January’s Hymn

by admin on January 15, 2010 in Better Check Out Blogs, Better Check Out Links, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME, The Hymn Project with 2 Comments
After my morning walk with all the kids to the bus stop I am filled with energy. Lungs full of fresh air I load up the audio clip I found and practice my new (well, new to me) hymn.

Check out my previous post to learn more about where THE HYMN PROJECT started.

MY METHOD_______________________

My method is simple, flip through the old hymnal I have till I spot one I don’t know. Once I have a look at the lyrics and find something that moves me I look it up on a couple different sites I know of that have the audio and the lyrics so I can learn the tune (I can’t read music). I then sing it through about once a day so I know it well by the end of the month.

MY CHOICE________________________

I chose from the peace and joy section of my hymnal for January’s hymn and came up with ‘Loved with Everlasting Love‘, written by James Mountain, please click on the authors name to link to an article from a favorite blog of mine on the author. I have to say, the authors name caught my interest too. I hadn’t heard of James Mountain before.

MY JOY___________________________

This is proving to be a lovely goal and interesting project for me. I grew up only knowing a few hymns. I think choruses where far more common in my church background. I am finding many hymns move me because of their wonderful poetic lyrics! I also love history so looking up the hymns and authors has been very enjoyable for me too!

Here is the site I found the audio for this hymn; http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/284 . I just noticed this site also has an option to get the guitar chords… hmmm… maybe this will encourage me to pick up my guitar and start playing again… maybe…

Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green;
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen:
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow,
Flow’rs with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine.
My Favorite Verse From January’s Hymn

TTFN

Just As I Am, Without One Plea

by admin on January 14, 2010 in My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME, The Hymn Project with 1 Comment
Found truth about priority in my life and worship in my heart when I sang this hymn yesterday morning…

Just as I am without one plea
But that thy blood was shed for me,
and that thou bidd’st me come to thee,
O Lamb of God I come! I come!

Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot, to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot

Just as I am though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within without

Just as I am poor wretched, blind; Sight, riches healing of the mind, Yea all I need, in thee I find

Just as I am thou wilt receive
Wilt welcome pardon cleanse relieve;
Because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

_____________________PRIORITIES

The verses of this old hymn in italics convicted me about my priorities. I had been feeling very conflicted and wretched… While examining my heart in hopes of finding where I was blind a damaging focus of mine was reveled. I had been putting something, that is not without value, ahead of Jesus… Because of this wrong order of priorities in my life I had started to feel unable to connect on a deeper truer level with others and with my savior.

I felt off base and had searched for a song to sing, as often worshiping helps redirect my heart and I was lead to an old favorite. I needed to admit my recent sin and place it all (all that I am) before my God so this hymn struck absolutely true.

_____________________WORSHIP

When I first moved into this house I sought to worship the Lord every morning by singing out of an old hymnal I have. I gave myself a goal of learning one new hymn each month… Started by learning ‘Hover Ore Me Holy Spirit’ and didn’t carry on with my goal. This little goal was simply meant to encourage myself to start each day with a worshipful heart…

Was reading a comment by a friend about the worship services in Solomon’s temple when it was new and I was moved. Because of a transition my family is going through right now I was missing corporate worship and I think that lead to my slacking off in my own personal worship… it then hit me how backwards that was… we all need our own lives and hearts to be worship filled first if we are to be effective corporate worshipers. I need to start at home with my own heart!

For the sake of a little accountability and/or encouragement I will continue to link the song I am learning on the side panel of my blog and will post once a month about my new hymn… I am excited to start my goal up again!

TTFN

Found It

by admin on January 12, 2010 in My Listening Year, My Year of Right Sacrifice-TIME with No comments

Sacrifice – the surrender, devoting or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.
Too tired to turn on the computer and look up the devotional I have been following I flipped open my favorite copy of the Bible and found Psalms… it felt like a Psalms kinda morning…

I sat with my younger two screaming and laughing and running around the room and tried really really hard to listen… I don’t have a word for my year…. not so far and it has been the first year in, well, years so I have been feeling a bit nervous… worried about why not!

