Vacation Part I

~South Dakota~

A Cozy, Rainy, Tea In Pretty, Lacy Cups Day~
(My Aunt has the best tea cups. :) And I love rainy days!)

A Girl-y Room~

(My sweet, little cousin gladly gave up her room to me and my sister both times we were there, for a couple of days each time. Her room is so pretty and girl-y.)

The Road Trip Through South Dakota~

(I love driving through South Dakota and Wyoming. Everything is so open and beautiful!! Please pardon the blurriness of my pictures, it's rather hard to take clear pictures when you're driving down the road, or rather riding while someone else drives. Fear not, I did not take pictures while I was driving. :) )

~For more South Dakota pictures, visit Leah's post here.~

~New Book~

First off ... I'm back!! :) Bet you didn't know I was gone, that's okay. My family and I headed out to Wyoming. :) (Promise of vacation pictures to come in future posts.) While on vacation I finished a book and, obviously, started a new one.

I finished Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan. As far as hymn story books go, this was the first I've ever read, so it was good, but I have nothing to compare it to.

I've started reading, The Journals Of Jim Elliot edited by Elisabeth Elliot. I'm very excited about this one. :) I've gotten a few pages into it and already there have been many things that I have "highlighted" with my colored pencil. :) (I'm cheap, just use what you have to highlight.) I'm sure there will be quotes from the book appearing on here some time or other, so you will be able to see what you think of this book (from the bits and pieces I show you) for yourself.

The news is out!

Check out my sister-in-law's story. :) It's the best!! I'm so excited!!!

"No Will Of My Own"

When two of her four children caught the scarlet fever, Elizabeth Prentiss was unable to make the trip that she and her husband had planned. Her husband, George was in Paris and she was in Switzerland with her four children, the plan was for Elizabeth to travel with the children to Paris when George got them a place to stay. In a letter to her husband she said:

"I need not tell you what to ask for the dear child, but for me do pray that I may have no will of my own. All these trials and disappointments are so purely Providential that it frightens me to think I may have much secret discontent about them, or may like to plan for myself in ways different from God's plan. Yet in the midst of so much care and fatigue I hardly know how I feel; I am like a feather blown here and there by an unexpected whirlwind and I suppose I ought not to expect too much of myself. 'Though He slay me yet will I trust Him,' I keep saying over and over to myself, and if you are going to write a new sermon this week, suppose you take that for your text ... I do trust that in the end we shall come forth from this troublous time like gold from the furnace."

~*~ Hot Chocolate ~*~

Okay, yes, I am aware of the fact that my post is called "hot chocolate" and the picture in this post is called "coffee." But we're just looking at the cup, not the name of the picture or the name on the cup ... just the cup. :)

*~ 1# 9.6 oz. box of powdered milk (10 &1/2 cups)
*~ 3 oz. coffee mate (3/4 cups)
*~ 3/4 cups powdered sugar
*~ 1# nestle quick (3 & 1/2 cups)
*~*~ Mix and store in sealed container. Mix 1/3 C. to 8 oz. hot water. Or stronger if desired. I like mine rather strong.

I really like the recipe because even though you make it strong it just gets creamier, not syrupy and thick like the stuff from the store. :)

Limiting the Limitless

As I was lying in my bed, praying last night I came to a request that has been heavy on my heart, and frankly I don't know how to pray the best way for it. But my thoughts/prayers went something like this ... "Lord, I don't know how to pray. Please make ____, give me _____ or take this ____ away." Just as I finished those words a couple thoughts came to me. "Are those His only options? Because I gave Him these three options He can't do anything else? Am I somehow telling God what He can and can't do? Am I somehow limiting Him, who is limitless?"

Perhaps it's just a slip of the tongue, or something deeper. The word "or" is so little, slips in so unnoticed sometimes, it's easy to say, it rolls off our tongue so easily. If it is a slip of the tongue maybe we should be more careful to make sure that it is simply a slip of the tongue and perhaps change how we say what we say in our prayers.

