My goal with this blog is to keep a journal type account of my walk with Christ, my children and my grandchildren. To share what wisdom I have been given and have learned. To share the occasional recipe, photograph, funny story and possibly a teary one. God's mercies are new every morning. We each get a fresh, clean slate each day. So grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!
Since we had a pretty decent snowfall this week my little grand babies wanted to build a snowman. So I went to their house and we built a snowman. I wish Elsa had been there to just whip one right up because snowman building is a lot of work. Let's just say Blake and Mimi built a snowman while Piper and Savannah just played in the snow. But in the end we had a somewhat decent snowman that the little girls liked and we got snow cream and cookies afterwards.
Hey Mimi!! This is our super cool snow girl. She has a baby carrot for a nose and two cookies for eyes!
Come on Tyson, Let's run boy!!
Mimi? I don't think our snow girl really needs to see so I am going to eat her eyes....okay?
Pipers attempt at making a snow angel. The snow had gotten a little hard.
Savannah didn't have much better luck cracking through the icy top of the snow.
Today is my birthday. I am....50 years old. A half century as my sister said. Har-dee-har-har. Fifty years. That sounds like a long time. But you know what?? It really isn't. fifty is just a number. I feel just like I did at forty and at thirty. I am a very healthy woman, thank the Lord. Other than menopause (gggrrrrr) I have zero complaints. I don't have aches and pains. No arthritis. I don't wear bifocals...yet. I occasionally wear reading glasses but don't really need them. I keep up fine with my grandchildren. I take no prescriptions other than estrogen. I ran out last week and let's just say it is a very good thing that I don't have a conceal and carry licence. Very good. So I am 50. What does that really mean?? I am three more times likely to be struck by lightening than find a husband. How is that for encouragement?? I am way past middle age....as a matter of fact I am on the downhill slide. I pretty much don't answer to anyone so i get to boss myself around. That my friends is a major plus. I have a fantastic relationship with my parents, my daughters, my sister (finally) and my precious friends. My grand babies thing I am terrific. Sure, there are things I wish were different. I never thought I would be divorced. But I am, so I deal with that. I really never thought I would be still working at the same job that I have....but I do and am grateful for it. Fifty. I did get my AARP card in the mail about three weeks ago. Threw that baby straight in the trash. What have I accomplished in fifty years. Without the Lord I haven't accomplished one thing. But with God and His grace and His help and His hands all through my life....quite a bit. Am I famous? Nope. Am I rich?? Nope, again. Am I debt free?? Nope, again. Do I have people that love me? Yep. Do I have friends that I can call 24/7/365??? Oh, you bet. So for a fifty year old gal.....I think I got it pretty good. Now I am off to my daughters house to have dinner with all my kids, grand babies and my parents. I honestly could not even ask for anything else in this world. Fifty is looking good on me!
I woke up this morning to the most beautiful snowfall. Heavy, wet flakes mounting up to several inches all over the place. Trees burdened with heavy limbs of the lightest of snows.....like billowy feathers. Silence....blessed silence. No birds flying. No cars on the roads. No twittering of birds or squirrels. Silence. I took my camera out for a long walk. I just snapped at random. No rule of thirds, no framing a shot, no real rhyme or reason. Just trying to capture a piece of God's beauty. His handiwork. To think that each and every snowflake fell from His storehouses. I can't base this on anything other than my own thinking but I imagine God sitting on His throne and cutting out each snowflake. Letting it just pillow to the ground on a spot He created for that very snowflake. Its edges cut to a perfection for just that very one flake. Quite like all of us.....unique but...the same. The hush of snow falling. Gentle, with no noise it crashed through the densest of woods. How marvelous are the works of Him.......
