A Friend

*That God so Wonderfully Blessed Me With*

"To know someone here or therewith whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed. That can make life a garden."-Goethe

"Can miles truly separate us from friends?If we want to be with someone we love, aren't we already there?"- Richard Bach

"Never shall I forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend,as you will always find me yours."- Ludwig van Beethoven

"Some people come into our lives,leave footprints on our hearts,and we are never the same."- Unknown

"I always knew looking back on the tears would make me laugh.But I never knew looking back on the laughs would make me cry."- Unknown

"Never shall I forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend,as you will always find me yours."- Ludwig van Beethoven

"A part of you has grown in me. And so you see, it's you and metogether forever and never apart, maybe in distance, but never in heart."- Unknown

"Each friend represents a world in us,a world possibly not born until they arrive,and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."- Anaïs Nin

~*I Miss You*~

Just wanted to wish you a very...........

What does it mean to celebrate Christmas? I wanted to know for myself what it means to celebrate Jesus birth. I decided to look up celebrate and here is what I found to be the meaning of celebrating Jesus birth:


To celebrate means to observe, to praise and to make known or to display. So I found it interesting what it means to celebrate Jesus birth means:


*) To observe........By celebrating His birth I am observing Christ birth a significant part of His life and reflecting deeply on God's power and love for me.
*) To praise........By celebrating His birth I am praising the Lord for sending His only begotton Son for saving me from my wretched sin, Praise and Glory be to God.

*) To make known; to display............By celebrating Christ birth I am making Him known to the world. I am displaying the miraculous power and glory of God.



Let us all reflect deeply on what it means to celebrate the birth of the Savior today and tomarrow and everyday. This is, for me, the true meaning and how we should and are called to celebrate Christ in every part of His holy and perfect reign on this earth starting at the night of His birth which we celebrate as December 25.



Merry Christmas



~*Soli Deo Gloria -- Glory be to God*~

Challenge, finished, enjoying, and some comfort

I challenge you today to listen and yeild to the silent whispers in your heart and mind. When you are in the midst of life whether big or little hardhsip I encourage you to be quiet and listen and you will hear them. When you do don't ignore them, yeild to them immediatly.

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I finished a really good book that I recomend to all women of God. It is called Biblical Womanhood in the Home edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. If you do not know who this woman is look over at my sidebar under Influentcial Women of God and click on Nancy Leigh DeMoss and learn some and maybe even listen to her 15 minute radio show. In this book there are many authors and all of them give a lot of insight into the high an holy calling of womanhood. I am so excited about sharing this book with all of you! It is extremely encouraging and soaked in scripture.

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We are in Lake Charles right now enjoying good times with family. It has been just lovely so far and relaxing. Christmas is only a few days away now and that means so is my birthday, not to take any glory away from Christ of course, I just remembered. I no longer look forward to birthdays. I use to love them and long for them. The thought that every year I got a little bit closer to freedom, ha! What an illusion. Now every year I just get a year older than the year before. What a blessing though, to get older. 2 Corinthians 3: 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. When I think of getting older I try to remeber this verse and I am comforted instead of plagued with feelings of dispair.

Not a review or is it?

I wrote this right after watching the movie. If you haven't seen it you must, it is astoundingly good.

I am not even going to attempt to write a review on the movie Narnia, I am only going to express my personal thoughts on the feelings I am overwhelmed with as I sit here. I was humbled tonight as I sat in a dark room and was taken back to the sacrafice of Christ. I have yet the words to describe the way I feel about this movie, Narnia, that we went to watch. It is not so much the movie in and of itself that has caused this but the substance of it. I have not read a review of The Chronicles of Narnia that has done it justice, in my eyes. The depiction of Christ was absolutley amazing and moving to say the least. I sat there tonight with my husband and my 5 year old flower #1 in awe and deep reverence of God. I encourage you if you havent seen this movie yet, go see it, reflect on the story and on Aslan deeply, apply it personally, and lay down before the Lord with immense gratitude for what He has done for You, your children, your husband, your mother and father, and friends.



I was saddened as I thought of how many people sat right there with me in that dark room and watched just an entertaining story of a make believe place with fun made up characters and went home with no reflection or reverence to anything except sleep. There was a place in the movie where I wanted to run to the front of this huge theatre and scream to everyone in there "Do you realize who Aslan represents and what He is doing for Edmund He has done for You!" but of course I contained myself and continued watching Aslan being mocked, shaved, and completey humiliated with tears in my eyes.



Praise God tonight for His mighty love for us. For what He has done for us. Reflect on your life and see God's hand in it and be soaked with gratitude. Pray that you might lay down your life for Him and hand over anything that you have been held captive to your anger, your attitude, your plans and anything that is keeping you from seeing His glory and from bringing Him glory.

Wait I am confused....

Who came first: pagans or Christians with their celebration on December 25?

Click Here

A Polar Bear reminder

I am sitting here staring at a stuffed polar bear that is standing against my computer desk door. Which reminds me of the visiters we were blessed with Thursday night. The Toombs family so kindly took the time while they were here in Texas to visit little us. We were honored and excited to sit and talk with them for a few hours. We drank coffee talked and laughed. The children played quite well with eachother, all except Kenedy who was lost in her book, which I am glad for. I loved seeing her over there reading while Shannon and I talked. The bear that is standing here is Jadara's that is why I am reminded of their visit. I thouroughly enjoyed chatting with Shannon about life, family, homeschooling, parenting, books, and struggles (my own really). After they left Rick and I sighed a big sigh of refreshment not relief we were sad to see them go but it was late and the kids were tired. We felt as if we had been recharged by their visit. I am so thankful that we were able to see them even if it was only for a few hours, maybe we will be blessed by their presence again next year!!

Letting Go....

I had to share this piece of the book I am reading Biblical Womanhood in the Home edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. It just struck me hard and left me praying that I will if this ever comes up in my future with my children have this same attitude. Something I have come to realize just recently is that my children are only being loaned to me. They are my children but first they are the Lord’s children. I am caring for them until it is time for them to follow Him on their own. My purpose as their mother is to train them in His righteousness and in His instruction so that they can be a servant for Him. Here is the excerpt from chapter 4, Portrait of a Woman used by God by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, which has been an amazing read!

