Another Meme

Katherine tagged me even though she's knows I'm three memes behind. But this one's easy, because I'm only going to answer places where I'm different from Katherine. I'm in pink.:

Coffee, tea or other beverage? Lattes, sigh...but I usually drink tea.

Are you a morning bird or a night owl? Definitely a night owl. Totally morning and that's when I read a wealth of email from night owl friends.  Works for me!

Do you have a favorite verse of Scripture? Yes, many and much of Psalm 63 immediately comes to mind:

O God, thou art my God, I seek thee, my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is.  So I have looked upon thee in the sanctuary, beholding thy power and glory.  Because thy steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise  thee.  So I will bless thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on thy name.  My soul is feasted as with marrow and fat, and my  mouth praises thee with joyful lips, when I think of thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the watches of  the night; for thou hast been my help, and  in the shadow of thy wings I sing for joy. My  soul clings to thee; thy right hand upholds me.

That one's good, and right now this one is running through my head incessantly.  Can't give you chapter and verse but I can sing it ala Hide 'Em in Your Heart:  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct your paths.

What is your favorite book of the Bible? Psalms

Which do you prefer, pen or pencil? Pen Especially the gel kind.

Laptop or desktop? Desktop (I love my iMac.) I love HER iMac. I hate my pc.

When you write do you print or use cursive? Usually print, sometimes a hybrid of both. Me too.

Do you plan your menus or do you just wing it? I try to plan ahead, but I've been known to wing it.  ;) Me too.

Favorite color? How could I possibly choose? Pink.  Lots of shades of it.

Favorite form of exercise? Is this a trick question? I used to exercise, before I spent nine months immobilized.  Now I can't seem to make my body do anything. Maybe this is the week.

How do you wear your hair most days? Half up, half down. Yep. Me too.

Which do you prefer, baking or cooking? Cooking. Definitely cooking here.

In the house are you barefoot, in slippers or in shoes? Birkenstocks. Really ancient ones.

Do you wash dishes by hand or have a dishwasher? Dishwasher--his name is Patrick;-).

Do you have pets? 1 dog. A 110 pound yellow Lab named Baggins (definitely NOT the size of a Hobbit).  And 2 Tabby cats. I could live without the cats.  1 dog. A 110 pound labradoodle named Frodo (I am totally not making this up!) No cats here.

What do you eat for breakfast? Granola (It goes with the Birks!). Mine is wheat free and I usually have an egg too.

What is your favorite magazine? I prefer books. Me too.

The Loveliness of Romance

The Fair is right around the corner.  Be sure to get your entries to Margaret this weekend!

For Martha's and Charlotte's Mama

Please take a moment to re-read this and then you'll know why the news in the Bonny Glen today makes me sadder than sad.  Won't you say a prayer for Melissa Wiley? Martha Morse and Charlotte Tucker are beloved characters in delightful books to many of us.  But to Lissa, they are daughters of her heart. How difficult it must be to let them go.

One more thing, if you feel sad about this, if you are dismayed to learn how HarperCollins is dumbing down literature for children, don't leave the comment here. Please leave the comment on the Bonny Glen link above.  I wonder what HarperCollins would think if we completely inundated Lissa's blog with outraged comments from thinking mothers with thinking children. I'd like nothing better.  Now, go tell your friends!  We need to direct the future of children's literature.  If ever there was a time to comment on a post, it's now and it's there. I'll see you there.

Preparing to Prepare for Easter

"From the outermost border of heaven is His going forth, and His goal is the outermost part of heaven, and there shall no man hide himself from His heat."  Psalm 18

Nicholas just turned six.  I love this age; there are usually so many really wonderful questions and conversations.  In Nicholas' case, he has to ponder something for a long time before he talks about it.  And then he has to rehearse what he's going to say with himself. So, sometimes, at what might seem like an odd moment, he just bursts out with a question:

"Mommy, I think it's possible you can sin so much you never go to heaven, right?"

Deep breath.

Nicholas, I want you to think about heaven like a warm hug.  God is waiting to scoop you up and give you the most wonderful, warm hug you've ever had. Nicholas is a hugger--this is a good eternal reward.

When you sin, you turn yourself away from God, you move away from the warm hug. Sometimes, you commit little sins and you are just walking away.  You can still feel God and He's still warm, but you're turned the other way and you're getting a little chilly. If you were to die, God would give you big hug and it might be a little uncomfortable at first but pretty soon you'd just be cozy.

