In The Refiner's Fire

Zucchini Bars (with Figs) This last week was, honestly, a rough week for me.  I was dealing with some really odd technological issues and that turned into a real battle with tech support in ways it never should have. It has been a week and they are not resolved. A friend from church passed away (she had been on hospice since before Covid-19). A child's teacher emailed requesting unreasonable support from my husband and myself (the principal later emailed retracting this request - it was that unreasonable). We received word from my Cousin that my Uncle is on hospice care.  And my list could go on and on for several pages.... Yes, it was that type of a week.  Plus, it was Holy Week. Holy Week is always emotional for me.  And this year was no exception. There were still good things this week, and I am oh, so grateful! Here they are: Worship online.  Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. I needed those so much this week. A gift of real maple syrup...

Iris popping out! Just a little - they are much bigger today than in this photo. This past week went well but it still felt like a long week without all our normal activities to break up the week and help us remember what day we are on.  Here are some things I am grateful for this past week: * We are all still healthy; as are our parents and extended family members.  Some of my husband's family live in a state that has not issued a stay a home order and we are concerned for their health and well being.  I am grateful they are all still healthy. * The flowers and a few other plants along the house and garage are starting to pop out of the ground - iris, day lilies, lily of the valley, rhubarb and strawberry plants.  This is making me SO excited. * The first full week back to school online for the children went well this week.  * We still have fresh flowers on the kitchen table - only a little bouquet, but a bouquet nonetheless. * Music!  We ...

    Once upon a time, I did a regular job of listing the blessings for the previous month here on the blog.  One of my goals for 2019 is to get back to it!  More for my record and memory than anything else, but blessings are always good to share. At least I think so!   Here we go: Blessings for January 2019   New Year's Day 2019!  A brand new year.   John's 45th Birthday - celebrated with pizza from a new favorite pizza place and a handful of gifts.  The day even started with the beautiful sunrise above!  I am so blessed to be his wife!   Lots of basketball games - free entertainment and exercise for the children.    Workshops for work for John and I - well worthwhile and delicious free meals too!   Cleaning out the closets - seriously, why do we hang on to so much stuff?  We donated the bulk of it in hopes of blessing others.   Brunch at a friend's house after church one S...

Some of our summer 2018 produce - much of this is still in the freezer and will be enjoyed this winter.  I am so grateful!   On this U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving,  I am thankful for each of you, my readers, and the opportunity to share a little bit of my life with you here in cyberspace.    I hope that no matter where you live, you have a wonderful weekend and take a minute to reflect on the many blessings you have.   Our year of 2018 has not been an easy one - it many ways it has been one of the most difficult we have ever had.  We still have so much to be thankful for - our family, our home, our careers, transportation, plenty to eat and wear, and a whole host of other things!  I hope you, too, have many things to be thankful for.   Blessings, Lea   Now Thank We All Our God by Martin Rinkhart, translated by Catherine Winkworth Music by Johann Cruger   Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands ...

It's been quite a while since I've done one of these posts and I decided I need to start again.  February 2018 was rough - 4 trips to the emergency room (ER), lots of medical/doctor appointments, unexpected and unprecedented problems at both of our jobs, and our children's school having to suspend 3 students in one day (they have never had to do that before)!  Add in the myriad of little things that have been happening (leading to my 'pecked to death by hens' statement in another recent post), and February was exhausting! We did have blessings and I'm going to reiterate those here, for my benefit mostly.  I hope you enjoy them as well!   Valentine's Day.  The children made valentine's for their friends and we enjoyed a nice dinner at home the day after.  We did buy chocolates and a few other little things for each other.  It was a nice celebration of the gift of family and love for each other and others.   A friend gifting me sev...

So, John asked me to help him with picking out hymns for his Ordination Service.  As we were working our way through what is fondly known as the "New Red Hymnal", we came across this:   "All Depends on Our Possessing" Listed under the heading of "Grace". (Evangelical Lutheran Worship #589, if you're interested and have a copy). The combination of the title and the heading gave me the biggest belly laugh I've had in a while.  I guess that's what happens when you have a hymn without a title and you take the first four or so words of the hymn and make that the title.   The entire first line of the hymn reads as follows:  "All depends on our possessing God's free grace and constant blessing."    Whew.  I was worried there for a moment.     What gave you a good laugh today?

The beautiful sunrise one morning this past week. I spent a bunch of time just looking at it.    We've had a lot of blessings this month, the sunrise above is just the beginning:     Watching the Rose Parade on TV to ring in the New Year.   A retirement party for a beloved co-worker.   My husband's 42nd Birthday.   Two meals out - one with a gift card and one at a fundraiser.  Such a treat this month!   The ability to sleep in several days this month.   Catching up the ironing.  (Hurray!)    Having plenty to eat on a tight budget.   5th Grade Boy's Basketball.   Board games to play as a family.   New insulation in the attic.   Sunshine after so many days of gray and snow.   Acupuncture.   This has been such a huge help with my PHN!   Advil. So grateful I live in a time when this is available and safe!   Ordering...

  Joy to the World! Test: Isaac Watts Tune: George F. Handel, adapted     Joy to the World! The Lord has come! Let earth receive her King; Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room And heav'n and nature sing, And heav'n and nature sing, and heav'n and heav'n and nature sing.   Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns! Let all their songs employ, While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.   No more let sin and sorrow grow Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse if found.   He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders of His love.       Merry Christmas to you and yours!...

