February Sixteenth

 

Matthew 9:9-17

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth, Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came, and are with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice., for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Then John’s disciples came and asked him, How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

Jesus answered, How can the guest of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

The daffodils are blooming…

Yesterday when I got to work the visitors were leaving… I just caught a glimpse of them as they were walking across the parking lot… everyone was laughing so I’m thinking they were pleased… My managers said our departments did good… my name was even brought up that I was a lead who was on task… others keep saying that they are glad I am in the position and things are going well… but I don’t feel I’ve even really done anything yet or even touched everything yet…

I did get all my reports done and filed and got a couple of things done but not everything I wanted to last night as I also had to do closing duties… the person who replaced me in shoes is my closing buddy so I did a bit of training as she had some shoe questions… but she has not stepped up to her responsibilities outside of shoes as a manager… she is doing some but not shadowing me so she can learn them all… she’s closing this weekend with other leads so we’ll see if they can get her to come out of shoes and learn the duties of store closing… but otherwise it was a nice quiet night…

I am off this weekend…

I was up at 7am… hubby slept in til 9am… the boys slept in the family room since son3 has a three day weekend and they were watching their cartoons… then they woke by 10am and watched more cartoons… I was teasing son2 as it’s important for nineteen years old to watch their cartoons…

I got caught up on emails and some blogs and of course Facebook…

Hubby made breakfast of fried eggs, spam and biscuits with jelly… and hot chocolate…

I have vacuumed my room,  washed three loads of laundry, got everything together to make turkey burgers for dinner, filled the birdfeeders, cat litter box…

The Gerberas are blooming…

I picked the lemons from the tree…

Sixteen bags worth…

They are in the front yard for free…

Now though I have a headache and I’m so tired…

I’m losing my oomph…

I wanted to go room by room today and do one thing in each room…

So I’m writing in the blog trying to get motivated…

There is a bird nest in the tree… no eggs though…

The lemon tree after… I need the big ladder to get to the rest… I was using the step ladder…

I think hubby and I will go for a walk to get our energy back…

Son2 is playing an online game with his friends… son3 is playing XBOX…

Next we need to take care of those vines that are growing all the way up in the tree…

We did not go for a walk…

Hubby took a nap… so I fiddled around online and the started pulling my books out of my bookcases that I never finished putting on my viral bookcase: Shelfari… see my side bar… only got through two bookshelves, more to go… but now it is time to make dinner… so we can kick back and watch some shows on the DVR…

I just noticed all the lemons are gone, so I took down the sign… our neighbors don’t mess around when it’s free… helps that we live on a corner lot… last hubby and I went for a walk we noticed a neighbor had a sign in their yard that said: lemons 7 for a $1… I may have put them out of business with my free sign… or maybe they are now selling my lemons… lol… someone may be…

Dinner is done… the turkey burgers were very good, with rice and pork & beans… I did not do well with my eating today or you could say I ate very well… as I ate too much… I ate seconds of hubby’s very good breakfast… my downfall was I munched on tortilla chips with salsa… then I cleaned out the fridge of leftovers that we’ll call lunch… so I did good at dinner with only one helping… but the jelly beans that hubby got me for Valentine’s did me in… they’re all gone now so they won’t be tempting me again…

We're almost done watching our shows: How to Train Your Dragon, Men with Kids, Impractical Jokers, Last Man Standing, Mike & Molly and The Big Bang Theory…

It’s almost 9pm already… Today was a fast day…

 

 

Joyce Meyer Ministries

Remember: Life is about loving God and loving people.

 

Today, Linda, we believe God wants you to know that ...

you are wonderfully made.

Look at the world around you, the infinite detail and creativity. Unimaginable beauty surrounds us every day. You are part of that creation, materializing from the same artist that created sunsets and rainbows. Don't ever allow yourself to think you are anything less than wonderful.

 

Today

 

Partly Cloudy 73°

Tonight

 

Partly Cloudy 42°

Tomorrow

 

Sunny 70°

Happy Journaling…

February Fifteenth

 

 

2 Corinthians 5:20, 6:2

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf. Be reconciled to God.

For he says, In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.

