Tuesday is normally Andy's day off but he had some outside work he wanted to do and because it was going to rain on Tuesday, he decided to work then and take off near the end of the week. Thursday and Friday ended up being beautiful spring days and he was able to accomplish a lot.

Several weeks ago, he had called the township building inspector to come inspect the front porch, and believe it or not, he failed us because the steps were more than 3/8 inch different in their heights. Well, that was not Andy's fault because he didn't do the concrete work. But he had to fix it if he wanted to pass a final inspection. So he worked at making the one step higher so that they were equal in height. After all, we wouldn't want any of our friends (or the UPS man) to come over and trip and fall on our uneven steps.

He also did the parging work on the concrete walls under the siding on the front of the house and around the porch. Doesn't it look nice?I hope we pass the building inspection, then we can finally finish the landscaping and walkway.

On Saturday morning, Andy organized a bike ride with about 6 other people, going about 30 miles on south Jersey back country roads. I did laundry and some grocery shopping. Then around 11:00 we left for another birthday party. Aiden turned 6 years old on Friday. It was fun being with the kids again.

Asher is getting around pretty good.Patrick helped with unloading the dishwasher.

Naomi asked me to take her picture
and made a very special funny face.

Aiden is trying to think of a wish before he blows out the candles.Grace is "helping" Aiden blow out the candles.

Our trees and flowers are so beautiful right now and I couldn't resist taking more pictures of different areas of our yard.

The weeping cherry

creeping phloxviolets I found by accident (I didn't know we had any.)star magnolia bushwhite bleeding hearts

All the beauty of springtime reminds me of the beauty of our God who created all this. And God saw that all He had made was GOOD!

Quesadillas for supper

Saute tomatoes, onions, chicken

brown rice tortillas
butter one side
Brown tortilla and add sauted veggies & chicken.
Add cheese.
Fold and turnSimple and delicious!

Is it a Musical Drama or a Dramatic Musical?

Our church's Easter drama was performed 4 times this weekend: 4:00 & 6:00 pm on Saturday and 9:00 & 11:00 am on Sunday. Andy played the role of Jesus. He did an excellent job. The story was from a musical called The Christ, The Cross, The Crown, with our drama director making a lot of changes to add more interest to the dialog and story. I sat through all 4 performances and was blessed and moved each time by the retelling of the story of the cross. Drama is a powerful medium. We had over 1900 people in attendance. Praise God they heard a clear message of the gospel.

Getting ready

Blessing the children

More shots

I took a lot more pictures, but they didn't turn out good enough to keep because we weren't supposed to use flash.

Christy and her family came down on Sunday to see the drama and I got a shot of 4 of her kids with their PopPop:
After the last performance, everyone came back to our house for lunch/dinner. I had made baked ziti and cookies on Saturday, then got Andy's mom to put the ziti in the oven while I was still at church. So it was ready when we got home. I also made a huge Caesar's salad. We had a fun afternoon playing, visiting together.

Patrick did really well. He is making a lot of improvements in his behavior. Even though he doesn't talk, he understands everything that is going on. After we finished our dinner, I asked who would like coffee. Patrick raised his hand. We all laughed, then started asking more questions where it would be obvious he couldn't do what we were asking. He continued to raise his hand at everything we asked. It was pretty funny. And he knew he was being funny!

It was a beautiful day with the magnolia tree almost at the end of its bloom.
Now the Bradford pears are in full bloom. Spring is just springing out all over the place! Andy had to do some mowing of grass this evening, too. And I've heard that by the end of the week, the weather will be up in the 70's. Yeah!

A note of interest about these trees: we bought 10 trees about 15 years ago with puppy money. They were small then and we never thought anything about planting them where we did. Who could have imagined then that they would grow so tall that the electric company would have to come out every couple of years to trim them away from the wires going back to the neighbor's house? Lack of planning/foresight on our part.

Easter weekend

In preparation for Good Friday and Easter, Andy and I have been reading from John Piper's book, The Passion of Jesus Christ, after dinner each evening.Each chapter has a reason why Christ suffered and died. We read chapter 9 tonight: Christ suffered and died: for the forgiveness of our sins.

When we forgive a debt or an offense or an injury, we don't require a payment for settlement. That would be the opposite of forgiveness. If repayment is made to us for what we lost, there is no need for forgiveness. We have our due.

Forgiveness assumes grace. If I am injured by you, grace lets it go. I don't sue you. I forgive you. Grace gives what someone doesn't deserve. That's why forgiveness has the word give in it. Forgiveness is not "getting" even. It is giving away the right to get even.