Looked down at the fourth Psalm and noticed scribbles. This caught my attention as there are hardly any marks in this Bible yet. Verse four and five had a special note dated three years ago from now. “I need to sacrifice my TIME, to Him so I can trust him and not be distressed, disturbed…” The verses read ‘When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord’

If I get stressed I still tend to cram my time till I am too busy for the Lord, on purpose often, and then I only become more overwhelmed by life and out of line with my life purpose, glorifying God, furthering the Kingdom, aligning myself with what He has going on… That was the mark where this arrow of scripture hit my heart years ago and it did so again today… After a year learning about listening I no longer think I can just learn stuff and hope it sticks or try to change… I now no it will involve coming to the Lord, waiting on the Lord…

The verse and comment where as relevant today…Phew, can I sacrifice TIME to the Lord this year?

TTFN

On The Ice With My Gentleman

by admin on January 12, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Do I Call It Parenting Advice?, Four Little Eggs In My Nest, Mama Heart Mushings with 2 Comments

It was lovely to spend a day on the ice! My boy was invited to a buddy’s birthday and he was more then willing to have me along! We enjoyed the party and running into many friends but for me it was all about Big Boy. I was so thrilled to have a whole day to spend with just him! He has always been the sweetest gentleman when we are alone!

The hardest part of my day was refraining from too much fussing when he would fall and from squeezing him every time I felt an urge to do so (it was a constant urge). He was just so sweet and well behaved, so determined to master skating in spite of all his spills, so handsome and so adorable! Phew, I am letting my mama mush gush now cuz I was trying not to drown him with it that day. He pulls at my heart so much! I love stealing hugs from him when he play fights with me. He thinks I am just doing a lock hold but really I am getting my hug quota! Lacing up our skates and hitting the ice together will be something I will crave to do with my guy for years and years to come! There is such an art to raising boys! Perhaps more difficult for the mother to master but SO WORTH IT!
Where did we skate?…A beautiful outdoor rink that graces our city’s river side. There is a view of the river and its bridges on one side, the Bez hotel towering like a castle on one end and city scape all around the west side. It was romantic and breathtaking! This was my first skate, but not my last, on this rink!

(There’s Big Boy! Only his third time on the ice and he was able to skate two hours with me!)

There is nothing like it! Skating outdoors is so revitalizing! I couldn’t believe it was January! Our -30 and -40 where gone! It was barely below zero and the perfect weather for a long skate. Here’s hoping we have many more sunny skating days!


TTFN

Another Year Of Ladies Card Nights

by admin on January 12, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, People In My Heart with No comments

I don’t know how many years we have been doing this but it has been years. A lot of ladies have come and gone and it is just a great way to get to know women. For a while now we have focused more on the eating and talking in our group but lately we have actually started playing poker again and it has been fun.

The group of us that originally started this did it to keep in touch. It was around the time that ‘texas hold em’ became a big fad so we thought it would be cute to start a poker group when usually it is guys that have the poker nights. The men, our men, where at first intrigued but when they found out how nice and overly cautious we where about risking our chips (even though we don’t even involve money) it became a humorous thing…Kicked off the new year with our first match at my place. I was particularly excited about the alcohol free white grape sparklers I got from Super Store and the stemless wine glasses I bought to serve them! It was a fancy treat for all of us MOMS! I am always impressed with the nice food everyone contributes, we always eat well! We take turns hosting so I hadn’t for a while and I really enjoyed hosting such a stellar group of women!I can’t help taking pictures of our gatherings because so often there are new girls or friends able to come who have been gone for ages… those of us who are long time attenders keep changing so it is just as interesting to see us over the years meeting once a month to just enjoy one anothers company!I left my Christmas stuff up for this one last event and finally took it down today, I am actually sad about taking it down this year… usually I can hardly wait for everything to look less cluttered again but I decorated so much later then normal so I hadn’t reached that feeling yet. Perhaps I was just more in the holiday spirit this year!

