tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45521449513313923992024-02-19T02:16:31.356-08:00Cottage in The MeadowHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-23827071747173953932008-01-20T07:24:00.000-08:002008-01-20T07:30:23.772-08:00~ Saying Goodbye For Now ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8FLFza3J-cnQjDdo9ibRyN7sFpJ8hyphenhyphenr2XesX5gneGDI0u6c7m8wjRY6TPGjFBRi3pS2qv8k323075ictBb7OcQS8cJ-Cl4aHMP7aLnO08aj3sacQJcunrtuZjcP4_56jBZNjNMRxzC1P/s1600-h/Victorian%2520girl%2520resized.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8FLFza3J-cnQjDdo9ibRyN7sFpJ8hyphenhyphenr2XesX5gneGDI0u6c7m8wjRY6TPGjFBRi3pS2qv8k323075ictBb7OcQS8cJ-Cl4aHMP7aLnO08aj3sacQJcunrtuZjcP4_56jBZNjNMRxzC1P/s320/Victorian%2520girl%2520resized.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5157580271874817618" /></a><br /> <br />I must say goodbye for now. I am sorry to stop blogging, but some things have come up in my life and I need to devote my time to my family right now. I will continue to read all of your blogs from time to time, but for now I will not be adding any new posts to my blog.<br />Thanks for your understanding and God bless each of you!!<br />HeatherHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-83429738573745242372008-01-14T16:27:00.000-08:002008-01-14T16:44:08.153-08:00~ Someone in need. Please read ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiimhBEOOagVhSUST7rtiUZ2MQC1T2P9aK2tAEoNS0pLMlWvccv18QfNE6CSAfDLJ5lngA0tMTXlNFPgXGy_s0TgJoTCjPJhBvNudnwEpGlFB4ga9iNTXE2OlWlNk8hcOO-UUfsTa9WK8hW/s1600-h/girlbunnyhug.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiimhBEOOagVhSUST7rtiUZ2MQC1T2P9aK2tAEoNS0pLMlWvccv18QfNE6CSAfDLJ5lngA0tMTXlNFPgXGy_s0TgJoTCjPJhBvNudnwEpGlFB4ga9iNTXE2OlWlNk8hcOO-UUfsTa9WK8hW/s320/girlbunnyhug.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5155497594988346946" /></a><br />This post was taken from <a href="http://www.sharonsroses.blogspot.com/">Sharon's</a> blog.<br />A Kidney Donor Is Needed<br /> <br />I have a friend, Teresa Gunn, who is in her early 40's who has been on the kidney transplant list for more than two years. She has been on home dialysis four times a day since November. Each treatment can take up to two hours at a time which doesn't provide her much free time to leave the house. Thankfully, she will soon be set up on a nighttime schedule where she is hooked up for 9 hours while sleeping at night and be free during the daytime.<br /><br />She has Fanconi Syndrome which can be read about here. It is by the Grace of God that she is still here with us. She is a Christian who has a great faith in God and a very loving family and church family who help her during trying times. She is not married and has no children, but loves the children in our church and use to work with them when she was able. She always seems to have a twinkle in her eye and loves people. She has always been willing to help anyone that is in need, whether it be driving them somewhere, sitting with someone sick at home or in a hospital (which she has done for us), helping to serve food at church socials, working at the local soup kitchen, and many more services that I don't even know about. She is a true heart servant. You couldn't ask for a more devoted person to be a friend. Whether she realizes it or not, God has used her greatly.<br /><br />She has had the opportunity twice for a transplant from living donors willing to give her a kidney, but both times the health of the donors prevented the transplant. Now, I have to admit that even thinking about donating can be scary. You think, "What if I donate one and then something happens to my other kidney?" "What if something unusual happens during the surgery to remove my kidney?" "What if she gets my kidney and it fails to work for her?" You know why you would think these things? Because I have, and we're all human. I began thinking that maybe I should ask more detailed questions about being a donor, and so I did.<br />Here is what I have learned regarding Teresa's case:<br /><br /><br /><br />Acceptable organ donors from the ages of 18-60<br />All costs related to the donation of organs and tissues are paid for by the donor program<br />You must have the same blood type, which in Teresa's case, is a rare O negative<br />Besides blood matching, there are tests for tissue matching as well.<br />They cannot accept you if you have diabetes or high blood pressure, or any other significant health problems.<br />Your kidneys will be tested to be sure that your remaining kidney will function at a certain percentage.<br />There are plenty of precautions taken to ensure the health of the donor as well as the recipient.<br /><br />I have been praying for Teresa for a long time now and not giving up hope. I have a peace deep down inside that she is going to be fine. I'm slow, but it occured to me the other day when I saw an article in our local paper about her that I could post about it on my little corner of the web.<br /><br />Since she has such a rare blood type of O negative, it narrows the field of potential donors to about 7 percent of the population. I guess this is what really hit me, but we all know that God is bigger than any problem we have and He can do anything! <br /><br />If you or someone you know has this blood type, I ask that you please pray about the possibility of becoming a donor for Teresa. Emory Hospital in Atlanta, GA has a phone line for potential donors. If you would like to be considered as a potential kidney donor for Teresa Gunn, call (404) 712-4857 and follow instructions. You may also call the Gunn family at (706) 778-8935.<br /><br />For more information, go to the National Kidney Foundation.<br /><br />Please consider this:<br /><br />What if she were your daughter, sister, or mother?<br /><br />Blessings, SharonHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-57571228323006788812008-01-09T11:10:00.000-08:002008-01-12T06:59:01.474-08:00~ Hannah's Prayer by Nancy Leigh DeMoss ~"Leslie: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for Wednesday, January 9.<br />Every Mother’s Day, when many women are celebrating, others are experiencing a deep pain, longing for a child. The Bible tells us about a woman who knew this pain.<br />We’re taking a look at her life in a series called Hannah’s Prayer and God’s Power. Here’s Nancy.<br />Nancy: We’re examining the life of a woman in the Old Testament who has become my most recent favorite Bible character. Her name is Hannah. The name means “grace.”<br />Her story is one of incredible grace—the grace of God in her life and the grace of God in using her life to bring grace to a whole nation. What an incredible story of how God chooses and uses an unlikely person to accomplish extraordinary purposes in her generation as He does in our generation, as well.<br />We saw in the last session that Hannah came from a family where she was loved by her husband. Her husband was a devout worshiper and follower of the Lord, but there were some issues in this family.<br />First, we noticed in 1 Samuel chapter one, verse two that there were two wives. Elkanah (the husband) “had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah.”<br />We saw this was not God’s plan. God did not authorize this. It was contrary to the way He had established marriage, but God is able even out of our failures to bring glory to Himself and to bring His light to shine in a dark generation.<br />I am so grateful for that redeeming grace of God. Now, there’s another problem in this family, particularly in Hannah’s life, and that is the issue of her unfulfilled longing for a child.<br />Verse two, 1 Samuel chapter one, “Elkanah had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.”<br />That’s the first description given of these women. That’s what identified and marked them in this era when having children—particularly having sons—to continue the family name was ultra-important.<br />That’s how they were identified in that culture. Peninnah had children. Hannah had none. The implication in that day and culture was that therefore Peninnah was blessed, but Hannah was cursed.<br />This is actually a perversion of something that was a truth in God’s Word. God’s Word says children are a blessing, and we read at different times throughout the Old Testament that God said to His people, “If you obey Me, I will prosper you, and one of the ways I will prosper you is I will make you to have children.”