seriously....this is my life

Signposts for Spiritual Maturity

My daily devotional for several years has been In Touch, a monthly magazine/devotional from Charles Stanley. Not only does the magazine have short daily devotionals, but it also has great articles about money, spiritual growth, relationships, etc.

The first article this month is entitled "A Barometer for Spiritual Growth."  I love lists, so when an article is written in checklist form it's easier for me to read/and share.  Here are the 13 Signposts for Spiritual Maturity (if you want to read the entire article, click on the link).

13 Signpost to mark your Spiritual Maturity

1.    A hunger to know God more

2.    A desire to know the truth of the Word

3.    An increasing awareness of our sinfulness

4.    A quick response to sin, involving genuine repentance

5.    Joy in the midst of intense spiritual battles

6.    Understanding trials and temptations as opportunites for growth

7.    Viewing service to God as an honor, not a burden

8.    Viewing everything—both good and bad—as coming from the Lord (not sure I quite agree with this one.  I don’t think God causes bad things to happen, but I do think he allows them to happen)

9.    Faith to ask God for bigger things

I think I'm going to print this out and keep it in my Bible. 

If you want to begin receiving this monthly magazine for free click here. 

taken in my parent's yard..

seek

As you can see on my blog banner my 2010 word of the year is SEEK.  This word came to me a few weeks ago in my quiet time.  I've always love the above verse and knew that would be one of the verses I would cling to in the coming year.  These are five major things I am seeking this year:

GOD-Since returning to work my quiet times have been consistently inconsistent. I have felt the effects of not reflecting on God's majesty, the blessings He has poured into my life, and the bigger picture.  I can see the difference in my attitude and perspective on the days that I spend even just 15 minutes with Him in the morning.  I know that this year we desperately need to SEEK His Will, His Wisdom, His Direction, and His Plan regarding adoption.  A part of seeking God I also want to focus on sharing more of my spiritual walk here on the blog.  I find that I don't want to take the time to journal by hand anymore, so I've begun journaling on my laptop...this makes it much easier to cut and paste quotes and reflections here.

VITALITY- one of the definitions of vitality is the "power to live and grow"...I thought about using the word health, but I didn't feel like that reflected what I was seeking.  I am seeking to be healthier by making better food choices (less packaged/processed food and more fresh food).  I'm also wanting to find more vitality through exercising.  My goal is to begin with 3 times a week and then hopefully move to 4 times a week.  I know this will energize me, but it will also help build me up for the wear and tear of motherhood!  Another form of vitality I am seeking out is taking the time be creative through photography, cooking, scrap booking, and homemaking. 

DISCIPLINE- pushing forward, being consistent, having time management, not procrastinating, making healthy choices, not starting projects before other projects are finished (huge for me), staying organized, making my bed every day (I've totally slacked), taking making time to exercise, taking a picture everyday for project 365.

BALANCE- taking everything a day at a time; not getting too obsessed/overworked/stressed out about any one thing; simplifying; letting things go that don't won't matter in the long run....

ADOPTION- One of the biggest things we're SEEKing out this year is adoption.  I certainly don't expect that we will adopt in 2010 (although it gives me goosebumps thinking that we could be parents this time next year), but we will be SEEKing direction and wisdom...we will be SEEKing out an agency...and we will be SEEKing out all things baby.  

Be blessed and if you choose a word of the year let me know!

my photo from yesterday...we didn't make it til midnight, so this is our almost new year's kiss...and my first picture of the day for 2010 (although I started taking photos on Monday for project 365)

Dec 31

I can hardly believe 2010 is upon us...a decade has gone by...so many things have happened in this decade.

• I got married to the best man in the world
• had another heart transplant
• bought a house
• restored a house...after surviving a hurricane
• hiked in the mountains
• went from a little nokia phone that could only make calls to a 3G phone that can get the internet anywhere and everywhere
• traveled all over our country
• made many new friends who I couldn't imagine not having in my life
• adopted 3 kitties
• suffered through the loss of our sweet kitty, Abigail
• became addicted to coffee
• read many books including the Twilight series :)
• began scrapbooking, created a room devoted to my hobby, and found my simple style
• my favorite color changed from blue to green
• began a blog
• grew as a follower of Christ through Bible Study, fellowship with friends and family, and finding a church home at Gateway
• lost 2 of my grandparents
• discovered a love of photography
• enhanced photos through photoshop

of course there are hundreds of other things, but I have things to do, people to see, and places to go.  I'm ready for 2010...a new year..a new decade...a fresh start.  I've chosen my word for the year and will reveal it tomorrow.  I've been designing a new blog banner and I'm hoping I can figure out how to get it on the blog tomorrow. 

photo taken Christmas Day...out in the snow!

