These are two of my most favorite songs. I couldn’t decide which one to share, so I shared them both. I encourage you to watch the both of them, and remember with me why this Good Friday is such a very, very special day.
With Easter coming, my girls and I have been having quite a few discussions about sin and our need for a Saviour. I was wanting a tangible way to show them different types of sin, how often we sin, and how great our need is for a Saviour.
I took a bulletin board square, drew a cross on it, and then we looked up some Bible verses and brain-stormed different types of sin, which I then wrote onto the cross.
~We discussed why and how Jesus died, and the amazingness– He took our sins upon Himself and paid the penalty that we deserved, by dying for us.
~We talked about repentance, how we must acknowledge our sin, ask Jesus to forgive our sin, and turn away from our sin. He takes the burden of them onto Himself, and they are no more.
~We talked about how He makes us whole and beautiful, and how we can come to Him anytime, He will always be ready and willing to forgive us, making us new again.
~We talked about the beauty of Easter, how He conquered death and is Risen, indeed!!
With pins (reminding us to think of the nails that pierced His skin) and beautiful, shimmery circles (the circle shape represents how He makes us whole), we have been coming before the cross this week and acknowledging this amazing thing our Saviour did for us.
It has been beautiful, seeing my girls ask for forgiveness more often, and going to the cross before their Jesus, on their own. I see them walk away, with freedom in their eyes and a lightness in their step.
My youngest- “Oh, mom, the cross is becoming so beautiful!!” I smile and think, “so are you, my child, so are you.”
I PROCRASTINATED! Imagine that…
I have to quickly come up with some April Fool’s jokes before my kids come home from school.
Here is what I (with some help from Family Fun.com) have come up with:
Super glue a quarter to the sidewalk:
My kids fall for this one every time!
Pin The Panties/Underwear:
We did this one to dad last year. We took his underwear, and safety pinned the waist band of one, to the waist band of another, and so forth. This ends up making a “streamer” of underwear. Dad pulls one out, and ten others come out with it! Its too late to do this, but I have time to pin my girls jammies together…:)
Get Sprayed:
Wrap a rubber band around your sink’s sprayer, tight enough to hold down the nozzle. When your victim turns the water on, they will get a bit wet! Hee. Hee.
*due to my inability to think of anything more to write, I need to inform you that after today, I will no longer be posting and New Nostalgia will no longer exist. Thank you for all the amazing support and kind comments you have given to me over the months…
…APRIL FOOLS!!!!
Here is what I had to work with. Those baskets were filled with pine cones during fall and winter, now they are full of books for my girls to grab and read, while they are sitting on the sunroom swing, or hanging out in the living room. The yellow picture frame is up but still does not have a picture in it, its on my list! The box that says “Faith” is for our family prayer requests, we will periodically look in to see what prayers God has chosen to answer for us.
I was not going to post tonight, but then I was looking at the different blogs I read on Google Reader, and once again found some great stuff I have to share with you, but I will be quick!
Love has been the theme of the day, as it is February 14.
Here are 3 new loves of mine:
1. Grooveshark
I was reading my friend, Kristin’s blog, the_uncomplication_project, and she wrote a fun little post about a springtime music playlist. She listed some great songs, (go look!) then suggested groveshark.com. Here is what she has to say about it:
“For free listens, visit Grooveshark and search for any song. You can create spur-of-the-moment playlists from just about any song. It’s free & they don’t put any ads in the middle of your music!”
I was intrigued and bookmarked the site.
2. Meteor Shower by Owl City
I finished up reading Kristin’s post, and was still on Google reader came upon my sister’s new blog, “Beauty Divine.” She just moved to Kansas, and boy do I miss her, so to read her blog does my heart much good. She just oozes beauty, inside and out, so check out her beautiful blog and experience some!
Today she wrote a post about some of her “loves,” and one of them was a song called Meteor Shower by Owl City. I got excited the minute I saw a music recommendation by her, she is the queen of great music finds. My sis posted these lyrics which intrigued me…
“I can finally see that you’re right there beside me / I am not my own, for I have been made new / Please don’t let me go, I desperately need you / I am not my own, for I have been made new / Please don’t let me go, I desperately need you.
Those lyrics just hit a chord with me, as they express much of what I have been feeling lately, which I will explain more in my love number 3. I remembered Kristin’s suggestion to go to Grooveshark to listen to any song, so I headed over there to check out Meteor Shower. Let me tell you, I played the song 3 times and the sound of it brought my girls running, and they all had it memorized by the last play. I loved it.
3. A book called “Identity”
It is actually a study book, from the Connect series. I am part of a Women’s Bible Study group that meets once a week. We just started this book, and I can’t tell you how much I think we are going to grow and learn. I am so excited! This is from their website:
What Is CONNECT?
The Connect series invites you to have your whole person changed from the inside.
If I were to summarize my feelings about starting this study, the lyrics to the song above would just about do it. The study is about who I am, because of who God is, and what it means to be made ‘new.’ The song above could be our studies theme song!
I love it when God puts things into my life that continue to show me that He is active and present and thoughtful of me- like a song that expresses my heart because of a book I am reading, that I could easily listen to thanks to Kristin’s music site recommendation
Listen, YOU WHO ARE LOVED, and know.
You may not know me,
but I know everything about you.
Psalm 139:1
Father’s Love Letter
© 1999 – 2010 Father Heart Communications
www.FathersLoveLetter.com
Thinking outside the lunchbox.
What little one would not want to eat this? Read more here.
Something that surprised me when I started blogging was COMMUNITY. I had no idea I would ‘meet’ such great people. There are many amazing mom bloggers that I have learned so much from, and have had a great time commenting back and forth with. I’d like to introduce you to one of them. Her name is Sarah, from For The Love Of Naps. Isn’t that a great title? She is a “Lover Of Naptime,” the mom of two young boys, and she “takes each day, starts fresh, and tries to learn moment to moment.” Her perspective on life and parenting is one to be admired. This quote is under her header on her blog:
“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.”
-Anna Quindlen(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11)
Yep, she ‘gets it,’ and I love reading and learning from someone who does! She has a great way of seeing things through the eyes of children and instinctively knows what would delight them. Here are a few fun food posts of that in action, shared with her permission. Read on, then take some time to go visit her, here.
Just in time for Valentines Day, a healthy- for- your- heart breakfast.
See how she did it here.
She created some love at lunchtime, read about it here.
If she lived closer, I’d invite myself over and just hope she would serve food
on a toothpick! She even suggested making little mini pea kabobs, so cute.
How blessed are her boys? Brings this verse to mind:
“Her children get up and give her honour, and her husband gives her praise…Proverbs 31:28