Thanksgiving 2018

As this year winds down I am reminded about the interesting treks Bob and I have been on. It was one year ago when we seriously began viewing properties for a future home. We got to see many beautiful places and some not so pretty spots. And just as we thought we might never find what we were looking for we found it. Now our weekends are consumed with working on renovations to make a place to stay on the property as we turn the land into our future home. I am very thankful we found it.

This weekend however we had the opportunity to spend time having more fun. I am thankful for spending time with family this thanksgiving. I can’t wait to see everyone for Christmas. Bob and I were blessed this year to celebrate Thanksgiving three different times. Twice with different family members and once with friends. Between good conversations, watching football, putting a puzzle together, playing and of course eating way too much, it has been a real blessing.

Psalm128:1-2 NIV

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

I pray that all my readers are blessed this year and thankful for all God has done. I know that I am. Enjoy your week and I will be back next week with more.

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Gifts from God

I was blessed to be a part of the dedication of my youngest Granddaughter yesterday. Grace is a beautiful baby whom we have been blessed to make a part of our lives. And when I think of her name I can’t help but be drawn its’ meaning.

One of the definitions of Grace is a simple elegance and another is the unmerited favor of God. There is not  a more appropriate name that could be given to a child in this day and age. I feel we all are definitely in need of the unmerited favor of our Lord.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

I remember picking out the name for my oldest son. It was a frightening and exciting time for me. I wanted his name to be significant and meaningful. And after much searching Bob and I decided on calling him Matthew. It means gift of God or gift from God. Either way I believe he is a gift. I believe all children are gifts from God and their lives should be respected as such.

Children can be challenging as they go through the years of growing up and into adulthood. But I feel we must always come back to the fact that they are a gift. And we should respect that God entrusted them to our care. Which should lead us to do our best to help our sons and daughters grow into the adults who will give glory to God. 

For me children are the light of hope in my life. They allow us to see the possibilities of a brighter tomorrow and help us to better understand the love of God. Seeing pure love come out of a child can give a glimpse into the love of God.

I challenge you to step back this week and take a long look at the gifts that God has put into your life, whether it is children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews. And as a sign of your thankfulness to God pray blessings over their lives and share the love of God with them.

Enjoy your week and I will be back next week with more.  

 

Fun, Fun, Fun

Wow. It has been a fun filled weekend. I have enjoyed celebrating my birthday with family and seeing my oldest son Matt sing, dance and act in a comedy on stage with a local theater team.

Spending time with family has to be my favorite thing in this world. Being with Matt and his family, Jacquie and her sons (Joel sorry you couldn’t make it) and my sister Marie was great. I got to eat a wonderful meal put together by everyone and a gorgeous cake baked by Heather. Thanks everyone. I was also blessed to hear from my son Chris and his family and catch up on what they are doing. Chris, we wish you and your family could have been there.

I treasure these opportunities because they allow me to see my grandchildren grow up and watch them change and become young men and women. Like any mother we love to hear the stories of how our children are succeeding in their jobs and hobbies and how our grandchildren are growing up and what they are doing.  I am amazed and blessed to have wonderful children and grandchildren.

I am also blessed to have a great sister who is willing to open her house up and let us stay anytime we need or want and is always thinking of anyone who stays with her to make their stay warm and welcome. She is a wonderful cook and baker and willing to experiment to try to create food that everyone remembers but no one knows how to make. Thanks for the coffee cake Marie. That experiment worked well.

I believe life is too short not to enjoy time with family. God loves us as His family and I think we should love our families the way He does. God gave us a family for a reason I pray that everyone reading this blog will take time to reach out and let their family know how much they appreciate them.

Romans 12:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Enjoy your week and I will be back next week with more.

I Rocked Mother’s Day

I am reminded of Charlie Brown at Halloween when all the children were telling what goodies they got in the their bag and Charlie Brown said he got a rock. I got a rock for mother’s day. Now if you know me you know that I collect rocks and so the fact that two of my grandson’s painted a rather large rock and gave it to me is really nice.

It is probably the heaviest present I have ever gotten for Mother’s day and I really like it. I just have to figure out the best place to display this piece of art. My daughter and son in law also gave me the beautiful plant sitting next to the rock. My garden shall be beautiful with these additions.

