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This picture has nothing to do with the subject of this post. But it sure is a cute picture, isn't it?

 

There is a strange thing that happens in blog land. People write their hearts, their minds, their joys and sorrows and then they hit publish. And sometimes someone leaves a comment.

Oh a comment. A comment can sustain the blog author for weeks. It can get kind of quiet sometimes, posting pictures, writing stories, wondering if anyone out there is taking notice.

So when someone does...when someone says hello, I like this. Or, hello, your kid is cute. Or, hello, sometimes you're funny. Well, when this happens, somewhere out there a rainbow appears. A choir sings. A kitten purrs. A child laughs joyfully down a slide. (Aha! I worked the picture into my post. Brilliant!) And the blog author may just think to themselves weeks later, 'member when I got that comment in 2010. that was awesome.

So what I am about to tell you is terrible. Just terrible.

A while back I changed my settings for people to leave comments so that you wouldn't have to go through so many hoops just to leave a word or two. Mostly this was for my Aunt Louie who often tells me that my blog hates her. Well, she doesn't say that, but you can tell she feels dejected. So I took off all the safeguards. So it would be easier. As a result I get a lot of spam comments that blogger filters. They never go public, and mostly they are gibberish and go right in my gmail spam folder. But apparently it also means that the comments you have been leaving, the ones here, still on the blog, have been going into my spam folder in my email. This means nothing to you, and really isn't a huge deal. They still end up on my blog because blogger is smart like that. Except that it means I haven't seen the comments you've been leaving on this thing for months because I read all my comments in gmail... which has been marking them as spam. For months! Months! I just thought we all got real quiet.

Sometimes I'd check a post right on the blog, and then I could see them. And I'd respond. But just now I scrolled through and found a whole bunch of comments I never had read.

For shame. For shame.

So, blog readers. A couple things. Please comment! For the love, leave me some love. And second, I'm going to try to respond more. Blog books say this is key to good blogging etiquette. And thus far I've been a terrible host. Bad manners. Poor form. But I'm going to try to change all that and respond.

Deal? Deal.

soup for mary

Ivar had his fisher price nativity set out yesterday and I asked him what the king had in his hand. He looked at it and said, "Soup." I asked him what the other kings had in their hands. And he answered, "More soup."

Not a bad idea. I would imagine Mary would have appreciated some warm soup after delivering Jesus. Maybe more than gold. Warm soup after having a baby? Good thinking, Ivar.

**It should be noted that the above picture was staged by a 31 year old during nap time. At no time are these characters set up like this. Usually there is a garbage truck and a few tractors in the mix. Usually all of the nativity sets are mixed together so there are three baby Jesus'.

And in other exciting and thrilling news...my sister Annika is blogging again!!! Sort of. Actually, I am blogging for her. But her girls are so funny, she has stories every day, and I decided that I will post them for her just so they get written down. Click here to visit her blog.

so grateful

It is such a good feeling to be supported by friends, family and people I don't even know. I am excited about these hymn cards. Not just as a new personal venture, but because these words are powerful. These songs have moved my own heart time and time again.

Did you catch the comments from yesterday's post?

My brother-in-law Jedd wrote, "I vividly remember listening to my Grandma Beulah clearly singing every word to "As The Green Blade Rises" even though she couldn't tell you if she'd eaten that day and couldn't read because of her cataracts. I'd never heard the hymn before, I've never sung it since and I didn't sing it that Sunday either. I just listened to her and wept."

I read this and was grateful that Jedd gets it. I looked up the hymn. I recognized it once I heard it. You might too. The words are awesome. The melody is haunting. You can click here to listen to the tune and read the words. Love is come again.

And then my friend Renee (we attended seminary together) wrote, "A note re: what you wrote about the inspiration coming from working in the nursing home... after working in this environment for five years now I often wonder what our generation's "collective memory" will be when we are in senior care. The "greatest generation" has events (WWII, Depression, etc) and songs (hundreds) and mainstays from church (hymns and liturgy) that bind them together and are easily recalled despite even, in some cases, severe memory loss. What does our generation have? What binds us together?"