Hubby has gotten son3 to school and put gas in my car so I can get to work this afternoon…

I was testing son3 on his spelling words this morning… he’s ready for his Geography test but not his spelling… he just doesn’t want to be bothered with studying… school doesn’t seem to worry him… he says C’s and D’s are passing… sigh…

So I’m trying to figure out a new homework routine… which I’ve been doing for years…

So by having him do his homework in his room, he can do it at his speed, and some how make it more like something he does instead of something that ‘has’ to be done…

Plus everything is a distraction when he is in the dining room since our family room, dining room and kitchen are all one great room… so we are limited to what we can do during homework time… I’m sure the biggest mistake we make is watching too much TV after dinner so that we try to get homework done before dinner… which usually means we can eat dinner when homework is done… which sometimes is seven or eight at night…

I know I shouldn’t compare the boys but I pulled out old report cards last night and son2 was getting all A’s and B’s in fifth and sixth grade and he had a shaky start to school same as son3… many teacher conferences between the two of them… not that son2 has good homework practices even now in college…

Son1 got through school but he wasn’t  adamant about homework either and son3 is a lot like him in that neither of them can spell… and they are not dyslexic, as hubby is and he had them both tested… they are however both color blind and son2 is not… school just comes much easier for son2 then son3 and son1…

I wonder if it is because son2 is a winter baby and son1 and son3 are summer babies… hubby and I are both summer babies too… I guess I just expected son3 to be better in school like son2 as they have the same father then son1…

Of course son3 could get to middle school and excel… like son2 did by fifth grade… son3 was the youngest of the three when starting school… he was only five years old and one week… where son1 was six starting kindergarten and son2 was five and a half…

It doesn’t help that hubby and I are burned out with school too… we have been in elementary school for twenty years now… son1 will be twenty six when son3 finishes sixth grade this year and son1 started when he was six… wow… no wonder we aren’t good motivators for son3…

And school is hard now… or it’s just this teacher… I find I can’t even get organized with son3, although he continues to forget to bring everything home that he needs… but mostly school is hard, there are assignments or problems that I don’t remember how to do… good thing for the internet…  but there are still papers that son3 brings home that I helped him with and they are marked wrong…

Hubby and I went to college and we are no longer smarter then a sixth grader… I didn’t even go to kindergarten, I went into first grade and I don’t remember needing help with my work… when I was home with the mumps, my teacher sent my school work home and I looked forward to it… my favorite thing in second grade was those reading cards that we had to read and answer the questions and advancing through each color coded section… my third and fourth grade teachers were my favorite teachers…

Son2 is up and watching a George Lucas documentary with hubby…

Hubby got a summons for jury duty on February 25th…

Hubby got a summons from unemployment to come into the office on February 25th…

We went online this morning and postponed jury duty til July, son3 will be out of school then…

Now we are wondering what will happen at unemployment… will they help or just question him on his job hunting…

I still need to make hubby a honey do list…

I keep telling him God has him home right now to take care of the boys…

They need dentist appointments and son3 needs a shot to register for middle school…

I wonder what time the new district manager came at work today… I hope he is gone by time I get there, not that I don’t want to meet him, but I have things to do… I need to finish working my reports and file them in the appropriate binders… hopefully he didn’t check the binders because I have a few weeks to file…

Now I need to shower, put the laundry away. finish Castle that I fell asleep to last night, and do a bit of straighten up through the house… I am off this weekend!… a bit of relaxing and regrouping and getting things done in the house… plus more yard work… and grocery shopping…

 

Joyce Meyer Ministries

13 minutes ago

God requires us to love people even when we don’t like them. –Joyce

 

Today

 

Sunny 72°

Tonight

 

Mostly Clear 42°

Tomorrow

 

Partly Cloudy 73°

Happy Journaling…

February Fourteenth

 

Joel 2:12-16

Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your hear, with fasting and weeping and mourning.

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing- grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly, bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, Spare your people, O Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

Then the Lord will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. The Lord will reply to them: I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.

Today was a good day at work… I was busy, busy setting up the sales and getting everything ready for the visit tomorrow… I even had the manager phone for three hours but it hardly rang so I could get at least the main things done I wanted to since everything will never all be done… 

There was the feeling and expressions of Valentine in the air and lots of people passing through with their dollar store Valentine balloon bouquets…

Son2 and son3 were at school today…

And hubby had the day to himself… he got the kitchen and dishes all caught up…

He also was sneaky and had a box of chocolates on my pillow when I got home from work today… I was thinking at work today too that I should have at least left him a note or something before I left for work this morning but then no, we already celebrated Valentine’s on Tuesday… that’s ok though I’ll get him back when it’s not Valentine’s and leave him a card or something just because…

Son3 is needing help with homework and I have pizza in the oven so I will be back in a bit…

Homework is done and dinner was good… Son3 still needs to study for Geology test and Spelling test…

