“Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties.  After all, everyone dies – so the living should take this to heart.”  Ecclesiastes 7:2, NLT

One of the most meaningful things I did this past week was attend the U.S. Memorial Service for John Stott, former Rector of All Souls Church in London.  He was a true ambassador of Christ.  Four things in the service stood out to me.

1.  During the prelude, I paged through the bulletin, which was appropriately lengthy .  A lot of people had been asked to take part in this service – Sara Groves, Michael Card, Timothy Keller to name a few . . . The most impressive thing in the bulletin, to me, was printed on the back cover.

John Stott’s Daily Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence

and please you more and more.

Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and  cause

your fruit to ripen in my life:

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,

Gentleness, and Self-Control.

Holy, blessed and glorious trinity, three persons in one God,

have mercy upon me.

Almighty God,

Creator and Sustainer of the universe,

I worship you.

Lord Jesus Christ,

Savior and Lord of the World,

I worship you.

Holy Spirit,

Sanctifier of the people of God,

I worship you.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever, Amen.

2.  Part of this hero of the faith’s remembrance in the bulletin read: “John Stott loved Scripture, and for over 50 years he read the whole Bible through annually.  It became a pattern to rise at 5:00 am daily to read and pray.”

[Personal reflection here.  Do any of you remember that old television commercial where a few young boys, watching Michael Jordan -  famous Chicago Bulls basketball pro - shooting baskets, said: "I want to be like Mike!"?]           

Well, I want to be like John.

3.  During the memorial service, someone shared one of John’s Stott’s [mischievous] quips:

The English love the Gospel because it gives them something to talk about

The Welsh love the Gospel because it gives them something to sing about.

The Irish love the Gospel because it gives them something to fight about.

The Scottish love the Gospel because . . . it’s free.

4.  One of the last things in the program was a brief and thoughtful message by Tim Keller.  He spoke about the example of John Stott, referencing Hebrews 13:7: “Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God.  Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.” 

Tim Keller encouraged us to be:

A.  Convicted by John’s Kingdom vision.

B.  Cautioned by John’s cultural learning curve.  As John traveled, taught, and invested eternally around the world, he was a man who listened, not a man who was myopic.

C.  Chastened by his leadership controversies.  Tim mentioned that although John was a humble man, not everyone agreed with him, and John – like anyone else who stands up for what they believe – sometimes became involved in controversies of one sort or another.  Tim emphasized that even in a controversy, John was always gracious, diplomatic, and irenic.  [That word irenic was new to me.  I came home and looked it up in the dictionary.  It means peace-loving and conciliatory.]

D.  Instructed by John’s great innovations:

- John reinvented expository preaching.  [I remember going to Urbana, 1970 and hearing John Stott preach on John Chapter 13 from the Bible.  Powerful.]

- John was willing to create and organize institutions.

- John forced evangelicals to deal with social injustices.

- John created evangelicalism – seemingly halfway in between fundamentalism and liberalism – being orthodox in doctrine, abreast of scholarship, and accessible to all.

5.  Empowered by the knowledge of his present glory.  [I'm reminded of Hebrews 12:1-2 - Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.  And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy awaiting him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.  Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne."]  Based on what the Bible teaches about heaven, I’m sure that John is worshiping Christ around that throne.

I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to attend the memorial service for John Stott – a hero of the Christian faith to many.  In the days to come, I’ll be pondering the things I heard . . .

Blessings,

Ellen

This morning, I read:

” . . . it might appear that there is nothing you need to do, or can do, to make salvation a reality for you.  And that is true.  Jesus has done it all.  Nothing you do can improve his work.  Nothing you do adds to God’s acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice.  So how do the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice become yours?  You accept the gift of salvation by faith, trusting entirely in Jesus for salvation.  You can do that now through a simple prayer: “Dear God, I trust in Jesus alone.  Please forgive my sins through him, and give me the eternal life secured by him.  Amen.”" 

