Yard Sale Weekend

So for the past month or so I've been busy pulling together my various yard sale items.

Finally yard sale day came.
A friend Sarah joined me with some of her stuff. :)

It was fun, hot, tiring, money making, good day.

I am STILL exhausted.

My feet were tired sore by the end of the day.

Made over $600 which was nice. Some of that money goes to Jim for items that were his, some goes to Justin to play with (his toys) and the rest goes to me. :) I did the work after all. :)

AND I made hubby happy by deciding that 96% of the remaining stuff could go to the various thrift stores around. Some of it is pretty decent stuff, others well..not quite so, but it will all find a purpose doing something for someone. :)

Justin had gone to gramma's for the weekend which just made things easier overall.

A nice day

Yesterday was Victoria Day here in Canada. A day of fireworks and stores being closed. Does anyone really celebrate that it's a reminder of the our ties with Britain? I dunno, I know I don't. :)

Our day started with me doing a bit of gardening while the boy woke up. And then I mowed the front lawn while he designed a game to go to gramma's house. Stopped at Dollerama here in town so that he could pick up another toy foam shooting gun. :)

Had two rabbits to sell so I brought them along with me to London, and had a nice chat with their new owner. Like me, he's going to get out of Mini Rex...for similar reasons of really really liking the polish temperament.

Gramma, the lad and I had fun playing and talking together. We took some toys to the school grounds and flew them. It was fun.

Went home played and talked some more and then out McD's for a late lunch. I left gramma and the lad to play and headed out to pick something up from Freecycle (some files and wrenches) and then stopped at the civic gardens for a walk. AH... it was so lovely and quiet. I took tons of pics (posted them on facebook). Just a lovely day.

Headed home for 6 pm were we relaxed for a bit (I checked emails, J watched Gilligan's Island) and then out to do the bunnies. While I did them J played in our mud pile. I'm actually quite impressed with the moat he has made and how much fun he has playing with water and figuring out physics and engineering. If I put a hole here..AH!!!! the bunnies of bunny town have to fix the hole!! AH!!!! the baby bunnies are going to drown!!!

here he built a boat and is checking out how it floats.


Rescue the baby rabbits! Fix that hole!!!


see the hole! and then he got it fixed and then the BAD CATS broke it again!!
The game of discovery would have continued except the lad got bombarded by those bugs that like to fly around your face and just drive you batty.
My batty son went into the house to recover himself.

We then had supper and he went to bed. :) I had a nice chat with hubby over the computer. His knee is sore, but they are enjoying themselves.

Birthday party and more :)

Yesterday the lad went to his first ever birthday Party. I took lots of pictures but I don't post pics on-line of other children because it's makes some mom's nervous. But I did take a couple of the lad. :)

After the party we went to Costco to see if we could find something for Jim's knee which is bunged up right now. (No)

then off to home health if they had crutch covers, (no) so off to Wal-mart to see what they had (ice packs meant for knees) YES! The lad had fun riding around on a bicycle. He knows which one he likes... but the one we like is just a bit bigger and will last longer... so we're thinking about it. :)

Then off to The toy Store which is having a 50% off sale since they've been bought out. We got some stuff. The lad had to do some math and problem-solving so we wouldn't take home too much as I can't afford it. :)

Then home, Gramma came to pick up the lad since we're off to Chatham today. So that's a brief update for you all. :)

Getting a bit more serious

About losing some weight.

Tired of having the boy be able to outrun me...he's only five! What happens when he's 14 and wants to play basketball? :)

So time to start figuring things out a bit better now I think. :)

To that end I joined Jim over at my fitness pal. Will monitor my food intake/exercise and see if that makes a difference in my overall eating patterns, and hence my waist line. :)

Tante Willy

Eaton Funeral Home and Staff

"We are pleased to provide this Book of Memories to the family"

Obituary for Willempje 'Willy' van Leeuwen

Willy van Leeuwen ~ Gone Home to be with her Lord and Saviour, at Listowel Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, Mrs. Willempje 'Willy' van Leeuwen of Listowel, and formerly of Conestogo and Atwood, in her 80th year.

