Sorrow's Scars

This sweet page in one of my devotionals really blessed me this morning.....

Sorrow's Scars

Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now, therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people.” Joshua 1:1-2

Sorrow came to you yesterday, and emptied your home.  Your first impulse is to give up, and sit down in despair amid the wrecks of your home.  But you dare not do it.  You are in the line of battle and the crisis is at hand.

Weeping inconsolably beside a grave can never give back love’s banished treasure, nor can any blessing come out of such sadness.  Yet there is a humanizing and fertilizing influence in sorrow which has been rightly accepted and cheerfully borne.  Indeed, they are poor who have never suffered and have none of sorrow’s marks upon them.  The joy set before us should shine upon our grief as the sun shines through the clouds, glorifying them.  God has so ordered, that in pressing on in duty we shall find the truest, richest comfort for ourselves.  Sitting down to brood over our sorrows, the darkness deepens about us and creeps into our heart, and our strength changes to weakness.  But, if we turn away from the gloom, and take up the tasks and duties to which God calls us, the light will come again, and we shall grow stronger.  (J.R. Miller) 

Taken from... A Gentle Spirit: Devotional Selections for Today's Christian Woman

9 years and a Cheeseburger Cake

Our little "Will-Bug" and "Shell-Belle" celebrated 9 years of life this month!  We have had such a sweet time of celebrating them and enjoyed 2 separate gatherings to commemorate this milestone! It is such a joy to see them grow and watch their individual personalities develop and at the same time they definitely are twins and similar in so many ways! 

William continues to be so faithful in his tenderness in response to instruction from us, he is always willing to work with rarely a complaint, he LOvEs building all he can with KNEX and LEGOS, he constantly asks Daddy how he can help him or if he can work or build with him around the house, he has great tenacity in his schoolwork and some of the best handwriting I have ever seen for such a young man!  His handwriting speaks of a future as an “architect” or “engineer” to me!  He is always willing to play many hours of “Little House on the Prairie” with his sister’s out in our red building they have converted to their frontier home! Hands down, he has to be the most longsuffering big brother anyone has ever met….someday JD will have the privilege of understanding what a gem he has in his older brother William. 

Shelley is all girl, all the time and we love it!  She has a penchant for all things pink or purple, she loves spending hours listening to stories/books on CD while her imagination is living the story in her mind.  She so enjoys “playing out” those stories for hours on end with her siblings in their makeshift frontier home.  Shelley is also so faithful in her schoolwork and also has beautiful penmanship herself! She is quite dependable in her chores and work around the house, always willing to do the next thing I might ask of her.  She loves to read stories to little ones and is so helpful to me when JD needs a little quieting down.  One of the best ways to pass the time for JD is to snuggle next to his big sis for a story time.  She loves being “little momma” when big sister Isabelle and I happen to be gone at the same time and she does a marvelous job filling in my shoes. 

They chose a delicious birthday dinner again this year…. Chicken Carbonara, garlic ceaser salad and golden garlic bread…. it is all “to die for” food!  They both wanted Kelsey and Aaron Tolsma over for their birthday dinner celebration and so we had a sweet time of fellowship with the two of them a couple nights ago.  This year for dessert they chose a Cheeseburger Cake!  WOW…. what an endeavor!  I baked everything, got all we needed from the store and planned on putting it all together and then my gem of a hubby actually ended up doing the assembly for me and he did an amazing job!  He had some interesting cake to work with as the top part that was supposed to be the bun had a hard time coming out of the bowl it was baked in and then broke into 3 pieces, but his talents prevailed and created an awesome and memorable cheeseburger cake! Children are a sweet blessing from the gracious hand of the Lord and it was another precious year of celebrating these two “not so little” ones that we love so dearly.