My Everything Quilt

Just to think such Royalty would come the way He came, In a dusty little town. Born in such humility upon a bed of hay, Certainly He laid His glory down. Who would think this little Child w ould be the promised One? Would the Messiah really come this way? Certainly this was no birth place for the Son of God! Isn't it amazing how He came? Isn't it amazing the way He came? No crown, no throne, no big parade. There were no fanfares played, n o jubilant display. Isn't it amazing how He came? ~Mark Harris

Hark! the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!" Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies; With the angelic host proclaim, "Christ is born in Bethlehem!" Hark! the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!" Christ by highest heaven adored; Christ, the everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come, offspring of the virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the God-head see; hail the Incarnate Deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark! the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!" Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Hark! the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!" ~Charles W...

I am very fortunate to live only a short 30 minutes away from my grandchildren. Having my own parents and mother-in-law live 5 hours away, I do not take this lightly. I know my children's grandparents would love to see them more often, but when you live so far away, it just is not that easy. So, now that I have grandchildren of my own, I truly understand the longing to see grandbabies and now great-grandbabies! Deborah stopped by today for a short visit and I got to spend some time with the 3 most adorable little girls I know, all by myself without having to share!

A good night's sleep can truly be a blessing. We women go through sleep-phases; as least I have. I don't recall having sleep issues growing up, or in my teen years. As a newlywed I slept fine. Then pregnancy happened. What woman sleeps well when her belly is growing and changing daily for 9 months. The kicking, hiccups, stretching of your growing baby is a nightly sleep depriver. Not to mention the endless trips to the bathroom! Next the baby stage of sleeplessness. You have a new baby and they need to eat, often, and during the night. You can be up every 2-3 hours a night or even more often than that. Fortunately, I had good sleeping babies that slept through the night almost from the start. Once you reach the toddler stage, you hopefully are sleeping more than 3 hours at night without having to go check on something. But if you sleep with a monitor in your room, you hear every movement and that disturbs your peaceful night's rest. Little ones tend to come to Mommy a...

I am thankful for the beauty of the Creation. God chose to adorn the world is such glorious color and fall colors are, in my opinion, the most beautiful!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." I am so very thankful I do not have to rely on what I know in order to live a God-honoring life. His Word teaches us how to live, how to love God, how to love others, how to talk, how to discipline ourselves and our children, how to obey those in authority over us, how to treat those who wrong us, how to prepare for eternity. In other words, His Word is sufficient for all of life!

Since Americans acknowledge Thanksgiving in November, people have a tendency to express thankfulness more than usual. Me included. This should not be; we should express our thanks each and every day. Every breath we breathe is a gift of God.  So to join in, I desire to express a "thanks" each day. We'll see how it goes! (I am 5 days behind already!) Listening to Bible study today, I was so clearly reminded of God's redemptive plan for mankind. Jesus Christ paid the price for man's sin debt with His own life's blood. God had this plan from before time began. That is a hard thing for we mere humans to comprehend. Nevertheless, it is what Scripture declares.  Ephesians 1: 3-6 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world , that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us t...

v. 1 The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken, and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. v.6 And the heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is judge. v. 10 For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.  v. 11 I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine.

Emma Kate Parker. September 1, 2014. Actually born on Labor Day! Cuteness overload!

Our Hannah was married last Saturday. It was a beautiful summer day; but very hot. She was the most radiant bride. She was absolutely stunning. Everything about the day-the ceremony, the reception-all of it was as pretty and elegant as she looked. She really wanted to have a candlelit reception and she got one. Once the sun went down and the darkness settled outside the floor-to-ceiling windows in the ballroom, the ambiance was just what she wanted. They were able to exit to a sparkler send-off, just like she wanted. So many little things took place during this time preparing for Hannah's wedding. Leah was a big help; any time she was asked to do something she willingly did it. She gave Hannah her lingerie shower and went all out. The girls talked and laughed about it for hours, into the wee hours of the morning, after it was over. They all said it was the most fun shower they had ever been to; of course, Moriah hasn't been to that many, but that's ok. On at leas...

Claire is 2 years old! Her favorite character right now is Olaf, of course! So, needless to say, he was at the party and the cake was even an Olaf cake! Do you wanna build a snowman?!

Moriah is finished with High School! Which means I am finished with Homeschooling! This is bittersweet for me. I miss the activity of having a lot to do; yet I don't miss the hectic days of having so much to do you couldn't catch a breath all day. Let's face it, I enjoyed the privilege of spending every day with my girls and learning right along with them. I will confess there were days I thought I was the craziest person on the planet for attempting to educate my children at home. But the fun days, the good days, far out weigh the bad days.  In the early days of this adventure, it was so difficult as a mom to see them struggle with something, but exciting to see them finally get it right. We found a lot of educational games to play to make the learning more fun. We would do crafts like building a "Little House on the Prairie" out of Popsicle sticks, having coloring contests and making paper-mache bowls to add to the process. Field trips were also a big part...

