Church

It has been several days since my last post. I am still here and have been dealing with some life issues. While I share a little of my heart here, I thought I would also share these cool pictures. My mom sent me an e-mail that showed these awesome photos of a Church in England. It has been remodeled into a home. What would it be like to LIVE in a church? Not sure I could dig the cemetery in my front yard......but the inside is beautiful. Look at this entryway. When I moved back to my hometown, 9 years ago, I sought out a church immediately. I found a good one and stayed there for 3 years. While in this church we adopted Charlotte and Zachary. It was a place of friendships, worship, growth and love. Unknowingly, it was also a place of sin. It was a sad day when the Pastor announced he had been taking money and was losing his credentials for a time. The church dissolved and people scattered to other churches.
Isn't this living area incredible? I looked for another church too, but had some trouble finding just the right one. I ended up at a large 2000 membership church, where my son's future wife got saved....it was a great church and my son and his wife were married there. Too bad that the womb found out we attended there. We had to leave. I really dislike finding a church home. So much so, that I ended my search and just stayed home for a couple of years.
That wouldn't be a problem in this church home!! It was a problem here, however. I need a church. I can blame each member of my family for that, but I won't....I am not disciplined enough to church myself. Plus I need to be around other believers, and my children LOVE church!!
So I found Pine Grove. It has been a nice church. Wonderful people. A sweet spirit. The most giving group of believers you will ever find. Still, when it came to membership I found I could not join. There are scriptural standards that are important to me that were not there. I discussed them with the Pastor, and came to the conclusion that this lack of standards is not something I can live with. My daughter is seeing it and asking questions, and it will not be long before our own standards are lowered to a place of unholy lifestyle (Galatians 6:1). So, here I am again. Unchurched. Did I mention I really dislike looking for a home church? I feel like a church-hopper. Not something I believe in at all. It is a huge burden to find just the right church for your family. I know.....let the Lord lead you. I have no idea why He is not leading me to the right church. I plan to start looking right away. I do not want to fall into that hole of staying home again. It is so easy to do!

So, would you like to live in this church? I would!!

Off that subject, the kids are doing well. Home school has changed a bit. I have Anya full time and Alphia is being home schooled by her Mom. It is working well. Alphia still comes down for afternoon read aloud and on Fridays Cindy and I will co-teach the girls Bible study.

I am finished with the last little miniature I showed you. Even the binding is attached to the front! I plan to cut and piece another one today.

The kids have doctors appointments this afternoon for check ups. Other than that it is a cold dreary day. As I told a dear friend yesterday, our joy is not found in the sun, but in the SON, whose light shines upon us everyday!

Have You Ever......

.....seen anything more adorable in your entire life?????

I had a great weekend with the grandkids. We all went to Sunday service and then Emerson took a nice nap. They went home about dinner time last night. I am so blessed that they live nearby. I pray that stays the same for a while.

It is going to be a very busy week. I am suppose to be out of the house 4 nights in a row. Tonight, Zach has a birthday party to attend. Tomorrow is Bible Study, and Wednesday Awanas. Thursday is the neighborhood Bunco. My Mother in love is having a hip replacement tomorrow, and Sweetheart will be there, so I plan to stay home from Bible Study. 4 nights out is WAY too much, and I am relieved to be able to skip something.

I finished our morning homeschool, and the kids are eating lunch. We are heading to Lemstone's to get the gift for the party tonight. I love that store. I lost my favorite CD....Newsboys Adoration. I can not find it ANYWHERE....I know I had it.....I remember putting it someplace "special"....I can not remember where "special" is!! I plan to just pick up a new one. It is worth it....I love that CD.....did I already mention that?

I posted on my other blog.....The Offering of Thanksgiving. The post was one I have been meditating on. I have had some really good times with God lately, and I am bursting at the seams, but I know this blog is a quilting/family blog and though I still plan to share some spiritual thoughts here, I will post my "deep" stuff over there for a while. There are no comments there....just a place for me to reflect and give thanks, though you are welcome to read if you wish.
That is all for now, except to share that I even got a pic of TJ this weekend....he was caught off guard!