But maybe it's something deeper. When we insert the word "or" into our prayers, do we truly believe that those are the only ways to solve our problems and that God must work according to the options we have laid before Him? Do we believe that nothing else could possibly do to make the situations (which, if you remember, are God's doings to begin with) work out to some kind of good, or at least in a way that we might end up liking?

Shouldn't we, instead, take a different road. "casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7 ESV). "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6 ESV).

Maybe it's just me, but those verses don't say anything about listing your options to Christ, "Casting all our anxieties [worries] on Him," implies that we cast them and leave them on Him, that we tell Him our worries, our requests and leave it in His hands, "because He cares for you."

So here's what I'm getting at: pray, pray, pray, and then pray some more, we are called and commanded to pray, letting our requests and worries, anxieties, be made known to God, but that we watch ourselves, don't slip in the "or" word and then think God has to work according to our standards or options that we cast on Him with our requests and worries. Let your requests and worries be made known, then let go, trust, surrender, submit and know that God works by His standards, His options, His power (with which He does things we never even thought to pray about) and in His time! God is limitless, don't limit Him with our petty options on how we think things should go.

~Reminiscing~

Anywhere you drive, around here, the farmers are in the fields, harvesting. And as I watch I can't help but think that time went way to fast. I remember when they were planting the fields. As I was remembering the time when they planted, a quote came to mind. I thought I'd share it with you. It's just a simple-pleasures, out-of-season quote but it's fun just the same.

"Having a clothesline sped up the laundry the next day so that she could begin planting the garden. She marked a row with two sharpened sticks and the string from the store packages. With the row marked, she raked under the string, figuring that it didn't matter if there were clods of dirt between the rows. After digging a furrow with the hoe, she showed Eloise how to plant the precious bean seeds, one little-girl foot apart. Eloise did as her mother showed her, brow wrinkled in concentration.
I should have sewn us both us both sunbonnets, Nilda thought as she felt her own nose grow warm and saw her daughter's face turn pink. For us who have never had enough sun, this is a surfeit for sure. One more thing to do in the short evenings.
"See Ma." Eloise pointed to her work.
"Now you must over them up." Nilda used her hand to pat the dirt back over the seeds. "Like this."
Eloise squatted down and mimicked her mother. She held up a blackened hand. "Dirty."
"It's all right. We'll go wash in the river after we finish our rows."
In a minute Eloise stood, a wriggling worm clutched between finger and thumb. "Look Ma, look."
"A worm, you found a worm."
"Worm."

"Ja, they are good for the garden. Put it back in its home."
Eloise looked around, stared at her mother and then at the worm. "Where worm house?"
Nilda laughed and scooped her daughter up to swing her around until she giggled as well. "Worms live in the ground. That's where you found it right?" She set her back down and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Ja, in the dirt."

Carefully, Eloise put the worm back in the row and drizzled dirt over it. "Worm gone, Ma."

Nilda marked and raked the next rows. When next she glanced over to check on Eloise, the girl was curled up in the grass in the shade of the house, sound asleep. Dusting the dirt from her hands, Nilda picked up her daughter."

~"The Brushstroke Legacy," by: Lauraine Snelling.

Amazing Sufferer

As it says on the sidebar (in the "Currently in my "books I'm reading" basket" list), I'm reading a book about Elizabeth Prentiss. I was so struck by her faith in Christ even after the loss of her children, that I just had to share some quotes with you.

She lost two children (almost three) in a period of about seven months. It was said, understandably, that she struggled with depression and her health wavered many times and she was brought almost to death many times. Yet in those times, and in the times following her recovery, she wrote amazing things in her journal and in letters to others suffering. May the Lord give us the grace, faith, and strength to follow her amazing example of trust Christ through everything Him brings into our lives!

