Peach Bundt Cake

For that huge segment of the population DYING to know the recipe for Laurel's birthday cake...

I did some serious internet scouring for a peach bundt cake which was also... vegan, gluten-free, no added oil, and lower sugar.  Ha.

Most of the recipes along this line started with: six eggs, two cups of sugar, two sticks of butter, a cup of sour cream...  I am sure they are delicious!  But they will not suit our family eating issues.  So I found a somewhat unrelated recipe and altered it, and this is what I came up with:

2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour (Namaste is what we have on hand)
1 cup almond flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1tablespoon ground golden flaxseed
1 1/2 cups almond milk
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chopped and peeled fresh peaches
oil and almond flour for the bundt pan

Mix flax, milk, and vinegar and let it sit.  Sift dry ingredients together and pour in liquids.  Fold in peaches.  Pour into bundt pan.

Bake in a at 350 for 45 mins.  Let cool completely.

It turned out fine, but was far from spectacular.  I was vaguely disappointed.

Next time I *might* add some cinnamon, which showed  up in various recipes, and also more maple syrup - perhaps around 1 cup total, and cut a 1/2 cup of the almond milk.  I would also up the almond flour to 1 1/2 cups and lower the flour blend to 1 1/2 cups as well.  And dice the peaches even finer.

Huggable House

A year ago in June when Jared went to teach in Chattanooga for a week, I took the kids to Texas, and I started a knitting project, which was listed in the book as four to six hours.  I picked it, because it looked fun and easy, and it was something quick to knit during the summer before fall knitting season was upon us.  Anyway, I didn't spend much time knitting this year, and finally finished it two days after Jared returned from Chattanooga THIS year.  It is the huggable house.  I was just using various scraps of yarn I had, so I didn't follow the colors and such from the pattern.  Also, once I got down to the embroider the details part, I had WAY too much fun and went wild.  My only regret is that the whole thing turned out a bit more football shaped when I stuffed it that I expected it to.  But I am quite fond of it.  Here is the front, with the door, the window, the window box, and the flowers.

Here is one side, where Anne requested a hanging basket of flowers.  I was happy to oblige.  It turns out I love freehand embroidering botanicals with nice yarn.

Here is the back.  The photo is in shadow, but I made a little cat peering out a rear window.

On the fourth side, Anne requested an apple tree.  That was also really fun to do.  Sorry about the shadow again.

This is what they thought it would look like when it was done.  The shape is nice, but I like my house details better.  ;-)

I was glad to finish after a year, finally, and it was also a prerequisite for knitting something for the baby, which was on my list for the summer.  I haven't started on that yet, and I don't know what to make yet anyway...

Summer Solstice

I LOVE the long, long days of summer in the north.  I am fueled by daylight, and it makes the long, dark, rainy nights of winter worth bearing. (Although I have to say I miss the snow here!)  I have always appreciated the summer solstice in the north, and I feel sad that it is all *downhill* from here, although of course, there will be plenty of light for the next couple of months. 

I wanted to officially celebrate the summer solstice this year, and somehow I managed to be done with all musical work obligations by 6:30 pm.  It was almost like vacation!  I was up (unintentionally) for dawn around 4:00 am (a not uncommon event when it is light so early), and of course, I was still up at dusk around 10:00 pm.  There have been VERY few occasions when I had any desire to go to bed before the sun set, and all of them have involved illness or having just given birth or jet lag.

Evening sun in our front window...

...leaves its mark on the living room wall.

Anne and I poked around on the internet for a few minutes when I got home from my rehearsal, and we decided to make a special cake.

As Jared is out of town this week, we had more options for ingredients.  

The cake itself was this one: https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-vanilla-cake/ , although I can't possibly not alter a recipe...  😜  We used whole wheat flour, since that's what we had in the house, and I generally prefer it over all-purpose whenever possible.  We used only half the sugar it called for.  And brown instead of white (had to go with what's in the pantry!).  Then we used applesauce instead of oil.  But I have to say, it turned out sufficiently fluffy and moist, and I was quite pleased with how much it rose.  I would make it again the same way.

