Hearts in Service

We are on vacation this week and I have to be honest and say that we've asked ourselves a couple of times, "Why did we think it was a good idea to take a vacation at this time of the year?"  We were supposed to go to my sister's at the beginning of the week but an ice storm and Nathan getting sick canceled those plans.  Nathan works from tonight onward through the weekend.  So this week has seemed like most of our weeks except we get to sleep until we want and do what we want. But it's also been a good time of really talking with my husband, staying up late to read, and reflecting on what goals I want to accomplish in the new year.  It's been a staycation with very little activity, but overall, a good week.  Tonight we ring out the old year and ring in the new one.  We say goodbye to 2015 with good memories and look forward to 2016 with hope.  I'm excited to see what the new year will bring.  Yesterday all my agonizing about whether to close the b

This morning I'm going to share one of the devotionals from my book, Words of Encouragement for a Discouraged World.   Isaiah 43:18-19 ~ "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." How many of us spend minutes, hours and days dwelling on the past?  How many of us wish we had never said something or some event had never happened?  I know that I tend to do this a lot.  I lie awake at night thinking that I should have done this differently or said that a different way. Yet, God doesn't stay stuck in the past.  He doesn't keep mulling over our failures.  He doesn't keep a record of our sins. He is the God of the present and the future.  He moves on.  He is the God of newness.  I love these verses in Isaiah.  God is blazing a path for us in the wild happenings of our lives.  He is providing ref

Each year I set goals for myself for the coming year and then take stock of those goals periodically to see if I'm on track.  Last year I added a different component to this.  After reflecting and praying about it, I had a word and theme verse for the year which I felt I should focus on. So over the past month, knowing that the end of the year was coming up, I started thinking about what was lacking in my life and some character trait that I felt God wanted me to focus on in 2016.  This year the following word keeps coming back to me over and over again. Discipline   This is something that I certainly have been struggling with the past few years.  Without it, I'm just spinning my wheels.  I start projects and fizzle.  I base a lot of what I do on how I feel.  I've gotten sloppy in almost every area of my life.  I never used to be as bad as I am lately and so I know I need to get back on track.    The verse that the Lord led me to was the following in I Co

It's been such a long time since I've done a Multitude Monday but after the wonderful week I had, I thought it would be a fitting way to start out this week.  This week I'm thankful for blessings #2596 - 2610. 2596.  Stephen arrived safe and sound on Tuesday night.  He's home from college for a month. 2597.  A very easy, low key week. 2598.  Gorgeous warm weather on Christmas eve and a walk by the lake. 2599. A beautiful Christmas eve service. 2600.  An unexpected and generous gift from our church family. 2601.  The beauty of a Christmas full moon. 2602.  Hearing my children laughing and enjoying one another's company. 2603.  The pleasure of being able to sleep in on Christmas morning.  5 a.m. wake-up calls from excited children are a thing of the past! ;-) 2604.  Each gift received was given with a tremendous amount of thought which made it even more fun to watch everyone open them. 2605. Dan's reaction to his gift was price

The presents are wrapped and under the tree and cards are in the mail.  Cookie packages are made up to give out at church tonight.  The food is purchased.  Today will be spent prepping food for tonight and tomorrow, getting ready for our Christmas eve service and just hanging out with my family and playing a few games.  I'm keeping it simple this year in the food department so I can enjoy the small moments and not live in the kitchen.  So I'm putting together stuffed shells for tomorrow, along with a big pot of sauce with meatballs and sausage. We will have some homemade Italian bread and a big salad to go along with it.  Tonight's dinner will be along the lines of hors-d'oeuvres and butternut squash soup and salad which is a family favorite.  I have Christmas cookies and a brandy apple cake for desserts.  We are good to go! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Romans 8:28 (NIV) ~ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. There are only two more sleeps before Christmas and you would think that I'd have some sort of wonderful Christmas message for you today.  But instead, an offhand remark by a friend, started my mind whirring and God gave me these words today. With the help of a job coach from a state agency that works with adults with disabilities, Nathan has been applying to multiple places the past six weeks.  So far, he got one interview,  and then a call-back which never panned out.  Yesterday morning he received a call from someone who wanted him to come in right that moment for an interview.  There was no time to mentally prepare.  He had just woken up and didn't even know where he was going.  I sent him off with my GPS and asked a group of friends to join me in prayer for him. When he came back, he wasn't enthused about the intervie

