PBC Pasadena Picnic 2016

Last Sunday, our church gathered at a local park for some fellowship and to meet some of our neighbors.  The turnout was more than expected as was the fun.  I ended up running around with my camera trying to capture some of the smiles and activities.  Below is the result.  If your face isn't on here, it was not for lack of effort! The Lord was gracious - as He always is - and we were granted a beautiful day in every way.

Um. I think you guys better move.

Dear Google

Dear Google,

I tried.  Really I did.  My friends all told me that your calendar would make my life so much easier.  Maybe they did not see that I have gray hair and wrinkles.  Maybe they did not know that I was born with pen and paper in hand, or more likely a box of crayons and a coloring book and that my love for such things would only grow with the passing of time.  How could they? 

I learned at an early age what it meant to receive and return mail.  Mail.  Lovely letters of lovely love from my grandmother, school friends after I moved away, and to my sweetie when he was in the Navy.  Those simpler times tug at my heart even now, because I know they will never return.  People today are missing so much, but they just don’t realize it. Read the handwriting on the wall, people!  (That is if someone still handwrites anything.)

I am a voice in the wilderness (but my wilderness is a field of ink and manuscript and not a sea of technology.) Technology hates me and yes, I take that personal.  My fingers don’t fly very quickly on a flat surface about 2x6. My phone is smarter than I am…except it isn’t.  It only thinks it is. Random ridiculous words show up uninvited while I try to send a message. This happens to you as well and it will only get worse.  No wonder no one can spell.  They don’t have to.

Okay, I am chasing an elusive rabbit that runs into the future with the speed of light.  So, I will stop running, pick up my pen and write about it…to you.  Of course I have also given in to a bit of technology – only a bit – by using my computer…which also causes me grief at times.

My calendar will remain made of paper, not somewhere on a cloud, but in my flesh and boney hands.  I will be able to put stickers on it and draw hearts where I want them and use any color pen I choose.  Ahhh freedom!

Let us unite in a battle doomed from the start…with very few cheering us on.  Pick up your pens and write to someone you love.  I promise you will make them smile.  (But you just might need that dictionary...and a stamp.)

My friend Heather gave me these
wonderful seed packet stickers!
They look perfect on my PAPER
calendar.  Smile.

Easter - Our Reason For Living

I believe that.  Our reason for living is a risen Savior:  Jesus.
Acts 4:11-12  "This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 
We celebrated Easter for several days, in several ways.  Our church holds a Tenebrae service on Good Friday each year.  We gather while it is still daylight and read and sing about the events leading up to His death. It is a somber truth and atmosphere as we try to imagine what the disciples must have felt as they saw their Master nailed to a cross and dying. What hope? What next?  We leave in silence as we are asked not to speak on exiting the church.  It is right for us to experience the seriousness of His death on a tree - made by God and fashioned into a means of death by man...all for God's glory alone.
So, when we as a body of believers come together again on Sunday, we rejoice, knowing that our Christ has risen from the grave just as He said He would.  Our hearts are full as we sing loudly His praises.
Scripture tell us that the church elders told the soldiers to say that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus from the tomb.
Matthew 28:12-15  And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, "Tell people, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. 
Little did they know that truth will not be silenced. Little did they know the magnitude of this act of pure love from God the Father to mankind.  He sent His only Son Jesus to bear our sins so that we might come boldly before His throne - no priest needed, the sacrifice had been made once and forever more.  Hallelujah.
We often have people over on Easter Sunday.  There is a core that are invited each year - although we did not do it last year.  It started a few years ago and we try to add to it each year.  This year we hosted 35.  I am not sure many more would have fit, as these did not fit at all, but ate anywhere they could find room...and did so happily.  The kids outnumbered the adults.
Instead of a prayer of thanks for our meal, I had printed up the words to "At Calvary" and we sang it as a group.  As we lifted our voices in a song about our Savior's death, I looked around the room at the children and their parents singing at the top of their lungs.  What a wonderful memory is embedded in my heart.

 "Mercy there was great and grace was free,

Pardon there was multiplied to me,

There my burdened soul found liberty -

At Calvary!"

Below is a picture of our egg hunters.  My backyard is small, but they don't seem to mind at all.

These are the hunters and helpers.  The older teens stayed inside in deep discussion around the table...wise to escape the momentary madness.

I am always amazed and touched by the demonstration of love between believers.  It is phenomenal and contagious and based on a shared love of our Lord Jesus. May we send it out with our hands and feet and voices to an unbelieving world.

Spring Break Farmtime

In continuing with my Spring Break adventures, this is the last post on that subject.  After our picnic in the wild, we headed for our friends' farm for some animal love.  It was a perfect day to chase and hug some pigs, feed the aquarium fish from whatever tiny swimmers could be caught in a net, paddle a boat, and relax in the midst of kid chaos.
I share with you some pix of our fun.

Twins in a tree.

Aubrey and Tommy taking it easy.

Sweet Abigail and kitty.

Turtle racing...and legos.

Luke and Elias with fish food.

Can we put these in the tank, too? (Oh, sure. Why not?)

They are on a mission to catch fish food for pets.  I do not know how those fish in the aquarium stay alive.  I think they are just there as science projects.

Emma is wincing because the pig is squealing in her ear.

Um. I think you are overloading that boat.

Jeremy hitches a ride with the girls.  Lazy bum.  Who is paddling? (Jeremy reminded me that he went along to make sure the girls were safe.) Actually that is true.  He is the least lazy person I know.

Noah and Bella 

Wait. Didn't she have on different clothes earlier?  I wonder what happened. Hmmm. (Notice her holding the pig's tail?  The pig will squeal bloody murder unless you pull the tail.  Then he is silent.)

I grabbed a quick shot of Ethan on the fence.

Noah and bunny.

Are they gone yet?

Best. Day. Ever.