For the icing, I went with this avocado buttercream frosting: https://www.giverecipe.com/avocado-buttercream-frosting/  I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of the lurid green, but it actually turned out quite tasty.  And I used brown sugar instead of powdered, because... I wasn't going to the store for anything last night.

Anyway, after dinner we had the chance to go out for a lovely 9:00 pm neighborhood stroll.

Anne was our guide, and we wound up at the neighborhood playground for a while.

We made it home around 10:00 pm, and assembled our cake, which we ate on the back patio to the accompaniment of two electric candles.

I have to say that despite the cake decorating class I took at a homeschool co-op once (Did I mention I love making and decorating cakes???) this one leaves something to be desired.  Ok, it would have been better if I had two round spring-form cake pans, frosting in a less lurid color, a proper cake platter, and some flowers, but we sufficed with what we had lying around.  I do aspire to make pinterest-worthy cakes.  That Jared will eat.  Which is basically an almost impossible order.  hehe.  

At least it was QUITE yummy:

Goodnight!

Heart of Power

A centurion in Capurnaum had a slave who was highly regarded, but who was sick and at the point of death.  When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave.  When they came to Jesus, they urged him earnestly, "He is worthy to have you do this for him, because he loves our nation, and even built our synagogue."  So Jesus went with them.  When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.  That is why I did not presume to come to you.  Instead, say the word, and my servant must be healed.  For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me.  I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."  So when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave well.

Soon afterward Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.  As he approached the town gate, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother (who was a widow), and a large crowd from the town was with her.  When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep."  Then he came up and touched the bier, and those who carried it stood still.  He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!"  So the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

*******

One of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came up, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.  He asked him urgently, "My little daughter is near death.  Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be healed and live."  Jesus went with him, and a large crowd followed and pressed around him.

Now a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years.  She had endured a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had.  Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse.  When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she kept saying, "If only I touch his clothes, I will be healed."  At once the bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.  Jesus knew at once that power had gone out from him.  He turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"  His disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing against you and you say, 'Who touched me?'"  But he looked around to see who had done it.  Then the woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.  He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well.  Go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler's house saying, "Your daughter has died.  Why trouble the teacher any longer?"  But Jesus, paying no attention to what was said, told the synagogue ruler, "Do not be afraid; just believe."  He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.  They came to the house of the synagogue ruler where he saw noisy confusion and people weeping and wailing loudly.  When he entered he said to them, "Why are you distressed and weeping?  The child is not dead but asleep."  And they began making fun of him.  But he put them all outside and he took the child's father and mother and his own companions and went into the room where the child was.  Then, gently taking the child by the hand, he said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up."  The girl got up at once and began to walk around (she was twelve years old).  He told them to give her something to eat.

*******

Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick.  He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived.  So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, look, the one you love is sick."  So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days.  Then after this, he said to his disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."

After he said this, he added, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.  But I am going there to awaken him."  Then the disciples replied, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."  (Now Jesus had been talking about his death, but they thought he had been talking about the sleep of slumber.)

Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe.  But let us go to him." 

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already. 

Jesus said to Lazarus' sister Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live even if he died, and the one who lives and believes in me will never die."

Now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."  When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed.  He asked, "Where have you laid him?"  They replied, "Lord, come and see."  Jesus wept. 

Jesus, intensely moved again, came to the tomb.  (Now it was a cave, and a stone was placed across it.)  Jesus said, "Take away the stone."  Martha, the sister of the deceased, replied, "Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell, because he has been buried four days."  Jesus responded, "Didn't I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?"  So they took away the stone.  Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you that you have listened to me."

When he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"  The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and cloth wrapped around his face.  Jesus said to them, "Unwrap him and let him go."

*******

"...I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.  No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again...."

*******

Now on the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking the aromatic spices they had prepared.  They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood beside them in dazzling attire.  The women were terribly frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has been raised!"

Now that very day two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.  They were talking to each other about all the things that had happened.  While they were talking and debating these things, Jesus himself approached and began to accompanying them (but their eyes were kept from recognizing him).  Then he said to them, "What are these matters you are discussing to intently as you walk along?"  And they stood still, looking sad.  Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have happened there in these days?"  He said to them, "What things?"  "The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene," they replied, "a man who, with his powerful deeds and words, proved to be a prophet before God and all the people; and how our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be condemned to death, and crucified him.  But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.  Not only this, but it is not the third day since these things happened...."

