A Wonderful Day of Thanks!

Since it is Thanksgiving, I decided to post the 5 things that I am most thankful for and some Psalms on giving thanks.

Of course, the first on my list must be the unfathomable grace that God has extended to me. I am eternally grateful to Him for calling me out of darkness and redeeming my soul. If this were the only thing that He ever blessed me with, I would be complete and have no justification to ask for anything more. In His sovereignty, though, He has bestowed me with other wonderful gifts.

Second to my salvation, my family is the greatest blessing in my life.
My mother and sister are two of the most godly women that I know, and I am blessed every day to live in unity with them. Through the hardest of life's trials we have been brought closer, and through the fire we have together been refined.
My extended family are also very dear to me. There is a very special bond in our extended family that I have observed is absent in many others that I know. Though we vary widely on beliefs, lifestyles and ideas, there is something that holds us all together. Of course, that thing that holds us together is our shared love for Christ. Praise to God that we are unified in our faith in Him!
Commenting on my family would not be complete without mentioning my spiritual family: The church universal, as well as the new congregation that we are fellowshipping with.
From Berean, to the Home Chruch With No Name :), to Family Reformation Fellowship, I am always astounded by the love and grace of God shining through in the lives of His children.

My "new family" would have to come in next. Though they fall into the Spiritual Family category of the last paragraph, I think they deserve a number all of their own.
The McDonald family took us in when we were strangers, and with joy met all of our needs. Though times have not been perfect, and we have all seen each other at something approaching our worst's, their love has been unwavering and their commitment to our family solid.
From the sweet fellowship with the girls, to hearing Mr. McDonald say "Rejoice! The body of Christ!" as he offered me the sacrament of communion on Sunday, my soul blessed by this dear family.
May we continue steadfastly in our love for one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. (1 John 4:7)

Another thing for which I am grateful is that God saw fit for me to be born an American! I was thinking the other day about what it must be like to be born royalty. I can't imagine that being normal. Then I got to thinking....from what I understand, most foreign people can't imagine being born an American. They can't imagine what it is like to live in a place where there is freedom of speech, press and state imposed religion. It is definitely a blessing to live in this nation. It has it's faults, granted...many of them grave. But I can't think of a place I'd rather be on earth.
Though I hope to see more of the world, I think America will always be where my earthly allegiance rests!

Lastly (for this list, anyway) are the physical blessings that God has given me. Through my life, God has always provided food, clothing and shelter in abundance (i.e. more than one outfit of clothing, mere crusts of bread and a shack).
With thanks, I echo David in Psalm 37:25: "I have been young, and now am old; Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread."
Though we have had seasons of both affluence and poverty, God has always been our provider and has not abandoned us in time of need.

So, there you have my top five. It's actually more than five, now that I think about it because of all of the sub-categories. Oh well! There is no way I could narrow it down any more than what I already have.

Now for the scriptures:

Ps 7:17 - I will give thanks to the LORD according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
Ps 9:1 - I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.
Ps 18:49 - Therefore I will give thanks to You among the nations, O LORD, And I will sing praises to Your name.
Ps 30:4 - Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name.
Ps 33:2 - Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.
Ps 57:9 - I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations.
Ps 92:1 - It is good to give thanks to the LORD And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
Ps 97:12 - Be glad in the LORD, you righteous ones, And give thanks to His holy name.
Ps 105:1 - Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples.
Ps 106:1 - Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Ps 106:47 - Save us, O LORD our God, And gather us from among the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name And glory in Your praise.
Ps 107:1 -Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Ps 107:8 -Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men!

Amen and Amen!

Yes, this has turned out to be a very long post...but what else could I do? Watch Moulin Rouge with the other cousins? I don't think so...

~Robin <><

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, it's really not Thanksgiving yet, but it will be in 30 minutes. Close enough!

Tonight I arrived in Mississippi after a ten hour trip, which was supposed to be six hours. The traffic was awful.
Anyway, it has been wonderful getting re-acquainted with my darling cousins and eating fudge. I've taken lots of pictures and I'm not slowing down (much to Emily's dismay)! I know I keep promising to post pictures...BUT...I bought CD's yesterday to load the pictures onto, so I'm one step closer! Hopefully I'll get someone to show me how to post these pictures up so you can all see my wonderful family.

Tomorrow is "Thanks-mass"and we are are very excited! Thanksgiving dinner, plus Christmas gifts. How lovely!

Well, I must go now...I'm abandoning Chelsea and Emily. An awful thing to do, considering we see each other only once a year! Oh well, they're having quite the time talking about movie clips.
Hello to my Texas family...I miss you guys!

