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Family Tradition

December 26, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 7 Comments

My family gathered for the last hurrah! last night and feasted on steak and shrimp. It was a delightful dinner and I’m pretty sure I pulled some ab muscles laughing so hard. I literally fell onto the floor laughing at one point…..not to be confused with me literally falling out of the bed last night…(thanks for all the concern about my possibly fractured hip, Stevie). We performed our redneck version of the 12 days of Christmas and recorded it to send to my JamieKnoxville (my beloved cousin who makes her home among the yankees of New Joisey). She could be in debt to me for life for orchestrating that piece of musical prowess. Loretta Lynn ain’t got nothin’ on me. If you’re quick on the draw, you might be able to see it later today mingled into an older post. But in the interest of protecting the last ounce of self-respect I still possess, I’m not leaving it there long. If you do happen to view it, remember two things. 1. Most of my relatives call me ‘sister’. 2. The favorite funeral decoration among us is the plastic phone carefully nestled among all manner of carnations that reads “Jesus called”. Need I elaborate? I didn’t think so.
And for those of you who are wondering how ‘baby dog’ is doing. He’s absolutely the most darling adorable little pooch you’ve ever seen. And in the interest of preserving all things southern, we named him HANK. Max sounded too much like he was from New York and wore argyle sweaters…..and had a doggy umbrella. HANK has a certain “I drive a Ford f150 and have a rifle rack” sound. He’s much more of a HANK. And since our family has a really bad habit of butchering all names, I knew that within the hour, we’d be calling him Maxipad.
Scooter (our other dog) has refused all acknowledgement of baby HANK. He pretends not to see him at all….and when HANK comes in for a sniff, he growls. Nice. Way to show him some southern hospitality Scooter. Where are your doggie manners. You should be showing him around…..showing him where to find all the dirty underwear and shoes. You should be giving him the scoop on mealtimes and doggie treats. But no. You refuse to welcome Baby Hank to the family. Just wait til he’s 50 pounds and giving you the cold shoulder. You won’t like it then buddy.
So, in 24 hours, here’s what we’ve called him

Hankie

Hankie Doodle

Hammerin’ Hank

Bocephus

Hanky Panky

Hanker

Hankerin’

Spanky Hanky

Hank-a-hank-a-burnin’ love

Tom Hanks

Hanks-a-million

Hank Jr.

The Incredible Hank

Hank You. Hankyouverymuch.

Hanks-a-lot

and songs we’ve sung to him:

“Hey, hey good lookin’ whatcha got cookin'” by Hank Williams

Hankie Doodle went to town a-riding on a pony

“They get on me wanna know Hank why do ya drank” by Hank Jr.

I’m sorry little baby dog. Living here will at least be interesting.

Hope your Christmas was merry!

O Come O Come Emmanuel

December 25, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 5 Comments

Our family wishes you true joy and peace as we celebrate the blessed Christ child come into the flesh. May this Christmas find you comforted in His words of light and life. Love to you all!

from our Christmas Eve service:

Father, we humbly bow before You on this night filled with awe at Your great love for us. We know we are unworthy of such love because of our sins in thought,word, and deed. Yet in the midst of our failings and desperate need, You have given us the gift of Your only Son as our infant Savior. We give You thanks for sending the Christ child into our world demonstrating Your perfect love in action, as Jesus lived and died for us. Forgive our sin this night and fill us with the everlasting peace only You can give as we continue to live in the reality of being both saint and sinner dependant upon this Jesus who was laid to rest in the manger and shed His blood on the cross to be the atonement for our sins. You make this most holy night to shine with the brightness of the true Light. Amen.

Local mother of four seeks Mother of the Year nomination……

December 24, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 25 Comments

Feast your eyes on the sweetest little bundle of furry goodness you have ever seen.
I drove to Ashville at 6a this morning and became the proud owner of an English Golden Retriever. The cutest most lovable one that has ever existed. I’m sure of it.
….and spent the rest of the day in the midst of secret covert operations to hide Baby Dog until tomorrow…….
…..a little someone in my family who wears blue scrubs and who will remain nameless, did not think I could pull this off…….keeping a puppy in the house without the children discovering him.
and ‘said’ person who wears blue scrubs kept calling me today saying “Are you busted yet?”
O ye of little faith. I’ve watched a few (hundred) episodes of 24 and I channel Jack Bauer. So covert operations are my specialty.
The kids are in bed and noone suspects a thing. Thank you. Thankyouverymuch. Now baby dog and I have bonded profusely and I am likely to accomplish very little over the next 2 weeks.
But despite the fact that noone will have clean laundry or cooked meals, I can assure you that I will likely be voted Mother of the Year. (I think it more than negates my children’s sketchy flossing).
Thank you Stevie for another magical Christmas. And for your vote.

