His Eye is On the Sparrow

His Eye is On the Sparrow

Civilla D. Martin

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

 

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Three in One Day

Three what, you ask? Three trips to Walmart. I had to go this morning to get stuff for breakfast and for tomorrow’s dinner, since Aldi doesn’t carry everything. Then I had to go back after the pharmacy opened to get my prescriptions. This evening I had to go again because I was making my famous chai mix and I was missing an ingredient I thought I had.

I also made a run to Hobby Lobby to get supplies for Jasper, did some craft work, cooked a LOT of chicken, made low-carb bagels, called my dad, and watched a movie with my husband. And did the music for church tomorrow.

Parting Shot:

We needed new oven mitts, and I couldn’t resist these. Jasper’s evaluation? “They look so disappointed.”

Revivification

Today being Friday, I had to go grocery shopping. Aldi was very crowded, but by some miracle I didn’t have to wait in a long line to check out.

Shortly after lunch, my friend Robin arrived for a much-anticipated visit. Lately we have seemed to have a very hard time getting our schedules to line up enough for us to get together, so it was wonderful to spend some time catching up.

After Robin left, I helped Jasper make some cookie dough, and then my biggest challenge of the day came from an unexpected quarter. I had planned to make pizza for supper, and I normally make a sourdough crust, so I asked Jasper to bring up the sourdough jar from the laundry room fridge.

He brought the jar, and we could both see that something was wrong. The sides of the jar were covered with black mold, and the liquid on top of the sourdough starter was dark and foul-smelling. This, my friends, constituted a major crisis in my kitchen. I’ve had that sourdough for years!

I went to work trying to save my sourdough and bring it back to life. I poured off all the nasty liquid and most of the starter, until what was left looked pretty good. From that, I scooped out a cup or so and poured it into a clean glass container. I added flour and distilled water, and almost right away the mixture began to bubble and act like “healthy” sourdough.

Tomorrow I will pour off most of what I made today, add more flour and water, and put it back in the sterilized jar. I have hopes that this will be successful in reviving my sourdough starter. I have never had this happen before and can only think that I must have left it too long between uses.

I had to make “normal” pizza dough since the sourdough was indisposed . . .

 

A Dismaying Sign of the Times

For the last six years, my husband has had a contract cleaning for a local daycare center/preschool. He works there every weekday evening, starting as soon as school is “out” at 5:00 and staying until the place is clean three hours later.

Usually, there are still some kids there waiting to be picked up when he arrives, along with multiple staff members. Over the years, he has of course gotten to know the staff and many of the children. Often, they greet him with glee, running to give him hugs and exchange a few words with him. He gets such a kick out of his interactions with them.

So you can imagine his disbelief yesterday when he was informed that he must now arrive at work later—when all the children have left and the building is empty. Some of the parents were unhappy to see their kids running to hug this “stranger,” and they were uncomfortable enough to demand that rules be put in place to prevent it.

Now, if he should happen to arrive while there are still kids in the building, he is not allowed to interact with them at all. No doubt they will wonder why their buddy now avoids them.

It breaks my heart to think that we as a culture have reached a point where every relationship, no matter how innocent, is now suspect. Nothing even slightly questionable has ever happened during the years my husband has been working around those kids. Any time he has interacted with a child, it has been in a public setting with staff members and others present. He has just enjoyed this chance to bring smiles to those adorable young kids.

He had a talk with the lady who runs the place, and she was very regretful, but she also understands the power of the kind of pressure she’s under, and she knows if she doesn’t satisfy the concerned parents, she will have to cancel my husband’s contract when the pressure is increased. So she is doing what she can to save his job, and I understand that. It just makes me incredibly sad that this situation is even occurring.

 

As You Wish

We did school this morning, but this afternoon my husband took off work and he and Jasper and I went to the theater to see The Princess Bride. When the movie first came out in 1987, we never even heard of it because it didn’t do well. By the time it came out on VHS, it had developed a following and we heard good things, so we bought it.

Since then we’ve probably seen it fifty times or so. The entire family can quote most of the movie by heart. So when I heard it was coming back to theaters just for two days to celebrate its 30^th anniversary, of course I wanted to go.

I had thought the theater would be packed, but instead there were just a handful of people there besides ourselves. Before and after the movie there was an interview with the director which was very enjoyable. It was a great way to spend the afternoon!

Fall May Finally Be On the Way

What I wanted to do was stay home all day and not even get into my car. Being an adult, I rarely get what I want.

