A Baker's Dozen of Favorite Posts from 2013

At the beginning of 2014, I posted 25 of the most-read posts from Ponderings of an Elect Exile in 2013.  I had planned at that point to follow up a few days later with some of my own favorite posts from 2013.  It's now June, and I'm finally doing that. :)


Here are some of my favorite posts from 2013:

The Blessings of a Chicken-Scratched Bible ~

"The names, dates, prayers, and notes scribbled in those pages are another "standing stone".  They are reminders of things God taught me during those years, prayers He answered, and people He sent to impact my life.  They are reminders of how far He has brought me...and how far I still am from the goal, as I see things He was teaching me then that He is still trying to teach me today!  I see things He taught me in those years...25-ish years ago now...that very directly prepared me for the unexpected turns in the road of the last 10 years." 

I Press on Toward the Goal {A Not-By-Chance Encounter} ~

"God's mercy and grace are truly amazing, and He has brought us (me!) far since that time. I know that God is good, and I am thankful beyond words for His sovereignty. I also know I know that in no way am I "all there".  There are many more lessons to be learned, and even this one has to be learned over and over and over again.  It is entirely possible that there is even more intense suffering to come, and given the fact that I still struggle many times on the "good days", there is no doubt that when that suffering comes, I will struggle even more."

{Getting to Know You} 25 Random Things About Me ~

"I was a Razorback fan before I was born! My dad called the Hogs from the balcony of our apartment in downtown Birmingham the day I was born. (The Hogs were playing in a bowl game that weekend.) I care very little for sports *other* than the Hogs...except that I have become a Tim Tebow fan in recent years. :) It was a sign of my dad's great regard for Billy that he was thrilled for me to marry him *despite* the fact that he was/is a Tennessee Vol fan!"

The Penrod Posts {Guy Penrod} ~ Some of my favorite posts on the whole blog are concert posts.  This post has all the Guy Penrod posts in one place.  If you haven't read them, you should.  There are some fun stories and great encouragement there.

Nice. Revisited. {God is Truth. Satan Lies} ~

"Being "nice" and "good" and "well-behaved"  can all be good things...for children and adults.  But if we...or our children...stop there, we have stopped in dangerous territory."

"Does Your God Like That About You?" DOMA, {In}Tolerance, and Misunderstood Peace, Part 2 ~ 

"Despite His great love for us (or actually because of it), He makes plain again in the New Testament that we are not to tolerate sin or false teachings.  Sin and evil are to be hated and condemned.  We are to love those who persecute and revile us, but we are never to tolerate false teaching."

"Does Your God Like That About You?" DOMA, {In} Tolerance, and Misunderstood Peace, and Part 2 of Part 2 and Part 3 ~

"Christians (True, Christ-following, Bible-believing, forgiven children of God):  It means we do two things:  

(1) We lovingly and gently stand for truth, regardless of the outcome.  
(2)  We love those around us, no matter who they are.  We never condone the sin, but we reach out and we minister and we meet needs and we build relationships and we share the gospel and we pray like crazy. 

Everyone else:  Don't fall into the trap of believing that just because someone disagrees, it means they hate those with whom they disagree.   Realize that there can be love and care and relationship without "tolerance" as it is defined in the world today.  No, you don't have to change for me to love you and for us to be friends.  

You don't even have to change for God to love you!  Because we as sinful humans can't change on our own...not the kind of change required to have a relationship with God and eternal life.  God has to do that changing Himself.  Then that change becomes evident after He has changed us."

No More DIY Christians ~

"DIY projects are great.  I've been working on some myself lately, and I have a list about a mile long of more I'd like to complete.  But DIY isn't always all it's cracked up to be"

Teaching Creativity: Where Do We Start? ~ How do we exercise our creative muscles?  How do we teach creativity to our children?