Beloved wife of the late Dirk van Leeuwen. Mother of Marj and Albert Versteeg of Elmira, Anna and Jack Hovius of Listowel, Neil and Patricia van Leeuwen of Wainfleet, and Jo-Anne van Leeuwen of Elmira.

Also remembered by 10 grandchildren, and by her siblings Corry van Oostveen, Pons Tinholt, Bill and Wilma Tinholt, all of Listowel, John and Jeanne Tinholt of Winnipeg, Walter and Henny Tinholt of Moorefield, Arthur John and Josie Tinholt of Waterloo, and Adriana and Gordon Klaassen of Harriston.

Predeceased by her parents Johannes and Adriana (Hoogendoorn) Tinholt, her infant son, and her granddaughter Keri, and by her brother-in-law Kees van Oostveen.

Visitation will be held at the Eaton Funeral Home, Listowel on Wednesday from 2:00 to 4:00 and 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The funeral service will be held at Bethel Christian Reformed Church, Listowel, on Thursday, April 21st at 1:30 p.m. Pastor Ralph Wigboldus officiating.

Interment in Elma Centre Cemetery, Atwood.

My man and his weight loss

This is my Jim the Christmas before he got ill. So that would be 2009,


This is my Jim 2011 (about about 1 1/4 years later)
Isn't it impressive?

He's Mr. skinny now.
he'll deny it and say he's got some more to go.
But to me he's Mr. skinny, and I'm quite proud of him. :)

Home School Book Sales

So last night I went to a baptist church in London that was having a homeschool book sale.

I bought some books that were NOT school book related. Just general Christian fiction that I figured was a good price for the book box and that I could resell at more than what I bought it for at our annual yard sale. :) that way I have MORE money to buy more books right? :) and worst comes to worst...I'll have enjoyed doing some reading.

Anyways, picked up a pack of manipulatives. They kinda look like this but in lots of different colours. $4.00 I figured why not. :)

This morning the lad was quite intrigued by them and wanted to be able to add them to his play city and was sadly disappointed when I said NO... these are for homeschooling ONLY. We do math with them.

Being the lad that he is... he still managed to make a game out them. Only to occasionally be called off his play with them in order to do some math. It was interesting to see a light dawn in his eyes when he realized that.. 10 black bomb birds were still 10 black bomb birds even if they were divided into two groups of 1 + 9, or 5 + 5 and so forth. This is why I got them even though I KNOW that I can use all sorts of stuff around the house as manipulatives for math.

I got a bunch of other books as well. A couple of readings, a three book set of bible dictionary, a small reading program, a science book, a music theory book, some learning type books and a few fiction books. All for less than $50. I was overall pleased with what I got.

The Go Fish Guys

While doing the mom's day study from DNG today, we came achhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifross the Go Fish Guys.

While the lad was quite adamant that he didn't like the mom's song, he did like this one on the bible bop.



here's a link to the rest of their videos and to their website.

Went for a walk came home with.....

A pet!

Two caterpillars to be precise.

One is a Hyphantria cunea caterpillar(fall web worm) and the other is a Pyrrharctia Isabella caterpillar (isabella tiger moth, woolly bear, banded woolly bear). The Fall web worm that we found is differently coloured than many as it's the orange/yellow version instead of the more normal yellow with Long Spikey Dense fur.

They are now safely ensconced in mouse box (aka...a bug house from the dollar store). We are going to give them lots of grass and lettuce. We will have to see how they do. We're not sure how well the web worm will do as they prefer to eat tree leaves, but we have no tree leaves for it to munch on so it will have to cope with what we have available.

Boy's away so mom must....

Play... well... okay not really.

I worked!

I got all the dishes done...lifes been busy so we're talking more than one days worth. BUT they are ALL done!

I got the laundry finished.... okay.. well...I think I did that last night I could be wrong, but I think so.....

So I tackled the basement today. AND... drumroll please... I GOT IT DONE! well okay...let me qualify that.

