Another book from God...

 

God has been sending me books lately...

 it's kinda weird... but really special... When everywhere you look, God is telling you the same things... over and over.   For one thing, it's really awesome to know that we serve the living God...a God who still speaks to hearts and whose hand is still at work in the lives of His children. Sorta funny though because this heavenly Father knows that I'm not always quick to embrace the message He's trying to get across to me.  And so, if His Word isn't enough, then He'll send me a book.  And if sending me one book isn't enough, He'll send another one. Okay...I think I'm getting the message. ...I think.  :-) So, He's been sending me little reminders here and there to show me how to truly follow Him, and in the process, let go of some things in this world that I've been clinging too tightly to, so that I am free to love Him more completely.  

 

Looking for jewels...

 

 I haven't been updating my blog as much as I would like... and that's partially due to the fact that I recently started a private blog as a spiritual journal. There's been a lot going on in my heart, but a lot of it isn't the kind of stuff that I would post on a public blog... Not because it's scandalous or even that intensely personal... But honestly, a lot of things in my life look an awful lot like ashes right now. A blog should be genuine... But I want my blog to be filled with words of praise and gratitude. Not ashes. But one thing that I've learned is that some of the most beautiful things in my life have risen up out of the ashes.  Mmm hmm...that's where the blog's name came from--you're catching on!  Because...there are almost always jewels in the ashes if you are looking for them.  But you have to look for them.  Sometimes, you have to dig for them.  But they're there just the same, and when your heart wells up with praise to the Lord for the smallest jewel in the midst of the ashes, that is beautiful... . . .  If you read this post, you remember that I've been reading a book called, "One Thousand Gifts"  The Lord has used this book to remind me to be looking for all of the little blessings in my life from day to day...  All of the abundant blessings that are so far beyond anything I could ever deserve... to get my mind off of the ashes... I want my lips to praise the Lord continually. I don't know about you, but I used to sometimes feel a twinge of guilt when I praised the Lord for certain comforts in life.  It seemed somehow shallow or selfish to praise the Lord for peace or safety when everyone knows that true character rejoices in tribulation.  Am I a shallow Christian if my heart spills over with gratitude over trivial things? Early on in the book, Ann Voskamp addresses this question when her heart welled up with thanks while preparing a simple homemade pizza for her family: "I think how God-glory in a cheese ring might seem trifling.  Even offensive, to focus the lens of a heart on the minute, in a world mangled and maimed and desperately empty.  I know there is poor and hideous suffering, and I've seen the hungry and the guns that go to war.  I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks for early light dappled through leaves and the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July...and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives." I found comfort in her words, and I felt challenged to begin my own journey of counting "one thousand gifts" (you'll understand this better if you read the book). So, I intend to keep a gratitude journal of life's blessings--both big and small--from day to day. Because God is good.  Why not list thousands (upon thousands) of reasons why I should praise Him? Mmm...and another quote from Ann...  Remembering why we praise God. "God is not in need of magnifying by us so small, but the reverse.  It's our lives that are little and we have falsely inflated self...  In thanks we decrease and the world returns right." Somewhere along the line, humankind got the idea that we deserve something more than ashes...when in reality an eternity of ashes would be perfectly suited to what we deserve.  When we get a right perspective on who we are, and a right perspective on who God is, we can truly praise Him in any circumstances.  It is then that we can find the beauty in the ashes... When it's appropriate, I may post random tidbits from my gratitude journal on my blog.  I'd love to hear yours as well. And if your life looks like ashes right now... Join me.  Let's start looking for jewels.  :-) 

If you don't want to see my underwear, don't read this post:

