This week's MEMORY VERSE

I've been memorizing Scripture for the past five years with some getting planted in my heart word-for-word and others I've honestly not remembered all too well. This week, I ran across my little "Memory Verse" booklets (little 3"X 5" spiral memo pads) from the past several years and had a fun time refreshing my "memory" on God's Word and what I committed to my memory at those particular times in my life. The neat thing that God spoke to me through finding these booklets, is that even though some of my "memory verses" I couldn't recall word-for-word, the power of these verses have left an imprint on my heart and impacted how I live my life. God's WORD never comes back void! I actually surprised myself that I remembered more than I thought- they'd been "written on my heart"! God wants us to hide His words on our hearts so we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). I thank God daily for giving us His Word in the BIBLE (Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth), the ultimate "how to do life right" guide. I thank God also for Jesus- The Only One who bridges the gap for us to be in God's presence... the Way, the Truth, and the Life... our Perfect example of how to live life right. With that said, here's my memory verse for this week:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

(2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV)

Prayer: Lord help me continue to hide your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you. Help me to have enough brain cells to actually remember what I learn from Your word this year and live it in my everyday. As I refresh my memory on past memory verses, help me remember them as well, that the ones I've forgotten, will get hidden in my heart. I can't do this on my own, Lord, I need you. I know I can do all things through You and You alone give me everything... Thank YOU that you are my EVERYTHING! May all the glory be Yours! In Your Name I pray, Jesus. Amen.

Chore Charts

Since being "Mortified", we have been making changes around our house hold to keep up on cleaning duties! I am happy to report that the chore charts for my four kids have been somewhat effective as a motivator in getting them accountable and responsible for doing their part (except for my 4 year old, Joe, who thinks the goal of his chore charts to put his stickers any old place he chooses)...

There are a variety of categories included and for each task accomplished, the child earns a sticker. By the end of the week, a minimum of 20 stickers for older kids (10 stickers for younger kids) must be achieved in order to earn their allowance ($10.00 for two older kids- 2 top level charts; $5.00 for two younger kids- 2 lower level charts) Good behavior/attitude is also considered in these chore charts for earning stickers. Getting and KEEPING this house cleaned up is an ongoing process; doing it as a team is definitely the way to go!

Therapy~Chenille Jackets

Many of the activities I do in life,

are like therapy for me...
sewing is definitely one of them!
When my daughter Jessie was born in 2001,
she recieved a little chenille jacket as a baby gift.
Every where we went, she'd get compliments on how
cute she was and how "adorable" her jacket was.
After much enjoyment from the jacket my daughter received,
I was inspired to make them for other precious little girls.
I've been working simultaneously on several chenille
jackets made of vintage bedspreads I've purchased over time.
Only about 4 jackets can be made from one bedspread,

so no two are exactly alike. I pour my "Heart and Soul"

into them as a "Thank You" to God for Him

being the ultimate Creator and blessing me with a variety of talents (sewing, one of them).
He has blessed me, so I can bless others.

I call my handmade creations,

"Heart and Soul Creations" (Luke 10:27).
So far I've only made these jackets in little girl sizes
"S" (6-12 mo); "M" (18 mo-24 mo); "L" (2T-4T)
and I give them as gifts.

This jacket is a surprise gift for my little niece in Oregon.

I also made this same jacket in a size smaller for a

Bible study friend who is having her 3rd child (first daughter!)

Born into Purple

This past week I caught a segment on the History Channel about ancient Greece and their royalty. TWO THINGS struck me.

1. As an adult, I LOVE HISTORY! I find it fascinating... when I was a child in high school I nearly failed my History classes and was bored out of my mind! What is up with that?
   
2. The other thing that struck me was at one point the commentator was talking about the lineage of the Kings and how they were... "born into purple".

I can't stop thinking about that phrase, "born into purple"... The color purple represents royalty. As a born again Christian, I am "born into purple"! Anyone who accepts and receives Christ as "King" of their life is "born into purple"... it's such a cool thought, and really helps me see myself as God sees me~ His heir and His beloved.

So, next time I'm feeling worthless, I'll be reminded...

I'm not worthless.
I am royalty.

I am a daughter of the King of the universe.

My Father in Creator of all things!

I am BORN INTO PURPLE!

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:17)

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

Prayer: Thank You my God that Christ died for me... that I am your daughter, born into purple through faith by Your grace alone. Help me bring You glory in all I say and do as Your heir and Your ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20). In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

This week's MEMORY VERSE

I've been dedicating time looking at King David's life these past 4 weeks, and with him as my inspiration, many of my memory verses are matters of the "heart". It's been awesome and eye opening to draw closer to God as I get to know King David, a man after God's own heart! My memory verse this week:

Psalm 51:10 (NIV)

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Birthday Scrapbook Project

I've been inspired to get the dust off my scrapbooking projects and finally work on updating them! Just a little info about my scrapbooking personality... I'm totally into it (when I "get to it"). I pretty much stick with Creative Memories product and style (I like journalizing in my own handwriting so my kids have that also as a memory and personal touch). I'm big into "theme books" (Christmas Albums, School Years, Birthday, Family Memories, Heritage, Wedding, Vacation, etc.); I have over 40 different scrapbooks -ranging in size- either in progress or needed to be started! I'm VERY behind on them right now, having allowed myself to get behind over the past 6 years.
... keeping up with scrapbooks can get overwhelming when a person let's everything pile up like I have over the years! But there's hope... I found a starting place and will take baby steps to get caught up.

