Thanksgiving blessings...

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday! Much celebrating, fellow shipping, and eating are on my agenda for today and tomorrow. 

Here are only some of the blessings I am thankful for...

~...My salvation and grace... I am amazed that Christ made me and calls me His. Even when I sin, He forgives me for all my imperfections. I am blessed by being God's child. ~ ...My family. My two wonderful, wise parents. I am so blessed to have parents that love me and give me the best they can give. ~... My sisters. What would I do without them? They make me laugh. They are a joy to be around and an inspiration and comfort. ~... My brothers. I love them so much... They are an incredible gift from God. The joy they bring to our family. ~ ...Food. God always provides. I have never been with out food. I am so thankful for that. I am thankful for how yummy He makes it. So much variety and tastes. ~... A home. I wonderful home that gives protection and shelter. It keeps me warm and safe. It is not only a protection but a beautiful home. ~... My bed. What a comfortable sleep I get on it every night.~ ... Education. I am so thankful to not only have so many different sources and tools of how to learn, but I am truly grateful to be home educated. It is such a blessing to have a choice on who educates me and what is used to help me learn. I am so happy that I can learn and pray freely all day to God. ~... Health. I am healthy so often and so blessed with a working and functioning body. ~... Clothes. I am so thankful to be able to have something to wear. Not only am I blessed with clothing but I have so much of a choice as to what to wear. ~... Beautiful weather. God gives such a variety of weather and seasons. It's a joy to watch His hands in nature.~... Sunshine and Moon. The sun and the moon are such a great source of light. What would we do with out light? We would not be here. ~... Nature. God's lovely creations are awe inspiring.~...Medicine. I am so glad to have medicine to help feel better and be healthier.~...Friends.What a blessing to have like minded Christians in my area, who I can fellowship with and enjoy good times with.~... My Church. God has given me a wonderful church that I can attend and worship God with freely.~...Music. What would life be like with out melodies? ~...Violin and Piano. I am so happy that I have the opportunity to learn an instrument and am so blessed to have them in my home.~...Paper. I am so happy to have paper. I am able to write down words and sketch and draw on clean pieces of lovely white paper.~...Cameras. What would I do with out a camera? It is such a joy to be able to capture life in the lens of a camera and show with my abilities God's creation.~...The comforts of life. I have so many comforts. Everything I use is clean and comfortable. God blesses me. ~...The bible. I am so grateful God has given this book to all of His children. His words give me hope and a future.~...Laughter. What beautiful noises and joy laughter brings. One of my favorite pass times is laughing.~...Life! What a precious gift life is. Not just life here on earth but the life each of us has in store for us in heaven with God!

What a beautiful day to meditate on how blessed we are on this Thanksgiving day.

 

 We can always look at life and see God working in are lives.
                            What are you thankful for?

My Testimony...

I love to to read and listen to peoples' testimonies. God works in each person's heart uniquely to turn them to Him. Although I have always grown up in a Christian home I thought I'd share with you more specifically what a huge change was in my and - our family's- walk with God.

Life

"Life" is my testimony; a time for me in which God changed and worked in my heart and my life. My life changed with my baby brothers. About five years ago my father felt that God wanted him to pray for twin boys. After my youngest sister was born in 1997 my mother had tubal ligation surgery. (Her first three pregnancies were hard on her.)  My youngest sister was about nine when my father started praying.
 Long story short a year passed with Daddy still praying almost daily. We were blessed to live near a very skilled doctor whose whole profession was focused on performing tubal reversals. Through much consideration, discussion, and prayer. My mom decided to go through this surgery. Now with any surgery there are risks. Were we as a family making a rash and unnecessary decision? 

The surgery is not always guaranteed to work, but miraculously within a week after the surgery, my mom was pregnant. Through many weeks of waiting, (and an oversight by the doctor thinking only one baby was in my mother's womb for several of the first weeks) going through ultrasounds, and much anticipating, sure enough when the week we were to know the gender arrived, there in my mom's womb were two precious twin boys.

Before babies it was me and my two sisters.With free time and almost no responsibilities, we had a very boring life. ( So I think now.) When my brothers were born and we started to have more responsibilities, I first felt bothered and angered at more work. Why did I have to do these chores? Why did I have to change diapers? Why did I need to vacuum? As we got into more of a routine; -spreading responsibilities evenly between each family member,things got easier, but something else was changing.

Our family began to spend more time together. Whether we were doing chores or having fun playing with the twins. Before our brothers we hadn't even been eating together as a family every night. My sisters and I began trying harder to respect our parents. We began to watch less media and God placed people, books, movies, tapes, in our life that encouraged us in a new time in our life as a family. We began reading books together, talking together as a family, discussing everything together. My responsibilities were becoming greater. My life and relationship was strengthening with my family and with God. As I spent time with my brothers, I found joy and happiness taking care of them. I had loved playing with dolls in the past, but babies were so much more exciting and fulfilling.

 Life... is the word that I say changed me. My faults were revealed through dealing with my brothers, (Anger, selfishness, laziness) and I worked harder to improve. Prayer became more prominent and a truth that describes our change "God works in mysterious ways". My family has gotten closer to God as a family and individually. There are different ways for God to draw people to Him. But God decided that babies would start the change as we turned to Him.

