I won't be blogging for awhile, Fidget passed away this morning. I don't know why, I loved him very much.

How Much Stuff is 'Enough"?

I'd like to share a great article written by a good blogging friend, CountryMama. I had planned on doing a review on this book, since I quote from it often...but why bother? She did a GREAT job!

It's an interesting question...how much is enough?  

Well, as you know if you read our post about Living on A Shoestring and Lovin' It..we feel as if we do have enough. We care much more about living than money. But here's a great article on why we need to evaluate our priorities. They say Time is Money..but I say Time is for Living!

I would love to have you visit Country Mama today at 

Life and Love in the Country.

All her posts are such interesting dialogues on life!

 *************************************

Here's Country Mama...

Backwards Enoughasaurus

I'm about halfway through the great book I won on Donna's giveaways at Comin' Home.

The Ultimate Cheapskate's road map to the truth was, and still is, completely different from what I thought it was going to be, but in a good way. I expected it to be another book about ways to pinch pennies and starve our souls so that we live a little less from  paycheck to paycheck.

Instead, this book is a breath of fresh air! It has nothing to do with somehow making dollars out of pennies, but instead it talks about taking a true-life assessment of what's around you and making the most of it, not because it's all you can afford but because you shouldn't have worked as hard as you have for things that you don't want. 


 

You shouldn't look around and see your hard earned cash being wasted on things you'd rather not have or could have been thriftier about. 

The author Jeff Yeager brings up the concept of the "enoughasuarus", the evil monster within that makes you constantly strive for more in your life, mostly on a material level but it covers every aspect, without really stopping to enjoy life or even evaluate where you are in your life.  

Do you have enough in your life to feel fulfilled and successful? 

Slaying the enoughasuarus means that you stop when you have enough in your life to answer that question with a resounding yes and stay there. Once you've slain it, you simply stop there and enjoy the life you have built for  yourself and stop striving to keep up with the rat-race to achieve things that you don't even want. 

 
This brings me to the evaluation of my enoughasuarus…he's too big. By that, I mean that right now we have more than what we really want in our life. Trouble is that we need to keep up this pace and even increase it for the next year or two to get to the point where we can slay our monster.

Our true enoughasuarus will be slain when we have less in our lives instead of more. 

We want fewer bills, less environmental impact and fewer obligations. We're working so hard to trade in the semi-new house on a postcard street and a schedule full of activities for lazy days on a simple farm and living what high society would likely see as the poor life. 

Our enoughasuaras is backwards--We're working to have less.... not to keep up with the rat-race. 

Don't get me wrong, we're thankful for all we have and the opportunity to reach the goals we have but we're tired of this life and all the simple pleasures it has stolen from us over time. 

I like the concept of the crazy rat-race and blind ambition as a monster you can conquer. It gives it a very personal quality and oddly enough, makes you want to work harder to slay it. (funny how the mind works)   

So how bad is your Enoughasuaras?

Are you still chasing after things you're not even sure you want or do you have enough in your life to stop running pointlessly and enjoy it?

CountryMama from Life and Love in the Country

Happy Homemaking!

A Trip to the Beach with Video and Beautiful Way to Display Shells

I thought you might like to join us on our most recent visit to the beach...at Galveston, Tx.   We may live in the country, but we seem to have raised an awful lot of beach bums at our house! Our favorite family trip  is just to drive a couple of hours and head straight to Galveston! In fact, the kids and I are going there sometime in the next week or two.




We have missed it so much and now that the weather is nice  and warm..we are all getting 'the bug' as we call it. :o)  My very favorite thing to do is feed the gulls. Mostly we just feed them bread crumbs.  They can spot a flying breadcrumb about five miles off! It's an exhilarating experience!





Our first stop, is to take the ferryboat over to the island. When we get there, we fly kites, collect shells and swim if it's warm enough.  We almost always get ice cream and hamburgers at The Spot.

Play to listen to the seagulls while they follow us on the ferry boat. We're watching for dolphins!






