Love

Love...We use the same word whether we mean how we feel about our family, our God, or chocolate. We know it's not the same thing, right?

Benji says: "Nanny, I love you so much my stomach hurts."

"Nanny, I love you a whole pile of frogs!"

"I love Nanny, she's my friend."

Oh, Benji Boy, I want you to love God that way. I want you to love God like He's your friend, and please Him, and raise up a new generation to love Him. That would make me the happiest, if you and all my grandchildren could grow up adored and taught by your families and raise up more just like you! What a blessing you are to your Nanny and Pappy!

Counting My Favorites

Some of my Favorites are.....

Little Grandsons and Animals...

New Baby Granddaughters and Buttery Soft Skin...

Perfect Roses...

The Color Blue, I love blue and old, Old Wood...

Mountains, the majesty, the enormity, the peace...

Miss Patty Dog and Snow...

My Kindhearted, Smart, Wonderful Kids...

My Honey's Hands and The Word...

A New Godly Generation...

Silhouettes of Bare, Leafless Trees...

All my favorites serve to remind me that I often say I must be one of HIS favorites, otherwise how, how, how, could HE forgive ME and cast my failings as far as the east is from the west and choose to remember them no more?? Actually, there's absolutely nothing that I can do to make myself acceptable to God. THAT is why He died in my place and raised from the dead to pay my penalty. 
I can never be good enough on my own.
The Lord God is who I owe gratitude for the blessings of each new day 
and every favorite that comes into my life.
You can be one of His favorites too.

Psalm 103:8-18

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,

so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

14 for he knows how we are formed,

he remembers that we are dust.

15 The life of mortals is like grass,

they flourish like a flower of the field;

16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

17 But from everlasting to everlasting

the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,

and his righteousness with their children’s children—

18 with those who keep his covenant

and remember to obey his precepts. 

Honk If You Love Anti-Christian Bumper Stickers

Honk If You Love Anti-Christian Bumper Stickers

Is a GREAT post by Russell Moore on his blog Moore To The Point. It's a must read for all Christians. Who of us hasn't let ourselves be angered by those kinds of statements from people, either in person or stuck on a vehicle we're forced to follow for miles. I once saw a car so covered with a weird assortment of stickers I thought, "They have a serious problem with almost everything." Instead of praying for that person, or engaging them in meaningful conversation, we just shut down. Oh, the wiles ways of Satan. Wise women and men, read Mr. Moore's article here.

The Promises She Keeps- book review

The Promises She Keeps is about a young woman, Promise, who has cystic fibrosis. She yearns to be remembered long after her death, so she pursues a singing career hoping for fame. 

Her path crosses with, Chase, an autistic artist, Zack, a troubled young photographer, and Porta, a strange, self-seeking, gallery owner.was an interesting book.

I liked the character development and how the author shows us what autism and cystic fibrosis must be like for those who live it. It was hard to put down. I also liked the allegorical feel of the story line, but I wish it had been made a little plainer that the characters had a relationship with God.

The book was provided for me by the publisher, I was not required to give a good review nor was I compensated.

Free German Language Lessons!

I just found Free German Language Lessons!


You'd think after living here twice and making trips back I'd be fluent in German. Nein! Just when I think I can say something clearly, someone asks a question that I can't answer and I'm back to:
"Nicht verstehen."

I can understand (verstehen) quite a lot actually. The speaking part gets me in trouble.

I just discovered Deutsche Welle where you can learn German online for FREE! How cool is that?! I'm so excited about it I want the website on my links list on the right. I just started, so I'll let you know how it goes. I'm also checking out the Pimsleur method which has some good reviews. Both immerse you in hearing and speaking the language right away instead of learning endless lists of words and never putting them into practice.

Colorado with my Best Friend

I went to Colorado with my best friend in September. Thought you might like to see a photo. Our sweet, practically grown son was with us and took the photo. It was sort of a 25th anniversary trip. The kids have nearly always gone with us on anniversaries and we couldn't go without him since he'd never been.

