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This has just been a weird week. Doesn't seem like Thursday for one thing. Girls finished their schoolwork by 11:00 for another thing. (Yes, it's VERY nice when every class has an easy day on the same day ... but so much less enjoyable when every class has a hard day on the same day!)
The weather forgot that we live in Texas and that we're all a big bunch of weenies when it comes to cold weather. 26 degrees should never happen here. I think that's in my contract somewhere. We had a nice toasty fire the other night until I realize that there is some kind of crazy magnetic attraction that five year old boys have with fires. Let's all be thankful that the night ended with no ER visits. In case anyone was wondering, in the case of little green army men versus fire, the fire wins. Every time. And melted little green army men smell bad. Every time.
(Helpful. That's what I am.)
I am attempting chili again tonight. I have had this unnatural obsession with chili lately. Enough so that I have pleaded with friends to make it for me and have started forwarding my mail to Jason's Deli again. I am now armed with a new recipe and will be trying it tonight. I will keep you posted. Let's hope I'm not disappointed. Again.
If you read this post ... well, all of these thoughts are still rolling around in my head.
I hope I didn't make it sound like I think it's a "one size fits all" type thing and that if you follow the path you believe the Lord is leading you down, life will be all sunshine and happiness. It's still life, still filled with the muck and mire of sin, both our own and the sins of others which affect us.
I do firmly believe that His grace is sufficient for our need, and that His grace is applied where our need is. I also think, though, that we can allow things to get in the way. Fear, doubt, disobedience, rejection, and running ahead of His will can cause His grace to appear insufficient, or not "work" like it should.
I'm still processing my thoughts here ... and can't seem to put them into words yet. I sense a part three coming up soon.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Sufficient Grace
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I have a friend who is going through a major endeavor in her life. She will soon be doubling the size of her family - from three to six children. The current children are young and the new children are also young, with special needs.
Let me be honest here. My brain has been all over the place in trying to wrap around that. On one hand I'm in awe. Not only in awe that they are doing that, but in awe of how the Lord is working out the details. On another hand, the thought "is she crazy?" has crossed my mind a time or two. (Sorry, Jessica. Just being honest here.) On another hand (because I apparently have several hands) I want to get in there and help in whatever way I can. And on another hand, (still being honest here) I'm a little jealous of the adventure, when my life is feeling a little stagnant currently.
Yesterday I was thinking and wondering how many people have been discouraging in their comments to Jessica. (And Josh too, but Jessica is the one I see more frequently and see her mom heart.) I don't mean ugly, I mean people who really do mean well but make comments that bring discouragement to them. Maybe there aren't any, I don't know. As I was thinking about it though, I remember something that a fabulous lady who is now with the Lord said once.
I had commented to her about the grace she showed in a situation that I felt would have had me ready for a rubber room. It was a seriously difficult situation and I remember feeling that if I had to deal with it, I would have given up. I will never forget what she said though:
She said "His grace is sufficient for ME in the situations to which He has called ME. His grace is sufficient for YOU in the situations to which He has called YOU."
Wow. Ever looked at someone going through something that you think would just kill you, and yet they survive? Scarred and hurt, maybe, but still the Lord brings them through? That's His sufficient grace, and it was applied to them in their situation. We don't understand it because it wasn't applied to us in their situation. His grace is sufficient for our need, rather than just blanket grace thrown out. It's personal.
Isn't that awesome? :)
Let me be honest here. My brain has been all over the place in trying to wrap around that. On one hand I'm in awe. Not only in awe that they are doing that, but in awe of how the Lord is working out the details. On another hand, the thought "is she crazy?" has crossed my mind a time or two. (Sorry, Jessica. Just being honest here.) On another hand (because I apparently have several hands) I want to get in there and help in whatever way I can. And on another hand, (still being honest here) I'm a little jealous of the adventure, when my life is feeling a little stagnant currently.
Yesterday I was thinking and wondering how many people have been discouraging in their comments to Jessica. (And Josh too, but Jessica is the one I see more frequently and see her mom heart.) I don't mean ugly, I mean people who really do mean well but make comments that bring discouragement to them. Maybe there aren't any, I don't know. As I was thinking about it though, I remember something that a fabulous lady who is now with the Lord said once.
I had commented to her about the grace she showed in a situation that I felt would have had me ready for a rubber room. It was a seriously difficult situation and I remember feeling that if I had to deal with it, I would have given up. I will never forget what she said though:
She said "His grace is sufficient for ME in the situations to which He has called ME. His grace is sufficient for YOU in the situations to which He has called YOU."