“Mothers, have you laid down your children for the sake of Christ and His kingdom? How sad it is on occasion to see Christian parents stand in the way of their children laying down their lives for the sake of Christ. And what a joy to see parents who gladly release their children to the will of God. I remember when a dear pastor’s wife, a friend of mine, said “good-bye” to one of her daughters, along with her son-in-law and two grandchildren, as they left to be missionaries in Cambodia. Just before their departure, I asked my friend “Isn’t this hard for you?” She replied, “Oh, Nancy, I can’t think of anything more wonderful than to have a child who wants to lay down her life for the sake of taking the Gospel to the world. Yes, it’s hard. We won’t see them much in this world, but there’s a whole lot of eternity after this life.” My friend, like Mary of Nazareth, was willing to bear the wounds of giving up her child for God’s redemptive purposes.”

I can only imagine that it would be hard to let go of your children for many reasons but with the perspective that the Lord is their sustainer, protector, provider, light, comfort, and rock it makes it a lot easier. I think that we have to be careful to not become selfish when it comes to our children. God is not trying to take our children away from us and cause us pain. We need to realize that we have had them for an important part of their life and in this time have prepared them to basically give their lives to the Lord, to submit to Him before us. When and if our children feel called to live 500 or 1000 miles away from us, in another state or in a whole other country our joy should overshadow our sadness and selfishness. We might not be able to see them as much as we would like here in this world but look forward to when we all go home together and instead of focusing on the illusion that they are you happiness try to focus on what God or is doing in your life and focus on Christ as your happiness.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Psalm 127:3-4

The "S" word

I just wanted to post some good articles on the "S" word of Homeschooling.

http://www.oakmeadow.com/resources/articles/Social.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/sasschool/socialization.html
http://homeschool.priswell.com/pachy.htm
http://www.nhen.org/newhser/default.asp?id=415
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31539
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/articles/042998.htm
http://www.homeedmag.com/INF/STRT/strt_art_socialztn.html


I use to have such a hard time anwsering this dreaded question of Socialization. But now after much study and a lot of thought I have no problem and I embrace it.

Blessings!

More Pics by the Tree

A Christmas Kiss

My Sweet Boys!

I took pictures of them under our untraditional white Christmas tree this morning and I love this one! I Hope that this month is going well for you and is not to chaotic.

Peace and Blessings

Yesterday and Today

Fun Fun was our day yesterday! A little frazzled for me but fun in the end. It is hard to stay focused with all of the madness of shopping, whether it is for presents, decorations, or just the monthly groceries. Last night we did our first night of our new tradition. It was a blast for all of us. We rented Madagascar, ate popcorn, drank hot chocolate (and I got to wear a little bit too after Eli tumbled onto the couch unaware of the "hot" chocolate in my hands) laughed, snuggled a little, and just relaxed as a family. It was very nice. Today started off good until we realized that there wasn't enough time to do all of the things we wanted to get done because of our lack of organization of time. But we figured it out after much heated discussion. I have to work on being calmer and quieter when things don't go exactly the way I planned them to go. I am about to go set up a messy craft project Eli and I are going to do. We decided to customize our christmas ornament balls for the tree. We have red and silver balls that we are going to write with glue Jesus, Saviour, Joy, Peace, and draw crosses on others and then pour glitter over them it is going to be messy and where there is mess there is sure to be..........FUN. I am excited! Tonight for our present we are going to get cokes, and I think marshmellows and have a night by the fire place! And sing carols.

Blessings Everyone!

Our decision after years of questioning...........

The questioning of whether to allow our children to believe in the made up character of St. Nick now known as Santa Clause. It has been tried and tried here at our house for about 5 years now, since the first CHRISTmas we had as a family. For the first 2-3 years we didn't take it real seriously and allowed it to to take place, but there has always been something about it that has not set well with my conscience. I could never really put my finger on it, well I could I guess but I didn't want to. I did not feel convicted enough to take the made up part of Santa Clause out of the tradition of our CHRISTmas. Well, now our oldest is 5 years old and can understand a lot of concepts that he couldn't before. Our perspective on life and training our children has taken a big turn since then also in where Christ is center of it all, and in everything not to leave out anything small, ordinary or simple.

Here is a thought that sprung up in my mind the other day as we were on our way to visit family. My son is really into Peter Pan right now. He pretends to be him and wants to watch the movie over and over. He asked me not to long ago about the reality of Peter Pan. Is he real? Easy, no. He is a made up character, there isn't a real boy who can fly and who will never grow up, who has fairies and lives in a make believe place called Never Never Land. I didn't even think about allowing him to think that this boy was real, it didn't even cross my mind. So in the car while thinking about this CHRISTmas coming up and family promoting Santa Clause I figured we should discuss the question once more but this time come to a conclusion. And that is when it hit me..........why am I having such a hard time with this one made up character? Do I allow my son to believe in any other made up characters? Well, of course not. I don't allow him to believe in a boy who can fly who lives in another land and has fairies why would I allow him to believe in a man who can fly because of his reindeer who lives in another place and has little elves. Because I did when I was little, and because everyone else does. I don't know of anyone who actually allows their children to believe in Peter pan and his fairies, talking animals, or any other made up character but for some reason parents do allow their children to believe in one make believe character, Santa Clause. Now I know that he was a real man known as St. Nick but he has been made into a fictional character with magical powers.

After this thought I thought of the answer we always used to justify our decision in the past and almost again for the future. It would always overshadow any other anwser we had....oh, I believed in him and I turned out okay, it is just a fun thing for kids to believe in. But the thing is it takes the focus for us off of the purpose of CHRISTmas............CHRIST. Children, my children would have a harder time focusing on Christ if they are infatuated with Santa Clause and the presents that go with him. Also Santa Clause has far to many made up qualities that some one else has, God. He can see you when your sleeping? He knows when you are awake? He knows when you've been bad or good? So be good for goodness sakes? What was I going to allow my children to think, that they should obey a fictional character that is all knowing because they would give them a present if they did? Is this what I want my children to relate to God? That he also possibly works this way? God is the only all knowing being and that is the way it should be set in the mind of a child, why complicate it for them just because it is fun and everyone else does it. I think we have been fouled that they will be missing out on something great if we don't allow them to believe in Santa Clause the made up character. Which leads me into my next opposition of this issue….lying to my children for the sake of fun? Why did I ever think it is okay to allow them to believe in something that isn't real for a few years. It can not be okay to allow them to believe in something that isn't real for a few years and then have to tell them when they either figure it out on their own, someone else mean spirited tells them, or you have to tell them yourself that you have been lying to them all these years. Maybe, it won’t harm them any or they won’t care much but what exactly is the point? I feel as a Christian I can’t allow my children to take part in this. Now, there is a much greater person that should be more emphasized during this time and that is Christ. There is a great and wonderful purpose in Him and His true character vastly triumphs over the made up character of Santa Clause.