Well it snowed again. We are out of school...again. Have I said I hate winter?? Well, I hate winter. There, I said it....again. For some unknown reason whenever we are out of school due to inclement weather I get nothing done. Oh, I would love to but I don't. Like right now...I am still in my robe eating peanut butter off a spoon. I have my TV paused on an episode of "Lost" and I am not planning on even showering today. So while I am doing a big fat nothing I was thinking about some of the things I have overheard in the last few days. I am big eavesdropper. I can't help it. I truly do have wonderful hearing and I am extremely nosy....so that just kind of works out for me! Maybe not so hot for you if I am within earshot. At least my earshot and not yours. Excellent hearing...didn't I say. Some peoples conversations are let's face it...hilarious. People talk about all kinds of things in public. Especially if they are on their phones. People....you are not in the privacy of your own homes!!! Watch your topics. I really do not want to know anything about your "love" life or how much you want to hire a killer for that coworker that is "gittin' on yer last nerve". Some of things I have heard came out of my own grand daughters mouths. We went to Krispy Kreme the other day and I took both Piper and Savannah to the bathroom. Piper went into a stall by herself and I went in with Savannah. This is a two stall bathroom with a door that locks so we were the only ones in there....thank goodness. Savannah was just sitting on the potty when automatic flusher went off and let's just say she also went off. She jumped right off the potty and into my arms in a pretty hysterical jump. She waited until we got to Chick Filet to go back to the potty. Piper on the other hand said "Wow! That is a big flush Mimi. It even splashed my face!" When I look at the floor in the stall I was in calming Savannah down I saw Piper's feet facing the potty. I don't really want to hear from my grand daughter that toilet water splashed her in the face. That's gross. So I was glad that no one else heard that! But still, I was thinking about all the stuff I say out loud in public. Laws-a-mercy! I cannot imagine what people think! I tend to say whatever flies into my head. While I don't really plan murders or speak about a revolving door of boyfriends, I do talk about some pretty dumb things. Mostly it is a bunch of nothing. I talk a lot. A whole lot. I talk to myself when I am home. I talk in the car and I talk all day at work. To my coworkers, to kids, to teachers. Talk, talk, talk. But what do I say? Last night at our church's mission conference one of the speakers talked about what kind of impact are you making. That struck me. Hard. He spoke to us about a short term mission trip to Cleveland, Ohio. Our church is sponsoring a trip there in May. It is for women and we are going to minister to women in a shelter. Battered women. Prostitutes. Homeless. Way, way out of my comfort area. I live in a rural, Bible-belt, hickville little community. And I like it very much. I like my bubble. So I was challenged last night. What will I do up there? Have no clue. I am just excited and anxious to go....to see what God will have for me to do there. Maybe nothing but paint fingernails or color with children at the shelter. That's OK. I just want to show the love of Jesus to a bunch of people who don't have a clue that He loves them as much as He loves .....me. I might just do a bunch of nothing. But in kingdom terms....God can use a bunch of nothing and make it a bunch of something. So I am already praying about this trip. Praying my speech doesn't get in the way. That my self doesn't get in the way. And that God will use this group of women to love, learn and minister and then to bring what we learn back to our "bubble". Then use it. While I do have the gift of gab.....Lord, let my bunch of nothing that comes out of my mouth show your light in this dark place.
I don't often go to the movies. Too expensive and most movies today are....well let's face it...trash. Since this past weekends box office release of 50 Shades of Grey I really feel like I should speak out. First off, I have never read the books....never will. I have not seen the movie....and never will. I have seen the trailers on the TV and heard a passel of women talking about it at work and around. First off, as a Christian, I must say, "Do not read this garbage and Do not go see it!!!" This is pure pornography. You can dress it up (or undress it) any way you want to but bottom line it is nothing but filth. My former husband struggled with pornography and I know first hand what it does to your marriage and what it does to a woman's' self worth. It destroys it. It makes you feel ugly, unlovable and undesirable. The backlash of it takes years to get over and always lingers in the back of your mind. Below is an excellent article that says everything needed to be said.
Fifty Shades of Grey releases in major theaters this Friday, not surprisingly — and yet ironically — just a day before our annual celebration of love. The series of erotic novels exploring sexual domination and even violence has (tragically) sold over 100 million copies and has been translated into 52 languages. Yes, America has exported these scenes and this message in 52 languages to who knows how many countries.
Full disclosure: I have not read the books or seen the movie, and I will not. I’ve read about the story and have seen a trailer. I believe I’ve learned enough to write and warn my brothers and sisters in Christ (the lead male’s name is “Christian” for crying out loud). In a society that downplays the evil of evil, and even glamorizes it, we need to be regularly reminded of the danger of sin. Like a child that discovers a needle on the street and thinks it’s a toy, we can be dangerously naïve about what’s happening in our American entertainment.
