Devotional - A Student of His Emotions

I have been reading After God's Own Heart by Mike Bickle in addition to the Beth Moore study I have been doing with some women at my church.  I had a few moments this morning (kid-free) to read and was just blessed and rejuvenated by the small portion I was able to read today.

Several times in the book he refers to David being a student of the emotions of God.  David was so fascinated by God that he spent his time really seeking and studying the heart of God.  This really tied into what I read today about "beholding and becoming".  2 Corinthians 3:18 says:

But we all with an unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

I have probably read this verse a thousand times and heard numerous messages on it, but it really spoke to me this morning.  It is so simple and completely describes how we can have a heart after God like David did.  As we behold the Lord and connect with His emotions, we begin to change into that very image that we see.  It sounds really simple, but think about it, it kind of wows me.  To think that we have the opportunity to observe and experience the love of such an amazing God, that he would permit us to see His face.  And why? because He knows that when we see Him, we will become like Him! Sweet!

This other excerpt really spoke to me as well:

 Simply stated, whatever we behold or understand about God's heart toward us - that's what we become in our hearts toward God.  If we behold a mean and stingy God, we will become mean and stingy.  But if we behold His glory, as Paul wrote, the Holy Spirit transforms us into something glorious.

 This really made me examine my own view of who God is.  It made me wonder if I am holding views of God that are not who He really is.  It  is really something to sit and chew on.

It sounds really simple to have a heart after God.  The CONCEPT is simple but execution is difficult because of how much everything else pulls at us.  Sometimes we forget that it is not always about doing, but its about simply looking into His face.  That totally goes against what culture tells us, but it is the way to the heart of God. 

Okay, now one more little excerpt, this rocks my socks!

The secret to having more love - or peace or joy or faith or any fruit of the Spirit - is enjoying God more.

 Good stuff!

Gettin' Crafty

A friend of mine is having me make some custom hair bows for her daughter and she sent me the outfit she wanted one of them to match.  When I was looking at it I was totally thinking in my head, I can totally make that...anyways, today I finally had some time to get started on a pattern and make a sample. 

Learning from past mistakes...(don't go out and buy nice designer fabric for something you have never done before) I hit a good fabric sale at Joann.  Valentine's fabric was on sale so I figured, hey, it can be Isabela's valentine outfit!  I also came across some coordinating fabric in the remnant bin that matched the fabric very nicely. 

 Ok, so yeah she looks a little insane in this photo...

You will have to excuse my cruddy camera skills :)

I just have maybe one or two tweeks for the pattern, and I am considering adding items like this to my Etsy store?  Whatcha think?  I think it's pretty darn cute :)

Off to clean my house...why is crafting so messy!

What's for Dinner Wednesday?

Tonight we are going to be trying something new again.  I am going to be making Giada DeLaurentiis' Pastina with Peas and Carrots.  I absolutely love watching her cooking shows.  She makes such wonderful home-y food.  I am going to round it out with some grilled chicken, simply seasoned.  

I love dishes like this because they have small bite-size pieces which are perfect for toddlers.  I will be using some fun tiny farfalle, which I am sure the kids will love.  And can anyone really say no to pasta in a yummy creamy sauce of cream cheese and mascarpone cheese?  I think not!

This dish can easily be made ahead of time (like I am doing today), refrigerated and re-heated.
 

 Super simple ingredients.  Click on the link above for detailed instructions and ingredients.  Start out by getting some salted water boiling and your pasta going.

 Saute up some onion in the olive oil.

 Add those diced carrots and the chicken broth, bring to a boil.

 Pasta is done!  Oh it's so cute!

 After simmering your carrots for a bit, add the peas till heated through, then the pasta.  Add the cheese and mix until a nice creamy sauce forms. 

 Voila!  All done, wasn't that easy?

Later this evening I will whip up some grilled chicken breasts.  I lightly season with some seasoned salt and maybe some thyme.  Need a tip to get those chicken breasts cooked faster?  Slice them in half!  We all know that your typical chicken breast is WAY more than one serving, slice it in half  (kinda scallopini style, but not that thin) and you have a perfect portion that won't take 20 minutes to cook all the way through :)  

I might even whip up a salad with this.  My kids are complete tomato fiends so I'll serve it with some tomato slices on the side too.

Enjoy!