Notice the quilts in the background. Yep...that is the pink and brown in the hoop. The latest miniature is still sitting just like you saw it last. It was impossible to get it marked and basted with Emerson here, so I decided to do another block on the albatross. The UGRR is sitting on the couch too, as I appliqued another flower into the border. Those 2 quilts are my top priorities after Christmas.....unless something else comes up!

Have a blessed Monday!!!

Convicting

The full version is WELL worth the watch and you can find it here.

I Joy Over Thee

My daughter, My little one, My under-shepherd, My dear friend: ---you are many things to Me, even as I am many things to you. My love for you is deep and tender. I know thy desire to please Me, and I am happy that it is so. How can I tell thee that though I desire holiness, and while I desire fruit in thy life, still My love for thee is in nowise contingent upon any attainment? My glory is involved in the way ye live. Eternal destinies are involved in the matters of thy holiness and thy faithfulness and thine obedience to my direction and will; but my love for thee is independent of these factors.

I love thee because you are my child. I love thee because I am your Father. I love thee with Calvary love. At great price have I redeemed thee:
this I did because I love thee. When I planned this, I foresaw thee lost in sin, and I loved thee and chose thee and set My heart upon thee.

Rather than struggling to comprehend the working of My sovereignty, accept this, and rejoice in it, and draw near to Me without spoiling the preciousness of our fellowship with any shadows of self-condemnation.

You are Mine, and I joy over thee. Discipline I reserve for the rebellious. The first step of repentance brings My mercy.

"Mercy there is great, and grace is free--
Pardon there is multiplied to thee,
There the burdened heart finds liberty at Calvary"

Let the peace of God rule in your heart and mind, and be filled with thanksgiving.


from Come Away My Beloved, by Frances J. Roberts

A New Dake & Aprons

Do you want to hear how good God is?? Well let me testify!! (don'tcha love it!!) I have been wanting a Dake Study Bible for....well, many years. My Pastor from my old church (before I moved to the city I am in) used a Dake. For 9 years I sat under this Pastor and learned more than I ever thought possible. He was a gifted teacher, and he studied from a Dake. Good Dake's are pretty costly and I could not pull 60-80 dollars aside to buy a Bible....since I already have a NKJV study Bible and a KJV reference (remember I just wood glued it back together recently?), plus the ESV I bought a while back (which was much cheaper), a new Bible of that cost was not using wisdom. Still I wanted one. Last week I was reading a blog and a reader mentioned she had a Dake Study Bible she was willing to give. I e-mailed her and told her I would love to have a Dake. Now I do not know this girl AT ALL. She does not read my blog, nor do I read hers. I expected a hard cover or paper type copy of a Dake, but still, it would have the same notes and I would feel blessed. What arrived at my door was a BRAND NEW (still in the box) bonded leather Dake Bible.It has that new Bible smell and everything. Not a mark in or on it. This sweet girl, Anna, would not even let me pay shipping. Now I know she will get a blessing from God for her generosity, but there is a part of me that is having a hard time accepting this. I want to send her something of equal value. Still, I am feeling this is a lesson for me in accepting a gift. Look at all the wonderful study notes....A Dake Bible is perfect if you want to really dig deep into the scriptures! It is a commentary, a Greek/Hebrew dictionary, and a full concordance all in one. Ok, enough testifying....but isn't God good??? Felt like He was loving on me through this gift!

Another package arrived too. Joann got some new scrubbies the other day and I mentioned I use to have some and could no longer find them. She sent me some...and in RED! My favorite color! I already used one and they work GREAT! Thank you, Joann. You are too sweet. I am going to let the Lord know I have learned to accept a blessing. ;)

On another note, my Mother in Love sent me this cute history of the Apron. I thought I would share it with you all, since I enjoyed it so much. Notice the apron pattern...a size 14-16 was a Medium. Hmmmmmm.The History of the Apron

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath,because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the menfolks knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.

Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron.

Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings Name them one by one

Count your blessings See what God has done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your many blessings See what God has done! Do you know that song?? It is a children's song, but it speaks volumes to all of us! Yesterday was a mix of blessings. The above picture is my patio table. While I was out yesterday, a storm blew through and, using the umbrella, picked up my patio table like Mary Poppins, and tossed it over the deck rail and into the yard. The glass top shattered into millions of pieces. Those bigger pieces would fall apart into little 1/4 inch square chunks of glass when you picked them up. How is that a blessing??? Well, no one was hurt and Zachary helped me put it into perspective. While I was cleaning up the glass, he said, "This is the worst thing that could happen to us, huh, Mom." The frustration of loosing our wonderful patio table lifted. It was the furthest from the worst thing as you could get. I smiled at my son and told him, "Oh goodness, no, Zach. We can do just fine without a patio table. We are all happy and healthy and even though this is not the best thing that could happen to us, it is, by far, not the worst." My mind was focused in prayer as I picked up those pieces of glass. Prayer for my 2 uncles who both went through major surgeries that day. One for the removal of 1/2 his lung and some lymph nodes in his brand new fight against lung cancer, and another who underwent 8.5 hours of surgery that day to remove an aneurysm from his groin and to repair blood vessels in his leg. No, it was not the worst thing. It in fact had it's blessings.

My other blessings from yesterday....New fat quarters for baskets. I forgot green!! How could I forget green?? Oh well, I still have a few choices here, so this will get me through for a while. I also picked up a spool of YLI hand quilting thread. I use Guttermann, but have heard YLI is just as wonderful....and it is.

Another blessing was spending the morning with my mom. She is the most generous person and blessed me with 3 bottles of my favorite soap. It is a foaming soap you can only get at Bath and Body Works. We LOVE it, though it is a tad costly. She got me 3 new "flavors" and I have found my all time favorite.....Coconut Lime Verbena!!! It smells WONDERFUL. I am going to add the lotion and body spray to my collection!

The day before, I was blessed with my quilting frame. The only draw back was I had no where to put my little bowl of hand quilting supplies. My generous mom told me, "Go downstairs in the furnace room and you will find a little table that will be perfect." I did....and it is!!!I was blessed to be able to spend a little time at my frame yesterday too!Still practicing that thumb quilting!

My biggest blessing was a phone call I got at 9 am...I was at my mom's house when my cell phone rang. It was my grandson. No greeting, just..."Grandma, it is sunny outside and it is Fursday that means I can come over and play today." His voice was full of excitement and I just knew he was flapping his hands on the other end. He does that when he is thrilled beyond words. I had told him on Tuesday if it was sunny on Thursday he could come and play. I told him to have his Daddy drop him off at 2:30 and he did!!!TJ can hop on one foot across the entire room now! He played "Magnetics" with the kids, and watched Penguins of Madagascar with me while I finished the hand quilting on DeNiece's runner...another blessing!I took him home just in time to be blessed by my Granddaughter, who was going to bed soon. She was full of smiles and love for her Grandma.

Sweetheart came home from a day at his mom's and it was a blessing that he was not upset about the table....he loves that table. He took the news quite well.

I was also blessed with this scene last night.....My children have been arguing more than not lately, and to see them doing something like this warmed my heart. My older boys never argued. Of course one was overprotective of the other and was always compassionate, and the other looked at his brother like he was a hero. Different case scenario. Still it was a blessing to see my daughter give-in to reading the book her brother picked even though she did NOT want to read that one. I let her know her choice was admirable.

I know there are many more blessings I did not count out here. How many blessings can you count up today?

Today is also Feminine Friday, hosted by Valencia.

Today, my mom and I are taking Zachary out to lunch and shopping for his birthday...which is tomorrow. He will be 8 years old. After that we will pick up Charlotte and my niece Casey and take them to see G-Force in 3-D. I chose a white broom skirt and a short sleeve green T, along with white sandals which are soooo comfortable!

Now go count your blessings!

How I Do It All

I just wanted to let you know that you keep me encouraged :) You are always on the go with so much to do... How do you do it?

