Encouraging Deep Roots

It's that time of the year again when most people set resolutions or goals. I prefer the word, goals because it gives me something to work towards without it being an all or nothing deal. I basically come up with goals based on different priorities and categories I have in my life. Here are my goals for 2012. Spiritual Goals ► Make time each morning for reading my Bible and spending time in prayer. In order to do this, I'm going to keep the computer off until this is done each day. ► Keep a journal of how God is providing for us so I don't forget. Marriage Relationship ► Work on saying 2-3 positive things to my husband each day. ► Have a date night 2 times per month. Health & Nutrition ► Lose 20 lbs. this year. I really must work on this as I haven't been feeling great lately and I know it's because I'm carrying around extra weight. ► Have an intentional exercise time at least 3 times per week. Household Organization ► Make cards for 6 months at a time...

Years just seem to fly by lately, especially now that I'm pushing 50! ;-) This year for the second time I decided to look back and review what my year was like. Maybe it will seem more exciting than it actually was that way! LOL!!!! January Dan & I were remarking on what a warm December we've had. No snow at all and mostly in the 40s. By early January last year, we had piles of snow. February Stephen celebrated his 18th birthday. Our church had a Chilefest to raise money for an orphanage in Chile. March The major event in March was a move to the parsonage. No more commuting 12 miles to go to church! April Most of April was settling in to the new house, celebrating our first Shabbat as well as the resurrection of the Lord. May We had two birthdays in May. Nathan's And Emily's. June We celebrated Dan's birthday in June. He ran in a 5K race and came in 2nd in his age group. Our Anniversary. The worst picture EVER!!!! We both look distorted like we are sta...

Emily and I went yesterday to pick out her new dwarf bunny. A friend from church breeds them and graciously offered to let Emily have one. Emily slept in until 11 a.m. yesterday morning. I was just getting ready to go wake her up because we had to leave in 25 minutes when she came down the stairs. She told me that her plan worked. When I asked what she was talking about, she told me that she had forced her eyes to stay open until about 2 a.m. so that she would sleep late and when she got up it would be time to leave! LOL This girl is too funny at times. Anyway, off we went and she picked out the one she liked. Dwarf Hotot rabbits are generally pure white with just a little black ring around each eye. Meet Molly. I was a little concerned about Emily's allergies but it's hard to keep saying no to her because she is crazy about animals and they seem to love her too. So I gave her some allergy medicine before we went to see if we could ease her into it. So far she's bee...

What a wonderful Christmas this was! I think it was one of the most peaceful (and I don't mean relaxed LOL) ones I've ever had. When I say peaceful, I mean feeling full of internal peace in the midst of a very busy weekend. I'm not known for being calm and collected. I recognize that I can be high strung at times and I've been praying that the Lord would help me to work on being peaceful in the midst of chaos. It was really so nice to just enjoy each moment. ► From the candles of our centerpiece. ► Taking the traditional Christmas picture. ► And having children that didn't want to cooperate and be serious. They were cracking themselves up! ► Hearing Emily and her friend sing. ► The candlelight service at church. ► Hearing my husband preach. ► Homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. ► Opening gifts. ► A scavenger hunt for my daughter. Yes, that huge, beautifully wrapped box only contained an envelope with her first clue. It then led her to get dressed and go outsid...

I love Christmas Eve and look forward to tonight more than any other day of the year. ♥ I love that we get dressed up as a family. ♥ I love that we have a special meal together. ♥ I love lighting the final candles on our Advent centerpiece. ♥ I love setting out luminaries to light the sidewalk of the church for tonight's service (just tea lights in mason jars). ♥ I love our Christmas candlelight service and singing Silent Night. ♥ I love the feeling of anticipation. ♥ I love receiving phone calls throughout the day from people wishing us a Merry Christmas. ♥ I love worshiping with my church family. ♥ I love that we come home from church and curl up together to watch a Christmas movie. ♥ I love knowing that as old as my children are, they will be up early tomorrow! :-) ♥ Yesterday, I made loaves of cranberry-orange bread to give to families that attend our candlelight service tonight. I love being able to bless our church family this way and wish I could do more for them. ♥ I'...

John 3:16 ~ "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." I've been so overwhelmed this week with the wonder of the gift that God sent to us. He gave His child; His beloved to us, knowing that he would be spit upon and mocked Him and rejected and killed. He did it knowing that through Jesus death we would have a way to have a relationship with Him. There is nothing more precious than that thought! I John 4:7-9 ~ "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him." As we work on our final preparations for Christmas Eve and Day, let's stop and thank Him for the blessings He has given to us. Let's ...

Tray upon tray of Christmas cookies baked and cooling on the table. Date nut balls rolled in coconut and setting on the cookie sheet. Trays of cookies put together for the fire department Christmas party. Goody bags of holiday treats for teachers put together and ready for delivery. I've been as busy as an elf! :-)

Smiling faces and excited voices, all clamoring for attention at the same time. "How do I look?" "I'm so nervous!" "Where are the words?" "I can't find my props!" Children and teens showing up earlier than necessary in anticipation of their Christmas program yesterday. New families stepping foot into foreign territory. A place they avoid at all costs. Yet, they come. They come into a church building because their children are presenting the gift of their voice. Coming because their sons and daughters asked them to come to their program. And they hear. They listen to the good news that God loves them. That He accepts them. That they don't have to dress a certain way or talk in a particular way to approach Him. God sent his Son to people just like them. People who work hard for little money. Fathers and Mothers who love their children and struggle to provide for them. Sons and daughters who never feel good enough. They hear ...