Prepare...

It's that time of year! Yes, the Christmas music has been playing for almost a month now. The retail stores had the halls decked just after Halloween. I am sure many of us are making our lists and checking them twice. Shopping, parties, gatherings... so many activities fill up a short few weeks in December.

My home is all ready for the holidays! Many of your took a tour of my home last year via blogland, so you know that it takes a lot of work to put up my Christmas decorations. (I love decorating for Christmas). But the one thing I HAD to do before a single ornament was placed on the tree... I had to prepare my heart. Prepare my heart in aniticipation of the coming of the Christ child. Just as my Christmas trees provide a sparkling light to a dark room. Jesus is the brilliant light that came into a dark world to save us from our sin.

As you begin to prepare for the Christmas holiday, as you walk these weeks of Advent toward the manger... prepare your heart, first for the coming of Jesus! The rest of your holiday preparations will all fall into place. And if something doesn't turn out quite right remember... Christ the Savior is born! The tree might be crooked, your cookies might not look as perfect as the pictures in Martha Stewart's magazine... but the babe will still be lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.

I am currently using "Our Daily Bread" Christmas Edition for my morning devotions. The insight from yesterday's devotion stated this: Isaiah is the largest of the "major prophets" and contains more prophecies of the coming of Christ than any other Old Testament book. Perhaps you can read through some of those passages during Advent as your prepare Him room in your heart!

As for me... tonight I am enjoying a toasty fire in the fireplace. My Chrstimas tree is twinkling, the cold rain is falling and Rudolph is playing on the television. What a lovely evening! My plans for this week is to finish my shopping. My sister and I are taking our Grandma out on Friday to "enjoy" the mall! LOL! I know we will have a wonderful time! Friday night we will relax and I just might make some cookies. We have a Christmas party to attend on Saturday and of course Sunday we will enjoy worship, breakfast at Jim's mom's and then watching the Colts with friends!

I pray you enjoy these precious weeks leading up to Christmas. I look forward to visiting your blogs to see what you are up to!

The virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. ~ Isaiah 7:14

I cannot believe it's been so long since my last post! I have to say, I am looking forward to winter. (call me crazy) The pace for me seems to slow a bit as the year comes to a close. I do my best to savor these last months of the year.

We have been very blessed this year in our business... we have been extremely busy even in this down real estate market. Yes! God answers prayer. He has continued to reveal Himself in ways that bring me to my knees and even on some days face down! He continues to provide all that we need. Yes, there still are "wants", however when God is meeting the "needs" it somehow makes the "wants" not very important! I am thankful for that!

I have had so many blog posts in my head, my heart and even on paper that have yet to make it to cyber space. I am hopeful that this winter season can provide me with more blog time.

I am looking forward to spending more time in the kitchen enjoying the comforts of winter cooking! I am looking forward to many evenings (as well as mornings & afternoons) in front of the fireplace. Many of you know that my fireplace and my comfy chair is my favorite place in our home! I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and preparing for Christmas. I am looking forward to my niece's upcoming wedding on January 1st, 2010.

I am looking forward to the hope of the future and what God has in store for me and my family. I am looking back with joy and gratitude for what the Lord has done! I am looking forward to sharing my journey more regularly with my blogland friends in the weeks to come!

I pray all is well with each one of you! I am excited to continue to peek in on your world and catch a glimpse of what God is doing in your lives!

Have a wonderful week friends! It's good to be back!

Labor Day always marks a time of transition in my home. Even though the calendar says autumn begins on September 22nd... Labor Day is the start of fall for me! At least inside the house. Usually I wait until the Saturday after Labor Day to start putting out my fall decorations and lighting fall scented candles. But Labor Day falls a bit later this year and I just couldn't wait any longer. It still feels a bit like summer outside, but inside... the signs of fall have started.

My fall wreath has been hung on the front door... looks like my old wooden door needs a bit of a spruce up! It's looking worn and faded like the color of my hair. (I believe a trip to the "Magic Kingdom" (hair salon) is in order this week as well!

I have several of these amber glass pumpkins... most go on the mantle.

I love this autumnal vine that I place on my dining room chandelier...



We have purchased several mums that need to be planted or put in pots... and I cannot wait to pick up pumpkins when they become available! I love pumpkins!

Jim moved up firewood from the back today... Yippeeee! One of my favorite things to do in the fall and winter... relax in front of a crackling fire w/a good book or an old movie!

Here he is working hard today!


Soon we will join Jim's sister, Ann our brother in law Rick, our niece Stephanie Ann and her fiance' Tim at Jim's mom's house. Today Jim's mom turns 88! We are so happy to be celebrating with her tonight! It marks the first birthday she has celebrated without Jim's dad. It's bittersweet, but we are delighted to be gathering as a family to celebrate the gift she is to all of us! Jim's mom loves fried chicken, so our niece Steph will be bringing Kentucky Fried Chicken and the fixin's. My contribution is this:



The dish doesn't look to appetizing in the photo, but I assure you it is!!!

