Sexagesima

27 February 2011
Rev. Jon C. Olson
The sermon for last week is printed in this month’s newsletter. Had there been Divine Service last week, we would have heard that eternal life always remains a gift of God’s grace. We might even think of last week, Septuagesima, as “By Grace Alone” week.
Today, Sexagesima, some 60 days before Easter, the readings are meant to continue preparing our hearts for Lent. God’s Word is very realistic when by His Word He calls us to turn from all that is sin and death. His Word continues to give us the new life that was first poured out upon us at each one of our baptisms. So, combining last week’s message with this week’s could be, the only way for a person to to be saved “by Grace alone” is through the “Word alone”. It is important to understand some things about God’s Word. First, God’s Word is not just data or information in black and white type written words on a piece of paper waiting for someone to tell you what it means. The power of the Word of God does not depend upon our interpretation. Listen to how the Word is described throughout today’s readings.
In Isaiah we heard that just like the rain and the snow descends from heaven and don’t return without doing what they were sent to do, causing the earth to bud and supplying seed for the sower and bread for the eater – so is the Word that goes forth from the mouth of God. Listen to His promise: “It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.”

What a great, great promise God gives to His creation! His Word has the power to do what God sends it to do. When God created the world He said, “Let there be light, and there was light”. He sends His Word to you this very day to create and bring repentance to awaken and keep you in saving faith. The Word of God has the power in itself to do that. Think of how the Word is described in our second reading from Hebrews 4. The writer of Hebrews tells us to rest from our works as He ceased from His work of creating the whole universe and everything in it on the seventh day. Why should we rest from our works? Because then we are able to find our rest in God. So the writer to the Hebrews tells us how our rest is to be found:
For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The Word of God doesn’t just describe things, it actually does things. In relation to our sin the Word of God stops us in our tracks by showing us that the intentions of our heart are often times sinful in ways that none of us ever dreamed possible. After all, as the Word of God tells us, “no creature is hidden from his sight but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.” (Hebrews 4:13) We are unable to dodge the fact that when we listen to God’s Word, when we do not stop it from sinking deep down inside, we are convicted and are guilty before God. And so, when honestly facing the fact of our sinfulness, we fall on our knees before Almighty God and beg for mercy. And the great thing, the greatest thing about our God is that His mercy endureth forever! His is a Mercy that He is always eager to pour out on you. That mercy comes to you by Grace alone through His Word alone. In the Parable of the Sower Jesus is quite reckless as the sower of the seed. He plants His Word into all kinds of soil, throwing it out for whoever will bother to hear it. But there is one thing that we cannot understand this side of heaven: not all who hear it end up being saved. So this logical question follows, if God’s Word has the power to do what it promises why won’t all people who hear it believe and do what it says?
Well, first of all, the Word of God is a gift. And you all know that gifts can be rejected. In today’s Gospel Jesus warns against that rejection. Like that Christmas present that you stand in line to return because you don’t like it. The problem of rejection is not with the Word of God, it is with the person receiving the gift. Make no mistake about it: the Word of God you hear has power. Every time it is read, preached, and heard, God the Holy Spirit is present and seeking to give the gift of repentant faith that clings to Christ. But a gift is remains a gift. And as a gift we can reject it. This rejection can happen in more ways than when a person doesn’t like what the Word of God has to say to them.
First, the Word of God can be rejected by inattentive listening. Just sitting in church and letting the Word enter into one ear and exit out the other. What’s really going on when this happens, Jesus says, is that Satan snatches the Word away before it can bear fruit, before it can do what it has the power to do. Before it can sink down into your mind and heart Satan snatches it away. If Satan can keep you day-dreaming or thinking about anything but the Word of God during church, he’s already won.
