Arise, my Crucified One; it is not becoming that Your limbs
should lie in the lowly tomb, nor that worthless stones
should press against the Ransom of the world.
It is unworthy that a mere stone should shut in, confine, and cover
Him in Whose fist all things are held.
Give back Your face, that the world may see the Light;
give back the day which fled at Your death.
Those whom guilty Eve had infected, He now restores.
The movers come tomorrow. I am staring at my pictures lined up against the wall. My husband is sitting next to me willing himself to unhook the TV and all the assorted cords. Every stitch of laundry is done. The suitcases are packed. At one point today I wanted to throw away every piece of our clothing and buy new. If the kids are short socks it is not my fault. We can buy them some flip flops and call it a day. And miracle of all miracles, everything is going to fit in the car. We even managed it without yelling at each other. Win!
I am going to dump a few things here so that I can sleep tonight.
We still have to get our new military ID’s. Husband tried to make an appointment. Do you know that they are booked for a month out? Yikes. Wasn’t expecting that. I can’t wait to sit for 3 hours at PSD.
I need a new driver’s license. When I changed my address 4 years ago, the woman behind the counter wouldn’t give me the MIL expiration date that is so awesome in this state. For whatever reason, I didn’t argue with her. My husband was going to retire anyway. Oh, life can be such a cruel joke at times.
My house is not really ready for the packers. Yes, and I am sitting here. I just can’t force myself to do anymore today.
No, we don’t know where we are going to live. At first this didn’t bother me. We have done it before. In fact, we have only had a forwarding address one time in this life of ours. Why is it bothering me this time? I think I may have lost my sense of adventure.
Yes, I have lost my sense of adventure. I know what lies ahead for me. A year of figuring out the homeschooling community. A year of making friends. A year trying to find a way for myself. Watching my kids drag themselves through. And the FAFSA. Who is going to help me with the FAFSA?
My kitty seems to be feeling better. I will take his obnoxious cries for food as a good sign.
They had a going away brunch/military appreciation for us and all the military families today at church today. It was lovely. My church family is very loving. This is the second time I have said good bye to them.
I really wish that the movers would pack my cleaning supplies. It seems that I have bought the lion’s share of them. Not sure when I had planned to use them all. Maybe I thought that if I bought them, they would miraculously clean the house themselves. Wouldn’t that have been nice?
My husband turns 40 the day we leave. I need to get a bunch of gags gifts for him.
My daughter turns 15 the dady we arrive. I need to make the day special for her too. We already gave her an ipod touch, but it would be nice to do something else too. Need to figure that out.
I pray my piano arrives in one piece. This will be its third move.
A college called my son out of the blue and told him that they would love to have him apply. Oh, yay! He isn’t interested, but he sure was excited after the call. I told him that colleges want the academic kids as much as the athletic kids. I told him. I told him. I told him. Man, I love being right.
God is here. I have trouble reminding myself of that. I am afraid to pray for so many things because I feel like He can’t give them all to me. When, duh, of course He can. My faith is weak. Like I can’t trust Him to take care of everything for me.I feel like I have to take care of it all. He can’t do it all Himself. When I know, in the deep of my deeps, He can. The things I can’t control, He can. I just need to let it go. That is very hard for me.
I guess that is it for now. I hope to write a little between tomorrow and the time we arrive in South Carolina.
One more thing. I am so proud of my kids right now. They are sad, but they are just handling this so well. Their maturity is showing. Even Freckle Face has calmed down. He has said that he is tired of people telling him that it is going to be an adventure. I told him that I was tired of people telling me that it is going to be hot. We both had a good chuckle over that. I have great kids. I am glad that we all get to do this together.
My daughter was confirmed on Palm Sunday. She stood up in front of our congregation and answered several questions on the doctrine of our faith. Then, she professed her faith and was given full membership in our church. It was wonderful. She did a great job answering the questions and I nearly cried when she received her confirmation blessing. She then took her first communion on Maundy Thursday. Then, I did cry. This Sunday I will be taking communion with her. I am looking forward to it. Anyway, we just really want to see pictures, right?
The dress
Her gift from us.