<br />That’s a blessing. It’s a good thing to have children. It’s God’s way. It’s God’s plan in Deuteronomy 28. “The Lord [if you obey Him] will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground.”<br />So the people took that to say, “Okay, if children are a blessing from God, if being fertile is a blessing from God, then if you can’t have children, if you’re barren, then you must be cursed by God. You must have sinned. You must have displeased the Lord in some way. There must be something wrong in your life, and your barrenness is a sign of that.<br />You see, they saw one promise of God and they jumped to a conclusion that therefore, anyone who didn’t have children was cursed of God.<br />In this passage there is no reason given for why Peninnah had children and Hannah had none. There’s no “why.” There’s no explanation given here. It’s just simply, “Peninnah had children, and Hannah had none.”<br />Isn’t that the way life often is? Life isn’t fair. Have your children said that? “But it’s not fair, Mom.” And you say, “Life isn’t fair,” and it’s true.<br />God is just, and God never makes a mistake. He is good. He is righteous. He is holy, but God doesn’t deal with all people the same, and many times, God doesn’t give an explanation for our heartaches—not here and now, anyway.<br />We’re going to see that this barrenness, this infertility, Hannah’s inability to conceive children, became a great heartache to her and caused heaviness of heart.<br />But at this point in her life, there was no reason given. There was no explanation. Life doesn’t always work the way we want it to, the way we think it should.<br />We like these simple, neat little formulas. You obey God, and you will be blessed. Okay, what does blessing mean? In Hannah’s case, “I want children. If I obey God and love God, He will bless me, and therefore I will have children.”<br />And how many women who could not have children have found themselves under the pile, the guilt, the weight of what they think or what others maybe have told them.<br />“If you would just trust God more. If you would just pray more. If you were just more spiritual.” Nobody would say it that way (I hope!), but often, isn’t that the case as it relates to unfulfilled longings?<br />We think, “If I were just more godly, God would fulfill my longings.” It may be a longing for a child. What is it that you long for, that you want desperately and that you’ve never received?<br />Is it a child? Maybe it’s a mate. It’s not wrong to have longings. Children are good. Husbands are good. It’s not wrong to long for health. It’s not wrong to long for the ability to pay your bills, for your husband to have a job that’s sufficient to do that, or if you’re not a wife and mom, for you to have a job where you can provide for yourself.<br />It’s not wrong to long for the salvation of your mate or your children or another loved one, your parents. Those longings are not wrong. What is wrong is when we become demanding, and we say, “Lord, You have to fulfill my longing and my desire now.”<br />“I’ll love You, I’ll trust You, I’ll obey You if you fulfill my longings, if you give me what I want.” You see, you can be obeying God. You can be walking with God. You can be a godly woman and still have pieces of your life that don’t seem right, that don’t fit together, where your longings are not fulfilled.<br />There was, for all that we know, a godly woman who couldn’t conceive children, and her rival, who was a cruel woman, the other wife, Peninnah, had lots of children.<br />How do you figure? You know what? Don’t try. You can’t figure it out. It doesn’t make sense why God would bless somebody who isn’t the least bit spiritual with lots of children and God gives you heartache or heartbreak or gives you children and then takes one or more of those children.<br />And then it’s, “What did I do? Where did I go wrong?” That can be the thinking and the question. Sometimes the acts of God in our lives and our choices don’t seem consistent with the Word of God and the ways of God.<br />You go back to Deuteronomy 28, and you say, “It promises that if we obey God, He will bless us. He will make us prosperous. He will make us fertile.”<br />Sometimes God acts in ways that don’t seem to be consistent with His own Word. That’s only because we’re looking at it from a very limited, finite perspective. We don’t have the whole picture.<br />We don’t know what God’s up to, and what you have to recognize is that your life, with its unfulfilled longings, is part of a bigger story. It’s part of a bigger plan.<br />I was telling somebody the other day that I feel like a little tadpole in the bigger plan and purposes of God, but we get so self-centered, we start to think the story is about us. It’s our story.<br />It’s not your story. It’s God’s story that He’s writing and that He’s unfolding in this world, and God calls us to be willing to take a big part in that story of redemption, in that story of God’s fame and His name going around the world and His glory being known on earth, and the glory of the Lord covering the earth as the waters cover the sea.<br />That’s what God’s about. He says, “Are you willing to have a big part in that? Are you willing to be disposed of? Are you willing to be inconvenienced? Are you willing to have unfulfilled longings, if necessary, so that I can fulfill My bigger purposes in your life and in our world?”<br />So what does God call us to do? He calls us to trust His heart when we can’t see what He’s doing. We can’t figure it out. He calls us to trust. “God, You are good. Whatever You determine, You’re God. I accept Your plan. I trust You.”<br />He’s calling us to surrender, to acquiesce, to relinquish our control and surrender to His will as He unfolds it in our lives.<br />That doesn’t mean you surrender to God and you no longer have these longings for a mate or a child or a job or health. It means that you keep surrendering the hurt, the longing, the unfulfilled longing.<br />You keep giving it up to God as a sacrifice. And it means not only do you trust and surrender, but you find your place in God’s plan.<br />You may not know that right now, as Hannah at this point of the story is clueless as to what God is up to. You see, God is up to a plan for His nation of Israel, and Hannah is thinking about her little bitty place in that plan.<br />All she can see is she doesn’t have children, and she wants them desperately. What she can’t see is that there’s a plan unfolding. God has a plan, a purpose. God is on a mission. God is orchestrating the events of the planet, including her little tiny part of it, to bring glory to Himself.<br />I hope you’re going to stick with us for this whole story as it unfolds because you can’t get it all in one session, and you’re going to see what has been unfolding in my heart over the past few days as I’ve been studying this passage.<br />There’s a story here. There’s a plan. There’s a purpose. There’s a program. God’s behind it, and Hannah is going to come to see that even her infertility is a part of that plan.<br />Her disappointment, her unfulfilled longings are a part of that plan, and when the story is over and done with and told, and you get up and you can see the big picture, and you can look down on what you only knew a little bitty part of before, and you say, “Oh yes! That’s what God was doing!”<br />Then, you say, “Yes. God, what You’ve done is good.” You’ve heard me say it before. Someone has said that God’s will is exactly what you and I would choose if we knew what God knows.<br />We don’t know what God knows. If we did, we’d be God. God challenges us to receive and embrace His plan, His will, His timing for this season of our lives, whatever that may be.<br />So we’ve seen that Hannah was barren. She was infertile. That was hard enough, but to make it worse, she also had to deal with the fertility—the extreme fertility—of the rival wife, Peninnah.<br />Peninnah not only had children, but according to verse four, she had “sons and daughters.” That’s at least four children. So not only is Hannah unable to conceive and have children, but she’s living in the same household with a woman who is extremely fertile.<br />So there’s the unavoidable comparison between the two women, not only in their own minds, but also in the minds of other people who are watching.