Category Archives: Holidays

Bible Study, Family, Holidays

Home Church – Family Style

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This year we spent some time in the Duckabush (the valley after which our blog is named) with Tim’s family over Christmas. His brother (Mark), sister-in-law (Elizabeth) and family (children – Timothy & wife Sunny, Rebecca and Samuel) were all in town after a long road trip from Virginia/Arkansas/Tennessee. What a delightful gift to spend several days with them. One of the special treats was a morning of Family/Home Church on Sunday.

Chaplain Edgren (aka Grandpa) told us, well in advance, that he was officially handing the service over to the grandchildren. Parceling out the various roles, Joshua led our Sunday School class (Colossians 1 and 2). Moving into the actual worship service, Samuel gave the invocation/call to worship. Timothy preached the sermon (Colossians 3). Sunny led music and played her guitar for us (and piano too, but not at the same time) while the rest of the children sang. David, Daniel and Samuel read scripture. Daniel and Samuel were ushers, while Rebecca, Rachel and Sarah formed the core of the choir. Since the service was not widely publicized, and attendance was by invitation only, it was strictly a family affair.

Sunny led the rest of the group in worship practice

Practice Session for Music

Tim’s dad printed up an elegant bulletin for our morning service — there is nothing quite like having the whole family together and enjoying a home church.

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DSC_9088a

Important to know the Order of Events for the service.

Tim and his dad have both been leading adult Bible classes for years. I think between them they have taught at least 60 years of Sunday School and covered most of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation with the Reformation, Marriage and Parenting thrown in the mix. How inspiring, then, to have Joshua leading our Sunday School discussion this Christmas. He makes a third generation of Bible teachers in the family. He cleverly split us into groups of two and assigned us each a portion of Colossians 1 and 2. With Timothy preaching on Colossians 3 the second hour, it is clear that teaching and preaching the Word of God will persist in our family legacy.

Let's study Colossians!

Let’s study Colossians!

It was a treat and delight to spend time with our nephew Timothy’s new wife. Sunny and Tim were married in Arkansas this summer and she is already proven as a wonderful addition to our family.

Christmas 2013 457a

What an incredible blessing to have three generations gathered together to worship the Lord – with each person participating from the youngest to the oldest.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100

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Daily Life, Holidays

All Glory Be to Christ our King!

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Many years Kathy throws a party on New Years’ Eve, inviting as many people as she can reasonably expect will fit into our house. This year we had 47 people in the house (although fortunately not all at once) for games, fellowship, and lots of tasty treats.

In spite of Joshua's hatred of 'fake' trees, we used our artificial Christmas tree this year.

In spite of Joshua’s hatred of ‘fake’ trees, we used our artificial Christmas tree this year.

Usually the men-folk squirrel themselves upstairs for strategy gaming, while the ladies occupy the family room for party games like Head of the Herd or Scum. The teens and young adults often stake out the living room for Mafia or Resistance, while the youngest kids make the best of it in the garage.

Sometimes we try to add some spiritual significance to the evening, by adding scheduled events on the half-hour, but this year only one special event made the cut. Our dear sometime-adoptive daughter Jenny brought words for an adaptation of Auld Lang Syne, which we sang around the piano just after midnight.

Should nothing of our efforts stand
No legacy survive
Unless the Lord does raise the house
In vain its builders strive.

To you who boast tomorrow’s gain
Tell me what is your life
A mist that vanishes at dawn
All glory be to Christ!

[Chorus]
All glory be to Christ our King!
All glory be to Christ!
His rule and reign we’ll ever sing,
All glory be to Christ!

His will be done, His kingdom come
On earth as is above
Who is Himself our daily bread
Praise Him the Lord of love.

Let living water satisfy
The thirsty without price
We’ll take a coup of kindness yet
All glory be to Christ!

[Chorus]

When on the day the great I Am
The faithful and the true
The Lamb who was for sinners slain
Is making all things new.

Behold our God shall live with us
And be our steadfast light
And we shall ere His people be
All glory be to Christ!

[Chorus]

A spiritual version of Auld Lang Syne is a great way to ring in the new year!

A spiritual version of Auld Lang Syne is a great way to ring in the new year!

I was too far away from the piano to read the words (47 people make a tightly-packed crowd in our home) but I got a chance to sing it with a smaller group the next day. I loved the chance to reflect on the joy and hope that our King gives us, as we face a new year!

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Holidays

New Year’s Eve Party

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Rachel and Sarah decorated the whiteboard.

Love chalkboard markers – decorate the pantry door.

I posted all sorts of pictures on Facebook from our (infamous?) New Year’s Eve party, but Joshua isn’t on FB these days and he sweetly asked/begged/entreated that we start blogging again.

It was wonderful having Timothy and Joshua home for Christmas

It’s 2013 and I would love to begin blogging again. Spending Christmas with Mamie (my mom) and Joshua (home from college) made me realize how precious it is to capture some of the big and little events of our lives and share them.

Time for some Mexican Train!

For the past several years we’ve hosted an open house style New Year’s Eve party. We invite friends, make lots of food, clean like crazy, set out games and then enjoy the hours until midnight. This year was no different. The guest list grew and grew until I was both worried I had forgotten someone important/special and concerned that our house wouldn’t hold everyone.

One of the best things about the party was having all the kids/teens/college students gathered around playing games and laughing.