[from the Life Application Study Bible, Hebrews 7:28]

I read those words from the Life Application Study Bible this morning – after I read from Hebrews 7 in my One-Year-Bible, New Living Translation.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I love using the One-Year-Bible.   Each morning, it’s the first thing I read – it’s part of what gets me out of bed early.  My One-Year-Bible has an attractive green and brown cover.  It’s an actual hard-copy Book (also available on eBook) that takes the whole Bible and breaks it up into daily readings.  No hemming and hawing, wondering where will I read today?  All I have to do is open to the particular day of the year – today it was November 6 – and read what’s there.  (Each day there’s a passage from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, one from Psalms, and a verse or two from Proverbs.)

Right next to my One-Year-Bible sits a well-worn copy of the Life Application Study Bible, which happens to be the World’s best-selling Study Bible.  I love using it, too, because after I read in my One-Year-Bible, I like going the next step and asking – What does this mean for me?  What does this mean for my life today?  How does it help me put my life in perspective – in terms of what’s happened in the past, what’s happening now, and what will happen in the future?  Reading in the LASB helps me deal with those questions, and helps explain the verses I’ve just read (for example, Hebrews 7 included verses about how Jesus lives forever, is able to save those who come to God through Him, and intercedes with God on their behalf).  The LASB also helps me think about how those concepts make a difference in my life.

Faith in Christ – How do we continue?

“How can you draw near to God?  The Bible makes it clear that your own body is God’s temple.  Your spirit needs and wants closeness with God.  You want to know the living God personally, not as an idea or concept, not as a distant monarch.  You can draw near to God through prayer, worship, and Bible meditation.  You need not live like a monk, but you probably need more prayer in your life.  The habit of worship has become a convenience to be wedged between sports and other recreations.  Instead, make worship your top priority.  Bible meditation may include verse memory, songs, and quiet personal reading.  The Bible is the word of God for you.  Use it every day and you will draw nearer and nearer to God.” 

[from the Life Application Study Bible, Hebrews 7:19]

Once again, the Life Application Study Bible took some of the verses I’d just read in my One-Year-Bible and helped me to think about them in a personal way.

The initial faith in Christ that I began with, many years ago, is the same faith in Christ I need to continue with today.  I began my relationship with God based on faith in what Jesus had already accomplished – His sacrifice on the cross for me, forgiveness of my sin, and the hope of eternal life with Him.

Today, I continue growing in my relationship with God the same way.  It’s still based on what Jesus accomplished on the cross and what He continues to do today.  Today, seated up in Heaven next to God, Jesus intercedes with God on my behalf.   To think that He does that on my behalf is amazing.  Being reminded of what He has done for me and is presently doing encourages me to continue to live by faith in Him.

Blessings,

Ellen

There were a couple of things I liked about the subway trains in Kiev.

(1) In spite of the fact that they’re old, they’re cool.

(2) You can ride the subway for $.04!  Yep, that’s right – 4 cents.

One of the beautiful Cathedrals in Kiev.  We are pretty sure the gold on top is for real . . .

Even though most of the letters in the Cyrillic alphabet looked somewhat familiar, the language was still ‘Greek’ to us.

The publishing conference we worked/spoke at was held about 45 minutes outside of Kiev, in Irpin.  We walked down the street to the local grocery store to buy bottled water, paper products, and chocolate.  In spite of the fact that the grocery store was so small, they asked us (through sign language) to pay one lady for the water, a different lady for the paper, and yet another lady for the chocolate.   On the way out . . .

this lady would have been happy to sell us some of the Vodka that Ukraine is famous for . . . if we’d wanted it.

On the way back from the grocery store, this was a typical house along the way . . .

as well as a typical car.

.

This is Jim and I with our interpreter, Nadiyka, a very bright young woman who is presently translating George W. Bush’s book, Decision Points, from English into Ukranian.

After Ukraine, we flew to Frankfurt, Germany, for the Frankfurt Book Fair.  Here at the Tyndale booth, Jim, myself, and two of our colleagues spent some very busy days meeting with delightful customers and publishing partners from around the world.

The day after Frankfurt Book Fair (Saturday), Jim and I drove up the Rhein towards Dusseldorf, where we had meetings the next week.  We stopped for several hours in Rudesheim, a lovely little city with lots of vineyards – and delightful cafes.

