Four Minutes

I love this post by Ann Voskamp.  Four minutes a day to falling in love all over again.

4 Focuses + 4 Embraces + 4 Affirmations =

Falling In Love All Over Again.

Every marriage needs this.  Try it today and let me know how you are doing.

Joy Dare Days 16 - 19

Getting behind posting my gratitudes, but I haven't quit looking.  Everyday God reveals more of His glory!

Day 16 - 3 ways you witnessed happiness today

1.  White tree.
2.  My son's face.
3.  Math towers

Day 17 - one gift that made you laugh, one gift that made you pray, one gift that made you quiet

1.  Watching Rhett and Link with Luke.
2.  Sitting in traffic.
3.  Knitting a new scarf.

Day 18 - 3 gifts from God's Word

1.  Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?  And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.  Matthew 25:34-40

2.  If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.
Proverbs 25:16

3.  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted  and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:14-19

Day 19 - a grace in the kitchen, a grace in the weather, a grace that might never have been

1.  A cup of hot tea.
2.  Sunrise
3.  New job for Mike

Joy Dare! Days 14 & 15

Day 14 - 3 ways you glimpsed the startling grace of God

1.  Flowers from Mike.
2.  Clean water to drink.
3.  Two children who grew in my heart.

Day 15 - one thing you wore, one thing you gave away, one thing you shared

1.  Ring
2.  Hug
3.  Breathe Mints

 Mike bought me this ring in Peru because I didn't take my engagement and wedding rings with me.

One of my kids favorites.

Joy Dare Days 7 - 13

Catching up on 1000 gifts to record this year.  This is so much fun.


Day 7 - 3 graces from people you love

1.  Today Karson prayed, "God, help Grandpa come to know You so he can adore You."
2.  Since we have arrived back in the states, so many people have said, "I'm glad you are home."
3.  Note from my husband

Day 8 - light that caught your eye, a reflection that surprised you, a shadow that fell lovely

1.  Candle flame
2.  Big moon
3.  Shadow in the newly fallen snow.

 Day 9 - a gift in your hand, a gift you walked by, a gift you sat with

1.  Dancing with my husband.
2.  Room full of friends.
3.  Computer to share gifts.

Day 10 - a gift that's sour, a gift that's sweet, a gift that's Just Right

1.  Pickles
2.  My niece's warm smile every time I see her.
3.  Shelter from the rain.

Day 11 - 3 yellow thanks that strike you as fresh mercy

1.  Sun
2.  Baby chick
3.  Mangos

Day 12 - something above you, something below you, something beside you

1.  My Father in heaven
2.  Warm shoes on a cold day
3.  My husband






































Day 13 - 3 sounds you hear

1.  Wind chimes
2.  Hum of the frig
3.  Chattering Children

The Joy Dare Days 1-6

Day 1 - three things about myself that I am grateful for

1.  Child of God
2.  Wife
3.  Mother





























Day 2 - a gift outside, inside, on a plate

1.  Snow
2.  Flower
3. Meal with old friends

Day 3 - three lines I overheard that were graces

1.  "God's power has given us everything we need to lead a godly life."  2 Peter 1:3
2.   "You have received the Holy Spirit from God.  He continues to live in you."  1 John 3:27
3.  "A good idea is not always a God idea."

Day 4 - one gift old, new, & blue

1.  My grandmother who lived to be 100
2.  Moving back to the states
3.  Sky

Day 5 - something I am reading, I'm making, I'm seeing

1.  Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed
2.  Socks
3.  My children eating candy canes

Day 6 - one thing in my bag, my fridge, my heart

1.  Gratitude notebook
2.  Fruits and Veges
3.  Jesus

Joy Dare

If this doesn't bring you joy, then I don't know what will!

My challenge this year is to form the habit of gratitude.

I will be doing this through The Joy Dare.  Click here for more information.

I am behind a few days, but it should be easy to catch up.

Open Spaces by Frances Ridley Havergal

"And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide."

Genesis 24:63

We should be better Christians if we were more alone; we should do more if we attempted less and spent more time in retirement and quiet waiting upon God.  The world is too much with us; we are afflicted with the idea that we are doing nothing unless we are fussily running to and fro; we do not believe in "the calm retreat, the silent shade."  As a people, we are of a very practical turn of mind; "we believe," as someone has said, "in having all our irons in the fire, and consider the time not spent between the anvil and the fire as lost, or much the same as lost."  Yet no time is more profitable spent than that which is set apart for quiet musing, for talking with God, for looking up to heaven.  We cannot have too many of these open spaces in life, hours in which the soul is left accessible to any sweet thought or influence it may please God to send...Let there be intervals when we shall do nothing, think nothing, plan nothing, but just lay ourselves on the green lap of nature and "rest awhile."