How is it possible that my dad is 70 years old?! I'm finding that hard to take in. To me he never ages.
As I've posted here before, my dad is my hero - always has been and always will be.
He is not a tall man in stature, but to me he's heads above everyone else. Mom likes to tell a story about when I was quite young and we lived in an apartment that had a lower roof than most places. Dad used to make a big deal out of the fact that he could touch the ceiling and apparently one time when we were out somewhere I was bragging about how my dad could touch the ceiling and I told him to show the people. It was rather a humbling moment for him. :)
He is not a perfect man, but in my mind he's as close as you can come. I've watched him struggle with things about himself that he didn't like, but with God's help he conquered them.
I've said it before and I say it again, I think the most important thing Dad did was to provide me with an earthly example of my Heavenly Father - a Father who's love is unending, but that also has standards to be reached for.
I thank my Heavenly Father for the earthly father he provided me with and I thank Him for the 70 years He's blessed my Dad with. I'm praying He blesses Him with many more.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
No internet, but great overnight trip
Yesterday I missed posting for the first day since 2010. I went on a road trip with the girls - my oldest daughter, my oldest son's girlfriend, and another girl that is a friend of both girls. We had a great time! The only bummer was that the hotel we stayed at didn't have internet available for guests and I couldn't find a connection to use. I was bummed about that, but what a great time we had! We thoroughly enjoyed the concert we went to see and my daughter got some great pictures. I love spending time with the girls. I was planning to so a six word post about the good times and the concert but the plan changed slightly when I couldn't post. I'm a day late in posting but my six words for yesterday are "No internet, but great overnight trip!" :)
Friday, January 15, 2010
A Great Cooking Blog
My friend Carla is a wonderful cook - actually I think she's wonder woman because she's a great scrapbooker, cake decorator, teacher, mother, wife, friend, etc. too. :)
Carla started a cooking blog a couple of years ago but last year the blog kind of fell by the way side. She revived it this year, however, and has a couple of neat features already that I thought I'd share.
She's started a 52 weeks of cakes theme for 2010 . Every week she's going to try to remember to post cakes that she has decorated for people that week. You can also check out some of her decorated cakes from past years. I'm telling ya, she's good. She even has a daughter that is following in her mother's footsteps.
She's also starting a Make It Monday Blog Carnival. Each Monday she's going to post a recipe theme and include a MckLinky in the post for everyone to share their recipes that fit the theme. The first carnival is coming up this Monday so be sure to check in and participate.
Carla started a cooking blog a couple of years ago but last year the blog kind of fell by the way side. She revived it this year, however, and has a couple of neat features already that I thought I'd share.
She's started a 52 weeks of cakes theme for 2010 . Every week she's going to try to remember to post cakes that she has decorated for people that week. You can also check out some of her decorated cakes from past years. I'm telling ya, she's good. She even has a daughter that is following in her mother's footsteps.
She's also starting a Make It Monday Blog Carnival. Each Monday she's going to post a recipe theme and include a MckLinky in the post for everyone to share their recipes that fit the theme. The first carnival is coming up this Monday so be sure to check in and participate.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
8 Things that Caught My Eye Online This Week
1. The Daily Meme has Photo challenges - I'm trying to get my daughter motivated to take up some of them. Haven't had any luck so far. Teenagers! :)
2. I took great encouragement from Ann's post The Real Secret to Happy Homemaking . Here are the snippets from it that spoke to me, but please go read the whole thing - "Homemaking is about making a home --- and a home is a safe place, a refuge, a place to be real and alive and truest true...Homemaking is not about making perfection...A perfect home may not at all be a neat as a pin home." -
3. US President's Reading Project - I found out about this through Robin's Book Week Two post and I thought it was a great idea, however, as I am Canadian, I am considering posing my own Canadian Prime Ministers Reading Project. You may see something about that soon. Please let me know if you'd be interested in such a thing
4. Loved this Sunday's Get Real With God post at Totally Tots. Here's a quote: "children are the best mirrors. It never fails. If they are going through some behavior issue or attitude problem it doesn’t take long to realize that I am the ultimate cause of this." Ouch. I have found that to be so true.
5. 12 Tips for New Bloggers - Though written specifically for book bloggers there are some good tips for all bloggers - Get into a rhythm of regular posting; Read and comment on other blogs; Ask questions in your posts; and answer questions posed by your readers in the comments; Always link to blog posts that you mention; If you get nasty comments or spam comments, ignore/delete. Do not respond; Enjoy blogging. I discovered the 12 Tips from Phylis's new book blog, Windy Ridge Books.
6. I'm considering adding the Library Loot to my list of memes to participate in. I like the idea of sharing great finds from the library and learning about what others have discovered in their local libraries.
7. 6 Steps To Effective Self Learning Love this post! My favorite point is point #4 Anytime is learning time. If we could only get that into our heads! And a favorite quote: "Let constant learning be a major part of your life-style". Found out about the 6 steps through a Self Learning post at An Unschooling Life.