Crazy Love

I've been on the search for a good, God book.  Not so much a devotional or a workbook, but something that I could read, reflect on, and apply to my life.  My small group leader, Becki, recommended the book Crazy Love.  She works at our church and said that many people are reading it.  I figured I might as well give it a try.  I've read a few chapters and I'm loving it.  I'm certainly not going to promise anything (because as soon as I promise I will post things here I seem to fall short) but I hope to post some excerpts from the book and some of my thoughts here.  One of my goals for 2010 is to focus on blogging more God stuff.  One of the reasons I started blogging 3+ year ago was to share my faith, the ups and downs of my walk with Christ, and spiritual things I was learning and wrestling with.  I've grown very self centered here on the blog and I want to find more balance again.  It helps me to be consistent with my time with God if I challenge myself to share some thoughts a few times a week.  I would love if you would comment and share your thoughts with me. 

Crazy Love    {Thoughts and Reflections…Preface}

Many people see Christianity as this…fight your desires in order to please God.  Of course when we fail, which is daily, we feel guilty and distant from God.  I hate to admit this, but there have been many times in my life when this is exactly how my attitude towards God has been.  I’ve been guilty of having the attitude of “be good, do the “Christian” thing and He will bless you.”  The fact of the matter is that He has blessed me abundantly in spite of myself.  He is a merciful God who showers His children with grace and blessings every second of the day. 

Here’s one of many excerpts of Crazy Love that really hit me.

Our core problem isn’t the fact that we are lukewarm, half-hearted, or stagnant Christians.  The crux of it all is why we are this way, and it is because we have an inaccurate view of God.  We see him as a benevolent Being who is satisfied when people manage to fit Him into their lives in some small way.  We forget that God never had an identity crisis.  He knows that He’s great and deserves to be the center of our lives.  Jesus came humbly as a servant, but He never begs us to give Him some small part of ourselves.  He commands everything from His followers. 

God’s never had an identity crisis.  He is the great I AM…always has been, always will be.  That’s so comforting to me.  God is constant.  He doesn’t love me more some days than other days.  He doesn’t take it personally when I fall short.  His grace is always available.  He doesn’t move away from His children, but He does allow them to move away from Him. 

 

midwest Christmas

It's been a great few days here at my parent's house.  Brian arrived at 7:30 pm on Christmas Eve, after waiting at the airport for 9 hours.  He arrived 2 hours before his flight left, but when he arrived at the airport he stood outside in line for about 3 hours before even getting inside where he stood in another 2 hour line to check his bags.  The power had gone out from 5 am until 7 am that morning and the airport was a mess.  Thankfully I had thought to call the airline at about 10:00, when we realized he would miss his original flight, and I moved his reservation to a 5:15 flight.  Had I not done that he wouldn't have made it here that day. 

Christmas Eve we had our traditional lasagna and tamale dinner.  Lasagna is what I grew up with on Christmas Eve and tamales are what Brian had growing up.  After having our fill of dinner and Christmas cookies we hit the sack and woke up about 9 am. There was a dusting of snow outside and it continued lightly snowing all day.  We had brunch about 10, including milk punch, a delicious milk/cream/vanilla ice cream and bourbon drink.  We didn't begin openning gifts until about noon or later.  It was a leasiurly afternoon of napping, reading, and watching several Christmas movies.   My grandparents and my parent's Harley friends came for Christmas dinner which consisted of yummy prime rib, twice baked potatoes, roasted vegetables, and dessert.  (I seriously need to go on a vegetable/fruit/lean meat diet when I get home!!!)

Today we woke up late and then went to see my lifelong friend Julie and her twin girls, Evelyn (Evie) and Ellianna (Ellie).  They are just 8 weeks old, but still super tiny.  When they were born she had 4 kids under 4!!!  Her oldest just turned 4 in the past couple of weeks!  She amazes me...I don't know how she does it! 
After spending about an hour with her, my parents, Brian and I drove up the Great River Road and had lunch along the river.  We then went to Pere Marquette Lodge to have hot cocoa.  It was snowing the entire time and we really saw 6 sided snowflakes...so cool!  These photos are from flickr...but I did take some photos of the snowflakes that fell on Brian's jacket.  If it is still snowing tomorrow I might bundle up and take some more photos.  I'm just amazed at the detail God uses...even in a single snowflake!