<br />There’s this constant salt in the wound for Hannah. It’s bad enough not to be able to have children yourself, but then you’re constantly faced with this woman who’s having children, constantly it seems.<br />You can just imagine as a woman what an emotional cycle that Hannah must have gone through every month. Every month she’s hoping, “Maybe this will be the month that I’ll get pregnant,” only to be disappointed one more time.<br />Month after month after month after month. And then she would learn Peninnah’s expecting again. Peninnah’s going to have a baby, and you grit your teeth and say, “Isn’t that wonderful.”<br />“God bless her.” You want to be happy for her, and some of you who’ve not been able to have children or couldn’t have them for some period of time, you know what it was like hearing about other women your age who were having children, lots of them, and you want to rejoice with them, but it’s hard.<br />Their fertility is making you face your own infertility, and this can be true with any kind of longing. It may be a single woman, and all her friends are getting married, and all you’re longing for is not happening, but it is happening to other people around you.<br />So Hannah is faced with this very real thing. She’s watching Peninnah’s belly grow, and perhaps as a second wife in the home, she’s having to assist in the labor and the delivery of this other wife, this competitive wife.<br />She hears Peninnah’s newborn crying. She sees Peninnah nurse and hold her infant, and every one of these activities again and again and again is like a knife wound in the heart of Hannah.<br />It’s like single women going to weddings throughout the summer, and you say, “I’m really thrilled for all these people getting married, but what about me? How come this doesn’t happen to me?”<br />There’s this joy for them, but there’s this wound for yourself, the comparison. So here’s Hannah with a mother’s heart, but empty arms, again and again and again.<br />These are situations over which she had no control. She couldn’t make herself get pregnant. Everywhere she turned, she was faced with the reality of her own barrenness and this rival wife’s fertility.<br />By the way, it’s interesting in this passage that these women are described just in terms of their child bearing. “Peninnah had children. Hannah had none.”<br />Isn’t it interesting that our culture tends to define us and describe us in those kinds of terms. She’s single. She’s married. She has children. She has none. Her job—she’s an executive. She’s in management.<br />Ladies, it’s not whether you’re married or single, whether you have many children or no children in the will of God.<br />Whether you have a high-paying job or no job at all, whether you’re working at home or working out in the marketplace if it’s that season of life for you to be doing that—those aren’t the things that define you. They may define you in the eyes of the culture, but in God’s eyes, what defines us is our heart. It’s our relationship with Him—our faith, our trust, our surrender to Him.<br />It’s the heart issues, and that’s what we also need to be careful about when we’re defining others, that we don’t put them in these little boxes and say, “That’s who she is,” that we look deeper down into the heart.<br />Verse four of chapter one, 1 Samuel tells us, “On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters.”<br />This is referring to those annual pilgrimages when Elkanah would take his family to Shiloh, where the tabernacle was located at the time.<br />They would worship God. They would offer sacrifices, and then as God had prescribed in the Old Testament law, after they offered peace offerings and thank offerings, those would be followed by a fellowship meal where the worshipers would eat a portion of what had been sacrificed.<br />It was a form of communion. It was a love feast. It was a time when they would sit and participate together in feasting on a part of the sacrifice they had made.<br />It was supposed to be a time of joy and celebration, centering around their worship and the feast days.<br />So “on the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he gave a double portion” (verse 5).<br />We don’t really know what that word double means. Some translations say “a worthy portion.” It’s not a clear word, but it’s clear that he took care of Hannah, that he honored her in some way.<br />And it says, “Because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb.” Here’s a woman who has a husband who loves her. She’s cared for; her needs are met; she’s in a family that worships the Lord.<br />She has a lot, but she doesn’t have the one thing she really wants. Isn’t that like us to have so much but to become obsessed with, as Hannah did ultimately, the one thing God doesn’t let us have, for reasons known only to God.<br />Here’s the reason we have to see the sovereignty of God in this. It’s because of the last phrase in this verse, verse five. “Elkanah loved Hannah, though the LORD had closed her womb.”<br />Why was Hannah childless? Because God, who opens and closes the womb, in His sovereignty, had not ordained, to that point, to give her a child.<br />That’s what it comes down to—the Lord had closed her womb for reasons that God was not explaining at the moment, and for reasons in our lives as we look at our unfulfilled longings that God may never explain this side of Heaven.<br />We have to come to the place where we understand God does not owe us an explanation. He is God, and if God wants to give you a husband, bless Him. If God wants to give you children, bless the Lord and receive children as a gift from God.<br />If God wants to give you good health, if God wants to give you finances sufficient to what you think you need, bless the Lord for that.<br />But if God withholds something that you think is good, and that if God gave it, it would be good, but God for a time or permanently withholds it from you, you have to come to the place where you bow before sovereignty and where you’re willing to be content with mystery, to say, “I don’t know why. I don’t understand why, but I’ll live with mystery because I know that God knows.”<br />It’s repeated in verse six, “The LORD had closed her womb,” and I think that’s for emphasis. It’s God who opens and closes the womb. It’s God who is sovereign in these issues, as we’ll see in this passage, of life and death and birth.<br />All these matters belong to the Lord. As we continue in the passage, we’re going to see that Hannah finally came to surrender to sovereignty, but it was only through a long, intense struggle.<br />You may struggle, but sooner or later, if you want to be intimate with God, you have to come to the place where you wave the white flag, you stop complaining, demanding, insisting, and you say, “God, You’re God. I accept Your sovereign choice, Your sovereign decision in this matter.”<br />What is the point in Your life where God has, in His sovereignty, ordained something to be different than what you would have chosen?<br />Let me ask you this—can you look back on past situations in your life where something you wanted very badly, you now thank the Lord He didn’t give you at that time?<br />You can see now what you couldn’t see then, that God was withholding this out of mercy and grace and love for you, that God had a plan. God had a purpose, and now it’s clear to you.<br />God lets us see some of those things in time. Can you trust now, though you can’t see that God has a plan and a purpose for the area where His sovereignty goes against your unfulfilled longings?<br />Will you bow the knee, bow the heart, and say, “Lord, I embrace this. I long for it, but I give my longings up to You. I trust You, and I know that You are fulfilling Your purposes, and I trust You to do that.”<br />Leslie: That’s Nancy Leigh DeMoss guiding us through the process of surrendering to God’s will.<br />Until today, have you thought much about what it means to give your deepest desires to God, to give up something you want, trusting Him to give you something better?<br />Nancy’s book Surrender can help you see how joyful and peaceful it is to give yourself entirely to God. If you’ve never thought about this issue, ordering Surrender can be a perfect way to start.<br />You can order Surrender online at ReviveOurHearts.com</a>. or call us at 1-800-569-5959.<br />When you get squeezed by the pressures of life, how do you respond? It’s an important question. We’ll find out why tomorrow.<br />Now, Nancy is back to pray.