Teaching Creativity When You Don't Feel Creative ~

"What an amazing realization that creativity is part of who we are as creatures made in the image of God! It isn’t something that we either “have” or “don’t have”; it is something that we can all develop and then use in the areas in which God calls us to serve. It is also something we need to teach our children."

Independence Day: Not Just Celebrating ~ 

"I am even more convicted about the urgency of being caught up in the "more" for which we were created.  So often, we...I..."waste" the freedom with which we've been blessed.  We use our "freedom" as  justification for pursuing all manner of things which are not honoring to our Creator.  We're often very poor stewards of the precious freedoms with which we've been blessed."

For Such a Time {Online Friendships and the Body of Christ} ~ 

"I am so thankful that God can use anything, including technology and social media, to show His glory.

I am so thankful for the ways He has already shown His glory in amazing ways in and through Benjamin and his family, and I know that that will only intensify in the coming days. 

I am so thankful for this group of WB ladies that has been such a special part of my life for so many years.   

I am so thankful for the ways that God knits together hearts in the family of God whether they be next door or across the world."

Monday Morning Meditation ~  He has given us everything that we need to live a Godly life!

What is your favorite post from Ponderings of an Elect Exile?  I'd love to hear in the comments or on the Facebook link!

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Welcome to Ponderings of an Elect Exile!  Whether you are new here or a faithful friend and regular reader, I'm glad you're here!  If you aren't already following, I'd love to have you join us for the 2014 Ponderings.  It's easy to do, in a variety of ways!  You can follow via  Facebook, Twitter, and/or Pinterest, or  find me on Instagram as Jenbh68. You can also sign up in the sidebar to receive new posts by email. 

Blogging at Ponderings of an Elect Exile ~The How and the Why of It (Part 2)

 

Not quite a year ago, I posted the first of what was to be a two-part post on "how and why I blog".  Eleven months and 19 days later, I think it's about time I finished the poor thing! Here's a bit about my "process" and a little about my reasons for blogging.

Process

This post all started as an explanation of my "process", and so far I haven't said much about that.  So far, in 6+  years of blogging, my process has been mostly not having a process. :)  Typically one of three things happens:

(1) Something happens, I think, "I should blog about that," and at some point from a few minutes to a number of months later, I sit down and blog about it.

(2)  I realize I haven't blogged lately and I really should post something. I pull something off my list (paper or mental) of "things I want to blog about", and I sit down to blog about it.

(3) The aforementioned those posts...the ones where I am typing a status or reply on Facebook and I realize it is getting way too long, so I decide to make it a blog post.

It is not unusual at all for me to work on a post a few sentences at a time over the course of a day, a week, or even occasionally, a year! :) And then there are the ones where  I sit down and start typing and can't stop until it's posted. Those don't happen nearly as often, though. :)

The Whys Behind the Blog

You'd think after a year, I'd have a neatly composed list of "why I blog".  Unfortunately, I don't.  I originally started blogging because I had seen some really neat homeschooling blogs, and I thought it would be neat to do something similar.

The funny thing is, this blog has been much less about homeschooling, and much more about all kinds of other things.

I've always loved to write.  I discovered that the blog was an opportunity to not only write, but easily share what I'd written.  I liked the less formal, conversational format of blogging.  I enjoyed being able to share photos and stories about our family with friends and family near and far.

As the years have passed (7 of them now!), I've discovered that I still love all those things.  I've also discovered, however, that my main heart's desire in blogging is to be an encouragement.

True encouragement, however, encompasses SO much more than what we often think of.  As Kate Megill of Teaching What Is Good says, "It's not just about making someone FEEL better; it is about helping them BE better."  Her short post, "Encouragement: Coming Alongside" is one of the best I've seen on true Biblical encouragement.  Click over and read her list of words associated with Biblical encouragement.  There is so much more involved than patting someone on the back and telling them it's going to be okay. Kate's post explains so well my goals for this blog.

