anticipation

"Looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them."

– anne of green gables

l.m. montgomery 

celebrations

The Preacher is at a Christian school, he has played his Native American flute and now he tells the children a story of a little Indian boy who is in charge of his own celebrations.

The Preacher is at a women's luncheon, he has played his flute and now he tells them of the same little Indian boy. 

The story is from the book, I'm In Charge of Celebrations, by Bryd Baylor.

How can I be lonely? I'm the one in charge of celebrations ...it's true. I am. I put myself in charge. I choose my own. Last year I gave myself one hundred and eight celebrations–besides the ones that they close school for. I keep a notebook and I write the date and then I write about the celebration.

I have heard this story twice now within the last few weeks and upon hearing it I wondered, do we choose our own celebrations? And then I remembered some of the celebrations that we have celebrated within this last year.

We celebrated the beautiful western sky sunset by texting a friend saying only ..."sunset alert", and them knowing that we want to share the beauty.

We celebrated the night sky by sitting on a picnic table with friends, watching the stars shooting across the sky.

We celebrated when we received a card from a friend saying that they miss us.

We celebrated by traveling to places that we had not seen in a long time.

We celebrated when we heard the voices of little children singing the praises of our Lord.

We celebrated when we looked up and saw the last of the season's aspen leaves hanging on until the very end.

We celebrated when we drove down the road and our favorite song was playing and we sang loud.

We celebrated when finding an old photo of a father now gone for 36 years.

We celebrated when we saw a son's face after being separated for too long.

We celebrated when we looked across a crowded room and saw the one we love coming near.

We celebrated when we found that perfect gift for a loved one and seeing their face light up after the unwrapping.

Are you in charge of your celebrations? Celebrate the ordinary and the extraordinary.  

Choose to celebrate!

  

what a gift; what a promise!

Last month, the month of October, churches all over America celebrated Pastor Appreciation Month. 

DaySpring, an online website where you can order faith-based cards and gifts, wrote an article titled, "A Real Day in the Life of a Pastor". 

I want to share an excerpt from an article today, because a Pastor, no matter what church he pastors, needs these three things everyday, not just for the 31 days of October. 

They posed this question to many of the Pastors that they know, "How can we best show our appreciation?"  In every case, the following three points were mentioned:

1. Be constant in prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 5:25 (MSG), Paul says, "Friends, keep up your prayers for us." Paul understood that even great men of God are human beings. Just like us, they sometimes find themselves weary, discouraged, confused, and vulnerable. Your pastor depends on your faithful prayers for him, his family, and his ministry.

2. Be faithful to encourage. If you think your pastor gets his or her encouragement from God, you are right. However, God often delivers that encouragement through our words and deeds. Proverbs 12:25 (KJV) says, "Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad." You can begin by taking your pastor's hand and delivering a heartfelt thank you. Keep your words simple and positive, filled with life. For example: "I learned something important from your sermon this morning. Thanks for all the time you spent preparing it.", "Thanks for your prayers. They are making a big difference in my life." 

3. Be ready to lend a hand. Typically, the smaller the church, the more the pastor is asked to handle. Be ready to jump in and help. That might mean the physical upkeep of the building or helping with hospital calls and visits to shut-ins. You can also express your thankfulness through monetary gifts, babysitting, gifts certificates, or by delivering a nutritious, family meal. Running errands may not seem like much but in a pastor's harried day, it can mean a great deal. Keep your eyes and ears open and you will soon be aware of many ways to bless your pastor and lighten his load. 

Your pastor is a gift to you from God, placed in your life to teach, encourage, challenge, strengthen, and keep you growing spiritually. Paul says it best in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 (MSG): "Friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility or urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!" Like the Great Shepherd, they give their lives daily for those who have been given into their care. Jeremiah 3:15 (KJV) says, "I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."

What a gift, what a promise! 

roses or thorns

We can complain because rose bushes have THORNS....

or rejoice because thorn buses have ROSES...

hold me forever

"All I see is you holding me forever"

                                                                                --Mandy Harvey

Happy Anniversary, my love!

say hello to october in the mountains

Advice from a pumpkin: Be well-rounded and think big

always stay humble and kind

I drive by this church's parking lot every day and I didn't notice this sign in their lot until just a few days ago. "No Semis - please" I love the fact that they said please. 

