 
I think it might have happened – I might finally be ready to get going on some home-made Christmas gifts! This is the breakfast nook in our house – transformed by necessity into a “craft room.” It is my favorite room in the house I think – it must be the smell of the yarn and the pipe cleaners or something! Anyway – here’s to all you ladies gearing up for a wonderfully busy holiday season!
Monthly Archive for November, 2009
Page 2 of 4
If you’ve noticed over on the left side there, you can click on Credenda Agenda. For those of you who don’t know about Credenda, I would love to tell you a little of its glorious beginnings. Back in 1989 when our children were ages 9, 11, and 13, my husband got the idea for a church newsletter. Credenda means things to be believed; and Agenda is things to be done. It is somewhat important for us all to get them in that order. In other words, our faith is the foundation for our works. I still think it’s a great title (and I also think my husband has a knack for naming things well). He originally came across the phrase in a book of Puritan quotations (and they also had a knack for naming things), but he later saw it in something Thomas Watson wrote (who happens to be my favorite Puritan preacher/writer).
Back in the early days it was a fold-up newsletter. Our kids would get together at the Miller home with the Miller kids, and the whole kit and kaboodle of them would fold and stuff the thing into envelopes for mailing. What was in it for them? Donuts. And that was Continue reading ‘We Write Stuff’
The time has come to start preparing The Feast. I get very excited about it all, and I love thinking over what the next few days will include, sorting out who will make which pies, and how I will keep the grandkids occupied while their parents are still over in Merry Ol’ England. Today was easy because God sent a beautiful load of snow and the afternoon was spent sliding and rolling around in it (not me, but the kids) until it was almost dark outside. But I digress.
Today my husband preached a Thanksgiving sermon, and I sat in a different row than usual with my five Merkle grandchildren. Funny how being in a different seat can change the whole experience. The kids were great, I got to sit behind the Wilson family grandkids, and I have always wanted to be over there with them all during the Lord’s Supper, so it was sweet indeed. (The Janks were somewhere in the back and I didn’t get a peep at them until after the service when all the grandkids make a bee-line for Doug to give him a hug, and then a bee-line for me because I have the treats in my purse to hand out.) But there I go digressing again.
The point of the sermon was very applicable to all of us who will be putting on our battle gear in the kitchen tomorrow and the next day and the next until the Great Feast Day. He was speaking about rejoicing in the evil day, and how our days are just as evil (or almost) Continue reading ‘Fighting Gear’
 
Finished blocking and ready to mail! I love this pattern – “Duck Soup” from Annie Purls. It is nice and easy, knit from the top down in one piece. I am hoping it fits my beautiful new Seattle niece! Sorry about the rather dark and cheerless photo – but that is how it is around here right now, and I just can’t wait for a sunny day to mail it! This is how God gets us all excited to see snow – when it finally comes it will be brighter than this, practically even in the middle of the night!
Just thought I’d tell you what we’ve been up to. Ben and Bekah flew over to the UK yesterday for a week. Yes, all by themselves. They took one suitcase and two carry-on’s and left the children with us for the week. They had a very boring flight (the best kind) and zipped through Heathrow with no stories to tell.
Meanwhile, on the home front, I am simultaneously in “Nana heaven” and having the workout of my life. But the kids are easy as can be, and they are all self-sufficient (no diapers, no shoes to tie, no high-chairs, and they can buckle their own seatbelts). All I have to do is drive them around to activities and feed them. Bekah made sure that I would have an easy time of it. She even put their clothes for each school day in labeled zip lock bags, packed up the basketball bag, the ballet bag, and arranged their Sunday clothes in neatly labeled piles. Not only that, but she made them muffins for each morning for breakfast (frozen and labeled), as well as pumpkin pies to take to school for the Thanksgiving parties they’ll be having tomorrow.
She left me a detailed sheet of instructions for each day. Yesterday, besides the daily Continue reading ‘Nana Time’
Here is a verse in Proverbs (4:18) to give the elderly a hopeful outlook:
“But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” The elderly may feel their age very acutely; their strength and life may seem dimmer each day. But the truth is their path is shining brighter with the passing of each day. Sounds a bit like 2 Corinthians 4:16: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”
God turns things upside down. The body starts wearing down, but the spirit of the Christian grows newer and newer, the path ahead brighter than ever. The eye of faith sees the unseen and has hope.
On the flip side: “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.” (Prov. 4:19)
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