A day of celebration

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times, no exaggeration, “It’s hard to be a Jaguar fan…” Man, oh man, they make us work hard to be supporters. Today’s game was lost in overtime, three times in field goal range, three times missed. Ugh! The team’s longtime kicker, Josh Scobee, was released this season and a new guy brought in. I wonder if tomorrow he will still be alive (kidding!) and will he still have a position on the team. Those who are more fervent fans than am I are beside themselves. I feel badly for my friend, Gretchen, who is the equivalent of the #1 fan, as she is likely crushed, like the team is. It took every part of me to not call her this afternoon. She probably needs to be alone. As Justin says, “At least we have the Packers…” Yes, yes we do!

But there was cause for rejoicing and a bit of weeping today. I called my mom this afternoon to get the scoop on the day’s events at my home church, First German Lutheran. They were giving thanks for 160 years of the Lord’s mercy on the congregation with special worship and music, choirs, and a guest preacher. The president of the Seminary preached, using the theme of memories. I don’t know what his Biblical reference was for the sermon, Mom only told me the gist of it. She has been there all her 90 years and this was a special day for her as well.

My sister, Lynn, is in the choir for the church so was in the choir loft for the service. She instructed my sister, Jill, to have tissues ready for one of their anthems, and they were needed. The FG choir sang “Now the Light Has Gone Away” in German. I weep now writing about it. What is so special about that hymn, other than its text, is that one of the former pastors whom Mom loved dearly, had sung that for her at his going away party. Justin and I happened to be there for this event and there were no dry eyes at our table, and I dare say, in the room. She had scolded him for accepting the Call, reminding him that he promised to sing that at her funeral, in German. Since he likely wouldn’t be there for her funeral, he sang it for her before he left. And she got to hear it again today. Lynn said she did okay singing in rehearsal, but today was a deal breaker, especially after hearing the sermon about memories. Wow, just wow!

When Justin got home after watching the Jaguar game with Jesse, we were standing in the kitchen, talking. I told him how FG celebrated 160 years today and he said, “Oh, wow!” (we say wow a lot!). Then I told him that Grandma had a special treat when the choir sang. He asked, “Did they sing Grandma’s song in German?” How in the world did he know?? He just guessed it out of the air, saying he didn’t read it anywhere, just guessed it. I believe him, because I didn’t read it anywhere either and am more apt to spot something like that on my sites than is he. He just blew me away! Anyway, I told Mom I was going to write to Pastor Hahm and let him know about this, and she told me to let him know that she thinks about him often. I did just that!

Justin and I ate at home this evening, enjoying some country-style ribs which I popped in the oven when I got home from Chili’s. I sprinkled them with dehydrated onions, salt and pepper, and poured a partial can of dark ale with them. Justin got this beer for his birthday and does not care for it, so we are using it for cooking. My neighbor, Kay, was over for a little while and she said the smell of our dinner was driving her crazy. The house smelled amazing from it. Part way through the roasting process I put some of Justin’s homemade bbq sauce on them. We served the ribs with egg noodles and both were delicious. I added some of the ale to the water used for boiling the noodles, too. The rest went down the drain, phew! It smells much better in the roaster than in the sink!