Hey, About That Fat...

Well THAT was depressing!

SO, I have decided to get on with it.

This is me... getting on with it.

so undeserved...

This is one of my new favorite songs, although I can never get all of the way through it without choking up, so singing it is not really a great experience. It gets harder to sing every time I try.

So I decided just to post it here and read it often.

How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure,
that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss; the Father turns His face away,
as wounds which mar the Chosen One bring many sons to glory.

__________

Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders;
ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished;

His dying breath has brought me life--I know that it is finished.

__________

I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no pow'r, no wisdom;
but I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer,
but this I know with all my heart: His wounds have paid my ransom.

~Stuart Townsend~

sending a package

The Souther's are going out to visit Nathanael, so I am sending a package to Levi. He called and asked me to re-string the banjo and send it with them. So I did that.


Side note: Levi suddenly wants to play the banjo, Jenna just ordered the mandolin she has been dreaming of getting, and Jacob is playing my dulcimer, the tin whitsle and the bodhran... we may eventually have our own little group! Crazy!

Anyway, I got up early this morning and made chocolate chip cookies for Levi. As I was packing it all up, I realized how MUCH I was missing my big teddy-bear hugging boy! He is such a big, silly, sweet boy. He leaves a big hole when he is gone. : (


So I decided to post some pics.

life is so funny

A Favorite Quote - from a few months ago:

Me: "Self-discipline and self-motivation are not character traits that one either does or does not possess. They are STATES OF MIND, that require constant CHOICE!"

Jake: "Where did you hear that?"

Me: "From you! A few years ago."

Jake: "That's pretty good."

Me: "I know... I tell people that all the time!"

LOL!!

I finally did it.

Well, yesterday afternoon, when Lauren was in misery, I went through my biggest stack of old church notes.

It was as wierd as I expected it to be.

The most significant thought that I had was... how difficult it must be for men of God to preach God's precious Word week after week after month after month after year to the same sedentary lumps, and see relatively few results.

Maybe it's just me.

I know this is nothing new, thank you Solomon, people have been responding much the same way to God's Word since He began giving it, but it was an eye-opener for me to see how long it has taken me to get this far... I mean, I KNEW it had been a long, long time, but to see it in writing... !

I've said it before and I'll say it again, God is merciful, gracious, long-suffering, gentle, kind, and so faithful!

"Even though we be unfaithful, HE remains faithful... for He cannot deny Himself." I don't know the reference, but that's pretty close.

Thank you God, my loving Heavenly Father!

I found it... in "drafts" ... and since I was afraid of it, I know I MUST post it.

I actually HAVE been thinking about starting this. Unfortunately, the things that I am really passionate about writing are the most recent things I have learned and if I write them first, it would really mess with the whole "series of events" and, yeah... I still need to get into my stacks... you know, bottom first. But that is all going to take so much time.



Sigh....



The most important thing I am learning this week is that, lately, every time my mind is idle and begins its' incessant blathering I realize that; a) I am either wasting time focusing on unimportant drivel or b) I am being judgemental and/or trivial and that *I* am just as bad , if not worse, than the poor soul my mind was just focused on or c) I remember that I started out praying and, once again, ended up back HERE - and I just end up apologizing to God for my pathetic pride or what a reject I am... and even though it feels really crummy, I am happy, because it means that He is still working on me. It's so incredible that He even chose me.



...



Once I asked the Lord to show me my faults, and since then, I have yet to see anything good in myself.



God is amazing.



It's like Jake says... We are so used to comparing ourselves to other people, and feeling pretty decent about who we are, but CHRIST is the standard!

I can never get over that. I can never forget that.

I will never even come close to attaining it, but it's so much more worthy a goal than any I have had up til now... and I can spend the rest of my life reaching for it.