We ALWAYS come home with shells and we are careful to inspect them to  make sure we don't bring home stowaways (hermit crabs)! We once drove all the way back to Galveston to let one go--and we don't like making that trip twice as it is hard on the pocketbook!










The challenge is what to do with the shells!  I've found lots of interesting ways to display them, but this is the best one I think I've ever thought of!  I'm crazy about shells!  The best time for beachcombing is in the fall when no one else wants to be out on the beach that much. We have a favorite place that we go.





I got the grand idea to put some of the shells I've collected and a votive candle in this antique crystal vase that was once my grandmother's. It looks gorgeous when the candle is lit!  It sits in state in my master bathroom.

I just had to share this with you all and at My Romantic Home's Friday Show and Tell. Her readers post the most beautiful things on Fridays!

Wednesday’s Show and Tell: Sewing and Crafts Projects In Progress!

 I finished the tote bag for my 2nd place winner and will be shipping it in the morning...but I made up a few extra yo-yo flowers while I was at it. Congratulations Melissa of  Oh My Darling!  This was too fun to keep to myself so I've posted it at my favorite home decor blog, Shabby Chic Cottage as part of Gina's Thursday Transformations. Talk about great ideas! You should drop by and see them!

 Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage

**********************************

As I’ve mentioned in the past, for those who love the FlyLady home organization system, Wednesdays are designated “Anti-Procrastination Day!” What that means, in a nutshell, is just to decide to do a few of the projects that you’ve been putting off.

For me, that’s a lot of projects. Actually, some of my projects have been put off, and some I’m addressing right away, but they are the projects that I’m working on today.



To tell you the truth, I’d like your advice!  I’m having a great time picking out fabrics and buttons for the totebag that I offered in the SewMamaSew Giveaway. Melissa wanted the Yo-Yo flower tote bag and since she prefers more subdued colors, I’m embellishing a creme colored bag. I would have done this on Saturday, but I had a cold..so this project had to wait a bit. All the other prizes were shipped off two days ago. 





I need to decide which of these lovely buttons and quilt shop fat quarters to use. I know what to make the leaves and stems from—I’ve got the perfect shade of dusty green. But their are so many choices for the flowers!! I just can’t decide! I’d love to know which ones you think would look best together. I have four fabrics to choose from, but I'm only making three flowers...so I have to leave one of these fabrics out.

Just deciding which buttons to use is hard enough! They are all so pretty!  I have ALWAYS loved buttons and collected them as a young girl.  Wish I had that collection now! I’ll just have to visit Diana at DJ’s Storeroom…she sells some awesome button sets. If you guys could let me know, I’d so appreciate your feedback. I really feel stumped on this one. :o)


Are you wondering about the bag at the top? Well, if you can believe this…I don’t own my own YO-Yo Flower totebag!! I know..depressing isn’t it?  I’ve made so many and sold or given them all away. Click here for a tutorial.  So I thought that I’d make me one too while I was at it. I plan to do a quick machine quilting job on the block I made ages ago for a quilt top that never quite came together.  Then I’ll add a Yo-Yo flower in the middle. Finally, my own tote bag!!





Speaking of buttons, Kylie at AntMee did the most innovative tutorial on how to make fabric covered buttons. I begged her to let me share it with you. Here’s a picture of one of the steps. You can read all about it at her blog, Antmee. Be sure to tell her that I sent you!  And now…what about you?  I know how crafty you all are and I’d love to show everyone what you are working on too! Just send me a photo and link to your blog, and I'll add it to Next Wednesday's post.

Happy Homemaking!

Six Easy Ways to Make Your Family' s Favorite Meals Healthier

 

For the most part, we are creatures of habit and most of our kids don’t want to try ‘new’ things… So in trying to educate our children and train their taste buds towards foods that will keep them healthy, it’s best if we sort of ‘fool’ them into eating healthier by simply improving the health  quality of the family favorites that they are already accustomed to.  Why take the trouble? Do you know how many of our children are now starting out life overweight? Do you know why? Believe me…it’s time to break with our culture…and do things different. Just cause everyone else is jumping off a cliff, children in tow, doesn’t mean we have to!  Here’s what Carol Simontacci, author of ‘Your Fat is Not Your Fault’ says about what she calls “The Fattening of America”….