Did your momma teach you to say 'please' and 'thank you'?

A couple of nights ago, the Preacher and I were traveling back home from Denver, when the song, Humble and Kind, by Tim McGraw, came on the radio. I thought to myself, "Wouldn't the world be a better place if more people would say please and thank you?"

"You know there's a lot that goes by the front door

Don't forget the keys under the mat

Childhood stars shine, always stay humble and kind

Go to church 'cause your momma says to

Visit grandpa every chance that you can

It won't be a waste of time

Always stay humble and kind

Hold the door say please say thank you

Don't steal, don't cheat, and don't lie

I know you got moutains to climb but

Always stay humble and kind

When the dreams you're dreamin' come to you

When the work you put in is realized

Let yourself feel the pride but

Always stay humble and kind"

--Tim McGraw

change

The days are cooler and the nights are colder. 

The leaves are changing and falling to the ground. 

Change is coming.

When I begin to feel like I am in a rut, when things seem to be same-old-same-old, 

I begin to have visions of change. 

How can things be different? 

How can I change things up a bit?

But when it comes right down to it, I don't like change.

Change scares me, change is not comfortable. Change is, well, change. And yet as time goes by, people, places, jobs, positions in life, houses, friends, on and on, things change.

I have the feeling we are in one of those seasons. A time of change. 

I don't know how or when, but I feel a change is coming.

remodeling the camper

Here are the updates that we made to our new a-frame camper.

As you can see, she is very brown. The cabinets, the walls, the counter-tops and the curtains all are brown. My first thought was to paint the cabinets white and re-do the counter-tops. But seeing how much work that was going to take, we decided to put that off this year because we wanted to go camping right away.

The picture above shows the dinette area that folds down to make a bed, but the cushions had been taken out and were not available upon purchase. We decided to not worry about purchasing or making new cushions and we put a full size mattress in here and we would just keep it as a bed.

We knew we wanted to get rid of the brown curtains and lighten up the interior. We went to IKEA and found a duvet for the bed. Then we went to Wal-Mart and found material to make the curtains and the cover for the hinged area where the trailer folds down.

 I painted a couple of flower pictures and made the Let's Get Lost map picture. I hung the paintings with 3-M Command Strips.

The Preacher even made a scarf for the Sergeant!

As you can see, the Preacher enjoys relaxing in his new trailer!

I think the green and yellow helped to give it new life. Next summer I would like to paint the cabinets and even put in new flooring.

We love getting away in our own little tiny house!

opportunities to serve

The Preacher and I got up very early in the morning. 
Grumbling 

The Preacher and I drove 60 miles to a Christian School. 
Tired

The Preacher played his flute and spoke to the kids about spilling God's grace out on those around them. 
Excited

The Preacher prayed -- "Thank you Lord for these opportunities to serve You." 
Thankful

treasuring all these things in my heart

I have always treasured the things our son has said or did.

When he was little I would sometimes write down those things and then. at a later date, use them in my scrap-booking pages. But since he has been living on his own, I have not had the opportunities to hear or see many of these moments.

Recently the Preacher and I traveled to Texas to visit our son during his time off from work. While there, he needed to finish working on his car so we spent many hours visiting him while he had his head either inside the top of his car engine or under it. He also had a couple of friends there helping him.

During these times he said and did some things that I just had to write down and treasure in my heart. 

After purchasing pizza and drinks for him and his friends, our son said, "You guys are the best!"

After the Preacher helped him work on his car and helped with purchasing tools, nuts and bolts, he said, "Dad, I really appreciate it!"

When we first saw our son he gave me a hug, but later on in the day, he wrapped is arms around me and kissed me on top of the head and said, "Come here mom, I haven't given you a proper hug yet."

These things might seem minor to you but having not seen our son for 5 months, they just seemed extra special to me.

Love from the Preacher and I