people! Twenty played while the others swapped in and out of the game or just talked. I don't know the last time I've laughed that much!

I've got a couple of blog posts swirling in my brain. They may make it out today.

Easter

Although it is late in the day, I must still say,

He is risen!!

Each year it seems that Holy Week couldn't get better, and yet each year something seems to be sweeter.

Last night, standing in the darkened sanctuary with my sons each taking part in the gorgeous vigil, singing with my husband and my daughter and my friends, smelling the mixture of incense and lilies that will forever be the smell of Easter to me, (replacing the ham of my childhood!) I thought, "It just doesn't get any better than this."

Then I realized that the beauty of that moment, the thrill of the pealing of the bells while we sang the long-silenced Gloria, and the closeness in the Holy Supper are just a peek, just a hint, of the glories of Heaven.

At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing

At the Lamb’s high feast we sing
Praise to our victorious king,
Who has washed us in the tide
Flowing from his pierced side.
Alleluia!

Praise we him, whose love divine
Gives his sacred blood for wine,
Gives his body for the feast
Christ the victim, Christ the priest.
Alleluia!

Where the paschal blood is poured,
Death’s dread angel sheathes the sword;
Israel’s hosts triumphant go
Through the wave that drowns the foe.
Alleluia!

Praise we Christ, whose blood was shed,
Paschal victim, paschal bread;
With sincerity and love
Eat we manna from above.
Alleluia!

Mighty Victim from the sky,
Hell’s fierce powers beneath you lie;
You have conquered in the fight
You have brought us life and light.
Alleluia!

Now no more can death appall,
Now no more the grave enthrall;
You have opened paradise,
And your saints in you shall rise.
Alleluia!

Easter triumph, Easter joy!
This alone can sin destroy;
From sin’s power, Lord, set us free,
Newborn souls in you to be.
Alleluia!

Father, who the crown shall give,
Savior, by whose death we live,
Spirit, guide through all our days;
Three in One, Your name we praise.
Alleluia!

Notes:
Hymn # 126 from Lutheran Worship
Author: Bohemian Brethren
Tune: Sonne Der Gerechtigkeit
1^st Published:

The speed of life

Sometimes the days fly by so quickly that it just amazes me. The past few days have been like that.

Yesterday the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood had their retreat at Redeemer. We were there most of the day doing one thing or another. The boys attended the chant workshop that they held, and then we got to enjoy their chanting at Vespers last night.

I've been spending way to much time lately thinking about money. First, we are engaging in a Total Money Makeover. I'm working hard to get all organized so that we can really start doing everything the right way in February. It's hard work! And I'm sure that staying on our budget will be even harder.

I'm also trying to get all of the year-end stuff done at church. I hate the software that we use. I know that it has its plusses, but I mostly run into the minuses. I'm sure it would help if I were a financial whiz, but I haven't even balanced my checkbook for years.

(And yes, that is going to change.)

Of course there's lots of fun happening. We are looking forward to the arrival in town of Susan and a couple of her kids. They are coming for the annual Theological Symposia at the Seminary.

Having an extra "daughter" in the house has added another level of liveliness.

And a lot of junk food.

I'm loving my iPod.

And my house is staying clean, mostly because when we're home I never sit down.

Life is good.