"Your greatest contribution to the Kingdom of God may not be something you do, but someone you raise." ~Andy Stanley

October 30, 2013

Wednesdays in the Word

I love Proverbs 31 from the Message.
It was an acrostic when it was written.
I'd love to be more like 'her!' (in all the ways that don't require quite that much sewing and knitting) ; )

Hymn to a Good Wife

 A good woman is hard to find,
    and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
    and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
    all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
    and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She’s like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
    and brings back exotic surprises.
She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast
    for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
    then, with money she’s put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
    rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
    is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She’s skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
    diligent in homemaking.
She’s quick to assist anyone in need,
    reaches out to help the poor.
She doesn’t worry about her family when it snows;
    their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
    and dresses in colorful linens and silks.
Her husband is greatly respected
    when he deliberates with the city fathers.
She designs gowns and sells them,
    brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
    and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
    and she always says it kindly.
She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
    and keeps them all busy and productive.
Her children respect and bless her;
    her husband joins in with words of praise:
“Many women have done wonderful things,
    but you’ve outclassed them all!”
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
    The woman to be admired and praised
    is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
    Festoon her life with praises!

October 28, 2013

The weekend

The only thing more glorious than being over the flu, was the cool weather we are having!
It was a fun weekend that included a date night, a family game night and a party for our favorite groom to be! 
Somewhere in between we ran errands for the wedding, took teen #3 for driving practice, had a bon-fire with smores, prayed lots of prayers for son's first youth event in CA, ate too much food and did lots of football watching. ; ) 
All in all, lots of fun and we did it all with the windows open! 
Hooray! -Love this time of year in Florida! 

~Becky


October 23, 2013

Wednesdays in the Word

One of our sons told me that this is his new 'Life Verse' from the Message and I LOVE it!
(even though I'm not usually a fan of the Message)

May God bless him and may his life cause those he works around to want to know his Savior.

1 Peter 2:11-12 (in the Message)
"Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives."
~Becky

October 22, 2013

The flu for a few but hopefully not more


Oh my stars! This has been quite the bug!
And the teen that had it first and shared it, is fighting round two! Ugh! Poor thing! Let's hope our two lone survivors stay standing.
Since I spent a week in bed, I decided to have a 19 Kids and Counting marathon so I really have nothing interesting to say, unless you want to hear what the Duggars were up to in 2010! ; )
-Good thing I am on the mend because my hubby says if he hears me coughing or hears the intro to the show one more time, he'll start twitching. LOL 

Have a great week!
~Becky

October 17, 2013

The flu, a book suggestion and a praise report

So, the flu has been going around our household and I am unfortunately having a turn. I was so hoping to have it for a grand total of one day but no such luck ... And  it has really messed up my plans. Not to mention that day 3 is the worst of all.
I finished reading an awesome book though!

Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy Seal Team Six Operator Adam Brown

An incredible book about one man's courage and faith and what God can do in a life that is surrendered to Him. Loved it. I checked it out from the library as an eBook and I need to go and buy a 'real' copy so the fam can read it.


I'm thankful for my sweet kiddos who treat me like a queen on her throne
instead of the messy, tissue strewn bed, it really is. Being sick with them around is really not that bad. LOL
I'm thankful for a dear friend who taught my Bible class at the last minute last night.
So thankful for the adult kiddo who shopped for us lest we succumb to ordering pizza every night. ;)
I'm thankful for my hubby who worked all day and is now doing double duty and taking our sweet girl to choir practice.

The Bible says that good news from a distant land is like cold water to a thirsty soul and we received some really good news today about God's provision for our son, who is in ministry in CA. Yay!!! It is an answer to our prayers. -And since I feel like I swallowed a handful of gravel, I'm totally into that analogy. :-)

Have a blessed weekend.
~Becky,  who hopes not to spend mine in bed

October 15, 2013

A bachelor party in the works

My hubby is going to be the best man in his best friend's wedding in a couple weeks,
which means that he is giving a bachelor party!
And since he asked for my help, I've been googling various things like 'how to throw a christian bachelor party' because I'm rather clueless about how to do one.

My hubby's bachelor party was simple. It was a surprise party at a pizza place.
 All the guys from church were there and they ate pizza and made him wear one of these:


And by the looks of the pictures,
either Hawaiian shirts were totally the in thing to wear in 1991 or the guys were all told to dress in something Hawaiian. Your guess is a good as mine! : )

Here were some of the suggestions I found:

The most popular idea is to take the groom golfing
Second most popular idea is to have a bowling party

And then there are these ideas:

Paintball
Mini-golf and then eat at TGIF
Laser tag
Food and football
Play Wii games and then watch 'guy' movies
Go to an arcade
Pigeon shooting (I'm guessing those must be the clay circles and not annoying birds) ; )

These can also include a time to swap stories about the groom and a time for the married men to give the groom some advice on the most important thing they've learned as a husband. These can be written down on 3x5 cards and placed in a book for him to keep. You can also have a time to pray and bless the groom, which I thought was a sweet idea.

