Thankful Thursday 8/14/08

Happy Thankful Thursday to you! I'm so thankful that you stopped by my blog today. We have so many reasons to give thanks, don't we? No matter what kind of day I may be having, there are always so many things to be thankful for...too many to count.

I can remember as a little girl, I was having a particular difficult day at school. I was in the third grade at Collegiate School in Wichita, Kansas. I believe it was the first week of school. Our teacher was very strict. We had a test the very first week. Mom and I spent hours learning how to write the 7 Continents correctly. I was confident on the day of the test.

I have to tell you, I am a rule follower. I'm also a people pleaser, although God has been working in my heart in this particular area. Anyway, I vividly remember this new, very strict, teacher telling us to take out a pencil and piece of paper. Then she said, "Write every word that I say. I mean it write exactly every word that I say." Then she said..."Write the seven continents."

So, being the rule follower that I am, I wrote in my best 3rd grade penmanship, "Write the seven continents." I checked to make sure that I wrote "every word," and turned my paper over. I was the first one finished and I thought to myself, whew, that was so easy!

The next day I received my test back, expecting an A, I saw in horror a big, fat, red F on my paper! I could hardly stand it. I was a straight A student. I had never received a grade even close to this one. I had to fight to hold back the tears all day long. I can remember giving my test to my parents and then the tears began to flow. My teacher thought I was being a smart-alec. She didn't know, I was just trying to do what she had asked me to do. I think my friends laughed at me that day too and that hurt. I was having a Norbert kind of day! (Norbert is the main character in a fabulous children's book by John Trent called, I'd Choose You).

I remember my mom listened to me cry that day and she tried to encourage my heart. She told me not to worry and that it would all be okay. My parents took care of that incident for me. Go Mom & Dad! I'm thankful for parents that will fight for their children when we need it. She was right, it did all turn out okay.

She showed me that I can still be thankful even when I'm having a Norbert kind of day. She taught me how to write down my blessings. It's amazing how your attitude changes when you start writing down what you are thankful for.

As an adult, I still have Norbert kind of days. This world tries to steal my joy and to be honest sometimes I just let it get to me. God tenderly reminds me of a special lesson from childhood and I get out a pencil and paper and list my blessings. I can never finish a page before I'm sporting a new 'tude (attitude) and the joy and thankfulness returns.

After all, aren't we suppose to be joyful always? (I Thessalonians 5:16) Take it from me, it's much easier to be joyful when you have a thankful heart of praise as an offering to Him. How long has it been since you wrote your blessings down? How long has it been since I wrote my blessings down?

Joyfully,

Kristi

Legacy of Faith

"I have no greater joy

than to hear that my children are walking in Truth."

I John 1:4

What a heritage of faith is ours. R and I were both blessed with Godly, Christian parents and grandparents. They raised us in church, just as we are raising our girls. They taught us to study and know Scripture and to have a deep relationship with God and to try to be like Jesus every day! They taught us how to pray. Oh, I have fond childhood memories of kneeling by my bed at night and praying with my parents and praying with my grandparents when I would spend the night. My girls have these memories too!

They taught me that it wasn't enough for me to just go to church. I needed a Savior! It has been 32 years since I received Him as my Savior and Lord. R was saved 31 years ago.

Rachel was saved when she was six years old. April 4, 1999

Hannah was saved when she was 6 years old. November 16, 2003

My Dad baptized them both. Oh, days to treasure and remember and to thank God! My eyes are filling up with tears of joy. Our circle is complete and that is much to be thankful for! If you still have family members who are not saved, don't give up. Keep praying and believing. I am praying and greatly looking forward to the day when I hear my little nephews call me and say, "Aunt Kiki, I asked Jesus to come into my heart and be my Savior today!" Glory! I can hardly wait for that day!

In Awe of Him,

Kristi

Please visit here for more inspiring Word Filled Wednesdays.