So he said to them, "You foolish people - how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Wasn't it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?"  Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures.

So they approached the village where they were going.  He acted as though he wanted to go farther, but they urged him, "Stay with us, because it is getting toward evening and the day is almost done."  So he went in to stay with them.

When he had taken his place at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  At this point their eyes were opened and they recognized him.  Then he vanished out of their sight.

********

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.  The Word was with God in the beginning.  All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.  In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.  And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.

He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him.  He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him.  But to all who have received him - those who trust in his name - he has give the power to become God's children - children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband's decision, but by God.



[Luke 7:1-8, 10-15; Mark 5:22-42, 43; John 11:1, 3, 7,  11-15, 17, 25-26, 32-35, 38-41, 43-44; 10:17-18; Luke 24:1-6, 13-21, 25-31;  John 1:1-6, 10-13]

Heart at Rest

Now there was a man named Joseph who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man.  (He had not consented to their plan and action.)  He was from the Judean town of Arimathea, and was looking forward to the kingdom of God.  He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut out of the rock, where no one had yet been buried.  It was the day of preparation and the Sabbath was beginning.  The women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.  Then they returned and prepared aromatic spices and perfumes.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. . . .

*******

The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them.  By the seventh day God finished doing the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work he had been doing.  God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.

*******

A prayer of David.

Protect me , O God, for I have taken shelter in you.
I say to the LORD, "You are the Lord, my only source of well-being."
As for God's chosen people who are in the land,
and the leading officials I admired so much -
their troubles multiply,
they desire other gods.
I will not pour out drink offerings to blood to their gods,
nor will I make vows in the name of their gods.
LORD, you give me stability and prosperity;
you make my future secure.
It is as if I have been given fertile fields
or received a beautiful tract of land.
I will praise the LORD who guides me;
yes, during the night I reflect and learn.
I constantly trust in the LORD;
because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended.
So my heart rejoices
and I am happy;
My life is safe.
You will not abandon me to Sheol;
you will not allow your faithful follower to see the Pit.
You lead me in the path of life;
I experience absolute joy in your presence;
you always give me sheer delight.

*******

God said to them:

"This is where security can be found. 
Provide security for the one who is exhausted!
This is where rest can be found."

*******

Jesus said:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry."

*******

God's works were accomplished from the foundation of the world.  For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."  So God again ordains a certain day, "Today," speaking through David after so long a time, as in the words quoted before, "O, that today you would listen as he speaks!  Do not harden your hearts."  For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken afterward about another day.  Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.  For the one who enters God's rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works.  Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest.

*******

Joseph went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut out of the rock, where no one had yet been buried.  It was the day of preparation and the Sabbath was beginning.  The women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.  Then they returned and prepared aromatic spices and perfumes.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. . . .

*******

It was such a painful day.  A day filled with grief, and asking God, what had happened to all their hopes for the Messiah?  A day waiting to see what was next with God.  Were their futures ended?  Had they put their hope in the wrong Man?  Was God even there?  Could they ever go back to their old lives?  How could something like this happen to Jesus, the Perfect Miracle Worker?  Yet it was exactly the right place to be in their day of unbelievable trial - resting with God.  That's where we are to be - resting in God, waiting and watching to see what He will do.  He completed the Work he came to do on that cross, and there is nothing we can ever hope to add.



[Luke 23:50-24:1; Genesis 2:1-3; Psalm 16; Isaiah 28:12; Matthew 11:28-30; Hebrews 4:3-4, 7-11]

Broken Heart

...the Lamb slain since the foundation of the world...

*******

When a leader died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one.  They would follow after other gods, worshipping them and bowing down to them.  They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways.


"I will not overlook, O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away,
or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much.
I do not condone the use of rigged scales,
or a bag of deceptive weights.
The city's rich men think nothing of resorting to violence;
her inhabitants lie,
their tongues speak deceptive words."


