Five Minute Friday Blessings

I know that I am incredibly blessed. I have a hard-working husband, three energetic children, a loving family, friends, and so many more blessings. I have found though that if I do not take the time to count the blessings that I lose sight of how blessed that I am. I get bogged down in the daily tasks of life, and I lose sight of being thankful. This is the reason that my soul needs the opportunity to pause and look back on the previous days and weeks and count blessings. If I don’t stop to count these moments, they will slip on by without being acknowledged. I don’t want that to happen. I want to look back next month, next year, ten years from now, and remember what this season of my life was like, by reading my blessing list from this time in my life. What a gift that I can give my children, if I can show them what I was thankful for concerning them, when each of them was little. This is the reason that I am thankful for this Five Minute Friday prompt, and the opportunity to gather with others and think about what I have learned in June.*

This month I have learned 8 is great! My Princess turned 8. I can’t believe that the last eight years passed so quickly. I am so thankful for my spunky, artistic, dramatic, beautiful, firstborn daughter

I learned that sometimes a day at the park with my kiddos and a friend is exactly what I need. My friend took my kiddos and me to their favorite park. When we made the park plans my children knew exactly what park they wanted to go to, and my friend agreed with their idea.

I have learned that I loved being on the launch team for #52commands. My children and I have enjoyed using this resource 52 Commands of Jesus for Children in our homeschool. This was my first ever time on a book launch team, and it was so much fun. You can check it out here.

I loved watching my girlies singing in VBS Sunday at church.

I learned that my Princess loves to experiment in the kitchen. My Princess experimented in the kitchen and made a breakfast concoction that was a cross between a pancake and cake.

We had a lot of fun swimming in the pool during the month of June, especially on the days that the thermometer read 100+.

I have had the opportunity to start reading a couple of books that I hope will encourage me in one of my most important roles- being my children’s mother. #PowerOfAPrayingMom #thefivelovelanguagesofchildren

Speaking of books, I have also been blessed by a blogging friend is sending me Put the Disciple in Discipline. I love reading books that encourage me in this motherhood journey.

 

*This is the point where my five minutes ended

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m all Yours (Word for 2017 update)

I love hearing songs on the radio that remind me of my word for the year. Back in January, I picked the word yours, or maybe it picked me, for my word for 2017. I knew that I needed to remind myself daily that I belong to God. I am Yours, Lord. I recognize that I need to stop gripping so tightly all the things that I want to control, and trust God with my life, my family, my circumstances. I want to remember that God is good all the time, even when life’s circumstances seem hard or scary. I don’t have to be afraid of my brokenness or pretend that I am something that I am not. I can trust in the truth of 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

I have been reading Ann Voskamp’s book The Broken Way. For many years, I believed that following after Christ meant striving to be perfect. I am beginning to realize that God does not want me to be perfect. He wants me to be His. He wants me to be teachable, and humble, and looking to Him for guidance, wisdom, comfort, and peace. I need to recognize my great need for God, and seek Him first. For far too long, I have sought after comfort, peace, pleasure from other trivial things. I want to fix my eyes on Jesus. “On Christ the solid Rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand.”

So, did you pick a word for 2017? What has God been teaching you on the journey this week?

 

Five Minute Friday Steady

I was a given a sweet compliment from a friend today she called me steady. I will admit that I often do not feel steady many times. It was a great reminder if there is anything steady about my personality, my character, or my spirit, it is because of the saving work of Jesus. He is the only Person who can make me steady in this crazy, topsy-turvy world. I am also very thankful that He gave us each other. Having encouraging people to walk this journey of life with, is a steadying influence. It is so good to know that we are not alone. Through my faith in Jesus, I want to be steady for my family and my friends, and on those days that I am not feeling that steady I am thankful for a community who reminds me to place my feet on the firm foundation of the Rock of Ages.

 

Five Minute Friday Worth

I messed up this week. I know I am human, and because I am human, I am a sinner. I am going to mess up sometimes. It’s just that all my life, I have always wanted to be a wife and a mom, and some days I do not feel like I am a very good wife or mom. I put this self-imposed pressure, that I can’t have a bad day.  On those days, I feel like a failure. On those hard days, I need to remember that God promises to give me strength in my areas of weakness. He is not advocating the try harder life. He tells us to come to Him, and find rest and peace in Him. I want to be this perfect wife and mom, but God is not asking for perfection. God is asking me to willingly humbly follow Him. It is okay that I fall sometimes, as long as I am falling into the arms of my Savior. God alone determines my worth, not how well I think perform on any given day.

 

 

52 Commands of Jesus for Children (Giveaway!)

Deuteronomy 11:13

You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

As a homeschool mom of three little ones, this verse is both encouraging and challenging to me. I know that I am my children’s first teacher, and it is my responsibility to teach then well. My children are eight years of age and younger, and do not have the attention span to participate in long discussions of the Bible. I need resources that allow me to teach nuggets of scriptural truth in short spans of time. This is one of the reasons that I loved the book 52 Commands of Jesus for Children. This devotional gave me an opportunity to engage my children in coloring a beautiful picture that illustrated a truth that Jesus taught in one of the gospels.  As the children colored they listened as I read Bible stories from the devotional that illustrated the truth we were discussing. Each lesson ends with a question that can lead to further discussion. This book is a great resource to live out the words of Deuteronomy 11:13.

