This and That

Easing into Saturday morning.

Last Friday night Mikaela spent the night at our house. We had a ladies breakfast at church the next morning and the younger girls were invited to come along. We were going to make wordless book bracelets to hand out next summer at the fair. I know that Mikaela enjoys doing crafty things so I asked her if she wanted to go along and she did.

Putting the beads on the Wordless Book bracelets.

After breakfast we came back home to hang out for a while. She enjoys making cookies but my oven is out of commision and so we had to come up with something that did not require baking. No bake cookies fit the criteria and that is what we made although the oatmeal was in short supply. We were able to adjust the recipe to fit the amount of oatmeal and they turned out wonderfully.

No Bake cookie - perfect recipe for a broken oven

Thursday night is piano lesson night for Mikaela and afterward her family joined her here for supper. It is hard to believe that January is almost gone and we really hadn't gotten together since the holidays. We had some sloppy joes and enjoyed hanging out for the evening.

More of Joy's Thoughts

Throughout life we have to meet many qualifications to be successful. We come into this world and initially no one has any expectations of us. We eat and sleep at our own discretion and everyone around us tends to our needs. This stage of life doesn’t really last so very long. Within a short amount of time we have to learn to share, obey, do chores, and fit it with our family setting.

In order to qualify for kindergarten one must be a certain age and be able to meet certain expectations. This is only the beginning of meeting qualifications in life.

As life progresses to a different level we finish high school, go to college, get married, get established in a career, and have a family. There are certain qualifications required to do all of these things successfully.

As one moves on through life there is retirement and again qualifications are to be met. Do we have enough money saved to retire? Do we qualify for Social Security, a pension, do we meet the age requirement for Medicare? Life is full of things that to be successful we must qualify.

One of the biggest things we should consider is this question: what must be done to qualify us for eternity. Once we have lived out our years on earth and we die what will happen then? My friend, this qualification is the very most important one to meet, as it is the matter of eternal life or eternal death.

Before the creation of the world or one living soul, God the creator knew that man would not be able to meet the qualifications of a holy God. God is holy and cannot abide where there is sin and we are a people who are born in sin thereby unqualified and spiritually dead. But, because of his great love for us God provided the means through which He would qualify us for eternal life, that means was through his Son, Jesus Christ. We must however place our trust and faith in him to meet the standard.

Christ has done the work needed to give us eternal life. He died upon a Roman cross and shed his blood as the perfect and permanent sacrifice. We read in the Bible that without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin. Christ was the only acceptable sacrifice as he was holy and without sin. One that was sinful could not pay the price.

You may ask then, how can one have their sins forgiven and meet the qualifications for having eternal life. This is what you must do: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that He is the substitute taking your sin upon himself when he died on the cross. This is how you become qualified to share in the kingdom of light. God gives you his righteousness in exchange for your sin.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 14:6 Jesus answered “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Colossians 1:12-13 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

My question is this: Are you qualified to enter the kingdom of light? Have you applied Christ’s payment of sin to the debt you have acquired? Please consider today taking this step, asking Christ to forgive your sins because of Jesus' payment on the cross and enter into a personal relationship with God as your Father, who qualifies you for the kingdom of His dear son.

Brian: Before, During and After

During the last several years Brian has often had a beard and various lengths of hair. This is partly due to his many hiking adventures during which it is would be hard to shave not to mention it would negate the mountain man image. A beard also comes in handy during a Minnesota winter to protect the face from the elements.

Unfortunately for his beard, it was dealt a fatal blow this past week. Brian enrolled in two classes this semester, Firefighter 1 and EMT, with the goal of perhaps joining a fire department someday. His instructor looked around the class and said that beards would have to be shaved and that meant -----you. So, today the transformation took place.

Brian this morning

This look may be a result of eating at HuHot for lunch.

The Final Look

This is the one that I like the best. His dimple is again visible. Which one do you like?

Family Dinner and Kathryn Cooked - Yeah

This past weekend when Kathryn was on her four days off she invited the family to her house for dinner. This was our first meal in her new house. We had been planning on this for several days and when the time came the weather decided to be a little bit of a challenge. We were suppose to get freezing rain starting during the early evening hours. Because of the forecast we decided to go over earlier in the afternoon so that we could have some time together and still get on the road back home before it got too late. As it turned out we only got a few blocks from home when it started misting but decided to keep going. We witnessed many cars in the ditch and one van completely flipped over. The interstate was really slick but by going slow we made it there with no problem.

Tommy and Maggie watching a little football.

Dan and Brian relaxing after a good meal

Getting in a little bit of Grandma time.

We had a nice dinner of Savory Chicken Squares, green bean casserole, and a yummy fruit salad. We watched some football on TV, I did some knitting, played some games, enjoyed brownie sundaes, and were entertained by Elise. She used some of Kathryn's possesions as unusual toys but it kept her happy.

