broken

the disciples got to hang out with jesus and it makes me jealous
they reclined with him after supper and chatted about life

they heard him say:  "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

and when your dining with a friend and they say these things, you hear them but they don't sink in, you never understand someones pain till after

so they continued to lounge with MY friend and he begins to speak:

¹⁷ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸ For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹ And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

and they did what their friend said and with questioning eyes looked at him but they didn't think on this much, his brokenness, his pain, his body, nope that wasn't what they dwelled upon, it was his next line

²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.^[a] 21 But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. ²² The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!”

what????? Jesus?? my friend....i would NEVER betray you..they argued......not for anything...not 30 pieces of silver....i'm better than that Jesus....I'm your friend....I argue with them too.....

but today on this good friday......i like to stand and say i would not betray Jesus...but i have,

i have many times.....so i don't stand tall...i bow humbly and close my eyes and cry out, as i imagine the strikes, the spit, the blows, the 300 pounds of lumber he hauled up the hill...........his body broken........for me, his friend........and it isn't how much I love him but how much HE loved ME.......

ichristianc.org 

scripture  from Luke 22

lovely linkys

Lisa Jo @ Five Minute Friday

on being a tree

 

 5 Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

Guilty.....how often I depend on others, myself, the world....to bring me though...

⁶ That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
    in a salt land where no one lives.

I've been in the desert of life...screaming where is the water, Lord....

⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:5-8

But finding comfort in Him is the only way to get out of the desert, to stop the trust of the world, who always lets us down, and to be a tree of life for the Lord. 

One who stands tall and firm and rooted in the Lord and His word, one that is always green and has no worries.

Oh, to be so strong.

 

lovely linkys

Emily @ Imperfect Prose on Thursdays

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

blessins & lessons

blessins'

• a day with mom with no kids is a treasure
• lunch with my very first best friend and hearing about her life and whats shes doing like we have seen each other every day when really we haven't seen each other in 8 years brings new meaning to friends for life
• the musical wicked made me cry
• hearing addie say juice
• 35 more days of school!
• sharing scripture with a friend
• the easter season 
• rain  ---- what if you never say another flower bloom because you grumbled when it rained?
• pictures of my beautiful children
• the possibilities of life
• emails that make me smile

lessons

• sometimes gallbladders can't wait to come out that have to come out next week
• there is always more month than there is money
• true friends are hard to find
• candles, the stripey and dotted ones, come in packs of 25, the solid colors come in packs of 36.....for husband who turned 28 had to have the solid colors.....told brother who turns 37 this year he is now going to have to have at least 2 boxes of candles for his cake {insert evil laugh}
• being a mother is the hardest job on earth
• commercialism works hard to defeat me ---- i see....i want...i can't buy

Dwelling on these verses this week:

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.  Matthew 21:21-22

lovely linkys:
Paula @ Welcoming Spirit

peeking through the windows

often times i find i'm just peeking through the windows of life

never enough courage, strength, money to go in and experience the real thing

like going on a mission trip

or picking up a stranger walking on the side of the road

i just peek though the window 

thinking "jesus would have picked him up"

"jesus would sacrifice to go to romania"

you ever compare yourself to jesus?

guess what i always come up short

i probably wouldn't even have went on the streets when jesus came through on the donkey

i would have just watched through the window 

peeking through

my word for 2013 is listen

and i have been working really hard to listen to God

to spend more time in prayer quiet than talking

but as i've been reading and watching "the bible" on the history channel

the difference between those that made the BOOK and those who did not

are not only the ones who listened but the ones who acted

they didn't peek through the windows

they went out in the streets and proclaimed for Jesus

are you peeking through the windows of life?

lovely linkys

Jen @ Finding Heaven

Michelle @ Hear it on A Monday

rest

no one ever shows up on the seen and announces "let's rest"
nope that is not how life works
although I wish is did
babies aren't learning the word
they are proclaiming "GO!"
well at least mine is
and often I just wish I could say
"let's rest,"
let me hold you and memorize this moment
I think that's what God had to do on the seventh day
He had been in the Go mode
and then he had to step back and rest
and look on and memorize His great work
just as it was that day
we too often don't take that time, that moment, that Sabbath
to look on, to rest, and look at all the great things
God has done that week in our lives and say
"it is good, God",  You are good!


² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:2-3

lovely linkys

Lisa Jo Baker @ Five Minute Friday

blessed again this week....

blessins'

• addie's babbling
• birthdays
• continuous conversation with bffs  
• spring break plans
• lettuce that came back
• overflowing strawberry plants
• 3 days of students
• coffee
• teaching geometry....i know i'm a nerd
• no mt.dew for three days! i do have will power

lessons

• gallbladder attacks can last 6 hrs and may make you consider death, but drugs from the er do help
• things do grow legs and walk off.....or someone moves them....same thing
• I did not gain this weight overnight, I will not loose it overnight
• sometimes cereal for lunch with 5 funny kids is all you need to boost your spirits
• if you tweet a picture of a celebrity they might possible tweet back....I got a retweet from Sammy Kershaw :D
• students are more than tests
• google calenders and tasks are my new procrastination tools
• sometimes all you need is a good, deep down inside laugh to turn your day around

For the LORD is good.

Psalm 100:5

go back with me to 1993

tell me about the blessins' and lessons of your life this week.....

celebrating miracles

As I pulled in to the Chick fil a parking lot the phone rings....i look at the screen and smile as i recognize a dear friends name.  I pull to the side of lot and answer the phone.  My friend who  was then a few months pregnant says I need to talk you, gotta minute?  She goes on to tell me that things with her unborn child aren't good and it could be downs or something else and she's scared and by the end we are both crying and decide we must give it to God because he can do all things.  There are lots of unanswered questions but we know the baby has fluid on his abdomen.

The prayers begin....
The testing begins....
The unanswered questions begin.....

She calls weekly with updates.  I assure her and then cry a long cry when I get off the phone.  We discuss all the possible outcomes...what to do if this, what to do if that.

Labor comes unexpectedly but the doctors are able to stop it.  Fear continues.

Then the call comes that this sweet little boy has arrived and with all the risk and with help... he breathes.

When I arrive at the hospital to visit him, they sign me in as Aunt Karrie.  We walk in to room with giant contraptions for tiny babies.  And there is the sweetest little baby I have ever seen, with his moma's toes and his daddy's smile.   I take pictures of every body part and send to his brave mother who had to watch him leave.  With every breathe he takes I breathe....whatever be your will Father, whatever be your will....give them strength, give them understanding.  My time to leave comes...I hug my friend's husband and say we will just keep praying....

The weekly updates become every other week and pictures through facebook prove daily that life is a miracle.  The oxygen no longer needed.  The pain medicine forgotten.  All miracles from above.

Our time on earth is short and if your still here God still has a plan for you.

This sweet miracle turns one year old today.  His family will celebrate and eat cake, while the rest of us admire and hope that we could be so strong if it were us.  We thank God for our own miracles and hold them extra tight.

We continue to pray for this sweet baby Jude and his family.

God is still in the business of miracles.  Each day your here is proof.

Happy Happy Birthday Jude Finley! 

May you continue to teach us God's in control.

 

 

 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. -Psalm 62:8

lovely linky's
Michelle @ Hear It on A Sunday
Jen @ Finding Heaven

Old School Q & A

Remember when questionnaires came in your email and it said you've got mail.  Well, these ladies are taking us back to the old school blogging way.

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
 

• March 2003 - I was a sophomore at NC State living in Wood Hall.  
• My grandmother was very sick. I came home a lot to be with her.
• driving around in my bright red beetle bug ( oh how I miss her)

2. What 5 things are on your to-do list?

• complete this blog
• laundry
• pull weeds in the strawberry bed
• play outside with my babies
• take a nap, because I loose an hour of sleep tonight!

