underneath are the everlasting arms

SUPPORT, NOT RELIEF

(None But The Hungry Heart  9-27)

"In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you"

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Relief from pressure may seem merciful, but support in the pressure produces growth and maturity.
"There is a greater blessing for us than relief; there is the Father's support, for it imparts to you an acquaintance with Himself which relief does not. Relief makes one more satisfied with things here. I have known some who could tell you of a long list of mercies, most touching, truly proof of the tenderness of God.

"Thank God, we all know something of His tenderness. But then there is a greater blessing, namely, that He does not remove the pressure, but raises you above it, so that, though you are not relieved, you are better off than if you were merely relieved, because you know His heart who supports you in the pressure. You have made a deep acquaintance with your Father, and your heart is more attached to Him." -J.B.S.

"It is not getting away from our circumstances, our environment, our associations, that we need, but the Lord Jesus' likeness where we are. The Father placed us there, permitted the trials for a purpose, and He stands ready to bring us out into a life of liberty, if we will stand with Him in trust and endurance while He works it out."
"Have you asked to be made like your Lord; that it might be 'not I, but Christ'? Have you longed for the fruit of the Spirit, and have you prayed for patience and love? Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life. A blessing is in the storm, and there will be a rich fruitage in the 'afterward.'"

"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms"

Deuteronomy 33:27.

It's ok Thursday!

ITS OK....

to light all the candles in the house even if you're the only one there to enjoy them.

to let your kids watch a movie so you can have some quite time.

to start you Christmas shopping now.

to have one more cup of coffee.

to leave a few unpacked boxes in the garage for another time.

to just let it go...

Wordless Wednesday {Bubbles}

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Where'd he go?

Last night I went in to the boys room to check on them before I went to bed.

Elijah was sleeping peacefully on the top bunk. But Ethan's bed on the lower bunk was empty. Not totally strange since some times he gets out of bed to lay on the floor and go to sleep. But the floor was empty too! Where did he go?

I peek under the bed and at first I don't see anything except the mini suitcases holding extra clothes and toys and a stuffed animal between them.

Oh wait, that's Ethan camped out deep under the bed snoozin' away!

Typical

They're having fun, I promise.

Yay! It's Thursday!

my kitty baby

The kittens are so fun!

The boys still adore them and the kittens are still so patient with the boys.

We were reading Peter Pan the other night before bed and Elijah decided he wanted to change the kitty's names to Peter Pan and Tiger Lilly. So that that's what they're called now... at least until the next fairy tale we read. =)

Geoff and I

"Daddy home?" Ethan asks me nearly every morning. The boys have missed their daddy. Geoff flies home tonight after being gone for 9 days! I'll be picking him up at the airport after midnight tonight.

He's been over in Northern Ireland visiting his family and Granny. She's been in the hospital but they are talking about sending her home next week if she does OK this week. She's very weak but at least she would be home with the family.

Granny and my beautiful sister in law, Rachel.
Thanks Rachel for the photo!

Our plans for the today fell through so I'm taking the boys to the zoo. They have a water play area that the boys will have fun in. There's been thunderstorms every day so that may shorten our zoo trip.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Good morning from the mini men!

my little dudes waking up

Fall Nesting

Welcome!

What a great summer it's been!

Although Autumn is my favorite season I'm not sure I'm ready to let summer go yet.

And even though it may still FEEL like summer around here with temps in the 90's I don't mind if it starts to LOOK a little like Fall.

So this weekend the boys and I dug out some of our decorations from the garage and put them up.

A friend gave me these neat candles when we first moved into this house a few years ago. They sit on my table.

I keep changing my mind about the fire place mantel. Earlier it looked like this...

And for now, at least until tomorrow, it looks like this...

The fabulous portraits of my boys were done by Andrew Topel.

Visit his blog here.

Elijah adopted the pumpkin above from a thrift store this weekend.

My favorite thing is Our Thankful Tree. I cut out a tree and leaves from construction paper and each day we each write something we are thankful for on a leaf and add it to our tree. It was past the boys bed time by the time we got home last night but as soon as we came in the door Elijah saw the tree and said "We HAVE to do our thankful tree!"

Linking up with The Inspired Room.

Frosty Choco-Banana Snacks

 The boys enjoyed helping make these fun snacks yesterday.

Seeing as Florida is still reaching the high 90's during the day we needed something cold and refreshing.

Freezing the bananas with the toothpicks inserted before dipping in the chocolate made the dipping easy and the chocolate almond bark hardened on the cold fruit right away. We barely had them dipped before the boys ate them up!

In God's Heart...

Getting my kids to eat their veggies

We're celebrating Breakfast today! The plan is french toast for breakfast, bacon and eggs for lunch, and pancakes for dinner tonight!

The boys love these and what they don't know is that they are eating veggies at the same time! Veggies in French Toast? Yup! I mixed pureed butternut squash in with the eggs, milk. cinnamon. nutmeg and vanilla. I'll can mix a little bit of purred cauliflower in with the scrambled eggs at lunch. It blends right in and you can't taste it! Then tonight for dinner i'll mix canned pumpkin in the pancake batter.

Last night the boys never knew the spaghetti sauce had squash and cauliflower in it and they loved it.

How do you get your kids to eat their vegetables?



Update on Granny. She is still in the hospital and is really sick. She has had three heart attacks so far in the past couple weeks and now has phemonia. Geoff's over visiting with her right now.

This is a picture of our dear Granny, Geoff and Elijah a couple years ago on Geoff's birthday...

"Your kids always look so happy!"

Well, it's time to debunk that myth! =) Lest any of you should begin to think my children are the most well behaved and well mannered kids alive, I'm here to tell you other wise. They say "A picture is worth a thousand words" and that is true to a point but pictures also leave out quite a bit! You can see the photo but you can't hear what else is going on.

Take last Thanksgiving for instance. Some of you saw this pic.

We were trying to get a decent family photo using our delay on our camera. So after pushing the camera button and scurrying back to my place if you were listening you would have heard a lot of things like, "Elijah stop smashing your brothers face!" "Ow! He scratched me!" "Well, you shouldn't have had your face in his space! "Ethan stop screaming!" and "Smile boys!"
It's also true, i tend to post happy smiling photos of my family on here. And we do have many happy times but that doesn't mean they never fuss, wine or fight with each other. I just don't usually post those. I figure you probably get enough of that in "real life".

Although this one of Ethan did show up on the blog in December 09...

Apparently he's not a fan of Tigger costumes and he let me know it!

Poor kid doesn't like mohawks in the tub either...

We're picking on Ethan today. Here's another.

Then just today, this is the face he gave me when I told him it was nap time...

Happy Friday everyone! Enjoy your weekend!



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