<br />Nancy: Father, I know that the things I’ve said today tread into the area of mystery, and there are many more unanswered questions that I’ve raised than ones that I’ve answered.<br />But Lord, thank You that we can trust You with our unanswered questions, and right now, we just want to give up to You that particular unfulfilled longing, that area of our lives where You have closed the door.<br />You’ve not allowed us to have the thing we want or the thing we think we need, the good gift. Lord, in the midst of that, we want to be worshipers, faithful, devoted followers of Jesus Christ.<br />Faithful if you supply, faithful if you provide what we want, but Lord, we want to say we don’t just love You for Your gifts. We love You because You’re God. We don’t want to be paid lovers.<br />We ask that You’d give us grace to think and respond that way. I pray in Jesus’ name, amen."<br />Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.<br />All Scripture is taken from the English Standard Version.<br /><a href="http://www.reviveourhearts.com/">www.reviveourhearts.com</a>[<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sharonsroses.blogspot.com/">Sharon</a> has a wonderful post on this very topic. I hope you can check out her blog dated January 2, 2008.<br /><br />~Thank you Secret Sister!Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-65464775095447969102008-01-03T16:13:00.000-08:002008-01-06T09:57:30.812-08:00~ Our Little Horses ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizE5Lzxi1Vbok6mp-ep7ap-HvIKS0YGNXrpVPNvLbLHjCc_ZXPwoJoTeM7BbK2deFr958qU0P1haJht-EqmcmLQTVq9qIl_WBo3BEZlfQ7qs7MdfdDbmOUtdNplNhzUA2i7B8d6cGiH7Zf/s1600-h/PICT0955.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5151409666590850610" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizE5Lzxi1Vbok6mp-ep7ap-HvIKS0YGNXrpVPNvLbLHjCc_ZXPwoJoTeM7BbK2deFr958qU0P1haJht-EqmcmLQTVq9qIl_WBo3BEZlfQ7qs7MdfdDbmOUtdNplNhzUA2i7B8d6cGiH7Zf/s320/PICT0955.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />These are our little horses~ Jasper and Bear. They are half brothers and are very different from each other. Jasper ( on the left ) acts like he is a tough little guy and likes to show off for the gals next door ( Draft horses )They will all line up and watch him act silly and he always looks over his shoulder to makes sure they are still watching him. Jasper is really a very sweet horse and likes to have a lot of fun and tries so hard to be silly. He is very afraid of baths and vets!! His brother, Bear, is very calm and quiet compared to Jasper and is not afraid of having a bath or a visit with the vet. Bear gets weary of Jasper's antics and likes to just have relaxing,calm days.<br /><br /><br /><div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlHyjrazlnr0v7bnBy13gPUsSHMnLciMi3gDexQSQk4BMKD9Nn9lSqbgxfxLkmPTQK85YkYdkLP-39PqFDfdjMGgBfwxQzRLrCDYV3XHvQkXyrG1rhl9xrTIV3FO8xqAtzW7C5djheZPeV/s1600-h/PICT0923.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5151408880611835394" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlHyjrazlnr0v7bnBy13gPUsSHMnLciMi3gDexQSQk4BMKD9Nn9lSqbgxfxLkmPTQK85YkYdkLP-39PqFDfdjMGgBfwxQzRLrCDYV3XHvQkXyrG1rhl9xrTIV3FO8xqAtzW7C5djheZPeV/s320/PICT0923.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Jasper and Bear moved into their new house ( barn ) four years ago and love it!! When we first got them, they lived in a stall under our daughter's clubhouse!! My husband had made a beautiful house for our daughter. It had a cedar shake roof and windows and was wallpapered in horse print. My dad came over and told Amanda that all she needed was to have a little pony living in a stall below and that is how Jasper came to live with us. We felt Jasper needed a friend, so my husband had his brother come and live with us, too. They were very excited to see each other again because they had been seperated for some time! Bear had never seen a house quite like Jasper's and his eyes got very big!! Bear was always outside and never in the barn much, so he thought Jasper had it made having his very own home ( with lace curtains and a sweet girl on the second floor ). The first day that Bear came he was much more interested in checking out his new house, but Jasper wanted to play with Bear, so he kept pulling on Bear's tail when he would head for his new house. Now Jasper and Bear have a big boys barn and really enjoy it very much!! They have been inseperable from the very first day and love each other very much!! </div></div></div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-53495022333250792152008-01-03T15:38:00.000-08:002008-01-03T15:51:49.853-08:00~ After Christmas cleaning ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi29LndKu-b9M0DGkyaNEDrmjhL9pvTEZEHnixKtDPsGxV85WsEk5T2zRsvXoP1_wj2d4nvxvMQ42HIWRfF5KQalqF3ExgAaB8oy40yTMRAApNPfzlUr6PF4Lghsv3ytLrB9kK0oUYREQgi/s1600-h/PICT0968.JPG"></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAHgyEsaf5OFYvzNP09-2Ly3MwVqSI8jP0EDYSIKN2onn0mtH0ZPuyG4UpnKtZuc_UoYgJO6J8pdAPa2V5hYSY1gUxxRbzagV5Nf7BmCZ3jU2ta_1W_kC30u2VwnlKVN-0YYl7QMRDdmtC/s1600-h/PICT0969.JPG"></a>Time to start putting away the Christmas decorations around the house. It is sad to say goodbye to the manger, but it will be fun bringing it back out again next year. This manger belonged to my grandmother. My grandmother lived across the street from us and would set her manger on top of a walnut bookcase that stood by her door. I now display her manger on a table in our foyer.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7VQBbqYOBGBEuBwTPKMX7P1guyQV6xpPDqqZMuBvpFdsZO-lhNiWmrPEozAjKDavdnWcZG0uxN9CqTI8i7k3KQSjjcC5TZCRJ20nxXVwAXVsnNGxO8MsTUkTsMooY-HbV5I0lSp7CEsl9/s1600-h/PICT0958.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5151399311424699826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7VQBbqYOBGBEuBwTPKMX7P1guyQV6xpPDqqZMuBvpFdsZO-lhNiWmrPEozAjKDavdnWcZG0uxN9CqTI8i7k3KQSjjcC5TZCRJ20nxXVwAXVsnNGxO8MsTUkTsMooY-HbV5I0lSp7CEsl9/s320/PICT0958.JPG" border="0" /></a> This was our Christmas tree this year. It was the first time that we had an artificial tree. We decided to pull out the cream, pink, and gold ornaments this year for something a little different. Goodbye Christmas, and 2007!! We now begin a brand new year ~ 2008!!<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyggRIpSKOv4MctEZr1uLuJviI7z_bPaMwdPBsBY7NfytfSOqZ7-AGz8YtkTc-iwQuaGnuH6dmGcHjjJIS4PaMRVi5unVkNcuw80HHdXimoG9uXMl0Jtz7m2F0wE5xEq7-e7yZxMXzxz2W/s1600-h/PICT0967.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5151399083791433122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyggRIpSKOv4MctEZr1uLuJviI7z_bPaMwdPBsBY7NfytfSOqZ7-AGz8YtkTc-iwQuaGnuH6dmGcHjjJIS4PaMRVi5unVkNcuw80HHdXimoG9uXMl0Jtz7m2F0wE5xEq7-e7yZxMXzxz2W/s320/PICT0967.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><div></div></div></div></div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-11075668047270747712008-01-01T08:03:00.001-08:002008-01-01T08:05:29.213-08:00~ Happy 2008 ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfPiT2tPyNuuzMMBpIVooPGjuE2IuJ8fqxQBZa8-J19sTm1YocBfi4cbv8_KM0b6M8n-vdLElQ4bMagDyueoKX93z0pbQtUMIvOwZ6gKAcx5LtbuM4m0wiKPKup06Rn3jkjawt5VyXM3u3/s1600-h/new+year.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150539789684522386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfPiT2tPyNuuzMMBpIVooPGjuE2IuJ8fqxQBZa8-J19sTm1YocBfi4cbv8_KM0b6M8n-vdLElQ4bMagDyueoKX93z0pbQtUMIvOwZ6gKAcx5LtbuM4m0wiKPKup06Rn3jkjawt5VyXM3u3/s320/new+year.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-35843888984257897472007-12-30T16:38:00.001-08:002007-12-30T16:53:37.724-08:00~ A secret, "I Love You Hand Squeeze" ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyEE5OZ0M7IxqeYJCEusdKhgjeYWH4eMpkKkIxp3IW9Zdwp8iTEgkeyusuPWiCgtFLX-AZjP2CxT6kKzTdzsSgT1_liS8Recjr59AWBGMPAltRUkRj_0md3vmv6TULTkzplHPu29FjFDB/s1600-h/hands.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149931965912792370" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyEE5OZ0M7IxqeYJCEusdKhgjeYWH4eMpkKkIxp3IW9Zdwp8iTEgkeyusuPWiCgtFLX-AZjP2CxT6kKzTdzsSgT1_liS8Recjr59AWBGMPAltRUkRj_0md3vmv6TULTkzplHPu29FjFDB/s320/hands.