My Lord and My God

Why should  God care about us? In ourselves, we have no value. God is perfect.

He Who knew no sin became sin for us. The Lord of all came down and was hung on a tree for our sins.

Why?

The soldiers who crucified Him divided His garments, probably not realizing that they were dividing the garments of a King.

"O the Power of the Cross"

On the cross, after He knew that all things were accomplished (John 19:28), Jesus said, "It is finished!" He loved us so much that He came to earth to die that we might be saved from sin. There is no other god who did that.

The story doesn't end there! Jesus rose again. And these words He said to Mary Magdalene gave me a heartthrob of joy: "Go to my brethren and say to them 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God. '" (John. 20:17) Jesus' death and resurrection made God ours. We can have God as our Father because Jesus paid the price for us.

I have been overwhelmed by the realization of my worthlessness and God's great love for little me. I don't deserve His grace. I don't understand why Jesus died for me. But I know He loves me because He died for me. All I have to do is believe Him. And I can say with Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" You can too.

Tea Party

The day after Thanksgiving, the girl cousins all got together for a harvest party. Most of us wore our hair in two braids. Of course, we had to have Grandma Morley there, and she even had her hair made in two braids! You can see her braids in the picture below of Annette braiding my hair.

Twenty girl cousins.

Aunt Joella and girls did a lovely job of arranging the table for the food.

After our luncheon, we took pictures together. Here I am with my dear cousin Candace.

All four of us girls in this picture were born the same year, as well as one boy cousin. These girls have been wonderful friends to me.

with my sweet cousin Annette.

Two of my closest cousins and friends. My life has been blessed by knowing them.

Thanksgiving 2014 in Pennsylvania

This is what it looked like a couple days before Thanksgiving, but it didn't keep us from celebrating!

A pie for Thanksgiving dinner.

Aunt Joella and Uncle Craig were so gracious to allow everyone to come to their house. The decorations were charming in their simplicity.

So homey

The "Mayflower" was creative!

The girls' table

The youngest grandchild with big sister.

Natasha loves little ones, and little ones love her!

Laura and Lydia are about the same age.

After dinner, the boys had a snowball fight.

Then the cousins had game of Capture-the-Flag.

The adults made a puzzle

and played Scrabble.

Solving the world's problems :)

When it got dark, Dutch Blitz became a game of choice.

 
Singing together was the perfect way to end the day. I am thankful for the time we had together.

Cousins

Several of my cousins made dresses from the same kind of material in different colors. Candace sewed me a dress of the same color to match her and Amaris, but it was after these pictures. These pictures came from Ezra.

Six lovely cousins.

The matching pairs:

Susanna and Natasha

Pearl and Charity

Amaris and Candace.

Susanna, Natasha, and Pearl

Me with the cousins.

Pictures of our Thanksgiving and girl's tea party coming up!

Projects in Pennsylvania

While back east, I sewed a jumper with fabric I had bought.

Candace gave me directions and helped with the hard parts. I enjoyed it more than if I had tried to do it all myself.

One day, I went with Uncle Elon's and Uncle Fain's family and a group of acquaintances from a church nearby to the warehouse of Christian Aid Ministries. We got the job of bagging flour for the food parcels CAM sends out every month. Teams of two each started with a hundred-pound bag of flour. One person held the bag open so the other could put three big scoops in.

The next person made sure the bags weighed five pounds, adding or taking out flour if needed. That was my job.

After the bags were weighed, they were taped shut. Here are a couple of my cousins doing that. Our group bagged several tons of flour in three or four hours. That was all the flour for the month. I enjoyed taking part in CAM's ministry.

Uncle Hoshea's visit

A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, part of Uncle Hoshea's family came for a short visit. Amanda enjoyed feeding this puppy whose mother had too many to be able to take care of them all.

The guys tried to figure out what was wrong with this car,

and visited.

Amanda helped the girls put together hygiene packs for Christian Aid Ministries to send to needy people. As you can see, all the items are placed on a bath towel folded in half,

then the towel is folded over and pinned with a couple safety pins.

It was a good visit, and we hope to see the whole family soon!