Update on Michelle

~When God closes one door He opens another~

Click here to read Michelle's blog.

Today's Jesus Calling...
"I am a God of both intricate detail and overflowing abundance. When you entrust the details of your life to Me, you are surprised by how thoroughly I answer your petitions. I take pleasure in hearing your prayers, so feel free to bring Me all your requests. The more you pray, the more answers you can receive. Best of all, your faith is strengthened as you see how precisely I respond to your specific prayers. Come to Me with open hands and heart, ready to receive all I have for you"

more prayers...

In today's Jesus Calling devotional, Jesus asks us to continue on this path with Him, enjoying His Presence even in adversity. He has been with us since our beginning, is with us every single moment of our lives. He knows every struggle and every success we have ever had and will have. He knows our future and He can prepare us for it.

He is with me, but am I with Him?

He is doing His part, but am I doing my part?

I need to ask His assistance, but know that it comes in His terms. I have to trust Him enough to understand that I won't always understand. I do not know my future, He does. I need to ask for His guidance, and then I must listen and obey.

How many times have my thoughts been His word and I have shut them out because I know where it's going and I don't want to. So before He can finish I turn my thoughts elsewhere. Have you ever done that? I talk to Him throughout my day, thanking Him constantly, but I should be talking with Him not just to Him and paying more attention to what He is saying to me.

He uses people in our lives to interact with us, speaking to us through them. Like Linda asking me in the past to join her in her bible study group. Each time I declined her (His) offer. Now let me back up to a few years ago when Jesus decided that I should read the bible for lent (now that time I listened and said yes). Not just during lent but to continue until I had read it from front to back. Then I started it again reading slower and understanding a little bit more. That's when Linda again asked if I wanted to join and this time I said yes. I was ready for more... (again I listened and said yes).  She then gave me the "Jesus Calling" devotional book. Daily devotions that helped me through a tough year. Jesus knew I would need it.

Jesus knew my future, He knew I needed to grow in my faith and grow stronger. I remember a conversation with Sylvia about God not giving you more than you can handle. I said to her... then I don't want to be too strong so He won't give me too heavy a cross. I said it half joking, half not. But He knew my future. He knew it was time to make me stronger. Darn.

So as  I continue my path with Him, I am enjoying His Presence even in adversity.

This adversity being cancer. cancer in my daughter. after a year cancer returning in her lungs.

I think I handled it better the first year. I am struggling more this time around. I don't understand why she has to suffer more. I just don't get it. Worry has settled in my heart and as hard as I fight it, it keeps creeping in. I know some worry is normal especially for a mom, you can't avoid it but then you have to let it go. I'm working on it. I don't want to stay in worryland. I want to do as Michelle does... get up, shake it off and move on.

And I remind myself I have to trust God. Only He knows Michelle's future. He knows how to help her, when to heal her. She is strong and faithful. She listens to Him. Through her, God helps me be strong. Through her, God is teaching me. I learn so much from the conversations her and I have. I truly believe Jesus is right smack in the middle of our conversations, speaking to us both. If you know Michelle, you know her strength and I hope you also learn from her example, use it in your life, and grow closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go". Joshua 1:9

"For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you". Matthew 10:20

Prayer Request

It's been a year since Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer. She's been through a year of chemo; she had a mastectomy; and reconstructive surgery. Her first chemo was Feb 17, 2011 and her final chemo was last Friday.

Today she is having another pet scan. The last one in December showed activity in her lungs, nodules...many nodules. Too small to biopsy. Today she is having another scan to see if they have changed... grown? stayed the same? disappeared? That would be the right answer, disappeared!

But she is experiencing pain. So again we pray and ask for your prayers. Prayers to keep her strong and prayers for her healing as only God can provide. She is an amazing woman, my daughter. Her faith is strong and she is a blessing to all who know her.

Jeremiah 29:11-12

For I know well the plans I have in mind for you says the Lord,

Plans to give you a future full of hope.

When you call me,

When you go to pray to me,

I will listen to you...

Lemon-Thyme Cookies

Always looking for ways to bring my garden into my kitchen, I found a recipe for Lemon-Thyme Cookies

I have lemons and I have thyme!

They taste like buttery shortbread cookies which are a favorite of mine. These have a hint of lemon... couldn't really taste the thyme, but I was glad to use it. Means the cookies are healthy right???

Lemon-Thyme Cookies

1/2 cup butter softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon snipped fresh thyme

2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

coarse sugar or granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the butter in a medium mixing bowl on medium to high for 30 seconds. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar; beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in thyme, lemon peel, lemon juice, and cardamom. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour with a wooden spoon. Knead until smooth; form dough into a ball.