I'm soooo blessed to have such a husband. Valentine's Day is coming up and I just want him to know that I'm looking forward to another 25 Valentine's Days with him, even if I don't get to be home for this one. I'm awaiting the eminent birth of a granddaughter here in Germany and will be here instead. It's hard to be in multiple places at once. Us moms always seem to be pulled in a hundred different directions. We are wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt, grandmother, with all the jobs those titles entail. Then we add paid and volunteer work to the mix with our aging parents needing a little or a lot more care and we are often stretched to the limit. Sometimes it feels like "To infinity and BEYOND!" So I'm thankful beyond measure to the Lord for my honey. He helps me carry life's burdens and gives me so much joy. I don't worry about my folks, our son, or a multitude of other things while I'm away because I can count on him to take care of things.

My love trusts in him
When the days are hard
Or the nights are sad
He's there for me
I can lean on him

He prays with me
Hands gently encasing mine
I feel a treasure
He would give his life for me
I can rely on him

We listen together
With each word we speak
I know I matter
And he cares for me
I can confide in him

He's kind and true
Thoughtful and strong
He captured my heart
So many years ago
I will cherish him

Fun Inside Activities for Young Ones

So here's Benji boy enjoying one of the activities I mention below from the
Preschool Activities in a Bag.

Yucky weather or a busy momma makes for restless children, especially the smallest. Sometimes the cheapest fun is the best fun. I used to make a little boy happy with something as simple as tractors and trucks cut out of old magazines, or a ball of yarn that the kids could wind around table legs, doorknobs, anything that wouldn't fall over and break, turning the whole room into a giant spiderweb. The only rules were that the big kids had to watch out for the littles and it all had to be cut off and thrown away before dad came home. I'll post that photo when I find it.

We had the regular blanket tent creations and giant box caves, but also couch cushion castles and bed pillow tunnels. I once or twice let the kids, nieces and nephews included, use an old foam twin mattress to slide down the stairs. Well, okay....I slid once too, but only because they begged and said it was such fun, and it WAS FUN!

Other ideas for bad weather:

• Go outside anyway. They do where the weather is rainy or snowy a lot.
  
• Games- charades, board games, hink pink, hide & seek, hot & cold, red light/green light, gossip (a good time to discuss gossip with your kids), Mother may I? Simon says....
  
• Go to a museum or the library.
  
• Make & take cookies to the fire department, police station, or post office. (call first)
• Scavenger or treasure hunt.
• Get out your favorite Bible kids songs DVD or CD and move or make up your own motions
• Have a puppet show (stuffed animals work for this)
• Play dress up
• Make playdough or Bread dough creations like we did here (play dough recipe coming)
  

Starfall is a free, interactive website for littles learning their alphabet sounds, and for those beginning to read.

Tumblebooks are ebooks for kids, sometimes narrated by the author. You can get a trial subscription, or access them through a public library with a subscription like this one: Tumblebooks at the Portland Public Library.

One of my favorite sites for littles is DLTK kids Craft page. It has printable paper crafts, alphabet tracer pages, songs and rhymes, mini books, online puzzles, Bible crafts, coloring pages.....

Preschool Activities in a Bag are wonderful fun for preschoolers to do on their own while you work with older children or need an uninterrupted moment for Bible study or housework. Even if you are very crafty and make learning things and games for your kids as I did years ago, these books are great tools to help you plan and do a swap. What's a "swap"? You invite other moms, babysitters, grandmothers...anyone with little people in their lives to make an educational activity in a bag for each participating family, and set a time to get together and swap! That means if there are 20 participants your family will receive 20 different activities! Maybe when you meet and swap you'll have a picnic lunch together as a group, go on a field trip together, or some other extra to get your preschoolers together for some fun. I participated in one my friend, Marsha, organized and then my daughter did one with friends where she lives, in Germany. Here's Benji's stash.


Made by Joel is the blog of a crafty, creative dad. Make sure to check out his printable creations like the paper city, thaumatrope spinner, and easy homemade toys like his branch trees toy and box dollhouse. His blog is chock full of neat, cheap fun, like Cheerios box crafts, simple marionettes, slotted building disks.... well he also has a book, Made to Play.

Francine Rivers

Francine Rivers is one of my favorite authors. Over the last few months I've read her Mark of the Lion, Sons of Encouragement, Lineage of Grace and Marta's Legacy Series. Her Mother's Hope and Her Daughter's Dream are the two-book series of Marta's Legacy. These books deal with a long period of history from the great-grandmother's time in Europe to present day women. I think these books affected me so profoundly because the stories are loosely based on the author's own family and deals with the perspectives of each woman in the family, their struggles with life and each other. Struggles that many of us have had in our own families to understand and forgive each other.