Despite the fact that I have not yet begun to decorate for Christmas, I’m having a party at my *house*. You know a blog is like your home away from home. And I don’t have to clean for you to come here. So, join me this Friday for a Christmas cookie linky party. We’ll all link up here and make our favorite Christmas cookie recipe to share with others. If you don’t have a blog, you can leave your recipe in the comments section. Then, we’ll have the weekend to bake and freeze, so that Christmas week is a little less stressful. That’ll leave more time for stressing about crafting with your children and finding just right gift for Uncle Homer. If Thanksgiving food is about pies and cakes and then Christmas is about cookies and bars. Do you have a recipe to share? I hope you’ll join me in a virtual cookie exchange this Friday (and hopefully I can figure out how to use MckLinky, it’s been awhile). Tell me in the comments what you *think* you might make for our party. Pretty please. Maybe if I know you’re coming *over*, I’ll at least put out some festive trinkets. We’ll see.
xo,
edie
Archives for 2010
Martin Luther’s ‘First Sunday in Advent’ sermon
I have some strange hobbies. I like going to weddings and eating wedding cake. I love song lyrics and google them frequently. And I love listening to sermons. I frequent church websites to see if they post sermon audio and then listen while I do kitchen chores. I love listening to my pastor, to Pastor Bill Cwirla, and to the very intriguing sermon reviews on Issues Etc. Many modern day sermons have very little to do with Christ and His life-giving gospel. I just finished reading the book of Acts and every sermon preached in that book had one message: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.” The church as no other message to share. We proclaim Christ, crucified for sinners. Or do we?
We have a series of books called The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther. They are arranged in the order of the church calendar so that the gospel reading/sermon for this past Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, was the same for us as it was 500 years ago in Wittenberg. I had the bright idea a few years ago to read Luther’s sermons as we got to them in the church year. I think I read 3 or 4 before busy-ness reared its’ ugly head and I gave up. I walk in today and Stevie is giddy, having just read Luther’s sermon for the first Sunday of Advent. Giddy, I tell you. Like ‘the best sermon he’s ever heard’ giddy. And why, you ask? Because Martin Luther knew how to preach the gospel. The gospel reading for the first Sunday of Advent {in our lectionary} is Matt. 21-1-9 where Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. Our king coming to us in humble and lowly means. Here’s a little excerpt from Luther’s sermon:
This is what is meant by “The king cometh.” You do not seek him, but he seeks you. You do not find Him, he finds you. For the preachers come from him, not from you; their sermons come from him, not from you; your faith comes from him, not from you; everything that faith works in you comes from him, not from you; and where he does not come, you remain outside; and where there is no Gospel, there is no God, but only sin and damnation. Therefore you should not ask, where to begin to be godly; there is no beginning, except where the king enters and is proclaimed.”
Luther takes every single detail in that Bible reading and shows how it points to Christ. Jesus tells his disciples to go and ‘loose them [the colt and the ass] and bring them to me’. Luther says that this can be understood spiritually as Jesus telling preachers to preach the gospel, which loosens the hold of the sin and the law on the ‘old man’ and finally allows Christ to take His rightful place in our lives. He likens the colt and the ass to our respective inner and outer man and goes on to describe how our outer man must bridled and led by Christ and His gospel. He says,
These are the two asses: The old one is the exterior man; he is bound, with laws and fear of death, of hell, of shame, or with allurements of heaven, of life, of honor. He goes forward with the external appearance of good works and is a pious rogue, but he does it unwillingly and with a heavy heart and a heavy conscience…….. He is a yoked animal who works under a burden and labors hard. It is a miserable pitiable life that he lives under the compulsion of fear, death and shame. The colt, the young ass, is the inner man, the heart, the mind, the will, which can never be subject to the law. But he has no desire nor love for it until Christ comes and rides on him…….
The reason Christ rides upon the colt and not upon its mother, and yet uses both for his entrance into Jerusalem, is that both the body and the soul must be saved. If, here upon earth, the body is unwilling, not capable of grace and Christ’s leading, it must bear the Spirit, upon which Christ rides, who trains it and leads it along by the power of grace , received through Christ. The colt, ridden by Christ, upon which no one ever rode, is the willing spirit, whom no one before could make willing, tame, or ready, save Christ by His grace. However, the sack carrier, the burden bearer, the old Adam, is the flesh which goes riderless without Christ; it must for this reason bear the cross and remain the beast of burden…..
