On The Bright Side

In spite of the fact, I blew the blog posting challenge, I did make some progress. I finished the Carrot Cake Murder and What to Do on the Worst Day of Your Life. Hooray! Now I just have 4 unfinished books to complete this month.

Not Epic, But A Fail None The Less

Well, I've had my first (and hopefully last) fail of the month. About 12:30 yesterday I was getting ready to go to bed when I realized I never posted on my blog. NaBloPoMo is busted. Oh well. Maybe next year. I'm going to still challenge myself to get in 30 posts in 30 days, it just won't be one post in each 24 hour period as required by NaBloPoMo.

Update

I've recently enjoyed a very satisfying bowl of leftover chicken and gnocchi soup.
I have exceeded my required daily word count for NaNoWriMo.
I have posted on my blog for yet another day.
I've read 5 chapters on one of the books I need to read. (Okay, true confession time. It's the one my daughter is waiting on. Yes, that means I started another book. It's a sickness.)
I got several boxes gone through and loaded up an entire batch of stuff to go to storage.
Had a good laugh at this.
Heading to church tonight followed by Frito Pie and more writing.
Life is good.

Unfinished Business

I have a lot going on this month, but something has been bugging me. I seem to be accumulating partially read books. It's a terrible habit, but when I get a new book, Iwant to start it right away. Unfortunately, I often obtain another book before I've finished, and guess what...I start that one too. This is why I find myself with several partially read books. So, like adding insult to injury, I'm adding to my to-do list in this Month of Productivity, as I'm now calling it. Here's the list of what I plan to finish this month:

What To Do On The Worst Day of Your Life by Brian Zahnd
Overcoming Overload by Steve and Mary Farrar
A Call to the Secret Place by Michal Ann Goll
A Place of Quiet Rest by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
The Call to Brilliance by Resa Steindel Brown

The sad part is that this isn't even all of them. I'm just limiting myself to 5 because of all the other stuff I am doing. I also have a book I haven't stated yet that one of my daughters is waiting for me to read.

Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Whew! I better get busy reading. Do you have any unfinished business you can take care of this month?

So Far, So Good...

Well, we're now two days into the month, and so far, so good. LOL  I am ahead on my word count for NaNoWriMo, I have kept up with NaBloPoMo. The only thing I really haven't made huge progress on is the house, but I have plans for tomorrow. I'm also trying to keep up with the Home Sanctuary challenges throughout the month. Today's challenge was about goal setting. I have no problem with that one!

Sunday Reflections: My Other Family

Last night I was at church looking around at the folks there. There are so many people that I have known for a long time and have seen me through so much. I honestly don't know how I would have made it without them. Whether it was an overt act like bringing food after my mom died, or a smaller quieter act like an encouraging word or friendly smile, these people have done so much to bless and enrich my life. When they have encountered hardship or disappointment, I've helped them too. We rejoice together and we weep together. We share good news and bad. This is what it is supposed to be like. Our church is our family, and while we may exhibit a bit of sibling rivalry here and there, most of the time we are all there for each other. Today, I'm thanking God for the blessing of my church family.

Coming Soon

I posted earlier that there were details coming later and here they are. This month, I am embarking on several acts of what some would consider sheer insanity.

First of all, I am once again signed up for NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. This means I attempting to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in the month of November. This averages out to approximately 1667 words per day.

I'm also signed up for NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month, which means I have to post a message to this blog every day in November. Yikes! I don't think I've ever written 30 blog posts in a year, much less in a month, so this should be interesting. 

In my spare time, I'll be homeschooling, taking care of the baby, getting the house clean and ready for the holidays, and later in the month, hosting Thanksgiving and starting Advent. Whew! Stay tuned. It's going to be a lot of work and a lot of fun!

It's been a long, long time...

I can't believe it 's been so long since I last posted. Wow. It's been a pretty wild ride since my last post. In that span, I've given birth to baby #10, lost my mom unexpectedly, helped my grandmother move, married off dd#1, helped my step-dad move, packed up all my mom's stuff, sorted some of it, and found out my second grandchild is on the way. Whew! Never a dull moment!