Be sure to ask your groom what he would enjoy the most, unless of course, it is a surprise party
and then I guess you just need a Groucho Marx mask and some tacky Hawaiian shirts. ; )

~Becky

October 11, 2013

I'm drawing a blank so...

here comes some happy randomness:

I totally want one of these pins:

Mine is!!!

These toasted coconut almonds are better than candy and my newest love!

Yesterday morning it was 70 degrees outside. We all did a happy dance and opened the windows for the first time in forever! Glory!!! (that's blessedly cool in case you were wondering)

Hooray, I noticed that Wal Mart is carrying snicker doodle mixes again for the holidays! (they were hard to come by last year) I will have to stock up on them so that I can make the best Christmas cookies ever.... I'm pretty sure I can't wait that long though.

And speaking of holiday yumminess, I'm hoping a certain Star bucks employee that I know and love, remembers that I'd like him to bring me a pumpkin scone...maybe today. : )

Years ago, Hubby taught the boys how to play poker -with Legos. When they got older and we didn't have a bedroom floor full of those, they used  matchsticks.  I will not tell you the sad tale of how my hubby almost bought some real poker chips once but then I talked him into buying something else, because he's told that story too many times! It sounds sadder every time. LOL  -So, Thursday I finally broke down and bought some and the fam rejoiced! Now they will just have to teach us girls how to play!

There! I'm done rambling! Hope you have a great weekend!
~Becky


October 9, 2013

Wednesdays in the Word


"You shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother,
you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need. 
You shall surely give to him and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him
because for this thing the Lord will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand...
You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy in your land."
Deut. 15:9-11 

It isn't easy but 'because of this thing the Lord will bless you.' : )

~Becky

October 8, 2013

Our week in pictures

Our kids haven't been big fans of home school field trips because they are sure they have literally been there and done them all, so we usually don't attend them. But since our two youngest are in high school, I don't have too many more homeschooling memories left to make, (boo-hoo) so I made them go on one, mean homeschool mom that I am. ; ) 
Besides who would not want to spend a gorgeous fall morning here



 geo-caching at a nature preserve in all this beauty?!

They have gone letter boxing (or were made to -LOL) but had never tried geo-caching before. They really enjoyed it, except for that part where the 3rd graders found the caches before they did...


Oh, and that part where the instructor had them grab some Spanish moss off a tree and eat it.
I'll pass, thanks!
Learning to use the GPS
the race to search for the caches
teamwork
discussing the clues
a cute distraction
Friday night we played more of this...




and Saturday night, Hubby and I went for our last beach date of the year. 


The water won't be wonderfully warm again until around Mother's Day.  I'll miss you 'beach therapy!' 

Sunday, Joy sang in the new choir! Watching her sing her heart out in 'Christ is Enough' made both Hubby and I get all choked up.  

We also got all choked up at Home Depot the day before in the plumbing aisle. How weird is that!? But Coldplay came on the radio and it made us miss Nathan who used to play and sing that song on his keyboard. I was kind of a wreck and it probably looked like I thought we'd never get our plumbing fixed. LOL!

 ~Becky

October 4, 2013

Finding out that stroke patients can volunteer

As I've mentioned on occasion, my brother-in-law, who had a stroke while skiing when he was only 50, lives with us part of the year and with his other brother for part of the year. He has paralysis on the left side of his body and brain damage.
He likes to spend his days reading the entire Denver Post and the entire New York Times on his Kindle and then chatting on the phone with friends or reading a book. Once in a while, he exercises by walking up and down our drive way. He goes to church with us on Sundays and I take him grocery shopping on Wednesdays. He has to be in bed by 7:30, so night time outings,evening church services and family game nights or movie nights, don't work for him. (if he doesn't get enough sleep, he can have a seizure) 
Recently, a man who is a friend of my hubby's, gave him some advice. (his elderly father is a stroke patient) He said that my hubby needed to get his brother out volunteering and enriching in his life!
We'd been looking into a stroke support group, but volunteering never entered our minds. We had no idea that stroke patients could volunteer. While they were talking, this man's father was down at Metropolitan Ministries feeding the homeless! How awesome is that?! He decided a long time ago that he wasn't going to just sit around and he's been out volunteering for years after his stroke even though he also has paralysis. He said that the aquarium takes stroke patients as volunteers. Who knew?! So, yesterday the kids enjoyed the aquarium, while Uncle Phil had an interview! 
He got the 'job!' He is going to be a greeter passing out maps, telling people show times and scanning their membership cards at the front desk. Yay! He was sooo excited about it that he broke down crying in the lobby. 
~Last night he told Hubby that he will now have more to talk about at dinner than anyone. ; )

Thankful,
~Becky

October 2, 2013

Wednesday in the Word

I can't wait to see and be apart of this:

"...Behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying
"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
Be to our God forever and ever. Amen." ~Rev.7:9-12


~Becky