Obtaining Mercy

Happy Fall, Y'all! (A Little Late)

I love that it is finally autumn!!!  Of course, we won't be able to tell it here in Florida for another month or so.  Nevertheless, it is nice to know there are cooler days ahead!  This picture was taken by one of my bloggy friends, Shanda.  She lives up north, of course. ;)

Well, we are a-l-m-o-s-t fully recovered from our bout with the cold/flu thingy at our house.  My hubby is still sniffling quite a bit, but the allergens are still rampant here, too, so we think it is more allergies than cold.  We hope so, anyway.

Isaac is continuing to get his days and night mixed up.  Saturday night, he never did go to sleep.  He stayed awake until 5 a.m. Sunday morning!  Sigh...that's not very conducive to getting to church on time, is it???  In fact, he and I didn't make it at all to the morning services.  (I've been dealing with a lot of pain this weekend, so I stayed home with the Sleeping Handsome One.) :)

Doug begins another tutoring session today, and we are quite grateful for this bit of extra income.  I do, of course, still have my shop on Etsy, but it seems like nothing is selling there lately.  I'm hoping that things will pick up nearer the holidays.

I was able to make it to church last night, and to choir practice.  We have started work on our Christmas cantata!  Yay!!!  I love Christmas music and I love to sing with the choir - it's like 2 of my favorite things all rolled up together.  So fun!

My goal this year is to actually sing IN the Christmas cantata.  Usually I end up sick during December and have to watch the cantata from the audience or on the internet.  It is very discouraging, I can tell you, after doing all that work, practicing all those songs, and to end up not being able to perform it together with my choir friends!  I am going to be working very hard to get myself healthy and well and STAY THAT WAY for the next 3 months!

I guess that's it for today's update.  I leave you with a picture of Kepler in her favorite new hiding place:

;o)

Blessings,

Alesha

 

 

Joining the Resistance

 

I know I've been lax on daily or even weekly updates on us, here on the blog, for quite a while.  I plan to do better about that - honest! :)  I'm going to try to allow myself to write shorter entries, and to be less critical of each entry.  It's true that we tend to be our own worst critics, yeah?

So, on with an update:

We had a pretty miserable weekend here.  We are all sick, and it's a good thing misery loves company, because neither Doug nor I felt up to church yesterday.  We all slept most of the day.  I even missed listening to the morning church service online because I was asleep.  I can't even remember the last time that happened.

We are all taking our supplements, especially the new vitamin C powder we added to our arsenal, and I am p-r-a-y-i-n-g that we will be feeling better soon.

Of course, yesterday was supposed to be Doug's first Sunday working in the children's ministry at church.  I cannot help but think this illness had some devilish assistance in finding our house! 

On the days when we feel particularly unimportant, it would be wise for us to remember how hard our enemy fights to keep us from doing our work for the Lord - whether that work is in your home, in your church ministry, or at your job.  The devil would like nothing better than to keep us ineffective in our own personal circles.

 

I Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour"

 

We must remember that even though we have a powerful adversary, we have an even mightier Advocate!!!

 

I John 4:4 "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."

 

Have things been difficult at your house too?  Believe me, I understand!  Let's pray for one another, and encourage one another to continue strong in our faith, as we do the work the Lord has entrusted to us today.

If you have a particular prayer request, share it with me here in the comments or by email.  I will pray about it with you.  I would appreciate your prayers for us, too. :)

Blessings,

Alesha

What a Wonderful Weekend

Managing My Monday - Ike and I are hanging out by ourselves this morning.  Julie is not feeling well today.  I did manage to get all of his dvds back in their jackets and videos rewound and on the shelf.  That's something that Daddy doesn't manage to keep up with on the weekend, and it is no problem to do them on Monday morning. :)

We had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday together yesterday.  As I stood up in the choir and looked out at the church congregation, in their spring-colored clothing, singing "I serve a RISEN Saviour.  He's in the world today!  I know that He is living, whatever men may say, " it seemed to be the happiest holiday ever!!!

Really, it is a day of such victory, such triumph, such incredible sacrifice ending in Christ's resurrection.  How can we not LOVE the celebration of all of that?!

Of course, I also indulged a bit over the weekend in my favorite Easter candy eeeeever - Robin's eggs.

We didn't get any pictures yesterday.  We were focused on the basics - all of us getting to church together. :)  So some of the fun extras were dropped; but we had a good day!  The weather here was just gorgeous!  Ike and Doug spent some time out on the front porch while I was at church for the evening service.  They were able to listen to the service on the radio out there. :)

I do have a pic of our newly planted veggies, though!  Our friend, Mike, potted some plants for us and Doug brought them home last Tuesday.  I am trying really hard not to kill them! ;)

 

 

From left to right these are Yellow Brandywine Tomato, Yellow Pear Tomato, Boston Pickling Cucumber and Straight Eight Cucumber.  He also sent this little pot of Basil.

 

 

They are on my front porch, but are getting plenty of sunshine and fresh air.  This is really an experiment of sorts, to see if I can grow things on this porch.  We do have bamboo stakes and a mesh that is used for gutters that we'll be inserting into the pots for the cukes.  The tomatoes are a determinite variety and will not need to be staked.

