Revisiting Altars

 Happy February again!  James has adoring fans in all his girl cousins!  Doesn't he have funny expressions?  He's thinking, "Okay, that's enough."  Sam has such a heart of love and Plum Cake makes her adorable plum face! We'll see them all tonight for pizza (Birdie's birthday is tomorrow) and then we'll see our Fort Collins grands on Saturday!  Valentine's Day!  Woot!  Woot!

 Because the grands like to throw the Wendy House kitchen fittings out the window, I've been looking for some unbreakable dishes!  Score!  Walmart for $4.99!  I had to go to Walmart to take back the cute red stove.  The plug got very hot and I was quite afraid it was going to burn the house down.  Oh well.  The hunt for family room heat goes on.

 It's chocolate cake tonight!  On these cute plates!  I have made many cakes this month for birthdays!  Yay!  A privilege it is!

 Have you been eating many oranges?  They are so sweet right now!  Oranges and graham crackers are better than fiber pills, I think!  Smile.

 Another Walmart find!  A polka dot helper for washing up! 

 A little tray placed behind the faucet reminds me of geraniums and geraniums remind me of coziness and mothers.  When I was a child we'd always go to the church for a Mother's Day dinner and each mother got a geranium.  Isn't that nice?  I hope my memory serves correctly, but if not my mama will know.

 Speaking of cousin time!  CB is coming down with her mom and sibs on Valentine's Day to celebrate Birdie's birthday.  They'll go swimming and out to lunch, I think.  I am going to make what I like to call "sausage rolls" for the other kids here.  I've been watching shows on Hulu, BBC shows, and I quite feel like a Brit in my thinking these days.  Every time I find a new series, I rejoice.  I really do like to sit around and watch screens!  Ha!

Remember Daily Meditations for the Circling Year by John Henry Jowett?  Aw, there is a good good good word on Feb. 8th.  He says:

It is a blessed thing to revisit our early altars. It is good to return to the haunts of early vision.  Places have their sanctifying influences, and can recall us to lost experiences.  I know a man whom the scent of a white, wild rose is always a call to prayer. . . .
It is a revelation of the loving-kindness of God that we have all these helps to the recovery of past experiences.  Let us use them with reverence. 
Do you remember your early altars?  I do!  I remember church camp, sitting around the campfire, hearing the Holy Spirit in the sound of children's voices singing "Pass in On" and I remember another altar when I was a freshman in high school at a weekend camp.  I heard the gospel again and it moved me as I walked around in the dark, thinking about who Jesus really IS and how much He must have loved me to die for me and the rest of humanity.  Another altar was after my dad went to glory.  My sister and my mom and I were gathered on my parents' bed, weeping.  I felt the blessing of the expression of grief, bigger than my little heart, and I sensed God's loving presence.  I believe it's important to revisit our altars and I think John Henry Jowett was a pretty smart guy.
I'm off to bake cake and party up the table.
Thank you for stopping in on this fine February day, friends.  LOVE!