It is wonderful to have children and grandchildren who are thoughtful and give gifts that are unique and thoughtful. I hope that all of the Mother’s and Grandmothers out there are having a wonderful day today with family.

Enjoy your week and I will be back next week with more.

 

Spring and Resurrection

Spring has arrived and we are experiencing all the weather that goes with it. We have had temperatures in the eighties this week and rain on the way. It is great to think that the plants are blooming and the earth seems to be coming alive after the winter. Granted we do not have much winter in Texas.

Bob worked on the back yard this weekend getting the garden tilled and ready for some much needed compost. I look forward to the first plants growing outside. Right now we have seedlings in the house getting ready to be planted in the near future. I love that we can grow them in the house and then transplant them into the garden to produce wonderful vegetables for us to enjoy.

It is so typical that this is Resurrection week. The week we celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It always seems to rain some time during this week. When I was growing up it seemed to me that it would rain every Good Friday. (It probably didn’t but that is how it felt.) This week is no exception, there is rain in the forecast for most of the week. The ground really needs some good soaking rains.

Spring always brings rains and the celebrations that go along with the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. I get to spend the whole weekend with two wonderful grandsons, Jack and Rex. I look forward to sharing the story of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection with them in my own ways. I want to pass on some family traditions and teach them how to decorate eggs and then find them. I can’t wait for the fun to begin.

I take grand-parenting seriously because I feel that I can still impart some pretty important stuff into the next generation in my family. I hope that your Resurrection weekend is full of fun and activities that all point to Jesus. Enjoy your week and I will be back soon with more.

Faith

Faith is a big word. It does not have many letters but it does have a great impact on life. We can have faith in many things. There is faith in your own abilities and faith in the inevitable expected result of a given action. i.e. if you jump off a building you will land on the ground. Now how you land and if you survive is a whole different topic.

This weekend as I sat at the table eating lunch with two of my grandsons we had a rather interesting conversation. The youngest Rex said that he prays 3 times each day at daycare. He was speaking about praying over his food at this point. Jack however disputed this statement. As the conversation continued Jack told me something that he believes will happen. I asked how he knew it would happen, and his reply was that he prayed and asked God for it. I sat in awe.

This 5 year old child showed me the faith like a child. I love children because they are not so complex and they can believe because they hear and trust those who teach them. Why can’t we all be like them?

Matthew 18:1-5

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

² He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

Jesus wants us to be like little children. Simple in our faith, willing to learn and loving. If we can step back a bit and become more like a child our lives would be easier and have less stress. It is a mindset of understanding what is important and keeping the simple, simple.

Would you join me this week in taking the complexity out of our beliefs and just being like a simple child. God said it must be true so I will follow it. Enjoy your week and I will be back next week with more.

The Harvest Continues

I have not published for a little while because of family fun times. Last week we attended a family reunion with most of my brothers and sisters and their families. It was great. We got to spend time with family members we have not seen in a while and build our relationships. This time we had fewer events planned and spent more time just hanging around at the lodge and swimming and fishing etc… It was great. Although I could not walk as far as I wanted I was able to get around a bit and enjoy myself with family.

When we got home Bob went to the garden and there was an abundant harvest. I decided this morning that I would cook up the tomatoes and peppers along with onions, celery and some broccoli that I had in the fridge to make some tomato juice. We ended up with some juice and some tasty tomato paste. I think we can use it all. (I hate throwing anything out that tastes good.)

I love that we plant seeds and nurture the plants and can leave them for a while and when we return they have done well with producing. Bob found a very large cucumber that we enjoyed some of for lunch today. We weren’t sure if it would be good because it was so big, but it turned out great.

Over the years as a Christian we have all planted faith seeds in different places among different people. It is not up to us to cause these seeds to grow it is up to us to plant and water and trust God to help them grow and mature. We have to trust God that any good we plant will reap something good, but we can’t get frustrated and try to take this into our own hands and force fruit. Fruit must grow naturally or it does not grow.

Sometimes we allow ourselves to believe we are in charge of the salvation and walk of those around us. We are not. Truthfully, we are only servants of God who spread good news, the results are out of our hands. I am happy with that because I don’t want to be in charge of what other people do and what they think or how they live. I struggle enough taking care of my walk with God.

Mark 4:26-28 (NASB)

²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.

God is in control. Enjoy your week and I will be back next week with more.