We are watching Tremors 2… Did you know there’s Tremors 3 and 4 too… we have them all… Son3 is loving them… he hadn’t seen them before…

I work late tomorrow so I get to sleep in a bit in the morning…

I’m getting sleepy now and losing my focus to write…

Son3 is studying for his tests now… he’s not liking it… we still need to find a better homework schedule/routine… son3 and son2 need to clean their rooms and use them… they rather be with us ALL the time… when I was growing up I was always in my room… they act like it’s a punishment to have to go to their bedroom unless it’s bedtime…

I think I’ll go to my bedroom now and have a bit of my Valentine candy and finish watching Supernatural from last night when I fell asleep…

Today, Linda, we believe God wants you to know that ...

there is a right time for each of the things you do.

If you try to live counter to your personal rhythms, you will expend more time and energy to get things done. Body and soul suffer when you force yourself to wrestle against your own rhythms. Listen to your rhythms and follow them.

Tonight

 

Clear 40°

Tomorrow

 

Sunny 72°

Tomorrow night

 

Mostly Clear 42°

Happy Journaling…

February Thirteenth

 

Ash Wednesday Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21

Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen, and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Work was good today… I got all my scans done… Started one project only to move onto several others… Big visit on Friday… Not as ready as we’d like but then we never are… I’m leaving it up to God and just doing the best I can… If he wanted me in hardware to succeed then I will… Tomorrow will mark one month since I started hardware and have been out of shoes…

Came home and the boys were working on homework… I put some carrots and potatoes on the stove to go with the leftover chicken… I checked email and Facebook… put some more blessings in the blessing jar… and set up this entry… and checked son3’s homework when he was done…

Son2 has been in such a mood lately… he’s been really hard on son3 lately… I’m sure it’s just sibling rivalry… but sounds more like son3 has three parents…

Part of my lent is to not get upset or worry… so instead of reacting to things I told myself I would stop and talk to God… so each time son2 would criticize/parent son3 I would talk to God instead of yelling at him to stop… by time we were getting dinner ready I just starting laughing out loud as I was thinking God must be regretting wanting to hear from me as every other minute I was talking to him about son2…

We watched Tremors with Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward… Now we’re watching Arrow…

In between I cleaned up from dinner and cleaned the cat box…

Does anyone remember Half Tail… he was a stray kitty in the neighborhood… and only has half a tail, hence why I named him… he always looked a bit ragged and tattered from fighting and or living on his own… we haven’t seen him in a couple of years so we thought something had happened to him… and out of no where he showed up last week… he’s always known to find cat food in our garage but now we keep finding him hiding out in there so that he’s spending the night inside… so we check to make sure the garage is clear before we close it/we keep it open a few inches sometimes so Holly can come in and out/but then the next day we’ll go in the garage for something and he’s in there… little stinker… he’s just trying to keep out of the cold and get something to eat…

Son3 has cookies and Valentine box all ready for his Valentine party at school tomorrow…

I have another early day at work tomorrow… and Supernatural is coming on next…

 

Today, Linda, we believe God wants you to know that ...

YOU are the gardener of your soul.

Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of expecting someone else to leave you wilted flowers.

Tonight

 

 Clear 39°

Tomorrow

 

 Sunny 69°

Tomorrow night

  Clear 39°

Happy Journaling…

Finding Footprints in the Sand

 

When we were on AOL journals, my journal was called Footprints in the Sand…

From the poem “Footprints”: when you see only one set of footprints it was then that God carried you…

Upon moving to Blogger I wasn’t able to have the title Footprints in the Sand as someone else was already using it…

So I changed to Finding Footprints in the Sand as I was now able to see the footprints in life

and as a clue to my followers from AOL who would be finding me on Blogger still under Footprints in the sand… a little play on words…

Recently I heard a new song on KLOVE that I just love called Carry Me by Josh Wilson…

