Hearts in Service

I entered all the names of the people who left comments both here and on the Facebook post into a computer generated random drawing.  The winner of my blog giveaway is.... Darby Windey Congratulations, Darby!  I'll be in touch with you.

On this eve of a brand-spankin' new year, I'm feeling encouraged as I look back over 2016.   I accomplished much of what I set out to do.  I kept to my goals and had a very good year.  It was busy but I feel like it was a productive busy. Looking back... ♥ Helped organize and attended our Spring Refresh Great Commission Women (GCW) retreat. ♥ Finished & published my newest book, Let's Have Coffee. ♥ Stepped into the role of Director of the Northeastern District Great Commission Women (GCW). ♥ Attended our district prayer conference. ♥ Attended National Great Commission Women's Leadership Conference in Colorado Springs. ♥ Had knee surgery. ♥ Put together and ran our GCW leadership training retreat. ♥ Put together a one day conference for GCW at our district's family camp. ♥ Attended part of family camp with Dan and the kids. ♥ Went on a missions trip to the Bahamas with Emily. ♥ Started physical therapy since the knee wasn't doing ...

  Yesterday, we ended up with a snow day of sorts.  With heavy snow coming down and more predicted for later in the day, I made the decision to close the shop, Nathan was home and both Stephen and Emily are on school vacation, Dan isn't tutoring this week because of school being closed and because of the snow, only made a couple of visits.   It was an enjoyable day. Every now and then I'm hit with a wave of sadness that everything is changing.  Don't get me wrong.  I want my children to grow and thrive and get out on their own.  It's not a matter of wanting them to stay children.  But it is a transition.  I'm a mama and I do worry about them.  I have to constantly turn those concerns over to the Lord and ask Him to watch over my kids.  Dan & I have done the best we can to raise them right and we need to trust that they will be okay. But it is nice to have them all under the same roo...

Good morning!  It's been almost a year since I've done a blog give away so I thought that today would be a good day to go ahead and offer that.  I love writing and blogging and I so appreciate my blog readers.  I've gotten to know many of you throughout the years and I want to show my appreciation by giving you the chance to win! All you have to do is comment on this post to enter.  I will draw a name on Friday after 9 p.m. and announce the name on Saturday morning.  I will be putting together a "surprise" package full of handmade items. If you have trouble posting here, you can email me at terri.groh@aol.com or leave a message on my Facebook post (will be linking there too).  Have a great day!

G.K.Chesterton ~ “The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.”   Christmas 2016 is officially over and it was a good one.  It was a holiday full of laughter, joy and love.  We had a beautiful Christmas eve service, and Christmas day service was fairly well attended with a fun, joyous and often noisy atmosphere.  I imagine it's exactly how loud the group of shepherds were after the sights they had seen! It was also a Christmas with tears from a child who was hurt by his peers.  Nathan went out on a fire call and came back with tears running down his face and heaving shoulders.  This was the first time I've seen him show that type of emotion in a while.  Unkindness was spewed from someone about his inability to write things down quickly and it transported him right back down where he often feels; at the bottom.  He told me he feels worthless.  I wis...

I overslept this morning and the house will be bustling soon with last minute activity in preparation for our Christmas Eve service, Christmas Day service tomorrow, as well as our own Christmas celebration.  Loaves of bread are being made, packages put together, candles and candle holders prepared for tonight, as well as a host of other last minute things.  I do have to pick up a couple of items today for our dinner tonight. The hardest part of Christmas, even though I do enjoy it is the preparation. It was interesting though because last night both Emily and Stephen told me their favorite part of Christmas is the Christmas Eve service.  I thought, "Wow."  Most kids would say the presents or the food or something like that.  But they both chose the meaningfulness of a church service. A few weeks ago, as I was thinking about the multitude of things I needed to do, I made a conscious decision to be peaceful and calm....

John 3:16 ~  For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in Him should not die but have eternal life. When we moved here,  we were greeted by a few men to help us unload our beds and then the next day we were served lunch and a multitude of hands from the church helped us unload the truck. We were warmly greeted, welcomed and wanted.  We knew we were not only in a new house but home.  Jesus also made a move so many years ago.  He left His familiar and comfortable home and came to a world who should have welcomed Him with open arms.  They should have accepted, embraced and rejoiced over His coming.  Instead, for the most part, He was rejected, despised, spit upon, beaten and crucified. Yet, knowing this ahead of time, He came anyway.  He gave up everything despite this knowledge.  He willingly took on human flesh and frailty so that we would have life. And that gift makes me weep with joy....

Ever since the calendar page was turned to September it has been very busy.  There have been so many events and activities and for many of them I've been involved in the planning or been a participant.  Add in starting a gift shop and then the holidays and there are days when I think my head may explode. However, the thing that keeps me sane is making a list, even if it's just a mental checklist of things that need to get done along with a time frame of when to do it.  Whenever I'm planning an event, I visualize the day of the event and what needs to happen and when.  That mental walk-through really helps to make sure that nothing fall through the cracks. Once Christmas is over, I need to gear up and start working on a mailing that's going out in January to our district churches.  We have a spring retreat each April with about 300 women in attendance.  So that is the next planning thing on my calendar.  The speakers are lined up but I n...

