For the Love of a Farm

Some of you may know my mom.  She is Martha before Martha was MARTHA!  Growing up we renovated, tore down walls, had a garden the size of Nebraska and a compost pile way before it was chic to have one.  My mom now lives in a beautiful farm house that has many acres.  Here are just a few pictures  and I think you'll see why it makes my heart sing.


just gathering a few herbs for dinner



A chicken coop...really!  Don't ya just wanna move in?




Mom in all her glory!




and they come that way...



this, my friends, is the garden




and this, is 2 of my girls gathering food for dinner





my moms birthday present...for real!




Be still my heart...



then sang my soul!



This I know for Sure...Things Will Change so Persevere

Not only will things change but, in the midst of trials, God GIVES us something...maturity, completeness, character and ultimately HOPE!  Oh, how I love the word HOPE.  It gives us that spark of light within the darkness and allows us to see our way. 

When I lost my brother 5 years ago, it was probably the darkest time in my life.  I have had some really tough times but that one gripped me to the very core.  There were days when I felt like I just couldn't bare the sorrow and pain but God's ever present love surrounded me.  Some days it was just the tiniest of light, others it burned brighter but regardless of the amount...it gave me HOPE.  I still feel the loss (no matter what anyone says...it doesn't get easier you just learn how to cope with it) but I can look back over the last few years and see how God has used such utter sorrow to grow me.  To mature me. To make me more complete.  And to give me HOPE.

  Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt     James 1:2-6

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us     Romans 5:2-5
.
No matter how bad or good a situation is...it will change!  So, if it's a good situation enjoy it!  If it's a bad situation, hang on tight to the One who is mighty to save!!! 

Happy Friday, my beloveds!

Life Change

This morning, during my quiet-time, I just felt a tugging on my heart to share with you something I had read the other day.  The article was about encountering Jesus and the understanding that it just isn't enough to have Bible knowledge...we must know it's Author and be in love with Him.  "Therein lies the difference between religion and relationships". 
You know, when God shows up,  peoples lives are changed!  I have seen it many. many times! It's one of my favorite things in life is to SEE...LIFE CHANGE!  When you really encounter the love of Christ and come in contact with the Holy Spirit things happen!!  Amen! Here is what I read:

Armies tremble.

Nations fall.

Victories are won

The lame walk.

The blind see.

The deaf hear.

The unsaved repent.

The dead are resurrected.

When God comes near, there is an obvious trail that tells of His visit.  When He performs miracles in our lives, we should be changed and drastically different.  What has He done for you?  Remember when He...

resurrected your hope

resurrected your marriage

resurrected your finances

resurrected your children's spiritual lives

resurrected your career

resurrected your health

resurrected your heart for Him

An encounter with God is life-altering.  When He does these things and overwhelms us with His boundless love and power, there should be a radical difference in your lifestyle and attitude of worship.  We should...

work differently

play differently

react differently

measure success differently

eat differently

love differently

parent differently

spend money differently

serve differently

Every aspect of our lives should be different!  (And We are Changed)

Then Sang my Soul

I went into Starbuck last night and out of the corner of my eye I caught these babies!  Oh, how I LOVE all things numbered and fonted (I know that's not a word but hey, it works). 

And now, my girls will stop making fun of my coffee cups which they have deemed TOO SMALL

but I'll save it just for you, Dad!  Because I know it's your favorite and I love you :)

This I know for Sure...it's all about Perspective

Sure, we've all heard about the "glass half full/glass half empty" idea...and it's enlightening, don't get me wrong...but, it's a label - "Well, she's just negative that way.  You know, just a glass half empty kind of girl."  I really don't like that!  I don't like to be labeled anything because it boxes me in .It doesn't allow for change.  I know so many people who grew up being labeled and their adult siblings and parents STILL label them the same as when they were children despite being changed.  A VERY DEAR friend and her husband call this "looking at each other through OLD EYES".  The first time I heard her say that I thought,  WOW...that's so profound!  How often do we look at people as WHO THEY WERE INSTEAD OF WHO THEY ARE?  And, if that's Life 101, then how about this for the Life 301 folks...how often do we look at ourselves as WHO WE THINK WE ARE INSTEAD OF WHO GOD SAYS WE ARE? (I'll save that one for another day).