In a letter to a friend who lost a child (not long after Elizabeth lost her two), ~ "I trust that in this hour of sorrow you have with you that Presence, before which alone sorrow and sighing flee away. God is left; Christ is left; sickness, accident, death cannot touch you here. Is that not a blissful thought? ... May sorrow bring us both nearer to Christ!" ~

~ "This life is all about 'a closer walk with God'. The deeper the sorrow, the closer the walk." ~

~ "Nay Lord, but it is hard, is hard -
Oh, give us faith to see,
That grief, not joy, is best for us
Since it is sent by Thee" ~

~ In the letter to her friend again, "But why should I think I know better than my Divine Master what is good for me, or good for those I love?" ~

Disturbing Reputation

As I was walking through a store this afternoon I went browsing through the wedding isle. I always enjoy looking at pretty little things and wondering what I would perhaps look for if/when the time comes. As I was glancing my eyes fell on two figurines.

The first one, as you can see on the bottom of the picture, is called "Now I Have You."
And the second one is called, "Oh No You Don't."As I looked at these "funny" (or not so funny) figurines I was struck by the thought, "Is this what people expect from women?" To drag a man to the alter and make sure he doesn't escape? To make sure that we end up with a man no matter what it takes? Whether or not the man even wants to be married?

How different, as Godly, Christian women, we ought to be!

But when you think about it, shouldn't our focus as unmarried women be on growing and becoming more like Christ, rather than wondering who we will marry and how it will all work out? However, I know that unmarried women have a tendency to wonder about things of that nature at sometime or other. :)

As an unmarried person I know the feelings and desires a woman has about being married. I have also, in the past, been one to give into the fleshly, selfish desires of trying to make things work out so that I would end up married. I now look back and thank the Lord that I was unable to "make things work out." We, as unmarried Christian women, ought not to try to manipulate situations that God puts us in to make sure in the end we end up married.

How much stronger will our faith and trust in God be if we surrender our desires and wants into His able hands (and not manipulate but watch Him work) and truly have faith that God will bring that person into our lives when He knows it is best?

I have seen how God does work in couples lives, courtship, engagement and marriage and all I can do is say, "If that's how it works when you "let" God take control, that's what I want." How can we possibly think that we know better then God in trying to make things work out between a certain person and ourselves? If it is God's will that you end up with that certain someone won't He make it known, in His way and His time? And how beautiful will your love story be when you wholly and completely surrender to God? Also, what an example and witness you can be to those around you. How different from the world you will be when you give all to Christ instead of chasing, dragging, convincing and manipulating.

You can also know, without a shadow of a doubt, that if your relationship, courtship, engagement and wedding is God's doing, then you will truly be happy in marriage if you continue to keep your eyes on Christ and let Him work in all areas of your life.

Help me change the way people view us as women and leave all to Christ, knowing He knows best and truly believing and trusting that!

For a love story that's truly God's way, visit here.

New Book

I just finished Jane Austen's Persuasion! Oh, my! It was so good! I loved it! I was on the edge of my seat many a time. It was so wonderful! I highly recommend it! Now I get to start on another by her, my third thus far. I'm now starting Mansfield Park. I haven't heard anything of it yet, good or bad, so I shall see how this one goes. :) If anyone has an opinion on the book I would thank you for your comment. :)

Puppy fun!

This morning I went to check on my rose garden and took the puppies with me. They were so cute. They would jump on the mini rose bushes and just sit on them. *Rolls eyes and shakes head* Silly puppies. They would try to play with the rose bush leaves and chase each other around in between the plants. They are so playful and cute! They growl and bark at each other when they play too. Here are some pictures I got, but they moved so fast that I wasn't able to get many of them playing. :) (The white one is Vanilla and brown one is Chocolate.)

Chocolate is so little. (Yes I said Chocolate, not Vanilla, Chocolate looks almost white in the sunshine.) No! Chocolate is eating my pant leg! :) Scary huh?! *Wink* (Chocolate not Vanilla. *Smiles*) What can one say but ... Cute!!! Again, what's there to say? :) Oh, eat the scary rose bush leaf Chocolate! (Again, even though she's light, it's Chocolate.) Hello cutie pies! Vanilla pawing at my leg.Help, being eaten again!

