Attitudes of Prayer

Necessity

"Time spent alone with God is not wasted. It changes us , it changes our surroundings; and every Christian who would live a life that counts and would have power, must take time to pray." M.E. Andross
We need to talk to God. I f I pray because it's what's expected or someone told me to or because I'm afraid of something bad happening if I don't, it isn't truly necessary to me. God wants me to desire to pray, regardless of circumstances. It's also His will that we talk to him before things get in a mess, instead of praying when we're smack down in the middle of it.

There is NO substitute for a willing prayer.

Oughtness

"Therefore whether the desire for prayer is on you or not, get to your closet at the set time, shut yourself in with God ; wait on Him, seek His face, realize Him, pray" R.F.Horton

We need an inner sense of obligation. D.L. Moody once said "If you have so much business to attend to that you have no time to pray, depend upon it, you have more business on hand than God ever intended you should have." Prayer , though a privilage, is not a luxury, something to do in your free time. Service and prayer can't be separated.

Fruitful Repetition

"True Prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fulness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length." C.H. Spurgeon

Is it wrong to say the same things time after time in prayer...is this what the Bible calls vain repetition? I don't believe so... my prayers tend to run along the same lines, praying for the same people and the same issues, thanking God for the same things because , until those prayers are answered and they are still upon my heart, I need to pray for those. Jesus didn't warn us against repetition! He warns against "vain" repetition. The definition of vain:
1.
excessively proud of or concerned about one's own appearance, qualities, achievements, etc.; conceited: a vain dandy.
2.
proceeding from or showing personal vanity: vain remarks.
3.
ineffectual or unsuccessful; futile: a vain effort.
4.
without real significance, value, or importance; baseless or worthless: vain pageantry; vain display.

No, I think vain repetition comes into play when you have a memorized prayer , void of any thought, never putting anything into it. When you've got it scripted to the point that you can recite it without your heart truly being into it.

Privilage

"Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed but as rather a privilage to e enjoyed , a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty" E.M. Bounds

Prayer is a privilage because an all powerful God of the universe calls us to pray. Everytime I pray , I need to remember that it is a special, personal invitation, made possible by God giving his Son, Jesus Christ as an atonement for my sins so I could , as Paul said "Approach the throne of grace boldly."

Humbleness

"Prayer is weakness leaning on omnipotence." W.S. Bowd.

Humility is being able to see myself as God sees me, as I really am...someone who is not worthy of blessings from Him, but on the recieving end anyhow. My privilage and ability to pray to a Holy God does not come about because of who I am, but rather, who Jesus is and what he's done for me.

"You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more until you have prayed." A.J. Gordon.

Have a Blessed (prayer filled) Day!

Seeking Out Your Blessings...

If you're a wife, mother, homemaker, I'm sure you can relate to what I'm about to say. There are days around here that I feel like everything is in chaos...the house stays in a perpetual mess, never stays clean for more than 2 minutes, kids don't listen, potty training is not going so well, somebody's always calling your name and you feel like screaming, but no one could hear you over the noise. It would help us, I believe, to try to actively look for the blessings in all of this. Crazy as it sounds, there are blessings there...you may have to wade through the chaos, but they are there...So, this morning, I am going to share the blessings I have found and I would encourage you to do the same.

Thank You Lord for mountains of laundry. Because it means I have been blessed with a family! A husband who messes up work clothes because he's blessed to have a job again and kids thatare healthy and can run around and get dirty.

Thank You Lord for an unending stream of picking up. Because it mean Ihave , not only been blessed with a home, but a slew of material possessions that manage to make their way into the floor.

Thank You Lord for a sink that is NEVER void of dirty dishes because it means that my family is well fed and we are not hungry. A sink full of dishes mean a fullfillment of the promise YOU made to provide for our needs.

Help Me, O Lord, to seek out the blessings in the midst of the chaos...
Have a blessed day...

Fallen Leaves...

Went to Mom and Dad's for a nature walk yesterday...beautiful day! Gathered leaves for a collection. Gonna use Modge Podge to preserve them and display them in some fashion....not sure how just yet.

Have a Blessed Day!

Catch-up, Please!

Okay, so it's been fairly uneventful here. Which is sorta good and sorta not...leaves little to blog home about. We are into school work and housework and churchwork and not much else. Doing a Polar unit study with the kids. We're a little over halfway done with it. I am always amazed at how much I learn while I'm "teaching".
This was an activity we did to study icebergs... froze water overnight in a ziploc bag and then dumped it in water. It showed why icebergs are so dangerous...because only small part of it is visible...the bulk of the berg lies underneath the water.We did an experiment to show why plants and trees don't grow in the arctic tundra. We put some lima beans in wet paper towels and put them in a warm place and them put some in the fridge. And after a week the beans in the warm place sprouted and the ones in the cold didn't.
We've found several short documentary videos online about arctic and antarctic animals...fascinating how God engineered these things. My fave...the emperor penguin...the dad's really man up...or , ummm penguin up in this instance...No deadbeats in the penguin colonies.
Lot's of dressup and imaginative play going on, as well. Jack is obsessed with all things dinosaur...hasn't uttered a word about cars in over a month. He loves to play Dinosaur Hunter with anyone who will play....