The Green Housekeeper

My dinner post will be up later this afteroon (I actually want to make it for you all today), but I thought I would start the day by talking a bit about green housekeeping.

This year I have made it one of my goals to reduce the amount of trash we throw out.  This means composting, buying items with less packaging (HARD!) and putting a bit more thought into the things we buy.  I have a couple really great resources that I wanted to share.

 Green Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck

How Clean is Your House? by Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie

Okay I have not read Green Housekeeping in it's entirety.  It is really more of a reference manual and it is laid out so you can find what you are looking for very easily.

Both of these have excellent tips on how to clean without harsh cleansers, and how to keep things clean without spending all your days scrubbing a toilet.

Now you can't go all "green" in one day.  I am by no means completely green in my cleaning practices.  My goal is to implement 2 new green practices in my cleaning a month.  I am also by no means a tree hugger, I am doing this to eliminate as many chemicals as possible from the home, but we also need to remember that we should be good stewards of the things the Lord has blessed us with, and I think that does include being responsible about what we put back in to the earth.  Sounds a little "crunchy", but I do think it's true.

Tip #1
A great place to start (and where I started) was with the SPONGE.  This is really more of a cleanliness thing than anything.  Plus, you save a ton on buying expensive sponges that claim to be antibacterial.  Replace your sponges with cloths.  Sponges are just breeding grounds for nastiness.  Then you wipe the nastiness over every surface in your home. YUCK.  In order to avoid the nastiness, you would literally need to use a new sponge every other day.  Simple solution, grab a rag!  They are cheap and easy to clean.  I usually have a rag for dishes and one for cleaning.  I use a new one everyday.  I have a place in my laundry room where they hang until its wash day.  Once they get too grungy for the kitchen, they get relegated to dusting cloths or wiping the toilet.

So go to Walmart and buy a huge pack of them.  You will love bypassing the sponge section at the grocery store and you can be confident that you aren't wiping crud all over your house :)

Tip #2

Start a compost bin.  This is actually much easier than you think.  Here is a great link on how to make one out of a trash can.  Just this past week I started putting my kitchen scraps, used coffee grounds, filters, strips of paper towels, etc in my temporary bin (my big bin isnt ready yet).  I absolutely noticed the difference on trash day. 

You can use your compost in your garden, in your potting soil and your landscaping.  Make what you don't eat work for you!  

My new goal is finding a way to clean with vinegar that doesn't smell like vinegar, or a substitute that is natural.  So if you have any ideas, please feel free to leave me a comment!  I love hearing from you!

15 Minute De-Clutter Challenge

If you are following the Flylady housekeeping method, then you know we are in Zone 4, the Master Bedroom and Bathroom.  I did my bathroom already cause I already have one, so lots of time to focus in my room.

So anyone know how it gets so darn dusty underneath the bed and furniture?  Yuck!  Definitely not doing before and after photos on that!  No major decluttering going on in our room since I have been doing a bunch here and there.  We have a lot of things in a holding pattern (books, dvd cases, etc) trying to figure out what to do with them.

I did do quite a bit of straightening in the rest of my house. I FINALLY took down my Christmas decor on my mantle.

My two bookshelves in the dining room were getting pretty crazy looking.  Between me and Jeremiah we have so many books, textbooks especially.

 Before photos

After photos

It is still a lot of books, but it looks more orderly and less like we just threw the books at the bookshelf.

All the purging and decluttering has really been helping.  I am already seeing that it is a bit easier to get the house looking nice.

Now some fun stuff :)

Now that we can actually open the back door (being that it is no longer blocked my empty Christmas boxes waiting to be filled...) me and the kids went in the backyard and raked leaves.  Wow it's been a while since I have been back there.  I am so looking forward to planting our garden once it starts warming up!

Hope everyone is having a happy Tuesday!

Devotional - Creating a Place for Him to Dwell

I am  a garden enclosed, a locked garden

A fountain sealed

I am your resting place

Here oh Lord have I prepared a place for your to dwell, here in the reservoir of me

That I would be in you and you would be in me

That I could fellowship with God

Here where it's you and me alone

The very glory of God on the inside of me

I want to fellowship with God

It's You and me alone God You and me alone
Here it's You and me alone God You and me alone

You've hedged me in with skin all around me
I'm a garden enclosed a locked garden
Life takes place behind the face.

So come into Your garden
Come into Your garden.

