Worth sharing

I read many blogs... too many blogs sometimes... it takes time and I'm trying to cut back.  I use an RSS feed to sort through and try to pick & choose things that seem to jump at me.
I'm really glad I read THIS today and would encourage you to do the same.  We need to remember that there are no guarantees in our job description as mom.

Blessings on the journey~

Saffron - Broken

Saffron is the little orange kitten we adopted at the beginning of December.  She is absolutely adorable and primarily she is J's baby.  She lives in J's room and J has the responsibility to feed her and clean the cage, etc.  She takes this responsibility fairly seriously and takes good care of her fur-baby.  They hang out together all the time.  Saffron is a big help with Algebra and provides a great deal of amusement all the time with her antics.

Last week Saffron took a nasty fall and managed to break one of her hind legs.  This was traumatic not only for the kitten but for all of us as we made a late night run to the emergency vet and then had to leave our fur-baby for the weekend with our local vet until she could have surgery on Monday morning.  Thankfully our vet (Dr. Kaas at Mercy Animal Hospital) is outstanding and his staff is the best!  We were able to visit Saffy on Saturday for a bit and then bring her home Monday evening after successful surgery to repair the leg.

She is home now and we will be playing kitty-hospital staff for the next few weeks.

She keeps trying to walk, wants to play and climb while her pain meds are in full force and has begun trying to chew her stitches (hence the kitty-version of a cone of shame).  I have a feeling the vet's instructions to confine her for a month are going to be very hard to follow.  She is not buying the idea of just laying around for a few weeks.  Prayerfully she will behave herself enough to let the leg heal before she tries to get too adventurous.

Change of Focus

What do you see in focus here?

How about here?

In January of 2011 I read Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts and it started something... something that my kids and I have continued through the year.
We began counting the gifts God gives - not every day, but taking the time purposefully to notice the things God gives us each day that we appreciate... or even the things that are HARD but help us to grow as people and to lean heavy on the One who holds us in His nail scarred hands.
As of yesterday we finished 2011 with 1111 gifts counted.  I hadn't really thought much about that number until early this morning when I wrote this on the top of a fresh page in our journal counting book:

Praying that we will continue to count the gifts that 

God allows in our lives each day.  

Welcoming 2012 with the full expectation 

that we can see God's fingerprints in our lives

each day when we remember to look for them.

Then I began the counting numbers on the page: 1112
That is the first number for our new year on the first day of 2012.  I smiled.

When I went outside with the dog this morning I saw the clothesline on the deck in the sunrise - laced with icy drops.  If I only look at the drops on the line - I can see in the background -hazy - the sunrise firing the dawn through the trees.  If I look past the drops glittering I can notice the leaves of orange still clinging to bare branches and the haze of moisture between the dark tree outlines.  Beautiful in either focus really.
Like my life.
Some days I focus on the drops, the daily routines & errands and 'to-do' lists.  And other days I have the glimpses of how God is using the drops to frame the beauty of His light shining in my bare spots to fire a new adventure.
New Years is a time of reflection and of looking forward.  I wait anxiously to see what new things God will show us this year.

See, I am doing a new thing!
   Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
   and streams in the wasteland. ~~Isaiah 43:19

Blessings on the journey~

Something New for New Year's Even

My beloved husband really likes cheesecake.
He doesn't get to have it very often as we seldom order dessert when we are out to eat and the only person to ever bake cheesecake for him is my mother.... until now!

He encouraged me to give it a try, so I did.  Behold!  Chocolate Cappuccino Cheesecake! 
I had a small slice... I think it's 'okay', but I've never eaten cheesecake before and don't know what to think.  Actually, I have a psychological issue with cold cheese in any form so my taste-buds are probably malfunctioning. :-)  Steve assures me that it is very good!

Happy New Year!

A Prayer by Francis of Assissi

I had downloaded a free book for my kindle called "Prayers for Today" and it has many good things in it.  This morning I came across this prayer attributed to Francis of Assissi (1181-1226) and was touched. 
I did pray this and acknowledged before the Throne of Grace that I was not quite sincere in that I do long to be comforted & loved, yet I also know that Christ alone will be the fullest source of those things in my life.

 

Photo is a rose window in the Church of Santa Chiara, consecrated in 1265,
across the town from Saint Francis Basilica.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace,

That where there is hatred, may I bring love;

That where there is wrong, may I bring a spirit of forgiveness;

That where there is discord, may I bring harmony;

That where there is error, may I bring truth;

That where there is doubt, may I bring faith;

That where there is despair, may I bring hope;

That where there are shadows, may I bring light;

That where there is sadness, may I bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek to comfort, rather than to be comforted;

To understand rather than to be understood;

To love rather than to be loved;

For it is in giving that we are received; 

It is by forgiving that we are forgiven,

And it is by dying that we awaken to eternal life.

 

Late November Morning

It is late November here in NH... a time that should not allow for sitting on the deck swing in your bathrobe in the morning.  Yes... I was doing that this morning.
The kids are not awake yet (more perks of homeschooling!) and I'd gone outside with Piper and just sat for a bit.

Marveling that I could be outside without freezing or being bundled in blankets over my fleece bathrobe. Thankful for warmth.
I looked at the gray clouds rolling across the sky behind the trees - mostly bare of leaves now. Thankful for vision.
Listening to the sounds of the river rushing madly over the falls behind our home. Thankful for hearing.
Watching a neighbor meander down the road with his dog.  Thankful for our home in a good neighborhood.
Seeing a bird flutter to rest on another naked tree (you can barely see him in the center).  Thankful for the creation as a gift.

Pausing to thank God that my children are still upstairs sleeping as the sound of a school bus roared along the road.  Thankful for homeschooling.
Anticipating a day of learning as I look forward to a quilting class this afternoon.  Thankful for Steve thinking it's a worthwhile pursuit of my time and this opportunity.
Seeking clarity from the Lord for concerns that weigh heavy this morning.  Thankful to be able to bring all things to His throne.
Thanking Him for being my Jehovah Shalom (the Lord is Peace), Jehovah Shammah (the Lord is There), and Jehovah Jireh (the Lord shall Provide).

I am most blessed - even in the hard things.

Blessings on the journey~

 

Being brave - out of my comfort zone - to link up on Emily's 'tuesday's unwrapped'

One

Go here... find your one.  You will be so glad you did... I can pretty much guarantee it.