Christmas Day Fun

Look out! Hit the deck! In-coming snowball. ... *makes a snowball and throws it back* Yes! Victory ... no, wait, don't throw one at me ... rrrreeeeeetrrrrreeeeeeeat! .... AHHHHHH!!!! *Thud, pushed into a snow pile*

Awkward as it sounds that's what my Christmas morning sounded like ... or close any way. While outside I discovered the snow was sticky *evil laugh* so I hurled one at Ma. This snowballed (Ha! pun totally intended!) and soon Mom, Dad, Ethan, Leah and myself were taking turns throwing snowballs at each other. Some of us *ahem, dad* used snow shovels to throw snow instead of making snowballs ... and some of us *ahem, dad, Leah and ... ahhh ... me* just gave up and shoved people into snow piles. :)
Leah and I also got in on the snow blowing as well. Dad showed Leah and Ethan showed me ... okay, so yes, I'm 22 and my 14 year old brother was showing me how to use the blower. But hey *shrugs* now I know.
Snowball fights continued here and there and snow angels were made as well. Nearly dripping wet from snowballs and from the trees dripping on us we headed in for a meal of ham, salad and such. It was Dee-Lish! Let me tell ya peeps!

I had a wonderful day and I hope you all did as well!! Here are some pictures from the morning and sort of afternoon-ish time. There are a lot of pictures, so I won't mind if you don't want to look at them all. To see Leah's pictures, and some short videos, click here.

Mom, Me and Ethan, shortly into the morning. Ethan looks like he's trying to WD-40 my face.
Oh, yes, much better. Not so much WD-40-ing in this picture. :)
Ethan eating icicles. Mom, in the background, is trying to show me that they were in fact clean to eat, I did not believe her ... obviously, then, Leah took this picture.
I assure you, my bangs were, in fact, curled when I exited the house that morning, and my hair was also dry ... it is neither of those things in this picture, as you can unfortunately see. You can also see the water on my face, the trees were dripping ... odd.
Me and Leah, starting to get wet from melting snow from snowballs and such.
Dad, the expert snow blower man.
Dad showing Leah how to run the snow blower.
"Look at me, I have no idea what I'm doing, but take my picture anyway, cuz I'm cute!" Okay, so Leah actually did a good job ... she just looks like she doesn't know what she's doing in this picture. :)
Concentrate ... concentrate .... concentrate ... Me trying to blow the snow.
My pretty Mama with snow in her hair! Luv ya Mom!
Snow angel gone wrong ... *giggles* Leah was trying to "throw" herself back in the snow far enough to make a decent snow angel, but all she accomplished was getting herself stuck in the snow. :) It was funny.
Me and Leah ... as you can see from this picture, my hair had some sort of order to it now. :)
Me, Mom and Leah ... the ladies of the house.
For any of you how know my father this picture makes me look tall. :) But truth be told I (at 5 foot 7 inches) am not even close to being as tall as my dad (at 6 foot 3 inches) I told him to "shrink" and he "squatted" next to me. :)
Me, Dad and Leah!

My WAY Cee-ute parents! I love you guys!!!
Merry Christmas from my family to you!

Merry Christmas!

So, I don't post, don't post and then don't post. I'm sorry I've continued to neglect my poor little blog. I just have had nothing to post about.
But I'm now posting to wish you all a merry Christmas! We are currently in the middle of a "winter storm" according to the weather station. We've had a total of about ten to twelve inches of snow so far with more on the way ... needless to say we canceled our Christmas plans to go to my aunt's house. But it's great to be home for a holiday. I'm always going and always doing every day and sometimes I like being home, especially on holidays when you just sit around, play games, drink tea, eat yummies, read books, just look at the snow ... etc., etc., etc.. :)
What do/did your Christmas plans hold? Are you all experiencing a white Christmas? Are you having family and friends or just being home alone?
Let us, also, not forget, in our hustle and bustle, or our sitting at home just being, that Jesus Christ, ruler and maker of the universe (not just earth, the UNIVERSE), came from heaven, took upon the lowest human form (a bond servant) as a baby (!!!) and grew in the wisdom and knowledge of His Father and God and then gave His life, willingly, for us, that we may no longer be slaves to sin or to the king of this world (Satan) but that we may be called sons/daughters and heirs of Him!!!! May we not forget the wonderful gift God has already given us: His life, death, resurrection and life for us in Him!
May your Christmas be blessed and happy, in the Lord!

