There is a coconut cake* in the oven and the doors and windows are open wide to let the spring air flow freely. I hear something (?) in the neighborhood – is some one mowing already?
The washer and dryer are at their rumbly-sounds work and my dining room table is lined with colorful Easter bags, each designated for one amazing grandbebe or another, as I busily prepare for THE day, the day more important than all the rest of the days ever – the one celebrating what Jesus did. Easter. Resurrection – the complete and finished work. New life, the new birth, the fulfillment of all longing. I can’t help humming, singing, contemplating
Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow
And we are rejoicing for we have a Savior and we are also waiting, longing for the new little bebe who will join us soon. Jovan and Rocky were “due” on Friday and so, as every woman who has ever gone past her due date will attest, the longing increases to almost unbearable heights for birth, for what has been carried, to see the baby who has been hidden, being knitted by the very hands of God, right here, right now in our arms, in our sights, please, Lord! From womb to waiting arms. From darkness to light. From will-this-ever-happen to the miraculous she is here! From waning, worn-out hope to bright-light joy!
Mommy and daddy are ready! Mommy is really really ready, doing the hardest of the work. :)
All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Romans 8.22-25
We are enlarged in the waiting! Oh, my goodness, our expectancy is JOYFUL!
So we are remembering Jesus, all He did, what His suffering and death on the cross gave us – while we were still actually sinners {don’t give up on this evil world, my friends and family – what Jesus did was enough and is enough for even these troubled days, for all men, for all times}. Jesus is all.
And we are looking ahead with joyful expectancy for this new little girl, Baby-Girl Rhoades and we are blessed, so blessed.
So pray for Jovan if you think about it. Pray for that promised strength to deliver (Isaiah 66) and Have a blessed Easter.
Jesus died. But He conquered death and rose. And His blood washes white and His wounds brought us healing and what He has done means everything. So be blessed on Easter!
I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small; Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.
Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow”
Soon!
*About the coconut cake…Pure decadence. I have been delivered of the very luscious, yet too-many-steps-from-scratch recipe I used to make to Heather’s delightful use-a-mix-and-you’ll-never-go-back-deliciousness. It is a wonderful cake. Maybe I will share the recipe with you! Soon.
Once the bird’s song dissipates in the afternoon sun, which I presume means they are napping or resting their voices for tomorrow’s bright chorus, soft quiet rides through the open windows on golden sunbeams, with only an occasional variation.
A little girl on her hot pink Big Wheel pedals down the sidewalk, which is still slightly gritty from sand and salt leftover from a snow, before all signs of winter are finally, fully past.
There is a sound to the spring sidewalk, pedal-pedal-pedal, the hot pink Big Wheel moves steadily. A small Wire-haired Terrier follows brightly behind, with the grandma and grandpa straggling as they pull baby sister along in a Little Tykes wagon. Their family Easter parade takes up nearly half a city block and is delightful to behold, leaving a trail of sweet. gritty noise behind them.
Whilst one quick-dries home-tended and harvested rosemary between 2 paper towels in the microwave for future use, one willst be overcome with an immediate and strong urge for fresh-baked foccachia.
Happy Birthday, Belle-Baby, our little chin-dimpled Amelie-girl with the curly locks and impish smile! You are 3 today!
Teeny-tiny little girl ~ you are bringing more joy each day you live. You are sweet and funny and ornery and fast! You are cunning and charming, too smart for your tiny britches, and can get into uproar faster than any of us can shake a stick, but o-my-goodness, when you pause to show your love, the earth melts away for the hugeness of it.
Until Baby Malakai came along, you were the family baby for such a long time. And so-tiny you remained, it has been easy to forget how quickly you are growing up. But when Kai-Kai came along, you became, overnight, a big girl, the sweet cousin to *kiss-kiss baby’s head and bring diapers and whisper sweet nothings to him. Just think what a wonderful big sister you are about to be.
