Real Life...

This week our home, our living room in particular, has been torn up, things moved, the ceiling painted, touch ups made and everything put back together again. We still have a few small things to do, but with the heaters on, the heaters will have to wait. The paint dries too fast on them to make them look good. I wasn't really going for gloppy. LOL

The upstairs hallway has been bothering me too, so I decided to get started on it. We've taped everything off and primed the heater. It is a much smaller baseboard heater, so I could get it done in a small amount of time. Now comes waiting time. My husband had to replace an electrical outlet last month and since I've continually forgotten to pick up joint compound to fix it, the hole has gone unpatched. Ugh! Fortunately, that particular area really doesn't have a lot of stuff in it to "undo", so we just work on it as the joint compound dries.

Much of our time this week has been spent having our meals like this~

If you notice, the piano is still here. The lady who wanted it still has not returned my emails. I'm beginning to think she doesn't want it any longer. The children are still practicing on it, which is why you see their music and folders sitting on it and the bench in front of it. My oldest son made dinner tonight which consists of home made french fries (his own concoction), hot dogs with nacho cheese sauce and broccoli with ranch dressing. Things in our house are still in a little bit of a disarray. We've also decided to move a book shelf and organize as we went. Some of those things are still tucked underneath the coffee table pictured above.

But still, things continue to move along. We are purging clutter as we go which always leads to spending more time than you thought on reorganizing things. I am one who always has the children involved in doing many of the things in the house, with just a few exceptions. One of those exceptions was painting the ceiling in the living room. If you look just a smidge to the left of my youngest son in the blue shirt above, you'll see the dark burgundy carpeting. Hence the reason I would have preferred to paint the ceiling white.

This is one of the lovely pictures above my desk. This picture against this color of the wall really makes me smile. I bought this at a home interiors party 19 years ago and it still makes me smile. There is a tall candlestick lamp just below this picture that has a pineapple motif painted in black with its points tipped in the same color as the wall. I bought it at a yard sale because it makes me smile too. I have many things that make me smile. These mean nothing to me, though, if I don't have love to share with others.

Through all of the minor projects this week, my children and my husband have helped me in a variety of ways to accomplish these goals. I thank them from my deepest heart. I've also asked for their forgiveness for my quick snippiness when I've been tired. I've also shared with them how wonderful it is to know that the Lord is not finished with me yet. I am far from perfect. Thankfully, God still has much work to do with me.

Blessings,

Actions and Re-actions

I'm sure that many myths abound about how our life may be a bed of roses with sunshine and lollipops all the time.  While this may be many people's view of our lives, this perspective may be from the outside looking in. 

Rest assured that we do have our fair share of troubles, squabbles, hurt, heart ache, sorrow, lonliness, selfishness, confusions, anger and so forth.  We would be the first to admit that we are not perfect...very far from it, in fact.    We deal with disobedience, rebellion and a variety of other sins with scripture as our guide.  We forgive quickly, or at least we work very hard to.

Why then, do I not write about those things that are in our home?  If you search either of my blogs, you might catch a glimpse of struggle, concern, irritation or pain.  But, honestly, is it really worth passing along a  bitterness to others?  I know that misery loves company.  I don't want to wallow in misery.  I don't want to soak myself or my family in a selfish "woa is me" rant that is repleat of any hopefulness. 

How is that I can do that when _____________ is happening around me?

First, I recognize that God is not surprised by the occurances of things around me or to me.  He's already fully aware of everything.  If He's got it all covered then why do I need to worry, fret and stew?  What good does it do to me or my family?  Nothing!  I CHOOSE peace.  Since I choose peace, then bitterness and his/her brothers and sisters will not follow.  If I cling to the promises in scripture that says,

Deu 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.


Deu 31:8 And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.


Jos 1:5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.




1Ch 28:20 And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.

If God says in His holy word "do not fear", then why should I? 

What should I do then?

Eph 6:10-24 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. (11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (14) Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; (15) And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; (16) Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (18) Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (19) And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, (20) For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (21) But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things: (22) Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts. (23) Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (24) Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

If we have the sword of the spirit and all the armor of God on, then we are fit to do battle, withstanding the devil's firey darts.

The greatest commandment we have is this:

Mat 22:37-40 And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (38) This is the great and first commandment. (39) And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (40) On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets.


If you are finding that you do not know how to love, start by reading John 3:16 in your Bible.  This scripture in and of itself is the greatest amount of love the Father has shown to us.  If you don't own a Bible, go to e-sword.net and download a Bible.  If you don't want to download one to your computer for whatever reason, go to crosswalk.com and read it there.  (Click on the link, it will take you to John 3.  Page down to verse 16.) 

God also gives another definition of love in scripture.  That is,

1Co 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant (5) or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; (6) it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (7) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

If life throws all kinds of things you way, you have a choice of how to react.  There are so many things in each of our lives to be thankful for.  Will we react with bitterness and anger or will we have peace? 

What will you chose?

Blessings,

Regina

Please Keep Us in Your Prayers

My Love

Making Way

While writing the weekly posts on "Recovering the Lost Art of Home Making", I've come to a point in time where I'd like to share some of the things I've been working on.  As you can see by the title, we're "making way" for something new.

This particular piece of furniture is taking up residence in our living room.  My dining room is rather small, with base board heating around the 2 walls.  While we are hoping to change that in the not so distant future, it is not in the plans currently. 

One of our concerns has been, since joining a new "to us" home school group, is having enough seating for guests.  While we do have furniture in our living room, and chairs to spare if and when we need to pull them in to the living room, we don't have a full sized couch.  In order to "make room" for the full sized couch, we need to bless others with not just the china cabinet above, but also our old piano.

If you notice, they are sitting (or standing) side-by-side.  They take up the entire wall currently.  You can see the wall in the picture below.

Once we give away the piano and sell the china cabinet, we'll purchase our new sofa bed.  We're replacing the piano with a keyboard to put along the half wall.

To get a better feel for the room, if you click here, you'll see what I mean.  :0) 

Why are we doing this?  I'm glad you've asked!  We have purposed the past 2 or more years to invite families over for dinner to help me teach the children more about what it means to be hospitable.  This time of preparation has been a wonderful learning time for us to help the children to learn and to apply what they've learned about what it means to be hospitable.  They are not only learning how to be hospitable, but how to serve others as well.  This year, we will be practicing more "over night" hospitality with family coming to stay.  We had discussed getting 2 sofa beds at one point in time, so this is just the first step toward that goal.  We have discussed building a guest room in the basement along with partially enclosing the "living room" area there too.  We will proceed all in due time, of course. 

Through much planning, saving and wise purchasing, things will get done...all in due time.

Blessings,



Recovering the Lost Art of Homemaking Part 1

http://homeschoolmummyx3.xanga.com/739961170/recovering-the-lost-art-of-home-making-part-1/