The best part of Paper Dolls!

I'm really watching these days to see which toys are my kids' favorites and which ones really need to be boxed up and placed away for safe keeping.

I know as Christmas nears, it would be a wise move on my part to quietly transition some of the less-played with items to the attic in order to make room for their "much anticipated-requested-more age appropriate" toys.

One of my best qualities can also at times be one of my worst... I love to clean!  How could this be bad?  Well... my husband often refers to it as the "whirlwind cleaning."  Sometimes I think the best and easiest way to clean is to just throw it away!  I'm definitely NOT a pack-rat!

So... the other day I was cleaning my 6 year old daughter's room.  Yes, I was in a "whirlwind" mood.  In fact, I brought the trash bag up to her room - just to be prepared.

But just as I was about to "clean" what looked like little jibblets of paper - I noticed it was not trash after all - but rather the stands, or the bases, for her paper dolls.

Paper dolls have become her new favorite thing to do in bed.  I keep them in a giant zip lock bag on her bookshelf.  And after all the hugs, kisses, stories, and prayers - she gets them out on her bed and plays until she falls asleep.  I love it!  I think this is precious!  I love that even in this world of high tech toys that entertain them - she still loves to use her imagination to create a wonderful world - all from paper!

I knew better than to throw the most important part of her paper dolls away.  I knew she would DEFINITELY need the base in order for her newly dressed dolls to stand or rise to the level of her imagination!

Yesterday as I was reading my One Year Bible I ran across a verse that made me think of Jordan's paper dolls.  Yes, a lesson can come from paper dolls - just bear with me.

Psalm 119:116-117 (ESV)

Uphold me according to Your promise, that I may live, an let me not be put to shame in my hope!

Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for Your statutes continually! 

I don't know why I thought of Jordan's paper dolls after reading this - but I just couldn't get out of my head how His statutes, His Word hold us up - much like the base or the stand of a paper doll!

Twice in these two verses David asks the Lord to hold him up!

Uphold me according to Your promise

Hold me up

If we're going to make it in this life, we desperately need the Lord to hold us up!  We need Him to uphold His promise to us, we need Him, we need His Word alive in our lives!

Ladies, I think too often we throw much of what He sends our way to the wayside or perhaps in our whirlwind living, we toss it out with the trash.  When in fact, it's the most important piece - it's the very thing that allows us to stand!

Much like Jordan's paper dolls, we need the Lord and His Word to be our base, in order for us to stand or rise to the level of all He has planned for us!

Today, if you're hoping upon hope to find something that will help you stand, something that will keep you safe from the scary parts of life, look for your stand - His Word - and never never throw it away!  I promise it will hold you up and give you hope!

His Word Sunday

It's Sunday morning and time to "get back to work" as we leave the wonderfulness of the Thanksgiving Holiday.

I don't know about you... but I need a little push to make it through to the end of the year.

I read several verses from my One Year Bible this morning that gave me the "push" or the "hope" that I was looking for.

These two were my favorites! If you too need a little extra juice to make it this morning, I hope this helps you like it helped me!

Psalm 119:114, 116 (ESV)

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your Word.

Uphold me according to Your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope!

Proverbs 28:20 (ESV)

A faithful man will abound with blessings...

Just keep on keeping on this morning.  You are in a safe place filled with hope & blessings if you remain faithful!

Have a great Sunday!

Make new friends... but keep the old...

It's Friday morning... the day after Thanksgiving.

We are still in Texas enjoying time with family.  Yesterday started with 14 people in my parents house and ended with just 2!

After the fabulous feast, my Dad, husband, and 2 children traveled about hour away to go hunting on my Aunt & Uncle's land (Thanks Uncle Sammy & Aunt Sharon!)  My sister and her family left to spend the evening with her in-laws.  So... at the end of the day only my Mom & I were left at home.  The peace & quiet was AWESOME!!

As I woke up this morning to a very quiet house in the country, I was able to have nice moment to reflect on all that happened yesterday....

and the one thing that came to mind was this....