8. Booking Through Thursday - another meme that I will likely use as fodder for my blogging. Every week a question having to do with reading is posed. Today's question is: Do you read the inside flaps that describe a book before or while reading it? My answer is most definitely yes! I read everything - the front and back covers, the inside flaps, the forewards and introductions, the reviews, the appendixes - everything! I know, I'm sick :)
post inspired by
2. I took great encouragement from Ann's post The Real Secret to Happy Homemaking . Here are the snippets from it that spoke to me, but please go read the whole thing - "Homemaking is about making a home --- and a home is a safe place, a refuge, a place to be real and alive and truest true...Homemaking is not about making perfection...A perfect home may not at all be a neat as a pin home." -
3. US President's Reading Project - I found out about this through Robin's Book Week Two post and I thought it was a great idea, however, as I am Canadian, I am considering posing my own Canadian Prime Ministers Reading Project. You may see something about that soon. Please let me know if you'd be interested in such a thing
4. Loved this Sunday's Get Real With God post at Totally Tots. Here's a quote: "children are the best mirrors. It never fails. If they are going through some behavior issue or attitude problem it doesn’t take long to realize that I am the ultimate cause of this." Ouch. I have found that to be so true.
5. 12 Tips for New Bloggers - Though written specifically for book bloggers there are some good tips for all bloggers - Get into a rhythm of regular posting; Read and comment on other blogs; Ask questions in your posts; and answer questions posed by your readers in the comments; Always link to blog posts that you mention; If you get nasty comments or spam comments, ignore/delete. Do not respond; Enjoy blogging. I discovered the 12 Tips from Phylis's new book blog, Windy Ridge Books.
6. I'm considering adding the Library Loot to my list of memes to participate in. I like the idea of sharing great finds from the library and learning about what others have discovered in their local libraries.
7. 6 Steps To Effective Self Learning Love this post! My favorite point is point #4 Anytime is learning time. If we could only get that into our heads! And a favorite quote: "Let constant learning be a major part of your life-style". Found out about the 6 steps through a Self Learning post at An Unschooling Life.
8. Booking Through Thursday - another meme that I will likely use as fodder for my blogging. Every week a question having to do with reading is posed. Today's question is: Do you read the inside flaps that describe a book before or while reading it? My answer is most definitely yes! I read everything - the front and back covers, the inside flaps, the forewards and introductions, the reviews, the appendixes - everything! I know, I'm sick :)
post inspired by
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
How do you Shape Your Brand (Witness/Testimony)
Last weekend while participating in the Bloggiesta I read something that I haven't been able to get out of my mind. It was all about the importance of your Brand in the blogging world, but I couldn't get over how much of it also related to the importance of your Christian witness in the world.
As part of her bloggiesta Mini-Challenge about favicons and gravatars, Trish quoted from a ProBlogger post about How to Shape Your Blogs Brand and I had to go check out the whole post. I hope ProBlogger doesn't mind but I've written my own adaption to the post to show where my mind has been. I do encourage you to go check out the original post. Most of these words are from that post, but I've edited them slightly.
1. A Brand (Witness/Testimony) will emerge whether you want it to or not
People begin to develop perceptions about you and what you stand for as they listen to what you say, as they look at what you wear, as they see what's important to you, as they observe how you interact with them and others – all of this contributes to how they perceive and describe you – your brand (witness/testimony).
2. You Can Shape Your Brand (Witness/Testimony)
People will form their own ideas about who you are and what you stand for – but you do have some ability to help them come to these conclusions.
How do you Shape Your Brand (Witness/Testimony)
1. Identify what You want to be Known For
2. Be what you want to be known for…… Consistently
Every time you do anything keep the witness you’re attempting to grow in mind. Everything you write, everything you say, everything you do either has the potential to build and shape your witness or conversely to hurt it.
Build relationships with people and influence their perceptions. It is very easy to rush into conversations about you with guns blazing to ‘defend’ yourself and ‘fix’ peoples erroneous views about you – however this kind of attitude can actually do more harm than good. Listen and reflect on what people are saying before you respond. You’ll not only gain the respect of others but hopefully learn a thing or two about yourself and your witness that will help you improve it. Don’t get sucked into letting what others say about you determine how you view you or determine your self worth. Learn to know when to take it on board and learn to know when to let it go and move on.
Such wise, wise words. Thank-you, ProBlogger. I know you were talking about something totally different than what I ended up thinking about, but I learned much from your post, for both the blogging world and my Christian witness.
As part of her bloggiesta Mini-Challenge about favicons and gravatars, Trish quoted from a ProBlogger post about How to Shape Your Blogs Brand and I had to go check out the whole post. I hope ProBlogger doesn't mind but I've written my own adaption to the post to show where my mind has been. I do encourage you to go check out the original post. Most of these words are from that post, but I've edited them slightly.
