Weekly Prayer

It is Monday, 12/7, and I’m just gonna carry this post over for this week’s Prayer Monday!  ~smile~  I would like to also point you to Large Family Mothering, as her devotions under postings entitled “Bible Time” have been such an incredible blessing to me!!!!  Always EXACTLY what I seem to need at the moment~SOOO GOOD!  (Wish I could write and inspire in Christ like that!  Methinks I’m too immature in the Christian wisdom department…)   (((((HUGS)))))  sandi

1 Samuel 12:23~”God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you.” (((((HUGS))))) sandi

1.)  A PRAISE from RecycleCindy:  Wonderful news — Nesa got a new liver. Here is the blog her Mom did about the whole situation. http://lesalicious.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-liver.html

Please add Nesa back on the prayer list for next week as her body needs to accept the new liver and her health needs to improve so she can begin her journey back to being a normal little girl. Thank you all for your prayers. God has been listening and praise Him for Nesa’s new liver.

2.)  From Tiffany:  Hi, I would like for you to add my dh’s business to your prayer request list. I know that there are much more dire things out there but he is the only one that works. He owns his own business and he has no work right now. I know God will never leave us or forsake us and I do know we will be taken care of but when you have 7 kids it is hard to not worry a bit.

3.)  Please pray for me (sandi) in the spirit of James 1: 26.

4.)  Your request goes here~please leave me a comment!

All about Miss Frances…

First of all, she smells soooo good!  Today she is one month old~can you believe it?  She has a cleft chin like her big brother, Allen.  Baby acne has also descended upon her sweet, tiny face.  I hate that!  but I love that she’s on the verge of cooing and smiling~AW!  Hazel prays almost daily for Frances to grow up tomorrow, ‘cuz she’s her best friend and wants to share with her and teach her things and play with her (though she also prays for her birthday to please come today often~HA HA!).  Preston has been calling her “France” since before she was born, and he says she’s special because she has her own fries and a bike race!  LOL!  (Preston has a country and a people and a truck, Jamie has a river and a town, and Allen has an Avenue and a town and a wrench, etc.)  ALL the siblings clamor to hold her ALL the time and speak of her beauty often.  ~smile~   She is a great nurser and sleeps sooo well at night!  One of her favorite spots to snuggle up is her Dada’s chest~calms her right down every time.  OH a girlie and her Daddy!  (((((HUGS)))))  ~a very BLESSED sandi!

ETA that Frances has my big legs~only I think hers are the prettiest, fat little legs!  Too bad I never felt that way about my own…  Remember how she kept flippin’ around inside?  She was born head down, but her legs were all folded up in breech position.  It was so funny changing her diaper the first couple of weeks, because I’d hafta keep undoing her folded frog feet~LOL!  We’d joke that she’s gonna be an acrobat….

Recipe Wednesday: Thanksgiving Casserole and link to THE BEST Apple Pie EVAH!

I made up this casserole some time ago, and my darling decided it was the perfect, simple, inexpensive holiday meal when accompanied with lotsa yummy side dishes.  Brown a pound or two of ground turkey (seasoned as you like), or mix half-and-half with turkey sausage.  Cover with gravy or a cream-of soup of your choice and transfer to a casserole dish.  Top with a layer of French cut green beans and then a layer of prepared stuffing (with something yummy added~like almond slivers or chopped pecans or mushrooms or something).  Bake on 350 until you deem it ready~LOL!  Surround with your favorite sides and follow with Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie to make any day feel like a holiday!  (((((HUGS)))))  sandi

Prayer Monday

As the holidays get nearer and nearer I’ve been prayerfully thinking over goals for the New Year.  For those that have weight to lose, Cindy Rushton wrote a great encouragement for us to consider!  I don’t think I’ll be waiting until the New Year to get started on this and goals, especially in committing to pray for others.  1 Samuel 12:23~”God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you.” (((((HUGS))))) sandi

