A City Life For Me

I haven't always made Easter a big celebration.  Usually on Easter we pull out our new spring church outfits.  We always have a nice ham dinner.  But otherwise, Resurrection Sunday is a busy ministry day for our family. Recognizing that celebrating Christ's resurrection is just as important, if not more important, than celebrating His birth, I have been trying to make an effort to make it a special family holiday.  Here are some things I am doing to accomplish this! Sometimes our family celebrates Easter on Monday, when we can focus on it after the minsitry at church is completed.  I spread a nice table with tablecloth and our special dishes. I make a special menu. Sometimes Ben puts together a rough cross and we nail our sins to it, as a visual picture of what Christ did on the cross.  Then we celebrate His resurrection, recognizing that He did not stay dead, but conquered death, the cross, and our sins.  This year we will do t...

Here are some resources and printables for you as you prepare for Resurrection Sunday! My friend MaryEllen shared 15 verses for the Resurrection, and she includes a free printable hymn art.  I love decorating my house with Scripture, so these kind of printables are right up my alley!  Read the post at Imperfect Homemaker HERE . Available in MaryEllen's store, you can get a beautiful printable set of Resurrection verses to use in family devotions, as well as a printable banner (my newest favorite in home decor  is changing out a banner with the season or holiday!), and three printable hymn arts.  Purchase it HERE . The Isaiah 53 study in the Busy Mama's series is excellent. Study the prophecy of Jesus as the Lamb of God.  You can purchase the PDF or paperback HERE .  You will finish after Easter if you start now, but it is still worth the time and effort! When I was studying Isaiah 53 through Doorposts two years ago, I created this picture ...

   On the streets of Brooklyn after church…   

We planned an outreach blitz for our Kingsbridge neighborhood in the Bronx.  Things were so up in the air with the house and possible closing date that we didn’t invite many people, but Ben’s parents did come down to help us distribute special invites.  They looked like this… I have never really made a big deal out of St. Patrick’s Day.  After all, I’m not Irish, not a big fan of green, and I don’t drink.  But I saw some cute craft ideas online and decided to teach the kids about the real Patrick – the one who evangelized Ireland in the 5th century. Elaine’s drawings I set the kids up with some how to draw videos for festive leprechauns and pots of gold.  They did good, huh?     Nolan’s Drawings    I made these candy jars for the kids with Rolo’s and sorted Skittles.  The tags say “You’re My Pot of Gold at the End of My Rainbow!   We finished the day off with homemade Shamrock Shakes!  (Ben wore this green outf...

This post has been brewing for a couple of years now.  I guess I’m finally brave enough to voice my thoughts.  But I have been censored and edited by my husband, who is much gentler and more forgiving than I. Through many of the recent posts floating around Facebook and Instagram (my favorite social network these days), it has become apparent to me that the celebration of Halloween is no longer taboo for many of my Bible believing friends.  I am personally very disturbed by this. Why is it that a holiday which is so evidently associated with evil has become something which Christians feel they can or have to participate in?  Why should we even celebrate it in an alternative manner? These verses are continually coming to mind: Ephesians 5:11 – “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” 2 Corinthians 6:14b-15 “…for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?  and what communion hath light with darkne...

This morning we left for our next round of deputation meetings – six months of travel without going home.  We are heading all the way to the west coast – from San Francisco all the way to Vancouver and many stops in between.  When this trip is over, we will have traveled through all of the lower 48 states with the exception of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana.  We have spent most of this month searching for a home in the Bronx.  I am so weary of packing a lunch and spending all day in the car to drive 58 miles south to the Bronx and view several homes, fighting traffic on both ends of the trip.  We had one house almost under contract (Ben was tying his shoes to go meet with the lawyer when the inspection report turned up a problem that could not be settled).  We have submitted offers on two others but nothing has become “ours.”  I am disappointed, and I have cried many tears knowing that when we return after Thanksgiving it will not be to our...

:: A Family Water Fight to expel some we’ve-been-on-the-road-and-house-shopping-a-lot-lately woes! The twins used some birthday money from Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa Paul to buy water guns! :: Happy Henry has some teeth!   Top teeth! :: Memorial Day Parade, Cornwall, NY so small that the entire parade went by twice, and we were there less than 30 minutes!   Flags from the boy scouts // Learning to put his hat over his heart out of respect for the flag My two littlest boys