Random Friday Thoughts: About Life and Being Still!

     Today is random thoughts Friday on the blog.....
    I have been thinking a lot about life, my life. I have talked to several people about different things.  Everyone of them had something to say and what I should do, say or feel.  I have been so confused about everything and really just not knowing what to do.  
    I was reading something in a bible plan I was reading and it hit me that this is the problem in itself.  I have been talking to several people and all people are different so I got lots of ideas.  I have been so full of everyone's ideas that there was no room for mine or even more importantly Gods. 
    I am not saying it is bad to seek counsel but you have to be careful where you seek counsel cause sometimes counsel is hidden in I am nosy and want to get ammo to gossip about you.  
    Another thing I have learned is that some people will never like you no matter what you do or say.  Some people will pretend they like you but they are really using you.  Then there are if you are really lucky then you will have even a couple of people you can really talk to, trust and have faith in.  
    I am seeking God first and foremost, seeking to have a better relationship with my husband second and then will listen to them more for now and let God lead me to any others that is best for me to talk to, seek advice, prayer and counsel from.  
    I am sharing this not to brag on me, to hurt anyone, or to be mean.  I am sharing this in hopes that it might help someone else that feels like me that there are so many voices in their head that they can't hear any of them enough to know what to think or feel.  

    I am thinking and meditating on this verse and maybe some of you will be helped by doing that too.  I hope that maybe that maybe this will help someone else too.  Remember these thoughts too......

God bless,
Pat 

Days of Journey of Life, Book Reviews, Homeschool and Life and More!

     I am going to be making some changes here on the blog.  I am going to be blogging more but I will be having days I blog about certain things and then a random day when you never know what I will blog about.  I just wanted to share so ya'll would kind of know where I am headed and what you don't want to miss. There might be a day where I don't post anything but I will be posting more than in the past.  I hope ya'll will enjoy what I have to post about.

Monday: will be updates with my family and anything we have going to in our life.  It could be personal, church, or just anything we have going on.  

Tuesday:  I will be doing my "Journey Through Life" posts.  It could be anything that is about growing in life or life experiences in spiritual, physical or emotional.  It could be about being an older lady,mother, grandmother, marriage, christianity etc

Wednesday: This will be the day for book reviews or things going on with any Book Launch Team I am on.  It might be a review, a giveaway, author interview and more.

Thursday: This day will be anything homeschool related.  It might be something the kids have done.  Ideas for your homeschool, things we have found that works, doesn't work or just pictures of the grands.

Friday: This is for anything that does not fit in one of the categories above listed.

     I hope this will kind of help ya'll to know where I am headed with my blog and upcoming changes.  I hope this will help to get more readers and followers to my blog also.  If you have any comments, ideas, suggestions,I would love to hear them.

Pat

Misplaced and Found-Book Reviews of Books I Lost But Glad I Found-What Will You Think?

     I from time to time get to be on book launch teams or review books in exchange for reading the book and giving my honest opinion.  I really enjoy doing this and I try really hard to do them on time in a timely manner.  I try I said but somehow through some moving things around and changing things the book review for these 2 books never got posted.  I feel bad about not completing this as I had committed but am going to do the best I can and post them now.  So here goes.....

     Book 1--is a book for the little ones in your life.It is called The Play-Along Bible.  This is a wonderful book for the little ones, it teaches them about God but also to use their imagination through play.  Sometimes getting little ones to sit still long enough to learn a lesson is hard.  This book teaches them but lets them play and so they learn without having to be still. Whether it’s acting out the dawn of creation by making a funny fish face or belting out a giant roar while pretending to be a ferocious beast in Daniel’s lions’ den, kids will encounter hundreds of fun ways to actively engage with the Bible. Using this fresh and easy, multisensory approach, you’ll be surprised how well your child will recall and absorb the Scriptures.  It is a book I highly recommend in you have a younger person in your life. If this sounds like a book you would like to have or give as a gift you can find it on amazon.com

