Hearts in Service

When winter winds are piercing chill, And through the hawthorn blows the gale, With solemn feet I tread the hill, That overbrows the lonely vale. O'er the bare upland, and away Through the long reach of desert woods, The embracing sunbeams chastely play, And gladden these deep solitudes. Where, twisted round the barren oak, The summer vine in beauty clung, And summer winds the stillness broke, The crystal icicle is hung. Where, from their frozen urns, mute springs Pour out the river's gradual tide, Shrilly the skater's iron rings, And voices fill the woodland side. Alas! how changed from the fair scene, When birds sang out their mellow lay, And winds were soft, and woods were green, And the song ceased not with the day! But still wild music is abroad, Pale, desert woods! within your crowd; And gathering winds, in hoarse accord, Amid the vocal reeds pipe loud. Chill airs and wintry winds! my ear Has grown familiar with your song; I hear it in the opening year, I listen, and ...

Okay, is anyone else having a difficult time with January? I really am not fond of January & February. This year especially has been blah because we have not had much snow the past 2 weeks. Today it's raining which makes it really dreary. So I decided to pull out some pictures from our hike on the Appalachian Trail which is only about 7 miles from here. These were taken in September. Getting ready to hike. You would think we were going for a week the way they pack! Getting ready to get on the trail. Beautiful views! Ignore the unphotogenic woman in the middle! I love this picture because this is how they both usually are when they are outside. Usually, there is a snake or some sort of creepy crawly there too! There. Don't you feel better? I'm ready to go hiking again.

I write a devotional once a week or so for an online message board. There is a section there for women trying to lose weight. I thought I would post here once a week or so and share my thoughts on the battle of the bulge! "A cheerful look brings joy to the heart." Proverbs 15:30a Good morning ladies! What is the look on your face like as you go about your day? Do you walk around with a frown on your face or a furrowed brow? Or do you have a pleasant look or smile on? The way your countenance looks can affect how you and others feel. Look at your face in the mirror and let your face relax. Do you see frown lines or laugh lines? That will probably give you a good idea of how you look most of the time! Scary, isn't it? Sometimes we don't even realize how we look. As you go through your day today be concious of how your face looks. Make an effort to turn up the corners of your mouth and smile. Do you know it takes far less muscles to smile than to frown? Would you rath...

It's Sew Crafty Friday that Shereen hosts over at Waiting for Him . There must be something in the water because all kinds of women are coming up pregnant lately! Here is a baby blanket that I've been working on. It will eventually have a hoody attached. This one has been really easy to make and I should be done with it shortly.

Today is my 46th birthday. I guess having a birthday makes you reflect on things. I was thinking the other day on how much things have changed in the past seven years. Seven years ago I was working 12-15 hours per day and was extremely stressed. Dan & I both helped run an inner city ministry and I loved working but after the busyness of the day subsided there was something missing. I constantly had the feeling that I was trying to be something I'm not. I was trying to be this professional woman who could have it all - a career (even though this career produced very little money), marriage and family. I felt like I had no control over the way my life had turned out. Thanks to the grace of God, I was able to make some major changes in my life. However, when I first started homeschooling, I went through an identity crisis. I felt like what I did counted for very little. Our society tells us that mother's are not important. The only thing that counts is what you ...

One area that Dan & I have been working hard at the past few years is establishing a regular family devotions time. What seems to be working is having it first thing in the morning before we start school. Most nights seem to be taken up with church meetings which end up messing up our schedule. We've tried different devotionals but ended up just sticking with reading the Bible by itself. We haven't liked any of the canned devotionals we've tried. We have worked our way through Proverbs and right now are focusing on verses on laziness and orderliness. Can you tell what we need to work on here? ;-) We read the passage of scripture and then give everyone a chance to comment on it. It's opened up the door for some wonderful conversations with the kids. It's been neat to see how they are growing in their understanding of God's truths. Here are some pictures from this morning. We had to put the camera way fairly quickly because it was causing way too much ...

What a wonderful time on Sunday afternoon. Our church had a baptism for 3 new believers in Christ. The most wonderful thing about this whole thing was 5 months ago Randy & Kim were on drugs and happened to live next door to Fred and they couldn't stand each other. The Lord led them to our church separately and to Himself. You should see how much they love each other now! Kim & Randy are off alcohol and drugs and have been clean for 123 days. Isn't God awesome? If you think of it, please pray for these three. Pray that they would continue to grow in the Lord! Terri

Our church had it's 3rd annual sleigh riding party on Saturday and it was a blast! It also shows us how much the church has grown in a year because instead of the normal 10-15 people, we had 40. I'm afraid I was the butt of everyone's jokes again this year because the first year we did it, I hit a tree with my head while going about 30 miles an hour and ended up in an ambulance ride to the hospital. Dan pushed me on the sled that hit the tree and I still think he was aiming at it but he won't 'fess up to it! Here are some pictures of the day. Isn't he handsome? I offered to give him a push but he wouldn't let me! Emily and her friend, Sarah Everyone acts goofy when they are sleigh riding! Shirley, act your age! Even 70 year olds got in on the fun. We're too cool to sled. Nathan All in all, it was a fun day and everyone had a wonderful time!

Okay, I'm only almost a month late on these but I just got them from the person who took them. This was the first year in our church that we had enough children to do a Christmas program. It was fantastic! The children did a wonderful job and even my shy ones spoke loudly and clearly. Here are some pictures from the day. Emily's dress was made by a lady in our church. Excuse her goofy expression! Dan getting ready to play guitar. Stephen reading scripture. Playing the keyboards We started a girl's club this year, called 3D Girls. It has been so neat to these girls develop in their confidence and ability to stand in front of people. 3D Girl's has 3 components - devotion to God, creative disciplines (cooking and crafting) and dramatic arts. We've tried to provide them with lots of opportunities to share what they are learning with their parents and they are just blossoming. Right now I have 13 girls coming every Thursday night and most of them do not go to chu...

It's Sew Crafty Friday. Shereen at Waiting for Him hosts this each Friday. I finished up the wreath I was working on and I would like your opinion. Does it look better by itself or with the pinecones on it? It seems a little plain to me but maybe it's fine so I would appreciate your opinion. With pinecones Without Here are some dishcloths I've made with scraps of leftover yarn. I use the 100% cotton by Sugar and Spice and I love them. After using these, I don't want to go back to those thin little dishcloths again. They do shrink a bit when you wash and dry them but they stretch back out when they get wet. Excuse the strings. I haven't threaded them in yet. These are folded in half so when they are open they are about 7 inches square. Well that's it for this week. The nice thing about doing this each Friday is that it gets my creative juices flowing! Terri

I love our church! This has been one of the best churches that Dan and I have ever been part of. I was thinking about why it's so special and I think it's summed up in one word, family. Unfortunately, we live far away from our families and only get to see them once or twice a year. Yet, the church has really become our family. They are there for us and support us and cry and laugh with us. They get all of Dan's little quirks and love him for it. Okay, I have quirks too but I'm not going to say what they are!!! They encourage us and love us. Our church has been a place where people can grow and stretch and learn with a safety net. We have an absolutely God-sent keyboardist and worship leader who is the most patient person on earth. She allows us to make mistakes. Because of her, Nathan is playing the drums in church. She encouraged him and nudged him along, even when he wasn't very good and now that boy can drum up a storm! The neat thing about our church...