"Make new friends, but keep the old...

one is silver and the other gold."

Do you remember this song?  I absolutely LOVE traditions!  I love the comfort they bring!  The things that we do every year at holidays makes me smile - weeks in advance!

Here are some of our Thanksgiving Day traditions

Our Old "Friends"

We make Thanksgiving Day shirts with all the kids - and take their picture...

Before eating, we all take a moment to share our thankful moments from the year...

These items are ALWAYS on the Thanksgiving Day menu - turkey, broccoli/rice casserole, rolls, salad, and apple pie...

Here are some of the new things we enjoyed this year...

Our New "Friends"

My cousin Caleb & his wife Brittany and their two adorable little children - Charlie & Olivia - stopped by for a quick visit!  I haven't seen Caleb in years!  I missed their wedding and have never had the privilege of hugging & kissing those adorable kiddos.  What a WONDERFUL treat this was!

We added New Orleans stuffed merilitons, sweet potato/pecan pie, and cranberry/jalepeno salsa to the menu...

John took JP on his first hunting trip Thursday night & Friday morning...

You know what's great about all of this?  

It's all silver & gold.

What are the silver & golds 

(old & new) from your Thanksgiving?

Retro Thanksgiving

Each morning I read the One Year Bible.  It's one of my most favorite and treasured times of the day.

Right now we're reading through Psalm 119.  This is the longest chapter in the Bible - it has 176 verses!!  And most of them are about delighting, following, obeying, learning, the Word of God - His statutes, and His rules.

Today, most people may not even see this post as they are traveling over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house for Thanksgiving.

This morning as I was reading about God's rules - for some reason I started gearing up for the car rules we'll have today as we travel to Texas.

Like...

stay on your side of the car

stay in your seat belt

we'll take turns with movie choices

no hitting or yelling

.....you know the drill....

I thought about all the fun methods of entertainment my children can enjoy on this 6 hour drive and traveled back in time to the ways my sister & I enjoyed our Thanksgiving travels.

The year was 1970 something...

and instead of the the comfortable mini-van with movies and games my sister & I made a make believe world out of the back of a station wagon.




When we would go on long trips (longer than 30 minutes) my parents would put a mattress in the back and we would fill it with dolls, barbies, and games like these:




There were no required seat belts in those days!  Can you imagine?!  And strangely enough... I never remember flying into the front seat!

Strangely enough though...
the car and the games of 1970 may have looked very different from today - but the rules remain the same!  And today... I hope my children will not only follow them - but delight in them as well!

I'm curious....

What's your favorite memory of traveling with your family?
  

How did you travel and what did you do to pass the time?

If you're here from iFellowship... WELCOME!

I hope you grab a cup of your favorite beverage

and hang out with me a while!

Leave me a comment, so I'll know you came by

and know that I'll be by later to visit you as well!

In "this" rejoice! In "this" be Thankful!

I absolutely LOVE Thanksgiving!

Is it because most people get 2 days off?

Is it because there's tons of food to be enjoyed?

Is it because of the plethora of family gathering around a table?

Perhaps it's because of football & naps!

(who is your team to watch this year?)

I have so enjoyed reading everyone's posts about thankfulness.  Indeed the Bible tells us to be thankful...

Psalm 92:1 (ESV)

It is good to give thanks to the Lord

However, yesterday as I was having my prayer time the Lord showed me something about thankfulness that I often overlook.

Every year at our Thanksgiving feast, after we pray for the food, we go around the table & share something for which we are thankful.  I love this time with family!

Some years there are tears, some years there is immense laughter, but every year we recognize the good the Lord has brought our way.

Again, in my prayer time this week, it was as if the Lord was making the words in my Bible bold - highlighted - and underlined - regarding something I often fail to thank Him for at this time of year.

Bear with me... as this is not a typical "thanksgiving" verse...

To read the rest of this post come & join me at Seeds of Faith Women!

How did it go?

This is the question I continue to get asked - even 2 weeks after the retreat!