Posts on child protection, growing through suffering, learning more about Who God is, sharing the Truth of God's Word rather than Satan's lies, and even Guy Penrod concert stories :) are all part of the encouragement focus of this blog.  I hope that through my sharing my heart and the things God is teaching me, you will be encouraged as you read. 

Have you been encouraged by something you read here at Ponderings of an Elect Exile?  If so, I'd love to hear about it!  Leave me a comment below, or send me a message through the "contact" box on the right.

If you've been encouraged by this blog, I'd also love for you to consider sharing it with your friends.  It's easy using the buttons below or the "Pin it" button above!

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A Not-So-Simple Case of Blogger's Block

 

 

I'm sitting at a local coffee shop, in the sunroom overlooking the park. I've looked forward all week to this quiet, uninterrupted time to blog.  Since deciding to participate in the June Blogathon, life has gone pell mell full speed ahead, and I've barely slapped up a blog post "just in the nick of time" each of the four nights of the Blogathon to this point.

I thought I'd have time to compose most of today's post earlier in the day, and then finish it up and perhaps get a bit ahead while at the coffee shop tonight. 

But it's been one of those days, and there hasn't been a long enough stretch of minutes to string a few sentences together.  No problem, I thought, I'll have plenty of time to write today's post at the coffee shop.

I have a list, you see, a list of planned blog topics, as well as a number of posts in various stage of completion hanging out in Blogger draft and Evernote. 

No problem...just pick one out and finish it up.

Except that I've been through my lists at least three times while sitting at my corner table, and my brain refuses to finish even one of them.

I will at some point, I'm sure, but the only posts that are motivating me tonight are posts for which I need to be at home for one reason or another...to reference a book, to pull photos off my desktop hard drive, or some other equally frustrating reason. 

So here I sit as the sun begins to go down, watching the walkers and runners and babies in strollers on the walking path in the park.  (There are some serious runners out there tonight...wow!  A girl who looks as though she could be an Olympic runner has lapped the track several times in a blur.  A guy who could probably almost compete with her has run by a few times, too.  Then there is a guy who is obviously out of shape but very determined (I'm recognizing that look these days!), who runs by each time looking like he's about to run his last step...but then he comes around later on yet another round. 

Then there's the girl walking in a sweater.  It's somewhere around 90 degrees.  I cannot even imagine wearing a sweater inside right now, much less while walking the park.

I've been here an hour, and the only thing I can come up with to write about is blogger's block. 

Really??

Yes, really. 

I'm giving myself a mental beating, as I was determined that today's post would be a post of substance.

Apparently that is going to have to wait until tomorrow.  I've been out of the blogging saddle too long, and I haven't had a chance to re-establish my rhythm. 

But I have a plan.  Tomorrow I will sit in my comfy chair at my desk in front of my trusty desktop screen with my cute stripey blogging notebook and PULL. IT. TOGETHER. 

In the meantime, I'm going to go get some boys from the movies, take home the ones who don't belong to me, listen to my son's review of Godzilla, and then add some cute baby bird photos to the end of this post and call it done.

(The baby bird is adorable, btw.  It sat on our fence for quite some time today.  We think it's a Eurasian Collared Dove fledgling. *heart*)

What do you do when you have a creative/mental block of any kind?  I'd love to hear your tips in the comments!

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Ponderings of an Elect Exile!  Whether you are new here or a faithful friend and regular reader, I'm glad you're here!  If you aren't already following, I'd love to have you join us for the 2014 Ponderings.  It's easy to do, in a variety of ways!  You can follow via  Facebook, Twitter, and/or Pinterest, or  find me on Instagram as Jenbh68. You can also sign up in the sidebar to receive new posts by email. 

 

Simple Woman's Daybook {Blogathon Edition}

June 4, 2014

Outside my window...dark!  It's almost 9:30 p.m. here. :)

I am thinking...about how much I'm enjoying the gym!  Really, really crazy, because I have NEVER enjoyed exercise, working out, or sports. EVER.  But we decided recently that for various reasons, it was time to join the gym affiliated with the hospital where Billy works, and I have been so excited.   (We all have!)  I think I'm just SO tired of  all my health/pain issues, and determined to make every possible effort to get healthy.  I'm pondering resurrecting my  "hidden" health blog soon.