So, our decision is to take the emphasis of CHRISTmas off of Santa Clause and re-focus it on to the son of God, Christ. That is our final decision.

Give Thanks to the Lord

"For flowers that bloom about our feet; For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee; For all things fair we hear or see, Father in
heaven, we thank Thee!" ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

*Be Blessed and Stuffed with Prayer, Thanksgiving, and of course Turkey!

To my Dear and Loving Husband

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cAnneot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

~Anne Bradstreet


A husband, a father, a playmate, a friend, a sword fighter, a jedi knight, a protecter, a leader, a provider, a hard worker, a loving and strong man of God that lights our lives with joy and comfort. We all are so thankful for this man that God blessed us with and we are all proud beyond words of him.




We Love You.........................You are our Angel and we are thankFULL to God for You!!! *Love your abundantly proud wife and little men.

**S.H.M.I.L.Y**

Listen

Here is the great evangelical disaster - the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. There is only one word for this - namely ACCOMMODATION. The evangelical church has accommodated to the world spirit of the age. First, there has been accommodation on Scripture, so that many who call themselves evangelicals hold a weakened view of the Bible and no longer affirm the truth of all the Bible teaches. . . .This accommodation has been costly, first in destroying the power of the Scriptures to confront the spirit of our age; second, in allowing the further slide of our culture.

Francis Shaeffer

The modern world detests authority but worships relevance. Our Christian conviction is that the Bible has both authority and relevance, and that the secret of both is Jesus Christ.

John R. W. Stott


Scripture is God breathed read 1 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,.

Sola Scriptura

1 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Psalm 18:30

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

Mathew 5:48

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.


2 Peter 1:19-21

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

A New Place

I have changed my Striving to Bring Him Glory blogspot to another more fun and Eli and Kai centered spot for family and friends. Here is the link to it:

"The Harper Pups"

There will mostly just be pictures of them and updates on the new things they are learning and doing and it is all from their perspective.

Eli is excited about it!

Prayer for a Family

This was emailed to Amy over at Dandelion Seeds. She wants us to spread the word to pray for this family.

I received an email update from Danelle. She wrote:

"Amy,
We are going back to court on the 17th of this month. Only four days left. We are praying that this will be the last time we have to go before the judge. She will take some time to make her decision, please pray with us that we will know her ruling before Christmas. The lawyer that represents the Department of Family Services is petitioning the judge on the behalf of our family, for time with our children on Thanksgiving. We covet your prayers especially now.
DANI"

Here is my prayer:

Father,

I lift up this precious and grieving family to You. Oh, Lord this family is going through so much hardship at this time. Of course You know better than me or anyone else what is going on in their hearts and minds. I grieved with them tonight as I read their story and the pain of loosing a son gripped my heart and soul. God, we ask that You cover this family with Your mighty and outsretched wing and may You cast Your comfort and peace on them. May Your love radiate on them and ease them. I know they must have so many thoughts and feelings that are running through them.....guide these. Don't allow the evil one to take even a hint of this family into his nasty snare. We know that all things are meant for good to all those who trust you, God let the good shine forth through all of this displaying your majestic glory. Please, we pray that this family will be reunited. Those precious angels are in need of their God given parents, open the hearts of those who are making the decisions in this case. May they come to a righteous, compassionate, and heartfelt decision. We ask all of this in the name of your perfect son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Rejoice in the Lord

Blessings. Today is going to be a frazzled dazzled day for this mama. I am watching 2 of our neighbors kids all day. Our neighbor is being induced today to have her little precious baby boy. I pray that all goes well with her and Cameron (the babies name). Yesterday, we all went to a Presbyterian church and I have to say it was very enjoyable. After church we checked out their library/book store and ended up buying a few books for an awesome price. Here is the list of books we bought:

Mine:
Christian Love by Hugh Binning
The Duties of Parents by Koelman a Dutch Reformer
Biblical Womanhood in the Home by Nancy Leigh DeMoss (very excited about this one)
When you Rise Up by R.C. Sproul Jr. (About Covental Approach to Homeschooling)

Ricks:
The Death of Death in the death of Christ by John Owen (supposedly one of the best books ever written)

For both of us:
Scripture Alone by R.C. Sproul





I can't wait to start reading them!

Breakfast in Bed by Mary Cassatt

Prayer of a Child

(I found this amazing artist today while searching Yahoo for inspirational paintings. Mary Crittenden has been painting since whe was 7. I do not know much about this artist but I am going to learn more. Here is the discription of this painting, I just found it to be lovely and wanted to share it.)

In this painting a mother is washing the laundry on a washboard, glances at her son and sees him praying. His sister is placing her hands together as she sees her brother doing. Mary wanted to say many things in this painting, the training of our children to go to the Father in prayer at any time for any reason. We never know who is watching us as the sister sees her brother praying, so are we are light and salt in this world and as the mother has lived the truth before the children and then they live it before others. The light of God is seen in us and passed on.
Mary chose cool colors to express the time of day early in the morning. She wanted the boy’s face to be seen as peace. This peace doesn’t depend on circumstances it is given to us through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 8:3,4

The Race

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

We are in a continual non-stop race. There is a prize to be one. Can you see all the people running in this race with you? They are all around you. The difference in this race and the usual race is the prize to be one the highest and holiest one to win and in this race we are not trying to beat our fellow companions that run beside us. We are to be encouraging them along the way. If they fall we are to stop and help them get up and focus their eyes back to the finish line and the hope of glory. I think so often we forget that and we keep running even when a fellow companion falls down. This race is not to have a competitive attitude but a compassionate and loving attitude. Do not have a prideful attitude either in this race, I often times find myself comparing myself to other racers. I try to push a little harder to get ahead of them. This race is not to be run in vain, but in selflessness and humbleness. It is to be run for Christ and His glory.

