Your name was written on His palm

Did you know, while our King was on the cross,

Your face was in his eyes,

Your life was in his mind,

Your sin was on his back,

Love of you, was in his heart,

for beloved, your name was written on his palm.

Before the girls head out on Friday morning, I will stamp thier hands in red and write thier names across thier palm, that they will remember Christ's death was not a generic salvation plan for all - it was for them. May you too remember that Christ died for you - specifically, wonderfully for you. You are his beloved.

Holy Week Devotions

I have posted the daily family devotions for Holy Week (Monday-Sunday) up on my website. I hope they are a blessing to your family as you walk through this week of remembering Christ's sacrifice for us.
I am looking at my week ahead and looking for ways to make it quieter. As a family we will say no to a number of things this week; playdates, workouts, errands, and TV time are going to be set aside this week. In its place we're going to attend a family Maundy Thursday service, do our daily devotions and spend some more time together as a family.
I wish your family a wonderful week.

Week 6 Family Devotion

It is hard to believe that Easter is almost here. Palm Sunday is my favorite church service of the year. This year both girls are singing in the service, which will make it extra special. There is something about remembering Jesus' arrival. This one last truimphant welcome he recieved before such a dark week. This year both girls are singing in service, which will make it extra special for Pete and I. (of course that is if we don't get socked with the big blizzard they are predicting for this weekend). Next week I will be posting daily devotions for your family starting on Monday.


Week 6: Life through the Son

Introduction: Last week we looked at Jesus’ teachings about our relationships with other people, but what about our relationship with God? What did Jesus teach us about that? This week we will look at two readings about how to have an eternal relationship with God.

Readings: John 5: 24 (Discuss question 1 before the second reading)
John 14: 1-7


Discussion Questions:
1. Reread verse 24. There are a lot of big things in this one small verse. Talk as a family about what it means to: hear Jesus’ word and believe, have eternal life, to not be condemned, and cross over from death to life.
2. John 14: 1-7 is one of Jesus’ last teachings before he was arrested, tried and crucified. He had been telling the disciples that he would be leaving them soon. They were scared, sad and confused. They did not understand where he was going but they knew that they did not want to be separated from him. Thomas asks two questions, “where are you going Jesus?” and “how can we get there?” Answer Thomas questions.
3. In today’s second reading Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you come to God through His son and gained eternal life? Take some time tonight to discuss with each family member where they stand on these important questions. For those accepting Jesus Christ for the first time see the following section and prayer. For those who have previously accepted Jesus, take time to recommit your life to Him.

Prayer: Close your devotional time in prayer. For example:
Dear Heavenly Father,We thank you for this time together to learn about your son Jesus Christ. Thank you for sending him to die for our sins. We thank and praise you Lord for the gift of eternal life through your Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.

And March's winner is...

Do you hear a little drumroll in your head? ..... The winner is Meredith. Congrats. Meredith is my bloggy friend, who I really need to get my act together and drive down south and meet her for coffee one of these days. She is a gifted writer, very creative mom and a great sister in the Lord, so if you don't read her blog - go check it out.

Oh how nice plans go astray

Last week I blogged all my lovely St. Patrick’s Day plans. Well, there should be a saying about the well meant plans of mothers. Those lovely plans do have a tendency to go south pretty darn quick don’t they?
Last Monday, the girls came home excited to make the St. Patrick’s Day cookies that we made last year. They donned their cute little aprons from Auntie Fara and we set to work. Well, half way through, Sarah decided they really should be green cookies with white frosting this year instead of the other way around. I thought I shouldn’t be a control freak – after all, it is about the experience of cooking together not the end product right? Well, no. A few moments into Sarah squirting a LOT of food coloring into our dough, I realized, it wasn’t. As much as I want to be that calm “who cares what the cookies that we bring to Grandma’s St. Patties dinner look like,” kind of mom. I am just not really that mom. Deep down (actually not that deep) I wanted pretty cookies. Now the dough had way too much coloring and was overly mushy but I decided to just plop them on the baking sheet and throw them in the oven. By this point I was getting testy, and so were the girls. When the first batch came out of the oven, it was all over. The mushy dough had just sort of spread all over the cookie sheet instead of turning into cookies. I tried to be funny and said we had made leprechaun poop. (that’s funny, right?) Sarah was distraught that her cookies were ugly, and Emily wisely wandered off. End of happy bonding time.
An hour or so later, I emerged from a cleaned up kitchen, I had salvaged some of the dough and made some respectable cookies, but our happy afternoon was gone. Sure, I was frustrated with the cookies, but I was mostly frustrated with my loss of good time with the girls. Time with the girls seems to be in shorter and shorter supply these days, I hate to waste it. Looking back I realize that going into our baking adventure, I was rushed for time and stressed out from work. Sarah wisely said that evening, “Mommy I wish we could have just played a game together.” That’s exactly what we should have done, instead of trying to shove creating cute cookies into our busy calendar.
So friends, I really think there needs to be a saying about how the well meant plans of moms go astray, to help remind me when to throw my plans out the window, and also to make me laugh.

Making cookies when there’s too much to do, results in sticky leprechaun poo…
Or ... I don't know, what do you think? Send me your mommy saying ideas.