1. A Brand (Witness/Testimony) will emerge whether you want it to or not
People begin to develop perceptions about you and what you stand for as they listen to what you say, as they look at what you wear, as they see what's important to you, as they observe how you interact with them and others – all of this contributes to how they perceive and describe you – your brand (witness/testimony).
2. You Can Shape Your Brand (Witness/Testimony)
People will form their own ideas about who you are and what you stand for – but you do have some ability to help them come to these conclusions.
How do you Shape Your Brand (Witness/Testimony)
1. Identify what You want to be Known For
2. Be what you want to be known for…… Consistently
Every time you do anything keep the witness you’re attempting to grow in mind. Everything you write, everything you say, everything you do either has the potential to build and shape your witness or conversely to hurt it.
Build relationships with people and influence their perceptions. It is very easy to rush into conversations about you with guns blazing to ‘defend’ yourself and ‘fix’ peoples erroneous views about you – however this kind of attitude can actually do more harm than good. Listen and reflect on what people are saying before you respond. You’ll not only gain the respect of others but hopefully learn a thing or two about yourself and your witness that will help you improve it. Don’t get sucked into letting what others say about you determine how you view you or determine your self worth. Learn to know when to take it on board and learn to know when to let it go and move on.
Such wise, wise words. Thank-you, ProBlogger. I know you were talking about something totally different than what I ended up thinking about, but I learned much from your post, for both the blogging world and my Christian witness.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Dangerous Voyage by Gilbert Morris
The Dangerous Voyage, by Gilbert Morris, is book #1 in The Time Navigators fiction series, written especially for preteens (ages 11-14). In the series Danny and Dixie travel back in time and experience "unforgettable moments in history". In The Dangerous Voyage they are transported back to 1620 in England and they explore the Mayflower.
I found this book on my book shelf last week and decided to re-read it because it fit the requirements for a couple of reading challenges I am participating in - the First in a Series Challenge and also the Young Readers Challenge
I remember buying the book for my children to read after I had read many of the books in Morris' House of Winslow series. I really enjoyed Winslow's writing and was thrilled to check out his writing for children. Also, as a homeschooling mother, I was always looking to squeeze all the learning I could out of a book and the fact that these books had an historical element to them made them more appealing.
If you are interested in seeing the books in each series you can check out Gilbert Morris' page on Fantastic Fiction. I think that both of these series can be used as additional reading for pleasure in an American history learning unit, the Time Navigator series for younger readers and the House of Winslow series for older readers. Children could be encouraged to record mentions of historical events and people and use this as jump of points for further study. While reading the book this time around I was wondering how it compared to the first book in the House of Winslow series and I wished I had it on my shelves to do the comparing.
I am not a fan of the whole sci-fiction travel in time concept, but I do see how it can be fun for children and it can help them to see things from a different perspective.
I already quoted one passage for the book in my Admit You Need Him post and I'd like to end with another one:
I found this book on my book shelf last week and decided to re-read it because it fit the requirements for a couple of reading challenges I am participating in - the First in a Series Challenge and also the Young Readers Challenge
I remember buying the book for my children to read after I had read many of the books in Morris' House of Winslow series. I really enjoyed Winslow's writing and was thrilled to check out his writing for children. Also, as a homeschooling mother, I was always looking to squeeze all the learning I could out of a book and the fact that these books had an historical element to them made them more appealing.
If you are interested in seeing the books in each series you can check out Gilbert Morris' page on Fantastic Fiction. I think that both of these series can be used as additional reading for pleasure in an American history learning unit, the Time Navigator series for younger readers and the House of Winslow series for older readers. Children could be encouraged to record mentions of historical events and people and use this as jump of points for further study. While reading the book this time around I was wondering how it compared to the first book in the House of Winslow series and I wished I had it on my shelves to do the comparing.
I am not a fan of the whole sci-fiction travel in time concept, but I do see how it can be fun for children and it can help them to see things from a different perspective.
I already quoted one passage for the book in my Admit You Need Him post and I'd like to end with another one:
"Are you sure you want the truth?" Dixie asked. "Or do you just want to prove what you already have decided to believe?"
Monday, January 11, 2010
Recalling some, but missing much
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Admit You Need Him
"...how can we ask God for anything? We certainly haven't been on good terms with Him."
"Well, I don't know much about God, but I don't think it works quite like that. He doesn't hold out on us until we're good. He just wants us to admit that He's the only one who can help us. Then if we pray..."
A quote from a conversation between Dixie and Danny in The Dangerous Voyage by Gilbert Morris
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Learning lots at the bloggiesta festivities!
Here's my six words for today:
Learning lots at the bloggiesta festivities!
Now to expand on those six words :)
I decided to skim the mini challenges - old and new - and I got sucked in!
Here are the Old Challenges that caught my eye:
Clean Up Your Feedreader - got rid of feeds that hadn't been updated for over a year, got rid of some that I never really read anymore, got rid of some tags - down to 110 subscriptions, 13 tags. I know that still sounds like a lot and I may do more cleaning yet, we'll see.
