Summer in March

 

It has been so beautiful here for the last few days.

I hope it lasts!

My tea garden is starting to show some signs of life...yay!

Chamomile

Catnip right there in the middle

Lemon Balm or Melissa....my personal favorite, I hope to get lots and lots

Don't forget to post your first post (this is the last time I'll plug this, really) if you haven't already. Don't be shy!

Have a great weekend.

In The Evening

 

when the day is done

Friday night in the outskirts of the big city...a beautiful twilight and a great weekend. A weekend where it seems that everything is and will be as it should be. I treasure these fleeting moments of peace.

The Mr. went to see this guy and some others on Saturday night. He is a bit of a musician- one day hopefully I'll get to post some of my hubby's stuff here. But for now, enjoy this:

Also, it's not too late to post your first post link. I am so happy with all the participation in my little experiment, it was well beyond what I expected! Thank you all so much for posting and reading and visiting! I'm putting a picture in the sidebar over there and will leave that up for a while so don't forget to check back from time to time and of course add yours if you haven't already.

ALSO, I may have to change the "This is where is all happens" picture as the Mr. presented me with a gift this weekend as well.:)

Have a great Tuesday!

Wanted: Your First Post

I thought it might be kind of fun for anyone reading to share his or her first blog post.  I can imagine most first posts don't get a lot of traffic so this is a good time to dig them up.  We can see if you have changed direction or made your posts longer or shorter....have a good larf or walk down memory lane. Maybe you'll find a new blog to read or someone new to read yours.

This is where it all happens.

Won't that be fun?!





I've added a linky thing at the bottom. Please link to your first post and not your home page. Don't make us dig through the archives.




My first post is here.
(a little boring and long-winded, but contains a great resource:))



I was initially going to post and comment on bible study and eschatological happenings, but I have kind of drifted.




After linking to your first post, please leave a comment telling us a little about why you blog, what it is about, etc. (I have removed the comment moderation setting, so yours should show right up...I hope to be able to leave it this way.)

You may have to refresh the page in order for your link to show up:)




I look forward to some weekend reading here so get busy!

First Posts!

On Hospitality

In Romans chapter twelve Paul gives the church some instructions, in that list is:

Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

Helping the saints? No problem.  Given to hospitality...well, that depends... what does hospitality mean?

philoxenia (source)

 1) love to strangers, hospitality

Uh oh.


You've got problems lady (is what I have been saying to myself).




And there's this in the letter to the Hebrews:

    Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Who doesn't want to entertain angles?  Apparently me, maybe, but how would I know?







You see I really, really struggle with this.  I am a major homebody and on top of that, I certainly don't want any BODY else in my home (not established friends or family you see, but strangers). Apparently, the rest of the world didn't get the memo, and I've got kids who live nearby coming over wanting to befriend my kids...and I don't like it.






Honestly, that is how I feel.





In trying to get other people to agree with me that I am completely right in this, I'm not getting the overwhelming support I want. I was complaining about discussing this with someone for whom I have great respect yesterday and she didn't tell me what I wanted to hear.





I get it, I have the problem, not them. Sigh.      Ouch and Sigh.

You all just stay over there.

And it's not that I don't want the kids to have friends, I just want to be in control of everything. Is that too much to ask? (waiting for validation).




So, I am seriously considering that I may have been wrong here.





There's a saying that it is easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world. (I think it was Stuart Smalley who said that). So here's to putting on those slippers.



 I want to trust God in this and obey and be hospitable.

Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

It's Friday, This used to be a Dining Room, and More

I've been waiting for Petra to start up her Wednesday blog hop again to post this, but she's discontinued that for the time being, so I'll post it now:)



When we started to homeschool, I needed a dry erase board or a chalkboard or something to, you know, school on. It took me a little while, but I finally figured out that dry erase markers work on glass beautifully. So the Dry Erase China Cabinet was born.

I taped some paper to the back of the doors you see.

Books have replaced the knick knacks that used to live in here.  Aren't  they neatly organized? The artwork is by the "babies" -the 3 and 4 year olds.

A few years later, the Mr. found this in the storage area of our garage (this house was his grandparent's, so we're always finding cool things)...chalkboard, check!

Someone is in the fridge, as usual.

I overslept this morning, horrors! I don't know what happened. Anyway maybe I needed to sleep, since this has been my mood for the last couple of days:

But, when I got out here it was storming, so that was exciting:

Hail....I never understood it.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Clouds XVIII

I haven't seen clouds like this for a while! I was scrubbing taters last week and looked out the window. WOW! I dropped them and grabbed my camera.

It was cold, and windy, so I'm attributing the blurriness to the wind and my shivering, not my bad photo taking skills.

I tried some different settings on the camera while trying to capture the way they really looked...this one turned out grey, I don't know why.

I'm going to use the verse Susan put in the comment section of the last post.

Nahum 1:3  The LORD [is] slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit [the wicked]: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds [are] the dust of his feet.

I noticed that the words "the wicked" aren't even in the text as indicated by the brackets. I wonder why it was inserted?


Many other versions render it as He won't let the guilty go unpunished. That made me think of David. He was forgiven, but certainly didn't go unpunished.


That's something to think about...we DO reap what we sow.

Seeing Darkly

I'm just plain experiencing burn out of all kinds. I've also got some hum drum, just plain life annoyances that are well....annoying.




Maybe Father's way of telling me to settle down and stop thinking so much.



From without:

Be content with what God has revealed in Scripture.

Don't try to pull things out.

Don't try to make the bible say what you want it to.

His ways are past finding out.

It's a mystery.

He is God, we are not.

But again:

Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Questioning  (I like to call it seeking) can be dangerous. It can be perceived as a lack of faith or outright heresy, not believing the bible (in many cases, though, questioning come from just that- believing the bible) though I have to point out that most of the mainstream-even some bible believers- mentioned in scripture were flat wrong. 



I have been reading this afternoon a couple of blogs of sisters in Christ both of whom I greatly respect but also, who would certainly have different views on things, but I do believe that we who are seeking Him are all doing so in the sincerity of our hearts. I mean those REALLY seeking (not talking about lip service or cultural Christians).


Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks upon the heart.


My views on a number of things doctrinally have changed in the past 16 years or so since I can pinpoint my "saving" moment, but looking back on it, I know that it was Him all along and I've always known it.


Always


Sometimes I think it may have been better before religion got in the way, but it's all a journey we have to go on.

 But coming is the hour, and now is, when the true worshipers will be worshiping the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father also is seeking such to be worshiping Him.
 God is spirit, and those who are worshiping Him must be worshiping in spirit and truth

Just some babbling thoughts on this cold and sunny afternoon.