Christmas gifts and a new year

It is January 1, 2013..... That seems funny. It seems like this past year FLEW by. Time keeps going faster and faster, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of down time, time to rest and relax and be peaceful.

But it's important to take that time. EACH DAY. Spend time on your knees at Jesus' feet as Mary did while Martha worked hard in the kitchen. Not saying don't work, let your house and day to day tasks be left undone. But take a few minutes to spend some precious time with Jesus. In Him you will find peace and refuge and the energy to go about your day to day life and meet the trials that you will face each day.

This Christmas was an eye opening and humbling Christmas. I had signed up to be a part of a secret santa gift exchange and then realized there was NO WAY that I could do that. There was not really even any $$ to buy gifts for my kids, let alone be in a gift exchange where I would have to mail a gift to someone. So, I emailed the lady in charge. I let her know there was NO WAY and to give the person who was drawn for me to who ever got me. She said she understood and would take care of it. Little did I know that I was to be blown away by the graciousness and love and giving of all my wonderful friends in the group that I am in!

One friend took it upon herself to Angel Tree my son and made sure to send a few toys and clothes for him. Enough that I could even put back some for his birthday in January and oh, one of the boxes was packed with some WONDERFUL hot herbal teas (I do not like cold tea, I might live in Texas but I do NOT like cold tea, only hot LOL)! Another sent me a beautiful gift of some essential oils  - a lotion stick with Young Living Oil Peace and Calming and Ylang Ylang, some lip balm from YLO, a bottle of homemade vanilla extract, and a little bag of wonderful smelling bath bombs.... Several of them got together to paypal me $$ so I could become a Young Living Oil distributor, as well as have some extra $$ for anything we needed. And yet another, the person who had been given me in the SS exchange, sent me some $$, some YUMMY chocolates, a pair of the cutest earrings (pumpkin pie slices!), a couple candles......

I totally feel as if I am loved beyond measure by not only God but by all my friends, and I am SO grateful. My YLO oils will soon be on my doorstep and that means I will be able to start using them for not only every day health needs but also for my son. I am looking forward to getting him to sleep BEFORE 1 am! That will be heavenly! And I know that YLO will help us out so much.... Not only will it give my family better health and I can use the oils for health and well being and emotions, etc. but for any who sign up under me, they will be able to use it too and YLO will be a source of MUCH needed income for my family. I SO CAN'T WAIT!

And then I was thinking that we wouldn't get the anonymous gift card that has come in the mail for the past two or three Christmases.... But nope, it came a couple days after Christmas and with it, I was able to order a rebuilt laptop to replace the dying desktop computer. Now I won't have so much trouble scanning in and printing homeschool and studio things, I won't have to fret that I won't be able to get onlineand pay bills, or manage my studio website or any of the MANY other things that I do online. (yes, this means too that I can in my spare time actually play farmville and yoville again LOL) And the kids are enjoying it already too because the two younger ones can play minecraft on it.

So, even in the darkest of storms, there is a light, It's God, and He will move heaven and earth and provide ABUNDANTLY for us. In so many MANY ways!

Can't begin to imagine....

Right now I can't begin to imagine what the family of a couple of my students are going through....
Will post more later, tomorrow, once I have come to grips with it.
And yes, I did delete a previous post.... I'll explain tomorrow as well...
Just PLEASE be in prayer for a dear lady and her family (she brings her grandkids to me for their piano lessons) because right now their family is going through some really rough times!

I hope to be more active here. :) Will be posting a much longer message later, but right now we are busy putting in a new hot water heater (THANKS to my MIL! She bought it for us!) and I'm trying to baby my left hand (Which got caught between the hot water heater and the door frame UGH! ) Not bad, just really sore and I can tell there's bruising. Which reminds me to put arnica on the grocery list for when my mom and I go grocery shopping.

Mother's Day and childike faith.....

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. If you are a mother, how are you spending it? With your children? Grandchildren? At church (since it is Sunday)? How about spending a little time with God? Think about it........ Without God, motherhood would not be possible. We spend around 9 months not fully in control of our own bodies. At a certain point I think all of us have realized that we no longer have control over anything. We have to at that point put it ALL into God's hands. It gives us (hopefully) a firmer foundation in our faith and hope and love. The faith and hope and love that is (and should be) given to the Creator of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. Because, truly, without God, would there be children? Would we as mothers be able to hold that newborn baby in our arms and smell that baby smell, feel those tiny fingers wrap around our one finger because that's how small the fingers of those little hands are, see those little eyes looking at us with such trust, helpless and in total need of us. US! In all our insecurities, imperfectness, and sinful nature. Totally humbling, frightening, and.... awesome. And if we really think about it, we should realize that we need to come to Jesus' feet and God's feet JUST LIKE THAT, like a newborn baby. Full of trust, love, and helplessness. Because that is exactly what we are. Helpless. No where in the Bible will you find "God helps those who help themselves" - no, Benjamin Franklin said that. And he wasn't even the first person to have said it! In actuality, it originated from Algernon Sydney in 1698 in an article titled Discourses Concerning Government. Here - http://www.gotquestions.org/God-help-themselves.html So, we need to come to God the creator and Jesus the Lamb of God with complete and utter trust and faith and give EVERYTHING over to Them, because as we as mothers find out, we are responsible for EVERYTHING for these babies God loans us for such a short time.... and God is COMPLETELY responsible for US, His children. And you know what? God is responsible for us for ETERNITY. For those of us who have accepted Jesus as our savior, eventually we get to LIVE with God and Jesus for EVER. Isn't that an awesome thought? So, for new moms, moms to be, moms with older kids, or even moms who have been made grandparents.... stop for a minute tomorrow, and spend time thanking God for the miracle of motherhood, and thank Him, too, for all that He has made possible and... try to go to Him with a childlike faith and wonder. See Him as our children first saw Him - through a child's eyes, with a child's faith! Happy mother's day to all of you! And may God bless you all abundantly!

