Sabbath

The Pharisees went to Pilate, asking that the legs of the criminals might be broken so that their bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath ...

for that Sabbath was a high day.

No foolin'.
The highest Sabbath-rest in all of time.

Garnish

I don't do pretty. I do practical. Do what needs to be done, and do it as efficiently as possible so as to get to the next thing that's demanding my attention ... because after all, there's never enough time. I'm not happy with the fact that I'm that way and would like to remedy it, but it seems (oddly enough! - LOL) that there isn't time for that.

Yesterday I made fruit smoothies for lunch. Cantaloupe and strawberries and bananas with orange juice. (All of those, except the bananas, were on sale 2-for-1 and so that brought them down to normal Woodman's prices, so I was willing to buy them at my local grocery store.) Andrew looked at those humongous strawberries and decided to snatch one before it went into the Cuisenart to use as garnish on the edge of the smoothie glasses. A little touch. It took him all of 10-15 seconds to do it. But what was the response? Every single person in the house gave a little gasp and an "oooooooh" when handed that pretty glass with the little strawberry-slice garnish.

Maybe I should read Hidden Art again, and slow down, and take the book to heart.

John 18:4

Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?"

He knew all that would come upon Him for the rest of the evening and the next day. And yet He did not shy away from the soldiers but approached them. As Jesus told the Pharisees earlier (Jn 10), "I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."

A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth,
the guilt of all men bearing,
and laden with the sins of earth,
none else the burden sharing.

Reproaches

Thus says the Lord:
What have I done to you, o My people,
and wherein have I offended you?
Answer Me.

And then He goes on to say how He has blessed us and we have spit in His face, how He has been abundantly good to us and we have despised Him. He demands, "Answer Me."

And what is the answer?

"Don't leave us!
Have mercy!
The Lamb of God subjected Himself to scorn and bore all our sin.
Have mercy!"

A Wonder

The Shepherd dies for sheep who love to wander.

The Master pays the debt His servants owe Him (servants who refuse to know Him).

What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

How wonderful and beyond all telling is Your mercy to us, o God, that to redeem a slave, You gave Your Son.

10" and Counting

It's been snowing for 11 hours and it's supposed to keep up (at this rate) for another 6 hours. And then lighter snowfall through the night. This is the second-worst storm of the winter. But barring that snowfall in early February, this is the worst snowstorm in years and years. And just think -- two big snowstorms ago (and several little snowfalls ago) we'd already broken the record for amount of snow in one year.

Below we have pictures of Yeti, coming in from shoveling, dripping dripping dripping wet snow.

Proofs

Tis the long-expected Prophet,
David's Son yet David's Lord.
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
Tis the true and faithful Word.

The lame walk.
The deaf hear.
The blind receive their sight.
The poor have the good news of forgiveness preached to them.

Proofs.

And if that were not enough proof, He was despised and rejected. He was mocked and spit upon. He was tormented and brutalized. He was even forsaken by the Father.

Proofs.

Snow

So the day is going to be spent shoveling, going to Tenebrae, shoveling, going to Mass, shoveling. Good Friday is a day of fasting. Today there's going to be no time to prepare food because the day will be spent only in prayer and wielding snow shovels. And yet, moving this much snow -- and HEAVY snow -- is going to leave us in need of calories!

Ash Wednesday services were canceled. I wonder if Triune will cancel Good Friday too. There weren't many people at Tenebrae this morning. On the radio on the way home from church, I heard Archbishop Dolan report that all services in the diocese would be held regardless of weather because, after all, it IS Good Friday. Hooray for the Archbishop!

Theory about "Issues Etc"

In Bible class today, Pastor wondered how the synod "for business reasons" could cancel the one show which actually brought IN money for our radio station. My husband has a theory about that, and it involves the huge amount of money that could be obtained by sending KFUO into the tank and thus "needing" to sell it off. Issues Etc is an impediment to the notion that KFUO is a complete waste of money. Read more at Gary's blog.

Unpacking Books

The boys worked on unpacking books last week, mostly so as to get rid of all those boxes piled in the middle of the library (aka dining room). Things are fairly well organized, seeing as how we boxed books by subject matter. But the library still needs straightening. So yesterday I was putzing with rearranging shelves a bit.

And it hit me like it hadn't hit me before.

The picture books, the Richard Scarry, the Dr Seuss, and the board books were up too high. A 3-yr-old couldn't reach them. I moved them to shelves closer to the floor. All those books I love! The Little House and Katie and the Smallest Bear and Harold and the Purple Crayon and Time for Bed, Sleepy-heads and Good-night, Moon! And I'll have someone to read them to. Someone to grab books and toys off the shelf, and come crawl into my lap, and say, "Read, Grandma." Not just a theoretical person who will come along someday in the future. But a real person, a person God already made, a person whose sex and hair color and body build is already known to our Father, a person who will be here sooner than later.

Putting books onto bookshelves is not supposed to be all mushy and misty-eyed like it turned out to be.

Issues, Etc

In case there's anyone who hasn't heard yet, the massively popular radio program Issues, Etc has been canceled. Signatures to protest this action are being gathered in a petition.

Matthew 27:51

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,...

When the Rock of our salvation died and His side was split (John 19:34) then even the created rocks were split too.