Getting the right focus in the unmarried years of life

As I was searching through the LAF website in the "Especially for the unmarried" articles I came across these two articles that really made me rethink what I'm doing in the unmarried time of my life. The articles are written for ladies but unmarried men can certainly glean from them as well.

Thoughts on Singleness
The Desires of Your Heart

*~Jane switch~*

Quite a while ago I mentioned that I had started to read Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Well ... I finally finished it. After month and months of trying to finish it. :) It took me a while to read it, but it was so good! :) I loved it and am very happy to own my own copy. :) Hurrah for book stores! :) But as I have finished that one I'm starting Persuasion which is also by Jane Austen. I'm hoping it will be as good as her other one. :) I'm not that far into it, but I'm liking it already.

~Jane quote~

"'And how does dear, dear Norland look?' cried Marianne.
'Dear, dear Norland,' said Elinor, 'probably looks much as it always does at this time of year - the woods and walks thickly covered with dead leaves.'
'Oh!' cried Marianne, 'with what transporting sensations have I formerly seen them fall! How have I delighted, as I walked, to see them driven in showers about me by the wind! What feelings have they, the season, the air altogether inspired! Now there is no one to regard them. They are seen only as a nuisance, swept hastily off, and driven as much as possible from the sight.'"

~Jane Austen, "Sense and Sensibility."

Good-bye Wilbur

Last night/early this morning, out littlest puppy died. Wilbur. He was born second out of the three, but he was so small. He gained, I think, about one oz. in almost three weeks while the other ones tripled in size. So this morning we buried him. Even though it was sad and we realize he was just a puppy, we remember that God is good, even in taking a puppy. That little puppy was the favored one and it was very sad when he died, but God has a plan to make us more like Him even when we're sad. We don't have the hope that our puppy will be in heaven, but we have the hope that all things work out for the good of those people who love God, even the death of a favorite puppy.

Wilbur was so little that we put him in a check, the kind in your checkbook, box.

The box in the "grave". Little Kida was so sad, she cried the whole time Wilbur was on the counter and when we took him outside and when we buried the box. She just wanted to carry him back into her house next to her.Yeah, I know, I know, the cross thing on the "grave" is weird and creepy. *Shrugs* Leah was being weird. :)Little Kida sitting in the chair to be able to look up on the counter where Wilbur used to be. Still crying for her little baby boy.

Color change

Cuteness Alert!

I found these two way cute movies while visiting different blogs. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!! :)

Little Girl and Psalm 23

Taking Care of The Ladies

Quote on prayer

"Oh, how dissatisfied I am with myself. How I long to be like unto Him into whose image I shall one day be changed when I see Him as He is! I believe nobody understands me on religious points, for I can not and, it seems to me, need not parade my private feelings before the world ... I do dislike the present style of talking on religious subjects. Let people pray - earnestly, fervently, not simply morning and night, but the whole day long, making lives one continued prayer; but, oh, don't let them tell of, or let others know half how much the communion with Heaven is known to their own hearts. Is it not true that those who talk most, go most to meetings, run hither and thither to all sorts of societies and all sorts of readings - is it not true that such people would not find peace and contentment - yes, blessedness of blessedness - in solitary hours when to the Searcher of hearts alone are known their aspirations and their love? ... there is not enough of real, true communion with God, not enough nearness to Him, not enough heart-searching before Him; and too much parade and bustle and noise in doing His work on earth.

~From Elizabeth Prentiss' diary on January 1, 1841

Elizabeth Prentiss quote

"Bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Take what I cannot give - my heart, body, thoughts, time, abilities, money, health, strength, nights, days, youth, age - and spend them in Thy service, O my crucified Master, Redeemer, God. Oh, let not these be mere words! Whom have I in the heaven but Thee? And there is no one upon earth that I desire in comparison to Thee. My heart is athirst for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?"

~Elizabeth Prentiss, "Stepping Heavenward."