It’s a new week and this Monday Morning brings opportunity for Grateful Praise.

Friday, Eldest Son’s Ohio Heart Throb made another safe trip to our fair state.  The weekend went well, and plans continue to be made.  This mother’s heart is grateful for quiet conversations and youthful laughter and young love.  She traveled safely home again last night, even though Eldest Son implored me to “Make her stay!  It’s a matter of National Security!”  (Yes, well.  There’s no logic to love.  Besides, even though there was a time when I could fix almost anything for him, that time is LONG GONE!)

On Saturday, the youth group of our little church got together for a work day.  They redid the nursery at our church.  (There is new carpet, new blinds, new accessories.  They painted the old cribs white, bought new mattresses and crib sheets.   It looks so sweet!)  They pulled weeds and planted flowers and mulched.  Domino’s Pizza has a wonderful special right now — Three or more 10″ pizzas with one topping (besides cheese) for $4.00 each.  The whole group ate pizza for lunch on 32 bucks!  That was pretty amazing!

Also, on Saturday, a batch of bread got made that met my expectations. 
(It is good for a “seasoned” baker to sometimes have glitches in her automatic results. And I think we have a place for the last four loaves of bread that won’t hurt my conscience.  I will tell you about that “after the fact — if I remember.)

Late Saturday night, my Sweet Mama called from Pennsylvania, where my Eldest Brother took her to visit Middle Brother.  I am a Great Auntie again.  Nephew Myron and his lovely wife, Abigail, are celebrating the safe arrival of Sophia Rose.  This is daughter #2 for them.  They have a precocious Isabella Ruth who turned two earlier this month.  This brings the total of great-grands to 14 with one more expected this summer.  When the weddings get over, and the babies get born, by the end of the summer, the Mark Yoder clan will number 70, Lord Willing.  (and if that  www.xanga.com/farmerboy9300 gets on with things, it just might be 71.  Do you hear me, Joe???)

On Sunday, my class of ladies again inspired and blessed me.  I look at their faces, think of the diversity of their lives, am amazed at their strength, often laugh with them at the funny, funny turns the lives of Christian women sometimes take.  And I weep for their heartaches, so close to my own sometimes that I don’t know if I’m crying for them or for me — and sometimes I weep for them and wonder what I would ever do in similar circumstances.  Our Sunday School lesson was on the prayer of Daniel, and the insights offered by the class made me ponder anew the grace available to us to live Godly in a society gone so wrong..

On Sunday Evening, the Greenwood Mennonite School’s High School Chorus gave a program at (what us oldster’s lovingly call) “The Brick Church.”  Acoustics in that place have always been phenomenal, but last night it was not only the acoustics, but The Spirit.  I am partial to one of their singers, not so much because of her musical ability, but because of her heart.  I loved looking at the faces of the people that Youngest Daughter runs around with almost every day, and I thought of how intensely she loves some of them.  I hated it that I couldn’t put a name on every young person in that Chorus, but I appreciated so much the music, how it spoke to my heart of worship and praise and the Hope of Heaven.  It was Holy Ground.  I hear it in my very soul today.

This morning, I got up with that obnoxious cold that I have been able to escape for most of the winter putting a band around my lungs and setting me straight into the bass section of any choir (if I were tempted to join — I’m NOT!).  There were the usual morning things of showers and lunches and laundry and phone calls and morning’s work.  Things are stirring merrily along.  Eldest and Middle Daughter are going to go to Dover to pick up some flowers for my containers and deck boxes and gardens.  I got to see my precious Middle Sister briefly on her way to the dentist.  A beloved Uncle is stopping around with information for a Yoder Family book that is getting updated, and even though I am feeling rather ragged around the edges, my heart is so full of hope and joy that it is hard to feel discouraged.

And this is for you, where ever you are and whatever you are called to do today:

“The eternal God is thy refuge . . .  and underneath are the everlasting arms.”  Deut. 33:27