Joyfull Living

Happy Memorial Day!  So often we eagerly look forward to a three day weekend filled with rest, relaxation and family time.  In our eagerness to celebrate we may not accurately remember or  pay attention to the why we are celebrating: But Memorial Day is set aside  as an American holiday to commemorate United States men and women who died while in military service. It was started after the Civil War and was expanded after World War I. It was once called Decoration Day honoring those who gave their lives in military service to our country.  So as we do enjoy the activities of family and free time this weekend, may we also remember the sacrifice given. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. John 15:13

If you have teenagers, you know things can get a little unsettled in the home.  Here is a humorous  look at these wonderful years:       Have a great weekend!

Like many moms, I worry about my kids watching too much tv, but at times I am guilty of allowing it while I am busy with other things around the house. One day this week, my youngest son came home, plopped on the couch and had a steady stream of ICarly and Sponge Bob going.  After a little while I told him enough tv.  He got up and went into his room and shut the door.  Assuming he was pouting, I gave him a few minutes.  When I opened the door to see what he was doing, this is what I saw: Sometimes I rack my brain for creative ideas for him to do.  Isn’t amazing how sometimes the kids have it figured out.  Raising a reader sure brings me a bit of joy!!

Give to the LORD the glory due His name;       Bring an offering, and come before Him.       Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! I Chronicles 16:29 This is one of those verses that seem to easily flow from the heart.  It almost makes is sound so easy, giving to the Lord the glory due His name and worshipping Him in the beauty of holiness.  He is worthy of all glory and what a glorious feeling to worship Him in the beauty of holiness.  But what about the “bring an offering part"?  As Christians in our day and time, we no longer are bound to bring an offering for our sin since Jesus Himself has redeemed us.  What is it that we can offer to Him? When we set the day aside to worship Him, often times there are many distractions that may crop up.  The day is Sunday, sometimes it is our only day off.  Opportunities abound for relaxation and fun.  Making the choice to put God first and go to His house is a great beginning to choose to worship Him.  When we get to church

Any parent of teenagers realizes that these years are full of challenges, uncertainty, mood swings and balance.  Parents must be flexible, because the teens tend to fluctuate - often!  They want independence, freedom but they still need encouragement and direction.  It often takes a dose of humor to bring into balance the daily challenges of teens.  Their expectations and views and  your expectations often clash.  Here is a humorous list of rules I recently found that brings a balance of reality with humor in "Life Rules For Teenagers". Life Rules for Teenagers Rule No. 1 : Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teenager uses the phrase "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1. Rule No. 2 : The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as your school does. It&#

FAITHFUL ~ DEDICATED ~ COMMITTED This was the message on a church billboard in our town recently.  It immediately found a place in my heart and begin stirring around.  I loved these words and their message and rose to the challenge of evaluating myself in light of them.  Of course church service was the area that I thought about with these qualities. There is not an abundance of these traits displayed in today's church, but they are the things that create the core or backbone of the church.  As a church member, I should strive to be faithful, dedicated and committed. This weekend these words came to mind again, for my home.  All weekend they kept coming back so for today's Making Your Home Sing, I'm thinking of some ways to put these characteristics to work in the home. Faithfu l:  Of course I love my home!  I am faithful to it.  But if something fun comes up or an activity infringes on my cleaning or caring for the home, the natural choice is to do what is more enjo

Until I had children, I had very little interest in sports.  That hasn’t changed very much, except for when my children are involved.  Through the years, baseball  seemed to be the chosen sport for my boys.  And, as time went on, it has grabbed onto my heart also!  Here is my youngest who plays little league ball: Even though the older boys are way past their little league days, they still love to play. Here they are practicing on the church softball team: My middle son: My oldest son: My  baseball boys bring me joy!

The eyes of all look expectantly to You,          And You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand          And satisfy the desire of every living thing.  Psalms 145:15 I love the promise of this verse that as we gaze expectantly to the Lord, in His hand, He alone holds the power to satisfy our every desire.  This is not a “give me” type of attitude, but a realization that He holds all that we need and all we need to do is to seek Him.  For He is the All Sufficient One. 

Have you ever noticed how people tend to get grouped together by their habits?  I tend to run with the "late crowd".  Although I'm not late to where everything has already started, my arrival is usually a bit "breathless".  Meaning that I have pushed, prodded and herded the family out the door, drove quickly in a harried state of mind to arrive at my destination just in the nick of time!  I notice that I arrive with many of the same people day after day to school, sports practices and church.  Usually when I arrive it takes a minute to slow the pace down and get focused.  I notice the ones who have arrived earlier are cheerfully fellowshipping and much more relaxed. On occasion, I have been on the other end of the spectrum, planned, prepared and on time and it honestly felt great!  But as routines relax, I fall back into the normal wait to the last minute trap. The term "new normal" is one that is used after a major life change disrupts a family

Accident insurance claim forms ask for a brief statement about how the accident happened. The combination of the finger pointing instinct and the small spaces provided on the forms can lead to some curiously phrased explanations. "The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention." "I had been learning to drive with power steering. I turned the wheel to what I thought was enough and found myself in a different direction going the opposite way." "Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have." "I thought my window was down; but found it was up when I put my hand through it." "No one was to blame for the accident, but it never would have happened if the other driver had been alert." "The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him." "I saw the slow-moving, sad-faced old gentleman as he bounced off the hood of my ca

The last few posts have featured my little fisherman. These photos were simple enough for me to do a little extra playing around with Photoshop Elements. I haven’t worked much with black and white photos or with the vintage look, but the pond and fishing pole seemed like the perfect opportunity.  I  used the actions that are in Photoshop Elements of black and white adjustment layers and the vintage/old photo mode. Before: *This is not my son, but a great young man who just happened to be at the pond and is just blessed to be featured here!!  I like the angle of the photo of the boy, but the man is a distraction. After: I did some cropping and some color adjustments in black and white: Then worked the black and white theme some more: Before: These little boys dropped their fish and were trying to pick it up: After: This photo worked good for adding a vintage feel: Before: Only little boys would willingly share a fish: After: Another vintage overlay:

Although I don’t share their passion, each of my boys love to fish.  At a recent cook out, the kids were able to bring their fishing rods and do a little fishing in the pond. My youngest had a great time fishing and I had a great time watching and taking pictures of the simple joys of a little boy and his love of fishing.