Amelie Belle ~ When I think of you, I think about how fast you are, how decided you are, how well you share your feelings and opinions in spite of being such a tiny thing, what a leader you are and how much you love singing {just like your Nonna did at your age!} and I also think about how long and sweet and intense your hugs are.
I will never forget when you came to kiss me goodbye the other night and you, without any coaxing from your momma or daddy said, “Thank-you for my cake, Nonna” in your ever-so-slightly sandy-voice, and you hugged me so tight and I never wanted to let go and if I hadn’t, I think you would have stayed. It is what I love most about you – you are full-in, dedicated, committed and wholehearted in every single thing you do, including your love and affection. I can’t always catch you, but when I can, it is wondrous. I LOVE that about you!
THREE wishes for my Amelie on her 3rd Birthday:
1// That the song of the Lord will grow in your heart and you’ll sing with angel-choirs when no one else knows and it will cause you to ever and always want to press in and worship the Lord and pursue His Presence.
2// I wish for your hugs to bring healing and peace to people whose hearts are broken. I am hoping for your lovely love to bless people and give them strength when they need it so. Just like it has for me.
3// MIddle-child wonderfulness: may you have it in abundance. You are the filling in the sugar-and-spice sandwich now, and I know you are spicy and delicious enough to be seen! You be a wonderful little sister and a splendid big sister and you will bless your mommy and daddy and please God, too. OK?
I love you, Belle-Baby, my big-girl, now. Nonna loves you and all your color and texture and wild beauty! I love you! xxxooo
There are people, very-very few of them, mind you, in this life, to whom you may reveal your worst, most awful, darkest, most terrifying faults and flaws; those to whom you can admit your defeats, defects, and deficiencies with total abandon.
They know how the enemy comes after your heart and your mind. They study his tactic and assignment against you and start clearing a path.
They can know you are not only not perfect, but perfectly imperfect and even downright horrible. They are aware that you have offended, embraced offense, struggled {absolutely warred} to be both whole and holy and have accidentally and even on purpose screwed. it. up. time and again. They know.
Yet they pray you up, bind your wounds, cheer you on and actually believe the best of you. By the time you get to heaven, they will deserve a greater reward for making sure you got there and did not miss the great grace of God towards you.
They are not just friends. They are sisters,: grace-filled covenant women who will go to the altar for mercy on your behalf.
If you’ve got them – you are blessed. I am. Undeserving. But blessed.
Thank-you, Father, for the ones you have sent me…{they know who they are}.
Set in the 1950s (fabulous already, yes?), young nurse/midwives working with a houseful of old nuns on the east end of London. You may catch season one episodes on Netflix or at this site:http://www.pbs.org/call-the-midwife/home/
Dave won’t be watching it with me. I won’t say it has anything to do with being squeamish. I just won’t say anything. But I LOVE it!
Season 2 starts on Easter Sunday night on PBS. Glory be! :)
Call the Midwife, written by Heidi Thomas and based on the best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth, returns for a second season. Nonnatus House opens its doors to warmly welcome the audience back into 1950s East End London and continues to follow Poplar’s community of exceptional midwives and nursing nuns.
Season 2 stays true to the show’s roots — viewers can expect to see more births, babies and bicycling, plus blossoming romance from an unexpected quarter.
Come, thou long-awaited spring – decided proof that life goes on. Bare branches, having lost all great glory as winter overcame resolve and strength waned, have waited {working so much harder to dig in deeper than can be fathomed} and now bud to give birth to glorious leafy-green life. The brittle-dead fields are shedding that golden debris-blanket in strong March winds where green shoots have quietly emerged unseen, looking heavenward. The tulips pop up and then out, the birdsong gets sweeter.