Baby Dog, as I have affectionately called him all day, will likely be named Max. Or Hank. Or Scout. Or Jack. Unless you wow me with a dog name that doesn’t remind me of some guy I went to high school with who drove an el camino and had a rebel flag.

Little love gifts……

December 22, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 172 Comments

I’ve been assembling a few ‘love’ gifts for some special people in our lives and thought I’d show them to you.

Back in May, the kids and I picked strawberries and made homeade jam. And as of late I’ve been a sour dough bread ‘machine’……so naturally homeade bread and jam makes the perfect ‘love’ gift.
I like to print personalized tags from the computer and back them with scrapbook paper.
Another favorite is the Lutheran prayer book. It’s inexpensive and chock full of goodies. You don’t have to be Lutheran to love it……so I bought lots of them this year.
and wrapped them up beautifully.
And for those of you who don’t live close and won’t receive an actual love gift, I’ve got a couple ‘gems’ for you too. You may want to grab your coffee and sit a while with these.

You’re welcome.

P.S. The fact that this post follows directly after the one titled “The Hidden God” should either win me some prize at THE Most Severe Form of ADD contest or should put me next in line for This Year’s Most Charming Schizophrenic.

P.S.S. JamieKnoxville will study these pictures like a C.S.I. agent. I couldn’t have given her any better gift.

The Hidden God……

December 21, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 244 Comments

I’ve been reading a lot about the topic Christless christianity and how our inborn sinful nature is always bent towards self. We are by nature self-centered, self-focused and our perspective is always self oriented and is always distorted. Man’s natural theology is, in Lutheran circles, called a theology of glory. The rich man and Lazarus would be a good example. The rich man seemingly had everything……the world by the tail. He wore the finest garments, drank the finest wine and ate gourmet food. Lazarus in contrast seems to be a poor beggar who waits for the crumbs to fall from the rich man’s table. Based on just what you know on the surface, who is favored by God? We would often naturally conclude that the rich man must be favored by God. And we would almost always at least in our minds say “Well surely Lazarus has done something to deserve this”.

A theology of glory likes to ‘figure God out’ and likes to use logic to determine how things are between God and me. Don’t we often think this about those who do not seem to have God’s favor in this life? “Well, God must be trying to teach them something.” If we’re blessed and making moral improvement, we must be ‘right’ with God. And if not, well then the opposite must be true. But as you know, in death the rich man finds himself in hell and Lazarus is comforted in the bosom of Abraham. So can I look at my circumstances in life and tell how it is between God and I? How does God show His favor to those He loves? And how can I know if I have His favor? God hides His glory behind the weakness of the cross. And he shows His favor to us through the death and resurrection of His own son for our redemption. And I know I have His favor because I receive the gifts He has given in faith and thanksgiving. I am favored by God because of Jesus. Thus, a theology of the cross……interprets everything in my life……the blessings, the suffering, every circumstance through the perfect suffering of Christ on my behalf.

God’s ways are hidden and paradoxical:

1. God hides His glory in the mundane elements of bread and wine. Jesus has withdrawn His visible presence from the earth. He is now the hidden God and we must depend on His word to know what He is about. So when God says “Take eat, this is my body”, He is hidden, in-with-and under the bread. We don’t ‘see’ Him there and it seems impossible to me that He is there. So I must trust His very own words and find comfort in His hidden presence in His Word and sacrements.

2. He hides His glory in the weakness of a baby. When He comes to earth, He does not come in glory but in the flesh. The very incarnation of Christ is so incredible to me. How can this be? It was scandalous then and seems scandalous now and so unlike how I would have chosen to reveal myself to the world. The smallness of God in a lowly manger on a lonely night greeted by mere animals and born of the travail and sweat of childbirth. This is God? Yes, this is the very essence of the truth of God. Humbled. Lowly. With His glory hidden. To bring to us our very salvation.

3. He hides Himself in our vocation. God achieves His means of serving and taking care of us through the hiddenness of others doing their vocation. So God hides himself in : a mother making dinner for her family; a father going to work everyday to provide; a doctor using his skills and knowledge to effect healing; a teacher teaching multiplication to her students; the garbage man collecting the trash. It all ‘looks’ and ‘seems’ so mundane…..but that is God at work in the world. Serving and taking care of His people.

