Love Lifted Me!

From Sunday morning's children's choir...
{you can stop my blog's background music in the sidebar}

I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more,
But the Master of the sea, heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.


Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help Love lifted me!
Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help Love lifted me!


All my heart to Him I give, ever to Him I’ll cling
In His blessèd presence live, ever His praises sing,
Love so mighty and so true, merits my soul’s best songs,
Faithful, loving service too, to Him belongs.


Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help Love lifted me!
Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help Love lifted me!

Step of Obedience...

I'm sure it has much to do with the fact
that from the time of birth, until he was about 3 years old,
our son had chronic ear infections which, in turn,
compelled us to avoid allowing water
to get on his face and ears, which, very likely,
contributed to his very present and great fear of water.
The idea of water getting on his face
or near, let alone in, his ears is a frightful thing for him.
Needless to say, really, that it has made
for many years of difficult bathing rituals
(including washcloths and very careful 'water projection').
I am sure I did my son a disservice
by creating/allowing this habitual fear to go so long
but, unfortunately, I did.

After over a year of wrestling with the Holy Spirit,
our son, through much prayer, took the courageous step
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in believer's baptism!
Oh, what joy filled our hearts (and tears our eyes)!
We are praising God for His answering prayer,
for the Holy Spirit convicting and guiding our son
in such a big decision in his life and Christian walk
and for giving him the courage that He knew
our son needed to obey.
Thank you, Lord...
May he continue to obey You, courageously and boldly.








"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life."
~ Romans 6:4

"I have no greater joy
than to hear that my children walk in truth."
~ 3 John 1:4

Simple Woman's Daybook...

For Today... Monday, October 27, 2008


Outside my Window...
The sun is starting to rise and
it's a cool, brisk autumn morning


I am thinking...
about how Truly, Wonderful our God is!


From the learning rooms...
Most of our new books have arrived(!!)
and we look forward to diving into them


I am thankful for...
the Lord hearing and answering prayers,
for His Word not returning void,
that He is a changer of hearts
and that He is worthy of all glory and honor!


From the kitchen...
the aroma of coffee invites me for a second cup.


I am wearing...
purplish dress with white flowers


I am reading...
1 Samuel and Matthew {KJB}


I am hoping/praying...
for continual revival in my heart,
in my family, in my church, in our country


I am creating...
(Lord willing) my pale pink regency gown,
bloomers for the girls, and plans for learning


I am hearing...
hums from the baby monitor...
We had a fellowship at church last night
and everyone is still peacefully sleeping


Around the house...
our home needs a good 'blessing' from the weekend


One of my favorite things...
seeing my children's love for
and desire to follow/serve Christ


A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...
tackle Mount Washmore, 'bless' our home,
go to piano lessons that Ally teaches,
go to dentist appointments, implement our new books,
go to Wednesday prayer meeting, church fellowship on Friday,
and church anniversary fellowship on Sunday,
and we plan to enjoy our newly arranged reading/music room.


Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
{click to enlarge}

"Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable."
~ Psalm 145:3

Weekend Whim...

Being a military wife,
I think that many times,
somewhere between
one to three years
of being at a particular place,
I, inadvertently, get
an itch for change.

Changing my blog this week
was, apparently, not enough.
I spent the day today
rearranging furniture
in our living room & reading room.
As a matter of fact,
I switched the rooms completely.

After moving a couch, rocking chair, piano, stereo, amoire,
six bookshelves, rolling up two rugs, cleaning floors
and baseboards, and rolling the rugs back out I was finished!
(well, mostly, finished... I still have organizing to do)
I have no doubt that I will sleep well tonight,
though, perhaps, a little sore. ;o)
I do love rearranging furniture, though!

It has been a full week for us
and I am very much looking forward
to being in the Lord's house tomorrow.
I hope you all have a blessed Lord's Day.


"LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house,
and the place where thine honour dwelleth."
~ Psalm 26:8

Making Some Changes...

Thursday's Things...