I just got an email from him, reminding me that these will need to be pollenated, since they aren't outside to get the help from the bees.  I'll be researching that to see what needs to be done.  If you are knowledgeable about this process, I sure would appreciate some advice or perhaps a web site that might help.

Well, I have several more things listed on my "To Do" list on my phone for today, so I'd best get busy!

Wishing you a happy week,

Alesha

 

 

Success!

 

Finally, by making use of the freebies offered us by our Creator (i.e. planning, perspiring and persevering), I have achieved my goal:

Lunch, on my porch, with a view!

Managing My Monday

How did things go at your house today?  Did your week get off to a normal start?  Were things thrown off kilter by something out of the ordinary?  How did you manage the change?  Did you let anger fester because your plans were ruined?  Were you grumpy and unkind because things did not go according to your expectations?

It happens to all of us, doesn't it?  It's difficult sometimes to just "go with the flow" and manage the crisis without getting all out of sorts.

I know that the only way I can handle the normal interruptions of life is with the Holy Spirit as my "internal governor".  I need that "ballast" on the inside to stablize my ship when it's tossed about by a storm. 

I'm certainly not perfect at maintaining a peaceful spirit in times of turmoil, but I do try to handle each new wave of change with a belief that my God is in charge of every aspect of my life.  No matter what happens, it is never out of His control.

~~~~~

Today I "managed" my house all by my little lonesome...well, until after noon, anyway, when Doug came home.

Ike's caregiver could not be here today.  Her mom is very sick and in the hospital, so she went to spend some time with her this past weekend.

So, I did Ike's 9 a.m. feed, and his first clothing change, and many, many, many minor adjustments that he insisted were absolutely necessary. ;)

Needless to say, my day seemed a little out of sync due to that schedule change.  Add to that the fact that my laptop is acting up again, and you can see that my day was definitely not according to my normal routine for Mondays.

It is nice, thought, isn't it, to be completely out of your ordinary schedule - occasionally?  I think so, anyway.  I really enjoyed my morning - just me and my boy.

~~~~~

By the way, this weekend, I got a great start to one of my 2012 goals.  I've entered a "blog party" for jewelry makers.  Aaaaaaaaand...I am blogging again on my jewelry blog and you can read all about the party here.

I am very excited to be back at my desk, working on my jewelry again.

Here's hoping that Tuesday is a little more "normal" than today! :)

Alesha

 

 

 

Managing My Monday

Managing my Monday this week means phone calls...

LOTS and LOTS of phone calls!!!

Some for me...some for Isaac...

It is not one of my favorite things to do, but it is one of those necessary evils.

How are you managing your household today???

Managing My Monday

It's the first Monday of the first month of a brand new year!

I'm not much on "New Year's resolutions", but I do love a time of new beginning.  I feel motivated to be more than I was yesterday, last month, last year.

Usually, with me, that's a nebulous concept.  I have a list (up in my head) of my life goals, and I aim toward those.

I've been impressed with my friends who sit down at the end of the year, and actually write out their goals for the next year.  I have never done that.  Perhaps it's something I will try this year.  I haven't decided yet.  (which means that I probably won't, but don't despair - there is always hope that I will decide before much of this new year slips away!)

I did decide to do something new today - something I have never done before. 

Two years ago, I invested in some popular, expensive mineral makeup.  I liked it just fine except for the price!.  Last year, I found a smaller company that sells an excellent product - a mineral makeup - with a much smaller price tag.  So I have switched almost completely over to their line of products.

However, I am still using the brushes from the popular brand makeup because they are so fabulous!!!  I'll let you do that math, though, when I admit that I have never cleaned those brushes.

So, for this first Monday of the first month of the new year - I decided to do just that!

Here are my results:

Before

During

After

Side-by-side Comparison

I used a mild dish detergent with no scent (I didn't want to be brushing "Crisp Fresh Apple" into my pores every time I applied my makeup!) and warm water.  I shook them vigorously like I would have cleaned a paint brush, then brushed them back and forth on a thick towel to help them resume their shape.  I left them to air dry, which took a few hours.

I was very pleased with my results. I will certainly not be waiting so long to clean them again!

Happy New Year, my friends!  May your year be filled with new experiences that bring you great joy!

Alesha

Managing My Mondays

I'll be managing this Monday from my bed.  My back suddenly went out on Saturday.  I have been in bed ever since.  My plan is to get to the chiropractor this afternoon.

So, I'll leave you with the latest puppy pics. :)

Have a Happy Monday!

Alesha

 

 

Managing My Mondays

 

 

No real "managing" here...merely "maintaining."

Having an 8-week old puppy...

and no caregiver for Isaac today...

has had me cleaning up

after one or the other of them

all day.

It's a good thing they are both so darn cute!!!

 

Inspiration versus Perspiration

Why is it that verses like this ~

The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. Proverbs 18:10

make me feel all warm and fuzzy;

While verses like this ~

He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. Proverbs 18:9

make me want to squirm?

There are, after all, written one right after the other in this chapter of Proverbs.

I think some days, the Lord

gets tired of my quest for emotional inspiration,

and instead wants to

measure my obedience by the sweat of my brow!

My goal today:  to work diligently.  (The sweat is just going to happen on its own - it is, after all, July in Florida!)