The last "dance"?

Sunday night Will had his Oscar party. He and Linnea are really in to these Oscars. He printed out ballots, had everyone check off who or what they thought would win. It was a very good time!
Andrew hung around, too, so got in on the par-tay!

It's so fun seeing these kids again. All of them graduated from high school in 2004. They've been coming to our house for parties ever since they were in ninth grade. Now two are married to each other and their baby is due around Andrew's birthday! We're so looking forward to it!! Seems like it's sort of our grandchild. :)

Since Will and Andrew are moving in to their own place together this weekend, I thought maybe this was the last party they would have at home. So I made them all pose. We sure have enjoyed having them all here, and we're hoping they'll still come to visit us old people. *smile*

Note to self:

" Why are you so afraid: Have you still no faith?" Mark 4:40

"Do not fear, only believe" 5:36

First robin siting: February 11th

Yes, a week ago yesterday I saw the first robins. Plural.

You can tell when you live in the Midwest because the first robin is always a harbinger of spring. It MUST be here, because I already saw the robin, we say.

Of course, if you've kept up with my photos, you know we got seven inches of snow a few days later. Poor robins. Where do they go?

They're still around, though, because I saw them this week, too. So HURRAH for an early spring! We hope.

Photo credit:www.owlnet.rice.edu/.../NAmerican%20Robin.jpg

Steadfast love and faithfulness

When Will graduated from Covenant we had a graduate and family dinner the night before. The speaker spoke about God's steadfast love and faithfulness. "God is faithful and his love is steadfast."

That thought comes to my mind morning by morning as I begin my day. "His going forth is as sure as the dawn; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth."
Sunrise reminds me of God's faithfulness and steadfastness. What a way to start my day.

Drawing blanks

Is my blog blank to anyone else? When I opened it this morning, there is nothing there! If I click on the title of previous blogs, they come up, only the one I clicked on.
Other blogspot blogs come up though. Hmmm

A lovely, sunny day! The seven inches on snow we got on Friday will probably be gone before the day ends. Much of it melted in the warm sun the past two days, but today's temps are to be in the 30's. It was soo lovely! I'll have to post my photos on Flickr for those of you not on FB!

The Blink

So it has a history! Covenant College's snack bar is called, "The Blink". It never occurred to me that it really meant something.

Then yesterday while perusing the book, The Men of the Covenant, about Scottish Covenanters, I saw the chapter entitled "The Blink".

Here's a quote,

Odd as it seems to find any relaxation of their sorrows coming from such a
source, it was to be expected, therefore, that the Covenannters would have
something of a breathing-space. And so it happened. The three or four years
which followed are known in the litereature of the persecuted by the quaint
title of 'The Blink'...In greater numbers than ever they met for worship on the
hillsides and in the fields, crowding to hear the preachers who gave them the
living bread and the water which has 'refreshment for all thirst'.

Wow, those guys naming stuff in the early days of Covenant College were pretty creative!

I hope my kids found a "breathing-space" at The Blink" during their years at Covenant!

Another favorite hymn

A week ago we sang this hymn in church. I practiced with the group on Wednesday, so I got the song in my head a few days earlier than the congregation. It's a song that I've known my whole life, just about, but to different tunes. This time we sang it to an RUF tune. It's nice and refreshes the song. (Unlike "O love that will not let me go", a new tune I DON'T like!) I have been singing it aloud or in my head ever since. It is very comforting and reassuring when confusion and insecurity abound in the world around us. Those of us particularly of the Reformed faith should know our God is sovereignly in control of ALL things. "I take content, what he hath sent..." I seem to be hearing a lot of screeching....

Whate'er my God ordains is right: his holy will abideth,
I will be still whate'er he doth, and follow where he guideth.
He is my God; though dark my road, he holds me that I shall not fall;
wherefore to him I leave it all.

Whate'er my God ordains is right: he never will deceive me;
He leads me by the proper path; I know he will not leave me.
I take content, what he hath sent; his hand can turn my griefs away,
And patiently I wait his day.

Whate'er my God ordains is right; though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart, I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
and pain and sorrow shall depart.

What e'er my God ordains is right: here shall my stand be taken;
though sorrow, need, or death be mine, yet am I not forsaken.
My Father's care is round me there; he holds me that I shall not
fall:
and so to him I leave it all.