Do you know Him?
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
My favorite pic!!!
O.K. this has got to be one of my all time favorite pics!!!!!!!!! I took it this morning after Prince so sweetly helped Princess put the holster on. They were playing together! AH....not to be fighting or arguing....it's wonderful!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Let Me Hold You A Little Longer
Recently I've been watching my precious angels and realizing that they are growing up way too fast. This is one of my fears in life, that I will be so focused on the future and what they can do when they get bigger...that I miss the present. I've been trying to love every minute of every day with them. Tink just had her 7th birthday. Prince will be 5 in two months. Princess will be 2 next month. It happens so fast. I know that I will look back on THIS time as one of the best in my life. So I'm determined to soak up every minute of it. This video was shared by a friend on her blog. I knew I had to share it too. And yes, I'll be looking for this book to add to my library!
btw...scroll down to my song list and hit the pause button before you watch the video!
btw...scroll down to my song list and hit the pause button before you watch the video!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Impression without expression = depression
O.k. so I've had my foot stepped on this morning. I need that....like everyday! I need a good kick in the tail to get me headed in the right direction. I thank God that He gave us Bro. Greg to be one of those people in my life who help to lead me along the right paths. Bro. Greg is my pastor, and although I know he sometimes reads my blog I'm going to pretend...for my sake...that he doesn't! ;) Because I'm about to try to relay to everyone what he spoke about this morning. It's important so please don't stop reading!
Bro. Greg is doing a series on "Christian Worldview" that began this morning. This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently as I watch the decline of morals and judgement in our world. I sometimes just want to stick my head in the sand like our friend the ostrich and just pretend it's all perfect. Well, it's not. And although virtually all of us have Bibles, most of us rarely study them. It is NOT a good thing that you know more about Michael Jackson's funeral, or your facebook friends, than you know about the Bible. Culture and current events tend to saturate our lives and they help to form a worldview in your mind without you even knowing it. A worldview is defined as the way we look at the world. Usually this worldview is acquired subconsciously. This is one reason it's important to monitor what you watch, see, hear, read. I've always heard the saying, "trash in = trash out". In my case, trash is facebook, the computer, Farmtown... nothing that is considered "trashy" by the world's standards but it's "trashy" to me because it takes my mind and attention off of my family and God. God gives us minds and emotions and we are to monitor those minds and emotions in a way that is pleasing to God. Your home needs to be a place where those worldviews are created. Saturate yourself in His word and His works.
God has ordained that we be His ambassadors in the world. We live in this world on a temporary basis to serve a purpose that is sometimes mysterious to us. But God knows His purpose and we just trust Him and follow Him. That is our job. However, we tend to make this life about us! We say this life is a big deal, it's all about me and what I get to do, see, feel. The truth is, nobody is Ultimate. We all live, die, and then guess what...life goes on! This bothers the secular mind. The secular philosophy tries to find meaning in themselves or in this world. If you leave God out of the formula then there is NO meaning. The world believes that "I am the sum total of my experiences." Are you comforted by that? There is NO meaning without god.
Scripture says in Psalm 24:1 "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein..." Colossians 1:16 "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him."
The point is...God is where our focus should be. But that's not what the world believes. So how do we change it? The secret for changing the world is going to be God's people acting, living, being like God's people one experience at a time! God is at work in the midst of a broken world that we're a part of. So what's the point of trying? How do we change it to make a difference? God made us to honor Him. We've decided to honor ourselves instead. We've made idols out of hundreds of things. The reason the church lost it's voice is because Christian's have "spiritual laryngitis". No one speaks up anymore for wrong. How will the world hear us, hear about our Jesus, unless someone tells them. We have a voice, let's use it!
Romans 1:20 says "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." So God has clearly shown himself and those who choose not to believe are "without excuse". vs. 21 reads..."For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things."
Have we all turned our hearts towards t.v., celebrities, internet, friends, etc. etc. What are the idols that stand in the way of your relationship with God? Don't make things, and especially other human beings a big deal. They/we will all die and be replaced. And the next day people will get up, eat, and drink and life will go on. Isn't this what happens? We think our life is such a big deal. But we have been created to be a voice for the Creator. This life is about Him and we are to serve Him.
