We were at the beginning of our Ice Storm which has now gone down in history! It's one of those things that the kids will tell their kids. Even though the ice last year caused lots and lots of destruction, it was also quite beautiful. Ironic I know. I listed last year all the things we had learned, but I think we also learned to be thankful. How many times do we forget to be thankful for what we have and what we enjoy each and every day. Sometimes its not until its taken away do we realize those things, so I am going to try and be more thankful for every day.
Had a good week, this past week. Baked Snickerdoodles! Lots of them! If you have a "Family Cookbook" it will be listed under "kid favorites" under Jordan's name, its one of his favorites. Got to scrapbook with my best friend one day! Its been a while since we have both had a chance to do that. Its kinda got me fired up to finish some of the albums I have started. I pray I can get some of that done this year.
We are awaiting a big snow this week! It's just 3-5 inches, but when you live in KY thats a BIG snow! And we bring out the sleds for that! Its kinda nice to see it breaks up the gloomy January days with something falling from the sky :)
Until next time! Blessings
"He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love." Psalm 33: 5
Well this week is a not so happy thought, i guess it depends on how you look at it though. My good friend Jean died yesterday :( She is not in pain anymore and she doesn't have to deal with all this life has anymore and she is a much better place now because she knows the Lord but I am having a hard time imagining my life with her not in it.
Her and her husband Don are such fun people to be around! How many people do you know would tackle learning how to operate a computer in their 70s? They had their RV in which they took four trips in just last year. They knew people everywhere, from MI to FL. They really knew how to live life and they really loved living it.
She taught me how to can,(Mel is now a crazy gardener) tried to teach me how to knit....LOL didn't pick up that to good. She loved to cook and was a fabulous cook and used to have us out to eat at their house all the time, the food would melt in your mouth! She loved my family and was always so glad for us, she loved it when Ashley would do her sign language songs.
Jean I know you love where you are there in Heaven.....so this is not goodbye but "see ya later".
This song pretty much sums up the way that i feel.
I await for the day when:
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4)
Yeah, kinda forgot about the blog for like half a year or so. Life has a way sometimes of packing me off :) and sometimes I do return. So I am going to start afresh! So you got any goals this year? Here is my list.
1. Read more! I am not a big reader, I am more of a hands on person. Love creating, making things, but I want to try and read more this year. My Church is doing a read through the Bible this year (something I have never done), and its going to be done chronologically. So I am very excited about that!
2. I want to do Project Life this year! Hopefully I can get it ordered and it will be a neat way to keep with all the things my family will be doing this year.
3.Be more healthy and exercise! This is something I really need to do!
4. Scrapbook more! I really have not had the mind to do much of it this past year, so I hope I can accomplish some of that this year.
5. I want to look for those "God Moments" everyday!
6. I want to be in God's will and do what He wants me to do. In other words just TRUST HIM! He has the plan not me.
7. And of course BLOG MORE!
Well I know its a rather small list, but that's probably enough to get me started. Last year was kinda of a hard year, I had to make some hard decisions, walk away from some things. But it also had it share of blessings and new friendships! I am very happy about that! There are lots of things I still don't understand but I know that God is in control and I just need to trust his plans for me and my family.
Here is a email I got today. It really spoke to me.
by Max Lucado
Some missed him.
Some miss him still.
We expect God to speak through peace, but sometimes he speaks through pain.
We think God talks through the church, but he also talks through the lost.
We look for the answer among the Protestants, but he’s been known to speak through the Catholics.
We listen for him among the Catholics but find him among the Quakers.
We think we hear him in the sunrise, but he is also heard in the darkness.
We listen for him in triumph, but he speaks even more distinctly through tragedy.
We must let God define himself.
When we do, when we let God define himself, a whole new world opens before us. How, you ask? Let me explain with a story.
Once there was a man whose life was one of misery. The days were cloudy, and the nights were long. Henry didn’t want to be unhappy, but he was. With the passing of the years, his life had changed. His children were grown. The neighborhood was different. The city seemed harsher.
He was unhappy. He decided to ask his minister what was wrong.
“Am I unhappy for some sin I have committed?”
“Yes,” the wise pastor replied. “You have sinned.”
“And what might that sin be?”
“Ignorance,” came the reply. “The sin of ignorance. One of your neighbors is the Messiah in disguise, and you have not seen him.”
The old man left the office stunned. “The Messiah is one of my neighbors?” He began to think who it might be.
Tom the butcher? No, he’s too lazy. Mary, my cousin down the street? No, too much pride. Aaron the paperboy? No, too indulgent. The man was confounded. Every person he knew had defects. But one was the Messiah. He began to look for Him.
He began to notice things he hadn’t seen. The grocer often carried sacks to the cars of older ladies. Maybe he is the Messiah. The officer at the corner always had a smile for the kids. Could it be? And the young couple who’d moved next door. How kind they are to their cat. Maybe one of them …
With time he saw things in people he’d never seen. And with time his outlook began to change. The bounce returned to his step. His eyes took on a friendly sparkle. When others spoke he listened. After all, he might be listening to the Messiah. When anyone asked for help, he responded; after all this might be the Messiah needing assistance.
