Perspective

It was dark outside. My family and I had just finished family worship.
There were deadly tornado reports in many states and tornado warnings near us. We turned on the television and watched the weather radar. The storm was headed our way. The red blobs on the screen were ominously close.

We heard the tornado siren warnings outside.
But it was also very quiet. No thunder, lightning, or wind.
Silence.
I was prepared for the worst. Waiting for all the of that weather to fall down upon us.
I prayed. We waited.
We kept looking out the windows, watching the weather channel,... waiting.

But the storms around us and near us seemed to be missing us. It was peaceful outside. Nothing stirred. Nothing happened. Through the night we had sparse amounts of rain and thunder.
We were safe, protected, and alive. While some of the country around us was hurt, we were safe.

God's grace is always there. His hand is holding us steady. He's stronger than any storm, more powerful than any weather forecast. His mercy is mighty. His love is everlasting. And every day is a blessing. Even if that includes the grumpy, bad days, when milk spills, legos scatter about the floor, toddlers screech, cars break down, library books become over-due, muddy foot prints mark the carpet.
 No matter the panic, the worry, the chaos. No matter the perspective. God's grace can and will be sufficient.

Simple Blessings.

•Rain drops

 •Candid school lesson with my little brothers

•Leftovers for lunch

•Flowers

• Pancakes

 •Yummy yarn

•A camera

Source: via Nela

•A simple reminder

 •A cheerful robin (Entering this one in Mina's photo challenge!)

.....Do you have any simple blessings to share?

Are you ready?

 Do you love prizes? Well, you better check out my sister's giveaway! She's celebrating 300 posts.
And I have to say that she's an amazing blogger. She's clever, funny, honest and sweet. She doesn't have a fan page, but she is pretty special. I am not just saying that 'cuz she's my sis either.
 You know what? You should totally go enter! Click here! Right there. Do it!

A splash, a glimmer

Though the cold (and the wind) have been frightful, the sunshine has been quite delightful!
It's amazing how cheery the sun can be to any day. Gleaming through the windows and brightening up each room in the house. Ah... So refreshing. I love sunlight.

                                           

                                             

                                              

                                          

                                              

......

What cheers you up?

Making History

                                                       Source: agoodyarn.net via C.j. on Pinterest

It comes once every twelve months. The beginning of a year. The end of the previous. Memories, adventures, many experiences, lessons learned. It makes me realize... everything that I think, every action, every word that I say, effects the future.
It might sound scary in a sense. It might sound exciting. Every choice made, makes history. That's why it's so important to take every thought (2 Corinthians 10:5) captive. (Because a thought becomes a word, and then an action.)  So my question to you is...
What do you want history to say about you?

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3: 20-21 

 ...Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas...

 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Luke 2:10-11

Holiday musings...

Only three more days...until Christmas...!

 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. 

Romans 5:1-2

What are your Christmas plans this week?

A Special Girl...

 My sister turned fourteen on the December eighteenth...!

 Dear Sis,
Happy Birthday.
You're a beautiful young lady,
an inspiration, a joy.
You can make me laugh.
You can make me think.
You make amazing music.
You create stunning art.
Thanks for being there when I'm not the big sister I should be.
Thank you for being... you.
Much love,
Leah

Little Pitchers Have Big Minds

 It was one of those days.
Everything drags. The house is a mess. And an ominous gray cloud floats above my head.
I was in a sour mood. Grumpy at best. I had a few chores left to do and I wasn't pleasant.
Not that I mind chores...Usually. The anticipation of work is the worst of it to me. But when you get down to it it's not bad. (It's amazing how much thinking time you have while cleaning)
I got the vacuum out.
I plugged in the vacuum and was getting ready turn it on.Then my four year old brother walks over and asks, "Can I help?"...
I smiled. How could I be angry with the best brother in the world?
Not only did he help me, but he basically did the whole job. (Of course with a little supervision.)
Not only did he do the whole job. He did a great job.
And best of all? He asked to help. He enjoyed it too.

