Wednesday, April 30, 2014
GRATITUDE 124 An Eye for Beauty and Grace for this Mama
We are image bearers, each uniquely mirroring our heavenly Father in ways that show his character to the world around us. Today I am thankful for the way my Emma Grace bears God's image. She, like her Father has an eye for beauty that amazes me. She has a drive to create beauty, just like her Father in heaven.
Thankful today for the grace to embrace this gift. To be honest, there are times when creating beauty is the last thing on my agenda...I have dinner to make and poopy bottoms to wipe and a five year old boy to keep alive, so stopping to make an archway isn't exactly what I "want" to do....but when I take the time the embrace her gifts and nurture them, her love cup is filled and I am blessed as I see the way she bears God's image. So today I am thankful that God gave me grace to stop and create with Emma Grace, when what I really wanted to do was check off my "to-do" list. Grace upon grace....everything is by his grace.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
GRATITUDE 123 The laughter of this moment
Judah is a bit high maintenance. He thinks he is five and also has lots of peculiar demands...I oblige...maybe because he's my baby or because I don't have enough time to fight or because I think most of them are harmless and pretty darn cute!!!
One of them that makes me laugh every time is the set up he demands for watching Curious George...
a blanket, and all four pillow stacked around him. Weird. I agree.
But it makes me laugh. Thankful today for the laughter he brings to me.
One of them that makes me laugh every time is the set up he demands for watching Curious George...
a blanket, and all four pillow stacked around him. Weird. I agree.
But it makes me laugh. Thankful today for the laughter he brings to me.
Monday, April 28, 2014
GRATITUDE 122 These gifts entrusted to me
they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man
are like arrows in a warrior’s hands.
How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shme when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.
Thankful today for Jack's two patches two patches of white blonde hair.
Thankful for his long eye lashes and deep brown eyes
Thankful for the freckles sprinkled on Emma Grace's nose like cinnamon
Thankful for her giggle
Thankful for the pitter patter of Judah's gate across my hard wood floor
Thankful for his happy, rough and tumble personality
Thankful for these image bearers of God in heaven
Thankful that God loves them more than I do
Thankful that he is writing stories of redemption in their lives just like mine
Thankful that I get a front row seat to see how God's grace conquers their sin, redeems their weaknesses and how his faithfulness alone will transform them into SONS and DAUGHTERS of the living God.
Thankful for the hope I have of standing beside them at the throne of God as brothers and sisters.
Thankful for the way these little ones push me beyond my limits, bring great joy while making me depend on God's grace and strength each day.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Sunday 121 A delightful Sunday
Thankful today for:
Jenn's family
Their hospitality
A delicious lunch
The smell of jasmine
mulberries, many eaten, many picked
The smell of gardenias
lingering in the grass
mulberry stained feet and hands
swimming break for smoothies
sharing stories of God's work
seeing my son swim and swim and swim
leftovers sent home with us
along with jasmine to plant in our yard
and a spearmint plant for tea!
hospitality and christian fellowship at it's finest
Saturday, April 26, 2014
GRATITUDE 120 Black coffee and a request
Today I am thankful for black coffee, my grandparents who taught me to drink it, and a new prayer routine.
Today I drank my coffee black. The last time I did that was in high school, before I had ever heard the likes of Caribou or Starbucks. I didn't know you could add cream and delights like vanilla syrup to coffee. But upon entering college I had my fist experience with a coffee shop and a caramel macchiato and I never looked back.
I converted both Andy and my Chinese friend Xiao Li to coffee through my full-of-fat, syrupy sweet pumpkin latte. I consider that a great feat. Andy and I regularly drank our coffee with full fat cream while in China as there was no half and half. Amazing.
But slowly, we've been cutting out the fat and the sugar. He's down to only half and half and I am officially back to black. Though the first sip is bitter, sweet memories come rushing back each time I drink it black. See, I started drinking black coffee with my grandparents when I was little. My grandma would pour me a small cup (just a few sips really) at the same time she poured her evening cup. My grandparents drank coffee in the morning and at dinner and on into the evening. The bitter taste is just the same and I can still see her cream mugs with brown lines on them like it was yesterday.
The taste of black coffee will always make me think of my grandparents.
I've always loved coffee but I started a new tradition a while back that has made my coffee experience so much more enjoyable. Here's how it goes: I have a variety of coffee mugs that people have given me. A little cup with painted hearts and an "EA" from Emma Grace, a mug with an "E" from my sister, a gift for Christmas. I have a mug from Andy's work team and a mug from Laura, my friend who lives across the world that she bought for me at her local Starbucks. Everyday I pick a different mug and I pray for the person who gave it to me,....throughout the day. When I pick up my coffee cup, which is quite a bit in the morning and again at 3:00, I am reminded to pray for the people I love.
