Don't you love listening to little kids pray? I do!
Tonight when Aaron was praying before bed he included in his prayer a thanks to God that there were no snakes crawling up our house. I have no idea what prompted that as there are very few snakes up here anyway and as it is 25 below right now there are none out crawling around. However I am incredibly thankful that we don't have any snakes crawling up our house too! I just didn't think to thank God for that, but now I do.
Prayer
This morning I enjoyed reading some verses about prayer and I thought I would share some with you. Reading these verses really make you realize again how important prayer is.
Some of the things I noticed this morning is how Rejoicing, Thankfulness, Prayer and not Worrying are all tied together in several scriptures.
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing , but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God , which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7
"Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of Thanksgiving." Col. 4:2
"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thessalonians 5:16-18
In life we do have things that go wrong - life simply isn't always a bed of roses, but we have choices to make. We can worry or we can trust and pray. We can gripe and complain or we can rejoice and be thankful. And as a response to how we make the first decisions we can have a life of stress or we can enjoy the peace of God which is far greater than we can understand. I have enjoyed that peace and I want to continually make the choices that allow me to have that peace!
Prayer should not just be a once in a while thing. It should be often, with every breath, part of who we are. "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel." Ephesians 6:18 and 19 Prayer is something we should use to talk to God about ourselves and also to petition for others.
While I understand the need for prayer to be a constant part of my life (I pray while I work, before every meal, before bed, before school, sing songs of praise, tell God thank you for the beauty I see), I am still working to make it even more that way. I also recommend greatly the plan to have an established time of personal prayer. I have had a regular time of morning prayer (by myself) for around 9 years. I love it and would recommend it to everyone.
I have used different methods during my morning prayer time. At the beginning I would just get up early and find a place to sit and I would pray. I have to admit that I struggled with sleepiness. Then I tried walking and praying. This worked pretty well but after I had kids it was harder to fit this in. What I do now was introduced to me by Dean Trune of Impact Ministries. He recommends journaling and travels around teaching others how to do it and encouraging them in their prayer life. Basically what I do is this: I have a journal in which I have a page for each day. I write down a paragraph or so of praise for God. Admiring who He is, what He has done and just His awesomeness. Then I write a list of specific things that I am thankful for that day. I include big (Salvation, family Etc.) and small (Shoes, a flower, a letter) things in that list. Both of those things help me to get my heart in the right place before I start asking God for the things I want, the needs I see, the things I need to talk to Him about and share with Him.
I also spend time reading a section of the Bible (I work through a book a few verses a day finding thoughts that apply to me. Writing down specific thoughts that I get out of it and praying about them. I also have a list of different things to pray about for each day of the week that I try to go through and pray about (though if my time is short this will get skipped). I have really appreciated this method as I am a person that has a very busy mind ( I usually am thinking on about 10 different projects of plans at a time) and journaling has helped me to really focus on my time with God. If you are interested in prayer journaling I would recommend going here. It tells all about how Dean does his journal and it is a little clearer and more detailed than what I just wrote is.
I try to do this before the kids are up, but even if that doesn't happen sometimes I try to do it just as soon as I can in the morning. My days go so much better when I have taken some time to pray! I will spend sometimes as short as 15 minutes in prayer or up to an hour. Usually it is around half an hour.
Do you have a special prayer time? How do you fit prayer into your daily schedule? It is always encouraging to me to hear of others spending time in prayer!
Some of the things I noticed this morning is how Rejoicing, Thankfulness, Prayer and not Worrying are all tied together in several scriptures.
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing , but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God , which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7
"Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of Thanksgiving." Col. 4:2
"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thessalonians 5:16-18
In life we do have things that go wrong - life simply isn't always a bed of roses, but we have choices to make. We can worry or we can trust and pray. We can gripe and complain or we can rejoice and be thankful. And as a response to how we make the first decisions we can have a life of stress or we can enjoy the peace of God which is far greater than we can understand. I have enjoyed that peace and I want to continually make the choices that allow me to have that peace!
Prayer should not just be a once in a while thing. It should be often, with every breath, part of who we are. "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel." Ephesians 6:18 and 19 Prayer is something we should use to talk to God about ourselves and also to petition for others.
While I understand the need for prayer to be a constant part of my life (I pray while I work, before every meal, before bed, before school, sing songs of praise, tell God thank you for the beauty I see), I am still working to make it even more that way. I also recommend greatly the plan to have an established time of personal prayer. I have had a regular time of morning prayer (by myself) for around 9 years. I love it and would recommend it to everyone.
I have used different methods during my morning prayer time. At the beginning I would just get up early and find a place to sit and I would pray. I have to admit that I struggled with sleepiness. Then I tried walking and praying. This worked pretty well but after I had kids it was harder to fit this in. What I do now was introduced to me by Dean Trune of Impact Ministries. He recommends journaling and travels around teaching others how to do it and encouraging them in their prayer life. Basically what I do is this: I have a journal in which I have a page for each day. I write down a paragraph or so of praise for God. Admiring who He is, what He has done and just His awesomeness. Then I write a list of specific things that I am thankful for that day. I include big (Salvation, family Etc.) and small (Shoes, a flower, a letter) things in that list. Both of those things help me to get my heart in the right place before I start asking God for the things I want, the needs I see, the things I need to talk to Him about and share with Him.
I also spend time reading a section of the Bible (I work through a book a few verses a day finding thoughts that apply to me. Writing down specific thoughts that I get out of it and praying about them. I also have a list of different things to pray about for each day of the week that I try to go through and pray about (though if my time is short this will get skipped). I have really appreciated this method as I am a person that has a very busy mind ( I usually am thinking on about 10 different projects of plans at a time) and journaling has helped me to really focus on my time with God. If you are interested in prayer journaling I would recommend going here. It tells all about how Dean does his journal and it is a little clearer and more detailed than what I just wrote is.
