New Site

I have changed over to wordpress.  Please visit me there! 

http://www.haynesmunchkins.wordpress.com/ 

"A wise woman builds her home,
but a foolish woman tears it down with her hands."

Proverbs 14:1

I want to consistently journal, to remember. 

I never want to add wounds because I have forgotten the pain of my own. 

I want to recall the hand of God in my heartache so I can be His hand to other people. 

When the path is easy, it is also easy to forget the pain so deep that one cannot breathe.

106. Beautiful brides

109. Raindrops in puddles

111. The scent of lavender

113. Piano duets

114. Sisters who don't need words

115. Sunshine on tree tops after rain

Ponderings

Hurt people hurt people.

Read this today from Denise Glenn.  And wow!  Love this!

...When we become immersed in God’s Word . . . I like to talk about the difference between a cucumber and a pickle. If you take a cucumber, and you dip it into brine one time on Sunday morning for an hour, one time from 9:30 to 10:30 at the morning service, if you dip that cucumber for an hour, you’re not going to get a pickle. You’re going to get a cucumber with a little bit of brine on it.



If you immerse it, and it cooks, and it stays down in that brine, there’s a chemical transformation between a cucumber and a pickle. I began to be a pickle instead of a cucumber....


Jesus didn’t come just to help us be our life. He came to be our life. So as we immerse ourselves in Him, the transformation happens from the inside out, and then your mouth will start speaking the true things to your family.

Faithfulness

"The sun sets and He has provided and you've ate. 

Tomorrow the sun will rise and again He will provide. 

You will eat bread again."

~Dennis, Sheila and Matthew Linn

We've all done the math.  You know what I'm talking about.  Those months when the paycheck comes just a few days too late.  We can scrape it all together, and there just might be enough to hold us until next payday.

This month I chose faith.  I prayed.  I accepted that God is bigger.  And I had peace. 

Then, for some reason, my logger came home with a check today.  It was an unexpected blessing.  He did end up getting some days on this pay period.  We are blessed.  God is faithful. 



He has blessed today.  Will He not bless again tomorrow?

Painful Honesty

I feel the need to be perfect.  Not really perfect, but you know, without flaws.  I have an overwhelming feeling of shame when I make mistakes.  I need to learn to dance without shame.

I feel I have nothing of value to say.
Constructive criticism hurts.  I wish I handled it better, but there is always a small part in my fragile heart that takes it too personally. 

Yet, in order to grow, it hurts.  Right?  Growing pains, growing pains. 

Stress..."Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." John 14:1  Stress brings no joy.  Tonight I have been pondering this from chapter 8

If authentic, saving belief is the act of trusting, then to choose stress is an act of disbelief...atheism.

Anything less than gratitude and trust is practical atheism.

If I deep trusted God in all the facets of my life, wouldn't that deep heal my anxiety, my self-condemnation, my soul holes?

70. Backseat laughter and special sibling moments

73. Smell of rain

77. A God who meets me where I am

78. A husband who loves me

80. Parents who taught me about God

93. Bubbles on a windy day

100. A homemade quilt

103. New recipes


All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A few things that make me smile

Getting back to the basics, eating healthy, clothes hanging on my new clothesline, making granola for my family, sleeping babies, springtime flowers, enjoying our rooster crowing...

it's nothing short of...amazing!

Farm fresh eggs...

Free-range chickens....

Darling rooster...

Goofy children...

And overall, watching my kids grow up on a farm...

Two

30. That we are allowed two

Here dies another day

During which I have had eyes, ears, hands

And the great world round me;

And with tomorrow begins another.

Why am I allowed two?

~G.K Chesterton

Why are we allowed two?

Every moment I live, I live bowed to something. And if I don't see God, I'll bow down before something else.

Praying with eyes wide open is the only way to pray without ceasing.

I have noticed I am taking time.  Time to stop.  To see.  To appreciate.  Time to offer silent prayers of thanksgiving, gratitude.  And I am starting to see the world through different eyes.  The little things in life really are the big things, aren't they?  Little girls' hand in mine, laughter through the window on a sunny day, stormy nights at home as a family, popcorn warmed on the stove, little boys picking flowers, tents to hide in, early morning coffee...does the list ever end?  It's really not about how much needs done, the mess that never seems to end, the seemingly always dirty mirrors or floors, or unending piles of dishes or laundry.  And when I change my perspective, aren't those also blessings?  Isn't it an honor to be able to bless my family?  While I can keep this perspective for this moment, I admit, I may fail in the moment to come.  It is so easy to slip back into old ways, habits, sin.  But for right now, today, in this moment, I will pray with my eyes wide open.  And I will be thankful that I am allowed more.