Waaaaay too comfy

Tagged

Rules:
* Post the six to ten things that you do on a daily basis.
*Link to the person who tagged you.
*Tag five other people.
*Leave a comment on the blog of the person that tagged you letting them know you posted this on your blog.

Melanie tagged me for this one. And I'm going to tell you right off that I'm not selecting five people to tag, I'm going to leave this one open. If you stumble across this post and want to do your own tag, please do. Maybe leave me a comment to I can see your tag. :)

Six to ten things I do each day ...

1. Wake up
2. Get dressed
3. Drive to work
4. Hold M.
5. Love my job!
6. Come home
7. Love my family and home!
   
8. Check the blog
9. Check other people's blogs
10. Teach piano

So there you go! Random, I know. But still, the rules never said anything about making any kind of sense with your ten things.

Merry Christmas all ye peeps

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I did. We were in SD and the weather was beautiful there, compared to the weather here (negative numbers and even more negative numbered wind chills, lots of snow and such). It was a good day of just spending time with family, eating too much, enjoying time of just sitting around and not having to worry about being anywhere on time. Drinking lots of hot drinks. Spending time by the corn burner. Eating turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, etc., etc., and lots of Christmas cookies!

But even though it is fun to lazy around and do nothing, remember what Christmas is about. It's not about gifts, family, friends, food, etc. ... it's about honoring and glorifying God. And it's about God's gift to us. His Son. His sinless, perfect, precious Son. Praise the Lord for His grace and mercy in giving us a way for us to come to Him! May Christ be the center of your thoughts and conversations, not just around Christmas time, but all year 'round. Merry Christmas, God's grace and mercy be rich upon you.

My Christmas letter to you ...

I've seen that my father has blogged a Christmas letter and my sister has blogged a Christmas letter (check them out) so I thought, to keep it going, that I should blog a Christmas letter for all of you peeps as well. So, here goes!

W

Merry Christmas all ye peeps.

a cold walk

The snow crunches beneath your feet, the temperature is 7 degrees above zero. The snow falls softly and gets stuck to your hat, scarf, gloves, hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. The wind makes it even colder. Little ice crystals form on your eyelashes and in your hair as the snow melts because of your breath coming up from your scarf-covered mouth. The trees sport very few leaves but are starting to get wrapped with white beauty. Every thing is starting to get covered with inches of whiteness. All is quiet as you walk. A few tracks here and there tell you that some other brave soul ventured out in the cold weather. You curl your fingers up into the palm of your hand and are very thankful for the very warm mittens that you've borrowed from your father. Your toes, legs and nose start to get cold and you quicken your pace so that you can reach your destination quickly then turn around and go home.

When you get back to the warmth of your house your legs start to tingle because of the cold. Your first thought is of warm tea and blog hopping. You unlace your boots that faithfully kept your feet warm. As you pull them off you realize that your pants (which are roll up because they are too long) have filled with snow and it's starting to melt. You pull off your hat and the snow that collected there is cold on your hand. You unwrap your scarf which leaves coldness on your neck as the snow stuck on the scarf brushes up against your neck. You wiggle out of your coat and put it away. It's good to be home ... safe, cozy and warm.

Insight from the roses

Yes ... this post is called "Insight from the roses." Strange? You'll understand soon enough. :)

No doubt you've heard that God "prunes" those He loves. That He "clips" away things in our lives that are unnecessary, unhelpful, sinful, wrong, etc.. And, as I'm sure you know, it's painful. It hurts to watch those things being taken from our lives, and sometimes our hearts. We don't want to change, we don't want to let go. We don't want the pain and hurt. I'm also assuming that you've heard that God prunes and clips and purges in love, because He loves us, because He's growing us, because it's best for us ... even if it doesn't seem like it.

Since the weather is turning cold (the snow on the ground is a sure sign) it's time to trim back the flowers and cover the ones that need covering. If you've read my posts about my roses you know I love them. Their beauty, their smell, their everything. God makes my roses grow so wonderfully and they bring joy and happiness to my heart when I see them and tend them.

If you know anything about roses you know (at least in Minnesota) you clip them back and cover them well so they can make it through the winter.

So the other day, out I went, clippers in hand, to the roses. So tall and once beautiful, but untended, as my work schedule is busy. I realized that in order for them to have continued to bloom and grow, cutting must have been done. As I stood looking at my roses my trials came to mind. God was cutting, I need to change, I need to let go.

I knelt and started clipping the green stems. Some of them were thin and easily let go of the other part of the stem. Others were thick, and I had a hard time clipping them off, reluctant as they were to be separated from the other part of the stem. *Clip* I realized that struggles in life were kind of that way, too. Some things are easy to let go, they don't mean so much to me. I trust that God's doing what's right and I let go. And then there's the other kind ... the things that are so dear, "thick" like the rose stems, which are hard to let go of. I start to question why they must be taken. Is it really in love that He cuts away? But as I looked at my roses, I knew the answer. I loved my roses, and even though it was hard to clip the back, and see the things taken away, I knew it was best, that in order for them to grow properly they must be cut back. I didn't do it to "hurt" the roses, but I knew next year they would bloom and grow. And I also knew that next year I wouldn't be able to tell that I'd cut them back. That the cuts wouldn't show. New growth would cover what is now bare.

Today I covered my roses with leaves and rocks to keep them from growing too soon in the spring.

As I covered them, I could see where I'd cut them back just a few weeks before. I couldn't help but think that God does the same thing. When we're hurt and in pain, He covers us with His grace, His mercy, His love, His care ... His hand. To guide, direct, protect, help, comfort and sustain us.

Maybe God is taking, cutting things out of your life (maybe from your heart). I can now say, with new understanding, that it's all in love. He only purges and cuts in love, because He knows it's best and couldn't possibly be anything else! Remember, He doesn't just cut and purge and then leave, He's there, sustaining, comforting, helping ... loving.

Rose pictures found at www.allposters.com.

Decorated room

I put up the lights in my bedroom again (actually, Leah and I did ... actually, Leah did most of it :)). They make me so happy that I just had to share them with you!! Be warned, there are a lot of pictures. :) (Sorry they are rather "grainy".)

Tagged ...

Natalie tagged me. The rules are:

Go to your Picture file, go to the 5th folder, open up the 5th picture, post it, and then tag 5 people.
I tag ... Charity, Lady Heather, and Tiffany (I know it's suppose to be five, but I could only think of three people who haven't been tagged yet. :))

*~Snowdrift beauties~*

The wind was blowing pretty hard the other day when I arrived at the J's. As their driveway area is gravel the gravel mixed with the snow as it formed the drifts. It was beautiful! Or ... at least I thought it was beautiful ... I do understand that it's dirt ...er gravel ... on snow, yes ... but hey. :)

*~Below picture courtesy of J. Thank you J you captured it perfectly!~*

*~Below picture courtesy of J. Thank you again J for capturing it just right. :)~*