I got it done as far as I can without my hubby's help. An old tv has to come upstairs to the garage. The fish tank needs to go into the workout room, he needs to vaccuum (that's his thing), and I have to do the garage sale corner. It's just a nasty mess back there and needs to be tackled but not today. :) I"ll send the lad off to someone's house for another day or two in May and get that done then. I'll work on it before then but the big push will be then I think.

i got the freezers moved over together. To do that I had to move the box pile, the candle making supplies, pick up the mat pieces, move chairs and what not. I cleaned out the one freezer since I was moving it anyways (required me emptying it first).

didn't do a whole lot in this corner other than organize all the fish stuff that's hidden under the train table. oh...and put the rest of the Christmas stuff with well....the rest of the Christmas stuff. :) oh.. and I moved a couple of boxes out.


Jim's workout area didn't need a whole lot of anything. It did while I was cleaning as I had to put things somewhere, but now all it needs is a vaccuum.


Believe it or not...HUGE improvement in this room. Moved an aquarium. Bagged the gravel from the empty tanks, moved paint cans and tool stuff. There's a fair bit of work to do yet, but I can't do it all in one day all by myself. :)

as I said earlier...the garage sale pile needs some MAJOR work. But not today.
now it's 11pm and I want to go to bed.

Acquiring Bravery

Yesterday we had a dental appointment, the lad and I. Now one thing you gotta know...I strongly dislike going to the dentist. As a youth I had a dentist who was NOT very nice at all, and it engendered within me a strong dislike of dentists.

I don't want to pass that along to my son so I try very hard to "be brave". To encourage him to not mind going to the dentist, to learn what he can and so forth. I've learned myself to ask questions....I do it for his sake because the more he knows, the more he understands, and therefore has nothing to be concerned about.

And its interesting, the more I help him with new experiences like this...the better I am. I still get the willies about contemplating getting a crown on a tooth that needs it. I know I will dislike it and be uncomfortable and have pain...but at least I'm not running scared of it, and ergo I worry less. And in the end of it...I'm braver. This is not a bad thing. :)

As I was doing bunny chores this morning I was struck by the fact that God doesn't want us running scared of him either. He wants us to know him, to understand him (in the limited way we as people can understand God), he wants us to seek after him. The more we understand God the less worrisome it is knowing him.

Christian Carnival Post

Sheepkinz presents Wait Upon the Lord and He Will Carry You! posted at INSPIKS.

The Eagle can see from great heights and depths below. So too can we, when the Lord reveals the spiritual things to His people.

William Hambleton Bishop, MA gives us A subjective interpretation of Jesus’ message about the forgiveness of sin… | Thoughts from a Therapist posted at Thoughts from a Therapist.

Instead of a debate or a search for fact I am offering a subjective interpretation of the teachings of Jesus (whether you believe he existed or not or whether you believe he was who Christians say he was or not) that I find helpful in understanding the idea of forgiveness and the possibility of peace.

FMF shows up with Retirement and Building Wealth: The Wealth Snowball Vs. Ocean Tide posted at Free Money Finance.

Wealth is much more than a bundle of money. To be truly wealthy is to live in the presence and the blessings of God.

Jason Price presents Getting Financially Involved In Your Church [Christian Financial Alliance] posted at One Money Design.

What is one piece of advice you would offer to someone wanting to get involved in the financial arena of their church?

Scottyi writes Why do People Suffer (pt 2) over at Sacred Raisin Cakes.

The second part of this exploration on why people have to suffer will deal exclusively with the most powerful objection there is to a God who allows suffering in the world.

How Do You Know if the Decisions You Are Making Are God's Will? is brought to us by Ridge's Blog.

As some of you know, we’ve been working through some interesting decisions at our mission, trying to figure out the best way to identify ourselves, as well as working through some difficult theological issues. One of our missionaries asked an important question: “How do you know if the decisions you are making are God’s will?”

We emailed back and forth, and this was my answer:

Russ White presents Staring Down the Chasm « Thinking in Christ posted at Thinking in Christ.

How long will it take us to realize that the end of the sexual revolution is simply total submission to our animal natures? If you don’t believe me, then take a look at the article around this quote.

Barry Wallace gives us This, by bitter experience, Thou hast taught me posted at who am i?.