Google Alert Challenge - Never heard of Google Alert before and didn't find the link provided with the challenge all that helpful so went searching for info. I found a good explanation and instructions on how to Set Up Google Alert Yourself and set one up for my blog address and my blog title.
Elevator Pitch - didn't know what an elevator pitch was but up on reading what it was and trying to work on one I realized that I already have a really short one, at 29 words, in my banner.
Favicons and Gravatars - I had heard bout a favicon before but didn't know how to make one or install it on my blog so I decided to give it a try. I had much trouble but also had much help from Trish and Jill. I finally figured out how to do it from How to Add a Favicon in Blogger. In case you don't know what a favicon is, check out the little icon in the URL box by my blog URL. Notice that it's no longer the bright orange blogger favicon. I created my own little J's favicon. Isn't it cool!? I didn't do the Gravatar part of the challenge
Anchors Aweigh - I learned about the importance of using more descriptive anchor words for links. I'm trying to do better at that.
Grade Your Blog - I did a website grader and only scored 57%! Boy, do I need to do some work. One of the things I need to do is include ALT text for images. I never do that. Another is to add meta tags. I tried, and tried to do that yesterday but never did succeed. I kept getting an error message when trying to save it. Sure wish I knew what was wrong
And the new challenges that appealed to me:
Cheat Sheet - I was sort of already doing this with sticky notes on my igoogle page for daily blog posting ideas, but I like the idea of making a master cheat sheet for blogging codes.
Footers and Copyright - I did not have a footer or copyright on my blog at all but this challenge had me searching to find out how to add it. I found a website that finally helped me figure out how to add a copyright notice to my blog. You have to scroll down to the bottom to actually see the copyright notice.
Labels and tags - I had actually already started trying to be more consistent in adding labels to my posts. I still forget sometimes but I'm trying to stay on top of fixing it when I forget.
Backing Up Your Blog - I had never thought about doing it before but it's done now, thanks to this challenge. I can't believe it was so easy to do!
Dead Links - I hate dead links, but they are kind of inevitable. I do, however, think it is important to fix them when you become aware of them. I tried testing my blog for dead links but got really frustrated with trying to read the results. I may try again later. I'd love it if people would leave a comment when they found a dead link, because then I would find out about it and fix it.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Care to join the "Bloggiesta" this weekend?
What's a Bloggiesta, you ask?
Natasha says "In short, it’s a blogging marathon. An opportunity to cross those nagging items off of your to-do list and improve your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing." She is hosting a bloggiesta this weekend, starting today. Find out all the details here about what it is, how to play, who can play, prizes, etc.
I heard about this on Robin's 52 Weeks Blog. I am definitely going to be checking out the info and mini challenges, which you can read about here. It sounds like a great way to pick up some blogging tips and help improve your blog, no matter what type of blog it is.
Let me know if you decide to join the celebrations, and what you thought about it after the fact, if you decide to join in the fun.
Natasha says "In short, it’s a blogging marathon. An opportunity to cross those nagging items off of your to-do list and improve your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing." She is hosting a bloggiesta this weekend, starting today. Find out all the details here about what it is, how to play, who can play, prizes, etc.
I heard about this on Robin's 52 Weeks Blog. I am definitely going to be checking out the info and mini challenges, which you can read about here. It sounds like a great way to pick up some blogging tips and help improve your blog, no matter what type of blog it is.
Let me know if you decide to join the celebrations, and what you thought about it after the fact, if you decide to join in the fun.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
8 Things Online that Caught My Eye
1. 2010 Mathematics Game - found this from Let's Play Math. Not sure if we'll actually do anything with it or not but we might try. It's a challenge to use the digits in the year 2010 and the operations +, -, x, ÷, ^ (raised to a power), sqrt (square root), and ! (factorial), along with grouping symbols, to write expressions for the counting numbers 1 through 100. Check out the site for more details.
2. Money making saving goals for 2010 - While I don't see myself doing a lot of the things that she does, I like the idea of setting money making/saving goals for the year. Not sure if I'll actually do it or not, but I like the idea. :)
3. Online Game of Sudoku Playing Board - Love this! My dad has been hooked by Sudoku for a while now and I had tried it but couldn't quite get in to it. Love playing it through this online playing board, however. I'm still only at the easy level of play but I've played many games since finding this site last week.
4. 52 Self Portraits a Year - I found this by googling after reading Alex's 52 Fridays of Self Portraits post. I love the idea and have challenged my oldest daughter to give it a try. I think I'll do it for my little one too. Through my googling I also discovered the 52 Weeks group which has the same basic idea but is a little more creative.
5. Handmade Ornaments for Christmas 2010 - Found out about this flicker group through Alex's Handmade Ornaments for Christmas 2010 post. The idea is to pledge to make one ornament a month. I love the idea. Not sure if I'll actually do it but I will be watching to see what everyone else is creating.