Rudesheim was so charming that we didn’t want to leave, but we needed to get up to Dusseldorf by Saturday evening.  Sundays in Germany everything closes down, which was good as we needed a day of rest.  On Sunday, we listened to a sermon from our Pastor, Josh Moody, via the internet, spent time reading, and took a long walk along the River.

Sunday evening, we went into Dusseldorf to have dinner.  After dinner, we stood on a bridge over the canal . . .

and captured this photo with my trusty little Coolpix camera.

All day Monday, we met with one of our German publishing partners, Hans-Werner from Haenssler in Witten, where they have now published more than 15,000 copies of Tyndale’s Life Application Study Bible in German.

Driving out of the town of Witten, Germany, this was a rather unusual-looking house we saw along the way.  Whoever lives inside must be very artistic.

There you have it, friends – not a lot of words, but an update on a few of the things we’ve been up to lately.

Blessings,

Ellen

It’s so familiar.

It’s so refreshing.

I thought of other times I’ve read it.  I thought of how I memorized it as a child.  I thought of how encouraging it was to one of my friends, Marty Daily, in the months before she died – 14 years ago today. 

Why is Psalm 23 selected so often to be read at funerals and printed on memorial programs, I wondered.

Maybe because it speaks both to life and to death.   It assures us that with God as our Shepherd, we have all we need for both.  That’s mighty encouraging for family and friends of loved ones who have passed away -  not only in processing the death of people who’ve gone before, but also as we give thought to our own mortality.

“Death casts a frightening shadow over us because we are entirely helpless in its presence.  We can struggle with other enemies – pain, suffering, disease, injury – but strength and courage cannot overcome death.  It has the final word.  Only one person can walk with us through death’s dark valley and bring us safely to the other side – the God of life, our shepherd.  Because life is uncertain, we should follow this shepherd who offers us eternal comfort.”  (Life Application Study Bible, Psalm 23:4)

While reading Psalm 23 this morning, I listed some of the things our kind Shepherd does for us throughout our lives:

~ He leads us

~ He renews our strength

~ He guides us

~ He is close beside us

~ He protects and comforts us

~ His goodness and unfailing love pursue us all the days of our lives (I remember Dr. Daniel Block saying that he imagines two hound dogs here – (1) goodness, and (2) unfailing love – running after us and nipping at our heels for all of our lives.  I love that picture.)

~He assures us that we can live in His house forever

I’m regularly impressed with how perfectly the whole Bible fits together, and I was impressed all over again this morning.  I’ll explain.

Earlier this week, as I read through the end of the book of Genesis, I came across some tender words that grip me every time I read them.  They’re found in Genesis 48:15.  It’s the scene where Jacob knows that he has come to the end of his life, and he offers blessings to his family members as they gather around him.  Not long before he draws his feet into bed, breaths his last, and joins his ancestors in death, he says, “May the God before whom my grandfather Abraham and my father, Isaac, walked – the God who has been my shepherd all my life, to this very day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm – may he bless these boys . . . “

Hmmmm . . . there was that Shepherd providing again.

As if that wasn’t beautiful enough, the Psalm for that same day (January 25 in the One-Year-Bible) was Psalm 20, which included a verse about Jacob’s God:

“In times of trouble, may the LORD answer your cry.  May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm. May he send you help from his sanctuary and strengthen you from Jerusalem.”  Psalm 20:1-2, New Living Translation

Cool, huh?

I like the verses above for several reasons:

~ They’re encouraging

~ They speak to real life – and the reality of death

~ They were spoken by imperfect heroes of faith (David, Jacob) who understood (eventually) how needy they were.  In their neediness, they exercised faith and looked to God.  And God helped them.

~ They leave me with a helpful pattern to follow

The Lord is my Shepherd; I have all that I need.

Are there times that the 23rd Psalm has been especially meaningful to you?

Blessings,

Ellen

Life Application Study Bible, copyright 2004.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.  Carol Stream, IL 60188.  All rights reserved.