We have a dangerous tendency to think too highly of ourselves. That tendency is confirmed by the fact that the Bible warns us, in various places and ways, to guard against it. Romans 12:3 is just one example:

Weekend Fisher presents "But the LORD was not in the earthquake" (I Kings 19:11) posted at Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength.

Earlier today I chanced across the writing of someone commenting on the earthquake in Japan who said that natural disasters are caused by God. That was said without any qualification at all. I'd like to offer a different perspective.

ChrisB presents A Tale of Two Neighbors posted at Homeward Bound.

I'm probably going to get in trouble over this. My neighbors on either side of me have something in common: they recently lost their homes. Both houses burned to the ground — a pretty much total loss.

But the neighbors, and their situations, are not that much alike.

Crystal Rodli presents Reform/Revival: Do we have a Pope Leo IX approach? posted at Treasure Contained.

When Bruno, bishop of Toul was elected pope (Leo IX) on February 12, 1049, he was already on fire with a zeal for the reformation of the church.

And my entry is this Acquiring Bravery.

I don't want to pass that along to my son so I try very hard to "be brave".

William Klein on D.A. Carson's compatibilism is brought to us by Parableman.

I've had occasion to complain before about a problematic discussion of Calvinism in a book review by William Klein (in that case in discussing David Peterson's commentary on Acts). His more recent review of David Allen and Steve Lemke's Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism critiques D.A. Carson in a way that I also think is a bit unfair, and he doesn't represent the terms of debate accurately, even apart from the fairness issue.

Kevin Swartzendruber presents How Ready Are You? posted at Kevin Swartzendruber.

A number of years ago something occurred that will forever leave a sober realization.

On Retreat

So this weekend I'm on a retreat held by the women of our denomation.

We're are trying and hoping to revilalize women's ministry on a denominational level within the body.

In the past, that's meant two conferences a year with a social time and a speaker.
In the past two years they've changed the conference so that in the fall there is a social time with a speaker and then in the spring they have a work day with a speaker. People go and do community projects and basically learn new ways of doing things in reaching out the community and in the afternoon they have a speaker and a time of sharing what all happened. They pick a community to go to. This year it's in Welland.

ANYWAYS.. enough of the history. There's about 6 of spending the weekend, a bunch more came during the day yesterday. We're having a decent time talking and laughing. We're getting ideas...many of them centering around the idea of mentoring, and using the classis as a resource tool for being able to connect with other churches and denominations who may be tackling the same issues. Perhaps we can work together to bring about situations where God can work in the lives of those around us. :)

Came to an epiphany this morning. I've struggled with the fact that I have only one child. Was talking with a lady this morning who notices that I'm never right in the middle of the crowd...that I'm often on the edges. I replied that it's because I'm not real fond of being right in the middle of a crowd...I'd rather be on the periphery. I like listening to people talking, but I find too much talking confusing at times and I don't know who to focus on. And that sometimes I struggle with that at home when both son and hubby are talking and I don't know who to listen to first. I told her that I REALLY like one on one conversations. Then I left for my walk. On my walk I realized that it was indeed a blessing from God that I have but one child. Means less stress overall in my life. Means that I can focus on him. And means that I can focus on my hubby at times as well. Hmm....guess that God really did know what he was doing eh? Despite the heartache of miscarriages he does know me best of all and really does care for me in the big picture. Kinda cool huh? :)

Anyways, today we have a worship service and some more conversation I think and then time to head home. It's been a good weekend overall. I'm rather tired because I didn't sleep well last night, but overall....it's been good. :) The leader threatens to put pics of me up on Facebook...not sure what I think of that. :)

Sunday's Sermon - Feb 27

Scripture: John 3:1-21

Sermon: This Is How God Loved

Last week Jim talked about Nicodemus and his meeting with Jesus. How Nicodemus was an important leader and teacher within the Jewish community. And how he just couldn't wrap his head around the idea of spiritual birth, and the need for God to work a new thing within us in order to be truly saved.

That covers the first half of this passage. I suspect that he'll be focusing on the last half of this passage this week.

¹⁶"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

The other day Justin and I were reading the story of Adam and Eve and how they listened to Satan instead of God. I asked Justin...what do you think you would have done?

