Hearts in Service

Fourteen years ago God gave me a beautiful baby girl.  Emily's birthday is today and she brings us as much joy as she did those many years ago.  Having a girl after two boys really awakened me to the difference between them!  Even her cry as an infant had a much more dramatic tone.  lol She has brought so much life and fun into our home. She is compassionate.   Expressive  Fun-Loving. Artistic. Athletic.     Those are just a few of the many parts that make up Emily.  Happy Birthday, Sweetie!  We love you.

On Saturday, another milestone was reached.   Nathan purchased his first car and Dan went to pick it up yesterday evening.  The car and insurance are in our name, but he made the down payment and is making the monthly payments.  We told him that as soon as it gets paid off, we'll put it in his name.    He got a 2000 Honda Civic and it's in good shape with fairly low mileage. He made me laugh today because every time I saw him, he was standing and staring at it!  He put his blue light in it, put the fire department logo around the plates, and put his gear in it.   He took it next door to the firehouse to show it off.  He gave one of the fireman a ride who paid him $1.00 for gas.  LOL!!!!!  I reminded him that he should be paying his friends who have been chauffeuring him around for the past two years. :-) He's happy as a lark!  He didn't even fuss when I wanted to take his picture.  Another step towards independence.

It poured all day Saturday and Sunday was overcast and drizzly, but Monday dawned clear, sunny and warm.  What a glorious day! Nathan had a parade in the morning. The rest of the day was spent just enjoying the family and spending it outdoors. I planted flowers and that went a long way towards lifting my spirits.    The flower boxes and hanging baskets are full and back on the porch. I planted some lavender and a few herbs.  This is the first year in about 10 that I will not have a vegetable garden.  I feel kind of sad about that.  Just a bit, but not enough to change my mind. ;-) I made sun tea for the first time in a year and threw in some lemon balm.  Yum! Emily washed the car for her dad.  Stephen washed the other car. I got to sit and chat with Dan.  He got to spend time with the kids. We kept an eye on the baby birds who have all hatched.  This chick is the cowbird.  I'm not sure how much food the three Phoebe chicks are getting because this

Philippians 3:10-14 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.   Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. There have been trying times here recently and Dan & I have been dealing with church concerns that can leave us absolutely drained at times.  I've been trying to stay close to the Lord in prayer, and reading, and meditating on His promises.  And it helps.  After doing this I will feel rejuvenated and hopeful and ready to face the world. But then s

It's been almost two months since the release of Words of Encouragement for a Discouraged World.  I've been encouraged by the response from those who have purchased the book and how the book is helping women.  That was my desire when I wrote it! May I ask you a favor today?  If you have purchased, Words of Encouragement for a Discouraged World, would you be willing to go to Amazon.com and leave a customer review if you have not already done so?  If you purchased the book from some place other than Amazon, that does not matter.  You can still leave a review. Book reviews help other women who are considering purchasing it.  The further up in the ranks the book goes on Amazon, the more it will show up in search results.  Obviously, it helps me to sell the book.  Besides the desire to encourage other women, and fulfill my life long dream of writing, I have been trying to help our family by providing some sort of income that will also allow me to stay home and be available to

This post is going to be the equivalent of junk mail; nothing exciting and nothing worth remembering or keeping! ;-)  In the Kitchen...   Last night was one of those times when my cupboards were bare and I had forgotten to take anything out of the freezer to thaw out and both boys had the cars so we were stranded at home. It was 5:30 and I hadn't a clue what Dan, Emily & I were going to eat.  However, after brainstorming, we ended up with a simple, frugal, and delicious meal and it only took about 15 minutes to make. I cut up some potatoes and made home fries with onions & peppers.  I also had thinly sliced ham in the freezer so I cut off a few pieces, sauteed it with some onions and peppers and scrambled up some eggs. Simple, yet good!  On a side note, look at the beautiful color of those eggs.  Farm fresh are so much better for you than those pale, washed out looking eggs from the store. In the Sewing Room... I recently had an order for an apron with a re