Elise entertaining us with a song and dance.

Kathryn and Elise "playing" together.

Ahhh, a little ice cream.

Looks like a discussion of some kind going on here.

Mikaela's turn at Taboo.

Freezing rain was coming down the whole time we were there so we wound things up a little early and headed out to the ice covered roads. Actually they were much better coming home as the sanding trucks had been out so it only took us a little longer than usual to get back to Rochester. God was good to keep us safe and let us enjoy a family evening together in spite of the bad weather.

A Great Week

A look at my week:

One of the perks of my job, besides getting to work with some fabulous middle school kids, is that we get several breaks throughout the year. The past two weeks I have enjoyed the time I have been able to spend here at home. This past week I enjoyed having both of my grandaughters stay all night with me on different nights. Elise came to me on Monday while her parents had a night away. She was really good, played and entertained us, and also slept good while she was here. She got to spend some time with Uncle Brian looking at books.

Mikaela came and spent the night on Thursday night. I got her a knitting loom for Christmas so we both worked on a scarf, still an "UFO" but with a good start. We played Scrabble, Scattergories, baked cookies, and looked through my filing cabinets for some new piano music for her. It was fun having her here.

Brian also has been home this week. He decided to go out for a run on Tuesday afternoon. No sooner than leaving it started snowing but that didn't stop him. This is what he looked like when he came in the door several hours later.

I started a quilt last summer which I intend to use as a wall hanging in my stairway. September came and I still needed to add the borders. Not having as much time to sew it has sat patiently waiting for me to have time. Today I finished the top, and have got it assembled for quilting. I love the quilting part and it is a lap warmer at the same time.

Many thanks to my handsome quilt modeler.

Reflecting on Christmas 08

The day after Christmas has a feel all its own, quiet, cluttered, a time to regroup and a time to reflect. We had a wonderful time together as a family and I cherish the fact that we were all together. We started the day with coffee and homemade cinnamon rolls.


Elise tried the cinnamon rolls, passed on the coffee, enjoyed her banana and bottle.

Mikaela is waiting to get the show on the road, very patiently I might add.

After reading the Christmas story we commenced with the gift opening. Having a one year old this year was really lots of fun. Ellie got so excited and loved what everyone was getting.

Ellie opening her first gift. She was catching on that inside this wrapping there was neat stuff, sometimes even toys. Elise had fun helping to pass out the gifts. This one was for her Mommy. Kathryn waiting her turn.

A little tradition that I started with Mikaela last year is to get her a place setting of dishes. This is the pattern chosen for this year. Just a few hours later she was putting it to good use and had her Christmas dinner on them.

Tommy and Denise taking a little break in all the action.

Denise modeling her new apron.

Dan and his new cross country skis. They were really hard to wrap in case you were wondering.

Brian and his treasure. Pretty much everything he got had to do with hiking or climbing. Here he is pictured with his new climbing cam, a device which goes into a crack in the side of the mountain and then is released to fill the space and then the climber can secure himself to the mountain. If you don't understand my explanation you can talk to him.

The "after presents are opened" look with gift wrap and boxes scattered all around. After presents the kids play a game of Skipbo.

As the day rolls by everyone starts to get a little hungry. As is our tradition we have a rib roast on Christmas day and though we try hard to put the roast in to be ready at a given time the tendency is for the roast to get done when "it" feels like it. We were suppose to eat at 2:00 but the internal temperature of the roast was like 90 degrees so we were waiting awhile. Elise got in a little nap and when she woke up it was about done. Here she is waiting in her high chair for her dinner. As it turned out she didn't really eat very well but had several servings of ketchup.

The rest of us were a little bigger eaters. We enjoyed a wonderful meal together.

And here is what we waited for. It was worth the wait - oh so yummy. We won't get this again until next Christmas.

Christmas Thoughts

From eternity past God's plan for our redemption was in his mind. Such an amazing thought to think that even though God knew there would be a price to pay for our salvation He created us and still longed to have a relationship with puny mankind. When the time was right God executed his plan.

Galatians 4:4
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

God planned every single detail of His son's miraculous birth. The young virgin Mary, Joseph, the angels, the shepherds, Zachariah the priest, Anna and Simeon, the innkeeper, Herod, the star of the east, the census, and the wisemen with their gifts. He did all of this because we were in his mind.

At a later point in time God planned that his dear son would hang on a cross and shed his blood for the one time, all sufficient payment for sin.

At another point in time God revealed himself to me. It is through Him that we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisom and understanding.

As I ponder the birth of the baby in the manger I do not have words to express the wonder of that gift. Thank you dear Lord for your grace lavished upon me and for your love to bring to completion the work you are doing.

Until the time that God brings to fulfillment all things in heaven and on earth under one head I give you the praise and the glory.