What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Monday, June 05, 2023

The Month that Was: April (and the Community Psalm Sing!)




homemade mozzerella




















Millie doesn't just make good eggrolls!  She makes beautiful shirts to bless Littles with.  I only wish I had gotten a picture of Ineke and her other two Amigos, all matching!


Judah learns how to make stripes in the lawn.

While I did pretty well at everything else, I failed ENTIRELY at spending time writing each day...
didn't have a SINGLE checkmark on that line this month.  :-/


 As spring often has a way of doing, busyness abounds.  We are over here trying to get in the garden, trying to WATER what has been gotten in (on one of the DRIEST springs I can recall), trying to coordinate Biggles' jobs schedules, Middles' commitments outside of home, trying to finish up homeschooling for the year and trying to be available for the Littles.  There have already been camping overnights, parties and swim days.  These are the days when homeschooling seems like torture.

It's a delicate balance of trying to prioritize what MUST be done, what ought to be done, what would LIKE to be done, and what can be set aside for now.  Of course, everyone in our home has different sets of priorities within that framework and there are a lot of people who may not agree with how it plays out.  We may get it wrong at times but we are doing the best we can.

But even before spring officially sprung, April seemed to be particularly busy.   There was a birthday celebration for my Mom- (who is just as vibrant as ever, despite her dramatic year-long health trial), visiting with long distance, long-ago friends who feel a bit like parents (who you just soak up, you love them so), a birthday celebration for Andrew (a post for another time) and a longtime dream fulfilled... hosting a community psalm sing.

Our community has many different churches, many of whom have never experienced psalm-singing.  So it was my hope that we could bring them all together and sing to the Lord HIS songs.  (Unfamiliar with psalm-singing?  Read this!  Or this!)  So many things divide, but as Christians we are ONE church.  We can only have power to change the culture, to cause true Revival and Reformation, if we join together in repentance, obedience and loving what God loves.  And so we did!  I didn't know how large a group it would be but I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout.  I know of at least 7 churches being represented.  And everyone sounded wonderful!  It was just a beautiful experience.  The children and I baked dozens upon dozens of cookies and brownies for the event, bought two bouquets of flowers and split them up for the tables, roasted up SIX beef chuck roasts and an entire roaster oven of chicken and everyone brought dishes to pass.  I made up packets of Psalms for people to take home with them to practice.  

 I pray the Lord cause that tiny, beautiful ripple to create a tidal wave of Truth and JOY in the hearts of all who hear.  

6 comments:

Monica said...

You are so good at organizing things! I would have LOVED the hymn sing!

The cheese..did you get a new milk cow?

I really, really need to write. I wrote you back as soon as I got your letter but didn’t finish it. And who knows where it is now.

Think of you often, sounds like you are going into a new phase in life called “Life with older children going every direction”. Sigh. The little Newman children are supposed to stay little. I demand it.

So good to hear from you, I always enjoy a good month update. Go ahead and get May up there. ;) Don’t you love bossy blog readers. Ha!!

Love, Monica

Rebecca said...

Hello Monica! It is good to hear from you! You know, I toyed with the idea of challenging myself to blog something every single day of June... and then in a blink it was June 3rd. So..... yeah, not gonna go with THAT challenge!

We buy milk from Matt's brother (who has cows) when we are not milking ourselves... but we DID just get a cow! She's due in July.

That letter situation has happened to me SO many times. I understand! ;-)

May is coming up. Preferably before June leaves. ha!

Abigail said...

Thank you for nearly single-handedly throwing a wonderful Psalmfest for 100+ people! And thanks, too, for showing someone who might need it just what a wedding reception in that space would look like. ;) Those bouquets were sheer beauty and one of my favorite parts of the day. (Next time, though, lady, we'll know what's going on behind the scenes, and you'll have a few extra helper elves to help with your workload, whether you want them or not.)

And as for your blog that's a mere one month behind? Ah, it gives me a noble goal to work toward. What may seem impossible to man, and all that...

Anonymous said...

What a lovely gift to your family and the community to organize a Psalm sing. No better way to express our joy and gratitude for all we are given than to sing. Lynn Ewing

Rebecca said...

ABBY- you're on a roll and I am LOVING it!

Lynn- It's true! It was beautiful to sing for joy together!

Abigail said...


Hehehe. This morning right after I hit "publish" on the latest slew (which, incidentally, CATCHES ME UP TO THE PRESENT FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2020!!!), I noticed that you had just finished commenting on all the other months I posted in the last week.

So, basically, I just caught up on 7 months of blog posts, and, in one morning, you pretty much did the same. :)