Basket of Goodies Giveaway

Check out another Simple Mom Giveaway...

a basket of goodies for

moms and little ones!

Simple Mom also has some great

simple holiday decoration ideas...

The Renewing of My Mind

I stayed home from church yesterday...for various reasons, I just wasn't up to going and I could tell that Jkaile wasn't feeling too well, either, since he is coming down with a cold. I kept him up for a little while thinking to delay his nap until the afternoon, but he became quite destructive...tearing up books and magazines, going around pulling everything off of shelves and onto the floor...the last straw was when he broke one of my coffee mugs (not my favorite, but still...) and spilled coffee all over himself, the floor, Miguel's books. My goodness. So off to bed he went and I began feeling a quiet urge to sit down for some time with God. So I pulled out my Patriarchs book to do another day of the study, we are on Week Three (yes, I know, a little behind the rest of you!). And God had something pretty meaningful there for me yesterday!

That particular part of the study was about the second time that Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife...this time King Abimelech took Sarah to be one of his wives (Genesis 20). God intervened once again, however, saving Sarah from committing adultery and in the process revealing Himself and His power to Abimelech and his people.

The first thing that stuck out to me is how God intervened twice on Sarah's behalf and held Abraham responsible for the whole situation. Scripture isn't really clear whether Sarah was going along with the scheme or whether she was just obeying Abraham. It is clear, however, that Abraham allowed Sarah to be put into a very compromising situation because of his own fear and that God stepped in to protect Sarah. It got me to thinking of how many times I balk at doing what Miguel wants to do, being unable to trust God with the outcome?

The second thing was that the study points out that Abraham seemed to have a "default" reaction whenever he felt threatened regarding Sarah and that was to lie and deceive-in this case, wilfull, premeditated sin (Gen. 20:13). What is my "default" when confronted with stressful circumstances-what is my pattern of handing crisis situations? I relate to this in several areas of my life...my responses under stress, my speech and responses to my kids and Miguel, my struggle with food, my thought life, dreams...like Beth says, repeated patterns of sin and foolish decisions that cause pain and self-contempt...

In her own life, God showed her that freedom would only come through the renewing of her mind.

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy,

to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—

this is your spiritual act of worship.

2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—

his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2 NIV

3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

5We demolish arguments and every pretension

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,

and we take captive every thought

to make it obedient to Christ.

II Cor. 10:3-5 NIV

23to be made new in the attitude of your minds;

Ephesians 4:23 NIV

Beth decided to ask God to not only renew her conscious mind, but her subconscious mind as well...including her dream life and thought life while she slept. She continues to ask God to place His truth deep inside, even in the places of her mind that she doesn't even know exist!

Later, Beth says she discovered the Greek word, "horme", which refers to impulses, urges, a forceful movement towards something, a sudden thought, whim, or dictating inclination. So then she began including that in her prayer as well, asking God to make even her reactions and sudden impulses godly!

Like Beth, I ask, what would it look like if I began attentively and repeatedly praying for the Holy Spirit to invade and renew me so richly and so deeply that even my impulses are godly? That even my "default" response is sanctified?

Whisperings

Do you enjoy piano music?

Then you should really check out Whisperings-Solo Piano Radio. I stumbled across it over the weekend and have been listening to it whenever I can.

It's one of the only types of music that I can leave on in the background without it just adding to the general chaos and mayhem...no, our house isn't THAT bad, but our living room is rather echoey (I think I just made up a new word). When you get people (children) talking (and playing/goofing off/chattering), the parakeets chirping, and loud, exuberant music...well, I tend to begin feeling the tension rise and my eyes going cross-eyed...

Whisperings is gentle, peaceful music that is speaking to my soul.

And it's free! What more could you ask? :)

Karen Kingsbury-Life-Changing Fiction

Thanks to Erika upstairs, I have been enjoying reading Karen Kingsbury's Baxter Family Drama book series. I highly recommend these books...not only are they good stories, but there is so much godly wisdom there as well! Last year, I made a commitment to only read books that would encourage me in my spiritual walk because I realized that some of the books I was reading, while not necessarily "bad", were either bringing me down emotionally (didn't need that!!!!) or distracting me from focusing attention on my walk with God. I am very thankful for authors like Karen Kingsbury, who write such good stories that bless and encourage.

