through the years

Hard to believe we lost you one year ago today. But what is time to you anymore? Keep on singing in that signature off-key way of yours, and be sure we will drown you out on the second verse!



















"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21, ESV).


*turn on the volume*

Did I mention I am sentimental? (Feel free to add your own!)

Oh the little joys of childhood!

I'm adding a few of mine to the list (disclaimer - they are pretty 80's and 90's driven but not all):
























-scoring tokens at Circus Pizza (even though you cheated and let your little brother help you smack all those crocodiles!)

-digging large holes in the backyard

-riding your bike down a steep grade with no hands

-learning how to french braid on Barbie

-jumping through the sprinkler and getting grass stuck all the way up your legs

-hanging upside down on the monkey bars

-"markering" in paint-with-water books

-playing school

-camping out in the backyard with your friends and staying up all night drinking Jolt and telling ghost stories

-sleeping on the bus on the way to school (oh to not have to drive in morning traffic!!!)

-buying mood rings at Claire's

-making sweet jumps at the sledding hill

-spinning the crap out of your friends on the tire swing

-view finders!

-getting treated to a box of Barnum's Animal Crackers for going grocery shopping with Mom

-trading stickers!!! (At 28, I still have my old sticker books!)

-setting up a lemonade stand in front of your house (and being tickled when when the mailman says all he's got on him is a buck - oh for JOY!)

-still playing out in the fresh snow well after dark (because the snow makes the sky look bright and red)

-library book sales, especially on "bag day"

-collecting pogs!

-sucking on giant candy cane sticks or gnawing till your tongue is raw on huge layered jawbreakers

-requesting Bette Midler songs on Radio Aahs (only Minnesota children will recall this!)

-Four Square, jump rope, and Hopscotch!

-making sweet forts out of blankets, pillows, and chairs

-spending hours ice skating and then wobbling back into the warming house to play knock hockey during drink breaks

-writing stories and drawing pictures with friends (maybe a girl thing!)

-going to see the Teddy Bear Band with your family (or Club Fun TV)

-carrying Pez dispensers around in your pocket like it was gold

-drawing pictures on the bulletin during church service (although, my brother still does this!)

-or how about getting away with sleeping in church - ha!

-finding a comfortable tree limb on which to sit and read

-wearing cheap, plastic costumes to go Trick or Treating

-mastering the game "Simon"

-spinning in circles as fast as you can to feel dizzy

-tape recording you and your friends being silly (this is the one I had)

-dumping your bulk stash of Legos on the floor - the sky's the limit!

-getting a PINK PANTHER POP with bubble gum eyes (and other treats) from the ice cream man!

-singing the entire Animaniacs song on the top of your lungs with your sibling(s)

-feeling like you're in heaven when you walk into KB Toy store

-playing neighborhood games like "Annie Annie Over", "London Bridge", "Hide and Seek", and "TV Tag"

-standing at the kiosk for over an hour at Target, playing the new Super Nintendo (and begging your mom to get it for Christmas!)

-sneaking around the house in December and finding said NES, feeling guilty and ecstatic at the same time

-riding on your dad's shoulders and shivering with a fear of heights, yet laughing with glee that you can touch the ceiling

-school supply shopping (I swear this will be the reason I have kids!) There is nothing better than a fresh box of Crans! (Crayons, for all you non-Midwesterners!)

-chewing an entire pack of Hubba Bubba at one time (or half a pack of Bubble Tape)

-BOOK IT!! (and scoring personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut, plus a Land Before Time puppet!)

-lying under the Christmas tree and staring up at the lights

-playing Candy Land with the family (with real candy for the prize) on Sunday nights and eating stove-top-popped popcorn

-having tea parties using water and saltine crackers, and feeling it was pretty real since you didn't have to pretend to swallow

-sweeping under a large pine tree to make a "house"

-getting to lick the batter bowl (ok, so that's not exclusive to childhood...but being given the privilege to lick the bowl is!)

-flying my Rainbow Brite kite at the park

-saving the cereal marshmallows for last so that they get squishy and sweeten the milk

-earning AWANA bucks/shares and bringing home a bag full of bouncy balls, plastic bracelets, and tootsie rolls

-getting your mom to let you ride the carousel outside Red Owl grocery store

-being scared to tear the tag off the pillow after watching this

-rolling down a steep, grassy hill (and running back up to do it again!)

-devouring a 9-piece Chicken McNugget drenched in BBQ sauce (I can almost taste them - but am sadly done with them forever)

-Getting to "play Santa" by passing out all the presents at Christmas. Such an important job!

-laughing at everything, no holding back

-having Big Wheel races with the neighbor kids

-listening to Wee Sing tapes on your Walkman

-making intricate friendship bracelets and feeling so accomplished!

-fighting over the middle back seat and "round spoon" (this one's for you, Justin!)

