Jingle all the way~

No doubt that's what we will be listening to on the way to SE Missouri. We are heading out in just a bit but I wanted to give a shout out! I just got word that my SLPP practicum has been finalized as of this morning! Whoop! Whoop! God comes through just on time. I'll serve approximately 16 weeks at ECHO school/early childhood center in South Holland! Yeah~ Now if I could only get that Auntie Jeannette to move a bit closer to love on the Gracie girl one more day~~~ Wishful thinking...

Hey - Have a very Merry Christmas, making many memories with Christ at the center. Love & hugs! See ya next year!

Hey- Thanks for praying for my lil Gracie girl. She's much, much better...on her way to 100%. We enjoyed a visiting last night with my brother. They wrestled around & around...Grace was delighted! She loves rough & tumble play nearly as much as she loves tea parties & dressup. :o)

Wow! Travel time is upon us again. We're headed to Missouri to celebrate the season with family & catch up with treasured friends. Speaking of friends, we had a wonderful time this week sharing Christmas with some of our closest friends. Bob, Randy & Auntie Em came over Sunday evening & was worth all the preparation 10X over as we enjoyed fellowship, food & fun. It was quite teary as we expressed our gratitude to each other for walking through/standing together in one of the most difficult years. God holds us; often through the embrace & support of others. Very nice to be with these God-gift friends! Look at these gorgeous cookies made by Shortycake Cookies: Comfort in a Cookie~for every occasion! Cutie Patooty & scrumptious as well.

Thennnnnn, we celebrated with more God-gift friends Nate , Steph and baby Emily. What fun & what delight to have this family in my circle of friends. I'm thankful...

So, Merry Christmas to each of you as your embrace this Most Wonderful of the Year! Thanks again for your thoughts & prayers...really, thank you! See ya next year~

Prayer: yours plus mine

Grace is sick - fever & other yucky stuff that comes with being baby sick. This is the hardest part of being a single parent...just me alone to pray for her healing in the deep of night. When 2 or 3 agree...there I will be. Though the fever will break by morning (by faith), I would really appreciate it if you would help me pray for her healing & health. Thanks so much - for praying for her...for praying for me the past few days. God holds us tight... this I know.

My prayer

It's 4 AM & I'm still preparing for tomorrow. These silent moments when it's just me, my thoughts & God-- sometimes they are hard manage without tears dripping into the dishwater. For some reason, this is when hurts seem to surface & I replay slights from others or my own failures over & over as if on repeat. I think I'm just tired; not from lack of sleep, though that may be a factor-- but just tired of life as it is. This is the song rolling around in my head & heart; this is my prayer~

My Prayer (Use Me) Lyrics
Written by George Rowe2003 Careers-BMG Music Publishing, Inc./Rowe House Music (BMI)

Verse 1:
If my heart's been torn by hatred
Mend it with Your love
If I am wounded by my brother
Answer him with a healing touch
When dark moments lead me to doubt
Light my path back to faith
And when hope is crushed by despair
Complete my joy.
Rebuild my strength

Chorus:
Lord use me
I surrender to Your will
Lord use me
May Your peace move me to be still
So You can use me
Show me your ways
Please use me
I desire to do Your will

Verse 2:
Let me hear and not be heard
Let me see and not be seen
Not to be honored, but to glorify
Not to be loved, but to love

Chorus
Lord use me
I surrender to Your will
Lord use me
May Your peace move me to be still
So You can use me
Show me your ways
Please use me
I desire to do Your will

Bridge:
In giving myself, I know that I will receive
Teach me to forgive by forgiving me
Not to be known, but to know You

Chorus
Lord use me
I surrender to Your will
Lord use me
May Your peace move me to be still
So You can use me
Show me your ways
Please use me
I desire to do Your will

Amen

Just about over~

Hey there~ the Christmas production is over...what a weekend extravaganza: four performances, 23 song/dance/instrumental numbers with many, many cast/crew involved, 1000+ delighted guests, folks giving their heart to Christ and one tired little girl/mother. I've got all my assignments in; one final down & one to go by midnight tonight. Let the Christmas parties begin, the shopping finish & wrapping commence.

We got our 1st hair cut & still have curls. :o) Christmas portraits are complete & ready to be tucked in the yet to be addressed greeting cards. I've been doing a bit of backup babysitting this week (& next) for my friends. Makes me appreciate those moms toting toddler plus baby. :o) I started a new part time job & interviewed with a university down town for another part time job. Mind you, I already work part time & I don't need anymore jobs. I like to keep my options open.

BUSY~ Needless to say I haven't been the ideal blogger the last couple of weeks. Thanks for checking in on me & I promise to catch up soon.

Amidst the hustle & bustle of the past couple of weeks my nephew, Haddon, turned a BIG 3 years old. Happy, happy birthday, buddy! He's sporting his new cowboy boots & hat in this picture. :o) Cute, ain't he?