So we must take heed to let the theologian of glory in all of us be crucified with Christ. We must accept His ways as mysterious and hidden….. as not yet revealed. Whether our circumstances bring us joy or suffering, our posture to God should be one of repentance; a lensing of all of life through the cross of Christ. For in him are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col. 2:3) He will come in glory someday and we await that day with great anticipation. But until then, He has hidden Himself in things that might seem ordinary and even mysterious to us: words, water, bread and wine.

Luther said that Our Lord does not want to be found outside Christ….so he hides Himself in order to be found only in the grace and mercy of Christ. He seldom comes where we expect or look for Him: in victory and glory and glitz. He comes where we do not expect him: in suffering, in shame, in humility, as a baby, in His word, in the water of baptism, in the elements of the Lord’s Supper. God wants to be found in the words of the promise in Christ that give new life. If we find Him outside of Christ, we find Him in wrath.

The ‘hidden’ God is hidden in Christ….come to us in the flesh to bear our sin and be our Savior and who says “I am the way, the Truth and the life and no man comes to the Father except through Me.”

Much of what goes on in modern Christianity seems very Christ-less; alot about ‘me’ instead of Christ ‘for me’. We are favored by God because of Christ alone.

7 Quick Takes…….

December 19, 2008 by Edie Wadsworth 15 Comments

This is a 7 Quick Takes post……or 7 free association thoughts…….or 7 things I’ve been dying to tell you. You can link back to Jennifer’s awesome blog for others……

~~~~~~1~~~~~~~

I love wrapping gifts. I love the ribbons, the paper, the whole kit ‘n kaboodle. I often write the name right on the gift in pretty curly Q letters. A gift I have brought can be spotted a mile away. And I love it when it’s all the same wrapping paper. And I love polka dots. And if that paper so happens to be covering an iphone, I love it all the more.

~~~~~~~~~2~~~~~~~~~~

Remember this game? The girls and I did this for a craft one day. I know. I know. It’s no origami…..but it is paper folding. And turns out “Timmy and I will be married and have 6 children at the beach”. This little game producing giggling and cackling and snorting in my children which you cannot imagine. Every 12,865 times we played it.

~~~~~~~~~~3~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a picture from 2 Christmas’s ago, I think. And these attractive and smart young people are Steve’s children which I have come to adore. They will not be coming for Christmas which makes us very lonesome. We’ve grown accustomed to the chaos of Christmas with eight children. I shipped their goodies off yesterday and got a little teary eyed. We will miss you guys so much!

~~~~~~~~~4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a sudden overwhelming urge to paint everything in my house. I woke up one morning and am tired of it all. So you just wait. Come January, I’m gonna have more house projects going than I have Christmas decorations. Even this little bathroom…..which I have loved dearly over the years……..I sometimes lock myself in here just to enjoy the beautiful colors and silence. And I love the gecko. He wears that Christmas hat all year round, by the way. He’s a festive little guy. This kind of whimsical decorating has been my hallmark. I fear the gecko could be in danger of being kicked out. I feels the winds of change a-blowin’.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~5~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meet my long lost friend Jake. He’s the beloved golden retriever that I rescued over 13 years ago. He has since gone to doggy heaven and gees have we missed this dog dearly. I dreamed about him for the longest time and Elea (6) still mentions him with tear filled eyes. (she’s her mother’s daughter, little sap) We’ve been planning to get another one soon and it can’t be soon enough for me. There’s something about having a ‘big’ dog in the house that just feels right. Know any good breeders?

~~~~~~~~~~~~6~~~~~~~~~~~

This picture is to remind me to start training for the half marathon soon. My muffin top is screaming that it can’t be soon enough. I know I’ve invited you before, but if you want to train with me and meet me in Nashville for the Country Music Half Marathon, please put down the piece of fudge (I’m talking to myself) and lace up those running shoes. Last year I ran this race and had a sentamental but groovin’ playlist that I ran the race to. I picked a special song that reminded me of my kids or of some special event or person in my life and ran my little heart out. Otherwise, thirteen miles can be long and monotonous for someone with ADD. I can get all manner of little dramas going on in my head as you know from my prior post. So, what do ya say? Are you in?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And last but not least, let me tell you two things about Stevie that you may not know. He grew up in frigid MN where ice abounds in the winter. And he played a lot of hockey. It should not have surprised me that he can skate and ski circles around me. I’m used to dominating in the skating arena. The first time my sister and I took our little kids roller skating, something overtook us. When we got our skates on ,the strobe lights came on and the song “Crocodile Rock” began to play, we left those five year olds to fend for themselves while we got our groove on. So imagine my chagrin to be completely out-skated and out-skied…..by a guy. This man is full of talents.