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We've just returned home from an 8-day vacation to Red River, New Mexico. We were on the road almost 12 hours today, so we are beat! But we had a great time. To get all the details, complete with photos of our trip, go to Joel's blog.
As for me, I will add more of my own perspectives sometime this week.
Until then...
Last Tuesday Zach began his summer piano lessons, and was instructed as usual to let the dog out before we left, which he obediently did.
When we arrived home, an hour or so later, I noticed Socrates was outside the back door barking in a rather demanding tone. I immediately chastised Zach for not letting the dog back in, for which he immediately apologized. He then let Socrates in, only to get completely and entirely "chewed out" by our 9-lb. furry wonder!
Socrates looked right at Zach and barked and barked and barked in the most irritated tone. (Zach may have forgotten Socrates, but Socrates knew exactly who had left him out in the heat!)
Being the good dog interpreter I am, I translated what Socrates was saying:
"How dare you leave me outside all this time!"
"Don't you know how hot it is out there?!"
"I can't believe you forgot about me!"
We all howled with laughter! (And I don't think Zach will forget and leave the dog outside again--at least for a while!)
:-)
Me and Socrates
The bedroom is painted. The bedding is on the bed. The curtains and the pictures are hung. The furniture is moved around. And the mantel has been purchased.
So what's left to do? The mantel needs to be painted and bolted to the wall. (I was going to crackle it, but I think I've decided to just paint it--after adding a scrollwork design to it!) I need to purchase a large mirror to go over the mantel. I need to decide how to "decorate" the interior of the mantel (where the fire would go if it was a complete fireplace). And I need to purchase a chair for the corner.
We went shopping for a chair yesterday--for the second time!--and I was exhausted by the whole process! It's nearly impossible to find just what you're looking for at a price you're willing to pay... So I came home without a chair--for the second time....
I still need to return the crackle supplies to Lowe's, which I'll do when I go to find the brick or whatever to decorate the interior of it with.
As for the living room, it is painted as well, and all the furniture is back in place. However, the speaker wire for one of the surround-sound speakers is still dangling conspicuously, and I've determined that we need track lighting over the TV now, because that corner is really dark.
So the process continues.... I'm really ready to get this task completed. (I still don't know how they do it all in two days on Trading Spaces!)
I love Joel's idea of blogging "Notes to Self". What a great way to remember to do something important, not to do something stupid, or just remember to laugh. So I'm following my husband's lead, and will begin recording my own "Notes to Self" on my blog. (Be sure to check out Joel's.)
Notes to Self:
The days are ticking off, and my recovery from surgery continues to go well. Summer has begun heating up. Even the mornings are miserably hot and humid. The kids are constantly wanting to go swimming or do something fun--which is still a stretch for me at this point. (Although I'm hoping next week I will feel more like taking them to do things.)
The best part of this six-week period--which I'm almost halfway through!--is that I have plenty of time to spend in the Word, one of my favorite pasttimes! I've finished the Psalms, and have begun working through the Proverbs. (I've been trying to read a chapter of Proverbs a day with the kids... Incredibly rich stuff!) And this morning I also took a jaunt through the first few chapters of Job and skimmed through the Chronicles and part of 1 Kings.
The themes that continue to catch my eye and reverberate in my spirit are those concerning the "fear of the Lord", the greatness of God (both His infinite power and His infallible character), His total rights over every area of my life, and the innumerable reasons we have to praise Him. Every moment I spend in His Word makes me love Him more!
I am learning too, that every breath I take should be spent on Him: praising Him, honoring Him, giving Him the glory for the blessings in my life, thanking Him for loving me--even enough to discipline and test me!--, beseeching Him on behalf of my own weaknesses and on behalf of the overwhelming needs of others, and loving Him in every way I can imagine. There is no event in my life or the lives of others that escapes His notice or happens by chance. He is the God of the universe and of every individual--whether they realize it or not! And He has a plan and a purpose for each of us. It is in staying connected with Him, drawing close to Him, that I am able to endure the hardships and the blessings He assigns to my life and the lives of those around me.
The hard part is staying focused on these truths in the dailyness of life, in the mundane, the drudgery, the distractions, the unexpected irritations or inconveniences, etc. Although I have tried and tried and tried some more to keep my focus "there" I have never succeeded. Although my intentions were good, I believe I may have been somewhat misguided . It is not in my keeping my focus where it belongs, but in loving Him more with every day that passes that will make the difference in my life.
Beth Moore says something about this in her book "Feathers From My Nest". She speaks of repeatedly asking God to increase her love for Him. Such a simple prayer, but one that He will never refuse! As she has prayed this prayer over the years, He has fervently acquiesced! It is because He has increased her love for Him that she has been able to live her life in increasing devotion to Him.
Ah, the simple solutions of life! To simply trust God. To simply obey Him. To simply pray for Him to increase my love for Him.... Simple? Yes. But easy? Not always! Hence the distractions and drudgery and unexpected irritations of life. The key, however, I believe, is in remembering too that God is all-knowing, ever-present, and all-powerful. He knows my every thought before I think it. He knows the desires of my heart. So because He knows it is my desire to love Him more, because it is one of His greatest desires, He is certain to encourage my prayer life in that direction!
So, that's where I am today.... Trusting Him, depending on Him to meet me at the point of my weakness to strengthen me to love Him more.... May it be increasingly so!
'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 'I will be found by you,' declares the LORD...' Jeremiah 29:11-14a
Every Monday night, Joel takes the kids out around 6:30 and brings them home around 9:00 so that we can have our FLOCK** women's group meeting here. We started having the group at the end of April and have met every Monday night since, except for one. (Then on Tuesday night, Joel does the same thing with the men from our FLOCK group, and I take the kids out.)
The purpose of the group is to allow us ladies to get to know each other better, to share the struggles we're dealing with, and to pray for and encourage one another. So far, I feel we've accomplished that to a large degree. Summertime schedules seem to interefere somewhat, so our group has dropped off in numbers since school let out, but that's okay! Even when there are just two or three we have a great time! ("Where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20 NIV) I trust God each week to bring the ladies He wants there, and to be the Lord over our meeting.
Last night we started a new "study"--although there's no homework and the ladies don't even really need the book. It's based on the book "Keep A Quiet Heart" by Elisabeth Elliot. The premise? How to keep a quiet and peaceful heart in a world where struggles and pain and pressures chip away at our peacefulness on an almost constant basis.
The challenge I found, for myself last night, was that I am much better able to keep a quiet heart amidst the larger painful issues of life, but when it comes to the smaller, more mundane, more "normal" everyday issues, my heart is anything but quiet! So even though I'm leading this study, God is already using it to transform my life. (Though I feel certain this transformation will take some time!)
Anyway, I have loved getting to know the women in our FLOCK better. They are an awesome bunch of ladies--all dealing with different issues, all in different "places" in their lives. We have grandmothers, empty-nesters, mothers of young children, singles, women married but separated, working women, stay-at-home moms, etc. But the best part is the common ground we share: a love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and dealing with the struggles of this life.
What an awesome gift we have in being part of "the body of Christ." And what a blessing this body of believers has been to me!
God is so awesome!
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**Note: Our FLOCK is a Sunday morning Bible study and care group. It is an acronym for Fellowship, Leadership, Outreach, Caring, and Knowledge. We meet every Sunday morning from 10:45 a.m. to noon at Henderson Hills Baptist Church. We also have monthly FLOCK socials where we get together and just have fun. It's a great group of people! You can see our FLOCK's blog here.