weekending

 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Tanya from The Other Side of the Road for this Monday link-up. In spite of all that is going on in the world, I had a great weekend. I started it off with my dad on Friday—instead of me making something, we decided Chick Fil A sounded good and that's what we went with. He loves the spicy chicken sandwich and he even splurged and got some fries to go with his lunch. (He never eats fries, but I'm glad he decided to enjoy some in his nintieth year of life.)

It was blustery and cold, so I had this fire going when he got here. (Don't be too impressed, it was a log that burned for four hours.) It was a great day with him and I took him home around four. I didn't feel great after that, so I came home and just reclined in my chair for a bit, then I ate some chicken and rice soup for dinner while I watched Hallmark movies. (I've watched several this weekend!) 

On Saturday I went out with my mom and sister. We had lunch and went to two thrift stores, where I scored some books for very little money, including a commentary I can use while I'm writing my portion of our next women's Bible study! (We've been given our assignments, but I'm still in the reading and studying phase.)

I was very happy to be able to wear this scarf and a coat and gloves on Saturday. I love these cold months. 

When I came home, Todd had a roaring fire going in the fireplace and we sat and enjoyed it together the rest of the day. We ordered pizza for dinner and I started (and made it halfway through) the final book in the series I've been reading. I'll blog about the books I read this month later in January.

Todd had a callout on Sunday morning while the rest of us were at church, and I was there bright and early for praise team rehearsal at eight thirty before the service began at ten forty-five.

I took this picture to send to my friend Christa. She gave me the gray bag you see by my feet as part of my birthday gift a few weeks ago, and it's become my favorite bag. It's the perfect size for me to carry all my church stuff in—when I'm there early, I take my quiet time materials and do that while I wait on the service to begin. (I don't attend a Bible fellowship class anymore.) It held two Bibles, my journal, my glasses, some pens and a bottle of hand sanitizer.

I also had my purse, the cute brown backback style purse my sister Debi gave me back in October. It's  become my very favorite purse and one of the nicest I've ever owned. (Debi, if you're reading this, THANK YOU! I also think of you all the time because I love the fuzzy slippers and that setting powder you gave to each of us. You spoil us, Sissy!)

After church I came home and had a bowl of soup, then watched another Hallmark movie. I took a very short nap and when Todd came home, I made him a pot of coffee and then had dinner. (He wasn't hungry yet.) I took the above photo when I was outside with my dogs yesterday. I love the season of winter—all the seasons, really, but I love how the trees are bare, the weather is clear and cold, the days are dark and dreary, the ease with which I can breathe (I have seasonal asthma) and the heaviness I feel in the clouds when snow seems imminent. I thought the trees looked so beautiful when I looked up and saw them in the gray sky. 

Last night I worked on blog stuff, I read more of my current book and I browsed Instagram and the stories I so love. How was your weekend? Have you gotten back to "normal" life again since the holidays have passed by? I'd love to hear from you! 

Thank you for reading my blog and for the ones who are always so kind to comment, thank you! Nothing encourages me quite like seeing comments pop up on my blog. Love to all! 

Jen. 

Friday Favorites 1.8.21

 

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals for this blog post.

What a week. I've already seen some funny memes that have helped me feel more lighthearted than I should. Memes like this one—

... and my personal favorite:

Moving on, now.

It's already been a week, hasn't it? Here are some of my top favorite moments from the last seven days.

Reading is my favorite hobby. This book I'm holding above is my fourth book of 2021. I'm looking forward to blogging about books this year, something I haven't really done much of in this space. The Winter Street series by Elin Hilderbrand has been one of my favorite series of books.

My quiet times have been some of my favorite moments of the week. All of the Scripture I've read this week has seemed to be exactly what I needed at the exact moment that I read each passage. I love it when that happens and my Pastor says that's what the verse means about the Word of God being living and active—that as we read the Word of God, the Word of God is reading us. How amazing is that?

