Monthly Archives: February 2013

Sunday Smiles and Scripture

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Saturday: Paul, Luke and Isaac in the backyard after traversing the neighborhood.

(Note the experiment supplies left from a warm day earlier in the week: baking soda, spoon and recycled greens container)
Things like the broom and bike seem to show up everywhere! 🙂

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Late Saturday: Adam, John and Rachel waiting for the awards ceremony at our local speech/debate competition.

Psalm 16:11
English Standard Version (ESV)
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The top three boys and I read Psalm 14-16 at bedtime and the younger two guys were happy to hear this verse, as it was quoted often one of our latest readers, Rainbow Garden.

Sunday Smiles and Scripture

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Paul, aka The General (For today, anyway!)

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General Paul flanked by his officers, Captain John and Sergeant Isaac

Ephesians 6:10-18
New International Version (NIV)
The Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Yes, I do realize that combining the goofy pictures above with Bible verses may be cheesy to some, but I thought of it during my search for children/boy-type verses, as the middle guy, (pictured above), almost has this passage memorized. Go Isaac!!

Five Minute Friday: Beloved

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Five Minute Friday

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my blog’s footer}.

3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.

Beloved.
Start.

He said 26 Valentines. Really? Hard to believe. He was 19, I, almost, when we celebrated our first, over 1,000 miles apart. He was on the east coast, while I stayed here in the Midwest, in the same state I have always lived.
He came back three years later and we were married six months later, celebrating our first Valentine’s in person about six weeks later.
22 Valentine’s, 21years, six children, three babies lost to miscarriage, one type-1 diabetes diagnosis for our 18-month old, one celiac diagnosis for his older brother, homeschooling, strong wills, my hormone dive four years ago. Good, hard, together through it all. I never would have imagined all those 26 Valentine’s ago. I want to leave regrets behind, because he is my beloved. He loves me even though he knows me.

My beloved.

Disclosure: I gave myself almost a minute extra since I am typing on my ipad screen after watching a movie with my beloved.

Ephesians 5:33
New International Version
However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Stop.

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Me and My Beloved at Grayton Beach, October 2012 with Isaac 😉

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Valentine’s guys by Isaac

1 Corinthians 13
New International Version

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Library Books Waiting To Be Read

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These are the books that have been calling my name for a week:

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Now, to get my act together and:
A) Get up earlier.
B) Stick with the “peace and quiet time” each afternoon that was working so well at the beginning of January. I let it fall by the wayside when Rachel got sick and wanted company.
C) Remember how much I like to read. To myself, that is. I read every day to some or all of my lovies 🙂

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ”
John 15:5 (ESV)

Five Minute Friday: Afraid

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Five Minute Friday

Five Minute Friday: Afraid

1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my blog footer}
3. Go leave some comment props for the five minute artist who linked up before you {and if you love us, consider turning off word verification for the day to make it easier for folks to say howdy}

Afraid. Oh, the possibilities that word brings to mind. Children, diabetes, homeschooling, strong-wills, marriage, empty-nesting (one of the days in the long-off future), parents’ health, on and on and on.

Will I fight off those fears to try to be the mother I need to be to this older crew who wants to talk and think and depletes my brain so quickly?

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First show, opening night of “The Hobbit” in December, with Daddy.

Will I fight off those fears and be a good mommy to this younger crew who wants to play and explore and create and be loud, so very loud?

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Reading Curious George with Grandpa during Christmas break. (Could’ve used this last week for “Again”!)

Will I fight off those fears and be a good wife to this guy, this guy I married 21 years and a month ago? This guy I started dating just two months after I turned 18. The one who knows me better than any and STILL loves me. Amazing and terrifying.

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Anniversary overnight, December 28.
Top: The new Sea Lion exhibit at the St. Louis Zoo.
Bottom: At the hotel.

So much to be afraid about, wasting so much time doing it.

I claimed Joshua 1:9 as my homeschooling verse midway through last year and I’m sticking with it:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” NIV.

END