The Word stands forever

Of all the different kinds of flowers, I think my favoritest ones are the "just because" variety. An unexpected expression of care.


"Just because" flowers, in my world, are usually garden daisies or wild flowers. I really delight in such a lovely burst of color on an overcast, snowy winter day! But what brings me far greater joy is God's Word!

The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the Word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8

How thankful I am that God's Word doesn't fade or die off as flowers do! His Word is rock-solid, unchanging, and eternal. The Bible is a tangible expression of God's love, faithfulness, and forgiveness... full of hope, it breathes life into what would be my purposeless existence. So in light of God's goodness, I encourage everyone to grab a Bible and ask God to speak to your heart through His Word!

Solution for grimy DVDs

I learned something new today. (You might already know this, but it was new to me.) You see, I decided to start researching and borrowing children's DVDs from the library as much as is available, rather than buying them and then discovering they don't fit in with our values. Well, if you've ever rented or borrowed a DVD from a library, or Red Box, you know that they usually come complete with scratches and fingerprints.


Not sure how much detail you can see in this picture, but this DVD was covered in disgusting, grimy fingerprints. Yuck. What's a mom to do? Google it!

I found that a 50/50 mixture of water and rubbing alcohol did the trick! I took one of Daddy's old t-shirts, dipped it in the mixture, and then gently wiped (not rubbed) from the center of the disk toward the edge. Voila! Fingerprints and smudges, be gone. :)

Holiday = school's closed

You know your son loves preschool when... he is sorely disappointed that it's a holiday and school is closed! :)

Cabin fever?

On a lighter note... this afternoon my sons are having a blast jumping on the bed. What could be better on a cold winter day?! :)




A great way for my energetic boys to burn off some energy!! Their gleeful grins make me smile. :)

The grey days of January

Ugh. I admit it: I am a whiner today. I'm tired of winter. Not tired of the snow (surprisingly, as we've gotten A LOT this year)—actually I find the snow to be quite pretty! It's the overcast days that might do me in.


Everything looks grey. I miss the sunshine.

I love sunshine. Not necessarily the hot days of summer... it's just that sunshine somehow reminds me of the warmth of God's love. A sunny day just adds a little extra bounce in my step...

"God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all." (1 John 1:5) ...Jesus, please be my Sunshine today!

Nothing can separate me/us from God's love

Man, the enemy is just relentless. He keeps hammering me with doubts of God's love, and it cuts me to the core. I have been teary-eyed all morning... and it's been kind of hard keeping it together while trying to effectively mother two very busy little boys.

After I dropped Brandon off at preschool, I set Ryan up with a video downstairs and I headed to the stereo, where I could privately sing at the top of my lungs—a way to release some of my emotions. There, God led me to a Sara Groves song called, "You Cannot Lose My Love." That broke the dam of my tears...

You will lose your baby teeth
At time you'll lose your faith in Me
You will lose a lot of things
But you cannot lose My love

You may lose your appetite
Your guiding sense of wrong and right
You may lose your will to fight
But you cannot lose My love

You will lose your confidence
In times of trial, your common sense
You may lose your innocence
But you cannot lose My love

Many things can be misplaced
Your very memories be erased
No matter what the time or space
You cannot lose My love
You cannot lose My love

Romans 8:38-39 says nothing can separate us from the love of God. NOTHING!! I don't exactly know why I have such a hard time believing that God could love me. Maybe because I see all too clearly what a big fat sinner I am. But He already knew that information when He died for me while I was still a sinner (Romans 5:8).

Another verse I was just pondering, 1 John 3:1... See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! This means: 1) I am loved by God, and 2) I am God's daughter! I'll have to really try to soak that in today...

Thanks for letting me share... I hope this helps someone else out there too...

O Christmas Tree...

Confession: I still have my Christmas Tree up.


Brandon excitedly helped me assemble and decorate the Tree on Christmas Eve Day... and I just can't get enough of it. It just seems to make winter a little more bearable... maybe a little warmer and dreamier... or something... :)

Now, I'm not the only one who is enjoying the loveliness of the Christmas Tree. We had to stow away our coffee table (and by "stow away" I mean that it is on its side, crammed into our bedroom)—which meant the train track, which had been displayed and played with ON the coffee table, is also stashed away in a box with the trains—but for the moment, Brandon loves looking at the Tree more than he misses playing with trains.

*peaceful sigh*

Real love

God's unfailing love is so far beyond my comprehension... it is so great... so high, so wide, so deep! In my limited human thinking, I keep wanting to put terms on it (like, "You are loved if ___"). And the enemy works hard to convince me that I am not worthy of God's love. I know that is a lie... yet I still find myself tempted to believe it. Ugh! That is so painful!

So this morning I soaked in the beautiful truths the Bible boldly proclaims about God's love...

God showed how much He loves us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
1 John 4:9-10

See that? Real love is not that we love Him, but that He loves us!

And...

We love others because He loved us first.
1 John 4:19

This is a really phenomenal concept! God doesn't love us because we love Him, or because we do stuff for Him—He loved us first...before we had a chance to do anything... good or bad!

There's so much about God's unfailing love in the Psalms... so I started highlighting those verses in pink. They're much easier to find that way! Over and over, His unfailing love is demonstrated toward His people. Psalm 107 is a perfect example... even after His people rebelled against Him (once again), He STILL loved them and rescued them from "darkness and deepest gloom!" Wow. His love is amazing! See what I mean about the height and width and depth of it?!

Show-and-tell

Today Brandon had show-and-tell at preschool... a special show-and-tell where everybody brought their favorite Christmas gift. For Brandon, it was a toss-up between his tone block and his kazoo! Here he is, pictured playing both.


Incidentally, he decided to bring the kazoo. From what I hear, he demonstrated its operation by playing a rousing rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. (Frankly, it thrills me that something so inexpensive is such a delight to him!)

Our very own Zorro

Something happened in December, and I'm not exactly sure what ... but our 5-year-old is becoming even more boyish... challenging... and shall we say, artful? Our recent discoveries....


The legendary masked swordsman Brandon who slashes B's everywhere.... on the basement door, the bathroom door, his closet door...


...and it appears writing some additional secret code. All I have to say about it is, Why is he doing this?! and Thank God for washable markers!

A work in progress

Be confident of this: He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus!
~ Philippians 1:6

Perspective for 2011

Be thankful for
whatever God allows
to come your way.
He will not allow anything
that will not ultimately be
for your good and growth
and for His glory.
[quote by Bonnie Trude, from the booklet A Woman More Precious Than Jewels]

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposes for them."~Romans 8:28