I'm committed to "invest" in my children and family to work on the family scrapbooks this year so they know how special they are to me. This week, I'm working on my updating the smallest albums I have- one for each child- 4 total... their "BIRTHDAY ALBUMS" ... size 5 x 8 (sample of my oldest daughter's album below.)

The boys' albums are shades of blue, while the girls have pink and plum colored albums. Each year is reflected in a double page layout.

The kid's absolutely love looking at how they've grown and changed over the years. This album is fun to keep up with, too... The hardest part is going through memory cards and computer files to find the birhtday photos to get printed! UGH!

Never the less, I feel victory working on the 4 albums this week!!!

This week's MEMORY VERSE

PSALM 86:11-12

11 Teach me your way, O LORD,

and I will walk in your truth;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.

12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify your name forever.

This Week Re-cap in a Nutshell...

The "deep cleaning" of my house is coming along (from being "Mortified"). I feel anxious when I'm living in the midst of disorganization... WE ARE GETTING ORGANIZED; I am more at peace over this. We got our appraisal back, and to our surprise it was A LOT higher than we expected. So obviously the messiness of the house had no effect on the value of the house (thank God).

I'm still working on getting some new "chore charts" worked up for the four kids to be able to track their progress in our "team effort" of home cleaning maintenance. My excitement is the kids will be motivated to start helping out again like they did all last year (taking a lot of the burden off me)... their motivation for the chore charts is to finally start earning allowance again. (which they haven't really done since November when our last chore charts where being utilized).

I'm thankful today is Friday... TGIF!!!! I get to sleep in tomorrow morning! I've been on the sleepy side since I'm still battling this head cold and funky sinus congestion. My coughing isn't as bad (at least I'm not coughing up a lung like last week). Also, my husband and I are attending a new "home group" through our new church tonight for the first time (Bay Area Fellowship), which we are pretty excited about. Tomorrow, Kirk and I are planning work in the yard together (which I LOVE to do), attend church service in the evening, then watch "Fireproof" as our family movie. We will also be starting our "Love Dare" book together- day one; ALL this on VALENTINES DAY! Couldn't think of a better way to celebrate this day of love than to do the all these "LOVELY" things together.

I've been sewing this week on these cute baby girl chenille jackets made of vintage bedspreads (bedspreads I bought off eBay). I will post pictures of my projects in the next couple weeks. I enjoy making them as gifts and have a couple sweet baby girls in line to give them to as surprises in the near future. I've also been motivated to pull out my scrapbooking! I'M SO BEHIND in getting my family's' photos in my albums!!! I need to just pull them out and start in baby steps. I've visited several blogs of other scrapbookers that have really got me inspired. I will be working on updating my kids' "Birthday Albums" as my first updating projects. I can't wait to start this next week! That's all the updates for now... TGIF!!!

Mortified!

O.K. I had a situation happen today that mortified me; something that needed to happen for me to have a reality check to take action.

Last week Kirk started the process of re-financing our house so we can get a better interest rate. Part of the process, besides the loads and loads of paperwork, is getting the home appraised. The appraisal guy showed up today, mid-morning. He had phoned us on Friday and said he would be here Monday morning (today) to access the property. Having a busy weekend, Kirk and I totally forgot appraisal guy was coming. The doorbell rings, I answered the door, and then remembered.. appraisal! Hopefully the guy didn't notice my surprise. He said "I'm here to access your home and will TAKE some PICTURES! Shouldn't be a big deal right? Well, my house looked like a hurricane hit it. I was so embarrassed & MORTIFIED! We usually keep a clean house, but these past couple weeks we've let it go. I'm not kidding when I say it was (and still is) a mess! I don't care what others think, but I've decided the embarrassment I experienced of a stranger most likely thinking we live like slobs is what I needed to take action and fix our slob-like behavior...

...Today is the start of some changes around our home!

• I started some major "deep cleaning" and will conquer one room per day until it's caught up. Once the "deep cleaning" is accomplished, we'll be a team towards "maintenance".
• Each of my 4 children will get a new "chore chart" ; a new one each month with the different responsibilities expected. We did it last year and it was very effective. They would earn mini-stickers on their chart and have to meet 20 stickers to get paid their allowance. But so far this year, I haven't made any chore charts and their bedrooms are proof of that!
• I will encourage and enforce the "clean as you go" expectation with all family members.
• At the end of each day, we will have a "10 minute tidy" family clean up... it's really amazing how much gets accomplished when 6 people are working together.

