Ahhhhh...

Love me some tulips!

Tag...You're It!

Most of you know we are homeschoolers and I have my youngest 3 at home still. Jesse LOVES history and loves to read biographies and anything that makes history come alive. We have found a new way to make history exciting for him...and for me! ;O) My dad teaches him!

Jesse and Grandpa have always had a special relationship and they have started a once-a-week history time together. My dad comes to get him and they go to my parent's house for 3-4 hours to talk and study! Jesse has been reading about the Civil War and so that is what they have been talking about recently. I think they are going to talk about some of the battles today, among other things.

I am excited that Jesse can have this special time with my dad and I am excited that I have a tag-team teacher in my dad! Here they are getting ready to leave today! Aren't they cute?! :O)

Tough Week!

This has been a tough week! We are dealing with a difficult situation with some friends and emotions are heightened. I understand the reason things have gone the way they have, but it still makes it tough! There were some slanderous comments made and, while I don't own the comments because they are purely based on emotion and not fact, it still hurts when a friend turns on you!

I have had to remind myself ~ a lot ~ that Jesus was wrongly accused. I have had to take my thoughts captive and not allow myself to let any unforgiveness go unchecked. I have had to choose to follow His instruction in Phil. 4...

Philip. 4:8-9 (MsgB)
Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. [9] Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

I love my friend and am sorry she is hurting! I choose to pray for her and to hope that one day she will realize I am for her not against her!

Lord, please minister to my friend as only You can! Encourage her heart, remind her of your deep love for her and allow your peace to wrap her tight!

A Year Ago...

A year ago today we said good-bye to Granny. We knew the time was bound to come, she was 91 after all, but I just don't think we're ever ready to lose someone we love so much!

Granny was my buddy! We liked to talk crafting, and decorating and all things HGTV. We have many beautiful cross-stitch pictures, Christmas stockings and ornaments for our tree that she made. Decorating for Christmas this year was a little bittersweet because all the reminders of her were wonderful and sad all at the same time.

I am so thankful to have had a Granny that loved her grandkids and great-grandkids the way she did! I miss her little face and her hands twisted with arthritis! I miss calling my parent's house and having her answer the phone.

I love you, Granny, and hope you know things aren't quite the same here without you!

Today...

we get to celebrate Benji! He turns 15 today and that in itself blows my mind! Add to that the fact that he is 6'1", wears a size 14 shoe and has a deep man-voice and I am left wondering how the years could possibly move so fast!

Benji has matured into such an amazing young man that my heart can hardly contain itself. He has become such a servant-leader, is extremely tender-hearted and has developed such a fun sense of humour! He truly has become more than just my son...he's one of my very best friends in the whole wide world.

Benji, today we celebrate the incredible gift of you and thank Papa from the bottom of our hearts for entrusting us with you! We love you, buddy!!

Mama and Daddy

Remembering...

It's hard to believe that it has been a whole year since my friend, Sandy, met Jesus! I am sure there have been days her family thought would never end, but even for them it is hard to believe the time has gone so fast!

I hope you know, Sandy, that we have sought to encourage and love on those you left behind and I hope you would be happy with the job we have done. We miss you, friend, and think of you often!

Passion 2010...

Rachel and her friend and I got to attend Passion 2010 in Atlanta last weekend. There were somewhere between 21,000 and 26,000 in attendance (I heard various numbers) and it was absolutely amazing! What blessed me more than anything else was to see that many 18-25yo people who love Jesus enough to travel to Atlanta (many of them from foreign countries) in order to worship the Lord and learn more about Him! It made me cry more times than I can count, in fact I cried numerous times throughout the weekend and I am not even a big crier normally!

I loved all the musicians and all the speakers and the Lord allowed me to take home something from each one. I have to say the thought that most resonated in me as the message that EVERY human being needs to hear was when Andy Stanley said, "You can't decide where you want to go and what you want to do until you decide who you want to be!"

Just let the truth of that sink in for a minute! Don't you see how profound it is? So many people spend a lifetime trying to figure out what to do and where to go before they have ever determined in their heart WHO they want to BE!! We know middle aged men and women that it is clearly evident have never made this determination in their hearts because their lives are a shambles and they are chasing the temporal to try and satisfy the eternal need they have.