The weather has warmed up a bit and even though it was nippy out, I spent some time on my back deck this morning.  I took my coffee, camera, Bible and journal out there and I'm so glad I did.  I always find time with the Lord in nature is a great stress reliever. I was distracted by this brightly colored visitor.  It kept flitting from branch to branch so it was hard to get a photo that wasn't blurry. I read from Psalm 37 and found some encouragement in there, especially verses 3-7.   Trust in the Lord and do good.      Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord ,      and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord .      Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,      and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. Be still in the presence of the Lord ,      and wait patiently for him to act. It's 7:30 a.m. and a load of laundry h

  A two a.m. prayer time led to a feeling of peace and joy this morning.  I woke with a feeling of happiness and excitement for the day.  That hasn't happened in a while.  As my feet when over the side of the bed, I didn't feel dread.  As I poured my first cup of coffee, I looked forward to eagerly seeing what God has for me today. I opened my Bible to this passage. Psalm 19:1-7 ~    The heavens proclaim the glory of God.      The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak;      night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word;      their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,      and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun. It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.      It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race. The sun rises at one end of the heavens      and follows its course to the other end.      Nothing

Do you know how much your Heavenly Father loves you?  I forget very often and I'm sure you do too.  Perhaps you are not feeling very loved today. My prayer today is that both you and I would feel that love in very concrete ways this weekend.

It's hard to believe that it's almost midway through the month of May.  I've been trying to figure out what I've done the past nine days. I know I've done the following.... ♥ School with Emily. ♥ Spent last Saturday selling at a private shopping party.  ♥ Made cookies.  ♥ We have a Phoebe who built her nest on our porch.  I had to stand on a stool and hold the camera over my head to take this picture, but it didn't turn out too bad. I discovered a broken egg on the porch on Saturday and when I took this picture a friend pointed out the different colored egg.  It turns out cow birds push out the eggs of other birds and lay their own in it's place and then abandon the egg and baby to be hatched and raised by another.  Nice mother, huh? ♥ Finished Dan's birthday surprise. ♥ I've been crafting. I laughed out loud when I took this picture yesterday.  I must have been asleep when I made this apron.  I never realized that when I cut

I was honored to find out that my friend Julie Ann Monzi nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.  I haven't felt very inspirational lately so this was a pleasant surprise! Part of the award is that I am supposed to tell you seven things about myself.  They can be things that inspire me, fun things, humorous things, and/or favorite things.  So I thought I'd throw a mixture in there. 1. My favorite color is yellow. 2. My favorite movies are comedy/adventures. 3. My favorite flavor ice cream in black raspberry. 4. Our honeymoon was a disaster!  We were supposed to honeymoon on a private island off of South Carolina where the company I worked for had a condominium.  My boss left our name at the guard post onto the island.  Well, our plane broke down, we ended up having to get connecting flights that weren't originally scheduled and missed one of them.  We then drove 3 hours through the worst thunder and lightning storm I had ever been in to find our n

  I'm not sure what's going on with me, but this has been such an up and down kind of year.  I have high moments and then when the low moments come, they are really low.  This week has been one of those low times.   ► Some of it could be I've been sick and on very strong antibiotics, which make me feel sicker than the actual illness!   ► Some of it is that I feel very isolated.   ► Some of it could be that I'm 51 and perhaps, this is just a sign of the beginnings of menopause.   ► Some of it could just be because I'm human, frail and weak and this is the way life goes. My life, at times, feels like a yo-yo. I'm so thankful that I serve a God whose very nature is steady, unchanging and constant. I love this verse in James 1:17 ~ " Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." There is no wavering and flickering with God.  He is always present.  He d

Twenty-two years ago at 3:41 p.m., the doctors laid my 8 lb. 15 oz., 21" long, piercing blue eyed, beautiful boy in my arms after 15 hours of hard labor.  I only got to hold him for a few moments before the roomful of doctors and nurses whisked him away, concerned for him.  I'm glad that at the time I had no clue that there was something wrong.  Nathan's whole life has been one of achieving things most people said he would never be able to do.   • The pediatrician doubted he would be able to speak well, yet, with speech therapy, he achieved that milestone.  • The little boy who was petrified of everything, stood in front of a crowd at his Kindergarten graduation and told his father and I why he loved us. • The child who never learned to read beyond a 5th grade level, recently sat and read a novel about firefighting and got the gist of it. • The endocrinologist  who said he would be lucky to make it to 5'1" is amazed at how four years of grow