Celery Update

This is my celery now.

This is what it looked like a couple of days ago.

I noticed that it was getting roots, so I decided to take it out of the water and just go ahead and plant it in potting soil, put it in a south window and am waiting to see what it does!  : )

If you are doing this, I talked to my friend (who shared this idea) and she let me know that if you find some of the stalks getting a little slimy (on the bottom), just pull them off (which I did).  : )

That's it for today!  Just wanted to update you on this experiment.  Please let me know if it works for you.  : )  Have a good day and God bless the work of your hands.  : )

Sunday Evening

Home.  : )

Women, are you ready for the beginning of a new week?

*ready to wake up tomorrow with thankfulness in your heart.

*ready to pray and read God's word.

*ready to take care of yourself so you, in turn, can take care of others.

*ready to love the home God gave you.

*ready to be organized and work hard.

*ready to look ahead enough to be confident in your tasks.

*ready to look back enough to keep you humble.

*ready to call on the Name of Jesus when you're happy, sad, lonely, stressed (in other words, always).

*ready to be willing to change what you need to change.

As daughters of our Father God, we have been blessed with a unique ability to take each day, each week, and make it into something wonderful.  I know it doesn't always seem that way or turn out that way but we can certainly try.  God blesses our trying.  He knows when we fail and He knows when we succeed.  He is with us in both.  

So, I encourage you this evening to go forward in the week wanting to do the best you can do.  Be the best you can be.  If we still have breath in us it means that we still have a purpose.  Are you ready? : )

Saturday Morning

State Fair presentation.

Yesterday was the most beautiful day as far as weather.  We have a LOT of snow, but the sun was warm, and the birds were really singing their little hearts out.  I put on my coat and just stood on our back steps for a while taking it all in.  There was a hint of Spring in the air and it definitely lifted my spirits.  : )

Today, however, we awakened to snow again.  And it's going to snow throughout the weekend!  I'm grateful for yesterday.  My husband is sick with a bad cold from cleaning up this past week's snow, so I will have to see what I can do as far as snow removal this time around.  Ugh.

When I was cleaning this past week, I got to thinking about how homemaking has changed.  I could see how many women nowadays could think that homemaking is a boring, tedious job and why in the world would they want to stay home and make that their main occupation.  But then I think back to when I was in the work force and how I would sit there wishing I was at home and getting things done!

I'm wondering if the boredom comes from ease.  I mean, we have everything in our homes that pretty much does the work for us.  Vacuums, dishwashers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, food that we just open up and eat, microwaves, etc........  Don't get me wrong - I enjoy some of these appliances just as much as everyone else, but I feel like we've gone so far away from actually rolling up our sleeves and getting into the work around us.  We just use these "time savers" and sit around waiting for them to do the work for us and then call it good and done.

I posted a long time ago about how one of my grandmothers worked herself to death.  She was a farmer's wife on the prairie of South Dakota and they were dirt poor.  Those poor women knew what hard work was and I'm not advocating that we go back to that, but the one thing they were not was bored!  I just finished a book on a woman who came to the United States from Norway back in the late 1800's and moved to Montana and how hard she worked and she actually loved it.  Everything from setting fence posts with her husband to being proud of being the only woman around who could make her laundry whiter than all the rest, to making her one room home a thing of beauty where people would come from all over in order to see it, to setting up a pantry so she could always make something good.

I think that is the point I'm trying to make.  I think we've gone so far from being "hands-on" and taking pride in what we do in the home that we've become complacent, bored, and wishing for a "better" life outside of the home.  I've also posted in the past about some women having to be working outside of the home.  My mom was one of those women - if she wouldn't have worked, the bills would not have been paid and we wouldn't have been fed. I understand that.  I have also met women while out and about who don't have to work but have admitted that they wouldn't know what they would do all day if they stayed home.  So, each and every woman has to make those kinds of decisions.

But since I am a homemaker (and, yes, we could benefit from my working outside the home) of course, my thoughts and words will always be trying to encourage women to getting back to loving their homes and taking care of them.  I know I won't go back to washing my clothes on a washboard (although there are some things I sometimes wash by hand), but I do hang clothes up and because I hang them up they do need to be ironed.  Hands-on!  I've never had a dishwasher (and won't) so I wash dishes by hand (and dry them).  Hands-on!  I cook by scratch with the stovetop and/or oven (not a microwave).  Hands-on!   Seriously, these three things alone take up a huge chunk of the day.  So much so that I can getting a little impatient because I realize that I can't seem to get to other things.