Our family moves continually closer to our new found goal to please and glorify God. With more life in our family we have had many laughs, smiles, and treasured memories. Through the twins, frustrations and struggles have come, but it is truly a sanctifying development. Now with three sweet baby brothers in our home, life is an adventure as God teaches us each day. With my mother pregnant with my sixth sibling, I anticipate how God will work in my and my family's life next.


Do you have a testimony? I would love to hear yours'! :-)

Life...

Most of the time if I feel stressed out, stopping what I'm doing and writing down thoughts, feelings and future events helps me clear my mind and reorganize. I think I usually write in a journal, write a letter to a pen pal, or write on my blog almost every day. I didn't use to write down anything if I didn't have to. But through the past few years I have gotten into the habit of writing down something almost every day. Whether it be a to do list, a future post, my feelings on something or a poem. I am some what obsessed with writing down what's in my brain. Which in a way is sometimes not a good thing. :-) 

Since this post is titled "Life" here's what I've been up to:


~I have been practicing for our Christmas recital.We are going to have it at a nursing home. I am actually quitting piano after this recital. I am sad, but I really want to focus on violin for the time being. It's getting harder to keep up with both.

~I had a photo shoot with our cat, Pebbles.

  She is a very sweet cat. She's not very photogenic. It took some work to get some good ones.
  Here are several of the photos.  

                                                   She loves playing with yarn.

She has a cute mustache(Got milk?) and hazel eyes.

 Her nicknames around here is Kitty and The cat... Very original. :-)

She is so tolerable with the boys. No matter what happens she'll always forgive.It's amazing how much she'll put up with. I love it on cold nights when she curls up on my bed.    



~ Planning Christmas gifts for family and friends.

~ Knitting and crocheting squares. 

~I don't know how anyone can not take at least one picture this season. The camera and I have been almost inseparable. The leaves are so gorgeous...

 

 ~ Bought some fabric...

 I am going to make a skirt out of it, but not just yet. It's my birthday project. :-) I'll be sewing it on my birthday. (With the stress of the holidays I don't want to take on too many projects, so this will be my after Christmas project.)

~ I've been driving at least once a week. The fastest speed I've driven has been 50 mph. It's really fun. Soon I'll be taking trips to stores. I've only driven to get practice, -mostly in neighborhoods-, but now I can actually practice driving with a purpose!

~ I am so excited about the new baby. My Mom went for another ultrasound. It is now confirmed that it is a girl. Now it's time to shop! We have lots of little boy clothes, but almost no little girl clothes. :-) I can't wait for another little baby in the house.

So that's what I've been up to -other than school-...

                                         What has kept you busy?

Reformation day...

Last Sunday our church celebrated reformation day. We have a party each year in honor of a reformer.We have studied Martin Luther, John Calvin and Martin Bucer. We have food, games, fellowship, and "some" candy. :-) We always have a fun time dressing up for the occasion. My sister's and I usually go to a thrift shop and find a cheap dress to decorate. I found this one at the thrift store and thought I'd buy some lace to decorate with. I ended up using exactly 12 yards of red lace that I bought from the craft store. I thought would have some left over, but I had just enough for the bodice front. I was relieved when I pinned the lace on the front, because I beginning to get skeptical as to if I'd have enough. I bought some ribbon for the waist and it was finished. Cheap, elegant and fun to design.

You can visit my family's blog here for a slide show of the event, if your interested.

                                                         Here it is before...

                                                  ....And after! 

 (The edge of the dress.)

A post of sorts

 Hope Marie tagged me. Thank you Hope Marie!

Here is the tag:
(Answer ONLY with the first letter of your last name!)
I think I will answer with the letter of my first name instead, if that is all right. :-)

A state?
Louisiana

A country?
Luxembourg

A food?
Lasagna

A clothing store?
Levi's

A fruit?
Lemon

A girls' name?
Hmm... Leah? ;-)

A boys' name?
Leonardo

An activity?
Life(The board game)

A dessert?
 Lemon bars

 A town?
Leah lane... funny huh?
I looked up Leah into Google maps and there is a street named Leah. I feel honored. ;-)



That was fun!

I apologize for the lack of posts on my poor blog. I have a few posts that I plan on typing up. I have been somewhat busy.
But it is a good kind of busy. God has blessed my family and me abundantly.
I have been spending my time doing school, ( I have actually really been enjoying myself. Having a good attitude, while learning and studying helps.)
Knitting and crocheting squares, Writing poems, Playing my violin, practicing Christmas songs on the piano, taking many fall photos,
 Reading Start here and I kissed dating good bye. ( I have Boy Meets Girl and Before you meet prince charming on hold at the library; I have some thought provoking reading ahead of me.Have you read any of these books? If so how did you like them?)

I have been enjoying life, I have been inspired by the fall season, I have been inspired by books that I am reading, I have been inspired by the people that I see and talk to, but I am in awe of God and his plan. Do you ever have those times when you really see God working in your life; when you see from the beginning to the now and you realize how much God is changing your world and your life. He truly is my inspiration and my comfort when I feel hopeless and troubled. When you have a plan and then God changes it unexpectedly for the better. I love to see the outcome of Christ's hand.


What have you been enjoying the past week?...