Palm Sunday

Today, April 5, is Palm Sunday. At least that's what the Sunday before Easter used to be called. And on this Sunday, my father always preached about the Lord's triumphant ride into Jerusalem just prior to the events leading up to his betrayal, crucifixion, and Resurrection. His meteoric rise to fame was something in that day. No TV or teleprompters to get his message across. Just crowds in the hot sun on the side of hills around the City.

Christ came into Jerusalem as a King. He was honored, worshipped, adored. Five days later he was dead, killed by the His church with the help of the government, or do I have that backwards.

Makes no difference. My point is that I haven't heard a message on Palm Sunday regarding Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem in over 20 years. No longer does the choir or a soloist sing "The Palms". No longer do soloists sing "The Holy City". I miss that. Two musical pieces that can only be sung on a certain Sunday in the year, are only a memory in elder minds and hearts.

Our Palm Sunday service did not include palms laid down the center aisle, we were told to visualize what it was like for Christ to ride into town on the back of a donkey while people laid those palm fronds as a way before him. We rejoiced at the beginning of the service, then as the service wound down, daddy would let us know that the most difficult week of our Savior was coming and we left knowing what the following week would bring -- both in Church services and in our minds and hearts.

If you haven't read this part of Christ's life recently, do so. You can find it in: Matthew 21:1-11; Jude 19:29-40; and Mark 11:1-11. (that would be in the Bible)

Ellie is two

I don't know Ellie very well. Sceduling problems and illness (for me) has not permitted me to spend much time with her. Her other grandmother and I were together last week for a few hours while she (Grinnie) was babysitting while her mom (Cyndi) was having her sixth baby (Jack) and was in the hospital. I told Grinne that I didn't know Ellie very well, and that she didn't know me. She told me, Ellie didn't know her either, and she had been babysitting her for two days! She told me her (Grinnie's) year -- she's taking care of an invalid mother -- didn't permit her much time for any "socializing".

Well, on Saturday, we're celebrating Ellie's second birthday. And I do love that little girl. She really is a cutie. She won't smile for me, but then when I DO see her it's usually right after her nap, and she isn't really awake yet. See? Scheduling problems.

Her birthday was actually last week, but with Jack being born and her mom being in the hospital the celebration was put off. She's now two. Will she remember that we didn't have her birthday party on her birthday? I don't think so.

I hope you all like the picture, taken last week ON HER BIRTHDAY, March 20.

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Trees

I noticed this afternoon that the trees are starting to bud. Here in Northern KY we have different trees than I remember having in Southern NJ. Here the trees budding are flowering pear, flowering crab apple, and red bud. The dogwoods aren't quite ripe yet.

In S. Jersey I don't recall those trees, except for the dogwoods. What I remember about the first blooms of spring were the forsythia, crocus, daffodils, followed by lilac, dogwood, and lily of the valley. I remember walking in the "woods" down beyond 7th Avenue on our side of the pike, with my mother, and she would point out the trees by name, the wild plants, by name, and it all went over my head. I wish I had paid more attention.

I also noticed that the bulb plants are just about ready to bloom, maybe in a week or so if the warm weather holds.

I know this is short, but I wanted to record something I noticed today while laying in bed looking out the huge window wall and just noticing that the grass is now green and the trees are blooming!

March 1959

Why would I remember March of 1959? Well, it's because the weather was so unusual that year.

I became quite good at predicting the weather because I "read" the signs in the sky. And the day before my 16th birthday I told everyone it was going to snow and we would have at least one snow day from the snow that was coming. No one believed me because the weather that particular day, the day of "the revelation", was absolutely beautiful. Cold, but clear and beautiful.

But...

As we looked out the window of one of the classrooms that faced West, I notice a line of clouds, low on the horizon, and I pointed them out to a few people who knew about "the revelation." Still they laughed.

Well, about 6 P.M. that evening they weren't laughing. It was snowing, and it was snowing hard.

Did we have a snow day? You bet, several in fact. But that was just the beginning the that particular March.

We had snow almost every other day for two weeks, and we didn't see the street (tar) for almost a month. At the end of the month -- when it was spring already -- we had another storm which was not only snow, but it was also ice. At that storm caused us to lose electricity.

