God's beautiful creation

I just spent about a week in Kentucky with my in-laws.  While we were there we were able to hike around two of the KY state parks.  Above is a shot of one of the natural bridges.  It was so cool to be able to walk across it.  Mind you it was also a bit nerve racking having your children with you since there were no railings :)  We did make it safely across to the other side.  The kids loved all the exploring and climbing they got to do.  I suppose the big kids loved climbing around too :)


It was such a blessing to have been able to soak in some of the beauty God has made for us to enjoy.  I pray you get a chance to get away from your everyday life, slow down and see


“ Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”  Isaiah 6:3b and 
"...be glad and rejoice forever in what I create." Isaiah 65:18a

Crazy days

Our lives have been crazy lately but we have been shown God's great love in abundance. He has blessed us with a great family and friends, a wonderful homeschooling community, His word, music, trips with family and so much more.

As of Sunday, I started a new challenge. I am joining Lara as she memorizes Matthew 5-7. Yikes! That is a lot of verses but we will be taking it one week at a time. 3-4 verses a week. If you want to join us please check out her blog post Memorizing the Sermon on the Mount :: Week 1

May the Lord be praised by the memorizing of His word!

for HIS glory!

Lesson from Monopoly

The other night my family decided to play the never ending game of Monopoly. I am not sure how it happened but my husband called me out on my lack of integrity. Okay, so maybe I do know how it happened. I had told him that if a player didn't notice that you landed on their property, you didn't have to pay them. He frowned at me. Can you believe it! A frown! "I'm not a child", I thought. I quipped back, "but it is just a game. That's how I was taught to play." As his words sunk in, I realized that integrity hadn't truly taken root in my life. Lord, even in the little things, show me YOUR way.

So, thank you, Brian for pointing me toward God's way.

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. (NLT)

Summer's End

Well, here I am again after another summer has come to an end without posting a SINGLE thing. I guess blogging and summer don't go together for me :)

The end of summer has brought along a few changes for us. First of all, we are DEBT FREE!!! Secondly, we are moving into a new home. And lastly, we are starting a new homeschool curriculum called Classical Conversations. We are so excited about what God has in store for us this year. I will be teaching a Spanish class and couldn't be happier to be using my degree, Finally!

This brings me to a prayer request that I have to bring before you. Our CC director's 9 year old son just had a brain tumor removed and is awaiting the biopsy results. Please pray for God's perfect peace to rest on the family. Please pray for healing and most of all pray for our great God to be glorified.

for HIS glory!

Adam and Eve

So today was an interesting day for one particular reason, God made the story of Adam and Eve come to life for me. I was watching preschool kids at church. I was able to take the kids outside because it was such a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine. It had rained the day before so unfortunately the slides were still wet. The other teacher and I repeated a few times that the kids should stay off of the slides. A couple of the kids even seemed a bit irritated because we kept repeating ourselves. About five minutes later we see a little boy going down the slide. We told him to come over so we could "talk". He explained that he wasn't at fault, it was the "girl" who made him do it. She told him to go down the slide. Wow! Doesn't that sound so familiar? That is exactly what happened in the beginning. The Bible is so amazing. The stories in it REALLY do apply to our lives today. God is such a good God that He gives us His Word to guide us as we try to navigate our way through this life.

for His glory!

Forgiveness

It hit me like a ton of bricks last week. I AM the man in the parable who was forgiven a large debt by the king. Like him, I struggle to forgive the man (or child) who, in turn, "owes" me. Usually it is my girls who face "my" justice side with little to no mercy. Why? Why do I rejoice at the forgiveness God has given me and then turn right around, indignant at my children's mistakes? They ask for forgiveness and I look at them as though they have three heads. Forgive? I have a hard time forgiving them because I have a good memory. I know that just a minute ago they committed the same offense against me and now they are doing it again. There is a pattern of wrong in their lives. But am I any different? How many days do I also turn to ask for forgiveness from my Heavenly Father and confess the same sins? Often. Too often. Lord, help me to be as forgiving as you are. Thank you, Lord for your amazing grace! Help me be an example to my children of You and Your forgiveness-and remember the trespasses no more!

for HIS glory!

Willingly amputate?

I started writing this post almost a year ago. I haven't published it until now because I felt like it needed some revising so here goes; Marriage was designed by God as extremely important, it should be highly valued and should be kept beautiful because it represents the unconditional love God has toward us, his image bearers.

After talking about marriage as beautiful it might seem strange to have given this post such a strange title. I guess amputation and marriage don't really have a clear connection but in my mind they do. A few times over the last week or so (or year) I have been talking to friends or listening to someone talk about marriage. While we were talking I realized just how literally I take the verse from Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife; and they shall become ONE flesh. (see also Mark 10:7-9) I realized that most times I feel like my husband and I ARE one. Our names are usually said together. When people think about one of us, they immediately think of the other. Marriage partners are like two peas in a pod. They are individuals but they belong together because they are housed in the same "pod". Okay now I'm getting to the amputation connection. If we are one flesh in God's eyes, is it okay to divorce? In Mark 10:9 it says, "What therefore God has joined together, let NO man separate." Does God really mean what He says? Are these words truth or just empty rhetoric? Going back to the pea pod example. If we take the two peas out of their pod, they are no longer whole as a pea pod. They are just two little peas. I see divorce as willingly amputating a part of our self. God has brought two people together or allowed them to marry, thus, they should stay married. "...for better or for worse".

Here is a link to an interesting article on the damage divorce has caused our country.


for HIS glory!