sweetest name I know

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Shanda

Let me tell you about the sweetest name I know.

Recently, a little booklet of printouts came home from school with my Kindergartener. It was titled, “Happy Holidays Throughout the World” and on page one I read this:

“Christmas is a holiday celebrated by members of the Christian faith around the world. This is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God.”

His powerful NAME IS in the schools, my friends. He is there in the printed word and in the hearts of those who love him and are serving our children as teachers and helpers. He is in the hearts of the children who trust in Him.

*****

Yesterday I took Sarah Joy to the library and we went straight to the Christmas books. I pulled the books out halfway and dear little Sarah judged them by their covers. We came home with an armful of new books to read. One of them had a picture of Santa reading a book to a lap-full of children and elves. It was titled The Christmas Book of Hope and I read it to Sarah this morning.

“His parents were sick, there was hardly any food, and no joy was found in Timothy’s house as Christmas drew near. Every night he would pray to Jesus for help, but things seemed so hopeless to Timothy……….”

“…….Later that evening, Santa came down the chimney into Timothy’s house, and sitting by the fire were Timothy and his parents. ‘Oh Santa, cried Timothy, ‘My parents are getting better! I think Jesus heard my prayers!’

In the story, one of Santa’s elves wrote Timothy a book of hope, which included this point: “Most importantly, if you believe in Jesus, God will take care of you, especially when times are bad.”

Ironically, I read in a Santa Claus book for children, pulled from our public library, the hope of the world….is Jesus.

(By the way, I don’t believe Santa is any competition for Jesus at Christmas. Jesus wins by far, which is the reason why I don’t make it my mission in life to eliminate Santa from my family at Christmas time.)

*****

I’ve recently had a few days of stress, and what the Lord impressed upon my mind most of all was that Jesus was near, He was around me, comforting me, caring for me, loving me sweetly and gently. He opened my eyes to the abundant life He has given me and I thanked Him.

When I’m stressed out I start to accuse God of not caring enough to make my problems magically vanish away. This is the worst way to deal with problems because the Bible says that everything that happens to a Christian, good or bad, is a planned and purposeful journey for the GOOD of that particular person. If I accuse God, it is treachery to the Very One Who cares for me most of all.

The belief that my faith will give me a perfectly smooth life free from trouble will only cause anxiety in my soul when the stresses of life started pulling me down, down, down.

Truly, life is hard, and there are terribly sad times in life, but the thing about faith in Christ is that He makes the hard parts supernaturally more bearable, because His grace is sufficient and His power is incredible. Jesus is made great and His name is glorified in my weaknesses. For a believer, the peace and comfort that comes from this faith is amazing and comforting. I can let go of the things I cannot control and trust God.

It’s not easy because I am not perfect and there are times of tempting when Satan wants me to doubt my Savior and give up on this beautiful life that seems so pointless at the time. But I have to correct my negative thinking to truth. A good question to ask yourself when you’re thinking a negative thought is: “What is the truth?” And answer that question honestly with the Word of God.

Never blame God for things. Thank Him for his care in your life because without Jesus we would be much much worse off. We would be on the path to certain destruction.

One of the downfalls of an affluent society is that we become spoiled and proud without even realizing it. We lose our feeling of need. My greatest need was for my sin to be washed away, and that was dealt with by the grace of God many years ago. But, personally, I am thankful as I continue to wrestle with my greatest struggles of stress and anxiety, and depression ONLY because it gives me a reason to fall on my face before Christ, ready and waiting for his arms around me to become reality in my soul again. He always tenderly cares for his precious children but how can we realize and thank Him unless we have an idea of our utter dependence?

The Bible says that Jesus said these words to His disciples: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29

I love this Scripture because so often we think we need a complex Bible Study, or theological studies that go beyond the simplicity of simply studying Christ Himself. (the study of Christ is the most profound of all.) I believe we should always start everything with a deep and appreciative look at Jesus, our Savior, our Everything.

Over the last few days, I’ve been reading an old favorite book that does an amazing job at explaining the expressions of love that Christ extends to His followers.

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, by Phillip Keller (highly recommended)

“We live a most uncertain life. Any hour can bring disaster, danger and distress from unknown quarters. Life is full of hazards. No one can tell what a day will produce in new trouble. We live either in a sense of anxiety, fear and foreboding, or in a sense of quiet rest. Which is it?