If you're waiting for the church as an institution to change then you wait in vain. Go change your world yourself. Make much of our Christ. We have to come to decide that God is the most important thing and make sure that what we learn and believe is relayed to the rest of the world...one person at a time. This is the first step to developing a Christian Worldview.
Impression without expression = depression. This is what Bro. Greg said this morning. What we learn we have to share, use, build on. We have to tell the world, or even just your neighbor. We can change this world ourselves. One person at a time! This is one of the ways I'm going to share with the world. What are you going to tell? What are you going to do??
note: 99.9% of what was said here was from Dr. Greg Belser, Senior pastor Morrison Heights Baptist Church.
Bro. Greg is doing a series on "Christian Worldview" that began this morning. This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently as I watch the decline of morals and judgement in our world. I sometimes just want to stick my head in the sand like our friend the ostrich and just pretend it's all perfect. Well, it's not. And although virtually all of us have Bibles, most of us rarely study them. It is NOT a good thing that you know more about Michael Jackson's funeral, or your facebook friends, than you know about the Bible. Culture and current events tend to saturate our lives and they help to form a worldview in your mind without you even knowing it. A worldview is defined as the way we look at the world. Usually this worldview is acquired subconsciously. This is one reason it's important to monitor what you watch, see, hear, read. I've always heard the saying, "trash in = trash out". In my case, trash is facebook, the computer, Farmtown... nothing that is considered "trashy" by the world's standards but it's "trashy" to me because it takes my mind and attention off of my family and God. God gives us minds and emotions and we are to monitor those minds and emotions in a way that is pleasing to God. Your home needs to be a place where those worldviews are created. Saturate yourself in His word and His works.
God has ordained that we be His ambassadors in the world. We live in this world on a temporary basis to serve a purpose that is sometimes mysterious to us. But God knows His purpose and we just trust Him and follow Him. That is our job. However, we tend to make this life about us! We say this life is a big deal, it's all about me and what I get to do, see, feel. The truth is, nobody is Ultimate. We all live, die, and then guess what...life goes on! This bothers the secular mind. The secular philosophy tries to find meaning in themselves or in this world. If you leave God out of the formula then there is NO meaning. The world believes that "I am the sum total of my experiences." Are you comforted by that? There is NO meaning without god.
Scripture says in Psalm 24:1 "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein..." Colossians 1:16 "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him."
The point is...God is where our focus should be. But that's not what the world believes. So how do we change it? The secret for changing the world is going to be God's people acting, living, being like God's people one experience at a time! God is at work in the midst of a broken world that we're a part of. So what's the point of trying? How do we change it to make a difference? God made us to honor Him. We've decided to honor ourselves instead. We've made idols out of hundreds of things. The reason the church lost it's voice is because Christian's have "spiritual laryngitis". No one speaks up anymore for wrong. How will the world hear us, hear about our Jesus, unless someone tells them. We have a voice, let's use it!
Romans 1:20 says "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." So God has clearly shown himself and those who choose not to believe are "without excuse". vs. 21 reads..."For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things."
Have we all turned our hearts towards t.v., celebrities, internet, friends, etc. etc. What are the idols that stand in the way of your relationship with God? Don't make things, and especially other human beings a big deal. They/we will all die and be replaced. And the next day people will get up, eat, and drink and life will go on. Isn't this what happens? We think our life is such a big deal. But we have been created to be a voice for the Creator. This life is about Him and we are to serve Him.
If you're waiting for the church as an institution to change then you wait in vain. Go change your world yourself. Make much of our Christ. We have to come to decide that God is the most important thing and make sure that what we learn and believe is relayed to the rest of the world...one person at a time. This is the first step to developing a Christian Worldview.
Impression without expression = depression. This is what Bro. Greg said this morning. What we learn we have to share, use, build on. We have to tell the world, or even just your neighbor. We can change this world ourselves. One person at a time! This is one of the ways I'm going to share with the world. What are you going to tell? What are you going to do??
note: 99.9% of what was said here was from Dr. Greg Belser, Senior pastor Morrison Heights Baptist Church.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Making Strawberry Preserves!
We spent the entire day today making homemade strawberry preserves. Our strawberries are very cheap right now and we go through so much jelly in our house that I decided we'd take advantage of strawberry season and store some up for the coming year. It's been about 15 years since mom or I have made jams or preserves so we had to do a little research.
