On Being An Aunt

My dear sister-in-law Leah looked so cute when she was pregnant.  I really wanted to get a photo of her, but the one time I remembered my camera, the battery died.  So you'll just have to take my word for it. :)

But it's too late for pregnancy pictures now.  As I'm sure you all have heard, Caleb and Leah have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy.  :) He is tiny and soft and perfect.  Leah looks great too.  

While Leah was in the hospital, I got to help take care of her two daughters.  I enjoyed the bonding time!  It's hard sometimes to be a mother of two when I always dreamed of being a mother of many, but it is a great comfort to be an aunt to such beautiful nieces and nephews.  I hope to be blessed with many more nieces and nephews in the future.  May God bless all these little ones and bring them to Himself at an early age.

You may also have heard that Caleb was ill while in Scotland.  He got the flu (maybe the same nasty bug that I got back in December!  I can attest that it was awful!) followed by pneumonia and some drug-related complications.  He even ended up in the hospital at one point.  Thankfully, his roommates (fellow students), and others, helped to look after him, since his preferred caregiver (his wife, of course) was not available.

Once Caleb had recovered enough to fly, he returned to Texas, where the warmer climate will likely help him recover full strength in due time.  He is continuing his studies via correspondence.

I know that a post about a new baby really ought to include photos, but I don't have any yet. :)  I'll try to post some photos soon...err, at some point.

February Psalm Sing

I've got a lot of things to post but no time to post them!  I suppose I can at least post these psalm recordings, though.  I've got Noah on my lap trying to read what I type, which will slow me down a bit, but that's all right. :)

On Saturday we had another psalm sing.  We learned one less familiar tune, Rockingham, and sang two more familiar tunes, Arnold and Ballerma.  I was surprised to see quite a bit of resistance to the tune Ballerma.  It's a perfectly good tune, but apparently many of us are burnt out on it, due to its being over-used by various precentors in the past.  I guess it's important for precentors to learn and use a good range of tunes, huh?

Without further ado:

Psalm 13 to Ballerma


Psalm 45:1-6 to Arnold


Psalm 145:1-7 (2nd version) to Rockingham

Reminded by Communion

During the December communion season, as I listened to the preaching of our interim moderator from London, Rev. John MacLeod, I was reminded of what a blessing it is to belong to a church that is consistent.  We can welcome any given FP minister to our pulpit and be confident that we will hear the same sound doctrine that we hear from week to week.  We can travel to other FP congregations and experience the same sober, Biblical worship that we would experience in our home congregation.  This is a great comfort, and something I try to not take for granted.

During communion we had a houseguest, a woman from Africa who is currently a student in another part of Texas.  She is a member of one of our FP congregations in Zimbabwe.  We enjoyed getting to know her, and look forward to seeing her again from time to time over the next few years.  It was interesting to find how much we have in common despite being raised in very different parts of the world.  Much of what we have in common is due to our shared FP heritage.  I am reminded that true religion both transcends and molds culture.  "For ye are all one in Christ Jesus."