We did school this morning and then this afternoon Jasper and I had to go out and run some errands. He needed materials for his Harvest Festival projects and I needed materials too, not to mention groceries.

Then we had to go to a 4-H meeting. I am not in favor of these evening meetings, but no one asked me! At least I got some of my reading done.

I am LOVING the cooler fall weather!

A Weekend Away

Well, I am back from a fabulous and affirming weekend at Writers in the Field. For the full report on the classes I took, you can check out my writing blog: The Steadfast Scribe

I left early Saturday morning and drove for two and a half hours to get to the venue, a Steampunk Faire site south of Dallas. The first class had already started, but I was able to jump right in. Well, not literally. Remember, I have a broken toe!

So here’s a gauge of how immersed I was in this experience. Not only did I have a broken toe, making walking painful, I had to lug my folding chair with me everywhere so I could get off my feet whenever possible. And on Saturday, it was brutally hot and sunny and most of the time I was outdoors perspiring, which I absolutely loathe. Yet I barely noticed all this discomfort because I was so interested in everything I was learning. I’ve never understood people who don’t want to learn new things. I thrive on it!

I left during the concert Saturday evening so I could make it up to my friend Joanna’s house in Garland (an hour’s drive away) before it got too late. Her mother has recently moved in with them, so it was a special treat to get to visit with her. She’s known me since I was kid! Actually, the whole family spoiled me. Joanna’s daughter gave up her room for me, her son carried in my stuff, and her husband got up early on Sunday morning and made me breakfast before I headed back to Writers in the Field.

While Saturday had been hot, Sunday morning was cold, overcast and windy. I was glad I had thought to bring my hoodie, because I really needed it. Once again, the classes were absorbing and I enjoyed each one. I got together with a couple other writers from Realm Makers and enjoyed getting to chat with them a little bit. I do so love hanging out with other writers.

It was a long drive home, but I was still so “up” from a lovely weekend that I didn’t mind. However, getting back in the car today was a little less thrilling. I had an hour and a half to drive to my autoharp lesson, except today I didn’t even take my instrument out of the case. Ann had offered to help me learn how to use MuseScore, so I can start doing my own arrangements on the computer. It didn’t go as planned. We couldn’t figure out how to do the song I wanted to do, so Ann picked an “easier” one, but we ran into trouble with that too!

I’m going to have to do a lot of research to figure out how to use this program. The learning curve is very steep and I don’t find it intuitive at all, but I know it’s something I need to do, just like learning Scrivener. *sigh*

God of Our Fathers

God of Our Fathers

Daniel C. Roberts

God of our fathers, whose almighty hand
Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies
Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise.

Thy love divine hath led us in the past,
In this free land by Thee our lot is cast,
Be Thou our Ruler, Guardian, Guide and Stay,
Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.

From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence,
Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense;
Thy true religion in our hearts increase,
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.

Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way,
Lead us from night to never ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,
And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine.

The Pace Picks Up

I wrote this last night and then forgot to post it . . .

I meant to post last night, but my computer was acting up and I didn’t have time to deal with it, since I needed a good night’s sleep. It’s been a busy week, and the weekend is going to be busier.

Today I got up and instead of going grocery shopping at Aldi, I got in the car and drove all the way to the DFW airport to pick up Lucy. It was a mostly uneventful drive there and back, unless you want to call a huge traffic jam an “event.”

When we arrived home, I had time for a shower and a power nap before working on my final preparations for tonight’s presentation.

I left in good time and drove to the restaurant where the writers’ meeting was, only to be met by blank stares when I told the hostess I was with the writers’ group. Ahem. There are two Mexican restaurants of that brand in this town, and I went to the wrong one! Fortunately, it only took a few minutes to drive to the other one, where the writers were assembling.

They treated me to a delicious meal and then let me read the stories and vote on a short story contest before I had to get up and speak. The vice president of the group gallantly held up the whiteboard for me so I could do my presentation. It was an enjoyable evening and everyone was very friendly and kind.

Afterward I still had to fill the gas tank and do some grocery shopping so Lucy will be able to cook meals this weekend while I’m away. It’s going to be an intense weekend at Writers in the Field but I am looking forward to it!

 

Taking It Easy

Thank goodness today was a slow day. I didn’t leave the house. I found that the more I kept off my foot, the less my toe hurt, so I kept off it a lot.

Still, I managed to do school with Jasper, finish a sewing project, work on another one, revise some chapters, work on a presentation, and make supper. And do some knitting.

Sometimes a day with no excitement is just what one needs.