I am thankful...for essential oils!  Thankful for those who have shared their wisdom (and oils!) with me, and for the improvements we are seeing in so many areas with the oils we are using.  What a blessing!

In the kitchen...Transitioning to a more summary menu, and trying to eat a bit healthier.  I bought Chia seeds tonight after reading about how good they are for you.  Anyone use them?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

I am wearing...cool summer pjs.

I am creating...my summer reading list (a bit late!) I started working on it a few weeks ago, and then got busy and let it fall by the wayside.  I'm looking forward to some good reading this summer!

I am wondering...how in the world I thought starting Blogathon and 5 times a week workouts at the gym in the same week was a good idea??? :-D  Actually, I'm thrilled to be doing both, but gym time has seriously cut into my usual blogging time.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a bit more writing time earlier in the day, as well as coffeeshop time tomorrow night (see below), and perhaps I can get a bit ahead? I promise some posts of substance this month! Maybe even tomorrow! :)

I am reading...about to re-read Sally Clarkson's Educating the Whole-Hearted Child. It was my first definite addition to my summer reading list. :)

I am hoping...for a mild summer. It sure hasn't started out that way, but a gal can hope!

I am looking forward to...lunch with a friend tomorrow!

I am learning...researching various topics about physical fitness/working out at the moment, both for myself and for a study for the kids and I to do this summer.

I am pondering...the fact that so many people around me are dealing with such heavy burdens and deep hurts right now.  Spending a lot of time in prayer for them, and seeking ways to encourage.

A favorite quote for today...

"Everyone you meet has a story, a story of loss, of disappointment, of being misunderstood, of losing heart. Slow down and listen..." ~Chuck DeGroat (retweeted by Scotty Smith earlier this week)

I've been hearing many of these stories lately.  Praying that God will help me slow down and listen and be a safe place for those who need to share...and then that He will help me to be faithful to pray, and careful to speak in line with His Word.

One of my favorite things...Hugs!  I'm a "hugger" (although I've tried to be more sensitive in recent years to the fact that some people aren't).  I was just thinking today that the last few weeks have been filled with more hugs than usual, and that makes me smile. Big! :-)

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Checking in folks at a field  trip in the morning (our family will go later in the month, so I'll just do the check-ins and leave tomorrow.)

Lunch with a friend.

Gym with the kids.

TKD with Bay.

Taking Peter and a couple of friends to the movies. 

Coffeeshop writing time while I wait to pick them up! YESS! ;-)

(That's all tomorrow!)

Gym with Billy and the kids Friday, plus a few errands.

Taking Bay to an Acteen event Friday night.

Lunch date with Billy on Saturday, and working on things around the house.

Church on Sunday.  Our first Sunday as a full-fledged church!

A peek into my day...

This isn't today, but it's been a while since I've posted a squirrel pic. :)  I'm hoping to get a bunch of recent ones up on my {long-neglected} photo blog soon. I'll link when I do. :)

I've already said I'd love to hear your thoughts or experiences with Chia seeds.  I'd also love to hear any gym/workout tips, experiences with essential oils, book suggestions, or prayer needs.  Leave a comment below, or shoot me a note via the "contact" box in the sidebar.  

Thanks to Peggy at Simple Woman's Daybook for hosting each month!

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Welcome to Ponderings of an Elect Exile!  Whether you are new here or a faithful friend and regular reader, I'm glad you're here!  If you aren't already following, I'd love to have you join us for the 2014 Ponderings.  It's easy to do, in a variety of ways!  You can follow via  Facebook, Twitter, and/or Pinterest, or  find me on Instagram as Jenbh68. You can also sign up in the sidebar to receive new posts by email. 

