I couldn’t resist sharing this photo of Matthew. It looks as though he is “reading” the warning label on his bassinet bedding. 🙂
Who said warning labels get ignored? 🙂Â
I couldn’t resist sharing this photo of Matthew. It looks as though he is “reading” the warning label on his bassinet bedding. 🙂
Our Laci Elizabeth is definitely one of a kind. She has a unique personality – but then, each of our children is unique. I often share videos of our youngest so that family and friends can keep up with how he changes. I couldn’t resist sharing this short clip of Laci. We went on to make this same video three more times, but I’ll spare you the extra takes. 😉
Always laughing,
It has been my experience that I will not last in full time Christian service if I am not content. I must be satisfied completely with my life – my home, my vehicle, my bank account balance, my clothes, my cookware, my appliances, my furniture, my appearance, my location – everything – if I am going to stay faithful to the Lord and His work. There is only one thing that I should never be content with, and that is my knowledge of God’s Word. This area must be improved constantly.
I don’t know much, but this is one thing I’m sure of.
I was 26 years old, married for seven years and mother of two young children when my Dad moved to Heaven. Despite being grown and on my own when he died, I felt as though the world had been turned upside down. My family was changed forever. The home that once rang with laughter was now overshadowed by a cloud of sadness. I was walking around with a dad-sized hole in my heart, and the same was happening to my sister and mother.
After Dad’s death, I found myself becoming increasingly judgmental of my family members. Rather than opening up and sharing what I was feeling, I became angry and kept my heartache bottled up. Finally, I poured my heart out to the Lord. Through prayer and His Word, I found the peace and help I needed.
After receiving help from my Father, I set about to “find my place” within my family. I didn’t really know where I fit anymore. Thus, the game of comparing and criticizing those around me, especially those closest to me, began. By finding fault in others, I felt better myself. I felt as though I’d found my place again. I thought “I don’t do (whatever), so I’m good. I’m okay. I’m special because (whatever).” It’s a vicious cycle to get into, and a fierce competition. After all, there is always something to compare yourself to. A few examples: weight, intelligence, financial status/choices, opinions (on literally millions of topics), child rearing, and the list goes on and on.
This year, I decided to stop playing the “comparison game.” I decided that if I could find the negative, I could also find the positive if I wanted to. I chose to find the good this year and my Thanksgiving was so much sweeter. In years past, we would congregate at a restaurant on Thanksgiving and then go to my Aunt’s house to fellowship. This year, my wonderful Uncle Gary and Aunt Linda opened up their home to us and fed us the best Thanksgiving meal I’ve ever had. The fellowship was sweet, the food scrumptious and the best part was that my heart was wide open, soaking it all in.
It wasn’t the same without my Dad, and it never will be, but this has been the best Thanksgiving I’ve had since he died. In fact, I feel comforted knowing that a piece of him lives on in me forever. I know he’d be pleased to see that I’m continuing to stretch and grow spiritually. I have in no way “arrived”, but I’m on my way. I want to keep growing until I reach the shores of Heaven.
It was a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
I have to share this cornbread recipe that my wonderful sister gave me! It is so good…so moist…you will want seconds every time!
Ingredients:
2 eggs
8 oz. cream style corn (I use half of a regular sized can)
8 oz. sour cream
1 cup self rising cornmeal
1/2 cup oil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°. Grease an 8×8 pan.
Beat eggs. Mix all ingredients together. Pour in dish and bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on your oven.
Ooo and aaah over how scrumptious it is. Marvel at how easy it was. The end.
Mark 5:18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
This morning, part of my Bible reading was from Mark chapter five. It’s the story of the maniac of Gadara. He was possessed with a legion of demons. He lived in the tombs, naked. Chains could not hold him. He cried and he cut himself. His life was…well, he really had no life. The demons took everything this man had.
But then, he met Jesus.
Jesus healed him. Jesus gave him a life again. When he was clothed and his right mind, he desired to go with the man who healed him. He wanted to be with Jesus. Mark 5:18 says he “prayed him that he might be with him.” Jesus told him to go and tell his friends and family what had happened to him.
I want to be with Jesus, too. He healed me of my sin, He gave me a life. Since I can’t actually go and find Jesus here on Earth and physically be with Him, I desire to be like Him. Yes, I have a long way to go, and I’ll never achieve perfection. But I wanna keep trying.
I’ve made it! I’ve posted on this blog 400 times! In reality, it would be closer to 600 blog posts, but I was unable to import posts from my WordPress blog host. Maybe someday I can figure out how to do that, but either way, I’m excited to have reached the 400 mark.
After a day’s work at home, I look around and wonder what exactly I accomplished? I enjoy my role as mom and homemaker, but it can get frustrating to do a job and turn around to do it again. I do laundry, but there’s more of it at the end of the day than at the beginning. Â I mop floors, but then someone spills their milk at supper. I do dishes, cook meals, vacuum – and five minutes later, you can’t even tell. It can be quite disheartening. With this blog, it’s not that way. I can look back and see 400 individual posts I’ve written. I can view hundreds of photos of days gone by. I can read little pearls I found from my personal digging in God’s Word. I laugh, I get misty eyed, and I count my blessings as I scroll my past postings.
There are probably precious few of you who have been with me since day one – Sept. 7, 2007, – but if you’ve stayed with me that long, I thank you! Your taking time out of your busy day to stop by see what’s happening here means so much. Those of you who take the time to comment are a great encouragement to me. To those of you who are new to my blog, and have decided to keep dropping in, I welcome you! Thank you for finding me and returning! 🙂
I have debated at various times during the last three years of blogging as to whether I should continue with it. I finally grappled with it the last time and decided that I enjoy it too much to quit. I might be the only one reading, and that’s okay. Someday, I hope my children can read and see what I had on my mind during their raising. I hope they will see that even though I was slack in keeping a baby book, I was keeping track of their lives here! 🙂
I try to write everyday, because I love writing. It is an outlet…okay, it’s really therapy! 🙂 It is a chance to produce something that can’t be undone…right away, at least. I’ve had readers say that they can’t keep up with me when I write so often, and I’m sorry about that, for I do want you to read. But, it’s a personal thing; something I do for myself. Of course, anything I do, I desire for it to bring glory to God. I hope this blog does just that in some minute way.
I’ve now got my sites on reaching the 800 mark. 🙂
Just wanted to share this photo of our sweet baby Matthew snuggled up in the quilt his Grandma B. made for him. She has made one for each of our five children and they are items we will treasure forever. She lives far away from us, unfortunately, but I think she sent a small piece of herself along with this quilt. I know it was made with lot of love. We are so blessed with a godly, loving and talented family!
Our little Leslie is in Kindergarten this year. We have been using Abeka materials for her, and I think her favorite subject is art! I wanted to share some of the art projects she’s gotten to make for Thanksgiving.
I cannot believe that Matthew is already four months old! I was able to capture him eagerly playing with his activity gym. I love the way his eyes grow large with interest. One of my favorite things is watching each one of my children discover new thigns. It’s wonderful viewing the world through their innocent, joyful eyes!
Thanks for watching.
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