Newest Member of the family

  This month our son and his wife welcomed their first child to their family.

A beautiful baby boy.

Welcome to the family sweetheart.

You are so loved.

 

Meaning of his name from his parents:

First name || Exodus

• The departure of the Israelites from Egypt. God was leading them then,

He is still leading us today and always.

• God's unconditional promises

• The Lord will fight for you

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 

‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ 

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, 

‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,

 you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’ ”

Matthew 18:1-3

May Daybook

 For Today, May 2, 2022

Looking out my window... Cloudy.  The month of April was cold, wet, snowy and windy with a few spring teasers thrown in there.  I am looking forward to the warmer weather coming later this week.  The grass is turning green and the buds on the chestnut tree are swelling and will burst open soon.

I am thinking... my dear friend Brenda who is celebrating her first birthday in heaven.  <3

I am praying for... the upcoming birth of a new little grandson due to arrive in the coming weeks.

I am thankful for... The good gifts of each of my grandchildren.  This weekend we celebrated our granddaughter's first birthday.  

Ella with Papa and Nana 💓

One of my favorite things... slower days at home with no plans to go out.

I am creating... a set of knit dishcloths to go along with a gift for a bridal shower and this afghan for a wedding present.  This is my favorite knit dishcloth pattern.  

I am wearing... pajama's (still).  😏

I am re-reading... What Do I Know about My God, by Mardi Collier.  On my Kindle I'm reading through, I Crossed Over, by Alice Moss.  

I am listening to... the tv in the background.

I am hoping... for warmer weather and to get the camper cleaned out and ready for the season.  Yay!  

In the kitchen... This week I am planning to get a few freezer meals prepped for my daughter in love.

Looking forward to... meeting our new grandson this month.  

A moment from my day... comfort food for chilly days.

A Snowy Daybook

 For Today, February 21, 2022

Looking out my window... currently it is overcast and windy. We are expecting a snowstorm over the next two days and while I'm ready for warmer weather I love a good snowstorm!  It will be nice to see our dirty black snow all covered white again.  We had a windstorm last week and a lot of the topsoil from the field blew in and covered all of our snow.

I am thinking... about the message from church yesterday on being careful and diligent to keep increasing and adding to our faith.  The mark of a transformed life is continual growth and fruit. 2 Peter 1:5-11

I am praying for... My dear friend and spiritual mama who has cancer.  There has been cognitive loss and our relationship is changing.  I am grieving the loss but am so thankful to God for all the years of friendship with her, many Bible study and prayer times.

I am thankful for... God's protection over my son and other drivers this last week when he and the car in front of him hit black ice.  Both cars ended up in the ditch.  I am praising God that there were no injuries and a good Samaritan pulled both cars out of the ditch.  I am also grateful to God for my husband's oral surgery and healing going well.

One of my favorite things... my granddaughter's smile and her one little dimple.

I am creating... a crocheted baby blanket for my great niece who is due in March with her first.  

My daughter in love and granddaughter also came over this last week and we worked on a new to me crochet project.  A reusable grocery bag made from plastic grocery bags that we cut and loop tied together.  We didn't get very far but we had fun and of course I had to give Cookie the hook.  It will be fun to teach her how to crochet when she is older.  I love the focused look on her face and her little tongue sticking out. ☺  Our church hosts a monthly "Scrap and Craft" event and this was one of the projects I brought along.  I didn't get very far though.  My progress and the rolled ball represents 21 bags.  I think I'm going to need A LOT of bags.  *smile*

I am wearing... Cozy comfy lounge clothes.  I'm not planning to leave the house during this snowstorm.

I am reading... In the Bible I am in the book of Deuteronomy.  I am also reading John 18 for this week's women's Bible study.  I am slowly making my way through Dark Clouds Deep Mercy by Mark Vroegrop.

I am listening to... these beautiful instrumental hymns throughout the day.

I am hoping... 

In the kitchen... I'll be prepping food this week for our "I Love You Day" celebration.  On the menu is spaghetti, garlic knots, salad and a cake. My daughter will bring a vegetable of some sort to add to the meal and others are brining snacks and drinks.  My mom is bringing a dessert salad.

Looking forward to... a phone visit with a friend across the country.

A moment from my day...