Divide dough into 3 equal portions. Roll each portion in a 6x4&1/2-inch rectangle (about 1/4 inch thick) on a lightly floured surface. Cut dough in 1&1/2-inch squares with a scallop-edge pastry wheel. (I rolled out the dough and used a heart cookie cutter) Sprinkle cutouts with coarse sugar. Place cutouts on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are just lightly brown. Makes 36 cookies.

 Perfect for Valentine's Day

a little girl's tea party

 I have a very special neighbor. She is a dear friend and she has a heart of gold. Recently she gave her youngest daughter (center) a birthday tea party...

~Life without friends is like a garden without flowers~

It's Time to Garden

January... is the month to get the house back in order after packing up Christmas decorations and bringing out all the stuff I tucked away to make room for Christmas. It's the month that gets me in the mood to unclutter and reorganize closets, cabinets, drawers, the pantry. I've done good. I still have lots more to do but...

the weather draws me outdoors to sit in a sunny spot and relax, read a book, look at pretty magazines. It doesn't take long to see there's lots to do in the garden. Weeds to clear out, roses to prune, flowers to plant, vegetable gardens to clean out,

compost to spread...

take inventory... what do I still have... what do I want to add...

My orange tree has not grown. It is a dwarf. I didn't want a dwarf but it is what it is. It hasn't given very many oranges, but the sweet taste of these oranges makes up for the size of the tree.

My lemon tree produces the best lemons!

I still have eggplants, bell peppers, jalapenos, hatch chiles, green beans, and chives...

I have rosemary, cilantro, sage, oregano, margoram, curry, thyme, parsley, lemon balm. I cut back my basil, which does not do well in winter, and it is showing signs of life.

I've learned not to plant tomatoes in the fall because they end up freezing, but these came up on their own by a rose bush. They're looking sort of wimpy but maybe they'll survive. I'll take the freebies anytime!

After spreading compost, I added lettuce, spinach, zucchini, squash, snow peas, swiss chard, cucumbers, and radishes. I still plan to sow red and white onion, carrots and who knows what else. Definitely not corn! Definitely not broccoli!

Once I get the vegetable and herb gardens going,

it's on to my flower garden~

Cramming lots into one month!



~In the Garden~

A Collection of Prayers for Everyday

by Marsha Maurer

A Prayer For Purpose

A seed holds the complete design for life. The plan becomes the plant.

In the same way, Lord, let me see Your purpose contained in my life.
 Although I often flounder and struggle to find direction,
I know that my existence is not by accident or chance.

Remind me of Your intention for my life.

I am not here for pleasure, honor, prestige, or wealth.

Guide me to see that selfish enjoyment is not Your aim for me.

Make my life a blessing to others.

May the seed that You planted in my heart at my creation grow to maturity. Whether conditions be fertile or barren, make me bloom with the deeply planted satisfaction of Your will.

Amen.

"But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” Mark 4:20

Mamie's Dresser~Beautiful Again

This dresser belonged to my grandmother Dolores who I called Mamie (pronounced mommy). It looked much better when she had it. I remember it in her bedroom and had always loved it. Loved to look at the picture of her and my grandfather on it and her mirror and brush and nicknacks which all laid on a white crocheted doily.

My mamie passed away when I was in my teens and when her belongings were distributed, I asked for her dresser. I was thrilled to own it. It had a dark brown, almost black finish which I eventually repainted a lighter brown. That's when I found the secret compartment. I wondered what kind of things she kept there. I loved having this secret hiding place that no one knew about. What teen girl wouldn't?

I wish I knew the history of her dresser. How long she owned it, how she came to own it, did it belong to her and my grandfather or just her? Who cut the tin coffee can and nailed it to become a secret compartment? Did my grandfather? Or one of her sons, my dad? 

I held on to Mamie's dresser all these years. But it sat in my garage and it ended up taking quite a beating which is how it came to look this way.

I may not know it's history prior to my birth, but I know it's history since...

It belonged to my grandmother, then it belonged to her granddaughter (me) and now it will belong to my granddaughter Megan... her great-great-granddaughter. Each time skipping a generation.

And part of it's history is it's restoration! Which is a part I am really excited about.

Mamie's great-grandson Danny (my nephew) has made this dresser beautiful again. He and his wife Kacey, restore furniture. See Refreshed Decor here. And restore it he did. Leaving the secret compartment intact of course. Thank you Danny for giving it life again, you did an amazing job inside and out.

Michelle picked the color and knobs since Megan has no clue being only two. And here it is...

Mamie would be proud!