Scripture Memory Team #13

Whew!  I'm still working on 1 Corinthians 13 and Psalm 121. So this time I'm choosing one that is somewhat familiar.  I noticed it many years ago, but it came up again in my Bible study in a little bit of a new light (don't you just love God's Word!) and I thought it would be a good one to really commit to memory.

Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.  (NIV)

I love that there are things way to big for me to understand and God has those under control.  And I love that He wants to be known and reveals Himself and those things belong to us and our children.  I may not have a huge monetary inheritance to leave my kids, but I want to be diligent to pass on what God reveals.  That is an inheritance!

new recipe

The other day I got a new workout video--Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred.  Then I looked at her web-site and found a lot of good information, including a meal plan complete with recipes and it will even make my grocery list!  I enjoy baking, but I really don't like to cook, so trying something like this is way out of my comfort zone.  I hate to chop onions!  I've often said, "I have to really love you to chop onions!"  I'm approaching it kind of like the movie Julia and Julia, one recipe at a time.  This was my first attmempt.  SweetHeart came up as I was chopping onions and said, "I feel so loved!"  Oh, and it smelled wonderful while it cooked!  It was healthy, fast, easy (no wierd ingredients), tender, delilcious--my kids even liked it. We, moms, are always looking for those kind of recipes, so I'm passing this one along.  Enjoy!

Chicken With Oranges and Almonds


Ingredients
4 chicken, broiler-fryer, breasts, without skin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper, black
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1/8 teaspoon cloves, ground
2 tablespoon oil, salad
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 cup(s) onion(s), chopped
1 cup(s) orange juice
1/4 cup(s) nuts, almonds, slivers
1/4 cup(s) raisins
2 orange(s), pared and thinly sliced

Preparation
Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, cinnamon and cloves. Heat oil in large skillet; place chicken in oil skin down and brown a golden color. Turn over in pan. Put garlic, onion, orange juice and 1 cup of water over chicken; cover and cook at a simmer for 35 minutes.

Spread out almonds in shallow pan and place in 350°F oven for 5-10 minutes or until fragrant but just barely toasted. Add almonds, raisins and sliced oranges to chicken. Cover and cook 5 minutes.

(I'm not exactly sure what a "boiler fryer" is--I don't like dealing with raw meat either--I just used the skinless chicken breasts ready to go from the package.)  :)

Ballpark #4

SweetHeart and I have a goal of going to games in all of the major league ballparks.  We have been to the Pitsburg Pirates Three Rivers Stadium, the Seattle Mariners Safeco Field, the Texas Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, and now the Colorado Rockies Coors Field.  We were rooting for the home team, but they lost.  It might have been...the curse of the scorebook.  Dun-dun-dun

{That was supposed to be dramatic music.  Did you get it?}

Baseball is Sweetheart's thing.  When we started dating, I knew nothing about it.  So to learn the game, keep me focused on what was going on, and learn the lingo, SweetHeart taught me how to score a game.  I bought a scorebook and even have my baseball pencil sharpened and ready!  It has become a scrapbook of sorts--I staple our tickets on that game page.  (It has been interesting to see how the tickets have changed over the years.)  Anyway, for the last 10 years or so, I've scored at least one game a year (except the years I had an infant attached!)  We have seen more games than that, but the ones I choose to score it seems that our team loses!  We noticed this phenomenon recently and counted to just prove it.  Out of 18 games, there are only 7 winning games recorded in it!  We have considered retiring this scorebook and starting a new one!  We will if our team makes the playoffs, and it looks like they might have a shot this year!

While we were gone, Meme entertained the kids...or they entertained her!  Thanks, Meme!

Down in My Heart Kind of JOY

*Doing a little housekeeping again.  This will be on the sidebar under the Bible studies title.  Thanks*

This is a personal Bible study that God has been teaching me about joy that I want to share. Sometimes I struggle with being down, but I really want joy in my life. This helped me realize joy is not about how I feel or what situation I am in. It is all about being in the presence of the living, loving God. I hope it encourages you too.

Lesson 1  Down in my heart kind of Joy
Lesson 2  My Source of Joy
Lesson 3  Seeking Joy
Lesson 4  Seek Instruction
Lesson 5  Choose Joy
Lesson 6  Joyful Praise
Lesson 7  Joy because God is Good
Lesson 8  But what about...false joy
Lesson 9  But what about...when I just don't feel joy
Lesson 10  But what about...stolen joy
Lesson 11  But what about...trouble
Lesson 12  Complete Joy--the Ten Commandment Connection
Lesson 13  Complete Joy--Jesus' example
Lesson 14  Complete Joy--focused obedience
Lesson 15  Complete Joy--more benefits of obedience
Lesson 16  Complete Joy--position ready to obey
Lesson 17  Complete Lasting Joy

Scripture Memory Team

LPM Scripture Memory Challenge--24 verses in 2009!
On Beth Moore's blog she challenged us to memorizing 24 Scriptures in 2009.  I did it, loved it, and it changed me forever!  The link above is to Beth's blog and the verses she chose and info about the challenge.  The verses below are the verses I memorized in 2009.

