Things I am Learning in this Journey of Life!

   

I am learning through my storm that is not really what people think about me that is hurting me.  It is more what I think about what they are thinking.  How I care or ignore what they are thinking.  I am in a way without meaning to making the storm wilder and bigger.  Once I faced this, I started searching for ways to calm my inner storm.  

I started seeking God and His will and way for my life.  I have always been told the best way to find this is to talk to Him and to read His word.  Prayer is when we talk to Him and reading His word is when He talks to us. A few verses have really reached out to me so far.

God knows what He desires for me and my life.  He won't force it on me, but it is waiting there for me to reach out and receive.  I am learning to pray before I make decisions and see if they seem to line up with the future God has for me.

      

If I think on people that have hurt me and how hurt and upset I am then I tend to be in a down and out mood.  If I think more on how God feels about me, how I can serve Him and others I seem to do better.  It is for sure that when we seek to bless others, we too are blessed in the process.  When I read His word, seek to learn it and hold it in my heart, then when the devil attacks I can throw them back at him.  Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh is gloomy, he thinks, walks, talks and acts gloomy so he is gloomy.  Tigger is happy, bouncy and always moving around, he acts happy and he is happy. Sometimes the devil likes to alienate us from others and make us feel alone.  But Tigger, he is the only Tigger and he is just fine with that. If we are doing right and we are the only one, well as long as it is right with Jesus we are not really alone, cause we have Him.  He will never leave us nor forsake us.

One of the biggest thing I am learning is this, do something every day that leads you closer to God.  The closer I am to God the less what people thinks, including me , matters. I am getting ready to do a bible reading plan with my daughter-in-law in February.  I am doing a bible study on the "I AM" of the Lord.  What are you doing to bring you closer to God?

Until next time,

Pat

Sitting in Daddy's lap!

     

    I decided to be open and vulnerable and share my heart on my blog page but going to share it here too to hold me accountable and to maybe help someone else too.
     I have been going through some things for a while now. Everyone thinks they know what I should do or say. I am going to be brutally honest here, I am so overwhelmed with all this that I don't know anymore. This is where I woke up this morning. 
     Then it hit me, I am listening to every one and no one. Remember when you were a kid and you would have a problem and you would try to listen to your friends and you sometimes ended up in a mess.
      Finally you would go to your Moma and Daddy and then you could just sit there, cry, and let them hold you. Then you would finally talk to them and they would help you. Well, this morning I realized I need to be listening to my Daddy and letting Him hold me a while. 
     You can pray and I appreciate it more than words can say and I really hope you will but if you don't mind I am also going to sit here in my Daddy's lap awhile. 

Until next time,
Pat

GIVE YOUR KIDS A HEART ATTACK & IT'S A GOOD THING!

     I bet my title got your attention, good that's what I wanted. Now, it is not that type of heart attack but rather this.one.

 

     I read a really good idea on facebook and I am going to do it with the grands next month, with my own twist.  I am sharing the idea with you, our twist and also linking back to the original source to give her credit and so you can also find a template to use if you decide to join in.
     The idea is between February 1st and 14th, you cut out a paper heart and color, decorate or however you choose to do it. Then you write something positive on it about your child (or grandchild in my case) and place it on their door each day.  Now, my twist since I homeschool them and they don't live with me is this, I am going to have it waiting on them each day on their desk.  On February 14th is will also include a small treat from me.  You could even simply put these with the heart on the 14th.

     You could easily do this at any time but it just screams Valentines to me.  You could also adapt this to place it in their lunch box, back pack or however you want to do this.  You could even change this up and do it for your husband, now that's an idea I might have to explore also.  Hmmmmmm!

     I searched for and this link seems to go to the original source so you can see what she did it and get the printable template if you wish, but most of us, crafty or not can cut out something similar to a heart.                                                                                     http://www.skiptomylou.org/heart-attack/

     So why not join me and give your kids, grands, hubby or someone you love a heart attack. If you do this too, would love to hear about it if you don't mind.

