Advent Hymn... from a friend's blog

“Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord”
(by Heinrich Held; tr. Catherine Winkworth)

Let the earth now praise the Lord.
Who hath truly kept His word
And the sinners' Help and Friend
Now at last to us doth send.

What the fathers most desired,
What the prophets' heart inspired,
What they longed for many a year,
Stands fulfilled in glory here.

Abrams promised great Reward,
Zion's Helper, Jacob's Lord,
Him of twofold race behold,
Truly came, as long foretold.

Welcome, O my Savior, now!
Hail! My Portion, Lord, art Thou.
Here, too, in my heart, I pray,
Oh, prepare Thyself a way!

King of Glory, enter in;
Cleanse it from the filth of sin,
As Thou hast so often done;
It belongs to Thee alone.

As Thy coming was in peace,
Quiet, full of gentleness,
Let the same mind dwell in me
That was ever found in Thee.

Comfort my desponding heart:
Thou my Strength and Refuge art.
I am weak, and cunningly
Satan lays his snares for me.

Bruise for me the Serpent's head,
That, set free from doubt and dread,
I may cleave to Thee in faith,
Safely kept through life and death,

And when Thou dost come again
As a glorious King to reign,
I with joy may see Thy face,
Freely ransomed by Thy grace.

From Thanksgiving to Christmas

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with our families. The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we celebrated with the extended Jensen (Dan’s mom) family. We saw a lot of family we haven’t seen in awhile. For spent Thanksgiving Day with the Vance family (Lynn’s mom) at Uncle Joe’s house. We had the whole spread – it was delicious!

The next day, after staying with Lynn’s parents in a hotel in the Cities, we spent the day the Science Museum of Minnesota. Growing up during many a visit, Lynn’s loved exploring and learning through the different exhibits. The omnitheatre shows are spectacular too – if you’ve never scene them it’s a must! The show we saw was on the Great Lakes – so no great exotic adventures this time but still beauty, educational, and breathtaking! It’s amazing how fun it is to learn things – especially when you’re done with the “official” schooling.

We were back to Ames Thanksgiving weekend for our Going-Away Party. Thanks to the many of you who stopped by and we missed those that couldn’t make it. We decorated for Christmas in Ames with our housemates, which really helped us get into the Christmas mood! What a blessing to be living with Eric & Stephanie, and Tom & Angie. We’re going to miss you guys!

A beautiful snow fall!

Lynn has been working one afternoon a week. If you’re in Ames on New Year’s Eve you should check out Oh, What A Night! as a great entertainment option! Find out more at www.ohwhatanight.org.

We were back in MN only a week later to celebrate Lynn’s brother’s birthday, and we saw a few friends (like Laura Walklet & Laura Meyer!

Besides celebrating his birthday we got to build gingerbread houses! In High School Lynn did this a few times at the church we attended, but Dan had never built them quite like this! A guy from WI comes with the baked gingerbread, A LOT of candy variety, the frosting, and instruction and then you create! Dan & Nathan built there’s together – it’s an eco-gingerbread house. Can you see the two windmills, animal powered transporation, solar panels on the roof, and hay covering the roof. A wind block also helps during those cold winter days! (Note that Dan ate all of his in the couple days following…) Lynn’s was more traditional and pastel, although the roof was a bit too heavy – so it became a peek-a-boo gingerbread house with a Christmas tree inside (you can’t see it in the picture). She also ran out of time to fully complete it. We also helped Lynn’s parents decorate for Christmas!

On our way back to IA we stopped for a night and stayed with James & Nicole. We had fun watching Monday Night Football and playing games, although getting there through the first big snow storm of the winter wasn’t a lot of fun!

While in Ames again for a few days we went to our churches Christmas production, Esmeralda. It was incredible story of a little girl’s encounter with an Amazing King who chooses to walk among the common people of His kingdom. It’s beautiful & touching and I wish you could all see it! A woman in our church wrote it – the story, the lyrics, the music, the whole thing! Thanks Jenni!

We’re spending some time with Dan’s family this weekend and having a good bye party in Clarksville on Sunday. We had fun seeing Dan’s cousin’s holiday production with Matt, Ashley, Noah, and Pam on Friday and then spending some more time with Matt, Ashley, & Noah Friday night. It think we may have a budding musician….

As we enter our last month in the States we’re packing up, saying good-bye, running little errands, getting rid of things we don’t need & can’t bring with us, finishing little projects and trying to get everything in order as much as possible! Good-bye’s are never easy, yet we know that God has something great for us and are excited for what the other side of the ocean holds for us!