All My Heart - Christmas Day

Hymn #217 Trinity Hymnal: All My Heart This Night Rejoices
A hymn attributed to Paul Gerhardt, 1653
Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1858

All my heart this night rejoices
As I hear far and near sweetest angel voices.
"Christ is Born," their choirs are singing
Till the air everywhere now with joy is ringing.

Forth today the Conqu'or goeth,
Who the foe, sin and woe, death and hell o'erthroweth.
God is man, man to deliver;
His dear Son now is one with our blood forever

Shall we still dread God's displeasure--
Who to save, freely gave His most cherished Treasure?
To redeem us, He hath given
His own Son from the throne of His might in heaven.

He becomes the Lamb that taketh
Sin away and for aye full atonement maketh.
For our life His own He tenders;
and our race, by His grace, meet for glory renders.

Hark! A voice from yonder manger,
Soft and sweeth, doth entreat, "Flee from woe and danger!
Brethren from all ills that grieve you,
You are freed, all you need I will surely give you!"

Come, then, banish all your sadness
One and all, great and small; come with songs of gladness.
Love Him who with love is glowing;
Hail the star, near and far, light and joy bestowing.

Dearest Lord, thee will I cherish.
Though my breath fail in death, yet I shall not perish,
But with thee abide forever
There on high in that joy which can vanish never.


Brandt (missing two teeth after his clash with the ice skating rink on Friday) with his Campbell's Living Forest series from Grandma and Grandpa. Yes, the teeth were permanent. Thanks much to our dentist, Tim Moore, who saw Brandt immediately on Friday evening following the accident. It remains to be seen if the teeth can be saved.


Evangeline shows off the present that Gresham picked out carefully just for her. This is a tradition we've developed over the past three years. The kids draw each others' names and take some time choosing a gift. This is a huge blessing as we see each of them spend their time and their money to find something thoughtful for their sibling.


The kids show off the zip line that Grandma and Grandpa bought for them.


Eva opening her present from Gresham


Brian and the kids right after they gave him the "Ten Ps in a Pod" present they bought for him


Gresham with the watercolor set that Brandt chose for him. Gresham threw his arms around Brandt and said, "Thanks so much Brandt!" with all of the feeling he could muster. And for Gresham, that is a lot of feeling!


Seth and Eva with the game that Eva "bought" for Seth.



Me, showing off my soft shall jacket that Brian bought for me in Denver

The White Before Christmas--6 Inches of it!!!

See Below for a Sampling of What was on Our Plates, Our Minds, Our Hearts & Our Technological Devices in 2007

New on our iPod in 2007

"The Shadow of Your Wings: Hymns and Sacred Songs" - Fernando Ortega
"The Hidden Face of God" - Michael Card
"Messiah, Oratorio" - London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir & Walter Susskind
"Classical Conversations Cycle 2 Audio CD" - Don't laugh. There are some rockin' tunes on this one!
"Early American Christmas" - Miller-Rowe Consortium
"Coventry Carols" - The St. Michael's Singers
"Joy for Every Age" - Arcangeli Chamber Chorus and Orchestra
"Dancing Day" - Atlanta Boy Choir
"Psalms of Scotland" - The Scottish Philharmonic Singers
"Ben Hur" - Focus on the Family Radio Theatre
"The Hiding Place" - Focus on the Family Radio Theatre
"Waves of Grace: The Story of John Newton" - Focus on the Family Radio Theatre
"Good Advice" - Jamie Soles
"The Way My Story Goes" - Jamie Soles
"Fun and Prophets" - Jamie Soles
"Help My Unbelief" - Red Mountain Church
"Fun French for Kids" - Beth Manners
"Lingua Angelica: Christian Latin Music and Prayers" - Memoria Press

Safe Sin Management

The term was coined in a sermon which we heard preached by Mark Sumpter of Faith Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grants Pass. It sums up the modern Christian's approach to sin. It sums up our every tendency to dilute the concentrated cleansing power of the blood of Christ. I'll try to paraphrase the sermon here as it marked a turning point for our family in the latter part of this year:

When Jesus restores Peter in John 21, He does so after Peter has gone back to fishing. His denial of the truth is now only a distant memory; the scab has hardened. At first, the scab only hurts a bit when Jesus prods Peter: "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?" We can only imagine the look on Peter's face: a mix of "Oh, c'mon Jesus do we really have to go here?" with a pinch of startled guilt mixed in.

The sinful scabs that we wear around are most revolting and painful to those around us because they see them more readily than we do. Isaiah (Ch.3) says "...they declare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves...Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will uncover their secret parts."