His response: "I would have listened to God mommy. Why didn't they want to listen to God mommy?"

me : "It's sin buddy, no ever really wants to listen to God unless he helps them listen to him."

Him "oh" (but you could see little wheels turning)

me:" you know how I turn you to look at me sometimes when I tell you something? ... that's me helping you listen to me. God helps us just like that...but inside of us."

Him : "oh"

I don't mind the "oh's"...means he's listening and means that sometime he'll come back with a question. he's a thinking boy which I like. Though at times he surprises me how long he'll think about something and I'm left scrambling with ... where did that come from?!?! :)

Anyways, this passage just brings me back to that conversation because it says "people loved the darkness rather than the light". It's so true isn't it? It is often so much easier to do something bad than it is to do something good. Easier to gossip than to point out that people handle things differently. Easier to let something slide than to do something that goes against the crowd. It's something I have to be on guard against when I go to Subway.

I look forward to seeing what Jim has to say about this passage on Sunday.

Irish Meal Day

I freely admit that this is a duplicate post to my post over at the homeschool blog. But this also seemed very family oriented so I thought I'd share it here as well. :) Cheers!

Boy, the lad and I had fun today. Yesterday we did days 2 & 3 of Expedition Ireland put out by Amanda Bennett Unit Studies. We learned prata is potato, that Ireland has beautiful scenery and interesting stories. We had fun colouring their flag and learning about Burren and Crystal.

Instead of doing more studying of Ireland we decided to have a cooking Irish food day.

We started the day off with pancakes of course.

Here is an easy way to make thin pancakes:

---

4 oz/ 125g/ 1 cup plain flour
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1/2 pt/ 250ml/ 1 cup milk
1 tbsp melted butter

---

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend for about 30 seconds. The batter should then be allowed to stand for 30 minutes in a cool place. Heat a small pan over a medium heat. Grease with a little butter and wipe out with kitchen paper. Fry about 2 tbsp of batter at a time, swirling to cover the base of the pan. Keep them thin and there will be no need to turn. Serve rolled up with sugar.

We did two things with them. MOST we put cinnamon sugar on and rolled them up.
A few we added some gooseberry jam and rolled.
We learned we like the cinnamon sugar best and NOT to be shy with it either. :)

here the lad is learning to apply the cinnamon sugar.
Here I teach him how to roll it. He was a bit hestitant to do it himself as they were quite warm yet.
And the finished product...the cinnamon sugar ones in front, the jam ones behind.
We had thought about dusting them with icing sugar but "Mommy, I think plain is better."

Then off to go grocery shopping for the rest of the days meals....The lad looked hard for the buttermilk, and thought it funny that evaporated milk has a cow picture on the front of the can.

For lunch, due to hunger issues, we decided that the Irish part of our lunch would be GREEN salad. :) The rest we just ate as we wanted to. (sandwiches).

This afternoon we made

Irish Soda Bread

mix together:

4 cups bread flour

1 tbsp double action baking powder

¾ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Add 2 c. buttermilk

Mix well

Knead 1 minute

Cut in half and form into two balls

Place on greased cookie sheet

cut an 'x' in the top of each ½ inch deep

cook 350 oven for 45-55 minutes.

We learned that if you subsitute whole wheat flour for white, adding more fluid a good idea.
That it is fun to alternate kneading bread.
That is it HARD for a five year to cut an "x" in the top of a ball of bread with a big knife.

the boy working hard at kneading
I neglected to take a picture of the finished product. Turned out a bit dry, but the inside was yummy. We'll do this again sometime.

I was HIGHLY intimidated by the thought of making candy and was VERY nervous that I would mess it up. BUT it worked!!!! I was delighted.
Grandmom's Irish Potatoes Candy

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 1/2 cup evaporated milk

• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, butter, evaporated milk, cream of tartar and salt. Mix well and bring to a boil. Cook to the soft ball stage at 234 degrees F (115 degrees C). A few drops will form a soft ball when dropped into cold water. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Add vanilla and beat until creamy and stiff. Roll into balls and shape like little potatoes. Roll each ball in cinnamon to coat, then press in pieces of chopped nuts to look like eyes. You can also dust with cocoa to simulate dirt.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 62 | Total Fat: 0.9g | Cholesterol: 3mg

They are pretty good. Hubby says they are kinda like fudge, but different. We were supposed to put nuts on them to look like potato eyes, but the lad nixed that idea and I didn't mind since I'm not a huge nuts in candy person anyways. :)

Oh... we also made cookies!