If you commit great big sins and you're running away from God or so many little sins that you've walked a long, long way from Him, you will be very cold.  Your soul will be so cold that it's colder than your hands if you play in the snow without mittens.

And what happens when you come in from the snow when your hands are that cold and you run them under very warm water?  It hurts, doesn't it? The water isn't bad or mean.  It's the same warm water you love, but it hurts because your hands are too cold.

God's love, his hug, isn't bad or mean. It's the same warm, perfect hug of all, but someone who has sinned and never turned back twoards God is so cold that the warm hug is very painful. He can never be happy in that hug.  He can't hold his hands under the water and warm them up to be like God. Instead, he burns.

By now, I had the full attention of at least seven children. Stephen asked, "But what if you go to confession."

On your way to confession, you have decided you are sorry; you turn towards God. Right away he begins to warm you, to get you ready for the hug.  When you confess, your sins are forgiven and the hug feels perfect. And sometimes, walking back towards God seems like a long, long journey and you want someone to hold your hand along the way.  That's what the Blessed Mother, your guardian angel and all the saints you love will do. You can ask them to hold your hand while you turn and walk (or run) back towards the warm hug.

So, as we look towards Lent, we need to see how far we are from the great, big hug. We need to turn ourselves towards our Father and to remove those things that keep us from warming ourselves in his Love. When we fast, we do it to draw closer to God, to make ourselves aware that we need to be warmed by His love and that if we are not moving towards Him, we are growing colder.

Lenten fasting isn't about rules. It's about longing.  It's about wanting that hug so much and being made aware of our need for it. Fast and abstinence won't look the same for everyone. There are no fasting police. Instead there are the fasting traditions of the ages from which we can learn: the roadmap for turning ourselves around to face God.  And with that map, our hands firmly in the hands of the saints, we can walk to the glory of the great, warm hug. There is the great grace of the confessional, where we are the prodigal child who is scooped up in the joyful embrace of the father who was looking for him all along.

So, no, Nicholas, you cannot sin so much that you never go to heaven--just as long as you turn and go back towards the hug.

I LOVE You Tree!

 

The "Honey-Do List" in this house is quite long. In the interest of preserving marital bliss, I won't share it with you here. Let's just say that "Honey" started a new job just before the baby arrived and he's been working and traveling enough for two men ever since. That is the segue to revealing that (drumroll, please): The Foss Family Christmas Tree still stands proudly in my family room on this seventh day of February!

There was a time in the life of my marriage when I would have actually written that "Honey Do" list and I would have oh-so-carelessly left it lying around. Or, I would have invited his mother to dinner, knowing that he wouldn't want her to see the tree in the corner. Or, I would have pouted and moped and complained about (1)the fact that he was gone and/or (2)the fact that the tree is annoying my sense of order. Neither #1 or #2 does me or anybody else much good.  It's wasted energy and does nothing to contribute to the atmosphere around here. His mother isn't coming to dinner any time soon. And the last thing the poor, overworked man needs is another list of things to do.

There was later time in my life when I would have taken it down myself. But I have since learned that some jobs are better left to big, strong men (and I have the scars to prove it).  Now, I have a couple of big strong, young men in my house.And both of them offered to take down the tree. But I know my Honey--he wants the tree in the box just so (and rightfully, I might add--trees last longer when they are handled with care and they are far easier to assemble when put away properly). And I know my young men--better not to let them touch the tree. Family harmony next advent is worth far more than freeing up space in that corner of the family room.

So, it stands in my family room, ornaments long since put away. And it reminds me every day of just how hard my husband is working to feed and clothe and shelter and educate this very large family.  It stands there and very early in the morning when it's still dark and no one is looking, I turn on the lights and I say prayer for the man who wishes he were home more.  I ask God to show us how He'd have us live, which choices He'd have us make. And I thank God for the Honey who chose that tree and who provided for it and for the house where it stands.

So, it only seemed natural on one very cold winter evening, when Honey was still at work long after dinner was done, to turn to those beautiful children and ask them to help me make that tree everything it was meant to be.

We took the pink paper hearts on which we'd written all the things and people we love and rested them firmly on the "God" doily and we hung them on the Daddy Valentine Tree! Martha Stewart, you can have your efficiency calendar that tells us all when to take down the Christmas tree. Mine just became the Tree of Love in this house full of life!