Fit for a King!

Our table looked so cute...I just had to take a picture!

One days worth of baby tomatoes...well, at least the ones I rescued from my little tomato sharks!

Today's lunch...the first BIG red tomato..WOW!  I'd feed it to a King.  Well, only if he liked tomatoes!

Call me Ishmael...er, CORNY!

Or maybe call me "Industrious Housewife of the Year"...or "slightly loony!"

OR..."very tired and sore."

Yes, it's true...after my fabulously corny experience last year...and the delicious corn we gobbled up by early January...I decided to make not double...

...not triple...

...but FOUR times the amount I froze last year.

  I'm nuts!  It's official! 

After talking Loverbrains into shucking all 20-odd dozen ears...and stacking them on my kitchen table...And after drinking my second cup of coffee and talking my darling daughter into helping her MomE...

...We started the assembly line!  She did help...pulled the corn for the ice bath to drain/dry...

...scooped corn into freezer baggies...for almost a full half hour!  Tee hee!  Oh well...

There are questions as to how much she "helps" me anyway at this point.  She WILL be a big help someday...I'm sure.

So, they both roared around and I listened to praise songs...LOUDLY!

What a blessing...a huge blessing...tears down my cheeks so I had to stop chopping kind of blessing...

"Oh, I am not redeemed by corruptible things--Not by silver, not by gold--And not by aimless tradition--But by the blood of God's sacred Son, Jesus---Oh You alone my living hope--And my inheritance is Incorruptible---
Incomparable---Inconceivable----Your plans for me---Shall always be---And for the day that You're revealed---My heart is forever sealed---With the promise of mercy---And the hope of all your glory!!"  ~Watermark, 1 Peter 1:18-20; 23-25

Sunday, it was proposed that FORGIVENESS is one of the most important words to understand.  We were asked to guess which word was so important.  Grace, Love, Praise, Glory...were all suggestions made...and it was a bit like a sucker punch to hear FORGIVENESS...wow, how come we didn't think of that one?  Our Pastor's on a well deserved vacation...so his Dad (sort of our pastor emeritus) spoke to us.

He reminded us that FORGIVENESS is a universal need...Rom 3:23, Jn. 3:36, Jn. 3:18...all things that I knew but probably take for granted...but what really spoke to me was his question... 

How do people know your sins are forgiven?  2 Cor. 5:17...You should act like a new creature.  His point on this surprised me too...He told a story from his youth...and said, "You can TRY to fake this...but change must be inside and out.  A real change!  AMEN!!  He encouraged us not to be careless in how we live each day.

As I put away my 24 1/2 qts of corn....I heard...

"The more I know Your power, Lord/  The more I'm mindful/  How casually we speak and sing Your name/  How often we have come to You/  With no fear or wonder/  And called upon You only for what we stand to gain/  God forbid, that I find You so familiar/  That I think of You as less than who You are/  God forbid, that I should speak of You at all/  Without a humble reverence in my heart/  God forbid..."  Point of Grace, 1996

So, of all the things you MIGHT call me today...Call me BLESSED...Call me CONVICTED!!!

Shrewdly Smart Saturday...with Starbucks!

I've been holding onto this idea from a bit o'shine for years now!  My Emmer-bean is a gift giving kind of gal...and wants to give her teacher a pretty gift at her approaching Kindergarten open house.  I had two of these delightful Starbucks Frappuccino bottles.  No, they aren't endorsing this blog in anyway....bummer! 

I depended on my faithful Sharpie (also not paying me) and my teacher cursive for my labels.  I wanted one to be a toothbrush holder...so I wrote "pearly whites"...the other for her teacher says "teach love"...

I'll admit the gluing got a bit...er, sticky...at times.  Around the tag it is best to pre-measure and pre-cut those pieces...or you'll end up a gluey mess.  Trust me on this, okay? 

Too cute...on our way upstairs to put it in the master bath.  I ended up pouring rice in the bottom to hold the brushed up a bit higher and more stable.

Now isn't that a shrewd use of empty Starbucks bottles?  Smart too!!

I love Shrewdly Smart Saturdays...don't you?

Now, I need to figure out the flowers part.  Should I make some that live forever like a bit o'shine's or put fresh Black-eyed Susans from the garden in it to take to the teacher?  Any opinions??

Embrace the Camera: Refocus...

In downloading the 200 odd pictures from our vacation, I realized that I'm in only two of them.  TWO.  While I'd like to say that it's because I'm humble and don't like having my picture taken, the truth is that I'm just generally too busy taking pictures of everyone and everything else.