Be careful though, for there are some racers who will try to cause you to fall down. Galatians 5:7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? If you do fall down get right back up again and continue in your race for Christ. It is going to be challenging and rough at times, there will be hills, mountains to climb, you will feel fatigued and worn but keep your head up, there will be others along the way that will need your help, push through the pain and weaknesses and look within you for the will to keep running with all that you have. Pray for the strength of endurance to get you through the rough spots in your race.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Remember that we all have our own routes to journey down. Mine has been especially marked out for me while yours has been especially marked out for you. God marked us out our own routes because He knew what each of us could handle. Isn't our God awesome, He gives us only what we can handle in our race. So when times get hard and the terrain seems impossible remember this even though hard was made just for you because you are able to handle it. Those rocks were set in you path for a reason, that mountain you are struggling up has a purpose, those people back there you helped even though you were tired and didn't want to were also for a purpose a divine purpose. There are no accidents in this race, nothing is coincidental, and they are all providence and in His will. So persevere through all of these struggles and keep your mind and eyes on the invisible finish line that we are told of. It will be glorious!

Magnificant Beauties

Genesis 1:20-25
And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.























It was amazing to see some of the creatures that God created up close and personal. They were gorgeous, even though some were quite frightening. We got to see some other creatures that displayed the beauty of God's glory, one of them we were able to go back stage and see was the Manatees. They were such gentle looking and slow moving quiet creatures.

These magnificant beauties were all at the Dallas Aquarium that we went to yesterday with family and friends that are in town visiting with us.

excused absence

I often pick up a book by Douglas Wilson called Excused Absence to further enhance my conviction of why I am not sending my children to public schools. The bible of course is my number one source of conviction. Blessed Mommy over at Homeschooling4Jesus posted here views on this subject and has moved me to share some quotes from this book and just a little of my views on the subject of whether christian parents should allow their children to go to public schools.

The school system that ignores God teaches its pupils to ignore God; and this is not neutrality. It is the worst form of antagonism, for it judges God to be unimportant and irrelevant in human affairs. This is atheism. ~Gordon H. Clark


I remember when I was still trying to decide whether or not I was going to send my children to school or keep them at home with me. It was for me a hard decision because I was and still am selfish and didn’t want to give up my time. Here was my battle inside…….send them to school and I get all day to clean my house, read, study my bible, sleep, go shopping if I want, play on the computer, watch TV, or just do whatever I want…………or keep them at home and totally give my life, every second of my time to tending to them. Now to my worldly mind the first option fed my selfish flesh and made it feel good but there was always a deeper cry convincing me to choose the second one. At the time I was not exactly sure as to what or where it was coming from. I knew of course of all the pains, trials, temptations and other things that went along with school and I wasn’t sure if I wanted my children to have to face those but of course those most often were overshadowed by the fun times of sports, friends, and just the experience in general. Now as I sit here having made the decision to keep my children at home with me I am thankful that I did not choose the second option. The thought of me sending my kids to a place where God is no where to be seen, heard, or spoken of is unacceptable for me. I serve God not our government. God has given me a high and holy calling of being a mother and I believe that that means taking on the full responsibility of it. He says to …..train them up in righteousness………..can we do that fully by sending them to public schools that ignore righteousness? Absolutely not, He also tells us in Eph. 6:4 “Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” This can not be done if they are not with us and are being disciplined and instructed by the world. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says “And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” I see this verse as a way of telling us parents that we are to be with our children pretty much every second of the day teaching them his Words. We are to obey every instruction that He gives us through His word, these are our instructions as parents, and how can we turn our backs on them. Now I do realize that there are some mothers who are not able to stay home and like John Piper says there is a grace for that but if you have no excuse to NOT stay home then let the Lord convict your heart and move you. Bring him glory in giving your life to Him in raising your children in His righteousness. It will be hard, uncomfortable, challenging, exhausting, and stressful but the crown of glory that awaits you will reign over all of those……….be assured of that! It is a reward that is worth all the sacrifices of self. It is our DIVINE CALLING to care and nurture the very souls of our children!! DIVINE CALLING.

“I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt…I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth.” ~ Martin Luther

Boundaries

*They define who we are and who we are not.

*Boundaries are necessary when you have 2 individuals in love.

*God defines the spiritual boundaries of our lives in His Word. God has spoken with clarity and authority in defining the spiritual boundaries of our lives. For example, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Lord's Prayer define the things believers should do and the things believers should not do.

Life in the darkness has no set boundaries. It is a wide open field where you can run where you want whenever you want, the fence is far away in the distance. Some can not even see it they are so far from it, but they are on the other side of the boundary lines that those with Christ are on. They are on the outside of the fence, where there so called "freedom" is an illusion. A person with Christ is inside the fence with a real and liberating freedom that looks to the ones on the other side of the fence as a painful captivity.

Lots o thoughts

This is by far the main and the most important thing I have learned thus far:

The bible is suffient in training my children. I am shamed to say that I use to think otherwise. I turned to other books whose authors I thought more fit to help me in my training even when I thought to train them to be Godly men I still had in my mind that other ones had a better application for me than the word ofGod. Thankfully, I did not remain in ignorance of this. All others have followed this one as its shadow.

It is actually amazing to me how every detail is completely and so suffiently covered by His word. It is like a blanket that is a covering for every area of our lives and not just the extreme hardships and life experiences but also the very simple and minute areas. Why I am amazed I don't know, it was just a haze over my mind.

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Amen (my word of the day)

The word "amen" is a most remarkable word. It was transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament, then into Latin and into English and many other languages, so that it is practically a universal word. It has been called the best known word in human speech. The word is directly related -- in fact, almost identical -- to the Hebrew word for "believe" (amam), or faithful. Thus, it came to mean "sure" or "truly", an expression of absolute trust and confidence.

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Well, I am at the end of Star Wars III and I hate it. It was horribly good. My throat has been choked up for the last 15 minutes. I enjoyed watching all three of them but I do not think I will ever watch them again. I have read a few tragedies but none of them compare to this one.


Candy has written a book that I think is going to be worth reading it is calledThe Homemanagment Binder:The Housewife's bestfriend. Take a look at it.

Sharing a piece

A sliver, a slice of my days. Well, Eli is now 5 years old! Whew! I Can’t believe it still. He had an awesome day yesterday or so he said. He kept all through the day out of no where saying “I can’t believe I am 5!” My sweet and hyper boy of a boy. He is watching a movie right now. He is now able to watch all of the action hero movies and he absolutely loves them. His favorites are Spiderman and Star Wars. I debated on whether he was ready for these types of movies but after much consideration and discussion with the head of my house it was decided that we would give it a try. Well, he passed the test and is allowed to watch them, of course we screen them first to make sure there isn’t anything offensive to our beliefs in them. We do not, or I do not, care for all the scenes of killing but the movies we allow him to watch always have a good and evil existence in them and we are constantly talking to him about them, trying to relate them to well………..good and evil but in a Christian perspective. We will have his birthday party this coming Saturday at a fun and very beautiful park along with his good friends Soren and Kaylee.

