What joy!  Another good evening with my puppydog!  Perhaps it is too soon to say, but I do feel as if the medication twice a day and the acupuncture worked miracles.  I was so very, very worried it was time.  I know his day is coming.  Just not now.  Oh, not now.

~~~~
Bettina's handsome groom G-Man helped me with dinner tonight.  When we are on the phone and she tells me she has to go and cook dinner, I ask her to make me jealous by telling me what sumptuous things they shall be consuming (Bettina is a good cook).  Tonight, I asked her to tell me what to make, for I was hungry.  Her response to what shall I eat:  "I don't know...some peanuts and cheese and Cheerios."  Yep, she nailed it.  Far too often that is my evening fare.

When I bemoaned that I wanted more, even though my cupboard and refrigerator are rather bare, she put G-Man on the phone to help me.  Kind man that he is, he promptly did so.  I had a bacon and cheese omelet (after I thawed out the bacon I discovered in the freezer--I had bought it to wrap around asparagus but didn't realize I had picked up a package of extra-thick bacon).  He had a tough job with no vegetables, no bread, and pretty much nothing else that readily came to mind.  Still, he willingly cast about for something more than peanuts, cheese, and Cheerios for me!

His idea, too, was to go ahead and cook the entire package of bacon and then just eat on it or freeze some and save it for later.  Ah, he does not know that I could willingly chow down on the entire package!  I did heed his advice, not that bacon is the most healthiest fare to have on hand.  My best eating, aside from feasting on the Word when I am fasting, has been Bootstrap's crock pot meal.  Oh, the memory!  SIGH.

~~~~
I completed the Maundy Thursday bulletin, but I guessed wrong on the fold.  So, once the pastor is back in the office tomorrow, he's going to give me the exact measurement.  Since he is not having a Vigil Service, that only leaves the Resurrection of Our Lord bulletin to go.  The Maundy Thursday bulletin is the format he uses most, so once I get it down, doing them each week should be a breeze.  I very, very much savor actually being useful.

I also had to re-set some things on the Good Friday bulletin and thought I would share the explanation of The Tenebrae found near the end of the service after the conclusion of the seven readings from the Living Word and seven hymns of response:

According to ancient tradition, we now extinguish seven candles on the altar, one for each of our Lord’s last words spoken from the cross. We are covered by tenebrae, “darkness,” even as the midday sun was veiled at our Lord’s death.

After the darkness is descended, and we have sung the Agnus Dei, the words of Psalm 22 will be read as the Paschal candle, representing Christ, is removed from our midst and extinguished, symbolizing his death. For our Lord did not merely swoon, but died and gave up his spirit, enduring all the wrath of hell. Thus, a loud crash will break the darkness, even as the earth quaked, and a stone was rolled over his tomb, and the curtain of the holy Temple was torn asunder.

At last, while in the darkness, we pray the prayer our Lord taught us.

“If you think of sin but lightly, nor suppose your evil great, here now view your nature rightly. Here your guilt now estimate. See the sacrifice appointed; mark who bears the awful load. Hear the death of Christ anointed, Son of Man and Son of God.”


Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!