When I first started being at home I didn't find the satisfaction in homemaking that I was longing for.  I wanted it to mean something.  That's when I found homemaking books, and cookbooks, and housekeeping hints books, and frugal living books and it all excited me and it's what I needed to motivate me, knowing that the modern conveniences were there if I so choose, but it's what I do beyond that that really matters.  Making soap (laundry and hand), sewing something, baking bread, making candles, making greeting cards, and so on.............that makes me feel a little bit like those women of long ago who were so okay with having a home and being home and taking care of it.

It truly can be a vocation that we, as women, can love.  I encourage all of you in this.  It's all in the doing.  Set aside the convenience and dig in.  You will find that the time passes by quickly and you won't be bored at all!!!!!  : )

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for visiting me because I really appreciate it.  : )  God bless.

A VERY Snowy Wednesday

When I woke up at 2:00 a.m. it wasn't snowing, so I thought maybe, just maybe, they were wrong in their forecast.  When I got up at 5:00 a.m., well.....no they weren't wrong.  It's almost 5:00 in the p.m. and it's still coming down!  I've been trying to tell myself that it IS pretty.  : )

A nice day for getting things done and things that I thought I would share with you.  First, this:

This is an idea from my friend on how to re-grow celery.  And it's working!  Just cut off the bottom from a bunch of celery, and then cut a thin slice off the bottom, mark it with an "X" with a sharp knife, place it in a small jar and add water.  After a few days, you will notice new growth.  This is the kind of stuff I love!  Hope you can give it a try.  : )

And next, this:

A coffee candle.  This is as easy as can be.  However, you do need several things for it.  Grated soy wax (so much better for you than petroleum-based wax), ground coffee, whole coffee beans, a glass jar, wicks, and an old double boiler (I bought one a long time ago just for things like this - keeping it separate from using it for food that we would consume).

1.  Prepare the jar with the wick first (a canning jar works best for this as it can withstand the heat from the wax).  You can buy little glue dots that will hold the bottom of the wick to the jar.

2.  Ground a small amount of coffee beans.  I used about a Tbsp. of ground coffee in this.  And then keep out about 1 tsp. of the whole coffee beans.

3.  Melt your wax in the top of the double boiler, stirring occasionally until fully melted.  Stir in the ground coffee and the coffee beans.  Take off the heat and pour into your prepared jar.  At this point, don't get concerned when pouring as you will notice that the wax is totally brown from the coffee.  But as it hardens, the wax begins to get white again and you can see the coffee grounds and beans.  Really pretty.  Trim the wick and let it set for 24 hours before lighting it.

Again, I hope you can give this a try!!!!!  : )

Lastly, this:

Apple crisp.  Sometimes when we buy a bag of apples, we can't seem to eat all of them, but I consider that okay so I have a reason to make some kind of dessert out of them.  : )  This is one of my favorites and for a wintry day it made the house warm and smelling good! 

Here is the recipe:

EASY APPLE CRISP

*About 4-5 peeled, cored, and sliced apples

*2 - 3 Tbsp. granulated sugar

*3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

*1/4 tsp. salt

*1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

*1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats

*1/3 cup all-purpose flour

*4 Tbsp. cold butter, cut into small pieces plus a bit more to grease the pan

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly coat an 8 x 8 baking dish with butter.  Combine the apples, sugar, cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp. of the salt in a large bowl - toss to coat.  Place the apple mixture in the baking dish and set aside.

2.  Using the same bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oats, flour, and remaining 1/8 tsp. salt until evenly combined.  With your fingertips, blend in the butter pieces until small clumps form and the butter is well incorporated.

3.  Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples and bake till topping is crispy and the apples are tender - about 50-60 minutes.  Let cool on rack for at least 30 minutes before serving.

YUM!!!!  Again, again.........hope you can try it and let me know what you think.  : )

Ready to eat.

I think that just about does it for today.   While my husband is outside snowblowing the snow for us and a couple of our neighbors, I better get into the kitchen and prepare supper for when he comes back in.  So, I hope you are okay where you are and I bid you goodbye.  Thank you for dropping by for a visit - I'm VERY thankful when you do!!!  God bless.

