A good friend of ours who is a physician (family practice), and a member of our church, is looking for a younger physician to bring into his practice, with the intent being be to turn the practice over to him over time. If you or anyone you know might be interested in this opportunity, please contact John Grauke, MD here.
Monthly Archive for March, 2010
For the past several years my husband has repeatedly been asked if he believes in justification by faith alone. He has answered this question innumerable times both in person and in print. His answer is always the same. Yes! Jesus did it all, and He continues to do it all. Always and forever, Christ justifies His people, and His people can add nothing to His perfect work. But some people refuse to accept his answer. “NO, you don’t.” “But I do.” And so on.
I was explaining this to a friend recently, and I told her that it reminds me of something like this scenario: Suppose that a group of people started spreading the word that Doug and I were not really married, but we were just living together. And suppose that we were horrified at such a charge, and so we took pains to show them the marriage certificate, the pictures of the wedding, the rings, and even the old 70′s wedding gown to prove that they were mistaken. But suppose that they said, “We still don’t believe you. We know you SAY you are married, but you really are not married.” At some point in this little scenario we would have to come to the conclusion that these people were really not interested in finding out the truth.
We are committed evangelicals. We believe that Jesus saves us entirely and without any help from us. He hauls us into the boat without our permission. He gets all the glory and the praise and He always will. We glorify and magnify His name for His unspeakable gift to us. Jesus rose from the dead without any help from the guards. He saves us from our sins with absolutely no help from us. Even our faith is a gift from Him. Amen and amen!
Mom promised everyone that I would keep you all updated on the whole Easter dinner preparation extravaganza. And so, here is the complete and total exhaustive list of what I have accomplished so far:
Yes. I have peeled off some lemon peels and they are steeping in a mason jar full of vodka. Things, to date, have not been all that labor intensive. However, I’m expecting them to hot up shortly . . . because a package of fabric is scheduled to arrive any moment . . . and the second it shows up I have to crank out three Easter dresses. Then this Thursday is Jemima’s 10th birthday – and as you may or may not have noticed, that puts her birthday as being on April Fools Day. (Not my fault – I did my best. I was in labor all day on March 31, but she refused to be born until 7 minutes after midnight. Oh well. April is a nicer month than March anyway.) What this means however, is that I’m taking a consignment of cupcakes into her 4th grade class, and she would like them to be April Fools cupcakes. Hhhmmm. Luckily, Lizzie just happens to have, amongst her 9,312 cookbooks, a cookbook that has a special section devoted to April Fools cupcakes. So I’m going to have to borrow that sometime in the next short bit here. And then of course there’s the birthday party, and then Easter dinner preparation.
About the only thing that I could do this far in advance was the limoncello. I’ve made it for Easter a few times, and it’s a great aperitif option if you’re doing hors d’oeuvres. You know, while the kids are having the egg hunt and chowing through the jelly beans it’s nice to have something for the adults. So anyway, the limoncello is fun. In case anyone cares, here’s the recipe: Continue reading ‘As Promised’
Here’s my contribution to your rainy day activities: Bust out a little project for your Easter table! Here are some splashy little name tags that are super easy . . . and due to the fact that I can not for the life of me figure out how to embed the PDF here on Femina, I have had to post the download and instructions for this little project over at Amoretti. So trot along over there if you’re needing a project for the afternoon that involves a very low level of commitment!
Easter and Advent are the two pivotal Christian celebrations in the church year, so we obviously want our families to honor and commemorate these days in a manner worthy of the great events they mark. Though our secular society also marks these days, we want the tone of our own celebration of these holidays (holy days) to be established by our worship services, the centerpieces of the festival. In other words, our family celebrations are secondary; the worship is central. So this means we have the pleasure of creating traditions, carrying on old traditions, and enjoying the way we each celebrate with our families in our homes. The church does not mandate how we do this. So since someone asked, let’s start talking about a few Easter traditions.
As I’ve already said, Easter celebration begins with worship. For all my life, Easter Sunday meant new clothes for church, and I still like the symbolism of newness and resurrection in wearing new clothes. It’s not just about the “Easter parade.” New garments or special clothing has long been a way of signifying the importance and Continue reading ‘Easter Festivities’
Our ten-day forecast is cold and rain, rain, maybe some snow, and more rain. Though the farmers are doing a victory dance, it can still be hard on the rest of us, especially you moms who have to call off the springtime walks for the week. But even if it’s a downpour outside, that’s no reason to let it start raining inside too. So here are a few ideas to keep the rainy day out in the yard where it belongs.
1. Pick up the house. A tidy house is lots more fun to be in than a big mess. Plump up the pillows and shine up the coffee table. Put fresh sheets on the beds. And don’t forget to make sure you are looking cheery. Fix your hair and put on some earrings and a cute bright sweater. Now we’re talking.
2. Bring in some flowers. The grocery stores have plenty of selections. Get a bright colored flowering plant or a bunch of tulips (or daffodils) and put them on the table. Of course an Easter lily is the perfect choice right now.
3. And speaking of the table, put on a cheery runner or tablecloth. Look around in your linen closet and pull out something fresh, preferably bright yellow!
4. Fill the house with some cheery music.
5. Turn on the lights! No reason to fumble around in the dark. Change all the burnt-out light bulbs and surprise yourself with how bright your house can be!
6. Fill the house with some yummy smells. Make some bread or cinnamon rolls.
7. Put some bright throw pillows on the sofa and ditch those dingy tan colored things.
8. Make some play dough with the kids and get them busy with their hands. Easter is coming, so color some eggs!
9. Write some thank-you notes, call your mom to say hi, wrap a birthday gift.
10. Invite some friends over for soup. Shine the silver for the big Easter dinner.
Okay, so that’s probably more than ten. But you get the idea. Most importantly, in all these things, overflow in gratitude to God. Count your blessings. Rejoice!
Recent Comments