 It's amazing how unexpected little children can be. And very observant. One thing we've been striving to do is making helping fun. Encouraging work, encouraging help, encouraging learning.
Work can be fun. With the right attitude.
Kids notice an attitude. Sometimes I am not in a good mood and my two year old brother will look at me and ask, "Are you happy?" They notice when I don't want to do something. And when I change my attitude they often do the same. If I put on a smile they get excited about the task ahead.
The main point: attitude counts.  Not just that though. Attitude and our heart. Putting a smile on is important. But making that smile come from our heart is even more important.
I'm learning sincere gladness:

Light is sown for the righteous,
         And gladness for the upright in heart.

 Psalm 97:11

I'm learning that work by itself may be tedious, but with a friend, -even a four year old, it can be enjoyable and rewarding:

Two are better than one,
      Because they have a good reward for their labor.

Ecclesiastes 4:9

Both of these lessons I'm learning from little children.

At that time Jesus answered and said, 

"I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent 

and have revealed them to babes.

Matthew 11:25

What are you learning from children?

Winter is in the air.

Have you noticed the nip in the November wind? I have.
As autumn packs up and takes a vacation to the beach, winter makes itself comfortable.
Winter is one of my least favorite seasons.
Plants begin to fade, cloudy days seem to multiply, maybe even a few more sniffles and coughs.
But like any season it has it's good side.
Holidays, birthdays, hot cocoa, scarves and slippers, baking, snow and many other blessings to look forward to...Speaking of blessings I've really been enjoying the give thanks! challenge.

I know there are quite a few different thankful challenges going on. Especially as thanksgiving is coming upon us. It really has been making me appreciate the blessings in my day to day life.
To name a few: sunshine, quiet moments, family, spice muffins, music, fun new fabric, health, home, laughter and....

...Bread. Simple gifts like daily bread are a blessing I take for granted.
Credit for this lovely bread goes to my talented Mother. 
Mothers are a huge blessing, too! :-)

Have a lovely weekend!
What do you like best about November?

Doors Knobs, Keys, and Roots

  I begin this post with a (sort of) thrown together title. 

In a hope that I'd draw your attention. 

Although what I write in this post has most likely been said before,

what I am writing is something that I am learning and discovering.

I sit on a hard, rough bench. The room damp and dark.

I see the door that is keeping me in to this room.

The door is marred with dents and scratches. I rattle the door knob. Only to find it is locked. 

I rest my ear on the door trying to hear what is on the other side. 

I look through the key hole on the door knob.

I can only see a faint, but bright light. 

I pound my fists on the door, hoping it will open. 

  

This is how I feel sometimes when looking for an answer....

...We all have flaws.

I often try hard to overcome, and correct my own faults. I struggle to let go of selfishness, impatience, pride and anger. To unlock the answer to overcoming. They can all be stitched into a web.

A web that I wage war with.

Some days it’s easy to win the battles.Patience, humbleness, joy overshadow my struggles.

But some days it takes so much work (and battling) to get my anger and other faults controlled.

So, I ask myself over and over how to win the battle...

The desire to keep fighting my sin is there. (Sometimes more than other times)

However sometimes I miss the real reason that I am trying to fight my sin.

One thing that God emphasizes many times in His word is love.

I might want to be a better person. But love should always go hand and hand--

---or rather be the center of my goals. Love for God. Love for my neighbor.

It might seem a simple concept. (It might even be easy to ignore.) But, it might be hard to follow through.

Always loving. Kind. Never hating. Not boastful, not selfish.

³⁴ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:34-40

Did you skip that verse? You should read it.

I never truly took this verse to heart until a few years ago as our pastor preached on it. All the commands of the bible are connected to loving God and loving our neighbor. If we love God, we’re not going to have any other gods, we’re not going to have idols. We’ll keep the Sabbath. We’ll honor our parents. We will not murder, commit adultery, steal, lie or covet.  

