Spring has Sprung

The last two days of sunshine have put me in the mood!

The mood you say, "for what?"

Spring decorating! Silly.

Collected some squiggly branches in the yard...

Threw them in a plastic bucket, filled it with some rocks to anchor them...

And Voila!

Its a...um, uh...ah.. well, whatever it is, it makes me happy! :)

I paired it with an abandoned nest leftover from last spring. The nest looks cute perched on the chair beside it. I need some fake eggs or something.

This little pot had paint on it, but got left out all winter. I like how it looks now.

Cuteness.

A watering can that my big boys bought me when they were just little boys. This baby just gets better with age. I leave it out every winter and love it even more every spring.

Bring on the spring!

I am ready.

Let the fun begin!


Loving the sunshine,

My Pretty Little Bruiser

Sure, she looks peaceful and girly.


Don't let that fool you.

As she falls asleep exhausted at the end of the day on momma, she is finally "still" long enough for a closer observation.

Missing a pretty shoe.

Oh, what do we have here?

How on earth does an 18mnth old put a hole in her tights?

Oh ya, that would be the CLIMBING that she takes part in daily!

Sweet baby My is a bruiser, no ifs ands or buts about it.

Oh well, who says you can't look frilly while scaling a bookcase anyway?

A Babys Wave Ensures A Life Saved

Neato story found here

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

~Psalm.139:13

Our Value

I can't find anywhere in the word of God where it says a woman should get her sense of security, worth, or value from a place, possession, or any person other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

~Pasty Clairmont

Mondays

I can be cranky Mondays.

The weekend is over and the same old chores are staring me in the face.



I am overtired because I ALWAYS stay up too late Sundays.

I am either unmotivated or SUPER motivated. Neither one is pretty.

Trust me.



I've decided Monday is my new "Let Loose Day"

Something easy for dinner, don't stress the mess, and embrace the fun day.


Monday no longer seems so daunting.

And really, Tomorrow is just a day away.

Just Call Me Miz. Pebbles

If you are not a cat person, I apologize for this post.

If you are a sane person, I still apologize for this post.



My daughter has a cat. She adores this cat. She even licked this cat once when it was a kitten thinking that it would help the kitten not to miss her momma so much.

What can I say, she also has her dads DNA.


My daughter just had a birthday and a dear friend who has one of the biggest hearts around is also a little coo coo over this cat.

For my daughter, she bought all of these fluffy, pink accessories and bling.

Ya, I said bling. Who knew that there was actual cat bling. Look at that bauble.

Seriously.

"Don't hate me because I am beautiful."

"What's a girl got to do to get a little cat nip around here?"

Go catch a mouse Kitten!

That IS your job you know or did you forget that part while my daughter was fluffing your pillow and putting on your designer duds?

"Moi? I am far too refined to do any such silly thing. It will only be tuna tar tar for now on I beg you."


"A girl can dream can't she?"

Dream on pussy cat, Dream on.

Of course, if my girl has anything to do with it, the worlds your oyster.

My Birthday Gift

Okay, so the moment you have all been waiting for, or not.



TA DA!!

I got this lovely box...can you guess what was inside?

Is she not adorable? I wanna be her.


Here's me trying.

Yes, tradesman bought me an apron for my birthday. But let me tell you, it's not just any old apron.

I mean, LOOK at this bow!!

So, I just HAD to do this!

I felt like a 1950's happy housewife... well, without the perfectly coiffed hair and starched underpanties.

But still, I was SO June Cleaver!

Then tradesman made me do this. He's bossy like that.

I just love it when tradesman gets bossy.

If he had his way, I would be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen all day.

It even looks pretty hanging on my chair. I actually feel like ironing when I look at it.

Wait.

Never mind, the feeling passed.

Good thing tradesmans daily attire does not require wrinkle free.

This apron has magic powers I tell you.

I was MAJOR glamorous when I was peeling and chopping this big pile of veggies for stew.

Just ask my children.

Oh, actually you can't.

They are all sitting perfectly on my freshly fluffed setee playing a game of scrabble while waiting for the homemade apple pie to finish baking and for me to put the finishing touches on the ice cream I made from scratch after milking Betsy this afternoon....or not.

Loving my new apron,

I Need a Saviour

"You long for the closeness, the connection, the affirmation that who you are is good and desirable. But God is the only one who can give all that to you all of the time. Your deepest needs and longing will only be met in an intimate relationship with Him. No person will ever reach as deeply into you as God will. No one can ever know you as well or love you as much. That insatiable longing for more that you feel, the emptiness you want those closest to you to fill, is put there by God so that He can fill it.

God wants us to want Him. And when we realize that it's Him that we want, we become free. We are free to identify the longings, loneliness, and emptiness inside of us as our signal that we need to draw near to God with open arms and ask Him to fill us with more of Himself. But this deep and intimate relationship with God that we all desire and can't live without doesn't just happen. It must be sought after, prayed for, nurtured, and treasured. And we must continually seek after, pray for, nurture, and treasure it."

excerpt from "The Power of a Praying Woman"~ Stormie Omartian


I have been meditating on my great need for God. My very real and deep need for a Saviour.
How different my life would look, how different my priorities, how lost I would feel.

How thankful for the life that He gave for me I am. My daily choices I hope reflect my love, my passion for His most precious word.

