Hearts in Service

Psalm 134:1-3 ~ 1 Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD. 3 May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion. I was a substitute teacher for a 4th grade class, so just didn't have time to put this up until now. It's time to look back over the week and reflect on all the wonderful things God has done. This week I'm thankful for..... ♫ Our tax refund check that arrived in time to pay some bills. ♫ Dan & I went to a meeting the other night to see what options are available for us to help care for Nathan as he gets older. Things like Supplemental Security Income, guardianships and trusts were discussed. I was extremely overwhelmed, yet so thankful that we were able to get information. ♫ Nathan, who has never, ever had friends, has been able to make some friendships in his class. He has a friend from class call him almos...

The day was gorgeous yesterday and we spent most of the afternoon outside doing yard work. Dan turned over the soil in my garden for me, while I pulled the weeds. Emily helped him a bit. Stephen and Nathan mowed, raked and weed whacked. I was able to put in my cabbage. In the back garden I have lettuce, spinach, swiss chard and onions up and growing. Now I just have to wait another month to put in the rest of the vegetables. Unfortunately, around here there is still a chance of frost until around Memorial Day so even though I'm itching to get everything in, I'm going to have to be patient. It was a nice day and we got a lot accomplished. This morning I woke up to rain so we picked a good day to do it and I don't have to water! :-)

II Samuel 22:47 ~ "The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!" I love reflecting back over the week and offering God thanks for the things He has done. It makes me view things through new eyes and instead of seeing the negative, it requires to look for the positive instead. This week I praise Him for... ♫ Beautiful flowers to decorate my home with and to enjoy. ♫ God's hand on everything I see. ♫ A wonderful house to call home and a terrific landlord to go with it! And finally, ♫ His precious word that means so much to me. Do you have any praises this week?

I put together a table runner this past week and I'm pleased at how it turned out. I've been branching out and experimenting with different patterns and it's starting to be fun. I generally stand at the table and experiment turning the triangles and squares this way and that until I come up with something I'm pleased with. It's been a challenge because I'm trying to do it without purchasing any more fabric and using up my stash. Here is the latest creation. And here is a close-up. I enjoy doing these type of projects because they are fairly quick and easy. Emily's birthday is coming up and I'm making her a very nice surprise which I'll share later.

Isaiah 35:1-2 ~ The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. My thankful list this week: ♫ Praise God this week for all the blooming things all around me! ♫ I told you all that Stephen got his driver's permit a few weeks ago, while Nathan had failed. Well seeing his younger brother go out driving each day with his father was huge motivation. We were told that if we made an appointment at a small city near here that they would be equipped to give the test orally to people with learning disabilities. Nathan did NOT want to do that. I've never seen him so motivated and he had his nose in the driver's book for a week. He went back to the same place...

Thank you for all your well wishes for Emily. She was feeling much better and went off to school today. Nathan, on the other hand, was home because he broke his big toe last night in a freak accident. It's never dull around here, that's for sure! Here are some cards that I worked on today. I need to make some more but wanted to post what I had so far.

Emily is home sick from school today. Her allergies are acting up which is causing a flare-up of asthma. I decided it was a good day to do some baking and stock up my freezer and pantry. I made Lemon Tea Tots. Granola Bars. Finally, I made both blueberry bagels and onion bagels. The house smells wonderful! Emily spent most of the day doing this.

I was outside the other day when I saw this mockingbird up in the tree. There have been so many birds around lately and I love seeing all the different types. As I looked around the yard, I saw a very rare bird. See it? Need a closer look? This is indeed a special bird. It can read! Who knew I had such rare birds around? ;-)

Psalm 47:5-7~ 5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. 7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. I didn't do this last week and I really missed it. It's good to give God praises. I want to thank Him for....... ♫ Safety while we traveled to visit my inlaws. ♫ A wonderful time with family. ♫ A successful outreach event. ♫ A gorgeous sunrise on Resurrection Sunday. ♫ An opportunity to do some substitute teaching this week which is going to help us pay our taxes! ♫ Lots and lots of blooming things! Do you have any praises today?

I'm now officially the parent of a teenage driver. Sigh. I'm not ready for this. It is the weirdest thing in the world to see your baby behind the wheel of a death machine. I can envision all sorts of scenarios and none of them good. That is exactly why I make my husband strap himself into the 3,000 lb. vehicle with my seventeen year old as he practices driving. LOL Stephen & Nathan went on Friday to take the test to get their learner's permits. Unfortunately, Stephen passed and Nathan did not. Poor Nathan was very depressed. He has major learning disabilities which make the traditional way of taking a written test extremely difficult. The motor vehicle office they went to was not set up to give him an oral exam. For that, we need to make an appointment at the main office. However, Nathan has been highly motivated the past few days and has his nose buried in the driver's test booklet. We have encouraged him not to give up and to just keep trying. In the me...

We had a sunrise service followed by a breakfast this morning. The day was beautiful. It was chilly, but as the service progressed the sun peeked it's head over the mountain and was just beautiful. We sang songs and scripture was read. One of our elders shared a devotional. Then we celebrated communion together. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Cold girls! Our church is very casual and is basically, a come as you are affair. However, I do love the fact that some dress up for Easter. I think my boys are starting to look like men here. Emily in her new Easter dress. It has been a wonderful day so far and we are getting ready for dinner guests soon.

Today was our community Easter egg hunt and craft day. We ended up with about 45 children. The main thing that made me happy was that many of them were from the community and that was the main point of the day. We wanted to provide fun activities for the children, while chatting with the parents. Each child got to take home a goody bag with an invitation to our Easter services tomorrow. The day dawned bright and beautiful with the temperatures climbing into the 70s. The children chose from a few different crafts to put together. Then they went outside for the egg hunt. I had different areas designated for different age groups which seemed to work well. The two and under crowd had their egg hunt on our enclosed playground which made it nice for the parents. Then everyone came back in for cupcakes and juice. I'm throwing in these next two because they made me laugh. I was asking who was in charge of something and no one would own up to it. Our wonderful deaconesses who put toge...