Wednesday, November 12, 2008

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.

26 comments:

Kristen said...

Crud, those are some cute kids!!! Where did you get them?! Oh, yeah! ME!!!!

Tammy said...

Adorable pictures...:D

And wow, you're right...when you husband dreams, he dreams big! LOL

Diane@Diane's Place said...

I can tell the twins apart, I just don't know who has which name, if that makes sense.

At the rate they're going they may be walking by Christmas. Depends on how it takes them to progress from crawling to walking I suppose. Jessica never crawled; she went straight from pulling up to walking, all within a few days time.

Are you sure D. didn't eat pizza or a Reuben sandwich before he went to bed? That's vivid dream all right! ;o)

Hope you're having a good week, Dawn.

Love and hugs,

Diane

Susan said...

Can't believe the twins are getting so big!!!

Our gas is down to $1.759 and we have a 3 cent off card. We may see $1.00 gas again before this is all over. Just goes to confirm to us though how that price was being munipulated on the stock market futures before. Our country is in dire shape. We better be getting out of debt fast and learning to be more self sufficient.
Susan

Nadine said...

Those kiddies get more adorable as they older. They are getting so big.

Thank you for sharing the words to those songs - God is our hope.

SentimentsbyDenise said...

I love that song - His Eye is on the Sparrow. My first piano teacher (a blind man) use to play it for me on the organ - very beautiful! Recently, I've been enjoying Selah's CD: Greatest Hymns and it's on that recording. Their sound is magnificent and my eyes tear up when I sing along with them as I think about the strength of those lyrics!
Thanks for sharing photos of the wee ones - so very cute!

Christa said...

Gas here is down to 2.16, as of last night due to change today most likely.
The girls are just as cute as can be.
I to like to worship with Christian music. I miss singing the older hymns, we mostly sing more contemporary. So much can be said in a song.
God Bless

groovyoldlady said...

I love ALL thoe songs - such depth and hope!

I'm praying for Feisty. I could see my granddaughter Fireball balking if she were in a similar situtation.

Mulletman had such a bad dream the other night that I had to wake him up - he was breathing all weird and shouting out. Turns out he dreamed that a fellow nurse was chasing him through the hosipital and stabbing him with loaded syringes. I like DC's dream alot better!

Diane@Diane's Place said...

I understand about stubborn. There's a very intense strain that runs in my family. As my Mama used to say about herself, and it certainly applies to me: "I lead pretty good, but I don't push worth a hoot!"

Hope y'all can get through to her how bad this can be for her health. Good luck!

Love and hugs,

Diane

nannykim said...

Man, those kids are growing!!

Deb said...

Oh look at how big those twins are getting! I can't believe they're crawling and getting teeth.

I hope that everything will get better with Feisty's troubles in the bathroom, poor thing.

Jess said...

Gas is $1.82 here... so we are so happy about that...

All the kiddos are cute cute cute!

Have a great weekend and enjoyed yoru post today!

Lots of love,
Jess

Needled Mom said...

That was some dream!!!!! I, too, hope they can go back to enjoying their lives after this. Eight years can certainly age you 20!!!

Our gas is still around $2.50, but we are rejoicing over that. Surely beat $4.69!!!!!!

The girls are so cute and I can only imagine how busy they must keep you. Think of all they will get into when they are crawling. Fiesty -- a control freak???? Not a beautiful little girl like that!!!!

Have a great weekend.

nancygrayce said...

Love the hymns, they're some of my favorites! The grands are just so precious and funny and smart and I too hope George can just go home and relax....If I were him I would never want to see Washington again! But it must have been fun to share a room with them! What a vacation....:)

Robin said...

I love that hymn Day by Day and I can't think of the last time we sang it at church.
It is so peaceful and comforting and it's one of the few songs I learned on the piano.
Those twins - they are just so cute! They look strong and healthy to me.

Nancy said...

I love the twins photo's and I've posted new photo's today too. They just bring so much excitement to life.

Sorry to hear there are still issues with Feisty. I will keep her in my prayers.

I've always love the Billy Graham music. God has a way of sending the right song at the right time.

Tell DC, he's hanging out with "good folks" in his dreams. I would love to hear about his conversation with the Pope!

Have a great weekend!

Linda said...