~Robin <><

Come Cool Weather, Come!

Yesterday afternoon a lovely cool front came through. It was very exciting. We all took a break from dishes and went out to feel the wind as it blew in.

I was so excited, in fact, that after we got back from the mall I put on my new black velvet skirt, my new warm fuzzy hat and my new soft scarf and sat on the back porch (Mrs. McDonald said that it was too late to go on a walk). There's something charming about being all bundled up in new stuff...especially when it was all 50% off :)...and feeling the chill in the air.
I sat alone for a few minutes until Jessica came and joined me. We spent some time visiting before we were beckoned inside.

Ahh! The feeling of cold is exhilarating! I feel so sorry for James...he is sick of the cold already and it isn't even December yet. Then again, I fear no death of my precious trees by the cold.

~Robin
<><

Random Facts About Me

I've been tagged. Yes, that is right, that random fact thread has made its way to me. For a moment I thought "This will be really boring...I don't think I even HAVE 5 random facts", then I remembered James saying that I might post it and tagging me. What could I do but agree?

Rules of the game: Post 5 Weird and Random facts about yourself, then at the end, list the names of 5 people who are next in line to do this. Also leave a post on their Xanga to let these people know:

1. I don't like history, but my favorite hobby is historical re-enacting
2. I flee fiction books like the plague
3. I make up pet names for people (for example, I call Merisha "Varishka"(va-REESH-ka with a rolled "R")
4. I think that both food and sleep are overrated
5. I don't like tea or tea parties, but I work at a Tea Room and love it.

To quote James (I couldn't say it better myself, and I find myself in the same boat, with only a few variations):
"Ok..now I'm supposed to 'tag' 5 people to carry on this...um...lovely tradition. Do I know 5 other people? Most of them wouldn't even do it. Tiffiany might do it, so might Jessica. Christa probably wouldn't. Caleb might...but I'll do them all anyway.
McDonald's, consider yourself tagged!
Caleb, Jessica, Tiffiany and Christa. I also tag Shelby (since I need 5).

~Robin <><

The First Texas Gig

Tonight we played for King Solomons Royal Tea Tasting here at the tea room. It was the first time that I Merisha and I have played together since arriving here. It was nice to have a chance to play again...I wondered if my fingers would remember the notes there for a minute!
Unfortunately, only two people showed up for the tea tasting. What a bummer. It was supposed to be a "date night" sort of thing. Though we couldn't very well call it "King Solomon's Date Night" for OBVIOUS reasons, I guess women were having a hard time getting their men to go to a tea room. Figures. Maybe next week will be better...we'll have to do some advertising for it.
It was suggested that perhaps our playing might be to blame for the lack of business. How nice.
It was still fun, though, for all that I played for three hours to practically no one. Good practice, I suppose.

Ciao!

~Robin <><

Good Intentions

I had the best of intentions to post a lovely post on my mother's birthday complete with pictures and whole lot. In fact, I still have that good intention, but I find that it takes much longer to write a post with pictures.
For starters, I have to load the pictures onto the computer. This is a feat in itself. I have no computer of my own at this moment, so I have to go buy discs from Best Buy to load the pictures on to before I can do anyting else on the matter.
After this, I must select which pictures to post. How many should one post? Two, three...them all? That is probably what I'll end up doing. If there is any doubt, post them all :)
When these two are accomplished, then I must do the actual posting and captioning.

Only time will tell when I will have this kind of time on my hands (especially when Saks fifth Ave and Koles are having such wonderful sales!).

~Robin <><

Reformation Day

Have any of you ever been to a Reformation Day party? Do you even know what Reformation Day is?
Well, I have known October 31st as Halloween for the past 17 years, but this year I was introduced to Reformation Day.
Of course, I knew that it was on October 31st that Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis to the church door, but I never knew that anyone celebrated it as a holiday.

Complete with a historically accurate meal, historical dress (which we finished up on the way to the party!), dancing, skits, first person interpretation, it was celebrated as much like a holiday as any one I've ever been a part of.
From sitting behind the stage yelling out lines to Jessica when she forgot them, to trying to get everyone to dance on beat ("Can't anyone here count to eight!?!"), it was a blast!

My sister made me a beautiful black velvet dress with an empire waist. I shall have to post pictures of it one day so you can see it. Tiffany made herself and Jessica dresses for the event as well, both of which turned out very nicely.
Mr. McDonald was portraying Martin Luther so he and Caleb got new capes out of the deal.
When it was all said and done, all of us were in historic dress except James VI (though he did carry around Merisha's sword for a while, just for effect).

Well, as always, there is much to do, but I will post very soon (hopefully!)

~Robin <><