3. What are 5 snacks you enjoy?

• coffee
• mt. dew
• pears
• strawberries
• blueberries

4. Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire:

• travel!!
• pay off debts
• by an awesome family car with heated seats and keyless entry
• give give give
• save some 

.....i'm afraid it would go fast.....

5.   Name some places you have lived:

• Roaring River
• Raleigh
• Ronda
• Roaring River

...in that order...apparently I can only live in places that start with R

6.   Name some bad habits you have:

• not putting things back when I get them out
• not answering the phone
• eating too much
• soda
• not sorting my laundry 

.......and the list goes on...... 

7.   Name some jobs you have had:

• Chicken House Worker/aka Brother's slave
• 4-H camp counselor
• Cashier @ HG GREENE's
• Eckerds Photo Lab
• NC State Annual Fund
• Wilkes Developmental Day School
• 7th Grade Math Teacher
• 6th Grade Math Teacher

....and a mommy for 7 years.....

8.   Name those you are tagging for #OSBlog:

Martha @ Oh, the places you'll go

Kendal @ a spacious place

 

 

 

 

home

home is not clean
home is warm
home smells like cereal, coffee, dirt, diapers, leftovers, and laundry detergent
at work i crave home
i want to eat at my table with my children
and play in the floor and outside
i want to stand in my kitchen - drink coffee and watch the baby donkey play in the field
home makes me safe and content
i'm blessed.........
i think of others without a home
without warmth and smells of food
without sounds and evidence of children
how can i empathize with them and tell them jesus loves them
they can see right though me
how can i tell them about a heavenly home.......

weekly blessins' & lessons

www.lilluna.com 

blessins'

z talking on the phone with my best friend
z a baby donkey being born
z singing the itsy bitsy spider over and over with addie
z laughing with my husband
z students who say I love you
z students working hard to learn
z daffodils blooming
z discussing traditions in sunday school
z upward basketball
z the smell of spring coming

lessons

z do not leave children unattended on the internet, your own or any one else's

z sometimes people don't text back and that's ok

z socks never come out of the dryer as a match

z toys multiply

z good, affordable sheets are hard to find

z things break

z you have to let your kids make mistakes so they can learn

z you may never know the depth of your influence

z recipes are made to alter

this idea has been stirring around in my head for sometime and this morning I sat up in my bed and said you gotta get started.  so, I will post my weekly blessins' and lessons hopefully on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week until.....I stop

To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;  not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.
1 Peter 3:8-9

tell me about the blessins' and lessons of your life this week.....

happy day

happy Saturday

happy birthday Dr.Suess and Jon Bon Jovi

happy platypus day...all you ferb fans

 

oh happy day

 

 

just a little fyi
sometimes the teacher in me just can't contain myself

10 Facts About Dr. Seuss Books infographic

honesty....ordinary?

Son comes home with smile on his face.  I find a note from his teacher....Congratulations, your child made a 105 on their spelling test today.   They do not have spelling homework the rest of the week and no more spelling test this week.

I look at son......Good Job, Owen!
Son replies matter of factly, "yeah I know, I cheated."
I say..."you did what?"
Son says..."I didn't know how to spell because, so I looked in the book in my desk." smiles
Me...."Owen!  You can't cheat!  You didn't really make a 105....we have to call your teacher and tell her."
blood drains from his face.....fear and sadness replace the once sparkling eyes....."but"
insert tears...."i don't want to tell her"

honesty is not ordinary
we, by nature, lie
we don't won't to tell the things that may cause us trouble
but i encourage you to make honesty the ordinary

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching. Proverbs 6:16-20

the rest of the story....
Owen had to do his spelling homework and retake his test.  His teacher was proud of him for being honest.

And I fear he may never tell me anything again......

- Linking with Lisa Jo @ five minute friday