As long as it is called Today: Christian spouses (November)

Welcome to "As long as it is called Today" as we encourage one another. I hope you will join me each week on Tuesdays as we encourage each other in our daily lives as Christians, spouses, parents, and home keepers.

Here is the link to last week's question if you want to check out the verses others shared about thankfulness.

Today's question: Share a reason you are thankful for your spouse.

My answer: I'm thankful my husband supports me in what I do as a stay at home Mom. He is understanding and always willing to help out with something around the house if I'm not feeling well. He is such an encourager and I'm thankful for that too.

I look forward to reading your answers.

Have a day of blessings!

2009 Book list #43: Mothering Heights by Keitha Smith and Susan Brereton

Mothering Heights: A Novel Approach for Christian Mothers by Keitha Smith and Susan Brereton is a new novel from Judson Press that I'm happy to share with you.

From the website:
This encouraging book uses the charm of timeless literary works and the wisdom of the Bible to reconsider what is seen today as a classic role.


My thoughts:
I found Mothering Heights to be an enjoyable book that was easy to follow. Each chapter is titled after a classic literary work, such as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Great Expectations. A few quotes are used from these books throughout the chapters. One thing I appreciated was the comments from mothers relating real experiences to the information discussed in the chapter. Each chapter ends with a short list of questions. One of the chapters I enjoyed was about the expectations we face as mothers...expectations of our spouses, our children, others, ourselves and God. What I learned from this book was to be reminded of my role as a Mom is valuable even in the tasks that seem menial at the time and taking care of my family is a way I can serve God right now. This book was encouraging to me, and I would recommend it to other Mom's. It seems it would be a valuable book especially for new moms to read so they will realize that they are valuable and what they are doing is important. We all need to be encouraged from time to time and reminded of our purpose. This book does that.

Thank you to Kim Shimer at Judson Press for sending me this book for review. You may purchase it at this link.

Have a day of blessings!

Proverbs & Prayers Week #45

The verse for this week is Proverbs 25:27--

"It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor."

Do you have a prayer request this week? Here are some I'll be remembering in prayer:

~ all those involved with the tragedy this past week at Ft. Hood.

~ Wills. This is a guy in his early 20s who is battling cancer.

~ Jo, the lady at our church with bone cancer. It was so nice to see her sitting behind us at services this morning.

~ Lana, Marsha's granddaughter.

~ H, a request shared by Marsha, go read about this young girl who needs our prayers right now.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Have a day of blessings!

Pack a shoe box!

Are you going to pack a shoe box this year for Operation Christmas Child? I wrote about this last year and wanted to remind you it is that time again. It always seems to sneak up on me that it is time to get the shoe box ready. Caleb will help pick things out for ours.


If you have never filled a shoe box for a child and you're wondering what I'm talking about, please go to the Samaritan's Purse website to find out more about Operation Christmas Child. The website will tell you what to put in your box and where to drop it off. The collection dates this year are November 16-23.


Have a day of blessings!

Giving Thanks Challenge

You may have noticed a new link in my side bar to the 2009 Giving Thanks Challenge. Earlier this week I started seeing the 30 day thankful challenges on other blogs and remembered I participated in this thankful challenge last year. Each day I will be adding something new to my list.

It's not too late to start if you want to participate. Visit South Breeze Farm for more information and to visit others who are participating in giving thanks this month. Here is my list from November 2008. It was fun for me to see what I felt thankful for last year at this time!

Have a day of blessings!

Thankful Thursday: Trials

Today for Thankful Thursday we're over at Grace Alone with Iris. The theme is trials. Are you thankful for trials? We all face trials. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are in life. We each have our own sets of trials. I see some of the trials people I know are going through and am amazed at their strength and determination in the midst of such hardship. There is a man at our church who has many physical difficulties and limitations, yet he is at services every chance he gets, and he also volunteers at the food pantry. He makes jokes and makes everyone laugh when he's there. He doesn't focus on his trials, he is a source of encouragement for many.

Thinking about trials tonight I realized that your trials aren't the same as mine. We each face different trials, but for each one, God has a purpose. As Christians we have to realize this. There is a point for the trials you are facing. It's hard to see in the middle of the trial, but they are all part of God's plan. Remember that!

I'm thankful that God uses various trials to bring us closer to Him, to teach us lessons we wouldn't learn otherwise, and to bring glory to Him.

This week I'm thankful for...
~ my cute husband. He did well on his speech he did on Wednesday in Dallas. He had to fill in for his boss at the last minute and did great. (And he looks really cute all dressed up in his suit!!)


~ my sweet boy. He was so excited this week to go back to school Tuesday night for a family fun night they had with pizza for supper and little games and activities for us to do. His excitement made my teacher heart happy!

~ reading all the thankful posts in November. I've seen many different posts of thankful challenges for the month of November. It is encouraging to read these.

~ money for groceries. When I go to the store and come home with the food,I'm thankful to be able to put food in our pantry and freezer.

~ being able to be a stay-at-home Mom. This is something I'm continually thankful for and I am continually reminded of the blessing this is for me and our family.

I hope you'll stop for a minute today to give thanks. Even in the trials...
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance...." James 1:2, 3 NIV

Have a day of blessings!

SCC's new release

Steven Curtis Chapman's new album "Beauty Will Rise" was released on Tuesday, November 3. I'd heard one of the songs ("Heaven Is the Face") previously on the Internet and was looking forward to hearing the rest.

As I expected, this is another wonderful album from SCC. These songs are clearly written from the heart of a Daddy's struggle after losing his little girl. Most of you probably know their daughter, Maria, was killed in a tragic accident May 21, 2008.

I've seen SCC in concert twice since then. I clearly remember one thing he said as he spoke about that day. At the time of the accident he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to sing again. He had to ask himself if he really believes the words to the songs he's been writing and singing all these years. He came to the conclusion that yes, he does believe and they aren't just words to him. In the songs in this album he clearly has questions but you can also see his hope and his faith that he will see Maria again.

I feel like these new songs will bless many who are walking through their own difficulties. The questions and doubts are real but the faith is God is real too. At this time I can't really choose a "favorite" song to share from the album. The lyrics of several of them touched my heart. I will share these in future posts though.

Have a day of blessings!