 My last post was about the faithfulness of a certain little animal who lives in our house... my teddy bear, Gretchen.  It's amazing how many smiles this little creature brings into our home.  Our first couple years with Gretchen were very challenging.  We almost decided she wasn't worth the trouble.  Breaks my heart to think of that now...she just wasn't an easy dog to train.  But she's a very good dog now, and a welcome member of the family.  She really is quite civilized for an animal--her inner beast doesn't come out very often at all anymore.  But there's one nasty little habit that she hasn't been able to overcome.  She has a taste for dirty clothes.  Specifically our underwear.  Several days ago, I went into the bathroom to take a shower.  Now, to her credit, most of the time when Momma showers, she sleeps faithfully outside the door or else on the rug in the bathroom.  But on this particular day she opened the door to the bedroom with her nose, and I knew she was up to something.  I looked at her and said in a low voice,   "No panties."  I proceeded to take my shower and when I finished, I made my way into the bedroom where I found Gretchen near the foot of the bed.  Her location in the room would indicate that everything was perfectly normal.  But with tail between the legs, head low, and ears back, her body told a different story. Into the closet I went to find not one, but 5 pairs of underwear strewn about.  She had cast off all restraint and shamelessly devoured FIVE pairs of underwear!  Naughty.    Usually, I would give her a token swat on the nose with the underwear and say,   "Naughty dog.  NO panties."  But FIVE pairs of underwear??  I remembered back to a story my dad told about one of their dogs that killed a chicken.  Dad took the chicken and strapped it around the dog's neck and made him drag it around for a day.   (Hey, you can't have a dog killing your chickens!) After that point, that dog was the chickens' devoted protector.  Hmm.  So, I took one of the pairs of underwear and secured it around Gretchen's head:  

 The funny thing was that Gretchen willingly accepted her shame.    She knew she did big sin...  So, she quietly sat there, in the exact same spot, the entire time I got ready.  After 15 or 20 minutes I removed the obstruction from her eyes, and she pranced around the room with her tail high and her conscience cleared.  And to my knowledge...  she hasn't had a taste for underwear since.   Time will tell how good her memory is.  :-)

Faithfulness...

Certain things around our house are pretty predictable. One of those things happens every time we finish our evening meal around the kitchen table. As soon as I put down my fork... ...I feel a soft tap on my leg. It's Gretchen, wanting to get on my lap. Of course, you think, she's begging for food. But you see, Gretchen knows that when the meal ends, we read the Bible together, and there will be conversation... ...and somewhere along the line, she got the idea that she needs to be a part of that. (Of course, she's not offended if we give her a taste of something) But the moment I put her on my lap, she goes limp and relaxed and sometimes even starts to doze off in the crook of my arm.  

 You would think that in the presence of all of those smells of the tasty remnants of the meal before her, she would be utterly overwhelmed by her instinct to devour everything on the table. But she is perfectly content just to sit on the lap of the one she loves more than anything else in the world. That makes me feel pretty special.  :-) It also makes me think that there's a spiritual truth there somewhere... Gretchen is an animal--a "brute beast".  She is a creature of instinct, and the only way she learns what is expected of her in the human realm is routine and discipline.  Let me tell you, there's nothing much in this world that pleases her more than a juicy piece of meat.  Yet her love for me drives her to completely overlook the enticing pleasures in front of her. That's faithfulness... Can I say the same for me? How much do I long to be in the presence of the One I adore? Do the best things this world has to offer fade from view when I'm resting in His arms?  I hope so.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to tap on His leg and crawl into His arms tonight?

Winter Cookouts

 Remember this post?  We've been having quite a blast of arctic air in Minnesota.  Temps hovering in the single digits...and lows way below zero at night. It's cold. Cold enough that even I like to stay home.  But that hasn't stopped us from firing up the grill...  Tonight, we had chicken fajitas for supper.  

I just want to go on record as saying one thing:

  

Mmm...

Wanna come over for supper?

We'll cook out.  :-)

Cheap thrills...