In my last blog, I said I’d be making a post on a recent trip to Europe and the UK.  One advantage of having waited so long is that I now have two trips to Europe and the UK that I can tell you about.  One was in the fall, and one was a few weeks ago.  The first trip was for work, and the second was to visit family.

Working at Frankfurt Book Fair (Oct 2010)

Riding the UBahn in Vienna with family (12/2010)

People sometimes ask if I keep a diary of my trips hither and yon.  No, I don’t, but I do take a lot of photos.  The photos help remind me of where I’ve been, who I’ve spent time with, and things about the trip that I don’t want to forget.  I’ve never regretted taking a photo, but there are a few times I’ve regretted not taking a photo . . .

Like the time – about ten years ago – when Jim and I were in London and wanted to get a shot of us in front of a group of UK telephone booths.  We were close to the financial district that particular day.  As a middle-aged gentleman came walking down the street, I held up my camera and asked him if he’d please take a photo of us standing in front of a group of phone booths.  He seemed happy to help.  After he snapped the photo, he said, “So you like these red phone booths, do you?”  He proceeded to tell us that his great-great grandfather, Giles Gilbert Scott, was the architect who designed the red phone booths.  Out of all the people in London we might have asked to take that photo, it was one of Giles Gilbert Scott’s relatives!  Ten minutes later, when we were riding the tube to our next appointment and I was pondering what had just happened, I had one of those “DUH!” moments.  Why hadn’t I taken a photo of Giles Gilbert Scott’s great-great grandson in front of those phone booths?  And why hadn’t I captured his first name? I’m still kicking myself for that missed opportunity.

One of our many UK phone booth photos

Our October trip to the UK and Europe was a business trip.  We began in London, making visits to the headquarters of several Book Store Chains in the UK, one of which was Waterstone’s.  We always enjoy wandering through Waterstone’s Bookstores, and we’re grateful to be making progress in getting more NLT (New Living Translation) Bibles onto some of their shelves.

One of the Waterstone's Bookstores we visited

small Bible section at a big Waterstone's

After our meetings in London, we headed up to Carlisle (almost to the Scotland border) to visit publishing friends at one of Tyndale’s largest accounts – STL.  On our four-hour-or-so drive headed north, we saw the English Countryside,

English countryside

and we got our first glimpse of the Lake District, where we stopped for dinner.  We had – you guessed it – Fish n’ Chips.

Lake District at sunset

After a full schedule of meetings and presentations at STL (Carlisle) the next day, our publishing friends took us out to a wonderful Thai Restaurant.

Dinner with STL friends

After finishing our business in the UK, we flew over to Frankfurt, where we had over 60 appointments in 3 days at the Frankfurt Book Fair.  It’s always a marathon, and it’s a marathon we love.  What a privilege – to meet with publishing friends from all over the world.

Frankfurt, Germany

After working three days at the Frankfurt Book Fair and going strong from 5 in the morning till 10 at night, it was fun to be quiet and drive north up the Rhine on the way to our next appointment in Witten, near Dusseldorf.  At just about every bend in the river, we seemed to spot another castle, vineyard, or interesting structure.

driving up the Rhine

We stopped at a vineyard along the way and bought a bag of what I thought were huge grapes . . . only to find out that I had purchased small plums.  Mmmmm-mmmmm.  So sweet and juicy.  It was a pleasant surprise.

plums that I thought were grapes

We were in Dusseldorf for only a day and a half, and wish we could have stayed longer.  It’s a beautiful city along the river.

the river in Dusseldorf

We spent Sunday afternoon walking around the old part of the city.

Dusseldorf

Dusseldorf, Old City

Monday, we enjoyed our meetings with Hans-Werner Durau from SCM, our partner in publishing the NLT Bible in German (known as the NLB there).  They first published it a few years ago, and have already sold almost half a million copies.

with Hans-Werner Durau after our meetings

Just before we left Dusseldorf to fly home, it seemed appropriate to capture a photo of this sign:

Oh my . . . this is getting to be a very long post.  Now that I’m into it, I’ll just keep going.  Are you ready for the next trip?