Anyway, with all that going on, I haven't been writing anything. Nothing. Zip. Nada. The novel notes have been collecting dust. The blogs have languished without update or comment. I haven't even been keeping up with updating status on Facebook.

As the song says, "The times, they are a-changin'." I'm working my way back to the land of the living, slowly but surely. I have a lot planned for next month. Stay tuned for further details!

Homeschool Giveaway --Lyrical Earth Science

Homeschool Giveaway --Lyrical Earth Science

Mama Archer is giving away a set of Lyrical Earth Science materials on her blog. I haven't heard these yet, but the life science ones are awesome. I would love to have these!

Happy Groundhog Day!

First D.J.: Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.
Second D.J.: It's coooold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach?
First D.J.: Not hardly. And you know, you can expect hazardous travel later today with that, you know, that, uh, that blizzard thing.
Second D.J.: [mockingly] That blizzard - thing. That blizzard - thing. Oh, well, here's the report! The National Weather Service is calling for a "big blizzard thing!"
First D.J.: Yessss, they are. But you know, there's another reason why today is especially exciting.
Second D.J.: Especially cold!
First D.J.: Especially cold, okay, but the big question on everybody's lips...
Second D.J.: - On their chapped lips...
First D.J.: - On their chapped lips, right: Do ya think Phil is gonna come out and see his shadow?
Second D.J.: Punxsutawney Phil!
First D.J.: Thats right, woodchuck-chuckers - it's
[in unison]
First D.J.: GROUNDHOG DAY!
Second D.J.: GROUNDHOG DAY!

--from the movie Groundhog Day

Quote to Ponder

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
--A. A. Milne

Don't Know Why...

Why has it been a year and a half since I last posted here? I don't really know other than it's been a crazy last year and a half and I just didn't think about it. Oh well. I'm back, and while I won't be posting every day, it wouldn't be too challenging for me to be more regular than I have been.

Quote of the Week

"Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.
We are half-hearted creatures,
fooling about with drink and sex and ambition
when infinite joy is offered us,
like an ignorant child
who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum
because he cannot imagine what is meant
by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
We are far too easily pleased."
-- C.S. Lewis"

Quote of the Week

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt

Quote of the Week

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)

Quote of the Week

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.
--Meister Eckhart

Quote of the Week

We would do well to shed unnecessary things and develop deep spiritual roots if we are to survive our own wilderness experiences.
--Kim Thomas, Living in the Sacred Now

Quote of the Week

"The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman."
--Elisabeth Elliott

Busy Being Busy

The last two weeks I have been consumed with busyness. There have been crises arise that demanded my attention and issues that needed my personal handling. And yet I wonder... what could have been set aside for another time or another person? Could I have handled these things more efficiently? Could I have leaned more on the strength of He who is limitless rather than my own meager supply? Lord, help me to walk in Your wisdom, Your will and Your way.

Quote of the Week

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."
--John Wesley

The Hunger for More

Have you ever had a serious craving? You know, when you get so hungry for something, that nothing else satisfies? When that happens, you can eat everything else, but that hunger will remain until you get that special something your body craves.

The same thing can happen spiritually. I sometimes get so hungry for more of the presence of God in my life, that I become restless, dissatisfied with the status quo, longing for something I’m missing. This most often occurs during those busy times when life seems to have spun temporarily out of control and events and activities have cut short or crowded out my time alone with God. I am poured out without being refilled. After a while, I yearn for quiet time, a time of communion, time to listen for that whisper of the Divine. I want to put everything else aside and just bask in His presence.

Unfortunately, I don’t have that luxury. I have a home and a family that need my care and attention. I have responsibilities and obligations. I don’t have the liberty of peaceful retreats or extended solitude, so I have to get creative. I look for moments here and there. I may send the kids to the library for a little while or ask my husband to go ahead and watch that movie without me. I put aside hobbies and recreational reading and computer time. Not forever. Not even for long. Just for now. Until those empty places are filled and the hunger is silenced. Until that needy, aching, ravenous part of me is soothed. Then the yearning will wane and life will continue on for a little while longer. But the hungry times will come again because beneath the surface there still lurks an insatiable, unquenchable place that will always be needing still more of God.

