The Good List 11-28-12

10. Snow tires are on. Bring it, Vermont!
9. Waking up to snow on the ground. I hope I never stop thinking this is magical.
8. Christmas music. Impossible not to feel a warm, happy glow listening to this stuff.
7. Macy has been scouring sale ads to find the perfect gifts for her sister and her cousins. She asked me if I would take her Christmas shopping Saturday before her Annie rehearsal and when I responded with, "Let me check with Dad on the budget for that," she responded, "I'm using MY money, Mom. These gifts will be from me." Not sure if that makes me sad that she's growing up so fast or amazingly proud of her generosity. A little of both, I guess.
6. The big stack of Christmas movies we plan to work our way through over the next few weeks. I LOVE this time of year!
5. Noticing moments of sanctification. I love it when something happens in my heart that could ONLY come from God.
4. My Tuesday "bookends." I start the day with Ladies' Bible Study and end with Praise Team practice. For those who are looking for tips, this is a sure way to un-blah Tuesdays.
3. First MSCC elder meeting took place Monday night. Such an encouragement to my pastor husband (and me!)
2. All booked for TGC13 next April! I fully expect it to be one of the great highlights of my year. Can't wait!
1. Plans are underway to visit this little studmuffin and his brand new baby brother (due in January) next March. I am beside myself. OH, and I love their parents too! :-D THIS will surely be THE highlight of my year!

Prayer Time 11-27-12

And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ~Acts 20:32

Please let me know how I may pray for you today by leaving your request(s) in the comments section. Comments on this post will not be published publicly for the sake of those concerned with privacy.

A Ginormous Good List :-D

Thinking of so many things, people and memories to be grateful for today. . .

~I'm surrounded by people who love me well, and I adore each of them.
~There is an abundance of some of the most scrumptious foods I've ever eaten in my kitchen.
~I'm remembering with giggles the very first time some of my crazy relatives fried a turkey--long before it was the socially acceptable thing to do. I'm pretty sure it involved buckets for brining and wash tubs for frying. (But I remember deliciousness.)
~Charlie Brown Thanksgiving still makes me happy after all these years. And now I get to share it with my kids.
~Today there will be lots of football on the television and even more digital scrapbooking on the computer in my lap. Blissfully productive rest.
~On Thanksgiving Day, my thoughts are always flooded with memories of one of my favorite families in all the world--the McLemores. We shared so many meals and holidays together when we lived in Nashville, and Thanksgiving was pretty much our favorite. I adore these people.
~Middletown Springs Community Church is my favorite church I've ever known, and I am their pastor's wife. How blessed does that make me?
~ Macy has an incredible musical gift that I get to enjoy almost every day.
~ Gracie makes me giggle every single day, most days many times.
~I'm married to my best friend.
~I am warm and rested and healthy.
~I am NOT going shopping tomorrow.
~I have the most amazing, strange, crazy, awesome, loud, loving, supportive family in the world. 
~ I own wool socks. (You will understand that this is important if you know I live in Vermont. ;-) )
~My house is already decorated for Christmas, which means relaxing in the glow of Christmas lights and candles tonight. I love that.
~My children are content (even happy) with simplicity. I'm so grateful.
~None of my family members have any major medical issues. I know this is a gift and certainly nothing we have earned or deserved.
~My children have had cousins living about 5 miles down the road for almost a year and a half now. So awesome.
~JoJo and I, who have always dreamed of raising our kids together but honestly thought it might not ever happen, are practically neighbors now. I can't even describe what a blessing this is.
~Jared has preached the gospel/talked about Jesus over 100 times in 9 different states and 2 different countries this year. 
~Jesus doesn't just love me. He LAVISHES love on me. Every day. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Good List 11-21-12

10. My calphalon skillets. Check out cooking.com for amazing sales pretty often. I got BOTH of mine for just $39.95 a couple years ago, and they are some of the best I've ever used. I use at least one of them almost every single day. They cook beautifully, and clean-up is a breeze. And they're about to get quite a workout. :-D

9. Wreck It Ralph. Sweet, fun and nostalgic.

8. Jared and I are currently ranked #1 and #3 in our Nashville fantasy football league. This is notable considering that last year we finished dead last and second to dead last. ;-)

7. Throwing out all the rules of normal healthy eating for a couple days. Cookies for breakfast? Absolutely! Chocolate cake for dinner? Didn't I say we're having leftovers? Is that leftover? Ok, then!

6. Praise band practice, which includes singing and harmonizing with my sister, one of my very most favorite things to do ever. 

5. 3 days in a row of no alarm clock. BLISS!

4. A fridge crammed full of Thanksgivingish deliciousness.

3. Sunday morning I got to sing a duet with Macy and sing with Jody in a newly formed praise band at our church. Good times.

2. Jared's time at Lancaster Bible College last week talking about Jesus and interacting with students there. Sounds like it was a fruitful time for all involved--certainly for Jared. Grateful for new relationships.

1. A Savior who loves, saves, lavishes, rescues, redeems, protects, adores. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Truly thankful.

