Thankful Thursday, Thanksgiving Edition

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Today we are together as a family and we are so very thankful for each other and the love that we share. Here is a collective list of some other things that we are also thankful for in our lives.

We are thankful that Uncle Paul is finally home from Afghanistan! :) Welcome home Uncle Paul. We missed you very much.

We are thankful for birthday fun this month. It was a happy birthday for LR on the 11th, Mom on the 22nd, and CD on the 23rd.

We are thankful for the roof over our heads, the food on our plates, and the clothes that we wear.

We are thankful for Max, our dog!

We are thankful for all of our friends.

We are thankful that we have a church to attend and that we have the freedom to worship whenever we want.

We are thankful for books!

We are thankful for school!

We are thankful for all of our toys.

And now we're going to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade together! Have a great Thanksgiving all, from our family to yours!

Company Girl Coffee 11.20.09

Good morning! This cup of coffee is for all of my young mommy friends out there in blogger land, and all the new moms that have or may eventually cross paths with me. It is a journal entry from March 13, 2002 and I was five months pregnant with my second child.

"Today I read about a woman's calling to love her children. I am so excited about increasing our little family from three to four, and the chance to finally be a stay at home wife and mom, turning my full attention and love towards building a home sanctuary."

"It says in Proverbs 14:1 'The wise woman builds her house...'"

"I must admit, that I am a little scared. I have so much still to learn about being a mother! How will I teach my little ones to love Jesus? To pray? How will I learn to discipline them in love? Or teach them to respect their elders and authorities? Loving them comes naturally, but there is so much more to raising children. The more I read and pray, the more I realize how much there is to this magnificent calling from God! Oh how I need to pray more! Oh how I need to glean instruction from the woman that Titus 2:3-5 speaks of!"

"Proverbs 24:3-4 says 'By wisdom a house is built and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.'"

"Lord, help me to obtain wisdom, understanding, and knowledge through You!"

Well, I am still praying ladies! And I am praying for all of you new mommies and mommies with pre-schoolers and newborns. I have been there. My first three babies were a year or less apart in age. I leaned heavily on scripture, prayer, and the love of family and friends as I grew into my roll of motherhood. Still do!

Proverbs 3:5-6 is one of my favorite passages. I like the Amplified version:

"Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths."

I am so thankful to be a mom. I am in a different season now, where my youngest of five is going to be three next week. I look back on my baby years with fond memories of rocking, snuggling and yes, late nights and moments of worry and discouragement.

Know that if you are in this place right now, I am praying for you. You are not alone. God is with you and He will "direct and make straight and plain your paths."

God bless you in your journey!
~Melissa~

Siesta Scripture Memory 11.15.09

For memory verse 22 I have chosen Colossians 2:6-7 "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."

There are so many things that I love about this verse! I just had to include it in my memory verses for the year. Let me break it down a bit.

Continue to LIVE in HIM
ROOTED and BUILT UP in HIM
STRENGTHENED in FAITH and
OVERFLOWING with THANKFULNESS

When I read the words "rooted and built up in Him," my thoughts immediately go to Psalm 1:1-3.
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Verse two is what this entire journey of memorizing scripture has been about for me this year. I have really grown to delight in God's Word! His promises are unending. By His Word I am strengthened in my faith, and my heart overflows with thankfulness.

As Psalm 130:5 says, "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope."

Company Girl Coffee 11.13.09

Wow! Another week has flown by and it's Friday again. As much as I love coffee, tea has been my choice beverage this week. I have been sipping an herbal blend that is supposed to help my cold. Yep. I've gone through all the symptoms. Sore throat, headache, stuffy nose, cough. In spite of all that, I'm in pretty good mood. It's been a pretty good week here.





Sunday night we celebrated my little girl's 5th birthday. (Even though her birthday is actually on Veteran's Day.) We had friends and family over for dinner, presents, and of course, cake! My friend Andrea did the girls' nails and hair. She also brought a special crown that lit up and everything! Add a favorite princess dress and you've got one beautiful birthday girl! :)

***Company Girl Coffee, Part II***

Hot cider anyone? I had to step away earlier because I just couldn't sit at the computer any longer. My head was too foggy! It is snowing pretty hard outside now, and I just warmed up some apple cider on the stove for my kids after a playful snowball fight. I don't know if we're in for a long winter like last year or not, but the first snow of the year (actually, this is our second) is always the most fun. :)

I've been listening to the Lifeway Women's Ministry Leadership Forum that Rachel Anne invited us to off and on today. There has been some really great interviews! I really appreciated the one about Minister's wives, because I fall into that group. I've mentioned before that my husband is a Worship Pastor. He is that, and oh so much more! Recently, he programmed the services from this Sunday to Christmas. He wrote monologues, planned videos, and will even be giving one of the sermons next month. He wears many hats in our church, and I am so proud of him.

Well ladies, I'm going to go fill my tea-cup, grab a warm blanket, and kick up my feet on the couch with a good book. Have a great weekend everyone!