It's more then just taking your eyes off ...

... It's putting them on ... on Christ that is.

Happy Valentine's day everyone!! (Happy Single's awareness day ... as my sister and I joke).

May all you married peeps enjoy having someone to hold tight and love and give your heart to. :) May all you peeps with a special someone also enjoy being together and enjoy each other's company. May all you singles out there .... hummm ... is there really anything to enjoy on Valentine's day for singles?

Yes!! As a matter of fact there is. Sometimes it doesn't seem that there is much to be thankful for and enjoy (especially when one of your greatest desires is to be married and live in oneness with your husband) when you're alone on the holiday that makes so much of that 'special someone' and you haven't that 'special someone'. And it seems harder still when you have friends and family that have 'special someones' :) and you don't.

So, what is there to be thankful for on Valentine's day? Well, there's always the famous 'you're alive aren't you?' question. (Well, at least I'm assuming that if you're reading this then you're alive ... but I guess I could be wrong. *wink*) But sometimes, if you're like me, that doesn't bring the joy and peace that you're looking for.

Instead of spending your time, thinking of how lonely you are, think of someone else. Send a card, write a letter, bake a cake and deliver it to someone (single or married). Call up another single friend and get together for the day. When we set our loneliness and sadness aside and open our eyes and truly look at other people and ask ourselves how we can help them, we see that there is so much we can do, even if it's something little like bringing a rose to someone just because.

Well, I've been thinking a lot lately about marriage, being alone (especial with Valentine's day), taking my eyes off of things I can't have (namely a companion), looking to Christ to be my all in all, letting go of my desires and longings, looking to Christ to be my all in all, letting go of my desires and longings, looking to Christ to be my all in all, letting go of my desires and longings ... and ... ummm ... looking to Christ to be my all in all and letting go of my desires and longings. Did I miss anything? Humm. I don't think so, I think I got 'em all.

If you've been a longtime reader of my blog you know I post quite a bit about letting go of my desires and longings. How much it hurts, how I don't want to let go, how I know I need to let go. But, as I've said, I've been thinking. Maybe there's more. How so? More then just "letting go". How so? Maybe it's not so much letting go as it is grasping tighter ... to something else.

Have you ever had a time in your life when you try and try to not think of something (or someone ... we're going with someone, being Valentine's and all), but the more you try not to think of them, the more you think of them? Kind of distressing if you ask me. But, maybe instead of trying not to think of 'someone' we need to think about Christ.

Back to letting go ... instead of trying so very, very hard to let go of desires and dreams, and someones, we should grip tighter and tighter to Christ. Because when our hands are full of Christ and holding tight to Him with all we have, we soon see that we have no extra space to hold onto someone else, and no need to let go, because our hands are completely filled with Christ. Same with our thoughts. If our thoughts are saturated with Christ, verses, songs of praise, and such, there won't be any thoughts about not thinking about someone. And if our minds are filled with Christ there won't be any room for thoughts of that someone.