Our second trip to Europe was to see family – yeah!  Our oldest son, Chad, teaches in Vienna, and back in 2009, he asked us if we would travel there for Christmas in 2010.  Although it didn’t work out for us to actually be there over Christmas, we used our frequent flier miles and found flights from Dec 28 until a few days after New Years Day.   We were also able to use FF miles to get Jordan over to Vienna from South Korea, where he teaches.  Given all the snowstorms that were halting air traffic in Europe around Christmas time, it was a miracle that all of our flights flew at exactly the times they were supposed to, for which we were incredibly grateful.  We were sad that Nate and Brit and Jensen couldn’t be with us – they are expecting baby #2 any day, and couldn’t travel.  We visited them a couple of weeks ago, and look forward to seeing them again soon when little Bella is born.

We spent our first day and a half in Vienna with Chad, as Jordan’s flight hadn’t yet arrived.  We began making visits to some of the famous Vienna cafes – we aimed to do one a day.

Coffee and pastries at a Vienna cafe

Just to clarify, the Santa Claus in the photo was a leftover decoration from Christmas – no person inside those red pants.

That first day in Vienna, we visited the National Library, which has an astounding collection of old books of all shapes and sizes.  It looks a little like the amazing library in the movie Beauty and the Beast, except it’s for real.

National Library, Vienna

On the morning of December 30 – the day after Jordan arrived – we rented a car and drove to Salzburg, where we spent one night and half of the next day.  On our way to Salzburg, we stopped for a few hours at one of the WWII Concentration camps, Matthausen.  It was so sad and sobering.  I took no photos of that visit, yet the haunting images remain . . .

We arrived in Salzburg in the evening, and this is what our walk in the city looked like:

Salzburg, along the river

We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner that evening at a typical Austrian Restaurant – Eulenspiegel.

dinner in Salzburg

close-up of delicious Viennese food

the drive back from Salzburg to Vienna

Back in Vienna on New Year’s Eve, we continued our visits to some of the well-known cafes.

Cafe Ritter

the coffee is served on fancy little trays

Sometimes we ordered apple strudel or pastry - lots to choose from

one cafe still had their gingerbread house on display

During our week in Vienna, we spent one afternoon at the aquarium, which used to be an anti-aircraft building at the time of World War II.

cool to see our Creator's handiwork up close

This guy's (gal's?) colors were amazing

first time I'd seen a yellow snake with turquoise markings

We had such a good time being with Chad and Jordan, and were sad that the week passed so quickly.

waiting for the UBahn, the night before we had to say good-bye

Our frequent-flier-flight back home routed us through London, which was fine with us!  We took advantage of the opportunity to ride the tube into the city and enjoy tea and scones.

Tea, scones, clotted cream, and jam

another UK phone booth shot, minus those crazy Elwells

We headed back to Heathrow before returning home to Chicago.

Grateful hearts full of wonderful memories

There you have it – our most recent escapades.  One of the reasons I’ve had time to document our trips is that Jim and I both picked up some kind of hacky bronchial cold somewhere in our travels, which forced us to slow down a bit.  Cold winter days aren’t such a bad time to be inside with lots of hot tea and a few good books.  Last week, I read The Brotherhood, a new Tyndale novel by Jerry Jenkins, set in Chicago – a story about a Chicago cop/detective.  It was a fantastic read.  I think it has great potential to sell internationally, too.  After all, gangs and gangsters are part of what the Windy City is known for, right?

Another book I read this past week was Tim Pawlenty’s book, Courage to Stand. Pawlenty is the former Governor of Minnesota, and I hope that he runs for President of the United States in the next election.  He’s smart, principled, funny, wise, courageous, and persevering.  If you can get your hands on a copy of the book, I highly recommend it.

Well, friends, that’s all for now.  Hope your new year is off to a good start.

Blessings,

Ellen

In the meantime, it’s been great to be around the house for awhile.  My house needs for me to be around a while.  After our trips to Asia and Europe, I had more stacks of this and that around the house than Heinz has pickles.  So the last couple weeks I’ve been going through some of those stacks, weeding things out, and putting them in their proper places.  I still have more to do, but I’m making progress, and making progress feels good.  The hardest part for me is getting started.