Your nature belongs to the earth:
sexual immorality
impurity
shameful passion
evil desire
and greed, which is idolatry
every kind of bitterness
anger
wrath
quarreling
slanderous talk


They are darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.


There is no one righteous, not even one,
there is no one who understands,
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness,
not even one.
Their throats are open graves,
they deceive with their tongues,
the poison of asps is under their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood,
ruin and misery are in their paths,
and the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.


The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.
It is incurably bad.  Who can understand it?


*******

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you!  How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings!"


"I am the good shepherd - and I lay down my life for the sheep.  This is why the Father loves me - because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.  No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again."

*******

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men who had been crucified with Jesus, first the one and then the other.  But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.  But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately.


*******

Christ suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps.  He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly.  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness.  By his wounds you were healed.


The attitude Christ Jesus had:
who though he was in reality God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,
but emptied himself
by taking on the form of a slave,
by looking like other men,
and by sharing in human nature.
He humbled himself,
by becoming obedient to the point of death
-even death on a cross!


God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross - through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
You were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh; nevertheless he made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions.  He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us.  He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 



[Revelation 13:8; Judges 2:19; Micah 6:10-12; Colossians 3:5-6; Ephesians 4:31, 18; Romans 3:10-18; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 23:1, 37; John 10:14, 15, 17-18; 19:32-34; 1 Peter 2:21-24; Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 1:20; 2:13-14]

The One, The Two, The Ten, The Many

God is love.

*******

An expert in religious law asked Jesus a question, testing him: "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

Jesus said to him, "You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the law and prophets depend on these two commandments."

*******

Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.  When the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking and God was answering him with a voice.

God spoke all these words:

"I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery."

"You shall have no other gods before me."

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below.  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the LORD, your God, am a zealous God, responding to the transgressions of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."

"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God for unreality, for the LORD will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain."

"Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy.  For six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates.  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy."

"Give your father and your mother the weight of authority that they deserve, that your days may be long in the land the LORD your God is giving to you."

"You shall not murder."

"You shall not commit adultery."

"You shall not steal."

"You shall not give false answer against your neighbor in a court of law."

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house.  You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor."

*******

Then the LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Meeting Tent:

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them....

"If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd he must present it as a flawless male; he must present it at the entrance of the Meeting Tent for its acceptance before the LORD....

"When a person presents a grain offering to the LORD, his offering must consist of choice wheat flour, and he must pour olive oil on it and put frankincense on it....

"When a person sins in that he hears a public curse against one who fails to testify and he is a witness (he either saw or knew what had happened) and he does not make it known, then he will bear his punishment for iniquity....

"When a person sins and commits a trespass against the LORD by deceiving his fellow citizen in regard to something held in trust, or a pledge, or something stolen, or by extorting something from his fellow citizen, or has found something lost and denies it and swears falsely concerning any one of the things that someone might do to sin - when it happens that he sins and he is found guilty, then he must return whatever he had stolen, or whatever he had extorted, or the thing that he had held in trust, or the lost thing he had found, or anything about which he swears falsely.  He must restore it in full and add one fifth to it; he must give it to its owner when he is found guilty....

*******

The title of this piece is from a wonderful book by Alden Thompson, entitled Inspiration.  He shows how God given reveal law in greater detail when we fail to grasp its greatest underpinning - God is love.  God's law is all meant to reveal the great truths of God's character to us.  We have tarnished his image over and over and imagined he is less.  So God has given us the one, the two, the ten, and the many.

*******

A psalm:

Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he had done marvelous things;

his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.

The LORD has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;

all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.

*******

God spoke through Isaiah's pen:

"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found by those who did not seek me.

To a nation that did not call on my name,
I said, "Here am I!  Here am I!"

*******

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.  The Word was with God in the beginning.  All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.  In him was life, and the life was the light of humankind.  And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.

Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us.  We saw his glory - the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the the Father.  We have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another.  No one has ever seen God.  The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.

*******

Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end.  The evening meal was in progress...

"I give you a new commandment - to love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  Everyone will know by this that you are my true disciples - if you have love for one another."

*******

Dear friends,
Let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God.  The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him.  In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends,
If God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time.  If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us.  By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God.  And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us.  God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.

By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world.  There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love.  We love because he loved us first.