Oh, come, oh, come Emmanuel Text: Psalteriolum Cantoinum Catholicarum Translated: John M. Neale Tune: French Processional, 15th Century   Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel And rasom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O, Israel!   Oh, come, oh, come great Lord of might, Who to your tribes on Sinai's height In ancient times once gave the law In cloud and majesty and awe.   Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O, Israel!   Oh, come, strong Branch of Jesse, Free Your own from Satan's tyranny; From depths of hell your people save And give them vict'ry o'er the grave.   Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O, Israel!   Oh, come, blest Dayspring, come and cheer Our spirits by your advent here; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death's dark shadows put to flight.   Rejoice...

John had another birthday this last weekend and we were so blessed to celebrate three times!  First, with his family last week, second with a small special dinner just the four of us on his actual birthday and then a date for the two of us and then our "traditional" birthday dinner here at home on Sunday. Missy has been all about homemade decorations this year and he did a whole bunch of decorating with the help of their babysitter while we were on our date. I don't have any photos from our date, but I'll leave you with some photos of our "traditional" birthday dinner and some of the decorations that Missy made.   A few years ago John asked for a crab leg dinner as his birthday present.  Since crab legs are typically on sale for New Years, it works out well!  We had a local grocery store (it's a high-end one we rarely shop at) that had a buy one pound, get one free sale and we bought this whole plateful with our Birthday fund as one of John...

It's the last day of November. It's hard to believe that it's already here.  Today is the first day of Advent and I am ready for a slower pace and am hoping that pushing myself like I have been the last few months will make that happen.  The children have been such a big help in getting the house cleaned and ready.  I still feel we have a long way to go for it to be where I want it to be by the time company comes but I'm enjoying the progress in the meantime. Here are some of my favorite things from the month of November this year - light on photos this month, I realized I really hadn't taken any this past month: Reformation Sunday The birth of the Protestant Church and our beloved Lutheran Church.   All Saint's Day A day to remember all those who have gone before us.  So blessed are we!   My sister-in-law Gabrielle - she turned 20 this month! She was a baby when my husband and I got engaged and she was the flower girl at our w...

    Happy Thanksgiving! It's Thanksgiving Day here in the US and we are taking the time to celebrate and remind ourselves all we have to be thankful for.  And we have so very much! Echinacea flowers - growing in my garden this summer.     Today I am thankful for...     ....my husband... ...my children... ...my career.... ...my health... ...our home... ...our parents... ...our extended families... ....our church families... ...internship/Vicarage... ...John's mentor Pastor... ...the power of prayer... ...good medical care... ...plenty to eat... ...plenty to wear... ...reliable transportation... ...a warm place to live in cold weather... ...my beautiful garden... ...my children's smiles... ...my husbands kisses... ...time spent with friends... ...laughter... ...joy... ...peace... ...Grace.... ...Jesus Christ... ...the gift of eternal Salvation.     What are you than...

Wow, has the fall just flown by.... whiz!  I can't believe we're in November already.   I guess that is how the seasons change around here.  Here are a few of my favorite things from October this year:   The last of my flowers blooming before we started to get "cold".   Aren't they beautiful?  My roses are having one last hurrah right now - I love it!   We had amazing fall color here this year.  I took the long way to work most days just because it let me soak up that beautiful color longer.  Sadly, I don't have any photos.   My children playing their instruments have really made progress this month - it's super fun to hear them playing and I think they're enjoying it too.     My daughter was adamant that she saw something really cool in the clouds one day and had to take a photo of it. Now we have no memory of what that something really cool was but I love the photo anyway.   Hav...

August was a very busy month for us with two weeks of Vacation Bible School (VBS) - each at a different church, camping and then John starting Internship.  In there we also had back-to-school night, my cousin's book signing and a few other things as well.  It was a good month and I'm so grateful for so many things.  Here are a few of the things I was grateful for in August this year: Birthdays!   My mother-in-law, me, our nephew, my father-in-law, two of my cousins, and my youngest brother-in-law all have August birthdays.  That means lots of cards and gifts being sent around.   The children and I made my mother-in-law a necklace using things we had on hand as a gift. It turned out cute but I totally forgot to take a photo.  She liked it, which is the best part!   My mother-in-law sent me these cute kitchen towels as a gift.     John bought me these beautiful flowers (only $5 at the farmer's market!) and some...

Now that we're halfway through June, I thought I'd share some of my favorite things from May this year. Here we go! My daughter's super easy birthday cake!  I'll write more about her party later - it was so much fun! My children turning 9 this year - last year of single digits!   My son deciding that he needed a day with Daddy more than he needed a birthday party this year.   The food for my daughter's party that turned out SUPER pink - pink plates, strawberries, pretzels in pint tulip cupcake liners and flower-shaped sandwiches with strawberry jam.  Served with pink lemonade. My parents being here for their birthday this year.   My cousin Diane being here too.   My son learning the basic of how to carve and spending time with Grandpa discussing the finer points.   My daughter sewing with my Mom.   Being able to make it to every event on our schedule even though it looked like it was going to be impossible...

I have to say I love January. Once the hubbub of Christmas and John's birthday dies down and the decorations are all put away, the peace and quiet that comes is something that I always enjoy.  No wonder it's a time for resolutions and new goals and reevaluating things.  All that said, I also love the Christmas season.  I love cookies and decorations and snow and "making merry" and spending some "extra" time with my family.  Christmas was extra special this year  because my parents were able to be with us and my Dad is in remission from his cancer.  Best Christmas gift in my lifetime I'd say! Here are some of my favorite things from the Christmas season:   Cookies decorated by my children.     The lovely doll furniture made by my Dad for my Missy.  Here she was getting them ready for a tea party with her dolls and their puppies.     My children making the snowballs for a snow man.  This was...