It's kind of like stepping into a dark room with only a single candle to light the room. Your object, with said candle, is to make the darkness flee, to make it simply light in the room. But as you chase the darkness from one corner you turn to find that it simply moved to the corner behind you. You run from place to place with your candle trying to make the darkness leave, but it only follows behind you, wherever you go. Discouraged that the darkness remains you're not as careful as you should be with your candle flame and in your hurrying about you forget to protect the flame, to nurture it and it is blown out by such fast, desperate movements. Now completely in the dark you sink to the ground ... still in the darkness, still wishing it to be gone. As tears flow your heart gets heavier and heavier. You don't know what to do, you've tried and tried to make the darkness go away, but you just can't. What if you can never make it go away, what if you are to live the rest of your life fighting the darkness with only your little flame? Fear starts to fill your heavy heart. Suddenly a strong hand closes around your shoulder. You cannot see who it is that is touching you, but the touch brings peace and you feel no reason to be afraid. Then the words, "Arise, and do not be afraid*" are spoken in a soft, comforting tone. Tears still streaming down your face you take heart, somewhat, and find you have no strength to stand, but the matter is soon solved as you are lifted by strong able arms to your feet. But once on your feet your find the strong arms do not let you go, but hold you fast, strong, close. Still the identity of this man is not revealed but as your legs will not hold your weight you cling to this man. Your fists full of his shirt, the candle you once depended on is now fallen from your hands, forgotten in the darkness. "Who are you?" your soft whisper fills the dark room. Slowly a soft glow fills the space around you. It takes you a moment to realize that the man you're clinging to tightly to is beginning to glow. Slightly afraid you know not what to do. Slowly the glow brightens and brightens. It continues to brighten until you must shut your eyes at the brightness of it. You blink, stunned by the light. Once your eyes adjust to the majesty of the light you look at the one who still holds you so close. Your eyes then behold the Savior. His face is soft, tender, caring as He holds you close to His heart. As you look into His face your fears fade away as your mind is completely taken up with studying His features. A few moments pass before you reluctantly let your eyes wander from His face and you realize that the room around you is no longer dark. In fact, there is not even a trace of darkness for all is revealed by the holy, majestic glow of the Savior. You wonder, as you rest safely in His arms, how you could have even tried to disperse the darkness with simply a single flame all on your own.

When our minds are filled with Christ, (with the light of His holy majesty) there is no room for anything else. When our eyes are so focused on Christ, learning about and studying Him, there is nothing else to look at. When our hands are so full of holding tightly to Christ, the "candle" we used to guide our way falls from our hands ... for there is no room to hold to anything but Christ.

*Matthew 17:7 (NKJV)

For further thoughts see my series from last year: Single for Valnetine's day? Parts: 1- Choose, 2- You're Being Watched, 3- Surrender, 4- Submit, and 5- The Checklist.

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.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope and pray that you all will have a wonderful Thanksgiving ... doing whatever you will be doing. :) I'm spending time with family. Eating turkey (and probably ham), enjoying a day of sitting and doing nothing! Hoping that there will be hot drinks after dinner sometime (preferably hot apple cider!!).

What about you? What did you do (or what will you be doing)? What are your favorite things about Thanksgiving? I've already mentioned some of my things ...

• Turkey
• Hot apple cider
• Cuddling up on the couch with said drink in hand
• Chatting with family
• Thanking Christ for the many, many blessings that He's given that I so often overlook
• Just being with family
• Not working (at J.'s or teaching piano ... although I truly love both!!)

I'm sure my rather petty list could go on but it won't. :) So, here's wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving, with family, friends and in the Lord, our Salvation!

The tomb is empty ... our hearts are full!

Easter is here again. But this year, let's not think of it as Easter, let's think of it as Resurrection Sunday. I've thought of it so for a few years, but often the real meaning gets lots in Easter bunnies, eggs, pretty new clothes, flowers, and sometimes even family and friends. Let us strive to remember the work Christ did on the cross, let us strive to remember the tomb is empty and how full our hearts are! I'm not going to go into a long "preach-y" post, but I want to share a few songs that are close to my heart and that I think apply here as we give glory and thanks-giving for Christ's death, His resurrection, His separation from the Father for our lives, His love, His wisdom, His life and His gift of life to us! May you all have a wonderful, God-filled Resurrection Sunday and may Christ not only fill your hearts, may He fill your mind and spill out to every one around you! Christ be praised!!!

How Deep the Father's Love for Us


Gloria

I wish I could crash like the waves
Or turn like the autumn leaves
In effort to praise You

I wish I could smell like the forest
The fragrance lifting a mighty chorus
In effort to praise You
In effort to praise You

Chorus:
But I’m such a limited creature
And my word can only paint so many pictures
But somewhere I think I read that I am

Treasured over all creation
So I know that I must try

I wish I could roll like the thunder
To leave the earth below in wonder
In effort to praise You

I wish I could fall like the summer rain
And every drop would sing Your name
In effort to praise You
In effort to praise You

Repeat chorus

Gloria, glory in the highest
Forever I will hide myself in Thee (2x)

Every breath that I breathe
Every moment in my history

Is an effort to praise You
An effort to praise You

Glory in the highest
Forever I will hide myself in Thee

Oh, Gloria
Glory in excelsis deo

Gloria, gloria, gloria
Gloria, gloria, gloria

~Watermark

(I have never heard of the band "Watermark" so I don't know what their music is like, but I've heard this song done by the group "Glad" and I really liked their version of it.)