I get e-mails all the time asking the same thing as this sweet girl. She is a young mother who has 3 children all under 4. She struggles to keep up with it all and feels because she can not do it perfectly, she is not doing a good job. When we read blogs, we only get a teeny tiny glimpse into someones life...sure I share more than most, but I hate to think people "see" a woman who "does it all".

In looking at many of my posts, it appears that things here run pretty smoothly. Thanks to scheduling, most days they do. Still, do I do it all??? Not hardly. I do not want to post all my failures in my days, but there are many! Plus, I do NOT have children who are in diapers, nor do they need nursing, or regular feedings...ok, so my kids still require to be fed, but what I mean is, they can feed themselves if necessary. I do want to be an encouragement to young wives and mothers, but I also need to be real here. It is never going to be perfect for any of us.There will always be laundry to do....you may have an empty hamper in your house for a few hours, but soon enough someone is gonna change clothes! (I rarely have empty hampers)
There will rarely be a day when dishes are not calling, or meals are not needing to be prepped.
There will always be dust collecting somewhere! Add to that, a screaming baby, a tired toddler, and a hungry preschooler, and "doing it all" seems unfathomable. And it is!

Here is my e-mail response to my sweet friend (edited for personal content)

I will tell you how I do it ALL....I don't! Nope, not even close. I just pick out the most important things and do those...most of the time, I get those wrong too!

I knew how to do laundry and clean, but organization, scheduling, and cooking have been those things I have had to learn the hard way.
The very best years of my life...to this date...were when I was exactly where you are. My boys were little and I was a young mom. Things seemed really hard, but looking back, they were only hard cause I made them hard. If I could do it all over again I would do this...

Spend more time with the Lord
Spend more time playing with my boys
Spend less time worrying about the chores
Spend less wasted time on the phone with friends...no computer back then

Shoot...I said if I had a chance to do it all over again and here I sit with my youngest children who I could be "doing it all over again" with!
Don't look at blogs and think they have it all together, cause no one does completely, plus they do not have your life, which only you can live. Whatever we make a priority in our life, is where we store our treasures. I am big on saying priorities should be
God first
Husband second
Children third
Ministry fourth
Everything else fifth
but it is a daily struggle to follow that. Today my treasures are not being stored in those top places. I need to step back and re organize my day....just like reorganizing a drawer, or closet....you put those important things up front where they are easily accessible, and the other things, which you need, but are of lesser importance, you put toward the back. They are still there, but they have been put in a place fitting their purpose in your life.
It is not easy to put specific tasks in order of priority in some cases. God first is just that....Bible reading, prayer, praise and worship...all FIRST priority. So where does house work fall? For me it is second cause it is important to my husband. Very important. Do I tell my kids...who are third...I can't play with you til the dishes are done? Sometimes, but should I? I don't think so. I could have them help me and spend time with them while doing dishes. Do you say to your new baby, "Sorry sweetie, Mommy needs to clean the tub before you can eat, even though you are starving." Heavens NO! It is a delicate task to list all your priorities. I can not tell you that it is even possible, but I can tell you this....I promise....If you put God first and seek His Kingdom then EVERYTHING else will be added unto you...a clean house, time to clean it, happy children, happy husband, happy YOU.
Thanks for your sweet e-mail of encouragement.
Now I need to go reorganize my day...I put God in the back of the closet when I got up this morning!
Blessings~ Bren

When God Speaks

How often does God speak to you? Well, if you read the Bible, He speaks to you every time you open it. It is not called "the Word of God" for nothing! But other than the written Word of God, how does God speak to you? I was reading a post by DeNiece on her "cozy corner" and she mentioned what God had spoke to her that morning during her time with Him. (By the way, I will be showing pics of my own cozy corners through out this post....I have 3) Her post sparked something in my spirit that had me wondering how many of God's children actually "hear" His Voice? We know the Bible is the MAIN Voice of God. Let's be CLEAR about that. Any other avenue used by God to speak to you MUST line up with God's Word, or it is NOT the voice of God. That is KEY! Yes, I am raising my voice here.....God will not speak contrary to His Word.....EVER! Ok, I will calm down now.Also, I want to clarify, I am not an expert on this subject, so I am not claiming to "know all" here....I am going to just talk about my own personal experience with God's Voice. I have notebooks FILLED with my time with my Father. There are a handful of times that stand out, and they were life changing. One is when He gave me Charlotte's name 4 years before she was born....you can read about it in Charlotte's Story. Another time was many years ago. I was in the garage, smoking a cigarette....yes, smoking a cigarette (I gave that up years ago, Praise God)...and I was crying out to God. I mean REALLY crying...it went something like this....

