Trains and Planes

Sunday evening, Abbi came running to me with the announcement that she had seen a train on the road behind our house.
"Abbi.....", I started, taking Josiah's shoes off. "That's impossible. There are no train tracks anywhere near here."
"No, really", she argued. "It had lots of things attached, and it was really big."
"Maybe a semi-truck?" I suggested. She finally gave up and left.

A few minutes later I walked by Mama, who was calling for Josiah to come and see the big truck. I peeked out the window, and found Abbi's train. It wasn't really a train, but a covered auto-delivery truck that, I admit, would have looked like one to her. I called her to ask if this was what she meant, and she agreed that it was. She got out some paper and a pencil, and worked on drawing it while the guy unloaded the cars (if you'll look at her picture above, she drew all the cars in it with great big smiles, heehee :). I love it :)!). Daddy said that the covered truck probably meant it was a special car being delivered, and Mama said she wouldn't be surprised if it was some new expensive make. Tori said, "Or an antique. You never know." He pulled the car out, and Mama was like, "That is NOT an antique!"

Watching him was so scary, haha... Mama and I both gasped at one point as we were sure he was going to miss his skinny little ramps, haha. But he knew what he was doing, and it came out fine,of course ;). He parked the vehicle, and went to pull out the one behind it, that he was actually delivering... and it *was* an old car, hahaha! Tori and I got a kick out of that, haha :). Daddy explained how the top works like an elevator, and he might have another one to drive out as well, but the old one was the one he ended up delivering. It was interesting :).

A couple weeks ago, we were outside, when a plane flew overhead, and Josiah stopped playing with his ball, all concerned about the big noise. I told him it was a "plane, up in the sky behind the trees!", and he was soooo bothered that he couldn't find it! A couple days ago, we were outside while Daddy was grilling hamburgers, and Josiah was playing with a ball almost as big as he is (it's a lovely shade of green... I've never seen a prettier outside toy, haha!). He stopped all of the sudden, his little face peering over the big ball, and he said "Plane!". I was surprised that he knew. It was far enough away that I hadn't even noticed the noise yet, and he obviously couldn't see it! I was proud of him for remembering and putting the two together, and I asked , "A plane?! Really?". He agreed, and told me, "Trees!". I guess he thought it was his turn to do the educating :).

Thankful: A Humble Act of Worship

How important is gratitude? And what priority does it have in our lives?
The first chapter opens by telling the story of a little girl who was living in the author's home at the time, and how she is being trained to say "thank you". This story made me chuckle, not because it is funny, but because Josiah is currently learning to say "thank you" and "sorry", and when I sat down to read, it hadn't been that long since he had started crying because he was told to tell Bethi thank you for changing his diaper, haha. I think that acknowledging that we need something from someone else, and that they gave it, goes against our human nature. We want to be able to do it all! But those simple words of thanks are an important- and critical- part of life. It humbles us. It encourages those who have been there for us and helped us through a need, no matter how "insignificant".
Stop and think for a moment... if others only helped you in ways that you thanked them for, would you get much help in your life? This can be a good gauge of our gratitude. Would we still have help in things like carrying food out to the table when it's our night to make supper? Somebody bringing us an item from upstairs when we have to stay downstairs for some reason? Help folding those big bed sheets?
While we might be able to do these things alone sometimes, there are times that we are in a hurry, and the whole family has to pitch in to do anything in time. Have we thought about what a blessing those people are to us in those times? Have we thanked them?
How about God? What if he only gave us what he thanked us for? Have we thanked him recently for air? For keeping our heart beating?
Gratitude is the starting point for true heart-felt service to our Lord. While some may feel like they must work to be saved, or that they don't need to do anything because the Lord has already done it all, a grateful heart will do all he asks simply because they want to give a small gift back to their Savior. Our thanks is an act of worship!
This is definitely something I am working on. The devotional in the back of the book for today was actually on a humble heart fit to give thanks to God (I didn't plan that!). I was reading through it, and I realized that I could think of several instances just in the past 24 hours where my pride had been the cause of ingratitude! The Lord is never done growing us and rooting out weeds until we stand before him at his throne!
Will you join me today in making a point to thank God and others for what they do for you?

 These "Thankful" blog posts are inspired by Nancy Leigh DeMoss's book "Choosing Gratitude" :).

Coordination and Snowgies

Last Sunday I made Tori and I some coffee drinks. Making coffee for Tori is about as fun as drinking mine, because her eyes get so huge when I hand it to her, haha... she told me once that Starbucks should hire me, which I take as a very deep compliment! I just wanted to enjoy some coffee flavored, iced, whipped cream topped coffee, while I did my bible study before I had to head back out to choir practice. So, I handed Tori her coffee, and we headed upstairs, and I enjoyed going through my HCSB bible notes for Psalm 119, in between threading needles for Abbi. 2:00 came around, and I got up to go get ready to go. I tripped over Abbi's doll crib, and I almost fell over three times. I'm sure the unintentional dance was interesting ;). I finally righted myself, and asked Tori why she was laughing. To which she answered, "That whole time, you kept your cup upright the whole time." It was true. I hadn't lost a drop, haha! It's nice to know that no matter how uncoordinated I am, I've at least got a good handle on my coffee ;).