Last week, I went through my bedroom closet and dresser drawers – to set aside things I don’t need.  My usual rule of thumb is that I give away – or get rid of – anything I haven’t worn in a year or so.  Then, I bag up the items I want to give away and take them to Twice is Nice – a neat place my church runs.  There, they go up for sale (for a very reasonable price), and the proceeds are donated to a local Christian community center.   It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

So what was in this pile of things that I cleared out of my closet?

- Long underwear (Don’t need it . . . I’m always warm . . . I carry my heater everywhere I go)

- A belt (I’m a matron now – I like to wear my tops out)

- Warm slippers from New Zealand (Being that I’m always warm, I like to wear flip-flops in the house – even in the middle of winter)

- Christmas socks (The last two years I thought I might wear them, but alas, I haven’t)

- Earrings I wore once.  Those earrings I bought in the Singapore airport . . .  the ones with the little orchids inside . . . I guess they weren’t as great an idea as I originally thought.  [Note to self:  When considering a purchase, make sure it rates around a 10 - or I might not use or wear it much later.]

- Skirts, pants, blouses and sweaters that I haven’t worn in a year or two

While I was working on this project of going through my closet, I read the following New Testament verses from my One-Year Bible (Oct. 30):

“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.  They will perish, but you remain forever.  They will wear out like old clothing. You will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing.  But you are always the same; you will live forever.”  Hebrews 1:10-12

As if that wasn’t curious enough, I turned to the Old Testament reading for that same day and read: “Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.  They will perish, but you remain forever; they will wear out like old clothing.  You will change them like a garment and discard them.  But you are always the same; you will live forever.”  Psalm 102:25-26

At first, I thought – wait a minute – didn’t I just read those verses? Yes, I had. I double-checked.  The verses in Hebrews are a quote from the Psalms, and those same verses appear twice in the One-Year Reading for Oct. 30 – once in the OT and once in the NT.  Very cool . . .

One of the many things I like about reading from the Bible each morning is that there are so many references to things in real life that are easy to understand.  (As Mark Twain said, “It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts that I do understand.”)

Clothes wear out.  Yep, we know that.  Some of us wish we had purchased two of those favorite pants that fit us so well . . . God, however, never wears out.  He is always the same.   That is good for us to remember all the time.  It is especially good for us to remember when things around us are changing – which it seems is most of the time, here on earth.

Blessings,

Ellen

These last few months have been so busy, I almost forgot that I  have a blog.

Since I’m not sure where to start, an old phrase comes to mind – A picture is worth a thousand words. I think I’ll post a bunch of photos about places I’ve been and people I’ve seen.  

In July, we spent a wonderful week in Hilton Head, South Carolina with Chad, Nate, Brit and Jensen.  We were sad that Jordan wasn’t able to be with us – he was teaching in Korea at the time – and we missed him a lot.  Thankfully, we were able to see him in September – I’ll include those photos further down.

During our time in Hilton Head, we rented bikes and Jim and I enjoyed riding in the evenings.  One  night at dusk, I almost rode over a Copperhead snake that was slithering across the bike trail in the woods . . . Eeewww!

In August, we left for a three-week business trip to Beijing, Seoul, and Singapore.  First we had meetings in Beijing.  Later on that week, when Jim and one of his Tyndale colleagues got stuck in Shanghai during the typhoon there, I covered for Jim and hosted a few more business meetings in Beijing by myself!  Thankfully, Jim returned in time for us to keep our scheduled flight to Seoul, where we participated in a publishing conference and got to spend a weekend with Jordan.

Starbucks in Seoul is pretty much like Starbucks here in Wheaton – except for the sign.  During our weekend in Seoul, we were grateful to spend time with Jordan and tromp around parts of that big city together.

Unlike anything you’d see in Wheaton, this was one view from the Gyeongbokgung Palace grounds.