Sunday Afternoon

A church in the country on a Sunday drive.  : )

Something I pray for on a regular basis is that the Lord will help me to feel His presence.  There are many times when I feel like what I'm doing at home is not enough.  Like I should be helping out financially in some way.   Or that I'm unusual in staying home now that our son is grown (and don't have the homeschool reason to stay at home anymore) or now that my husband is retired I should be the one to bring in some extra money to help with the ever growing healthcare costs.  When  I'm in a room full of women (some of whom are much older than I) and knowing that they are still working (some part-time) there is this guilty feeling of not doing my part.

While I was working in the kitchen the other day, I did indeed feel the Lord's presence.  These "feelings" are pretty much the same each time I experience Him with me.  It's like a soft touch on my shoulder telling me that what I'm doing is okay - it's where I'm supposed to be and it's what I'm supposed to be doing.  Even if it was cleaning up after preparing a meal.  And that special feeling always brings tears to my eyes because it makes me feel loved and cared for and watched over.  And I'm SO grateful for those times of answered prayer.

What this also does is that it reassures me that if God is with me in the so-called mundane things, He will be with me in everything and that I can trust Him to guide me in and through it all.  There may very well be a day that I feel Him telling me to do something else, but for right now that touch on my shoulder tells me that I am to be satisfied and contented right now.  Whether it's folding laundry, or mopping the bathroom floor, or washing dirty dishes.  It all has to be done, and I'm willing to do it, and it's okay.  : )

This past week I finished reading the Old Testament of the Bible and now, again, on to the New Testament!  There are many things in the Old Testament that are hard to understand (and that's fine) and God knows that.  He doesn't expect us to understand it all, but He does want us to read it all.  Every single time I read the Bible (for the I don't know how many times now) I find something new and it's very exciting.  Little things (well, not little - but I know you know what I mean) that jump from the pages and speak to me.  It's so exciting and so amazing to me.  And one my prayers and desires for ALL of you, is to get excited and amazed too!!!!!  : )

While sitting in church this morning I had the overwhelming sense of our need for Jesus.  Every single person born in this world NEEDS Jesus (whether they think so or not).  Because when this old world comes to it's final end we will all stand before Christ - the Bible says "EVERY knee will bow and EVERY heart will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (emphasis mine).  And for me, being a born again Christian it sounds awesome!!!!  But wouldn't it be awesome if the world would begin to feel that way now?  I SO want everyone to get up in the morning just being excited about getting on their knees before the Holy God of Heaven.  I SO want everyone to feel like they just can't wait to open up their Bibles and hear and learn from God.  I SO want everyone to go to a Bible-teaching church every Sunday.  I think it's a sense of my feeling impatient with mankind.  We've seemed to become so blah when it comes to God and worship.  Like He's being put on the back burner and we only come to Him when we think we need Him.   Why does it always have to take an emergency situation before we come to Jesus?   Do you think maybe He allows emergency situations in our lives to get us to come to Him?  

Again, I encourage you to come to Jesus today.   If you don't know the Lord, all you need to do is repent of your sins and ask Him to come in to your life and take over.  Confess your need for Him and He will come to you.  There is nothing you have to do, because Jesus did it all for you at the cross.  No works can get you into Heaven, only the blood of Jesus.  For God so loved the world, God so loves YOU.  No matter where you come from, no matter what you've done, He is waiting.  But do it today!  None of us are guaranteed tomorrow.  This is my prayer for you.  : )

It's Saturday Already!!!!

From an old mercantile in a historical village.  : )

It's been one of those weeks where I feel like I didn't get much done, but I know I did!  Every day had a list and throughout the week was:

*Laundry (this is an every day thing since I hang everything up)

*Iron

*House cleaning (dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen and bath)

*Make meals

*Baking/decorating cookies

*Paying bills

*Doing the menu/grocery list

*Going grocery shopping

*Wash floors

*Keeping up with Bible lessons

*Some crocheting

*Some reading

So, I know that these things filled the week, but it just went by SO fast!!!!!   Saturday's have more of that calm feeling.  The house is presentable from yesterday's cleaning, so today I can:

*Make soy candles (I found a "recipe" from my favorite Capper's Farmer magazine - they're called "coffee candles" using ground coffee and whole coffee beans) mmmm..................  : )

*Watch a couple of my favorite cooking shows on PBS - it's not so much that I will ever make the dishes they make, but I always come away with a way to do things, a new technique, an idea.