 I needed a good saute pan. I had purchased one awhile back that I thought was nice.  But it very gradually warped and no longer heated well on my cooktop.  So, I was stuck using small stainless steel pans until I found something new.  I wanted something that browned well, heated evenly, and didn't stick.   I wanted cast iron.   But of course everything I've ever read says to not use cast iron on a glass cooktop.  And when it comes to $1200 appliances like my double-oven range, I tend to live by the rules...   (After all, George Bush is not going to buy me another one anytime soon...) I began researching pans...  It had to be large.  It had to heat evenly.  It had to brown well. A good enameled cast iron pan would have been over $100 (in the size I wanted). A good non-stick searing pan would have been $250.  No, I'm not kidding.  I could have a KitchenAid mixer or one pan.  Like that's gonna happen! I stood in the kitchen aisle at Target and picked up a monster cast iron pan.  The bottom was nice and smooth.   $18.99 I thought about how nicely cast iron pans brown.  I thought about how they flavor the food.  In the summer, I use cast iron pans all the time on the grill, and I love it. I had exchanged comments with my nephew's wife on Facebook, and she said that she used cast iron on her cooktop all the time. I decided to live dangerously. I bought the pan.  And tonight I cooked with it. It worked beautifully... 

  Now I'm thinking of all of the wonderful things I can cook as I season my new pan. It's an heirloom in progress.  :-) 

A book from God...

 Today has been one of those days... ...one of those days when you just take a step back and wonder what God has in mind... Because in my heart, I know He is good... ...but I can't help but think that if it were up to me, I would do things differently...  Of course, it's not up to me.  So...my part is to trust Him.  God knew that I was going to have this day. It was all part of His plan when, a couple of months ago, I pre-ordered a book from Amazon.  A book that I pretty much forgot that I ordered.  But a book that God knew that I needed today. Here are a few excerpts from this book.  I hope it will encourage you...and maybe even entice you to get your own copy.  Because I've only read one chapter, but I can tell it's a good book. "Can there be a good God?  A God who graces with good gifts when a crib lies empty through long nights, and bugs burrow through coffins?  Where is God, really?  How can He be good when babies die, and marriages implode, and dreams blow away, dust in the wind?  Where is grace bestowed when cancer gnaws and loneliness aches and nameless places in us soundlessly die, break off without reason, erode away.  Where hides this joy of the Lord, this God who fills the earth with good things, and how do I fully live when life is full of hurt?"  "Like all beliefs, you simply live them... We live with our hands clenched tight...  No, God...  Is this the toxic air of the world, this atmosphere we inhale, burning into our lungs, this No, God?  No, God, we won't take what you give... No, God, this is ugly and this is a mess and can't You get anything right and just haul this pain out of here and I'll take it from here, thanks..." "...I believe the Serpant's hissing lie, the repeating refrain through the ages: God isn't good...  Doubting God's goodness, distrusting His intent, discontented with what He's given, we desire more...  Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren't satisfied in God and what He gives.  We hunger for something more, something other...  We were lured by the deception that there was more to a full life...  And true, there was more to see:  the ugliness we hadn't beheld...the loss we hadn't known." "It is one thing to choose to take the grace offered at the cross.  But to choose to live as one filled with His grace? ...It is a choice.  Choose to say yes to what He freely gives...  If I don't, I am still making a choice.  The choice not to." "That which tears open our souls...may actually become the thin, open places to see through the mess of this place to the heart-aching beauty beyond.  To Him.  To the God whom we endlessly crave.  But how?  How do we choose to allow the holes to become seeing-through-to-God places? ... How do I give up resentment for gratitude, gnawing anger for spilling joy?  Self-focus for God-communion.  To fully live--to live full of grace and joy and all that is beauty eternal.  It is possible...  I now see and testify.  So this story--my story.  A dare to an emptier, fuller life."    All excerpts taken from "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp:  buy it on Amazon.com

Good Music

 I love it when my life is filled with good music.  The kind that lifts my spirit and makes my heart well up with worship.  That is one of the things that I hope to be more "intentional" about in the future.  It's such a simple thing to play some music while cooking supper or working around the house, but I rarely think of it. But my favorite music is the kind that happens when people I love gather in a corner of our home...   The guitars come out...and music starts to happen...  See this dashing young man? 

