Five on Friday-- Highlights of My Week

1. Reagan and I read The Hungry Caterpillar several times this week.  His favorite projects included building this caterpillar (and others like it); discovering lots of things around the house that begin with 'c' like c-cat, c-cake, c-car; and making a hungry caterpillar lunch, consisting of apples, a pickle, sausage, and chocolate cake!  Which brings up an interesting question:

if Reagan gets to lick the beater...

  ...WHO gets to lick Reagan?



2. Our family Bible study this week centered mostly on Jesus as the Way.  So much food for thought here.  We talked about the many different ways we could travel to a nearby city, and that all those routes would successfully take us to our destination.  Jesus is not like that.  Jesus did not present Himself as a way, but as the Way.  "No one comes to the Father except through me."  We also discussed how the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom at the moment of Jesus' death.  This is such a powerful image to me.  It was not torn from the bottom up by man's hands, but top to bottom by God's power.  Through His death, Jesus provided the way by which we can each draw near to God, without a human high priest needed to intercede for us. (Hebrew 10:19-22)

3.  We added math to our home school schedule this week... and pretty seamlessly at that.  Marian does her math mostly independently.  Andrew seems to have a better grasp on things than he did at the end of last year, thanks to a summer's growth and God's mercy!  Ellie is not always a willing math student, but she is certainly more than capable.  As for Mom, math is her favorite subject!

4.  The girls' ballet classes started back up this week.  I am so excited to see how much they will learn and improve this year!  Also, Marian joined Bryan College Community Children's Choir.  The girl loves to sing and I am excited to give her this opportunity.
 Andrew is halfway through the football season now.  Sometimes he has a rough or discouraging practice, but he has come so far and I know that overall, he loves it.  And we love attending his games every weekend and cheering him on!

5.  Last, but not least, even though I've already posted about it, I'm still feeling the urge to brag over the first 5K that Marian finished with me.  First of many!!

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My Week in Review

God opens wide His hand

About this time every year, I like to look back at all the things God has amazed us with over the summer.  This year, we have a bumper crop of blessings!

 (Borrowing words from William James, circa 1888.) 

God opens wide His hand,

In this our native land,

Year after year.

From His abundant store

He giveth evermore,

"Pressed down and running o'er,"

Our hearts to cheer.

The seed packet said "Mammoth Sunflowers".  Now that's truth in advertising!!  This one was easily 10 feet high, with a diameter of about 18 inches!

The sunflower "harvest" is put aside to feed the birds so that we can enjoy watching them from the window all winter long.

We have been very busy filling nearly every jar we can lay our hands on!  We have canned peach jam, blackberry jam (both seedless and regular), green beans (oh, blessedly endless green bean harvest!), squash relish,

turnips, tomatoes (another seemingly endless crop!), and pickled okra.  

The corn has been plentiful, and we chose to freeze it all this year instead of canning it-- some on the cob, but most cut off.  We still have plenty of okra coming in, as well as green peppers, and we will soon need to dig up the onions and the sweet potatoes.

God has indeed opened wide His hand to us.  

 He has not only shown us His practical provision, 


but his artistry as well...

The whole earth is filled with his glory!! 

Amen and amen!

Psalm 72:19

 

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Old Words, Yet New

We are reading our way through the Middle Ages in our history lessons.  Today, the kids and I read about Bernard of Clairveux, a 12th century French monk.  His story is inspiring, but his writing even more so.  He wrote this hymn in 1153.

1. O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
   Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown;
   How pale Thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn;
   How doth that visage languish which once was bright as morn.
   
   
   What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, was all for sinners’ gain;
   Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
   Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ’Tis I deserve Thy place;
   Look on me with Thy favor, vouchsafe to me Thy grace.
   
   
   What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,
   For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
   O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
   Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.
   
   
   I have watched one youtube version after another, weeping.  I am a big fan of Fernando Ortega, so I chose his version of the song to post here.

If you get hooked like I did, you might want to watch some other versions as well, like an acapella version by Mitch Fewell or Amy Grant, the King's College singers or this (impressive) church group.

Something about these words, 

nearly 600 years old,

 written by a man of such service to God,
moved by his love for Christ,
and Christ's immeasurable love for us. 

I hope you are moved, too.

My One Word - 2013

So I've been thinking about the One Word challenge, a challenge to choose a single word that sums up what I would ask God to do in me this year.  Ever heard of this idea?

Well, God's been whispering a word to me for a few weeks now: roots.

Roots go deep.  Roots are the means by which a plant receives nutrients, life.  Roots provide support and stability.  God has been showing me how I need to be more rooted in Him, His Word.  There is no other source of daily sustenance, no other way to stand steadfast, no other way to "Good and faithful servant" status.

Psalm 119:133 says, "Establish my footsteps in your word, and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me."  Or as God highlighted it for me, to me, "Root me in Your Word so that sinful habits cannot sway me."