Korean Barbecues are not for the faint of heart!  Whoa, baby . . .  the food was so spicy that my face began sweating the minute we walked in the door!   It was a fun evening, and I was grateful for the big orange bib they provided with the meal.  We invited Harry Kernitz – one of Jordan’s friends from Taylor University days – to come along.  Harry teaches in a different part of Seoul and is enjoying his experience there as well.

During one of the conference days in Seoul, we met over lunch with some of our friends from Duranno Press.  We feel blessed to meet with such special people around the world.

One evening, we stopped into a YP Bookstore and were pleased to find a bunch of Tyndale’s NLT Bibles in Korean/English.  These are fun discoveries, since that’s one of the things we’re there to license and promote!

Here we are at work in Singapore, where we gave a 2-hour presentation on “Trends in Christian Publishing”, and met for a couple of days with customers from various parts of Asia in regards to rights and exports.

Some of our publishing friends from Campus Crusade Media in Singapore -  Hui Lin and Mui Ing – took us out to dinner at a lovely Italian Restaurant.

In order to get back to Chicago from Singapore, we had to fly back through Beijing and stayed overnight at a hotel close to the airport.  After grabbing a quick dinner, we walked around the neighborhood and came upon a grocery store.  I’m glad we went inside – I had fun taking photos!

Would you like to buy a fish or two?  You pretty much get the whole thing . . .

Or, you can buy it in pieces . . .

Or, you can take some critters home alive . . .

Maybe some of you gourmet chefs have used these in your recipes . . . I’m not familiar with them, though.  I found them in the produce section.  If anyone knows what they are and whether they’re a fruit or a vegetable, I’d be pleased to hear your take on them.

Now these looked familiar to me.  It’s pretty easy to spot an Oreo cookie just about anywhere in the world.

I like the unique way they package their eggs . . .

And if you come out of the grocery store with more things than you can easily carry (which we didn’t because we were flying back to Chicago the next morning), you can hire one of these to drive you and your purchases home!

Well now, that brings me up to late September.  I think I’ll wait until the next blog to post more photos of a few other places we’ve visited between then and now.

I won’t wait three months to do it, though.

Blessings,

Ellen

This past week, I featured The Toddler’s Songbook and had a ‘Give-Away’ here at CrissCross Connections.

I’m pleased to say that there are 3 winners!

Lilla, Carolyn, and Cathy will be notified shortly by email.  I’ll send them each one copy of the book when I receive their mailing addresses . . .

Thanks to all who left comments – there will be more give-aways down the road!

Blessings,

Ellen

Leave a comment on this blog between now and midnight, Friday June 25, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a copy of The Toddler’s Songbook. It’s a fun CD/book for young children to listen to/read in the car (great for car trips), at home, in the morning, or at bedtime.

On Saturday, June 26, I’ll randomly select one person who has left a comment, announce who won over the weekend, and send a copy to the winner next week.

Want to listen to a couple of the songs? Click on the links below.

Old MacDonald:

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands:

Want to see a couple samples of narrative from the book?

Old MacDonald

God made the animals.  Do you know their sounds?

God made the chicks.  Cluck-cluck, chicks!

God made the ducks.  Quack-quack, ducks!

God made the pigs.  Oink-oink, pigs!

God made the cows.  Moo-moo, cows!

God made the animals.  Can you say their sounds?

He’s Got the Whole Word in His Hands

God takes care of the whole wide world.

He takes care of the monkeys in the tree.

He takes care of the wind and the rain.

God takes care of you and me!

Want to see what the artwork is like? Find the cover photo for The Toddler’s Songbook on the right hand column of this blog (a little further down on the right) and click on it.  You’ll get a flavor of the delightful artwork, done by Caron Turk.

Other songs (with narrative) included in the book are Rise and Shine, Praise Him Praise Him, Jesus Loves Me, If You’re Happy, Mozart’s Lullaby, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord, God is so Good, Who Did? Zacchaeus, Mary Had a Baby, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Oh Be Careful, Little David Play on Your Harp, Oh How Lovely Is the Evening, and All Through the Night.