Here O Lord! Have I prepared a place for You!

I'm no longer my own I'm Your garden

I don't want to wasted my time living on the outside
I'm going to live from the inside out
I don't want to waste my life living on the outside
I'm going to live from the inside out

I'm no longer my own, I'm your garden.

Misty Edwards - Garden

This is absolutely one of my favorite songs ever, speaking on the longing for intimacy with the Lord.  These all seem like such lofty ideas when life is very little like a nice quiet garden, it is chaotic, busy and so little of our time is spent focused on the Lord.

I remember my mom and pastor talking a lot about digging your own well.  Creating a place at the center of your life where the Lord has full reign.  For mothers and particularly those who stay at home, it is easy to become frustrated and worn down with the goings on of daily life.  That is why it is so important to make our homes a place for the Lord to dwell.

So how do we do this?  Recently, I have been really convicted about the way I spend my time, the things I watch on TV, and asking myself, am I spending my life truly seeking His face?  What is the Lord requiring of me?  Am I ignoring Him while He is asking me to come closer?  It's so difficult to carve out that time for Jesus sometimes.  

We have a lot of really legitimate excuses.  We are busy, the kids are sick, the kids are driving us nuts, the house is a wreck.  It is during those times that I remember my mom playing Kevin Prosch or Don Potter videos while folding laundry.  The worship music always playing in her car.  She was intentionally creating an atmosphere, even in the craziness, for the presence of God.

I was listening to Corey Russell speak and he talked about why we get bored reading the Word of God and praying.  We spend all our time eating the "good" stuff, that we are to full to oenjoy the best that God has to offer.  Maybe sitting and watching an episode of your favorite show makes you feel good (guilty!), but yet we might be missing out on the BEST that God has to offer.  We are so full of sweets that we can't enjoy the hearty meal that the Lord has for us.

My life is nuts sometimes, ok A LOT of the time, but when I am faithful in doing simple things like, turning on the Prayer Room instead of the TV, or putting on some worship music, He is ALWAYS faithful to meet me, he gives me the grace to make it through rough days and even the time to spend with Him.  Give it a try :) I promise it works, the Lord honors our seemingly weak efforts.  They are precious to Him.

I am in a group study and we are studying David and the Lord called him a man after His own heart, not because he was perfect (he was a stinker!) or because of his great military triumphs, but because he was ravished by God's desire for him and lived a life fascinated by the beauty of the Lord.  This is what the Lord desires.

Ps. 27:4 ONETHING I have desired of the Lord that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Hopefully this Youtube video works...it is a recent interview with Rev. Billy Graham, possibly one of the last he may ever give and the first part of this he is asked if he would do anything differently and he basically answers that he would have done less meetings and spent more time with Jesus.  That is pretty incredible, that he would leave a legacy for this generation of LOVING God.  I truly believe that if we would take time to sit at His feet, that we would be AMAZED at the miracles that flow in our lives.

A Sweet Bit of Fun

 

Friday was such a dreary, drabby day.  While at the gym, my Bodyflow instructor mentioned taking her daughter to a taffy pull at this place called Sweet Pete's.  I didn't really think much of it until I saw a friend on Facebook mention it so i figured, hey, let's check it out.

Wow, what a blast!  I am so glad we went!  The kids all got to "pull" their own piece of taffy and wrap them in little wrappers.  Sweet Pete's is in a big old house in Springfield and is full of fun colors and yummy treats.  Best part is that everything is made from all-natural ingredients and many of their candies are vegan and gluten free.  No artificial dyes or flavoring. 

I highly recommend the Sea Salt Caramels ;-)

So if you live in Jax, take a trip out to Springfield and enjoy some of the sweetness.

 Lenny's blob of taffy

 Bela trying to "sneak" some candy

 Hey! A rare photo of me!  Too bad none of my children would cooperate...

_____________________________

So over at Prudent Baby they are having a pretty potholder contest.  The prize?  One of two amazing Brother sewing machines.  My potholders?  Not so pretty, so probably no new sewing machine for me.  I wonder if I tell them that the old sewing machine in the photo is the one I actually use?  Will I get a pity prize?  Haha!  Ok, totally wouldn't do that, but it would be the only way I would win!

I still think I will enjoy having these in my kitchen.  They are my favorite fabric scraps so I think won't mind looking at them everyday in my kitchen.