That is what God does to us when we trust Christ: "Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:43). If we believe in Christ, God no longer holds our sins against us. This is God's own testimony in the Bible: "I, I am he who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake" (Isaiah 43:25). "As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12).

But this raises a problem. We all know that forgiveness is not enough. We may only see it clearly when the injury is great - like murder or rape. Neither society nor the universe can hold together if judges (or God) simply say to every murderer and rapist, "Are you sorry? Okay. The state forgives you. You may go." In cases like these we see that while a victim may have a forgiving spirit, the state cannot forsake justice.

So it is with God's justice. All sin is serious, because it is against God. He is the one whose glory is injured when we ignore or disobey or blaspheme him. His justice will no more allow him simply to set us free than a human judge can cancel all the debts that criminals owe to society. The injury done to God's glory by our sin must be repaired so that in justice his glory shines more brightly. And if we criminals are to go free and be forgiven, there must be some dramatic demonstration that the honor of God is upheld even though former blasphemers are being set free.

That is why Christ suffered and died. "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses" (Ephesians 1:7). Forgiveness costs us nothing. All our costly obedience is the fruit, not the root, of being forgiven. That's why we call it grace. But it cost Jesus his life. That is why we call it just. Oh, how precious is the news that God does not hold our sins against us! And how beautiful is Christ, whose blood made it right for God to do this.


Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. (2 Corinthians 9:15)

Baby Registry and Our Garden

I planned to join Dawn and Amy today to register Dawn at Babies R Us. I arrived at her apartment at 10:00, then Amy and Joanna came about a half hour later. But we decided not to go out because Dawn had a ob-gyn appointment that she had forgotten about and Amy needed to be home by 2:00 to take Ricky to the dentist. So we did some talking about what Dawn would need and registered for some of the big items online. We also made a list so she could go to the store and put more on her registry.

While we were working, Tommy stopped in to change into his surfing clothes. It was a great day for surfing with all that wind, so he had to go put in his time in the ocean. Before he went, he let me take his picture. Notice the nice hair cut! And always clowning around!
Dawn's appointment was at 12:00 noon, so when she left, Amy, Joanna and I went out to Panera's for our lunch. Then Amy had to hurry on home.

When I got home, Andy had been working at putting up the fencing around our garden. I stopped at Lowe's and bought some starter spinach and onion plants. I planted them in very crooked rows. I do not have the level eye that Andy does. Then my neighbor gave me some Romaine and butter lettuce plants that she had started in her green house.It was so cold today, I had to wear my winter coat and a hat. The temperature was 50 degrees which wouldn't have been so bad, but the wind was very blustery and chilly.
I have some pea and cucumber seeds that I'm hoping to plant this weekend. And my neighbor has a lot of tomato plants started, but it's still a little early to put those out. I can't believe I am actually doing this. I hope this work is not in vain. Do you really think that fence will keep out the raccoons, groundhogs, squirrels, rabbits and possums? I guess we'll see.

Andy's dad made a salmon quiche this afternoon and invited us to join them for dinner. So that was a nice treat...I didn't have to cook dinner. Sorry, Christian, I don't have a picture of the quiche for you. I was able to supply the cookies for dessert. We still have some left. They don't go very quickly with just the 2 of us.

Flowers and Parties

I love April when the sun shines. It's a glorious day today with all kinds of flowers blooming everywhere - a riot of color: pinks, yellows, whites, lavenders.I enjoyed lying in the sun for an hour this afternoon, soaking it in. I heard that it's supposed to rain 3 out of the next 4 days. Well, it's spring time and we need the rain. So I'm not complaining. I noticed the grass is greening and growing. I'll soon need to mow. I am happy at the thought of being outside again, although it is nice to get a break with the winter. Seasons are good!

On Wednesday I, with a team of 9 other women, organized a ladies' tea party at church. 110 women attended. I had to borrow a hat from Andy's cousin, since I don't own one (at least, not a tea party hat).We had little tea sandwiches and scones, as well as a few other items, and of course, TEA!

Different women volunteered to bring their china dishes and the party was really festive and beautiful.It was a lot of work putting this all together and a lot of work afterwards, as well. I spent all day yesterday laundering all the tablecloths. And I took the silverware and about 28 plates home to wash in my dishwasher.In between loads of laundry yesterday, I made a batch of cinnamon chip cookies for our small group tonight. These cookies are so scrumptious, it's very hard to limit myself to one or two. I have been unable to find cinnamon chips around here, so last week when we were in Lancaster County, we stopped at Shady Maple food market and picked up 10 packages of them.

The finished product! Very tasty!

