TulipGirl

The purple candle for the first week of Advent represents prophecy. These are the Bible passages we’ll be reading this week.

Sun. Is. 40:1-5
Mon. Is. 52:7-10
Tue. Is. 40:9-11
Wed. Gen. 3:8-15
Thu. Gen. 15:1-6
Fri. Deut. 18:15-19
Sat. Ps. 89:1-4

And we will be singing:

Joy to the World!

Joy to the world! the Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns:
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love.

Trinity Hymnal #149

Advent, the First Sunday, 2009

Love pottery? Live in the Sarasota / Bradenton area? Check out the holiday open house hosted by Nigel and Cheyenne Rudolph.
Friday, 12/4, 5 – 9 pm
Saturday, 12/5, 10 – 8 pm
2321 14th Ave W, Bradenton 34205

Still not sure you’ll be joining us on Sunday, November 22nd?

Read this, the book review I wish I had written. (Thanks, Staci!)
Scandalous Freedom, by Steve Brown

On November 1st I started my annual thankful posts, a daily record of gratitude. And if anyone still reads my rarely updated blog, maybe they wondered if I didn’t really have a grateful heart or I dropped off the face of the earth. I toyed with the idea of continuing my list and back-dating it so that I had continuity (I like continuity, ritual, patterns.) But that felt too poseurish, too much like I’m faking it. So, I’m not. Just going to blush a bit and admit that this tradition has gone by the wayside this year.

In spite of that, we’ve had some HUGE things that God has done recently that just have me overjoyed and thankful and just oh-so-glad. Hubby has an “official” diagnosis after two years of weird symptoms, stress, and medical tests. It’s something chronic, not something terminal (which was the doc’s first suspicion two years ago.) And as he’s already been living with and dealing with the symptoms for awhile, it seems very manageable.

Also, the house we’ve been renting in Florida went on the market and sold in less than a week! This is wonderful (and the quickness — thank God! — showing a house while living in it with four boys? Stressful.) At this point we aren’t looking for a new place, we’ll find out soon whether we have another 2-3 months here and then we’ll find a place to rent closer to the college and high school where Hubby is teaching.

We’re in the process, though, of pursuing some options that would have us return overseas. We’re nearing the point with one of the options where we’ll know whether that door is open or closed. My daydream is that not only would that door be open, but that the wheels would move quickly and instead of renting again here, we can move from our current house to temporary quarters for training. But, considering the usual timeline of this sort of thing, that’s highly unlikely. (Still, I can always hope and pray. . .)

Another thing I’m really thankful for is our church has had the opportunity to host Steve Brown for a community-wide service this Sunday night — and he’ll be preaching at our church in the morning.

Some of my girlfriends and I trade MP3 links to various encouraging podcasts and a few months ago, my friend Camille insisted I listen to Steve Brown’s RTS seminary course on Grace in the Church. Wow. . . It was just what I needed. Not that he said anything “new” — it’s all the Gospel — but I just need to keep hearing it again and again. And what the Lord is doing in my heart? Well, I needed to hear it. . .

The theme for this Sunday will be Scandalous Freedom. If you aren’t local and can’t come, please take time to listen to these MP3s or read this book.

If you are in the Sarasota / Bradenton area, here are the details for Sunday, November 22, Scandalous Freedom with Steve Brown.
On Facebook
On Gohope.Net
On TulipGirl

Listen here. . . to Steve Brown talking about Nov 22

(Btw, this is the first time I’ve tried to upload an audio clip. . . so, let me know how it works for you!)

.

And more. . . scroll down this Prime Time Florida page to listen to an interview with Steve Brown, discussing this weekend in Bradenton!

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

–Moina Michael

Cultivating a thankful heart, looking to God as provider and sustainer, each day this month I’m posting that for which I’m thankful. . .

* super-organized homeschool parents (of which I’m not)
* debate club for the boys to learn skillz
* road trips across the state

…for His steadfast love endures forever.

Cultivating a thankful heart, looking to God as provider and sustainer, each day this month I’m posting that for which I’m thankful. . .

* perseverance when feeling pukey
* too much grace
* payday

…for His steadfast love endures forever.

Cultivating a thankful heart, looking to God as provider and sustainer, each day this month I’m posting that for which I’m thankful. . .

* peaceful life circumstances
* kids with a sense of humor
* a kind Hubby

…for His steadfast love endures forever.

Invite your friends! More info? Visit GoHope.net

Cultivating a thankful heart, looking to God as provider and sustainer, each day this month I’m posting that for which I’m thankful. . .

* freedom in Christ
* our amazing senses
* medical technology

…for His steadfast love endures forever.

Cultivating a thankful heart, looking to God as provider and sustainer, each day this month I’m posting that for which I’m thankful. . .

* God, the Creator
* the Word made flesh
* the full, low, orange moon

…for His steadfast love endures forever.

Cultivating a thankful heart, looking to God as provider and sustainer, each day this month I’m posting that for which I’m thankful. . .

* the women God has called to be midwives
* the gift to be a woman and bring forth life
* my four wonderful, crazy boys

…for His steadfast love endures forever.

Cultivating a thankful heart, looking to God as provider and sustainer, each day this month I’m posting that for which I’m thankful. . .

* my supportive, willing to take risks Hubby
* my amazing, understanding mother
* glimpses of God’s covenantal faithfulness

…for His steadfast love endures forever.