I also liked that you can download and print out additional copies of each coloring page from Susan’s blog Hope Heart Home. This is really helpful to me as a mom of three children. My oldest daughter colored in the book, and I downloaded and printed out a coloring page for each of my two younger children. I would highly recommend this resource to parents, grandparents, Sunday School teachers, and anyone who has children in their lives that they would like to encourage with God’s word.

Susan is giving away one copy of 52 Commands of Jesus for Children  to one of you who comments on this post. What are some of your favorite ways to teach the children in your life about the Bible?

Susan gave me a copy of this book, as I am on the book’s launch team. All opinions are my own. 

Five Minute Friday Expect

Ephesians 3:20 ESV 

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.

My expectations sometimes get me into trouble. I get too easily frustrated or discouraged about situations in my life, especially when I feel like I am attempting to learn the same lessons over and over again. I laugh at the college age girl, who thought that being a wife and mother would be easy. I get frustrated that I am not the wife and mom that I want to be. I sometimes get aggravated with the circumstances of my life, or my children not listening to me the first time, and then I feel bad for being frustrated. I need to see the bigger pictures, life is about bigger issues than what to fix for dinner, and that load of laundry in the dryer that I still need to fold. It is about remembering that because of Jesus, I am a child of God, and sharing that love with the people that He places in my life, starting with the ones He blessed me with in my own home. Sometimes I need to let go of my expectations and remember to live like I am loved.

 

Five Minute Friday Future

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Our Heavenly Father is a good, good, Father. I am loved by Him, and so are you! I need to remember this, and preach this to myself daily, or I will lose perspective about what is truly important. When I am looking at my circumstances instead of the cross, I start thinking discouraging thoughts such as “This will never change.” ,or worse yet, “I will never change.” I think to myself that the same sins that are tripping me up now, will still be troubling me ten or twenty years from now. Yesterday, I wrote a post about what I learned in the month of May. I was surprised at the happy memories that I recalled about the month, as I felt really tired and discouraged before I wrote the post. On the days that I feel discouraged, I need to hold tight to my Anchor. I need to remember the good, and pour my heart out to God about the not-so-good, and allow Him to fill me with His hope. I need to remember that there is Hope in front of me. Times up. 🙂

Linking up at the brand new site for Five Minute Friday (http://fiveminutefriday.com/) .  Each week, we gather to write on the topic of the week for just five minutes. This week our topic is future.

 

 

 

 

 

What I learned in Spring 2017

I am joining today with Emily Freeman’s blogging community as we answer the question, “What did I learn this spring?” This is a fun way to look back at the season of Spring, before moving on to embrace Summer. Here, are some of the things that I learned this Spring.

I learned how much I appreciate a quiet clothes dryer. Our old one which was loud and squeaky died. After it had been replaced with a quieter new model, my family kept on commenting on how quiet our new dryer was compared to our old one. Replacing the dryer is not a fun expense to have, but after many years of listening to the squeaky old machine, drying clothes in our new and much quieter machine is very much appreciated.

I also appreciate my husband’s industriousness that he set up a makeshift clothes line for me. So that I could continue to dry clothes while we waited for our dryer to be delivered

My family has also learned how much fun it is to go to a University of New Mexico Lobos baseball games. My kids love that we usually buy them popcorn and cokes half way through the game. This is a fun family activity that I hope we continue each baseball season.

I learned how much I enjoy breakfasts on Sunday morning. My husband has taken over making breakfast on Sunday mornings, which gives me more time to get ready for church. Last weekend, he made yummy waffles which the whole family enjoyed.

I read a post by the Humbled Homemaker (http://thehumbledhomemaker.com/) , and learned about a great app named Overdrive. This app allows you to check out e-books and audiobooks from your local library. All you need to use this app is your library card. My Princess has been picking an e-book each week to read, and I have checked out both audiobooks and e-books to read as well. We are really enjoying checking out books from the library without even leaving our house. You can check out the Humbled Homemakers post here.

Now that Summer is about to start, my son has been asking his Dad to grill some shish kabobs. He even wrote about it for one of his writing assignments in our homeschool. My hubby bought all the necessary ingredients last weekend, and we spent a fun afternoon having a cookout. The shish kabobs were very yummy, and our family enjoyed the first of what we hope are many Summer meals eating outside.

My family and I learned how fun it is to eat dinner in a movie theater. My family passed by a Flix Brewhouse on the way to an appointment, and stopped to check it out before we returned home. My husband and I agreed this is the best way to take our family to a movie. Eating dinner while watching a movie, kept my younger kids from getting restless during the movie, which they tend to do. I would definitely like to take my kids to another movie at Flix sometime.

What are some things that you have learned this spring?