Call me crazy but I was getting a little cabin fever over the past few days. I am ready to be out and about. However, I thought I was glad to be back at work but I really miss my boys now!! They are at the stage of fighting with each other, very badly, which drives mommy up the wall. I visited Lisa Bearnson’s blog http://lisabearnson.com/blog/
this morning and found the lyrics to this awesome song. Now I miss my boys even more right now. I have attached the words to the song below.
Keeping SheepI have a little flock of sheep
And they are mine to tend and keep.
And I must guard them every day
For little lambs, when left alone,
Will lose their way.
So many voices say to me,
A sheep fold is no place to be.
Your time in there is dull and slow,
And lambs leave very little room
For you to grow.
Chorus:
So if I ever start to stray,
Deceived by thought of green pastures,
Remind me, Lord, that keeping sheep
Will lead to happier ever-afters.
Will lead to happier ever-afters.
Oh, surety there will come a day
When all the lambs have left my side,
And I am free to roam about,
And go exploring other meadows,
Green and wide.
Yet something whispers in my heart
That when my sheep have left this pen
I'll long to stoke their little heads,
To draw them close to me
And have them young again.
Repeat Chorus
So while they still are in my care
I pray that I will clearly see
These little lambs within my fold
Are tender gifts the Master Shepherd
Has given me.
Wow, made you cry didn’t it????
I hope you liked my Deck of me challenge cards from week 1 and 2. I am working on my Deck of Me cover card, but I am not finished yet. I will show you those later!! You can click on those images and you can see a bigger image of those cards.
I am not a reader, I have probably only read 2 books all the way through in my whole life. Well, I ordered a book last week called “The Big Picture: Scrapbook your Life and a whole lot more” by Stacy Julian. Can I just say this book is awesome and I read it in 1 day. Me, who never reads, read this in 1 day. I couldn’t put it down. There are lots of pictures, which is good!! This is going to change my life. I am so inspired. I strongly suggest if you love scrapbooking, if your feeling overwhelmed due to all the photos that still need to get into scrapbooks, if you have overwhelming piles of scrapbooking projects then you need to get this book and read it!!!
The first thing I took away from this book is I am going to start my daily journal back up, I love going back and reading them to remember “everyday life” that my kids will one day enjoy reading. At Christmas time, we were at my mother-n-laws house and her brother Jeff found an old journal of their Aunt Ruthies. Jeff sat and read that to us for hours. It was so neat to hear about places, people, and life back then. How inspiring!! No need to sit down for hours to write out paragraghs of information. Stacy taught me to jot down ideas that inspire you, jot down funnies your kids say, jot down things you would want to remember or want someone else to know or remember about you. I started yesterday! I also jotted down a small list of things I want to start that I learned from this book. I might share my list later with you, that way you can hold me accountable. One thing on my list is to share a weekend get away with my close girls chicks. Stacy had a weekend get away with her sisters, mother, aunts and it was so inspiring to her. I did this one time with my sister, mother, and mother-n-law and it was so much fun. One thing on my list is to plan another get away with my girl chicks.
Life is so good, let’s enjoy every moment of it and the people in it!!!Happy Thursday!
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I have to be Thank-ful for the THORNS in my life...That IS what has drawn me closer to GOD..
Thankful for Thorns
>
> Sandra felt as low as the heels of her Birkenstocks when she pulled
open the
> florist shop door, against a November gust of wind. Her life had been
as sweet
> as a spring breeze and then, in the fourth month of her second
pregnancy, a
> "minor" automobile accident stole her joy. This was Thanksgiving week
and the
> time she should have delivered their infant son. She grieved over
their loss.
> Troubles had multiplied. Her husband's company "threatened" to
transfer his job
> to a new location.
>
> Her sister had called to say that she could not come for her long
awaited
> holiday visit. What's worse, Sandra's friend suggested that Sandra's
grief was a
> God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with
others who
> suffer. "She has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a
shudder.
> "Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?" she wondered. "For a careless
driver whose
> truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that
saved her
> life, but took her child's?"
>
> "Good afternoon, can I help you?" Sandra was startled by the approach
of the
> shop clerk.
