Endurance

Blogging.

I am slower and slower.

Slow to post.

Slow to comment. 

I sometimes look at my sidebar and wonder how I was able to post over 200 posts some years. And those were the years when I was busy with homeschooling. (What?!)

I am slow in other areas of my life too, not just blogging. 

Demands are many. There are new things to learn and more mountains to climb, all while concentration, speed, and energy lag. 

But on I go. 

Just like this girl who graduated from high school seven years ago . . . took some time to think . . . found herself in the middle of a pandemic . . . started an office job . . . decided to go to college . . . and is now about to graduate summa cum laude! 

She just kept on going. 

So I will follow suit and keep on going. 

Because moving forward, however slowly, is progress. 

There is a spiritual lesson to be learned here too, I think. 

The Christian life is not always one full of leaps and bounds. It is often simply quiet, persistent walking. It is endurance. It is keeping your hand in His and taking the next step.

Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 

I Corinthians 15:58

 

Gathering the Moments | February 2025

🎔 In February, we gave our bedroom a little love.

First, we hung a clock that Kati had found when she went antiquing on her birthday in November. She had texted me a photo, saying that she thought of me when she saw it. She did the same with a sweet pumpkin pillow. I asked her to buy both items for me and I dubbed her my personal shopper! She mailed the pillow so I'd have it in autumn, but the clock she brought at Christmas. I hemmed and hawed about where to hang it and finally settled on this spot in our bedroom. 

Then we (re)hung this picture in our bedroom with its new grain painted frame. (You can read more ~ here ~.)

🎔 Ron continued working on our first big house project of the year: the conversion of our pink half bathroom into a main floor laundry closet. 

🎔 Are you surprised that my friend Barbara and I went to a coffee shop and then antiquing?  (You're probably not.) 

🎔 February brought more snow . . . and more. 

🎔 This seems like a very "February" thing to do! 

🎔 Soup was on the menu in February. 

🎔 I don't think I told you that I did a little chair switch-a-roo.

I put the recently upholstered mustard-colored chair in the living room (yes, even though I chose that fabric specifically to coordinate with the love seat fabric!), and I brought the red-checked chair back to its former place in the library. I love the red checks against the green trim, and now I love the rug too (the rug that I had doubts about with the mustard chair). 

You can see the mustard chair in the library in ~ this post ~.  Don't you think the red-checked chair looks better against the green? 

By the way, I made the switch months ago, but it was February when I took this photo with winter morning light shining into the room. 

On the other side of the library is a real life look at Bekah's study corner. She is working hard this spring semester of her junior year. 

🎔 Also in February . . . 

At Mom's house, she and Linda and I are sorting through old (and a few new) family photos. This one captured my attention recently: Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Daddy's house, circa 1984. But there is a mystery that no one has been able to solve. Who took the photo?! We don't remember! 

🎔 There were a few Valentine splurges in February: 

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Crème Frappuccinos. Yum! 

I cobbled together a new recipe for a Valentine luncheon at church. 

A new heart was a small non-caloric splurge. 

🎔 Late afternoon light on a February day. 

Do you see misty light and shadows? 

I feel this as representative of life. Oh, there is light . . . the light that is from The LIGHT OF THE WORLD! I know that light! But sometimes - in the dark, in the shadows - that light appears misty. Yes, life is full of shadows and misty light. There is much that looks shadowy and misty and unclear and mysterious. And yet, the Light is always there! 

And so, when I am troubled, I need not try to understand the darkness. I need only look to The Light and understand Who He is. One day, all that is mysterious will be clear. All that is shadowy will be illuminated. All the darkness will disappear in His glorious light! 

Gathering the Moments | March 2024

 

As an attempt to do a little catching up and give some attention to my neglected blog, I'm going to gather the moments and reflect on the past couple of months. (I'll "gather" April soon.) 

March was many days of rain and only a few days of sun-filled rooms (but oh how I soaked those in!). It was a ladies' retreat. It was a 1000-piece Jane Austen-themed puzzle that took a long time to complete because spring break went too quickly. 

