The Longest Winter Ever

OK. So maybe I'm overreacting - Laura Ingalls has us beat for the longest winter ever according to her book "The Long Winter". Which is technically fiction. My winter was not fiction. Just saying.

And so when we woke up to this one morning in MARCH, I was not amused. I cried.

Overnight our SUV had turned into a double decker bus. April Fools had come early! Who was laughing exactly?

My favourite part of March though was having Will home for Spring Break. He and Wayne had a chance to go skiing which was great since it had been more than a few years that Will had had an opportunity.

We had a Games Night at church so he could get together with some friends. We also got together with another family with boys his age from our homeschooling days. Will tagged along to our Lutheran Pioneer meeting in March where the kids learned how to make soap carvings.

Here's Will and Nick from church - at March break and this past Christmas. Two peas in a pod!

Friends since they were 2. Can you tell?

Will officially hit 6ft. I think he's finally caught up to his feet. I hope!

He also got his driver's license which was very exciting! And weird.

Also in March we took a day trip to Montreal to visit with Brent, Chantal and kids. They were up from Texas visiting Chantal's mother and family. We toured some pretty impressive churches and ended up at the mall where it was warm! The cousins had a great time catching up.

It had been years since we'd been to Montreal which is ridiculous since it's only 2 hours away. But I was pretty scarred for life the last time we were there. Something about a couple's dispute, faking muteness in favour of admitting I don't know French, and open urination. But whatever. This trip was much better!

We enjoyed an evening with some of our China group. We try to get together with them at least once a year. These are the people we took parenting classes, traveled across the world, and shared one of the biggest moments in life with! So it's always fun to catch up and see how big the girls are getting.

And we survived Lent/Holy Week/Easter.

Will couldn't come home but he was able to go to my parent's house. He had a great time bowling, eating, more bowling, more eating and driving. Did I get everything?

And because it's not uncommon for some tragedy to strike a pastor's family during this time of year, ours was pretty much water and plumbing related. Remember that toilet back in Christmas? I don't want to rehash it all, but the NEW toilet backed up. It would not go down for days. First world problems, I know - we have 3 other toilets in the house. But this had Zanna wandering around in the middle of the night trying to find a commode that works. At the same time our sink in the master bath backed up. I have only my own hair to blame because when Wayne goes to unblock it on a regular basis, it's always blonde and about my length. So as Zanna was wandering around looking for a flushable toilet, I was looking for a draining sink to brush my teeth and wash my hands and face in. But this is a very busy time of year and I silently endured this inconvenience in order to protect my husband from any extra work.

But it all went to pot on the Saturday night before Palm Sunday. After a day of laundry, running the dishwasher and our daily showers, the hot water ran out at dinner. As in the hot water heater quick working. Of course it's the weekend too! So it was not by choice that we gave up personal hygiene for Lent until we could get a new hot water heater installed. And it was not by choice that the Home Depot contractors drilled a hole in my house to bring it up to code. And it was not by choice that I almost gave up my sanity and walked around smelling my "happy oils" (Orange and Joy) to get me through the day.

By the end of Monday, we had a brand new spanking hot water heater after giving up $2,000 (would this Lent ever end?). Wayne had fixed the toilet by pouring laundry detergent into the toilet and letting it sit overnight to loosen up. WHO KNEW?! And he unclogged our sink because he's a great guy.

In all seriousness, this time of year  can be very stressful in a pastor's family. Ours was comparatively mild in relation to some/others. I'm part of a Facebook group of fellow WELS pastor's wives and our problems were mild compared to others. One pastor had to have surgery on his appendix Holy Saturday. As in, he couldn't preach on Easter because he was in the hospital. Others had sick kids and missed services or because they lived in the parsonage next door, they brought along their baby monitor just to be there. One family had lice. No joke! Another family's wife has cancer and a daughter with epilepsy. My encouragement is ... be extra nice to your pastor and family this time of year. Maybe ask if there's a way you can help. Bring them a meal if they seem overwhelmed. If they seem fine, do it anyway since they could be faking and the perma-grim is stapled on. Most of all, keep them in prayer!

Alleluia, my friends! He has risen! He has risen indeed!!!

Every Knee Should Bow: Author and Perfecter of our Faith

We've come to the last name of our study during this Lenten season. I think that it's a fitting end because it not only keeps our focus on Jesus but encourages us to run our race in confidence knowing that He will bring us to our ultimate goal of salvation! 

It should be noted: I'm an NIV gal. So the NIV has translated the reference to this name as "Author and Perfecter of our Faith".  That's a good translation. But some other translations have used "Source" or "Founder" instead of Author and the point is still the same. It all comes from Jesus!

As we enter into Holy Week, may this be your focus. All that Jesus went through and accomplished was for you and me!  It strikes me in Hebrews 12 when it reads, "For the joy set before him he endured the cross,scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." 

For the joy?! Surely there was nothing joyful for Him in the flogging, ridicule and painful crucifixion? 

I recently finished a study of the fruits of the Spirit, joy being one of them. We tend to think of joy as a feeling. We are joyful in reaction to something that we would perceive as good and positive. But joy is actually an attitude that God has a good plan for me. That means that instead of defining joy by how I feel, I can recognize God's good plan for me even in the midst of trouble and hardship and choose joy. 

Jesus is our perfect example of this. Jesus could see the plan even while enduring the cross. He was joyful knowing that His act of love through horrendous suffering would be our salvation. What wondrous love is this!


Your assignment for this week is to SAVOUR HOLY WEEK.
Walk with Jesus as He rides into Jerusalem this morning on Palm Sunday and shout Hosanna as loud as you can! Attend Maundy Thursday service if you are able. Sit at the table as Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper, forever connecting us to Him, preserving and growing our faith through bread and wine in, with and under His body and blood. Mourn the suffering on Good Friday that He endured out of love for mankind, taking that sorrow and putting all your sins at the foot of the cross. And come back on Easter Sunday ready to shout your Alleluias in praise to our Saviour for the salvation He has accomplished on our behalf! 

May you have a blessed Easter knowing that the Author and Perfecter of our Faith has triumphed over the grave!

I pray this study was helpful in drawing you closer to Jesus as we studied the aspects of His different names - each of which lets us see Him in a slightly different light. All of which show Him to be exactly what we need! Thank you for taking this journey with me:)

Every Knee Should Bow: Angel of the Lord

This was the one.

This was a name of Jesus that blew my mind ... and also made me want to bang my head against the wall. 

So forgive me if I don't have too much more to add because I pretty much put all I had into the text.

It blows my mind because I think of Jesus coming in the flesh beginning with the Incarnation of Him in Mary's womb. Yet I know He was present at creation and always has been "present" as we studied Him as "Alpha and Omega". 

So when I actually put it together in my mind that there are instances recorded in Scripture as early as the Old Testament where Jesus showed up ... before He showed up in Mary's womb ... I was blown away!

The part where I wanted to bang my head against the wall came into play when I realized that not every single time that angel of the Lord is mentioned does it mean that Jesus is being referred to. Context, context, context. And even then, it's not always clear. 

What I love about what this name shows about our Saviour is His commitment in clearly sharing His message with His creation and the lengths He was willing to go to do just that. 

I pray that as you contemplate this name of His this week, you would grow in your appreciation of that!

Lenten blessings!