>
> "I.... I need an arrangement," stammered Sandra.
>
> "For Thanksgiving? Do you want the beautiful but ordinary, or would
you like to
> challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the 'Thanksgiving
Special'?
> I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she continued. "Are you
looking for
> something that conveys 'gratitude' this Thanksgiving?"
>
> "Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months,
everything that
> could go wrong has gone wrong." Sandra regretted her outburst, and
was surprised
> when the clerk said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you."
>
> Then the bell on the door rang, and the clerk greeted the new
customer, "Hi,
> Barbara...let me get your order." She excused herself and walked back
to a small
> workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of
greenery, bows,
> and what appeared to be long-stemmed thorny roses. Except the ends of
the rose
> stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers.
>
> "Do you want these in a box?" asked the clerk. Sandra watched for the
customer's
> response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers!
She waited
> for laughter, but neither woman laughed. "Yes, please," Barbara
replied with an
> appreciative smile. "You'd think after three years of getting the
special, I
> wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right
here, all over
> again." She said, as she gently tapped her chest.
>
> Sandra stammered, "Ah, that lady just left with, uh.... she left with
no
> flowers!"
>
> "That's right, said the clerk. "I cut off the flowers. That's the
'Special'. I
> call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet."
>
> "Oh, come on! You can't tell me someone is willing to pay for that!"
exclaimed
> Sandra.
>
> "Barbara came into the shop three years ago, feeling much as you do,
today,"
> explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful
for. She
> had just lost her father to cancer; the family business was failing;
her son had
> gotten into drugs; and she was facing major surgery."
>
> "That same year I had lost my husband," continued the clerk. "For the
first time
> in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no
husband, no
> family nearby, and too much debt to allow any travel."
>
> "So what did you do?" asked Sandra.
> "I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly.
"I've always
> thanked God for the good things in my life and I NEVER questioned Him
why those
> GOOD things happened to me, but when the bad stuff hit, I cried out,
"WHY? WHY
> Me?!" It took time for me to learn that the dark times are important
to our
> faith! I have always enjoyed the 'flowers' of my life, but it took
the thorns to
> show me the beauty of God's comfort! You know, the Bible says that
God comforts
> us when we're afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort
others."
>
> Sandra sucked in her breath, as she thought about the thought that
her friend
> had tried to tell her. "I guess the truth is, I don't want comfort.
I've lost a
> baby and I'm angry with God."
>
> Just then someone else walked in the shop. "Hey, Phil!" the clerk
greeted the
> balding, rotund man. "My wife sent me in to get our usual
Thanksgiving
> arrangement... twelve thorny, long-stemmed stems!" laughed Phil as
the clerk
> handed him a tissue wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator.
>
> "Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind
telling me
> why she wants a bouquet that looks like that?"
>
> "No... I'm glad you asked," Phil replied. "Four years ago, my wife
and I nearly
> divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the
Lord's grace
> and guidance, we trudged through problem after problem. The Lord
rescued our
> marriage. Jenny, here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose
stems to
> remind her of what she had learned from "thorny" times. That was good
enough for
> me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label
each one for
> a specific "problem" and give thanks for what that problem taught
us." As Phil
> paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!"
>
> "I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life." Sandra
said to
> the clerk. "It's all too... fresh."
>
> "Well," the clerk replied carefully, "my experience has shown me that
the thorns
> make the roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care
more during
> trouble than at any other time. Remember that it was a crown of
thorns that
> Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don't resent the thorns."
>
> Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the
accident, she
> loosened her grip on her resentment. "I'll take those twelve
long-stemmed
> thorns, please," she managed to choke out.
>
> "I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in
a minute."
>
> "Thank you. What do I owe you?"
>
> "Nothing. Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The
first
> year's arrangement is always on me." The clerk smiled and handed a
card to
> Sandra. "I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you
would like to
> read it first."
>
> It read:
> My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a
thousand
> times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory
of the
> cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have
climbed
> closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears,
the colors
> of Your rainbow look much more brilliant."
>
> Praise Him for the roses; thank Him for the thorns.
>
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