“Generally it is the ‘unknown,’ the ‘unexpected,’ that produces the greatest panic. It is in the grip of fear that most of us are unable to cope with the cruel circumstances and harsh complexities of life. We feel they are foes which endanger our tranquility. Often our first impulse is simply to get up and run from them.

“Then in the midst of our misfortunes there suddenly comes the awareness that He, the Christ, the Good Shepherd is there. It makes all the difference. His presence in the picture throws a different light on the whole scene. Suddenly things are not half so black or nearly so terrifying. The outlook changes and there is hope. I find myself delivered from fear. Rest returns and I can relax.

“This has come to me again and again as I grow older. It is the knowledge that my Master, my Friend, my Owner has things under control even when they may appear calamitous. This gives me great consolation, repose, and rest. ‘Now I lay me down to sleep, for Thou God keepest me.’

“It is the special office work of God’s gracious Spirit to convey this sense of Christ to our fearful hearts. He comes quietly to reassure us that Christ Himself is aware of our dilemma and deeply involved in it with us. And it is in fact in this assurance that we rest and relax.”

*****

I titled this post “sweetest name I know” because even saying the very name “Jesus” is a sweet prayer of need to a believer. Jesus tenderly cares for His much-loved children. He has blessing and comfort for us, hands that reach out, no harshness, no judging, only pure and perfect love is in His eyes. His disciples leaned against his breast, and that is what we may do as well.

“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.”

What a picture of closeness, and security!

Sometimes, to get a sense of the love Jesus has for me, I imagine the person I feel safest with next to me in the room. Who do I feel the most love and comfort from? My husband comes to my mind, my parents, trusted friends and family members who have always accepted me no matter what, who would hold and carry me through difficulties, laugh, cry, talk, care about me, ….I think of these people and then realize that Jesus loves me just as they do, but EVEN MORE, FAR MORE than we could even imagine.

There’s within my heart a melody
Jesus whispers sweet and low:
Fear not, I am with thee, peace be still,
in all of life’s ebb and flow.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
sweetest name I know,
fills my every longing,
keeps me singing as I go.

Luther Bridgers (1884-1948)

tasting goodness

Posted on November 29, 2014 by Shanda

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.” Psalm 34:8

Enough snow fell on the day before Thanksgiving that the children have been able to go outside and play with their snow boards and sleds. The sunshine was so bright yesterday that it hurt my eyes.

Still, it is a pleasure to feel the cold on my face, and to breath in the fresh air.

I cautioned the children way too many times to steer AWAY from the trees and pond and road.

David lined his boots with garbage bags.

Our house sits on a hill, a hill steep enough for the children to go down……such a joy for them.

Seth threw a snow ball at his Mama.

He had gloves on that were way to big. In this family, they just grab anything and hope for the best.

Hats, mittens, and gloves stress me out.

We went for a walk around and said hello to the hens.

The children slid down the rock like it was a slide and then I think the chicken tried it, too.

David chased Billy up a tree. Billy went carefully and silently around and around to find the best way to get back down.

He is a smart cat.

Thanksgiving 2014

I planned, I shopped, I fussed, I baked, I did a hundred little things, and then…….it was over.

I am a little tired and blue today, so I decided to blog about our wonderful day, to cheer myself up.

The Lord is good.

My sister said that her heart was warmed, as David gently stirred the pot with her and talked about things.

Later, Jason told me he thought David was so smart and had an engineering type of mind.

My niece Abigail peeled potatoes with Grace. 10 pounds of potatoes.

With a cup of cheer in my hand and my handsome husband. I am so thankful for Rich. Today he caught me before I fell on the ice outside…it took me a few steps to gather my balance and he made me laugh by staying strong and saying dryly, “You okay? This is just like walking with a newborn calf that can’t get his legs under himself!”

On Thanksgiving Day, Abbie turned fourteen.

Grace and Naomi played with their Bitty Babies. Sarah’s room is still a total disaster from all the playing (searching for the doll stuff). Aren’t they adorable? I love everything about this picture.

Handsome brother Isaac, and son Jacob.

Michael came over, too, and there was a game of Monopoly that lasted for hours.

Abbie and Cassandra

My beautiful daughter Grace.

Grace practiced her french braiding skills on Aunt Cassandra.

Rich fell asleep after dinner and clean up. Jason fell asleep in the recliner, too. It’s the smart thing to do on Thanksgiving day.