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Things were very hard for me when I was young. There was a lot of stress. When I was very young, my mom came up with an idea on how to tell me she loved me when we were out and she might not be able to talk at the time ( like when everyone stands to sing at church, at school etc... ) She told me that she would squeeze my hand three times in a row and that would always mean ~ I. Love. You!!! Many times I would be standing in church singing the hymns with everyone else, while holding my mom's hand, and all of a sudden she would squeeze my hand three times. I would squeeze back three times. This meant SO much to me when I was young and going through difficult times. This is something that you can do with your child or grandchild and it will mean the world to them!! A secret hand squeeze that says SO much!!<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCiLhcFQ3sMnwlAhyphenhyphenv9IfQRhuxfjxd-pzlPL6vAp881W8cNVLS6y7UJOR8vqNKsDrbjG2lbqcXMIUSbFY6FLuBsxahiOyLHPcbIQsiFMe9hYBqn4nu4Hko3WTlTCu79g75-S2qp4rzIQ9I/s1600-h/hands.bmp"></a><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-20095828217831987282007-12-27T17:01:00.000-08:002007-12-27T17:13:52.237-08:00~ The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglT7SXPpwHt7PZUSRLQLWj24c-N0StR-nbUR8YIQBFF4dcRVnIlxvmOHIjFZ-A48m1_4qBma-pLo4r_7oFLqaLWWQEYO3JjeqW_AUgSHYkBYJgMcllYNhDd11ScMkW-lYbRGAAi2vQlrJW/s1600-h/christmas+miracle.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148823653897026818" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglT7SXPpwHt7PZUSRLQLWj24c-N0StR-nbUR8YIQBFF4dcRVnIlxvmOHIjFZ-A48m1_4qBma-pLo4r_7oFLqaLWWQEYO3JjeqW_AUgSHYkBYJgMcllYNhDd11ScMkW-lYbRGAAi2vQlrJW/s320/christmas+miracle.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3oL2bDGNua3AqWVc78hAExxe1OOj9kNW7rHRWumXdURt5xesxy_trNPhRxzmi_Fr6Xus1HUu_qsWxn66o7JYFSvMi3ipPCYFsQZ0MYn-EK9IqqWdMF0TILbcbHenAqZWJz9xF8t8gCuBb/s1600-h/christmas+miracle.bmp"></a>We recently watched this wonderful movie!! It is now one of my very favorites and reminds me of the movie, "Miss Potter" The scenes in this movie are just beautiful and the story is just wonderful!! I almost didn't buy it because I didn't know it would be such a great movie from the cover of the DVD. If you loved, "Miss Potter" then you have to see this movie!! It can be found at Walmart, Amazon, or by doing a search on Google!!<br />Get cozy and have a big bowl of popcorn at hand because you are about to watch a very special movie!!<br /><br /><div></div></div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-54614058293875257862007-12-24T17:53:00.000-08:002007-12-24T18:06:12.862-08:00~ What Gift Did You Give? ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR-Ojiz2lO3kr9Tfi8ORn6D7uxRLpBeDFaGmVCrroPERnC5X7IRVhhU4hWAwjsfiwKvq34-fxVqGxYJqKneqgN1Do7-dcjzGTwDXajJ6oaDZoac5Iv3PQA4b7zNmrigjbVrfImvGoy0QAm/s1600-h/manger.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5147723519498992866" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR-Ojiz2lO3kr9Tfi8ORn6D7uxRLpBeDFaGmVCrroPERnC5X7IRVhhU4hWAwjsfiwKvq34-fxVqGxYJqKneqgN1Do7-dcjzGTwDXajJ6oaDZoac5Iv3PQA4b7zNmrigjbVrfImvGoy0QAm/s320/manger.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div>What gift did you give? No, I am not talking about the gift you gave to your spouse, your child, or friend. I am talking about the gift you are giving HIM!! Our Lord. To celebrate His birth!! Think about all the things you could give Him this Christmas. There are things you can actually write down on paper and put in the manger or under the tree. How about giving Him the gift of not worrying; giving your worries to Him. How about patience or giving Him your problem with anger. How about the gift of befriending someone that you know needs a friend!? The list can go on and on. You choose!! Write your gift to Him on paper and truly give it to Him!! This would be wonderful to do as a family, or alone. Don't forget to give the Lord your gift as we celebrated His birth!!</div><div>Merry Christmas!!</div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-1093068364462012782007-12-16T20:44:00.001-08:002007-12-16T21:06:19.910-08:00~ Christmas Ideas ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6DCC8RzVcBTVE-gueiGNVzYzkthHL2oseEw12hxHn5f40Nc3h9ZMvQFPAl9at2VSNiJ5hPhDeC325TBC0oQAlwmx8AJLM3CwR10NhgjcUYvQ6oRGBqRXO8s4udmNJ3a6ao4fvJIOb5Q-I/s1600-h/VICTORIAN_CHRISTMAS.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144798522216365266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6DCC8RzVcBTVE-gueiGNVzYzkthHL2oseEw12hxHn5f40Nc3h9ZMvQFPAl9at2VSNiJ5hPhDeC325TBC0oQAlwmx8AJLM3CwR10NhgjcUYvQ6oRGBqRXO8s4udmNJ3a6ao4fvJIOb5Q-I/s320/VICTORIAN_CHRISTMAS.jpg" border="0" /></a> ~ Fun Christmas Ideas ~<br />Here are some wonderful ideas to make your Christmas special<br /><br />~ As a family read about The Lord's birth in the Bible<br />~ Decorate the Christmas tree differently this year or buy a new ornament<br />~ Visit someone in a nursing home- Maybe someone that doesn't have family<br />~ Give a secret gift to a friend or neighbor<br />~ Build a snowman or fort<br />~ Go sledding and out for hot cocoa and doughnuts afterwards<br />~ Watch Christmas movies and pop popcorn<br />~ Go caroling as a family or with friends<br />~ Make a new Christmas dessert<br />~ Shovel snow for an elderly person<br />~ Give Christmas gifts to a family in need<br />~ Make a special meal and take some to a friend or someone without family<br />~ Have a dollar gift exchange with someone for fun and see what you come up with<br />~ Play a new game<br />~ Hide a little gift under your spouses or child's pillow<br />~ Start a blessings journal for the New Year<br />~ Call a friend and wish them a Merry Christmas<br />~ Have a snowball fight<br />~ Write notes to those that gave you something<br />~ See a Christmas play<br />~ Have a cookie exchange<br />~ Send a gift or note to a soldier<br />~ Visit a new church that you have been wanting to visitHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-31860691449356259792007-12-11T18:04:00.000-08:002007-12-12T06:18:03.332-08:00~ Down in The Dumps!? ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPHZBRNVnc54lcLqoIxbpGStLuXoGW_Ow7UmJ0E8QoQVyNpMtNNBmAPxCq1L80mcGqY9-yW8Db6FTYaquyn-IYKiVUoRn0ukwagxuj9JlfUumr2klxF10zoG1zCzJj_QyDRyr2oawSCTG/s1600-h/getoutofthatpit.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142909669331359922" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 103px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 186px" height="233" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPHZBRNVnc54lcLqoIxbpGStLuXoGW_Ow7UmJ0E8QoQVyNpMtNNBmAPxCq1L80mcGqY9-yW8Db6FTYaquyn-IYKiVUoRn0ukwagxuj9JlfUumr2klxF10zoG1zCzJj_QyDRyr2oawSCTG/s320/getoutofthatpit.jpg" width="215" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxOJWEAnP9VzR44z3QNGNX1VpMmFCCbfoVwCasceWQU7RRl-iientjgoHdm4oBCudMu2jFaVHL3_FXqyfq-ca0f9OTzk43S9ONplBjMmjvqvJgfnKp7K1o5-E6Gj7WUlt0OYhZEI17rj0/s1600-h/lies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142909454582995106" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 120px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 187px" height="250" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxOJWEAnP9VzR44z3QNGNX1VpMmFCCbfoVwCasceWQU7RRl-iientjgoHdm4oBCudMu2jFaVHL3_FXqyfq-ca0f9OTzk43S9ONplBjMmjvqvJgfnKp7K1o5-E6Gj7WUlt0OYhZEI17rj0/s320/lies.jpg" width="142" border="0" /></a> <div><div>Do you ever feel down in the dumps? Do you ever feel like you are in a deep pit or that this time you are having a hard time getting out of it? I have recently been going through quite a time with these feelings and a lot of it had to do with my dad's death and then right after that my mom wasn't well and then during all of that some other very hard things were thrown my way. I started really feeling like I was in the deepest pit I had ever been in and I tried SO hard just to get through each day and continued to pray that this struggle would all be over soon. Before my dad passed away, my cousin sent me a book called, "Lies Women Believe" It was written by Nancy Leigh DeMoss who I have such respect for. She reminds me so very much of Elisabeth Elliott. The book is all based on the Bible and how we believe the lies the enemy whispers to us. I think we all go throughout each day forgetting that we fight an invisible battle(Ephesians 6:10-20)!! That satan really wants us to become miserable and unhappy. The way he does this is through the lies he whispers to us. A lot of times we believe those whispers (thoughts). We believe we are fat, ugly, unworthy, unloveable etc... Some of us even believe that God could never love us because of the choices we have made. These are all lies from the enemy; wanting to steal our joy, our happiness, and make us believe these lies.