I know it has only been in the last few years that I have determined who I truly want to be and with that understanding has come incredible freedom. Freedom to be who He created me to be and freedom to be the kind of person I want to be without bowing to the constant expectations of others. It doesn't mean I never have days of struggle or second-guessing, but there is not the constant flip-flopping back and forth while trying to be a people-pleaser!

I still have my areas of insecurity and I had to deal with some of them last weekend a couple of times. I did deal with them, though, as I came to Him AGAIN and laid them at His feet and then I watched as He gently moved them from my reach so that they were hidden in the shadows of Him!!

Of course, with any mountian-top experience there is the expected re-entry that goes with it, but it has been a joy to come back and continue to praise Him and depend on Him in the confines of my own home with my own family! I am thankful beyond words for the opportunity we were given to attend Passion and pray I don't ever get over the things He planted deep within my heart during that time!

Mark 12:33 (MsgB)
And loving him with all passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as well as you love yourself. Why, that's better than all offerings and sacrifices put together!"

Holy Temperance!

There is the dissipation of soul which comes from entering needlessly and too deeply into the interests of this world. Every one of us has his divine calling; and within the circle pointed out by God Himself, interest in our work and its surroundings is a duty. But even here the Christian needs to exercise watchfulness and sobriety. And still more do we need a holy temperance in regard to things not absolutely imposed upon us by God. If abiding in Christ really be our first aim, let us beware of all needless excitement. Let us watch even in lawful and necessary things against the wondrous power these have to keep the soul so occupied, that there remains but little power or zest for fellowship with God. Then there is the restlessness and worry that come of care and anxiety about earthly things; these eat away the life of trust, and keep the soul like a troubled sea. There the gentle whispers of the Holy Comforter cannot be heard. Andrew Murray

Wow!! Wow!! Wow!! I read this tonight and it has rocked my world. It has put clearly into words what my soul has been struggling with lately.

We live in a technical world...a world in which we are connected to a very large realm of people, influences, situations and interests. The internet is an amazingly useful tool when we are in need of information that can enhance our lives, but it can be a destructive tool when we allow it to consume us and get us involved in things that He has not placed within the circle pointed out by God Himself!

With the advance of FB and other social networks, we can suddenly be privy to countless conversations between other people that we would not otherwise know about. We can read status updates that make us laugh, challenge us and make us think, but there are other status updates that have the power to cut us to the quick when we realize we have been left out.

The internet has allowed us to have almost instant access to huge news stories, heart-breaking tragedies and intimate details that would largely go unnoticed or unknown, but were it not for the power of the click of a button. We find ourselves burdened by things He never intended us to shoulder and our minds occupied by things we are powerless to control.

This part of the above quote truly brought me to my knees...

Then there is the restlessness and worry that come of care and anxiety about earthly things; these eat away the life of trust, and keep the soul like a troubled sea. There the gentle whispers of the Holy Comforter cannot be heard.

I have been so preoccupied by anxiety and worry that I have felt an overwhelming restlessness and knot in the pit of my stomach lately. I have been shouldering burdens that are not mine to shoulder instead of trusting Him to work and act and speak. And when He has spoken, I am sure I have lately missed His whispered answers because of the chaotic thoughts clanging around in my head.

I do have a divine calling on my life and He has given me a circle of influence that is solely for Him and me to tackle on our own. I do need to exercise watchfulness and sobriety, though. I need to guard against becoming too involved in things that He never intended me to get involved in in the first place. In so doing, it frees me up to be fully present and available to hear from Him, to act when He gives instruction and to be effective in the circle He has placed me in.

Lord, I pray I would truly see and understand the circle of influence in which You have placed me. I pray that I would be quick to listen and slow to speak. I am sorry I have allowed my soul to become occupied by conversations, thoughts, or scenarios that you never intended for me to be a part of. I need a holy temperance, Lord, for the things not imposed upon me by You!! Would I not allow the distractions of this world to drown out the voice of the One Who I desperately desire to hear above all others...which is Yours! I ask you to forgive me, Lord, for allowing myself to misuse my time in ways that have not be ordained by You!! Thank you for revealing this to me on this first day of this new year, that I may start this year afresh!!!