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Thursday, April 23, 2009

What's On My Mind


  • The books I have on my nightstand all revolve around making a home: Keeping House: The Litany Of Everyday Life (Margaret Kim Peterson), Living A Beautiful Life (Alexandra Stoddard), and The Hidden Art Of Homemaking (Edith Schaeffer). These are great books to be reading when spring cleaning time rolls around! I actually found joy in cleaning bathrooms and ironing clothes yesterday! It is amazing how the feminist agenda has soured us towards this most important work-- caring for those we love and giving them a place that is beautiful and pleasing to live in. Being encouraged in this area through books or blogs is good. We need to be encouraged to make home a priority.
  • A concert that I have been looking forward to for months is this Saturday night... every time I hear one of their songs on the radio, I get so giddy. Who is it? The legendary Fleetwood Mac. I was raised on them and love their music. I can't wait to see Lindsey and Stevie on stage together. My wonderful husband got us great seats!! We are so looking forward to our date night. I love having something to look forward to, together.
  • I had a complete brain blip when I totally forgot about the concert and invited two couples from church over for dinner on Saturday night. This morning I had to write them an apology and ask to reschedule. Remember yesterday's post about me dropping balls? Well, this was a big one to drop!
  • We made it to our small group last night, which was huge for us. We have had one thing after the other keeping us from getting there on a regular basis. Some new folks have joined and it was a good group last night. We need to make getting to small group a bigger priority.
  • We only have two more times of Community Bible Study for this year. I can't believe another year has come and gone. I am sad to see this year end, but I am looking forward to next year when we will be studying Luke. I have loved my study this year-- as always-- especially our study of Nehemiah and Esther. You can go to the link to see if there is a group meeting near you. If you are interested in participating in a regular Bible study, I highly recommend this one. Depending on the program in each area, your kids can go to classes of their own (even homeschoolers!) while you get to meet with other ladies and discuss your lesson. I learn a lot, my school-aged kids have learned so much about the Bible, and their preschool program is phenomenal! But if you're interested, I would get registered now, because the kids' spots go quickly!
  • I was ecstatic to learn this past weekend that I had been accepted into Susan Meissner's Contemporary Women's Fiction Clinic at the Colorado Christian Writer's Conference, coming up in mid May. I have less than a month to wait! If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I love Susan's writing and was especially pleased to see she had won the ECPA Book of The Year award for her newest book The Strength Of Mercy (which I just read and highly recommend). I can't believe I get to learn from her about fiction writing!! I have been getting my submission ready to send to her and the other clinic members. You know I will tell you all about my experience when I get back!
  • I am in the second round of edits for the newest Proverbs 31 Ministries book, The Reason We Speak. We are working hard to have the book out in time for She Speaks this year. I am very excited about the amount of wisdom that is packed between the covers of this book. Look for the cover to appear in my sidebar very soon. Winepress did an excellent job with the cover and I love working with them!
  • Our end of the year testing is on May 20th. That means it's crunch time. Time to get serious about getting a good amount of homeschooling done every day, without fail. No spring fever allowed around here! We have been hitting the books diligently and it has been so good. My nearly 7 year old told me yesterday, "You know what mom? I am good at reading." It was good to see him feel good about something he used to be very hesitant about at the beginning of the year. No matter what the test says, that's progress in my book.
  • That same boy has his birthday party on Sunday. We are having a "Mickey Mouse In A Box" party, thanks to my friends at Disney. I will be blogging about it, complete with pictures, next week so be on the lookout for this riveting reading experience. "It's my blog and I can post if I want to, post if I want to, post if I want to. You would post too if Mickey came to you. "

As you can see, I have a lot on my mind... just like all women do. God gave us a wonderful ability to think about lots of things and multi-task. The temptation, I think, is to go off in a million different directions and not stay true to His direction for you. For me it's about hearing from Him as to what I need to keep and what I need to let go of. Sometimes He directs me to let go of something entirely, sometimes He tells me that I just need to lay it down for a day, or a week, or a season. I don't always get it right, but I keep pressing into Him, listening for His still small voice in the midst of the noise; hoping that I am getting this right, and grateful for His grace when I don't.

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7 comments:

Bonita said...

I'm so happy you got in that fiction clinic! God's moving!

Thanks for sharing those homemaking books. I feel God once again calling me to focus on family and home. Even little ole non-domestic me is somewhat excited about spring cleaning! Surely God is moving!

Christine said...

Cleaning, cooking and taking care of our husbands and children IS a very important job! Although much of society does not often put these tasks in high regard, I believe they have great value.

It is spring here in Alberta, Canada (finally!!) and after a long, hard, cold winter I am enjoying my spring cleaning tasks -this week is bedrooms - I just posted about spring cleaning too!! :)

Ellen - SkoMomma said...

Just wanted to share with you how much I enjoyed "The Strength of Mercy"...you'd mentioned the book in a blog a few weeks ago and I decided to pick it up. I couldn't put it down. Thanks for mentioning it in your blog. Congrats on the opportunity to attend a workshop with the author!
Ellen

Kelly said...

I think Susan's book is "The Shape of Mercy" isn't it? I did get it at the library as you had recommended it and the "Blue Hearts" one last year...both were so good!
How cool you get to be in Susan's writing class!

Tami said...

My parents saw Fleetwood Mac last night and LOVED the concert. Mom said it was the best concert ever!! I hope you have a great time!!

Amy O/picketfencemom said...

I agree with you on the 'home' focused books. The Hidden Art of Homemaking is on my favorites and never fails to inspire me. It's good to find pleasure and joy in the little things!
Also, congrats on the Susan Meissner Fiction Clinic. I just finished her book, Shape of Mercy, a couple of weeks ago and LOVED it! You'll have to give a report when you get back. That's great!
Have a blessed weekend and enjoy your concert!
Blessings,
Amy O.
picketfencemom

Bonita said...

After reading this post yesterday I went to a library book sale and guess what I found for 50 cents! Living a Beautiful Life by Alexandra Stoddard! Isn't that so cool?