10 From the Tabs

I've been wanting to start a series for a while now of posts "from the tabs".  I am one of those crazy people who keep an insane amount of tabs open in FireFox.  (I'm not even going to tell you how many I have open right now!  I'll say that it's high even for me.  I need to cull, badly!)

Tonight I'm going to start that series.  I don't have a button yet, and it's too late at night for me to create one, but I'm hoping to work on it tomorrow, so come back and check!

Homegrown Hospitality/Documented Life Project--This is purely a little bit of eye candy for those of us who love lettering, doodling, and journaling.  LOVE Stephanie Ackerman's work.  *ContentedSigh*

Five Benefits of Corporate Worship--I've been pondering much about "the church" in the days leading up to our Constitution celebration last Sunday, and even considering a blog series about the church.  This post from Desiring God is excellent.

Change Your Life and Challenge Your Mind by Making Time to Read Good Books--I love to read, and I'm generally a fast and voracious reader.  Recently, though, I haven't done well with completing as many non-fiction volumes as I'd like.  Crystal's post has some great ideas for getting more reading time in.  I'm planning to utilize some of them to complete my summer reading list (which I'll post here on the blog as soon as I finalize it...I'm a bit behind!! :))

Missionary Died Thinking He Was a Failure; 84 Years Later Thriving Churches Found in the Jungle--Such an encouragement for anyone struggling in ministry!  We never know the fruit that God is going to bring that we may never see with our own eyes.

Skip the Verse, Memorize the Book--I've been reading again about extended Bible memorization as we get back to our "Mega Memory" work in our homeschool.  Right now we're working on Romans 6.  I'd love to finish that this summer and then memorize the book of Colossians this fall.

Compass Painting at The Painted Forest--This just looks like fun!  This whole blog looks like fun, in fact.  I want to explore it quite a bit more!

Why the Missional Movement Will Fail--Excellent, excellent article that goes along perfectly  with what God has been teaching us recently about the church.  Planning a blog post to go along with this soon.

How Mothers Can Worship in the Midst of Inconvenience--There's so much I'd like to say about this post, but my poor "just started back to the gym this week after 16 years off" body is screaming to go to bed.  Maybe in another post.  In the meantime, this is just so good.  If you are a mom of littles, or know a mom of littles, or even if you are a mom of bigs (because I sure still have those days sometimes!!), this is so worth the read.

Every Christian's Second Most Important Book--It may surprise you!  And I love it!  And that's all I'll say, so you can go read and find out for yourself. :)

Tamale Cornbread Dressing--I recently decided that tamales may well be my very favorite food ever.  Which is quite odd, because Mexican is not my favorite type of cuisine.  But I LOVE tamales.  I think it has to do with a story I'm saving for another blog post...about my daddy and my great-aunt's green corn tamale recipe.  Anyway, a friend shared this recipe with me a while back. I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my "to try" list.  Doesn't it look good???

So tell me...how many tabs do you have open in your browser?  And what's the best thing you've read online lately?  Let me know in the comments, please!

Wrecking Balls, Rip Van Winkle, and the Journey Back to Transparency

She's so transparent.  She reminds me of her mama."  We were on vacation in my hometown, visiting dear friends who had been like second parents to me during my teen and young adult years. 

I was suddenly carried back to those years, remembering the younger, much-more-transparent self that my friend recalled.  I realized two things in that moment: (1) I missed that person, and (2) God had begun to patiently and graciously awaken that long-sleeping girl. 

I knew exactly what had caused the Rip Van Winkle-ish sleep of my formerly transparent self.  Oh, a bit of the transformation had been due to normal life circumstances and small hurts or embarrassments along the way, but the biggest part could be directly traced to events that began on July 2, 2006, when we discovered not only that our family had been touched...or more accurately decimated...by violent crime, but also that we had been betrayed...in the worst possible way....by someone we loved and trusted. 

