All posts in My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME

New Years 2011

by admin on January 1, 2011 in Bits Of My Personality, Feeling It (Thankful), Four Little Eggs In My Nest, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME with No comments
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our new years eve was eventful in a parental style. Stayed in and watched a movie with the kids, made them home made hot chocolate, enjoyed some alone time with their dad till midnight and then got up early to take our Baby Boy in to the doctor because of asthma issues. Yup, eventful parental style.

Time to think has been a little scarce but I think I feel a year of learning to be thankful coming on. THANKFUL, is my word, if you will… Why? well I deserve this word, I have entitled myself to loads of angry times in life these last few years… when things got tough I got grumpy… and I have learned there is no strength found in an angry spirit… simply a soul stuck in a self dug hole… I desire that strength that comes with a thankful heart and I ready my heart to learn…

To kick it all off I have already started a habit of writing about things and people I am deeply moved in thanks for. We shall see how it goes from there.

My year of sacrifice was painful. I learned true sacrifice rubs up against all the human heart desires. It goes against our nature to sacrifice and yet as soon as we do there is a freedom and a weight lifted. If I was already a thankful sort I would say I have been very thankful for the self discipline I have learned and for the opportunities to sacrifice… but if I was a thankful person already this coming year wouldn’t be a year of thankfulness would it!? As with every year passed I feel like in spite of it being a long year and a very eventful year I have so much more to learn about my new year word gone by… I feel strangely fragile about the whole idea of sacrifice still…

This was indeed a year of big things; my dad’s cancer and my two sisters finding us are tops of that dramatic list. Praying for growth in the fruits of the Spirit in 2011 and wishing you all a blessed new year!
TTFN

Sentimental At X-mas (who would have thought it?)

by admin on December 26, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Feeling It (Thankful), Holiday Messages, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME, People In My Heart with No comments
(Taken Christmas day, a very warm WHITE Christmas!
I am wearing my mothers red dress coat, bought for her by
her father in law years ago.)

Who has flip flop feelings at Christmas? I sure do! Most of the memories I am making are down right lovely (the up side of the flip floppy heart) and yet there are always memories to reminisce and sigh about, others people to think about who are struggling or don’t have it so good.

There are also choices to be made and although I chose to stay here this Christmas I was also tugged when asked by a loved one from my husbands side if my folks where coming in for the holiday. With loved ones going there way and other issues in life they where not, nor was this unusual or normally an issue for me. The issue was the choice I had to make. If you let the hype get to you, about how Christmas is supposed to be, you will also miss the real deal… what it is actually about and so I swallowed that flip flop when it came and had a good look around me.I was surrounded by precious loved ones. I was more then blessed by generous people who care. Friends and family from my side did in fact find their way into our reality this holiday(as well as all the in-laws who are so good to me and so willing to be part of my world) and so I am not going with out. I am just another woman who has a heart that can easily flip flop on the most lovely of days.

The skype with my one older sister and her daughter was joyful, the phone call to my oldest sister was rewardingly warm, the weekend visit before Christmas with my younger brothers family was fun and important, the list goes on and on and includes a few surprise visits and gifts from dear friends and neighbors…Ideally we would all like to go home for Christmas, have ALL the family together at once but really if it has to be that way this time of year and we don’t worry about it for the rest of the year that is the great lose. May I make time for my family and friends all year round and may it be so sentimental for me despite the month or season.

I am so thankful for the sentimental stuff of life that makes us think about how we really value loved ones…I am thankful for any time, whether in person, on the phone or skype, with my family and friends where we get beyond chit chat and really put it out there that we care for one another! Praise the Lord for a whole nother year to love and be loved by PEOPLE.TTFN

It Was Hard To Say In Christmases Past

by admin on December 9, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Holiday Messages, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME, The Pet with No comments
(He couldn’t seem to stand me taking pictures alone. Riddick kept rushing in as the camera clicked. This meant he kept showing up as a blur… so finally I took a moment and picked him up and made him hold still nicely for one. I like that he likes me:) Since we are both looking pretty good I thought I should share!)
Just a thought, sometimes in Christmases past things would get so busy I ended up barely using the old greeting ‘Merry Christmas’ all season. That meant it wasn’t comfortable for me when others would wish me merry Christmas… I remember having trouble giving a hearty response in kind. A perfect example of how my focus was WAY OFF! Not that stress itself isn’t a good enough clue, but moms are good at explaining stress away as a necessity… so now that we are so much better at not letting Christmas get that stressful over here I start pretty early with sharing this greeting.

