Wednesdays in the Word

 Psalm 54 came to mind the other day when I was in need of some encouragement. I've always loved verse 4.
"Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who uphold my life."

It hit me then that it doesn't say that God is the one and only one who upholds my life. Amazingly enough, He is one of THOSE who upholds it. I had never thought of that before!

He's given me more than just Himself. Which totally makes sense since He is the one who said that it wasn't good for man to be alone. We obviously weren't designed to do life by ourselves.

So, I got to thinking about this 'list' of people I have, who in some small or large way, help uphold my life. And it was very encouraging! I highly recommend thinking through your own list.
 
Because our family has been through so much in the last few years, many people came readily to mind for the HUGE ways they loved and supported us. But in everyday life, there are so many, who in sweet and subtle ways help us keep on keeping on in our faith walk. They never stop walking in love and they cling to their faith through every trial and cheer us on to do the same.
The phrase "upholds my life" also translates as "sustains my soul."
Certain friends just feed your soul, don't they? Hanging around them makes you love Jesus even more. I love those folks!

When you add to that list, the One who died for your soul and who loves you more than His own life, you've got quite a list of those who "uphold" you! We are in good hands!

"God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who uphold my life."
Amen!

~Becky

Catching up

I'm not very good at finding the time to blog these days. I wish all the posts that I write in my head, actually made it here. : )

We had a family game night the other night with Tiffany's parents because we don't get to see them often enough. We had a great time even though games were never actually attempted. I also forgot to take pictures of us not playing games. LOL

The love seat mentioned in a previous post, was finally delivered. Glory, glory and it came in a BOX. A very big box! And so we were the first ones to actually sit on it. And the bait and switch was made right! Or the switch and bait -if you are very mad. ; )

Andrew is enjoying his new job as a cashier at the grocery store near where I work. Joy and I came in the other night to say hi and cheer him on.

I made it to my happy place last weekend, but the water is still ice cold.

I found out that I am terrible at choosing paint colors.

But miracle of miracles, Home Depot let me EXCHANGE the paint I bought and for a better color. How nice is that? This is the one I didn't like.

Bree has always been allowed on the furniture until now. But she has a new doggie bed and she actually likes it. -Although she looks less than thrilled in this photo. LOL 

These birds make things interesting at work. They like to guard the doors and rip the flowers out of the flower beds. We were replanting the flowers several times a day. Ugh! Today a hedge was planted in the flower beds. Yahoo! Let's hope they don't care for hedge-ripping!

One day last week, this one decided that pecking on the door all morning would be fun. Too funny!

Joy has a new job delivering food for Panera. When she delivers to the college campus nearby, she does it on a long board. How cool is that? I definitely need a picture of that! I couldn't deliver anything in tact, on a long board -to save my life.

That's about it for what's been happening here.
Hope you are having a nice weekend!

~Becky

The week everything broke

So, the A/C in my car died, and it didn't take long before I was melting. The next day, every Prius owner's nightmare happened! -My battery died. And they aren't your normal battery! They cost almost $2000!!! And four days after that the washing machine stopped working.
It was quite a week.

Then God's abundant grace came our way, otherwise known as my hubby's best friend.
In 15 minutes the A/C was blowing cold again, the next day, my car had a newer battery and a few days later, a new washer and dryer were snuck into our laundry room when we weren't home.

Thankful our dear life-long friend, who often comes the rescue and keeps are world spinning!

~Becky

Switching it up

I recently went to a furniture store's outlet store, which was having what I call a 'scratch and dent sale.' I picked out a sofa that looked flawless and a matching love seat that only had small tear on the back. I was pretty excited about my great deal. Then I found out that I could "make an offer" lower than the sale price! Yahoo! They took my offer and I felt like quite the wheeler and dealer.  (which I'm totally not) Then, in my excitment I took photos with my phone to send to my kids.