6. Project 365: How to Take a Picture a Day and See Your Life a Whole New Way - found this page from Molytail 365 . I actually took up the challenge to take a picture a day in late April last year. I missed a few days but didn't do too bad. I'm in the process of putting my 2009 Project 365 pictures into a set on Flickr so that I can make a slide show of them. I'm doing the 365 Project again this year and have a 2010 album started at Picasa for it. I actually have a gadget showing the 2010 album in the sidebar of my blog. I've already missed one day but that's okay. I found a Project365 group on flickr. I may end up switching my album to Flickr - we'll see.
7. GoodReads - found this site when I went looking for an online place to record books I'm reading with my little one. You can create your own bookshelves to record whatever books you want. I have a shelf to record books I've read to my little one and also some shelves to record books I read for challenges I've joined. I have a gadget on my blog showing the books I've read to my little one and I'm thinking about adding gadgets for the other challenges too.
8. The Daily Meme - Need inspiration for blogs posts? Check out the Daily Meme. It give links to all kinds of ideas
post inspired by
2. Money making saving goals for 2010 - While I don't see myself doing a lot of the things that she does, I like the idea of setting money making/saving goals for the year. Not sure if I'll actually do it or not, but I like the idea. :)
3. Online Game of Sudoku Playing Board - Love this! My dad has been hooked by Sudoku for a while now and I had tried it but couldn't quite get in to it. Love playing it through this online playing board, however. I'm still only at the easy level of play but I've played many games since finding this site last week.
4. 52 Self Portraits a Year - I found this by googling after reading Alex's 52 Fridays of Self Portraits post. I love the idea and have challenged my oldest daughter to give it a try. I think I'll do it for my little one too. Through my googling I also discovered the 52 Weeks group which has the same basic idea but is a little more creative.
5. Handmade Ornaments for Christmas 2010 - Found out about this flicker group through Alex's Handmade Ornaments for Christmas 2010 post. The idea is to pledge to make one ornament a month. I love the idea. Not sure if I'll actually do it but I will be watching to see what everyone else is creating.
6. Project 365: How to Take a Picture a Day and See Your Life a Whole New Way - found this page from Molytail 365 . I actually took up the challenge to take a picture a day in late April last year. I missed a few days but didn't do too bad. I'm in the process of putting my 2009 Project 365 pictures into a set on Flickr so that I can make a slide show of them. I'm doing the 365 Project again this year and have a 2010 album started at Picasa for it. I actually have a gadget showing the 2010 album in the sidebar of my blog. I've already missed one day but that's okay. I found a Project365 group on flickr. I may end up switching my album to Flickr - we'll see.
7. GoodReads - found this site when I went looking for an online place to record books I'm reading with my little one. You can create your own bookshelves to record whatever books you want. I have a shelf to record books I've read to my little one and also some shelves to record books I read for challenges I've joined. I have a gadget on my blog showing the books I've read to my little one and I'm thinking about adding gadgets for the other challenges too.
8. The Daily Meme - Need inspiration for blogs posts? Check out the Daily Meme. It give links to all kinds of ideas
post inspired by
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Returning to Holiness by Dr. Gregory Frizzel
Finished my first book for 2010. Well, I've actually read 23 different books to my 4 year old so far this year but this is the first book that I read just to me. If you want to see the books I've read to my little one check out my "read to Anna" bookshelf gadget from GoodReads at the bottom of the right hand column of my blog.
This book, Returning to Holiness by Dr. Gregory Frizzel, counts as my first read for the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge and also for the Christian Non-Fiction Challenge. I've been fighting a bug and haven't made it out to the library yet so I've been raiding my own shelves. I picked this book up a while back and didn't get around to reading it until now.
Dr. Frizzel stresses the importance of living a holy life and provides guidelines to encourage the reader to begin a journey towards holiness. He suggests 7 different types of sin - Sins of Thought, Sins of Attitude, Sins of Speech, Sins of Relationships, Sins of Commission, Sins of Omission, and Sins of Self-Rule and Self-Reliance - that must be looked at to take this journey. He gives scripture verses that address many different aspects of each type of sin.
I have mixed feeling about the book. It is a good topic and it has some good stuff in it. I found parts of it very challenging and I will be revisiting it. Having said that, however, I do not feel it is well written or well presented. I found many typos, especially in the last part of the book. I was also frustrated by the margins and spacing of the type - in other words it wasn't eye appealing. I do, however, like all the scriptures that are quoted in the book and will be working on committing many of them to memory so that I can better live the holy life God calls me to live.
This book, Returning to Holiness by Dr. Gregory Frizzel, counts as my first read for the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge and also for the Christian Non-Fiction Challenge. I've been fighting a bug and haven't made it out to the library yet so I've been raiding my own shelves. I picked this book up a while back and didn't get around to reading it until now.
