Contentment Defined...

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”   

-- Frederick Keonig

My new chair has this marvelous feature....a dog warmer!  It makes me ridiculously happy sometimes!  A simple and unnecessary blessing in my life.

My evening is also filled with the sweet giggles and shrieking of Sweet Boobahs enjoying much needed DadE time.  I'm so blessed to have a husband that not only works crazy schedules to provide for our family...but who willingly spends time with his family in God's Word....and loving on them amid his exhaustion.

So, so blessed!  "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."  Psalm 16:11

Faithful Friday

"Come to Me with empty hands and an open heart, ready to receive abundant blessings.  I know the depth and breadth of your neediness.  Your life-path has been difficult, draining you of strength.  Come to Me for nurture.  Let Me fill you up with My Presence:  I in you, and you in Me.  

My Power flows most freely into weak ones aware of their need for Me.  Faltering steps of dependence are not lack of faith;  they are links to My Presence."

John 17:20-23, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me."

Isaiah 40:29-31, "He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.  Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;  but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;  they shall mount up with wings like eagles;  they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

Sarah Young, "Jesus Calling" pg 122

A Turtle Life!

I pray fervently for the hearts of my children to be transformed by God's mighty, saving grace.  Emma asked Jesus to be her Savior a while ago...and we do see small changes in her life.  My son... gives me heart palpitations in this department.  He's stubborn and knows that certain things mean a lot to me.  Sometimes, I'm sure, he says things just to get me going.  Such as, "I hate church"..."I don't want a clean heart"...you get the picture.  Please don't misunderstand...he's a sweet little four year old...but he's a little sinner...and an unrepentant one at this point.

When I picked him up from Bible study this week....He was happy at first, skipping to the car.  But, as we headed out to pick up his sister from Kindergarten, he grumbled..."I don't want a TURTLE LIFE....I'm fast...I want a rabbit life." At first, I was totally flummoxed...We've read Aesop's fables...but I didn't think they'd read those at Bible study...


Our lesson had been on Holiness and as I pondered how this could be in any way about turtles...I suddenly realized he meant...ETERNAL LIFE!!! 


I tried to explain....it's ETERNAL....not A TURTLE...

That means it has no beginning or end...it last forever and ever and ever.  God is eternal.  The Bible is eternal.  If you know Jesus as your Savior you live forever as a part of God's family...ETERNALLY in heaven.  But, if you reject him...you still live ETERNALLY...in hell.  Because God is holy...he can't stand sin.



John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. William Shakespeare's birthday is celebrated on April 23rd...when did you last read Shakespeare? What's your favorite Shakespeare play?

Incidentally, my baby brother shares a birthday with Shakespeare.  I took a Shakespeare class early in my college career.  I had to buy the books as texts for the class...so, they all have the yellow USED stickers on them.  Not so cute on my bookshelves now, but I do own them all.  I think King Lear is one of my favorites.  I love the Fool...he's so profound.

2. What food(s) would you recommend a foreign visitor try when they visit your home country?

I've often thought that this is tricky with America.  We are a melting pot of many countries.  Many of those countries then blended into each other.  Can we truly say that anything is American.  Maybe apple pie?? 

3. What's a lie you often tell yourself?

God doesn't really love me or this wouldn't be happening/ I wouldn't be feeling, etc.  I try to replace these thoughts with Truth...usually from God's own Word.  But, I like this quote..."There is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and there is nothing I can do to make Him love me less."

4. What's something you're good at that might surprise us? Remember this is a family friendly blog!

I'm a good seamstress....Being short means that my Mom taught me how to hem things...well.  She also taught me to make curtains....which we did together for my first house.  I've made matching little skirts/dresses for mother/daughters.  I've loved cross stitch for years...even some that were big and detailed.  Lately, I've been really getting into quilting.  Yeah, it's not just for old ladies anymore!  HA!

5. Who is your favorite animal character from a book?

I love Charlotte's Web by EB White...but which character do I love them most?  I sort of like the bossy goose....fitting, eh?  I do love Wilbur and Charlotte though, of course.

6. April showers bring May flowers...do you have a green thumb?

I  enjoy gardening...especially since this house "came" with pretty full perennial beds.  Meaning...I don't have to plant anything each year...I just weed a tiny bit and watch all the beauty unfold around me.  I do plant a small veggie garden annually...I don't do so well once it gets hot and buggy out there.  I enjoy my purple irises, pink peonies, family roses, black eyed susans, pink coneflowers, and other various and sundry plants. 

7. Speaking of rainy days...which one of the following activities would you most want to spend time doing on a rainy day-

sort photos and create albums

bake cookies

read a good book

hold an all-day movie marathon

organize closets, cupboards, or bookshelves

try a new recipe

fix something that needs fixing

I would probably WANT to read a book...but end up organizing closets, cupboards and bookshelves instead.  That's just how it works for me.  HAHAHA!