The Good List 11-14-12

10. The way coffee and hot chocolate taste better when it's cold outside.
9. Samaritan Ministries. A couple years ago we switched to this program when we realized we could no longer afford our health insurance. As one who has never *not* had insurance, I admit this made me a little nervous. But we had to use it for the first time recently to help with the expenses following Jared's visit to the ER with a kidney stone, and it has been so fun to receive cards and prayers in the mail along with the checks that are helping cover the medical bills. This is a new experience for me, and I like it!
8. Homemade lasagna with Betty and the Scott family on Sunday. Precious, precious people. Fun times!
7. The cigar box banjo we won at Dylan's benefit Saturday night. Since Macy is the musician of the family, she claimed it pretty quickly. Within 2 days, she had taught herself 8 chords and a Mumford & Sons song. Another instrument added to her repertoire. Love it!

6. Having a family that makes me giggle. A lot. 

5. New friends. Grateful to connect with the Berniers and Dodsons last week in person. God is so sweet to keep bringing such quality, amazing people into our lives.

4. Dylan's benefit Saturday night. The primary goal was to help support the Dickersons financially in the aftermath of Dylan's week in the ICU, but to Dylan I think it felt like one big giant birthday party. And that is probably just as it should be. ;-)  Very special thanks to Karen Mach for all of her hard work to make this happen!

3. The mission trip report from my friends at LifeWay. I signed up to be a prayer supporter and receive their updates, and the final report was amazing: 68 volunteers from 42 different churches across 6 states, 4912 decisions to follow Christ, 10 churches planted--6 in Kenya and 4 in Burundi. Awesome.
2. Packing OCC boxes with our church family. So sweet and so much fun. Special thanks to Betsy Mitcheson for working on this event literally all year long every year. She is one of the hardest working ladies I've ever met.
1. Being married to my favorite person in the whole world to spend time with. I know this is a gift and not a reward. Thank you, Lord.

Prayer Time 11-13-12

I promise I haven't stopped praying for y'all. ;-) But I admit it has been much less "routine" lately. More often than not it has been in the car on my way to pick up kids or running errands while Macy is at Annie rehearsals. Sometimes it's while I'm doing laundry or cooking. But there hasn't been a lot of sitting still in quite some time. I'm hoping to reverse that trend a bit today. There's a wintery mix swirling through the sky outside, which is supposed to hang around all day long. SO I'm going to Bible study this morning, and then I hope to come home and be still for some prayer time. I'll admit there will be some laundry involved, too, but hopefully not enough to distract. :-D

Today I'm praying for a sweet young couple that I love dearly who both lost their jobs on the same day about a week ago, for my Dad whose doctor found a spot of cancer on his ear (he has a follow-up procedure on Saturday), for Jared who is in Pennsylvania this week preaching the Gospel and interacting with students at Lancaster Bible College, and for many others. Please let me know if you have additional requests to add to the list by leaving a note in the comments field. Comments on this post will not be published publicly for the sake of those concerned with privacy.

The Good List 11-7-12

10. Folding warm towels while it snows outside. So cozy.
9. Crazy bright sunlight on a cold, crisp day. I especially love it when the window feels all warm on the inside even though less than a quarter of an inch away on the other side of the pane it's 27 degrees.
8. The fact that Grace asks me every single morning before getting dressed, "Mom, what's the high and low for today?" She's a planner, that one.
7. My crazy friend Tyrone, who I sometimes have zero interaction with for weeks at a time, but then he always chimes in right on time with something that makes me giggle. A lot. I love you and miss you, Tyrone!
6. When I pick up Macy from Annie rehearsals, and she's so excited she literally can't stop talking. So much fun to see how she's responding to this experience. Seems we've found her "thing." :-D
5. An appointment with a dermatologist today for Gracie so that we can get some better answers as to how to help her manage her eczema and protect her against staph infections finding easy entry into her little body.
4. Dreaming about preparing our Thanksgiving meal. Yes, I'm a huge nerd. I love everything about it--the food, the smells, even the organization process of deciding how to prepare everything in the right order so that it's all hot and ready at the same time. Nerd. I know. Don't judge me.
3. People who are quietly joyful. Don't get me wrong--I love loud people too. I mean, those are my people! But there's something so sweet and special about someone who can exude joy without uttering a single word.
2. Another clear scan for Matt Chandler. Praising God for the ongoing miracles!
1. The strong response to our church's new men's discipleship group. Grateful for a church filled with men who love Jesus and long to lead their families (and each other's families) well.

Tidbits

Behold the Gospel. Good news at its best.  ~Beth Moore

Worry, like a rocking chair, will give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere.  ~Vance Havner

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You; because he trusts in You. None of those who trust in Him shall be desolate. The Lord knows those who trust in Him. Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You; which You have wrought for those who trust in You before the sons of men. You shall hide them in the secret of Your presence. What a marvelous and precious cluster of Divine encouragements.   ~Octavius Winslow

The Word of God, whether it is preached and heard or read and memorized, is more than simply true. It is effectual.  ~Sam Storms

Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.  ~Voltaire

By God's grace, we can afford to be overlooked and underappreciated and quiet about it.  ~Scotty Smith

I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than to gain a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction in God.  ~John Piper

Gossip is oral diarrhea. Yeah, it really is that gross.  ~Scotty Smith

In the middle of all the changes in life, it's good for us that there is One whom change cannot affect, whose heart can never alter, and on whose brow mutability can make no furrows. Everything else changes. The sun grows dim with age, the world is growing old, and the heavens and earth will soon pass away and perish. But there is One who alone has immortality, of whose years there is no end, and in whose person there is no change. The delight that sailors feel when they step upon solid shore after having been tossed about for many days is like what Christians feel when, in the middle of all the changes of this troubled life, they rest their faith upon this truth: 'I the Lord do not change.'  ~Charles Spurgeon