My Busy Mom's Prayer Binder

I am so excited to share this with you! It has been life changing as far as my prayer life goes. Have you ever told someone that you would pray for them (concerning a long term prayer request) only to get too busy and simply forget? I have and I just hate it when that happens. Oh, I prayed for them, right after they asked me to pray, but then I have trouble following through sometimes and hanging in there for the duration. There are so many promises that I want to pray over my children, our country, our church, our friends...but life gets in the way and it seems like I fall into my prayer rut of just praying for the same things over and over. Can you relate?

Four years ago, I followed Lisa Welchel's advice and made my own Prayer Binder following her specific instructions. (You can find the instructions for the Prayer Journal by clicking on this address and scrolling down until you find June 21, 2004.) She also sells them.

They are very good instructions. The prayer binder was easy to create. I just used a 3 ring binder, 2 packages of Avery business card, and 15 clear business card pages. I made ten categories that I want to be sure to pray for every day. They are: Rachel & Hannah (my daughters), R (my husband), myself, Family, Thanksgiving, Praise, Ministry, Personal Influences, America, and Friends.

I made a different card for each category for 30 days of the month. If a month has 31 days, I just repeat one of my days. This way, I will have prayed 30 different promises over my girls and my husband, remembered to pray for everyone in our family at least once during the month (of course I pray for several every day :-) ) etc. By the end of the month I will have prayed for 300 of the most important people and issues that are on my heart!

For the girls, my husband, and myself I listed specific verses for each day. An example would be: Excellence: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." Ecclesiastes 9:10.


I have enjoyed using this prayer binder for the last 4 years. After 4 years, you can imagine that I would need to update it a bit. We have added family members, some have gone on to glory, ministries have changed, and even changes in friendships and personal influences.

This was my tackle today. I'm so thankful that it is up to date now and I am ready to put it into use. I was showing the finished product to Rachel, my oldest daughter, when God prompted me to ask her if she would like to have one too.

She was excited about praying in a new way, so we spent the afternoon making a prayer binder just for her. This was so much fun.

She chose 6 categories to pray for each day. They include: She and her sister, Family, Thanksgiving, Praise, Personal Influence, and Friends. She designed her cover and I had fun adding specific scriptures for Rachel to pray for herself and for her sister. Here is a picture of her Prayer Journal.







I can hardly wait to see how God uses this! James 5:16 says, "The effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much." Oh, its not our power that changes things, but God's power. My heart wants to make so many petitions for my family, myself, and our corner of the world and this binder helps me stay on track and lose the whole guilt thing! This Busy Mom's Prayer Binder has been a great blessing to me and I hope it will bless your life too! To God be the glory!


Joyfully,
Kristi

Menu Monday 8/11/08

Happy Monday to you!

May each one of you have a blessed day in the Lord today!

Here is my menu for the week:

Monday:

Rosemary & Lemon Chicken (Oprah's recipe)

with Crash Hot Potatoes (Thanks Pioneer Woman!)

Tuesday:

Baked Fish & Veggies from the Garden

Wednesday:

BLT sandwiches w/ tomatoes from my garden.

Aren't they purty?

Thursday:

Pesto Chicken (One of my faves from Elizabeth!)

Friday:

Homemade Pizza Night

(even though it would be so much easier to call Papa Murphey's!)

Saturday:

Ham & Cheese Frittata

Sunday:

???

Hide them in your heart...for children!

I firmly believe this promise from God. I don't just believe it, I'm claiming it for my daughters. Ever since they were little, we have learned scripture together.

We started with Bible Verses put to praise music. Does anyone remember Psalty? Or how about the Gaither's Kids Under Construction? Veggie Tales...Steve Green...so many.

It gets a little harder when they are older, but it's not impossible. I use to post a Bible verse in the kitchen on a decorated plate. Since this is the hub of our home, it is visible to everyone. As part of their chores, they needed to learn the verse of the week.

(I have to be honest, I haven't been as diligent this summer-yikes!)

Teaching Precious Promises to our children is very important! I want them to know that God's Word is alive and active and applicable to every area of our lives.

I received a request from a fellow blogging mom to review her book entitled A Few Simple Steps to Teach Your Child Scripture. It is an excellent source and she is offering it free on her blog. I recommend it highly because it is an excellent tool to help teach our children to hide His Word in their hearts.