Christ tells the disciples to loose them, that is, he tells them to preach the gospel in his name, in which is proclaimed grace and the remission of sins…..The gospel alone teaches us to come to Christ and to know Christ rightly.”
May we all be blessed this Advent with the coming of our King, who will loose our chains of sin, law-living, and self-righteousness.
And may we be blessed with preachers who will, in the words of St. Paul, “determine to know nothing but Christ, and Him crucified.”
Post co-written with my husband, Steve.
How to Homeschool::Homeschool Schedule
It’s almost time to wake the little girls so we can head out on a field trip. We’re going to see the Kingsport Ballet Nutcracker! I’m traveling somewhere else today too.
Paige from the blog Simple Thoughts asked me to guest post on the details of ‘what i do in a day’. I sent the post to her and it’s filled with a host of (perhaps unimportant) details on the daily grind of a homeschooling mom. I can’t imagine that anyone would be interested to read it except that I read every ‘day in the life’ post I could read before I started homeschooling. I hope it helps someone, somewhere, somehow because for some reason, it took me for. ev. er. to write.
Paige is so kind. You’ll love her. She sent me an email this morning thanking me for the post and then she went on to be an encouragement me. To tell me that she saw ‘sacrifice’ in my day. I can’t explain to you why but I started sobbing. Big crocodile tears. Somehow, as God always does, he blesses the one who is suppose to be *blessing* others.
So when you go visit Paige today, know this. She reaches out with the love of Christ and uses her words to bless. To speak life. To bear burdens.
I want to be that kind of friend. And that kind of mom. Thank you Ms. Paige.
I’m posting this daily schedule of ‘how to homeschool’ here as well, for easy access to my readers.
Someone asks you to guest post about your daily routine and you’ll have a string of badly ordered days.
You’ll stay in your yoga pants all day, yell at the dogs and your children, and then eat at McDonalds.
And then with every sentence you type, the little smarmy voice in your head will say,
“You’re a liar. That’s not how your day went AT ALL little missy.”
Back off smarmy girl, this is my post and this is my day. I’ll tell this story any way I please.
I’m an optimist. The glass is half full. Of champagne. With a big juicy cherry on top.
Okay so back to my daily routine.
Despite the fact that I’m an artsy free spirit type, I do need a schedule.
Here’s the one we use for most of our days. It’s not rigid but it gives us a place to start. I have the template saved in my computer and then I just change the details daily. I print these off each morning so that the girls and I know what we need to get done.
So without further adieu and hopefully with no interruptions from smarmy girl, here’s the daily grind.
4:30a I wake up sans alarm because I have in fact turned into my father. I can’t sleep late. EVER. One of my goals for my 4oth year was to ‘sleep til 7’ and it’s never gonna happen. I’m writing this post to you on Saturday morning and I woke up at 4am raring to go. What time will I be waking when I’m 50? 60? I’m guessing 2:30 or 3. So I don’t fight it. I make the most of my early morning time . I’m currently reading the Bible through so I try to always start the day with reading and quiet time. Then I read/answer emails, write blog posts, edit pictures, read a few blogs, listen to Issues Etc while I do kitchen chores and laundry, eat raisin bran and drink latte(s), and make lists of things that need to get done, etc etc etc.
7:30a Usually the littles are beginning to stir. On our best days, I make homeade waffles while Emme makes bacon. Smarmy girl would like to insert that frozen waffles are more common. The girls always ask/beg/plead with me to read to them while they eat. It’s like their own dinner theater. Except with breakfast. And no actors. And me in yoga pants with bed head.
8:15 ish Prayer/Bible/ Memory
We begin our school day. I call roll, we say the pledge of allegiance and then Elea puts an apple on my desk. No wait, that’s all wrong. But we do start our day pretty consistently with a prayer from the Lutheran Prayer Book and then the girls read a psalm aloud. And for some added help with multiplication, this month we’re reading every 3rd psalm. We just finished a study of the Old Testament, which took a year and a half and now we’re back to the New Testament and the life of Jesus. Promptly after Bible, we have memory period. I’ve written about the value of memorization before, but basically we memorize poems, scripture, lists of science or history facts one line at a time and then say them over and over until we know them. We’ve memorized about 20 pieces so far this year including a couple of very long projects like Psalm 104 and the Lord’s Prayer portion of Luther’s Small Catechism. These girls are memorizing fools. Smarmy girl would like you to know that I don’t memorize things nearly as fast or as thoroughly as the littles do.