Come, spring ~ release us from heavy garments of mourning, from the dry burlap and twine of packed-away hopes to sun-warmed dreams as big as the cloudless blue-sky. Let the seeds of desire and vision, though dropped barely {breath-held} hopeful into the black soil of despair, now ~ softened in the unseen tomb of dark ground and cold night ~ spring forth with gladness. Life does go on, life is renewed in the spring rains via sorrowful tears. So, come spring.
O spring, how grand the hope you bring, we look for you, we count the days, we hold onto promise barely, our anticipation growing. And then, the crystal-blue light of the freshest of sunrises, a cloudless daybreak, diamond-dew on new grass catches the morning sun and sends it glistening back to You. We are loaded in daily grace, divine benefits – veritably dripping in treasure.
All my springs*, O Lord, are in You. All my springs, my seasons, my days, my hours, my minutes, my wretched body-soul-and-spirit, all of my life and new life, all life abundant, my past, my future, but mostly my today – this minute – all of it is in You, by You, for You and because of Your faithfulness. I thank-You, Lord for the spring which vigorously compels me to concede that letting go or giving up what was cannot deplete nor diminish what will be…
Come now, spring. Fully, finally. Faithfully.
And for fun:
Winter has passed. This must be baseball… :)
*Psalm 87.7 NKJV
Both the singers and the players on instruments say,
I have a spreadsheet in the music file on my desktop called “Best Songs.” I have listed hundreds of songs and the artists’ who sang them, the songs that collectively make up the melody of my life, tracking every possible emotion and moment in time. Each song represents an era or strong memory. Some are great, really noteworthy songs and some weren’t that special to anyone else, but they make me happy and stir up a wonderful concoction of highly-desirable happy-neurotransmitters for my brain.
Everytime I randomly recall a portion of a song I have ever fancied, I throw it on the list. And when I put the title there, despite the fact that I can’t tell you what I had for breakfast yesterday, I can remember where I was, what I was doing and who else was there when I heard it playing on the radio so many years ago. Going over the list a few months back, I realized that there were an inordinate amount of songs from 1974, when I was 14 and attending Harding Junior High in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
1974, ahhh the 70s…
Who can know the mind of a fourteen year old girl? She is silly and coming alive. She is crushing and seriously in love with love. She is forward-looking for the amazingly gorgeous hunk who will arrive and sweep her off her feet and they will dance to the romantic hits of the early 70s ~ forever. *smile
Oh, my. Yes, 1974 was a very romantic and good year for all that. “You Make Me Feel Brand New” by the Stylistics (my FAV group at the time) was at the top of my own personal hits list. And John Denver singing “Sunshine on My Shoulders” or “Annie’s Song” (You fill up my senses like night in a forest, like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain…” swoooooon) just got me looking for some one to sing like that to me. And wasn’t Olivia Newton-John just communicating what my silly-little-heart wanted to pour out to some unknown lover “I honestly…{wait for it}…love you“? Oh yes, she was!
But 1974 also had some way light-hearted songs that are etched into my memory, like “My Girl Bill,” by Jim Stafford, considered pretty hilarious at the time, I think now would not get any play at, as politically incorrect as it may come across. Of course, “Seasons in the Sun,” so melodramatically captured our emotional fancies. And Ray Stevens was even able to turn the streaking fad into a hit single with “The Streak.” Songs like that preserve history with humor.
All in all, 1974 was a full-on chorus of melodies and lyrics that really have become “golden” if you’re talking oldies.
I made my list of my top, favorite LOVE-these-1974-songs, and there were about 50. So, I was forced to edit myself to try to get the list to 20…or 25…and really truly rank them and am listing only my REALLY-SUPER-TOP-FAVORITE-1974 SONGS. And oh, they just keep jumping past the count-barrier…Numbers 1-7 are probably in order of my TOP favorites, but the rest, just LOVE them all!!! I have created a YouTube Playlist (for my own fun) that you may feel free to enjoy. :) And how could you not? Enjoy it, I mean. Sooooooooo good!!!