"M" is for Mom, not for Maid.

We're a team and that's the way it's going to be.

...hopefully the messiness of our disaster-zone home won't influence how our appraisal comes out. Yikes!

STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT...

STAR LIGHT,

STAR BRIGHT,

FIRST STAR I SEE TONIGHT,

I WISH I MAY,

I WISH I MIGHT,

HAVE THIS WISH I WISH TONIGHT...

Do you remember as a child gazing up at the first star in the darkening sky, believing that wishing on this bright star would magically bring what ever it was you wished for?

The other night while driving, it was almost dark, I heard my 7 year old daughter in the back seat of the car recite this poem in her sweet little voice. I smiled to myself and began to think about what was being said... "I wish I may, I wish I might, have THIS WISH, I wish tonight". My mind began to wander... thinking, "WOW! Could you imagine being given the opportunity to ask for something with the possibilty of actually getting it!"

At Gibeon the LORD appeared to King Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." (1Kings 3:5) Solomon had found favor with God and God was giving Solomon a wish! Solomon could have asked for anything he wanted; he asked for wisdom to lead God's people: "...a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong... (1Kings 3:9)

Something I've learned is that wishes do come true! Not by the act of wishing upon a star, but by the act of seeking the Creator of the stars. We have a Heavenly Father that is the ultimate wish fulfiller - a true gift giver. He loves fulfilling the desires of our hearts- our wishes; he plants many of those desires in our hearts so that he can make them come true for His glory. We need to just ask him. I'm not saying we are to treat God as a cosmic Santa Clause that we wrecklessly throw our selfish "wish list" of things we want in a "gimme-gimme attitude". I'm saying that we can feel comfortable approaching the throne of grace with courage and confidence, presenting our requests to him in a humble manner. He knows our hearts. All through Scripture, God's Word encourages us to "Ask" (Mt 7:7-8 ; Mt 21:21-22 ; Mark 22-24 ; John 14:14 ; John 15:7 ; John 15:16 ; Ephesians 3:20 ; James 4:2 ; 1John 4:2) . Keep in mind when we "ask", we are to believe and not doubt, and we are to have God-centered motives and not self centered attitudes.

Do wishes come true?

Yes, they do!

Think about this~

IF YOU WERE GIVEN JUST ONE WISH,

WHAT WOULD YOU WISH FOR?

Happy Heart Doing Cartwheels!

Just a quick post to share how awesome God is! Like we didn't already know! : ) My heart is doing cartwheels and I'm feeling so giddy over the sovereignty of our God and thankful for answered prayers.

I got a call from my sister yesterday in WA state (over 2,000 miles away) and can't stop thinking about her joy, peace, and new found courage she is finally experiencing (so long over due). She has had a very rough year; has gone through trials I wouldn't wish on any one. Through all the real bad stuff that broke her down emotionally and physically, she has found a relationship with God; THIS IS THE REASON for my heart doing cartwheels! She's traded her "religion" we grew up with in for a real "relationship" with Jesus our Lord and SAVIOR. She's always known who God was, but never KNEW GOD. I'm so excited for her! WAIT - while I actually stand up and do a "happy dance" in celebration over my sister... the angels in heaven are also rejoicing!

Isn't it cool how God will allow us to get to the end of ourselves... we lose almost everything and then we can finally see how much we need Him. Once we put away are self sufficiency, He then can show himself in mighty ways as only He can. Yeah GOD! My sister is living in the middle of a miracle through her new faith in Christ, by His loving grace. I am thrilled for her and the journey she will continue on as she grows to know Him.

He has brought godly women to surround and encourage her and has led her to a wonderful church to shepherd her. She has plugged into a Bible study (Beth Moore- Breaking Free) and is soaking in God's Word. Thank you God for answered prayer for my sister I so dearly love! She's still got along way to go with her horrible year behind her and the circumstances still following her, but with you, Lord, nothing is impossible! I can't wait to hear all about the abundant blessings on my sister as she continues to surrender to the Lord and follow in his ways.

My sister and I

(photo taken April 2008 when she visited Texas from Washington State)

PRAYER: Thank you Lord for your love and for your perfect timing. Thank you that you never give up on us, even though much of the time we give up on you through unbelief, worry and pride.. You NEVER leave us nor forsake us no matter what! You love us beyond what our brains can comprehend! I pray for continued blessing over my sister, over her employment and financial situation, over the injustice in her life. You Lord, are ultimate judge, you provide all our needs, you truly are our EVERYTHING. Thank you that you will provide for my sister and her family double portion of all that has been lost in her life. I also pray for my other family members that don't know you; that I can be salt and light in their lives (long distance) and that you cross people in their paths that will reflect your goodness and love to help them come to know you, just like you did for my sister. You are awesome God, I lift up my banners in the name of the Lord in celebration of all your goodness. It's in Jesus' name I pray, Amen.