This is why you will find it so much on my blog this month; I am practicing!

And with that thought, well more then a thought… story, I wish you a

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

TTFN

Favorite Verse From November’s Hymn

by admin on December 7, 2010 in My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME, The Hymn Project with No comments

I know not what awaits me,
God kindly veils my eyes,
And o’er each step of my onward way
He makes new scenes to rise;
And every joy He sends me comes
A sweet and glad surprise.

This hymn is so very true to this trip we called life. We just don’t know what is going to happen and holding on to Jesus through the ups and downs that will come requires trust and faith BUT who better to trust in then Jesus!

DECEMBER’S HYMN, my last hymn is soon to come.

TTFN

Beneath the Cedars

by admin on November 30, 2010 in Better Check Out Links, Bits Of My Personality, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME with No comments

Last Friday I wrote two posts after a very reflective evening out in the snow. The one I posted is LINKED RIGHT HERE and I decided to hold off posting this one. Since I am sick and not up to writing I’m posting it today.

I went looking for the apple tree behind the towering cedars. Whether put there intentionally or by accident, we have two apple trees (that are very happy and healthy) crammed in between our row of towering cedars and the fence. The trees looked so inviting, pasted with snow. As I pushed through the cedars I spotted a sitting branch. The ‘v’ shaped branch on my apple tree will be a perfect perch… but I thought better of it that night, considering my age and all. I also thought cumbered by my puffy winter clothing I might not be agile enough to make it up.

On a whim I peeked down under the cedars and found a tunnel. Images of ‘the old road’ (part of my parents farm yard) flashed in my mind, trees all along both sides so weighted down by the heavy snow that they had bowed, creating perfect tunnels all the way down the road on either side. It was a child’s paradise and we must have crawled about the bent limbs for hours that day. No one was about so I crawled on my hands and knees to the tunnel I had spotted behind the cedars.

I sat alone with everything concealed, other then my feet perhaps. Can you imagine the snow covered cedars, their greenery not quite reaching the ground thus my winter boots sticking out from below? Despite my boots, I felt the grand pleasure that comes with finding a ‘SECRET PLACE’… Don’t we all desire out own secret place, or at the bare minimum an oasis we can retreat to on our own? Though I walk in him always I felt like this was a physical place where I could get away from the din of family life and meet with Jesus there. Here’s hoping for more time to climb beneath the cedars!

TTFN

Beneath the Cedars

by admin on November 27, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME with No comments

I went looking for the apple tree behind the towering cedars. Whether put there intentionally or by accident, we have two apple trees (that are very happy and healthy) crammed in between our row of towering cedars and the fence. The trees looked so inviting, pasted with snow. As I pushed through the cedars I spotted a sitting branch. The ‘v’ shaped branch on my apple tree will be a perfect perch… but I thought better of it that night, considering my age and all. I also thought cumbered by my puffy winter clothing I might not be agile enough to make it up.

On a whim I peeked down under the cedars and found a tunnel. Images of ‘the old road’ (part of my parents farm yard) flashed in my mind, trees all along both sides so weighted down by the heavy snow that they had bowed, creating perfect tunnels all the way down the road on either side. It was a child’s paradise and we must have crawled about the bent limbs for hours that day. No one was about so I crawled on my hands and knees to the tunnel I had spotted behind the cedars.