That’s an amazing concept. Love is the root to obedience. 

It’s the key.

 Your thoughts?

The Ocean's Beauty

Here are only a few of the numerous photos from our family's vacation. Fond memories.

The ocean and the tide pool.

A happy flock of seagulls.

One of the very unique and intriguing starfish I saw.

(Or sea stars. They're not really fish.)

Star fish are truly amazing little critters. They feel funny on your hand.

                A silhouette of palm trees. Love it. So many colors.

This was a fun photo. That's my sister. She has a lovely profile.

Our sand castle. My sisters and I had one shovel and one bucket as tools.We had a lot of fun. 

There was lots of giggling involved, a lot of creativity and some failures. 

(Our original plan was to build an igloo.) ;-)

We didn't have time to decorate it before the sun went down.

 The beach houses were picture perfect.  

  Look at that blue sky. Amazing.

                                                A cloudy beach.

                  













  I realized after photographing this little guy that he only had one leg. 

                          He( she?) was very good at keeping still.

All I can say is God's handiwork is incredibly intricate, beautiful, and awing.
I only edited photos 5 and 8. Truly inspiring and perfect.

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 

Psalm 19:1

As a side note I bought some more photo space. So, I'll probably be posting more photos soon. 
Maybe a few interesting posts. ( I hope)

What did you do this weekend?

Reflections

 I'm back!...
I have been having an amazing break. My family and I drove to the beach three Saturdays ago and stayed for a week. We were able to walk to the beach every day. We rented bikes for the week and enjoyed riding by the ocean. We made sand castles, slept late, ate cereal, dunked oreos in milk, and my sister found a huge whelk shell.
I took pictures.(You can see a couple pictures here.) Almost five hundred pictures. Pictures of the beach when it was windy, when it was stormy, when it was sunny, as the sun set. Even a few photos of our family in front of the ocean.
I saw sea shells, star fish, sand dollars and seagulls.
I read "happy baby colors" many, many times through the car ride.(Not to myself, but to my baby sister.)
Through the adventures of following a GPS that can't seem to tell us where to go, I am happy to be home.
Vacations are such a blessing.

I've been working on school, coming up with Christmas gift ideas, taking pictures, writing, getting ready for hand bell and violin recitals/performances, and finishing/performing a reformation skit with my two sisters yesterday. My sister wrote most of it. She's a great writer.
We helped tweak it here and there. My sister is so creative. It went well. Although I accidentally skipped one of my lines.

Also, the picture space on my blog is full. So, I am thinking of either paying for more space or transferring my blog to it's own URL. Do you have any ideas as to what I could do? Has this happened to you? Any help would be appreciated. :-)

I love blogging. I have missed it. But, I am really trying to focus on life. And most importantly on God. It's amazing how nice it is not to be on the computer so often. I do have some posts up my sleeve. But I will be posting fewer and especially since I don't have any more picture space.
You all and your blogs are a blessing. I've loved hearing what you've been up to. I've been reading all that you've posted, but not been commenting very much. (I've done many mental comments mind you.)

Before I sign off I thought I'd share the Give thanks! challenge.
You can click the link if you're interested in learning about it or joining.
The holiday season is almost upon us! Cold weather, hot cocoa, and celebrations.

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.  Ephesians 2:8-9

Have a great day!

Choose Life

 Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.  Deuteronomy 30: 19-20

Short and Sweet Sunday Blessings

Sundays are such fun!

Going to church, praising God, fellowshipping with other believers and getting worship songs stuck in my head.
 I love Sundays.
We also went to our dear friends' house today. We had fun swimming, getting sunburn, eating yummy food, fellow shipping together and laughing together.



This song is stuck in my head. It's beautiful, isn't it? A great one to being humming over and over again.

How have you spent your Sunday?

