Good Words Friday

Well, Friday is almost over but I still made it. These words are from the wise Jane Austen. I started Northanger Abbey last week and am really enjoying it. I asked Clay if we have a little girl next what he thought about the name Austen? He said , " Would people first think Austin, TX or Jane Austen ?" Good point. That name is out.


"...Compliments on good looks now passed; and, after observing how time had slipped away since they were last together, how little they had thought of meeting in Bath, and what a pleasure it was to see an old friend, they proceeded to make inquiries and give intelligence as to their families, sisters and cousins, talking both together, far more ready to give than to receive information, and each hearing very little of what the other said."


I wonder...am I a giver or a taker in conversations? Thanks Jane, since we are friends now, for bringing that to my attention. :)

Good Words Friday

"Fear God, and Keep His commandments."


My husband and I have been thinking/talking about this lately. It is so simple. On the days that I feel overwhelmed with my tasks or feel like I am lacking as a wife and mother if I remind myself that this is my focus everything else seems to line up in place. The dishes do not seem like that big of deal and playing with my kiddos is that much sweeter. And somehow, just somehow :) , when my heart and mind are focused on this great truth I spend more time with my children AND the to do list gets scratched off. God is good. Have a blessed weekend!

Mondays

Mondays are for laundry. There is something so wonderful about clean, fresh laundry and what better time than the beginning of the week? Mondays are for baking cookies for the week, and having your helper along with you. Mondays are for sweeping after a busy, in and out weekend. Mondays are for wiping off counters and sinks. Mondays are for clean and beautiful starts to the week. I really love Mondays, I know, weird. I hope you have had a blessed day and are enjoying Christ and His Goodness.

Good Words Friday

'Charity' now means simply what used to be called 'alms' -- that is, giving to the poor. Originally it had a much wider meaning. (You can see how it got the modern sense. If a man has 'charity', giving to the poor is one of the most obvious things he does, and so people came to talk as if that were the whole of charity. In the same way, 'rhyme' is the most obvious thing about poetry, and so people come to mean by 'poetry' simply rhyme and nothing more.) Charity means 'Love, in the Christian sense.' But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.

- C. S. Lewis from Mere Christianity

Ellie Speaks~

Eleanor and I have a time each night right before bed, just me and her, when we simply talk. We call it..."talk time"...how appropriate. She loves it. She will ask me sometimes, "Mommy are we going to have our talk time tonight?" :) We have some fun and silly conversations but I also try to review the day with her. Like we have been struggling with nap time. So I try to encourage, teach, and prepare her for the next day. And I ask her things like the following...I never know what she is going to say.

Me -- "Eleanor what is something you are thankful for?"

Ellie -- "Ummm...my toys!"

Me -- "I am thankful for you, Daddy, Nayshe, and Jesus."

Ellie -- "I am NOT thankful for all the pretend gods, I like my God the best."

(Clayton has been reading through the psalms so she hears a lot about idols and once he explained them as pretend gods to help her understand.)



~ "Buddy, one day when you are a little bit older I am going to marry you." :)


~ "Daddy, can I marry you?"


~ "Buddy, I love you, even though you are my brother." (She cracks me up.)


~ "Can you wake up Buddy?" (I just put him to bed...she asks this everyday.)

~ "Mommy, I thought I was going to like this dinner, but actually I do not." (What a sweet way of saying...this dinner stinks! Actually Clay and I were having a hard time with it too. :) New recipe...)

Ellie

We did another Marie Madeline shoot. Isn't this outfit and purse so adorable? Ellie is so sweet and a trooper to be our little model. :0)