I had this happen to me a few weeks ago when I was on the phone with a family member.  My extended family has been going through a crisis and it has stirred up quite a bit of emotion (hmmm...a family crisis stirring up emotion?  No way!) and I was told that maybe I shouldn't be the one to talk to a certain person because I'm "too defensive".  It was one of those comments that throws you back into childhood.  As I often do when I get a "red flag" emotion, once I got off the phone, I sat down and really prayed about what was said.  I'm not gonna lie, it hurt my feelings. It hurt my feelings...well, because it was critical (and that's not always bad, it just doesn't feel good).  But more than that, it hurt my feelings because that person was viewing me through "old eyes" and doesn't really know ME today. 

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:  The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Cor 5:17

God, if we seek Him, grows us and changes us into His likeness.  God calls for forward motion...for change...for the renewing of our minds.  Oh, how I love that He sees me for who I AM and WILL BE (with His transforming power) instead of for who I WAS.


It's all about perspective...clean those eyes (or glasses for those of us who are 40 or above) and look at those around us through "new eyes" ...it's life in HD.



This love and that Love

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and while I focused on my amazing huSSband (that was for you Alli), in my soul I was celebrating my other Love.  Funny how they go together…this love and that Love. 

No card was needed.  I sat and waited in anticipation.  Waiting and asking for my heart and head to find the same resting place.  Waiting for the words to match my feelings.  And then they came.  I stood across from him and told him what his love has meant to me. 

It’s a love that I had never understood.  One that came without strings.  One that loved so unconditionally that it allowed me to be me. One whose consistency gave me a soft place to rest my head.  And, mostly one that opened the door so that I could catch a glimpse of the other Love in a much deeper way.  By his loving me I have loved Him more intimately.  He is a true reflection.  He is my Valentine.

Funny how they go together…this love and that Love.



I'm just sayin'



My Baby's Driving!!

I have to say, I AM SO HAPPY TO NEVER, EVER HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE DMV!  Six kids.  Six tets.  Sixty years added to my life!  So long, ladies at the DMV!!

Because He loves me...

Open up my eyes, I pray

Lord, for just a little glimpse of you

That's all I need, it's all I've ever needed

To see beyond myself, beyond this tiny, little world

All your hands have made

With beauty and strength alone

I can see you comin' to me now

Oh, like a shimmerin' light

Shimmerin' light on an open sea

Barefoot on the water

Laughin' at the ocean

Like you were old friends

Callin' out my name

Saying join me now

(Strollin on the Water by Brian Duncan)

This Much I Know is True...Just in time for Valentine's Day

You don't have to win every argument.  Agree to disagree

I know.  I know.  This isn't going to be a very popular post but, this I know to be true!  Early on in my young life (and far later than I'd like to admit) I thought an argument started with two sides and ended with one winner.  Oh, and I had to be the winner!  It could NEVER end in a draw.  Agree to disagree?  That means no one has to be right and no one has to be wrong!

First, I have learned that there is a big difference between hearing and listening.  Hearing is simply the act of perceiving sound by the ear. If you are not hearing-impaired, hearing simply happens. Listening, however, is something you consciously choose to do. Listening requires concentration so that your brain processes meaning from words and sentences. Listening leads to learning and SOMETIMES that may allow us to UNDERSTAND another point of view.  Hmmmm


Second,  God gave us 1 mouth and 2 ears. So, maybe I should listen twice as much as I speak. How many times do we sit there "listening" but really we are thinking in our minds what we want to say next?   ONE mouth.  TWO ears.  Hmmmm

Third,  other peoples feelings are TRUE to them.  That's a hard one to take in but it's the truth.  Their reality can be very different from my reality..and they are entitled to how THEY FEEL.  Hmmmm