Mama and I ran to Kohls on Thursday. We were walking through the clothes section, when we found one of the tiny snowmen from "Frozen Fever", totally out of place. Around here, they are known as snotmen... but, I have heard that the official name for the little guys is "snowgie", haha. It had a "press me" button on it, and so, Mama obeyed and pressed it... once... twice... probably five times. Then she decided it was broken, and walked off, leaving me standing by the thing. I realized she was leaving, and started to follow her, when the snowgie toy let out a murderous maniacal laugh. TERRIFIED me. Mama hasn't stopped laughing about it yet...  her only regret is that she was enjoying watching me jump out of my skin so much, she couldn't enjoy the onlookers enjoying it, lol!

Thankful: Choosing Gratitude Brings it's Own Blessings

"Even in the most turbulent waters, choosing gratitude rescues me from myself and my run away emotions." ~Nancy Leigh DeMoss, "Choosing Gratitude"

I've heard so much about this book over the past year! Mama had read it, but, because I thought it was borrowed, I didn't even think of reading it, haha. Then, it suddenly started popping up e..v.e.r.y.where, on blogs and on links that were shared during KBR's November challenge, and the like. I regretted not having read it. Then Mama was going through some books, and I saw her pull this one out, and I was like, "Wait, we OWN that?!". Lol! So she passed it off to me to read, and it was soooo good! I planned on maybe doing a review, maybe sharing a couple of my favorite quotes, or just mentioning having read it and whether it was good, in a blog post afterward.... I sat down one morning with some cocoa and chocolate, started reading the introduction, and found that quote... and I immediately got out a notebook, because I could tell that this was going to give me more to share than a blog post, or even two. So, I just decided to go all out and make it a series, haha!

This book was, I have to say, wonderful. I would suggest reading it ...especially if you have a copy sitting around the house, as I apparently did... ;). The book itself was an easy but, convicting and encouraging, read, and then the month-long study guide at the back gives you a wonderful "continuation" point. I like to read books through in a couple days, but when there are studies to do with each chapter, I either end up not doing the study, or not being able to get all that into the book. It just requires too much of a gear shift for me, somehow. So I liked how this book was set up :).

That sentence, "Even in the most turbulent waters, choosing gratitude rescues me from myself and my run away emotions," really grabbed me, because I had realized much the same thing last August. I had been struggling with a lack of joy, and the Lord used Pinterest (of all the things!), to remind me of the choice I had to make. I never would have recommended Pinterest for a wake up call, but, hey... I guess it can happen ;). I was sitting staring at pins, when one with a bible verse about giving thanks popped up, and I rather absentmindedly clicked on it and looked at the related pins. And with things like "Count your many blessings, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done", "Keep an attitude of gratitude", "Rejoice in the Lord always" and various other phrases popping up, I decided that, as I wrote in my journal later that evening, "...I am going to make that a conscientious part of my day again. ...I miss that part of my day, and I miss being able to look back at those lists every week. I just miss everything about it, and I wish I hadn't let the ball drop. I dropped it without thinking, being busy, then felt like it "wasn't time" to start it back because I was still busy, and since then I told myself it's too much to try for. ...but rejoicing is a command, not an option. And I know I have always received blessings from following that command!"

Because I have found that when I specifically look for, say, three things a day to be thankful for... I end up looking for things all day long, and it comes up to way more than three, often :). And when you notice that you *can* go all day, all week, all the time, and not run out of things to praise the Lord for... it makes you realize how blessed you really are! And that realization breeds joy, and that joy brings more thankfulness, and it becomes a wonderful cycle :)! So, today, whether by paper and pen, or by typing a list up, or by sharing some things with someone else, or just by setting aside a time to dwell on the "benefits" we've been given, join me in counting our blessings :).

Some things I am thankful... 
~That God has forgiven my iniquities.
~Redeemed my life.
~Gives steadfast love and mercy. 
~"Renews our youth like the eagle's."
~For books like "Choosing Gratitude" that encourage us to fight the good fight.
~To be able to share this journey towards a more grateful spirit with you all.
~The grace of God, that molds his children more and more into his image each day, and will continue to do so until we stand  before his throne.

What are you thankful for today?

These "Thankful" blog posts are inspired by Nancy Leigh DeMoss's book "Choosing Gratitude" :).

Homemade "Oven" :)

 

 

I walked into our room last night, and this is the sight I saw. Abbi and Andrew had taken a baby doll swing, detached the seat, put a hanger in it's place, and then hung a pail from it for their swinging kettle :D. Mama's been reading the "Little House" books for our read aloud, and we've also been watching the shows, so they decided to make their own "oven" like Ma used :).When Andrew was little, he used to use the treadmill to "cut wood like Pa does" in the Little House show :). Little House definitely gets creative juices flowing in order to play at being the Ingalls :).

 

Mama also got them some cloves to make one of the clove apples that are mentioned in "Little House in the Big Woods". Unfortunately, Josiah bruised it, but, they had fun working on it, haha :).

 

 

 Sweet boys :)...

 

There have also been lots of log cabins built ;).

 

Little House has always been a special series for us. I remember my Grandma used to read a chapter or two every time I would visit, and I always looked forward to that. And Tori and I played that we were snowed in more time than I can count when we were little!!! It's been fun to get to see the little ones enjoying it now :).