Then there’s the listening that hear and rejoices, believes and thanks God, and yet it’s only a good-time faith. When the bad-times come along – and they always do – the person lets go of the Word of God and their faith withers up and dies. One of the reasons for religously hearing God’s Word is to store up in your heart and mind those passages that will get your through the terrible times with faith in Jesus unharmed. The Word itself has the power to do it, provided we don’t shove it out of the way or let it go when times are good or bad. For example, as is often the case, God’s Word is cast aside when tragedy comes – people stop going to church, stop listening to the Word, and then they’re surprised when their faith grows weaker and weaker and finally dies. Remember: faith is NEVER something you can keep alive inside yourself. St. Paul says in Romans 10:17 “Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ.” Faith is created and sustained only from hearing and holding the Word of God alone. Next, our Lord reminds us that even folks who listen to the Word attentively, can still lose it, and so their faith, if they let it get crowded out of their lives. Pushed out and shoved aside by what? Jesus speaks of cares, riches, and pleasures of life. Cares and riches often go together: “But pastor, you know that we spend the weekend at the lake; our kids had ballgames; we have so little family together that we like to keep Sundays just for us.” The third commandment is not optional. God’s Word does not say to remember the Sabbath Day once in a while when it is convenient. “Gotta finish that project for work. No time for being in the Word this week between Divine Services.” Pleasures? "No time to read my Bible today; too busy shooting bad guys on the computer, or watching T.V., texting on my iPhone or messaging on Facebook." What do all these excuses have in common? This: the strangling, choking and minimizing of the Word of God, squeezing it into an ever smaller and smaller place in our lives until at last it disappears and we don’t hear it at all.
Lastly, Jesus tells us that it is possible to hear His Word in such a way that it bears abundant fruit. He describes hearts that hear and cling to the Word as honest, good and full of power to do what it says. How did those hearts get to be honest and good? Precisely by hearing and holding the Word.
We are all, at one time or another, all of these kinds of rocks. Many of us are very religious when it comes to Church attendance. Yet, if I asked you if you were in the Word at all during the week, many of us, myself included, would have to answer, “not as often as I should be”. Thanks be to God that salvation does not depend on what we do. Thanks be to God that salvation is by Grace alone. Thanks be to God that the Word of God is sent to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Thanks be to God salvation is through God’s Word alone. Lent comes soon: we will travel alongside Jesus to the City of Jerusalem. We will watch as He is betrayed and beaten for sins He did not commit, as a substitute for our sins. We will stand at the foot of the Cross and look upon Him as He is punished for the sin of the world—including the sin of taking God’s grace for granted. Thanks be to God that Jesus was also crucified for our not hearing the Word; thinking other things in life are more important than what the One who give us life has to say to us. He will bear those sins and all sins in His body. Yet, He does NOT die for us in order that we can rejoice in forgiveness and go on ignoring God’s Word or returning to His Word after being freed from sin to change what we don’t like about it. God forgives so that we grow into grateful and faithful hearers of the Word. He forgives in order to strengthen that faith which clings to God’s promises in Christ. He forgives in order for us to cling to His Words and learn His teachings. He forgives in order for you to bear the good fruit of a faithful witness and confession of faith to God. He forgives you and gives you courage and strength to share the witness of salvation in Christ and to love your neighbor in their need by your good works. Even right now, with all His heart, the God who created and formed you wants you to share in His unending life, to enjoy Him and His presence. The Word gives the gift of that presence now–as happens when the almighty Word of Jesus causes the bread and wine to be what He declares them: His body and blood, for the forgiveness of sins.
God speaks His Word. Only by His Word comes repentance and renewal. This Lenten season will you listen when He speaks to you? Will you let His Word have its way with you? Will you let it be planted inside of you and grow inside of you that you may rest in Your Savior until death and through death to a life that never ends? That’s what He wants and His Word has the power to do it. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Amen.

Ain't Nothing Like a Mocha! Especially for Momma!

Selling one life-changing caffine addiction at a time.

Thanks to my wonderful Momma for starting a blog! In the past few years, she's not started drinking mochas after decades of abstaining from AM caffine (!), she's actually moved into  drinking coffee with no sugar, no cream, and no shots of chocolate or other flavoring (!!!!). And now she's blogging (explanation points are pitiful completely inadequate symbols here :D). Check it out!

What could be better than a mocha and two beautiful grandsons? Enjoying them at the SAME TIME.

Good men are hard to find.