The children colored with the smelly markers.

Then, it was time for birthday cake. I’m so thankful that we were able to spend the day with Abbie. She’s a beautiful young lady and we are proud of her. It was a blessing to end Thanksgiving day with birthday cake.

also remembering….

early morning phone call from brother Dave
weston got wet in the pond
we took family portraits for christmas cards
sarah wore a red ribbon
i burnt the rolls
but the pies were to die for
we lost sarah outside; it turned out she was with her brother E
aunt amanda made ethan proud of his muscles
laughing over the Andy Griffeth show
we cheered up aunt cassandra because she was sad and missing her family
rich was quiet all day until 9pm. then he went for a run and then wanted to take me out shopping. (no)
jacob dressed up in a tie
food was wonderfully good, so was the drink
seth was especially energetic and was the child most likely to get reprimanded
ending the day with a nice phone conversation with mom and dad

*****

Thanks for stopping by the blog today, friends!
You are loved.

“The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation.” Psalm 18:46

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1

“All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness….” Psalm 25:10

attitude of gratitude

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Shanda

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. ~Roald Dahl

Oh Roald Dahl, you are such an interesting person. I love how you take truth and get it down our throats with a spoonful of good humor.

Here are a few little happenings that I am thankful for:

1. A morning of sunshine

Got no checkbooks, got no banks,
Still I’d like to express my thanks –
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.
~Irving Berlin

2. We went to the day spa, Sarah and I.

She was so fascinated by the yellow goo being squirted in my hair that I had to get out the phone and take a picture. She loves watching me get my hair done.

Rich told me to relax at the spa and I said, “Yes, but, how can I relax if I have Sarah with me?” “Oh Shan, she’s adorable! You let her get her nails done. See if they can get her in.”

I did ask, but the ladies were all booked up so I asked Amy (my hairdresser) to take Sarah in the other room to pick out some nail polish. While my hair processed I myself gave Sarah her manicure, including base coat and top coat.

3. Seth had a program at school so I buttoned him up in a handsome dress shirt (over a t-shirt). I fussed quite a bit with the hair, too. (you can sort of tell by the picture that he was ready to be let go again, right?)

Later, when Sarah and I arrived to school for the assembly, in walked Seth with the dress shirt OFF and looking all ordinary.

4. Breakfast at the diner.

5. My two oldest boys; Jacob (in back) and Ethan.

6. Michael and Seth (Sunday)

7. Reading books to silly Sarah.

8. The ice melted on Monday. I sent Seth out on the porch to feel the air, “There IS no air!” was his observation. It was a windless, warmish day. When they came home from school we went outside. Before I could stop them, Dave and Seth had their shoes and socks off in the stream. It really wasn’t warm enough for it, and their little feet turned pink.

9. Dave caught a crayfish which was a joy because every other sign of life in the waters was missing (frogs, turtles, fish).

How many of my friends are in the kitchen this week in preparations for Thanksgiving Day? I’m in the kitchen as I type. My body is sitting on the couch in the living room, but my mind is over there in the kitchen thinking about what I need to do next!

10. Yesterday I made my roll dough using my Grandma’s recipe. After the first rise, I formed the rolls.

I placed them in their pans, wrapped them up, and put them in the freezer. Tomorrow I will take them out, let them rise the second time, and bake them.

11. Yesterday we also did our big grocery trip for everything we needed on this list:

I would rather stay in the kitchen cooking all day than go to the store! So I was very happy to get it done.

12. We had a mini-thanksgivng feast yesterday. Jacob and Ethan had to miss their football thanksgiving dinner because their game was moved up a day. They were disappointed about it so I decided to surprise them. When they got home from school at 2:30 everything was ready. I roasted a butterball turkey breast, made (frozen) mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, corn, and cranberry sauce. I saved out some of my roll dough in order to make a couple little loaves of bread, too.

Not only did my children come home (Dave, Jacob, Grace, and Ethan) but also two extras. I loved watching them fill up their plates and go sit down in the dining room together.

13. Last night was Senior night at the football game. It was cold, but we had a lot of fun watching Jacob play his last game.

This is one of those pictures that I look at and see him as my own little baby, behind those eyes and that face, he’s still there.

14. sisters

I hope you have a lovely day today!

There is snow falling outside and it will be a cozy day to make pies.