<br /></div><div>I began reading so many books and each time I read a new book I would also have my Bible to look up the scriptures given in the book I was reading. I can tell you that I am still going through a hard time, but things are getting better!! If each of us can remember that we are fighting an invisible war and if we can work each and every day at not letting the enemy win and not believing the lies, I know we will begin to see a huge change in our lives.<br /></div><div>A book I had heard about and recently found at our library, "Get Out of that Pit" by Beth Moore has been another awesome book that is filled with Biblical truth and I feel can be a huge help to those that are struggling. One thing I did as a young girl, and wrote about here on my blog is a, " Happy Diary" I just saw a show on this, but they were calling it a," Gratitude Journal" They suggested ( and this is what I did growing up ) that before going to bed you write down 5 things you are thankful for (5 happy things that happened that day). You do this every day and before you know it you are going through the day looking for happy things to write about that evening. This worked for me and I have heard others say it has changed their life!! </div></div></div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-84116583482429500962007-12-07T07:07:00.000-08:002007-12-07T07:24:56.650-08:00~ A Devotional By Gary Chapman ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8QWoOflpTHywVFU_8DcVuJDxAAE3516fA4sEvU3Gpt9NNHQXI9_EXsNWI-4MtMRbG0H3kjbgZVJUOtvyw6OnvPd7YmI_XmeJqC8QOnADkNfNeKdvV6mgYmN-maQBkY44-jjtcy8f4vSpX/s1600-h/TeNexIneCouple.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141250201342367874" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8QWoOflpTHywVFU_8DcVuJDxAAE3516fA4sEvU3Gpt9NNHQXI9_EXsNWI-4MtMRbG0H3kjbgZVJUOtvyw6OnvPd7YmI_XmeJqC8QOnADkNfNeKdvV6mgYmN-maQBkY44-jjtcy8f4vSpX/s320/TeNexIneCouple.jpg" border="0" /></a> The Importance of Attitude<br /><div><br /><span style="color:#990000;">Attitude as a Choice</span>- I am responsible for my own attitude. My spouse may treat me unkindly or ignore me, but I am still responsible for choosing my thoughts. Love always seeks the well being of the other person. When you choose the attitude of love, you are asking yourself: What is best for my spouse in this situation? That always means holding your spouse accountable for unacceptable behavior.<br /><span style="color:#990000;">Outside Help</span>-Trouble is inevitable, but misery is optional. Attitude has to do with the way I choose to think about things. Maintaining a positive attitude in a troubled marriage may seem impossible, but the Christian has outside help. "Lord, help me to see my marriage the way you see it. Help me to view my spouse the way you view them. Help me to think the thoughts that you have toward them." This kind of praying will lead you to a positive attitude.<br /><span style="color:#990000;">The High Road</span>-A positive attitude can be the salvation of a difficult situation. We must not yield to our natural tendencies. We must seek to walk the high road of looking for God’s hand in everything. Even in a troubled marital situation, God is always at work.<br /><span style="color:#990000;">Scripture's Challenge for You</span>-The challenge of keeping a positive attitude is not a new idea. It is found clearly in the first-century writing of Paul the apostle. He wrote: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds. ...Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, or admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.” Phil. 4:4-7.<br /><span style="color:#990000;">What's Your Attitude?</span> -One reason my attitudes are so important is that they affect my actions: that is my behavior and words. If I have a pessimistic, defeatist, negative attitude it will be expressed in negative words and behavior. The reality is that I may not be able to control my environment: sickness, alcoholic spouse, mother who abandoned me, spouse who is irresponsible, aging parents, etc. But I am responsible for what I do within my environment.<br />If you want to know your attitude, look at your words and behavior. And, your behavior greatly influences your spouse.<br />Excerpt taken from <a title="http://moodypublishers.c.topica.com/maaiXpCabDdSbbK0xUfcafpRrd/" href="http://moodypublishers.c.topica.com/maaiXpCabDdSbbK0xUfcafpRrd/" target="_blank">Loving Solutions: Overcoming Barriers in Your Marriage</a> by Dr. Gary Chapman. To find out more about Gary Chapman's resources, visit <a title="http://moodypublishers.c.topica.com/maaiXpCabDdSdbK0xUfcafpRrd/" href="http://moodypublishers.c.topica.com/maaiXpCabDdSdbK0xUfcafpRrd/" target="_blank">http://moodypublishers.c.topica.com/maaiXpCabDdSdbK0xUfcafpRrd/</a>.</div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-62996255593830954022007-11-29T19:22:00.000-08:002007-11-30T12:45:26.995-08:00~ Our Daughter's Spice Cake ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm9dqfyz6GHYqK5UqjlRdZf-QQAKEzMcGx39EVqq8KY6nr-2rpVYqjQGpsjCuS7KprdHLlezLDz_7dRyugEzwJxRdkNds5aPJt9eoDiQQBn6gLYN7636TJk125iPuRiLScH96R_F4n9VYy/s1600-r/PICT0951.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138469619114033522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQrbM62ONWgv3Yq5WUha0BG1UMp4_OnwnFKGUeQPs-mBCbz9_9JACBOzXzTGaCRZ9D_4JgcaM-tPuITJssvYzoEeYQbANOiedOitYQQM9W_eCVNghmI2fX8T0KzgninZEfECR5fwlHGmZR/s320/PICT0951.JPG" border="0" /></a> It was quite a chilly evening so our daughter made us a wonderful spice cake taken from the book, "Victorian Christmas Collection" by Peggy Stoks<br /><br />~ Sensational Spice Cake ~<br />1 cup packed brown sugar<br />1/3 cup butter<br />1 cup water<br />1 tsp. cinnamon<br />1/2 tsp. ground cloves<br />1 tsp. baking soda<br />2 cups flour<br />1 tsp. baking powder<br /><br />In a saucepan, combine first 5 ingredients. Heat to boiling and simmer for five minutes. Set aside to cool.<br />In a small cup, dissolve baking soda in a teaspoon or two of hot water. Pour into above cooled mixture. Add flour and baking powder, stir until blended. Bake in a greased 8x12 glass baking pan at 350 degrees for around 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.<br /><br />~ Penuche Icing ~<br /><br /><p>1/2 cup butter</p><p>1 cup packed brown sugar </p><p>1/4 cup milk</p><p>1 and 3/4 - 2 cups powdered sugar</p><p>Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in brown sugar. Heat to boiling; cook and stir over low heat for two minutes. Stir in milk. Return to boil, stirring constantly. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually stir in powdered sugar until icing is of a good consistency to spread.<br /></p>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-2573037991852170722007-11-22T06:38:00.000-08:002007-11-22T07:05:02.265-08:00~ Happy Thanksgiving ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5vmvn3YGKQjokDGCz3m4uh9vEZOtu1-bZNto77rGQRXRHWyCM_NE6sJ66o6avPh3elQLZuOz2gFCm44TfYDYxZ4gVnBdztLw7LJmiEKa17i4w0vKzGUjuIOfDz6a892mCrgy-w6hc0S4/s1600-h/PICT0926.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135678461602283874" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5vmvn3YGKQjokDGCz3m4uh9vEZOtu1-bZNto77rGQRXRHWyCM_NE6sJ66o6avPh3elQLZuOz2gFCm44TfYDYxZ4gVnBdztLw7LJmiEKa17i4w0vKzGUjuIOfDz6a892mCrgy-w6hc0S4/s320/PICT0926.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div> ~ This Is Thanksgiving Day By Emma Stewart Jacobson ~</div><div> The crust is thick upon the snow.</div><div> A chill wind sweeps across the way</div><div> But let the lusty north wind blow!</div><div> This is Thanksgiving Day!</div><div> </div><div> A genial snowman stands erect,</div><div> Within his mouth, a pipe of clay,</div><div> As childish voices sing with glee,</div><div> This is Thanksgiving Day!</div><div> </div><div> Pungent aromas fill the house</div><div> And talk is festive, bright, and gay.</div><div> A turkey roasts, and pies are made.</div><div> This is Thanksgiving Day!</div><div> </div><div> Laughter is stilled, the talking ceased</div><div> As father bows his head to pray</div><div> And thank God for the bounteous feast.</div><div> This is Thanksgiving Day! </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-10544701852328267232007-11-15T11:48:00.000-08:002007-11-15T12:13:38.494-08:00~ Secret Sister ~"I am signed up for the Homeschool Moms Secret Sister Session #3!"