♪God is Love♫

Do you know that song? The official title is "Come Let Us All Unite To Sing".

Growing up in church, we sang the song a lot. A. Lot. I don't remember the words to most of the verses but I do remember the chorus. "God is Love".

Yesterday, our first Advent sermon was on Love. Even the love chapter (I Cor 13) was read along with many other love verses.

Yesterday afternoon I needed to prepare for a meeting with my youth in the mentor program we have through church. We decided last summer we would study a book called Being A Girl Who Loves - Learning to love like Jesus by Shannon Primicerio. The book is sadly out of print but my daughter owned a copy and I found a neighbor who had a copy. (yay!) Due to some schedule challenges, we are just now going over the intro and first chapter.

Guess what the intro and first chapter reinforced? The sermon yesterday. It was so cool to read something so similar to our sermon.

And yet....

God is telling me something!!

Don't you just "love" days like that?! ☺

It's Okay

It's okay. Sometimes that is all a person needs to hear.

It's okay to cry.

It's okay to get angry.

It's okay to scream that life isn't fair.

It's okay not to feel cheerful every single minute of the day.

And it's okay to be thankful for those bad times that come your way.

What?! Thankful for the bad times?

Yup, you heard me right. We, as humans, really need to acknowledge the awful times. We really do.

However, we humans need to practice looking past the terrible times to see what blessings we have to be thankful for.

When you have that sort of perspective, you really can get through the really terrible times.



I felt the need to write this on the eve of Thanksgiving. I know there are people who are really going through a tough time. Those out there who might not feel like celebrating tomorrow. Those who feel like they are suppose to just put on a happy face and fake it. Or those like me who are just plain cranky tonight and are wondering what in the world I can be thankful for when I'm just in one terrible mood. (my poor, poor family!) I just want you to know it is okay. BUT, I have to put things into perspective and realize how blessed I really am. I really blessed and have a lot to be thankful for. I'm okay. I really am.

You Are Beautiful

I had an appointment with Cos Daughter (aka Writer Daughter) Saturday. Yes! She is able to cut my hair, color and all kinds of fun stuff!!

Since she is still in cosmetology school, they each have a station in which to work. Each station has a mirror and the teacher writes the students name on the mirror claiming that to be the student's spot.

When I sat down at my daughter's station, I noticed another thing written on the mirror in her own handwriting.

"You are beautiful"

The words were like salve to my heart. I don't think I'm beautiful on the outside and to be honest, pretty ugly on the inside at times. (I'm trying to work on that and at times, well, I fail. But, that is where grace comes in.) But, just having that reminder as I sat down made me feel...well, beautiful.

I want you to know. You are beautiful! (pass it on!)

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.

Man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart."

1 Samuel 16:7

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us,

that we should be called children of God!"

1 John 3:1

How Many Days?!?!

45 days.

Yes, 45 days until Christmas one website has so kindly informed me.

Every year I tell myself I'm not going to let the commercialism "in" this year.

Every year stores start getting out the decoration the minute halloween is over.

Every year I tell myself I'm going to enjoy Thanksgiving which doesn't get its fair shake.

And every year I'm consumed with who I get what present, the cost and tend to skip over the thanks in Thanksgiving.

So, this year, I'm saying 15 days until Thanksgiving....what and who am I thankful for?!?!

Dear Children

This weekend was movie time. We decided upon the Hannah Montana movie. I won't review it. You are welcome.

There is a song in the movie I found extremely touching. Maybe it is because of the ages of my children. Maybe it is the realization they will "fly away" at a point in the not too distant future. Or maybe I'm just a sap...it is a God-given talent, I tell you.

The song, Butterfly Fly Away, has been haunting me since movie night. It really got me thinking. When is the last time I wrote a love letter to each of our children? I wrote a letter to Writer Daughter (aka cos daughter) for her graduation from high school this past spring. But the other two children? Can't remember when I expressed our love through a letter.

When our oldest, Writer Daughter, was a baby, I use to write her a letter. It wasn't poetic. Just words telling her what she was physically doing at the time and cute things she did or said when she could talk. Then, our second daughter was born and time just got away from me.

I think it is time I started writing love letters to my children again.

What about you? And if writing is not your thing, then tell them in a way that is most meaningful to you.