A FUNGUS AMONGUS...or something...

Well, I awoke with a stomach bug yesterday...and a VERY selfish attitude.  Being a MomE is SO unfair, blah, blah, blah....I still have to WORK....blah, blah, blah....Thankfully, my sinful attitude was brought to my attention...and although my symptoms didn't really improve...my attitude did.  PTL!

I broke out the crafts...and we painted a box of plain ornaments that I had hanging around. 

Empty egg crates are wonderful for holding painting and gluey things!

I'm a bit sad that the kids and I just made Loverbrain's b-day cake...(belated, he was traveling)...and now no one is eating it...for sure.  Yeah, today...DadE's sick, Emmer-bean is sick...and so it goes (doubtful Lubby will escape). 

But, if I might force the issue...isn't God good?  I got it first...so now I can take care of my family.  I think this happens alot...I either get sick first or last...and rather than take the right attitude I usually say grouchy things like, "No one cares for me...I never get a turn to be sick...blah, grumpity, grump!" 

But..."It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Duet. 31:8

And, He provides...it's cold (see 10 degrees) so snuggling inside is a good thing...and those red books are a treasury of children's stories my parents let me borrow...wonderful!

I got a stupid easy idea (sick ideas are best)...and used up some old posterboard to make an "S" map...and then let the kids use sentence strips to make a race track...

They did this all themselves...Honestly, my stomach was so sore I just handed them pieces of tape and they stuck it together.  My favorite is the loop.  Lubby-man didn't make the pictures cuz he was moving so fast...ha!

So, LOTS of liquids...stay hydrated....

...and love the Sweet Boobahs...cuz, God is good and He plans things out...for the best.  I'm off to clean something, and plump pillows, etc.  I'm a bit sore...but much better than doing what made me sore in the first place....

Tube Tuesday: Chopsticks!

MM: Christmas Anniversary Romance...Peace Challenge Style

e-Mom asks...So how do you do it? How do you keep romance alive during one of the busiest times of year?  

My sweet Loverbrains and I are blessed to have a Christmas Anniversary...the 21st to be exact.  Yes, we were married by candlelight almost 7 years ago!

 Our wedding was simple and elegant, if I do say so myself.  Each year at Christmas, many items from  our wedding come out to decorate our home.  This is very special and uniquely romantic.  

See this musical garland...it lined the center aisle...along with pretty little lanterns that are atop my piano right now! 

See these doves?  They graced the top of our wedding cake!

 See that gorgeous garland?  It adorned the windows of the church, along with candles and oil lamps. 

See these silken poinsettias?  Some of them were in my wedding bouquet and some were in my maid of honors.  See that little basket?  It was my flower girl's basket...it lights up...!

All these things around us help us to remember that twinkling evening years ago...when we said we'd love and comfort each other.  That we'd honor and keep each other.  In sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, for better and for worse...cherish...forsaking all other, until we are parted by death.

I will admit that we often don't celebrate our anniversary in December...in fact this last summer we instituted the Half-versary....where my folks watched the kids overnight (in JUNE) and we reunited!  So, that's something to consider if you're thinking about a December wedding...hahaha...I just realized how very not practical this post is...I mean, what am I saying..."if you want to keep your marriage romantic at Christmastime, like mine...then go back in time and get married in December!" HAHAHA!

Well then, I guess...if you weren't married at Christmas...maybe you could just put a picture of your wedding in a prominent spot during the holidays...just to remind yourselves how much you love each other! 

Smiles to you lovely ladies!  Hope your Christmas is Marry and bright! 





I'm linking in with the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge too...

Here's this week's challenge: Take out your calendar and SCHEDULE a night where you will take a warm refreshing bubble bath. Bring your Bible. Read the story of the birth of Jesus in Matthew 1, 2 and Luke 1,2.

Why? Well, link on over and let Courtney explain it to you! Now, I need to explain it to my Loverbrains!  I'm laying out all my necessary supplies...I'll have a date by myself!!

Advent...Candle Two

Her mother said, "It's no concern;

When you're with child you have to learn

That ankles which were once quite thin

Swell, near the end, like new wine skin;

And sandal straps sink as in clay

And leave prophetic lines which say

The child is near. The child is near."

As if there weren't enough to fear

Beloved Joseph brings the word

Which gentle Mary calls absurd:

"That in a fortnight, when he's due

I'm just to up and go with you

A four day's walk with child and packs

Because the Caesar wants his tax!"

But Mary didn't want to stay

Alone with Joseph far away.

And he explained he had to go.

"I've something here I'd like to show,"

He said, and stepped outside. "I bought

Old Eli's mule because I thought

You'd like to ride. Old Eli said

This lantern in the sack has led

Him to Jerusalem at night

A hundred times. ‘It gives good light,'"

He said. Then held it up and smiled:

"A gift from Eli for the child."

Today we light that lamp anew

And call it advent candle two.

~John Piper A Gift From Eli @ Desiring God

Caffeinated Randomness: Thunderstorm!

