Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you!

If you normally get a Christmas card from us you have probably noticed yours has not arrived in the mail yet! I have run out of time... so instead we are planning to do a New Year's card along with our annual letter of the happenings in our household this past year, so be on the lookout!

May you have a wonderful Christmas and may Christ be the center of your heart and your celebrations!

Thankful Thursday... on Friday...

"Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being."
Psalm 146:1-2

I have really missed doing my Thankful Thursday posts, and am really planning to make an effort to get back into the habit of doing them again in the New Year... I thought all day yesterday about what I wanted to share that I am thankful for, but did not have time to do the post... so instead of not doing it at all I am going to do it a day late.

I am giving thanks to my Lord for:

• The gift of Jesus... how thankful I am that Jesus was willing to leave the glory of Heaven and the presence of His Father to come to earth to live among sinners, to show us the love of the Father, and to pay the price for our redemption... what a gift!
• The opportunity and privilege to homeschool my children... it has been a wonderful adventure so far, definitely trying at times, but also definitely worth it. It is priceless to see them learn new things and apply them, and such a blessing to have hugs, kisses, and laughter in the middle of the day!
• A very much unexpected gift for our children... a friend of my husband's gave him money yesterday to buy the boys a BIG Christmas present! A wonderful, unexpected blessing in the midst of tough economic times...
• The blessing of studying God's Word through Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). We are doing an in-depth study on the book of John... what a wonderful and "meaty" study this has been. I have been blessed with a deeper understanding of God's Word and blessed with new friendships with ladies who also hunger for God and make time to dig into His Word. And an added blessing is that my children also are studying the book of John as well as learning hymns and songs during music time, they absolutely LOVE going!
• The ability to run! I so enjoy getting out and running... it gives me time to clear my mind, to spend time in prayer with my Lord, and is a great way to take care of my body, His temple. I am currently attempting to train for a 1/2 marathon, knowing the Lord has lessons for me to learn as I commit myself to training for such a long run...

It feels so nice to share what I am thankful for again! I have missed this part of my week and hope to be able to make time for it again... what are you thankful for this week? I would love to hear from you!

Wordless Wednesday

Special or not so special...

Do you like to be made to feel special?

Do you like to know that you are appreciated, loved, and cherished?

I certainly do... there is just something nice about someone you love doing something nice for you, going out of their way for you, to make you feel loved and special. Especially on those "important" days... like birthdays, an anniversary, Mother's Day, and really any gift giving occasion, such as Christmas or Valentine's Day. What is even more special is when someone goes out of their way to make you feel special for no reason at all... just to let you know you are special to them.

As I have been attempting to prepare for Christmas this year I have been thinking about this... and about making Jesus feel special, especially at Christmas, when He left the glory of Heaven, and became flesh and dwelt among us.

I also have been thinking about how we feel when we are not made to feel special... when someone you love forgets that birthday or that anniversary, or maybe just doesn't make such a big deal out of it as you would for them, so you begin to feel less special... less appreciated... less loved...

As I have tried to make my shopping list for gifts for this one and that one, I have found that I just really can not get into the "Christmas spirit" as the world portrays it this year. I feel that much of what our world does for Christmas does not make Jesus feel special at all, much of it does not even point to Jesus at all... it points to ourselves... to greed, to selfishness, to worldliness...

The busyness of this season often times takes away from Jesus rather than encouraging others to focus on Him. We rush from this party to that one, from one store to another, spend extra time and money decorating and getting our house to look like Martha Stewart's, and often times spend money we do not have to buy things for people that they really do not need or even want... how does any of this make Jesus feel special?

My desire is that others could take a peek into my life and be able to see how special Jesus is to me... but can they do that? Is the way I spend Christmas a reflection of how special my Lord and Savior is to me, or does it look just the same as the world's way of celebrating Christmas?

What do you and your family do during Christmas to show Jesus that He is special to you? What have you seen others do that shows that Jesus is special to them? I would love to hear...

Still here... a short update!