Christmas 2011 Newsletter

I love this time of year. There are so many beautiful Christma slights, Christmas trees, and other decorations. I love seeing the lighted manger scenes in the front yards, or lighted signs stating Jesus is the reason for this season. It all warms my heart and lifts my spirits. Gives me hope. And HOPE is a GOOD thing, a blessed thing. Because without hope and without grace, where would we be? I found a book at a thrift store that was co authored by Max Lucado and a couple other Christian authors. On one of the first pages of the book, there is the message that man did not go up to meet God, but that God came down to meet man. I'll go further. God sent His Son, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and the Lamb that topped all other lambs. The PERFECT lamb, for truly there could be no other. Jesus came down, was born, grew up, and then suffered such atrocities that if we thought about it, could we even dare to say we'd go through and stand firm in the middle of that storm? He lived and died so that we could live – under grace, in JOY, PEACE, and without fear. For those of us who have Jesus in our hearts, and truly know WHO He was... is... to us, this time of year should hold so much joy! It has nothing to do with presents, twinkling lights on a tree, snow, big turkey dinners, or shopping and spending money. NOTHING. But instead everything to do with Jesus' birthday. God's gift to whoever calls on Jesus as their savior, and asks Him into their hearts. It truly doesn't matter if you have a Christmas tree up, presents under that tree, a big turkey dinner or a simple homemade bowl of soup. What matters is do you have Jesus in your heart? Do you have a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior? With God? If you don't, then isn't it time? For us, 2011 has been filled with lessons learned, lessons still being learned, blessings so abundant that it's hard to even know where to begin, laughter, tears, and learning to give it all to God, no matter what it is or how heavy it might lay on our hearts. We have been blessed with a 1985 diesel suburban, and was able to get out a bit more without having to walk everywhere for a while. And I truly do feel blessed beyond measure to have it sitting in our driveway, even if now it needs the emergency brake line replaced before it can pass inspection, and a spare tire, and a jack. Those will come, in God's timing. And most of where we need to go to is within walking distance, and as my DH and I are working on losing weight, walking is a GOOD THING! LOL My mother in law is paying for my husband to be a member of Weight Watchers, and after two or three monthes of paying for me to be a member too, we are now paying for me to continue with it. I am almost at my 10% weight goal, and my DH has gotten to and a bit beyond his 5% weight loss goal. This is a journey that we are both on, and it helps to have that support. It also helps to be able to wear a ring I inherited from my mother in law's mom again, and to have to start taking in the waistbands of all my skirts that I have made myself over the years! YAY! We graduated our oldest from homeschool spring of 2010, and since then she has been busy, busy homeschooling a family friend's youngest, making lots of beautiful things (waiting on ME to get something going online for us to actually sell all of those things that she has made and that we have made). She is growing in the Lord daily, and a huge help most of the time around the house and with her two younger siblings. She wants to be her own boss, and would prefer not to work for someone else. I can totally understand that! Our middle child has been busy too. She went to an eye doctor for the first time ever in October and got glasses. I think she looks quite pretty in her glasses. She too is growing daily in the Lord and developing more of a servant's heart every day too. We are working on her gaining weight so she is not so thin! So far, she's grown UP instead of any other way and is still rather self concious about how tall she is. She is taller than her older sister. Looks like she got all the tall genes in the family! Our youngest is maturing rapidly, and becoming a young gentleman. He is trying more things, and adding more and more to his diet as well. We are still dealing with some fears and texture issues. I rest in the Lord that things will improve and get better as the Lord works in his life and as he grows in the Lord. It gives me peace and joy to know that all three of my kids have Jesus in their hearts and truly know what Christmas is all about! I am very VERY proud of all of them! We are still homeschooling, and helping a dear friend who is very much a sister by choice homeschool her three children a big part of each week. I am still giving piano and guitar lessons, and though my student base is small, and I could definitely use more students and would enjoy teaching more students, I feel blessed to have the ones I do have (including my best friend's children and my three). My dear husband is still waiting on the Lord for a job. So far, nothing has turned up. He's had interviews, but nothing beyond that. We know that somewhere out there is the job that God wants him at. It's just in God's timing, not ours. So far, He has met all our needs and some of our wants. So I truly have nothing to complain about! And finally, to all my friends, I feel so blessed to have you in our lives! May this Christmas bring God's blessings in abundance and may His blessings continue to overflow in the coming year! And may all of us remember what Christmas is all about – a little baby born in a cave, laid in a manger, that would eventually be a Savior for the whole world! Lenora Linne D.