November Sky

Whate'er My God Ordains Is Right

1. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Holy His will abideth.
I will be still whate’er He does,
And follow where He guideth.
He is my God,
Though dark my road.
He holds me that I shall not fall
Wherefore to Him I leave it all

2. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
He never will deceive me
He leads me by the proper path,
I know He will not leave me
I take, content,
What He hath sent
His hand can turn my griefs away
And patiently I wait His day

3. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Though now this cup in drinking
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it all unshrinking
My God is true,
Each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart
And pain and sorrow shall depart

4. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Here shall my stand be taken
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken
My Father’s care
Is round me there
He holds me that I shall not fall
And so to Him I leave it all

©1998 David Braud Music.

This was the view from our back yard last evening. Thank you, Lord, for your beauty. As my little girl says, "He's bigger than anything that's big."

The hymn comes from the RUF Hymnbook at igracemusic.com

Small Delights

I'm never alone. There are always little feet following me around, interested in what I'm doing and willing to help, whatever the task. I love those little feet...

...and little hands.
There is beauty all around us,

and we have been taking it all in.

Thanksgiving, 2007

Lovely blooms from my Thanksgiving cactus to brighten up your day. Happy Thanksgiving.


Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite movies, which is probably what we will end up watching today, as we are "quarantining" ourselves from Thanksgiving dinner with family because of a stomach bug.

"Hi Rose. That is a great name. Rose. This is Kathleen. I'm Joe--"

"And I'm Henry!"

"Henry, how are you? Happy Holidays. This is a credit card machine. (silence) Happy Thanksgiving. (more silence) It's your turn to say 'Happy Thanksgiving' back."

"Happy Thanksgibbing back"

"Knock Knock"

"Who's there?"

"Orange."

"Orange, who?"

"Orange you going to give us a break by zipping this credit card through the credit card machine? Come on, you can do it. Zip Zip. There you go. Rose, ahh that is a great name. So, you're fine. Happy Thanksgiving. Henry, Happy Thanksgiving."

Treasuring God in Our Traditions

"The greatest stumbling block for children in worship is that their parents do not cherish the hour. Children can feel the difference between duty and delight. Therefore, the first and most important job of a parent is to fall in love with the worship of God. You can't impart what you don't possess."

John Piper

My posting may be sporadic, as we are having some computer difficulties. But, in all my Advent preparation, I have been challenged even further by Noel Piper in her book, Treasuring God in our Traditions, to take all our traditions more seriously and to put thought into even the simplest of everyday activities. Our children are watching to see if what we tell them about God is real. I am burdened to "make it so" in my own life.

Homemade Play Dough

This came from Jena, a creative mom I know, who should really be in the blogging world as well.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
3 T oil
small package of Kool AidMix all ingredients. Add 1 cup boiling water and knead until soft. Store in air tight container for 2-3 weeks. ( I store mine in the fridge, and it keeps for much longer.)

Advent Preparation (Is that redundant?)

The Christmas season of Advent starts on December 2nd this year.

I wanted to get started ahead of time this year on Advent activities, as at least one of my kids is really starting to understand things like this. My husband and I really want to make Christmas meaningful. I have recently found several resources that are full of information and ideas and I am posting the links here, mainly so I can find them quick, but also in case any of my faithful few readers are interested as well.

Teachingmom.com This is a calendar with activities, crafts and readings for each day of the season. Click on a day, and there are more ideas than you could possibly need.

Same thing here, (only different) at NZLNet

For more resources and articles, here are Tulipgirl's picks.

This is really simple and straightforward. Advent 2007

One more...This one is not in operation this year, but the archives are helpful.

November Blessing

It's been one of those weeks....

But I consider these a blessing in this November chill. They are called rain lilies and they came from my grandmother. All summer long, every time it rains, they bloom just like this. I hadn't brought them in for the winter yet this year since it has been so warm, and then we had several days of rain, and what do you know? (in November, no less) Here they are! I have been bringing them in during the nights to prolong their beauty. Can you blame me?

I took the first picture when they had just opened up and the last pictures just this morning. You can't quite see how thick the frost is, but take my word for it.

Favorite Things

Here are a few of my new favorite things...

1. Pandora. I am currently listening to "Sting" radio and loving it. (yes, honey, by my own choosing) I clicked a button that told them I didn't like the current song by Steven Tyler and they promised never to play it again! So fun. Thanks to Jena for pointing me to this great spot. My favorite station that I have created so far is Jason Harrod radio.

2. M&Ms Dark Chocolate. Yum. Thanks to myself for finding these on sale with the Halloween candy at the drug store.

3. This is just so tasty.

4. Lebanese Tabbouleh It just so happens that the majority of these are things you eat. I do like food. I will not lie.

5. One more thing. This is just the sweetest book for kids. I highly recommend it. It's been around for a while but when it came out, I was in junior high, so I missed the boat until now. My little girl and I loved reading it together.



One thing I don't like...mice in the house! We are hunting one these days. I will leave you, today, with the words of Jack Handey.

Something tells me that the first mousetrap wasn't designed to catch mice at all, but to protect little cheese "gems" from burglars.

Psalm 131

Psalm 131

131:1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.

from the ESV

The Poopsmith Song

I haven't changed a poopy diaper in two days! I know there will be set backs, but I believe J2 is finally starting to get it. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

This song from Over the Rhine really speaks to me at a time like this:

The Poopsmith

Not on your arm
Not on your leg
Not in the toast
Not in the eggs
Not on the carpet
Nor the linoleum
Just how'd your little brother get it smeared all over him

Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty
x4

Not on your brother
not on your sis
not on any family member, you might wanna make a list

not on the plants
not in your hair
not on the porch
no, we do not want to share

Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty
x4

Not on the swing
not on the slide
not while we're spinnin' on a carnival ride
not on the window
not on the wall
no more surprises on the light switch down the hall

hey!

Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty
x4

Not in the yard
you're on your honor
don't go gettin' no ideas from the neighbors Weimaraner

Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty...


You can find it on this kids' album
Or you can purchase it here.