Thankfully, Grace DOES Tell Us Another Story

The enemy loves to tell us lies.  The enemy will tell us horrible, horrible untruths...whispering them into our hearts and minds constantly...and if we listen long enough to the wrong voice, we will believe those lies.  We will live like we believe those lies. 

I've listened to this song by Mercy Me so many times and yet today it spoke directly to my heart.  I heard these words today and thought of many loved and dear ones in my life right now who are hearing the lies...and believing them...because things are so rough and so sad right now in their lives that it's easier to listen to the untruths than to allow the Truth to shine through...this song is for them.  

The lyrics tell us, GRACE, embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, tells us a different story than the world...different than the enemy.  Thank you Lord!

I love you dear friends and family...and I hope the Lord will comfort you today.  May you feel His hope and His love, His comfort, His strong arms around you somehow today.  May you hear His voice in your heart and mind and believe the Truths that He whispers into your heart through His Word and through the Words of others.

"Grace Tells Another Story"

They say don't waste your time You simply cannot find an ounce of good within the heart of man
they say we've got to lay in the bed we've made and live this life without a second chance but
I'm inclined to say there must be something more.

[chorus]
We've been told that the heart is just too far gone to save but grace tells us another story
Where glory sends hopelessness away oh grace tells us another story.

They say we cannot change there is no other way get used to it cause this is all there is they
say don't raise your voice cause we don't have a choice we're dealt this hand so learn to live
with it well i have to believer there must something more. [back to chorus]

And though we may not understand why You'd give us another chance we praise You who lets us
start again. [back to chorus]

 

All my best to you today,

Is Christmas Over Already?

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I've posted!  Ah, the time leading up to the holidays goes so very quickly.  Kudos to all of you who have done so well with posting during December!  I must try and line up some posts early next year so I can still connect with all of you during one of the busiest times of the year.

I hope your Christmas was joyous and filled with love and laughter.  We enjoyed much laughter and fun with friends and family during the month and over the Christmas holiday.  This time of year is so precious in so many ways.  Seeing and spending time with family, honoring Jesus and His sacrifice for us, and singing Christmas carols and baking with my girls - these are all highlights of our Christmas celebration.

"Busy, busy, busy" would describe my December.  I worked on several gifts for Jeff's side of the family this year.  Two quilts and four baby blankets.  The two quilts were made for our nieces, Emily and Kate.  The material I used in them was from three of their mom's corduroy jumpers that she used to wear for many years.  They were well received and for that I am so thankful!  It was a joy to make them and see the girls appreciate them so much!

 Emily, Louise (these were her dresses!), and Kate with quilts

Emily, me, Louise, and Kate with quilts

The baby blankets were for our niece's children and our nephew's children.  Bella and Zezzie are the oldest and they seemed to love their blankets right away.  It's such a joy to see the little ones enjoy a homemade gift!

 Bella and her dad, Josh - she's wrapped in her cozy blanket :)

Zezzie wrapped in her blanket too :)

Our daughters both made gifts for family this year.  We're so proud of their efforts and thankful that the Lord is growing a heart for others in our girls. 

Julie worked on mats using her loom and then made tassels for each one as well.  All in all, she has made 14 so far!  She also made Jeff and I these beautiful organizers from yarn and a sweet purse for her sister too!  

 Aunt Lisa with her mat made by Julie

Uncle Randy with his mat made by Julie

Heather loves to draw, so she drew pictures and colored them for us and for her Nana, Papa, and Uncle Mike.  Ours were booklets of several pictures - they turned out beautifully!

 My Daddy, Heather's Papa, with the drawing Heather did for him

My brother Michael with the drawing Heather did for him

We cut back a lot on Christmas this year in terms of spending and it is a relief to know that we don't have a huge credit card bill waiting for us next month.  It's freeing and for that I'm so thankful!  I'm starting our 2011 Christmas fund beginning in January again.  It was so much easier to put away a little bit each month rather than shelling it all out in December.  

What were the highlights of your Christmas?  

Did you see family?  Friends?  Bake some delicious goodies?

We baked a lot of cookies this year, but I'll share just one of my favorites with you today.  These are called Super Gingersnaps.  They really are huge!  The cookies turn out to be about 3 1/2 inches across, if not 4 inches across.  Delicious too!

Super Gingersnaps

• 4 cups flour, sifted
• 2 Tablespoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons each of ginger, cinnamon, cloves
• 1 1/2 cups shortening
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup molasses

Cream together the shortening, white sugar, and brown sugar.  Add eggs and molasses to creamed mixture and blend well.  

In a separate bowl, combine the sifted ingredients:  flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.  Add the mixed dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix until it's well blended.

Shape into walnut size balls, dip into sugar, and place onto a greased cookie sheet with the sugar side facing up.  Flatten with the bottom of a drinking glass and bake.  I recommend placing only three cookie balls across the sheet because they expand and could "mesh" into one another.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Enjoy! 