{this moment}

Image

A Friday ritual. A single photo-no words-capturing a moment form the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

a valentine in november

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Shanda

Yesterday evening four year old Sarah sat at the dining room table all by herself. She was busy with a guitar pick maker that was given to Ethan a few years ago. The pick-maker is a hole punch that makes a single guitar pick out of old credit cards, thick plastic, and what have you. She was having a lovely time going around and around several pieces of scrap paper with it. She ended up making about 50 guitar picks, all from paper. She carefully wrote on some and decorated others.

She called them Valentines.

She took a handful upstairs to the boys’ room and bestowed them to brother Jacob. He accepted them with gratitude.

She had lots more to give away, and wandered over to me, “Mom, do you want a Valentine?”

“Why yes, Sarah, thank you!” I replied, honored. She carefully placed one in my out stretched hand.

Along with the letters “SMI”, this is what I discovered written on my *valentine*:

I had to find the paper this came from to see how it happened: It was a letter from school about a “school wide assembly”!!!

hands

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Shanda

I snapped these frosty photos the other day. Down at the edge of the pond the grass and leaves had beautiful long lashes of frost.

Guess what our little artist, Sarah, has been doing these days?

The first time she tried tracing her own hand I told her it looked like the hand of a monster. I did most of the tracing but eventually I became reluctant about stopping my own projects to trace *yet another hand* for her, so she decided it was more time-efficient to do it herself.

‘Mom! I did it! And it doesn’t look like a Monster-hand!”

(it doesn’t?)

I taught her how to draw pretty jewelry, and fingernails, too.

This one doesn’t have fingernails. But it does have a ring on each finger.

All that is required is paper and colored pens/crayons. It kept Sarah busy for a long time and it gave her lots of practice with tracing, drawing, and designing.

lady-bugs

I traced two sets of hands on some of the pages, trying to save time and paper.

As you may have noticed, Billy-Cat came over to see what I was photographing.

He communicated to me that it was a much nicer idea to photograph a handsome cat.

*lick-lick making myself ready for my portrait*

*wait, let me pose first*

*this is my best pose*

*how’d it turn out?*

I have happy cats because Sarah and I went to the grocery store to buy them food. They ran out yesterday and had to gag down dog food. All four of them have full tummies and are in various places in the house, sleeping it off.

This is what our mantel looks like right now. Jacob did the painting. I love how the red in it matches the mushrooms. Grace and Dave went for a walk and brought me the piece of wood (to the left of the painting, it’s the same color as the rocks so hard to see), they called it an octopus and plan painting it purple (I admit it would be easier to see). My felt mushrooms are from the Masonville General Store in NY. I pulled up some greenery from the woods and added artificial flowers along the mantel, too. The “give thanks” banner is from Pottery Barn (last year). I love how if you take the “e” off the end of “give” and then next four letters from “thanks”, it spells my son Ethan’s name. Sometimes I move those letters to the middle just for fun.

fiestaware in the sunshine

Tonight, I’m making meatloaf for dinner, with spinach and mashed potatoes.

I’ve shared Sarah’s hands and now I will share her song:

Won’t you give her a hand?

villainous

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Shanda

(David, photo by Joanna)

About a year ago Caleb, who loves to read, was reading the book Super over and over. He even took it upon himself to read the first chapter out loud to me, firmly believing his mom would like it as much as he did. He was so cute with his book that I took his picture with it.

Last week I came across that old picture and I thought, “Hmmmm, I wonder if the author has come out with a new book in this series?” I went on amazon and sure enough, there was a new book. Imagining Caleb’s delight, I promptly ordered it and waited to surprise him.

It arrived a few days later, and because we got the mail late in the evening, everyone was home and in the room watching as I asked Caleb to open the cardboard shipping box containing the new book. He was absolutely thrilled when he realized what it was.

But, someone else in the room was squinting his eyes in irritation. “MOM! Why did you give it to HIM? I was the one who read those books FIRST! HE only read them because of MEEEEEEEE!” The irritated person was David.

I assured him that the book was for him, too, but that it just so happened that I gave it to Caleb to read first. He stomped around, totally unsatisfied with my answer and convinced that life was unfair. “No one liked him.”

That night we sent the children to bed at the typical time.

But the next morning David had to be awakened by his sister from a sound, snoring sleep, at 12:45pm.

He stumbled with swollen eyes into the living room where Caleb was curled up on the couch with the wonderful new book.

