It never grows old

It's been four years since we discovered this video, and it's still one of our all-time favorites.  It's a great performance of a great piece, and as a bonus, there are bouncing umbrellas. :)

The William Tell Overture

P.S.  Imagine my surprise to visit my own blog and find that I had posted on Sunday!  I actually wrote this post a few months ago, and scheduled it to post automatically, though I'd intended it to post on Monday the 30th, exactly four years after the post linked above.

I believe that Sunday is the Sabbath day as per the fourth commandment.  I try to spend the first day of the week in rest, worship, edifying conversation, and good books.  I don't blog on the Lord's Day, or listen to secular music.  I'm sorry that I gave the impression that I do both, by not double checking the post date.  I've changed the date of this post, and will be more careful in future. :)

Family Photo 2012

As usual, I have quite a backlog of things to post, but no time to post them.  This week has been especially busy, because I am preparing to fly up to Indiana this Saturday to attend the Reformed Presbyterian International Conference.  I expect that the conference will be quite interesting, and am very much looking forward to it.

Anyway, this is just a quick post to share a photo.  Mom and Dad are here visiting from Israel, so on Monday, before Caleb and Leah took off for a month in Canada, we all got together for one last visit.  We thought it would be a nice opportunity to take a family photo.

So here's Mom and Dad, their children and spouses, and grandchildren.  Back row, left to right: Ben, Leah holding Preston, Caleb holding Brooklyn, Jesh holding Shona, and Mark holding Charlotte.  Front row, left to right: Elijah, me, Dad holding Noah, Mom holding Olivia, and Mercy.

I'd like to think that when I get back from the conference, I'll have time to post more, but the reality is, I may not.  But I will try. :)

Independence Day 2012

Last Wednesday was Independence Day.  We went to Mark and Mercy's for lunch, where we spent time both indoors (during the rain showers) and outdoors (between them), eating grilled hot dogs (and other good food) and visiting with one another.

It was almost two years ago that we enjoyed another barbecue in this same back yard, only back then it was Caleb and Leah's house.  A few babies have been added to our church family since then.  Mercy, for instance, was pregnant with Charlotte, last time around.  Now Charlotte is this curly-headed little darling

...and Mercy is pregnant with baby #3.    

Since July 4th was a Wednesday, we had a church service in the evening.  By then the rain clouds had cleared away, and when the service was over, the young people took off to Kemah to see some fireworks.  The boys and I were about to head home when a friend ran up to the car and asked "Do you want to come over, just because?" and of course we did..so we went to their house, where the kids had a great time playing together, and the adults spent some time eating oatmeal bars, drinking iced rooibus tea, and discussing the exciting future ahead of us. :)  No fireworks--but a nice Independence Day just the same.

Last Saturday...

...I got to babysit Mark and Mercy's little girls.  Of course, I had to take pictures!

Sometimes people tell me that Olivia and I look alike, but I think they are just trying to flatter me.

As you can see, Charlotte takes food very seriously.

In this case, I can't blame her.  These are seriously good cookies.  They are chocolate crinkles, also known as Mercy's Morsels, or Merc Bursts, or something like that, because Mercy was the first to discover this recipe.  I get a lot of my best recipes from Mercy.  She's such a nice sister to share them with me, don't you think?

And now, it's my turn to share the recipe with you.

Chocolate Crinkles

Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups white sugar (orig. recipe called for 2 cups but 1 3/4 is plenty)
1 cup veggie oil (I use coconut)
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour (I use at least half whole wheat)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup powdered sugar.
------------------------------
Blend cocoa powder, white sugar, and oil.  Add the eggs, then the vanilla.  Blend the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add to the other ingredients.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Cover and chill for a while.

When the dough is nice and stiff, scoop out rounded tablespoons and drop them into the powdered sugar.  Nudge the hunk of dough about with the spoon until it is covered with powdered sugar, then pick up and roll between your palms into a ball shape.  Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 10 to 12 minutes.

Enjoy!  I like to chill mine in the freezer before eating them, but I might be weird.

"My name is Charlotte and I approve of these cookies."

Growing Fast

So, Noah lost his first tooth.

Isn't he the cutest thing??

He can also be pretty silly...

With his big brother.  Elijah does not look at all himself here.  This blank polite smile is most unusual for him.  He is usually much more expressive.

(Did you notice Elijah's new glasses?)

 

The boys have grown so much.  They really aren't my babies any more, are they?