With us. This was taken after it was all over. Can you see the relief all over her face? I can. Even though she had nothing to worry about. She was magnificent. ( I really liked this picture until I realized it looks as if the Paschal candle is growing from her head. Oh, well. Someday I will figure it all out. )
Below is a short clip from Messiah. Please let it play for about 45 seconds in order to see the whole picture. The art work is from a Bible study on Messiah that my pastor has written and is hoping to someday publish. I have seen a copy and the entire thing is stunning. The following picture is the one that moves me the most. When my daughter saw the picture, it made her sad until she realized what she was seeing. I think that is what makes it most beautiful. Because isn’t that what Christ’s death is? It is shocking to see Jesus, the Lamb of God, on the cross suffering a brutal death, but then we realize that it is this death and His blood that covers all our sin. There we find peace.
I love Handel’s Messiah. Every time I am in the car I play it. It is a piece of music that can make me feel better about things. Just thinking about it now and wondering why don’t I have a copy of it in the house. I need to remedy that right away.
Before I discovered all the beauty that is Messiah, I only knew it as a Christmas song. For some reason the Hallelujah Chorus is a hallmark of the Christmas season. Oh hey, did you see the video of the Random Act of Culture in the Philadelphia’s Macy’s? Here you go in case you missed it.
One thing I find interesting, other than the fact that we all stand during the chorus, is that even though we really think of it as a Christmas song, it is the chorus of the resurrection of Jesus. An Easter song. He shall reign forever. The verse following the chorus is from Job 19. “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” I just love it. I know my Redeemer lives! From Job! From the Old Testament! Isn’t that incredible? How can that not make you feel better?
If you start at the beginning of the oratorio and listen all the way through, you will hear the entire story of our Savior. It starts with the prophecies and moves into his birth, death, resurrection and, finally, the second coming. “The trumpet shall sound!” Love that one! My favorite verse is from Psalm 24. “Lift up Your Heads, O Ye Gates” I put that verse on whenever I need a little pick me up. Gives a whole new meaning to the term “singing the psalms”.
Now, you may think that my kids are completely tired of listening to my music, but they aren’t. In fact, the more I play it, the more they become familiar with, and like anything other song, once we get a little more familiar, we like it better. They will never admit that they like it to me, but they don’t complain when I have it on either. I can’t imagine only listening to it at Christmas time.
Today was tough. I don’t think there were many dry eyes in the whole place. We are all still in shock over this loss. It was good to go and hear the Gospel message. I know that he is singing praises in heaven now. He had an incredible voice here on earth. I can only imagine how he singing in heaven. My kids will be having school this week. It is going to be a tough week.
On Friday, the school had a public speaking evening. My oldest son chose to read Acts 10. After the service, his teacher introduced him as Pastor **. My son was embarrassed because this is not the first time that his teacher has called him this. Actually, many people encourage him in this. Anyway, my son started to walk away because he was embarrassed. His teacher reached out and shook his hand. It was something he did a lot. My son wrote later, “I didn’t know that it would be our farewell handshake, but that is what it was.”
My children’s teacher and principal passed away unexpectedly today. Last night we were just talking with him at a school function. I am so glad that my kids have a happy memory of him. I do too. I am incredibly sad for his daughter, my good friend. I am also sad for his wife who I also call a friend. She is Freckle Face’s teacher and too young for this to be. He was the father of 6 and grandfather to several grandchildren.
Regardless of some of the differences we had, I feel this loss deeply. My heart hurts for my friend and her family. We are going to church tomorrow, and it is going to be hard. He absence is going to leave a large hole in our church family. Thank you for any prayers.
Yesterday was the first day of the new year on the church calendar. (I meant to say all this yesterday, but time got away from me.) It was the first Sunday in Advent. A time where we remember the coming of our Lord. A time that we look forward to the second coming of our Lord.
I love Advent. The parament colors are a beautiful shade of blue. In the middle of our church is a large advent wreath, and soon the whole church will be decorated in Christmas colors. I love hearing the sermons about Jesus coming again. Isn’t that we as Christians all look forward to? Yesterday’s sermon text was Matthew 21:1-9. If you go and read it, you will notice it is the same text that is used often for Palm Sunday. What a beautiful text. A text that reminds us that Jesus came to us.
I thought about making a New Year’s resolution. A resolution of my faith. Something simple. I have never been good about keeping my New Year’s resolutions, but maybe this one would be different. Especially if I keep it simple. I have something in mind. Something about prayer. I will figure something out. Anyway, Happy New Year!