He happens to be my nephew (but he's more like a little brother).  I was pretty lonesome for him tonight.   What do you suppose a guy like this is up to at 8:30 on a Saturday night?   Actually, that's about the time he heads to bed for the evening...   (Yeah, I know...no wonder he's still single!) But he also loves good food.  And I happened to have some good stir-fry on my table, so we were able to persuade him to delay his beauty sleep bedtime and come up for awhile. I'm glad he came, because lots of times, music happens when he's around.  :-) And tonight was one of those times...  

  

It was really fun, and really encouraging.

This is another guy I love to make music with... 

And speaking of bedtime, he's waiting for me upstairs.

Good night...



Dangerous...

 It's a scary thing...  Our little girl is growing up.  



 She recently discovered E-bay.  Yikes! Before Christmas, it was American Girl clothes that thrilled her.  After getting so many handmade doll clothes for Christmas, she turned her attention to old-fashioned dresses for herself.  The $30 she got for Christmas is burning a hole in her "piggy bank", I think. Oh well...there are worse things a little girl could dream about if you ask me...  

(That's a tired face after a long day...)

 

Next thing ya know, she's gonna want a Facebook...

And then maybe a blog...  ;-)



Go Panthers!!

A new team kicked off its season today, and this time Daddy and I were the fans.  Beth Marie's Champion Basketball team had their first game today--GO PANTHERS!! 

She was both nervous and excited.  This was her first basketball game...ever.

She's had 3 practices, and we've been so impressed with the program so far.  We couldn't ask for nicer coaches, and she's learning a lot already.

She was nailing her free throws in warm-up!

 

Here, she is on defense: 

At the beginning of the game, they match you up with your "person", and you defend the same person the entire game--which is nice because you learn one face and you always know who you belong with.  But in Beth's case, the girl she was matched up with was literally running circles the entire first half of the game.  (We suspect that she may have been the coaches daughter maybe?)  She ran under the basket and around to the outside and back under the basket again.  Poor Beth was getting over a cold, and we could tell she was exhausted after about 2 minutes in the game.  The expression on her face said, "You've gotta be kidding--get me outta here before I DIE!"  But, she stuck with it really well.  You could see the relief on her face when the first quarter was up and she got to sit for awhile.  She was a thirsty girl when she finally got a break! :-)   In the second half of the game, Beth was designated as the girl who brought the ball up the court, and she did an excellent job.  She was having a great time, and you could see her confidence building...  (You can just see her braid in the backgroud): 

She really got her second wind after halftime.  Her girl was beginning to tucker-out a little, so Beth was able to defend her much more easily.  She wanted the ball more, and had several opportunities to shoot: 

Yay!  I believe this was the shot that went in.  :-)  We all thought it was pretty special that she scored in her first game.  It was so cute.  When the ball went in, she was so excited that she paused to do a little dance and celebrate.

In the second half of the game, she had several rebounds and got her hands on the ball quite a bit--which pleased her Daddy very much.  He was glad to see his girl getting herself in position to score...

The Panthers ended up winning 30 to 26.

We were amazed at how high-scoring the game was!  It was a lot more competitive than we thought it would be.

This was one happy girl!

It was a great first game!  She won the "defensive champion" award because her coach said she basically ran a marathon to keep up with her girl.  She's catching on quickly, and we're so glad for her to have the opportunity to play in such an excellent program.  We hope she learns a lot about basketball, makes some new friends, and has a safe season.  :-)

Distractions?

 

On Saturday, my hubby and I were in our bedroom closet when a hanger happened to fall on the floor.  My husband--who can make a game out of almost anything--picks up the hanger and attempts to throw it back onto the closet rod.  "Ha!  Impossible!", I teased, "Let me try!"  I took my stance and my husband proceeded to heckle at me to which I responded with the following brilliant words: 

"Shh!  Quiet!  Don't break my distraction!"