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

It sure feels good to be blogging again.  Between normal crazy busy-ness and then getting sick it feels like forever since I've joined in with this great meme!  Hopefully, I'll  have some time to check in with some of you too!

Soli Deo Gloria: Unfailing Love

Same book as yesterday...regarding God's unfailing love...

"It is true whether we believe it or not.  

Our doubts do not destroy God's love, nor does our faith create it." 

I'm grateful this is true...cuz stupid, little things get me doubting His love for me.  What I really got to pondering though, is the second part...it hurts a little.

I realize that when I try to be in control of my life and think I've got it "all together"...in a way I'm saying that my faith is created by me.  When I stop giving God credit for each blessing...stop being dependent on Him for daily needs...and start filling my life with plans that I haven't even remotely considered prayerfully....yeah, that's when my faith is all about...ME.

My inability to recognize this most of the time is probably why God brings me to the end of myself repeatedly to get me there.  And I do want to be conformed to Christ's likeness...so, even if the sandpaper hurts...it'll be worth it.  And He only bothers to discipline and teach me because I belong to HIM...and He loves me!

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."  

Hebrews 12:11

I drive...God works!

Yesterday, I drove home from a visit with my parents for my soon to be new sister's brother's fiance's bridal shower .  The combination of recovering from a cold/flu and driving alone with no adult conversation made me rather introspective.  My lack of blog posts has nothing to do with my lack of thoughts, and everything to do with lack of time to write them down.  Sometimes blogging is more cathartic than others....I've been exercising more, which probably reduces my need to blog. 

Driving thought number one...I'm really glad that I've gotten back into memorizing Scripture this year.  I'm working my way through the first chapter of Colossians....aiming at the whole book in a year.  I'm a few weeks behind...but I was mentioning to my parents this weekend that it's really neat how God uses the Scripture you spend time meditating on.  The concepts and thoughts in that week's verses seem to pop up every where.  Part of this could be called "coincidence."  I prefer PROVIDENCE!  I also think that when dealing with God's Word I truly experience the fact that it is LIVING...God is working through it in my life. 

Driving thought number two...I've been reading (technically re reading) Trusting God by Jerry Bridges for a ladies Bible study at church.  We're in chapter 9-10...and I'll share a few quotes I've been pondering...and loving...

"We must see our circumstances through God's love instead of, as we are prone to do, seeing God's love through our circumstances."  Whoa, this is very true of me.  Ouch!

"We mistakenly look for tokens of God's love in happiness.  We should instead look for them in His faithful and persistent work to conform us to Christ." This means discipline and/or trials sometimes.  Well, alot of the time.

"The issue God is dealing with in our lives is not so much what we do, but what we are.  All of us tend to underestimate the remaining sinfulness in our hearts."

Although I had many more blog worthy thoughts along my drive home...I'll save some for later...and end this short allotment of time I allowed myself today.  How is God working in your heart and mind??  Do you have time to share it with me in a comment or quote? 

GOOD Friday!

"For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; 

death no longer has mastery over him." 

 Romans 6:9

As is our family tradition...we mark our hands for Good Friday.  

As I wrote Loverbrains' name on his hand he jokingly said, "Oh look!  You wrote my name so I won't forget it...thanks!" 

Little Emma piped up, "No, Daddy...it's because Jesus died for YOU!"  Well said...well said.

It wouldn't be a Good Friday without Easter Sunday (Resurrection Sunday)...Ever think about that??  It would be terrible and horribly depressing if He took all our sins on Himself and stayed dead.  But, because He was the God man...the grave couldn't hold Him...Hallelujah...what a Savior!

"For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living."  Romans 14:9

Peaceful...I love you!

I decided to cut my little MomE self a break...So, on this gorgeous day, I did NOT begin the cleaning for my Easter company, or work on the 2 intensive Bible studies I've been wadding my way through...

...I took my babies to the grocery store...with their own lists...and patiently completely what had  to be done for the day.  Then came home and pulled out the crafting supplies...and made paper crowns...

...practiced our cutting and taping and curling skills...taking pictures of chubby baby hands.  I read...

...FICTION...a delightful little story for my bookclub...and came across a quote to hold in my heart...

"Well, not the exact words I love you, but what she said was, "Ain't no sun in the kitchen without your face lookin' up at me.""

AND...for today...that's the kind of love I want to feel for my Sweet Boobahs...no where to rush off to...

...just watching a little boy get excited about drawing his first green heart...and then asking, "How do you write MOM?"

Seeing little happy faces...and not being so busy trying to get things done...that I grumble and bark...

...instead...looking up from my book to say, "I'm watching...do it again.  Wait, let me get my camera."

CLICK!