Until next time,
Pat

Lazy Days Rarely Happen So.......What To Do?/Thankful Tuesday Link Up

     Lazy days rarely happen for me.  My life seems to go in a whirlwind.  I am rushing around getting my 2 guys off to work or something they need.  I homeschool the 4 grands and am Children's Ministries Director at Church so busy, busy, busy.  It seems I never have a day to just be lazy.
     This past Friday I was just feeling off but pushed through a day of school with the grands and then we did our weekly extra class.  This week is was Woodshop for the boys and Sewing for the girls.  By the time this was over and they went home, I knew something was wrong.
     That something wrong was the stomach bug and it hit me hard.  I was sick all weekend long and not really too much better on Monday.  Billy and Stephen were amazing and took such good care of me and the house.  Jonathan filled in for me at church and all was covered.  Finally Monday evening I was coming back to the land of the living.  I had been lazy for days but being sick, they were not the ones I was looking for.
     Today, Tuesday, I am finally feeling better.  Jon kept the grands at home to make sure all was clear so I had a lazy day, Now what to do?
     I made a pot of "Moma soup" and cornbread.  I know cooking on lazy day but I like to cook and this is so easy.  I painted 2 signs that I had been promising Stephen I would get done for him since before Christmas.

       

The first basically says "I came, I saw, I conquered" or something like that, the 2nd says "Stay Humble, Hustle Hard"! He likes them so I am a happy Moma and that is all that matters.  After that was some binge watching of  "The Gilmore Girls" and I started with Season 1, Episode 1.  Other that that I was truly just lazy for the rest of the day.

     Tomorrow, the kids will be back for school and lazy days are over.  It was nice while it lasted but I will be honest I think I will be ready for school to be back in session.  Now lets hope there are lazy days ahead but I sure hope they don't come after another stomach bug.  So have ya'll had any lazy days lately, what did you do?  I would love to hear. I know I was very thankful for a lazy Tuesday today! 

Until the next time,

Pat

PS I am linking up for thankful Tuesdays at http://livinglifehourbyhour.blogspot.com/ go check it out or join in too

My New Mantra---I Am Enough!

This is my new mantra. I realize some people will never like me or the way I do things. I will never live where or how they think I should. I will never please them or be enough for them. I do good, I mess up. I fall and I rise again. My word this year is "always" and there is always going to be someone, something or both but I am enough for God and that's all that matters.

Until next time,

Pat

M&M's, not candy but Mission's And Me (lesson for my church kids)

     We have our annual Mission's conference in April each year.  We have a week of Missionaries coming in to share their hearts and fields.  We have a preacher or preachers who share why we should be involved in Missions and how we can be and yet never leave our homes.  This is one of my favorite times of year in our church.
     Our Pastor, Bro. JD Weido says that though we have a Mission's conference one week a year, missions should be in our hearts and lives, monthly, weekly, daily. April is coming up soon so I wanted to get the kids hearts looking towards missions now.  
     I am planning a special small lesson once each month starting with this month, January and leading up to April.  This past Sunday, we talked about what a missionary is.  We talked about though we can't all be missionaries we can be involved and each of us should be.  I asked them who should be involved in missions (m) and they said me (m).  To help them remember this I showed them a candy box.

Do you see why I shared this candy.  All kids recognize M&M.'s.  But I told them to look at the box with new eyes.  M&M= Missions and Me. And yes after they finally understood we just had to open the box and enjoy a few.

Now we know who should be involved in Missions and next month, we will learn how we can be. I hope you will be back here next month to see what we learned.

God bless til next time,

Pat

The Simple Woman's Daybook January 13, 2017

For Today

Looking out my window

I see a world before me and do they know Jesus 

I am thinking

When they look at me or listen to me do they see Him or do they go, No, thanks?