1. You Make Me Feel Brand New, The Stylistics
They sing “God bless you” in this song, which, preacher’s daughter that I was, gave it extra cachet with me.
2. Hello, It’s Me, Todd Rundgren
Hello, Todd! Riding the bus home after school…hoping that guy would call me…This song makes so many of my playlists, it’s ridiculous. Love.
3. Best Thing that Ever Happened to me, Gladys Knight and the Pips
This song is just high-quality classic. I sang it to Dave just after our first anniversary. He didn’t even know it before then. Can you imagine? Not knowing every Gladys-song??? He appreciates it now.
4. Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, Elton John
I wasn’t supposed to be listening to “secular music” but I convinced my mom this was based on the scripture “Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath” and so she supported me listening to it as she drove me here and there. And she used it as a teaching moment, the opportunity to present a devotional about never going to bed angry. Oh, mamala, :)
Didn’t this song get even better when he sang it with George Michael in the 90s? Just a good song.
5. I Will Always Love You, Dolly Parton
Until Whitney Houston took this song to super-hit status for the film, Bodyguard, in 1992, it was not known quite as widely. However, I like to think I know a good song when I hear it and I loved this song in 1974 even though I was certainly too young to even understand the full-on passion of it. The song itself has always-always-always been one of my all-time favorites, and as for Dolly – I like it best of all her work.
5. Sunshine on My Shoulders, John Denver — Annie’s Song, John Denver
Yes, I am cheating. There are 2. “Sunshine” was the theme for a movie which was a 1000-level *sniffer based on the true story of a dying mom leaving cassette recorded messages for her baby girl since she wouldn’t be there to raise her. “If I had a day I could to give you…” Ah, gentle and sweet! As for “Annie’s Song,” she was John Denver’s wife, and I have never understood how she could FILL all his senses and then he could divorce her? But really-check out the words and imagine being in the mountains of Colorado which is what he depicted, and beau-ti-ful!
6. You’re Having My Baby, Paul Anka — One Man Woman/One Woman Man
And I am cheating again. Two songs for the continually prolific singer/songwriter, Paul Anka, who’d actually started charting hits as far back as when my mom was a teenager. He hit a whole new audience in the early 70s and his songs were just so singable. Duets. I love duets. I want to sing with all the great people. Maybe Paul Anka will come to town and call me from the audience to sing with him? I am ready Paul, for both of these songs! The show, Glee, covered “You’re Having My Baby” a couple years back. Slightly less “innocent” version.
7. I Honestly Love You, Olivia Newton-John — If You Love Me, Let me Know, Olivia Newton-John
Omygosh, I cannot be trusted. Here I am trying to shorten the list and now I have given Olivia Newton-John two songs on my list. Well, some of these people were just hitting their stride that year, obviously. My hands are tied.
8. Seasons in the Sun, Terry Jacks
A dying friend is traumatic for a young, teen girl. Add that the song was French. Bon! Tres bon!
9. Rock and Roll Heaven, The Righteous Brothers
“Helluva” band in said rock-n-roll heaven. My parents would not have been happy. But these guys sang with such great passion.
10. Takin’ Care of Business, Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Driving to youth camp, windows down. Fun to sing and easy to dance to. Which I was not allowed to do. Haha.
11. Billy, Don’t be a Hero, Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods
Two words: Bill Roby. I was fourteen and crushing on the class president like crazy (he wore size 13 shoes, mine were size 6 and only went to his instep…I know this for we compared them) and a song with his name? Come on! Doesn’t matter how lightweight it may have been, it HAS to make my list.
12. Rock and Roll Baby, The Stylistics
Such a Stylistics fan! I wanted to have one (a rock-n-roll baby) and I got him: Rocky!
13. Then Came You, Dionne Warwick and the Spinners
I really loved early 70s soul music, or rhythm and blues. Yet Dionne was a classy pop singer. The mix makes this song easy and fun to sing along. Happy day.
