Current Reading {inspiration}

My turn finally came up at the library for my current {non-fiction} reading:

I picked it up yesterday after waiting a couple of weeks for it. I must say that I really ♥ this book so far. VeRy practical & inspiring for this vintage-loving, simple-life-desiring, home-making girl … so,  happy weekend reading, y'all!

In Honor of {LIFE}

Life is a vapor. I received some bad news yesterday morning that a sweet friend and co-worker died. I'll not go into details, just know that it was VERY sudden, VERY unexpected, she was my age and leaves behind a precious family … a husband, Shane, two sons, Daniel & Mitchell, and a daughter, Amy (who is my own daughter's age). Please pray earnestly for them! She will be missed by so, so many people!

I have been asking the Lord, "What do you want me to learn, to see, to know in all of this?" I scroll through the vast outpouring of tributes and love and memories on her facebook page and there I saw it … legacy. LEGACY. She left an incredible legacy amongst her family and friends. I am reminded of the song by Nicole Nordeman …

I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me

And I enjoy an accolade like the rest

You could take my picture and hang it in a gallery

Of all the who's who and so-n-so's that used to be the best

At such'n'such ... it wouldn't matter much

I won't lie, it feels alright to see your name in lights

We all need an 'Atta boy' or 'Atta girl'

But in the end I'd like to hang my hat on more besides

The temporary trappings of this world

I want to leave a legacy

How will they remember me?

Did I choose to love? Did I point to You enough

To make a mark on things?

I want to leave an offering

A child of mercy and grace who

blessed your name unapologetically

And leave that kind of legacy

I don't have to look too far or too long awhile

To make a lengthly list of all that I enjoy

It's an accumulating trinket and a treasure pile

Where moth and rust, thieves and such will soon enough destroy

I want to leave a legacy

How will they remember me?

Did I choose to love? Did I point to You enough

To make a mark on things?

I want to leave an offering

A child of mercy and grace who

blessed your name unapologetically

And leave that kind of legacy

Not well traveled, not well read, not well-to-do or well bred

Just want to hear instead, "Well Done" good and faithful one…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So there I sat … thinking about LIFE … and LEGACY. What will people say about me when I die? How will they remember me? Will there be such tributes written about me?

Earlier in the week I viewed this trailer for a newly published book that I am eager to read:





Please watch that video. Watch it again. Oh, it pierces my heart each and every time I watch and listen to those lovely words. Life is not an emergency, yet I live as though it is. My eyes are not wide open. I've got to figure out a way to live with my eyes wide open.

I ordered that book on Monday and it arrived … yesterday … 4 days earlier than it was supposed to … on a day when I was asking the Lord, "What do you want to show me in all of this?"

Life. A gift. Holy, amazing, ordinary. {LIFE}

Loving Our Kids on Purpose

I just ordered Loving Our Kids on Purpose from Amazon.com. A dear friend recommended it in passing the other day. So I read a few independent reviews (like this one) yesterday and they were all quite positive. I once read Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel and I loved it, but it didn't give me any practical ideas and left me feeling overwhelmed that I just couldn't pull it off. Supposedly Loving Our Kids on Purpose gives more practical ways to walk out parenting our children with grace.  And don't those 2 cuties deserve it?

A friend had this as her status the other day:

I would say ere on the side of grace. With kids, we think it's so important to teach them the rules and to be like Christ and to do the right things. I think that's important, but it can give a false reflection of Christ. Because Christ wasn't really about rules, as much as He was about relationships. ~Lisa Whelchel (from her book The Facts of Life)

And that's where I want to live … in grace, giving grace … I want grace to permeate every fiber of my being, on the inside and on the outside.  I just have no idea how to do it!  I don't know what it looks like at all.  When I speak I am usually pretty harsh, especially with my girls.  Brandon and I have recently both realized how we can be that way even in just answering simple questions with each other.  We find ourselves apologizing all the time for speaking to one another like the other is an idiot.  I don't want to be that way with anyone, but especially with my children … I want to be gentle and kind, with the fruit of the spirit overflowing out of me.

The same dear friend said this to me the other night:

I don't want my children to have to fight battles that I should have won.

And I feel the same way.  I am fighting battles that I never want them to have to fight, that I want to win in order that they can walk in the grace and freedom and love of Christ.  So … I should receive my new book next Tuesday.  I pray that God uses it to open my eyes even more and teach me how to walk in His perfect love.

21/365 ... oops!

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday's picture of the day, but I did take one and put it on my Flickr and facebook. Here it is:

I volunteer in our elementary school's library and I took along my camera yesterday. Whenever I see Childcraft Encyclopedias it beings back a flood of happy memories. I used to ♥ to spend hours reading mine. My parents gave them away when I became "too old" for them. When does one become too old for Childcraft encyclopedias?? I'm not bitter.

6/365 and another question ... what do you see??

We stopped by the library today to drop of a book and pick up a few others. While grace was browsing around I took a few pictures. I like this one of several new books on the shelves just waiting to be loved:


So here's my question. I want to know what you see? Is this picture VERY yellow? Or does it just look a little faded, a little vintage? Do what used to be whites (the labels on the books for instance) took cream or yellow to you? I just ordered some test prints from the lab that I thought I might try and they came back so yellow with very blown out B&Ws. I know I need to calibrate my monitor with a device like i1 Display, blah blah blah (although never had a problem with my current lab) ... but in the meantime I am wondering what you see ...