The Sweet Sound of Sunday

I've been thinking about what our Sundays used to be like. They reminded me of stories of the really "old days" when you would go in the wagon some distance to church and then have lunch on the ground, fellowship and return at night. In our case, after the guys got into scouts we would drive an hour and a half  after church in Trenton to the Prayer Meeting. Our lunch would not be on the ground ( except for the Russian Pancake crumbs that did not make it into mouths and ended up on the van floor to be swept out ). Despite the complaints you might hear about Russian Pancakes, it was an easy to make, filling, nutritious entree that was often topped by applesauce. That is a combination that this Mom found hard to pass up.

When we got to Mount St. Michael's, the guys would go to scouts, and some part of the group would supervise the play of younger ones. I would work on taking a nap, usually in the van. Then we would enjoy visiting with community members, catch up with news of different families and have a great time. We would have a rousing prayer meeting, possibly a youth ministry meeting and then head home. Sometimes ( in good weather) this trip was broken up by a stop at a park for sandwiches. The fixens' had been cooling in the handy ice chest. However much of the time the handy ice chest was the table for putting together the turkey, bread, mayonnaise, lettuce etc. as we rolled down the road. You might wonder how all this food was wonderfully available on Sunday. It all depended on Saturday night going well (we called it Saturday Night Live). Maybe I will write about that sometime.

The trip home was notable in that a new element of noise was added. Since the baby was the only one strapped down, unless I was feeding him, family members were free to move around and generally provoke something to make the trip more interesting. The decibel level increase always seemed dependent on whether supper had been served and the blood sugar had started rising. However, in the midst of admonitions to stop this or that, a sweet sound would often be heard - singing. If my memory serves me right, the girls would often start singing a series of children's songs and most of us would join in on the rousing choruses. They knew a lot of songs from Sunday School, vacation bible schools, camp, prayer meeting, children's ministries, etc, etc. I mean this could go on for some time! I didn't know it then, but it sure made for some good memories!

"Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing."  Psalm 100: 1-2

Celebrating Today

If circumstances had been different, we would have been celebrating the 18th birthday of a sweet guy named Caleb Dewey Boyd today. You may remember that Caleb was the only one of the children that Gerry got to "catch" as the midwife arrived a little late. It was plenty exciting. After 17 years of no celebrations, you would think that today would not matter. But the truth is that it does. I guess I have been thinking more about Caleb's life (the slow growth, surgeries, recovery), his home-going, and the services surrounding that lately because of reading "Choosing to See" by Mary Beth Chapman. Their youngest was accidentally hit and killed by a car their son was driving. I found it difficult to read but helpful in faith. The last paragraph states: "I can choose to see His story or I can miss it."  I believe I can see a speck of His story surrounding Caleb's brief visit to our family. But oh, I want to see more. I believe we were changed in ways that we'll only fully see in eternity. I do thank God for that patient, precious little guy. In tears, I ask Him to give Caleb a big hug on his birthday.

What Is With the Purple Cow?

Many of you may not know that Purple Cow is a refreshing sweet float made of grape juice and ice cream. As you might guess in our family we had many celebrations. Purple Cow was sort of a compromise ( 1/2 good for you and 1/2 not so good for you). So it was a favorite birthday "lunch dessert", but also often was the easy to fix celebration dish after the birth of a new baby.  Therefore Purple Cow is associated with good memories and fun family times. I suppose the name originated from the poem by Gelett Burgess:

I never saw a purple cow,
I never hope to see one,
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.

Sometimes I have felt like I stood out like a purple cow with the blond stairsteps of children all around us. But normally people's real or feigned shock at "those all are yours!" was good for a chuckle. There certainly were and still are lots of chuckles, tears - life. I would not want it any other way.

"I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly".  (John 10:10)