At The Parsonage

Pentecost

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
And make our hearts Your place of rest;
Come with Your grace and heav'nly aid,
And fill the heart which You have made.

Your light to ev'ry thought impart,
And shed Your love in ev'ry heart;
The weakness of our mortal state
With deathless might invigorate.

Teach us to know the Father, Son,
And You, from both as Three in One
That we Your name may ever bless
And in our lives the truth confess.

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest LSB 499


Happy Day of Pentecost! Today we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit by wearing red to church, using our fancy red table cloth at dinner and enjoying Strawberry Shortcake.


Hope you all had a wonderful Day of Pentecost!

"When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me." John 15:26

Cabinets are the new dryers

Clara's still washing her laundry.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Phil's birthday. We had a little party to celebrate.

A round cake I made all by myself (don't look to closely)! Chocolate Chip, Phil's favorite. It was almost a disaster. Both pieces cracked and the icing got 'crumby' because I was in a hurry to get it done by lunch time, but it tasted delicious! I'm thankful for a husband that is very easy to please when it comes to cake.

We had to wear our party hats.

By "we" I mean everyone but Lily.


Lily was much happier when it was finally time to eat our cake.

And help daddy open presents from my Mom.

Happy Birthday Phil! We love you!

At The Parsonage

Lily led our Bible study this morning.

At The Parsonage

The good news is Phil is feeling much better today and seems to be trying to catch up on a week's worth of work in one day! Tisk tisk. The bad news is the girls seem to be coming down with something, perhaps just a cold but Lily is running a temperature of 101.8 and has been very fussy and clingy today. Clara started getting a stuffy nose a couple days ago and a little cough. I hope they haven't gotten another sinus infection from their Daddy.

At The Parsonage

Phil came down with a sinus infection this week and is trying to get as much rest as possible and enjoying a little snuggle time with the girls. We're hoping he'll be better by Sunday!

At The Parsonage.

My apologies to the 15 year old Lily. I couldn't help taking these! She's got such style...she gets it from her father.




Clara and I enjoyed a little time outside while Lily took a nap.

Our neighbor Vernon and Daddy joined us.


Pretty apple dress before church...

and after.

Again, she gets her fashion sense from her father...obviously.

These girls are getting so big!

At The Parsonage.

This "copy cat" phase Lily is in makes for so many laughs around here. Just like dad she has to read the paper while she eats lunch!

Tea Time At The Parsonage

Spring At the Parsonage.

We can finally see the "light at the end of the tunnel". That's what Phil and I keep thinking this week. Easter marks the end of several things in our life that can seem long and grueling, a pastor's "busy season" of Advent, Christmas and Lent, and of course winter, winter, winter. Holy Week even with its business, brings a great sigh of relief. With the warm weather we're getting I can finally open the windows and air out the house, start putting away the winter clothes and heavy blankets and dressing the girls in pastels! It feels so good to shake this winter off and welcome Spring!

It's nice that the girls and I can watch the birds and listen to them sing outside while we eat breakfast. I'm so happy to see birds again! And I hate birds! And when Lily asks "Was 'at?" I actually have to look outside to see what she's pointing to instead of answering "That's snow" over and over again. We can finally hear kiddos playing outside and the wind in the grass. Such welcome sounds after being shut inside for so many months. Soon everything will be that unbelievable green that I've only seen here in Nebraska. I can't wait!

At The Parsonage

I couldn't help taking a few pictures Sunday after we were all ready for church the girls were so pretty and yes, quite coordinated.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today we had fun with green!




Kiss her, she's Irish! It's hard to believe "this" was Lily just one year ago!

Then...

and now!
She's Irish too, but didn't want anything to do with getting kisses!

I also made cupcakes for our Jr. High Catechism class.

And here are 100 pictures of Lily eating one of them.

This is the girl who wouldn't touch the cupcake at her first birthday party!




Finger licking stamp of approval!




Yes, St. Patrick's Day is a great day to celebrate our heritage, wear green and maybe dance a jig but it's also a good day to remember to pray for our missionaries.

An excerpt from St. Patrick’s Breastplate

I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.