The last time we got a sofa and loveseat was twelve years ago! And believe me, they had been well lived on by the 6 of us and two dogs.
That furniture was special to us because it was a surprise from our dear friend, Carlos. He had just finished an addition on our house and then he had a brand new leather sofa and loveseat delievered!!! It was an amazing surprise!

Back to my furniture adventure..
The big day for delivery came and I was at work but the kids were there to receive the furniture and when I got home, I found out that the company had switched the loveseat with one that had a really worn out spot ON THE FRONT of it.
HOLY COW and OH MY STARS, I was so mad.

I just can't even, with the thought of being cheated!!!

And then, praise the Lord, I remembered the photos!
So, I called the store and told them that my pictures proved that this wasn't the loveseat I bought. Then I added  "Add I'm pretty sure it is illegal to bait and switch furniture!!!."
-Except Andrew swears that I told them it was illegal to "switch and bait furniture!" LOL
-Yeah, well, whatever! I was really mad. ; )

It was an "all sales are final" kind of a sale, so without the photos, I'd have been out of luck.
But, guess who is getting a brand new one that isn't from the scratch and dent section?
Yay, God!

Here's hoping I will not have to think about furniture shopping again for twelve more years!
~Becky

Time for senior pics

I love that Andrew's senior pictures were taken by Nathan. I think he did a great job!
And Zac went along to make things fun, which must have worked!

LOL

Since I was at work, he was the one doing this instead of me:

I love this picture!

I know Andrew looks less than thrilled here but I think this is just the sweetest picture. And I love that Nathan knew I would love it and captured it.
I had a hard time NOT being there for this special milestone, but I love that Andrew's big brothers made it happen.

And just like with baby pictures, by the time it is kiddo number four's turn, you realize that you don't actually need 900 senior photos.
Literally,
I really do have 900 senior pics of Zac. LOL! And room on our walls for one apiece!

Here are some of my favorites:

People who haven't seen him in awhile remarked that he looks so much like his dad. He reminds me of him all the time. He has his quick wit, love for people and passion for the Bible. He's a quite a guy! So proud!

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
He counts the number of the stars,
He calls them all by name.
Great is our Lord,
and mighty in power,
His understanding is infinite.
The Lord lifts up the humble."
Psalm 143:3-6

After I graduated from high school, I went on a trip with some friends and relatives and spent a week on a houseboat in Nevada. (on Lake Mead, I think it was)
That was ages ago but I will always remember laying on the roof of the boat's cabin at night and seeing the sky completely filled with stars. It was breathtaking.
I love that the One who has the ability to not only count those stars but name them all, loves and cares for the condition of our hearts. Our hurts aren't beyond His healing touch.
He bandages our wounds and heals our heartbreaks. He gets it. "His understanding is infinite." There isn't anything He doesn't understand.
"Great is our Lord."

~Becky

Jobs and things

Have I whined here about how exhausting a full-time job outside the home is lately? : )
For many years I had an exhausting full-time job INSIDE the home. LOL
(yes and amen!)
At this job, I get to do a gazillion things that my Type A personality actually finds to be fun.  I love it and the people, all to pieces.

Every day is different and I'm always learning something new and feeling stretched. But it is all very rewarding and how fun are paychecks? And weekends?
I'm a big fan of the weekend now!
(which totally makes me think of Lady Violet from Downton Abbey asking "What is a weekend?")

I keep thinking I should get a Fit Bit, because I bet I would totally have those steps by lunch!
I have a question. Are there cute, dressy, COMFORTABLE shoes in the world? Ones that you can run in, if you don't happen to be near the phone when it rings?! Because I have yet to find them.-It is Friday and my feet hate me.
But tomorrow is Saturday and that means leggings, a sweatshirt, tennis shoes and no make up! Yahoo! I'm determined to make sure my weekends include something fun because grocery shopping and house cleaning totally don't count!

And speaking of jobs, today is Andrew's first day on his new job! Yay! It is his second job, that is. And tomorrow is his final day at his temporary job. Proud of that guy!


Hope you all have a lovely and restful weekend!

~Becky