“If your overweight, chances are you’re not a glutton, but you probably do eat too many nonfoods. Some nutritionists call these foods ‘food artifacts,” or products made by human workmanship. These are substances that are not naturally present in the world and were not part of our ancestor’s diets.

If you look at supermarket stats, you’ll see what Americans are buying—and it isn’t food!  We’re eating more pseudofood now than ever in the the history of the world! And don’t think your body doesn’t know the difference. That entree may taste and smell like real food, but your body knows otherwise, and it knows where to store every toxic molecule.  All the low-fat this and low-fat that, the sugar substitute here and the fat substitute there will not solve your fat problem.

   Over 75 percent of the food products sold in our supermarkets are either nutritionally dead or nutritionally toxic. We don’t bury that dead food; we store it on our hips, waists, and chests, pound after pound after pound. Why build more toxic waste dumps in this country when we can use our bodies instead?”

What happens when we eat this stuff?  Carol says, “When we eat foods our bodies can’t use, or foods that contain artificial ingredients; when our digestive systems do not sufficiently break down the foods into usable parts, the liver is required to handle an excessive amount of toxic waste for which it is not prepared. And most of us don’t drink enough water or eat enough fiber for the colon and kidneys to perform their vital functions, and waste materials build up in the colon to be reabsorbed into the body.   Fat performs an important function in the body by storing all this excess toxic waste.

Logic tells us that if we clean up our diets and eat pure foods, including 30 to 40 grams of fiber a day, drink eight to ten glasses of water, and avoid synthetic chemicals as much as possible, our bodies will not have to build storage depots on our hips and bellies to handle an unnecessary load of toxic waste.”  In other words, friends, Fat has to encase these toxins to keep them out of our systems! No toxins…less fat in all the wrong places!

photo credit

Six weeks ago, I decided to take Carol seriously and say No to junk food, sugar, fast food, bread and other man-made non-foods (except homemade whole grain wheat bread).  Guess where I lost the first ten pounds?  My hips, stomach, and other lumpy bumpy places.  Not only that, but my energy level skyrocketed! My hubby, who is very thin, was feeling so sluggish that he decided to quit eating the junk too. He said he feels better than he has in years and he looks less drained and dehydrated. So obviously the junk food affects us all whether we have fast metabolisms or slow.

Even if our kids aren’t overweight now, if they keep eating junk…they will be later down the road, or like my dear hubby, they’ll just be exhausted and worn down by the time they hit middle age. We feel like we’ve gotten a new lease on life! But convincing our kids to change is another issue all together!  Hence the reason for today’s article…We need to make gradual changes and wean our kids off this stuff.

The biggest thing you can do to improve your meal’s health factor is to cook from scratch. The fact is that if it’s in a box or a bag or has instructions..as Carol Simontacci (nutritionist) says, “Don’t eat it!” It’s probably not good for you!  I know..it's time consuming..but our country is in a crisis...and we need to spend more time on this issue! Our children's future health and quality of life are depending on our willingness to make this a priority. 

Second, replace the BAD fats with GOOD fats Don’t buy fatty meats…but instead choose lean meats. Instead get your fat from good sources like real butter, olive oil, canola oil, and lots of nuts for snacks, even avocado slices to get the good fat that actually lowers cholesterol and gives you the energy you need.  This will cut out the hunger factor and avoid so much need to snack. Even your skin will be softer!  Don’t eat or use saturated fats if you can at all avoid them…and of course, fried foods are pretty much a disaster… so avoid them as much as possible.

Third, have a good source of protein at every meal! This will keep you from having a carb heavy diet that causes insulin rush and food cravings..leading to excess snacking of the junk food.  Spend less on junk and more on lean meats, low fat cheeses (the only thing worth buying low-fat), eggs, turkey bacon or protein drinks (look for ones without the excess chemicals), tuna, fish, poultry etc.  Sandwiches are more bread than anything else and without protein will lead to excess hunger and cravings.  Make chunky soups with lots of meat and veges, that can sit in the fridge and be eaten easily and packed for on the go if needed.  I keep at least one cold roasted chicken in the fridge just for snacking purposes.