  I'm so excited and wanted to share with someone.  My husband is not online at all other than email so I know my secret is safe with you all.   I've pinched pennies for months and taken orders that I didn't really want to do in order to get him a Christmas gift that he is not expecting.  Nathan also helped by chipping in a chunk of money.    It's no secret that my husband loves guitars and is gifted musically.  But money is tight and while he would love a houseful of electric and bass guitars, he has one.  When we moved here he actually sold one of his guitars.  Anyway, his Christmas present is a gift card to a huge guitar center where he can redeem it for a bass guitar and amp he's wanted for a while.    I love being able to do this for him.  He sacrifices so much for us.  He works hard and never asks for anything in return.  He is one of the most selfless people I know so I'm thrilled to gift him with this.    I can't wait to see his

  Jesse Jackson ~   Your children need your presence more than your presents.   Things have been tight here and normally, we deal with it and make ends meet.  The problem is when there are unexpected things that pop up, such as Christmas presents.  And then that's when I start to feel down.  I love nothing more than giving people gifts, especially my family.   Some of my Christmas blahs have to do with the fact that we just don't have a lot of extra money so many of the things that I would love to give my family, I am unable to do.  We are paying almost $600 per month for Stephen's college bill and that is a big "ouch" each month.   But this morning I stumbled across this quote and it was a good reminder to me.  Gifts and material things are fleeting.  What is going to make a difference to my family is my complete and absolute presence in their lives.  If all they remember is a stressed-out and grouchy wife and mother, then I have truly failed

I posted about finding joy yesterday and the beautiful thing was that the Lord allowed me to find my own  joy yesterday! I have to be honest and say that I've felt kind of blah this Christmas. Some of the excitement and joy I always feel has been missing. I've had no motivation to write cards, make cookies or even think about gifts. I wandered aimlessly around the stores the other day, trying to figure out what I could get my family. I finished the shopping but wasn't really enthused about what I got. Dan & I always organize the Christmas eve service together and even there I've had a blank slate - no ideas, nothing.  My creative mental juices are stopped up!  I mentioned to Dan the other night that I had no idea what was wrong with me but I really was feeling like I wanted to skip right over Christmas this year. However, y esterday I had volunteered to help a friend clean her house. She has health issues and some things she can't do herself. So I

Yesterday, a Facebook friend posted a picture of some metal lockers she picked up and was looking for ideas of how to use them in her home.  It was interesting to hear all of the different ideas on how to use items for a different purpose. Yet, as I look around my home, I have done that with numerous pieces.  It's a fun and creative way to use what I already have instead of purchasing an item I can't afford.  I had to laugh because I have done this for years before it became popular.  It was a result of having very little money or space. We no longer have a desktop computer and this piece of furniture was just sitting in the middle of my living room taking up space.  Since we gave away our entertainment center before we moved here, I decided to use the computer workstation desk for our television.  Works perfect and gave me some extra space for pictures and whatnot!   I picked up this old style school desk to use in one of my vendor booths a while back.  I no longer

We have lived here for two years and while it's been a good two years it has been tough in many ways.  One of those ways is, unlike our last area which was more transient, most people have lived here all of their lives.  And they view us as outsiders. Not every one is like this, and I would say the majority of people at church have been wonderful, but there are enough people who feel that way to make it awkward at times.  No one feels it more than my son, Nathan.  One of his joys has been being a firefighter. Yet, he has been on this department for two years and still feels like an outsider.  Other than a few men, he gets ignored most of the time.  Because he doesn't feel good about himself anyway, this is another reminder that he is different.  Then he starts to go down a bad path, feeling like we made a mistake moving here. But the reality is we are here and will be until the Lord moves us on.  So I can help him to continue to wallow in self-pity or encourage him to l

