1000 Gifts, Vol. 3, #73 ~ Blizzard of 2011

These gifts are just that ... gifts!  And not just gifts, but the icing-on-the-cake gifts.  "All I need is Jesus," is not a trite statement.  He truly is the best gift.  He is enough, and I do not need these other gifts.  But the discipline of noticing them points me back to the Giver of all good gifts and helps me give Him my gift of thanksgiving.

To join in on reading others' lists or recording your own, visit the gratitude community at “One Thousand Gifts".

The blizzard of 2011...

Thankful for heat, for power, for four walls and a roof that stayed intact, for freedom to stay home and not be out in the deadly winds, for food, for projects, and for:

(#721 - #730)

... 4 overflowing bags for Goodwill
... one organized closet
... piles and piles in two rooms sorted, tossed, and filed or otherwise organized
... bags and bags of trash
... carpet that is now visible! in those two rooms
... organized and pretty-to-look-at insides of nightstands, closet, armoire, etc.
... feeling more and more a part of the neighborhood
... the neighbor who brought his snow blower over to loan us Jim
... the neighbor who said, "Awesome!" when hearing of our plans for a mens' neighborhood Bible study
... and who said his wife would love to come to the women's one.

More on food

Since moving here, I find myself with regular opportunities to take a snack to small group or take a dessert for a dessert fellowship or other such "bring a dish" events.

And it has been hard for this people-pleaser who is also going through reverse culture shock.  As I pondered the next dessert fellowship, I searched through Taste of Home's America's Best Church Supper Recipes, trying desperately to fit in.

I found the perfect chocolate peanut butter marbled brownie recipe and could just taste it!  And then I thought ahead to Sunday night, when I would hold a plate in my hand and walk the length of the dessert-laden table.

What would I put on my plate?  Would I be hungry when I did so?  I would be putting something on my plate just to fit in with the crowd, to have something to do while I sat at a table, talking.  And wouldn't I rather fill my body with fresh fruit or some cheese and crackers?

So I was delighted to discover a list of healthy snack options on this page of freebies and to see a woman who has the ear of lots of Christian women (in America, at least) speak to the topic of eating when we're not hungry (at least I assume from the title that that is one of her points) and to address this taboo subject (in the West) of the sin of gluttony (my words, not hers; I haven't read the book).

You can be sure this book is in my cart at Amazon, waiting until the value of my cart reaches the free shipping level.

Has anyone read it?  And what is your favorite healthy option to take to a dessert fellowship?

(Just found this review:  Owlhaven.)

1000 Gifts, Vol. 3, #72 ~ Isaac Watts

711. the mighty power of God
712. safety in the blizzard
713. the beautiful, bright, sunny, calm day after the storm
714. the goodness of the Lord
715.  a neighbor who loaned his snow blower
716. food, heat, electricity
717. friends coming to dinner tonight
718. an encouraging, almost mentoring moment (45 moments) at the John Deere dinner (stay tuned for a future post)
719. how His wonders are displayed in the snow drifts that look like sand dunes
720. all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care;

Culture Shock on the Cookbook Shelf

As I sat in the living room, perusing Taste of Home's The Ultimate Ground Beef Cookbook, Jim innocently asked, "What are you doing?"

"Looking for recipes you would like," I happily replied.

"Why don't you look for recipes you would like?" he gently suggested.

In response, I held up the front cover and asked, rather incredulously, "In here?" and added, "I could probably count on one hand the number of times I purchased ground beef in Japan."

As a farm girl, one would think I grew up eating meat and potatoes (and I did!), but most of my adult life has been spent in a different place with different foods.  And I am still adjusting to the foods I eat now (even the ones I prepare).

February Projects

February projects:

:: continue purging -- from the small (why do we have 3 scales?!?) to the large -- and bless others while at the same time simplifying our lives

:: create a bulletin board with Christmas card photos

:: walls, windows, and floors (dream about window dressings ... and start hanging some; find some throw rugs;  get the wall hangings out of the box in the closet and hang them - in groupings)

:: plan our trip to Japan

The last verse

Years ago while searching the hymnal for hymns about heaven, I was not happy with the selection.  And so I kept searching through the hymns that were not in the section specifically about heaven. 

My hymnal started filling up with pink highlighted phrases about heaven, scattered through all the sections of the book.

Recently our pastor has remarked on the fact that so many of the old hymns mention heaven in the last verse.  And, I would add, not just the old ones.

from God of Gods, We Sound His Praises:
     "Lord, we look for your returning..."

from Our God, Our Help in Ages Past:
     "...and our eternal home."

from Great Is Thy Faithfulness:
     "...and bright hope for tomorrow..."

from Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken:
     "hope shall change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise."

from O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go:
     "that morn shall tearless be."

from I Know Whom I Have Believed:
     "his face I see," and "when my Lord may come..."

from Loved with Everlasting Love:
     "welcomed home to his embrace..."

from Blessed Assurance:
     "watching and waiting, looking above..."

from It Is Well with My Soul:
     "haste the day when the faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back... the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend..."

from I Know That My Redeemer Lives:
     "return and claim me, Lord"

from Day by Day:
     "till I reach the promised land."

from Praise the Savior, Ye Who Know Him:
     "the hour of our receiving promised joys with thee."

And those are from just a small section of my hymnal.  What about you? What hymns of heaven do you turn to, again and again?

Living (and dying) in a village

"It's tragic, really," the neighbor said.  She sat in my living room, drinking tea, while we got to know each other and she told me about the neighborhood.

A few days later, I walked into the library and a teenager who seems to hang out there, turned from the computer and loudly (and proudly) declared to me, "I'm dressed up, because we're going to a visitation.  It's for {Bob Smith}.  He's not our relative.  This is how he died."  And she proceeded to discuss matter-of-factly the tragic accident that led to {Bob Smith's} meeting his Maker.

I drove home from the libary, and saw the hearse slowly pulling away from the church where the visitation was to be.

The next evening I answered the doorbell to let in our dinner guests, and counted 12 cars parked further down on our little street.

{Bob Smith} had formerly been married to a lady on our street.  A tragic accident took his life immediately upon impact.  Only four years older than Jim, he was a long-time employee at one of the agricultural businesses in town.

In a village of 1300, who did not know him, live next to him, work with him, purchase from him, go to school with him, have some other connection with him, or know someone who did?  

Just eight days before the end of his life, not knowing who lived there, we had knocked on his ex-wife's door to invite her to a neighborhood Bible study for seekers.  She was not home, but an adult son politely took the invitation and said he was visiting, but would leave it for his mom.

And now we pray for the Seeker of souls to send others to our study (or others like it) before it is too late, even as we pray for comfort for {Bob Smith's} family.

{Name has been changed.}