I loved this post Dawn. You know- I keep waiting for Laura to invite us down to Crawford for a visit. I just know we'd have a great time together. So far though...no invite!
I love, love, love those old songs. The words just minister to my spirit. Thanks for reminding me of them.
You are one of the hardest working grandmas I know. I don't know how you do it. You have my utmost admiration. You will have such a sweet, close relationship with those little girls as they grow up.
Thank you for your always encouraging words. You are such a sweet friend.
Have a blessed weekend.

Susie said...

Just stopped in for a quick hello and to catch up on your news! What fun to see pictures of the girls and how they've grown.
We paid $1.99 yesterday for gas. At the rate we're running here, there and everywhere, it was a real blessing, believe me.
xo

Mary said...

Dawn,

It sounds like the girlies are doing great. 13 lbs sounds right to me and she doesn't look under nourished. Who knows what the doctors do nowadays. They baffle me. Sometimes I think we had better doctor's care when I was young. Today they are too busy to really listen to their patients. That's what happened to Aunt May. She told the doctor for a year and a half that there was something wrong because of the severe pain and he didn't even order an x-ray.

Take care, my friend. I hope all is well with you and yours. Thanks for the prayers for Aunt May. They are much appreciated.

Blessings,
Mary

Hootin Anni said...

Love, LOVE the photos of the twins...crawling already, it just doesn't seem possible.

The tree in your neighborhood is gorgeous!

And yes, the gas prices...I'm SO enjoying it.

Midlife Mom said...

What a lovely post Dawn! Those songs are some of my most very favorite. Too bad we don't get to sing them as much as I would like, the P & W songs seem to take over now days. Sometimes I wish we had two services, one traditional and one for the young people with the newer songs. Not that I don't like the P & W songs, I just perfer the older ones. Guess that means I am older! lol!

The pics of the girls are so sweet! They all are just gorgeous! Poor little Fiesty with all her potty problems. No fun but hopefully things will straighten out soon.

Yes I would say DC has great dreams! I've always liked Laura and Barbara Bu*sh. Their compound is a couple hours from here. Of course you can't get anywhere near it and rightly so. They deserve to rest and have some privacy after so many years in service to the country. I for one an tired of everything being blamed onto Geo*rge Bu*sh but I guess it goes with the territory.

Things are improving around here each day. Mom is moving around much better and able to do more for herself. I am still hacking but feel much better and am getting my strength back.

Barb said...

Those trees are beautiful, Dawn. And the pictures on the door are too. :-)

No, I can't tell them apart yet. But they look so good - they've come such a long way. The photo of them on the floor, smiling, is adorable but one look at that photo tells me exactly how busy you are. I've only got the one baby and can't keep up with her!

Carole Burant said...

Love the words to that psalm...any time I'm feeling down, do you know what song helps me? You'll Never Walk Alone...it's been one of my favourite songs since I was a little girl:-)

Gas is .88 cents a liter here right now which makes it about $3.52 a gallon. So much better than the over $6.00 a gallon we were paying!! Sheesh!

Our trees are all completely bare over here and it's been downright frigid these last few days. It's been in the low 20's and high teens with a wicked north wind. Brrrrr. This morning when I brought my mom to go visit Ross in the hospital, I dropped her off at the door and then went to park the car. When I walked to the door to join her, I thought my nose had fallen off, it was frozen! lol

The twins are really growing well...I guess they have their own agenda of when they'll learn to sit! lol We always say that kids are all the same but they really aren't, some learn things faster, others slower, etc.

Glad to hear that Feisty got a clean bill of health where her kidneys are concerned...I know that Kristen was quite worried about that. Some kids are just really stubborn when it comes to toilet training. My friend June's grandson was 4 before he finally decided he knew how to use the toilet...just in time too since he started school a month later! lol

That certainly was quite a dream that DC had! lol Dreams are so fascinating, makes one wonder why we dream the things we do!!! xoxo

Mimi said...

all four of those little girls are just too cute!!!!!
I love the pumpkins care bare made...

Unknown said...

I wish we still had some trees with leaves still on them. I miss the Fall leaves!

I think I can tell Kate & Emma apart now. We have 3 year old twin boys at church that I am still trying to figure out who is who!

Cute pictures!

Sharon Lynne said...

Our trees are just beginning to turn here in Southern California. We've had such hot weather this fall...the trees are delaying.

What a dream! Maybe he's going to meet George someday.

I love Care Bear's Christmas Spirit!