~Melissa~

Company Girl Coffee 11.6.09 "Stormy Weather"

Good Morning! It's quiet here this morning. Other than the high gusts of wind outside my window, that is. I love the wind though. We got a lot of wind storms on the Island I grew up on so I'm used to it.

Speaking of storms, I've had quite a few "mini" storms in my life this week. Let me back up and give a huge, warm, sunny HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my grandmother! She turns 96 today! I admire her so much. She's a strong, independent woman for 96! On Sunday though, she took a fall and fractured her hip. Gave us quite a scare. She has been in the hospital all week. They did a partial hip replacement on Tuesday and she seems to be recovering just fine. Like I said...strong woman! I love you Grandma!

The next storm the winds blew in was of personal nature. On Wednesday I sat down to help my 7 year old son with a school project. He was supposed to build a mobile. There were very few limitations. It had to be no bigger than 12 inches wide and 14 inches long. It needed to be need, balanced, and colorful. Other than that, sky's the limit! I should preface this story with a little info about myself. I am not what I would consider "creative" when it comes to things like this. Creative writing...could do it all day long. Creative projects? Not so much. So I gathered the materials we have around the house to make a base and had JS pick out some things from our craft corner that he liked and we set to work. Long story short, I called in my creative friend to help finish the job. I think we just needed some new perspective. JS wanted some big, colorful rectangles hanging from it, and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how to fit them in. Thanks A, for helping to calm that storm! :)

Yesterday I took my oldest three to their school's book fair before school started. JS was the first one to find the book he wanted. RL didn't have much trouble either. BC, my 6yr old was very disappointed to find out that his first choice was sold out. He had his heart set on it. The tears began to well up in his eyes and I could see the storm was coming. Fortunately, so could the Librarian. She took our money and said that she'd see if she could order some more. In the mean time, she had him pick out his next favorite and set it aside, just in case. Thanks to our school Librarian, for showing love to my son!

About 2:15pm yesterday I got a call from the school nurse. JS had complained of a sore throat (which I already knew about) and had a fever of 102. (Which had developed since school started.) I got off the phone, woke up my youngest two from nap, and headed to the school. Since there was only a half hour left of school by the time I got there, I requested that my other two kids leave class early. I was greeted by three teary eyed children when I got there. One, because he had to wear a mask on his face and go home early, one because she was missing the last half hour of her movie, and one because he was missing music class. After a short conversation in the car about how sometimes parents have to make tough decisions, I promised the kids I would make it worth their while to come home early. We had movie night with popcorn and hot cocoa. Needless to say, I will be taking my son in today if he still has a fever and a sore throat. Strep is going around at his school right now and I don't want to take any chances.

So, I'm hoping that today the storms will stay outside, and it will be a pretty smooth sailing type of day. The thing is, I'm still here. I don't want you to get the wrong idea and think that I'm complaining. Things might have gotten a little rocky this week, but every storm eventually came to an end. There are storms in life, but all can be navigated safely if we look to the One who commands the seas.

Psalm 107:28-30
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.

He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.

They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.

Thank You, Lord, for the storms. I look to you when the winds rise and the waves seem to crash around me. For you are my desired haven. I praise you in the storms of life. You are my faithful navigator.

Amen!

Conversation with a Teller

I had an interesting conversation with a teller this morning that I don't believe was by chance. Especially after my post on hope last week. I was in the bank to cash some checks because we are saving up for some beef and trying to keep the money separate. Somewhere in the conversation I happened to mention that my husband is a Worship Pastor. That opened up the floodgates.

She told me about her childhood church and how when her mom re-married they got converted to Mormon. We talked about her grown daughter's church and what she didn't like about it. She asked questions about my church and I gladly answered her them. When I told her we used to work at the church down the street she wanted to know what denomination it was and what they believed. At one point she mentioned that before she moved here she did the study "Purpose Driven Life" with a friend, that lead to her eventual baptism and attendance at their church. She expressed her sadness when she moved from there and told me that she hasn't found a home church here that compares.

Normally, I would invite this woman to my church. But under the circumstances, I felt compelled to invite her to my old church instead. She lives not a mile away from it and I think she would feel welcome there. I told her the name of the Pastor and the service times. If I go back to the bank in the near future, I might even take her a connect card from LCN to further encourage her to visit there.

I walked away wishing that I could have done more. I prayed all the way home that in some way, God used me to touch this woman's life. Even though I didn't "present the gospel" to her, I saw it as an opportunity to encourage her in her existing faith. It was a brief encounter, but a meaningful one. I encouraged her in the best way I know how: by sharing my own experience with her and letting her know that there are good churches out there.

No, this meeting was not by chance. I don't often go in to the bank. I prefer the drive-through because I usually have a car load of kids. But this morning, I was kid-free, and something in my spirit told me to park, and go inside for a change. I'm glad I did.

Hebrews 3:13 "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."

Siesta Scripture Memory 11.1.09

Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."

I thought this a fitting verse to tie together all of the verses that God has shown me this year about hope. Yes, I still have 3 memory verses left in the year, but I couldn't wait to store this treasure in my heart.

May you hold unswervingly to hope, because He who promised is faithful...

~Melissa~