My husband laughed at me--which seems to be a fairly regular occurrence at our house since, for some reason, I seem to be more prone than usual to foot-in-mouth responses lately.  Ha!

But, being me, I couldn't help but ponder the hidden meaning in my seemingly senseless statement.  I couldn't help but giggle when I imagined myself in my own little world:

  "Shh!  Don't break my distraction!  I'm perfectly aware of the fact that I'm in my own reality and I like it here."

Interestingly, over the last week or so, I was feeling somewhat "distracted". 

Not like the kind of distraction where I'm making supper and I cut a chunk out of my knuckle and bleed all over the mozzarella cheese that I'm grating for homemade pizza... Yes, that is definitely distracting...and hinders productivity in the kitchen let me tell ya!

No...like heart distraction.  Heart distractions are those things that happen on the inside that hinder productivity in our walk with the Lord.  We all struggle with different heart distractions...

Here are a few of mine:

Worry.

Yes, I worry.  I stress about stuff.  A lot.  Sometimes I find myself wandering around the house debating something (or someone) in my mind.  Is this profitable?  Hardly. 

"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.  Each day has enough trouble if its own."  (Matthew 6:34)

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you."  (1 Peter 5:6)

Insecurity.

Insecurity is probably one of my biggest distractions.  It can be insecurity about my appearance...  Insecurity about my ability to live up to the standards that I have for myself...  Or insecurity about whether or not other people are pleased with me...  Should I be so concerned with these things?  Does it help me to focus so much on my own weakness?  No.  It only causes me to doubt.  God knows my frame--He knows that I am dust.  He specializes in using imperfect people with willing hearts.

"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."  (1 Samuel 16:7)

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised."  (Proverbs 31:30)

"My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."  (2 Corinthians 12:9)

"For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."  (John 12:43)

Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually!"  (Psalm 105:4)

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might."  (Ephesians 6:10)

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me."  (Philippians 4:13)

Fear.

Fear...  Fear is kind of a root of many distractions, isn't it?  Both worry and insecurity are basically fear...  Many of our "distractions" are really just a lack of faith.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."  (2 Timothy 1:7)

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"  (Psalm 27:1)

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." (Psalm 46:1)

Sin.

Umm.  Yeah...  Broad category.  But who isn't distracted by sinful weights?  Sin--both in thought and in deed--hinder us daily.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."  (Philippians 4:8)

"Therefore...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God".  (Hebrews 12:1-2)

The World.

This world, with the beauty of creation, the desires of the flesh, and the excitement of possessions and new experiences, can be very distracting.  It can be so difficult to know where the line is between enjoying the simple blessings in life and loving the world too much.

"Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." 

(1 John 2:15-17)

While it can be so easy to let ourselves drift off to distraction, it is so important to continually bring ourselves back to the truth.  If we allow ourselves to be distracted, our heart can become divided.  I can always sense that internal struggle that comes from a divided heart.  While we sometimes like to rationalize our distractions--even escape to them for awhile--in reality, they only hinder our faith in the One who truly deserves our attention. 

When you're an only child...

...you need to be creative about entertaining yourself in your spare time. It makes me smile when I think back over the storylines that have played out in our home through the years.  One little character came out on a regular basis when Elizabeth was between 2 and 4 years old.  Her name was Holly Tado and she had 100 children.  And this was no exaggeration as I saw her give birth to most of them in various corners of the house!  For awhile, we watched several seasons of "Little House on the Prairie" as a family.  The television series was known for being rather dramatic, to say the least...  So during that period in time Elizabeth found a lot of abandoned babies beside the road and her dolls were almost always deathly ill. Nowadays, we're into historic reinactments that are a little more realistic--currently we're in the Revolutionary War era.  Cardboard boxes often disappear from the recycling pile and turn into carriages, beds and houses for her babies.  Furniture and blankets and scraps of ribbon and tinfoil disappear and reappear in new forms as well...  You have to be rather careful what you throw away around here--I've been scolded for throwing out a valuable piece of cardboard on more than one occasion!  Shortly before Christmas, she staged her dolls in the corner of the living room: 

 Naomi (seated on the floor) is weaving cloth on her loom.  Kirsten is cooking (her pot is molded out of a scrap of tinfoil).  This was before she got all of the new doll clothes for Christmas, so both dolls are wearing dresses that Elizabeth wore when she was a baby.  :-) Much of Beth's spare time is spent wearing various dress-ups (most of which are old dresses of her mother's).  But, occasionally, she emerges in something a bit more...unique? 

