03/18/12

 

Isaiah 55:6

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

03/17/12

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

I am not Irish, but have a bit in my bloodline.

Mikayla is doing Ireland as her country project this year.

I do love the color green.  (In fact, when I go shopping for clothes I have to make myself step away from green things....)

In honor of this GREEN day, I thought it would be neat to list things that are green.  I really think the Lord loves green, too.  When I looked up the word "green" in the Bible I found it occurred many, many times.  

Here are some green things I came up with:

Emeralds

Apples

Cucumbers

Celery

Kiwi

Broccoli

Avocados

Grapes

String beans

Butterbeans

Trees

Grass

Bushes

Spinach

Honeydew

Turnip Greens

Collards

US Money

Eyes

Limes

Olives

... and lots more stuff.

I thought this verse fit so well with "green" today.

Psalm 52:8
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

Can you add some green to my list?

03/16/12

 

More pics from school below.  The rain droplets on that day were mesmerizing to me.  I photographed many beautiful images that day... you'll see some soon... after all of my daffodils. :)

The next two pics are basically the same image with different points of focus.  Can you find the points of focus?

 

Here is a quote that was in our church bulletin this past Sunday and it made me think!

"Worry is a form of atheism, for it betrays a lack of faith and trust in God."

- E. C. Haskell

03/15/12

 

Here are more pics I took last week at school.  This first picture below was taken a few days before the others.  I got to watch this plant "unfold."

The rain droplets were a plus.  :)

 

I read this in my devotions last week and it went along so well with what I talked about yesterday.  I hope this is a blessing and great reminder for you all as it was for me. 

Mass Ungratefulness

Numbers 21:4-5

And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

And the people spake against God, and against Moses, wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?  for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

What incident took place in these verses?  Perpetual ungratefulness!  Yes, it's true that "the soul of the people [the Israelites] was much discouraged because of the way" but still, they needed to remember all that God had done for them.

The Israelites received miraculous provision of God on a daily basis and they didn't have an iota of thankfulness within their souls.  They reached a low point spiritually when they said, "our sould loatheth this light bread" (v. 5).  This was a drastic change in attitude.  When God first rained "manna" down from heaven upon them, it was wonderful.  They said, "The taste of it was like wafers made with honey" (Ex. 16:31).  The "manna," which literally means, "What is it?" was called "angels food" (Ps. 78:25).  Imagine the excitement that electrified the camp of Israel the first time they looked and saw honey wafers fit for angels lying all over the ground.  But day by day, and week by week, they became used to this supernatural blessing from God.

Be careful of getting used to the blessings of God!  We have to guard against taking God and His daily wonders for granted.  When the Israelites said they "loathed" the manna, it meant that they had become so disgusted with God's provision that it made them want to vomit.  They considered God's food to be detestable and worthless.

God help us all to watch out for the first seeds of ungratefulness.  We should all be thankful to have the presence of God in ourl ives.  Our hearts should overflow with praise to God for our families, our church, and our own daily supply of food upon our tables.

When children were born during these forty years in the wilderness, I am sure they thought that this manna was the normal thing.  The supernatural became the natural.

How do you react to the tremendous everyday gifts from God?  Make sure that you thank God every single day for the life He has allowed you to live.  Take the time right now to praise Him for your home, family, church, friends, and the gift of eternal life.  Don't ever become hardened to all that God does for you, from the littlest things to the sensational surprises he gives you.

Ask God to impress upon your mind the wonder of it all.

Dwell Devotional - March 7, 2012

03/14/12

 

I photographed these this past week or so at school.  I just love spring and the colors that continue to burst forth.  Every day you can see something different.

 

Let's talk thankfulness.

No, it isn't Thanksgiving or November.

But thankfulness should be every day.

Thankfulness is something I have discussed on here many times before.  It is something we continue to work on with Wesley and Mikayla.  There are plenty of people that complain in this world instead of being thankful.  I don't want to be one of those nor do I want my children to be that way.

Last week the kids began to talk about those wonderful words of "thank you."  They said there are a lot of people who don't say it and it aggravates them.  They help out with jobs at school or church from time to time and they said it is so disappointing when they do not hear "thank you" from people they help... children and adults. 

Why is that?

We live in a time where things are just expected but not appreciated.  

We are spoiled.

I want to always be thankful for what I have or what someone has done for me.  I know there are times I complain but the Holy Spirit quickly reminds me of what I have.  He has really been working on me to have thankfulness in all situations - good and bad.  I am truly thankful that Wesley and Mikayla notice it and work hard to let others know they are thankful.  I pray they will always remember that lesson.

Just remember that those two words of "thank you" should never be taken for granted or forgotten to say.

So... 

THANK YOU for reading my blog and coming back day after day.

03/13/12

 

This past Saturday we went to Old Salem, NC.

We had gone with the kids last year for their NC project and became members.  We didn't get to go in the past year as much as we would have liked, but still enjoyed the visits we did get to do.

This time we also went with my parents and brother. 

The plants are about a week behind ours here so it was nice to see some things budding out that have already come out here.

This flowering plum was just beautiful.  I took lots of pictures of this.

When we got there we began touring the areas and Wesley found a new friend... a guinea fowl. 

Mom and Wes tried out one of the beds in the taverns.  I found out on this visit that people would pay to sleep in a bed... and it wouldn't be a private room.  You would be sleeping with another traveler.... in the same bed.... someone you have never met before.... thankful I live in the time of private rooms in a hotel.

We went to the bakery... of course!  You would have thought that we had not eaten for a week with what we purchased.  Love that sugar bread and strudels!!!

Mikayla enjoyed some of her cherry strudel.

Wesley was enjoying some, too, while Kev chilled for a bit.

 

I was there, too... just behind the camera the whole day as always.  It was a beautiful day.  I was so thankful to have a break from school stuff and have time with my family.  

The only problem of the day was that we lost an hour that night.... I'll be trying to get adjusted to that for a couple of weeks  :)

03/12/12

 

Today I am going to talk about Molly.

Silly, sweet Molly Girl.

She has this habit of tearing up lots of stuff she finds in the garage.  It gets cleaned up and then she decides to get more out and make another mess.  Steve says this is her "playroom" and she doesn't like it neat. ha!

She may make a mess, but she surely is sweet.  She greets us every time we get home and runs around the perimeter of her area of the yard showing she is "boss" and protecting her peeps who are home.

She then grabs her cow or her football and is ready to play.

Some days I am able to play catch with her.  Some days the kids get out there and play "hide and go seek" with her.  She loves it.

On this day I was able to play catch with her.

She makes me laugh going after the ball.

She'll then bring it back and want to go again.  She's doing a good job obeying and getting the ball to us instead of running away.

On Friday I noticed she had dragged out trash bags in the middle of the front yard.  I guess she has now included that in her "playroom."

I just can't tell you how much we love this dog.  Having never really been a dog person before, she has changed my view.  I love this girl....

She is an outside dog, but more and more she finds ways to get in the house...

... and we don't mind for a little while.

 In fact, I'd let her come in a lot more if I knew her hair wouldn't get everywhere and the cats wouldn't spaz. ;)

Our life is so much richer with her in it.  

Pets are definitely just like family and are loved just as much.