Shopping with Hannah, Sarah, and Mary

Christmas Shopping

I am just now getting started on shopping with the girls. After all the fairy tales I have read over the past twenty years about princesses, who knew there is a kit where you can make up your own dream come true with all the frills to match?

My Favorite Photos from Thanksgiving

Pictures from top to bottom - The entire Rhodes family (except Nicole's husband Ryan), My family with my parents and sister JoAnne, Hannah in a last minute run to get that weird gelled like substance people call cranberry sauce, Rachel with Andrew and Anna's baby Noah, Sarah with Tammy's grandson and Nicole's baby Brody, Hannah and Lydia with Robin's son Timothy.

What is God's Supreme Attribute?

While we were visiting Faith Bible Church in Sharpsburg, GA, this was the question the teacher asked. My first thought to the question was holiness because of Revelation 4:8. The teacher read a quote by A. W. Tozar that said basically if we consider one attribute of God above another then our view of God may be lop-sided. God is the God of Love and Grace, but He is also the God of Justice.
The attribute the class focused on this week was faithfulness. He had some great points about how faithful God is in His promises and when we are so unfaithful. He read aloud the words to the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness. How appropriate is was for the Thanksgiving week!

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain

I Thessalonians 5:18

"Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
I'm getting close to my due date and have really had a hard time this week. I know it is God's will that I miscarried but I am still a little too weepy. My dear friend Lisa asked me what specific things I was doing to get through these days of sadness. I just shrugged it off and said that I would be keeping myself extra busy. (That's how I handle most everything.) After church she pulled me aside and reminded me that extra time in Scripture has really helped her in days of sorrow. I thanked her and thought, "Maybe I should do more Bible reading tomorrow." This morning I Thessalonians 5:18 was the last section I read in my daily Bible reading. God is so good to bring us to where He knows we need to be. His word is true to give us comfort and lead us to where He would have us to be. I don't know His will in my miscarriages, but I know He is faithful and true to lead us. Thank you Lisa for your ever so gentle admonition to seek the God of all Comfort.

Knowing God

Some of the ladies at church have started reading Knowing God by Jerry Bridges together. We are learning that to truly "know" God is much more than just head knowledge. The author is pointing out the right questions to help us see a little bit of what it means to have an intimate relationship with our Creator.
We are meeting at 6:00 am before the sun comes up. Though it's hard to drag out of the house that early, once I'm outside, I realize how wonderful it is to get out into the darkness and quietness, before the rest of the world is awake and have a few minutes to have meaningful conversation about the greatness of our "Most High" God. The past few meetings have set the right tone for the day for me.

Basketball!

Yahoo! Basketball season has officially opened. Between everyone's schedule we games four nights this week. Mary and Lydia will be getting used to doing school and eating out of the back of the car for the next few months. And I'll refine my skills at feeding our family on a crazy schedule without breaking the bank or eating junk food. I'm open for suggestions on taking decent food in the car that doesn't take all morning to prepare or cost a fortune. (I usually buy "normal" ingredients. I don't have any quinoa laying around here, but I do plan to look it up.)

Thinking to be Thoughtful

We've heard it said that you have to think to be thoughtful. Wednesday was Veteran's Day. My only thought for most of the day was, "Oh, no mail, no bank open." Minor irritation, but no big deal. Near the end of the day it really occurred to me, "OOOOHHH, it's Veterans Day! I should be praying for the veterans I know. We should have written letters to some." Even after that, I get to church and when prayers requests were called for, I forgot again! (My forgetfulness is even worse because I knew that one of our elders was away preaching for another church's Veteran's Day!) All that to say that my thinking wasn't even enough. Thursday morning Hannah mentioned Veteran's Day again and told me why it's on November 11th. That's when I started realizing my lack of thought. We can "think" about things we should pray for and do, but until we do them, we haven't really been thoughtful.

First Ever Smores

How can a man get this old and never have tried smores until now?

Matthew 9:28

Matthew 9:28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” I wonder, "Do I have that kind of faith?" I can see (physically) perfectly fine, but do I have the faith to see Christ heal, provide, change hearts?