Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Thankful Thursday



Saint Mary's Lake At Sunrise, Glacier National Park

We live about 6 hours from this beautiful spot in Glacier Park, and I am sorry to say we don't get there very often. But this photo of the sunrise at St. Mary's Lake shows me God's mighty power shining through the clouds as the sun rises over the mountains. As I see this, I am so very thankful for the gift of His Son, who rose from the grave and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Imagine what that must have looked like! I am so thankful that the SON shines in the hearts of all who love Him and follow Him! In my family, this includes my husband and me, and our daughters and their husbands. I pray each day for our grandchildren, that they may come to a relationship with the SON, and I praise His name.

I am also very thankful that I didn't have the headaches today that I often get due to a couple of chronic physical conditions I have. When I do have them and some of the other pain I get, I can be thankful that it draws me closer to God, who has proven over and over that His promise to never leave me nor forsake me is always true.


Thank you to Iris for hosting Thankful Thursday this week at her blog Grace Alone.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Speakable Gifts Giveaway!




Join Maxine and Beverly at Speakable Gifts for a beautiful giveaway wall art of Micah 6:8. While there, do a little window shopping or a shopping spree of their beautiful gifts! This giveaway is finished.

Thankful Thursday


Join Lisa at Grace Alone for Thankful Thursday.

This morning in my quiet time, I was reading, Psalm 132, especially verse 7, "Let us go to His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool". In his daily devotional for today, Dr. David Jeremiah wrote: "Worship is recognizing God’s greatness and glory, and, in response, expressing our pleasure and praise. It’s not about us, how we feel, or the kind of music we enjoy. It’s about the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It’s about who He is and what He has done."

I was reminded that worship is the pouring out of my love, praise and thankfulness of God's greatness and His glory. I am very thankful that He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and that I may worship Him anytime, anywhere.

These words to a song by Twila Paris came to mind, and it is my worship to Him this morning. May He be glorified in our hearts today.


We Will Glorify

We will glorify the King of kings
We will glorify the Lamb
We will glorify the Lord of lords
Who is the great I AM

Lord Jehovah reigns in majesty
We will bow before His throne
We will worship Him in righteousness
We will worship Him alone

He is Lord of heaven, Lord of earth
He is Lord of all who live
He is Lord above the universe
All praise to Him we give

Hallelujah to the King of kings
Hallelujah to the Lamb
Hallelujah to the Lord of Lords
Who is the great I AM


Sunshine Blog Award


Debra of Capers of the Vintage Vixens has given me the Sunshine Blog Award! Thank you, Debra! Debra and her daughter Nicole have an online store called Maison St. Germain, full of fun vintage finds. Click here to go to their blog!

With this award I need to:
Post the award on my blog.
Link the person I received the award from.
Pass the award on to 12 of my favorite blogs and share the link to their blogs.
Let the bloggers know I have awarded them the award.
Phew! Here goes!

Nanna's Refections

The Feathered Nest

Shirley's World


A Cottage in the Woods

Elisa Loves


With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart

The Little Red Shop

The Flying Bee

Windows to My Soul

Karla's Korner

From House to Home

Mimi's Garden

Thursday, February 11, 2010

I'm a Gonna Mail Myself to You!

Happy Valentine's Day to our JEMs; Jack, Eli and Maya!
Click to play this Smilebox greeting: Mail Myself to You!
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Hide and Seek

The 2 little toddlers in our family, Eli and Maya, love to play Hide and Seek. I don't know who has the most fun, the hiders or the seekers, but I do know that my favorite part is when they squeal in delight when they are found. I think it is fun to go looking in all of the favorite spots; behind a chair, around a corner, and especially in a small closet in our living room. They love that they can see through the shuttered door and see us coming, and I can imagine their little hearts beating with excitement. When found, they squeal and say "Hide! Hide!' and the game is on again.I was thinking about this today as I listened to this song recorded by Kari Jobe entitled The More I Seek You. The words are so touching as they take me to the feet of my Savior, and I am lost in His presence, the world set aside and forgotten for a moment...

Here are the words...listen to the music as you read the words, and bask in His presence...

The More I Seek You
The more I seek You,
The more I find You
The more I find You,
The more I love You


I want to sit at Your feet
Drink from the cup in Your hand
Lay back against You and breathe
Hear Your heart beat
This love is so deep
It's more than I can stand
I melt in Your peace
It's overwhelming

Sometimes we hide from God when we are hurting, but He promises to never leave us or forsake us. Never. When we hurt physically, He is there for us to give our bodies comfort and sometimes healing. When we hurt emotionally, He is there to mend our broken hearts. When we are hurt spiritually, He is there to lift up our heads and give us strength to trust and believe again.

Oh, yes, our grandchildren love to hide, but they also really, really love to be found. If you are hiding today, please seek Him, for He is always waiting for you.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Lemon Butter Cookies, (or, How I Am Upholding My Nana Reputation)

Check out this recipe for Lemon Butter Cookies in the Feb. issue of Southern Living: P.S. I haven't actually baked these yet. When I do, and if they turn out pretty, I'll post pics!

Lemon Butter Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Parchment paper
Royal Icing
Colorful Glaze

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Beat butter and zest at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating well.

2. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Shape dough into a disc.

3. Roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut with a 2 1/4- or 3 1/4-inch heart-shaped cutter; place 1/2 inch apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. If desired, cut 1 or 2 holes at top of each cookie (to hang or thread ribbon through after baking).

4. Bake at 325° for 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; cool completely (about 20 minutes). Decorate as desired with Royal Icing and Colorful Glaze.



Yield: Makes about 4 dozen (2 1/4-inch) or 2 dozen (3 1/4-inch) cookies

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Bread Pudding Recipe

There is always a plan B. You see, I was getting out the ingredients to make Cinnamon-Swirl Coffee Cake from my blog friend's blog, With A Grateful Prayer and A Thankful Heart, (click her blog title to get her recipe) when I realized I did not have any pecans or walnuts, much to my surprise. This coffee cake would be best with nuts, so....

Bread Pudding

My husband really enjoys bread pudding and I seldom make it, so, today was the day, and I found this delicious recipe on the Taste of Home website. Just click here for the recipe. The picture is from the website...I've already eaten a substantial amount of ours!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Lint and Dust Bunnies, Oh My!

Photoroller Dreamstime.com

I recently bought a few new towels for our upstairs bath, (and no, it isn't finished yet, so no, no new pictures - you'll be the first to know!) and I washed and dried them yesterday. You know how it is when you dry new towels; the lint trap is full of fluffy lint, and I for one wonder how much is left on the towels! But they come out so soft and fluffy and I enjoy using them, and I use them for several months, and then one day, they don't seem so fluffy anymore. They may even seem a little dingy, especially if they are white, no matter how much bleach or color-free bleach I use. There is less and less lint in the lint trap, and eventually, they may join the ranks of our rag collection.

Then there are the dust bunnies; you know, that dust that collects under furniture and in closets and floats around the room, especially when you have drop-in guests and haven't had time to vacuum or dust mop. We have hardwood floors in some of our rooms, and the dust bunnies are really dog hair tumbleweeds that blow around the room in willy-nilly fashion, and it is time for me to tackle them and brush the dog!


Taking care of these little details is an easy task - just clean out the lint trap and sweep the floor! But what about the stuff that floats around in your heart and mind? You know, the negative thoughts, the ones we do not want to admit we have. The ones we hope no one will ever know we are thinking and the ones we hope we do not say out loud, but sometimes we slip and out they come! We all have them, no matter how nice we are. We may seem nice and soft on the outside, but inside we are full of stuff that clouds our thinking. Things like "I am not worthy of _______" or "She thinks she is so much better than me" or, well, you get the idea. They cloud our thinking because they are LIES!

We all have negative and maybe destructive thoughts, and they usually hurt us the most. But we do not have to live with these lies. The Word tells us that "we take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5b). Just ahead of these words we find that "For we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." (verse 3,4) And in Philippians 4:8, Paul urges us, "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

You may wonder how you will be able to change your thoughts; in fact, I know by experience it is very, very hard. But there is a way, and in Philippians 4:13 we find it..."I can do everything through Him who gives me strength" Sisters, we can not do it ourselves, no way, no how. But we can ask "Him who gives me strength" to help us. We can get on our knees and ask Him, and let me assure you, He hears our prayers and He will answer!

I have barely touched on what God can do to help us clean out our thoughts and our hearts. But trust me, no, trust Him, that He is able to do it. He can clean out the lint and the dust bunnies of your heart and your mind and sweep them clean, and if more lint and dust bunnies appear, He will be faithful to sweep again! My favorite Bible verse is Philippians 1:6, and I have quoted it many times; "...being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." You can believe that I hang on to this one, and I trust Him at His Word.

In the meantime, I have floors to sweep, a dog to brush, and laundry to fold!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Happy Birthday, Cha Cha Cha!

Today is February 1st, my birthday, and Maya came over for the day to help me celebrate! Since she had to come quite early, she came in her pajamas, which had hearts on them. After breakfast, she wanted to wash her hands, (which really means "play in the water")...


Maya loved smelling the beautiful flowers she and her parents gave me...


Jack and Eli called this afternoon and sang Happy Birthday to me, and there were a few adults who wished me a happy birthday , also. That reminded me of my birthday last year, when Lauren and I were in Minneapolis to visit Erin and her family. They took us to Buca di Beppo, or Bucas, for short, which is a delicious Italian restaurant in the Minneapolis area. Here's a couple of pictures from that b-day...



Buca's is a very eclectic place to eat, with several small rooms to dine in. Our room had only 4 or 5 tables, and when they brought out cake ( I did NOT eat all of that myself!) the entire room sang happy birthday! Jack and I were enjoying the other families singing, as someone in the crowd added the "cha cha cha" to Happy Birthday that I always sang with my school children. It was a bit of a boisterous moment, but being at Buca's does that to you! Notice the candelabra and the checkered tablecloth, and the walls are covered with old photos. The service is fantastic and everyone is warm and friendly.

Eli was only 11 months old at the time, and he appears to be ordering from the menu in this photo...


My birthday this year is a little quieter, but just as wonderful. Lauren and I went to Sara and Mark's to celebrate last night and had a delicious meal and angel food cake. Tonight, we will have a quiet dinner at home and I'll probably crash on the sofa after chasing a 21 month old around all day, but it has been a Happy Birthday, Cha Cha Cha!