The message that sex is selfish, manipulative, and even playfully violent will abuse and violate you. It might feel like a fun and harmless fantasy, but it’s not so subtly redefining the power and beauty of sex, creating spiritual blockages in your heart that will eventually kill you, and impairing your ability to enjoy real and lasting pleasure.
Ten Promises Truer Than Any Fantasy
Before you buy a ticket and some popcorn — or before you talk to a friend who wants to read the books or see the movie — I want to put ten of God’s promises before you. My hope and prayer is that the clarity and power of God’s words will convince many of you to save your money and your heart, and help you do the same for others.
1. True love — the love for which we were made — sets aside selfish desires and sacrifices itself for the good and safety of others.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9–10)
The sexy, tantalizing “love” of Hollywood mixes seduction, scandal, and passion. It suggests that the best love is forbidden love. True love — the purest, fullest, most pleasing love — was designed by God for our good, and then displayed by God at the cross. If love looks selfish — if it takes, rather than gives — it simply isn’t love.
2. Sin promises to please, but subtly and destructively wounds.
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply. (Psalm 16:4)
If you’re honest, you don’t really need to be persuaded of this. Anyone who has experimented with sin has known her to be a dishonest and unfaithful mistress. Sin presents itself — often persuasively — as fulfilling, reliable, and enduring. But it never is, and it never does. Instead of quenching the craving in our souls, it intensifies it. It doesn’t satisfy our hunger; it only breeds it. Sin promises to produce happiness, but it only creates and multiplies pain, sadness, and need.
3. Sin that looks and feels like pleasure is only a poor shadow of something much more intense and satisfying.
I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices. . . . In your presence there is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:8–11)
There’s no question, when we indulge the desires of our flesh, we will feel some kind of sensation and even pleasure. Sin wouldn’t have any power over us if we didn’t. The promise we’re forgetting or rejecting, though, is that the thimble of pleasure we receive in sin is short and pathetic compared with the ocean of pleasure we will have in God’s presence.
“Sin that looks and feels like pleasure is only a poor shadow of something much more intense and satisfying.”Tweet
4. Those who choose to see less today will see more forever.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
There are things we see and indulge in this life that blind us to God. There is nothing more spectacular and satisfying than seeing and enjoying God, but we so quickly and cavalierly trade that experience for 125 minutes (or less!) of titillation.
Every time we expose and entertain ourselves with impurity, we’re sacrificing our awareness and knowledge of the highest goodness and fullest majesty and greatest love anyone has ever experienced. Do not be fooled, we’re paying far more than the cost of that overly-priced movie ticket when we dip into impurity.
5. Lust — a devious, misdirected, or selfish sexual desire — dishonors, not honors, its object.
This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. (1 Thessalonians 4:3–5)
The attention may feel like love, but lust is really a fascination with and fixation on self. At some point, we begin to settle for any sexual desire in a partner, regardless of how they view us. We feel honored (loved) by what is by definitiondishonoring and degrading. The selfish, illicit sexual attention feels like it’s making much of us when it really doesn’t care about us at all. Its sole purpose is to fulfill an insatiable and deceived desire for pleasure. Lust is not love; it does not serve; and it will harm you before it surrenders its gratification.
6. The passions of the flesh are not the highest, but lowest of human experiences.
You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world. . . [living] in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1–3)
When Paul explains what happened to you when you were saved from sin, he says you were dead — not just broken or sick or wrong, but dead. And in the death you were living, you took your cues from the world and lived in the passions of the flesh, the natural, sinful desires of the body. That’s what it means to be dead.
When you were least alive, you were enslaved to lust — and every other species of sin. If you want to live — truly, lastingly, vibrantly, happily live — lay aside how you lived when you were dead. Escape the coffin of the world’s lies. Follow the course to heaven. Learn the passions of godliness. Carry out the desires of the Spirit. Live.
7. Self-control, not the control of others, is to be celebrated, cultivated, and imitated.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality. . . . I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:19–24)
The kind of love and sex celebrated by Fifty Shades of Grey is emptied of its meaning and power. Love doesn’t wield control in sexual immorality, impurity, and sensuality. Love is patient, gentle, and resists its own selfish urges for the sake of others. Instead of saying yes to every rebel, foreign, deviant impulse, it asks again and again what will serve and satisfy the other. It controls itself, not its neighbor.