 Yikes!  Occasionally, she stumbles upon a brilliant discovery--like the maternal shape of her night gown when standing over a heat vent in the living room: 

  

Some of her pajama discoveries are equally amusing but slightly less brilliant:

This one seemed like a good idea at the time...

...but then the zipper stuck...

...and she tipped over...

I'm so thankful for our little girl.  This house would be so quiet and so very BORING without her!

Friday night Bible Study and Fellowship

We've been getting back into our regular routine around home.  School is back in session, and while we're still struggling to establish a civilized bedtime after Christmas break, we've managed to accomplish quite a bit during our waking hours this week.  Vacation time can be refreshing, but there comes a point where you just kinda need to do some laundry and some housework again to maintain your sanity.  :-) So, it's been a fairly busy week for our family.  Beth started basketball practice on Thursday evening and has another practice tomorrow morning.  Her first game is a week from tomorrow, and you just might get to see some pictures on the blog, so check back in a week. Our home was full of precious people tonight.  Our Friday night Bible study has been on break due to holidays and poor health, and we were finally able to meet again!  We are so thankful for the people that the Lord brings into our lives though this little gathering.   One of the things that I've learned through opening our home and our hearts to other people is that when I'm discouraged, the best remedy is to encourage someone else.  If I'm feeling weak in faith, the best thing I can do is encourage someone else's faith. This was one of those weeks where I was feeling very inadequate...very insufficient...very unworthy of putting my life on display in any way.  I've been feeling discouraged and what I really want to do is put on a comfy sweatshirt and tuck myself away in the corner of a coffee shop alone somewhere.  But this busy week hasn't allowed me much time to focus on my discouragement, and honestly, that's a really good thing...because the best way to get your focus off of yourself and your problems is to start thinking about the needs of other people and serve them.  The crazy thing about that is that I always seem to find that in serving other people, my joy is multiplied, and really...all of these precious people are serving me by coming into my home. I wish I had taken a few pictures from tonight's Bible study, because for those of you following the blog from a distance, I'd love to introduce you to some of our friends.  But...shame on me...I didn't think to get the camera out tonight.  I do have some pictures from past Bible studies though, and a few are worth posting:  

 

We usually spend the first hour or more singing praise and worship songs.  The singing time is SO encouraging....

We usually have three guitars...sometimes four.  Last summer we were treated to a violin at a couple of the studies.  :-) 



After the Bible study, we have a time of fellowship.  I love this picture...the guys were hanging out in the kitchen and I must have said something like, "Act natural while I take a picture..."  :-)  Sam is the big guy in the middle...I love his expression...  Ha!

Sometimes folks will hang around late.  Occasionally, the guitars will come back out for more singing.  Spontaneous games have been known to happen from time to time.  Tonight, folks just broke off into groups and there was a lot of fellowship and the opportunity to catch up with those who have been away at college and such.

Once in awhile, someone will even teach the rest of the group a skill and this was one of those memorable occasions.  Matthew was teaching us how to cross one eye--because this is something that comes in handy for those occasions when only such an expression will do. 

Here is my attempt:

Hmm...  That is disturbing, don't you think?

