Calling All Home Canners!!!

Wow, the giveaways just keep coming.  Head on over to Homestead Revival for a canning giveaway.  I wasn't aware of it. but there are canning lids that are REUSABLE.  I have never reused a canning lid.  Always believed that once they were used they weren't any good anymore. Now I know there are those of you who reuse lids, but I always figured better safe than sorry.  Waaayyyy too much work goes into canning to take a chance on it.  But, these reusable lids appear to be the real deal.  So head on over to Homestead Revival and check it out for yourself :0!  If you have any experience with reusable canning lids please leave me a comment. I'd love to hear what you think.  Have a blessed day!!!!!

A Delicious Giveaway

My blogging friend Linda at Prairie Flower Farm is having a DELICIOUS giveaway!  Coffeehouse Scone Mix and Strawberry Rhubarb Jam!!  Now doesn't that sound good ? ? ?  I love rhubarb.  My wonderful mother-in-law makes me a rhubarb pie sometimes.  When I was a kid I hated rhubarb.  Frankly I'd never EATEN rhubarb, but, when I had homemade rhurbarb pie at my husband's grandmother's house many years ago, imagine my surprise when it was DELICIOUS.  Let's just say I'm making up for all those lost years thinking I didn't like rhubarb.  So, check out the giveaway over at Prairie Flower Farm.    Don't you just love blogging ? ? ?   Have a blessed day my blogging friends!

My Little Girl

Just look at her. Isn't she beautiful. I know it's hard to believe, but she is 14 years old. She is my daughter, my youngest child, Alex, and this weekend she graduated from the 8th grade.

 

As all you moms out there know, there is no love like the love you have for your child. Nothing even comes close.  The pride you feel in your heart for them is beyond compare.  Children truly are a gift from God.

So today, I give thanks for my beautiful daughter.  I am so blessed that God sent her to me. I ask that you join me in praying for God's will in her life. And pray that she will always put her trust in Him.

Alex, until you hold your own child in your arms you can't understand how very much I love you and how proud I am of you.

My Wonderful Mother

Hey, I know Mother's Day was yesterday, but I had a busy weekend, O.K.?  I was mowing and trimming the bushes and cooking and cleaning and doing laundry, and paying bills and, and, and, well, all you mom's out there know how it is.  And anyway, I had my mom and dad and my mother-in-law out to our house for dinner last night so, like I said, I've been busy.

But I couldn't let Mother's Day go by without sharing with you what a wonderful mother I have.  I could go on and on telling you about what a hard worker my mom is.  How she raised three girls and owned a restaurant with my dad gone most of the time working on the railroad.   I could tell you what a good cook she is.  I could tell you what a good daughter she is, helping take care of her mother since my grandpa passed away many years ago. 

But what my mom would most want you to know about her, is that she belongs to Jesus Christ.  Of all my mother taught me, the most important thing was how to know Jesus.  My mother is not perfect, and she would be the first to tell you that, but she has a heart to spread the gospel.  She teaches a weekly Bible study, and has for years. 

I am thankful that God sent me to be her daughter.  She is wonderful and I am so proud to call her "mom." So, I say "I love you mom."  Happy Mothers Day!

Are You In It For The Long Haul?????

Don't you just hate being on a diet?  I mean, just when you're doing so good SOMEBODY brings donuts to work!  Or, you're so proud of yourself for saying "no" to that extra helping and then, bam, you're standing in front of the refrigerator shoving food in your mouth like there's no tomorrow.  Why couldn't I have been born one of the "skinny girls"??????????

If you've ever been on a diet, you know that it builds character in a HURRY.  Making a good choice for breakfast won't cut it.  Nope, you've got to make good choices 3 meals a day, seven days a week, for weeks at a time to lose a noticeable amount of weight.  Passing up biscuits and gravy for breakfast (my own personal weakness) doesn't help, if you're going to eat two platefuls of food for lunch, believe me, I know from experience.  Drinking a Diet Coke while eating a package of Oreo cookies does not cancel the calories.  Trust me, I know of which I speak.

Problem is, humans have a hard time sticking to anything for very long.  Diets, New Year's Resolutions, they all fall by the wayside at the first sign of temptation.  Diets and New Year's Resolutions require a resolve to stick with them NO MATTER WHAT.  And that resolve is T-O-U-G-H to maintain.  TOUGH TOUGH TOUGH!!!!!!  Especially when you are contantly bombarded with the sights, smells and sounds of food.

So how about in our Christian life??  Do we have the same problem?  Do we approach a life lived for Him the same way we do our diet?  "Well, I'll do my best, but, I just don't know how long I can keep this up."  Do we think "if nobody sees me it isn't a sin."  Like we tell ourselves, "if nobody sees me eat this candy bar then it doesn't count."  "If I don't get caught, then no harm was done."  Or how about this one "well, I don't commit the BIG sins, so I'm "O.K."

A calorie is a calorie is a calorie, whether you ate it at lunch or at supper, by yourself or in front of your entire family and friends.  And sin is sin whether you committed murder, adultery or told a lie.  In God's eyes, sin is sin.  And sin separates us from God.  Have we gotten so accustomed to sinning, that we don't even feel guilty anymore?  Oh, God help us to NEVER be that far from You.  May we never separate ourselves from that still, small voice whispering "don't do that, that is not My will."

So today, examine your heart as I examine mine.  Is it REALLY my heart's desire to live for Him for the long haul?  Good days and bad?  On days where you feel so close to Him, and the days where you wonder if He even remembers you?  On the days you are feeling all churchy and religious, and on the days where you hope none of your church friends heard what you said, or saw where you just went?  I'm just being real.

It takes a serious, permanent lifestyle adjustment to lose weight and keep it off.  Believe me, I know.  And it takes a serious, permanent lifestyle adjustment to be an effective Christian that God can use for His glory.  It isn't just a Sunday morning thing.  It isn't just when you are around other Christians.  It is constant.  Because just like our little internal calorie counter can't be fooled, neither can God.  Because He sees all we do, and He hears all we say, and He knows all we think.

Let's be like the Apostle Paul and "press on."  Not just once in awhile.  Ladies, we can do this thing and live this life for Him.  But it takes a resolve to be in it for the long haul.  When we stumble, we ask for forgiveness and we get right back to living for Him.  Let's do it together, shall we?

Prom

This past weekend my son, Cole, and his girlfriend Megan, attended the high school prom. 

Now, I know I'm a tad bit prejudiced, but don't they look awesome?

I am so very proud of them!

I've Been Tagged!

Well, I've been tagged.  Tagged by my blogging friend Karen Evans at http://karenevans.blogspot.com/.  So, here goes, nine things I like, hate and love:

1.   I like to smell the rain coming before a storm.
2.   I like to hear rain falling on a tin roof.
3.   I like to eat ice cream.
4.   I hate it when I think someone is upset with me.
5.   I hate it when I look back and know I didn't handle a situation the way God would have had me handle it.
6.   I hate it when somebody takes the Lord's name in vain.
7.   I love my family, each and every one of them, my parents, my sisters, my husband, my kids.
8.   I love knowing that one day I will spend eternity with my Father in Heaven.
9.   I love sitting in front of a fire reading a good book.

So there.  Now you know a little bit more about me.  May each and every one of you have a blessed day!