Danish Pastry Apple Bars from Loretta Wiebe

Pastry:
2 1/2 c. sifted flour
1 t. salt
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. butter
1 egg yolk
(milk)

8-10 apples, peeled & sliced
1 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon

1 egg white, beaten until frothy

Frosting:
1 c. powdered sugar
3-4 t. milk

Combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening & butter. Beat egg yolk in measuring cup and add milk to make 2/3 c. liquid. Mix well and stir into flour mixture. Roll half the dough into a 7"x12" rectangle. Fit into 1"x15 1/2"x10 1/2" baking pan. Sprinkle 1/3 c. sugar on dough. Top with apples. Combine remaining 2/3 c. sugar and cinnamon and cover apples.
Roll out remaining dough and place over top. Seal edges and cut slits in dough.
Beat egg white until frothy, brush on top of crust.
Bake at 375* for 50 minutes.
Make frosting and drizzle it on top of the pie.

Three Graces by Melanie-Pearl

In Loving Memory of Penny (2003-2014)

by:

Lilian's Baptism~Easter 2014

Lili was so excited to receive her first communion!

Love that look on her face

Sophie & Lili in the dresses I made them

Beautiful Sophie

"At God's Table" by Cheryl Lawrie

it would not have been god's table

On their own, the bread and wine are nothing.
To become a foretaste and a promise
of love made real and a world made whole,
they need a story and a blessing
and a people who believe…

It would not have been God’s table
if they hadn’t all been gathered around it:
the betrayer and the friend
the power-hungry and the justice seeker
the faithful and the fickle.

When Jesus poured the wine, and the bread was broken;
when everyone could eat -
the outcast and the beloved
the arrogant and the gracious
the wrong-doer and the wrongly done by -
the table became a foretaste
of love made real
and of a world made whole.

Your company at the table
will include the betrayer and the beloved
the wrong-doer and the wrongly done by.

It would not be God’s table without them.

And the promise is
that when you are together,
when you tell the story and give the blessing
when you break the bread and pour the wine
you will discover a foretaste
of love made real
and of a world made whole.

~~Cheryl Lawrie
http://holdthisspace.org.au/it-would-not-have-been-gods-table/

The Bible Story That I Have Always Hated

Those of you who have ever been in a Bible study with me, gone to church with me, and those of you who know me well, know that I have always had a problem with the story of Abraham and Isaac.  I know, I know that Old Testament days were different than New Testament times.  I have had numerous people try to explain this story to me.  I even refused to teach the story in a pre-school Bible School one time, so I was fired from that volunteer position.

Yesterday I read Rob Bell's post on this story.  Finally someone who said it:
Thank you, Rob Bell!

"What kind of God would ask a man to sacrifice his son?

Now, an answer: Not this one.

The other gods may demand your firstborn, but not this God."

Read the rest here:

http://tmblr.co/Z8QMAt_DADp7

Scholastic Art Awards~Chloe receives scholarship, gold key, silver keys, etc.

(I like how she kept turning around to smile at all of us--what a sweet girl--I can still picture her at 3 years old--looking just like this!)

(Chloe with her gold key)

(Chloe & Brandon)

Mason's 7th grade band concert~March 4, 2014

Miles' Happy Dance

Miles' Happy Dance from Julie Thiessen on Vimeo.
Password:  Psalm23
Miles' footwork was the funniest part of this dance.  If he agrees to do it again, we will film his feet--was hilarious.  His feet were moving so fast.  Lili tried to do it and she was totally amazed at how fast he could move!

Farewell to Betty

I have a friend who was preparing to leave on a trip to Arizona on Christmas Eve.  She fell down the steps to the basement of her home and never regained consciousness.  They turned off life support and she died at noon.

Betty was an elegant woman--69 years old.  She was an interior decorator.  What a beautiful home she and Daryl have!  Betty was a devout Catholic and was eager to teach me all she could about her faith.  She taught me about holy water and told me that she used it every time she entered her home and every time she left her home.  She would gladly answer all my questions.  I took a 6 week Lenten class with her at the Spiritual Life Center and then went to the outdoor Stations of the Cross walk with her on Good Friday.

There were 7 priests who officiated at her funeral mass--they had all benefited from the kindness of Betty Dirks and were happy to have a part in the service.  The vigil on Sunday evening and the funeral mass on Monday morning were perfect tributes to her life.  Her children placed a white pall with a tapestry cross on her casket before it was taken into the sanctuary.  When she left that beautiful room for the last time, we all sang to her as she was taken down that long aisle.  It was a long song--lots of verses.  What a meaningful way to say good-bye.

ON EAGLES' WINGS

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord
Who abide in His shadow for life
Say to the Lord
"My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!"

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand.

The snare of the fowler will never capture you
And famine will bring you no fear
Under His wings your refuge
His faithfulness your shield.

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand.

You need not fear the terror of the night
Nor the arrow that flies by day
Though thousands fall about you
Near you it shall not come.

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand.

For to His angels He's given a command
To guard you in all of your ways
Upon their hands they will bear you up
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand...

Gingerbread house time in Lili's Kindergarten class

5 grands

Chloe's bunny & Samson

Hoedown fiddles~Sophie & Lilie November 2013

Christmas~2013

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”
― Charles Dickens

Sophie's Violin Recital~November 2013

http://vimeo.com/79111771
(Password:  Psalm23)

Love these 2 trees

Summer...

Fall...

Winter...

Watching KT's Grass Grow

KT is all excited because today is the day he gets to mow his new grass for the first time-Oct. 16.

It is starting to turn green around here... (September 29)

YKT Weekend~September 2013

Yesterday's Knot Today (Sponsored by Breakthrough Seminars)

Marriage is not a love affair,

it’s an ordeal.

It is a religious exercise, a sacrament,

the grace of participating in another life.
If you go into marriage with a program,
you will find that it won’t work.
Successful marriage
is leading innovative lives together,
being open, non-programmed.
It’s a free fall: how you handle each new thing as it comes along.
As a drop of oil on the sea,
you must float,
using intellect and compassion
to ride the waves.
– Joseph Campbell

Let me love you if not for the rest of your life

then for the rest of mine.  

~unknown

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. –Mignon McLaughlin

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. 
– Mother Teresa

13th birthday--Mason playing drums for worship

No, I did not go on stage during worship--took this before church!

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