*I want to make a couple of homemade signs for the house and maybe for my Etsy shop so I'll need to go on-line and see if I can find someone that customizes stencils.

*I have three plants downstairs that sorely need to be re-potted into bigger pots so I HAVE to do that!

*Make our breakfast granola.

*Plan Sunday's meal.

*Hopefully get to a craft of some kind.

It's a long list, and I doubt if everything will get done, but it's fun to have lists like this to pick and choose from!!!!  : )  If you're not a list maker, I encourage you to become one.  It gets those ideas out of your brain (to make room for more) and onto paper - the exciting part (for me) is crossing them off!!!!  : )

The other idea I had for this post is remembering to look at your house from the outside on a regular basis.  I got this idea from our driving through neighborhoods while going on errands.  I love driving through neighborhoods and look at houses to see how other people do things.  In the winter, however, I feel like we're all in the same boat.  It's very hard to make our houses look "pretty" with snow all over the place.  Snow is pretty at first, but it eventually becomes dirty and icy and blah.  There are piles of snow that we just can't do anything about.  So we can't do too much about the landscaping of the house in the winter.  What I'm talking about is looking at your house - the physical building - and see if there is anything that's off.  What I've noticed about driving around is people not noticing that the blinds they pulled up are off-kilter.  One side is up and the other side is down and everything in between.  I know this sounds really picky, but it gives a very untidy look to the outside of your home.

The other thing I've noticed is how people have "stuff" piled up in front of windows or in their three-season porch with the curtains open that looks out of control.  Boxes, papers, and other things that are just dumped there and can be seen by everyone who passes by.  Again, I know this sounds picky, but curb appeal for a home is important.  Even realtors list curb appeal as a selling point for a house.  Not only do we want our homes to be as nice as we can on the inside, the outside says a lot about us too.  When driving around, I've noticed old chairs tipped over, old Christmas trees still by the curb, old dried up plantings in the window boxes from last fall - all things that would only take a moment to get rid of.  It doesn't cost a thing to be tidy.

Try, even in the winter, to keep your steps brushed off, keep your window treatments in order and be consistent, move all that extra stuff to an area of the house that is out of the way and not visible from the road.  We want to create a nice, visible, atmosphere not only for us who live there, but for others that pass by.  When we live in a neighborhood, I really believe that we should keep things up for everyone around us.  I know I really appreciate looking out our windows and seeing a nice, well-taken-care-of house across the street.  So, I encourage you to just take a walk around the house sometimes and see what can be done to make it look a little more presentable.   I know it's hard for us in the winter but doing something is better than doing nothing!!!!  : )

I think that's about it for this day.  I do hope always that you enjoy the home the Lord provided for you and that you are motivated every day to keep it up, keep it clean, keep it organized.  God bless!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

On Tuesday I baked, and yesterday I decorated - I won't win any prizes, but it was fun.  : )

I always consider Valentine's Day a girl thing.  All things red, pink, and white.  Pretty cards and chocolate.  And I'm usually thinking that my readers will probably be female so I wanted to wish you a "Happy Valentine's Day."  : )   Whether this day is a happy one for you, a bittersweet one for you, or a lonely one for you, please know that you are all in my thoughts today.  I DO understand that not all "holidays" are enjoyable - believe me, I know!  But there are steps to take to make it as nice as you make up your mind for it to be:

*It's ALWAYS a good thing to think about others - so if you can think of anyone that might need a lift just as much as you do, call them, e-mail them, invite them for coffee or a meal to share, take a card over to them, have flowers delivered to them.  Whatever you can think of to do for them will definitely lift your spirits as well.

*If you homeschool take the day off!  Play games, decorate the house, bake, make a nice meal, decorate the table, research how Valentine's Day got started.  And maybe, as a family, you can do one of the things above for a neighbor.  Invite your children's friends over for a party.  Just do something and make it memorable.

*Do something for yourself.  We all have those lists in the back of our minds about what we would do if we had nothing to do.  Think, and then do!  What would you like to do?  Some of us just want to sit with a pot of coffee at our side and tear into that book (turn off the phone and any other distractions).  Some of us would love to fill the tub with wonderful bubbles, turn out the lights, light the candles, put on some music and just soak and feel the tension drift away.  Some of us would like uninterrupted time of just doing something crafty - picking it up and working as long as we want.  