All my best to you as another new year approaches!

It's a Good Day When...

Oh yes, it's been a good day when...

• our dining room table looks like this - it means we're baking together!  Love, love this Gingerbread Cookie Recipe at Home is Where My Story Is.  It's truly the best gingerbread cookie I've ever tasted! 

• I get to work side-by-side with sweet Juliebug in the kitchen.  She is becoming quite adept at making and baking cookies!

•  I find Heatherbean with her nose buried in a book (literally!)  When she's quiet, I can usually find her on the couch or in her room reading a good book.  I love that she loves to read!

• I have the privilege of watching both of my girls use my Grandma Robinson's cookie cutters to cut out gingerbread cookies.  I remember watching my Grandma Robinson bake cookies and loved it when we walked through the door to smell her cookies baking!

And it's a good day when...there is laughter, music, and hugs throughout the day.  

Yes, the girls and I had a wonderful day together yesterday and I am thankful!

Are you creating memories today?

All my best to you!

Sharing Great Links

My blog has seen little love lately, so I thought I'd share some links to posts that have been inspiring and interesting to me.  I've been so busy with Christmas projects that I have very little time to write on my blog.  Of course, I want to share what I am working on, but then the surprises might be blown (especially since my girls read my blog sometimes). 

So, once January arrives, hopefully there will be more time to write for fun and I can share with you what has been keeping me so busy these last several weeks and what will likely keep me busy right up until the 24th of this month.

So, here are some links that I've truly enjoyed recently.

Simple Christmas Ideas Using Organic Natural Elements  - my sweet friend Denise over at The Cottage Chick wrote this wonderful post about using simple and natural elements to decorate for the holidays.  Her photos are amazing too!

Sheet Rugs - I simply must learn how to crochet!  After reading this crafty post at Crafty Life and Style, learning to crochet is on my bucket list so I can make these beautiful rugs from sheets!

Advent Origami Boxes - such a sweet idea for creating Advent goodie boxes for the holiday season.  Kirsty has many other great ideas too, so visit her at Kirsty Girl.

Jesus Calling Review and Giveaway - Rachel over at The Cupcake Sprinkles in Life shares her thoughts on two wonderful devotional books, Jesus Calling and Jesus Calling for Kids.  I'm excited to get these books for my girls for Christmas!

Why You've Got to Initiate, Baby - Sheila Wray Gregoire has a wonderful series called Wifey Wednesdays when she talks about issues related to marriage.  Her posts are tasteful, fun, and sometimes comical.  Most importantly to me, she writes from a Christian perspective.  I just love this series!  Visit Shelia at To Love, Honor and Vacuum.

That's all for now because I just realized what time it is and I need to get myself and the girls out of the house in about 1 1/2 hours...so I must move in that direction. 

All my best to you today,

Rediscovering the Many Benefits of Puzzles

I remember as a child that my parents would erect the card table in the living room and have a puzzle laid out during the colder months of the year.  It was always a great distraction from the normal every day activities and it was a thrill to see it come together as we worked as a family.  

Dad and Mom would usually put on some great music (on the record player of course!) and we would sit there hunched over the pieces to see which area of the puzzle we could finish during that particular sitting.  Puzzles are "addictive" - but in a good way!

This past weekend, my husband and I rediscovered the joy of doing puzzles!  Our girls found puzzles in the cupboard at my parents’ house and the next thing we knew, we had a puzzle going each day we were there for the holiday.  I think we completed two puzzles and ½ of another from Thursday to Sunday. 

The girls were more interested than I thought they would be!  It just goes to show that the simpler things in life can still catch the interest of our young people despite the electronic age in which we live.   

At any given time, there were three or four of us working on a puzzle together – my husband, my Mom, Dad, the girls and me.  It brought back sweet memories of my childhood, and the time together with my parents created brand new memories with a new generation – our girls.    


Did you know?

 ·        Puzzles increase fine motor skills – even young children can grasp onto puzzle pieces, sometimes even prior to being able to hold a crayon properly.

·        Hand-eye coordination is enhanced when putting a puzzle together – it takes both hand and eye coordination to figure out what puzzle piece fits where in the big scheme of the puzzle.

·        Puzzles are excellent for improving cognitive skills – the very process of putting together a puzzle naturally teaches a child or adult how to reason and how to solve problems. 

·        Puzzles strengthen social skills and relationships – they’re just down right fun!  Children and adults can learn how to work with others while putting together a puzzle – asking where a piece might go, finding pieces together, and fitting together a scene or part of the puzzle as a team.

We have discovered that the benefits of puzzles go far beyond just the educational aspects.  A puzzle brings us together in one place.  We’re all focused on the same project, working toward one goal, and we find that we talk quite a bit while we work together.  It’s a quiet time when we all slow down and spend time together.