8. Sex is a stunning picture of the purity and love of God, and it can be a devastating weapon of Satan for destruction.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31–32)
Sex was given to us to tell us something of the love, intimacy, and trust we experience with God through Christ. Our relationship with God is not sexual, but sex — as the deepest, most vulnerable, most sacred experience two people can have in this life — is a stunning picture of the height, length, width, and depth of God’s love for us.
At the same time, Satan has stolen sex and distorted it into something hideous and dangerous. The sex Satan sells is a counterfeit — a melting wax statue of the real thing. Instead of communicating the beauty and glory of God, it demonstrates the dangers of opposing him and corrupting his good gifts. The sex that rejects God rejects its own goodness. It misses the true point and pleasure of sex entirely.
9. Our deepest brokenness is not just that we engage in darkness, but that we love it.
This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:19)
As John Piper has said, “We are sinful not because we’re victims of darkness, but because we’re lovers of darkness.” One way to oppose God’s saving work in your life is to cultivate a love for darkness. If you find sin entertaining or enjoy that which suggests sin is good and pleasing, you will find yourself — either subtly and secretly or boldly and publically — loving darkness. And a love for darkness cannot and will not live in the light (John 3:20).
Piper: “We are sinful not because we’re victims of darkness, but because we’re lovers of darkness.”Tweet
10. God’s grace can cover any sexual sin — however selfish, dark, and even violent — but it never entertains it or makes peace with it.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. . . . How can we who died to sin still live in it? . . . We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 3:23–24; 6:2, 6–7).
If the blood of Jesus was strong enough to save David — the sexual sinner who slept with another man’s wife and then had him killed — he can save you from whatever sexual darkness you’ve seen or done. But he did not save you to keep you there. He died not just to rescue you from the darkness of hell, but from the darkness that’s crept further and further into our world and media.
He died to free you, not so that you could indulge your sinful fantasies, but so that you could escape them. The God who says, “I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25), also says, “Go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11).
Just Say Nay to the Grey
Sin is a needle that indulges deadly addictions and murders its victims. It is not the toy it pretends to be. It pierces quietly and deeply to the most vulnerable and longest-lasting parts of us. In whatever package — however beautiful, captivating, and culturally accepted — it is not safe. In the end, the guilty pleasure is no pleasure at all. Only God can please what our eyes and hearts truly crave.
My sweet little Brooks is three months old. He is getting so big! He is really a very good baby. He hardly ever cries and is sleeping through the night for the most part. Brooks you weigh around 16 pounds and are almost 25 inches long. You wear size 6 - 9 months clothes already. You're practically a full grown man! You watch your mommy all the time and grin and grin at her. You laugh out loud and are an easy baby to make smile. You love your sisters and they sure love you. You have changed so much already it is unreal. You, little man, are the perfect Valentine for me!
Hey Mimi....me and Mr. Frog were just hanging out in my room!
Aren't we two handsome guys?? Yes you are little guys...very handsome.
Wait a minute...hey mommy...you so pretty. I just can't stop staring at you.
Focus on Mimi, Brooks for just a second. I know mommy is gorgeous but I need a few more photos please.
Mimi, you're so funny!! Isn't she Mr. Frog?? Buddy you have no clue how funny she is! Keeps me in stitches most of the time.
Aww Mimi.....am I your favorite guy? You bet you are sweetie. You and Mr. Frog are my best guys ever.
You hear that Savannah?? Mimi thinks Brooks is her favorite guy ever!
Piper look up on her phone if that has any impact on how she feels about me and you!
Sweet girls....you are my most favorite 3 and 4 year old girls in the whole wide world!
Here are just a few things that I currently loving! They are a hodge-podge of things that truly make no sense to anyone but me!! Here goes.........
1.
I adore this commercial right now. And the song from Disney's "Robin Hood" by an old time favorite Roger Miller is perfect!
2.
I absolutely adore this show on PBS. "Call The Midwife". It is funny and touching and oh so British!
3.