I've heard it said, "Either the Word will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Word."

So this year, I want my roots to grow.  Deep and long, pushing sin out, pulling the Word in.

And you?  Do you have one word?

Christmas with a Capital C

Are you as tired of "Happy Holidays" as I am?  Well, let me introduce you to this awesome song from Go Fish, my little gift to you this Christmas.  Never heard of Go Fish?  You are missing out!  We are HUGE fans in this house!

The Brad Stine add-ins make the song even better.  What??  Never heard of him either?  He's hilarious!

Enjoy... and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here we go a-canning

This, my friends, is what we like to call a good day's work!

This past Saturday morning, Dwayne and I and the kids hit the garden just after 6:00.

We picked over 200 ears of corn!!

After breakfast, we all helped shuck and silk, then I cut the kernels off the cobs while Dwayne prepared the jars and canners.

We filled jars and filled jars and filled jars!

By the end of the day (which was nearly 1:00am!), we had 36 pints of cream-style corn, 21 quarts of whole kernel, and 12 quarts of green beans, which had been picked the previous day.

Phew!

Like I said, that's a good day's work!

Summer blessings

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

One day's garden pickin's (and the first tomato of the year!)

Blackberries!

Praise Him all creatures here below!

Baby bluebird

Our developing  froglet

Praise Him above ye heavenly host!

June sunset

 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Dwayne in the zucchini

Cecil watering the corn and tomatoes

We are so thankful for all the blessings that overflow from our garden and field on a daily basis!  It's a lot of sweat and hard work, but what a payoff!  

Thoughts at a Wedding

My girls and I attended a friend's wedding recently.  It was, oh, so hot, as you can see in the girls' red faces!  But despite the heat, the day was beautiful and the wedding was gorgeous! During the reception, the girls helped refill the platters on the cookie table.  They were pleased to help in such a grown-up way.

Marian and Ellie with friend, Audrey

Ellie & Jack

Admittedly, Ellie was more interested in playing the yard games and guzzling lemonade than she was in refilling cookie platters (lol), but a good time was had by all.  I couldn't quite persuade either of them to dance... at least not on the dance floor, but they had their own area out in the yard where they danced only when they thought no one was looking.  (Wish I had some precious pictures of that!)

In the midst of the party, I couldn't help but have some Mamma thoughts... about the beautiful bride, about how fast my girls are growing, about how long it's been since I was the bride and how soon I could be the mother of the bride!!!  It's a wonder I didn't run screaming out of the reception!

Well, Bailey & Ryan, may God richly bless your marriage.  We are all certainly blessed to know you!

Speaking of spring...

We have five new guests at our house!!  

They arrived a little more than two weeks ago as creepy-crawly caterpillars, but have undergone a curious change.  Last Saturday morning, we noticed they were all wrapped up and hanging upside down in their jar.  So we have carefully moved them into their new habitat as you see here, and we anxiously await the next change... this time a magnificent one!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:

The old has gone, the new IS HERE! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Tulips and Spring

O, how I love spring!  And summer.  And fall.  And... well, sometimes I have to really work on being thankful for winter!  

Even though the winter has been mild, I am so thankful for the official start of spring!  The tulips are in full bloom, actually a little beaten by the wind over the past few days, but still beautiful!  

Most of the trees are leafed out, the birds are busy, and it is so hard to stay inside to beat out the last few "must-do's" of the school year!  

Whoever decided to make the school year 180 days long really should have thought better of it!  

I wonder.  Did that person ever have a garden of spring tulips?

Back on track... finally!

There's just something about a little boy in a cowboy hat... and a pink phone.  Ya gotta love it!

It's been two weeks since we were all so sick... yes, I say all.  Before that bug left this house it bit all of us.  We are so relieved to be well, but it has taken me awhile to get back to my blog.  Sick or not, life just does not stop!  (Amen?)  

Through all this, I have been reading a book about thankfulness, and starting to look for those little moments, comments, happenings, things that fill my life with blessing.  Of course, we know that every good thing is of our good God, right?  In this book, in the challenge that it offers, it is becoming my goal to be more intentional in giving thanks back to God for all things He puts in my life.  The good stuff is easy.  The bad stuff... He's working on me. *grin*

So here's a picture of some of that good stuff!

Two youngest, laughing, loving

For more of the good stuff in my life, take a look at my page, "My Cup Runneth Over".  The tab's at the top of this page.

A Quote Worth Remembering

Marian & Andrew (July 2003) This pic is one of my all time faves!

This quote was attached to the signature of an email I read tonight.  All I can say is, Wow.  And Amen.  

"The Bible calls debt a curse, 

and children a blessing.

In our society, we apply for a curse

and reject blessings.

What is wrong with this picture?"

Doug Phillips, Vision Forum Ministries