Jalapeno Popper Mac 'n' Cheese

Ingredients:

Salt & Pepper
1 pound of pasta (I used rotini)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 Jalapeno Peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
2 Serrano chilies, seeded and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups whole milk (I used 2%)
8 ozs of Cream Cheese
2 Tablespoons dried minced onions (I used fresh onion, chopped)
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

1.) Bring a large pot of water to boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente.
Drain and return to pot
2.) In a skillet, heat a drizzle of EVOO over medium heat. Add the jalapenos, serranos and garlic and cook until tender (about 5 minutes). Add to the pasta. (I then saute'd the onion until tender and tossed into the pasta.)
3.) Preheat your broiler. In a saucepan, combine the milk and cream cheese (dried minced onions if you are using them instead of fresh) over medium-low heat cook until smooth. (about 5 minutes) stir into the pasta. Stir in the jack cheese; season w/ salt and pepper
4.) Transfer the pasta into a baking dish and broil until browned, about 3 minutes.

I have truly enjoyed a wonderful holiday weekend. I am embracing our transition into fall! Seasons change... we cannot stop them. Just as God moves us on... embrace each journey, each season each day!

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven

Ecclesiastes 3:1

For me God's Word is clear on the issue of marriage, and God was clear at creation. I also understand we are all sinners and fall short of God's glory and are in need of forgiveness and salvation. I am taught by my Lord Jesus Christ to love the sinner and condem the sin. My perspective on Godly living comes from what God speaks to me in His Word.

Please know... in sharing this post, I am not judging a person or a denomination or branch... I want to address what is happening in our world and in our church, and also share that there is a difference in the Lutheran Church. The press has a way of not sharing the difference. Go figure.

I also ask each of you to pray for the Body of Christ.

My heart is burdened by what is happening not just in the Lutheran Church, but the Christian Church as a whole. Please know this...what I am sharing below are not my words but the resolutions that were passed (and taken from the ELCA website) as well the LCMS president's words as he was able to address the ELCA Churchwide Assembly this past Friday.

This past week I have been asked more than once "What is up with your denomination?"
Prior to discussing what the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) has passed this last week at their Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis, I have had to address that I am a Christian worshipping in a LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) congregation. I know, confusing to those who are not as familiar with the differences in the Lutheran Church. LCMS and ELCA have many differences and I will not address them here, however I would like to share key resolutions that were made this past week and also the LCMS response addressing same-gender relationships as this is the best way I can explain what has transpired:

From ELCA's website

Churchwide Assembly Update
from Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson
...
Resolution 1: “RESOLVED, that the ELCA commit itself to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same-gender relationships.” (Adopted 619-402)

Resolution 2: “RESOLVED, that the ELCA commit itself to finding a way for people in such publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of this church.” (Adopted 559-451)

Resolution 4: This resolution called upon members to respect the bound consciences of those with whom they disagree; declared intent to allow structured flexibility in decision-making about candidacy and the call process; eliminated the prohibition of rostered service by members in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships; recognized and committed to respect the conviction of members who believe that the ELCA should not call or roster people in committed same-gender relationships; called for development of accountability guidelines; directed that amendments to ministry policy documents be drafted and approved; and stated that this church continue to trust congregations, bishops, synods and others responsible for determining who should be called into public ministry. (Adopted 667-307 as amended)

The president of the LCMS had the opportunity to address the Churchwide Assembly and here it he LCMS President's response as pulled from the LCMS webiste.

Address to ELCA Churchwide Assembly, August 22, 2009 (President: Rev. Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick)


Presiding Bishop Hanson, Members of the Assembly, Special Guests, Friends in Christ,

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Over the years of my life and ministry, these words from St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 have become especially meaningful:

God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting mankind’s sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(2 Corinthians 5:19-21, ESV)

What a blessing it is to know that our sin is forgiven, removed from us as far as the east is from the west, because of the atoning sacrifice of Christ on Calvary’s cross. And what a humbling privilege and huge responsibility it is to know that God is making his appeal, through people like you and like me, people with feet of clay, that the world might be reconciled to God through faith in Christ.

I bring you these greetings on behalf of the 2.4 million members of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod at a difficult time in the world and in the church. Economic pressures bring great burdens. Strife finds its way into the LCMS, the ELCA, worldwide Lutheranism, and the Christian Church as a whole. Mankind’s inhumanity to mankind manifests itself in global unrest and worldwide terrorism. Peace is often elusive, both in the world and in the church, as sin and Satan continue to rear their ugly heads in both venues.