Peter's still not getting it that Jesus won't be content with cursory treatment. He says to Peter again "Simon son of Jonah, do you love me?" My surmising only but I'm imagining that Peter is getting a little irritated at this point--the sort of irritation that precedes complete humiliation. After all, it's Jesus' business to forgive. It's why He died, isn't it? Let's just forgive and forget--get on with life. Put the fun back in dysfunctional, right? Peter answers Jesus again, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Maybe Peter is gaining insight--an unforgivable sin against an infinite God--but it's not yet recovery.

Jesus then gets really obnoxious with Peter. Which of us 21st century pragmatists would dare to ask our brother the same shameful question not twice but THREE times? And yet there Jesus is--sitting down with Peter, right at his level, loving him with methodical love, questioning him in a methodical sorting out of vice from virtue. We moderns abhor this sort of loving. We don't want a loving father; we want an indulgent father.

But Jesus had to get Peter beyond the safe management of his denial so that he could be useful for the kingdom. If we want to do great things for God, we do well to begin with our sin and with our futile "confessions." We need to stop chuckling about it and using words like "struggle, trouble, problem, and poor choices" and use the real words that remind us of our desperate need for cleansing. Sin is "a scab, prostitution, and iniquity" that mars our entire being. It's not just a blip on the continuum; it's a completely wrong state of things. It permeates everything and leaves it with the rottenness of a dead body. Joshua the high priest sat before Satan and God the Father in "filthy garments" (Zechariah 3). Sin is a corruption that requires a complete remediation, not just plastic wrap to quell the stench.

We do well to let Jesus' spirit sort out for us the vice from the virtue. After Jesus questions Peter the third time, Peter finally repents: "Lord, you know all things: You know that I love you." Jesus says to him: "Feed my sheep." We never get the idea that Jesus is having a little fun with Peter. It's all deadly serious and its serious end is to make Peter the rock upon which He will build the Church. Jesus doesn't tease. He probes below the foundation level of our lives so that He can find that something of value upon which to build. And when He finds it, the realization is that He put it there to begin with. He really does know all things. And He really does sit down in fellowship with us to rid us of the excess and excrement that prevents a stable building process.

This was the first of two Mark Sumpter sermons we heard in 2007 and as we drove back home on Hwy 140, Brian and I sat alternately quiet and then bursting out thoughts in ramshackle fashion. As we approached Klamath Lake, the Holy Spirit was showing me that I make so many excuses for laziness in my life--and laziness is the iniquity (oh, can't I please call it a problem?) that is holding us both back from greater use in the Klamath Basin. We discipline our children for laziness but what sort of discipline will our Heavenly Father be forced to use if we continue to ignore the scab? The fact that we're organized people and that we are productive when we choose to be does not make up in any way for the fact that there are plenty of times when we choose to sleep instead of work or we choose to be entertained rather than to think.

My cheeks burned with shame as I confessed to Brian this sin that he could already see so plainly, this sin with which he himself was struggling. The minute I confessed it, I wanted to get back to fishing. I didn't want to think anymore about it, but there was Jesus, questioning me with patience and love: "Cara, do you love me? What will you do about this? What steps will you take not tomorrow but this evening to be rid of this entanglement with the demon that has plagued you so long?" For how can I feed his sheep--even those in my own home--if I don't first get out of bed?

What We've Read/Are Reading in 2007

This list spans my reading list, Brian's reading list, and our read-aloud-to-the-family list. This does not include the ten times each I've read Poppleton or Mr. Putter and Tabby...

Teaching the Trivium by Harvey & Laurie Bluedorn
Far As The Curse Is Found by Michael Williams
God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology by Michael Horton
Given For You: Recovering Calvin's Doctrine of the Lord's Supper by Keith Mathison
A House for My Name by Peter Leithart
Through the Year with William Still, edited by David Searle
The Auburn Avenue Theology: Pros and Cons edited by Calvin Beisner
The King's Shadow by Elizabeth Alder
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Eleanore M. Jewett
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
If All The Swords in England by Barbara Willard
The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day by Scott O'Dell
Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard
Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland
L'Abri by Edith Schaeffer
Two From Galilee by Marjorie Holmes
Upgrade: Ten Secrets to the Best Education for Your Child by Kevin Swanson
The Well-Designed Mixed Garden by Tracy Disabato-Aust

The Year in Review in Pictures

We began 2007 with a prolific snowstorm that covered our unenclosed living room with as much as 3 feet of snow in some places. It seemed we shoveled for weeks.

Gresham turned 7 on February 14.

Brian turned 35 on March 7 and his parents were here--hooray!--to celebrate the happy occasion with snow, cake, and kisses. Though we've taken them on several trips looking for real estate in Klamath, they've yet to find something that suits exactly. Nevertheless we keep hoping that we will lure them up here in their retirement years.