I got my nails done yesterday. My mom asked if I wanted to go with her while she got hers done and I couldn't say no if I'd wanted to. I was ready to have a color on them again, after three weeks of having white. This color is my favorite! It was raining, but we didn't let that stop us from having our morning of fun. After that we had sushi for lunch, then we each ran one other errand.

I have made some GREAT meals this week, if I do say so myself. This was the chicken and homemade stock I made yesterday morning for more chicken and rice soup. We will eat this all weekend long and into next week, because it's a favorite of mine, Todd's and Drew's. Todd and I had it for dinner last night while we enjoyed a little quiet date night at home.

More reading in the afternoons with coffee this time. This was me on Wednesday finishing the book I had started on Monday.

I can't wait to start Bible study again in a couple of weeks! This is the second study I helped write for ladies in our church and anyone else who purchased copies from their locations. We have two times to choose from for in-person meetings: Wednesday mornings at 9:30 and Wednesday nights at 6:30, with an option for Zoom each week. If you're interested, let me know and I can give you more information. If you're local to me, I'd love to have you join us! We're about to start the writing process all over again for the third study we'll be writing as a team. I can't wait to share more information about it in the coming months! It won't be released until August of 2021.

Hobby Lobby is one of my favorite stores and that is where this sign came from that I bought on Saturday. It's a long story, but I needed to replace what had been there previously.

Other favorite moments from this week include all the fires my hubby has made for us each night. We bought some firewood this week and we've thoroughly enjoyed our old fashioned fireplace. I'm looking forward to starting a fire for Dad while he's here today. It's cold outside! 

I've loved spending time with Mom this week and I got to see her TWICE, which was a treat. 

We all enjoyed having a visitor stay with us this week, a friend of Drew's from high school whose parents moved to Hot Springs. He arrived on Tuesday and stayed until Thursday afternoon. I loved hearing him and Drew laugh as they caught up and watched funny shows. Also, Zack is Crash's favorite new person. 

I came across a new playlist on Spotify Thursday afternoon that is going to be a favorite of mine for a long while—Passion 2021 worship. 

One thing that has NOT been a favorite was seeing all the events of Wednesday unfold in our nation's capitol. Violence is never the answer to problems and I have been burdened to pray for the state of our country more than ever, including the people whose opinions differ from mine. They need Jesus just as much as any other person and it's not His desire for any ONE of His creation to perish without knowing Him. (2 Peter 3:9)

Jesus is our only hope, friends. Do you know Him? 

Thanks for reading my blog. Love to all. 

Jen. 

traditions and being faithful

 

Happy Thursday, friends. I thought I'd share some more on one of our time honored traditions that we made a priority when our sons were little. I've talked about this before and I'll talk about it many more times, I'm sure—and that is our tradition and habit of faithful church attendance and other habits that came from that.

I realize as I write this that we're still under very heavy guidelines because of Covid and I think those may tighten up even more as winter goes on, but pretend it's a normal time and that you have the option of going and attending multiple times each week. I can never recommend making this a top priority in your family and even if you weren't raised that way yourself, what could the harm be of trying it out for yourself? I was always so glad to take our sons there so often because of the wonderful biblical principals that were ingrained in them from years of attending, ones that still shine through today.

What seems like just "fun" for them is really people pouring into their lives values, integrity and sound doctrine from the Word of God. They do make friends there, sure, but that's not the only reason to go. They learn of God's faithfulness to generations who turned their back on Him, they learn of His unending love for those of us who belong to Him, and they learn how to apply what they've learned into their everyday lives. I'll give you one example of this and this is something I just read on Wednesday morning in my own quiet time.

Out of just one verse, I read that I am to be merciful to others, I am to be kind, I am to be humble, gentle and patient with everyone I come across in life. These are things we all need to remember each day of our lives and if I hadn't read this that morning, I might not have displayed any of those characteristics to people I came across while I was out and about yesterday. 

Reading the Bible is so important and one benefit from reading it daily is being able to apply it to my life in a practical way.