The lyrics are asking God to carry us from the sinking sand to solid ground…

I’m sure he must be referencing Footprints in the Sand…

Home > Music > Artists > Josh Wilson > Carry Me

• 

  Carry Me

  Josh Wilson

  from the album Carry Me

  Play sample

  I try to catch my breath
  It hasn't happened yet
  I'm wide awake in the middle of the night scared to death
  So I prayed God, would You make this stop
  Father please hold on to me, You're all I've got
  Carry me, carry me, carry me now
  From my sinking sand to Your solid ground
  The only way I'm ever gonna make it out
  Is if You carry me, carry me, carry me now
  God carry me, carry me, carry me now
  Jesus calm my heart
  Come near me please
  Lord don't let these worries get the best of me
  Oh I believe, that You're still here with me
  Cause You meant what You said when You said You'd never leave
  Carry me, carry me, carry me now
  From my sinking sand to Your solid ground
  The only way I'm ever gonna make it out
  Is if You carry me, carry me, carry me now
  God carry me, carry me, carry me now
  Carry me
  God carry me
  Carry me
  God carry me
  I'm at the end of myself
  I know I've got nothing left
  Feels like I'm stuck in the valley of the shadow of death
  And I've been down here so long
  I just can't find my way out
  Oh God I don't stand a chance
  Unless You carry me now
  God carry me now
  Carry me, carry me, carry me now
  From my sinking sand to Your solid ground
  The only way I'm ever gonna make it out
  Is if You carry me, carry me, carry me now
  God carry me, carry me, carry me now
  Carry me now
  Carry me now
  Carry me now
  Carry me now
  2012 9T One Songs / Ariose Music / Meaux Hits (Admin. At EMICMGPublishing.com) (ASCAP)

Video below from youtube so you can hear the song…

 

Footprints

One night I had a dream--
I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord
and across the sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints,
one belonged to me and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that many times along the path of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in my life.
This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you would walk with me all the way,
but I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life
there is only one set of footprints.
"I don't understand why in times when I needed you most,
you should leave me."
The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child,
I love you and I would never, never leave you
during your times of trial and suffering.
"When you saw only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."
...Mary Stevenson

Happy Journaling…

February Twelfth

 

Miss Holly sleeping on the futon…

She says, “Do Not Disturb”…

Hubby and I had a day together, just the two of us… the boys were in school…

So we celebrated Valentine’s day early…

Above is my present and card from hubby… he painted the above bird houses… I’ve had the birdhouses for a while just sitting on the entertainment center au natural…

Card hubby made me…

Hubby got me some craft scissors, pink even for Valentine’s… mine have a broken handle…

A closer picture of the birdhouses… he painted flowers on them and added little birds…

The 3D picture in frame I made for hubby…

Card I made for hubby…

And I made hubby a dozen heart shaped peanut butter cookies…

Hubby and I worked in the yard a bit today… Hubby worked on cutting down the pile we made from last time… and I trimmed more roses and vines… still lots of leaves to rake… and the lemons need picking… but the yard totes fill up so quickly and the garbage man only comes once a week… so gonna take some time before everything is trimmed, cleaned up and cleared away…

When hubby picked up son2 from college I had him get deli chicken for dinner for a special treat… and he got chocolate cake… I made pumpkin bread and there is still raspberry cheesecake leftover… son2 is having all three… son3 is having pumpkin bread… and hubby and I are just having double chocolate fudge cake…

I need water…

Lent starts tomorrow…

Monday was a good day at work, I actually got stuff done… of course still lots more to do…

Son1 had a good first day at his new job… he was especially happy about the uniforms, hats, and supplies he got on the first day… his old job took a year just to get him one work shirt…

We’re watching Role Models with Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott… Hubby loves this movie… It is funny!…

Time to get son3 in the shower… He and I have school and work tomorrow… I have to be to work early… Son3 had a good day of homework today… and he read fifteen pages over the weekend, he’s liking his Halo book… Son2 is still waiting til the last minute the night before school to do his homework… even after having four days off…

I had a nice relaxing day of spending time with hubby and getting things done in a non rushed way…

I did have things I wanted to write about but like son2 I save my blogging til to late at night and then I’m tired and can’t think…

Tomorrow is lent…

I want to blog every day with a bible entry for lent and updates of the day… and for lent I want to make good choices for the day for health and well being… instead of saying I’m going to give up sweets and soda and snacks…

I have to be up very early for work tomorrow… and I’m still waiting to put the last load of laundry in the dryer…

Hubby and son2 are watching some show on the history channel about hunting for pirate treasure…

Today, Linda, we believe God wants you to know that ...

it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks.

People are always judging each other and, the truth is, they're not very good at it. Don't put a lot of concern into what people think of you. You weren't created to please and entertain everyone. You were created to be you, so feel good about yourself.

Today, Linda, we believe God wants you to know that ...

everything passes.

Nothing is eternal, even the sun will one day disappear. Remember this simple truth whenever you are suffering, - that the suffering too shall pass, - and it will become easier to bear.

Tonight

Clear 37°

Tomorrow

 

 Sunny 66°

Tomorrow night

Clear 40°

Happy Journaling…