<br />Thank you for heading this up for all of us, <a href="http://www.traininghearts.com/">Tamara</a>!!Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-18072194809424077912007-11-07T15:06:00.000-08:002007-11-07T17:33:57.575-08:00~ My Aunt Emma ~My Aunt Emma was a darling lady and very gifted!! She wrote and had her writing published. Her book of poems are just wonderful and from time to time I will post one. This one is in her book called, "Fireside Fancies" and was published in 1955.<br />I miss you, Emma!! I miss your kind smile and your sweet laugh. I do not know anyone that has a smile and laugh like you had.<br /><br /><strong>~ "In Appreciation" by Emma Stewart Jacobson ~</strong><br />Accept, Eternal God, my prayer of thanks<br />For roses blushing in the twilight's haze,<br />For grasses drenched with diamond drops of dew,<br />For azure pastures where soft "cloud sheep" graze.<br /><br />Accept my thanks for these: The robin's song,<br />The emerald arches of the trees above,<br />The murmur of the crystal brook nearby,<br />The plaintive cooing of the turtle dove.<br /><br />Accept my thanks for winds that moan and sigh<br />And shake the leafy trees upon the hill,<br />For crimson berries dripping honeyed juice,<br />For velvet moss on stones besides the rill.<br /><br />Accept, Eternal God, my thanks for all<br />The beauteous things Thy tender love has planned.<br />With grateful heart I touch each flower, each leaf,<br />And in so doing, touch Thy blessed hand!!<br /><br /><span style="color:#9999ff;">I love this poem and tonight I am so thankful, for I have found that our little horse is finally on the mend and we will not need to worry that we will lose him now. Tonight is a very happy night!!</span>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-53176264731945078222007-10-31T18:51:00.000-07:002007-10-31T19:00:15.399-07:00~ Oh My!! ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL7Gz5gSYnDSlTUIzKffnbduIwwf0quSheSozXW259O9HJN3FvLZQsCl809QMfU3AhhPpjcBd79Ip65auV803KiaPc4_8plL1PbdnPVkG_YntesN-O1ifgVqpG667Sn4kYV-ysHVFtWd9T/s1600-h/chrysanthemum-basket.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127685556708384626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL7Gz5gSYnDSlTUIzKffnbduIwwf0quSheSozXW259O9HJN3FvLZQsCl809QMfU3AhhPpjcBd79Ip65auV803KiaPc4_8plL1PbdnPVkG_YntesN-O1ifgVqpG667Sn4kYV-ysHVFtWd9T/s320/chrysanthemum-basket.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><div>I can't believe how time flies!! I have been so very busy and trying to juggle so many things. I am going to try and be better about posting. I hope to each week. We shall see. I hope those of you that read my blog will leave a comment ~ I have been having problems with my computer, so like I have mentioned before, I try to comment, but sometimes I just can't because of my very old and very tired computer :)</div><br /><br /><div>Hope all of you will keep checking back to see what is to come at the Cottage in The Meadow!! </div></div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-11381899552304340512007-09-02T08:21:00.000-07:002007-09-02T08:27:36.628-07:00~ Secret Surprise Winners ~We put all the names in a pot and our daughter chose. She pulled out two winners ( I couldn't just have one winner ~I wish I could send each of you a secret surprise )<br /> The winners are:<br /> Sharron and Vonna!!! ** Congratulations!! ** I'll be sending each of you a special surprise this week!!<br /><br />Note ~ I want you to know I enjoy all of your blogs, but for some reason ( I think it is because we still have dial-up connection) I am not able to reply to most. Hopefully we will have a faster service in the future!!Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-47923537664573022592007-08-28T17:37:00.000-07:002007-08-28T17:46:14.244-07:00~ A Secret Surprise Will Arrive ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFS0msuDz3UQjTolUxnKk40L3I27sg58r75aglJyWTaADgF0h83xGv1Plgn_INl24BiHSYLSeq8QKCaI62-tfktDQuAlUoJgRB57Bysy5mgwcgla0a0YHiASJktjxydx676p04D2f4vwR/s1600-h/cottage.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5103915789738653346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFS0msuDz3UQjTolUxnKk40L3I27sg58r75aglJyWTaADgF0h83xGv1Plgn_INl24BiHSYLSeq8QKCaI62-tfktDQuAlUoJgRB57Bysy5mgwcgla0a0YHiASJktjxydx676p04D2f4vwR/s320/cottage.jpg" border="0" /></a> ~ Surprise Giveaway~ <br /><div>A secret surprise will arrive to your cottage from mine by commenting to this post (click on comment found at the bottom) or by e-mailing me ( click on profile ). I will draw a name and the winner will be chosen and I will announce the winner in 5 days. My next post will be coming soon, so keep checking back!!</div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-45522201634877239692007-08-23T11:04:00.000-07:002007-08-23T11:25:47.416-07:00~ Saying, "I Love You" ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8C9Kx4441I0lFRNxK3Ao2LkGwxyh9BwD5oLtGaYUWg150PmgoQRLjA7uKX9k1eZ3Nwqk14V7PTsmUC8tgvjn1VBzsimYeBtTt4OecV89XWDG7isPHwIG2NXDua_mbuVVRzU5bp9hBQclz/s1600-h/couple.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5101959088537941650" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8C9Kx4441I0lFRNxK3Ao2LkGwxyh9BwD5oLtGaYUWg150PmgoQRLjA7uKX9k1eZ3Nwqk14V7PTsmUC8tgvjn1VBzsimYeBtTt4OecV89XWDG7isPHwIG2NXDua_mbuVVRzU5bp9hBQclz/s320/couple.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Have you ever wished your husband would say, "I Love You" more often? One day I was thinking about this and I was feeling pretty sad because I felt that I wasn't hearing it enough, but later in the day the Lord brought to my mind all the things my husband does do that shows he loves his family. I began to think of how he calls my daughter and I each day from work, how he often gets us surprises, he calls before leaving work and asks if there is anything he can pick up for us at the grocery store on the way home, he prays for us, writes us letters, sits and helps wrap gifts the night before Christmas, plays fun games with our daughter, he even watches girl movies with us, always takes us fun places, likes doing things with us, tries to be funny, etc... The list went on and on in my mind and I started to feel terrible about my bad attitude. I started seeing all the ways he SHOWS he loves us and started to appreciate more the things he does do and how he shows us each and every day that he loves us. I might not hear, " I love you" as much as I'd like, but I began to be more thankful and I started to see areas in my own life that I need to work on as a wife and I began seeing that I don't always say, " I love you"to him enough. I need to start telling him more often and I need to become better at doing nice things for HIM!! </div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-29134787413718020042007-08-16T07:40:00.000-07:002007-08-16T07:48:29.018-07:00~ So Surprised ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Cb6jZfphBTxLhygXf2-CQQx24qy7hZqQBBW25AXE5bwH7ap67vzJ_i3Ho0kaJqxywfwTFyg1KX1UjHuo3-b9cxUK3tw6pzRC2g_4-7uLeUSzDY4Akf7tzpNc-1GWiShwDCR-EJc2sdEb/s1600-h/nicemattersaward.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099309244040164994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Cb6jZfphBTxLhygXf2-CQQx24qy7hZqQBBW25AXE5bwH7ap67vzJ_i3Ho0kaJqxywfwTFyg1KX1UjHuo3-b9cxUK3tw6pzRC2g_4-7uLeUSzDY4Akf7tzpNc-1GWiShwDCR-EJc2sdEb/s320/nicemattersaward.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><p>Sharon at <a href="http://www.sharonsroses.blogspot.com/">www.sharonsroses.blogspot.com</a> has nominated me for the , "Nice Matters Award" I was so surprised and want to thank her for this sweet blog award. I hope you will all go to her blog ~It is a very special blog that is full of encouragement and I know all of you will be blessed!! All of the bloggers I have met are all SO nice and sweet, so I wasn't able to pick just a few, because all of you deserve the award!!</p>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-61590434200979152362007-08-12T16:55:00.000-07:002007-08-12T17:19:18.566-07:00~ Happy Diary ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHDk0DpglhQXuDoYSyQt1d9huCJhvpt_mVaov0zW52hUkt4ksZZBoCuCXyv9w-QP7837RhZjtYsAcZJCNCzOsCBbHd4Ck9QtijD5oCAvG_NFHz_r-6G30y69FlRQHmaGlsxhZmkmWvidnO/s1600-h/journal.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097967795504111506" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHDk0DpglhQXuDoYSyQt1d9huCJhvpt_mVaov0zW52hUkt4ksZZBoCuCXyv9w-QP7837RhZjtYsAcZJCNCzOsCBbHd4Ck9QtijD5oCAvG_NFHz_r-6G30y69FlRQHmaGlsxhZmkmWvidnO/s400/journal.