Fourth, add lightly cooked vegetables to every meal and keep raw veges  ready to eat for snacks in between meals.  Plan to have two thirds of the meal be veges to one third meat.  Be creative! There’s all kinds of ways to add veges to a dish…get the kids used to chunkier sauces, add veges to casseroles, etc.

Fifth, cut out the sugar!! Provide lots of fruit, ready to eat, for dessert instead of nutritionally worthless pastries, chips and snacks.  If you can’t leave the sugar out of your main dishes altogether, at least use a natural substitute like Truvia or Stevia.  But skip the baked products as much as possible.  I buy one back of chips for the week and one bottle of soda—we’re still in the weaning stage. When those are gone…they’re gone! Then I keep lots of fruit on hand.  We thought it was going to cost a lot, but surprise! When the fruit was there and the bread, cookies, chips, and soda were gone…they ate it…and forgot to complain!

Last, substitute GOOD CARBS for BAD CARBS in your main dishes and side dishes.  Oatmeal and Oat flower, Brown rice, Pearled barley, sweet potatoes and protein fortified pasta will not spike blood sugar levels nearly as much and won’t cause the cravings that normal pasta, white flour, rice, and white potatoes do.  Be aware..Gluten Free Pasta is HIGH on the glycemic index!

These are habits that we need to instill in our lives and the lives of our children. Yes it’s easier to just eat readily available quick cook precooked food…but the price we pay in terms of health and fitness for the rest of our lives is simply not worth the convenience and time saving. Make some time for you and your children’s health…it’s an investment that will pay off for life!

I’ll post Carol’s recipes this evening, but here’s my menu plan for this week….

photo credit

Comin’ Homes  Menu Plan for May 25-31

• Roasted turkey breast, roasted asparagus, Baked Sweet Potato
• Chicken and Brown Rice Casserole, Sauteed Broccoli
• Healthy Salisbury Steak, Baked Potato without fat, Basic Salad
• Roasted Chicken with Mushroom Gravy, Roasted Veges
• Lemon Pepper Halibut, Steamed Rice, Roasted Asparagus,
  Pumpkin Pie (1 small piece per person)

Sunday Dinners:
Roast Beef w/Roasted rosemary tossed whole greenbeans, new potatoes, and carrots
Skirt-Steak Fajitas with Sautéed Peppers and Onions  (go easy on the canola oil!)
(use corn tortillas instead of flour if allergic to wheat)

Photo Credits for most pictures: Photo Dictionary.com

Happy Homemaking!

Donna

FlyLady Tips: What is the Secret to Making Your House feel like a Home? Home Blessing!

You may be surprised when you find out the answer to this question! It's not having a dear hubby or children. It's not canning, sewing, decorating cookies..or other nostalgic past times. And amazingly enough, it's not even interior decorating as important as that is.

 photo credit 

Cherl Mendelson, author of Home Comforts, says

"In fact, too much attention to the looks of a home can backfire  if it creates a stage-set feeling instead of the authenticity of a genuinely homey place."

(Sheesh...I guess I can quit worrying about that now!) Surprisingly, she also says, "I know from experience that you cannot make a home by imitating the household chores and crafts of the past era.  Ironically, people are led into the error of 'playing house' instead of keeping house by a genuine desire for a home and its comforts.

Nostalgia means, literally, "home-sickness".

So are you ready to hear her answer for the secret to making a house really feel like a home? I can tell you right now...you may not like her answer!! (I like it though! Tee-hee!)

photo credit

HOUSE CLEANING!!! Imagine that!

Here's what Cheryl has to say about it... "What really does work to increase the feeling of having a home and its comforts....is housekeeping!  Housekeeping creates cleanliness, order, regularity, beauty, the conditions for health and safety, and a good place to do and feel all the things you wish and need to do and feel in your home. Whether you live alone, or with a spouse, parents, and ten children, it is your housekeeping that makes your home alive, that turns it into a small society in its own right, a vital place with its own ways and rhythms, the place where you can be more yourself than you can be anywhere else."