You have got to know by now how much music speaks to me, I apologize for yet another "you tube" video, but I am going to post it anyway because the words are fitting and beautiful.

(remember to pause the music in my sidebar)


"And what would I say
If You brought down the rain
Oh, and every day
I walked through the pain
my heart would still say,

Your name is Jesus

...You knew that

I'd need a Saviour"

You're the one that I hold onto, I know what you brought me through,

Let There be Light

I was totally planning on debuting my new birthday present from tradesman, but I forgot to take pictures. I, uh, meant too, but got distracted.

I know.

You are shocked.

Anywhoo, I did however, come across a funny and uplifting little video.
So I leave you with a laugh and fresh hope for a new day.




"Let there be Light!"




Finding my way out of the darkness daily,






p.s. birthday gift pictures coming soon (not that you are as excited as I am :)




(Remember to pause music in my sidebar)

Joy Stealers

1. Focusing on what you can't do and what you don't have rather than on what you can do and what you do have.

2. Anger ~ at your circumstances, at someone.

3. Self-pity ~ wallowing and staying inwardly focused.

4. Fear ~ whether it be of the future or the unknowns.

5. Envy ~ looking around and thinking that everyone always seems to be better off than you are.

We cannot control what happens around us, we cannot control the people around us. The circumstances that we find ourselves in, the trials endured, the disappointments, betrayals, and difficulties are all part of living in a fallen world.

Bad things happen, people make mistakes, life hurts. We have a choice.

JOY.

We can allow these joy stealers to creep into our thoughts and minds and consume us or we can allow ourselves to be captivated by real, healing, bless-ed joy.

Does joy necessarily mean giddy happiness?

I don't believe so. Sure there are times where it is most definitely that. But there are other times where joy is far more quiet and subdued.

...In your presence is fullness of joy...Psalm 16:11(NKJ)

Joy in His presence not necessarily in our present circumstances. The circumstances may be disappointing, they may be ugly, they may be overwhelming but the fact remains there is still a possibility for joy.


Psalm 15:9 (NKJ)

~As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

11 ~These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.


Abide in His love and His joy will remain in you.

Abiding, relishing, pursuing our Saviors love will produce joy that sustains through any situation, any disappointment any trial.

Looking heavenward, looking to the truth found in His word.

This is where you will find your joy, whether it be giddy and overflowing or quietly being weaved into your innermost being.


Choose Him.


Choose joy.

Love,

He Keeps a Record

I think as women we often are disillusioned on how we see God.

We believe that he is far more interested in how much we fall short, how we fail. We focus on what we perceive to be His list of our shortcomings.
How obscure. We are on Gods heart and mind, but not for the very reason that we think.

What has brought me joy as of late is this.

His record.

No, it is not His record of my sins which I'm sure are plenty. It is His record of my pain.


You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.

~Psalm 56:8 (New Living Translation)


Or the way its worded in "The Message"

You've kept track of my every toss and turn
through the sleepless nights,
Each tear entered in your ledger,
each ache written in your book.


God keeps a record.

He knows our pain. He feels our pain.


I hurt with the hurt of my people.
I mourn and am overcome with grief.

~Jeremiah 8:21(New Living Translation)


You are significant.

You matter to the King.

No matter what you dealing with, it is not going unnoticed. He is there in your pain and your grief.

Step out.

It's time.

Trust Him to reach into those hidden places that all scream out for something more.

Below I have posted a beautiful song by Selah. It is called "Unredeemed."
Whatever your sorrow, your pain, He sees it all and it will not go unredeemed...



(remember to pause the music in my sidebar first)



We never know the miracle He has in store,

Winning Their Hearts

"It's the way that I respond to my children in the everyday moments that gives me the best chance of winning their hearts forever. If I have integrity and patience in the small moments of life that are so important to my children, and if I approach them with a servants heart, then I have a far better chance of influencing them in the larger more critical issues of life."

(excerpt from~ The Mission of Motherhood~Sally Clarkson)

Got Milk?

Or blueberry smoothie, rather.

She makes blueberry health shakes at least look yummy...

The Song of the Tradesmans Wife

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth

For your love is far better than chocolate

Draw me to you

You, my tradesman are most handsome

Rugged, yet gentle

Manly, yet sensitive

Strong and dependable

Full of adoration for your family

Your smile makes me weak

Your adorable dimples, they tease me

Your lips stir passion so deep

Hands so rough and calloused

Years of hard work for your family

Their touch so careful with our little ones

Their touch so breathtaking with me

It lingers long on

Yes, He is altogether lovely

This is my beloved

This is my friend

I hear your voice and I smile

You are home and it means I am complete

Your strong arms, they encircle me

My face finds my way into your chest and I am content

Your breath on my neck reminds me

Our love so fulfilling, so exquisite

Our passion a gift so precious

I anxiously await to open it again and again

So many years now

There were times where it seemed it was too hard

Would our love make it through?

Was there a way back to where it began?

Seems like such a distant memory

It has blown away a grain at a time

Like sand in the wind

Scattered, never to be found

The future is in front of us

The journey so exciting, so fresh

No one I would rather run hand in hand with

And I thank God

I am my beloved's

And my beloved is mine

*inspired by The Song of Solomon :)

Happy Valentines Day Tradesman!

Forever Yours,