Sunday Psalm

Psalm 116

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came upon me;
I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
"O Lord, save me!"

The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
The Lord protects the simplehearted;
when I was in great need, he saved me.

Be at rest once more, O my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.

For you, O Lord have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
I believed; therefore I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."
And in my dismay I said,
"All men are liars."

How can I repay the Lord
for all his goodness to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints.
O Lord, truly I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maid servant;
you have freed me from my chains.

I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord--
in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord.

I love these books!

A few weeks ago I was at Goodwill browsing books, and I am convinced they're one of the best places to get great steals (if you have time to dig through the shelves)! I walked out with several quality books for only $0.39, $0.49, or $0.99! The best find, however, was a book of this series: Little Blessings series by author Kathleen Long Bostrom. The book I got that day was Are Angels Real? It's a rhyming book starting with questions from a child's perspective and following with sound Biblical answers. And in the back of the book the author includes excerpts with the exact Bible references she uses for her story. Here are a couple excerpts just so you can see what I'm talking about...

I've heard there are angels.
Oh, can it be true?
Are angels for real?
And just what do they do?

Do I have an angel
that looks after me?
Can I talk to angels?
Can they hear and see?
.....
Are angels for real?
There is no need to guess.
The Bible assures us the answer is yes!
So, who made the angels?
Well, God did, that's who!
And God gives the angels
their own jobs to do....

And the illustrations (by Elena Kucharik) are very cute! After falling in love with this book, I went on Amazon and got two others from the series: Who Is Jesus? and What is God Like? And I love those just as much and am eager to find more!

So I hope you check 'em out! I highly recommend them!

Go read this...

It's a quiet Saturday morning. Kevin's on night shift through the weekend, so he is now sleeping the morning away. Eli's napping. And here I sit with a cup of hot tea, browsing the weekly devotions I missed earlier in the week. And somehow I stumbled across this blog "Holy Experience". I recognize it as a place I've been before, but today it was especially refreshing and a place I needed to be. One of her posts was especially uplifting. Though I've heard this type of devotion done before, today I needed to hear it again. And I'm telling you, go read it too! Be blessed!

"New Ways"

New Years Meme

I've been CARDED by Amy! What's that, you say?

Here are the rules:
1. Each player starts with 5 gifts that they would want for the New Year.
2. People who are “CARDED” need to write their own Blog about their 5 things & post these rules.
3. At the end of your Blog, you need to choose 5 people to get “CARDED” and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a COMMENT telling them they’re “CARDED”, and to read your Blog.

It's going to be a whirlwind of a year, FILLED with lots of big changes! With that in mind, here are 5 gifts I would want for the new year...
1. A healthy baby girl.
2. For Kevin to get a job in a good location close to family and friends.
3. A house.
4. Find a good home church after we move.
5. Spiritual rejuvenation from daily Bible times.

And the 5 people I'm "carding".... Angie at The Knightly News, God's Child at Seeker of God, Living Beyond, Bella Mama, and Servant Becca.

Not just a pot.

First it was a stock pot to make corn on the cob when all the family was visiting this summer. Since it's big and I didn't have a good place to store it, we put Eli's letter blocks in it....

And when the blocks weren't in it, Eli wanted to go for a ride...

And somehow I think Daddy initiated this...

And Mommy thought up this for at snack times...

And to enable Eli since he so desperately wanted to get on the couch all the time...

And how fun to stand on top of...

So as you can see...
It's not just a pot.

6 weeks and counting...

...Or something like that. Until Baby Girl's arrival!! Now that Christmas is over I've finally gotten busy getting things organized. Once Baby Girl outgrows the bassinet in our room and is mostly sleeping through the night, the two kids will be sharing a room until we move in the fall. So I've been busy organizing Eli's room--the dresser, closet, and toys (since we got more at Christmas). I wish I had some "before" pictures to show you of Eli's room and closet. But I'm pretty excited at how it's looking now! I was planning on buying a second dresser and just putting it in the closet, but at this time of year I was really looking to avoid making that purchase, and I came up with an even better solution! Eli will share the dresser and closet, so each child gets two drawers and half the closet. And for additional storage for burp cloths, bibs, towels, washcloths, and sheets I got a medium-sized plastic drawer system from Target. It's just the right amount of space and doesn't take up nearly as much of the closet. The bottom shelf of the changing table used to hold stacks of blankets, but I've moved those to a laundry basket in the closet and put toys (puzzles n such) on that shelf instead. And since I don't have a big dresser in the closet I was able to squeeze in a hamper for Baby Girl. (I'd like each person to have their own hamper and laundry day. Just makes things easier.) So now all that's really left is to move the rocking chair downstairs and find a toddler bed for in its place. But that can wait just a bit longer. Once we move the rocking chair out, we won't have nighttime snuggles with Eli, and I will really miss that. So for now we'll just enjoy it. I'm also working on sewing a quilt for Eli's new bed. He won't transition to that until a month or two after the baby, but I imagine I won't so much have time to sew then, so that's why I'm getting it done now. It gives me a project to work on during this long month of January anyway, as I'm sure I'll be getting quite antsy and restless as the due date approaches!