Occasionally, we all agree that the only way to make it through the day is to start with art. On those days, smiles abound.
More often than not, we start like every other school in the world, with spelling and reading and math and weeping and gnashing of teeth.
9:15 ish (give or take an hour) Independent-ish Work
The girls work for about an hour independently doing spelling, handwriting, writing and piano practice. I run around like a banshee trying to make beds, clear cobwebs, start dinner, make phone calls, and whathaveyou. If Stevie’s lucky like he was this week, I start the best beef stew ever. We won’t discuss what happens if he’s not lucky.
If there’s time, this is when I attend to personal hygeine. We all hope and pray there’s time.
10:15 ish Literature/Read Aloud/History
The girls each read to me (aloud) a page or two from their literature books and then continue reading (usually a chapter a day depending on the book) while I read with the other one. Then I read aloud to them from Shakespeare or whatever other book we’re reading at the time. Right now we’re reading the Indian in the Cupboard series, which we all love. I love this time of day. We sit on the sofa, sometimes they knit or craft or play legos while I read. Sometimes they dance and turn cartwheels. Reading good books is one of life’s true joys and I’m thankful to have this opportunity with them everyday.
11:00 Math
We are doing much better with math this year, for those who’ve followed our progress. We use the dive CD’s that are available with Saxon and the girls enjoy having someone else teach them for a change. I prep for lunch while they work.
12:00 Lunch with Dad
Everyday for lunch, we are lucky to have Stevie come home and join us. We greet him as if it’s been days since we’ve seen him. And on the very rare occasion that he doesn’t make it, the girls pout and make frowny faces. They kinda like their daddy. I’m kinda struck on him too.
12:30-1:30 Latin with Ms. Susan
Cue the Hallelujah chorus. Do you have any idea how wonderful it is to have someone, whom you love and adore, come to your house every other day to teach your children latin? It’s some kind of wonderful. And to add strawberry buttercream icing to the cake, that means I have an hour ‘off’. On the good days, I whip up a craft or two, continue with the good-dinner making, or read. On the bad days, I lock myself in my room and rock back and forth and google psychiatric conditions. Smarmy girl likes to diagnose me. What does she know? She hasn’t practiced medicine in years.
1:30-2 ish or 2:30 ish depending on whether or not we have dance. Quiet Time
This is the sacred hour at our house where no one is allowed to talk to me.
If you have children that you spend a hefty amount of time with, I would highly recommend this sacred hour. You will like them better after this hour. I tend to choose activities that nourish my spirit. I sew or cook or listen to podcasts or music or read your wonderful blogs or spray paint things. Chocolate and coffee may or may not be involved.
2:30-3:30 Grammar and Science
We do grammar everyday and science 3-4 days a week. We did a wonderful bird unit this year in science that has made us all nearly obsessed with the birds that visit our feeders. Stevie is a bird man and teaches us about new birds all the time. Recently we’ve seen a pileated woodpecker, an osprey, a nuthatch and lots of songbirds.
4:00-6 ish Dance
I have aspirations of doing lots of exercise and errands while the girls are at dance–which sometimes happens. Often, I end up sitting in the dance studio, knitting or reading or chatting with friends. Sometimes I run errands or go desperately searching for coffee. And then it’s back home for dinner and and vegging out on the sofa with the family.
After dinner, the girls wrestle with their dad and beg him to watch Pawn Stars. If he says no, they ask for American Pickers. If he says no to that, they ask for Swamp People. We watch quality tv around here.
I read to them after prayers for as long as my little eyes will remain open. I got up at 4am. Have mercy.
After I leave, I hear Emme reading aloud to her sister as they desperately try to finish the chapter that I was too sleeping for.
The sound of that is quite possibly my favorite part of the day.
9:30-10 I retire to my chambers and collapse into a coma.
Next day, rinse and repeat.
P.S. Most days, I don’t get done all I want. I wish I had read more, crafted more, smiled more, loved more. Maybe it looks more productive than it is but if there’s one key that I’ve found to getting lots done in a day, it’s staying home. Try staying home five whole days in a row and you’ll be amazed what you’ll find to do!
P.S.S.
This is our schedule M-Th. But on Fridays—oh for the love of Fridays—-we do reading, writing, ‘rithmetic and then spend the rest of the day on arts and crafts.
Which means we adore Fridays.
I leave you with a little video journal. Thanks for having me Paige!
The End.