Having moved 23 TIMES! (Count 'em!), I think I can safely claim to be an expert on this particular topic!  Truly, it is as you LIVE in your home that it BECOMES your home.  It is  in the process of cleaning, washing, cooking, shopping, dusting and going through all the other normal routines of home life, that a brand new house, begins to finally feel like home.  For us, it takes about a month to feel like we really belong and aren't just living in a hotel.

You want to know another strange thing? I've noticed that it is the driving back and forth from the new house, to the new post office, bank,  grocery store, library and church, and back again that finally ingrains in our brains that the building we are now living is our home and not just a house.

Coming home is your major restorative in life!

Housekeeping...is the source of most of the good things things that make a place homelike--fresh sheets, good meals, airy, clean, orderly rooms, and so forth.

1920’s Reproduction Quilt…made by me

Other good things include fresh flowers, good books, half finished projects to work on in spare moments...It is a cliché, but true, that a room that looks lived in looks more homey. This implies not that you should be less neat but that you should actually live in the rooms! 

Faked signs of life make the room feel desolate and lonely. Signs of real life make the room feel comforting and warm.

We will talk more about decorating and other fun things...but it is important that we keep in mind that cleaning is  important...and not secondary to the beauty of our homes. I love the fact that FlyLady calls the Monday Morning Routine a "Home Blessing".  Cleaning is a way to bless not only your home, but everyone in it!

photo credit

Now that you are ALL inspired...Here's my "Home Blessing" list...

Weekly Home Blessing Hour

• Cull/toss old magazines.
• Change sheets.
• Empty all the trash.
• Vacuum all rooms.
• Mop kitchen and bath.
• Clean mirrors and doors.
• Feather Dust furniture.

Just 10 minutes each so you can spend the rest of the time de-cluttering or deep cleaning your zone for the week!

 photo credit

Here's our deep cleaning plan for this week. We are in Zone 4: The Master Bedroom!


Week 4 - Master Bedrooom and bathroom 
O Launder: Wash area rugs, curtains, (shower curtain if necessary), Bedspread, mattress pad, and dust ruffle (turn mattress)
O Floors: Vacuum, sweep, scrub and/ or wax floors
O Scrub toilet, shower door, tub (use Bathroom cleaner for water deposits and scum)
O Dust high and low, (ceiling fans, floorboards,) cobwebs, polish furniture and wood
O Clean windows, mirrors, switchplates, walls and doors, medicine cabinet, dresser tops (409/ Windex)



 
Habit for This Week...Let's Spend 30 Minutes a Day DeCluttering our Master Bedroom!!


What do you believe makes a house feel truly homey?

Happy Homemaking!


Donna

Check back tomorrow for our Menu Plan and Recipes....

Sunday Tea with Me… Why We Should Smile More at our Hubbies

I've been wanting to share my tea set with My Romantic Home's Show and Tell...and here it is!  Be sure to visit to see more beautiful things. :o)  Linking up with Raising Homemakers...because this is what my tea times and these posts are all about.

 by Shona Cole

Dear Friends, 

How about a little 'Girl Talk'...
My daughter and I love having tea on the deck in the mornings talking about girl things.  She had a pressing question for me one morning. One of the things she had heard recently from a friend was “Everyone was so busy helping me prepare for the wedding…how come no one prepared me for the marriage?!”  It kind of shook her up to think that you could spend so much time and energy getting ready for a wedding only to have forgotten to get ready for the most important part…how to have a great marriage!

So, we’ve started a bible study on this topic (considering she is already 19) and I thought I’d share some marriage-reviving lessons that we’ve learned from the book we’ve been reading. Yesterday’s chapter really struck me as very important! In fact, it made me squirm to tell you the truth. I’m afraid I have been guilty of this kind of stand off in the not so distant past.

The author bluntly asked ...

Are you struggling with the ‘poor me’ attitude

in your marriage?