This is my current favorite song. "How Can It Be". This describes the struggle that I have as a Christian and how Jesus still loves me....dirty hands and all.
4.
On a warm winter day my little grand girls just beg to play "swimming" in the old baby pool since Mimi will not open up the big pool. Summer....come quickly!!!!!
5.
This face and this hat. He is my little snuggle-bug and I just want to squeeze him.
6.
I loved Johnny Carson and Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. I really have never been a Letterman fan but he is okay. But Jimmy Fallon???? He is so funny....I am going to have to DVR his show because I am old and can't stay up that late on a school night. He is just hilarious.
7.
This is the new study we are doing at church. "Brave" by Angela Thomas. It is just so, so good and all the ladies are just loving it!
These are just some of the things I am loving right now. Obviously I have too much time on my hands even though I am busy all the time.
I am a fairly new subscriber to Netflix. I mainly just wanted to catch up on "The Walking Dead". But I have also found a few other things to watch as well. I did watch a movie which is a rare thing for me called "Labor Day".. this had Josh Brolin and Kate Winslett in the movie. There was no foul language, no nudity and no real violence with the exceptions of some memories that you really just read into. Very good....I recommend it. I also stumbled upon a British series named "Call the Midwife". It is set in the 1950's in East London. This was a very poor section of London during this point in history. Most of the women had their babies at home with the assistance of a midwife. These nurse midwives also treat a variety of other illnesses. It is the story of their lives and they interact and how they help these women and townspeople. It is funny, touching, entertaining and very thought-provoking. I am very grateful for modern medicine I must say. See?? I sound British already! Yesterday I watched an episode where a woman had a baby boy at home with the assistance of one of the midwives and a nun that is also a nurse. The midwives do live in a convent of nurse-nuns. Properly chaperoned and taken care of by the state. This woman named Ruby gave birth to a baby boy with spina bifida. She was devastated. Her husband, Douglas, wanted a son very badly since they already had two girls. The mother rejected the baby and wanted nothing to do with him. After several weeks of pure despair she still had not even held her son. Her husband and the midwives took care of him. Finally one day the main midwife in the show, Jenny Lee, asked the mother to please at least come and push the baby in his pram (I love that word and want one of those too!!) just down the street. One of the other tenement women peeked in at the baby and said a horrible thing. "Oh, your boy is a cripple huh?? No wonder you don;t bring him out." Ruby cringed and the blasted the woman. I would have too. She and the midwife took him back in the house. The mother then said she just could not deal with this baby. Why had they even allowed him to live? It seems in the prior 20 or so years these babies and others with deformities were given an overdose of chlorophyll as a means to put them out of their misery. That just broke my heart. There was a new nurse assistant on the show that week and she told them about a home that took handicapped people. Nurse Jenny went there and found it very nice and clean and receptive for the baby. She told Douglas and Ruby about it and they agreed to go see about placing their baby in the home. When they got there Ruby stayed in the car and Jenny and Douglas took the baby inside. At this point the poor baby still had no name at all. The father sat with the director while the nurse held his boy. The director explained that could come visit any time they wanted and encouraged them to come often. A young man with cerebral palsy and a blind boy served them tea. The father, Douglas, asked the boy with cerebral palsy if he liked it at the home. He said that next door was a biscuit factory. Douglas said that must be very nice. The young man said, "Yes, we get the broken ones." Well, I burst right into a big puddle of tears!!! They got the broken ones..... The father went outside to his wife and went home to help his wife get the babies things ready to go to the home. When they packed his clothes he carried the bag and asked Ruby to pick "it" up. By saying "it" he was referring to the baby. His wife bristled and said, "It ain't an it....it's a baby." She picked him up and then she just closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of him. The nurse was downstairs waiting. Ruby called down and said, "Straight away with you Nurse Lee. Douglas Jr. ain't going nowhere." The father walked down the stairs to escort Jenny out and said, "I know my wife. All she ever had to do was pick him up." What do we do with our broken ones?? Do we put them in a discard pile? What happens to us when we are the broken ones?? Thank God He never throws us to aside. He never casts out the broken ones. I cried for probably thirty minutes over this one sentence. Heck! I am crying right now. The broken ones....what will I do with them?