November Blue
Dear November,
I’m sorry you have to leave so soon. It seems like you just got here and now you’re headed out already. I always hate when you go. It seems that we never get around to doing all we planned to do together. I know I say this every year, but next year we’re gonna make time to really enjoy each other. I promise not to be so busy that I don’t make time to sit and enjoy all the nice things you bring. You’re always so overshadowed by beautiful October and busy December. But I do think you’re my favorite. Of course, you’ve got Thanksgiving on your side and he just happens to be right at the top of my list . And now you have the Avett Brothers and November Blue. I declare my undying loyalty to you November and I will wait with all the eagerness of young love until you come back again. I miss you already. We make sweet memories, you and I.
Yours most truly,
edie
P.S. Now you’ll also be the month in which I first learned about Blue Hour from Kent Weakley.
And the first month in which I shot the moon.
*photos unedited except to crop*
Advent and the Church Calendar
One of the most peculiar things for me to subscribe to when I became Lutheran was the liturgy and the church calendar. I’ve been in a liturgical church for five years and I’m just now starting to really anticipate the rhythm and the meaning of it. In some ways, it seems simple and straight forward but then it’s also rich, complex and layered with the purpose of focusing on the gospel of Christ. By following a set calendar and lectionary, the scriptures are covered in a systematic way, with the life and cross of Jesus at its’ center.
The time of Advent, that begins today, is a time of prayerful, repentant and joyous waiting.
We wait for our Lord to come.
The waiting itself implies our desperation. We need Him so desperately to come to us.
We sit in the darkness of our sin with no hope of saving ourselves.
He must come to us for we are unable and unwilling to come to Him.
But the waiting is also joyous. We anticipate the coming of our Lord as He comes to us in our past, present and future.
He has come, in His very incarnation, as the tiny baby in the manger, eager to grow in the nurture and will of His Father.
He comes to us today, in the Word and Sacraments, as He feeds us on Himself, the very Bread of life, forgiving us our sins and giving us hope and salvation.
He will come again, on the last day, to take His bride home to heaven.
The season of Advent teaches us to wait, to yearn, to remember what it was like to live in darkness and to remember that we are helpless on our own.
We are desperate for the One who comes.
We pray:
Gracious Lord and Savior,
Come to us today and meet us in our need.
Come to us in love and forgiveness as we confess before You our utter hopelessness.
Come to us with Your abundant mercy and love, which we neither deserve nor can merit.
Come and do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
We wait. We hope. We bring our sin and brokenness. We wait for Life.
We wait for You to come.
You alone part the Red Sea and drown our sins in the waters of Holy Baptism.
You alone make manna fall from heaven and feed us life-giving Bread.
You alone speak life-giving Words of mercy.
Come to us today. For You alone we wait.
Come, Lord Jesus.
This year, due to space limitations, our Jesse Tree is made of ribbons, to which we will add our ornaments daily as we read the corresponding Old Testament stories corresponding to those ‘ancestors’ in Christ’s family tree (Ann Voskamps’ Jesse Tree Journey contains printable ornaments). We light one candle of our Advent wreath for each Sunday in Advent and then light our Christ Candle on Christmas Eve.
Last year, I used this Jesse Tree Book, which was perfect for the ages of my girls. But I wanted something with more depth this year, something like the iphone app I found last year, which is a wonderful collection of readings, prayers, hymns and sacred artwork. Pastor Scott Ryll is the author/compiler of this wonderful resource, which I posted about last year. I’ve printed it and plan to use it along with Ann Voskamp’s wonderful {and free} pdf file of the Jesse Tree Journey. Thank you sweet Ann, for your gift to us. I’ve printed these two resources and will compile them into a notebook to use year after year.
If you are new to the liturgical calendar, this Issues, Etc podcast is incredibly helpful. For more information on Advent, you’ll find this podcast helpful.
Reading for the first Sunday in Advent from the Advent blog. Church calendar can be purchased here.
Blessed Advent to you all.
Thanksgiving 2010
the kids table….
dear dacor range, how did I ever live without you?
the big kids table…
parker House Rolls, ten years running
my reason for living
happy-tizers
a few of my favorite people
step away from the chocolate-orange dream cake
right out of the oven
a few more people I love….
the feasting begins
the carnage
the clean-up crew (my brother and sister whom i affectionately call ‘brother’ and ‘sister’)
still cleaning
we didn’t eat a thing, lookin’ slim and trim
that’s my story and i’m stickin’ to it.
Hope your day was filled with all the things you love!