The change of attitude was so significant that someone asked him why he was so happy. “I don’t know,” he answered. “All I know is that things changed when I started looking for God.”
Now, that’s curious. The old man saw Jesus because he didn’t know what he looked like. The people in Jesus’ day missed him because they thought they did.
How are things looking in your neighborhood?
From A Gentle Thunder Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1987) Max Lucado
I wish you a great new year!! I am looking forward to whatever God has in store for us! We can trust Him!
Well today is the 9th straight day of 90+ temps,and the heat index has been 100-105 (can anyone say heat wave) and my poor 30+ year old air conditioner had just about had it:( It's been about 85 degrees in the house, that makes for some grumpy folks! We have called everyone in the phone book to come and give us a estimate for a new one but we the heat the way it is they are all booked up. So we are not moving to much and literally trying to stay cool.
This is causing us to plan on more home renovations, like insulating the attic and buying new ceiling fans and putting in a attic ladder all good things i guess.
I will have to post about what we have been up to so far this summer. Poor hubs on his last vacation was glad to get back to work i think, we really worked hard on his vacation. We remodeled my scrapbook room,(very needed because of the ice storm my room was flooded) we put in new kitchen counters. And then we cleaned out the attic to have a massive rummage sale last Saturday to which the proceeds go to buy a new stove....YAY! So it looks like we are going to have productive year:)
Another good note we started our summer bible study, we are doing "Walking by faith, Lessons I learned in the dark" by Jennifer Rothschild its been a great study so far and you realize that the day to day stuff we deal with is really small in the grand scheme of things. If you would like to check out her website its here.
Well thought i would exit with this video I found on youtube. I love Tenth Avenue North and I love this song because it speaks so much of our relationship with Christ, we are His Beloved.
This is one of my favorite songs, we sing it at our church quite often. I found this video of it on youtube about a year or so ago, I thought it was great! Check it out!
Well today was National Scrapbooking Day and I didn't scrapbook one thing. I did get to make a couple things....I made this cover for my wishblade!
In my old age I am being to like to sew. Who knew I had it in me :) I made this without a pattern and without very much sewing experience.It was quite a feat I thought, me being the "by the book person that I am. I also made a drawstring bag to match to put my cords and things that go with the wishblade in, got a neat tutorial from here.
The name of her blog is "Happy Things", I thought that was neat since mine is "Happy Thoughts" :)
Also been working on graduation items this week for our homeschool co-op, making diploma's for 8th grade and Kindergarten and then I made these
for our highschool graduates. Took me about 6 hours to make these, I think I need to scrapbook a little bit more often, I am out of practice :( I also the older I get don't like deadlines!
Going to miss our graduates this year especially Junior, he is really a neat kid and has a neat family we love them very much! Hopefully he will come back and visit us. Now all I need to do is finish three slideshows. I do one for each of the grads with pictures from their childhood and then one for our homeschool co-op of all the events and things we have had all year long.
Well pray that I get all that done this week and I won't get to stressed out with it all.
I leave you with song. Its by a former American Idol alumni Ace Young, not really a "christian song" but you be the judge.
I've put my life in your hands. You won't drop me, you'll never let me down. Psalms 31:5 (The Message)
Wow! Can't believe its been a whole month that has gone by. Time really does fly by! Lets see what has transpired in the past month?
Well, my baby girl turned 13, we now officially have two teenagers in the house! (Is this good or bad?..... I'll get back to you on that.)
We went to Mammoth Cave on Friday, went to visit the New Cave Entrance Tour, I can say I survived the 300 + steps descending downward :) But Ashley who is terrified of heights did not care to much for it, esp when people in front of her were yelling "don't look down, don't look down". Where is my duct tape when I need it! But we all made it out in one piece, one was a little shaky but she made it out too.
The weather is finally warming up here today! It's going to be 80+ today! Yeah! I hate winter with the passion, I need sun to live life fully :) So we are in full swing to plant the garden, we have been hunting down all the plants, tomatoes, peppers, corn, cucumbers, the cucumbers were a little hard to find this time, dont know why, but we finally grabbed the last three plants they had at Rural King so we are on our way.
To celebrate spring and summer, here is a recipe for ya, just had one of these a little bit ago, they are super delicious!
Strawberry - Banana Smoothie 1 cup frozen strawberries 1 cup orange-pinapple juice 1 banana 11 ice cubes 2 teaspoon of sugar
Blend it all up in a blender and there you have it! Enjoy!
Blessings all! Lisa
I'll see if I can add some pictures of the festivities when I get back later.
We were at the beginning of our Ice Storm which has now gone down in history! It's one of those things that the kids will tell their kids. Even though the ice last year caused lots and lots of destruction, it was also quite beautiful. Ironic I know. I listed last year all the things we had learned, but I think we also learned to be thankful. How many times do we forget to be thankful for what we have and what we enjoy each and every day. Sometimes its not until its taken away do we realize those things, so I am going to try and be more thankful for every day.