Book 2--is a book for you or a gift for others you care about.  It is an amazing book by an amazing author. Have you ever wondered how to make home your family’s favorite place to be . . . all year long. Does your home sometimes feel like just a place to eat, sleep, and change clothes on the way to the next activity? Do you long for “home” to mean more than a place where you stash your stuff? Wouldn’t you love it to become a haven of warmth, rest, and joy . . . the one place where you and your family can’t wait to be?  There is good news waiting for you in the pages of The Lifegiving Home. Every day of your family’s life can be as special and important to you as it already is to God. In this unique book designed to help your family enjoy and celebrate every month of the year together, you’ll discover the secrets of a life-giving home from a mother who created one and her daughter who was raised in it: popular authors Sally and Sarah Clarkson. Together they offer a rich treasure of wise advice, spiritual principles, and practical suggestions. You’ll embark on a new path to creating special memories for your children; establishing home-building and God-centered traditions; and cultivating an environment in which your family will flourish. I recommend this book to you to buy for yourself and to give as a gift for others in your life.  

I was given these books for free in exchange for my honest review from Tyndale House Publishers.  All opinions given are mine and given freely.  

I hope that you will check these books out.  I promise they are both worth buying and reading.

Pat

Journey Through Life-Putting all the Pieces of our Puzzle together Correctly

     Life is like a jigsaw puzzle-family, friends, jobs, commitments, even enemies are all pieces of your life.  When you are putting a puzzle together, you can't just scatter the pieces any where you please and put it together. You have to try and form smaller sections and then put the smaller pieces together to form bigger and bigger sections until the whole puzzle is put together.  

     If you put pieces in the wrong places then the puzzle can't be put together right.  If you try to put job pieces in family pieces, it won't work.  If you try to put enemies in your friends places it won't fit, problem is that sometimes they look the same but they are not so it is hard to figure out which is which.  Sometimes the enemies smile in your face as much as friends. How do you know which is which?

    

     What about God pieces?  Do you try to fit the God pieces in where you want or where He wants them to fit in your life best? 

Or do you look for where God wants to be in your life?  Sometimes I know I get so busy working for God that I feel like I have no time left to even be still long enough to see where He is in my life. 

How do you make time for God?  I long to have that close relationship with God.  I want to make sure I make time to not only read my bible and pray but to also listen to God and hear what He is trying to say to me.  I don't doubt my salvation but sometimes I do feel I have lost the joy of my salvation.  I have the spots I know where I think He fits in my life but I really need to be able to hear where He knows he fits in my life puzzle.

     I have discovered as I go along that life is a puzzle and I will spend my whole life completing the puzzle.  But I want to spend my time right now getting the important edges completed, the ones that help make a place for the rest to fit in to become the beautiful puzzle that God created me and my life to be. The edges should be God, then family and friends that support and believe in you.  As life goes along other pieces will fill in the spaces of your life.  Some will be random pieces, some big, some small, some pretty and some not but they will all help form your puzzle. You will also find some random pieces that you think go in your puzzle but you may find they got in your puzzle by mistake and you have to take them out to make room for the ones that really belong in your puzzle.

I am still sorting through the pieces of my life and figuring out the pieces that fit and the ones I may have been mistaken about. I am trying to make sure God and the ones who truly care are in their right spots and maybe if I get those in the right places it will all come out good in my puzzle of life.

How is your life puzzle coming together?

Pat

Journey Through Life:I AM EMPTY!

 
   

       I have been feeling so empty inside lately.  I talked to several people and they all told me you need to do something because you can't pour from an empty cup.  I tried every way I could to fill it back up.  It seemed that nothing was working and I just felt worse and worse because I was so empty.

     

     Then finally someone said to me, "yes you are empty, but you say it like it is a bad thing but it's not."  I was confused but they told me, "you can't fill your cup no matter how much you try."  They said, "Go to the Lord, pray, read His word and let Him fill your cup." She said empty was exactly what I needed to be so the Lord could fill my cup. 

     Sometimes it is not that we are empty but rather we are so full of ourselves, the world and all that there is no room left for the Lord or what He has for us.  I still am not where I need to be and I still fill kind of empty but that is just fine with me.  I have plenty of room for the Lord to fill me up. Right now I am just standing here, saying, Lord here is my cup, I am empty and please fill it as you would.

