JoJo

Early this morning my almost two year old grandson, JoJo, climbs up into bed with me and gives me hugs and snuggles under the quilts. Then he eats dry cereal while watching Mickey Mouse for a little bit. Does it get any better for a Nana? Needless to say, I had to really make myself get up and get ready for work!

My Best Friend, Kim

There's just nothing like good friends. I am so thankful for this beautiful woman, Kim. She has been "there" for me for many years now. We have been through rough times, good times, fun times, family times, times together and times far apart. She is beautiful inside and out. She is a woman strong in her Christian faith, loving our Saviour with her whole heart. She has such a beautiful tender heart. She is a wonderful mom to her children and grandchildren, and a loving wife to a very blessed man. She is strong, gracious, wise, sweet, always ready to help, pray, or play. She is an example of the Proverbs 31 woman in a way very few women achieve. I am very blessed and priviliged to have her call me her friend. Thank you, Lord, for my beloved friend, Kim.

Thankful For My Home

I am so thankful to the Lord for my home. It is small, but adequate for all the things we need to live a quiet life. It sits on five acres of land in the Florida Panhandle "country", but very near our beautiful sugar white beach. I am so blessed and my heart hurts for so many people who have lost homes in these past months of bad economic times.

I also thank Him that both my husband and I are employed. Just ordinary jobs, not great salaries, but it is more than a lot of people have. It is enough to supply our needs and still be able to help others that need our help.

I also want to thank my hubby for working so hard on painting our bedroom and bathroom walls. He is so sweet in helping me with just whatever I get in my head to do. The man actually enjoys making me happy. How blessed can this girl be! I do not take that for granted. He is the love of my life.

What are you thankful for today?

A Thankful Heart

Today I am going to begin a log of just three things I am thankful for on a given day. This will by no means be a comprehensive list! But it will be a reminder to myself to stop and thank God for His blessings, mercy, grace and love. November is a month that, in a special way, reminds us to be thankful. So, on this first day of thanking God, I will begin with:

1. I am thankful for the cooler days that November is bringing to the Gulf Coast. It has been a long and hot summer.

2. I am thankful for my husband. Through some very discouraging days this past year, he has been such an encouragement and support. He not only tells me how much he loves me, but he has shown me in many tangible ways.

3. I am thankful for God "re-newing" a call for a very special work that I am to do.

The UPS man left a box on my front porch addressed to my husband. He just smiles and tells me to open it. I did, of course, and this is what I found inside. He is the sweetest. It is beautiful. I now have it sitting on my mantle amongst all my fall decorations. I just couldn't put it back in the box. I might also mention that DH has a great fondness for trains.

Mountains

I am homesick for my Appalachian Mountains as I always am in the fall. There's no place on earth that can soothe my soul like the mountains that I grew up in. I want to walk in the hills and find a sun warmed rock to sit on. There I would listen to the forest sounds and smell the fragrance of all the growth around me. Maybe I would even hear a groundhog whistle at me. There I would talk to God. There I would feel at home.

Blue Sky

On my way to work this morning, the sky was AMAZINGLY blue behind some white clouds. I was reminded of God's peace and of His awesome handiwork in this sometimes strife filled world.

Jesus is my reason for living this journey I am on to eternity. We can never feel perfectly at home or perfectly happy here on this earth because we are made specifically for Heaven. I can hardly wait to get there, but until then, I am determined to live here as He wants me to. This journey has been quite an adventure, even for me, and I'm thinking it will continue to be.

A Question Asked

Yesterday evening I posted a "just wondering" question on facebook. It was a question I have always wanted to ask men. I asked "Just wondering...how many of you guys have actually studied Proverbs 31:10-31?" As of today at 1:30 not one single man has responded. I am actually suprised and a little puzzled. So, what does this tell me? Have none of them done so and don't want to admit it? Or, have they done so and don't want to admit it?

It has been my observation in life that we, male and female, study the subjects that are of great interest and importance to us. It may be our career, a hobby, history, politics or a sport. And being Christians, the Word of God is of greatest importance to us. We study what God has to say about salvation, Heaven and hell, love, and many other subjects. Most of us have a few favorites that we may study about more than others.

The question I'm getting at with this is for the men, all men...fathers, husbands, preachers, married, those who want to get married, grandfathers, etc. All of you have a woman in your life...mom, wife, daugther, niece, grandaugther. She is very important to you. Is she? Do you study women? Do you know how she feels about things? Do you know her God-given responsibilities and roles in life? Do you know what is important to her?

Well, I was just wondering. Hopefully I will have a follow up on this later if there are any responses to my facebook post.

Let Me Introduce Myself

My name is Linda. I am 57 years old. (I don't mind telling you my age, but I will not tell you my weight!) I am a born-again Believer and Follower of Jesus Christ. I have been married to the love of my life for 39 years. I am the mother of three grown sons, grandmother to five grandaugthers, six grandsons, one great-grandaugther and another grandbaby coming in October (2010). I am blessed beyond measure. I also have other very special people in my life.

The greatest and most important part of my life is my relationship with my Lord and Savior. Everything I do is under His shadow and my desire is for my life to give Him glory and honor. The title of Anne Graham Lotz's book, Magnificiant Obsession, describes how I want my relationsip with God to be. (Good book, by the way. I recommend it.)

I am a simple girl at heart and enjoy the simple things in life. After my family, some of my favorite things are sitting on my back porch swing early in the morning with my Bible and a cup of coffee in my hand, walks in the woods (especially in my beloved eastern Kentucky mountains), and walks on our very nearby beach, my long-haired mini dauchsund-Bella, my fat cat-Princess Lucy, and teaching my 4th-6th grade Sunday school class.

A few hobbies I enjoy when I get the time (I do work full-time) are quilting, scrapbooking, beading, cooking, flower gardening, and home keeping.

I love deeply and have been hurt deeply. That has only served to help me grow in my Christian walk. The Lord takes our experiences to use for the benefit of ourselves and for others. I am patient with some things and very impatient with others. I am shy and not very "chatty" face to face until I get to know you. I have been told that this comes across as being "stuck-up" or "aloof" but that is the farthest thing from my heart! I really do try to do better on this, but for the life of me, I just can't think of clever things to say at first! Its also a bit of a lack of self-confidence. I keep working on that part of me though.

Okay, this is probably going to be a really boring blog, but I am curious where the Lord leads me with it.

Blessings to you all.

Welcome to my journey. Not sure what's going to show up here, but I suppose that's the fun of it all.