We love because he loved us first.





[1 John 4:8; Exodus 19:18-19; 20:1-17; Matthew 22:35-40; Leviticus 1:1-2, 3; 2:1; 5:1; 6:2-5;  Psalm 98:1-3, Isaiah 65:1; John 1:1-5, 14, 16, 18; 13:1-2, 34-35; 1 John 4:7-19]

Love

Love is patient.

Love is kind.

It is not envious.

Love does not brag.

It is not puffed up.

It is not rude.

It is not self-serving.

It is not easily angered for resentful.

It is not glad about injustice...
but rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.

Love never ends.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead.

Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side.

So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan [a "half-breed" hated by Jews] who as traveling came to where the injured man was and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him.  He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them.  Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.'

Jesus said to the expert in religious law, "Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" 

The expert in religious law said, "The one who showed mercy to him."

So Jesus said to him,

"Go and do the same!"

Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father.  Having loved his own who where in the world, he now loved them to the very end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, that he should betray Jesus.

Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, he did the work of a slave: he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself.  He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples' filthy feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself.

So when Jesus had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table again and said to them, "Do you understand what I have done for you?"

"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Master,' and do so correctly, and I am these things."

"If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another's feet.  For I have given you an example - you should do just as I have done for you."

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (that is us!) 

For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?

For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who trusts in him will not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 

Love is patient.

Love is kind.

It is not envious.

Love does not brag.

It is not puffed up.

It is not rude.

It is not self-serving.

It is not easily angered for resentful.

It is not glad about injustice...
but rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.

Love never ends.

[1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Luke 10:30-37; John 13:1-5, 12-15; Romans 5:6-8, 10; John 3:16-17]

Beautiful Handiwork

When we were at my parents' home over New Years, I went through a large old family chest of drawers from the 1800s, filled with handmade sewn items from the 1800s and 1900s.  I brought just a few of the beautiful pieces home with me.  I have no idea what I might do with them, other than wash, dry, and iron them.  The handiwork is incredible, and if you've ever bought cheap craft store lace, you cannot image what old handmade lace might be like.  If you're ever at my house, I can show you these things in person.  Beauty abounds, although not necessarily in my photographs...

Detail of a handkerchief edge

Odds and ends of lace

The red is still brilliant.

A lace cuff

Dainty gloves

Lace handkerchief

The first of many detailed, folded handkerchiefs

A beautiful undergarment

Hem detail

Lace and ribbon detail

Bodice detail - front

Bodie detail - back

WWI Red Cross nurse's bag.  Such beautiful floral fabric, and still in bright colors!

Bopping About Town

It's pictures of the kids.  Mostly Anne is bopping around town.  Lazarus is mostly hanging in the living room.

Recreation at 7 months of a photo of Anne at 7 months

This one was Anne.

A week ago Friday it was a long, sunny evening.  Anne and I went out for a walk/ride around the neighborhood.

Heading out

Walking the walls.  (She loves trotting along the tops of the retaining walls.)

Retrieving some dandilions from a side yard.

Cat toys, baby toys - they're all the same...

For some reason, his face reminds me a lot of my brother when he was little, in this photo.

Another trip to the rhododendron garden...

Giant Solomon's Seal

Last weekend we set up the fairy princess tent in the living room.  The sillies had fun in there!

And... I finally finished my knitting project for Lazarus.  The 9-months size sweater fits him now, and will for a while.  But the baby bonnet is for a baby with a big head and a 'fro, I think.  Anne can wear it, but Lazarus disappeared  beneath it.

New swim suit was worn for three days running even though the weather wasn't amenable.

Checking out the time on her new Hello Kitty timepiece from Jeffrey and Linda

The enormous outdoor checkers/chess set is also useful for teething and for house construction.

Thursday was seriously foggy in the morning.  Then it cleared off and got hot.  It was already 70 at noon when Anne and I went down to the fountain in downtown Kent, donated by the Rotary club.  Later in the day we had a thunderstorm with hail and TORRENTIAL downpours worthy of Texas, the Midwest, or ALABAMA.

And I'll leave you with an extra-blurry selfie of Lazarus and me in the living room mirror in our matching colors....