Dr. Frizzel stresses the importance of living a holy life and provides guidelines to encourage the reader to begin a journey towards holiness. He suggests 7 different types of sin - Sins of Thought, Sins of Attitude, Sins of Speech, Sins of Relationships, Sins of Commission, Sins of Omission, and Sins of Self-Rule and Self-Reliance - that must be looked at to take this journey. He gives scripture verses that address many different aspects of each type of sin.
I have mixed feeling about the book. It is a good topic and it has some good stuff in it. I found parts of it very challenging and I will be revisiting it. Having said that, however, I do not feel it is well written or well presented. I found many typos, especially in the last part of the book. I was also frustrated by the margins and spacing of the type - in other words it wasn't eye appealing. I do, however, like all the scriptures that are quoted in the book and will be working on committing many of them to memory so that I can better live the holy life God calls me to live.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Finding treasures on my bookshelf
I haven't managed to make it to the library yet, I'm fighting a bug of some sort, so I've been revisiting my own bookshelves and finding some treasures. One such book is The Counting Book by John Peter.
This is an interactive book that introduces children to the concept of addition. It was published in 1957 and has a very unique design. The inside front cover tells you to cut each page into three strips. The children then turn the strips to match the pictures and form addition equations. My four year old loves playing with this.
Though I'm a day late this post was inspired by
Though I'm a day late this post was inspired by
Monday, January 04, 2010
So much to be thankful for!
Sunday, January 03, 2010
My Reflections on Question #1
While Reflecting on the Old and Preparing for the New I posed 6 questions for myself. Here are my ponderings on question #1
Was my relationship with God what it should have been this past year?
There is definite room for improvement but there were things that I did that were good for my relationship with God.
Daily Bible Reading
I was pretty faithful to my daily devotions. I set my homepage to the chronological reading plan at BibleGateWay.com and I committed to doing the daily Bible reading before doing anything else on the computer. I was faithful to that but was unfaithful when I had computer problems. I probably missed less than 20 or so readings the entire year.
For a few years now I have made it a goal to read through the Bible in a year. I've used a number of different methods to help me do this and I've done fairly well.
Recently I've come across even more online Bible reading helps:
ESV Bible Reading Plans
For the Love of God
One Year Bible Blog
Bible Read Through
Blogging Thru the Bible in 90 Days
This year I've started doing the default Bible Reading plan through Bible Read Through but I don't feel totally settled into it yet and may change to one of the others. The Bible in 90 Days challenge is tempting but I don't want to take on more than I can handle. In reality, though, it shouldn't be any big deal to spend an hour a day reading my Bible. Thing is, I'd like more time to actually study the Bible too, so we'll have to see. I've still made a commitment to do nothing on the computer until my Bible reading is done. It is priority number one.
I believe that daily Bible reading is vital if you want to grow in God. I've been encouraging my kids in that for years. You don't have to read the Bible through in a year. Start small and work up. One thing I did for my kids was I made them a Bible Reading Chart to tuck into their Bibles. On it was listed all the chapters of the Bible and I suggested that they mark of each chapter as they read it and work their way through the Bible no matter how long it took them to do so. It seems daunting at the beginning but slow and steady gets you through and it feels good to have tangible evidence of what you have read.
I'd like to encourage all readers, Don't Forget The Most Important Book.
Bible Memorization
I wanted to work on Bible memorization and had great plans, but I didn't follow through on them. I need to do better this year. I found the Scripture Memory System a couple of years ago and have made an attempt at using it but haven't been faithful. I really want to give it another try. I'd love to find an online tool to use but haven't found one that fits me yet.
Prayer
While there have been many times in the past year that I had great prayer times, brought on by tough circumstances, I could have, and should have, been much more consistent in my prayer life. I do fine with praying about things throughout the day but I don't do well with focused intentional prayer time. I need to work on that.
Yesterday I decided to start a prayer journal document to help me be more focused and intentional with my praying. I've started prayer journals before but they've died out quickly. I'm thinking doing it on the computer may help me be more consistent, but we'll see. Basically all I'm doing so far is taking time when it strikes me to write whatever I happen to be praying for at the time.
One thing that I did work on more last year was praying scripture. I really found that to be helpful and powerful. I am hoping to do more of that in my prayer journal this year and I may share more here.
So, that's my ponderings on question #1. My relationship with God wasn't too bad this past year. I made some conscious efforts to improve it, and it definitely helped, but there is also definite more for improvement, and I will be working on improving it this year.
Was my relationship with God what it should have been this past year?
There is definite room for improvement but there were things that I did that were good for my relationship with God.
Daily Bible Reading
I was pretty faithful to my daily devotions. I set my homepage to the chronological reading plan at BibleGateWay.com and I committed to doing the daily Bible reading before doing anything else on the computer. I was faithful to that but was unfaithful when I had computer problems. I probably missed less than 20 or so readings the entire year.
For a few years now I have made it a goal to read through the Bible in a year. I've used a number of different methods to help me do this and I've done fairly well.