I'm a little late on the uptake here, but this WSJ article from the weekend reflects a lot of what I've been reading lately. Just this morning I was thinking about my married friends and which ones had the ideal husband--the responsible-but-loving type. The vast majority of the blessed ones, I realized, are married to pastors--men who have to "man up" and undertake incredibly difficult tasks while also remaining sensitive and loving. I know; these guys aren't perfect and often fall short (I'm married to one). But they embody so much of what's missing in so many guys. And, sadly, I think parents, schools, and even churches have denied boys the role models they've needed because, well, men are brutal and savage and who wants THAT for our sons? Here's a few gems--irony noted--from Kay Hymowitz's article adapted from her book:

Today's pre-adult male is like an actor in a drama in which he only knows what he shouldn't say. He has to compete in a fierce job market, but he can't act too bossy or self-confident. He should be sensitive but not paternalistic, smart but not cocky. To deepen his predicament, because he is single, his advisers and confidants are generally undomesticated guys just like him.

Single men have never been civilization's most responsible actors; they continue to be more troubled and less successful than men who deliberately choose to become husbands and fathers. So we can be disgusted if some of them continue to live in rooms decorated with "Star Wars" posters and crushed beer cans and to treat women like disposable estrogen toys, but we shouldn't be surprised.

Relatively affluent, free of family responsibilities, and entertained by an array of media devoted to his every pleasure, the single young man can live in pig heaven—and often does. Women put up with him for a while, but then in fear and disgust either give up on any idea of a husband and kids or just go to a sperm bank and get the DNA without the troublesome man. But these rational choices on the part of women only serve to legitimize men's attachment to the sand box. Why should they grow up? No one needs them anyway. There's nothing they have to do.

They might as well just have another beer.

For an alternative--albeit evangelical--to this pre-adult lifestyle (which also affects women, but that's another post topic), check out Alex and Brett Harris's Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations.

I pray God that our sons will have many fine male examples to follow. And their father will lead the way--by the way, he painted the entire basement this afternoon. After spoonfeeding S, playing with P, writing and editing sermons and I-don't-know-what-all, taking pastoral phone calls, and generally being an awesome, awesome Dad and Husband. And this was just today!

Fevers stink. But little boys who smile through them are sweet!

These are from the last month or so. They make us smile--these pictures and the boys in them.

Flashback Tuesday

With an eye toward warm weather (yes, someday it will come! It will!), we remember our trip to south Texas five years ago (can it be FIVE years ago? Indeed it is) to visit Grandpa and Grandma Elsea. The air was caressingly warm, the oranges were ripe, the company was sweet. It's nice to think of, for many reasons!

Weekend Rewind

We've had a nice weekend here at the Olson's, with planned--and unplanned, and non--events. I'll go in reverse so I can actually remember what happened.

On most weekends, Sundays are fairly predictable. Breakfast, then J catches a ride to Bible Class (only in icy, typically horrible MN winter weather), followed by chaotic scrambling by me to get our little boys ready and off to church ON TIME (stop laughing!). Then we receive the Lord's gifts, our souls are soothed, we return home to dinner, naps--can anything compare to Sunday naps?--and family time. Instead, I woke early only to note that ice was hitting the windows, promptly rolled over and went back to sleep, and awoke much later knowing that church must have been cancelled (it was). So we hung around here, gloating over the basement (see below) and J putting in more elbow grease to speed it along (as well as blowing snow again, per the blizzard conditions outside), reading, playing, screaming, puzzle-completing, skyping with loved ones, and eating a succulent, tender roast with carrots and potatoes (YUM.). Now J and I are alternately conversing, browsing on our respective laptops, and watching John Adams, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson hammer out the Declaration of Independence in John Adams. And I'm relishing J's delight at looking at flat screens and surround-sound stuff online, now that the end of all of his hard work is in sight...

Saturday morning I spent fixing up some odds and ends in the fridge (pureeing some, cooking others). I gave the boys baths after their lunches because then we all went to Edgerton for a wedding. It was lovely--nice to see familiar faces, good friends, and make new ones! P had great fun climbing stairs at the reception, S had fun being held by many loving arms, and we had fun eating--surprise, surprise--and visiting!

Papa and P enjoyed some great daddy-and-son time on Friday when they headed down to Sioux Falls so Papa could return the commercial sander.

This baby doesn't look like much, but it's actually a GOLD MINE.