Last night we watched the movie Peter Pan and I have to say I was very impressed with it. I enjoyed, maybe more than Eli. It was really more of a love story than I thought. Of course Eli only saw sword fighting, pirates with hats, a villain with a hook for a hand, a monstrous alligator, and flying children (which he wants to do now). It was a good family movie and I always get excited when we find a good family movie, since they are few and far between. I have episode III of Star Wars sitting in my living room right now just screaming my name, but I can’t watch it until Rick gets home, I promised (dangit). He won’t be home till late so we will probably watch it tomorrow night.

Well I am as busy as a bee or I was and I need to be right now. Jason, a good friend of ours is coming to stay with us for a few days and will be here tonight. We are glad, but the house is not quite ready for him so I best get buzzzzing………………….buzzzzzzzz.

More thoughts tonight I hope.

God Bless You

Training them in Righteousness (just some things i have learned)

For the last few weeks I have been soaked with instruction of how to train my children up in righteousness. Not to say I have learned all there is to know for I will start to dry out and at that time will need it once again to be poured on me. The Lord has opened my eyes to see things that I have not seen in my journey of discipline. For the past few months, I guess ever since we moved here to Dallas, I have only been seeing with what I guess you could call perriferial vision. Things have been crazy hectic here and I have lost full sight of my calling to train my children in the way they should go. It is unfortunenet that things can overshadow my vastly important job, as a parent. The little boys that run around my house are not just little people but little people with souls that need spiritual nurishment and guidence.

I have seen our sinful fallen nature begins at birth. Children when they misbehave are just acting out their fallen nature passed down from Adam. We as their parents can either allow them to be held captive to their nature with out giving them the neccessary boundaries or we can show them the freedom from the nature that pulls at them every second. To think of us just allowing them to wade in their fallen state with out showing them the way out of the current they will battle to get out of for the entirety of their lives is injustice on our parts to them. Do we expect them to just choose right over wrong with out the instruction and encouragement that is needed. Do we choose right over wrong if we are not constantly and consistently being instructed and encouraged?

The lives of my children are laying in my hands. God has give me as their mother the duty to train them up in His instruction. Though I believe that God of course has the ultimate last hand or say in the lives of my children, I am convinced by the promises in His word that if I train them up in the way they should go then they will be one of His children. If I train them up to be God-fearing, Christ followers who have a deep zeal for the Lord and desire what is good and pure then they surely will be held in His hand forever. It is amazing the turn my child rearing has taken in the last few years. From discipling actions and behaviors for the sake of sheer embarrassment to Christ centered discipling the heart and attitude of my child out of sheer desperation for the sake of their souls and lives in Christ. What a difference huh? Anyways, I fear for you that I could write on this forever so I will move on to some main points that I feel God has unveiled to me and moved me to share.

I will share these later, right now I have to join my fam for some fun!!!!

Adam knew

Gen 3:1-6
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

I never saw that Adam was standing right there with Eve when she was being tempted to eat of the fruit. In the fall Adam was with her listening to the crafty and clever serpent deceive his wife and he sat back and allowed Eve to fall into his nasty snare of lies. Why didn't he speak up and tell Eve what he knew. We know that Eve was deceived but Adam was not from 1 Timothy 2:14 "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.". If Adam was not deceived then he willingly disobeyed God, unlike Eve who was just naive and vulnerable. After reading all of chapter 3 you can see that Eve was truly deceived to eat the fruit. Her mind was poisoned with the venom of the serpent. After he had inflicted her with his poison corruption she could no longer see the tree in an innocent image but in a tempting and violated image. It no longer stood before her just simply as the tree that God commanded her not to eat of with a pure and obedient heart but now it stood there as a delicious and fulfilling tree that God commanded her not to eat from with a curiously corrupted heart.

I imagine that they looked at the tree before the serpent poisoned them as just another tree. They did not have any desire for its fruit, when they passed by it they took no notice of it other than it was forbidden and not in a forbidden that we know, not a corupt forbidden but a pure and righteous forbidden. After the venom was inserted in their minds the tree of good and evil became overwhelmingly desirable and no longer held a righteous forbidden but a temptation to be like God.

So Adam knew that it was wrong to eat its fruit, so why did he allow Eve to eat it and then eat it himself? Pride and curiosity. Simply put, he was curious if what the serpent was saying was true I am sure. Could I really be like God if I eat of the fruit. I am sure that thoughts started going through his mind of what would happen if he ate its fruit, these thoughts must have overshadowed the commandment of God and the punishment He had pronounced in Genesis 2:17 "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.". What the serpent was saying sounded better and he had overridden God's you shall surely die with a blatant lie of you will not surely die.

Think of us today. Is this not how it still is in our time. This is the fall of man the first sin that entered the earth. This is the exact depiction of satan and his deception that is plaguing the same world as back in the garden. We allow his lies to overshadow the Lords righteous calling for us. His perfect and holy words and commandments are taken a back with corruption and filth. We are simply most of the time deceived but also willing deceived like Adam. We know it is wrong; not pleasing in God's site and yet we allow satans poison to seep into our minds and plague us with deceit that puts a cloud over the commandants of God. And later we realize what happened and repent and the Lord whom we betrayed lavishes us with His grace and mercy. He watched us willingly turn our backs on Him and still He pours on us His righteousness, His love, and His compassion.

So be more discerning, weed out the lies from the truth. Don't allow the words of your God to be overshadowed by the deceptive and rotten whispers of our enemy. The second you notice the cloud of doubt, pride, selfishness..........and all impure thoughts and feelings creep into your mind and heart turn your eyes immediately to the cross. It is a choice that you will have to fight to make but it will save you from turning your back on the one who has saved you from the darkness and given you what you do not deserve, to share in His glory.

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My husband wrote on a disturbing plague of deception that is sweeping through our churches today. Here's the link to part 1: The Cultural Christian / The Cultural Pastor Part 1

Here's the link to part 2: The Cultural Christian / The Cultural Pastor Part 2

Check back, there will be more parts.

*Have a Fabulous Day*

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Tired this Morning

Tired, that is what I am this morning. We got in from Austin last night around 11:00 and of course stayed up longer when we got home. This week is going to be pretty busy for me mentally. I have so many things on my mind. My oldest sons birthday is Monday, yep on Halloween. I have 11 9x13 Enchiladas to make for Saturday. I am doing a cooking club thing with my friend it should be interesting. Not this Saturday but the next is Eli's birthday party so I need to have that on my mind.

