Sun and Moon

We were listening to the radio in the car the other day.
K-LOVE.
They've been doing their fund-drive.

DJ:
You never know what God can do.

Jobie (very matter-of-factly):
Well, I know one thing God can do.
He makes the sun come every day.
And then He makes the moon come.Such a simple, powerful truth.
From a 4 year old.
Acknowledging God's sovereignty.

Psalm 74:16
The day is Yours,
and Yours also the night;
You established the sun and moon.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Signs of Spring

1 Corinthians 3:7
So neither the one who plants
nor the one who waters is anything,
but only God,
Who makes things grow.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

The King of Joy

Anyone want a 4 year old today?
Naughty little boy so far.Wednesday he spent half the day.
Singing a little song he made up.
Only one line.
Over and over.
"I am the king of joy."

He is most certainly not.
The King of Joy.
Not right now anyway.
Not ever really.
(Even though it's really cute.
And we are all much happier
when he thinks he's the king of joy.)

But, he is not really the king of joy.
Because:
Joy can only come from the Lord.
From His Word.
From a relationship with Him.

My Father is heaven is the King of Joy.

Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life;
You will fill me with joy in Your presence,
with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.I Thessalonians 2:20
Indeed, You are our glory and joy.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Upside-down "Rainbow"

The kids spotted this in the sky.
One beautiful day.
A few weeks ago.Apparently its formed by the sun
passing thru ice crystals
in a wispy cirrus cloud.

Pretty cool.
The beauty God creates.
To display His glory.

Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Make a Joyful Noise

Jobie sang this at every family Christmas we had.
It was his song for our church Christmas program.

My boy,
who doesn't want to leave me
to go to kindergarten next year,
got right up on that stage with the rest of his class
and sang his heart out.

He told me before the program:
Mommy, we have to sing weawy woud.
And he did.
I hope he always has such enthusiasm for the Lord.

This is the only time we got a video of him singing.
Before we opened presents at home.

I'm having difficulties loading it to blogger.
I've been trying for a week.
Really wish I was more tech savvy.
So, anyway, enough about my ineptitude.
Here's a link for it:
http://vimeo.com/34992754
Psalm 100:1-2
Shout for joy to the LORD,
all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Fingerprint Friday

Well, I popped over to Beki's blog before posting this.
And wouldn't you know it.
She has verses from the same passage.

Pretty cool how God can lay the same scripture
on the hearts of different people.

These verses are from Mary's prayer.
Before Jesus was born.

I made a little gift for my Bible study gals.
With these verses.
(I was finally a tiny bit crafty.
But then forgot to take pictures of the final product.)

You know what I just realized as I'm typing this?
I put the wrong reference.
Argghhhh!
It should be Luke 1:49-50.
Oh my goodness.
So irritated with myself right now.
Wondering where exactly my brain was.
How did I get both the chapter and the verses wrong?

Hmmm.
Now you all know I'm not perfect.
Ha!

Hoping I take time
during this last busy week
before Christmas,
to stop and remember what great things
the MIGHTY ONE has done for me.Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Beautiful

Yesterday did not go as I had pictured it.
But then again.
When does it ever?

It all started out great.
We got the Christmas decorations down from the attic.
We found a great tree.
Really quickly.

Jake told me the other day:
Mom, you know what the worst thing is
about the day after Thanksgiving?
Picking out the Christmas tree.
It always takes us too long.

Well, it didn't this year.
I was thinking things were going to be beautiful.
All day.

We got home.
Took some pictures.
Got the tree in the house.
And then things weren't so beautiful anymore.

The kids fought.
Especially the little boys.
Jobie cried a thousand times.
Ryan and I might have gotten a little upset.

One brand new strand of lights.
That worked when we tested them.
Did not work when we got them on the tree.
In the middle of the tree.

I got one of my lights stuck in a village house.
Ryan couldn't find his needle nose pliers to get it out.

Two ornaments were broken.
By me.
One snow globe was broken.
By the little boys.
One ceramic tree was broken.
By Jobe.

I cannot get my mantle right this year.
(I am decorationally challenged.)
Wanted to do something different.
It just isn't working.
Brookie told me to give up.
No way.
I will get it.
Haven't yet.
But I will.

In spite of all that.
As I looked at pictures from yesterday.
All I could do was smile.
And be grateful.Our life may look and feel like a mess sometimes.
But it is beautiful.

Because God is good.

He has richly blessed us.
And it's only the tip of the iceberg.
He has so much more.

Some of it may not seem beautiful initially.
We may not even see the beauty
in some things
until we reach heaven.
But we will.
In its time.

Because God has promised.Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
He has also set eternity in the human heart;
yet no one can fathom
what God has done
from beginning to end.