And last, but certainly not least, is the understanding that usually the person I most argue with (Charlie Brown) is FOR me not AGAINST me.  We are usually wanting the same destination...and we CAN get there by different routes...just ask your TomTom or Garmin or GPS.  Shortest.  Fastest. Easiest.  Hmmmm

and just maybe they're right...hmmmm

Il Divo - Amazing Grace

Grace




There is something about the word GRACE that just grips me at the core.  At it's mention, my throat tightens up and tears well up in my eyes splashing onto the pages I have written on.  My words read of sadness, pain, the desperate prayers for my grown and almost grown. My random thoughts and dreams to which I'm sure He smiles. They read of sharp self-awareness and the echos of Words long ago written by The One who tells of hope and healing and mercy and redemption. And then there's that word...GRACE. I haven't always felt this way.  Maybe the older I get the more I understand how beautiful it is.  Unmerited favor.  Undeserved.  Unearned. A warm hand extended or arms outstretched that reach into your soul.
I used to sing the words to Amazing Grace and....well, just sing the words.  Now I can hardly get the words out of my mouth

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.

When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

I made this at Christmas-time and it hangs over my fireplace. Some have asked why I made it...now you know.



Pillows!

             I found these pillows from Ballard Designs and decided I had to have them...or better yet, make them!




I took some leftover linen I had and stenciled MR. and MRS. with dark brown paint



I made piping out of the same fabric



I LOVE how they turned out!!  And they didn't cost me a dime! 





This I Know For Sure

I have designated Friday's to telling you little tidbits (love that word...tidbit) of wisdom I have learned over the years.  Not that I have all the answers, but there are a few things I KNOW FOR SURE!

1.OTHER PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS OF YOU ARE NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

I want you to REALLY read that!  We live in a society that dictates what we should be, how we should look, how we should act etc.  The truth of the matter is this, if you l;ive your life always thinking and acting ways so that it pleases others you miss out on the JOY of just being you.  You see, GOD made you and He knew what He was doing:

  For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful  Ps 139:13-14

Not that it gives us a ticket to go out and say and do whatever we please...not at all.  It's just a little nugget of truth when you find yourself in a situation where you are worried what other people are going to think of you.  Here is an example:  when I teach Flavour on Tuesday nights I have to remind myself of this because I start to feel anxious...and at the root of the anxiousness is the feeling that they won't like me or won't like what I have to say.  But, God is with me.  He has given me words to speak.  I have taught myself to speak the TRUTH of God's Word over the LIES that Satan wants me to believe.  In the teaching situation I speak these scriptures over myself:

The Lord will fight for you.  You need only to be still

Ex 14:14

and

  Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

  The LORD said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?  Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”  Ex 4:10-12

And the peace that surpasses all understanding comes over me because I know that the only PERSON whose thoughts of me really matter is God.  And, He crazy about me!

Happy Friday!



Chester Drawers

Do you ever hear a word and think it's one thing only to find out later that the word you've been using for YEARS isn't the word at all???  That was me!  As a child, putting my clothes away in my chester drawers, was a weekly chore.  It's embarrassing to admit that about 10 years ago, while I was immersed in a book, I ran across this word...chest-of-drawers.  WHAT??  What was that??  Did that just say CHEST-OF-DRAWERS?  Could it be related to CHESTER??

And again...you know the old bedtime prayer:

Now I lay me down to sleep

I pray the Lord my soul to keep

Ifishodi before I wake

I pray the Lord my soul to take Amen

Well, I had another one of those moments at the tender age of 12 when I suddenly realized that "ifishodi" wasn't a word at all...that all along, I was praying "IF I SHOULD DIE"!  I think I stopped saying that prayer after that :)

Back to Chester...here he is before and after the ol' paint sprayer got a hold of him




Before



Slapped a coat of this heavy duty primer on



using my new paint sprayer and air compressor that my daddy gave me as a gift (ok, so I'm weird like that...I LOVE TOOLS!)

lookin good Chester!

There he is!!  Isn't he looking handsome!!  I love the new hardware!  Master bedroom is ALMOST complete!





REALLY!?!?

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