14. Good-bye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John
Debating the meaning of lyrics ws a fun thing in the 70s. I am not at all sure what they meant, but you can’t plant me in your penthouse, doggone it! Don’t even try.
15. Sweet Home Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Harding Keys even performed this. They were the dancing-singing early 70s version of Glee Club. They wore white and chartreuse and were probably just opposite of Lynyrd Skynyrd. But this song is just so much fun to sing. I taught it to my kids blasting it on the very good and loud limo stereo in the early 90s. I am now singing it with my grandkids. Because it is a song that gets better with age.
16. Honey Honey, Abba
The lyrics make me blush now, sure. But then, it was just fun. “I feel like I wanna sing when you do your thing…”
17. Angie Baby, Helen Reddy
Oh, how mysterious.
18. Bennie and the Jets, Elton John
Elton was just prolific! I remember the girls locker room after PE, all of us sining away getting ready for the next class.
19. A Love Song, Anne Murray
My dad actually introduced me to Anne Murray, and she, like Karen Carpenter before her, sang in my range. One of the greatest voices ever.
20. Please Come to Boston, Dave Loggins
Passionate pleading. Please-please-please come here! This minute!!!
21. I Love, Tom T. Hall
I wasn’t really able to admit to liking anything country at that time (how uncool it might seem), but this song crossed over, so it was sort of OK. I love it way more today than then, because now I have experienced some life and he is really right about all the things there are to love. And I love country. So, there.
22. Come Monday, Jimmy Buffet
Spring. Slight breeze…I recall an outdoor art class painting project and this song.
23. Cat’s in the Cradle, Harry Chapin
The singer-songwriter, thought-provoker-type was waning to a degree (following the folk songs that had shaped social thought in the late 60s), but this one was too powerful to ignore.
24. The Streak, Ray Stevens
People just got naked and ran through public places and events. Scandulous! Ray Stevens gave us an historical and humorous song to remember it by.
25. Until You Come back to Me (that’s what I’m gonna do), Aretha Franklin
Aretha! Come on – “Though you don’t call me anymore, I sit and wait in vain…” because every 14-year-old girl was waiting the THE call! :)
26. Midnight at the Oasis, Maria Muldaur
I didn’t know what it meant, but it sounded a little naughty. But you know, Cactus is our friend. {???}
There. I have tempered all I can possibly temper. And if you count accurately, there may or may not be 29 (30?) songs in actuality…
OH, WAIT!!! I just realized I failed to includeSundown by Gordon Lightfoot // Rock Me Gently, Andy Kim // The Air that I Breathe by The Hollies // or The Night Chicago Died, Paper Lace (which my own kids love). Oh, forget it. 1974 was just an incredible year for music that moved me.
Dang it! How can I not add “I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song,” Jim Croce? And I was not allowed to like Mac Davis’ “One #### of a Woman,” but I actually sort of did/do. :)
Notably: at least 4 songs from my Telephone-Songs Playlist were from 1974, which may or may not have been a telephone high-usage year for me.
Thornton: If anybody had told me six months ago that today I’d be in a graveyard in Innisfree with a girl like you that I’m just about to kiss, I’d have told ’em…
Mary Kate Danaher: Oh, but the kisses are a long way off yet!
Thornton: Huh?
Mary Kate Danaher: Well, we just started a-courtin’, and next month, we, we start the walkin’ out, and the month after that there’ll be the threshin’ parties, and the month after that…
Thornton: Nope.
Mary Kate Danaher: Well, maybe we won’t have to wait that month…
Thornton: Yup.
Mary Kate Danaher: …or for the threshin’ parties…
Thornton: Nope.
Mary Kate Danaher: …or for the walkin’ out together…
Thornton: No.
Mary Kate Danaher: …and so much the worse for you, Sean Thornton, for I feel the same way about it myself!
[They kiss. Thunder rolls]
Um…I love John Wayne. A little more every single time!