I'm off to worship the Most High God with my family. I hope you are worshipping at His feet today too! Oh, He is so worthy!

Sharing the Love & Gratitude Awards!

An award for me? Wow! Thank you Kim!!!!

The rules of this award are: SHARE THE LOVE!!!

Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love.

All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh.

All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog.

**All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipient to do the same**

Thank you Kim for this award! If I could give it back to you, I would. I don't know how you do it! You are almost always the first to leave a comment on my blog. I look forward to your posts everyday. Thanks for letting me help with your new blog look. It was a blast!

So many of you bless me by visiting my blog. That's why I wrote about you on my Thankful Thursday Post. So, I want to pass this award to all of you. Please, help yourself to this award and pass on the joy. It really is for a good cause.

Since I am a rule follower, I want to pass this award to:

Nikki is a very talented artist! I won her giveaway last week and I can hardly wait to receive these goodies. I'll post pictures whenever they come in the mail. She sells her items on Etsy. Warning! If you go to her Etsy site, you will have a hard time picking just one thing. I always enjoy seeing what she is creating and reading about what God is doing in her life.

Erica has become such a sweet blessing! She has two daughters, just like me, except they are much younger. She dresses them in matching outfits...I miss that sweet stage. She is a wonderful wife and mommy and I always look forward to reading her blog, seeing those precious girls, and reading about what God is doing in their lives.

Elizabeth! Oh, I'm so thankful for you. She is a talented and accomplished chef, and she is so creative. She was the sweet friend that generously explained how to make a diaper cake. (See yesterdays posts). She has a heart for the Lord and for her family.

Denise gave me my first award. I want to "Share the Love" back to her. Her blog is so much fun! This last week she invited all of us on a Tour of Homes. I would have missed out on the fun without her. She always leaves the sweetest comments and I so enjoy reading about her joy-filled life.

_________________________________________________________________

And...another award? OH, my gracious!

After a hard day (a day where I had to fight to keep my joy)

this was quite a surprise:

Melanie blessed me with Gratitude with Attitude Award. Thank you, Melanie! You are absolute joy and I am always blessed when I visit your blog!

I would like to pass this award to:

Denise at Shortybears Place. She has the most beautiful attitude of gratitude to our Heavenly Father. You are a true inspiration!

Cheryl at Hope for Each Day. No matter what is going on in her life or the life of her loved ones, she has a thankful heart. You too are an inspiration!

Angie at The Knightly News. Besides the song on her blog, which is one of my favorites, her heart plays a beautiful melody of gratitude to God in every post that she writes. Yes, another inspiration.

Please, visit these special blogging buddies when you can. You will be blessed!

It's a Diaper Cake, Baby!

I am one of twelve or fourteen hostesses this weekend for a baby shower for our precious new Youth Minister-Intern's wife. She is wonderful, and he is too!

I had the joy of making the invitations.

She told me the nursery would be in blues and browns.

Here is what I came up with.

(I... meaning, me and the Lord)

I was thrilled with how they turned out. We had a shower meeting and couldn't really decide about a table decoration and then I saw Elizabeth's creation! I knew when I saw it that I just had to try to make one. I had never seen one of these before. A diaper cake! Who knew?

She was so gracious and generous to share her instructions and her expertise.

Thanks a million, Elizabeth!

(She is amazing! I've tried several of her recipes and they are wonderful.)

So, with the help of my girls we set out to purchase the supplies.

Have you heard the one about

the three blondes that tried to make a diaper cake???

Oh, I couldn't have done it without their help! Thank you, sweet girls!!!

An hour and a half later this is what we made:

We just fell in love with the little elephant. If you pull his tail, he plays a lullaby. Tiny socks, tiny bows, tiny diapers...I think I need to "go take an Advil" as my sweet hubby would say. Two Advil and the baby fever will pass.

Anyway, it was so much fun! Fun memories with my girls!

Ya'll have a blessed weekend!

Joyfully,