I just finished the last book in the Firstborn Series of the Baxter Family Drama and I was kind of sad to finish it! Another great book, but it makes you wish that the series wouldn't end...anyway, at one point in the book, one of the Baxter's sons received a letter from his father that had been written by his mother (now deceased) listing out Ten Secrets to a Happy Marriage. I'm going to print it out and put it on my fridge or something...wonderful reminders of how I can love Miguel! So here are these words of wisdom:

Ten Secrets to a Happy Marriage

1. God has you here to serve one another. Love acted out is serving.
2. Women need respect and nurturing. Love your wife so she knows you'd lay your life down for her. Continue to date her and admire her. Share a hobby--find something you can do to have fun together.
3. Laugh often.
4. Be patient. Love crumbles quickly under the weight of unmet expectations.
5. Spend more time trying to fix yourself than your spouse.
6. Keep short accounts. The Bible says, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry." Make it a habit to forgive.
7. Determine up front that divorce is not an option.
8. Learn about the love languages. Not all people show love or receive it the same way. You want a back rub and your spouse wants a clean kitchen. The love languages are fairly simple: acts of service, time, physical touch, gifts, and words of affirmation. Learn them. Love is better received when it's in the language that person speaks.
9. Words of affirmation are a love language for all men.
10. Men are born to be leaders. He cannot lead unless she gives him the confidence to do so. If you love your husband, build him up. Confident men to not seek love outside the home.

(from Forever, Baxter Family Drama-Firstborn Series #5 by Karen Kingsbury pp. 238-240)

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo update

After feeling so dizzy yesterday, I really expected to have the vertigo again during the night...but I didn't! Yay! I am so happy to be feeling better! PTL and thank you for praying! I was so thankful to have had a good night's sleep because I had planned to have my usual Coffeetime Fellowship this morning. I almost canceled it, but went ahead by faith...this morning four different ladies came and we had such a good time visiting. I made a new recipe of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and we enjoyed them with our coffee. Miguel even stole some to take back to the office for the guys...

My sister Liz called this morning with some more information about the vertigo...she was able to talk to a friend who knows what I'm talking about and he confirmed what I'd read. There are calcium crystal deposits in the inner ear that get dislodged sometimes and he said that if it happens again, to lay down on my back and bang my head on the floor to get them back into place...gently, I would assume? :) The whole thing sounds very crazy and even though it's not really that funny, I've had some really good laughs over it. If the vertigo does return, I'll try the head-banging thing and let you know how it works!

Family Fun

Last night, Miguel couldn't find the one footed sleeper that fits Jkaile (he has more today, thanks to a friend), so he decided to outfit him with one of Gracia's...we had a bit of Family Fun over that as you can see from the following pictures!

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)

I think I have Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo! Sounds terrible, doesn't it?! It's not serious, though, as you will see from the description below...just really annoying! For several nights now, I've had terrible vertigo when I turn over during the night, but then I'm fine once I get up! I've had vertigo before, either inner ear trouble or dehydration, but I am not suffering from either of those things right now. I looked up dizziness online and this is part of what I found at mayoclinic.com. Apparently, some little position-sensing crystals in your ears can become dislodged and cause this...hmmm. I wonder if the fact that I hit my head on the roof of the van recently has anything to do with this? I hit it pretty hard...

Definition
Vertigo is the sudden sensation that you are unsteady or that your surroundings are moving. You may feel like you're spinning around on a merry-go-round or that your head is spinning inside. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is one of the most common disorders that can cause vertigo.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is characterized by brief episodes of mild to intense dizziness associated with specific changes in the position of your head. It most commonly occurs when you move your head in a certain direction, lie down from an upright position, turn over in bed or sit up in the morning. Moving your head to look up or look down also can bring about symptoms of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. You may also feel out of balance when standing or walking.

Although benign paroxysmal positional vertigo can be a bothersome problem, it's rarely serious except when it increases the chance of falls. You can receive effective treatment for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo during a doctor's office visit.

A New List

Jkaile has a fascination with the toilets! We have to keep both bathroom doors closed or else he's in there, quick as a flash, tossing something down the hatch. And it's funny, he often closes the lid (with a bang, I might add, and that's how we're usually alerted to the latest casualty...). So as of today, I'm making a new list over there to the right: things that Jkaile has thrown into the toilet. It's growing nearly every day!

Another Great Giveaway!

Today, Simple Mom has another great giveaway on reusable grocery/shopping bags. They look great...really cute and a practical way to cut down on the number of plastic bags littering the environment. :)

Go check it out!

This could be you!

Miguel

Since Miguel didn't take a camera on his trip to Puebla, I'll have to wait to see all of the photos the rest of the team took. I have, however, seen a few from one of the families and I just loved this one of Miguel. He is so good with kids!