Last night I read an interesting article about two books that I am currently reading. Ladies Against Feminism wrote an article about Captivating and Created to be His Helpmeet. You should check it out if you are reading Captivating. It pointed out some things to me that I totally soaked in and should not have. After I read the article I saw many things that I do not agree with and it actually offended me as what God created me for. I don't know if subconsciencely I understood or digested what Stasi Eldredge was saying or not but I think for the naive reader such as myself sometimes, it would be a good idea to read this article.

Tonight I hope to write some on my thoughts of training up children in righteousness, it has been heavy on my heart lately and I just want to share some of these things with you.

Taking Care of His Temple

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

1 Corinthians 10:31
......so whether you eat or drink do it all to the glory of God.

Candy, The Genuine Profit has started a Weight Loss Challenge for anyone who wants to join. I decided it would be a good thing and joined it and I don't need to loose weight but I do need to take better care of myself. This body that I live in is a dwelling place for my Lord. Just as I take care of my house for my family so should I for Him. Every area in life is to be done to the glory of God, even eating and excercising. You can drink a glass of orange juice to the glory of God or you can do the opposite. This is my goal in this challenge, to take care of the Holy Spirit's temple by eating, drinking, and excercising to the Glory of God.

My plan is to drink the amount of water I need to each day. Drink only 2 cups of coffee and minimize cream and sugar. Eat a good and balanced 3 meals a day with 1 snack. I also hope to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Want to join? Jump on the wagon.................


Children....

Been reading a lot lately on how to train up my little ones in righteousness. It has been a convicting road but awesome just what I was looking for. I hope to post some of what has been revealed to me in my next post.

Well, it's been a joy but it is time for me to check my Prairie Homemaker Forum and then dive into the Word for some spiritual nurishment. Be blessed today and filled with joy.

A Fabulous Day in Downtown Dallas

A full day of train rides, trolley rides, paintings, sculptures, worried painting watchers , long walks, cool breezes, a Hard Rock lunch, smiling boys, joyful times and memories made! What a day, thank you Lord for giving us a day to remember.

My Thursday

Just a quick post today. It has been such a beautiful day today. I got sick last night and am still feeling a little under the weather again today for an hour or two felt good enough to go to a pumkin patch and park for some lovely family time. I really do not enjoy being sick at all. I hate seeing my house in such chaos and watch my poor husband so desperately try to do a job he doesn't know how to do. Right now Kai is down for his afternoon nap and Rick and Eli are at blockbuster getting Batman Begins. I am sitting here in bed watching Happy Days and blogging. Tomarrow I think we are going to try to take a trip into Downtown Dallas. Sounds like great fun, we have not yet ventured into the Downtown area. I just remembered that Nicole Nordeman is going to be performing tonight at a Christian Church somewhere near here. I enjoy her music and wanted to go but since I am sick and we don't have a babysitter we can not go, sigh. That is okay though we are all suppose to have a movie night tonight and it shall for sure be more fun and fullfilling.


Ephesians 5:1-2
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Refocusing

Hebrews 12:2-3

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.


My vision has been foggy lately. My eyes need to be refocused. I have found that life is passing by quickly right before my very eyes and because they are all fogged up and not focused in the right place I am missing it. I have been walking around daily with my eyes half way looking up at the cross, at Jesus. It is time to refocus them and let Him pour His blessings on me. I have been missing them day in and day out. I am ready for a new day, a day that is clear and radiant with Christ leading the way for me. Life is short and there is to much glory to be revealed in each day don't miss uncovering all of the splendors of the Lord.

**Praise the Lord the creator of all things and full of grace and mercy.

Brick Walls

Have you ever ran into a brick wall verse in the bible. I have, almost everytime I read it. This is just something that I thought about yesterday while I was reading in Romans. There seem to be a few different methods used when we get to these brick wall verses. One of them and I think the most common is to jump over the wall and keep running along as if it were an obstacle in the way, without even glancing back. Another method is to take a sledge hammer and break that wall down until it is no longer standing as an obstacle in your way. The last one is breaking the wall down but re-building it replacing the blocks in different ways. And then running into a lot more brick walls along the way.

It is important I think to take each wall apart until it is no longer an obstacle to us. Take each brick that makes up the wall and piece by peice take it down. It is hard to do sometimes but if we are seeking truth then it is something that is needed to be done. My encouragement is for us to not only study the words of God but STUDY the words of God to a point of exhaustion. Some of the brik walls we are going to run into are going to be high and wide, strong and hard, we are going to need to be equiped with the write tools to take them apart. The main tool to be used is prayer. The sledge hammer of prayer. I have a read a single verse or chapter a million times with out praying and then when I pray the whole verse looks completely different to me. Before I prayed I was using my own knowledge, which has little to no power when it comes to understanding the words of God, I need to Pray for Him to give me more knowledge to understand His words.


This morning I am fighting off loneliness. My husband is about to leave for his 2 days in Austin for his classes. I do not like being here without him, it is depressing. But it is okay I will make it through it hopefully with joy. I like to look at this time as an opportunity to devote my time to my children. Life is calling..............I better go.

Joy and Peace in the Lord

His Darling?

I breathed in the beauty and laid the cares of the day behind me. A cool breeze whispered by, one of the first to speak of the winter to come. As I walked, I was dazzled by the splendor of it all, and I began to compliment God on the great job he had done. "It's beautiful, Lord! The stars are amazing!"

I'm glad you like it Darling.

I stopped dead in my tracks. blushed. Did the God of the universe just call me "Darling"? Was that okay? I was warmed to the depths of my soul by the endearment, but I also wondered if I had made it up. And was it sacrilegious to believe God would use such a loving name? For me? I am the one who had lost patience with her children that very day and used an ugly voice that hurt them and mortified me. I am the one who is living her life so imperfectly, disappointing friends and failing family.

Me?Darling?

Later that night, I began to read some Scriptures before falling asleep, and my hand turned to the pages of the Song of Songs. My eyes fell to the words, "How beautiful you are, my darling" (1:15). How kind of God, for then I knew. It had been him. The amazing love of God for me penetrated my heart in a new and deep way that night.

Stasi Eldredge in Captivating.