*Some of us are blessed with husbands that are still with us.  I know several women in the last couple of years who lost their husbands already.  I know several women who are unmarried, so this is the delicate and not so great part of Valentine's Day.  But, having a husband doesn't necessarily mean that it's all romance either.  So, this is an area where the woman of the home has to take it upon herself sometimes and create a nice atmosphere and/or make it a nice day for both of them.  Think of something that you would both enjoy and carry it out.

That's it for today!  I hope you CAN enjoy this day.  Maybe by just remembering that this is another day the Lord has given us can be all you need to be joyful and grateful.  : )  Thank you SO much for dropping by for another visit.  God bless you today.

Sunday Evening

Early morning light.  : )

The one thing that jumped out at me this week was the fact that life is all about being willing to learn.  Sometimes the lessons we need to learn are pretty easy, sometimes they're difficult, and sometimes the lessons come up over and over again and with each one, hopefully, we learn from them and grow and change.

Some of those lessons, for me, were:

*speak up when the need is important - don't just let it go and be misinterpreted as being okay with you when it's not.

*hold back in speaking up when you SHOULD be letting it go because saying something will only make things worse.

*don't make everything about you - sometimes it's not about you at all.

*willing to be humble when the lesson to be learned hits close to home and you thought you were doing okay.

*always thank the Lord for loving you so much that He will send some difficulty in your life to teach you in areas that He knows you need help in.

If we're really serious in growing in our spiritual lives, we have to go through the pruning process.  It's where God prunes out the bad so the good can thrive.  Just like a gardener.  We know we have to cut off those branches on a tree or else it will stunt the growth.  All those branches growing out of control will eventually harm the whole tree - they need to be taken out - the tree might not die out, but it's not going to be as healthy and strong as it could be.  Same with us.

So, be willing to learn the hard lessons.  It won't happen all at once (or, maybe for some it does).  But little by little we feel the need to change our ways in order to be better people.  And, ALWAYS, ask God for the direction He wants you to go.  : )

I hope you had a good weekend and I pray that you have a good week ahead!  Thank you for dropping by - I love it when you do.  God bless.

Saturday Morning

We haven't had much snow this year, but we got some this past week.  Wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but it WAS pretty!  : )

It's been a week of sitting.  Instead of the daily and weekly chores that require movement and doing, I chose this week to do things that required thought and writing.  Those kinds of things need to be done too and since it was a cold, snowy week, the timing was perfect.

First of all, I'm re-writing all my recipes.  THAT is a chore!  I thought I was being so clever about having notebooks with recipes in them, but when I get to Tuesdays (my menu making day) I found it takes FOREVER to look through the notebooks to find the recipe I need.  So, I'm back to recipe cards inside a recipe box.  Silly me.  : )  

Secondly, I'm sitting while doing my Bible lessons.  Even though our class doesn't start until March, I thought I'd get a head start on it and SO glad I did.  I'm getting so much out of it already.  There are two memory verses so far that I need to learn and thought I'd share them with you so that you can learn them along with me:  😊

*"And it is impossible to please God without faith.  Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him."  Hebrews 11:6

*"Wise choices will watch over you.  Understanding will keep you safe.  Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted."  Proverbs 2:11-12

Memory work has never been easy for me, but I'm getting there!  Let me know how you're doing!!!

Thirdly, I sat and addressed Valentine cards.  I really enjoy doing this because choosing the right card for the right person is fun.  I also felt the need to pray over each and every card that I wrote out.  The women in my lives that I'm sending these cards to (friends, family, etc.) mean a lot to me and I want to lift them up in prayer.  Some are going through difficult situations, some are enjoying a time of peace, but I wanted to make sure that I prayed for them.  This is something I hope all of you can do - if/when you send a card or letter off to someone, just offer up a little prayer for them.  I would LOVE it if I knew someone was doing that for me.  And isn't that what we hear from time to time - "Do unto others as we would have them do unto us".  : )

SO..........lots of sitting going on over here!!!!  But, it's all good.  : )

The other thing that I wanted to share this good Saturday morning, is that since the first of the year, I have been trying something that has been working for me so I wanted to pass this along to you too.  Maybe some of you already do this, but it's new to me.

