Joyfull Living

My middle son recently was assigned a science fair project. Being the lover of outdoors that he is, he chose the subject of fishing and determining which baits worked best to catch fish. Here are the three baits he chose: and I may get these wrong: Fishing Worm Rapala : Ouch! Spinnerbait : Here we are ready to cast: The background for our project: Testing the baits: Uh Oh, we lost one of the baits! While I was doing the photo shoot, Dad decided to do some casts of his own: I never liked science fair projects, but this one has to be one of the best ones so far!

Welcome to Word Filled Wednesday! I have a short story to share before my verse for today. Yesterday as I was in the grocery store unloading a buggy full of meat - we only shop about once a month for meat, so I buy ALOT (!), a man came up in line behind me. He spoke to me and handed me a piece of paper. It was a coupon for $10.00 off the total order! He said that he had two coupons and it looked like one of them would help me out. This was a beautiful reminder of God's provisions and blessings which are showered upon us daily. So my verse is a reminder today that God can and will meet our needs and we don't have to worry , His supply is limitless! May your Word Filled Wednesday be filled with joy and blessings!

When my boys were little and would go fishing with their dad, they played a little game. Whoever caught the most fish or the biggest fish would capture the title "Big Fish". They would come home and I would always ask,' Who was "Big Fish" today? Recently my oldest son went fishing with his friend and they only caught one fish the whole time. My son caught it and it was a big one. Of course I went out and took some pictures: Later on, my son came in the house and took my camera to take some more pictures, apparently I didn't capture everything! I know...too much information!!

Today's At the Well is being hosted by Laura Lee at LauraLeesLifesong . The questions discussed today are: 1. What is your favorite "resolution" in the Bible? 2. Do you do a New Year's resolution? Why or why not? Does your family make a resolution together? 3. Usually a resolution comes as a result of regretting something you didn't do the year before...how do you let go of the regret and move forward? 4. (optional...only if you wish to share) Have you ever made a resolution in the past that you didn't keep and wish you had? My favorite resolution in the Bible -was the response of the Israelites to Moses before they received the 10 Commandments: "Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Their answer sounded so sincere and diligent. Later on, they would disregard their words and do their own thing which resulted in sin. In my life, I love new beginnings! I get energized over New Year's, the begin...

At the beginning of each year, I ponder on a trait I would like to see developed more in my life. This year the thought has been 'kindness". If you have a pleasant personality, it is easy to be kind. But the type of kindness I am looking for is one that is deeply rooted in the heart and reflects outward in actions to others. Recently a devotion came through my email and it was based on an excerpt from "The Love Dare" by Stephen & Alex Kendrick. Kindness can be defined as "love in action." Love makes you kind. And kindness makes you likeable . When youʼre kind, people want to be around you. They see you as being good to them and good for them. There are four basic core ingredients to kindness: 1. Gentleness: When kindness is ruling your heart, youʼre careful how you treat your spouse, never being unnecessarily harsh. Youʼre sensitive. Tender. Even if you need to say harsh things, youʼll bend over backwards to make your rebuke or challenge a...

Although I've heard that fantastic bargains can be found the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas, bargain shopping with the crowds just doesn't appeal to me. I don't do any of these major shopping days, although I do love a bargain. Yesterday after doing some decluttering , I dropped some unwanted household items to a local thrift store. While there, I decided to just browse around. It turns out that they had some really cute Christmas decorations and they were 1/2 off! I found these two table Christmas centerpieces for $1.00 each: I tried them out to see how they will look: Here is a wall swag decorated with ribbon, pinecones and Christmas beads: Since I love little nick nacks, I picked these up for $.25 each And since I am also crazy about candles... So it turned out to be a great shopping experience , no crowds and lots of bargains!!

Today is Word Filled Wednesday where God's Word is shared through verse and picture. It is a great mid week blessing! I thought this verse would be a great beginning for a new year. What great foundations these lay out for us, to be joyful - always as we hope in the Lord, be patient - in good times and bad, and always be faithful in prayer. May your WFW be blessed!