Thursday Thoughts

I love it when God puts a service together, when the songs speak to me right where I am. Sunday's songs did just that.

O God Our Help In Ages Past

Based on Psalm 90

Words by Isaac Watts, 1719

Music by William Croft, 1708

O God, our Help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Our Shelter from the stormy blast,

And our eternal Home!

Under the shadow of Thy throne

Still may we dwell secure;

Sufficient is Thine arm alone,

And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,

Or earth received her frame,

From everlasting Thou art God,

To endless years the same.

O God, our Help in ages past,

Our Hope for years to come,

Be Thou our Guide while life shall last,

And our eternal Home.

Day by Day

Words, Caroline Sandell-Berg, 1865

Music, Oscar Ahnfelt, 1872

Day by day, and with each passing moment,

Strength I find to meet my trials here.

Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,

I've no cause for worry or for fear.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure

Gives unto each day what He deems best,

Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day the Lord Himself is near me,

With a special mercy for each hour.

All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,

He whose name is Counselor and Power.

The protection of His child and treasure

Is a charge that on Himself He laid,

"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,"

This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then, in every tribulation,

So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,

That I lose not faith's sweet consolation,

Offered me within Thy holy Word.

Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,

E'er to take, as from a Father's hand,

One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,

Till I reach the promised land.

His Eye is on the Sparrow

Words, Civilla Martin, 1905

Music, Charles Gabriel, 1905

Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?

Why should my heart be lonely, And long for heav'n and home.

When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He.

His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me.

"Let not your heart be troubled," His tender words I hear;

And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubt and fear.

Tho' by the path He leadeth, But one step I may see,

His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted, Whenever clouds arise,

When songs give place to sighing, When hope within me dies,

I draw the closer to Him; From care He sets me free.

His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me.

I sing because I'm happy; I sing because I'm free.

For His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me.

Remember Mahalia Jackson singing that song during just about every Billy Graham Crusade? Did you ever get to go to a crusade service? They came to Omaha when I was in high school. I felt so privileged to sing in the choir under Cliff Barrows' directing.

Speaking of Billy Graham Crusades - my uncle Joe was a missionary pilot back in the 1950s in Africa, and he got to fly the team when they had the crusade in Africa. I remember being very proud of that and telling it at "show and tell" in elementary school.

Can you believe this??? I have a card that gives me another 7 cents off per gallon because I buy a lot of groceries - $1.89! How long has it been since you got a gallon of gas for less than $2.00!? I'm not sure why it's happening - it's probably not good for the economy. But right now I'm enjoying a bit of a break!

Care Bear, the Event Planner, has been a busy little beaver. Halloween was over, but she still decorated a few more pumpkins with marker pen.

And she already has the front door of her house ready for Christmas.

Most of the trees are now barren, or at least brown. This one doesn't appear to have dropped any of its leaves yet, and I love how some of it is still green.

The little buddies in their last shower gifts to grow into.

Working really hard on learning to crawl! They're so much more contented now that they can roll around and scoot on their elbows to reach every button, toy, magazine, chord, ball possible. Keeps me on my toes!! Katie pulled the phone off the lamp table - thank goodness it didn't land on her head, and is very lightweight! Strangely, though, they're not sitting up yet. The doctor says their hip muscles are tight, so we've been working on exercising them - they giggle uproariously when I put their toes in their mouths.

Also, they're teething - both have two bottoms and Kate is getting two tops. They seem to have their schedules a bit mixed up - teeth and crawling before sitting up!

So who's the neater eater??? Can you tell which is who?

Emma weighs 13 pounds (she's the messy one, BTW), and Kate is up to 14.5. The doctor thinks Emma needs to see a nutritionist - I can't imagine her being any more healthy or feisty. I think they dream up things to worry about.

Feisty the First got a clean bill of health as far as kidneys go, but she still has the issues in the bathroom that we have to deal with. Kristen goes into much detail in her latest post. We've decided it is a control issue with Miss Feisty, and are going to try to work on her stubbornness by letting her have more ownership of scheduling her trips to the bathroom. The very nice lady doctor had a long talk with her about needing to be on quite a rigid schedule, and it's not going over very well with Feisty. She definitely has a mind of her own - please continue to pray for that mind and whatever is blocking her progress, emotional as well as physical. Thanks!


Finally - a funny story. DC doesn't dream very often, but when he does, it's worth remembering. Last night he dreamed that he and I were on vacation with George and Laura Bush - in fact, we were even staying in the same room - hope it was a suite! He and George were sitting on the bed getting ready for the day (probably putting on their shoes to go out for a run or a bike ride), and talking about DC's conversation with the pope.

I've always thought Laura and I could be friends - we could talk about books all day long - and twins. I hope that they can go back to Texas and enjoy a peaceful life out of the public eye.