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve...I can hardly believe it's already upon us.  I think back to all the things I wanted to accomplish before Christmas this year and in some ways I feel like I failed a bit--no Christmas cards sent out, the few gifts I needed to mail are still at my house, all the yummy cookies and treats I wished to make are unmade, and I even still have 2 gifts to buy today....geesh!  This morning I was reading my devotion  and was reminded that Christmas is not all about gifts, and cookies, and checking off our unrelenting to do list...it's about celebrating the birth of a tiny baby who came to save the world from an eternal death.  Here are a few thoughts I'd like to share here today.  This is as much a reminder to myself as anything else. 

But occasionally, we would be wise to examine our own unique set of Christmas traditions to determine if they are beneficial.  Consider whether they are enjoyable or stressful!  Do they remind you of Christ or cause you to forget HIm in the rush of activity? 

With each passing year, increasing expectations of what Christmas is "supposed to be"can steal the joy of Christ's birth.  This year, pause to look at this season through a shepherd's eyes.  Spend time reading about the Savior in Scripture, delighting in Him, and glorifying God for His good gift.

Enjoy your day and remember the presence...what it's really all about!

photo from flickr

mom on tv

I have to take a moment to brag on my mom...she's now been on Great Day St. Louis twice; once before thanksgiving and once this past week, sharing cooking/ food styling ideas.  Here's the link

you may need to fast forward a little to get to her segment.   

December 15...already?

So, I'm sure you figured out that working full time, preparing for Christmas, keeping up with house stuff, and fighting away every germ in Houston has left me no time for blogging delicious recipes and cute, Christmasey ideas.  Oh well, for this moment I'm back with what's been going on in my life.

One thing is that after searching for a cute, digital Christmas card and not finding one that I liked that was under $2, I've decided to make my own.  I must say that knowing that she was making homemade cards (of course she is...she's super Kelly) motivated me to gather some paper and begin sketching some ideas.  They will be simple, and certainly won't be mailed out until after Christmas, but they will homemade and hopefully stinkin cute! 

Two Friday's ago it snowed in Houston!  I realize that as a Midwestern girl you can hardly call this snow, but when you see it through the eyes of 9 year old Houstonians you realize that even the smallest flakes are a BIG deal!

This burst of cold weather shot us straight from fall to winter and the color of the trees have been beautiful! I know that doesn't make sense that in the winter, we would have fall colors...but everything weather related is odd here.  These are some photos from our trees out back.

 

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

For some reason I've been kind of dreading decorating for Christmas this year...not sure why, but I was.  I went back and forth on whether to put up the tree, but my super hubby took out all the Christmas decorations for me yesterday.   Today he put the Christmas tree together for me while I was at Costco.  He did the "fluffing" of the tree (the part I detest) so decorating was easy.  Because of his help I decorated the house in under 2 hours.  There are many things I chose not to display this year....just trying to keep things simplified, enjoy my favorite things, and leave some room to breathe.  Here are a few glimpses...with more to come. 

jingle bells are one of my favorite decorations for the tree.  My tree has a rustic feel and looks gorgeous in our gold living room with red accents.

I even have a couple of jingle bell cardinals!

looking down the hall

 

5 good food gift ideas:  click on link to find the recipe

Cranberry Almond Bark
 

Nine Bean Soup Mix

Cranberry Orange Marmalade

 

Cranberry Orange Bread

 Sugared Cranberries

Christmas time is here

Hello....well it's officially COLD here in Houston and believe it or not, there's a 70% chance of snow tomorrow!  I'm praying that it won't begin to school's out so I can get home. 

Here's todays recipe for vanilla bean shortbread.  The recipe is from Cooking Light  so it must be healthy, right!?

 

Creative Idea...

ok, so I realize we're a few days into Advent, but I just found this creative project and it was too cute not to share.  It's an Advent Activity Ring...each day has a different Christmas time activity to do...how fun is that!  I could see kids REALLY getting into this!

And a fun gift idea for your kids, however if NOT playing with your food is a rule in your house, these aren't the best idea :)  They can be found here