There's a part of me that's nervous to embrace the camera too tightly.  I know the potential of my vanity and pride.  I already worry that there are too many pictures of me on my blog right now.  I don't want people to be thinking that I think life is all about me.

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." 1 Tim. 1:17

I've been thinking about these things a lot...because my "few and faithful" are increasing in number almost daily.  I'm not sure why and it does makes me tickled and happy.  But, I don't want to change to please a crowd...I want to be focused on pleasing my audience of ONE.  As my header proclaims my goal needs to be..."Therefore also we have as our ambition...to be pleasing to the Lord." 2 Cor. 5:9

So, today is a refocus...whether behind the camera or in front of it...

Hodgepodge Frogs

1. July is National Ice Cream month...your favorite flavor? Soft served, hand dipped, or frozen yogurt...which do you prefer? And technically yogurt is not ice cream but its hot outside so I'll let that slide for today.

I love Butter Pecan...but don't eat it often because Loverbrains does not.  Pint sized, anyone??

2. When you travel do you tend to pack too much or too little?

Just right?  I guess if I tend one way it'd be towards too little.  I find that you really just don't need that much when it comes down to it.

3. What's your favorite cleaning product?

Vinegar...I use it on my floors with tea tree oil...and it can make sinks look NEW.  I also use it in my laundry rinse cycle.  And, NO...my house and family do not smell like pickles...at all.

4. Which is the greater tragedy-an innocent person imprisoned or a guilty person set free? Explain.

I think a guilty person set free.  It affects all of society negatively.  I'm not pro the incarceration of the innocent but it wouldn't hurt our justice system to err on the side of caution.  It's disgusting...justice my foot...humph!

5. What's the longest trip you've taken by car?

Probably NY to FL when I was a kid.  It takes two days.  As an adult...IN to NY...with two littles...it's LOOONNNG!

6. Tennis-golf-canoeing-biking...pick one.

Biking.

7. What sound drives you crazy?

Whining children.  I have two.  Now I'm whining...*gasp* it's catchy!

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

Loverbrains caught a tiny tree frog for the kids to see....and I got these great pictures!

I want to be more like Jesus!

As each day passes by,

I feel my love run dry.

I get so weary, worn,

And tossed around in the storm.

Well I'm blind to all his needs,

And I'm tired of planting seeds.

I seem to have a wealth,

Of so many thoughts about myself.

I want to, I need to, be more like Jesus.

I want to, I need to, be more like him.

Our Father's will was done,

By giving us His Son,

Who paid the highest cost,

To point us to the cross.

And when I think of him,

Taking on the whole world's sin,

I take one look at me,

Compared to what I'm called to be.

I want to, I need to, be more like Jesus.

I want to, I need to, be more like him.

Remember, there's no greater love,

Then to lay down your life for a friend.

The end of all my prayers,

Is to care like my Lord cares.

My one and only goal,

His image in my soul.

Yes my weakness is revealed,

When by his stripes I'm healed.

He's faithful and he's true,

To complete the work he begins in you. 

I want to, I need to, be more like Jesus.

I want to, I need to, be more like him.
 

I'm not really HOME...yet.

"Heaven is not here, it's There.  If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next.  God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Himself and His still invisible Kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for."  

~Elisabeth Elliot

Although I was vastly enjoying God's creation during this recent vacation....I was also churning and worrying about the threat of Horizontal Fracking on this beautiful place that I've loved for so long.  Several neighboring states have destroyed their watersheds and beauty...and I shudder and allow my mind to freak out about that possibility for my place. 

But, then I read EE's words above...and I'm also reminded of..."Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys [nor fracking pollutes] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  Luke 12:33-34

Funny, I just said to a friend of mine..."God always seems to bring me back to His attributes and character."  He NEVER changes...He's ALWAYS in control.  He's ALL-POWERFUL (He can keep it from happening or allow it)...He's ALL-KNOWING (He knows the politics of it all...and He knows my emotions about it all)...

And...although the beauty can be mesmerizing...It's NOT heaven.

Sunday I was reminded of that song...

This world is not my home I'm just passing through
my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you
if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?
the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Sunday's really juicy tidbit was..."There is only true peace when you know Jehovah Shalom" based on  Judges 6.  This is shown by our faith, true obedience and it's influence on those around us.  How will the world know I'm different if I panic and run in circles with the rest of them? 

There IS hope...and it's in JESUS CHRIST...alone!