Wow. Ever looked at someone going through something that you think would just kill you, and yet they survive? Scarred and hurt, maybe, but still the Lord brings them through? That's His sufficient grace, and it was applied to them in their situation. We don't understand it because it wasn't applied to us in their situation. His grace is sufficient for our need, rather than just blanket grace thrown out. It's personal.
Isn't that awesome? :)
Monday, January 10, 2011
1000 Gifts - 81-90
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Have I ever answered why I'm doing this? What the point is of listing ten things I'm thankful for every week? I'm sure this will come as a shock to you, so please sit down. Sitting? Ready? Okay ... here it is ... I can be a complainer. SHOCK, right? ;) I really don't like that about myself. I want to be the person who looks at a situation and sees the good rather than the bad, and I want to tell you that my natural inclination is to tell you in detail every little thing that is negative or wrong. This list is my effort to work on that. To actively seek the good, the gifts, the blessings I have been given, some deep and serious, some whimsical and silly. :)
So without further ado ... here is my list for this week. I am thankful ...
81. For huddling in a warm house on a cold, rainy day.
82. For Netflix instant on the Wii. I think this could possibly rank up there with the best inventions ever.
83. Cinnamon vanilla coffee cream. It's no white chocolate raspberry, but it's not bad.
84. For sweet friends who offered to hunt down white chocolate raspberry coffee cream for me! :-P
85. For a pleasant week of school last week. Really nice for the first week back after a break to be a good week.
86. For little boys who are growing up way too fast and who tell me when I point it out that "that's just what happens mama. We start off little and then we grow. And that's why I'm going to be six soon." (soon ... in eight months! giggle!)
87. For middle girls who are so excited to finally be tall enough to do dishes. And are willing to do them!
88. For oldest girls who finished their English class last week!
89. For a productive Saturday which led to waking up to a nice clean house Sunday, with all of the laundry done.
90. And last for this week, but certainly not least, my mom's last chemo treatment for round 1 will be done this week.
I will be linking up with A Holy Experience today and will be excitedly reading everybody else's lists! I'd love to read yours too!
Have I ever answered why I'm doing this? What the point is of listing ten things I'm thankful for every week? I'm sure this will come as a shock to you, so please sit down. Sitting? Ready? Okay ... here it is ... I can be a complainer. SHOCK, right? ;) I really don't like that about myself. I want to be the person who looks at a situation and sees the good rather than the bad, and I want to tell you that my natural inclination is to tell you in detail every little thing that is negative or wrong. This list is my effort to work on that. To actively seek the good, the gifts, the blessings I have been given, some deep and serious, some whimsical and silly. :)
So without further ado ... here is my list for this week. I am thankful ...
81. For huddling in a warm house on a cold, rainy day.
82. For Netflix instant on the Wii. I think this could possibly rank up there with the best inventions ever.
83. Cinnamon vanilla coffee cream. It's no white chocolate raspberry, but it's not bad.
84. For sweet friends who offered to hunt down white chocolate raspberry coffee cream for me! :-P
85. For a pleasant week of school last week. Really nice for the first week back after a break to be a good week.
86. For little boys who are growing up way too fast and who tell me when I point it out that "that's just what happens mama. We start off little and then we grow. And that's why I'm going to be six soon." (soon ... in eight months! giggle!)
87. For middle girls who are so excited to finally be tall enough to do dishes. And are willing to do them!
88. For oldest girls who finished their English class last week!
89. For a productive Saturday which led to waking up to a nice clean house Sunday, with all of the laundry done.
90. And last for this week, but certainly not least, my mom's last chemo treatment for round 1 will be done this week.
I will be linking up with A Holy Experience today and will be excitedly reading everybody else's lists! I'd love to read yours too!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The Homeschool Village - Accomplishments!
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The topic at The Homeschool Village today is accomplishments. This is somewhat of a tough topic for me. It's easier to focus on the failures and the things I wish I had done differently. I wonder why that is?
We have had some great accomplishments this year!
The oldest generally does her work without any complaint. She knows what is expected of her, and she does it. Her writing skills have improved astronomically this year, and for the first time, she really enjoys reading. I am delighted by this! She is turning into a responsible young lady, and I am so proud of her!
The middle one still throws out her share of complaints. Haha. Her sister did as well at her age, so I think a lot of that is the age. My middle one is one smart cookie though, and most things come pretty easily to her. The one struggle she has had has been with writing. Actually holding a pencil and writing. She's a lefty and her fine motor skills have been slow to develop. She has improved a ton this year, and I am thrilled. I was about to brag on her stellar spelling skills ... and then looked down and saw her practice spelling test from this week. The word is porcupine. Her spelling? porky pine. Giggle!! This child is always good for a giggle!
