Archives For eucharisteo

Favorite Books of 2011

December 29, 2011

This was such a great year for reading! So many wonderful bloggers writing books. My bookshelves have never been so happy. Here is my list of favorites from 2011.

One Thousand Gifts – The book that ignited a thankful heart within me. Since reading this one year ago I have gifted it over twenty times. Highly, highly, highly recommend! We all need our minds renewed and this is just the book to help you do it.

Organized Simplicity – A book that has wonderful advice on taking care of your home, but the part that struck me the most was how she emphasizes how little we need to be truly happy. I have been happily purging useless items from my house since reading this.

Made to Crave – I have such struggles with food and Made to Crave has shown me that my struggles aren’t necessarily with food. A great book in guiding us back to God and not sugar coating our problems with snacking.

Grace for the Good Girl – This has been a very interesting read. I definitely do not consider myself a ‘good girl’, however there were so many wonderful lessons in this book on how to interact with ‘good girls’. I have had many friends who have felt this book was written for them.

Kisses from Katie – A beautiful story that is continuing to be written each and every day. I am highly inspired by Katie’s faith to leave her comfortable home in Tennessee and to adopt thirteen young girls in her new home of Uganda. Faith in action.

Large Family Logisitics – Having five children I can’t go on enough about how helpful this book is. But honestly, I think a woman newly married would get just as much help from it. There is so much good advice and is a deceivingly large book!

Start Something That Matters – Honestly, I’m not even finished with this one yet, but I LOVE it! A book I wouldn’t have normally picked up but ended up being one of my favorites. Look forward to a review and giveaway within the next couple weeks.

Natural Enlightenment Photography – I have to add this in because I’m a photographer. I didn’t get as much out of it as I had hoped, but if you’re a budding photographer you will love it! Lots of wonderful tips on shooting organically.

I’m anxious to see what all new books come out in 2012!

Blessings!

 

In Books
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Tiny Chefs

December 27, 2011

This Christmas we gave our children a gift that they will be thankful for for years to come. And hopefully they’re future spouses and children will also be thankful for. We gave them the gift of being in the kitchen.

We grabbed an inexpensive scrapbook from Michael’s and placed within it recipes we had recently downloaded from The Fresh 20.

With room left for a photo of their finished masterpiece.

I knew our girls would love this, I just didn’t realize how much. They are climbing over each other to get into the kitchen and learn to cook and serve their family. It is just so beautiful! Our oldest made crepes all by herself the other night and learned the lesson of “the first pancake”. Thankfully we talked her through how the first one is always messy but the rest will be great. And sure enough she got ahold of knowing when the crepe was ready to flip.

This season is so much fun. Watching them turn into these little homemakers. And joyfully. They are anxious to cook, to sew, to create, to serve, etc. I pray this is something we, as parents, take the time to stop and teach our little ones. That we encourage them to serve others. That being a mother is something beautiful and not a burden. How can you encourage the next generation today?

Older women …are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
(Titus 2:3-5 ESV)

Blessings!

In Encouragement, Parenting
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Word for the Year

December 26, 2011

I have a tradition in preparation of the new year. At the end of December I come up with one word that I want to focus on for the coming year. A word that I hope will help change my worldly way of thinking. I recall the first year I had chosen the word “grace”. I painted a small canvas and set it as a daily reminder.

Might I encourage you to do the same? Pick a word? A line of scripture? Something that might draw you closer to Him.

This year I’ve chose the word “immerse”. In hopes of immersing myself in His word. Immersing myself in my children’s lives. Immersing myself in my marriage. Immersing myself into serving Him.

Once the word for the year is chosen it’s time to create a way to remember. And this year was highly ironic.

I chose to take an exacto knife and cut out each letter from cardstock and mod podge it to a piece of scrapbook paper.

After the first letter was out I was strongly discouraged. This was taking {what I thought was} for.ev.er. But I went onto the next letter. And after the second letter was cut out I went hunting for another way to make my word art. I was done with this tedious cutting out of each and every letter.

Oh. Wait. That’s exactly what immersing myself into life is going to be like. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be difficult. I’m going to want to give up and take the easy way out. This was all the  more motivation to finish these letters. And you know what? Plans change.

The finished art looked so much better reversed than what I had intended. I was going to place the cut out letters on top of the floral scrapbook paper but there was more beauty in placing the cardstock on top and allowing the design to peek through. Why do I have a feeling that’s going to be a running trend this next year as I begin to ‘immerse’? Hopefully I will also remember that His ways are always better than mine. I may have good intentions but God knows what is best in the end.

Prayerfully consider what word might benefit you this next year. And create art.

Blessings!

In Encouragement
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Christmas Eve at the Barn

December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas! Yesterday my family celebrated Christmas. We woke up early and did presents and all the traditional stuff. But we chose Christmas Eve to celebrate as we knew our church was not having a Christmas day service. And we couldn’t have made a better decision. Our hearts were more excited for the evening service than any gift that was under the tree.

The Christmas Eve service was not being held at a typical church. No. No it was being held inside a barn. The thought was overwhelmingly wonderful! So we packed the children up and set off for the farm. As we walked inside there were horse stalls all up and down the barn. Some mellow horses and some very excited ones. We could hear neighing and the sounds of their anxious feet. The barn was filled with music, a rumble of voices, colorful lights and the unmistakable smell of horse droppings. It was incredibly foul. We waited as the barn filled with bodies. And all I could think about was Mary.

Here I was standing between two horses with a baby boy in a sling on my side. He was born at home. The looks I would get from people told me they did not think it was wise to have a child in your house when there are hospitals. Just imagine the looks Mary received when people would later discover her baby was born in a barn. Among piles of manure. Thousands of years before Lysol had been invented.

And this barn last night was filled. Bodies were shoulder to shoulder. My son squealed the entire time. Babbling during the sermon and singing during worship. I could feel the looks. But I refused to quiet him. Not out of disrespect, but because the sound of a baby during a time of such wonderful reflection was a beautiful reminder. A reminder that our lives have interruptions. When we want quiet, we get loud. When we desire peace we sometimes get chaos. When we long for an answer it’s usually the one we weren’t expecting.

At the end of the service we got to behold the amazing beauty of lanterns being lifted off into the night sky. A symbol of how we, too, need to be those lights. To guide others in this dark world to a King who loves us. A King who knows how difficult it is to be an outcast.

Happy Birthday, Jesus. And thank you, sweet Mary, for trusting God and being such a beautiful vessel, a beautiful home, for Him.

Blessings!

In Blessings
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Time to Celebrate

December 19, 2011

I am taking the next week off of blogging to spend time with my friends and family. May I encourage you to also put away your computer and smart phones? Make memories and celebrate this gracious life we’ve been given. Before you know it we’ll be preparing for Resurrection Sunday and planting our gardens. Take this week to prepare your hearts for Christmas. Love and serve those God has placed around you during this time. Teach your children the truth of why we celebrate so much for such a little lamb.

Merry Christmas!

Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is his son’s name?
Surely you know!
{Proverbs 30:4 ESV}

and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
{Matthew 3:17 ESV}

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
{Luke 1:32 ESV}

and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
{Romans 1:4 ESV}

Blessings!

In Blessings
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