Life has been busy... but we are still here!

With homeschooling and preparing to host Thanksgiving here
this year I have had little time to blog.

Now I am sick and David is sick,
so this week has just been spent in survival mode...

I have much that I desire to do to celebrate Christmas with my boys...
several fun ideas for celebrating advent,
but we haven't started any yet due to our sicknesses.
Hopefully after a restful weekend we will all feel better...


I did want to share some pictures of our Thanksgiving celebration...

The boys made place cards for everyone...

The cousins feasting at the kids table!

Grandfather all bundled up to watch everyone play soccer...
we had to burn off some of those calories we consumed!

The backyard was transformed into a soccer field!
All had lots of fun!

Thanksgiving evening we put the tree up
and all the kids helped to decorate it!

The Schmid cousins...
David, Timothy, Katie, John, Paul

Grandmother and Grandfather...
with all their grandkids!

The whole Schmid family,
except for Aunt Susan, who is in Africa
serving our Lord...

Paul and David ready for Christmas!

Journaling...

I have been reading through my journal recently, and have been making a conscious effort to journal more consistently as I used to do. I love to journal, it is a way to pour my heart out to my Lord, and I really enjoy looking back over what I have written and seeing how the Lord has answered prayers, addressed concerns, and ministered to my needs and hurts. It is a great reminder of the faithfulness of my Lord and of His concern and love for me...

While reading back through my journal this week I came upon this entry and felt led of the Lord to share it here... it is a bit of a devotion from Streams in the Desert that really spoke to me. It led me to ask myself these questions...

Am I:

1. Willing to be nothing so Christ may be everything?
2. Fully accepting God's purposes as my own?
3. Receiving Christ's humility, faith, love and power yet never hindering God's plan but always allowing Him to continue His miraculous work?

"God, and He alone, became my all in all. In Him I found everything I needed, and I desired nothing else. By God's grace, my understanding of His sufficiency has remained to this day, making me an exceedingly happy man. It has led me to care only about the things of God." George Mueller (from Streams in the Desert, July 18)

Can you say as George Mueller said, that "in Him I found everything I needed, and I desired nothing else"? That is my current pursuit... I want to desire nothing but my Lord... nothing else will satisfy me like He will...

Thankful Thursday

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

Psalm 118:1

Every week lately I have the intentions of doing this Thankful Thursday post, yet life has been busy, and computer "stuff" gets pushed to the bottom of my to do list. When I do have time to do computer "stuff" I am too tired to even look at the computer! However, for today I really did want to share what we are doing with the boys as we approach Thanksgiving.

We have started our Thankful Box! We did this a couple of years ago... we all really liked it, and it gave more meaning to our Thanksgiving holiday. Every evening after dinner we all share one thing from our day that we are thankful for, I write them on a notecard and stick them in our Thankful Box. Then on Thanksgiving Day we will get them all out and read them. It is a great way to cultivate an attitude of thankfulness in our family.

We just use an empty kleenex box that we have decorated and have put the verse above on, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good." Psalm 118:1

So today I thought I would share what we have all been thankful for so far this week:

James

grocery stores
that my Chick-Fil-A cup did not get thrown away
sunshine

Tricia
rest time in the afternoon
the opportunity to go to Bible study today
that through Jesus Christ I am an overcomer

Paul
that God gave me my cat and for grandfather and grandmother
thankful to have a Mommy & a Daddy
thankful that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins

David
I am thankful for Jesus and God
for my brother and all the things God gave me, and my mommy & daddy
I am thankful for Tommy Moon

Do you have any neat ways of cultivating an attitude of thankfulness in your family? What are you thankful for today? For more TT posts go here.

Word-Filled Wednesday

I love this verse! I love the fact that He chose me... just think about that! The Creator of this universe, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings chose me, and He chose you. Why did He choose us? He chose us and appointed us that we may go and bear fruit for Him... that is a big calling. Are you bearing fruit for Him? If not, pray and ask Him to make you fruitful for Him... that is a prayer He will definitely answer!