The little one is working hard to make my life easier for next year. Because he is child #3 and my baby, I have been very relaxed with him. He just made the cutoff to be in kindergarten this year, and we chose to give him another year to play and have fun. He goes to preschool and we are loving it! He is learning to read short words and is developing great social skills. Nearly every day he is amazing us with what he has learned, and how excited he is about learning new things. It does this mama's heart good!
Our school overall has gone well this year also. All of our classes are 34 to 36 week classes, and we finished 16 weeks before the break. I am calling that a TOTAL success. We are loving the curriculum we chose for this year and are all learning a lot and having a good time as well. I can honestly say, after homeschooling for seven years, this has been our best year so far! :)
The topic at The Homeschool Village today is accomplishments. This is somewhat of a tough topic for me. It's easier to focus on the failures and the things I wish I had done differently. I wonder why that is?
We have had some great accomplishments this year!
The oldest generally does her work without any complaint. She knows what is expected of her, and she does it. Her writing skills have improved astronomically this year, and for the first time, she really enjoys reading. I am delighted by this! She is turning into a responsible young lady, and I am so proud of her!
The middle one still throws out her share of complaints. Haha. Her sister did as well at her age, so I think a lot of that is the age. My middle one is one smart cookie though, and most things come pretty easily to her. The one struggle she has had has been with writing. Actually holding a pencil and writing. She's a lefty and her fine motor skills have been slow to develop. She has improved a ton this year, and I am thrilled. I was about to brag on her stellar spelling skills ... and then looked down and saw her practice spelling test from this week. The word is porcupine. Her spelling? porky pine. Giggle!! This child is always good for a giggle!
The little one is working hard to make my life easier for next year. Because he is child #3 and my baby, I have been very relaxed with him. He just made the cutoff to be in kindergarten this year, and we chose to give him another year to play and have fun. He goes to preschool and we are loving it! He is learning to read short words and is developing great social skills. Nearly every day he is amazing us with what he has learned, and how excited he is about learning new things. It does this mama's heart good!
Our school overall has gone well this year also. All of our classes are 34 to 36 week classes, and we finished 16 weeks before the break. I am calling that a TOTAL success. We are loving the curriculum we chose for this year and are all learning a lot and having a good time as well. I can honestly say, after homeschooling for seven years, this has been our best year so far! :)
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Project 365 for 2011
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I've been doing "Project 365" for a couple of years now. I started in 2009 and continued in 2010. By now it's a habit, so I'm planning to continue for 2011. If you don't know, Project 365 is life in pictures - a picture a day, every day. In 2009, I called my Project 300-something because I knew I'd miss some days and I like to set my standards high like that. ;) I generally put my pictures on facebook, but last year I started putting them on this website as well. I stopped mid-year, and I don't even know why. I did continue taking pics and putting them on facebook but stopped putting them there. It's a great website and very convenient to load and share pics, so I'm going to use it again this year.
If you happen to be on that site, I would love for you to follow me, or to just jump on if you want to see my pic of the day. Be warned - lots of pics of kids, some pics of cats, and some of food and other random things. Sometimes it's a challenge to come up with something to photograph!
I made a button that I'm going to stick on my sidebar that will be clickable to my 365 page.
Melanie's Project 365
I'm hoping that putting this here will help to hold me accountable. If you're on that site, please let me a message and let me know! I'd love to follow you too!
If you happen to be on that site, I would love for you to follow me, or to just jump on if you want to see my pic of the day. Be warned - lots of pics of kids, some pics of cats, and some of food and other random things. Sometimes it's a challenge to come up with something to photograph!
I made a button that I'm going to stick on my sidebar that will be clickable to my 365 page.
Melanie's Project 365
I'm hoping that putting this here will help to hold me accountable. If you're on that site, please let me a message and let me know! I'd love to follow you too!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
11 for 2010
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Our top ten eleven moments of 2010:
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| Three little boys came home. You'll note my youngest two children. Giggle. One dancing the other holding a gun. There's at least one in every family, right? |
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| Daddy came home on leave. |
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| Grammy came to visit. |
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| Daddy came home for good. |
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| Disney World! |
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| The middle one had one of her dreams come true. |
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| The children learned to love each other. |
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| We went to Spokane. |
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| The little one loved preschool. |
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| The oldest one grew up. |
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| And we got a good family picture at the Renaissance Festival. |
Monday, January 3, 2011
1000 Gifts - 71 - 80
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Oh friends, what a fabulous Christmas break we had! It was nice to really take a break and to enjoy family and friends and just some time of relaxation!