We have been a little out-of-sorts this week,
as we've had 'the sickness' visiting most of us.
Ally is most affected by it, at present.
The younger ones seem well,
aside from some lingering congestion.
Daddy had it mildly but seems to be feeling better,
which is good for him because he was away
for a day or two, due to work.
Mama hasn't been affected, as of yet,
and prays it continues that way, Lord willing. ;o)

Other than our week being a little more relaxed than usual,
due extra resting, courtesy of the lingering 'sickness',
we were still able to make it to
Ally's new endocrin appt yesterday.
We traveled an hour North, which was new to us
and quite interesting and enjoyable, to the office.
The waiting room at the office was a blessing!
Yes, a blessing!
Many times doctor's offices have televisions
and we, to the best of our ability, seek out a 'secluded' place
to read the books we brought along and ignore the t.v.
(we try to avoid the news, children's cartoons/programs, etc...)
When we arrived, I saw that in the waiting room
there was a large television hanging on the wall
and I was thankful we had brought our books.
However, we noticed that what was playing on the screen
had no words/dialogue, no questionable music,
no questionable situations/characters, and no people.
It was recorded scenes from Hawaii
(palm trees blowing in the wind, ocean waves crashing on shore,
lava flowing and being cooled by the ocean, flowers, trees, & other sites)
with creation's sounds & low volume, instrumental music.
And though no television would have been nice,
we did enjoy the opportunity to see the sights in Hawaii.
It was fun and educational to take the opportunity
to enjoy and discuss God's creation as we watched.
We, also, talked about the lava and how it looked
like a lake of hot, liquid fire, which, in turn,
brought us to talk about how much hotter Hell must be.
It was a sad and sobering thought.
But I was thankful for the opportunity
to have those discussions with the children.

The appointment went as well as it could.
We hope to know more in a week or so, as we await lab work.

On the way home, we kind of took our time
to enjoy the sights that were new to us.

We saw a sign for a Civil War trail
and pulled over to read about it.
Will was the very excited (he sure loves his history!).



The information was in a cemetery
and as we headed out, we saw this sculpture
of what is known by many as The Lord's Prayer
(though, I like to consider John 17 as our Lord's prayer).
Beth read it aloud for us as we sat in front of it.



Also, on the way home we pulled off the road
to enjoy the scenery at this bogue sound (waterway between land).


The sun was very bright and the water really glistened



On the side of the road were fields of these flowers...


They were so beautiful!

Though we enjoyed our trip, we were glad to be home.
Especially when two boxes of homeschool books
were dropped off at the door! Woo hoo!
It has been such a blessing to be able to order our books
(now that our house sold!)!
We look forward to the arrival of our other books
and then begin using them with what we've already been using.
Fun! Fun! Fun! I just LOVE books! Love homeschooling! LOVE IT!

Ally has already jumped into using her new books
(especially since she hopes to graduate in May/June
and would like to finish as soon as possible).
Will has already read through a couple of new living books
and is eager to begin his new math.
Beth has already been reading aloud to Carolynne
through their new readers.
And me? I've already felt them, flipped through them,
scanned them, and smelled them.
Did I mention I love books? ;o)

Today, as Ally rests and works on her education,
we are working at blessing our home
and doing some of the homeschool work that we've been doing.
I look forward to sitting down and planning & have, finally,
figured out (so-called) lesson plans that work for me
(well, at least it's working for me so far and anticipate it will continue).

I haven't had a chance to sew much this week or last
but the projects are there waiting
and I know I'll tackle them as time permits.
But I'm off to do a little 'extra' home blessing.
We want it looking its best,
especially when Daddy returns today. ;o)

I hope y'all enjoy your day and rest of the week!


"But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God:
yea, let them exceedingly rejoice."
~ Psalm 68:3

Mmmm... Tea

I have only recently developed a liking for tea.
As a matter of fact,
so far I only really like chai green tea (spiced)
but I am occasionally trying new teas
and aquiring a taste for some of them.
So when I saw that Mrs. U was having a tea giveaway,
I was eager to sign up for the possibility
to try more tea and to enjoy a flavor I already love.
If you love tea, want to love tea,
or even if you never really cared about tea...
a chance to try it for free may peak your interest. ;o)