1.)  Well, I have a bit more to put out there than usual.  Church was really good yesterday and helped me to see that while I *very easily* forgive others, I’m not always so good at relationship reconciliation/restoration.  This especially affects extended family, but a dear cousin was recently sharing that while her Mom was a fantastic Grandmother before she died, she still drove her crazy!  LOL!  With so much distance in my own family this has not been my experience, so I find myself creating distance in other difficult, extended family  relationships.   As there are those that now are wanting to be more in our lives (and I’ve prayed for this for YEARS!) I find myself backing away~for a myriad of reasons.  Please pray that I would have a Godly attitude and handle this as a Christian should rather than flee before even giving it a try!  *THANK YOU!* 

2.)  From Cindy:  Please add little Nesa back on the prayer list. Nesa and her Mom Lesa over at http://lesalicious.blogspot.com/ are still waiting for a liver for Nesa. Please pray for her health to hold and a donor liver can be found.

3.)  Your request goes here~please leave me a comment!

Just sharin’!

This will just be a post of random thoughts and ideas… 

1.)  I have found a few resources I’m excited about~Mrs. Darling led me to Tree House Weather Kids, and Daily Pleasures led me to My Audio Homeschool.  Check ‘em out!

2.)  I finally opened my Wallypop, premium, unbleached, prewashed, cloth diapers.  WOW are they LUSCIOUS!!!!  I’ve never had anything sooo fancy~my first four babies all used the same Gerber Diaper Service Quality dipes which they apparently stopped making (or changed~they’re THINNER!) sometime in the last ten years.  For a diaper pail we just got a 30-gallon tote from Target for like, $6!  Now I’m coveting Wonder Wraps… 

3.)   It feels sooo good to be lightly back on a homeschooling and walking schedule.  LIGHTLY is the key!  LOL!

4.)  I am sooo excited about Hazel’s pink room and writing Isaiah 45:13 on her wall:  “The king’s daughter is all glorious within.”

5.)  I am SO enjoyin’ playin’ my mountain dulcimer for devotions and guests again!  It had stopped fittin’ on my lap and is still strgglin’ just a little bit….

6.)  I still wouldn’t trade the WORLD for my LANAcare wool nursing pads, even though I do still leak through them.  That will subside in time!

7.)  Frances continues to be the sweetest baby!

8.)  I *thought* I had sooo much more to share, so I’ll be back!  (((((HUGS)))))  sandi

9.)  Back to share that I LOVE Burt’s Bees baby products!!!!  The baby bath and buttermilk lotion, and I certainly couldn’t live without the diaper creme!!

10.)  I don’t wanna forget this memory:  One day 3yo Hazel’s prayer after devotion totally melted me today: “Thank you, LORD, that my Mommy is so helpful and kind.” So NOT how I see myself, but exactly who I wanna be!

Prayer Monday

1 Samuel 12:23~”God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you.” (((((HUGS))))) sandi

1.)   I loved this quote from Albert Einstein I read on Mrs. Darling’s blog, and I share it today because I am praying for God’s guidance and wisdom for a VERY strong academic school year as we dive back into life.  “Everybody is a genius.  But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.”  This really, really blesses me when thinking about a particular ds.  Anyway, please join me in this prayer!

2.)  From Jamie:  You know, I would so appreciate it if you wouldn’t mind praying for my son. I think I’ll just leave it at that… but, in a nutshell, military school has been VERY appealing lately.

3.)  From Kristin:  Hi, would you please pray in agreement with me for my son, Cade?  He has autism and I’m praying for complete healing and total restoration for him.  I’m believing for normal speech, normal social skills, normal diet, normal functioning.  I’m believing that Jesus will heal him so that he can be the boy God intended him to be.  Thank you so much.

4.)  From Cindy:  Please add little Nesa back on the prayer list. Nesa and her Mom Lesa over at http://lesalicious.blogspot.com/ are still waiting for a liver for Nesa. Please pray for her health to hold and a donor liver can be found.