“DAVE! What happened to you?” I asked, “Why did you sleep so long this morning? Are you sick?”

“I stayed up reading Caleb’s book. He told me I could read the first chapter but I read the entire thing.”

Now it was Caleb’s turn to cry. His heart was broken because he had given permission to David to read ONE chapter and he “read the whole thing”(320 pages!)……and HE himself “wanted to read it FIRST!”

It was one of those moments when I wasn’t sure if I should have a heart to heart talk with David about respecting not only your brother’s personal possessions but also his *personal privileges*, OR laugh and tell Caleb to never mind, it was all his now.

The name of the book was Villainous.

{this moment}

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Shanda

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. CSC_2096 admiring the first snow of the winter
6:30 am

quotes about love with pictures of the kids

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Shanda

“Our days are happier when we give people a piece of our heart instead of a piece of our mind.” anonymous

Sarah is outside. She saw the frost on the grass and asked for boots. I keep looking out the door to check on her, in fact I just sat down after leaning outside and calling her name. “I’m right here,” she answered in her little girl voice. “Okay! What are you doing?” “I’m tasting frozen stuff,” she replied while taking long licks from a bark-less stick. “Tastes like sugar! Wanna taste?”

We are thankful that we don’t have to go anywhere today. On Monday, we took Caleb to his Doctor’s check up. On Tuesday, I took David to an orthodontist appointment. He will be getting braces soon. Yesterday, we went to Community Bible Study for the day. Tomorrow we are serving Rich’s team a lunch here at home and going to the hair salon. But today? Today is gloriously free. I like being busy, but I like having mornings in my pj’s, too, tip tapping on the old keyboard, saying hello to anyone who may stop by here today……..

Veteren’s Day was Tuesday and the children were home from school. In the afternoon, I took my camera outside.

I recently read a wonderful book titled, The Greatest Thing in the World, by Henry Drummond. It was a book from our bookshelf, but it’s also a free book on the kindle. I underlined quite a lot of quotes that I wanted to share with pretty pictures. (pretty pictures that capture moments, not an entire day, we were not without a few ugly moments, too, but all in all the day was a wonderful one…..I love having all the children home).

“Have you ever noticed how much of Christ’s life was spent
in doing kind things–in merely doing kind things? Run over it with
that in view and you will find that He spent a great proportion of His time simply in making
people happy, in doing good turns to people.”

****

“Where Love is, God is. He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth
in God. God is love. Therefore love. Without distinction,
without calculation, without procrastination, love.”

“The most obvious lesson in Christ’s teaching is that
there is not happiness in having and getting anything,
but only in giving.”

“It is better not to live
than not to love.”
(Luke 17:2)

Do not grudge the hand that is moulding the still too shapeless image
within you. It is growing more beautiful though you see it not, and
every touch of temptation may add to its perfection.
Therefore keep in the midst of life.
Do not isolate yourself.
Be among men, and among things, and among troubles,
and difficulties, and obstacles.”

“Talent develops itself in solitude, character in the stream of life.”

“We love Him; we love all men. We cannot help it. Because
He loved us, we love; we love everybody.
Contemplate the love of Christ, and you will love.
Stand before that mirror, reflect Christ’s character,
and you will be changed into the same image from tenderness to tenderness.”

“Now abideth faith, hope, love, but the greatest of these is love.”

“You will give yourselves to many things, give yourselves first to love.”

“You will find as you look back upon your life
that the moments that stand out,
the moments when you have really lived,
are the moments when you have done things
in a spirit of love.”

“The test of religion, the final test of religion,
is not religiousness, but Love….not what I have done,
not what I have believed, not what I have achieved,
but how I have discharged the common charities of life.”
(yes!)

***

It’s taken me hours to write this. Sarah came inside and we read some library books together. Now she is in the bath. I’m sitting cross legged on the closed toilet watching her play. Grace’s rabbit is in the bathroom with us enjoying some time out of her cage. She keeps trying to arrange a towel into a nest with her front paws and teeth.

The sun is shining and soon Sarah’s frost will be melted away.

and they also went to Brussels

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Shanda

(The Atomium)

(The Grand-Place)

(Manneke Pis)

The World is a book,
and those who do not travel
read only a page.
~St. Augustine

Dave and Maria went on a high speed train from France to Brussels, Belgium. They spent the day wandering about, and exploring. They ate waffles and chocolate. In the evening, the buildings lit up and glowed like stars.

*****