"Lord, why, oh why, is my husband not what I need him to be??? WHY, Lord can't he be like "insert friends name" husband??? He prays with their family and he sends her flowers on every anniversary and he honors her with his love!! WHY, God, can't my husband be that way....change him Lord, to be that Godly man!!"

OK, so I know now that is pitiful. What did God say to me??? He raised His Voice to me the first time ever. YES, He did!!! He said,

"I DID NOT GIVE YOUR HUSBAND TO YOU TO MEET YOUR NEEDS. I GAVE YOU TO YOUR HUSBAND TO MEET HIS NEEDS. WHEN YOU BEGIN TO MEET HIS NEEDS THEN I, YOUR GOD, WILL MEET YOUR NEEDS!!"

Dead silence........

It changed my life. Yes, God met my needs and most of them He met through my husband, just as I asked. Also, did you notice, God did not speak to me in Old English? No, He speaks to you in your own language, yet He has His own style that you will learn to recognize.

I hear the Voice of God. Am I a prophet? No. I am God's child and He desires a relationship with His children. How many times have we went into our time with God and poured out our praise, repentance, supplication, and thanksgiving and when we were done, walked away? God desires us to come to Him and pray....we all know that, but He desires not only for us to have our time with Him, but His time with us! That is relationship....He says in Revelation 3:20,

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

....do you sit at a table with a friend and talk and talk and talk and then get up and leave? No. You listen to what the other person has to say also.

So what avenues does God use to speak to us? He uses His Word, we know that. He will also use other authors....books and tapes, speakers, Pastor's, friends, and family....even nature will be used by God to speak to us. All those things are signs of His incredible desire to communicate with us!

Another, and the most intimate way God speaks to us, is directly into our spirit. I hear His Voice. He says in His Word that His children know His Voice.

" My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:" John 10:27

Here is a challenge....grab a notebook and when you have your prayer time....make it in a quiet "cozy corner"....do not get up and go about your day after you pray. Sit still, and silent. Tell God you are ready to receive His Voice. It may be a simple "I love you" that you hear in your spirit. It may be 2-3 pages worth of conversation from your Father. I promise you will hear from Him. Are there times when God is silent? Yes. If He is silent for too long, you need to search your heart and life for a hindrance to that communication....unconfessed sin?....unforgiveness?...pride??? If you do not know, ask God to show it to you and when He does, don't get upset with the way He shows you. At first, you may have to be silent for a while. It is ok....He is there. Will you doubt what you "heard". I am certain you will. I did and sometimes still do. That is ok too. If it does not line up with the Word of God, cast it down as an imagination....2 Corinthians 10:5 says,

"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

Use that verse when you are listening for the Voice of God. Will you have a burning bush experience? I will not say never! It is an incredible relationship when you have 2 way communication with God.

I mentioned before that God will use books to speak to us. One book that is so precious to me is "Come Away My Beloved" by Frances Roberts. It is one of 7 in a series and is filled with almost 200 pages of God's Voice. Here is an excerpt...

"O My Beloved, abide under the shelter of the lattice---for I have betrothed you unto Myself, and though you are sometimes indifferent toward Me, My love for you is at all times a flame of fire. My ardor never cools. My longing for your love and affection is deep and constant. Tarry not for an opportunity to have more time alone with Me. Take it, though you leave the tasks at hand. Nothing will suffer. Things are of less importance than you think. Our time together is like a garden full of flowers, whereas the time you give to things is as a field of stubble."

Wow. Did that "speak" to you? It did to me!!! It makes me want more....you too? Go grab your Bible and notebook, find a cozy corner and let me know what you hear!!!

Be Blessed,

Bren