5.)  Your request goes here~please leave me a comment!

Leaving you with a treat~one of my very favorite songs evah!!!!  (ACK!  I CAN’T GET THIS TO EMBED!!!!) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ztjr2nnvLE

A Wife’s Biblical Submission, Week 8

Proverbs 31:18~God’s Word, Her Lamp

Sunny starts us off this week with a lesson on how to better read and study scripture, and this is RIGHT ON!!!  As we begin to learn about the Proverbs 31 woman in verse 18, I am suddenly struck by her wisdom in a new way.  How many people continue down a path that is not beneficial or lucrative, trying to make something work that just won’t~unable to let go and try something new?  The Proverbs 31 woman is always assessing the benefits and failures in what she’s doing and adjusting herself and her work accordingly!  I LIKE THIS!  I’m pretty sure I’ve had many seasons in which I was NOT a good example of this!  Now also click over and read about her lamp not going out by night~it is very FREEING!!!!  HALLELUJAH!

The next segment is from Proverbs 31:17~She Can Dress Herself.  I am immediately reminded of the post I wrote down there~”So School Me”.  I DO want others to make it easy for me to continue to live in faith!  I don’t wanna sift through the judgements of men (and WOMEN)!  I also love, love, LOVE what Sunny shares about submission~that God does not retract any of His commands!!!!  I do grow weary of, “What if my husband is not a Christian?”  I have yet to read the scripture that says to obey your husband only if…  or unless….

Then we travel onto Luke 17:7-10~please go somewhere in private and read this for yourselves, mamas!!!  This is a gem for those seasons in which we may (selfishly) feel we are in a thankless job, a reminder of who we are truly serving in the day-to-day!  Next you can read what exercises help to make your arms strong…  ~smile~  (((((HUGS))))  sandi

ETA how amazing that I started Douglas Wilson’s REFORMING MARRIAGE today, as it is driving home today’s lesson particularly well!  ~smile~

SiLLiNeSS!

1.)  Hazel ALWAYS wants to go whenever someone is heading out, but one day this week she said, “I can’t go with you, Dad, ‘cuz last time I didn’t listen to Mommy.”  My darling asked her, if she didn’t listen to Mommy then she’s not going to listen to him either?  She answered, “No, I’m not,” and she kept right on drawing~LOLOL!

2.)  Hazel playing with Daddy:  “I spy with my little eye…  a black man!  and it’s YOU!”  HA HA HA!

3.)  Someone found my blog today by searching, “woman, scrotum”.  This is WAY funny to me today, as I’m just back from birthing in the hospital and still so swollen and sore that I feel like I have one….

4.)  Hazel to my darling:  “Dad, I lost my birthday suit, and I don’t know where I put it.”

5.)  Preston sharing with Daddy about trying to pronounce the words his brothers say:  “They say stuff, but *I* can’t say it~I just misproduce it!”  LOL!

WOW! Someone thinks I’m FUNNY! ~smile~

I’ve been nominated for Funniest Homeschool Blog!  If you like voting for these things, please go check out all the nominees and cast your vote!  If yer lookin’ fer MY funniest posts, then I guess you’d hafta read through my Friday SiLLiNeSS! (and *I* think the best ones are from March of 2006),  but be warned~there are like, 97 of ‘em now~LOL!  *THANKS* and HAPPY VOTING!  (((((HUGS)))))  sandi

ETA I’m not farin’ too well~these mamas ROCK!

Prayer Monday

1 Samuel 12:23~”God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you.” (((((HUGS))))) sandi

1.)  For Harriett:  Please pray for me to get out of depression and discouragements and recover from severe burnout and overwhelming situations.

2.)  A PRAISE from Bikkuri:  My hip, neck, and back injuries are starting to feel substantially better. Rehabilitation is adding stress to my life, so it is great to see progress.

3.)  Your request goes here~please leave me a comment!