Lutherans are no strangers to discord and divisiveness. The Lutheran church was born under such conditions. Yet we also know the path to concord, expressed in these rather straight forward words in The Formula of Concord, written during a notable time of doctrinal controversy and discord in the church. Hear these words from the Kolb-Wengert translation:

"For these controversies are not merely misunderstandings or semantic arguments, where someone might think that one group had not sufficiently grasped what the other group was trying to say or that the tensions were based upon only a few specific words of relatively little consequence. Rather, these controversies deal with important and significant matters, and they are of such a nature that the positions of the erring party neither could nor should be tolerated in the church of God, much less be excused or defended.

"Therefore, necessity demands explanation of these disputed articles on the basis of God’s Word and reliable writings, so that those with a proper Christian understanding could recognize which position regarding the points under dispute is in accord with God’s Word and the Christian Augsburg Confession and which is not, and so that Christians of good will, who are concerned about the truth, might protect and guard themselves from the errors and corruptions that have appeared among us."


The writers of this Formula pledged themselves, and I quote, "to the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments, as to the pure, clear fountain of Israel, which alone is the one true guiding principle, according to which all teachers and teachings are to be judged and evaluated." Discord can become concord when Christian individuals and Christian church bodies are faithful to the Holy Scriptures, which reveal the Gospel of God’s grace, forgiveness, and salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

The very fact that I represent a denomination known as The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod at an assembly of a denomination known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America bears witness to the fact that, sadly and regrettably, in spite of the holy Word and mercy of our God, the Confessions affirmed by the constitutions of both our church bodies, and the faithful example of those who have gone before us, schisms remain, not only in the Christian church, but also in the Lutheran church. We have doctrinal differences that separate us. That is no secret.

I speak these next words in deep humility, with a heavy heart and no desire whatsoever to offend. The decisions by this assembly to grant non-celibate homosexual ministers the privilege of serving as rostered leaders in the ELCA and the affirmation of same gender unions as pleasing to God will undoubtedly cause additional stress and disharmony within the ELCA. It will also negatively affect the relationships between our two church bodies. The current division between our churches threatens to become a chasm. This grieves my heart and the hearts of all in the ELCA, the LCMS, and other Christian church bodies throughout the world who do not see these decisions as compatible with the Word of God, or in agreement with the consensus of 2000 years of Christian theological affirmation regarding what Scripture teaches about human sexuality. Simply stated, this matter is fundamentally related to significant differences in how we understand the authority of Holy Scripture and the interpretation of God’s revealed and infallible Word.

Only by the mercy of our Almighty God does hope remain for us poor, miserable sinners. By His grace, through Word and Sacraments, the evangelical witness and authentic message of sin and grace, Law and Gospel, must resound to a troubled world so desperately in need of His love in Christ.

May God grant each of us sensitivity, humility, boldness, courage, faithfulness, and forgiveness as we continue to strive toward God-pleasing harmony and concord in what we believe, teach, and confess. We have much to accomplish in the mission our Lord Jesus has entrusted to us.

May God have mercy upon us all, and grant us His peace in Christ. "

Again, I pray that each of you know I am not condemning a person or the body... I wanted to address a serious issue that is affecting more than just Lutherans. I am praying dear friends. God's Word stands forever!

As Summer Wanes...

The kitchen calendar has been turned to the month of August, and in true "August" fashion the temps here in Indy have risen into the 90's. I cannot complain however. We have had an extremely mild summer, and it's felt a bit more like a Wisconsin summer than an Indiana summer. My garden has taken a bit of a beating from a big rainstorm last week. The mild summer has prevented my tomatoes from ripening in a manner that fits my time frame! ;) And I am not so sure the brussels sprouts will grow well enough to be served on the Thanksgiving table. I do have to admit... those tomatoes have been worth the wait. They are so flavorful and juicy. To me, a fresh garden tomato is the quintessential summer treat!

Most schools have started here in Indy... in my book, it's too early. The beginning of a school year always a rite of passage that summer is coming to a close.

The clock is ticking closer to Labor Day and I am trying to savor every bit of summer that I can. We still have much to do around the exterior of the house before the cold temps keep us indoors. I want to enjoy more evenings relaxing on the patio... I have many more bike rides to do before the cold keeps us inside on the spin bikes.

As summer wanes... do you have any special plans? Cookouts, household repairs etc? I would love to hear about them!

What is it that you have enjoyed most about the summer of 2009?

During this summer season I have enjoyed many wonderful bike rides. I got to meet my friend Paula's sweet little twins; I have spent some good quality "pool" time with our dearest friends; we have enjoyed running our sweet dog Jet w/ his "girlfriend" - Grace, the Great Dane... plus visiting w/ Grace's mom and dad! My niece got engaged! We enjoyed sleepovers w/ my younger nieces and nephews. So much has been packed into these few short months of summer I can't begin to list them all! There were ups and downs, but summer of 2009 has been full of so many blessings. With activities all over the board... the one thing consistent has been God's great love, mercy and devotion. I am so thankful that He is always there and never slumbers.

Savor this day friends... do not worry about tomorrow... He is in control and Jesus still reigns!!!!