Quote of the Week

The greatest thing is to be found at one's post as a child of God, living each day as though it were our last, but planning as though our world might last a hundred years.
--C. S. Lewis

Searching for Silence

In my busy home, silence is a rare and precious commodity. In fact, I’m finding this to be the case in most places. We live in a noisy, hustle and bustle society. There’s traffic noise and TV and music and people. We fill our alone time with mp3’s and cell phones. It’s a real problem if you need quiet to think or create or dream.

A much, much larger problem, however, is when we cannot find a quiet place in our own souls. How will we hear that still small voice amidst the chaos of our own thoughts? How will we perceive the beckoning of the Holy Spirit in the clatter and clang of our own plans and projects? How will we lean toward the voice of our Shepherd if we can’t identify His call through the roar of our disappointments and despair?

If you are ready for a challenge, attempt right now to find a place of silence, a haven of quiet. Begin to seek that small, still voice. Tune your ear to the Divine. It’s not easy, but will, like almost anything else, become easier with practice. You may have to find a physical place of quiet first until you are better attuned to His presence. At first, too many things will distract you, but eventually you will be able to filter them out and listen for God even in the midst of the clamor, the crush of the crowd, or the frenzy of light-speed living.

He is still calling, drawing you, saying “Be still, and know that I am God” Psalms 46:10a

Quote of the Week

When you read God's Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, "It is talking to me, and about me."
--Soren Kierkegaard

Quote of the Week

Many Christians have what we might call a "cultural holiness". They adapt to the character and behavior pattern of Christians around them. As the Christian culture around them is more or less holy, so these Christians are more or less holy. But God has not called us to be like those around us. He has called us to be like himself. Holiness is nothing less than conformity to the character of God. --Jerry Bridges

Smelling of Smoke

This region has been rife with grassfires, causing many counties to issue strict burn bans. Ours was lifted only to be reissued a couple of days later after a new outbreak of wildfire. People I know have been evacuated or in peril or, at the very least, greatly inconvenienced due to the fires. But last week we came face to face with the grassfires that have been filling our local news reports. We were traveling down the highway and ran upon a smoke-filled area. The grass in the median was on fire. The smoke was so thick that traffic was almost at a standstill. Visibility was nearly non-existent. We crept down the road while catching fleeting glimpses of the firefighters struggling against the spreading flames. At times, the fire was within a few feet of our vehicle. Eventually we made it past the area and out into fresh, clear air. We all took a deep breath, thankful for our exodus from a tense situation.

The next day our vehicle still smelled of smoke. The events of the previous day were stored away as memory but the odor lingered. Although there were no outward signs we'd been anywhere near a fire, the smell gave us away.

I think sin is like that. When we try to overcome it on our own, we may put the actions behind us but the “smell of smoke” lingers on. The reminder of the mistakes of the past sticks with us... unless, of course, we confess our sins before God and ask His forgiveness. When we do that, He washes us clean. We become smoke-free. The stench of our sin is mercifully removed from us. Again. And again. What a tremendous gift!

“Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:19-23

Quote of the Week

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.
-- Henry David Thoreau

Quote of the Week

We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first.
-- Oswald J. Smith

Quote of the Week

To clasp hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder in the world.
-Karl Barth

Excellence vs. Existence

Are you living a life of excellence or are you merely existing? We live in a world of mediocrity. As a result many people have applied that mediocre mindset to their lives as well. Oh sure, we value victory in sports and video games and trivialities of all sorts. We want to know who won a Grammy or an Oscar or a Nobel prize. But that doesn't cross over into our everyday lives. Instead, we seek to be a face in the crowd, a part of the audience. We try to blend in, not make waves, not call attention to ourselves. But deep inside, there's something that is crying out. Something destined for more. The fingerprints of God, the most excellent One of all, are all over our lives. It is the image of our Creator that calls to us to be more, to do more, to make a difference. We have gifts and anointing and vision to do something real and lasting. Are you marking time, caught up in the dailiness of life? Or are you stretching and reaching for something beyond yourself? Examine your life. What areas could you be stepping out into something greater? What vision could you catch hold of to bolster you? What gifts could you put to work for the Kingdom of God? Can you find it in yourself to look beyond the everyday stuff of life and glimpse the eternal?