In our home, we have breakfast, lunch, and supper.  I have, for years, set our breakfast table right after the supper dishes are done.  I put everything we need (bowls, napkins, vitamins, etc.) out so that it's ready for the next day.  In the kitchen, I put the pot we cook our oatmeal in on the stove and the spoon, oatmeal, coconut oil and measuring cup off to the side.  Or if we're having smoothies, I take the blender down and put the bananas beside it along with our glasses to pour it in.  That way the mornings are SO much more relaxed because almost everything is done!  I know I've mentioned this in past posts but if you have a family who uses the table in the evenings for homework or other projects, you might have to wait until you know they are done.  I'm all for family time and not hindering them from what they want to do at the table first.  : )

I started thinking while cleaning up after our breakfasts, that I could do the same thing for our lunches!  There are many times when I make something besides just sandwiches for lunch.  I make a casserole, or I make a soup, etc.  So, now, after breakfast I get things ready for lunch.  I look at the recipe and set all the things out that I need for whatever I'm going to make.  I measure things out such as spices, I cut things up such as the onion or other vegetables, I bring the canned goods up from the pantry, and I set whatever pot I'm using on the stove.  The only thing I don't do right after breakfast is set the lunch table because we do tend to use the table for other tasks before lunch, so setting the table is done while the food is cooking.  

This was for soup-making yesterday.  : )

At first I thought that with such a tiny kitchen I didn't want to take up the space, but I found that whatever else I needed to do, the space on the other side of the kitchen is just fine and I'm off doing other things in other parts of the house anyway.

And, then, of course, my thoughts after lunch are looking ahead to what I need to do for supper.  And I go through the exact same thing (again, without setting the table).  I look at my menu for the week, pull out the recipe and begin the same process all over again.  When you hear this you may think that it's an awful lot of work, but truly it isn't.  This same work has to be done anyway, I'm just choosing to do it right away and get it done so that when the actual mealtime comes along, the work has been done.  All you need to do is pull it all together.  It saves time in the long run.  I hope you can give it a try (if you're not already doing it).  : )

Success in the kitchen begins with love for your kitchen.  When I was first married this was not the case for me.  I wasn't a good cook, I knew nothing about kitchen organization, I didn't like the tiny kitchen I was working in.  But through the years with help from organizational books and trying different things and ways and beginning to collect favorite recipes that are family favorites, the kitchen is now one of my favorite rooms to be in.  Setting up your cooking station, your baking station, your cleaning-up station allows you to get into the kitchen and actually enjoy the whole process.  Providing good food for yourself and others is SO important.  It's healthy but it's so much more than that.  When we talk of "comfort" food, it's true!  It's a huge part of having a home.  So, again, I would encourage you to get into the kitchen.  Make it your own.  Learn to cook and bake.  Set it up in such a way that it works for you.  I think you will feel the difference.  : )

That's all I have for this day.  Thank you SO much for dropping by for a visit.  I LOVE comments and I would LOVE to hear from you on what works for you, or for any ideas you have.  I love homemaking and everything about it, but I feel I'm still learning.  May God bless your day!!!  : )

Sunday Afternoon

I have always loved photos of water with reflections - beauty.  : )

Hooray!  It's above freezing!  It feels like Spring!  If only for this day, I'm so grateful.  : )  Everyone in church seemed to be chattier, the birds are singing, the snow is melting.  It won't last, but we'll take what we can get.

I know at the beginning of this month I had said that I read a couple of blogposts where the women chose a word at the beginning of a new year and take it through to the end and the word I chose was "trust".   I'm a person who, at times, can have a problem with fear and worry in my life.   Just in the month of January there were a couple of situations where fear and worry reared their ugly heads and in each situation I had to remember the word "trust" to get me through.

The "trust" I am referring to is, of course, trusting in God in and through everything.  There was something about choosing that word where I knew that I might be tested - is it just a fun thing to do and see if I can do it, or am I totally serious about truly trusting God in all things?  Well, I don't want to do anything flippantly when it comes to taking God seriously at His Word, so yes, I want to lay the things that I'm fearful and worried about and indeed lay them at the feet of Jesus.