I am sharing a song that explains right where I am and the prayer I am praying as I wait for the Lord to fill my cup with Him and His will!

God bless Until Next Time,

Pat

Girls Day Out! McDonald and Beauty & the Beast

     

      Today was girls day out, my granddaughters Nonna made them Belle dresses and bun wraps, Jenny and I gave them new "American Girl" dolls.  We met a friend and her daughter at McDonald's for lunch and then went to the movies to see "Beauty and the Beast."
     Yes, I watched the reviews and checked on more than one sight before we went.  However, no matter who wrote or said those reviews what they said is just their opinion.  Well, this is my opinion.  It is not the cartoon version, it is live action but I did not see any of the "gay" moments that everyone was having a fit about.  It does have the inter-racial couples at the end but to be honest our girls did not notice them at all.  We asked if they had any questions about the movie and they said no. I really enjoyed it and will most likely buy the DVD when it comes out.
     This is my opinion and once you actually watch it, if you do, you may have a different opinion.  I am okay with that but if you aren't okay with me going to see it I am okay with that too.
   

     All in all it was a wonderful girls day out and I had a blast.  I made memories with my family and in my opinion, that was the best part of the day.

God bless,

Pat

Prayers for A Simpler Life (A Book Review)

      I started reading about Amish people and lifestyles when I was very young and always have been fascinated.  Later I learned of the Mennonites and am now equally fascinated with both. Their lives

 are lived as in a simpler time that we as a general rule no longer live in. I remember  as a child  though we were not Mennonites, we had none of the technology that we have now, like microwaves, cell phones, or even a dryer.  Yet my Moma had time to spend with God and family.  She had time to spend visiting  and help others.  Nowadays we have so much that helps  us do things faster, save time and energy and yet we have no time or energy for anything, not even God. The Mennonites even though we don't think they have hardly

 anything, their life is formed around those very things we don't have time for.  What if we followed the leading of this book and let God come first?

     Through this book you can once a day, let Faith Sommers, a Mennonite mother lead you in a short time of devotion of less than 10 minutes.   Prayers for a Simpler Life, will help you discover that even in our daily routines of life,  God can be found and you can find a morsel of what you need from God. They don't take a long time to do but they teach us to seek to  begin each of our days in time with God instead of waiting for the end of the day to do so. However if you just can't do this, these short devotions can be done at any time of your day that fits your life best. The devotions also include scripture and a prayer.  She also weaves a real life example from Faith's own life and a reflection for you to think on.     This book is written in a way that you can use it as a personal bible study or with a friend.  It could also easily be used in a ladies bible study setting too. All of the devotions deal with things we ladies face each day, like marriage, kids, sports, dance, meetings, church and more that we put in our lives.  It will help you see that even in the midst of all that, God is there, if we just stop long enough to see what He is trying to tell us and show us.

     All of this is my opinion and how I feel about the book.  However

 I did receive this book from Herald Press in exchange for an honest review whether I liked it or not.  Oh yeah, I love it, I give it 5 out of 5 star review.

     For more information about Prayers for a Simpler Life, Faith Sommers or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Prayers for a Simpler Life by Faith Sommers http://store.mennomedia.org/Prayers-for-a-Simpler-Life-P4852.aspx

or You can buy it on Amazon

 https://www.amazon.com/Prayers-Simpler-Life-Meditations-Mennonite/dp/1513801260/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489682720&sr=8-1&keywords=Prayers+for+a+simpler+life as well. 

         If you go to Herald Press on Facebook it will tell you more about this book and others that you might enjoy!

     I hope you enjoyed this review and will check out this book and see what it will do for you in your life.

God bless until next time,

Pat

Listen for Heart Drops, Scatter Kindness, Be a Blessing

     I had the privilege of being  on the launch team for an amazing book a few months ago.  I learned so much from reading the book and being on the launch team.  The author really not only wrote this but she lives it out in her life and shows you how to also to listen for heartdrops and scatter kindness.
     Imagine my delight when I opened my email recently and discovered that there is going to be a bible study from the bible but using this book in conjunction with it,  You can bet I signed up immediately.  If you would check it out you can go here:

http://www.karenehman.com/2017/03/how-to-hear-a-heart-drop-giveaway/

    You can go here to learn about the study and also there is a contest to win not only one copy of this wonderful book but to win 4 copies.  You can do the bible study and also share it with 3 of your friends.  There is also another prize you will hear about too.