Recently I've come across even more online Bible reading helps:
ESV Bible Reading Plans
For the Love of God
One Year Bible Blog
Bible Read Through
Blogging Thru the Bible in 90 Days
This year I've started doing the default Bible Reading plan through Bible Read Through but I don't feel totally settled into it yet and may change to one of the others. The Bible in 90 Days challenge is tempting but I don't want to take on more than I can handle. In reality, though, it shouldn't be any big deal to spend an hour a day reading my Bible. Thing is, I'd like more time to actually study the Bible too, so we'll have to see. I've still made a commitment to do nothing on the computer until my Bible reading is done. It is priority number one.
I believe that daily Bible reading is vital if you want to grow in God. I've been encouraging my kids in that for years. You don't have to read the Bible through in a year. Start small and work up. One thing I did for my kids was I made them a Bible Reading Chart to tuck into their Bibles. On it was listed all the chapters of the Bible and I suggested that they mark of each chapter as they read it and work their way through the Bible no matter how long it took them to do so. It seems daunting at the beginning but slow and steady gets you through and it feels good to have tangible evidence of what you have read.
I'd like to encourage all readers, Don't Forget The Most Important Book.
Bible Memorization
I wanted to work on Bible memorization and had great plans, but I didn't follow through on them. I need to do better this year. I found the Scripture Memory System a couple of years ago and have made an attempt at using it but haven't been faithful. I really want to give it another try. I'd love to find an online tool to use but haven't found one that fits me yet.
Prayer
While there have been many times in the past year that I had great prayer times, brought on by tough circumstances, I could have, and should have, been much more consistent in my prayer life. I do fine with praying about things throughout the day but I don't do well with focused intentional prayer time. I need to work on that.
Yesterday I decided to start a prayer journal document to help me be more focused and intentional with my praying. I've started prayer journals before but they've died out quickly. I'm thinking doing it on the computer may help me be more consistent, but we'll see. Basically all I'm doing so far is taking time when it strikes me to write whatever I happen to be praying for at the time.
One thing that I did work on more last year was praying scripture. I really found that to be helpful and powerful. I am hoping to do more of that in my prayer journal this year and I may share more here.
So, that's my ponderings on question #1. My relationship with God wasn't too bad this past year. I made some conscious efforts to improve it, and it definitely helped, but there is also definite more for improvement, and I will be working on improving it this year.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Keep Christ in every single day
My friend Tom had something on his status on facebook a few days back and I asked his permission to use it in a blog post. Here's what he had to say:
Keep Christ in every single day.
post inspired by Tom's status and by
"Keeping Christ in Christmas is the easy part. Allowing him to live through us during the other 364 days of the year? That's the challenge! If I were so accused, would there be enough evidence to warrant a conviction? "So it is true of the child born in Bethlehem. He does not live in men's hearts only one day of the year, but in all the days of the year" - Ghost of Christmas present, A Christmas Carol."It really struck me when I read it. We make such a big fuss about Keeping Christ in Christmas, but we really should be concerned about letting him shine through us every single day. Thanks for the reminder, Tom. I'm going to try to keep that thought in the forefront this year.
Keep Christ in every single day.
post inspired by Tom's status and by
Friday, January 01, 2010
My 2010 Word and Verse of the Year - Wholeheartedly, Col. 3:23
A couple of years ago I came across the idea of picking a word or phrase as inspiration for the year. I'm thinking it may have been from Ali Edwards One Little Word idea. She says "I began a tradition of chosing one word for myself each January - a word that I can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life." I liked the idea and enjoyed reading about other people's "word of the year", but I didn't really pick one for myself.
Last year I tried to pick a word but I didn't really settle on one. I was thinking along the line of purposely, purposeful, etc. I tried to find a verse to go with my word but couldn't settle on a verse either. I wanted to try to be more purposeful in what I did. Even though I didn't really settle on a word the idea was there often and I found it did help me to be more focused. I didn't always succeed but I was more successful than I would have been if I hadn't thought about it at all.
This year I have decided on a word. My word is wholeheartedly. I really need to work on my attitude, especially when it comes to many of my responsibilities. I want to work "wholeheartedly" at what I do instead of just doing things half-heartedly.
My Word for the Year was actually inspired by a verse that I have decided to make my Verse for the Year - Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, work at it wholeheartedly as though you were doing it for the Lord and not merely for people." ISV I like how this page shows how the verse is translated in different versions of the Bible. I especially like the Douay-Rheims Bible "do it from the heart" and the Weymouth New Testament "let your hearts be in your work".
So, that's my goal for the year - to let my heart be in my work and do things from my heart.
Do you have a Word for the Year? I'd love to hear about it. By the way - Happy New Year!
Last year I tried to pick a word but I didn't really settle on one. I was thinking along the line of purposely, purposeful, etc. I tried to find a verse to go with my word but couldn't settle on a verse either. I wanted to try to be more purposeful in what I did. Even though I didn't really settle on a word the idea was there often and I found it did help me to be more focused. I didn't always succeed but I was more successful than I would have been if I hadn't thought about it at all.