I sat alone with everything concealed, other then my feet perhaps. Can you imagine the snow covered cedars, their greenery not quite reaching the ground thus my winter boots sticking out from below? Despite my boots, I felt the grand pleasure that comes with finding a ‘SECRET PLACE’… Don’t we all desire out own secret place, or at the bare minimum an oasis we can retreat to on our own? Though I walk in him always I felt like this was a physical place where I could get away from the din of family life and meet with Jesus there. Here’s hoping for more time to climb beneath the cedars!

TTFN

My Lady In Gray

by admin on November 24, 2010 in My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME, People In My Heart with No comments

Wanted to thank the little lady in gray but the crowd and time got in my way. She was an older woman, aged with beauty, exuding grace and full of Christ. Stood before us, and with each word spoken in confidence, she shared the wisdom she had been grown into. I was captivated from the start by this wise elder lady of God. She was so kind and relaxed in her own skin. As she shared her tale of the Eagle, and her own life woven in, she commanded respect with the gentles of spirit. Her voice only broke from its strong rhythm when she spoke of living the last 12 years without he lover, her husband. She lifted all of our hearts up with her story.

Thank you dear lady in gray for breaking my clueless streak. I have been hearing the truth but not getting it. I have been listening to the lies and not rejecting it. Walking around feeling cold and brittle… wanting to be whole and strong for others so much I was refusing to be patched up. Your words hugged my heart with the image of holding on the Jesus… you made that concept fresh to me. I feel so warm again as I cling to him, so awake as I look to him.

Thank you Jesus for the lady in gray. She was my gentle reminder that you are my hero.

TTFN

Remember

by admin on November 10, 2010 in Do I Call It Parenting Advice?, Four Little Eggs In My Nest, Holiday Messages, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME, People In My Heart with 1 Comment

Everyone wants to be remembered. Those who give for others often will not ask for it but lets remember them all the more.

Today I attended a special ceremony, at the kids elementary school, for ‘Remembrance Day’. My oldest sang in the choir and she did wonderfully. As usual I barely held myself together. I can’t help but be moved by so many emotions at such a ceremony.

I was so thankful I was able to include my youngest too this year. It wasn’t easy for them to be still and quiet. At one point, when the trumpeter was performing, my two year old started to loudly play along with his ‘mouth trumpet’ and I decided to not bat an eye… he settled as soon as the music was done and the fact is his precious little heart and free spirit is a perfect example of some of what the soldiers fought and fight for…and why we so thankfully remember them today and tomorrow.

TTFN

Courage

by admin on November 9, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Music Flavor, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME with No comments

Sometimes I just wanna start over
Cuz everything looks like a wreck
And I need the courage to carry on
Cuz I can’t see what’s ahead

And there are places I’ve wished I could be
Battles I’ve wanted to win
Dreams that have slipped through my hands
I may never get back again

But I’m still a dreamer
A believer
Oh, I lost my faith in so many things
But I still believe in You
Cuz You can make anything new

lyrics – The Redeemer by Sactus Real

I have to trust in the promise and believe in the truth that Christ can make anything new, for no one fails me as badly as myself.

TTFN

Novembers Hymn

by admin on November 8, 2010 in Better Check Out Links, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME, The Hymn Project with No comments

I Know Not What Awaits Me is my November hymn selection and second last of the project!

I am a little uncertain about it. Though I really like the words I have yet to meet anyone who is very familiar with it and can help me out with the vocals a bit. Found a couple youtube videos but the singers seem to deviate from the original hymn a far bit, which is fine, I am for artistic licence and all, but it doesn’t help me learn the basics of the song. Anyhow, it took a bit for me to warm up to it but something about it makes me think it can become a favorite of mine. I think the vocals are just waiting to be given life.

The lyrics of the song are attributed to one Mary G. Brainard. I couldn’t seem to find anything on her. However, the music is attributed to Philip P. Bliss, who is very well known in the hymnal world. Click on his highlighted name for a link to a little write up about him. Let me know if you know anything about Mary G. Brainard.

I think this is a suited song at this time, nearing the end of my project and all… I am often wondering what is to be next and what was the really benefit to this little year long activity of mine? I hope to have something of meaning from it all to share with you in my very final hymn project post.

TTFN

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