Before the Throne of God Above

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there! The risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless, Righteousness
The Great unchangeable I AM
The King of Glory and of Grace
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God
With Christ my Savior and my God

~Charitie Less Bancroft

(This song was also one that I heard "Glad" sing.)

Single for Valentines Day?: Part 5 ~The Checklist~

So here we are, Valentine's Day has come and gone, and the days for posting my first ever blog series are past! (What a fun experience it has been to write my first blog series and to get the responses from different people. Thank you!)

So I'd like to close this series with a post entitled "The Checklist". So here we go!

This Valentine's Day did you ...

1. Choose to be happy? Choose to think of others first? Choose to make the day wonderful and special for the others around you?
2. Check your attitude and actions? Because people watched you as you went through another Valentine's Day alone. What did you show them? Did you show them your joy in God? Did you show them the trust that you have in Christ that everything will work out for good in His time?
3. Surrender your wishes, desires, wants, passions, your all to Christ? Did you give Him everything and are now content to wait and see what His plan is for you ... joyfully and happily?
4. Submit to the way God has planned your life for right now and happily accept that God's way is perfect? Did you submit to being single for no matter how long and choose to be happy in that time?

Now I don't need to know how you all did, but you need to be completely honest with yourself about everything. Don't go, "Well, I was happy for two whole seconds but the rest of my day was doom and gloom, but I think that counts as choosing to be happy." Ahhh, no, that doesn't count. ;) But also, as you are checking off your list I want you to apply it, not only to Valentine's Day, but to everyday of the year, so that when Valentine's Day rolls by again, and perhaps your still single, your struggle will not be as great if you've been practicing these things (and other good helpful things). It will become a habit, if you do it often enough. And if you're in the habit of doing all these things, you won't have to wonder how to make it through another Valentine's Day without doom and gloom!

Thank you all for tuning in and reading and commenting and encouraging! It's been really fun!!

Single for Valentines Day?: Part 4 ~Submit~

Along with surrendering to Christ your all and your everything, as I talked about in my last post, you must submit to Him.

Submitting to His plan, knowing, and truly believing, that His way is best. Submitting to whatever happens!

Submit:
Transitive Verb:

1. To yield or surrender (oneself) to the will or authority of another.
2. To subject to a condition or process.
3. To commit (something) to the consideration or judgment of another.

Intransitive Verb:

1. To give in to the authority, power, or desires of another.
2. To allow oneself to be subjected to something.

Willingly placing your life in God's hands, and letting go. Happily accepting whatever God brings into your life, waiting or not waiting for the man you dream of.

It's not always easy to submit, just as submitting to our parents isn't always easy, but we submit, because we love God, and because we know that He knows better then us. God has planned all, from beginning to end and we, at this point in time, only see a small portion of what's going on, and at times, we don't like what we see. Waiting is not really what any girl plans on when she wants to be married. But planned on or not, it is often what happens, and it's hard. But submitting to waiting, submitting to God's perfect plan, is something we can joyfully do! Submitting doesn't have to be a horrid thing. Joyfully submitting is what God wants us to do! It's not rolling your eyes and saying, "Okay, I have to submit, so here I go," and it's not "Well, I don't have any other choice. I really can't do anything to change how long I have to wait so I might as well submit." No, it's, "I know God's way is better then mine, and once I take my hands off and joyfully wait to see what He has planned, I can see my life unfold in ways I never even thought or dreamed of. God's ways are so much more wonderful then anything I could ever have worked out!"

Submitting to God means that you take your hands off of the things in life that you really have no control over, like how long waiting for a man, or what man will come into your life, etc.. But that doesn't mean, however, that you just sit back and say, "Well, whatever happens happens." On the contrary, although you submit to God and joyfully accept what He has planned, you must work at trusting, at loving (God, our family, and our future husband, although we don't know who he is just yet) at preparing for marriage, at making sure, even in this time of waiting and wondering, that you stay pure for our future husbands.