Because of sickness right now, church isn't an option for many people. I would recommend finding an online service to watch together. Thanks to the wonderful world of technology that we live in today, you can do your own research and find a church suited for your needs. I would recommend being careful and doing a bit of homework over the pastor first. There are some false teachers out there who people in the world have labeled as "wonderful and godly" who are anything but. I'm specifically thinking of Joel Osteen when I write this, but I know there are many more. Just beware and maybe ask someone you know and trust who they like. I have several recommendations I can always give you, as well, so reach out to me if you have questions. If you'd like to email me, my address is allboys@gmail.com.

Read the Bible together as a family. If you have little ones, it's fine if you use one of their children's Bibles as the one you read from. However you get into reading the Bible is of no importance, what matters is that you're reading the Bible. When my sons were young, Veggie Tales was all the rage. Those movies were short and powerful, and I learned so much from watching alongside them. There is NO SHAME if you don't know the Bible, just start with today and move on from there. 

Listen to good music! If you have little ones, consider listening to music that will hide God's Word in the hearts of your little ones. You can check out groups like Seeds Family Worship, Hillsong Kids or Kidz Praise on YouTube, but there are lots of options. If you like the radio, find a K Love station near you or Air One, their sister station. Or just pick worship music that YOU like and they will like it, like my boys loved my music when they were young. They had no idea that when they sang those songs on the radio that they were quoting Scripture.

These are just some recommendations for you to try, because as you know yourself, this world is a scary place right now. I love what my mom-in-love says about believing in and following Jesus—when people ask her how they know He's real, she says that she'd rather be wrong and never find out until she dies than to be one who never believed in and followed Him and find out when they die that she was right. Some of you are reading this and maybe the Lord is drawing you to Him. I've had several conversations with people about this lately and I'll say to you what I said to them: don't wait! If you have questions, reach out to someone today. 

As for our future, who knows what is going to happen from here? Things might start to look a little differently for us here in the U.S. and we might actually have to face some real persecution for our faith in Jesus. Even so, now is not the time to back down. It's scary and if I let myself linger in the thoughts of what could come, I will feel anxious with the uncertainty. But I know that God is always good, and for those of us who know Him as our Savior, He will never leave us or forsake us. He will be right there with us to help us through whatever hard times may come. More than ever before in my life, I sense an urgency to share Jesus with everyone I run into and people are scared and are willing to listen. We must not be timid about our faith, fellow sisters in Christ. We desperately need Jesus and what better time than the present to try to be more faithful in our service to Him? So watch that service with your family this coming weekend, or attend the in-person service if you're able and wear the mask if that's what they ask. I'd gladly do just about anything they asked to be back in person after a two week break. 

Be faithful to God as He has been faithful to you, serve Him willingly and be ready to share your faith wherever you go, even when you're in the grocery line waiting. 

Be strong, be bold, be kind and gentle, be courageous and STAND FIRM. 

Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all. 

Jen.

Wednesday- Currently series

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm linking up with Anne at in residence for the monthly "currently" series. This is a series where I'll share each month what I am currently beginning, feeling, organizing, resolving and wondering. 

Beginning: I am loving my new Everyday With Jesus Bible that I started on January 1. 

I love reading through the Bible (or a portion of it) each year and this is what I'm using right now. It's a new Bible that was just released later in 2020 and it's in my favorite version, which is the CSB (Christian Standard Bible). I've recommended it to so many people and have several friends going through this with me. 

Feeling: Honestly, I've been struggling with a sinus issue for the past week, so I haven't been feeling the best lately. It's hit or miss as the weather dips or rises and when it rains. On the flip side of this, because you know I like to look at the bright side of things, I've been LOVING waking up sometime during the five o'clock hour again. Between Christmas and the New Year, I was sleeping in until seven, but I'm back at my early hour once again and I love it. I get SO MUCH done in the seven o'clock hour each morning. As I write this, I'm watching the sun make its colorful appearance and the sky is ablaze with purples and pinks.

Organizing: This week I've worked on the upstairs. I found myself in a closet for an hour and a half yesterday straightening and hanging things up properly once again and I have plans to do that one day soon in the downstairs closet under the stairs. My cabinets and drawers stay pretty organized all the time because there are six of us in the house and if I don't do a little of that each day, it would make me crazy.