  I have made one kind of Christmas cookie so far which is in my freezer, unfrosted.  Not one gift has been purchased and my mind is a blank as to what to get anyone.  Not a single Christmas card has been purchased, made or filled out and sent.  YIKES!   I've kind of stalled this year.  I know all those activities are not what Christmas is about but they certainly do add to our enjoyment of the season.  So my plan today is to get it in gear and get moving.  My orders are all done and I need to step it up.   So, I'm off to bake a few different cookies today.  I'm going to make a few Christmas cards and at least start to get them in the mail.  I'm going to start making a list of what I think my husband and children would like that we can afford.   How are your preparations going?

This year, I've been sharing one thing I'm thankful for each day on Facebook.  I was going to share them here as well but after today, I'm not going to do that because my computer is finicky and the amount of time it takes to go through my newsfeed and find them and cut and paste them here is taking up way too much time. Today I'll share February and March's list of thankful things. You may or may not want to wade through this list.  Either way is fine with me. ;-) Day #32 ~ Praising God that we can come to Him as we are. There is no need to be perfect, good or even clean up our acts before we can turn to Him. Day #33 ~ I’m thankful that I’m learning to accept how I am made. Day #34 ~ Thankful for a new day and a fresh start. Yesterday was less than stellar so I'm thankful for God's mercy and waking with a renewed spirit. Day #35 ~ Had to go to a meeting last night and I'm so glad I did because I would have missed this beautiful sigh

Every now and then my computer goes a bit haywire and won't load pages properly.  When that happens, the advice I received was to clear my computer cache.  This is the place where bits of data is stored on my hard drive so that it's easily accessible.  It's generally a quick fix and the problem in solved.  My computer is clogged with too much information. I find that I need to clear my mental cache every now and then too.  A thousand things come at me all day long from a variety of sources - social media, text messages, emails, and the phone.  I have a number of things that need to be done all at once as well as a bunch of different directions I'm pulled in.  That's when things start to go haywire and I find that I'm not working very efficiently. During the holidays this is worse.  There are events to plan and attend.  Cards to be written and put in the mail.  Cookies to be baked.  Gifts to plan and purchase. Everything builds to this frantic pace. I

I've been going flat out lately in the sewing and crafting area because I'm getting ready for a large event that's happening tomorrow, Christmas in Mexico, NY .   This is such a wonderful event that happens each year and is really a lot of fun. I debated for quite a while about whether I was going to set up in one of the schools where all the craft vendors are, but then decided to display my items at the coffee shop that carries my things year round.  They have been so good to me and asked me to be there so that's what I decided to do.  It'll be a fun atmosphere, I won't have to lug so much there because I already have a display set up and I can be set up longer.  The craft fair goes from 9-3, but there will be activity up on the other end of town later in the day.  So I'm hoping I get some of the later day traffic. Here are some things I've been working on! Salves, lip balms and soy candles. Soaps. Stockings. A new item I'm c

  There are so many things I love about the Christmas season but these are a few of my favorites!   Pulling out the ornaments we have collected for years.  Each year since they were born, I have purchased an ornament for my children and put their name and date on it.  It's so fun to pull them out and reminisce about past Christmases.   Decorating the church.  This, along with the lighting of the advent candles is one of my favorite things to plan for and participate in each year.   Christmas music.  I love any kind of Christmas song.  It was especially meaningful on Sunday to hear Stephen play the offertory.  Having my son home from college.  It was nice having Stephen home for Thanksgiving.  He will be back in a couple of weeks for a month. Christmas baking. Christmas sewing. Christmas movies, Advent readings, Christmas eve service, Christmas activity.  Actually it looks like I like everything Christmas! :-)