Joyfull Living

It seems like Mother's Day just happened...like last weekend! My Mother's Day was wonderful. Especially as I learn through life's seasons that it is not about gifts, pampering or being doted on that is important. When all my sons gather in one place, that is truly the best gift! Now, here we are with Father's Day approaching.  Father's Day is a bit of a challenge for me to find the perfect gift. My father passed away many years ago. I focus the gratitude of fatherhood to my husband, who is a wonderful father. He loves his sons and daughter in law fervently and always seeks their best. How do you express love for a true man''s man who is filled with integrity and purpose?  A home cooked meal is a must, but sometimes I long for something extra special to show my love and gratefulness. DaySpring shared a fantastic printable - 8 Notes for Dad's Bathroom Mirror .  Simply download these notes, print them off, cut out, write a personal message on t

Have you ever had one of those days where something happened that changed the circumstances for the rest of your life?  Most of us have experienced times like this which can be for good or bad.  Things like: Marriage Divorce Births Deaths Accidents Betrayals The good things are cherished and embraced.  They often bring a new life, brighter circumstances, renewed hope.  We eagerly walk down the path they present. The bad things make the same significant changes as life will never be the same following them. But they are not eagerly embraced, and may be questioned, railed on as unfair, thought of as destructive for us.  Two of the most life changing events in my life happened in June and were one week apart.  Today is the anniversary of my father's unexpected death. 29 years ago our family was in the throes of wedding plans. My wedding was one week away and along with finalizing wedding details, we were packing and preparing to move into our new home. I'll

May is the month in our area for wildflowers.  The roadsides are covered with vibrant yellows, pinks and purple flowers that are just gorgeous!  There is an area where I do my daily walk that usually provides moments of pure beauty to gaze at. Except for this year. The spring in our area was unusually dry.  As the wildflowers bloomed, they didn't receive the rain that would help them to flourish and were smaller in size and not as beautiful as in past years.  Each morning as I walked past the place the flowers bloomed, I noticed that they seemed to quickly die out. Finally it looked like wildflower season was over.  Then, would you believe, the rains came.  There has been almost 2 weeks of rainy days, which we desperately needed.   But, even after being scorched, parched and then rained excessively on, the flowers came back! Seeing the flowers come back for a second round of blooms brought a smile to my face and renewed joy to my walks. But it als

The sweetest thank you card came in the mail recently. It is always a blessing to receive handwritten notes with kind words!  However, the last sentence made me totally laugh out loud and praise Jesus at the same time!  "You do everything with grace and ease." were the beautiful words.  This was sent as a result of a Sunday lunch.  I have to tell you about this lunch.  We invited some out of town guests over for Sunday lunch.  The weather forecast was for heavy rain and our guests were eager to eat and travel home quickly. The morning was spent preparing as much of the meal as possible, then we headed to church.  As church ended, the skies poured down rain!  Attempts to get home quickly vanished.  Our dear guests arrived at our home before we did and we arrived home wet, late with a few last minute food preparations to finish.  Normally, this would have been a hospitality nightmare....except for grace.  Through the years God has worked in my heart to embrace guest