The Grace of Memorizing God's Word

Day 2 -The Grace of Memorizing God's Word

Since today was the beginning of a new month, it was time to pick a verse for the Siesta Scripture Memory Team.  I find the accountability of having a set time frame for memorizing verses helps me to not put off learning more of God's Word.  (Although, for some reason, I have often had a crazy busy day on the actual dates and posted a day or three late!)

   

I searched for verses on grace, and this one really resonated with the theme of my 31 Days. I know I must have read these verses before, but they struck me anew today.  I love how John says God gives us grace upon grace through Jesus.  And it's all through His fulness not my own effort!

As I recount my daily grace upon graces, I count the encouragement of Beth Moore to memorize Scripture. And I am especially thankful that this year my eldest daughter is joining me in this journey! It's been great seeing her choose verses that address things she is dealing with and encouraging each other. 

Grace in the Moment

 Scroll down to read Day One's post. 

 Day 2 - The Grace of Memorizing God's Word

Day 3 - A Little Drama  

Day 4 - Grace for the Dance 

Day 5 - Grace That Is Greater Than All My Feelings

Day 6 - Saturday Graces  

Day 7 -  Grace Unplugged

Day 8 - Unstuck

Day 9 - The Grace of Pace 

Day 10 - I No Longer Have an ALIAS

Day 11 - Some First World Graces

Day 12 - Learning Thankfulness 

Day 13 - Grace in the Garden 

Day 14 - You Never Give Up on Me  

Day 15 - Reading Is Fundamental

Day 16 - The Cat's Meow

Day 17 - Linky Graces

 Day 18 - Strength for the Weary

Day 19 - Why I Can Trust God When Things Look Scary

Day 20 - Another Post in Which I Find Deep Spiritual Truths Via Yard Work

Day 21 - Quality Time

Day 22 - A Fabulous Compliment  

Day 23 - Wednesday Graces

Day 24 - Graceful Ponderings  

Day 25 - A Purrfect Service Project

Day 26 - The Grace of Celebrations 

Day 27 - Pumpkin Carving

Day 28 - Somewhere Over the Rainbow  

Day 29 - A Quiet Grace 

Day 30  - Of Photographs and Perspective

Day 31! - The Art of Being Present 

Day 1 - They like me! They really like me!

He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things. ~ Rom. 8:32

This is one of my memory verses for Beth Moore's Siesta Scripture Memory Team. I find it so easy to overlook the everyday graces God blesses me with each day. Sometimes those things just seem so small compared to the "big" graces - things like salvation, Heaven, the Bible. And sometimes I get so enmeshed with the activity of daily life that I miss the grace He gives me every day.  

This month I want to notice and recount the ways I see God's grace on a daily basis. I want to see the "all things" in Rom. 8:32. I don't want to forget how God is blessing me right now!

My grace in the moment today is the grace of having teen and preteen daughters who enjoy my company. This weekend I saw this in each of my girls. 

One teen liked having me hang out with her and her friend and watch a movie in her room while her sisters and their guests watched another movie. I love that she isn't embarrassed to hang out with Mom! 

My other teen shared a hurt she was experiencing. I treasure that she wants to tell me her troubles.  

 And on Sunday, Paul and I began teaching our preteens' Sunday School class. When we told them we would begin teaching their class, they were both so excited. I am so happy that they are proud that we are their teachers and tell us we are the best teachers ever.

I am so thankful for the great relationship I have with each of my daughters. I know that this isn't a given for any family, and I'm so glad God has graced me with this today.

A Few Things I Learned in June

June was a big month for our family! We celebrated two birthdays (one of them a Sweet Sixteen!), we dropped off our oldest daughter at a Summer Ballet Intensive for three weeks, we put the finishing touches on our kitchen facelift, and our youngest two graduated to evening youth activities at church.  Here are some of the more interesting things I have learned this month.

*Angie Smith and I have both have identical twin girls born just months apart and with amazingly similar names! (I've known about her twins for a while, but I never made the name/timeline connection until this month.)

*When I drop my daughter off to live in a dorm for three weeks, I become Super Dorm Mom a la Lorelei Gilmore in Gilmore Girls when she brought Rory to live in her dorm at Yale. My girl and her roomies have a pink fuzzy bath mat, a towel hanger, and an outlet extender thanks to my superior dorm mom abilities. (I wanted to link to a YouTube clip, but couldn't find it with my sub-par YouTube skills.)

*My two oldest truly are best friends! Tears were shed when they parted for three weeks.

*Having my youngest two begin youth group activities has been far easier than when my oldest began in the youth group. 