They walked the mall and visited Toys 'R Us and McDonald's--P's idea of a really great time! Meanwhile, since I only had one kid to manage (and he can't walk by himself yet, so he goes in the playpen when it's expedient), I managed to clean the house more thoroughly than I had in... we'll just say a really long time. Sweet! Good timing, too, since J spent all of Thursday sanding, thus sending drywall dust into every conceivable corner of our humble abode (and that vacuum thingy kept the stuff CONTAINED! No matter: drywall dust is like sand from the beach. An infinitesimal amount feels endless.) Later, P and I made the world's greatest brownies in prep for our friends the Kohn's to come over. They showed up with pizza and their smiling faces--a wonderful time! What a terrific family. One of my favorite moments? Sitting in the nursery (S's room) with Aimee while five children crawled over and around us (and under the bed) while we visited. Life is good! We hope and pray that their move to Iowa may be uneventful and that they may enjoy all the support and joy that they have so graciously given to their friends.

Seagulls on South Padre Island

A teaser for Tuesday.

Cleaning Day

We've got a long way to go.

Our Son P

Tonight's Bible story for P was, wait for it...wait for it...you guessed it, Simeon & Anna. After we sang the Nunc Dimittis together, I then started to page through P's first Bible showing him the pictures and making commentary along the way. We arrived at Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper. I asked P what Jesus was doing. He said, "there is the bread." I said "and what is that in Jesus' hand?" P said, in clear words, simple and as a matter of fact, "the blood". He is already half taught on the Lord's Supper, and this without even being taught an iota of the Catechism!

Flashback Tuesday

I'm having fun looking at old pics on my new laptop, and I stumbled across a folder entitled "2007 - Pipestone Blizzard." That was our first winter in Minnesota and, thus, our first experience with REAL snow.* Not only can you see how our house looked before we pretty-fied it, you can also see J wielding a roof rake for the first time (and see how he'd accidently reversed the curve of the blade when he assembled it. Oops! Nice skin shot, though!). I'm about to cry at the reality, though; we've got four foot drifts at the end of our driveway that have been there for weeks, so these "blizzard" pics look like a walk in the park. But I'll smile instead; the high today is almost forty degrees and it's supposed to hit FIFTY later this week! Yuck to slush, but YAY to melting snow!

*Disclaimer: Real snow entails more than twelve inches, typically more than 18 inches in successive snowfalls. And it was MY first real snow. J grew up in WI and actually was used to accumulation higher than his ankles.

Where does he get this?

P: "I'm so happy."
Papa: "Why are you so happy?"
P: "Because of my feelings."

"Mess? What mess? I'm contemplating my emotional state."

Lamplight flickering on the Cam

Thank you, my dear husband, for putting up Parliament on our blog. Despite what goes on inside that historic structure, its image imparts to us a warm nostalgia for our days--nearly ten years ago!--walking together along old, cobbled English streets. We will return there someday, and walk again, with present joys to add to our fond memories.

Weekend Rewind

Well, it's been a busy, busy, busy weekend in the Olson household. Not only have temps soared to the upper 30s--a miracle for February--and snow melted like crazy, we've been out and about, shuffling through the slush and enjoying the sunshine. Slush and sunshine! What an incongruous mix! Kind of like luaus in February. But I get ahead of myself.

Friday, which is J's day off, we headed over to Kelly's Koffee after J's rescheduled-from-Tuesday-morning Bible study. We've enjoyed many cups of the black stuff there over many lovely conversations. It was nice to catch up with some church ladies! Then us Olsons headed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, our source for bi-monthly shopping trips.


The lovely Falls Park in Sioux Falls, shown here during the short summer period when the waters thaw. You should visit it for sure! But not in February.