Sisterhood Lessons...

 Early in the morning my three sisters and mother went to run some errands, while I stayed at home with three of the littles in our family.

I relished the time today while my cute two year toddler brother stood perched, craning over my shoulder watching every move I made, babbling on observing me, ( And giving me an occasional kiss or hug) as I sat working on my school work.

Sweet sisterhood!

It was one of those moments when the house is...quiet, when your twin brothers are getting along, playing nicely and peacefully, and your handsome, dreamy, smart, big blue eyed, ball of energy, love bug, tough two year old brother is... behaving, and life seems...orderly.

Serene. Still. Calm.

Oh, and then the next moment everything seems to fall apart...

(Like the dogs start to bark at nothing, the phone rings, your brothers don't want to share, and... well you get the picture.)

But moments of quiet (and rowdy moments,too) make me so glad to be in the family God's given me. They make me never ever want to trade a day of my precious life. The one that God lovingly gave me.
Even the juice spills and the toddler feet scampering into trouble, children shrieks and boisterous giggles, the toys on the floor and the dents in the door.

 The life that teaches me patience, love, endurance, self sacrifice, joy...and some many needed lessons!

My Daddy...

Today is a day to praise the Fathers in our lives and I wanted to take some time and brag on my Daddy.

My Daddy has the best sense of humor. He never fails to make me smile and laugh.
I didn't get many spankings when I was growing up. ( I am not saying I never made trouble! Honestly, I did!) Instead He'd sit us down and explain why what we did was bad. He gives us words of correction which have blessed me more than any other punishment.
My daddy makes me feel needed and makes sure I know that I matter.
He is supportive in my endeavors.When ever I have a question, He is more than willing to give me an answer.
He has not only been a great Father to myself and my siblings, but a strong provider for our family.

Throughout my childhood and now I’ve had heartfelt support and continued wisdom poured into my life.

The just man walketh in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.

Proverbs 20:7

Do you have a special Father in your life...?

Blessings

Blessings

by Laura Story

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if the thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

This song really spoke to me and I was able to relate to the beautiful words.
 It reminds me of when my sister was born. When my mom was raced to the emergency room and my dad and I were left to sit in the waiting room.
It's was a long sleepless night; and a rainy night.
But it was a night filled with blessings. God was near, telling us to trust in His will. His blessings come in different ways and I know that things would not be the same if God hadn't intervened. We would have taken for granted the precious life of my Mom and sister. You have to have a different perspective sometimes, when defining blessings. I know my definition of the word has changed.



How do you define blessings?

Praying...

I have been thinking about my circumstances more often of late.
I am so blessed to have a happy, comfortable home and people to love me.
My heart aches for the the people that were hit by the tornadoes recently.
Losing their homes, their friends, their families. It brings tears to my eyes hearing the countless stories of devastation. It gives me hope when I hear the miracles.
It makes me thankful for all that God gives me.
It could have been my home.
It could have been my friends.
If could have been my family.
It could have been my life.
I should never take for granted what God blesses me with.
I'm counting all of the miracles I have to be thankful for. I am praying for the strength of those who have lost so much.

I'm praising God for the lives that were saved.

( My miracle sister Essie is doing great! She is healthy and happy and very cute.)

2 Corinthians 1:5
For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

Esther is Home!

                                                 Esther Joy

 We found out the results of the MRI yesterday and her brain looks normal with no problems! She came home yesterday.We are so thankful to God to have Esther here at home! She is eating and doing very well. She is a little miracle. Only when your holding her do you fully grasp the gift she is. She is beautiful in every way.

Some of my family came down with a stomach bug this morning and we're praying, praying, praying that Esther does not get it. We're resting up and will hopefully feel better soon.

Thanks for your constant prayers. We are so blessed and amazed that just a week and a day ago Esther came into the world. It has been an amazing week with tears and joy. God is has been so good.

Praise God!