Irish Ginger Snaps

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar

• 1 egg

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup shortening

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Cream sugar, egg, salt and shortening together. Add flour, baking soda and spices. Mix well. Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and roll the balls in sugar.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 5 to 6 minutes.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 87 | Total Fat: 4.5g | Cholesterol: 6mg

NOTE: in our oven... 15 minutes.

And yes, I neglected to take a pic of the finished product and I doubt they'll last long enough for a picture to be taken.

We spontaneously decided to invite gramma up to share our Irish meal. Apparently all the ladies at the bank wanted to come and share it as well. Gramma turned them down. :) Our Irish meal was ham, potatoes, and bread.
The brown furry guy in the forefront is "super Jeff". He's an all powerful rabbit who helps make all types of things. This time he helped make cookies! He was a VERY curious rabbit and got flour on his nose in the process. :) He isn't the lad's favourite stuffy, but he is a good comrade in arms. :)

For more irish meal ideas.. go here. :)

5 fingered prayer

5 fingered prayer, good for everyday!

This is beautiful - and surely worth making the 5 finger prayer a part of our lives.


1. Your thumb is nearest you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you. They are the easiest to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C. S. Lewis once said, a 'sweet duty.'


2. The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers. They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction. Keep them in your prayers.


3. The next finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the president, prime minister, leaders in business and industry, and administrators. These people shape our nation and guide public opinion. They need God's guidance.


4. The fourth finger is our ring finger. Surprising to many is the fact that this is our weakest finger, as any piano teacher will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain. They need your prayers day and night. You cannot pray too much for them.


5. And lastly comes our little finger - the smallest finger of all, which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. As the Bible says, 'The least shall be the greatest among you.' Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively.

Bifocals....okay....

Went to the eye doctor yesterday as I've been having some problems with my eyes. There are times when I simply cannot see, everything goes blurry on me.

Discovered that my eyes have deteriorated a lot over the past year... more so than my original family doctor anticipated.

So I'm going to be needing new glasses and a new prescription. Looking into getting digital progressive bifocals made. Just in the process now of getting quotes and what not.

Praise God, He is our helper!

I'm following This plan takes you through the bible in two years. Todays' reading is: Exodus 17.8-18.27 Psalm 41.

Exod 17.8-18.27
Every time I read this story I am amazed.

⁸ Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. ⁹So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." ¹⁰So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹²But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. ¹³And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

Like seriously....who would think of this? To raise your hands with staff in hand to God and win a battle? That's not a normal idea, and yet that is what worked. And the Lord promised to blot out Amalek.

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." ¹⁵And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner, ¹⁶saying, "A hand upon the throne of the LORD! The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."

After this event, Jethro (Moses father-in-law) came for a visit and he praised God for how God had protected Moses and the people, rescuing them from Egypt and bringing them through the desert and everything. Then Moses went about his daily business and Jethro was stunned. Why do you sit around all day with these people coming to you? Learning the reason he came up with a simple solution for Moses. Choose some good people to help you with this task.

²³If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace."

The task was too much for Moses, he needed outside eyes to help him find resolution to it.

Isn't it neat how God orchestrated it all?

Ps 41
This is a song of David, to the choirmaster.
My reading of this Psalm nets me two basic thoughts: living a life of integrity and compassion is a very good thing, and second that praising God and asking him to forgive your sins is also a very good thing. :)

Living a life of integrity and compassion

¹ Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him;
12But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.

Praising God and asking for forgiveness

⁴As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious to me;
heal me, for I have sinned against you!"
......
¹⁰But you, O LORD, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them!
11By this I know that you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.

Praise the Lord, be humble before him, acknowledge your wrong doings, and live a life protected by the Lord God.

Christian Carnival

Not in any particular order, very simple submission method this week as it's been a crazy busy week for me.