This year I have decided on a word. My word is wholeheartedly. I really need to work on my attitude, especially when it comes to many of my responsibilities. I want to work "wholeheartedly" at what I do instead of just doing things half-heartedly.
My Word for the Year was actually inspired by a verse that I have decided to make my Verse for the Year - Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, work at it wholeheartedly as though you were doing it for the Lord and not merely for people." ISV I like how this page shows how the verse is translated in different versions of the Bible. I especially like the Douay-Rheims Bible "do it from the heart" and the Weymouth New Testament "let your hearts be in your work".
So, that's my goal for the year - to let my heart be in my work and do things from my heart.
Do you have a Word for the Year? I'd love to hear about it. By the way - Happy New Year!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Reflecting on the Old and Preparing for the New
Earlier this week a friend pointed me to a site with 10 questions for the New Year and I thought I might try to work my way through them. Reading through these questions, however, started me thinking about my own 6 questions.
Was my relationship with God what it should have been this year?
Was my relationship with my husband what it should have been this year?
Was my relationship with my children what it should have been this year?
Was my relationship with my neighbours what it should have been this year?
Was my relationship with my friends what it should have been this year?
Was my relationship with my church what it should have been this year?
I will be taking some time to reflect on these specific questions during the next few days. I want to acknowledge things that I did right, confess things I did wrong, and come up with specific plans to do better.
post inspired by the "Repentance and Renewal" theme in this week's
Was my relationship with God what it should have been this year?
Was my relationship with my husband what it should have been this year?
Was my relationship with my children what it should have been this year?
Was my relationship with my neighbours what it should have been this year?
Was my relationship with my friends what it should have been this year?
Was my relationship with my church what it should have been this year?
I will be taking some time to reflect on these specific questions during the next few days. I want to acknowledge things that I did right, confess things I did wrong, and come up with specific plans to do better.
post inspired by the "Repentance and Renewal" theme in this week's
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
A Fun Contest and Another Reading Challenge
Trudy Morgan Cole has turned her 2009 Top Ten favorite books list into a fun contest. She doesn't actually name the books but gives you hints to help you figure out what they are, and she's going to select 5 winners from the correct entries she recieves before January 6. I just finished searching her blog and finding the answers. Along the way I also found some books to add to my list of possibilities. Give it a try and see how much fun it is.
I know I've already signed up for an over abundance of reading challenges but I have one more to add to my list.
100 books a month challenge - Now before you call to have me committed let me explain. This challenge is to read Children's books. To meet it I merely have to read at least 3 books a day for 20 days of the month and 4 books for the other 10 days. Rereads count. Shouldn't be a problem. My little one loves to be read to and we can easily read 3 or 4 or more books a day.
To be perfectly truthful, the thing that really drew me to this challenge was reading what inspired the challenge. The lady is attempting to read through the children's section of her local library. I like that idea! So while I'm saying I'm going to attempt to read 100 children's books a month my real goal is to read through the children's section of our library. Maybe I should call this the Reading through the Children's Section of your local library challenge. :)
I know I've already signed up for an over abundance of reading challenges but I have one more to add to my list.
100 books a month challenge - Now before you call to have me committed let me explain. This challenge is to read Children's books. To meet it I merely have to read at least 3 books a day for 20 days of the month and 4 books for the other 10 days. Rereads count. Shouldn't be a problem. My little one loves to be read to and we can easily read 3 or 4 or more books a day.
To be perfectly truthful, the thing that really drew me to this challenge was reading what inspired the challenge. The lady is attempting to read through the children's section of her local library. I like that idea! So while I'm saying I'm going to attempt to read 100 children's books a month my real goal is to read through the children's section of our library. Maybe I should call this the Reading through the Children's Section of your local library challenge. :)
Monday, December 28, 2009
The counting of blessings continues...
13. receiving a long awaited Nativity set!
14. watching youngest daughter play with the set
15. sharing oldest daughter's delight of having found the perfect gift for someone special
16. oldest daughter and father going on a late night last minute Christmas shopping trip out of town together
17. getting to stay at home with little one
18. oldest son calling to tell us he's asked permission for us to all come spend a night with him while his house mate is away
19. youngest daughter saying "Know why I love you, Mom? You're the bestest Mom I ever seen."
20. the delight in youngest ones eyes when she saw the decorated tree, even if it was an artificial one
21. a night out with friends - good food and good company
22. visiting with oldest son
23. a poinsettia from oldest son - I've always wanted one
24. simple toys that bring much joy
25. blessings from family and friends
26. having a puzzle to do
27. a child that also enjoys puzzles
28. an unofficially adopted son sharing time with us
29. BBQ and good time with friends
30. cleaning for company
Ann explains The Thousand Gifts challenge - to start listing the gifts in the everyday and watch as your list grows...first to 1000...and then beyond...until it becomes an Endless Gifts Lists. Ann says that she tries to "add to the endless list of gifts every Monday... to begin the week with a heart spilling with gratitude!" I am following her example.
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