Love

The other day I was driving down the road with my little blessing in tow. As I was driving my thoughts were completely wrapped up in God's love for me. Oh, the endless ways to describe His love and how so grateful and thankful I am to be loved by Him. His love has done more for me than I could ever afford. He rescued me. He delivered me. He brought me out from where I never belonged. He longed for me. He waited for me. He never stopped calling me His own. As I thought on the love that often leaves me speechless, I thought about how much He loves Katelyn and how will I ever be able to explain that to her. How can you fully convey to someone, to a little someone, something they have never experienced? And it hit me. The way, the only way, is to show her His love the way I show her my love for her. She doesn't fully understand the word love. It is barely in her vocabulary. But she sees my love. She sees it in the way I hold her, hug her, kiss her, speak kindly to her, comfort her, discipline her, remind her every chance I get that I love her.

I know she gets it. She returns the love. She has repeated the phrase she so often hears, "I Love You!" She comes to me without my request and hugs me and kisses me. I've pretended to be sad and cry and she has walked over to me to comfort me by laying her head down on me and crying with me.

So what do I do then? I can tell her God loves her more. I can tell her what He has done for her and for me. But more importantly, I can show her His love in everything I do in everyday of my life. All I can do is what comes naturally and that is to just love. However, I'm not perfect, but I believe if I think on God's love for me everyday then I will be reminded on how to love more perfectly. To be more patient, more kind, less envious, less boastful, less proud, less rude, less self-seeking, not as easily angered, keep less record of wrongs, delighting in evil less and rejoicing more with truth, protect more, trust more, hope more, persevere more, fail less. It is only through Christ that I can do all these things. He will strengthen me. And I can have confidence that Katelyn will know how much she is loved by Him.

Ref. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and Philippians 4:13

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Long Overdue

Wow! It's been over 2 months since my last post! We have been busy-learning and growing! The weather has been getting nicer and we have been taking on some new projects. I'm gonna update on the past couple of months in a couple of separate blog posts. Hope all is well with everyone!

By My Spirit

Today, I was doing my normal daily duties-laundry and entertaining Katelyn (dancing and singing), when this song arose from my spirit. It was a hymn that I hadn't heard in a long time. I remember singing this a lot growing up and I mostly sang it out of routine. I knew the words by heart. As I look back on that, I realize that although it wasn't pure worship at the time, I was still doing a good thing. Because I had the hymn memorized, on an ordinary day like today, it came back to my remembrance and blessed me.

Oh how I love the new. I am very welcome to new methods as long as the message remains the same. I am in no way against new songs of worship. But I cherish the old hymns. There are some powerful old songs that can minister to one's life in big way. When I took that time to ponder the lyrics to this one particular hymn, I was more than encouraged, I was uplifted and strengthened in my faith. I just wanted to share the lyrics with you. May you be blessed as I was!

By My Spirit (Almeda Herrick 1898-1961)

Is there a mountain in your way?  Do doubts and fears abound? 
Press on, oh, hear the Spirit say, this mountain shall come down. 

Not by might, not by pow'r.  By my Spirit sayeth the Lord of Hosts. 
Not by might, not by pow'r.  By my Spirit sayeth the Lord. 

This mountain shall be removed.  This mountain shall be removed. 
This mountain shall be removed.  By my spirit sayeth the Lord. 

Is there a river in your path, a river deep and wide? 
Step in the waters will roll back, you'll reach the other side. 

Not by might, not by pow'r.  By my Spirit sayeth the Lord of Hosts. 
Not by might, not by pow'r.  By my Spirit sayeth the Lord. 

This mountain shall be removed.  This mountain shall be removed. 
This mountain shall be removed.  By my spirit sayeth the Lord. 

Is there a fiery furnace trial, far more than you can bear? 
Behold the blessed Son of God, is walking with you there.

Not by might, not by pow'r.  By my Spirit sayeth the Lord of Hosts. 
Not by might, not by pow'r.  By my Spirit sayeth the Lord. 

This mountain shall be removed.  This mountain shall be removed. 
This mountain shall be removed.  By my spirit sayeth the Lord. 

Then trust alone the mighty God, He speaks the winds obey. 
Take courage, then, oh fainting heart for you He'll make a way.

And for dessert...

Oreo SNOW Ice Cream! Quick and easy recipe at Dirt Wont Hurt. The Oreo's were my personal touch! I cut this recipe in half because I didn't get a full gallon of snow. I used about 8 cups of snow. My first time to make this and all I can say is YUM!

*Tip: When it starts to snow, place a bowl outside to catch the snow for the ice cream.

Soup and Cornbread

I recently found a recipe that I wanted to try for dinner one night-Hamburger Vegetable Soup. Well, tonight was THE night. I am so glad I waited because today I got the recipe for World's Best Honey Cornbread and it was a perfect match for the soup.

Thanks to Crystal at Money Saving Mom I have two new recipes that will be making an appearance on our menu again very soon. Can you say...More Please!

*Note: I cut the ingredients in half for the soup because I was just cooking for two and we had a lot leftover. However, my husband likes a lot of meat. So next time I'm going to use the 2 lbs of ground chuck and cut the rest of the ingredients in half. Cornbread makes a lot too!

Happy 4 Months!

Yes, it is here! Katelyn is officially 4 Months Old!!! She is growing so fast and is keeping us amazed watching her grow and learn new things. Just last night she rolled over from belly to back for the 1st time! We were so proud! It had been a few days since I worked with her on it and she just casually rolled over while she was playing in the floor with her daddy.

Kevin got to witness the very first roll! I was so happy for him. She was so natural about it that Kevin didn't even know that was her first time. He said something about her rolling over and I thought she did with his help. He assured me she did it by herself, so I grabbed the camera and waited.

Here is a our video proof: (The second video duplicates the last few seconds of the first video. I will have to learn how to get longer videos in one clip next time.)