I don't have an answer to this one. I think about it often as well and would love to hear what anyone else thinks too. Even worship music now seems to cycle every three months or so. You don't sing any one song for very long in a church anymore. I think this is why I want to know these hymns and why I want my kids to know them too.

I remember lots of summer nights at Mount Carmel Family Camp, sitting in the chapel after worship, while my aunts and uncles sang hymns out of an old Lutheran songbook. They always sang a song called, "Living for Jesus." I never heard that song anywhere else but it was my grandparents favorite song. So they made a choir with their kids and the song was taught to the next generation too.

And I suppose that is the simplest motive behind the hymn cards. To get these words in front of our faces again. To get these songs stuck in our heads. So that we remember them and the next generation learns to love them too.

hymn cards for sale!

From the day I posted my first pictures of the Hymn Cards I made for our baby's nursery, I have been asked (and begged) to sell these Hymn Cards and finally starting today they are available!

This first collection comes with twelve hymns and are all my personal favorites. Of course, as soon as I say that I can think of twelve more personal favorites. And reading over the list you will probably wonder why I didn't include some of your favorites. I guess I had to start somewhere. There are some good, solid lyrics in these songs, promises to live by. I hope they bring encouragement and hope to your family as they have mine.

Inspiration for these the Hymn Cards came from working on the memory loss floor of a nursing home. I led the Sunday morning worship service for a group of men and women who often could not remember their own family. And yet, when we started singing What a Friend We have in Jesus, or spoke the words of the Lord's Prayer or the 23rd Psalm, new voices would join in, remembering every word. Those were powerful moments in worship, watching the songs of old calm anxious hearts, listening to incoherent sentences turn to harmonious singing. I remember deciding then that I, too, wanted to know these promises so well that when my memory fails, my heart would still remember.

I have my set of Hymn Cards on a little easel on the table next to my glider rocker. I can sit and rock my kids while looking right at the words of a beloved song, singing all four verses as my babies drift to sleep.

The coolest thing about singing these truths and promises to my kids is that God ends up singing these songs to me. The words are for me, too. And my heart is calmed, my trust is back in Jesus and I sleep as soundly as my babies.

For ten dollars, you can download a PDF of all twelve hymns to print on your own. For twenty dollars I will print the hymns on card stock and send them right to your door.

I’m excited about having these cards in homes all over, excited to imagine all of us singing these songs, remembering these promises. You might put them on the sill of your kitchen window to sing while doing the dishes. You might put them on the counter in your bathroom to sing as you blow dry your hair. You might put them on your desk next to your Bible for your devotional time. You might put them in your kid’s room, ready for bedtime prayers. You might give them as a gift for Christmas. I hope you are blessed by them. And I hope the promises take root in your heart once again.

For ordering information, click here.

The Family Book of Advent

I was contacted to write my first book review on this blog! Hard to explain how excited this made me. Not only that, but the book came in the mail and I adore the book. Whew. It's a book about family together time and preparing our hearts for Christmas. Basically my favorite two things in one book.

The book is called The Family Book of Advent by Carol Garborg. I love Advent. Advent is what the month of December is supposed to be about: preparation, contemplation, expectancy, joyful anticipation. Our Savior is soon to be born. He came in a very strange way. None of us would have written the story this way: The King of the Universe born in a bunch of straw in a dusty stable. The whole story can become cliche if we're not careful. The shepherds right next to the wise men right next to the barnyard animals might seem normal by now. But this was not a normal moment. From the moment everything fell apart in the Garden of Eden, all of creation was waiting for this little babe to be born. And here He comes. God with us. Emmanuel. That's what Advent is all about.

The book has a lesson for the 25 days of December leading up to Christmas. Each day has a short written lesson, an interactive advent activity, a thoughtful question for conversation and a short prayer. The very back of the book has a list of props and supplies you will need for the 25 days of advent activities, so in theory you could look through this list, make note of what you don't have on hand and run to Target one time to be prepared for all 25 days. Now if that doesn't make you feel like a super-mom, I don't know what will.

The Family Book of Advent seems most appropriate for elementary and possibly middle school aged kids.  But I'm going to try it with my family. I don't think you can start too young for family devotions and dinner table traditions leading up to Christmas.

The book is available on amazon by clicking here. And on the Christian Book website here.