Happy New Year! 2014

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
(Revelation 21:3-5 ESV)

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Security

"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."
(Hebrews 12:28, 29 ESV)



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God Bless Us, Every One

Feeling blessed tonight, and yet also very aware of the many pressing needs in this world; some mine, though mostly those of others.
Despite some coughing and nose-blowing, we've had a lovely Christmas season. Praying for health and peace and joy for everyone in the coming year.













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Bleeping Seauty

Some of today's this lifetime's highlights:
Watching Shane and Cam dance to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and then overhear him read Sleeping Beauty to her, with his commentary and mispronunciation.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank You for a new day and a time to pause from normal activities to give thanks.


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Gratitude 27

Thank You Lord for the abundance of food. As tired as I am of cooking and washing dishes, what a blessing to have so far lived a life where I have never known real hunger (or truly any kind of privation), in a world where so many are starving or sick or otherwise in great need. Help me and my little family be humbled by our blessings and generous with what You have provided.

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. (2 Corinthians 9:10-12 ESV)

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Gratitude 26

Had a nice day shopping and cooking with my girl. On a gray day such as this, she virtually glows with passion. Her spark fills up every room she enters.
We tried making some cookie bars that both she and I could eat (no grains, no dairy, no eggs...). They tasted good but texture still needs work. Not using eggs proves to be a tough hurdle in baking. But I got points for trying.
I'm so thankful to be well enough to do everything we did today. Lord please help me accept it as it comes and trust that You hold us on the hard days also.





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Gratitude 25

Today I'm giving thanks that I am very much looking forward to Thursday and knowing it will be lovely and pleasant and there is no reason to worry about who will argue or say crazy stuff or get mad or weird. We will just hang out and play and laugh and eat. No big thing. Beautiful.


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Gratitude 24

Thank You Lord for a church where Your Word is preached with truth and passion and also some jokes. "I asked 'How long O Lord, will Your people suffer?' And He answered, 'Yea, verily, 40 minutes, give or take.'"


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Gratitude 23

Libraries are cool. It's even cooler that my kids love it so much we have to go every Saturday.


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Gratitude 22

Thankful my little guy has legs and heart to run.


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Gratitude 21

Thankful for the music that weaves it way into all our moments.


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Gratitude 20

A huge thank you today Lord for the women in my life.


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Gratitude 19

Cameron, eating candy after supper: "Mommy, will these gummies save my life? Like, not die?"
Me, the dish cleanup having come to a screeching and puzzled halt: "um, no....why do you ask?"
Cam: "well, dey are Life Savers, right?"

Her clever, creative mind is an endless source of wonder and joy for me.



She also awarded me flair for every step of supper prep.8


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Gratitude 18

Thank You Lord for the women and men who teach my kids. We've been fortunate to have so many loving and dedicated teachers in several different schools. Please enable me to be a helpful partner to them in my children's education.


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Gratitude 17

Setting: kitchen during supper preparation. 6 year old Spencer is strumming his ukelele (with 2 cool new picks he just traded items with his dad for) and singing what appears to be nonsense, loudly and off-key.

Me: that sounds pretty cool. What are you trying to sound like? Who do you want to sound like when you sing?

Spencer (wearing a slightly puzzled expression): I don't want to sound like anybody. I want to sound like myself. Nothing else.

Me: That is brilliant. I understand completely. Please carry on.

We had such a nice day. Perfectly normal and pleasantly free of excitement or conflict.

Truly the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.
Amen and amen.



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Gratitude 16

Tonight I am so thankful and relieved that our family got home safely despite a scary car malfunction. God provides and protects.




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Gratitude 15

"The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:5-11 ESV)

This is probably repetitive, but I am so very thankful for my family.



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Gratitude 14

I am giving thanks this moment that I learned to knit. This simple hobby has been a satisfying diversion and a fun way to exercise generosity. Plus I always have needles around, in case a weapon is needed.






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Gratitude 13

Thank You Lord for my extended family, and for the blessing of spending time and making memories with them.


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Gratitude 12

Thankful for time and space and quiet and the easy availability of my Bible. To think that I can read and study the very words of God, that He seeks to be known by His creatures and makes it possible.


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Gratitude 11

Thankful for freedom and to those who sacrifice to procure and protect it.





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Gratitude 10

Just this.






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Gratitude 9

Thankful for simple joys.
I love the movement to revitalize our downtown, hope it succeeds and gains momentum.





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Gratitude 8

Thankful today for second chances and reminders that my kids don't need a perfect mom, but one who repents and perseveres.



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Gratitude 7

How thankful I am today for friends who pursue me when I try to fort up; who love me and my kids and my husband and who understand the value and power of building families; who ask me tough questions and then remind me there is grace.


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Bonus

Glow sticks, flashlights, fire pit, Fall.



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Gratitude 6

It's a little nerdy but what joy and thankfulness I have looking at these two piles of books! That I have time and access to them, that Spencer is developing such a love of reading, that we can share this...I could go on and on. But Spencer wants me to read to him.


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Gratitude 5

Thankful for a husband who is also such a great dad. The kids always feel his rare absences so keenly.


