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Full Weekends

October 9, 2011 By 2 Comments

Oops.  Did I say 31 “consecutive” days?   Well, this is me having to make a modification. :)  I definitely will do 31 days, but I may miss a day or two for which I will make up.  Life just took over from Thursday on through today, which caused us to be extremely busy, but with GOOD things.   We had out of town family here because we were celebrating my JuJu’s birthday (more on that on Wednesday), and we had several church functions to attend over the last few days because it was our Fall Bible Conference.

Today, after a great fellowship meal, and after our company left, we took a much-needed nap and then Mark and I went for a Sunday Drive.  Growing up, that was one of my favorite things to do with my Grandparents.  We would just set out with no real destination in mind and drive, drive, drive.  Fall is probably the very best time to do this because of all of the beauty, but it’s also nice when the winter cabin fever sets in just to get a change of scenery. 

We made a pit stop for some ice cream and then played “connect the roads”.  Since we are still relatively new here, it’s fun to figure out where all the roads lead and connect.  The kids weren’t really interested this time, so it was a date!  We drove and chatted for about an hour and then finally came home.  I was so grateful for this weekend and for the chance to celebrate our precious girl.  I am so thankful that we had a full schedule rather than being lonely (even if I do get tired easily nowadays!).  And I am extremely grateful to be able to break away to spend some uninterrupted time with my very best friend.  I love that man so much. 

Everywhere I look in Scripture now, it seems to point to giving thanks.  Isn’t it funny how God opens up our eyes to things that we may have looked at a thousand times before, but for the first time are really seeing?  I love that because it means that He is speaking!  And gratitude is extremely important to Him!

Today, for example, we had a guest speaker for the aforementioned Bible Conference for our Sunday sermon.  His text was Psalm 100, which reads as follows:

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

  Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 
Worship the LORD with gladness;
   come before him with joyful songs. 
Know that the LORD is God.
   It is he who made us, and we are his;
   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

   Enter his gates with thanksgiving
   and his courts with praise
   give thanks to him and praise his name. 
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
   his faithfulness continues through all generations.

I hope to get a link to the sermon on this text put up here just as soon as it’s on the website.  It was so encouraging, and it even spoke of the importance of giving thanks even in the very, very hard places (because He is good!).  I will let you know as soon as I get it.  I pray that we all have a week with our eyes wide open to His daily gifts. 

Filed Under: 31 Days of Giving Thanks,, Blog,, Marriage,, What His Word Says,

A Reflection of 2010

December 7, 2010 By 4 Comments

So, I know that I’ve been very much convicted to back off of FB somewhat, and that still stands (although I have reactivated my account).  But, I will say that after a year of many, many changes for our family, it was sweet, and sometimes funny to look over the things that I wrote about during the course of our regular days.

It’s just life.  Ups and downs, but still full of hope and JOY.  God is so good to us and even though most everything has changed over the course of one year, we are still extremely blessed people.

Filed Under: Blog,, Children,, Family,, Friends,, Homeschooling,, Keepin' It Real,, Marriage,, Moving,

A Man on His Knees

November 23, 2010 By 5 Comments

The week before last, when Mark and I were travelling to Oklahoma together, this song (below) came on the radio. Mark asked me if I’d heard it, but  I had not, so he turned it up and told me to listen to the words.  As I took them in, I got completely choked up because it is such a beautiful, heartfelt song from a man who is going fully against the grain of this culture to take up his God-ordained position as the leader of his family.

I honestly can’t imagine the enormity of what it must be like to have a responsibility like that on your shoulders in a time and place where doing the right thing as a Godly husband and father is such a disdained and even mocked endeavor.  In a culture where men are so emasculated and women are touted as being smarter, stronger and all together more able, standing up and doing what they are called to do is viewed as being chauvanistic and arrogant at best.

It’s truly heartbreaking.  It is astounding how fast and how far we fell.