We are all born selfish beings. Babies don't really know they are being selfish. To get what they want, all they know how to do is cry. They are born that way. As they grow older, parents have the daunting task of teaching their little ones to share and not to be selfish. This can be quite challenging, to say the least. As toddlers and preschoolers they are so adorable, everyone makes them believe they are the center of the universe. This makes the parents' job that much more difficult! When do we outgrow being selfish? Do we outgrow being selfish? We live in a society where "Me first" is the standard. Everyone wants what they want, when they want it, how they want it. Not very often do we look out for the other person, much less consider them as more important than ourselves. I mean, that is just unheard of! I have been struggling with this issue, again. I pray every day that I will not be selfish but place the other person's interest above my own. As a new...

Jesus knowingly washed the feet of the one who was about to betray Him. Blessing does not come with the knowledge; it is in the doing. It's not so much the doctrine, but the action that flows out of the doctrine. However, the actions won't be right if the doctrine is not right. Therefore, doctrine is crucial. Jesus chose Judas to follow Him, because Scripture had to be fulfilled, there had to be a traitor. Yet, Judas willingly cooperated with Satan. The Holy Spirit is not using us to interpret Scripture. We can't pull out an Old Testament verse and apply it to our situation . We shouldn't try to reconcile a doctrine/principle that Scripture doesn't reconcile.

I got another one of those texts today. Mom is back in the hospital. This is becoming the norm. This time it is her blood pressure. How much more can her heart take?! Last month it was pneumonia, now blood pressure. Then there are her lungs. Apparently she spent the day in the emergency room. At 11:30 tonight she still had not been given a room, after being there since 1:00 this morning. This I have a very hard time understanding.  And if all of this is not enough, poor Daddy doesn't even remember that she went to the hospital. This breaks my heart. Having your parents get old is not fun to watch. It is getting harder and harder as the days pass by. Being 5 hours away is sometimes a blessing, but mostly it bothers me that I am not there to help them and my sisters. I go back and forth between guilt and heartbreak. I know I need to make more of an effort to go see them more often, but I can usually find a reason not to go. Now that I have so much free time on my hands, I cou...

Praise His holy name. He is faithful to His own.

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do no merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." ~Phil. 2:3&4 Just keep repeating this to yourself over and over. Every time you want to react, just repeat this. We'll see how it goes!

May the mind of Christ my Savior Live in me from day to day. By His love and power controlling  All I do and say. May the Word of God dwell richly In my heart from hour to hour, So that all may see I triumph Only through His power. May the love of Jesus fill me As the waters fill the sea. Him exalting, self abasing, This is victory. May His beauty rest upon me As I seek the lost to win, And may they forget the channel Seeing only Him. May I run the race before me Strong and brave to face the foe; Looking only unto Jesus As I onward go. ~ Arthur Cyril Barham-Gould, Kate Barclay Wilkinson

 The year's at the spring, And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven;  The hillside's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn; God's in His heaven- All's right with the world! ~Robert Browning Pictures taken at Gibbs Gardens

From the breaking of the dawn t o the setting of the sun, I will stand on every promise of Your Word. Words of power, strong to save, that will never pass away, I will stand on every promise of Your Word. For Your covenant is sure, and on this I am secure, I can stand on every promise of Your Word. When I stumble and I sin, condemnation pressing in, I will stand on every promise of Your Word.  You are faithful to forgive, that in freedom I might live, so I stand on every promise of Your Word.  Guilt to innocence restored: You remember sins no more!  So, I'll stand on every promise of Your Word. When I'm faced with anguished choice, I will listen to Your voice, and I'll stand on every promise of Your Word.  Through this dark and troubled land You will guide me with Your hand as I stand on every promise of Your Word.  And You've promised to complete every work begun in me, so I'll stand on every promise of Your Word. Hope that lifts me from despair, lo...

I have changed the name of this blog because #1) most of the posts don't have much to do with my whole family, just me and #2) not all of the posts have to do with what is going on in my life. Trying to decide what to change the name to was a little difficult. I really did not want to include my name or a personal pronoun: I this, or I that or Sherree's this or that. My purpose to even write in this blog is to put down in "print" things that I like to spend some time thinking about. If I come across a poem or a devotional that means a lot to me, or a song that grips my heart strings that I want to remember are the things I want in this blog. Then, of course, there are the posts where something has/is going to happen in my life or my family's life that I want to write about. So, now I need to update with some things that have actually been happening in my life! Like the 2 snow events this winter, and Hannah's wedding plans, and Moriah's graduation plans...

I can't sleep. It's 1:30 in the morning and I'm wide awake. David is traveling; he should be about there by now, so he should be calling soon. Wedding stuff is going through my head. Cleaning out the school room ideas keep coming up. I need to start Moriah's high school scrapbook; but I also want to start the one for the grandbabies, so which one do I do first?! Goodness! I wish I could just shut off my thoughts and go to sleep. David says I don't know how to throw the switch; I don't think I have a switch!