Easter was spent down in the Bay Area with my brother, Aaron, and sister-in-law, Shauna, my nephew CJ, and the newest addition to their clan, Abigail Julia. The cousins all had a rousing time of learning how to "SHARE"--a word which seems to have several pronunciations depending upon who is speaking at the moment.



Ginger and the kids (Boston, Grayson, Isabella, Aspen, Annalise) came to visit for a week in July and Brian took them up to Crater Lake for a day. The photos are almost completely unaltered. That is the no-kidding, real-life shade of blue that you will see if you visit in person.




We spent the middle of July camping by a stream with my mom and dad, Charyla and Gil, and Aaron, Shauna, CJ & Abby at a secluded campsite in the Cascades. There was no one there but us, save for a quiet, kind woman from Medford with two dogs. After three days we went back home for much-needed showers for everyone and a drying for all the gear. Evangeline celebrated her 3rd birthday with a few of her favorite people.



Soccer season hit us like a ton of bricks. Brian (was) volunteered to coach--not one but THREE soccer teams. Providentially he had an ultra-organized and talented assistant coach in Alexis Deutscher, a friend from Florida and also from our current squadron. Between the three of us and some very helpful parents we managed to keep the children from killing each other and headed for the goal. No, I'm not kidding. Every practice was homeschool appreciation day! Brandt played U-10 and showed some real talent for seeing the field and passing. Gresham played U-8 and amazed us with his increased ball handling. Seth played U-6 and spent his time on goal kicks, otherwise avoiding the ball at all costs! Eva thought she was playing U-6 as well and would have voluntarily, fearlessly played in every game but her sweet little buns lacked the finesse to deal with five-year-old tornados.


Seth turned a very earnest and slightly precocious 5 in October while Mimi and Great Grandma Nana were visiting. I'm ashamed to say that I never even got up from the couch. Our entire family save Brian was down for the count in some part of October with The Plague--2007 version. One of our Classical Conversations history sentences says "In the late 1300s rats carrying The Plague killed one of three Europeans." I believe it; and those who didn't die wished they could.




Poor Mimi and Nana had the joy of dealing with the tail-end of The Plague while Brian and I dashed off for a weekend of flybys and excitement in Denver, where we spent some time with squadron friends and even more time with PJ & Stephanie Mendicki and their girls. For you USAFA grads, that's Tony DiCarlo ('95 guy - boxer) on the left with his wife Candy and Cadet C1C Rob Erickson ('91 guy) and his wife Megan in the middle. I've heard that Rob was once a man who struck fear into the heart of every USAFA underclassman but you would never know it these days. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if he ever reads this post, he'll be mortified that I mention it at all. But what fun is life if we can't look back and laugh at the way it was.

Shortly after our homecoming, Eva was down again with the tummy bug which left her acidotic and fighting for her life. We spent a few days in the doctor's office and just one night in the hospital this time. In January, we will be taking her to Doernbecher Hospital in Portland for some follow-on appointments with an enzyme team. No pictures of the hospital stay.

Brandt turned 10 on November 15 and soon after Mimi, Nana, Papa, Uncle Aaron, Auntie Shauna, CJ & Abigail were visiting for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time together during the holidays at last after all of these years apart. We even managed to snap about 80 photos of the kids in the matching outfits that Mimi & Papa had ordered. Out of 80, well.... you can see how many keepers we had.









After the F-15s were grounded in November, we found ample time to launch another Bergeron-Oregon Christmas tradition: cutting our own tree. We took the kids down to Keno (by the California border) and they were able to sled and nail each other with snowballs while Brian and I searched for the perfect tree. Little secret: When there are 1000 spruces gathered all together with 100 foot Douglas Firs in the background, you don't realize how sparse those branches really are. Another little secret: Don't bring a dull saw to cut one down. Next year we'll probably try the "Oregun technique" of shooting it down at the base!

Speaking of guns, I don't have pics but the boys are having a rollicking good time using their BB gun to ping the deer that accost our property on a daily basis. For those of you worried about such things, the BBs don't hurt them permanently. They just leave our yard because they're mildly annoyed by the swat on the bottom. One of my favorite Oregon stories thus far: I was on the phone with a friend in the D.C. area and about 8 deer came into view in both the front and side yards. They began to methodically eat away at my newly-planted shrubs and I began to yell, "Boys! Boys! Get the guns and come shoot 'em quick!!!" Poor Mary, perfectly in the dark on another side of the country, was wondering out loud, "Guns? Shoot whom?"

I'll leave you with a picture that to my mind sums up the exquisite created beauty that assaults our senses on a daily basis. This is a view from our kitchen windows that routinely calls forth the Doxology from my inadequate voice. Our prayer in this Advent season is that you routinely find around you the joys that call forth praise to our Creator and that, in finding them, you give Him all that He is due--even inadequately.