Flying Years ~ 2022

In my early parenting days I remember people telling me to enjoy my kiddos because they grow up fast.  I'm not sure I believed them.  :)  Well, I am a believer. The days of bathing kids, wiping noses, making meals, processing all the laundry, schooling, chauffering etc. did seem long.  But  looking back now, the years have flown by.  I am now that older woman, encouraging young mama's to enjoy each and every moment.   

Three of our four children are now out of the home with families of their own and our youngest graduates this Spring.  What a full, rich, blessed life we've had.  We have 3 beautiful, bright, fun grandchildren with a fourth due to arrive in May.  Blessed indeed! To God be the glory, great things He has done!!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  James 1:17

I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works.  Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness.  They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness.  Psalm 145:5-7

Hiding Philippians In My Heart

 

In late August of 2020 I was overwhelmed with everything that was going on in our world and how I, as a believer, was to live in response to it.  Collectively we were in the middle of a pandemic.  There was tense racial division and protesting because of the death of George Floyd in my home state and in states across the county.  An important presidential election was coming in a few months and people were very passionate about their candidate, some to the point of idol worship it seemed.  Conspiracy theories abounded.  Social media was a hotbed of opinions and sadly, so much hatred.  Stress and anxiety were high for many as families were still dealing with job loss, changes to their jobs, finances, schooling for their children and lots of loss and grief.  

I was weary, discouraged and praying, "Lord, how do you want me to live in response to everything that is happening in our world?"  At the time I happened to be in the book of Philippians in my personal Bible reading.  One morning as I was reading chapter 1 I came across the following phrase.

"...striving side by side for the faith of the gospel."

All around me there was striving...

Striving for this political candidate or that one  

Striving for masks or no masks

Striving for justice or revenge

Striving above the opinions of others so that yours could be heard.

But here was my answer.  The striving that I, as a Christ follower was to be involved in was to be for the gospel.   Did I have personal opinions about the other things?  Of course I did, but God spoke to my heart that day.  He reminded me of what was really important and that was the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  All around me people were hurting and discouraged.  I had the answer.  Jesus Christ.  Was I faithfully sharing that or was I busy being a keyboard warrior? 

As I read through Philippians and meditated on it, I thought that this would be a timely book to memorize. I figured that I could easily memorize it over the next year and began in earnest.  I didn't meet my goal to have all 4 chapters memorized in one year but I am not giving up.  For whatever reason memorizing seems to be a little harder for me than it has been in the past. 😊  It's taken me 1 year to memorize the first 2 chapters and I plan to take this year and finish up with chapters 3 and 4.  Hiding Philippians in my heart has helped me to keep my focus on what is important in the middle of all the chaos.  Hiding Philippians in my heart has brought peace and hope to my soul that the world cannot take from me, no matter what is going on around me.  

Are you currently working on memorizing God's word?  I'd love to know what passages of Scripture you are committing to memory.  

In My Home ~ Week 3

 

Greetings!  I pray this finds you an yours doing well and enjoying this last week of May!  I love the idea of shelves on the kitchen wall as seen in the above picture.  I have a similar layout but have upper cabinets so no room for shelves.  I do have a window right above my kitchen sink though and from it I can look out across our yard to the newly planted fields.  This year we are surrounded by corn.  From my window I can also see my bird feeders and if I look out to the right I can see our basketball hoop and beyond that in the yard is the jungle gym and sandbox and trampoline.  My boys are all bigger now so the jungle gym and sandbox are not used as much as in the past.  In the years to come though I can enjoying seeing grandchildren out there playing.  What a wonderful thought!

Sunday's Psalm {9.5.21}

 

“The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

And those who know Your name put their trust in You,

for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who see You.”

Psalm 9:9-10

Stronghold: a fastness, a fort, a fortified place, a place of security

Websters Dictionary 1828

Birthday Week Daybook

 Outside my window...  A beautiful early fall day.  Yes, technically fall doesn't begin until Sept. 22 but for me, fall begins on September 1st.  The leaves on a couple of the trees in our yard are beginning to turn yellow.  The field corn and soybeans in the fields around our house will be ready for harvest soon.

I am thinking...  School planning.  We are behind schedule for school by about 3 weeks due to our family going through Covid.

I am thankful...  Another year of life.  I turned 50 years old yesterday!  I am thankful for healing/health.  Covid hit each of us a little differently.  I ended up with some pneumonia and had the longest recovery.

In the kitchen...  No cooking for me today.  It's my birthday and we went out for lunch after church.  Supper will be left overs from the week.