Thankfully teenagers are willing to crowd in on the couches and also sit on the floor, and little ones are happy to run around in the garage (cleaned and organized and stocked with Nerf guns and Wii games). There was plenty of food, laughter and games. I think we had games going in several rooms of the house and food spread over the kitchen table and counter tops.

Daniel and Mamie made a delicious Bûche de Noël for the party.

The men hid upstairs in their own game room.

Ahhh, it was a lovely party. We were delighted to have the King family visiting from Germany. And one of the best moments was when some guests (love you, Debbie and Tung) arrived AFTER midnight. We gleefully (loudly) counted down the New Year AGAIN. We talked, laughed, and ate our way well into 2013.

Robert (here from Germany) and Katie.

Time for a hug – Allison, Heather and Hannah

Ringing in the new year!

Grace helped with the countdown.

This year I stole an idea from Pinterest for a New Year’s Eve balloon countdown. We filled 13 balloons with little pieces of paper and marked the balloons with a time (from 6pm to 12:00) and taped them around the house. At each half an hour we popped a balloon and followed the instructions written on the paper.

Some of the activities:
1) Gather in the kitchen and sing “O Come All Ye Faithful”
2) Tell one thing you are thankful for
3) Hand out a mini candy cane to all the children
4) Share a goal for 2013
5) Stop and pray for LC3 (our church)

I LOVED this idea and am definitely including it in our New Year’s Eve traditions. Next time I will be more careful in planning the timing of the different instructions and I will throw in some more silly ones for the kids.

Sarah, Lizzie, Ceara, Hannah, Emma, Julia and Tarah pose for a picture.

Several years ago we had so much food leftover we had a New Year’s party AFTER the New Year’s Eve party. One night of games and friends just wasn’t enough. Another year Joshua was leaving for a trip to Africa and we had to move our celebration back a bit.

Sarah, Jenny, Allison, Rachel and Heather – beautiful on the inside and out.

Who knows what 2013 will hold.

Happy New Year!

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David, Holidays, Kathy, Rachel

Low-Budget Valentine’s Day

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As many of you know, my wife loves to celebrate. It doesn’t take much — Arbor Day, Saint Ignatius’ Day — any excuse will do for festivities. And once she’s managed to make a big deal out of an occasion twice, it is automatically promoted to ‘Tradition’ status.

More and more, I see her Mama in my beautiful Rachel.

Usually we pull out all the stops for Valentine’s Day, but this year, we decided not to spend any money on gifts for each other. Once that unpleasant decision was made, it became easier to agree that the kids ‘could probably do without any special gifts’, too. Being careful with money is always difficult for us.

Although I didn't buy flowers for my Kathy, her Mom bought some beautiful tulips!

At the last minute, both Kathy and I weakened. I bought a large box of Haagen Dazs ice cream bars for the kids, and Kathy spent much of the night making (and printing) Valentines for her favorite five children. After all, it is a Tradition.

David has eyes only for his Valentine.

Tim

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Holidays, Joshua

Lost Days of 2011 — No More Fake Trees

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Last year was not a banner year for our family blog. We had only 10 posts, and none from Joshua’s birthday (October 18) forward. Remembering my previous assertion that “if it wasn’t on the blog, it didn’t happen” I am moved to remember a few of the ‘lost days’ of 2011.

About five or six years ago, Kathy visited Lowe’s during the post-Christmas sales, and saw a deal on an artificial Christmas tree that she couldn’t resist. She brought it home, and we’ve saved $30 or $40 each year since, with our re-useable artificial tree. Sadly, it drives Joshua crazy — he actively hates the very idea of an artificial tree. But once you have a fake tree, you might as well use it; so we’ve turned a deaf ear to the grinding of his teeth.

Joshua examines a possible candidate

This year, he’d had enough. “I don’t care about the money,” Joshua insisted. “This may be the last Christmas I am living at home, and by golly we’re getting a real tree.” Sensing our objection, he headed us off at the pass. “I’ll pay,” he growled.

So we all jumped in the car after church on that fine December day, and we soon found ourselves in the Lowe’s parking lot. Dutifully, we trooped in behind Joshua, as he dismissed the lesser trees and settled on a sturdy-looking $40 specimen.

“Now that’s a Noble Fir,” I told the kids, showing off my arboreal expertise.

“Yeah, we can read, too, Dad.” They pointed at the ‘Noble Firs’ sign that I was trying to conceal.

It was truly a Noble Fir -- everyone agreed.

Soon we had bagged the tree and were tying it to the roof of our van, in triumph. We brought it home and found the tree stand that Debbie L. had somehow not forced us to give to the Goodwill in one of her several stints as our garage-cleaning and decluttering consultant.

Daniel and Joshua put their knot-tying expertise to good use, securing the tree.

It was actually quite a fun family outing, nearly worth the $40 that poor Joshua had to shell out for the tree. The only problem was that the tree was so perfectly formed, that everyone who saw it assumed it was a fake tree, which drove Joshua back to grinding his teeth. Still, it was very nice to have the scent of pine in the house — we kept it until the end of January, to eke out every last penny of value.

Admittedly, our whole family is very fond of Christmas

Even the new kittens liked it. Turning up their noses at their water bowls, they insisted on drinking out of the tree-stand at the base of the tree.

Tim

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