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><p>~ A Blessings Journal ~</p><p>Have you ever kept a journal? I am sure many of you have had journals over the years! Years ago I was going through some hard times and my mom suggested we start a ,"Happy Diary"~ She said that through the day each of us would look for happy things that happened that day ( blessings). I did not think this was going to work and I did not think this would help the pain I was going through, but I said I'd give it a try and we both began our journals. Each day it was one of the first things I would start to think about ~ I began looking for things throughout the day that I could write down in my journal. It was hard at first to find anything, so I started by writing things like I was happy for having clean water for showers and for meals (since so many go without). The next few weeks turned into months and my mom and I would share some of our blessings before going to bed each night. It became something that changed my life as I started to see God's blessings in each day ~Things that I would take for granted, small things, large things, and very unexpected blessings. From time to time I would flip back through the pages and it would once again make me smile. My focus soon shifted and I started seeing my blessings and the good things. This helped get me though some hard times and focus on what the Lord had done for me. I hope you will give this a try. It was so much fun to do this with my mom when I was young and it gave me something to look forward to during the day ( that we would be sharing our blessings with each other that night). Give it a try ~ I hope it encourages you like it did for me!! </p>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-40968708718790110312007-08-08T09:25:00.000-07:002007-08-08T09:50:23.178-07:00~ Working As For The Lord ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwUA_h0yuyzA_RdBeSP11UkZtatbUOqzzMnFkNP04mgCutmVFMSNsSGW8dI947tzqNtoKvFYFYkggLRLpC8POEQmO2fnzUYh4O4fm3jcakAgK4M_FyRtRAM2DsDTs8cu3FPsmBs_rM8yY1/s1600-h/washing+clothes.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5096371991815348066" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwUA_h0yuyzA_RdBeSP11UkZtatbUOqzzMnFkNP04mgCutmVFMSNsSGW8dI947tzqNtoKvFYFYkggLRLpC8POEQmO2fnzUYh4O4fm3jcakAgK4M_FyRtRAM2DsDTs8cu3FPsmBs_rM8yY1/s320/washing+clothes.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>"...Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily (from the soul), as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [and not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [real] reward. [The One Whom] you are actually serving [is] the Lord Christ (the Messiah)..." - <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%203:%2023-24;&version=45;" target="_blank">Colossians 3: 23-24</a>Living by this principle would make a big difference in how we perform at our jobs, or even in the menial tasks around home. Many years ago someone told me a story of a qualified builder that once built houses, ended up building bus stops when he was older. He did this joyfully. It didn’t seem to bother him – he just loved Jesus. It’s all a matter of ‘attitude’.I must admit I struggled with this when I was working. I was in a job I didn’t enjoy for just over 10 years. Each year seemed to get worse. Looking back I realized my attitude was not good towards my job, and I became bitter while I was there. It became a dread each day. No matter what we are doing, we need to remember it is really for the Lord. Even in the secular sector, we are witnesses for Him, so everything we do is for Him.We need to work as if it’s for the LordFor it’s from the Lord we receive our rewardBy M.S.Lowndes</div><br /><div>Devotionals © <a href="http://www.heavensinspirations.com/">Heavens Inspirations</a> 2003-2007</div><br /><div>I found this devotional today after giving this verse a lot of thought because of some things I have been faced with lately. My daughter and I were just talking about this scripture the other day and how when we are faced with work that is hard, we need to remember that we are really doing the work for Christ and that helps the situation. Today a friend mentioned that her daughter is having a hard time at her work and her daughter is handling this situation with such grace and I know it pleases the Lord. Again, the Lord brought this scripture to my mind and this young woman was an encouragement to me. I need to stop fretting over my hard situation and remember each and every day that when I begin this task, it is really the Lord that I am working for. This helps me so much to keep this in my mind and close to my heart. I hope this has also been a blessing to you in what you might be facing. </div><div>Amanda, thank you for all that you have done for me this summer. You have been a major help and a blessing!! Grandma and I love and appreciate you SO much!!</div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-11842778940333589722007-08-04T11:33:00.000-07:002007-08-08T09:16:51.824-07:00~ Queen Esther ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMyd8tEf4HIptKLLJI6rHHwFUF1GPF2_ocuMmHUFzWdeLNhYXeLTd-GzOzh8h9d3YyRxEPp-4LsW0DohpetKzfPzA5trLm5eu4WhCLCFfS5net22VGhT0CJh_JPAHubwpsMXx5YDEO3HBI/s1600-h/esther.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094916440283635538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMyd8tEf4HIptKLLJI6rHHwFUF1GPF2_ocuMmHUFzWdeLNhYXeLTd-GzOzh8h9d3YyRxEPp-4LsW0DohpetKzfPzA5trLm5eu4WhCLCFfS5net22VGhT0CJh_JPAHubwpsMXx5YDEO3HBI/s320/esther.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div> Esther came from a Jewish background and was sent with other eligible women to the king's palace and was under the care of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Hegai</span>. There the women went through many months of beauty treatments before they were brought to King Xerxes. Esther <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">eventually</span> won the favor of the king and was made queen. King Xerxes was not aware that Queen Esther came from a Jewish heritage until the day came when all Jews were to be killed. It was law at that time that Queen Esther was not permitted to go before the king unless he had summoned for her, but Mordecai (her uncle) told Esther that she needed to go before the king and plead with him for her people. Queen Esther had a choice to make. She decided to do something that was very hard and very dangerous. She was risking her life, but she did what was right and went before the king. You will have to go to the book of Esther to find out what happens next. This book is full of wisdom and each time I read about Esther I am encouraged and blessed. To me, Esther is a hero and we all can learn a lot from her. </div>Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552144951331392399.post-61184724769178688702007-07-20T10:35:00.000-07:002007-07-20T10:57:11.111-07:00~ Secret Giving ~<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixtBi-Br4o0zYIwrUcUfe550lE43EpV4GNTeDlXTVt-1BuZGcJFQn4f37cFOmQp3Bl439dwzRZhxuRIX2XKzH5mS71q2hE4UBmzpo7YuQ7PwK7S0qyNQvarEWHK_61feEbec47bIGnNeWy/s1600-h/girlbasket2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5089335096548294194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixtBi-Br4o0zYIwrUcUfe550lE43EpV4GNTeDlXTVt-1BuZGcJFQn4f37cFOmQp3Bl439dwzRZhxuRIX2XKzH5mS71q2hE4UBmzpo7YuQ7PwK7S0qyNQvarEWHK_61feEbec47bIGnNeWy/s320/girlbasket2.jpg" border="0" /></a> Do you enjoy doing for others? Have you ever thought of how little things that you do for another can brighten their day? I have had people in my life that are truly, "givers" ~ They enjoy doing for others and their thoughtfulness has blessed me over and over and has helped me through some hard times. Today, think about someone you can bless with your thoughtfulness. Maybe it is in the form of a phone call, a note or card, sending a little gift,praying for them, or deciding that you are going to be their secret giver. A secret giver is someone that gives quietly, without the person knowing. It can be a lot of fun to mail or drop off special surprises to their door and send special little notes and cards through the mail. It is fun to make someone's day a little brighter and you (the secret giver) will be blessed, too.Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02592063421236975441noreply@blogger.com5