Can you believe that? I hope and pray you do. I myself tend to miss the simple fact, the Lord loves me and not just a sort of obligated love, no......... a deep and unconditional sort of love. A love that is inexpressible to our hearts. Overwhelming in and of itself, it is like no other and has no measure. I think of how much I love and adore my husband and sometimes that love feels unbearable it runs so deep with no measure and then I think that is how God loves me yet only more..............more it is unfathomable to my little heart to hold the capacity of His im-measurable and jealous love. Yes! Lord you are splendid and a sweet sweet drink to my soul.

Have a blessed day and remember how much He Loves your sinful self!

A Revelation, a good deal, my world.

For He himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you..........the Lord is my keeper. ~Hebrew 13:5

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. ~Phillipians 4:13


These two verses hit me hard yesterday. I know them both by heart pretty much but for the last week or so lost site of the power they contain. Today, I can read them again and feel a deep and mighty power that moves me and encourages me. I pray that you also can feel the power in these promises! And know that you like me can trust Him to keep them for He our faithful Father who has a deep and lavishing love for us.

A good deal:

Shane and Shane. Out of Eden. David Crowder. Chris Rice. Nicole C. Mullens. I just bought all of these cds for a great frugal price. They all except for the David Crowder were a demo cd on sale for 4.00 dollars. I was very excited. I went for the main purpose to get a cd or two but God blessed me with 5 of my favorite and new releases.


In the World:

I am amazed at all of the injustice and just downright cruel and vicious acts that are going on around us. This morning as I looked on cnn's website I saw many videos of the latest news. Two of them I was appalled and disgusted by. It is unfathomable some of the things that are going on. I usually do not venture out into the world of evil injustice and listen to all of the horror stories. I like to stay in my little world with in the world where the only injustic I hear is "I didn't mean to, I won't do it again Mama, I promise." But every now and then I, with out a choice hear something that is going on out there and when I do I realize how much of a box I live in. I don't think it is good to live in a box, I should know what is going on. I need to open the lid and not remain ignorant to the society I live in. For one these people need prayers and someone to listen to their horror stories. So everyday I get on cnn and read, watch, and listen to the not so pleasurable things going on around me. It makes me sad and thankful. Sad for the pain and loss of justice and thankful that God is a Sovereign and Mighty God in control of all of the things of this world.

Well, I must go. An injustice in my little world just occured. Ha ha.

Blessed with Joy

A few weeks ago my mil, her step-son and his cousin came up to visit us for the weekend and it was a blast. We enjoyed their presence abundantly. In the time they were here we went to Chuck-e-Cheese's to eat and play, to the Galleria to ice-skate and ended up doing some shopping, and just enjoyed eachother's company. I am thankful that they came. Here are some pictures from ice-skating:




Me, Tucker (I don't know what he is looking at), Mitch, Rick, and Eli posing for pic.




Eli taking a break from skating to cheese for the camera!





Practicing......

Skating all by himself!!!

Kai on the side lines wishing he was older.

I meant to write about this weekend the Monday right after it but I got distracted. The Lord blessed us with a joyful weekend with family and fun. It was very refreshing and uplifting to us. Eli and Kai were filled with joy. Thank the Lord for giving us a gift of Joy. A joy in life, in family, in His word, in eachother, and in everyday.

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Everyday rejoice. There is never a day that we should not rejoice to our Lord. Each day is a gift that should be opened with Joy and praise. Every morning when we awaken to the new day that is ahead of us let us open it up with a heart filled with joyful praising. I am guilty of not doing this, of not seeing each day as a gift from the Lord. I know that there are days that are sad, full of hardships, grief or pain but in each of those there is still joy to be had. Today maybe you are distraught or in pain, refocus your eyes to the cross where Jesus hung in much pain for you, for this day. It is only because of Him that you can find any joy in this world. Let Him give you a new perspective on the misery you might feel. Each day is to be lived to the glory of God. That is what we are created for and that is how we should see each day as an opportunity to give Him glory.

Isaiah 43:7 "..... everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."

There is an unmistakable and undescribable joy in Jesus to be had, that is ours and if we are not experienceing it then we haven't a true understanding of what Jesus Christ our Redeemer, Healer, Sustainer, our Rock did for us on the brutal cross.

Collosians 2:9-10 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

Joy is mine! Joy is yours! Choose today to have it in every area of your life in Christ. If satan has stolen it from you, take it back. It is rightfully yours. Decide which it will be.........joy in Christ.....or............misery in darkness.


*Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
~2 Peter 1:2

Psalm 85:10

Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Mercy and truth; righteousness and peace. Note, four virtues stand out
prominently in the incarnation; namely, mercy, truth, righteousness and peace,
or love producing peace. These were like four steps of the throne of Christ, or
four princes standing near and accompanying Him.
On the right hand, is mercy
presenting the olive.
On the left, truth holding the white lily.
Before
Him walks justice bearing the balance.
Peace follows Him, having a
cornucopiae full of flowers, and scattering the flowers around.
~Le Blanc.

This is a remarkable text, and much has been said on it; but there is a
beauty in it which, I think, has not been noticed. Mercy and peace are on one
side; truth and righteousness on the other. Truth requires righteousness; mercy
calls for peace. They meet together on the way; one going to make inquisition
for sin, the other to plead for reconciliation. Having met, their differences on
certain considerations, not here particularly mentioned, are adjusted; and their
mutual claims blended together in one common interest; on which peace and
righteousness immediately embrace. Thus, righteousness is given to truth, and
peace is given to mercy. Now, where did these meet? In Christ Jesus. When were
they reconciled? When he poured out his life on Calvary.
~ Adam Clarke.

I enjoyed this text and the commentaries on it. I really enjoyed these two. Hope you enjoy also.

Love: Is it a feeling or just a choice? or ist it more than that even?


If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:2-8

I hear the common definition of love from people all the time that love is not a feeling it is a choice. Where I agree with that to a certain degree I don't agree that Love in and of itself is a choice. I would say it is more of an effect of a choice. I have noticed that there is another emotion that goes hand in hand with love. Something that you have first before you can truly love something or someone. Sometimes it comes naturally and sometimes you must make the decision to. I am talking about finding joy. Think about the things you "love" and what feeling are you overwhelmed with? For me a feeling of enjoyment a delight in that person, object, food or circumstance. When we enjoy, we love. I enjoy double creamy chocolate cake drizzled in chocolate syrup with whipped cream all around it and I in turn say "I Love it!". The same with my husband, when I am enjoying his presence I love him but when I choose not to enjoy his presence I don't feel the love and this goes for everyone that surrounds me. The same goes for my kiddos, my mil, my grandma, and my friends. Maybe this is why it feels like love comes and goes, but it does not come and go it is your joy that does that is, if you let it. Joy, in some cases, is a choice. You can hold on tight to your joy or you can have a half opened grip on it letting it slip in and out ever so often. Sometimes though we don't have to hold on so tight because it comes naturally and uncontrollably. Like chocolate for me. I didn't choose to like it I just do. I can't remember ever not liking it. But there are somethings and some people that you must decide find joy in so you can love them. We all have people in our lives that we enjoy being around without any effort on our part but then we all have those other people that drain us because we have to search and try to find enjoyment in them. And even though it is hard it is not impossible. For nothing is impossible with who? Christ!!!