For more WFW posts visit 160acrewoods.

Wordless Wednesday

Word-Filled Wednesday

Two are better than one... isn't this so true? I am so thankful my boys have each other... they have so much fun together and really do love each other lots. It is a joy to watch their relationship and see the precious bond they have because they are twins...

I am also so thankful for my husband, without him life would just not be the same. I am thankful God did not intend for us to go through this life alone... He gave me a husband to love me as Christ loves the church, to be with me on this journey of parenthood, and to have fun with! How true it is that two are better than one! And it is even better when those two allow God to enter in and make it three... without Him life would be just plain hard and frustrating, but with Him life is abundant and joyful! Have you allowed Him to enter into your life?

For more WFW posts visit critty joy.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Complaining....

Welcome to Tuesday's Together in the Word, we are a group of women reading through the Word and sharing what the Lord is teaching us... head over to DeeDee's to join us and to read what others are learning!


God is currently sending me the same message through several different avenues...

1. I am studying the gospel of John with a group of ladies on Tuesday mornings, and the boys are studying John also in their children's class...
2. I am doing Priscilla Shirer's study, One in a Million, about our journey into the Promise Land...
3. And in homeschooling my children, we are reading through the Old Testament, and are currently reading about Moses leading the children through the wilderness to the Promised Land...

Through all of these different avenues, God is speaking to me about complaining... or rather about not complaining.

Complaining is a sign of a discontented heart... it shows that we are not content with how God has provided for and blessed us. And a discontented heart is usually not a thankful heart...


Complaining, over and over and over again, kept many of the Israelites from ever entering the Promised Land. The Lord became so fed up with the Israelites complaining that He chose to punish them by not allowing them to enter the Promised Land... I do not want the Lord to become so fed up with my complaining that He does not allow me into the Promised Land.


In pursuing "no complaining", our eyes have to shift off of ourselves and onto the Lord. We are to focus solely on the purpose for which God has us here on earth, and that is to be a light and a witness for Him, just as John the Baptist was. John did not focus on himself, he focused on Jesus, talked about Jesus, and He pointed others to Jesus... By focusing on Jesus and what He has called me to do, I take the focus off of myself, which spurs me to brag and praise on my Jesus rather than complaining about petty things.

I am asking my Lord to quicken my heart and mind to any complaining in my spirit, whether I verbalize it or just think it... and I am asking Him to help me to have a contented heart, to give thanks for all the many provisions and blessings He has given me... I want to focus on serving Him and sharing Him. I do not want my time here to be wasted in complaining... I want to make it to my Promise Land!

Playing a bit...

I've been playing a bit today... experimenting with some stuff on the computer that I have been wanting to try for a while. It has been a wonderfully quiet afternoon and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself! Just thought I would share the fun!

A Fun 5K - Race for the Cure

I ran another 5K today! With my friend Lori and hundreds of other people!
It was a slight drizzly rain, but it actually felt wonderful...

And my men came out to cheer me on! It was such a joy to see them when I got to the 1 mile mark! And I was very proud to complete the run in 29 minutes and 25 seconds, my best time ever!!


As I was posting this David came and sat beside me and asked what I was doing. I told him I was thinking of something to write and he said I should write this:

"Great is our Lord, and mighty in power!"
Psalm 147:5

And that He is! So tonight, may this be a reminder to you that our Lord is great and mighty in power! I praise Him for giving me the strength, energy, and endurance to run today... for I run in the path of His commands, for He has set my heart free! Psalm 119:32

Word-Filled Wednesday

"For God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God."
1 Corinthians 7:10

This picture makes me think of digging deep into the things of God... Are you spending time daily in His Word, digging deeper and deeper to get to know Him more intimately? I encourage you to do so... The Word of God holds mysteries that His Holy Spirit will reveal to you as you study His Word. Dig deep and discover those mysteries for yourself!

For more WFW posts visit 160acres.

Wordless Wednesday