In the first part of our marriage, I was definitely a product of said culture.  I wanted full control, and no man was ever going to tell me what to do.  But, let me tell you, that is the fast track to destruction.  Once again, I must scream from the rooftops how Jesus didn’t want to leave me (and my marriage) in the filthy pit of sin.  Over time, I had some excellent resources put in front of me and a Father who softened my heart to the better way… His way.

I can testify that when I finally closed my ever-running mouth and let Mark be the head of our home, it was as if God opened up the floodgates of blessing on everything.  Work was no longer where Mark found his fulfillment and respect,  and I realized that Biblical submission is a beautiful act of protection and love from a man to his wife,  and that it is FREEING, not binding.  God is not a God of bondage, anyway.

I don’t ever want to go back to the way things used to be with us.  My prayer is that I will esteem my husband in his walk with his Father (which, incidentally, strengthened a TON when I gave him the lead), encourage him as he instructs, disciples and even disciplines our children without interference, and RESPECT him no matter what in front of others and especially within my heart.  He is God’s son, after all, and doing anything less would be out of line.  (Truly, though, it is my pleasure because I happen to really love the guy.)

The enemy wants nothing more than to continue to rock the foundation of the family, and what better way to do it than to strike at the leader.  He has really run amok within our society over the last 60 or so years in this department, but the buck can stop here.  With us and with you.

These videos were posted yesterday by Kelly over at Generation Cedar, so as soon as I saw them, I just had to share it over here, too.  The first is a video interviewing the singer of Sanctus Real and his wife, and the second is the song.  I hope you’ll take a moment to pray for your husband right after you listen to these because no matter where he is in his walk, I’m 100% sure he could use it. 

*Edited to add:  I found a blog by the bass player of Sanctus Real and this post is POWERFUL.  Please read it if you have an extra minute.

Filed Under: Blog,, Family,, Marriage,, Stuff I Like,

Home Again!

November 16, 2010 By 4 Comments

We are back from Oklahoma, and all is well.  Trying to play catch up, no matter how much you prepare, is always a beast after you get home, though.  I spent yesterday doing all of the laundry, replenishing groceries and trying to get some school done, too.  This is the first chance I’ve had to open up the old laptop!

We left Thursday night and the drive, although it was every bit of 10 hours, was such a special time for Mark and me.  We really enjoyed the chance to talk, undisturbed, and to just be together as a couple.  It was beautiful scenery, too!  The peak time for the leaves changing happened to fall right at the time of our trip which, I found out on our way home, is at least three weeks late.  I am choosing to view it as a special little gift from God.  The colors were breathtaking.  So much of God’s creation just showing off.

We rode into this sunset:

This picture doesn’t even come close to doing it justice, sadly.  This was in Oklahoma (my new-found love), but the mountains of Northwest Arkansas were gorgeous, too.  We went through farmland on the plains of Louisiana, and a bayou there, too.  All beautiful and interesting in it’s own right.  We then took a different route home, which took us from the top of Mississippi down to where we live.  It was so interesting to aquaint ourselves with our new state. 

We literally followed a rainbow for the last hour of our trip, but it would not show up in the pictures no matter how many we took.  I cannot even tell you how much I hate that I don’t have a trillion pictures, and that the ones I do have are pretty horrid quality even for my little hoopty point and shoot.. haha!

I have decided that if I had a boatload of moolah, I would sooooooooooo buy hundreds of acres of land somewhere between NW Arkansas and the plains of Oklahoma and set up camp until I got the the real Heaven.  I was enchanted by the plains, but Mark is a big mountain fellow, so this seems to be the best place to get the best of both worlds.  Until then, we’ll just enjoy MS, though.  :D

An-y-way.

I wouldn’t trade this weekend for anything.  We don’t get away alone often, but we treasure it when we do because it’s so vital to get that time to nurture our marriage and just be together without anyone else every now and then. But, it’s equally good to get home to our Crew.  We are so very blessed.

Filed Under: Blog,, Marriage,