In the wake of that trauma, we were all changed in many ways.   Some were good, as God worked to heal and grow us through the pain we were experiencing.  Other ways were not so good, as we instinctively tried to protect ourselves from that same pain.  One of the biggest changes was that we became much, much less trusting. In some ways, that was a good thing, but in other ways it walled us off to those around us (and at times even to the very God who was using our circumstances to mold us into the people He wanted us to be.)  

God has spent the last 7 years healing and working to knock down the walls that were built in overtime during those days.  It's been a process, a process which continues even now...and will probably continue as long as I'm breathing earth's air.

In those first horribly dark days, the wall was somewhat like the Great Wall of China...high, long, and very, very wide.  The thought of ever sharing our experience with anyone outside the few people who had to know at that point was nothing short of horrific.  It was a story we had never dreamed of living in our worst nightmares, and we certainly didn't intend to ever share it.

As I prayed desperately for healing for our family and searched frantically for resources to help, I realized that there were very, very few resources available for Christian families dealing with the trauma of sexual abuse and looking for Biblically sound help.  At that point, as I shared here, God began to create tiny fissures in the huge wall I'd built, giving me a desire deep in my heart to be used to help others going through similar pain. 

The cracks in the wall caused a bit of trauma of their own as I realized that in order to be able to help others, we would have to be at least somewhat open about what we had been through.  God continued to change my heart and my desires in that area, and I began to see all over again a truth that I had learned as a teenager...that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, as Psalm 37:4 says, He will truly give us the desires of our heart....but that in the process of delighting in Him, He makes our hearts more like His, so that our desires are His desires.  I knew this to be true, as I would NEVER have come to this heart-longing for Him to use our story to help others on my own.

(In God's own perfect but rarely-understandable-to-us timing, after He had brought us through much healing without any of the resources or help I'd so desperately sought, I came across some very helpful [and brand new at the time] books: Mary DeMuth's Thin Places, and Justin Holcomb's Rid of My Disgrace.  I highly recommend both to anyone dealing with any type of sexual abuse, or anyone who knows someone dealing with this trauma.  I actually recommend them for every Christian, as this is an issue that touches us all at some point, and as church families, we need to be prepared to help and minister to those who are hurting.)

The conversation with my friend with which I began this post was a second major wrecking ball to the Great Wall I had built.  God had already been dealing with me about being more authentic and transparent, and that conversation brought back my 20-years-ago self as though I were seeing her in a mirror.  God gently reminded me that while He had accomplished much good growth and change in the intervening years, there were other changes that weren't because of good growth and maturity, but instead because of my own faulty, frail attempts to pull in behind the wall and protect myself from further hurt.

Since that time, the wall has continued to come down slowly...a chunk here and a brick or two there.  When I'm delighting in Him, my heart's desire is to be openhearted and transparent, and in that, be usable to comfort and help others on the path to healing.  There are those other times, though..the ones when my flesh is in control, when I'm driven by the hurt rather than the Holy Spirit, and I go to one of two extremes...the walled-in protective mode, or the let-it-all hang out mode that mistakes tearing down the walls for having no boundaries.  Neither extreme is healthy or Biblical. 

Mary DeMuth's newest book, The Wall Around Your Heart, and my time on the #OpenHeart launch team have constituted another huge wrecking ball...the latest tool God has used to bring me back to the authentic, openhearted transparency He can use for His glory and for the good of myself and those around me. What a huge blessing this book has been (and how it has not just stepped, but sometimes stomped on my toes as I have highlighted like crazy. :))

In The Wall Around Your Heart, Mary uses familiar Scripture, the Lord's Prayer, to show us how to use the power of prayer to knock down those walls we've built around our hearts.  She challenges us to become part of the OpenHearted revolution, to live and love authentically and transparently through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. 

As she says, "...loving others is not a sheer act of grumbly will.  It's not something we check off our 'love people' to do list.  It's messy.  It's tenacious.  It has to come from the authenticity of our hearts, where Jesus has dynamically changed us."