I received a text last night from a friend who asked if she could stop by for a few moments.  When she arrived, she had a bag in her arms and inside was a set of a hat, gloves and a scarf.  I knew that she had planned on going through a bunch of sets she had and bringing one to me.  We had talked and I laughingly mentioned how we had lived here in lake effect snow for three years and I still didn't own a pair of gloves or boots or a hat.  I tend to not bundle up in the winter and because I wasn't working there really seemed to be no reason to purchase them. However, inside the bag was a brand new pair of beautiful boots that she had just purchased for me.  (Note: the boot above is not the one I received, though very similar). Surprisingly, they fit perfectly even though I hadn't been able to try them on.  I was dumbfounded that she would be so generous.  And it helped me once again to be thankful for all the many blessings in my life.  I h...

I love contemporary Christian music  over hymns and old style choruses, but there is an older song by Bill & Gloria Gaither that I love, Because He Lives.  I can't sing it without tears streaming down my face, especially when I get to this verse... How sweet to hold a newborn baby, And feel the pride and joy he gives; But greater still the calm assurance: This child can face uncertain days because He Lives! Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living, Just because He lives! This morning as something reminded me of the song, I thought of Mary.  As she held her newborn baby, I'm sure she had no idea of what he faced.  Little did she know because of his life others would find hope.  Because of this particular child's birth I can face uncertain days.  Because of his life, my children can face them.  Because of his death and resurrection, I can ...

Growing up, I was not part of the popular crowd.  I wasn't athletic or gorgeous or particularly talented.  I graduated and went off to college and felt like an outsider there too.  I went to a small Christian college that had a long history and many students were part of well known families.  No one sought me out for my company and much of the time, I felt like I was on the outside looking in. I came from a broken home with a single mom.  I wasn't part of the "in" group. As an adult, I still feel that way from time to time.  I see people who have a personality that others seem to gravitate to immediately.  They always have a group of followers and seem to be well-liked and popular.    It usually doesn't bother me any more because I'm fairly confident at this stage of my life.  However,  periodically I'll feel left out of conversations.  Or as if I'm just tolerated.  I'm not sure if anyone would even n...

I love Christmas and everything about it though it's quite easy to get so caught up in activity that you forget to actually enjoy each moment.  So I'm trying to slow down from time to time throughout the day and remember why I'm doing the activity.  I'm not doing it for the sake of activity, but to make things special for my family and friends.  It looks like it's going to be a white Christmas! I've been working on gifts and there has been some busyness and whispering among Dan and Emily so I know something is going on. And I have a few secrets of my own. ;-) Stephen comes home sometime early next week for a month and I'm starting to get excited! I'm looking forward to our annual Christmas eve service and this year we are also having a Christmas morning service since it falls on a Sunday.  It's starting to look like Christmas!  Whoo-hoo!!!!!

Every year I make a multitude of Christmas cookies for church events, gifts and for us to eat.  My plan is to do what I normally do though it certainly is a bit harder being out of the house so much with the new shop.  I did get a start on it this week with the making of cocoa snowflakes with a twist - adding a peppermint kiss to each one.  I also made Swedish ginger thins (pepparkakor) that I make every year.  The dough is done and in the fridge, waiting to be rolled out into shapes.  We are supposed to be getting major lake effect snow tonight into tomorrow so I may have a snow day tomorrow which means I'll have time to do it then. The plan this year for Christmas cookies are as follows: Cocoa snowflakes Pepparkakor Bizcochitos (anise, rolled cookies) Cinnamon pinwheels Snickerdoodles Christmas meringues Spritz Chocolate peppermint crunch cookies We'll see if they all happen because Christmas will be here before you know it...

Isaiah 26:3-4 (NIV) ~ You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. I have a vivid memory from a few years ago of walking in the woods as the snow gently fell around me.   The air was crisp, and all was still.   The only sound was that of my boots crunching through the new fallen snow. I had such a feeling of peace and comfort.   There are so many times when I long for that feeling again. How can you be at peace when things seem to be in turmoil all around you? How can you be peaceful when you have a to-do list a mile long and only so many hours in a day?   What if your world is turned upside down? Or you are dealing with conflict on a daily basis? What about the times when things don't go the way you expect or desire? It can be difficult to find inner peace when your world is in chaos. These verses in Isaiah certainly give us the answer...

My new shop has been open for three weeks now and I wake up excited and ready to face the day each morning.  Why?  Is it because I am looking forward to making money?  No, that's not it.  That has not been the driving force behind this, though of course, I want it to do well and be profitable.  We need to be able to pay our bills! Some of reason in starting this business was for it to be an extension of my ministry here.  We live in one of the poorest counties in New York State.  Many people here are struggling to make ends meet.  Some have very little means to do that because of disabilities or other circumstances.  The poverty that is here is unlike that of the inner cities in that it is hidden.  A very large percentage of children in our public schools are on the free and reduced lunch program.  So my heart strings have been tugged by this and for many years now I have felt the burden of helping others.  But I do...