Beautiful Jesus, how may I bless Your heart?
Knees to the earth I bow down to everything You are.
Knees to the earth
Beautiful Jesus
How may I bless Your heart?
Knees to the earth I bow down to everything You are.
Beautiful Jesus
You are my only worth.
So let me embrace You always as I walk this earth.
- Watermark
Today is Tuesday November 22. I am back dating this entry to line up with the timeline of the events. Since I went several days (almost a week) without updating the blog, here is a brief recap of the missing week in what I picked as "Noteworthy" moments.
Monday
We made a rare family trip to Walmart. As we were getting out of the car - J asked Randy - "Are you and mom splitting up?" Randy looked at me to see if there was something he didn't know about - he told J "not that I know of" - J thought for a minute and realized he'd left out the critical part of his question "Uh...I mean when we get in the store - not in life."
Wednesday
Hmmm - lets see - Wednesday Nov. 16 - K finally rolled from her back to her tummy! She's been rolling from her tummy to her back for awhile (Made getting "tummy time" photos difficult as you can see) - Still no teeth, lots of sucking fingers and gnawing hands.
She moved this week from her "shrinking bassinet" to her crib. It is taking a little more work to get her to sleep, but I think we are going to make it after all.
Friday
A very cold morning - became even more evident due to a power outage in our area from around 7:20 am till 8:30. As the temperature in the house started to drop we began layering up under and on top of our "jammies" to stay warm.
A "well-fed" Carmel stayed warm
A will have to knit a little bit faster if she wants to keep warm with this scarf today.
(There are no pictures of Justin during this cold episode - he choose to stay in bed for this one.)
You see many photos here of K's huge grin - ever wondered how we get her to smile so big? True, she's a pretty happy baby and smiles are fairly easy - but to get the really BIG grins, well, you have to go the extra mile. Here is a behind the scenes shot - (she thought I was taking only the baby's picture - ha!)
See what the desire to obtain a smile from a 4 1/2 month old baby will do to a near teenage girl -
K - my future blogger She loves sitting with us at the computer and always trys to type with us - last night daddy finally let her "have at" the keyboard.
These were some other cute shots of her and daddy at the computer last night:
Thank GOD for Dirty Dishes, They have a tale to tell. While others may go hungry, We are eating very well. With home and health and happiness, I shouldn't want to fuss. For by this stack of evidence, GOD's been very good to us.
I came across this in my cookbook "Not just beans" . It seemed appropriate for me at the time and I thought I'd share it.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
I hear the gasps all around as the title is read. My 11 grams of sugar limit has been broken by 1 gram. May I no longer be accused of only feeding my family pine cones, berries, and straw.
Here is the proof for those that need a bit more convincing.
Ok, seriously - Does this look like a child that really NEEDS an extra gram of sugar???
Yesterday I posted the words to a song by Chris Tomlin (who by the way has a blog, too)
The Song is titled "We fall down".
It is a song I know I've sung 1,000 times or more, so why now is that song stuck in my head? Why now does the meaning of the song affect me so strongly? I typically sing this song and think of how we should cast all our cares and anxieties on Him because He cares for us (Peter 5:7), but this time the words are really standing out to me and it means a bit more than that. To me this song just reflects the utter humility I desire to express.
Let's look at the first verse - We fall down (short and to the point)
Emphasis on the word fall - because when a person falls it is "usually" not purposefully. (It is usually an uncoordinated act on my part causing me to surrender to gravity. ) : o)
To be more specific - one definition of the word means: "To lose an upright or erect position suddenly"
The word fall in this context illustrates a different way of coming before the throne. Falling is so different from bowing or kneeling which can imply some power in the action that is our own, however FALLING down before God expresses a greater sense of the surrender.
Second verse - We lay our crowns
Here's where the meaning has changed for me - this isn't just simply casting our "cares" on him, this is casting our "crowns". A crown is something precious to us that we have put on. A crown is a symbol of sovereignty, which is defined as complete independence and self-government, autonomy, freedom from external control. These may be little things, or even big things that we fail to put under the umbrella of God's grace and sovereignty and instead take credit or pride in accomplishing or possessing.
Ahh there's the word - Pride - I knew that would come up somewhere. Pride - working in direct opposition to humility.
“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth."
I realize now why God is using this song to minister to me in a new way. I see that when I do things throughout my day without acknowledging God or take credit for things going well or even not so well - I am presuming autonomy and self governance and that is the essence of pride.
It is so easy to slip into that prideful frame of mind and put on that crown when my house is clean, the kids are behaving and dinner is done on time when Randy comes home. I may wear a crown when my kids are on "their best behavior" at Grandma's house or even when one my children recognizes their sin using a scripture "I" taught them. How arrogant is my pride -
".........As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you." C. S. Lewis
I pray that through God's grace to lay not only my cares, but my crowns at His feet.
We Fall Down We lay our crowns At the feet of Jesus The greatness of Mercy and love At the feet of Jesus
We cry holy, holy, holy We cry holy, holy, holy We cry holy, holy, holy Is the lamb
My Jesus, I love you I know thou are mine To thee all the follies of sin I resent My gracious redeemer My savior, art thou If ever I'll love you My Jesus tis now
Ok - I've gotten the emails regarding this photo - No she did not stand up by herself!! :) While she has yet to prove she is not a child prodigy - the milestone of standing up on her own appears to be a little ways off.
What has caused this "confusion" ? I believe I can solve it all this way:
Exhibit 1
This original photo is somewhat deceptive because it doesn't have a "time" stamp on it. If it did, you'd see that 1 second after this was taken, the following shot was taken.
Exhibit 2
She stood on her own AFTER her Daddy 'stood/propped her up - but she was leaning over on the couch for support - it was for just a second and then she fell over.