This is not a book to read once, check off the "to read" list, and nestle back on the shelf.  This is a book to savor, to ponder, to camp out in.  It calls for action...for repentance, for forgiveness, for living transparently and loving with abandon.

We'd love for you to be part of the OpenHearted Revolution!  Grab the book here, or see more at www.wallaroundyourheart.com.  

Jennifer is a simple wife and mom with an extraordinary God! She is the blessedly spoiled wife to Billy and mom to four crazy, highly creative, sometimes cranky, but always amazing children.  Jennifer’s heart’s desire is to steward the story He’s given her well. She blogs at Ponderings of an Elect Exile about “Family, Friends, Learning, Books, Music, Photography, Food…and the Ramblings of a Wife and Mom Daily Amazed by the Grace of an Awesome God!” She also writes and speaks about child protection issues…another subject close to her heart.  She would love to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram.

Note:  This post was originally posted on the 31 Days of OpenHearted Living blog last fall.  It's come to mind several times in the last few weeks, and I was reminded of it today during a time of sharing with some very special...and openhearted...ladies.  We SO need to learn to break down the walls in all directions...to be able to be open with others ourselves, and to allow others a safe place to share their burdens.  This is a burden on my heart.  I'd love to hear from you on this topic...please share your thoughts in the comments, or message me through the contact box on the right. 

Please feel free to share this post via the buttons below or the "pin it" buttons above.  Thank you!

June 1, 2014 Blogathon, and Mighty Poor Planning on My Part!

So much exciting stuff going on here...we've gone non-stop all week, and this weekend especially.  Today has been a long, exhausting, amazingly wonderful day.

It's June 1.  That means, first of all, that it is my dear friend Tauna's birthday.  Maid of Honor in my wedding and long-time bestie, I am so thankful for this girl's impact on my life!

We've been anticipating June 1 for weeks now for another very special reason.  Today was Constitution Day for our church!  I'll have much more to say about that soon, as well as more pictures to share. :)  But for now, here's my Facebook status from earlier this evening:

I've been having a hard time coming up with words for today (and y'all know I'm rarely at a loss for words!) Got to hear two of my very favorite preachers (Bro. Gary and Bro. Kent) preach (and have notes from two excellent sermons to ponder and work out this week), and got to celebrate a very special day with our current church family, and part of our former church family. So grateful for those whose faithfulness has helped to bring us to this day (some of whom were missed much today!), and so very, very thankful for God's faithfulness and sovereignty evidenced in today's celebration. As Bro. Jeff reminded us today, "He Who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it..." Bro. Kent recalled his own words from not quite two years ago as we were trying to discern if God was truly calling us to leave Oak Cliff and go to Grace...that if we followed Him in obedience, God would do exciting things in us, exciting things at Grace, and exciting things at Oak Cliff. He has truly done that, and we are thankful!

Guess I managed to come up with a few words after all. Thanks to all who made today so special!

June 1 also means the beginning of the 2014 Freelance Success/WordCount Blogathon.  I participated in the WordCount Blogathon last year, and it was such a great experience.  When I began checking in May, it looked like there wasn't going to be a Blogathon this year, and I was so disappointed.  I really  need the accountability to get me back in the groove right now!  Thanks to the folks at Freelance Success and WordCount for providing this opportunity this year!

Blogathon means posting every day...every single day...in the month of June.  I started a post earlier this week that I had planned to finish and schedule for today, knowing that I wouldn't have much time (and more importantly, many brain cells :)) to write a post today.  Needless to say, that didn't happen.  So...I'm cheating a bit today.  Light on content, no pinnable images...just a "Hey, I'm here, it's been a crazy day" post to kick off the month.  I promise much more substance the rest of the month!

For now, though, tomorrow is another crazy day, and my aching body and exhausted mind are ready to hit the bed with a book (of which I'll probably read all of three paragraphs before I fall sound asleep. ;-))