Submitting to God is not a scary thing. He is not waiting for us to submit and then, once we've taking our hands off, He will bring horror after horror of unspeakable things into our lives to make sure we're unhappy. No! God wants to bring us joy in Him! And He does that when we submit, when we desire what He wants, and when He gives us desires that please Him and then when He fulfills those desires that please Him.

A desire for marriage is a God given desire! He's not, once we submit, just going to leave us with this growing, unfulfilled desire. If the desire for marriage truly comes form God, He will fulfill it! It may take years and years to fulfill, but once we've submitted and surrendered, and have chosen to be happy, we won't mind the waiting!

So submit to our caring, compassionate, loving, gentle, all-seeing, all-knowing God, who does not make it His goal to make us sad and unhappy, but quite the opposite, and watch your life unfold in God's way, and be truly happy to accept anything He brings, and you will be happy!

Single for Valentines Day?: Part 3 ~Surrender~

Surrender, does that word make you cringe? Or maybe roll your eyes, or maybe it makes you want to skip this post and find something a little more agreeable.

To be honest, who could blame you? Surrender, like give up? Like being vulnerable, like defenseless? In a sense ... yes!

But maybe we should ask, first, why do words like vulnerable and defenseless give us such a scare? If we are trusting God, if we've put our lives in His hands, isn't He capable of defending us if the need should arise? Why do we feel like we must defend ourselves, or not be vulnerable? God will take care of us, no matter what comes our way.

Surrender your single life, your hopes, your dreams, your passions, your desires, yourself to God and placing all in His able hands.

Maybe the thought, "And why would we do this?" is running through your head or maybe, "Been there, done that, it doesn't work."

Well, if so, then here we go. First: "And why would we do this?"

Why surrender, to be completely and utterly happy and at peace. To be tried, purified, to become the young woman God wants us to be. Surrendering our lives to God sometimes (most of the time) involves waiting and as young women who want to be married, that "wait" word scares us. But in that time of waiting, surrendering and being willing to wait, is part of how God shapes us and makes us into who He wants us to be. And in surrendering we learn to trust, not just in waiting for Mr. Right, but also for other things. Maybe after we're married we want children and God says we must wait, but we've learned from waiting for our husbands that God's way is always right and His time is perfect, never late, and never early.

How can you be happy by surrendering? Think of all the worry you could be rid of. Without waking up each morning thinking, "Another day alone? How will I get through it?" or, "Another day wondering where my prince is and wondering when he's going to ride into my view." And thus having your mind rid of worrying, your attitude will improve and you will be more pleasant to be around, and when people see that you're not sad and lonely on Valentines Day and they ask you why, you can say, "I surrendered my all to Christ, and I'm content to wait for His time in His way!" What joy that will bring to our hearts if we truly believe it!

When you surrender your life to God you are saying, "Lord, I need You, I can't do this. I trust You to do what You will in my life and I won't try to make things work out the way I want. I trust Your way is best, after all, you planned everything (even waiting for Mr. Right) and You're in control of everything (even bringing a man) You know what's going to happen, so why shouldn't I give You my life and just trust?"

And: "Been there, done that, it doesn't work."

First off I'd say if that's what you think, then maybe you didn't truly surrender. Once you've truly surrendered and let go (!), trusting God to work His perfect plan in our lives and His time, we will be happy and content.

If you've surrendered and you're still worried and discontent I urge you to rethink your surrendering!

Also, remember, we don't just do it once and then we're happily content to wait for Mr. Right for the rest of our lives. It must be a day by day thing and sometimes a moment by moment thing. And when you just can't surrender, tell Him! When the doubt creeps in and causes you to rethink trusting God, tell Him!

It's not a sin to have doubt creep in, it's a sin to believe it and act upon it because "Whatever is not of faith is sin."

So when you feel that you're starting to slip and question, call out, God will hear you and He will respond, if you're willing, and He will give you the strength to surrender and trust again.

This last part is a few of my own experiences I've put together and put in the form of a "conversation" between myself and God.