*Riding in a limo at midnight with my girls is fun! Chinese fire drills increase the fun.

*If I ever again buy a pre-paid debit card, I should IMMEDIATELY try it out and make sure the checker activated it correctly! My poor daughter couldn't use her card, and I've had to try to get the issuer to activate it, a process that involved several phone calls and e-mails and is still not yet resolved.

*My youngest two have set the lofty goal of seeing just how long they can stay in bed in the morning. The record so far? 1:21! In the afternoon!




 

(Spring) Breaking Expectations

This week hasn't looked like the Spring Break I would have dreamed up for myself. First of all, the first few days didn't feel much like spring! And my ideal Spring Break would somehow include accomplishing several household goals, doing fun things with my girls, and lots of rest and downtime, which is really asking a lot of just one week!

I knew going into this week that we would still have ballet classes, that we would need to go out of town for a day to buy new pointe shoes, and that we needed to do some spring clothes shopping. So, instead of trying to fit all my plans into a week that was already filling up, I chose to downsize my expectations. Instead of accomplishing big things in my home, I would just keep up with the regular cleaning and maybe make a trip to the recycling center and the Salvation Army. Instead of planning big projects with my girls, I planned to take them to a movie and dye eggs. Instead of reading for hours on end, I decided to just enjoy reading when I got the chance. 

And rather than having a frustrating week, where I was either exhausted from trying to fit too many things into our week or feeling guilty from not doing everything I felt like I needed to do, I have had a good week. My girls and I have not been stressed. And we have accomplished things! We helped friends move. We saw Oz, the Great and Powerful. We have hosted three sleep-overs. We have provided three of the girls with most of their spring and summer wardrobes. We have purchased new pointe shoes. We have gone to ballet practices. And I have even read books.

The key wasn't in what I did or how I scheduled. The key was in developing realistic expectations. What I did for my Spring Break, I need to remember in the rest of my life. It's so easy to read blogs and look and Pinterest and feel like I can do more than I really can. And then become frustrated when it doesn't happen. But when I take a realistic look at my life and my current commitments, I can choose to plan for things that will fit and not stress me or our family. God did not create any of us to do everything. And He knows we can't. And He wants me to admit it, as well, and choose to live in a way that complements who He made me to be. Using those standards, I think Spring Break has been a great week!

This Might Be as Winter Wonderland as We Get

Here in the South, we are just as likely to wear shorts at Christmas as we are to wear coats, maybe even more likely! So the younger two were thrilled with the cool temperatures and gusty wind today. They spent all afternoon playing outside with a their neighborhod friends. They even brought out blankets to keep our clubhouse warmer. But I think they spent more time out of the clubhouse than they spent in it. When I went outside to take this picture, they were all on top of the roof! 

I'm so thankful for seasons of fun and rest in the midst of the work of school and ballet classes. (Even though Hannah did have a ballet practice today. But she was glad to have a chance to work on her solo piece.) My allergies have wiped me out the last couple of days, so I also had a reason to just rest.  

We ended our evening watching White Christmas. It was a fun, restful, and Christmas-y time! 

The Music of Christmas

So it's Wednesday night and I'm finally writing my Tuesdays Unwrapped post with Emily at Chatting at the Sky. I had so much to unwrap and experience yesterday that it's only today that I'm sitting down to write about it all.

Yesterday, Rebecca had her Christmas piano recital. I'm so proud of her. She had practiced her songs and she played well. I'm most proud of her attitude. Even though she did have a couple of mistakes, she kept going and wasn't discouraged. 

After the recital we ate out to celebrate. Then we came home in time to do some last minute cleaning before my sister and her family came for the night. Our house is about mid way between their house and my mom, so they stop over here to break up what would be a very long drive. Her daughter is only a couple of years younger than the twins, so some fun cousin time ensued. Her son enjoyed our Lincoln Logs and Paul's Hot Wheels collection. Her cat did NOT enjoy our cat! Patches is such a bad hostess! The cats woke everyone up with their growling at 5 AM!

This Christmas season has seemed so full already. I know I have allowed myself to skim over or skip so much. I want to slow down this next few days, to savor Jesus. To savor my family. To savor the joy and fun of the season. I did that yesterday by just enjoying Rebecca's performance and only taking a few photos. (The one above was taken after the recital.) I also enjoyed my sister and her family and didn't worry about the bits of clutter that were still visible. I want to learn how to fully live in and enjoy each moment! Christmas is a great time to do just that!

  

Some Days There Are No Pictures

Some days there are no words. But always there is Jesus.

Praying for those affected by the tragedy in Connecticut.