I am wearing...  Jean capri's and a tye-dye shirt.  Bare feet.  😄

I am creating...  I've been knitting dishcloths.  This coming weekend we have Scrap and Craft for the ladies at our church.  I am planning to bring my pictures from the last year to get them sorted and into an album.

I am going...  Shopping with my daughter later today.

I am wondering...  If I should take a nap before shopping.  

I am reading...  In Genesis and Romans in my Bible.  I am reading a book called Women Who Risk.

I am looking forward to... Lunch with my parents, sister and brother this week.

Around the house/yard...  I spent the day mowing the yard yesterday.  It took about 4 hours.  There are weeks to be pulled and some trees need to be trimmed.  I am working on new weekly home-keeping routines. 

A favorite Scripture for today...  Psalm 9:9-10

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,

    a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you,
    for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

One of my favorite things...  Seeing my grandchildren!  Since the last time I updated this blog, a third grandchild was born.  Miss Ella is 4 months old now and so sweet.

Love is in the Air

 Our second son Christopher was married last month to a lovely young woman named Breanna.  This is our second family wedding.  Our first son Jonathan married an equally lovely girl named Mikayla two years ago.  I wasn't really blogging at that time so I never shared pictures from their wedding.  Here are a few from Chris and Breanna's wedding though.

Engagement picture and wedding ceremony pictures by their photographer:  Abigail Ann Photography

First I must say that going through an engagement and planning a wedding during a pandemic is not for the faint of heart.  We were blessed to be on the latter end of the stay at home orders for our state and the church was large enough to practice social distancing for those attending so we were very blessed to have almost everyone they invited be able to attend the ceremony.  

This beautiful sign and lanterns greeted guests outside the main doors of the church when they arrived.  Their realtor, who sold them their home, made the sign as a gift for them.  I would also like to note that Breanna and her mom and sister made all the gorgeous floral arrangements.

Once you entered the foyer you were greeted with this beautiful display.  

The screens held pictures from their engagement shoot and the counter had a few different options for people to engage with the couple through memories as you will see from the photo's below.  

{cards for marriage advice or date night ideas}

{polaroid camera to take a selfie and then tape in your photo

and write a note to the couple}

 

{A Bible that guests could highlight their favorite verse

and leave their name or note next to it}

Ceremony pictures

We (the parents) praying over the couple and their future.

First dance

Our family 💕

To God be the Glory, great things He has done!  

Currently

 Reading ... 2 Chronicles  in my 2 year Bible reading plan and studying the book of Philippians.

Before bed I am reading for about 10-15 minutes on my kindle from one of two books.  Either, Surrendered Sleep, A Biblical Perspective by Charles Page or a fiction book titled, The Crow’s Call:  Amish Greenhouse Mystery – Book 1

Memorizing ... Philippians chapter 1.  I finished up verses 1-11 and this week I’m working on 12-14.

Watching ... My husband and I have been watching the Little House on the Prairie series together when we have some free time.

Listening ... I’ve been listening to the song, King of Kings on repeat for weeks.  It brings me to tears. 

Wearing ... jean capri’s a green and navy top and bare feet. 

Baking ... I made banana bread and banana muffins over the weekend and with my daughter and grandsons home for a visit plus husband and teenage son they were gone by Sunday evening.  😊  I am baking a fruit crisp on Thursday morning for a wedding shower that evening.

Cooking ... left overs from the weekend for tonight.

Cleaning ...  This week I am working on deep cleaning our living room and doing some decluttering.  We are getting a new sectional couch this weekend so I want to tidy everything up.  I also want to clean the windows.

Playing ... We played a new game with the newlyweds, son Chris and his bride Breanna on my birthday.  It was called Bohnanza.  It took a bit for me to follow along but I enjoyed it.  This weekend we are getting together with another couple to play cards.

Moving ... I got my Fitbit back out and charged up and have been wearing it all week to start tracking my steps. 

Celebrating ...  For the last few weeks we've had lots to celebrate.  At the end of August we celebrated daughter-in-love Mikayla's birthday.  Then 5 days later it was daughter-in-love Breanna's birthday.  Four days after that it was my 49th birthday and then grandson Warren's 5th birthday another 5 days after mine!  :) 

Praying ... for my dear friend who has been hospitalized for over a month now and is currently on a ventilator due to complications from Covid.

Crafting ... always knitting dishcloths and just started crocheting a winter hat. 

