Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Ten Candles

It's birthday season again around here, and we're
kicking it off with a ten candle celebration!

It's so hard to believe my baby girl has already reached this milestone
and as I was planning her party I realized that the way we celebrated



last summer should have been the party this year!

My dilemma? 

How to have the same amount of FUN
with fewer frills and less money?

THEN... 

when I found this mini doll place setting,
I knew exactly what to do!



First we invited the girls
(and their dolls)...


    

      

served mini snacks...


carrots and cucumbers w/ ranch
apples and grapes w/ yogurt
corndogs and pizza rolls


decorated doll t-shirts...

 


made matching flip flops
from cardboard... 

 

frosted and decorated
mini cupcakes...

(for the dolls, of course)


and watched my little girl


enjoy the love and support
of her friends and family

It's birthday season!

Up next... 

Thursday, June 5, 2014

A Lesson from Peter... In Just Six Verses

While reading Matthew 16:13-27,
I received an unexpected

"Lesson From Peter"

and Jesus' response to Peter in 
verses 17 and 23 that stood out in particular
                                                                
17. And Jesus Answered "Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven".          

23. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me for thou savors not the things that be of God, but those that be of men  

And I couldn't help but notice that...

Peter went from being praised
to being reprimanded...

from being called blessed
to being called an offence...

from being enlightened by God
to being used by Satan...

in just six verses!

And it is clear that Peter had other problems

ups and downs
good encounters
bad ones

At times he was attacked
other times he was the attacker

He denied
He lied
He drew the sword

because

Peter had issues...
Peter was human...
Peter was imperfect...

and yet he was chosen
--------------------

Standing on the Rock
 by Tondra Denise
 
The tide rolled out every afternoon
and I watched it from the shore 
 
 The tide rolled in every afternoon
each day the same as before
 
God showed me by rolling back the tide
that daily He's ever near
 
So standing on the Rock is where I'll be
and I'll never have need to fear
----------------------

 and as we watch Peter

grow in God
mature
receive the keys to the Kingdom

(and the precious gift of the Holy Ghost)

we begin to see less of his inconsistencies

as he begins to use all of that misdirected passion
to bless others and lead them to salvation

(And here is the lesson...)

Because if we too, are to be successful in this journey
we must also battle our inconsistencies

We must all battle
our own inconsistencies

misdirected passions
ideologies
selfish ambitions

and shift the focus from...

what others do,
and how it affects me

to

what I do,
and how it affects others

We must not only talk grace,
we must walk it

daily

If we truly want to replace our
public failures with private victories

We must learn from Peter

so that when the six verses are finally up
it ends with "Well done"