Must run but for now, let me leave you with this bit O'Grace from Tuesday night:

We race to the bedroom. Grace won, of course. "I win! I win!", shouts Grace as she jumped up & down on the bed. "Hey", I said...about to tickle the girl silly. "Hay is for the horsies, mommy", quipped my little smarty. This she knows from experience because she rode on the tractor with papa at Thanksgiving putting out hay for the horses to eat. :o)

Back home again~

Well, we're back from a great visit down home for the holiday. We thoroughly enjoyed family & friends, reliving old memories & making new ones. Gracie enjoyed lots of play with cousins & her papas, riding horses AND taking a tractor ride to get some hay. :o) Needless to say, I kicked some Rumicub behind this weekend! Whoo hooo~

The 1st annual Cookie Swap with the college roommates & their kids was a great SUCCESS! It feels so good to be in that loving circle & supercool to see our kids developing friendships among themselves. Gracie is the baby of the group so she is coddled, cuddled & carried around almost more than she can handle. :o) Pics to come soon~ Right, Val?? Soon????

Good to be back home for now. We are busy, BUSY with our annual Christmas Production. Grace & I are both in the program. Working diligently on "Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - I could sing it in my sleep. I problably am singing it in my sleep. That's a good thing. We're doing the Point of Grace version with very tight harmony. We recently had our 1st rehearsal in the living/singing Christmas tree tonight - what a hoot! :o) It's 21ft high- wheee~ This pic is from another church - ours isn't quite this big. Dress rehearsals begin this weekend & it's nearly nonstop until performances Dec 8-10. Looks like the production is sold out according to the website. WOW!

Gratitude

In this season of thanksgiving, I wish to offer thanks & gratitude for bountious blessings bestowed on my family. Even in loss, there lingers a fragrant peace, assurance of God's presence & hope for the future. Blessings to you & yours~

One of my blogging friends had a thoughtful post a few days back about gratitude. She included some quotes definitely worth sharing. I found a few more to share as well. Thanks & credit to write at home

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melodie Beattie

Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies.
Charles E. Jefferson(1860 - 1937)

Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.
Jacques Maritain, Reflections on America, 1958 French diplomat & philosopher (1882 - 1973)

Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.
G.K. Chesterton

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.
Albert Schweitzer

Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.
Alfred Painter

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. H. U. Westermayer

Little hands to comfort

I was preparing for company yesterday when I got this wild hair to rearrange my bedroom. No clue why it struck me so urgent as I was already under the weather with a cold. Nonetheless, I got the sleigh bed repositioned, putting the mattesses back on the frame, when I kindof got a little lazy & let the top mattress "fall" just a bit onto the box spring. Just a bit...maybe 8-12 inches. However, it hit the frame just so, busting my lovely sleigh bed. I couldn't believe it! A careless blunder made such irreparable damage. My face in my hands, I was distraught. Not crying, just the "I can't believe I just did that" kind of rant.

Gracie, hearing the commotion, came in to see me on the floor assessing the damage with my moaning commentary. Then I feel her little hand rubbing my shoulder. "It'll be ok, mom. It'll be alright.
It's ok. Let me wipe your tears", as she dabs my eyes with a baby wipe. So sweet. "I broke the bed!" I told her. "It's not your fault. It'll be ok." She just continued to comfort me. So sweet. Just what I needed.

A little later, Gracie was putting screws in the plastic container for the 4th time when I heard her say, "Help me, God. Help me, please." She was listening as I implored God for help trying to get the bed propped up. The bed is stablized up for now thanks to the letter S encyclopedia & some wood scraps. Perhaps I can sweeten the neighbor with some chocolate chip cookies to fix this lovely bed. Broken bed or not, I treasure these tender moments with my little comforter. Little hands comfort so sweetly.

Elastic love

Heard a great message this weekend. Something new embedded in the familiar message we've heard before about the Mary & Martha methods of service/worship.

As ardent worshippers, there are time when we find ourselves a bit further from the flame than we would like to be. The chill of even slight separation from Christ is unecessary given God's faithfulness to forgive should we when we sin & repent; repentance being an about face from sin. The fresh nugget comes in here. Why are we reluctant to repent? Or even after repentence, still what hinders us from entering into worship before the king? Could it be that we frame forgiveness in the context of our earthly relationships?

Say, for instance, I have this disagreement or huff with a friend. We resolve it quickly because God said to put all anger, malice, wrath, etc. away from us. He also said not to let the sun go down on our anger. We resolve it quickly in the ideal situation. Even so, depending on the extent of the wound (& some would say the spiritual maturity level of the parties involved), it may take some time to heal; time to rebuild trust & open up again. This is natural but not necessarily healthy.

So we often reserve our affection in unconscious fear or hesitation because God might not be so ready to take us back or regard our gifts of worship as sincere. Afterall, we just fell on our face with our words, attitudes, sin, etc. God doesn't need time. Can you imagine God putting up His hands "Uh, not so fast. I'm gonna need a little time here." Rather, He is waiting for our turning; He is longing for our heart to race to His embrace.

Believe me, I've reminded myself quite a bit the past few years that God is not caught off guard by my failings or fraility. He is not surprised when we fall short; nor is He put off or roll His eyes the 1st or the 100th time we repent. He doesn't , He simply extends His hand in love, forgiveness & restoration. We simply must return the reach.

Oh, that we would have the same elastic love for ourselves, our loved ones & even those unloved.

American Accent~

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The South
The Northeast
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Hmmm - just like I thought! What about you?