When my Loverbrains is traveling all sorts of things run through my little mind.  Generally, because I am exceedingly selfish, I think about how unfair it all is...me being alone, with often disobedient children, not a moments peace, etc. 

I act out in the normal sinful ways...grouching at him when he calls, grouching at the kids...so unhappy, so discontent.  I usually feel awful...repent...try to do better...but it's one of those awful cyclical things.

Well, yesterday...a day full of puppy accidents and my three year old throwing things repeatedly and a migraine that the meds did didly for...I had a sort of epiphany.  Anyone who follows me knows about me and my "lightning struck my brain" moments.  HA!

I was thinking about advent...mostly what it means.  Advent: the coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important.  At first I was thinking only along the lines of the First Advent...when Jesus was born.  That is generally what we are striving to remember through this tradition.  We want our children to grasp the anticipation of the Christmas story...the angels, the shepherds, Mary and Jospeh, the wisemen.  The hope, the joy, the peace, the love!

But then came the lightning ZAP!  I am (or should be) in great anticipation for the SECOND ADVENT...which could be at any moment ya'll.  And, amid my grouchies...that thought hit me like thunder!  KA-BOOM!  What will He find me doing?  

I say that blogging is no sin...but am I blogging before spending time in His Word?  Am I blogging when my children need my attention, or when I should be domestically engineering my home?  I saw this as a possible problem a few years ago...and made a rule to only blog once a day, per blog....and only when the children were asleep or in the care of their father.  Ouch...God could definately come back and find me perusing various sites...often coveting things I do not need...ouch, ouch, ouch!

I am often harsh and impatient with my kids.  When this hit me yesterday...like a sucker punch to the gut...I changed my tone.  Wow, the blessings of the results were almost immediate.  My little girl talked to me...and although I still had to continue in firm discipline with my defiant three year old...I was calm and collected and not disciplining in my anger.  So often I tell him, "Do not sin in your anger" when I'm angry.  Snort, ah...the irony...the awful awful irony!

I get grumpy when the kids rise early and interrupt my prayer time.  But then I am reminded that the Bible says, "Pray without ceasing" and that I can shoot off prayers and talk to God all.day.long...in the shower, doing dishes, when things get difficult and intense.  Oh, I want to be praying when "in the twinkling of an eye" I am taken up...or He takes me home...however it happens.

What will He find you doing?  Are you in great anticipation of the day you stand before Him?  

I want to have crowns to lay at His feet and oh, how I want to hear..."Well done,  good and faithful servant."

Advent Beauty...Candle One...

Tilting on her yearly track

Advent beauty circles back,

Flying faster with the years,

Hardly giving time for tears

First to dry upon the cheek—

Has it been more than a week

In the ground now winter cold?

Has there really been a spring

When the birds began to sing?

Has there been both summer, fall

Since the Baby in the stall

Called us with a Christmas bell

to sing, O Come, Immanuel?

Tilting on her yearly track

Advent beauty circles back,

Flying faster with the years—

Ah, but overtaking fears.

Let the Lord of advent lift

Every care (an early gift!);

See the Savior and the Son

Shine in advent candle one.

~John Piper, Advent Beauty 1982 

I've decided to do this challenge...because it really goes hand in hand with our yearly Advent celebration.  Our family loves slowing down during the busiest time of the year to focus on what's most important!! 

So, I've got my big PEACE candle...and ironically, I Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." was already printed at the top of my December calendar!  HA! 

Word FILLED Wednesday: LOVE & WRATH...

Have you ever noticed the plethora of people who say that God is just so full of love and warm feelings and so very like Santa Claus...and "I could never believe in an angry and wrathful God?"

Sometimes it's surprising...especially when they are wearing a little cross around their neck.

Why?  Well, the CROSS is that place where God's love and wrath meet.  There's no better pictorial reminder of God's love for the WORLD...that He sent His ONLY SON to die as the just payment for our SIN.  The debt had to be paid...and was...Praise Him for His mercy!  AND, He's RISEN...a blank, bare cross...He's alive and preparing a place in heaven for us!

I'm going to take my life in my hands and constructively criticize a pretty popular song on the christian radio right now...really pretty melody but sort of wrong.  It has a phrase that says, "in that moment...Every knee will bow, every tongue confess that God is love and love has come for us all." Um, when every knee bows it's going to be because of HIS WRATH on the earth.  Everything polluted by sin will be destroyed by God's judgment.  Is. 24:3, "The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word."

Now, at this point my sinfulness would like to get all hoity-toity and say something like, "Well, for some dirty rotten nations and people (especially so and so) that's what it's gonna take.  God has to be hard on them.  Zap 'em Lord!"  But, then I look inward...and see how much I have to be thankful for...how I'm just a dirty rotten sinner...saved by God's marvelous grace.   I'm ashamed to think of how often I take God's mercy and blessings for granted.

God's Riches At Christ's Expense.  Ever heard that acronym for GRACE?  Right on, isn't it?

So, how does understanding God's wrath make you appreciate your salvation?  How does it help you explain God's GRACE to those around you...those in desperate need of a Savior?

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

by: Johnston/Towner

I also linked in with GOOD MORNING GIRLS today!