Resolving: I don't really "do" resolutions, but I always like to make improvements. I need to start walking again and I hope to read more this year. I always start strong, then I taper off in about June or July. I want to be consistent and spend at least one hour a day reading. So far it's going good and I'll probably finish my third book today.

This was me reading on Monday morning while I waited on my mom to get to my house. We went and ran a couple of errands together. 

Wondering: I'm always wondering about the future. Most of you reading this know I quit watching all of the news (thanks to anxiety) and I keep hearing bits and pieces of what's going on. I don't know what all I trust and I just know that this has made me very contemplative. One thing I know for certain—if I didn't have the hope of Jesus, I don't know that I'd be able to stand. I often am burdened for our country and I pray for this so much.

Are you a believer and follower of Him? If you don't know, please reach out to someone today! If you're able, attend or watch a service on Sunday. My own church has a livestream that takes place at 10:45 each Sunday and you can go to our website to watch: cfbcfamily.org. Scroll down and you'll see the countdown until the service begins. Until then, pray and have fellowship with Jesus all throughout your day, if you're able. Read His Word and saturate your mind in truth, not in what is happening in the world. It's good to be informed, I'm not saying that, but don't overload yourself.

These are just the things on my heart and in my mind. I pray you know the Lord and that my words always point you to Him. Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all. 

Jen.

Prime Lately

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I don't always participate in these Prime Purchases link-up posts, but since we just ordered #allthethings from Amazon for Christmas, I thought this would be fun. I'm linking up with Tanya from The Other Side of the Road once again today. 

I'll start with what I ordered tonight while we all had dinner together. A couple of the boys were out of their conditioners, so I ordered two different kinds they use. (Curly hair problems.) One's by Paul Mitchell and is a leave-in conditioner both Drew and Jonah use, and the other is just Tresemme conditioner. It's so inexpensive on Amazon, as opposed to buying it from an actual store. Here is the one I bought that's inexpensive.

Over the weekend I ordered this (new to me) book I've heard great things about. I'll let you know what I think of it once I've finished it, but in the mean time, if you're looking for books that are used and at an excellent price, I recommend Thrift Books online. They have free shipping and will be delivered within about seven days, but I ordered some books last night and paid a little over $3 for four of them! 

I ordered this new bathroom mat for the boys' bathroom at the same time I ordered the new book. 

I bought some Moroccan oil for my hair, because I use it on the ends of my hair and to tame some of the fly away strands, then proceeded to spill a fourth of the bottle onto my hair on Sunday when I tried it for the first time. I'm exaggerating, it wasn't quite that much, though I did spill a lot. I had to wash my hair Sunday night because if I hadn't, it would have been bad on Monday morning.

After ruining my old dish brush with melted cheese, I ordered this new one (my second time to buy the same one).

I tried some new shampoo and conditioner for Drew and me, because with curly hair, you have to switch things up pretty often.

I gave in and finally decided to give these Mellanni sheets a try that everyone raves about on Amazon, and I must say that I am very impressed. I'd like to buy some for our king sized bed, but for now I bought some for Drew because his old sheets were terrible. There is something are over 100,000 excellent ratings on these sheets! Drew loves them and I've heard they get softer the more you wash them.

I ordered these magnets before my birthday and I LOVE THEM. I used them to hang our Christmas cards on the backside of our front door. I am a huge school supply nerd! These make me so happy.

For Christmas, we bought my dad two of these vests.

He loves them and they fit his petite frame way better than the ones by Columbia a couple of years ago. I picked out red and royal blue for him, because those are my favorite colored shirts that he seems to wear and he wears them often because he is so cold natured.

My boys love white Adidas socks and these are perfect. These went to Noah, because he was most in need.

There were a few more things I ordered, but it was other gifts that wouldn't be of much interest to most of you and some random things for their trucks that they used my account to order from. I just saw that in three months' time, I have placed 37 orders on Amazon. This doesn't include what my husband orders, because he has his own app on his phone that I don't see. I'd love to hear from some of you—what have you ordered from Prime lately?  

Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all. 

Jen.

weekending and a link-up

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Tanya from The Other Side of the Road for this weekly link-up. 

I thoroughly enjoyed every second of the holidays, but once the new year has come, I am so ready for a routine and structure again. That being said, I am ready for a new week! Here are some of my top favorite moments from this weekend.

I love having a freshly cleaned house, when the laundry has been finished and everything is put back to where it belongs. This was when I'd put away the Christmas this weekend and cleaned the countertops. I also repurposed some things, because I can't ever quite remember where I put everything when I decorate for Christmas and also because I usually can't remember how I had things. This forced me to make a trip to Hobby Lobby on Saturday for a new picture for the counter. 

I have plans for this space soon, but I don't want to even mention them now because I am not great at following through. I'll save myself the embarassment for now, but stay tuned! 

Because of where the little mini Google Nest is, I can't center the picture, which is starting to bother me so I may have to find a new home for the speaker in the time being. That'll be another day, though.

I am loving this new yearly Bible for me to read through in 2021. I started this on New Year's day and can't recommend it enough. 

Speaking of New Year's day, I started this book and finished it and one other over the weekend. I started reading my third book (of 2021) on Sunday by my favorite author and look forward to reading it over the next day or two. I may start blogging about books I read each month soon, so again—stayed tuned! 

Penguin Random House sent me this delightful book to read/go through and review on my blog, so consider this that review now. I love this little book already! Each week has one passage to think on and then there's a journaling space to write out your thoughts from the verses. At the very end of the book are pages with each month written at the top and all of the days listed out for you to write out one thing a day that you're thankful for. It's a relatively new company that puts out gifts called Ink & Willow Gifts. You can purchase their products on Amazon for a very reasonable price. (This is when I most miss Lifeway Christian bookstore.) 

I do love a cleaned off mantel after the busy holiday decor. We've been enjoying our fireplace the past few days and on Sunday afternoon, Todd went to load down the back of Drew's truck with firewood that he purchased for $20. (The wood was in stump form, but they came home and chopped it into firewood.) As I write this, he has a fire blazing and it's so nice! I love the look, smell and sounds that come from a fire in the fireplace. 

On Sunday afternoon, I made a big pot full of vegetable beef stew, a first for me, because I'm not normally a fan of it—but it sounded good yesterday, so that's what we had for dinner along with that yummy cornbread you see. I included the recipe in case anyone is in need of some dinner inspiration for the week. (Once I tasted how good it was, I thought I'd better write down what I used to have as a basic guide for the next time, but you can do your own thing and customize it to your own liking.) I also was inspired by my niece in Parker, Colorado to share the recipe after she asked me for it once she saw the Snapchat I sent to her. (Are you impressed that I Snapchat? You should be, I don't understand it very much and my sons have to show me where things are or walk me through how to unfollow someone. 🤣)

How was your weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog. Love to all.

Jen. 

Happy New Year!

 Happy New Year, friends! I thought I'd encourage you just for a few moments before the day gets away from all of us. I have a new daily Bible that I am going to read through this year. I want to encourage you to have a plan for reading Scripture everyday this year, and whatever that looks like or however you get there is not the point— the point is to be in the Word of God every single day. 

This is the Bible I'll be using, but you can find a plan on the free app, YouVersion, if that suits you more. This particular Bible will have me in the Old Testament, a Psalm, a part of Proverbs and in the New Testament each day with a little commentary at the end to help me summarize what I've read.

Additionally, I'll be writing out Scripture each day, because for me to write out the Word of God is what helps me to keep it hidden in my heart. I know lots of people who make this their daily reading plan, though and that is also a great idea! Again, it's not the amount of time spent in God's Word, it's just that you spend time with Him everyday. If you'd prefer the printable version of this writing plan, visit Shannon at swt.blessings.com.

Do you have a plan for spending time with Jesus everyday this year? I'd love to hear from you! I pray these words encourage you and I pray that I always point you to the Lord, the giver of every good and perfect gift. Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all. 

Jen.