"Happiness depends on happenings; joy depends on Christ." Anonymous

Joy depends on Christ! It might be hard but if you have Christ it will be easier. There will be times when it feels down right impossible but that is a lie don't fall for it for it is not and never will be with Christ. You can have it, joy, in the times and in people that you don't naturally love because of Christ. Does Christ dwell in you? Then, if he does, you will beable to find joy in any situation.

Joy and Love are one. Do you love the Lord? Can you say I have no joy in Him but I love Him all the same. No, if you say you love the Lord then you must have joy in Him. You can not have one without the other. In our relationship with God I do not think we choose to find joy in Him I think it is an overwhelming feeling that is given by His overpowering majesty and glory. Let me point something out though that was just revealed to me by His word. His love comes first to us so that we might have joy.

Listen to this and be filled with Joy.

Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Did you hear that!? God so amazingly bestows on us his power of love which overflows in us and our soul is filled with joy. We have joy in the Lord because he first loved us. He first loved us, He first found joy in us. If you don't feel that joy right now read this with a broken heart ready and willing to let joy seep in and consume you.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17

Jesus Christ, perished so that you and me could have eternal life. Did you get that, eternal life, not condemnation but salvation through Him! Praise be to our God and Father. Today and everyday, let us turn our eyes to the cross, to the sacrafice, when we feel no joy and be filled, consumed , overpowered by the joy that comes from God's love for us. And remember those people that are hard to find joy in? Remind yourself of God's love, and the joy you have in Christ and share that glory with them. Reveal to them Christ that dwells in you.

So is love a feeling or a choice. I would say it is a direct feeling from a conciouse decision to find joy. Love is Joys shadow, it follows it everywhere. When you find joy you will see it's shadow of love right behind it. Find it.

Be blessed and filled.

It is a beautiful morning. I can hear the masses of birds chirping outside. It is not a comforting noise but rather a more chaotic one yet they give me a sense of peace. To know that they are all probably sitting in a tree out there content and going about there day as I am doing the same in here. Isn't that what every creature on this earth is doing this very second. They are all going about there day. The thing I am thinking about today is how? How are we all going about it? Are we like the birds out there that are just going about there day as yesterday and the day before or are we looking to today in a different way. How can I live today to it's fullest and put God first in every detail of it. Instead of thinking of getting up and cooking breakfast like every morning how can I go cook it and find joy in it! By thinking of why I am cooking it, who I am cooking it for, and how I have the items to cook it with. I think if we thought of everything as a blessing it would be hard to just go about it monotnosously with no feeling. God doesn't want us to just live life like a robot going through the motions, He wants us to find joy in all of the everyday things and to bring Him glory in all of them. Think this way and life will not be boring or mundane but fullfilling and joyful. Think of all the glory you can bring to God today!


Glory be to God Almighty! Have a joyful day.

My Typical Day

Now first let me start out by saying that this could be a little cheesy and is not exactly what a typical day looks like for my husband was not home and I was forced to walk around with my camera taking pics of myself and the kiddos. I have to say it felt a little weird. Just remeber that I was taking all of the pictures with my phone camera. It was fun though and it kept me on my toes. I of course do not follow this exact routine daily but it is usually close to it.

Most days I try to get up at 5:00, which rarely in actuallity happens, today it was 7:00, cringe. Get out of bed and first things first.....I grab a mug and get a cup of Java and head over to the computer for a little one on one time with my friends over at PH and other fabulous blogs:

Then I usually force myself to get off the computer and head over to the dinning table to have a little time to submerged myself in the word of God over a cup of coffee.

By then my little angels are getting up and ready for some breakfast, so we come together at the table for our Breakfast Devo in Proverbs:

After breakfast Eli my 4 year old does his chores:

After clean up we head over to their bathroom to brush teeth:

It is about 9:30 now time for class or what we call "Kula" which is Hawaiian for class:

Class with Eli right now is Bible and Math while Kai colors on the other end:

Before, during, and after I am doing laundry and straighting up:

After Kula we have a story time and a play time, I don't have pics of these.

So we will go to lunch. At 11:30 we begin making lunch Eli usually helps me, today Kai was able to also. It is peanut butter and honey:

Just a fun pic in the midst of making lunch:

We all eat and then I have to clean up the kitchen and I do this at least 4 times a day:

A before look my sink:

andan after look.......ta da:

After lunch we have a playtime and a pray and praise time. It is always fun. For our praise time we turn on some up beat worship music today was Shane and Shane and dance around the house singing at the top of our lungs! At 1:00 Kai goes down for his nap and Eli gets a movie time. In this time I get some computer, study, and clean time:

My Study time right now is in Breaking Free by Beth Moore and of course with the bible :

and Cleaning time, today bathrooms:

After movie time Eli came back to the table for some more Kula this time in our Teaching your child to read in a 100 easy lessons. Now usually we do this around 11:00 but we got off track today:

Usually at this time which is 3:00 I cook dinner while Eli plays with Kai. Then Daddy is normally home and they play together and we all do something. We eat dinner at 5:30 clean up and then give the boys a bath on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays (with obvious exceptions). But today Rick is not here he is at school and so some friends came over and played after dinner. After they left Eli and Kai got their baths:

And then we read a story, said our prayers, and went to bed:

Well, that is our Typical Blessed Day! We had fun hope you enjoyed seeing our day!!!! The rest of the time until 10:30 is mine!!! and of course Ricks.

Each day has it's struggles and it's joys. The pictures give a falseness to our typical day because you can't hear the screaming, whining, crying, jumping, frustrated mama, laughing, happy shrills, silly mama, and all the other noises that give realization to our typical day! But all the same they are truly and wonderfully blessed!! and I absolutely love my calling....of being a Stay at Home Mom and Housewife! There is no other more rewarding and fullfilling calling in my opinion.

Rejoice in the Lord Today and be Glad.