We had a gas stove, so the kitchen was warm. And dad had a small kerosene heater, which he put in the living room. So downstairs, except for the bathroom and the two bedrooms was comfortable, if you wore a coat. But upstairs, where my sister and I slept, it was cold. Cold enough so that you could see your breath.

We muddled through that week. There was no school, that week either. And we didn't get back to school until April. It was so much fun, if you liked cold and snow, and what kid doesn't?

The only problem was that we had so many snow days that we lost a lot of school time, and in those days there weren't make-up days like there are now. At least we didn't get out any later in June. We may have missed out three-day spring break (Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Monday), but that was it.

Times have changed, and that really was a very cold winter. Not our normal winter. And people were predicting the beginning of an ice age. So on this global warming thing, I say wait and see. I don't think there's going to be massive flooding because the arctic and Antarctica melt. I think, perhaps, we'll see more cold weather. I mean I think this past winter was pretty cold, not as cold at 1977, but cold, just the same.

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How sweet to hold a newborn baby!

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives;
But greater still the calm assurance:
This child can face uncertain days because He Lives!

(words by Bill Gaither)

This says so much, and I think of my mother who was told she couldn't have children because of physical difficulties she had, but God was so good to her. She loved children. God gave her four children to hold as newborns, and while she would have liked more, the doctor warned her that if she did she could die, and so having more babies was out for her.

I remember vividly, my mom sitting on her bed, a few days after my brother Carl was born, nursing him, and even at the age of 6 (almost 7), I could tell how much she loved that baby, and I could see her pride and joy. And I know my mom was thinking, this is a child I MUST raise to know my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And she told him about the Lord, and she prayed for him (and all her children) until the days before she died.

So, while I was holding this newborn baby, my last grandchild, Jack, I was thinking of the words of the song "Because He Lives", which I love so much.

*Picture is of Cyndi and Jack, 3/18/09, minutes after Jack's birth. Cyndi was really, really happy to be holding her newborn baby.

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New Family Member

(Top picture baby, bottom picture Jack and Mommy, Cyndi).

Well today, March 18, 2009, we welcomed a new member into our ever growing family.

Jack.

Jack will probably never see Runnemede, but he will hear about it because I will tell him about the town I loved so much as a child.

Jack is my 15th grandchild. Two are with our Lord. The rest are learning about Jesus and learning to love Him and walk with Him.

I am so thankful for my father's best gift to me -- that of teaching me about God and our Lord and how to walk with my Saviour day by day. I hope to be able to teach Jack some of what my father, who served at Mt. Calvary Union Church in Runnemede for over 50 years, taught me and his congregation.

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Second Avenue homes

I love this picture. My dad's arm is around me and I know he was holding me tight so I wouldn't move. His arm is also around Mark, who is so proud of his train engine. Carl and his dimples. He had the best dimples in the world. We all had dimples, but his were deepest of all us children.

Did you notice the toy on the ground just behind us? It's a crane. I remember that toy so well.

What I really love about this picture is that it shows the homes of my friends. First house on the left if Janette and Butchy Britain's house, the next house on the left is the Strike's home (Betty and her mom). Everyday Betty would run down the block to catch the bus to her job at NJ Bell Tel, and every evening she would run back up the block to her home so she could feed her mom. You could set your watch to her comings and goings.

On the right, the first house you see is the Dunne's. In house lived Betty Anne. She was my sister's age, but I loved going to that tiny house and playing there. It was so unique, and Mrs. Dunne and I always talked about her decorating and how did she think the living room would look if we moved a piece of furniture to a different place. What fun for me.

After that on the right is Wallace's house. Linda (my age) and David (my sister's age) lived in that house, along with their mom and dad (Aunt Peg and Uncle Ben). They weren't really our Aunt and Uncle, but we called them that.

It was a TRIPLE house. Two homes downstairs, and one home upstairs. It was a converted school house. Mr. Wallace (Uncle Ben) did a lot of renovating in that place. That was another house I loved to visit. Uncle Ben's mother lived in the other downstairs unit, and Mrs. Dunne's sister whose name escapes me, lived upstairs. That was also unique because it was the only home I'd ever been in that had a sun porch. A real sun porch. Not like our enclosed porch. I can't describe it, except I remember there being a lot of plants in there.

So, that's why I like this picture -- because it evokes so many memories for me.

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