Never Despair

If, every day, I dare to remember that I am here on loan, that this house, this hillside, these minutes are all leased to me, not given, I will never despair. Despair is for those who expect to live forever. I no longer do.

-Erica Jong, writer (b. 1942)

Memorial Day 2013

Happy Memorial Day from the Monkies! A huge thank you to all who have given their lives and served our country. We will forever be grateful.

Hope

"Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad...but it's the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up...and it will."
-Hope Floats

I am...

Micah 6:8

Cherry Pie Bars

 1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 c. flour
1 tsp salt
2 cans (21 ounce) cherry pie filling
Glaze
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 Tbsp milk
Instructions

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, beating after each addition. Mix in extracts. Add flour and salt. Mix until well combined.
Spread 3 cups of the batter in a greased jelly roll pan. Spread pie filling on top of dough. Drop remaining dough by tablespoonfuls on top of cherry pie topping.
Baked at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool.
Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over bars. If serving the next day wait and do this before serving or the bars will be a bit soggy!

The Word

Only the Word is the answer to rightly reading the world, because the Word has nail-scarred hands that cup our face close, wipe away the tears running down, has eyes to look deep into our brimming ache, and whisper,

"I know. I know."

STOP

Stop comparing yourself to others. You have your own race to run. Finish well.

Grateful...

Earlier, I watched the monkies laugh and run around the yard tonight with the new water guns....I smiled and felt so grateful. Later, after they've been tucked into bed, they think they don't need to stay in bed and try escaping 45 times....I get frustrated and lose my patience. Now, my heart is broken as I read all the latest updates on Oklahoma. My mind cannot grasp what these Mamas are feeling......the ones that have found out they will never hold their sweet babies in their arms again. The seven little ones they found drowned in a pool of water. The ones who wait for the digging to stop and the lost to be found. Life just hurts bad....it stinks, and it's really not fair sometimes. But I know this much....the same God who hung the stars holds us in His arms. He catches every tear drop that falls and He is the one who keeps us from falling apart when the darkness closes in. I'm going to go cuddle my sleeping monkies and pull them close one more time tonight....and then tomorrow, I think I'm going to work on being a patient Mama.

My Days...

My worst days are a reminder that I desperately need Jesus.

My best days remind me of how much I have that I am so very grateful for.

Hope

“We are hope-shaped creatures. How we live today is completely shaped by what we believe about our future."

 

You Are Lovely

God is in the business of second-chances. He is a God of redemption. He never wastes anything. If you're struggling with your scars tonight, take comfort in these words from Psalm 147:3:

"He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds." If you have scars tonight, its' okay. They're part of who you are. And God will bind up your wounds if you'll let Him.

He will. He's good like that.

 

 

Just One Step Further

"Christianity means someone goes. Christianity means someone comes. SomeOne left heaven, SomeOne went to a manger, to a Cross, to the dying and trapped and the buried. And if no one goes across the room, across the house, the sidewalk, the street, the country, how many will grow cold and fall asleep and drift off and away?
How many will be held captive and chained and bound and who will go and break down doors and break down walls and break down small boxes and the only way for your life to yield anything is to go.
Take one step, reach out your hand.
You don’t have to have anything — but Christ.
Don’t let the Great Commission be your life omission by thinking it’s a function of distance — instead of going the distance right where you are.
You’ve just got to go down the hall, across the room, to the end of the street, across town, over high walls, across county and state and country lines and reach right across barbed wire fences. If we’re the hands of Christ — how can we just sit on them? If our feet are shod with gospel of good news — how can they not go where there’s bad news?
Isn’t this always the holiest work of all — to lay aside an agenda to carry a cross and the presence of Christ just. one. step. further."
~Ann Voskamp

Read more at:
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2013/05/simply-3-words-for-every-day/

ONCE IN A LIFETIME

The best kind of people are the ones that come into your life,

and make you see the sun where you once saw clouds.

The people that believe in you so much,

you start to believe in you too.

The people that love you, for simply being you...

The once in a lifetime kind of people.

LOVE

LOVE keeps going....while the rest of the world gives up and quits fighting the good fight. I just want you to know: It's gonna be worth it all in the end. It will all make sense then even if it doesn't now. YOU ARE WORTH IT! Keep on keeping on.....and stick with the people who help you fight those battles....the ones who remind you that LOVE really still does exist.

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Nutiva coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup almond butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 – 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8×8 pan or line with parchment paper.
2. Combine wet ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well with an electric mixer.
3. Combine almond flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix well with mixer.
5. Mix in chocolate chips and spread batter in greased 8×8 pan.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Don't Pass Yourself By

"Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering."
-St. Augustine

Happiness

"HAPPINESS is not a goal....it's a by-product of a life well lived."

~Eleanor Roosevelt

Micah 6:8

Happy 7th Birthday Gabe!

Simple Truth

God is Great...God is Good.

Marriage

When an arm is broken, it must be held tightly in a cast to heal. When a marriage is broken, you must hold each other tightly to heal. Separating to fix what's wrong is like amputating a broken arm as a way to heal it. Work together, pray together, stay together and don't give up!

AVALANCHE LOVE

"People who flit from relationship to relationship as their infatuations lead them aren't really happy; they're desperate---and they'll never find what they're looking for as they allow their desperation to bury potential life partners. There is no perfect "soul mate", either for them or for us. There will only be sinner after sinner after sinner. But when you learn to accept and love one particular sinner over several decades, you can slowly build an alliance and intimacy that nothing else can match.

Love doesnt have to slow fade away like a snowman on a warm day. It can grow like an avalanche in power and force, picking up strength along the way.

Sometimes it's a good thing to stay at a thing...and work things out..no matter how hard along the way." ~ Gary Thomas

Sometimes love stinks after the "ooey-gooey" fades away....and sometimes relationships take more work than others. "Love doesnt have to slow fade away like a snowman on a warm day. It can grow like an avalanche in power and force, picking up strength along the way." Love is war....it's a daily battle of dying to selfishness and choosing your person over yourself. And that's hard....some days that's really, really, really hard. I'm not gonna lie. But when it's all said and done....I want it to be said that yes.....I made 10 gazillion mistakes along the way. There were days I wanted to run very far way and I was a messed up mess. But there was grace for every moment. And there were clean slates every day. We fought the good fight. We loved and we forgave. We pushed thru the deserts and the dark valleys. And baby....in the end...we stood up on that high mountaintop and said: I was an avalanche lover!!!! Not a wimpy snowman melter!!

Zephaniah 3:17

 

^"The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

The Filters

Men think and hear with a blue filter system.

Women think and hear with a pink filter system.

Guys: don't expect the gals to use the blue filter.

Gals: don't expect the guys to use the pink filter.

It will save you ALOT of heartache.

Learn the filter systems....it's worth it.

Having Babies

Loved this....

http://womenlivingwell.org/2013/04/having-babies-in-opposite-world/

Lives of Joy

"Those who fully live,

who live ecstatic lives of joy,

embrace moving out of comfort zones."

~Ann Voskamp