I love it!  

So, I decided to devote my entire blog post today about Weekend 31 - the Fall Women's Retreat of Journey Christian Church.

The retreat was held at the Solomon Episcopal Retreat & Conference Center located in Loranger, Louisiana on November 12-13, 2010.  For our last session - we met in this beautiful chapel!

We had a WONDERFUL leadership team who started planning way back in the summer.  This retreat and these ladies had the hand of God upon them from the very beginning.  We knew we wanted to have our retreat at this specific location... however, the earliest opening for our group was 2013!

We met & prayed and within days they called to announce a cancellation!  And so it began!

WEEKEND 31 is based completely on Proverbs 31 and the entire weekend was centered around what we read about this wonderful woman!

Our t-shirts were purple - from verse 22, "her clothing is fine linen & purple"

Our table decorations in the conference room had purple table runners with little lanterns on each table - from verse 18, "her lamp does not go out at night."

Surrounding the centerpieces were red & white "jewels" from verse 10, "her worth is far above jewels."

The leadership team had special things for each & every lady from the moment they arrived - in order to make everyone feel special & loved.

As they arrived at the conference center each lady was given a personalized embroidered retreat bag - with all kinds of fun goodies inside.

Then... as they signed in at the registration table they were given a uniquely designed name tag & a t-shirt.

When they found their room - each lady found a scrolled "welcome letter" along with a diamond shaped purple cookie on their bed!

Friday night was all about how we, as women, were created to be beautiful!  Mainly because we are created in the image of God - and the Bible is filled with descriptions of the beauty of the Lord.

Friday night we had a wonderful time around the bonfire!  We sang songs & one of our seminary students led us in a very insightful devotional!

Saturday we dove right into Proverbs 31... with a new twist!

The entire retreat was designed to dispel any thoughts that this "woman" is fictional or unattainable - but rather... not only is she attainable - but God created us to be this woman!

We can be

godly, energetic, wise, graceful, active, trustworthy, 

profitable, industrious, watchful, influential

content & confident!

....Just to name a few

We covered a little history of this great chapter...

Solomon is known to have written most of Proverbs.  In fact, Chapter 31 is no different.  It has been said that "King Lemuel" is in fact, King Solomon.  Verse 1 of chapter 31 tells us these are the words of the King's mother.  This means these are the words of Bathsheba!!!  

The key message of the entire weekend was this...

When a precious jewel is found in nature, it is no where near ready to be made into the jewelry we wear.  There are a variety of processes which first must be applied to this precious stone.  The first one is removing, knocking off, or cutting away the rough limestone or marble that has grown around the stone. Once the stone has been cleaned it then must be faceted.  But the need for these processes doesn't make this jewel any less valuable.  It doesn't make it less a diamond, or a ruby, or a sapphire - just because it's dirty on the outside.

We are much like this jewel - actually we're better, because verse 10 says that we are worth more than jewels.  But sin has entered our life and has covered our beauty.  Sin has covered our ability to reveal just how valuable we really are deep down.

God has made us to be a treasure!  We only need to clean up a bit - by applying the characteristics of this godly woman to reveal our God-given beauty!

This retreat covered the first process - "knocking off the rough" - part II will be "building the facets"

A special thanks goes out to my husband and one of our deacons for helping with the sound & lights all weekend!  What a team!

I can't wait until next year!!!

Here is a slideshow of our time together!

His Word Sunday

Today is the last Sunday before the start of Advent.  Therefore, we're either buying & preparing for next Thursday's Thanksgiving Feast, or we're buying & preparing for all the parties & festivities of Christmas.

This is the time of year where it's easy for tempers to be short, patience to be small, and for bodies to tire easily.

This verse from James just stood out to me this morning and I'm making it my battle cry until I see January!

James 5:11 (ESV)

Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast.  

You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, 

and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, 

how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

...just real quick add this one from Psalms to seal the deal....

Psalm 119:5 (ESV)

Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!

Go & be steadfast toward the purposes & statutes of the Lord!