We ate lunch at the world's best burger-and-custard joint, if you haven't been reading J's recent posts or Facebook status, which was a treat. S ate his first bites of hamburger with no adverse results, while P enjoyed his "crunch cries" alongside his mini-butterburger and applesauce (the token healthy food). So we supped, we shopped at Target (where I pulled another drive-by clothing grab at the clearance racks--no time for trying on, the boys were waiting in the car! Three finds for five bucks total!), Walmart (where P spent his dollar from the generous Mrs. S on a "mystery" Matchbox car--"I want a yellow one," he told us; and, miracle of miracles, he insisted on getting the car whose color he couldn't see, only to open it in the car and it was a vivid, shiny, yellow-gold winner! He's clairvoyant, we decided), and Menards (another standby) before heading home. J did an hour of basement work while I zipped through with the vacuum, the boys trailing along; we ate, bathed, put to bed, and then J played Madden while I folded laundry, caught up on ironing, watched Akeelah and the Bee, and decided our children will definitely learn Latin (and perhaps study hard to try to make it to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee).

Saturday J left early for a Minnesota South District BOD (that's Board of Directors) meeting of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League in Mankato. The little boys and I got up and got going--P and I reviewed the vowels after breakfast, which he learned this week. He already calls the less-than-five-minute learning times "Letter Lessons," and since he's enthusiastic, I'll take this as far as he can go! Anyway, we headed over to the first annual Women's Expo, where we got some free stuff, talked to lovely people we hadn't seen for awhile, and managed to navigate several chunks of stairs with the help of several good Ms. Samaritans. We got home, ate grilled cheese, sorted through the free stuff and the chaff, took naps (well, S and I; P read on his bed and sang songs to himself), and then headed over to the Library for a carnival luau sponsored by the National Children's Study. S has been a part of the study, and the people we've met with over the last year and a half have been terrific. We saw familiar faces at the library, which was great! AND P got to play a few games, of which the pick-a-duck-out-of-the-water was his hands-down favorite. His favorite prize? A balloon. We also snagged a few library books on our way out. Score!


You'll find this on a bunch of stuff in our house. Consider it taxpayer-funded advertising.

We headed home, watched us some Bob the Builder (double score!), and did some skyping--J arrived home just in time to alleviate my frustration--before collapsing so we could cry over Pixar'sUp, when we weren't laughing at "Squirrel!"

On Sunday we've enjoyed Jesus at church! P now knows the word "Transfiguration," and over the next decade we'll work on comprehension now that he's mastered pronunciation. We had a great time at a church potluck--when are church potlucks NOT a total winner? I guess just those really rare times when everybody brings the same thing, like twenty years ago when everybody showed up at Our Saviour's with desserts but no entrees! We didn't have that problem because after the potluck the youth group sponsored a Sweet Walk, kind of like musical chairs but with tickets, cupcakes as prizes, and no rules (i.e. no chairs pulled out on account of participation by toddlers and the elderly). It was GREAT FUN! Then we came home, S and I napped (note who didn't), and then we headed out to Gary and Carmen Hailey's for pizza with them and Kyle and Kayla (their son and his fiancee). A very relaxed, fun time, thanks to playing with Kyle's (and Gary's!) cars from childhood, ski jumping and hula hooping with the Wii, and throwing the tennis ball to Max the dog! We swiped Kayla's purse by accident, but luckily she's understanding (as well as attractively sporting some awesome new lowlights)! Now we're just making fun of the schizophrenic boomer-generation Y switchback at the Grammy's. Did you know Barbra is 68?! And we thought Mick looked old! Holy cats.

Some Things Never Change

I just wanted to add to E's post about change, or the lack thereof.
I like pizza. Well, specifically, I love pepperoni and onion pizza. E
used to make fun of me for not 'stepping out of the box' and trying something new.
Then we went out for pizza with the now sainted Prof. Kurt Marquart. He was asked what kind of pizza he wanted and his reply was, 'pepperoni and onion, is there any other?' I just turned to see E's face which had a big grin. Since then she doesn't ask what kind of pizza I like. She also doesn't ask me what my favorite custard stand is, nor does she ask me what my favorite burger is. She knows. Repetition is good!

"Do it again!"

Back in December I was driving south on 75, going somewhere with the boys (I don't remember now where). It was mid-morning, the sun was brilliant on the snow (blinding, actually), and the sky gleamed a deep, pristine blue. The light and brightness coming through the windows was enough to raise my spirits, but something else happened that gave me a joyful memory I hope I always remember.