Speaking of babies, did you know that my little sister Mercy is expecting her third?  She is due in December.  I can't wait to meet my newest niece or nephew. :)

Good Post: Ives on Retention of Youth

I like to read the West Port Experiment blog, written by Rev. Michael Ives of the Presbyterian Reformed Church of Rhode Island.  (My sister and her husband visited that PRC last summer, and enjoyed hearing Rev. Ives and getting to know him a little bit.)

I thought Mr. Ives' latest post was particularly interesting, on a topic my friends and family discuss often--retention of our youth.  Yes, Christian education is a big part of keeping our children in the church, but it's obviously not the only factor!  Click here to read more:

Building Multi-Generational Reformed Churches

Update: Mr. Ives has written a "Part II" on the subject.  While the first post focused on the duties of parents, this one focuses on the duties of ministers and elders.

Church Catechesis and the Retention of her Youth

a cappella: two words, two p's, two l's

On Friday we had a psalm sing, at Carl's place this time.  We were missing all of our bass singers, and one of our altos, but by switching Sam from tenor to bass (he's versatile like that) we had at least one person for each part.  We reviewed the short meter tune Golden Hill, then moved on to Wiltshire.  We've been singing Wiltshire for years and know it well, but half of us were singing the end one way and half the other, so we agreed to do it "by the book" from here on out.

A cappella singing is hard sometimes, especially when you're the only person singing your part.  Several people kindly pointed out that my timing was a bit off in the last line.  So, I tried to more closely follow Jeshurun's conducting.  My timing sounded fine to me, but the others said no, I still didn't have it quite right.  Supposedly my timing was clashing with that of the tenors, but I just couldn't hear what I was doing wrong, and listening to the recording, I still can't.  Can you? :)

Psalm 84:7-12 to Wiltshire


I'm so happy to finally have a decent recording of the second half of Psalm 84.  Now I just need a good recording of the first half, sung to University, of course!

We also worked on the tune Glenluce, but few of us knew it.  Perhaps next time we'll work on it again.

April 2012 Psalm Sing

Last Saturday, we had another psalm sing.  We've been having them more often lately; isn't that nice? :)

First, we reviewed the tune Sawley, which we also worked on in March.  The third line of the bass is tricky, so our bass singers spent some time figuring it out.  Once all of us had their part memorized, we sang the first six stanzas of Psalm 62 again.  I won't post that recording now, since it's much like the one I posted last month.

Next, we moved on to Golden Hill.  Golden Hill is a beautiful short meter tune, written down by Aaron Chapin in 1805.  The melody, they say, was inspired by the song of the wood thrush.  It's not in our psalters, so our first encounter with the tune was this recording by a young Scottish fellow.  Several of us (not just me!) quite like Golden Hill, and have been nagging politely suggesting for months that we do the tune at a psalm sing.  So we were delighted to finally sing it on Saturday.

Here's the recording for you.  The plan, last I heard, is to review this tune next month, since it is still very new to most of us.  Enjoy!

Psalm 25 v 15-22 (1st version) to Golden Hill

On the Fellowship of the Saints

While I was at Leah's place watching her little ones as she was in the hospital after Preston's birth, I picked up a book that she had been reading (and I meant to keep your place, Leah, but lost it, sorry!)  She had been reading the "Memoir of the Rev. William C. Burns, Missionary to China," by his brother, Islay Burns.

As you may know, Rev. Burns was the minister who took Rev. Robert Murray Mc'Cheyne's pulpit in Dundee in 1839, while Rev. Mc'Cheyne traveled to Israel.  Under Rev. Burns' ministry, a great revival began, and much of the first half of the book is an account of that revival.

The book is very interesting and encouraging, and I would highly recommend it (though I haven't actually finished it--I have yet to read the part about Rev. Burns' missionary work in China).  You can read it for free on Google Books here.

An especially nice quote, from a letter Rev. Burns wrote to his sister:

The great fundamental error then, as far as I can see, in the economy of the Christian life...is that of having too few and too short periods of solemn retirement with our gracious Father and his adorable Son Jesus Christ... 

The communion of the saints in Christian converse is indeed important, nay, indispensable to the growth of the new man when it can be obtained, but when is it sweet and soul-reviving but when each brings out into the common store something of the heavenly food which he has been gathering in the closet? 

Beautiful

The last few days, I have really been enjoying this recording of Psalm 42 to Glenluce.  I hope you enjoy it too.



A number of people have been posting psalm recordings on Soundcloud.com lately.  I hope to post links to the best of them soon.