What I've been doing since the 1st of the year is read one Psalm before I go to bed with a pen in my hand and circle every "trust" word that comes up and then underline the sentence it's in.  Tonight I will be up to Psalm 34 and I've already found the word "trust" 26 times!  And I looked ahead and I see many more that I will be able to circle and that's just in the Psalms alone.  So, I think "trust" is very important in the lives of Christians.  Here are just a few verses I found:

*"Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him."  Psalm 2:12

*"And put your trust in the Lord."  Psalm 4:5

*"But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You."  Psalm 5:11

*"O Lord my God, in You I put my trust."  Psalm 7:1

*"And those who know Your name will put their trust in You."  Psalm 9:10

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*and I hope that you will look more up for yourself!  I'm looking forward to looking for the word "trust" throughout the entire Bible now.  : )

Trust isn't something that comes easy to me.  There have been people in my life where I didn't even think about not trusting them and they betrayed that.  Once burned, lesson learned, kind of thing.  So to choose the word "trust" for this year is surprising to me.  But, then again, it's not putting my trust in something or someone, it's putting my trust in the Lord and that's where it's different.  People will always disappoint - it doesn't mean that we have to be cautious about everyone, it just means that they aren't (or shouldn't be) the source of our peace or contentment.  It's great to have family and friends to lean on when times get tough.  People to help us through.  To come along beside us and shore us up, but ultimately we need to come to Jesus first.  When the fear and worry started creeping back in, I could hear that voice saying "what word did you choose for this year?"  "Why did you choose it?"  "Are you taking it seriously?"  "Who are you trusting?"  For me, it was another good lesson to learn.  Fear and worry vs. trusting God.  I always have to remind myself that He has brought me through thus far, He will bring me through again.

I hope and pray that you have a good rest of the day and a good week ahead.   May God continue to bless you and that you continue to trust God.  : )

Above the kitchen sink as a reminder.  : )

Little of This, Little of That

"Study to show thyself approved unto God........."  2 Timothy 2:15

We are coming out of the deep freeze around here.  Yesterday I think it made it to 14 degrees above zero and it really felt nice and warm!  Today it will be in the 30's!  My goodness - we're absolutely giddy.  : )

The past week has been good.  Again getting things done around the home front.  On the coldest day (Wednesday) I treated it like a day off and did things that a day off looked like - baking, reading, studying, crafting.   Whenever I have a day like that, it motivates me to get back to work on the following day.  I think that's why weekends are nice.  I still use Saturdays to get a few things done that I didn't get done during the week and then Sunday is our day of rest and by Monday I'm ready to work.  

The above photo is part of the studying I did.  At church we're beginning a new women's Bible study and I wanted to begin now and get a few lessons done beforehand.  One thing about this new study is that they have Bible memory verses and I love that.  I don't memorize scripture enough so this will be a big help to me.  Thursday evening our friends that we have a home Bible study came over to talk about what we will be studying as well, and we're looking forward to that too!  One cannot study the Bible too much.  I really would encourage you to get into some kind of Bible study.  We need to know what the word of God is so that we can apply it.  We miss out on a lot that God has to say to us if we don't study.  Ask around at church, begin a Bible study for yourself - there are so many resources on-line or at your local Christian bookstore.  No excuses!!!  : )

The other book I am reading right now is "Adam Bede" by George Eliot.  I believe this is Eliot's first book and I'm enjoying it.  I'm not sure when it was written but the writing in the front of the book says "To Lena, In commemoration of August 4, 1906"  - don't you just love it when you find an old antique book and someone had given this book as a gift and wrote in it?  I absolutely do.  To know that someone in 1906 held this in her hands and read it and now, me, in 2019!  Wow.  : )  I've said in the past that I'm so surprised at the vocabulary words that these old books have in them.  Again, I always have my notebook next to me with pen in hand and write down all the words that I need to look up.  I always thought I was pretty good with spelling and vocabulary, but when I read some of these books......not so much.  Here is a partial list of words that I need to look up:

*embonpoint

*panegyric

*pillion

*sinecure

*calenture

*lazzaroni

*fustian

*prehensile

*meerschaum

*sabriquet

I don't know how many of you already know the definitions to these words, but I do know that this list will grow because I'm only half way through the book.  George Eliot also wrote "Silas Marner" which I really enjoyed as well.  It is British Literature and I've always been drawn to that.

So, my encouragement for you today is to begin studying the Bible - join a group or start your own - and then begin reading good literature from the past.  Literature that has good morals and standards and has hard words to look up!!!  : )  But as I've said before - keep learning!!!!!  Keep those brains thinking.  We tend to get into such routine that our brains become inactive because they are so used to the same thing day in and day out - we need to give it something different all the time to keep it active.

There.  That's it.  : )  Have a wonderful upcoming day and weekend - thank you for your time and God bless.