Thursday, April 7, 2022 (click here to read today’s scriptures)
Morning has broken, like the first morning
We made cookies with Jasper for Andi’s birthday yesterday. She came after school with Miles, and everybody had gifts for her. Miles gave her a snow globe filled with colored paper he cut into tiny pieces. Jasper gave her a beautiful red necklace. I gave her a huge photo of a wagon wheel, taller than Jasper, big enough to decorate the largest wall.
But mostly, it was the cookies. We sang Happy Birthday, led by Miles, who had by far the strongest voice, even if it’s only five years old. We poured whole milk into small glasses and served the biggest chocolate chunk almond gluten free cookies I’ve ever seen. Jasper was jumping up and down.
He helped measure and pour the sugar and the flour, the vanilla and the eggs, and then he stirred and stirred. We threw in chocolate chunks and slivered almonds and stirred some more. A few times he was unsure about whether to stir and stir, or lick the spoon. Finally we were finished and he sat on the floor and licked the bowl. That took awhile. Not long after that we had mussels for lunch. He drank the mussel juice and flexed his arms. Before lunch Jasper took a break, sat in the sun looking out the window, and read his book.
I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
Naps. Deep sleep for Jasper. He awoke after two hours or so, but only slowly, with gentle encouragement. I plopped him beside the cookie-making table. We used our big disher to make our huge cookies. The disher was too much for his little hands and wrists, but he pushed each pile of dough down with his palm. The cookies were done just about the same time his brother and mommy came in the door. And like I said, he was jumping up and down, running back and forth, shouting. So proud. And the whole apartment smelled so good.
Jesus said, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing. But it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’”
At school Andi got to celebrate her birth moment today, she said. 1:10 pm, born on a Sunday afternoon. And someone saved a copy of the Austin Statesmen for her, to add to the pile of April 6 papers she has collected over the years. Andi was a papergirl in our Urbana neighborhood in the 1990’s. She sat on the floor, rolled up the papers and rode her bike around the block, day after day after day. Our black lab Bear went with her. She started saving birthday papers then.
Miles discovered voice recording with the phone he gets to use, and so we have a record of that birthday song. The best part about birthdays in our family is that it’s the beginning of Birthday Week, so … who knows what joys and beauties we have yet to behold?
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”
My cousin Jan is on Amtrak’s Texas Eagle as I write (on Wednesday). The train was held up for three hours east of Dallas by a rambunctious freight train, but she will be in Austin soon. We’ll pick her up and host her time in Austin. She’s excited, and so are we.
Some nice quiet time, a little driving tour, and at least two fabulous meals out on the town. Plus sitting by the pool and sharing thoughts. Like Margaret and I, Jan is a spiritual director, as well as a Lutheran deaconess. We have often enjoyed sharing thoughts.
So … this is a good week for us, full of family and friends. Our taxes will get done, but for right now, they just will have to wait.
Look to the Lord in his strength; seek to serve him constantly.
(Genesis 17, Psalm 105, Psalm 95, John 8)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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