I had fun selecting the songs and producing the product, and Crossway did a great job of publishing the CD’s/books.  Most of the songs are sung by children, a few are sung by adults, and listeners get to enjoy a wide variety of musical instruments throughout the CD.

I hope you enjoy the samples . . .

Blessings,

Ellen

Taken from The Toddler’s Songbook, by Ellen Banks Elwell (illustrations by Caron Turk), copyright 2009.  Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.

Our son and daughter-in-law, Nate and Brit, recently visited us in Wheaton with their little son.  Jim and I loved every minute of it.  While they were here, we invited our family members who live in the area to come over and visit with them as well as celebrate Brit’s recent graduation – she completed an MA in Organizational Leadership from Regent University.

Since I love to bake, I planned a Sunday afternoon cake (recipes and photos below) reception.  After looking through several recipes in a Southern Living magazine,  I decided to try a pink strawberry cake – pink is Brit’s favorite color.

Nice idea, but the strawberry cake didn’t turn out so well – and it wasn’t the fault of Southern Living.  I followed all the directions on the recipe – that wasn’t the problem.  The problem occurred while the cakes were baking.  Shortly after I preheated the oven and slid the three cake pans in there to bake, I set the oven timer and went outside to water my flowers.

When I came back inside to see how many minutes of bake-time were left, I realized that the oven had shut off for some reason.  I’m glad that doesn’t happen very often!  I turned the oven back on and guessed how many minutes I should continue baking the cakes.  The timer rang, and the cakes looked like they were done.  They even sprang back when I touched the surfaces.  After taking the cakes out of the oven and giving them a little while to cool, though, I discovered that they were only half baked.  The oven had apparently shut off sooner than I thought.

Thankfully, I was baking a couple days before the event and I had some wobble room to deal with my problem.  I don’t always do this!  (Note to self:  planning ahead IS a good idea.)

After viewing the half-baked strawberry cake – not too appetizing – I decided to try a couple of other options: Red Velvet Cake and Sour Cream Chocolate Cake.  Thankfully, my oven cooperated and they both turned out great!  I’ve included the recipes below.

In the Bible, Hosea 7:8 explains that if God’s people mingle too much with godless ways and godless thinking, we can become as worthless as half-baked cakes.  Warren Wiersbe describes it as religion that doesn’t get deep into our lives but is just a surface thing.  As my recent experience in the kitchen proved, half-baked cakes aren’t useful; completely-baked cakes are.

Here are a couple photos of the two (completely-baked) cakes I prepared for Brit’s celebration.  They received wonderful reviews from our family!

RED VELVET CAKE

SOUR CREAM CHOCOLATE CAKE

RED VELVET CAKE (from Southern Living magazine)

1 cup butter, softened

2  1/2 cups sugar

6 large eggs (yes, 6!)

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 T. unsweetened cocoa

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 (8-oz.) container sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 (1-oz.) bottles red food coloring (that’s right – 2 one ounce bottles)

Recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting (below)

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

2. Combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda.  Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.  Stir in vanilla; stir in red food coloring.  Spoon cake batter into 3 greased and floured 8-inch round cake pans.  (After I grease and flour them, I always line the bottom of each pan with wax paper cut to size.)

3. Bake at 350 for 18 to 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  (It was a little longer than 20 minutes for me!)  Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes.  Remove from pans to wire racks, and let cool 1 hour or until completely cool.

4. Spread cream cheese frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 (32 oz.) pkg. or bag of powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat together until well blended, and ice cake.

SOUR CREAM CHOCOLATE CAKE

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

3/4 cups sour cream

1/4 cup softened butter

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

4 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate

Recipe for Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting (below)

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients for 1/2 minute on low speed, then 3 minutes on high speed.  Pour into 2 (9-inch) greased and floured cake pans.  (After I grease and flour the pans, I line them with wax paper cut to size.)  Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting

1/3 cup butter (softened)

3 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate

3 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix butter and cooled chocolate.  Blend in powdered sugar.  Stir in sour cream and vanilla; beat until smooth.  Frost the cake.

Please let me know if you try the recipes – I’d love to hear what you think!

Blessings,

Ellen