Well, anyway, that's just a little bit of what goes on in our home on the Friday evenings that we have Bible study.  :-)  We've been going through the book of Romans for a very...long...time.  Tonight, we covered Romans 13:8-14.  Mike brought out some very good thoughts on verse 14: "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."  I was especially challenged by this verse because it can be so easy to make those little "compromises" in life.  They seem so small--so insignificant.  Maybe you're not even doing anything different, but you're allowing yourself to think differently...letting little deceptions creep into your thinking...  Seeds of bitterness or doubt may be taking root.  They seem like small things at the time, but if we could look ahead a few years down that path, we just might be shocked at how far we'd stray from the truth.  Well, anyway, I was convicted once again of the danger of making provisions for our flesh, and the importance of looking to Jesus and seeking to follow His example faithfully.

Looking back and looking ahead...

 Yesterday, I thought about sitting down to write up a year in review for our family, but I felt like I couldn't possibly do justice to the happenings of the entire year in one post.  It was a very full year, and I am so grateful for the many blessings and wonderful memories of 2010.   (My husband reflected on a few of the highlights of the year a bit at his blog if you're interested.) I often begin the new year thinking about all of the projects I want to tackle and all of the new disciplines that I want to implement in my life...which basically boils down to a little yearly identity crisis.   (Am I the only person who does this?)   I'm excited to see what the Lord has in mind for our family in the coming year.  Lord willing, there will be many precious people coming through our home...  There will be school days and field trips, sunshine and storms, laughter and tears.   Each day that the Lord gives us breath is a gift from Him, and more than anything,  I pray that we will be faithful.   There's an old song that has been in my heart a lot this week.  (I love it when the Lord puts a song in my heart.)  The words go like this:  ♪♫ "God has not given us a spirit of fear, But has given us the strength to obey.With power and sound mind,With love--the unfailing kind, O be not ashamed of His way. May the Lord find us faithful.May His Word be our banner held high.May the Lord find us faithfulEvery day, though we live, though we die." ♫♪

~ Mac Lynch

I've been pondering a lot of Scriptures on faithfulness, and so I might develop these thoughts a little more in another blog post one day.  But for now, it's time to make some homemade pizza!  :-)  Happy New Year everyone!

 

Last night, we spent our New Year's Eve as a family watching old videos of when our daughter, Elizabeth, was a baby.  We hadn't watched those videos in years! 

Hard to believe when our baby was born, we still had a 35mm film camera, and we had an 8mm video camera!  Wow...gotta love digital pictures and video clips!

Anyway, it was pretty amazing to go back in time and see our little girl as a brand new baby all over again.  Where has the time gone?

There is an old Ron Hamilton (Patch the Pirate--remember him?) song called, "Cherish the Moment" that I was listening to on YouTube earlier this week:

♪♫  Read my book, rub my back;
Mommy, listen to my prayer.
Let me sit in your lap,
Daddy fly me through the air.
Throw a ball, make a snack;
Can we go to the park?
Tuck me in, hold me close;
I'm afraid of the dark.

Cherish the moment,
Soon you'll be apart
Cling to the memory;
Clasp it to your heart.
Soon comes the day when you'll have no child to hold,
So cherish, cherish the moment.

Sing a song, play a game;
Swing me high in the air.
Ride a bike, fly a kite;
How I love the times we share
Hold my hand, hug my neck;
Daddy bounce me on your knee.
Come and sit by my bed;
Mommy, rock me to sleep.

Cherish the moment,
Soon you'll be apart
Cling to the memory;
Clasp it to your heart.
Soon comes the day when you'll have no child to hold,
So cherish, cherish the moment.

Think ahead to a time
When your little ones are grown;
Hold them tight, don't lose sight
Of the blessings you have known.
Think ahead to a time
When your little boy's a man
And you'd give anything
Just to hold him again.

Cherish the moment,
Soon you'll be apart
Cling to the memory;
Clasp it to your heart.
Soon comes the day when you'll have no child to hold,
So cherish, cherish the moment.  ♫♪


Here's the link if you'd like to hear the song:

Cherish The Moment 

Wow, Patch the Pirate was sort of like another lifetime ago for me.  So, for some of you, hearing this song might just take you back in time, too.  :-)