-NO CABLE OR INTERNET!!! (love/hate of the worst kind)

-experimenting with baking and making up recipes with your friends (Oh, so cake needs leavening!)

-twirling unabashedly in a dress

-making (and wearing) dandelion crowns

-kiddie pools!!

-getting to bring a toy/stuffed animal everywhere you go

-having somebody cut up your pork chop/pancake/baked potato for you

-Pin the Tail on the Donkey

-playing "Don't Touch the Ground" in the basement, in the dark

-getting your hair braided at night so it's crimped in the morning

-cartoon lunch boxes, backpacks, notebooks, and folders

-library storytime

-getting to "eat over" at a friend's house (or a friend eating at your house)

-watching CBS Storybreak

-footy pajamas

-showering every other day (or every few days...)

-inviting your whole class to your birthday party

-playing dress-up and getting into your friend's mom's makeup

-coming home dirty every summer night

-being amazed by card tricks

-when a year seemed to last forever

-eating Spaghetti-O's for lunch and Pop Tarts for snacks

-wearing pigtails and ribbons

-writing real letters to pen pals who live all across the country

-being blissfully ignorant your family never had much money

-getting measured and seeing how much you've grown by comparing it to the last marking on the wall

-wearing clip-on ties or hook belts

-being so excited to go to the park that you skip the whole way there

-going on field trips to the nature center or science museum (especially when your mom chaperoned!)

-finding "secret passage ways" through your neighbors' yards

Spring Has Sprung in Southern Maryland!

Truth be told, Sammie could live outside.


























(Go check out the other entries for the I Heart Faces contest this week! Theme: "Easter/Spring")

Siblings at Easter, a Generation Apart

Minneapolis, Minnesota; 1945

























White Bear Lake, Minnesota; 1987

Awaiting the final Resurrection

A thank you to Desiring God Ministries and Bethlehem Baptist Church one year later...


Dear folks at Desiring God,

I attended the early Easter service at Bethlehem last year. I had recently flown in from Maryland to spend a few last days with my father before he went on to his heavenly home just three weeks later. Colon cancer of the worst kind. It was my dad's last Easter, and God graciously let me be with him on what turned out to be an amazing, special-in-so-may-ways day.

I went to the early service because I always like to “stop by” when I’m in Minneapolis, and because I had planned on attending the “service” at my dad’s care center later on that morning. I was alone and sat in the back, but the whole service ministered to my grieving heart. I had never heard that song, “The Power of the Cross” before, and the choir sang it ever so beautifully. What an impacting message set to tremendous music!

I was not only able to take a sweet Easter lily back to my dad’s room after the service, but also the encouragement of the Resurrection.

Turned out that due to cases of the flu in the care center, the service was canceled last minute. I was kind of discouraged because my dad hadn’t been to church for two whole months, and rarely left his room, much less his bed. I desperately wanted to bring some sort of hope in the middle of this horrific disease, which was consuming his life at such a young age.

The dear people at Desiring God graciously donated “The Blazing Center” to bring some of that hope to him. I am forever grateful. Since the service was canceled, I took out the first DVD and I sat on the bed with my dad and watched/listened to Pastor Piper talk about acne and telescopes and God’s glory.

A few minutes into the DVD my dad’s roommate rolled his wheelchair up close to watch with us. So precious. I will always hold that memory, and I praise God for allowing the service to be canceled so that we could share this time together.

About an hour later my mom and a few other relatives showed up after their own church services. My uncle had driven with his family from Nebraska to spend some quality time with my dad, and was about to make the trip back after saying goodbye one more time. There was not enough room in the small room for eight people, so we wheeled my dad into the lobby and chit-chatted for a while. When my extended family got up to leave my uncle asked if we could all pray together.

Everybody stood in a circle and held hands. My uncle prayed first, and nobody expected this, but then my dad spoke up and started to pray! With the sturdy confidence in his voice, you would never have known that he was living with a disease that was killing his body by the minute. Everyone started crying when he thanked His Lord for his life and acknowledged God’s plan in this cancer. He prayed that God would use him, even in his suffering, for His glory. It felt like my dad was reciting everything he had just heard on The Blazing Center!

We were all so proud of my dad. We were touched to the core by his submissive spirit and amazing God-given strength, amid such languishing weakness.

I am grateful for every single one of the ministries that comes out of Desiring God. You truly have a passion for the supremacy of Christ, for you certainly have spread generous amounts of it to my family. I am encouraged with hope that my dad is at this moment experiencing the answer to the courageous prayer he prayed on that beautiful snowy Easter afternoon.

*****

Today on this Good Friday I can't help but meditate on these memories. I am overwhelmed with gladness that my dad is yet alive and well a whole year later, and is worshiping his Savior in His very presence. This year I especially cling to the HOPE of the Resurrection when we all will be reunited in great joy!

Relish in it!

*****

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
“Finished!” the vict’ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.