March was continuing a ladies' Bible study and reveling in the fellowship after a year with few connections. It was making scones or muffins on Thursday mornings and sipping coffee and delving into the Red Sea (not literally, of course). 

March was a 19th anniversary and a 3rd birthday. 

March was coffee-drives and chatting and loving green and buds and colorful blooms and families of goslings. 

March was remembering last year. 

March was sorting through photos and letters and memories. March was joy and tears. 

March was a song that is a Psalm that came and stayed in my mind and and in my heart and strengthened me. 

March was the celebration of the Resurrection, and the promise of eternal life!

  

O Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory? 

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  

I Corinthians 15: 55-57

Life Lately . . . and Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

Happy Spring, friends!

I hear someone saying, "Where is she? She promised to tell us about last year's completed home projects, but she seems to have disappeared!"

Well, friends, I am still here. Life is full! Somehow, I am busier now than when I was homeschooling my children. I never would have guessed! 

Since I last posted here on my blog . . . 

🍋 I have been busy with my mom.
Her life is quite different these days, and I am doing what I can to help. 

🍋 I have been hosting. 
I have hosted a weekly ladies' Bible study, a "Soup & Hymns" gathering with our church music team and their families, and a group of friends for lunch. Hosting is my happy place and I was not able to have people over for nearly a year. I guess I am making up for lost time. 

🍋 Bekah and I went on a weekend retreat with some ladies from our church.

🍋 We have been painting and painting and painting. 
This project is one of our house goals for 2024. I haven't told you about it yet because I'm still talking about last year's projects. Good grief. 

I do plan to finish up that last post about 2023's completed house projects . . . but that post is not yet ready. 

In the meantime, I'd like to share a recipe that I have served to two of the groups that we have hosted. This soup is light and fresh and tastes of spring to me. 

LEMON CHICKEN ORZO SOUP
original recipe 

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 small onion, diced
1 whole boneless chicken breast
1 cup roughly chopped spinach
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
3/4 cup orzo pasta
salt
pepper
8 cups chicken broth
2 lemons

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Rub chicken breasts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place on baking sheet and roast for 30-35 minutes.
Remove, loosely cover with foil and let rest.

Turn up heat to 400 degrees.
Slice a lemon and place on parchment lined baking sheet.
Roast lemon slices for 20 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat.
Add carrot, celery, and onion and sauté for 6-8 minutes.
Add broth, spinach, thyme, and orzo. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to boil, cover partially with lid, and reduce heat.
Simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Shred chicken and add to soup.
Add the zest and juice of one lemon.

Stir and serve. Top with roasted lemon slices. 

NOTES:

• The original recipe called for bone-in chicken breasts, but we had boneless so that's what we used and it was fine.
• When I made this soup, I doubled the recipe. (The first time, I had a large group. The second time, I wanted leftover soup for dinner.)  I doubled everything except the lemon zest and juice because I didn't want the lemon to be overpowering. It wasn't, but you could certainly increase it if you prefer a bolder lemon flavor. 
  
• One of my lunch guests cannot eat gluten, so I used gluten-free orzo that I purchased on Amazon. I couldn't tell the difference. 

Yum! This soup is so good on a cool, spring day. I think this will become a springtime classic around here! 

Do you have any springtime classics? I'd love to know!

"Hast Thou No Scar?"

I shared this poem in the first year of my blog (2009!), but it remains one of my favorites. On this day of remembering the unfathomable sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, it feels like a good time to be reminded that His followers also bear scars, like their Master. 

Hast Thou No Scar?
by Amy Carmichael

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,
I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star.
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers, spent,
Leaned me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned;
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yet, as the master shall the servant be
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole: can he have followed far
Who has nor wound nor scar?

Thanksgiving 2022 . . . and Beyond

Autumn was so beautiful this year, full of color and sunshine and pleasant temperatures. Oh, there were many challenges along the way, but also many blessings and we looked forward to gathering with our dear ones to celebrate those and to offer thanks to the Giver of all good things! 

We all chatted and made our lists of foods to prepare (although little varies from year to year). House projects were wrapped up. We cleaned and made beds and cooked and made pies. We selected dishes, planned our tables, made place cards, and ironed napkins. 