Twenty-Two

That's how old I'm going to turn this month.
Ha.
Not really.
I wouldn't want to go back that far.
Hmmm.
28 sounds good.
Even 34 sounds good at this point.

Here's really what 22 means to me today.
On this day.
Twenty-two years ago.
Ryan and I went on our first date.
To the state fair.

That is hard to wrap my brain around.
Twenty-two years ago?
Wow!

When he ask me out way back then,
I remember thinking to myself:
What can one date hurt?

We attended a small Christian school.
Where everyone knew everything.
A couple days after our date
one of our classmates said to me:
I suppose you'll be going to the Winter banquet with Ryan.
I remember looking at him and saying:
That's 3 months away!
I don't know who I'll be going with.

Well...turns out I went with Ryan.
To that banquet.
And every one after that the next 2 years.

We don't always celebrate this day.
Matter of fact, some years it's gone by without us noticing.
But the past few days
I've been thinking about that first date a lot.

How I twisted my ankle the day before.
But didn't want to miss the date.
So I hobbled all over the fair.

How cute he looked walking up the sidewalk.
To meet my parents for the first time.
Wearing a pink polo.
And jeans.
And high tops.
It was the late 80's, people.
I wore jeans with the waist band that rolled over.
Remember those?
Tapered leg.
Kinda' stonewashed.
Awesome.
And a bright green shirt.
With shoulder pads.
Yes!
Oh, wish I had a picture.

How I wanted him to hold my hand.
But he didn't until we got back that evening.
And went for a little walk around our neighborhood.

I may not have a picture of our first date.
But I do have one of our first banquet.That's my brother on the right.
He had to ride with us to the banquet.
He was a freshman.
It was horrible.
He played with the electric windows and locks on the car.
The entire way to the banquet.
He thought he was funny.
I was mortified.
Ryan thought he was funny too.
That did not help.

22 years ago.
A boy.
Asking a girl out.
A girl.
Saying yes.

The result.
A blessed marriage.
Four amazing kiddos on earth.
And one in heaven.
A family.

A fingerprint of God.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the LORD,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Brothers

Zechariah 6:13c
And there will be harmony between the two.

Well.
For small moments anyway.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Coke

Last summer we had project POF.
I loved it.
Any time the kids would do something nice for someone,
I would say:
That was a great POF!
And they would get really embarrassed.
Especially the two older ones.

This summer I wanted to find a new verse to focus on.
We found a verse the end of May.
I read it to the kids and said:
This will be our POF verse for the summer.

Brookie and Jakie groaned and said:
Don't call it POF!
That's sounds like a little kid word.

Ryan said:
How about the word "refresh".
I thought it was perfect.
The kids did not.

Then Ryan said:
How about "Coke"?
Coke is refreshing.

"Coke" it is.
Or "Coke is it"!
(Remember that slogan?)
Then I forgot all about the verse and the word.
Until this morning.
Over a month later.

I have problems.

So, for the rest of the summer,
we are going to be refreshing.
And instead of saying:
Good POF.
I will say:
Good Coke.And my kids will smile.
And be happy.
And get along.
And be refreshing.
The whole rest of the summer.

I like to dream.

Here's the verse we're going with:
Philemon 7
Your love has given me great joy and encouragement,
because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

Honestly, this verse is more for me than my kids.
How wonderful would it be.
To bring great joy and encouragement.
To my family.
To my friends.
To any one I come in contact with.

Sounds...well...refreshing, doesn't it?

Now, I'm going to go Coke someone.
Hmmm...that sounds odd.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Fingerprint Friday

I've been nostalgic lately.
Another school year is almost gone.
My oldest will be in junior high next year.
My baby is a month away from turning 4.
Lara leaves in 50 days.
I even miss watching my brother's kids.
Ezra and my nephew Gage had so much fun together.
(They also fought like brothers sometimes.
But I'll choose to forget those moments.)
Somehow the following post came to mind yesterday.
I originally posted it just over two years ago.
It was my 5th post after I took-over this blog.
And it's perfect for fingerprint friday.

Two little boys.
Discussing God.
(And Larry.)
While watching VeggieTales.
Ezra: Larry is the awesomest.
Gage: I know who is the awesomest, God.
Ezra: I meant on VeggieTales. Larry is the awesomest on VeggieTales.
Gage: Oh, okay. Deuteronomy 10:17
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords,
the great God,
mighty and awesome.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Fingerprint Friday

Psalm 16:1
You make known to me the path of life;
You will fill me with joy in Your presence,
with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Fingerprint Friday

Every post this week has had a pic of Jobie.
Why stop now?

Jobe and I walked Ezzie to school this morning.
It was a little cool.
Jobie was in his pj's.
Hair a mess.

He didn't care.
On the way home.
He held my hand.
Jumped over every. single. crack.
And talked, talked, talked.

