Hearts in Service

I woke up at 3:45 a.m. to the sound of the wind and couldn't get back to sleep so I finally got up. It sounds like a freight train rumbling as it gusts to over 60 miles per hour. We have a blizzard warning here and it really has to do more with the wind than the snow. It's barely snowing and we only have a gotten a couple of inches. But it's blowing hard which makes white out conditions and we were without power and internet for a couple of hours this morning. We also lost part of the edging on our roof as there was a particularly strong gust. Our neighbor's pine tree fell over too. Crazy wind! But I'm thankful for many things today and thought I'd list them here now before we lose power again. This week I'm thankful for blessings #3,596 - 3605. 3596. A husband who puts so much time, thought and prayer into his sermons. 3597. A fun time at a baby shower this weekend. It was nice to just sit and enjoy and not have to do anythin...

I wanted to come back to the topic of my post the other day on being thankful that I stayed home with my children. The main reason I want to revisit it is that I always want this blog to encourage others and I don't want anyone to feel if they made a different choice it was a lesser one.  I struggled so many times which is why I flip-flopped with going back to work at times. But for our family and our children it turned out being a good choice. When I was working I found that I poured myself into that so much that my family suffered. I do have a tendency to plunge into things so deeply that there is no balance. I have a child on the autism spectrum who needed me. I have another child with generalized anxiety disorder. My third child has life-threatening food allergies that required so much prep work. So for us, it made sense. I can also tell you that if my husband wasn't a pastor in churches that provided us with either a parsonage or housing allowance, it w...

Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both.  ~ Benjamin Franklin It's Frugal Friday and I work hard at the above statement, though not always successfully. I find there are many ways I can waste my time so I'm working at cutting some of those things out of my life.  The number one time waster can be social media. I'm not going to chop it altogether because I use it for business and ministry, as well as keeping in touch with family and friends, but I'm trying to limit my time spent there. I never feel good when I look back on my day and see how much time was spent scrolling through posts. So I'm working on giving myself a time limit a couple of times during the day so I don't lose track of time. This week was a pretty good one on the saving money end of things. Here are ways I've saved this week. $ I have a baby shower to go to on Saturday. We are often invited to a lot of different events and it can add up. This time I...

Throughout the years various people have called into question our decision for me to be home with the kids. Living on one income can be difficult and often the advice I was given was, "Why don't you get a job?"  And while I toyed with that from time to time and there were periods when I did work, I still had a desire to give my children the security of knowing I was there for them. We have three children who have unique needs and I wanted to be available for whatever it was they needed. I also know my tendency to become a workaholic and I didn't want that to happen. It was a choice we made and a choice that does bring about consequences. One of the consequences was that we didn't have money for many things that our friends did. Another consequence was having to deal with comments from others at times.  A third consequence is one that I'm just realizing. The blessing of having children who have fond memories of their childhood! It wasn...

Isaiah 53 ~ Who has believed what we have heard? And who has the arm of the Lord been revealed to? 2  He grew up before Him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him. 3  He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn’t value Him. 4  Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5  But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds. 6  We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for   the iniquity of us all. 7  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet ...

Twice a month I go to a local nursing home to lead a worship service there. A few others from our church have been coming too and it's nice to see them reach out to the residents. It can be a pretty depressing place, and it's been wonderful to bring a bit of light and Good News there! I'm teaching through the Gospel of Matthew and thought I'd share the third part of this series. I do some review at the beginning so you can catch a bit of what I shared in previous sessions. I am so enjoying studying this gospel as I teach it. It's amazing how each time I glean something new from it. The contrast between these two kings is pretty amazing. Matthew Series, Part 3 - A Tale of Two Kings

I had a surreal experience last night. A friend and I went to visit another friend who is in the hospital. Usually hospital visits can be a bit chaotic or stressful because there is so much going on. There can be other visitors or family members. Nurses are in and out of the room constantly. If there is a roommate, you are crunched up on one side of the room and then you have them and their visitors listening in. It just not conducive to an undistracted time of visitation. Last night there was no one else around and the nurses stayed away the entire time we were there. It was such a pleasant time of chatting about life, hard things, family, and church. Then we had a time of prayer together and it was sweet. As I reflected on the visit last night, I truly sensed God's presence while we were there. And those God-moments are what keep me moving forward. Those times of standing on holy ground keep me in awe of how the Lord moves in the lives of His people. They are moments tha...

Warning: History Lesson Ahead The Feast of Saint Valentine was established by Pope Gelasius I in AD 496 to be celebrated on February 14 in honor of the martyr, Saint Valentine of Rome, who died on that date in AD 269. The day first became associated with romantic love in the 14th century, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it grew into an occasion in which couples expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards. And that brings us to yesterday in the 21st century where Valentine's Day is a purely commercial, money making, causing those who are single to feel terrible about themselves kind of day! lol  Dan and I decided a number of years ago that we weren't going to go crazy on the day and instead, make it a family celebration. We show our...