We had another birthday in the office this week. Deb is a missionary intern with plans to go to Niger to work in a hospital there. She is trained in occupational therapy and will be leaving us in August for a year in France to learn French before going on to Niger. Her birthday was Saturday, I baked the cake Thursday evening, and we celebrated on Friday.

Here she is licking the icing off the candles:

And here's the cake: caramel frosted hummingbird cake. This is one of the best cakes I make, every bit as good as carrot cake. I got the recipe out of a Better Homes & Gardens magazine (see below).
Ingredients
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups mashed bananas (about 5 medium)
1 cup cooking oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups peeled, shredded uncooked sweet potato(about 1/2 pound)
1 8-oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
1 recipe caramel butter frosting

1. Let eggs stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with waxed paper. Grease and flour paper and set aside.

2. In bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cloves. Stir in bananas, oil, eggs and vanilla until moist and thick. Stir evenly in prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 minutes or until pick inserted near centers comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Peel off paper. Cool completely.

4. Prepare caramel butter frosting. Place one layer, flat side up, on plate. Spread top only with 1 1/4 cup frosting. Stack and frost remaining layers.

Caramel butter frosting: In large saucepan melt 1 cup butter, add 2 cups packed brown sugar. Bring to boiling over medium heat; stir constantly. Cook and stir 1 minute; cool 5 minutes. Whisk in 6 cups powdered sugar until smooth. Use at once, frosting stiffens as it cools.

Sinfully delicious!

A Whirlwind Week

There is no grass growing under my feet. I've been on the run from one thing to the next all week. So here's my recap:

Friday:

After work, I made applesauce-craisin bread, then supper, then on to my bass lesson at 7:00 pm

Saturday:

Start a load of wash, go to Bethany's house for Ladies' Coffee Connection - 9:00 am - 12:00 noon.

I took my applesauce-craisin bread to share and what a spread there was!

In the afternoon, I made a baked ziti dish because of a dinner at church the next day. At 5:00 pm, over to church for a staff get-together. Andy and I were able to have dinner and a little bit of interaction before needing to be at worship team rehearsal at 6:30 pm.

Sunday:

I played my bass in all 3 worship services. I know I haven't had it very long, but Andy was desperate! Several of our bass players are military and right now, one is deployed and the other was unavailable this week. So ready or not, I was on. It didn't go too badly. And the congregation was gracious. Before the last song we sang, Andy said: "Yes, that really is Phyllis playing the bass." People actually clapped and in the 3rd service, they even cheered!

I have to say, it was such fun and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was so excited about playing that I woke up super early on Sunday morning - just like a little kid. Which reminded me of Psalm 103:5 - He satisfies my desires with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle's.

In between playing, I put my baked ziti in the oven in the church kitchen so it would be warm by the time we needed it at 12:30 pm. After the 3rd service, I went to check on the ziti and the oven was stone cold. Yikes! I had turned on the bottom oven and put the ziti in the top oven. Well, it cooked for about 15 minutes before all the food had to be on the table, so I put it out hoping no one would ask whose it was! How embarrassing! But as it turned out, I took some and so did lots of other people because the dish was completely cleaned out. It was very good, even cold!

When I got home on Sunday, I made a batch of cookies. Then when Andy got home from drama rehearsal, we went for a walk. It was a lovely evening and nice to get a break from the whirlwind.

Monday:

I worked all day, made dinner, then we had 2 guys come to the house for an appointment Andy had set up with them. We are considering putting in solar energy and these guys came to give us information.

Tuesday:

Did 2 loads of wash and cleaned 3 bathrooms. Then made another dish of baked ziti to take along to Amy's. Amy had a dentist appointment to have 3 cavities filled and 3 wisdom teeth pulled. So Andy and I went up to babysit and help her a little. I took dinner of ziti, left over applesauce-craisin bread and the cookies. She already had lettuce and tomato for salad. We got to her house around 1:00, her appointment was at 2:00 pm. Joanna went down for her nap around 1:45, and Andy left with Amy. At 2:10 Joanna woke up. Oh dear. She is very attached to Amy so she was not happy to see me. But I was able to keep her distracted enough so that she didn't cry. Of course, I had to hold her the whole time. It helped when Chase woke up and we could go outside. And of course, everything was all better when Amy finally got back home (for everyone except Amy - poor thing).

Andy and Chase had a good time together.

Wednesday (today):

I'm working again today and tonight we're having a Ladies' Night Out for which I am responsible. It will be a tea party and 110 women are signed up to come. If I get any good pictures, I'll post them later.

Gotta run....