Newly organized closet with basket of blankets, storage drawers, and hamper.
Left side is for Eli, right side is for Baby Girl.
Toys on bottom shelf now.

The toddler bed will go where the chair and space heater are.

Just another room shot.
Notice the ABC wall hangings I made.

MY Goals for 2008

I already have my list of 101 Goals for 1001 Days, so I really didn't stop to think about what my goals were for 2008. But after stopping by a few blogs I realized that I DO have a few main things I want to work on about myself or do for myself.

During the year of 2008...

I want to really work on my patience. I've been having such a time with Eli, and it's really come to my attention how impatient I really am. And it wears me out so quickly and everything blows out of proportion and into something bigger, and it's such an awful example to Eli. So somehow I want to really work on being more patient. Being firm with him, yet not raising my voice or saying things out of anger. Every morning at breakfast I pray with Eli for joy, peace, patience, and self-control for the day so that I may glorify God in everything I do and say. But that's not enough, because it's not working.

I need to do more.

I need to get up in the morning before Eli for once so that I can spend time with the Lord--in the Word and in prayer. Prepare myself for the day. Prepare my heart. Instead of just diving in head first with no preparation, still feeling groggy and having had no time for "myself" yet. So getting up and having "quiet time" first thing in the morning is something I really want and need to do.

I've been saying this for more than a year now and it's never really happened. I am not a morning person. I am tired. I remember the time when Eli was still not yet sleeping through the night and I was getting up every hour to put his darn pacifier back in his mouth. And I remember thinking "Right now my body just needs the rest. But once Eli is sleeping through the night, I'll start getting up earlier in the morning." Ha! That was a YEAR AGO, and look at me! Now we have ANOTHER baby coming and that's going to start all over again! So I need to give up on all the excuses and just do what I need to do! Such a practice of spiritual discipline, wow. It's hard. BUT this year I am going to do it!

So that's two things... 1) Work on patience--no raising voice, no bad words, no actions out of anger. And 2) Start my mornings with "quiet time".

And a third thing is a hobby thing that really needs to get tackled. It's been at a standstill since Eli was born, and now he's almost 18 months old! I need to figure out what I am going to do with my scrapbooking. Am I going to convert to digital scrapbooking? Or am I going to finish out with paper scrapbooking? And how am I going to get caught up on our family photo album, as there are still NO pictures in there from since Eli was born! Ack! I really need to get to work on that!

Those are the three biggest things I'm challenging myself to for 2008, though I still have a whole list of things I'll be working on too.... setting date nights with Kevin (even if they're at home), doing daily devotions as a couple (I found THIS BOOK, ordered it today, and can't wait to see what it's like!!), establishing daily Bible time with children, and finding a workout routine that I enjoy (this would be a miracle, haha).

So those are my biggest goals for the year. If you have any advice or tips that might help things along, do share! Blessings on your year!

Weekly Memory Verse

~*~
James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord,
and he will lift you up.
~*~

Last week's verse:
Hebrews 4:16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence,
so that we may receive mercy and grace
to help us in our time of need.

If you want to join me this week in memorizing James 4:10, sign your name below! May it be a blessing to your life!

Pray continually. (1 Thes. 5:16)

Just had to share a cute thing Eli does now. Starting at Aunt Carri's house on vacation, Eli likes to hold hands during meal time prayers. As soon as we sit down at the table and say, "Okay, let's pray" he holds out his hands, one towards me and one towards Daddy. Even with his plate of food right there in front of him, he actually sits quietly and patiently through the prayer. And then sometimes 2 or 3 times during the middle of dinner he'll hold out his hands again, so every time we'll stop and say another 1 or 2 sentence prayer, and then continue on. And NOW in the last couple days I've noticed that he'll bow his head and try to close his eyes like we do. Except he doesn't know how to close his eyes like that so he bows his head and squints and blinks hard all at the same time. It's soooo cute, and I wish I could somehow capture it! But for now I'll just lock it away in my heart!

Toddler Update

Things have been going much better with Eli lately. With Kevin home during "holiday stand down" we've been able to just spend a lot of time with him. And we've settled into the rules for the couch and chairs since Eli can now climb up onto them. It's always hard when there's something new, but it's gotten a lot better. He's still having several "episodes" a day though--him fussing for something he can "sign" for. Or having a fit at meal times when he's eating something different from what we're eating. But I'm not giving in, so hopefully it'll soon pass. It's still quite exhausting but SO MUCH BETTER than two weeks ago! Thanks for your comments and prayers! I really appreciated it!