A Small Church Pastor's Family from Ridge’s Blog.

Hats off to the small church pastors and their families! They are making a difference where no one else will go.

Philip Carlson presents Studying the New Testament Koine Greek Biblical Language posted at Science and Theology in Apposition.

This is the first in a series of posts discussing Greek and Greek resources available online.

Jennifer in OR presents One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp: A Review posted at Diary of 1.

One Thousand Gifts is the beginning, a game of sorts, to list one thousand things in life for which to be grateful.

Russ White presents Humility verses Humanity posted at Thinking in Christ.

We need to have the humility to accept our humanity, although it wounds our pride, and stops us from dreaming of the truly grand things.

Barry Wallace presents I Hate Conflict posted at who am i?.

I'm not young, but it seems as if I still haven't learned to deal well with conflict.

FMF presents Not Enjoying Your Wealth posted at Free Money Finance.

What the Bible has to say about enjoying your wealth.

Joe Plemon presents How Moe Broke Out of His Rut posted at Personal Finance By The Book.

Although Moe had lots of riches, or because Moe had lots of riches, he was in a rut. Read how he breaks out.

Steps to spiritual formation: Taking every thought captive by Disciple's Journal.

Is it possible that we can be so 'spiritual' in the way we evaluate our own spiritual condition that we set aside the commands of God? I think so, based on a recent discussion of 'transformation'

Be Happy given to us by Fish and Cans.

I'm following This plan takes you through the bible in two years. Todays' reading is: Exodus 3-4, Psalm 33.

LeJon presents Behold, I Make All Things Anew! posted at ..::A.Bloody.River::...

Behold, I Make All Things Anew!

Inspired by SONICFLOOd & a rare song titled "Precious Jesus" by The Choir & Leigh Nash...

loswl presents More than Conquers in Jesus | INSPIKS posted at INSPIKS.

I had some experiences that led me to believe that I had demon activity in our house. I would be troubled in my sleep almost every night and sometimes when I was taking a nap in the afternoon.

Timothy Payne presents Psalm 99- An Awesome (Awe Inspiring) God posted at realityinred.

A devotional post taken from Psalm 99. Our God should inspire awe... He is an awesome God, but He is also a righteous, powerful, almighty God. Too often modern Christianity perverts His love into a Worldly love, makes that His overruling attribute (the perverted love), and excludes His Holiness and terrible awesome power. The Fear of the Lord becomes the chummy respect, and... the terror of sin's retribution becomes the "Oops, I did it again" mentality...

Dana shows up with More than words can say posted at Roscommon Acres.

Sitting, nursing, listening to my daughter recite her verses for AWANAs I turn the page. There at the top, a question:

“What is something going on in your life you can pray about?”

Be Happy!

I'm following This plan takes you through the bible in two years. Todays' reading is: Exodus 3-4, Psalm 33.

Exodus 3-4
As I doing my devotions this morning my son came downstairs all bright-eyed and asking questions. He wakes up talking...just like I do. :) Anyways, he wanted to know what I was doing so we talked about this passage together.

We talked about God told Moses that he was going to use Moses to get his people out of Egypt. Moses gave God all kinds of excuses but God met everyone of those objections. And then God told Moses..the job will be hard. You will say "Pharoah, God says let my people go". and you know what Moses ... Pharoah will say "NO". So Moses took this assignment knowing that even though the job would be hard, that God would help him all the way.

When I asked Justin how he thinks that made Moses feel.. he said "happy".

And I have to say, I agree with him. If I know that something will be hard, but that I'll be helped through it all, it would make me happy as well.

Be happy all you who believe in the Lord...he will HELP you. :)

Ps 33
these verses sum up this Psalm for me.

⁸Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
⁹For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.

So when the psalmist says

22Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.

he has good reason to say it.

God made the world. He simply spoke and things came into being, not by chance, not by accident,it was deliberate design. Scarred by sin.. indeed, but that doesn't change who the original creator, designer, master is. For the people that God calls his own, he will help them and protect them as any true and real father would his children. This is a psalm of praise to our creator, the one who cares for his own. Let us all praise the Lord.