Though I believe in spending extending time in quiet prayer, I also want to weave prayer into my days as much as possible and my little coffee mug experiment is working out nicely.
So here's where my request comes in. I'd love to add you to my prayer routine as well. So would you send me a coffee mug that will remind me of you? It would make my day. I'd be happy with an old one from the back of your cabinet that you don't even like anymore!
Will be fun to see what new people I get to add to my little coffee routine!
Today I drank my coffee black. The last time I did that was in high school, before I had ever heard the likes of Caribou or Starbucks. I didn't know you could add cream and delights like vanilla syrup to coffee. But upon entering college I had my fist experience with a coffee shop and a caramel macchiato and I never looked back.
I converted both Andy and my Chinese friend Xiao Li to coffee through my full-of-fat, syrupy sweet pumpkin latte. I consider that a great feat. Andy and I regularly drank our coffee with full fat cream while in China as there was no half and half. Amazing.
But slowly, we've been cutting out the fat and the sugar. He's down to only half and half and I am officially back to black. Though the first sip is bitter, sweet memories come rushing back each time I drink it black. See, I started drinking black coffee with my grandparents when I was little. My grandma would pour me a small cup (just a few sips really) at the same time she poured her evening cup. My grandparents drank coffee in the morning and at dinner and on into the evening. The bitter taste is just the same and I can still see her cream mugs with brown lines on them like it was yesterday.
The taste of black coffee will always make me think of my grandparents.
I've always loved coffee but I started a new tradition a while back that has made my coffee experience so much more enjoyable. Here's how it goes: I have a variety of coffee mugs that people have given me. A little cup with painted hearts and an "EA" from Emma Grace, a mug with an "E" from my sister, a gift for Christmas. I have a mug from Andy's work team and a mug from Laura, my friend who lives across the world that she bought for me at her local Starbucks. Everyday I pick a different mug and I pray for the person who gave it to me,....throughout the day. When I pick up my coffee cup, which is quite a bit in the morning and again at 3:00, I am reminded to pray for the people I love.
Though I believe in spending extending time in quiet prayer, I also want to weave prayer into my days as much as possible and my little coffee mug experiment is working out nicely.
So here's where my request comes in. I'd love to add you to my prayer routine as well. So would you send me a coffee mug that will remind me of you? It would make my day. I'd be happy with an old one from the back of your cabinet that you don't even like anymore!
Will be fun to see what new people I get to add to my little coffee routine!
Friday, April 25, 2014
GRATITUDE 119 Jenn, again
So thankful for Jenn who helps me three times a week. Today she took my big two fishing, something I could never do with Judah in tow and something I would never do anyway, since I hate touching fish.
She's been a delight to our family and God's provision for me as the help I really needed.
She's been a delight to our family and God's provision for me as the help I really needed.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
GRATITUDE 118 Andy
I've never been so thankful for Andy than I am this year.
It's in large part because this has been by far one of the most difficult years of my life and Andy has been incredibly kind and loving to me throughout it all. He's been Christ to me in a powerful way that has impacted me deeply. I've been humbled in a way I didn't know was possible and the result is a deep awareness that this man is perfect for me. Not to say he's perfect, but he's the right man to lead me. And he does it with joy, humility, patience, prayer and gentleness.
Andy, on your 33 birthday, know that I am so grateful for you. So grateful to the Lord that he allows me to be in this marriage with you. That God has given us both grace to keep on running after him together. Grateful to do ministry with you. Grateful to raise our insane and awesome kids with you. Grateful to listen to country music, go line dancing, watch documentaries, ride bikes, wipe poopy bottoms, clean the kitchen, nerd out to NPR, drink coffee each morning, eat on our back patio, all WITH YOU!!!! I love you Andy.
It's in large part because this has been by far one of the most difficult years of my life and Andy has been incredibly kind and loving to me throughout it all. He's been Christ to me in a powerful way that has impacted me deeply. I've been humbled in a way I didn't know was possible and the result is a deep awareness that this man is perfect for me. Not to say he's perfect, but he's the right man to lead me. And he does it with joy, humility, patience, prayer and gentleness.
Andy, on your 33 birthday, know that I am so grateful for you. So grateful to the Lord that he allows me to be in this marriage with you. That God has given us both grace to keep on running after him together. Grateful to do ministry with you. Grateful to raise our insane and awesome kids with you. Grateful to listen to country music, go line dancing, watch documentaries, ride bikes, wipe poopy bottoms, clean the kitchen, nerd out to NPR, drink coffee each morning, eat on our back patio, all WITH YOU!!!! I love you Andy.
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