P loves Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus." Almost by accident he became acquainted with it, thanks to that widespread Youtube video of the flash mob in Canada busting it out in a mall food court. He could watch it over and over, mesmerized, saying after each viewing, "Let's do it again!" Luckily, just hearing a recording of it was enough after a time, so we left the Messiah recording parked in the car player throughout Advent to turn on whenever we wanted.

So I turned it on in the car as we were driving. And, per usual, we heard the Chorus once and P said, "Do it again!" I hit repeat. And as we drove along, I gazed out across the glistening snow, sparkling with billions of reflections of sunlight, and I thought of heaven, and I looked in the rearview mirror and watched P's face, rapt, as he listened. "The kingdom of this earth is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and of His Christ." And suddenly it dawned on me that P's insatiable love for the Chorus is nothing like the cute, tolerable obsession of a toddler we often viewed it as. It was everything like what we will be in heaven, when we shall see God clearly and not through a glass darkly. And we will never, ever get enough of Christ reigning. "And He shall reign forever and ever." Our joy will be continuous--as though our souls would cry, "Do it again!", except there will be no need, because the song will continue, and continue, and continue.

I'd cherished this moment to myself until tonight when I happened across a quote by G.K.Chesterton that reminded me of this.

A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but He has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

Read more: http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=24-01-034-f#ixzz1Dcdt5bg4

Thank you, G.K., for saying so beautifully what P reminded me. May God give us the faith of children, that we might rejoice and sing hallelujahs always to Him who "exults in monotony."

Potty Dance Party. Non-check.

See? Potty training CAN be aestheticized!

I got a Huggies Pull-Ups Potty Dance flier in the mail yesterday. "Grab your pants and do the dance!" I know; hard to resist. Too bad our two-and-a-half-year-old started formal training about a year ago. I'm really bummed that we'll miss out on this major marketing event known as "Do the Dance Day" (March 5, for those of you who want to join in) AND that we've missed out on shelling out hundreds of extra dollars on diapers and pull-ups. Oops, gotta go--P has to go potty in the big potty. I won't tell him how much fun he's missing.

Coming Back Down to Earth

Wow, what a game. I wish I could have stayed home and watched/read all there is on the internet about the Super Bowl. I am, needless to say, very happy.

How to Raise Boys That Read

J read me this Thomas Spence Wall Street Journal op-ed this morning. Terribly sad, because it's true and because it's avoidable. The last lines give us enough to ponder: "I offer a final piece of evidence that is perhaps unanswerable: There is no literacy gap between home-schooled boys and girls. How many of these families, do you suppose, have thrown grossology parties?" Other factors Mr. Spence doesn't directly address: the rise of mothers who work outside the home coupled with the increasing number of single moms (and the lack of male role models for boys). I have much more to say on this, but for now, enjoy pondering this instead. :)

Learning Lessons, Or Cookie (Bars) Make Things Better

Today the boys and I (sans J, who's parked at church) went to the library. We love the library! The books (interlibrary loan is our dear friend!), movies, lovely librarians--the list goes on! We went for story hour with Miss Heather, who's a terrific lady. She's single-handedly expanded the library's collection with P in mind (more books on trucks, Lightning McQueen, etc.) and lets him "help" check out. She's awesome! But today we had to do a hard thing. We had to return books, and P had to apologize for ripping up their copy of Syd Hoff's Danny and the Dinosaur, rendering it unusable.It wasn't fun to show Miss Heather the book and for P to say, "I'm sorry." But he's got a better understanding now of how special it is to check out library books and how we have to treat them with great care. This is one of many lessons he'll learn--hopefully not always the hard way.

On a better note, P helped bake chocolate-chip cookie bars today. He enjoyed learning about recipes, paging through the cookbook, getting the ingredients and all the measuring tools together, and especially eating the result! This kind of lesson is much more fun!


Getting better at posing. "Smile, P!" Here's the result.


All seriousness as he poses with the mixer. He really got into mixing (always with Mommy's help)!


Are they done yet?


About to dig in: "I like chocolate bars, Mommy." Don't we all, Son.


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Flashback Tuesday II

Flashback Tuesday

In honor of my new laptop--and much more seamless photo retrieval--I'll be posting old pics on Tuesdays. Since S just has his nine-month appointment yesterday, I thought I'd post some pics from his birthday (and a few from around that time). How time flies!