I try to do this before the kids are up, but even if that doesn't happen sometimes I try to do it just as soon as I can in the morning. My days go so much better when I have taken some time to pray! I will spend sometimes as short as 15 minutes in prayer or up to an hour. Usually it is around half an hour.
Do you have a special prayer time? How do you fit prayer into your daily schedule? It is always encouraging to me to hear of others spending time in prayer!
Lots of Snow!!
This week we have had two snowfalls of about 9 inches each. We are so excited to have all of the snow! This is how it is supposed to be in the winter, lots and lots of snow. (These pictures are before the 2nd snowfall). It is so nice to have the septic system and all my little plants (blueberry bushes, strawberry plants, lingonberry plants and lots of flowers) all protected from the cold weather. Tonight it is supposed to go down to minus 20, so it was good timing.
We have done lots of scooping lately. We all worked together (with Ken doing the lion's share) to scoop the lane. Scooping is great exercise. The kids and I worked together to clear of the deck. We decided to scoop a lot of the snow on the stairs and then we had fun sliding down it (we are a little short on hills at our house.). Afterwards of course we had to scoop off the stairs.
Do you have snow? Are you having fun with it?Thank you God for the wonderful snow!!!
A simple Christmas at our house
Christmas is coming soon and we are getting excited about it at our house. Thank-fully we are not getting stressed nor are we going into debt. We have a very simple Christmas here. I am sure our way is not for everybody, and it would be silly if everybody did everything the same way, but I thought that I would share our way as an encouragement to anybody that is wanting to have fun without spending a lot and for those who would like to simplify.We have an interesting background as far a Christmas goes. I grew up not celebrating Christmas. My mom also grew up not celebrating Christmas. We are Christians but realized that the Christmas holiday was not something that was from the Bible but originated later. We didn't like how materialistic the holiday can often be and also didn't like the idea of telling kids a lie about Santa Claus. That being said I grew up with a rather negative view of Christmas. Ken grew up celebrating Christmas fairly traditionally. Before we got married we discussed it and since I was uncomfortable with celebrating Ken said it would be fine if we didn't. In the last few years I realized that he was missing it and did some serious thinking and came to realize that we could celebrate the holiday without having to do the things that bothered me.
So here is what we do: Ken loves Christmas lights, so he decorates the outside all over with lights. I love decorating but don't like spending a lot of money so I enjoy figuring out ways to frugally decorate the inside of our house to look festive. Both of these things the kids have loved to help us with. Some of our other fun holiday things we do is go to the holiday parade in our town, I have a Christmas recital for my music students. When we are getting ready for that we have a lot of Christmas carols being played at our house. We also enjoy writing a Christmas letter to send out to friends and family. This year I was able to get cheap pictures developed so we are planning on sending a family photo out as well. We enjoy being able to share our news with our friends and enjoy getting letters from them too, to learn what has been going on with them.
We do exchange gifts but we limit them. We have chosen to hang up stockings and everything is required to fit inside. That has been a fun challenge for us. I like to make a lot of homemade stuff and we also shop sales, so the amount we spend is very little. I encourage the kids to make homemade gifts as well and give assistance as needed. They have loved making things for each other and for Ken and I as well. It is fun for all of us to think about what the other would like and what we can do for them. I have been very pleased because the kids rarely speak of what they might get, they just like to hold whispered conferences about what they might make for someone else.
We don't exchange gifts beyond our immediate family. With our extended families we give gifts throughout the year and we feel under no pressure at Christmas time. Likewise they do not give us gifts at this time.
We enjoy this day quietly as a family. Usually we will eat a main meal with my family and often some international students. We enjoy playing games or working puzzles. I am still looking for other simple, fun, family oriented traditions that we might add to our holiday. If anybody has ones that they love I would enjoy hearing them.
I hope you too have a wonderful Christmas time (however you celebrate it), without any debt or stress and just lots of love!!
gone visiting, now back home again.
I have been out of town. Ken had a board meeting in the cities so we all chose to ride along and visit my sister Anna and her family. It was a quick trip, driving down after Ken got off work on Wednesday and then home again after supper on Thursday. The kids had a lot of fun playing together as always. Below is a picture of my two oldest and her two oldest. They are our stair steps with each of them being 11 months apart.
It was my 30 birthday yesterday so everybody celebrated with me. Ken had sneakily brought gifts along for me. (He is the best husband I know of for never forgetting a special occasion and giving me something. I am very blessed!) Anna's family also remembered my birthday.
Mara and Margaret worked together and made a cake for me. It turned out wonderful! Anna helped a little with the frosting. Anna invited some of our friends, Patrick and Corrine (and girls) over for supper. We had a great time visiting together.
Ken took this picture and was quite pleased that he got it just while I was blowing. He did great on the timing but I think I look a little silly. 30 years old!!! I think that seems about middle aged, oh well, I feel pretty much like I just graduated from high school, until I realize that I am a Mom to an 8 year old and 3 other kids.
I have had so many things that I wanted to blog about, but so little time. I am thinking I may do a lot of blogging this evening. Ken took the older 3 to a hockey game and so it is just Megan and I here and it is almost time for her to go to bed (She has been just playing quietly by me, every little bit I have to put together a lego piece for her or help her with her drawing.)
We thought about going to the hockey game too as we usually like to do stuff like that together but Ken had decided to go on the spur of the moment and I was already feeling chilly (and a hockey game isn't warm!), I had planned on working on an estimate for a bridal floral customer (I did that already now), and I didn't feel like making Megan sit still for the 2nd night in a row (for some reason while traveling last night she got tired of being in her seat) and since we had been together most of the day yesterday, I stayed home where now I can blog to my hearts content!!
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