I am thankful

That I get to home school my grands, it is so wonderful to watch them learn and grow and to see the light go off when they finally get something to click in their mind

One of my favorite things

Is reading.  I love to read just for fun and also to grow in my life and relationship with God and others

I am creating

Nothing at the moment but will be working on some paintings, nothing fancy but just some basic sign type pictures

I am wearing

Blue workout pants and blue tshirt

I am reading 

When I first found out about this book and that I was going to be on the launch team, I just not sure.  I was thinking I am so overwhelmed now that I don't have time to add the overwhelming task of not only reading this but helping promote it too.  But in my opinion it is well worth the time to read. Kathi and Cheri want to show you five surprising reasons why you become stressed, why social media solutions don't often work, and how you can finally create a plan that works for you. I highly recommend this book and one place you can find it is here:

https://www.amazon.com/Overwhelmed-Quiet-Chaos-Restore-Sanity/dp/0736965386

I am hoping

To learn to take time for me to restore my health mentally, physically and spiritually in 2017.  I am worth it and I am enough are 2 of my favorite mantras right now

I am learning

Sorry to repeat but I am worth it and I am enough

In my kitchen

nothing at the moment as it is grocery day

but a recipe I am wanting to try is

Sugar Free Caramel Crunch Apple Crisp

In the school room

  and 

These are google pictures but will soon be sharing more pictures of our actual activities and projects

In my garden

Nothing at the moment but promised the grands when spring comes we will make fairy gardens

Shared Quote

(from google)

A moment from my day

Closing Notes
I hope you enjoyed your visit and will come again, friends are always welcome.  If you would like to share your daybook or read others go here

http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-simple-womans-daybook-january.html

Until next time,

Pat

Would You Want To Be Your Friend?

     I was talking to someone recently and she said she wished she had more friends?  She told me she wished she had more but didn't know how to make new ones.  I asked her a question, "Would you want to be your friend?"  She asked me what I meant.

     I then asked her to think on these things:

1) Do you get out and go places to meet friends?  You are probably not going to meet a whole lot of people at your house
2) Are you friendly?  Do you smile at people?   Do you say hello?  Do you try to get to know others?
3) Do you approach people or always wait on them to talk to you?
4) Look for people that maybe have kids the age of yours or share an interest like reading or knitting or something like that.  Join a book club if you life to read or a support group for wives of police officers, military or something like that if it applies to you
5) Pray and ask God for a friend-don't laugh, someone gave me that advice once and guess what He did and we are still friends, many years and adventures later
6) Show yourself friendly---

     I don't have a lot of friends but I do have friends who stick with me through think and thin and they are a treasure.  So if you are looking for a friend, more that anything, ask yourself, would I want to be my friend.

Until next time, God bless,
Pat

WORD OF THE YEAR, 2017----"ALWAYS"

     For several years I have prayed and sought a Word for the year and the direction the Lord would have me go.  I chose the word "Rise" for this year but after a couple of weeks I realized this was what I chose and not of the Lord.  It was coming from pain and not somewhere I want to be anymore.
     I prayed and really sought the Lord and clearly felt the Lord leading me to the word, "Always".  As this year goes forward I will try to share some of what this word brings me to and what the Lord is teaching me.

     Today my daughter in law, Jenny, shared a song with me.  After I quit crying I felt such comfort and peace.  I am so excited as I face this journey with the Lord this year.  I am posting the link to the song so you can listen to if you wish. 

It too is called Always!

https://youtu.be/YZsRU6-3MTc

God bless until next time,

Pat

To Blog Or Not To Blog-I Think I Will Try Again

     I started blogging a few years ago when a lot of my friends were blogging.  Back then I mostly blogged about homeschooling and my family.  Then I tried several different ways to blog but was just never really happy and now here I find myself 6 months with no post......but hey this is not good bye and please stay with me here.
     I have decided to blog again and it may be about homeschooling as I am now homeschooling 4 grands.  It may be about family, books I read, thoughts I have, marriage, life after 50, my Lord and Savior or who knows.  Each post may be different.  I just want to blog for me and if you would like to join in I would be honored.
     So here goes, I will bring you up to date if you used to read here and if somehow you are new well this is who I am. I am married to my best friend Billy for 30 years.  We have 3 kiddos, one is married, is a police officer, and has made me a Mother in law and a Mamaw 4 times over,  Next is a daughter who is married and living in Oklahoma.  Lastly is our youngest who recently got a start on his law enforcement career by becoming a jailer at our local jail.  I homeschool my 4 grands and work with the 4 years through 6th graders at church.  I love redbirds, reading, trying to get healthier and getting closer to God.  So now you kind of know a little of who I am.  I hope you will join me here as you can and as I share a little of my life, Living Life With The Loves!

God bless,
Pat