Motivate Me Monday - Thinking About Marriage

I have been reading  Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas.
Today I have some questions for you to ponder. The first is from the book, but the rest are questions that I am asking myself.  I hope that in finding answers to these questions you find encouragement.

1.  (Right off the cover of the book)What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?
2. Does your marriage reflect Christ to the rest of the world?
3. Are you looking for fulfillment from your spouse or are you looking to God to fulfill you?
4. What does looking to God for fulfillment look like practically?

Link up your motivational and inspirational post below.

Finer Things Friday-Dump Treadmill

I have just recently began using my treadmill again after a four month break.  My treadmill is such a blessing.  Let me tell you the story.
My friend Anita and I used to frequent the dump, looking for treasures that could be fixed or turned into something else or were just great finds.  One day we spotted my treadmill.  We struggled to load it into her van but it was not meant to be.  So the very nice dump man said we could put it in the back of his truck until we were able to get it home later that day.
So I hurried home and called my friend Lisa (who had a pick up truck).  For the small price of an iced cap she agreed to go to the dump with me and help me get the treadmill home. 
That thing is heavy.  I must admit that my upper body strength is next to nothing and I dropped the treasured exercise equipment.  It still worked though.  We have had it for at least 2 years and both Craig and I use it. 

Trash to treasure is for sure a Finer Thing.

Wordless Thursday?- She loves Hats

What I Learned This Week

Bubble wrap helps my children bond with one another.

Check out what other people learned this week over at Musings of a Housewife.

Motivate Me Monday -The Desires of Your Heart.

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

I love this verse and the promise that it holds.

The definition of delight is: a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment; joy.  God wants us to take pleasure in Him.  He wants us to enjoy our relationship with Him.  He wants us to have joy.

On top of all that, if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts.  What amazing love!

It is already an enormous gift to have the joy of the Lord and He want to add to that by giving us the things we want.

I really want to encourage you to think about the desires of your heart.  Pray that they would be in God's will.

He wants you to have abundant life.  If you don't know what the desires of your heart are then pray and ask God to place good desires in your heart.

I am so excited to share my desires with my Father.


Link up your motivational and inspirational post below.

Finer Things Friday -Good Books

Don't you just love a good book? The kind where you are friends with the characters or you are just learning so much you don't want to put it down and sleep.
I have been so blessed lately with some excellent reads.  The bible study I belong to has chosen two wonderful books in a row that I have grown from.

The first was Driven By Eternity  by John Bevere.  An eye opening look at how our life choices affect on earth affect our life after earth.

The second was Waking the Dead by John Eldrege.  I have written about this book before and I can not express how much this book has changed my perception of life and who I am in Christ.

An interesting thing is that I owned both of these books before my bible study chose them.  I had started reading them but found them boring and didn't finish either of then .  It was God's timing.  I have been hungry to go deeper and to learn about real life.  God placed these books back into my hands to discover all of these amazing lessons that He has for me.

Learning from good books and knowing that God is truly the one teaching you is for sure a finer thing.

Wordless Wednesday - Up up up.

 

  

 

For more WW head on over to 5m4m

Beautiful Mess by Diamond Rio and Review

Book Description (From the Thomas Nelson website)

Can a band comprised of six very talented but very different musicians make a difference with their music?

What made it possible for Diamond Rio to weather the storms inherent in the fickle world of fame and fortune and go more than two decades without a single lineup change? Any reader in search of transparency and a behind-the-scenes look into the life of the band as a unit as well as the individual lives of the players and singers will be well satisfied. Can true loyalty exist within the competitive, seemingly unforgiving music industry? In A Beautiful Mess, Marty Roe, Dan Truman, Jimmy Olander, Brian Prout, Gene Johnson, and Dana Williams each has an entire chapter devoted to his personal and professional life. A Beautiful Mess is a wild ride from the edge of disaster and a little-known secret to an ongoing heart-warming revival.

My Review:

I must tell you that this book did grab my attention on the first page.  It went down hill from there though.  While the stories told in the book would be really interesting to hear from the actual band members themselves, I felt the way they were written did not hold my interest very well.  There was a lot of name dropping that I thought to be unnecessary and confusing.

I did like that the band was never into drugs or alcohol and that they had a "no women on the bus" policy.  They stuck by each other and enjoyed the rewards of their perseverance.

While the book didn't appeal to me, I did download some of Diamond Rio's music and i can tell you that i am a converted fan.  Meet in the Middle is played regularly in my house and I just love How Your Love Makes Me Feel.

In conclusion I must say buy their albums not their book :)

What I Learned This Week

Well I am not back to being 100% (hence the blog post at 11am) but I will fill you all in on my weekly lessons.

1. Designating Monday night as stay at home date night is a great way to cure the Monday blahs.

2. I really have great friends.
I have Katie who lent me her diffuser and eucalyptus oil to help me sleep with my cold.
I have Anita who hunted down some liver so that I can make my recipe that is so good I have eaten it cold the next morning for breakfast.

3. My children can survive on toast for breakfast and lunch.

See what other bloggers learned this week over ate Musings of a Housewife

Motivate Me Monday-Taking a Sick Day

I am ill so MMM is taking a sick day too.