Psalm 86:11-13
Colossians 3:1-2
Psalm 25:5
John 1:16
Ephesians 3:16-21
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
Psalm 143:8
Proverbs 15:14
Isaiah 33:6
Psalm 90:17
2 Corinthians 3:4-5
Romans 15:4
Lamentations 3:21-27
2 Peter 1:3-9
Psalm 57:2
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Hebrews 1:3
Romans 5:1-5
Romans 8:37-39
Psalm 119:175
Psalm 16:7-8
Psalm 119:92-93
Siesta Scripture Memory Celebration Part 1 and Part 2

Scripture Memory Challenge 2010
After the victory I experienced in 2009, I didn't want to stop even though Beth wasn't officially hosting the challenge again in 2010.  (But I hear it is coming back in 2011 if you want to get in on it!)  Here are links to the posts I had on my blog and the verses I chose.  I put all this on here more for accountability for myself than anything else.  (It is amazing how motivating it is to have to write it down somewhere that another person might see!)  My purpose is certainly not to brag in what I have accomplished, but to give testimony to the work that God's Word is alive and active in me.  If you would like to join me on this part of the journey, that would be great!  It is never too late to jump in!
Isaiah 43:10
Colossians 3:23-24
2 Corinthians 3:12
John 17:3
1 Peter 2:9
Isaiah 43:18-19
Matthew 11:28-30
Psalm 16:5-6
1 Peter 3:8-9
Romans 8:15-17
1 Corinthians 13
Psalm 121
Deuteronomy 29:29
Philippians 3:10
Philippians 4:13
Proverbs 21:26
1 Peter 5:5-11 (DIY)
Psalm 57:7

Siesta Scripture Memory Team Challenge 2011
Yea! It is officially back on Beth's blog!  As I said before, I would be doing it anyway.  I would not trade this for anything!  God's Word had become precious to me before, but now it is even more so.  I need the strength, hope, power, goodness, and love that can only come from my Father.  I need the renewing of my mind and attitudes and emotions.  So these are the verses I'm working on this year. 

At the Grand Canyon
Romans 15:13
Psalm 34:4
Ephesians 4:22-24
Philippians 4:19
Isaiah 26:3
Judges 5:21b
1 Corinthians 15:58
Galatians 6:4-5
Galatians 5:22-25
Colossians 1:29
2 Timothy 1:14
Psalm 119:57
Galatians 5:1
Deuteronomy 30:11, 14
2 Corinthians 9:8
1 John 4:4
1 Peter 2:11-12
1 Peter 2:20
1 Corinthians 6:12
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
1 Peter 1:13
Colossians 3:12-14
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Luke 1:37  For nothing is impossible with God.

Scripture Memory Challenge 2012
It is not officially on Beth's blog this year, so I will be posting mine here.  Again, it is not a brag thing, just accountability for me and hopefully encouragement for you.  This is what I'm memorizing this year because I've gotta have Him!
Psalm 21:7
James 1:19-20
1 Corinthians 4:3-4
Daniel 2:19b-23

Marathon post

The visions of doing a post everyday this week vanished, so here we go! 

• Birthday Boy!  SweetBoy made it to double digits!  I see more and more fingerprints of God on you, and I am so thankful He put you in our family!

• We had a family outing to Palo Duro Canyon.  It is one of my favorite places on earth.  Yes, I've been to the Grand Canyon, and the similarities end with the fact that they are both canyons.  The Grand Canyon is huge and majestic, but Palo Duro is more colorful and tangible.  We enjoyed hiking and a picnic.

• We went to see Toy Story 3.  You would think being a mother of three that I would have been crying at my children's childhood going way too fast.  But no, I cried often and it was triggered by memories of my CareBear Funshine and how lonely she must be up in my closet!  (When we played, she was a girl! Now I think the cartoons have him a boy.)  My brother had Grumpy, and Mom made them both for us.  We played and played with those dolls!  At my grandparents' home where we spent a lot of time in the summer we built a whole world for them--beds, flying cars, a slide, a swingset, a balancing beam...if we could imagine it, Papaw and Mema could help make it happen.  Even as I grew older, when my feelings got hurt, Funshine was the one I wanted to cuddle with for comfort.  I have let my kids see her, and play a little bit, but I was afraid they would tear her up, so she is back in the closet.  But she has been a very trusted and dear friend!  (I had a cute little picture to share, but I can't find it at the moment--maybe later.)
• Continuing the stroll down memory lane...SweetDoll and I went to a day camp at a campground I went to (another favorite place on earth).  I loved camp--everything about it!  Even the green eggs and ham...the cafeteria had green fiberglass skylights, so everything had a green tint to it.  I lived for it every summer!  I went to day camp 1-3rd grade, then all week camp 4-6th grade, sponsor's assistant in 7th grade, then a staffer 8-11th grade.  It is where I fell in love with sign language and met a friend who set me on a path to deaf education.  I've been down that camp road in a church van.  I drove down in my first car, a '79 Toyota Celica, the first weekend I had it and could not get it to go in reverse (it was a stick shift and I didn't have the hang of it yet)!  And now I have driven down that road in a minivan with my daughter.  Talk about coming full circle!  A lot of things have changed, as they should, and we had a great time!  A lady who was my leader at my church and then the camp director when I was a staffer happened to be there.  It made my day!  And it just wouldn't have been camp without her!