Me: Lord, I give you my life.
God: You won't be disappointed.
M: Yes, I know ... but what if You take a long time to bring me the man of my dreams, don't You think I should just do it myself? After all, I know what I'm looking for.
G: No.
M: But what if I let go and You bring someone that I think is ugly and someone I can't stand.
G: I work everything out for your good if you love and trust Me. My way and timing are perfect, it can't be wrong.
M: Lord, there is a man, he's asked about me and is interested in maybe courting, should I say yes and consider courting him? I don't know if I like him like that.
G: Don't do it.
M: But what if I say no and I lose my chance and never have a guy in my life?
G: Do you trust me?
M: Yes ... but ...
G: Am I not good?
M: Yes but ...
G: Do you trust me?
M: Yes! Lord I give You my life, my dreams, my worries, my passions, my desires, my all!
G: Surrender all to Me, moment by moment! You won't be disappointed.

Single for Valentines Day?: Part 2 ~You're Being Watched!~

You run a hand over your hair one last time to make sure nothing is going haywire and give a small smile when everything that meets your hands is just as it should be.

A short, round lady skitters up to you, armed and ready. With a few puffs of her make-up brush your face is once again covered almost beyond recognition, but you don't care, you're only thought is air!

Gasping for air the powder that hangs in the air around your face nearly chokes you. Soon the call is heard.

"Lights ..."

The lights dim and a spot light turns on, illuminating your form.

"Camera ..."

A thumbs up from the camera man makes your mind scramble for your line.

"Action!"

You freeze. All your lines just vanished from your mind.

You look desperately around. "Cut," you give a wave of your hand, "Cut!"

"Sorry, no can do," the voice of the stocky fellow behind the camera reaches your ear, slightly muffled.

"What!?"


Now, if you were really an actress and that happened to you, you would probably find some way to stop the camera and either cut that scene out or just start over from the beginning. But think of your life as being filmed. If you mess up in life, there's no, "Cut, I didn't say that right," or "Cut, my attitude was way off, can we try that again?"

What happens in your life is done, you can't change what happened. But there's hope! You can change what will happen; how you will act, speak, respond, think, etc..

People are watching, the cameras are rolling. What are they seeing? Anger at God for being single? An, "I don't know what God is doing and I don't care," attitude. An, "I don't need a man, I'm fine by myself," or maybe it's the other extreme ... "I'm so lonely, no body loves me," or "I'm never going to get married, I'm going to die alone," or "Doesn't any body care?"

Now perhaps those aren't the exact words, but what about the attitude?

People are watching you, unsaved and saved, young and old, friends and family. What are you showing them this Valentines Day ... or any day!

Are you showing how much you love your family, how much joy it gives you to think of others and not about how lonely you are? What happiness you get from serving and not lying around wishing you had a man?

And what example are you being to your sisters in Christ? Whether it's someone a lot older, someone just slightly older, someone your age, someone slightly younger, or someone a lot younger.

Especially for the younger (early teens and younger) girls, we, as older, single girls, need to set the example of what a single Christian girl is suppose to think about, talk about and how to act. As the little girls are just starting to figure this all out, don't give them the view of a sulking, hardhearted, angry at God single woman.

From my last post ... Choose to be happy, choose to show Christ, choose to be the right example!

Another thing we need to remember is that our attitude affects others. If we are lying around sulking, or if we're angry at God, not only will others see it, but it will affect every one around you! The way you, me, we (!) respond to singleness does, indeed, affect every one around you!

Be the right, Godly, example of a single Christian woman for all to see and watch, because they are watching!

Single for Valentines Day?: Part 1 ~Choose~

This post is the first one in a short series I hope to write called Single for Valentines Day? (if time permits)!

Reading one of my favorite blogs today I clicked on everyone of her links ... the two in this post, these two, and this one (I was particularly struck by this one). And as I was reading I was struck with how people are going about Valentines Day!

I have gone through the time in my life when I felt so lonely and sad (and at times I still do) because I didn't have a man. It didn't even have to be Valentines Day. Any holiday would get me down, sad, lonely and feeling sorry for myself. In fact it didn't have to be a holiday either, any day would be as good a day as any for me to sulk and be lonely. Any time I saw a couple together I was instantly sad and lonely.

To help "cure" my loneliness I would write stories and, in my stories, of course, there would be a girl and a boy, both lonely and sad, much like myself. In the story this and that would happen, they would meet, they would like each other and thus began the most romantic stories of all time.

And for a time I was happy, not quiet as lonely. I would take the joy my characters "experienced" and live my life with that joy ... for a day, at the most two.