I encourage you to check out some other motivational post around the blogsphere though.

Teri Lynne has a fantastic series on the book of Ester titles Big Questions

Jackie from Blessings Overflowing has been posting about the book Created to Be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl. Stop in and see her key points and questions.

Melanie at What Matters Most has a great post titles What Matters Most in Marriage. Worth the read!

Just in case anyone has written a MMM post I will put up the McLinky as well.
Now I am off to curl up with a blanket and a big mug of lemon tea.

Finer Things Friday- A Fine Husband

With valentine's day in the horizon I really want to tell you about my very romantic and talented husband.
Last Friday Craig was headed out to the store to pick up some things and get gas. As he was going out the door I said; "Bring me back a treat!"
I totally expected a chocolate bar or something.
Well... He brought me a cooking magazine.  Not only that but he told me to pick any recipe out of the magazine that I wanted and he would make if for me soon.

Let me reveal to you my dinner on Monday night:

After the children went to bed my chef whipped up:

• Spinach and pine nut stuffed steak.
• Roasted garlic and rosemary Mashed potatoes
• Broccoli and cheese sauce

Isn't he just the best?

Having a husband who can and is willing to cook is for sure a finer thing!
Bask in the finer things in life over at Amy's Finer Things

Wordless Wednesday - LOVE

For More WW head over to 5M4M

Valentines Jam Jams (cookies)

Aren't these just the prettiest cookies you've ever seen?  (Well they're at least the prettiest cookies you've ever seen on my blog).

I made these for Hudson's Valentine's Party.

I just love how beautiful these turned out.  So without further ado here is the recipe.

1 cup lactose free margarine
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup golden corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

raspberry pie filling

Cream together margarine and sugars.  Add apple sauce and vanilla.  Beat well.
Add flour baking powder and salt.  Mix until no dry flour remains.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut circles.  (I used a plastic cup to cut my circles).   Use a 1 inch heart (or shape of your choice) to cut out the centers of half of the circles.
place on to cookie sheets covered in parchment paper and bake at 350F for 10 minutes.
let cool completely.  Spoon pie filling into the center of the whole circles then sandwich together with the heart circles.



Linking this recipe up with Tasty Tuesday and Tempt my Tummy Tuesday.

Motivate Me Monday - Eyes Wide Open To Truth

Satan's primary aim is to promote self interest as the chief end of man. Satan is called the prince of this world because self interest rules the secular world.

~Neil T Anderson in The Bondage Breaker~

Come with me as I learn to promote Christ's interest instead of self interest.  For without Jesus I am nothing and I deserve nothing.  

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

I am striving right now to be on guard.  To have my eyes open to the devils schemes in my life so that I can resist him and he will flee from me.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

One of Satan's biggest lies is that I am God of my own life.  That I can live righteously on my own power.  

The truth is when I choose to live independently of God, that is when I sin.  

Father

Thank You for being always dependable and never changing.  Remind me moment by moment to rely on You.  To live dependent on You and in Your will.

In Jesus Name

Amen

Link up your motivational and inspirational posts below!

Baby Blossom Crochet Hat

Last week I posted about the great fabric blocks I made for some of the new babies that will be arriving soon or have arrived recently.
This week I want to share this sweet little newborn crochet hat that I will be giving as a shower gift (over and over again:)).

The most exciting part about this hat for me is that it's MY pattern!
So get ready because I am about to share it with you!

Newborn Baby Blossom Hat

I used an I hook and worsted weight yarn.

Ch 4 join to form a ring
Rnd 1: ch 1, 10 hdc in ring. (10 hdc)
Rnd 2: ch 1, 2 hdc in each st around. (20 hdc)
Rnd 3: ch 1, (hdc in next st, 2 hdc in next st) around. (30 hdc)
Rnd 4: ch 1, hdc in each st around. (30 hdc)
Rnd 5: ch 1, (hdc in next 2 sts, 2 hdc in next st) around. (40 hdc)
Rnds 6-11: repeat rnd 4. (40 hdc)
Rnd 12: ch 2, dc in each hdc around (40dc) *this is where the ribbon will be threaded through*
Rnd 13: sc in each dc around
Rnd 14: sc 1 (sc in next 2 st, 7dc in nest st, skip 1 st, repeat all the way around) sc 1

Finish off and weave in your ends.

Weave the ribbon through and the double crochet row.  Under 2 over 1.
Tie a bow and voila!

Things are Happening!!!

The Holy Spirit has been working in me and others around me. Some exciting things are happening. So alas the blog is taking a bit of a back seat for today. Come back tomorrow for a really cute crochet pattern though :)

Give Me Your Brilliant Ideas!

Look at this great fabric that I have!

I want to make a simple patchwork throw for my living room.  So please bog me down with your favorite, simple (this will be my first quilt) pattern, tutorials and ideas.  Leave links!

Mercy

Since mercy is on my heart right now and I wrote about mercy last week for Motivate Me Monday, I just wanted to post a link to the mercy devotional from Proverbs 31 I received in my email this morning. May you be as blessed by it as I was.