She says, “When he first fell in love with you, you were a sweet little thing, full of laughter and fun. From the very bottom of your soul you were thrilled with him. Every day you woke up planning some activity that involved you both. Is he still married to the same sweet little thing, or have you become a long-faced, sickly complainer?

Love is like a flower: you can’t expect it to grow without sunshine. Has your lover seen your sunshine lately? Is he still your lover? What would he say? “

She goes on to quote Proverbs 15:13, “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance.” Everyone is drawn to a smile. Who and what you are is reflected in your face. Does your husband see you as a happy thankful woman? Does he smile when he looks at you, amused at the cheerful little grin on your face the the totally delightful things you think and say—even the dumb things? Learn to charm him with our mischievous “only for him” grin.”

Later she continues the chapter in a letter to a wife, whose husband is being unfaithful...

“Yes he is wrong, but your negative response, though justified, will certainly lead to the destruction of your marriage.

Your negative responses are not going to make your husband suddenly be the mature man who does what he ought. My husband says, “No man has ever crawled out from under his wife’s criticism to be a better man—no matter how justified her condemnation.”

   Your husband will never be pressured into loving you, even if you are his wife.  You cannot be pitiful enough to force him to love you.  (and later) What you don’t know is that men do not repent for the sake of an angry, critical wife. Your husband is going to love what is lovely to him.    It is a mistake for a wife to take her position for granted, to assume that love and contentment exist because ‘we are husband and wife.” In a perfect world, being married to a perfect man,your vows would be sacred. But that will not work in our present culture. Cultivate his love for you. Pray that you can remind him of the loveliness and beauty that first attracted him to you.”

Never demand that a man love you and cherish you because he ought to. Earn every smile and shared moment.

Why Marriage Can Be Challenging…  What I explained to my daughter, is that because two people who get married, are both, in reality, ‘sinners’ or self-centered, there are going to be conflicts.  If, in the daily process of learning to give and take, you begin to feel like he isn’t doing ‘his part’…not being thoughtful enough or caring enough or giving you enough attention, or being short with you, and if you decide to withhold your smiles, friendship, approval and admiration until he  starts ‘treating you right’, you will find yourself in a deadly game. It might be years before things derail but by the time you realize it, you may find out you have already lost. And with that attitude…focused on how “HE is treating ME”, you will never feel that he has met your expectations.  Guess what  the result is--he never gets your smiles!! And you never get to feel his love in return. This is a recipe for disaster! Who wants a marriage like that? 

The best advice I ever got about marriage was to keep short accounts! Forget and forgive everything that happened before today. Give your spouse a clean bill of health just like the Lord Jesus does for you EVERY day! Then you won’t be holding grudges and you can smile again, hug, and cuddle, and be the cheerleader your husband so desperately needs. And he will LOVE you for it! You will be ‘his girl’ again! I promise!!  

The bible clearly says,

Give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye give to others, it shall be measured to you again. Luke 6:38

If you read this in context, it has absolutely nothing to do with money and everything to do with relationship! Don’t believe me?? Try not leaving comments on people’s posts and see how much feedback you will get! Lay down your rights and you will find love overflowing in your heart.

It’s very easy to allow walls to be built in a marriage, if you are not regularly forgiving your spouse and even overlooking things, for the sake of a close relationship with each other.  No one ever thinks the other spouse is doing his part.  Be assured that your lack of friendliness, kindness, and compassion are just as visible to your spouse as his lack might be to you. (And both of you probably feel quite justified in holding back!) Remember that the disciples asked how many times they must forgive their brother and the Lord replied, “7 x 70” meaning of course..as many times as they need forgiveness. 

Someone has to take the first step and give without expectation of getting back and when you do this and do it consistently, (the heart of genuine Christian love), you will rekindle the love and fellowship that brought you together in the first place.  So call a truce today…a cease-fire if you will…if you find yourself feeling like ‘poor me’.  It takes two to have a fight, but one of you can change everything by choosing to love the other..because it’s the right thing to do.