71. I facebooked this, but one of the highlights of the week was watching the TOTAL delight my youngest had in fireworks! He was running around the yard from front to back, squealing in excitement. We had neighbors shooting off fireworks all around us and he didn't want to miss a thing. (We chose to live vicariously through our neighbors this year ... haha ... we bought a few sparklers and that was it!)
72. All three of the children spent time with new friends over the break. We have been *SO* blessed in the friend department!
73. I am thankful for the Keurig coffee maker my mom got me for Christmas! I haven't been a huge coffee drinker before, but a cup of decaf with a little splenda and some white chocolate raspberry cream in the morning? Heavenly.
74. I am thankful for having all of the Christmas stuff put away and the house back in order. I love getting it all out, but it's equally nice putting it all back away and reclaiming my house.
75. I am thankful that we will be getting back into our normal routine. The break has been oh so nice, but for myself and at least two of my children, the schedule is a nice relief in and of itself!
76. I am absolutely delighted with where we are in school currently. Today I plan to lightly pencil in the spring semester, then to pencil in January, then to "ink" this week. (Yes, usually I do that on Sunday, but yesterday I took advantage of our last day off to be a little lazy. Or maybe a lot lazy.)
77. I am thankful that we are done with the turkey leftovers. haha! Glad we had them, glad we could stretch them without feeling like "TURKEY AGAIN!?!" but equally glad that the last bit has been tossed in the freezer to be added to a soup or gumbo in a month. (hehe ... now it's time for ham leftovers. Next week! Next week we'll be back to normal meals!)
78. I'm trying to put a positive spin on all the laundry that needs to be done today. I suppose I should say I am thankful for drawers full of clothing, which translate to baskets full of laundry after I take a few days off. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to report that I am thankful that the laundry is done!
79. I am thankful for cozy fireplaces, hot chocolate with marshmallows, good movies, and cold weather. There is not much better than family movie night!
80. Although 2010 will not go down in my history book as the best year ever, I am thankful for the blessings we did experience. I am also thankful for a new beginning in 2011. As I said in my last post, His mercies are new *every* morning, but there is just something great about starting a new year and having a fresh calendar and a fresh start.
I am linking up with Multitudes on Monday at www.aholyexperience.com today!
Oh friends, what a fabulous Christmas break we had! It was nice to really take a break and to enjoy family and friends and just some time of relaxation!
71. I facebooked this, but one of the highlights of the week was watching the TOTAL delight my youngest had in fireworks! He was running around the yard from front to back, squealing in excitement. We had neighbors shooting off fireworks all around us and he didn't want to miss a thing. (We chose to live vicariously through our neighbors this year ... haha ... we bought a few sparklers and that was it!)
72. All three of the children spent time with new friends over the break. We have been *SO* blessed in the friend department!
73. I am thankful for the Keurig coffee maker my mom got me for Christmas! I haven't been a huge coffee drinker before, but a cup of decaf with a little splenda and some white chocolate raspberry cream in the morning? Heavenly.
74. I am thankful for having all of the Christmas stuff put away and the house back in order. I love getting it all out, but it's equally nice putting it all back away and reclaiming my house.
75. I am thankful that we will be getting back into our normal routine. The break has been oh so nice, but for myself and at least two of my children, the schedule is a nice relief in and of itself!
76. I am absolutely delighted with where we are in school currently. Today I plan to lightly pencil in the spring semester, then to pencil in January, then to "ink" this week. (Yes, usually I do that on Sunday, but yesterday I took advantage of our last day off to be a little lazy. Or maybe a lot lazy.)
77. I am thankful that we are done with the turkey leftovers. haha! Glad we had them, glad we could stretch them without feeling like "TURKEY AGAIN!?!" but equally glad that the last bit has been tossed in the freezer to be added to a soup or gumbo in a month. (hehe ... now it's time for ham leftovers. Next week! Next week we'll be back to normal meals!)
78. I'm trying to put a positive spin on all the laundry that needs to be done today. I suppose I should say I am thankful for drawers full of clothing, which translate to baskets full of laundry after I take a few days off. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to report that I am thankful that the laundry is done!
79. I am thankful for cozy fireplaces, hot chocolate with marshmallows, good movies, and cold weather. There is not much better than family movie night!
80. Although 2010 will not go down in my history book as the best year ever, I am thankful for the blessings we did experience. I am also thankful for a new beginning in 2011. As I said in my last post, His mercies are new *every* morning, but there is just something great about starting a new year and having a fresh calendar and a fresh start.
I am linking up with Multitudes on Monday at www.aholyexperience.com today!
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