Tink is actually the one who started this whole process. Her Uncle David sent her a Little House cookbook for her birthday (as well as an entire set of American girl books) and that little booger has been bugging me to death all week to make something out of that book. I decided today was the day. Jeremy's work schedule is crazy and he's been at work all day so what better time to do this!?
O.K. so we ended up making three different batches of preserves...with three different recipies. The first batch came out pretty good but I wasn't happy with the amount of sugar it called for. So I found another recipe that called for half the amount of sugar and more fruit...I thought that sounded perfect. Well, it was excellent tasting but it didn't set up as well as the first batch (I guess that's why all the sugar). So for the third batch we went against the advice of everyone and tweaked it a little ourselves. We now have a bona-fide Kyser/Brown strawberry preserves recipe. At least it tastes good to me. It doesn't set up like the first batch but it's not quite as liquid as the second. With less sugar I think I can deal with the slight liquid texture. The nutrition is what matters to me.
So we're excited and happy to have made them all ourselves. Tink helped with the first batch and Prince helped with the second batch. We had a ball...and now Gidgi is chopping up some peaches!!! Peach preserves coming up next!!!!
Tink is actually the one who started this whole process. Her Uncle David sent her a Little House cookbook for her birthday (as well as an entire set of American girl books) and that little booger has been bugging me to death all week to make something out of that book. I decided today was the day. Jeremy's work schedule is crazy and he's been at work all day so what better time to do this!?
O.K. so we ended up making three different batches of preserves...with three different recipies. The first batch came out pretty good but I wasn't happy with the amount of sugar it called for. So I found another recipe that called for half the amount of sugar and more fruit...I thought that sounded perfect. Well, it was excellent tasting but it didn't set up as well as the first batch (I guess that's why all the sugar). So for the third batch we went against the advice of everyone and tweaked it a little ourselves. We now have a bona-fide Kyser/Brown strawberry preserves recipe. At least it tastes good to me. It doesn't set up like the first batch but it's not quite as liquid as the second. With less sugar I think I can deal with the slight liquid texture. The nutrition is what matters to me.
So we're excited and happy to have made them all ourselves. Tink helped with the first batch and Prince helped with the second batch. We had a ball...and now Gidgi is chopping up some peaches!!! Peach preserves coming up next!!!!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
My Angel is 7!
This past weekend was quite busy for us. We had a wonderful 4th of July parade followed by Tink's birthday party at the skating rink. Oh, it was a blast and she and her friends had a great time! She felt like a Queen. Speaking of Queen, Nana was asked by Tink to make her a Queen Amidala cake. Mommy searched the internet over until I found a picture of the cake she made below. They worked on it most of the week! And Tink even made the candy chocolates she handed out to her guests after the party. She's really growing up! Enjoy the pictures...I'm off to church for the Loop event!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy Birthday USA!
The 4th of July is always special at our house. Our neighborhood has a parade every year and the Clinton Fire Dept. comes to lead the way with one of their engines. We walk up to the top of our neighborhood and get behind the fire truck. This year Prince was able to sit inside at the steering wheel before it took off down the street. What fun he had. As the parade begins the fire truck (with sirens blaring) takes off down the street followed by the bike riders. Tink rode right behind the engine...leaving the rest of her family in the dust! lol! At the bottom of the street we always have snacks and drinks in the yard of a sweet family. They host this event each year and they even have a flag in their yard so we all say the Pledge of Allegiance together. It's very special to us. But even more special this year was that the Firemen hooked up to a fire hydrant and let the truck spray water over all the kids. They had a ball! It was so much fun and Tink is still talking about it. Now, the bad part was that her birthday party was less than an hour away...but a little time in the dryer and those clothes were as good as new. I'll post bday party pics next. But for now, enjoy the parade!
Oh, I forgot to mention, that WE are the parade. We walk, ride, scoot, etc down the street waving flags at the neighbors on the sidewalk. This year Nana, Pawpaw, and Gidgi sat in Gidgi's driveway waving as we passed. That made it extra special. And Lucy, our dog, had fun walking in the parade as well!
Oh, I forgot to mention, that WE are the parade. We walk, ride, scoot, etc down the street waving flags at the neighbors on the sidewalk. This year Nana, Pawpaw, and Gidgi sat in Gidgi's driveway waving as we passed. That made it extra special. And Lucy, our dog, had fun walking in the parade as well!
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