Ask... Seek... Knock

I can't say it better than this...

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High ? will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1
(The Name: Elohim; God, Strong and Faithful, Three in One

Jehovah-Elohim; LORD God

The Only True God, The Only Wise God, The God of all Grace; The God of Hope Jn 17:3; Mr. 16:27; 1 Pt 5:10; Mr. 15:13)
http://truthmedia.com/training/attributes_god/
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Father in Heaven,

This morning I thank you that You are the Strong and Faithful One. You alone are the LORD God Almighty. Today I ask that You would be to me just exactly what I need today.

Be to me the God of all Grace who pours Your grace into my heart as I seek to meet the needs of those around me. I need Your grace.

Be my Only Wise God. I need divine wisdom to juggle the many things in my life right now. Help me to trust You as my strong and faithful God in my home and relationships, my finances and my work.

Be to me my God of Hope as I look at this day today and also at the days ahead. In the changes and challenges that come let me find shelter, encompassed by You, The God of Love, The Living God and the Only True God. ? ? ?

Thank you that You are the Three in One, the God head that gives the wisdom and power of the Father, the love and compassion of the Son and the strength and empowerment of the Holy Spirit to me as I need it.

Help me today to feel Your strength and faithfulness is a powerful way and may my heart rest in You alone.

In the powerful name of Jesus I pray, amen.
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"The Old Days"

"I miss the old days when we were together."
This, from my 5 year old, this morning dictating letters to me. She tugs on my heart strings~ almost every day there is someone that comes to her mind and she misses them desperately, often shedding a few tears. I have heard the saying 'an old soul', before and kind of thought it was an odd saying for people who believe in reincarnation, etc., but I get glimpses of what this saying may mean at times with Phoebe.
Precious.
We love and miss you all.
p.s. and now we have dug out the home videos, we'll be all wrapped up in those for the next few days!

Happy Valentine's Day! ~ Kisses and Hugs

Here is some beautiful LOVE

...and here is some more beautiful love...

Happy Valentine's Day, we love you!

Just wanted to share this cute picture of the cutie-pie!

Happy Chinese New Year

I really shouldn't title this post that way, because I have next to zero knowledge about Chinese New Year. But, yesterday Jacob came home talking about what he had learned in school that day. So, John jumped on the web and we checked out what animals we all were, due to what year we were born. It is similar to the whole zodiac sign thing in that there are characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, etc. No place to live but a fun place to visit for ... 'kicks and giggles'! (to quote my husband of all people!!! Ha~THX, Macky!) So, obviously, some of it was on and some not. John's was a surprisingly good depiction of him, and conversely, as Nate was the same thing, the year of the pig does not represent him well at all. Jacob is a tiger and much of it sounded like him ( I cannot wait to see what great things God has planned to use Jacob for besides the mammoth job of changing me in so many ways!!). Phoebe is a horse...she had just rode her stick horse in and out of the room...'nuff said. And this one I love the most, Ellie's animal is the only mythological creature in the Chinese calender, a dragon. And if you are a fan of Dragon Tales, you know how pretty and magical the dragons can be, which applies to Ellie perfectly. She floats through her days as though she is from another world. There is a reflection of a magic kingdom in her eyes. I told her this morning that I think she is actually a princess from another land. She smiled a beautiful smile and her eyes twinkled.***

The Piano man...isn't there a song something like that?

Serious about silly

Just standing at my fridge ice dispenser and upon a closer look at this picture, I realized how much more goofy my sweet potatoes' (ok, i just had to check dictionary.com for the right sp there...duh!) silly faces are than those of their friends' (our sweet friends, the Dykstras, we got to visit with them for a bit while we were in ID)! Hey, we are very serious about being goofy at our house...in fact, I just thought of a perfect example to share from last night. Jacob was doing his homework and says, 'I can't remember how to spell number 2.' At the same time, Ellie gives the correct answer and John calls out, 'p-o-o-p'! Those are the lines we are willing to cross at our house for a laugh!! ( I wish John's brothers would check the blog and read that one, they have a true appreciation for bathroom humor!)

SuperBowl!

We were ready for some football!!!

Aaron Arthur and Dean and Jamie Treu came over...

The girls played great the whole time!

This is Phoebe and one of her good friends, Lauren. They play together so well and really like each other. Lauren is Jamie and Dean's youngest, so Phoebe and Lauren get to be together every Monday while we pray. Praise God for another sweet friend!

And Aaron's wife, Amber, came over later. She is resting up for the labor of their first child any day now! Amber and I were walking together early in the morning last spring, and we are in small group with she and Aaron on Thursday nights. We really enjoy their friendship!

Jacob...

Jacob got to give a report in school on Thomas Jefferson. He did a really great job and I think he enjoyed doing it! We learned some fun and interesting things! Next time you talk to him, ask him what he learned about Thomas Jefferson. :)
And, below, is Jacob and his friend, Kail Treu. Kail was our answer to prayer for a good friend for Jacob at public school this year. They are a couple of great boys. They have a lot of fun together and both love Star Wars and Legos! I am so thankful to God for answering our prayers with Kail, he is a treasure! And his sweet mom, Jamie, is in Moms in Touch prayer group with me and we are in Bible study together. She has become a dear friend of mine! Thank you, Lord!

Our latest obsession, Charlie and Lola (click here to visit website)

We 'found' the most adorable show! We all (really, all!) love it. It is called Charlie and Lola and it is on the Disney channel most days at 12:30. I am wanting to get as many of the books as we can, they are very sweet stories of this cute brother and sister and their experiences dealing with life as young children do. When the show is on, the announcement is made, loudly, and everyone in the house comes to watch. :) Love it!

Tongue tied?

Flashback to your childhood... were you the child who got their tongue frozen to the pole? Once and you learned your lesson? More than once and you had to also test other surfaces for tongue stick-ability? Or were you the one who believed the reports of others and just watched others try it out? Well, I have all of the above in my family. One who just shakes their head at the others, no way - I don't want to get my tongue stuck and have to rip it off! One that tried it really quick one time. And two that have tried it repeatedly, and repeatedly gotten their tongues stuck, and one of these even tries different surfaces to see how they measure up! I think I'll let you make guesses as to which is which! :) Happy guessing!