Here is to another year of the ladies poker nights!

TTFN

N is for NEICES!

by admin on January 11, 2010 in People In My Heart with No comments

Got to babysit my older brother’s daughter for the first time this weekend… it was very special!

When I spend time with my nieces, any one of them, (I have three) I am reminded it isn’t just my children that are special. All children are special and amazing. I adore being an auntie, plain and simple! I hope for even more little cousins for my kids and nieces and/or nephews for ME!

TTFN

Silent Monks Singing Halleluia

by admin on January 8, 2010 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

First saw this posted on a blog I frequent called ‘C h r y s a l i s’ and enjoyed it to much to ignore. SO CREATIVE!

I Had A Christmas

by admin on January 8, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, Contest, Holiday Messages with 1 Comment

So yes, I had a Christmas but we all got pretty sick at the end of the holidays so I haven’t been really up to doing a post about the holidays…

I was very enthusiastic when the kids got off for the holidays. We spent much time on the hill and worked hard at getting set up with skates so we could enjoy the neighborhood rink. These two things where probably my favorite parts of the holidays!

I can’t get too spiritual about it all right now… it had what is expected, family drama and family memories, food and gifts, stress and relaxation, sleeping in and up later then normal… Most of all it had plenty of memorable moments for my family!

I still haven’t taken down the decorations… they are so pretty and I still feel cheery when I look at them… might have to stay till the days get longer again.

ON WITH THE WINNER! Put the names in a hat and drew out our winner! I will deliver you the gift a.s.a.p.!

THE WINNER IS

KRISTEN!

So unless you are coming out here some time soon I suppose I am mailing it to you Kristen! Congrats and thanks to all who commented for making my 100th post a little more special!

TTFN

Just How I Feel Today

by admin on January 5, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, People In My Heart with No comments
Or, perhaps, how I am hoping to feel…

I love the wild whole hearted look my oldest two ooze as they run madly for the water in this picture from the summer past! FUN is a childs heart cry; innocent, pure, content FUN!

Ignite invincible summer!! IGNITE!

That’s all I’ve got today, oh, that and a smiley face to wrap it all up:)

TTFN

Brothers, Sick Days and Dishes

by admin on January 4, 2010 in Bits Of My Personality, People In My Heart with 7 Comments
(My brother’s daughter and I snuggling to keep warm at the rink!)

So I accomplished a goal of mine and got myself and the older kids out skating! I realised right away it has been a long time and I am really rusty at it! I also had a great deal of fun with my kids and my brother’s family. Jesse is my youngest brother, a great guy. I know this might sound silly but I really really love my brothers! The picture below will probably be a favorite of mine for life! I don’t have a lot of pictures of my brothers and I as adults together… we don’t spend a lot of time together… I know I am largely at fault for that since I am so easily overwhelmed by life I tend to miss out on chances to be with them.

A couple days feelings of disconnect had settled heavily over my heart… disconnect from people and specifically fellowship… I know I do it to myself… My first reaction to any stress is to bury myself away… anyhow for some reason my brothers came into my head and I remembered my mom talking me to me years ago about what a connection you have to your brothers no matter what… you are SO connected… I get it… It made me happy to think about them… They are both very different men with different families of their own but they are both so worthy of respect and they make me proud.

I am feeling really ill today and hope it will not last long… I hate being sick, things get so out of sorts in a home when the wife is sick…

Little Woman was trying to cheer me up about being under the weather and she said ‘When you are all better you can do dishes with me!’ To her dishes are a time to visit with Mommy, one on one, and to feel like a big girl… to me… well I looked over at the mountain of dirty dishes and just felt impending doom… Dishes just don’t cheer up this sick mommy like they do my Little Woman.

My chicken noodle soup is almost ready, I skipped supper but I am trying to not go to bed without protein. Is there protein in chicken noodle soup? Ahhhh well, I am going to bed early and will dream about dish washing machines again…

TTFN

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