A Year of Blessing - February 14, 2010

My daughter, Theresa, has her birthday today. Mine is in a few days, so we celebrate together! She is an awesome woman: beautiful, strong, wise. She is a wonderful mother, and a diligent, hard worker. I know this sounds cliche, but she is my sweet, sweet friend. We love photography and go 'shooting' at the craziest times...like the middle of an ice storm with power lines falling around us! We clean alike and when I had back surgery she was my life line of sanity and sanitizing! We have a similar sense of humor and get our jokes when no one else does. We love to cook together and never get in each others way when we do. (At least I love to cook...) She is an inspiration, to others and to me. She is a blessing God gave me...just a few years ago, at least it seems that way to me.

I love you, Theresa! Happy Birthday!

Luke 8:47-48 (New International Version)

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."

A Year of Blessing - February 13, 2010

KPC's are in full swing with practices, getting t-shirts made, and having a video made for introducing their songs at their concert in the Spring. Their leader, Brenda, makes the event all about the kids. So everything in the concert will be kid sang and kid introduced. It is an awesome and very uplifting concert.

My friend and mentor, Jack, is doing the videoing and my 'favorite friend', Lindsay, is doing the interviewing. The video really shows what the kids are thinking about when they sing certain songs. Their perspective is insightful and refreshing.

Last year when asked about the song "Mighty to Save" and what it meant to them, one girl said, "If God wanted to, He could lift up a mountain and throw it into the ocean! He is just TOTALLY awesome like that! and He can save us from our sins just that easy. He is mighty...yes, mighty." Such passion and insight!

Then, of course the comment about how God reigns in our lives was met with the answer, "You know...like when it rains and we get wet!"

It is SO much fun when working with kids! How they bless us with their growing hearts! (Oh...and Jack and Lindsay...you guys did an awesome job!!)

Proverbs 22:6 (The Message)

Point your kids in the right direction— when they're old they won't be lost.

A Year of Blessing - February 12, 2010

Tonight was game night with Derek and Michelle. Pete and I had looked forward to it all week! But...let me start at the beginning.

Theresa was out of town on business. She had to leave suddenly, so asked if I would do a bit of cleaning for her that she wasn't able to do before she left. No problem...and Michelle was feeding her cats, too. So we both met over at Theresa's to finish up the cleaning before she was due home and decided to re-arrange Theresa's apartment. We put part of the living room furniture in the dining area making it into a reading nook, dining table in the living room like a bistro area, angled her large couch toward the tv and set the last piece of sectional as a game chair closer to the tv. The boys room we cleaned and fixed their beds. Then we completely redid her bed. It looked quite HGTV'd!

Afterward, we all met at our house for games, pizza, and lots and lots of laughing, mostly anticipating Theresa's reaction when she got in later that night! We were not disappointed! But actually she loved the way it looked!

What a blessing to have a little fun...oh, and I stomped them at Star Wars Monopoly! WooHoo!

Ephesians 1:3-6 (The Message)

How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

A Year of Blessing - February 11, 2010

I made cupcakes for Jacob's class Valentine's party. What fun and excitement for pre-kindergarten kids! They just love to have an excuse to give valentines, get valentines, and of course there is the candy and cake part too!

It just seems like last year I was doing this for my own kids...trying to decide between Scooby-Do valentines and the ones we could afford. Watching the kids put little candies into the tiny envelopes, grimacing as they licked the flap to close it, and checking off the list to make sure everyone got one. Then there was the part of them dumping their bag of valentines on the table to show me who gave them which one. Just tiny, little valentines...but they meant SO much.

The size of the gift isn't what is important, it is the size of my heart, my love for people, and my love for God. Kids hearts seem so much bigger than mine.

Second Corinthians talks about the grace of giving...isn't it just like God to anticipate us needing grace for giving? He blesses our giving by giving us grace! How blessed we are!

2 Corinthians 8:7 (New International Version)

But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

A Year of Blessing - February 10, 2010

Quick Trip! They are building one on the road I take to the highway. When they finish it will become 'My Quick Trip'. I will probably stop at it several time a week...if not daily. Their iced tea is good year round and the coffee isn't too bad either! And Summertime...the drinks are 59 cents! I won't mention the gas prices but QT has my fuel of choice, for me and my car!

I think I will have a challenge finding a scripture for this blessing....

Ecclesiastes 8:15 (New International Version)

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.

A Year of Blessing - February 9, 2010

It's like magic! I put my letter in the mailbox, and my trash on the curb (actually Pete does that!) and they disappear! (The mail and trash...not Pete.) What a blessing to live in a society that has services like these!

The people that work them are called 'public servants'. I was just thinking that that would be a good name for Christians. Public servants. People who serve the public...and in that serving, show Jesus to people who may not otherwise see Him...ever! Make me a servant, Lord, and let me bless others.

Luke 12:35-40 (New International Version)

Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

A Year of Blessing - February 8, 2010

It snowed again today. But unlike the past couple of snow storms that stayed around for a week or more, this was a true Oklahoma snow storm: Snow in the morning...gone in the afternoon! The schools were a little skiddish about this storm, though, and believed the meteorologist when he said it was going to be another big one. They let school out early, so Zach got to play in the snow!!

I just love his total abandon to having fun while it lasted. Unlike his old grandmother who stayed inside where it was warm, he welcomed the cold and each and every snowflake with a dance of joy!

The blessing of a child's perspective!!!

Romans 8:14-16 (The Message)

So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

A Year of Blessing - February 7, 2010

Super Bowl Sunday!!! I look forward to it every year! Not because I am a football fan. I'm not. I don't follow any team nor do I want to. But every year our small group gets together to have Super Bowl Sunday as a day to be together in fellowship. There is always good food, lots of laughs, and yes a few fans that shush us during the game, but most of us wait for the commercials to stop talking.

I always choose a team to root for, though. It is always the one with the prettiest uniforms. And this year it was the Saints. They won and I cheered! Like I had followed them all season long. But the thing I enjoyed the most was the people I got to be with. I love each and every one of them. And I DO follow what they are doing, with an interest that most fans reserve for their favorite team! I truly love God's family!!!

Matthew 5:8, 9 (The Message)

You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.