Today I'm thanking God for surprise blessings.My Jobie.

Psalm 21:6
Surely You have granted [me] unending blessings
and made [me] glad with the joy of Your presence.

(I personalized my pronouns a little this week)

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Fingerprint Friday

Ready for color.
Ready for spring.
Ready for flowers.A God Who could create such beauty needs to be praised.In fact, demands to be praised.Psalm 147:1
Praise the LORD.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise Him!

Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Prasie the LORD.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Thinking

I picked a Bible passage for 2011.
Romans 12:9-13.

But for a long time,
I wasn't able to get past
the first sentence of verse nine.
Love must be sincere.

Sincere means earnest; genuine; real.

Love must be earnest; genuine; real.

At first I was thinking only about my earthly relationships.
With Ryan.
With my kids.
With my extended family.
(on both sides)
With my friends.

I was saying over and over to myself:
Love must be sincere.
Getting asked to do something I really didn't want to do:
Love must be sincere.
Wiping up spilled milk for the umpteenth time:
Love must be sincere.
Cooking supper for the family:
Love must be sincere.
The list could go on.
And on.
And on.

Grit my teeth and say it:
Love must be sincere.
Which really doesn't make it so sincere, huh?

But then, God said:
What about Me?
Is your love for Me sincere?

Oh, dear.

The rest of verse nine:
Hate what is evil;
cling to what is good.

The best way to cling to good:
Love God sincerely.
Love God earnestly.
Love God genuinely.
Really love God.

Sincere love for God =
Sincere love for others.

Fingerprint Friday

A cubic foot of snow can contain roughly one billion crystals.
This is according to some scientist in Japan.
Who has been studying snowflakes for 15 years.

God didn't have to study it for 15 years.
There's no counting snowflakes.
1...2...3...4...
No fancy calculations.
He just knows.
Without even thinking about it.
God created each snowflake.

Mind-boggling.
Beauty for us to enjoy.
(and be thankful when it's gone
and warmer weather returns)

Deuteronomy 3:24
O Sovereign LORD,
You have begun to show to your servant
Your greatness and
Your strong hand.
For what god is there
in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds
and mighty works You do?

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Fingerprint Friday

I'm a proud momma.
In a good way.
I hope.

Last night Jakie told me:
I decided I was going to memorize 100 verses
before my birthday.
(which is the end of June)
But then I thought that would be too easy.
So I changed it to Jobie's birthday.
(which is the middle of May)
I decided this 5 days ago.
I'm on my second verse.

I'm so proud of him for doing this on his own.
Even if he doesn't get 100 verses done before Jobie's birthday.
Or his own.
He's been taking his Bible to school with him everyday.
I'm proud of him for that too.

He started with Psalm 1.
And is just going to work his way thru the Psalms.
I think I might join him.
I've got a jump start.
I've had Psalm 1 memorized since I was little.
We won't tell him that though.
Hehehe.

I did memorize it in King James.
Maybe I should rememorize it in NIV.
To be fair.
Can't decide if I want to be that nice.
Hmmmm.
But it would be fun to quote it with him.
So NIV it is.

What a sweet spirit my oldest son has.Psalm 119:11
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Fingerprint Friday

The last day of Christmas break.
My kids.
All 4 of them.
Actually playing together.And eating carrots.Then Jakie realized I was taking pictures.
And bolted.
Can't have people thinking he likes to play.
With his 3 year old brother's toys.
Brookie didn't care though.
Just kept on playing.Not much is sweeter to this mom,
than seeing my kids playing together.
Getting along.
Even after 2 weeks of togetherness.

I Peter 3:8
Finally, all of you,
live in harmony with one another;
be sympathetic,
love as brothers,
be compassionate and humble.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Fingerprint Friday

Joining in late today.
It's been a crazy one!I Chronicles 29:11
Yours, LORD, is the greatness
and the power
and the glory
and the majesty
and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Learning

I'm in a Bible study on Tuesday mornings.
We are studying this book:I never would have studied this on my own.
Not because I don't need to work on my speech.
Oh, no.

Because the cover is so terrible.
Look at it.
Ugly.

But the content.
The content is good.
Convicting.

Two verses that caught my attention:
Proverbs 12:18
Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 31:26
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

Soothing.
Peaceful.
Calm.

Those are words that come to mind.
Would my kids use those words to describe me?
I laugh at that thought.
And then I cry.
I am so far from that.

Too often the first part of Prov. 12:18 is me.
Reckless words.
Piercing.
Hurtful.

Quote from the book:
Where you go today
depends on what you say today.

I'm also going to say:
Where your kids go today
depends on what you say to them today.
or
Where your husband goes today
depends on what you say to him today.
and so on.

My speech affects everyone around me.
Are my words piercing or healing?

Learning is not always fun.
But I pray that this study is changing me.