“Always remember, that the day you stop smiling is the day you stop trying to make your marriage heavenly, and it is the first day leading to your divorce proceedings!  STAND BY YOUR MAN!” (Debbie Pearl)

The bible says it  best in I Peter 3:9

New Living Translation (©2007)

 

Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it.

In closing Debbie says,

“Being pitiful, hurt, discouraged, and even sickly is one side of a “bad marriage’ coin. Men in general , are repulsed by women who project this image. A man’s spirit tells him his woman is rejecting him and manipulating him when she regularly manifests a broken spirit, and he will react with anger. The other side of the bad coin includes having a bitter, angry, and resentful spirit.

Toss that old, destructive coin out the door before it buys you a divorce! Make a decision, right now, to break the ‘poor me’ habit. Tomorrow, wake up with joy in your heart and home.

Establish a new habit. What can I do today that will make him smile?

Click here for the best book about marriage that I have ever read next to The Love Dare!

 Love...Donna 

I don't sing very professionally, but if you'd like to hear a pretty little song that I wrote for Tim 

when we first got married click here.

 Here are the words....

Our Love

When first we met and hearts did greet,

some special something woke.

With friendly smiles and openness,

and kindly words we spoke.

Then happy times and visions shared,

and fellowship in God,

Brought oneness and companionship,

the first fruits of our love.

chorus: Our love,

is as strong as a mountain..

as sweet as a meadow..

as deep as the sea.

Our love...

is as gentle as a whisper.

Our love is all that love was meant to be,

because it comes from God,

our love will last..until eternity..

I'm so glad that God chose you...

for me!


VS.2

When it was young our love was like,

the glow of burning embers,

so quick to grow yet fragile,

oh yes, my heart remembers..

But now our loves keeps growing,

as time moves swiftly on.

we find a love more steady,

and a fire burning strong.


Vs.3

The struggles and the burdens,

the weakness in the one,

gives the other chance to live and love,

in the image of the Son.

I know our love will blossom,

our hearts, the hurts, will prune,

and oneness by the Grace of God,

will keep our love in bloom. 


This post by Becky of Jones Journey, was a perfect example of how to respond in a difficult situation... I"m so proud of her!!
Way to go Becky!

Sunday, May 23, 2010
Wisdom....I hope
A few minutes ago I was over at my house fixing some chicken spaghetti for a homebirth party we will be going to in a little bit. As I was scurrying around the kitchen I see my 13 year old brother in law coming over escorting Tyrel. I asked what they were doing since everyone else was hanging out over at Granola's.

MJ told me that Tyrel had pooped in his underwear. I immediately felt myself giving way to being mad. Not at Tyrel, but at Stephen. I have to deal with this day in and day out all the time. And yet, when everyone is over visiting at Granola's and I'm already missing out on that, he sends him to me to deal with it, rather than dealing with it himself.

I grabbed Tyrel's arm and dragged him to the bathroom to deal with his mess. All the time seething at how inconsiderate, lazy and mean my husband was being. Now this is NOT my normal attitude. I adore my sweet husband. In our almost 5 years of marriage we have almost never had an argument and when we do they are short lived.

I finished dealing with Tyrel, sat him down in the rocker to think about NOT doing that again any time soon. He is nearly 3 and should NOT still be doing that.

I went back to fixing lunch, but this time with a dark cloud hanging over me. Telling myself all the things Stephen does wrong. Getting more mad as the time passed. Then I thought to myself. Great, I want to introduce Stephen to my friends I met at retreat today, and we're going to be mad at each other. Because I had every intention of telling him everything that was running through my head. Then I thought, Wait a second, we haven't fought. He doesn't even know I'm mad. What if I got happy, and never made a fight of it? Why does the day have to turn out bad? So I prayed and asked God to help me change my attitude. Not fake change it, but really get happy. Because really what is one more change of pants in the grand scheme of things. Within moments I was chatting happily with Tyrel, not upset at all.

Now here I sit with the spaghetti in the oven, waiting to leave. And so glad I didn't choose to ruin this day.
Posted by Becky at 10:19 AM 2 comments
http://bsjonesjourney.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for sharing Becky!!
In Christ's Love...Donna