Ryan and family arrived a little before noon on Thanksgiving Day, with plans to stay until Tuesday! Hooray!

Kristin and her family arrived a little after that and the festivities began! 

Before the meal, as always, we sang a Thanksgiving hymn together. This year's was "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come." Then Ron prayed a prayer of thanksgiving and our feast began. 

Our "servants" this year were Kristin, Bekah, and Eve. (Maddie is usually a "servant" but she was on crutches due to an ankle injury.) Brian also jumped in to help when we needed to speed things up a bit. Our servants bring each dish in from the kitchen and pass it around the table, helping the youngers when needed. I love this tradition. It beats a long buffet line, and it is better than making space for all of those dishes on the table. God bless the servants!

Another tradition, this one begun just a few years ago: the Thanksgiving selfie! 

But it's hard to see everyone (twenty at our table this year) in one photo, so we took a couple of non-selfies from each end of the table. 

Coffee and dessert were served in the new sunroom this year!

Those little toes. 😊

Little girls eating dessert. 😊

Our grandson Paul was celebrating a Thanksgiving Day birthday this year! Longtime readers may remember that this was the baby who was due to be born as his family was moving from Maine to Maryland and we were all on pins and needles about the possibility that he could be born as they traveled! He was not born on the trip (whew!), but made his arrival just a few days later. And now he's eight! 

After Paul opened his birthday presents, we all settled in to watch an old home movie that Ron and his brothers and a sister created thirty-some years ago! Some of the cousins (now in their 40's and 50's) were in it too. It was a comedy, originally created as a gag gift for a Christmas party, but it had been added to several times. It was time for the younger generation to watch it! 

But then . . . 

one of the grands started feeling sick and part of our group left. 

Later in the evening, Mom called and she was sick and getting sicker. She declined my offer to take her to an urgent care facility or the ER on Thanksgiving night. 

On Friday, my sister and I convinced Mom to let me take her to a walk-in clinic. Can you guess what happened? We spent  h  o  u  r  s   there . . . along with a gazillion other people who were sick. (Don't get sick on a holiday weekend!) 

Mom was given medication and sent back home to recover. I arrived back at home in time to celebrate Peter's twelfth birthday with some gifts and cupcakes (and leftover pie because that's what happens when your birthday is near Thanksgiving). 

We sang to both birthday boys,
because we forgot to sing to Paul on his Thanksgiving Day birthday.

On Saturday, one of Ryan's children woke with a high fever . . . and then people started dropping like flies! Within twelve hours, seven people (out of eleven) in the house were sick. 😱 

And thus began day after day of 

• get up
• eat breakfast
• lie around
• eat lunch
• lie around
• eat dinner
• lie around and watch a Christmas movie
• go to bed

The only variations were taking temperatures and taking meds.

On Monday night, an eighth person joined the sickies. 

In the meantime, Kristin's family was having a similar round of illness at their place. 

Our visitors (at least the drivers) felt well enough to travel back home on Thursday, although the fevers returned and they crashed for a few more days after they got home. This virus was a doozy! 

I am thankful that I can rest in God's good plans for my life, yes, even when I don't understand the plan.

As we drove home from the walk-in clinic on the day after Thanksgiving, Mom was apologizing to me for taking up my time when I had family visiting and there were plans to celebrate a birthday boy. (That's a "mom" thing, isn't it?) But I assured her that, although it was certainly nothing that either of us would choose, it was apparently part of our assignment for the day.

We talked about how quickly life passes . . .

and how a single day is such a small fraction of a life . . .

and how our one very short life is such a small fraction of the thousands of years that people have lived on earth . . .

and how all of time is just a "blip" compared to eternity!

For our light affliction, WHICH IS BUT FOR A MOMENT,
is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

II Corinthians 4:17

 His plans are preparing us for eternity! 

Sooo . . .

HAPPY THANKSGIVING  in my typical "a day late and a dollar short" way!

And . . . 

MERRY CHRISTMAS as you celebrate this month. I hope to check in with you before it's all over, but no promises! 

Now I'm off to finish decking the halls!