That kind of day...

The English language is missing an adjective. If I knew where to start, I'd just make one up. But, I don't. So, I'll just say it was "That" kind of day.

Which is fairly vague...unless you've had one yourself. It wasn't bad (although I could have remembered that five letter word "grace" more often than I did and perhaps could have kept my mouth shut for more of it). It wasn't even all that remarkable (a thought suddenly making me feel a little guilty for living yet another remaining day in my life in a non-remarkable way...hmmm....) It was just a day.

The kind of day where I fed the kids McDonald's for dinner and didn't even care they were eating it(comprised of scary things) out of a paper bag. They wish I had more of these days. ;-)

The kind of day where I just wanted to come home and meddle around without any goal of productivity in mind.

And drink tea.

And listen to Jason Upton on repeat.

And fiddle with Christmas decorations in a non-rushed kind of way without any concern for the clutter I just keep moving from one spot to another to make room for them.

Maybe I'll worry about that on the weekend.

Or maybe I'll just keep drinking tea and listening to music.

Timely for Me (and maybe for you?)

It's from 2005, but was in my e-mail this morning. Weird.

Hope

(Just because it is clear to me neither sides of my world are typically very aware of the other...)

For my non-liturgical friends, read this


For my liturgical friends: Not all Christians are liturgical. It's no big thing, really. They just aren't. Somehow they manage Christianity without it. ;-)

1. I am not Catholic, nor have I ever been.

2. I do not attend a liturgical church. In fact, it has come to my awareness the number of people in my church who even know the meaning of "liturgical" can probably be counted on one hand. (Again...no big deal. Carry on. Just sayin'.)

3. I was not raised in a liturgical environment. Sometime, in my young adult life (early 20's), I worshipped with a Lutheran congregation who put great emphasis on the liturgy. Until then, I had never even heard the word.

4. In my current life, even though I do not corporately practice it, I find the liturgy familiar and comfortable and I do place value on it. I do not think it's necessary for worship (as evidenced my current worship style affiliation), but I do think it's good for a lot of things. For instance, religious instruction. I learned a lot about church history and tradition from the liturgy. The ritual of saying the Apostle's Creed reminds me of what I actually believe in (in the event someone were to pin me down and make me say in so many words or less.) Should I mention here my initial horror of saying I believe in the "holy catholic church"...because I didn't have enough understanding to realize "catholic"
is not the same as "Catholic"? Duh. The ritual of it is soothing to me. I like organization and structure.

4. It probably goes without saying a little liturgy goes a long way with me. I should mention my introduction was in a church who put the liturgy above all else. You can get lost in that. (Anyone can get lost in any worship style...just sayin'.)

I do not believe "liturgically correct" is the yardstick with which to measure one's relationship with God. For me, the liturgy is more of a tool. I do not say this to be offensive or confusing, just trying to explain where I'm at.

5. There are times I miss it. The liturgical calendar is so celebratory and something seems to be missing when one (who has been accustomed to celebrating specific events) no longer celebrates.

Which brings us to Advent.

Actually, I miscalculated and thought Advent didn't start until next Sunday...the result of Christmas falling on a Sunday this year. There was some last minute cobbling together of the Advent Wreath.

"The first candle is traditionally the candle of Expectation or Hope (or in some traditions, Prophecy). This draws attention to the anticipation of the coming of an Anointed One, a Messiah, that weaves its way like a golden thread through Old Testament history. As God’s people were abused by power hungry kings, led astray by self-centered prophets, and lulled into apathy by half-hearted religious leaders, there arose a longing among some for God to raise up a new king who could show them how to be God’s people. They yearned for a return of God’s dynamic presence in their midst.

And so, God revealed to some of the prophets that indeed He would not leave His people without a true Shepherd. While they expected a new earthly king, their expectations fell far short of God’s revelation of Himself in Christ. And yet, the world is not yet fully redeemed. So, we again with expectation, with hope, await God’s new work in history, the second Advent, in which He will again reveal Himself to the world. And we understand in a profound sense that the best, the highest of our expectations will fall far short of what our Lord’s Second Advent will reveal!" (Christian Resource Institute)

(This feels all scattered and I'm pretty certain I probably left out something important I wanted to say.)

Christmas has started!

I love Christmas.

To get you in the spirit...my baby singing a Christmas song. When he was still kind of a baby. He was 6.

I think it was that same year he gave us the following Christmas list:

1. An elf
2. An underground tunnel
3. A bell from a reindeer
4. A swan cookie cutter

He can be so weird. ;-) (I love it.) Needless to say, we could only manage the bell. But, last week when Al and I were shopping, I saw this cookie cutter. I'm four years late on it, but I had to buy it. I guess we'll have swan shaped Christmas cookies this year.

Part 1...enroute to Iowa as we speak. I'm guessing they are somewhere mid-Ohio right about now.

Turkey Day Part 1

No pictures of the turkey, because we all know the other stuff are the stars of the show.

Macaroni and Cheese from this recipe. I think it's going to become a standard at our holiday gatherings.

Just for the record, I come from a long line of people who don't cook from boxes.

Jac's tradition is to eat a turkey leg. Just the leg. No sides.

Ryan and my brother waiting on football.

Ryan and I were at football. It didn't go as we had hoped, but it was still a good game. Next year, I want to take the kids to a game. I guess it will be a Ravens game since they are Ravens fans. (They have bragging rights for the next gazillion years until the 49ers come east again.)

9-1

I wouldn't have called it two months ago, but hey...who knew?

1. He didn't even know we had 49er's dishes. We've had them for probably 10 years. But...they were so unreliable, I hated to get all excited about any game and therefore left the dishes in the cupboard.

2. Football is clearly mostly about eating. We didn't eat anything but junk today.

3. Somewhere, we have a flag. I keep looking for it. How does one lose a flag anyway? I saw it last year. (Last year was not a good flying year for it.) Hmm...

4. Only 4 more days until Baltimore!

Sweet

Who needs the cookie? Icing + candy = All you need.

I don't think I was this fun with my own kids.