Black Bean Pancakes

I had a gallon-size can of black beans (thank you, Karin!) and part of it remained from the recipe I made a few days ago. A while back, Philip had had some black-bean patties that sounded good. I web-surfed for a recipe and finally got around to making it tonight. It was NOT what I wanted -- it was more pancakey and less beany. But it was good, especially topped with a hefty amount of salsa. I have requests for repeats from nearly everyone in the house, and that's a good sign! But next time I'll probably toss in some garlic and cumin with the flour before adding the wet ingredients.



Corn and Black Bean Pancakes

Whisk to combine:
1 cup flour (I used 1/3 ww and 2/3 white)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup milk

Stir in:
3/4 cup fresh corn (I thawed some frozen corn)
3/4 cup well-drained black beans

Fry pancakes.
Serve with salsa.

Gas Cap

I screwed up. A couple of months ago I dropped the gas cap when I was filling the tank. A tiny little ring-shaped liner fell out of the middle of the inside of the gas cap. When I looked in the owners manual and online, it said that this could cause a problem. But it didn't. Things were fine.

Then a few days ago the "check engine" light came on. Turned out today that it wasn't a real problem (whew!!!!) but that the loss of that little ring meant the gas cap was not sealed tightly enough. The new gas cap cost $15. The diagnostic procedure, however, cost $90. Thank heavens for the honest mechanic who didn't exploit my stupid mistake.

If I'd known, I could've solved this problem before it started. Hopefully somebody else will be prevented from a similar screw-up.

Little Things

Y'know how it looks like a house goes up SO fast when they're first building it, and it's a matter of getting the studs and drywall and roof done? But it goes so slooow when it comes down to the light switches and the wallpaper and the grout?

It seems like the moving-in went pretty fast for the first couple of days. Couches and beds and dishes and those easy decisions about where things belong. But now it's a matter of sorting through all those little things: papers that have been piling up on a stack for the last 3 years, or the doobers in a junk drawer, or the camera that I can't remember whether it's broken or just has a bad battery. I've spent the whole day on just my bedroom, and my efforts hardly show! But things will be better organized, especially for the new [smaller] space, and a lot of doobers have hit the trashcan, and that's a good thing.

Where's Your Mind Been?

The "how to" of the day on my google home page was "How to Read Palms." Hey, that sounded really cool. I was all ready to click on it and see what was written about reading the psalms, praying the psalms, singing the psalms, etc.

Oops. Then I noticed it said palms, not psalms.

So what would it say about Palm Sunday?

Oooops again. Before my finger hit the mouse to read about palms, I finally figured out that the "how to" was going to be about the crinkle-lines in the palms of somebody's hand. Well, gosh, who cares about that?!???!?

(I think I've been reading too quickly here....)

A Pietist?

An announcement was made after church yesterday (aka Palm Sunday). The youth group will meet Friday evening at 7:15 to go to the skating rink for the evening.

Now, this does not conflict with church, which is at 1:00 in the afternoon.

Nevertheless, I can't imagine planning an outing like that for Good Friday. I don't know why it bothers me so much. After my infant god-daughter's funeral, I took her siblings to the playground to burn off some energy and play with friends while her parents visited with all the out-of-town company. That didn't seem inappropriate. I don't think it's inappropriate to have potlucks after church services, or Easter egg hunts for the kids. I don't expect my kids to sit around and be somber all day on Good Friday. But somehow, the idea of a youth group outing on the evening of Good Friday just seems wrong. This is where I always question whether I'm being reasonable or too much the pietist.

In Town

I love the picture book The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. It's a story about a little house in the country, surrounded by daisies, watching the sun rise and set and the seasons pass. The little house wondered what the far-off city was like. But as the city grew, and the little house first became part of a village, then part of a small city, then a big city, then in the midst of a huge city, the little house decided it missed the country and the daisies and the sunsets and the birds.

Down at the old house yesterday for church, I heard and then saw many many V's of migrating geese heading north. Now, I'm not too fond of Canada geese, but they weren't coming to live here -- they were passing through -- and seeing them was still a happy harbinger of spring. Later I heard and then saw V's of sandhill cranes migrating too. That always thrills my heart! And I wonder how I'll do in town, not being able to see the horizon, not being able to measure time by which wildflowers are in season. I fear that I may become the little house who ended up longing for her rural life back.

And yet...
on Friday the car's "check engine" light came on. And the new mechanic is only 8 minutes away instead of 33. (That really adds up when you have to make two roundtrips for each repair!) And yesterday I injured my neck helping to carry furniture up from the basement at the old house, and it's only 6 minutes to the D.O. instead of 70. So I'm finding there are definite benefits to living in town. Now, to focus on the gains instead of the losses....

Raw Milk

Kids with vcfs have rotten teeth. Some even have dentures by their early 20s. I think every mom of a vcfs kid knows what it's like to be scolded by the dentist or hygienist for not taking good enough care of her kid's teeth. Even after having five kids with good healthy teeth, it's like suddenly the dentist thought I was giving kid#6 a baby bottle full of Pepsi all day, and never brushing her teeth. Maggie would normally have 2 or 3 cavities per semi-annual visit, sometimes 4, and if we were lucky "only 1."

We began drinking raw milk a year and a half ago. Not only has that helped with allergies, but Maggie has not had ANY cavities in the last three visits to the dentist! But we've moved. Where will I find raw milk conveniently available? Can't exactly keep goats or a jersey in the back yard of a subdivision....