My husband and I talked over the weekend and we have decided to keep our eyes open for a craft table over the holidays (hoping to find a great sale!).  Once we find one, we are going to set it up in the living room and keep it up throughout the winter.  We’re interested to see how many puzzles we can start and finish in six months or so! 

Sources for Puzzles

Of course you can purchase puzzles brand new and admittedly that’s the best way to ensure that all the puzzle pieces are present and accounted for, but even new puzzles can have pieces missing.

We like to scour thrift stores and garage sales for puzzles at great prices.  Garage sale season is over in our area, so I am going to head to the thrift store to see what I can find.  The last time I searched our local thrift stores, I found several puzzles of 500 pieces or more and the prices ranged from 29 cents to 69 cents each.  Now that’s a deal!  And, surprisingly, all the pieces were included!

Types of Puzzles

There are entire stores dedicated to just puzzles, so if you have one of those in your area, go take a look at the many styles and types of puzzles that are available!  It will inspire you!

Here are some types to look for:

·        Wood puzzles

·        Floor puzzles – huge pieces

·        Chunky puzzles

·        Jigsaw puzzles – pieces range from 25 to thousands of pieces

·        Layered puzzles

·        Sensory puzzles – these have different textures within the same puzzle

·        Peg puzzles

·        Foam puzzles

Choose age appropriate puzzles for your children, but try to challenge them as they grow up too.  The more experience they get, the harder the puzzles should become to continue challenging them to sharpen their cognitive and reasoning skills.

Above all, enjoy the process!  Put on some music, brew some coffee or make some hot chocolate, and just enjoy watching the puzzle come together. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

I hope and pray that you and yours have a blessed day! 

All my best to you,

How Has the Lord Shown His Grace to You?

Adults and children alike brought forward their Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes yesterday in service while a video played across the screens.  The video showed video clips and photos of children receiving these boxes and the smiles on their faces melted my heart.  Heather, our youngest daughter, took up her box along with her Daddy to the front of the church and placed it there with hundreds of others.  It was a sight to see all those boxes, knowing they would make their way around the world to a girl or boy who might not otherwise receive anything at all this Christmas.

Our pastor, Dave, put it this way - he picked up a single box and called it "a box of grace".  He went on to explain that these boxes hold toys, books, crayons, and other things, but most importantly they hold grace.  See, each box will contain all the wonderful things that each person included in it, but it will also contain a copy of the Gospel in the child's native language.  They will be able to read about what Jesus did for them on the cross.  They will have an opportunity to give their hearts and lives to Christ simply because someone chose to spend time and money putting together a small box of grace.

Dave's words tugged at my heart.  How many times do I worry about where we will get the money to fix the car, buy new shoes for our girls, or put milk into the refrigerator?  Not as often as some, I know.  But there are those months we try so hard and are so careful to be good stewards of our money, time, and talent and yet something else comes up and we are faced with an unexpected expense - one that will cause us to think about what we need to give up either this month or the next...and sometimes longer than that.

And yet...every time I worry or think that we aren't going to make it...the Lord shows us His GRACE!  We have never, ever, not had food on our table.  We have never gone without clothing.  We have a warm and clean home in which to live.  He has provided funds through a small job or gift card in the mail when we don't expect it.  And, despite the times we are wondering if we can provide for our own family, He shows us ways we can give to others.  That is the true blessing of it all!  

How has He done this?  It's been simple things like sales on canned goods in the grocery store so we can give to the Thanksgiving canned good drive.  It was a gift card in the mail to Meijer (groceries!) that I received simply for filling out a survey for the University of Dayton sometime over the summer.  I've found bits and pieces of fabric and such for amazing sale prices and I've supplemented those sales with fabric I already had on hand.  My parents graciously purchased Julie's winter coat for us this year!  Family members have handed us items that we were thinking of buying, but hadn't yet because of budget concerns.  There are so many other ways in which He has provided and allowed us to give to others and each time, it is like a blessing...a reminder that His Grace is sufficient for me if I will simply trust Him to take care of my every need and my every worry.

The children receiving the boxes in a few weeks...they have next to nothing and some of them face the very real possibility of not knowing where their next meal will come from each day.  They struggle with so much physically and I'm sure, emotionally.  These boxes are God's way of taking care of them and meeting a very real need - their need for Christ and His salvation.  When I think about that...I know in my heart of hearts that if we have Christ and His salvation, we have everything we truly need.  We have eternal life and can know that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life when we accept Jesus as our Saviour and Lord!

My family - we are so very blessed - even during those times we feel stretched financially, emotionally, spiritually, or physically.  In reality, we have more than we need and maybe even more than we should.  I'm praying the Lord will continue to show us ways to give to others and to show His grace to us.  That is what I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving season and on this Multitude Monday.  His Grace.

Has the Lord shown His grace to you recently?  I'd love to hear about it!  Glorify Him with your testimony by linking up below!


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