• The main event of the summer so far has been my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary.  It was a lot of preperation but so totally worth it.  I don't think we could have done anything to please or honor them more.  It was a treat to have all of that side of my family together. 

• Mom and I did a scrapbook that is one of the coolest books I've worked on!  As we worked on it, one of the things that stood out to me was their church friends.  Life-long friendships made stronger in the bond of Christ, they have served together, laughed together, raised their kids together, cried together, grown older together...  There was a picture of several of them (6-8 couples) who went on a mission trip together as young married people with young kids.  All but one couple came to the party and they took another picture together.  More than family, it was their friends who came to the party.  We have been a part of some neat groups in the churches we have been in and I have some life-long friends, but I don't think I will ever experience anything quite like that.
• In preparing for the party, we made cookies (instead of a cake).  I was making a batch of cookies ahead and the plan was to freeze them and then bake them closer to party time.  As I put the cookies on the cookie sheet into the freezer, SweetTate asked me, "Momma, is our oven broken?"  I laughed and reassured him that it was working fine.  We would bake them another day!
• The party landed on the 4th of July weekend, so we got to celebrate with family.  It has been years since we bought fireworks.  We are usually camping or it is too dry to even consider it, but this year we are enjoying lush green yards.  (Ok, lush may be pushing it, but for this part of the country it is lush!)  My brother, my cousins' husband, and SweetHeart went together and got fireworks.  They did a great job!  We had a blast!  I got to play with my camera a little and got some fun pictures of the kids with sparklers.  My brother got one of him writing out his name with a big circle around it.  It was cool!

• Cousins.  Enough said!

• Our favorite baseball team has been doing great!  Then we make plans to go to 2 games and they lose!  Both of them!  But we had a fun time at the hotel swimming pool and watched the fireworks after the game.

I think that catches you up!  Hope you are enjoying your summer too!

Scripture Memory Team 2010 #12

I have written so many mental posts, but haven't had a moment to get them down.  I don't think they are time sensitive so I'll eventually get to them...maybe!  Anyway, this post is the next installment of the Scripture Memory Team.  It is amazing what a little accountablility will do.  Knowing I needed to post a new one today helped me push through when I got stuck on 1 Corinthians 13.  It has been challenging, and I'm nailing down the last part. SweetDoll and I went to camp last week and wouldn't you know the theme was "Live Love!"  God doesn't miss an opportunity to drive it home!  (More on camp later.)  One of the many things I've learned thinking about this chapter is the list of qualities of love in the middle begin and end with love's endurance. 

"Love never gives up..." Just a warning because it is not going to be easy

list of characteristics that make it hard to love--selfishness, coveting, pride, arrogance, overbearing, anger, legalism, gloating, annoyance, criticism--but God calls us to overcome and be loving and to love others anyway

"Love never looks back but keeps going to the end."

When it is difficult to love someone, I need to remember that perseverance is part of it.  And it makes me very thankful for my God's perfect love!  He never gives up on me, even when I'm less than loveable!

OK, on to the next one!  I'm doing Beth Moore's study "Stepping Up."  As part of the study she asked that we memorize Psalm 121 (HCSB). 

I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
your Protector will not slumber.
Indeed, the Protector of Israel
does not slumber or sleep.
The LORD protects you;
the LORD is a shelter right by your side.
The sun will not strike you by day,
or the moon by night.
The LORD will protect you from all harm;
He will protect your life.
The LORD will protect your coming and going
both now and forever.

Of course the promise of protection is prominent in this passage.  He knows life is scary and we need Him!  It is a great one to have memorized so He can bring it to mind when I feel attacked.  I get excited about the little things sometimes, and this is one of those cool little facts about this chapter.  This Psalm is so carefully written that in Hebrew there are 58 syllables before and 58 syllables after the phrase translated "Yahweh is your keeper." (The bold portion above.)  When I'm in the thick of the battle I need that reminder that my God, my Protector, is into details.  Whatever or whoever comes into my life is not by accident--they didn't slip in while He was sleeping.  It is God's character to protect me, and He rescues me every time (Psalm 34:19).  So for the next 4 weeks (maybe 6!), I'll be working on these verses.  Join me?