Thinking about Jesus

 

 Photo taken by John in Italy

Last night in church, I was convicted about how little I think on Christ.  The words of this hymn came to mind on the way home, and they helped me.

Thou cam'st to us in lowliness of thought

By Thee the outcast and the poor were sought

And by Thy blood was our salvation wrought

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!

Therefore, by God's eternal purpose, Thou

Art exalted o'er all creatures now

And giv'n the name to which all knees shall bow!

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! 

and so, 

Let this mind be in us which was in Thee

Who wast a servant that we might be free

Humbling Thyself to death on Calvary,

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!

Let ev'ry tongue confess with one accord,

In heav'n and earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord!

And God the Father be by all adored,

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross...
(Philippians 2:5-8)

How Can It Be Spring . . .

. . . already? 

 

I'm not complaining.  :-)

One Dolly Named Ann

 

I've had "Raggedy Ann" on my list of blog ideas for a while (yes, I occasionally have a list . . . I am a nerd!).  When I had purposed to write about her today, I found it kind of ironic that my cousin Missy also posted about making dolls in her blog yesterday!  Hers are stunningly beautiful, unlike any I've seen.  Mine is a classic redone, and only redone once so far by me :-).  She's the one whose face I posted about in mid-December, and I happily was able to finish her in time for Christmas.  After so many hours of loving labor, she was hard to give away.  Yet, when our darling four-year-old niece opened the box and exclaimed "my dolly!" I was quite happy.  And I'm certain that in years to come, she'll realize that this dolly had a lot of love poured into her. 

My mother made me a large Raggedy Ann doll for the Christmas when I was almost three, and she is still at my parents' house.  I was using the same McCall's (I think) pattern and dug her out to examine some of her clothes in my sewing process.  The poor doll has stains where I fell asleep on her and (so romantically) drooled on her face as a child and is torn in places.  Perhaps worst of all, she smelled of mildew thanks to her long hibernation in the basement.  Mom told me recently that she washed and mended Raggedy Ann, and I'm looking forward to seeing her again. 

In the past, John and I agreed that we don't know why parents take naked pictures of their kids.  I can see wanting to preserve bath-time memories, but only if there are enough bubbles to make the pictures modest.  So, when I expressed my desire to take a picture of Raggedy Ann without her dress "because she's so cute!" John groaned and replied, "This is how it starts!"  Funny man.  Anyway, there you have it.  I think she's cute. 

P.S.  John and I do communicate, and he occasionally also reads my blog.  Thanks to yesterday's post, wholesome deliberations over our dining room's paint have already begun.  :-)