Lillie Anna lost her first tooth... I can not believe I have a child old enough to lose teeth...She was very concerned about it at first, but now has embraced her toothlessness with pride.

And for her birthday got a nifty digtal arts studio for the computer...the kids have gotten so much enjoyment out of it...Thanks Aunt Shanna and Uncle Paul. Lillie used it the other day to make crowns for everyone...Jack's , of course, had dinosaurs on it...Lillie's had princesses, of course, and not sure what Chloe's theme was....

Jackson is becoming quite the good big brother to little Chloe...reading her a pirate story yesterday at nap time.
Have a blessed day!

It's Never Too Early...

So, Christmas is breathing down my neck and I swore last year I would ...
1. Not overload myself with neat-o craft ideas
2. Not wait till the last minute...again
3. Go handmade all the way Baby!

So, how am I doing ?
Number three, we'll see...Number two...intentions are good, but the follow through is hard and Number One...too late! So, here's some link love on the projects I would LOVE to make this holiday season...now whether or not it'll happen is another thing entirely.
I'm a big thinker...

Story Dice (Have already made several sets and my neices Hannah and Kasey have tried them and they were a hit)
Dress Up Boxes ( Found most of the stuff at the dollar store )
Footie Pitch Game
Fabric Tic Tac Toe Game
Wooden Pendant Necklace
Super Hero Peg People (I can see that Jack would love these!)
Fabric Scrap Memory Game (I would think scrapbook paper would have the same effect.)
Sewing Caddy (I want one!)
Button Jewlery
Miniature Bowling Game
Storybook Puzzle Blocks (Modge Podge is my new favorite thing! I love this idea!)
Mini Felt Peg Doll Cottage (Lillie and Chloe will sure love this one and I plan on painting some peg dolls to go with it.)
Lap Desks
Book Buddy

So many projects so little time! I think I probably missed some I saved to my favorites, but maybe you can glean some ideas for your holiday gift giving! Have a blessed Day!

Happy 6th Birthday , Lillie Anna!

Six years ago today, I became a mother for the first time. I remember thinking you couldn't properly raise a baby without a wipe warmer and a bizillion contraptions...thought I had to boil everything...worried that I wasn't doing it right...it being mothering. Turns out I didn't need any of that stuff, hot water and soap will do just fine and motherhood is the biggest blessing this side of eternity. To know that you've been given these children by God to raise and nurture...awesome and also a bit scary. No pressure, right? And even though with every subsequent child I become an old pro of sorts, some things never do change. I still worry that I'm not doing things right, but God's grace has been sufficient for me. I love my girl...she's turning into a beauty too fast for my liking...So, Happy Birthday Princess Lillie...

My Momma is Going to Be So Proud of Me...

I want a schoolroom badly. I also want a sewing room equally as bad. Alas, my house doesn't have enough rooms. But I've got PLANS... big plans. Too bad I don't have BIG MONEY. Well, since I don't have a bookshelf anymore, all my school stuff has just been stuck here and there. I won't even begin to express how perfectly dumpy the closet in Lillie's room was...until today. I decided to channel my mother who is the queen of organization and turn the closet into a school closet. I went through the totes and bags of clothes, got out what the girls could wear, put away what could be handed down and packed up the rest. I have a van load of stuff to take off tommorrow. It's taken me three hours and a half to get Lilllie's room into shape. I won't even begin to show pictures of what the closet looked like before I gutted it...far too graphic. Here's before pics...

After gutting...

The carnage...

After ...

Chloe and Jack have played unusually well together, but they miss Lillie, you can tell. She's probably not missing them much, but they're looking forward to her coming home tommorrow.

Have a blessed day!

Park Day!

The kids have been a bit stir crazy the last week since I haven't felt much like running around after them. So, Monday, I took them to the local playground and let them run around after themselves. It was great fun and they were a little better behaved when we got home, having run their legs off.

This is Jackson pushing me on the merry go round...HE is a strong little goober...he about near slung me off the thing...I believe he enjoyed hearing me squeal more than anything.

She LOVES a swing...So does this one...

The only kind of pushing we tolerate at my house...For just a few minutes, Jack is Chloe's hero.

Jack roller skating...

My children never cease to amaze me...I told them not to eat those jalapeno Doritos...did they listen? NOOOOOOOOOO... I love you, bubby, but serves you right...Oh yeah, not only did Chloe find the forbidden chips to be less than tasty...She also discovered that, according to mom, frozen berries lip stick is NOT her color...

Well, we're finishing up reading about knights and castles...pirates are pegged (no pun intended) next. We built a small catapult as a project and here's Jackson trying it out...

Have a blessed day!