Yesterday ... we went to church and then met my son to pick up a book from him.  Since we were in a town we don’t get to very often I stopped at the two thrift stores there. 

Today ... we started our second week of homeschooling.  I also had an eye doctor appointment.  It looks like I’ll be getting new glasses as my prescription has changed.

Later this week ... School each day.  Andrew has Civil Air Patrol and he also starts back to piano lessons.  At the end of the week I’m meeting my mom and sister to do some shopping and go out to lunch.

A Year of Blessings

Two years have passed since I was last active on this blog and a lot has happened.  Some amazingly wonderful things and some very humbling health concerns for me and devastating hard losses of loved ones.  Through it all we have grown in our love for one another and in our faith in God's sovereignty.  We are learning to continually give thanks and to look to our good and gracious God for wisdom and guidance in all things.  💛

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  
1 Thessalonians 5:18

It would be too hard at this point to go back and try to chronicle in detail all that has happened, so I'll just pick up where we are right now.  It is my desire to begin to post updates for our family in the coming year, but there are no guarantees as to the regularity of them.  😀

Here is our most recent family photo ~

Scott and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this year. We've been together for 31 years though.  ❤  We took a 3 day trip to Duluth in November.  We don't often get away so it was special to have a few days with just the two of us.

Our daughter moved closer to us with her two boys.  Nana and Papa enjoy having them closer and being able to be a more regular part of their lives.  Warren turned 3 in September and Owen turned 2 in November.

 

Our first son Jonathan married his bride Mikayla in June of this year.

Second son, Christopher graduated from high school this Spring.

Andrew, our youngest turned 16 and is growing in height at amazing speeds this last year!

God's blessings to each of you as we close out 2018 and move into 2019.  We are abundantly blessed and my prayer is that each of will continue to seek the Lord in all things.  

Joyfully His,

Theresa

QUOTE of the day: 

 "There are lots of cars out today but no gorillas."

~Warren, 3 years old one day this last week when we were driving back to Nana's house.  He was watching all the traffic on the road.  I sure wish I knew the context of his sentence.  Nana was glad there weren't any gorillas on the road either. 😀

Photo credit for professional pictures goes to my sister, Amanda from Amanda Petersen Photography.  

Christmas Eve Daybook

FOR TODAY ~ Monday, December 24th, 2018

❤💚 Merry Christmas from our family to yours!  ❤💚

 

Outside my window...  It's a beautiful day, sunny/partly sunny with a high temp of 27.  There are only a few patches of snow around our place after the warmer temps over the last week.  We hit 41 two days last week and upper 30's as well which resulted in a lot of snow melt.

I am thinking...  About our extended family Christmas gathering later today.

I am thankful...  For good traveling weather for the holiday weekend and to be with all of our family.

In the kitchen...  No cooking here today.  My brother is making a 30 pound roast and mashed potatoes.  Mom is making dinner rolls and scalloped corn.  Later in the day we'll have lots of snacks and Christmas cookies.

I am wearing...  A denim jean skirt, a navy snowman sweater from Christopher & Banks and an antler headband decked out with blinking Christmas lights.  😄

I am creating...  Nothing on the hook or needles right now.  I just finished a messy bun or ponytail hat for my niece and a large afghan for my sister in law.

I am going...  Home to Sleepy Eye, MN to my parent's house.

I am wondering...  If everyone will enjoy our family game time.  We are playing bingo this year.  Everyone has been collecting small white elephant type gifts from around their house to contribute to the prize bin.  My sister is also brining a new game this year called Scribble Head.

I am reading...  I have a few books going right now.  I'm re-reading The Imitation of Christ a little each night before bed on my Kindle.  In the mornings I am reading through Genesis and a book called, A Woman for God's Glory. 

I am looking forward to... 4 days away at my hermitage in a few weeks.

Around the house...  It's the day before Christmas... lots of boxes, bins, wrapping paper around.  😉  

A favorite Scripture for today...  "And this is the testimony; God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son."  1 John 5:11 ~ We included this scripture on our Christmas picture this year.

One of my favorite things...  Hearing my grandsons say, "Love you, Nana." 💙💙  I don't think that will ever get old.  These two little darlings have been the best thing in my life these last 3 years.  They bring so much joy to all of us.  

A few plans for the rest of the week:  No Plans!  Woo Hoo!!!  

Have a lovely Christmas week