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Gratitude 4

Thank You Lord for these baby blues. Thank You for the moments I manage to stop and see the world through her eyes. Let her cling to her visions of wonder and joy, may she not become clouded with cynicism and bitterness and discontentment but instead look to You.

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Gratitude 3

Hiking and playground exploration on Monte Sano today...hills on fire with Fall color.


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Gratitude 2

Thank You Lord for blue skies, crisp leaves and crisper temps, lazy Saturdays.

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Gratitude 1

Just a little exercise in thanksgiving for the month of November.

Today I will say a big thanks that I am able to help out a friend instead of needing help my own self.



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Apples and the Trees They Fall From

Spencer is book crazy. I could not believe the words came out of my mouth, but I have actually had to ask him lately to please stop talking to me about Dr. Seuss books for a few minutes. It is non-stop. Here he is reading 'Cat in the Hat' to Cameron. Pretty much the coolest thing ever.



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The Last Word

Entropy and chaos and decay will not stand in the end. He is making all things new: in hope, in redemption, in resurrection. This world is not what it should be, but praise God, it is not what it will be.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:4, 5 ESV)

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Priorities

If I cannot be kind to the people who fill my home and my heart, nothing else I do or say matters very much at all.









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Me n My Girl

Lunch at Red Robin last week. Cameron is such a treat. Taking her out always feels like a public service...she spreads laughter and good cheer everywhere we go. On the rare occasion when she is difficult, it's almost always due to a failure somehow on my part.

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Everything Redeemed

“Every day is important for us because it is a day ordained by God. If we are bored with life there is something wrong with our concept of God and His involvement in our daily lives. Even the most dull and tedious days of our lives are ordained by God and ought to be used by us to glorify Him.”

I long to know the beauty of a life lived in full confidence that my every moment is a tool in the hand of a Father who loves me without measure.



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Link to our Family Pics

http://christinajphotography.pass.us/williams2013/

Be sure to read and follow all the rules for appropriate photo use.


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Trust

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. (Psalm 37:5 ESV)

The fight is so often to believe this fully and truly. When we don't see God acting, we think to ourselves that He doesn't care, isn't listening, cannot help, will not help.

But we see so very little, and our wisdom is so very small.

A quote from John Piper comes to mind: "God is always doing a thousand different things that you cannot see and you do not know." Like the buttercups in my front flowerbed which hide all winter and yet bloom faithfully each spring, the fact that I see nothing happening is not a true reflection of what is happening. God is at work ever and always, and it is for His good purposes.

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And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:10, 11 ESV)



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Joy

Could it be that the secret of a truly joyful life is developing the habit of recognizing the manifold goodness of God and praising Him for it?



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What Remains

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed. (Isaiah 51:6 ESV)

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To Be Filed

The last week goes under 'Not Dead, Stronger.' Life-changing.

Pic is from a couple weeks ago, Cam enjoying face painting and a bubble machine at what may have been the coolest birthday party ever.

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Epiphany 208

I was at least 30 before I realized that the reason I found self-important know-it-alls to be so very annoying was that I was one. Recovery is a long-term process.



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Prayer for today

Lord, help me see what is true. Help me do what is right. Help me love what is holy.



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The Original Sin

It strikes me that discontentment at its heart is the same sin as Adam and Eve's: reaching for our own god-hood and self-determination; disdaining the blessings given by the Lord's wise providence to grasp at lesser things which will only disappoint and destroy. It's a way of thumbing my nose at God and saying 'MY will be done.'


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It's Not 42

The meaning of life is pretty simple.
I'm always asking 'why?' or 'how?'
But the answer is always 'Who.'

"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power..."
(Hebrews 1:1-3 ESV)

I used to kinda snort at the old people driving their Buicks sporting the 'Jesus is the Answer' tags. But I don't snort any longer.


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Typical

Overheard:
THUD!
Footsteps...
Shane: What just happened?
Cameron: That is a good question!


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Missing It

Spencer missed his classroom's Easter egg hunt due to illness. So he came home from school today full of excitement and loaded with candy-filled eggs. He enjoys the candy of course, but took special pleasure in just playing with the plastic eggs.
At bathtime I marched in his room intent on my agenda and began barking orders, as in, 'clean this up,' and 'get undressed,' and 'hurry up!'
He obeyed with good cheer but no great speed, as usual. Before he got far I realized I had gone about things a bit rudely. So I apologized for being such a drill sergeant and asked what he was doing.
He was playing with his eggs. He asked me, smile sweet and eyes bright, if I would like to play with them tomorrow, with him.

Oh yes. Yes I would indeed.

He said we could have our very own egg hunt in the house. And then he told me all about the special hiding place he had come up with. When I pointed out that hiding places aren't secret anymore if you tell, he got thoughtful.
'Ok then mommy, never mind what I told you. You can look somewhere else.'
I'm doing a poor job of capturing the moment, but it was both funny and sweet. I'm so glad I didn't miss it.


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Putting On

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12-15 ESV)



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Tricycle Time

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Opportunities

I pray for the wit and energy to make full use of all the chances I have each day to show these people how very much I love them.





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