So while waiting for another of the best love stories of all time to pop into my head I would read love story after love story from the library. Taking what joy I could from them as well.

But looking at it now, at all the time I felt lonely and sad, wondering if I was ever going to get married, I think: isn't loneliness a choice? I don't mean the actual state of being alone, I mean the choice to feel alone? You make the choice to love? So do you make the choice to feel lonely?

As Elizabeth suggested, let's be positive. But I'm going to change that just slightly. Let's not just be positive, let's choose to not be lonely, let's choose to be rejoicing, let's choose to be giving, let's choose to be loving, let's to choose be like Christ! Instead of thinking of what we, as unmarried Christian ladies, don't have, namely a man, let's choose to think instead of what we do have. And I won't lie, at times it's hard, so what do we do? Pray! God will give you the strength to do everything He has called you to do, even being single. Ask Him for the strength to choose to be happy, to choose to love Him and to choose to not be sad and lonely.

We have the best man we could ever want, one who is perfect in every way, who will never leave us lonely, who will never disappoint us (as human men can), who has given us His love, what else could we ask for? God has given us all we need for living to honor and glorify Himself right now, at the point in life that we are at ... all we need right now! If God saw that we could love and serve Him better with a man, don't you think we would already have that man?

So thinking about what we do have again we can remember ... we already have everything we need! Perhaps, it's not everything we want, but God knows what we need, when we need it. If He saw that we were ready for a man, as I've said before, we would have him. But if we don't have him, let us take this time to love Christ more, to rejoice in the time we have to learn more about Him and grow in Him, to submit to being tried, tested, purified, so that we become not only what God wants us to be, but so that we are shaped, more and more into the women that will be perfectly made for the man God has for us!

More to come...

Since it is a new year ...

Happy New Year to one and all!!

As we start our new year may we look to Christ to better serve and love Him as we ought. When making and carrying out our new year resolutions (and perhaps failing) may we do what brings most honor and glory to Him and to His name!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!!

May you have a wonderful, Christ-centered Christmas, remembering not only His birth, but His death, His resurrection and His gift of salvation to us! Remember as you're exchanging gifts, eating wonderful food and treats and visiting with family and friends just what is the purpose of all that we do, both at Christmas and all-year-round. To honor and glorify God. Remember, also, that Christ isn't just the little baby in the manger, but ruler of all, at God's right hand, interceding for you and me. Praise be to the Lord, God of all!

Thanksgiving Day

I had such a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving and so much fun decorating and preparing for it. So here are some pictures of our (Mom, Leah, and my) work. Visit here to see Leah's post of Thanksgiving. Hope you all had as wonderful a Thanksgiving I did!

Look what I woke up to on Thanksgiving! Hurrah for snow!See my creative place-setting/napkins from the previous post? :) Okay, what do you do when you realize you should have doubled the recipe but you don't have enough time to make another batch ... You make the rolls half the size they should have been, (which was rather small) thus doubling the amount of rolls you make. :)

Hot apple cider with Cinnamon sticks and cloves in it. Yummy.Perspiration on the window from the humidity in the kitchen.

~{Happy Thanksgiving}~

Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this blog. May your day be a joyful celebration in the Lord and may we all remember to be thankful for those things which truly matter. I was reminded today of the post I wrote last year and it still applies. :) What are you thankful for?

~: : 4th of July : :~

For the fourth my family and I went to C and Katya's house. (Click on Katya's name to see her 4th pictures). They also had Katya's family down, her Aunt, her Aunt's family and Katya's Grandma. It was so much fun to just sit and fellowship, eat, then go to church and after church enjoy the fireworks. These pictures do nothing to show how amazingly fun it was, but maybe you can get an idea!

Katya's kitchen. Very full of yummy things!Lots and lots of different size cupcakes (there were more cupcakes, but I didn't get them in the picture.) :) They are not finished yet.Now they are finished. So pretty.M&M's for the cupcakes.
Some of the fellowship.More fellowship as we observe football game from the sidelines.The football game.Little G was taken with puppy Kida.
Little berries to decorate the inside of the napkin/silverware box.Tie around the glass that held the silverware in the box.Raspberries frozen in the ice-ring to keep the iced-tea cool.My name in Katya's pretty handwriting on my cup label.
``*`` Fireworks!!! ``*``