     In this announcement she also talks about heart drops.  You will hear these heart drops if only you stop to listen. If you hear them, then go and scatter kindness, be a blessing and be the answer to these heart drops.

     I am challenging myself to listen more and bless more.  I am having a giveaway on here. I want to scatter more kindness but I need your help.  Tell me someone you would like to be a blessing to and why and maybe you will be chosen to win a blessing for them.  Help me scatterkindness.

    Oh yeah the prize I am sharing is a $5,00 Sonic card so start listening for heartdrops and help me scatter kindness.  

God bless until next time,

Pat

Thankful Tuesday

     I have a friend who is trying to build her blog likes so she started doing Thankful Tuesday on her blog.  I was going to do a post just to help her out.  However when I got ready to do it, I was like wow, this is really good.  I have so much to be thankful for so why not share it.  We are quick to share negativity and controversy but how often do we share blessings and thankfulness.  I think I will start doing this every Tuesday and I hope some of you might join me too.

Sometimes you may think you have nothing to be thankful for but there is always something if you look.

Sometimes just a cup of hot tea is so nice.  I am so thankful when my son makes me a hot cup of tea to enjoy while I am reading my bible.  This may not seem like much but....

I have heard I have nothing to be thankful for.  You don't understand.  No one does anything for me.  Nobody cares about me.  I don't feel good, I have so much going on.  Well, then if that is all true and I wonder if it truly is then.......

Find someone you can encourage.  You, don't have money, well smiles don't cost money.  Call a friend, send a note, a text or email.  Pick up the trash in your neighborhood.  Babysit for a single mother or overwhelmed couple.  When you start thinking about others, helping others you might just see how blessed you are and what you have to be thankful for.

If you woke up this morning and obviously you did or you would not be reading this, you have something to be thankful for.  So now that you do, why don't you go to 

http://livinglifehourbyhour.blogspot.com/2017/03/thankful-tuesday-3142017.html

and share on her blog and help out my friend too.

God bless,

Pat

Simple Woman's Daybook for March 6,2017

Looking out my windowIt is a cool dreary night but the kind of night I actually enjoy sometimes, it is like the world is crying and preparing for another day and another chance

I am thinkingI have so much laundry that needs to be folded.  I read something today that made me think.  This lady said instead of complaining about the laundry, she used it to pray.  She prays for the person whose laundry it is.  She prays for the home that God has given her and the family she is blessed to have.  It will make you rethink your laundry and life.

I am thankfulthat when we step back and let go, God will truly move in and work in a way we never could imagine or do

One of my favorite thingsis to write letters and get happy mail.  Excited to be getting back into having "penpals" again

I am creating

a classroom for the kids where it will be a place they want to come and not a place they dread, this will be an ongoing process but hopefully fully ready by next school year

Love Homeschool Red Foxes

I am wearingdenim capris and a green Scottish tshirt from last years Missions conference at church

I am reading Unshaken and am on the Launch Team right now 

 and was on the Launch Team for  Listen, Love, Repeat and

now looking forward to the upcoming bible study of the same name 

and using this book

If you go to prayunshaken.com! you can preorder the Unshaken book and get a free downloadable prayer journal.  For more information on the bible study go to http://proverbs31.org/online-bible-studies/ and it will be starting on April 3rd

I am hoping
to get caught up on laundry, I know I deem obsessed with laundry, but if you saw what I need to complete you would understand

I am learning
to not just talk to God but to listen too

In my kitchen
Leftovers now but supper was chicken fried steak, potatoes and gravy, mac'n'cheese and green beans

In the school room
PACES, handwriting, math facts, hooked on phonics, time and money

In my garden
right now just plans in my head but hoping for a small one for veggies, some for flowers and a fairy garden in my quiet spot

Shared Quote

A Moment From My Day

Closing Notes
If you enjoyed reading my daybook and would like to create your own, HERE is the link to the format, guidelines and complete list of prompts.

God bless, Until Next Time,

Pat