Joyfull Living

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.  I John 5:4 Christmas is a perfect season to be reminded that our God is able to do the impossible. When we remember Mary, a young girl who believed what God told her – that she would be the mother of the Messiah.  We remember the shepherds – just ordinary men who believed and followed the leading of the Lord to be the first to behold the newborn King. These examples defy human understanding, but leave us standing in amazement at the plan of our Heavenly Father.  Before we knew Him, He loved us and had a plan to take us as sinful people and cleanse, renew bring us to Him. He is able to bring His will in whatever way He chooses to bring about His will in our lives.  What a powerful and loving God we serve! May this Christmas season bring us to remembrance that He is able and we can put our trust and faith in Him.

One of the blessings of the Christmas season is the many parties and get togethers we are able to attend.  Of course that means food - lots of it!  But in the season of good cheer and being merry as all the best food dishes come out, it can be easy to overload and pack on a few extra pounds and lose the healthy eating habits we may strive for.  In the celebrations, we can surely take part, but here are a few tips to help keep us on track: One of the biggest helps to avoid over eating is before a holiday event, eat a snack or a salad. Foods high in protein, like chicken or cottage cheese, help you to eat less later. Fasting ahead of time to leave room for a big meal or extra trips to the buffet may lead you to overeat. Eat smaller portions of food. This is especially important at a buffet, where you may want to try everything. Choose the items you want to try the most, and eat a small portion of each. \Eat slowly. Many times, people eat so fast that their stomachs do...

In every life, there will be a time where we will be called upon to offer comfort.  There will be situations when we face hurting, grieving people and desperately want to say and do the right things.  Most of the time though, these things come unexpectedly.  We are moved with compassion and act quickly to show our care, but lack the adequate time to prepare and rely on cliches of comfort we have heard through the years that 'sound good', but lack true comfort.  Another hindrance to true comfort is in our busy lives today, it is hard to give undivided, unhurried attention or commitment.  We often want to help so we just do something quickly, say some nice words and continue on with our lives. That type of comfort is comfortable for us, but leaves the one we are trying to comfort, lacking and still hurting.   There is a beautiful art to comforting which brings hope, healing and comfort to those in need.  This comfort is genuine ...

This came through my email this week and was one of the cutest I have seen in a while!  How twins are made... so this is how they do it... One of life's great mysteries solved. (Only twenty years ago, no one would have understood this joke!)

Last week our family took a quick trip to the mountains.  Since we had to work around school and work schedules, we knew we would miss the beautiful color of the changing leaves.  Instead we decided to do some walking in the mountains and look for some waterfalls.  We found a few which were glorious! Some of us thoroughly enjoyed walking After a while, others had enough of walking and of picture taking! But overall, the time spent together was wonderful! and made some joyfull memories to store up!

As a new homeschooling mom, I"m constantly on the lookout for products to enhance my 9 year old's education.  As the home school year goes by, it is becoming apparent that science is one of our least favorite subjects.  The procedure our curriculum calls for is a lot of book reading, then quizzes and reviews over that information.  But, bugs, flowers, insects all seem to run together sometimes!  The opportunity came to review a Learning Workroom Steps to Scholastic Success TM Slide Shows CD and I eagerly grabbed it!  I had not heard of Learning Workroom before but they provide educational CD's which are 'Fun, Educational, and Effective Programs that Help Kids Learn'.  They offer CD's in Math, Language Arts and Science.  Of course I chose the Science CD! Upon browsing for products on their website, I found out the Science Steps to Scholastic Success TM Slide Shows CD was awarded the 2010 Media of the Year Award for Educati...

On a recent trip to the mountains, we saw several waterfalls and rushing creeks.  Don't you just love the sound of flowing water?  It brings peace to the soul and beauty to the eyes. I could sit for hours and watch for hours the water that flows with seemingly no ending. Here is John 7:38 from the Amplified Bible:  "He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water." I want to be a Christian with a continuous flow of Living Water.  Not stale or stagnant, but vibrant and having a freshness and newness of the Lord's presence always flowing from my mouth, heart and actions.  But as with any cycle, there must be a starting point or place to take in.  This is where reading God's Word, prayer and surrounding myself with godly things comes in.  To give out, it must be first taken in, meditated upon and acted on by sh...