2009 GIVING THANKS CHALLENGE!

This is the 3rd annual Giving Thanks Challenge hosted by Leah at South Breeze Farm. Yes, I am arriving fashionably late to this lovely event, but I am none the less ready to celebrate this month is style. I look forward to this event every year. I enjoy reading every one's lists and finding new blogs to read and visit in the process. It's just a lot of fun. And it is so inspiring. It helps me keep my focus on the real reason for this season of the year. "Thankfulness."

Cultivating a grateful heart and attitude. Sharing your blessings and in the process blessing others. Taking the time to slow down and look at all that we have instead of all that we want. Enjoy life's little everyday pleasures. Feeding our contentment instead of our desires. That is what I'm going to spend this month doing. I hope you will join me. Click on the button above and it will take you to Leah's challenge, where you can sign up too. Then grab the button, and advertise the challenge on your blog in a post. You can keep an on going list on your side bar under the button of all the things you're "Thankful" for or you can post every day about it. Have fun with it. I even decided to make a new play list of music for the month to go along with the theme. Some of it is patriotic, because I am grateful to my servicemen and women that protect my country. I love my country and my freedom and I'm proud to be an American. I also wanted something "homey" that represented my Christian values. So, I added hymns, prayers and blessings, and songs like Love in a Home by Doris Day.

The first thing I want to give thanks for in my challenge is my friend Ashley. You may have noticed my new look. She was so kind to put together a header for my blog here, and one for my children's private blog. I know she is busy with her business, Ashley's Artistry, and her beautiful family and baby girl Evy. So, this was such an unexpected act of kindness. It really touched my heart. She just e-mailed me one day and said she really wanted to do this for me, and I was like wow! Thank you! And so, I Thank you again, my sweet sweet friend! It may not have seemed like much to you at the time, but it came at just the right time for me, and it really lifted my spirits, and touched my heart. Blessings to you!

Hey Y'all! Let's get to celebrating!

Sorry It's been a while! We've been busy here in the Taylor household. We made an unexpected trip home the last week of October to meet with bankers and realtors, and to look at some houses. I can't believe we will be moving home in seven months. I'm excited and nervous. The house I've been "stalking" for over a year now has dropped off of the website we've been looking at. So, we're not sure yet if it has sold or if they just took it off of the market. I was crushed at first, but, if it's not in God's plan for us, then I trust He will lead us to something better. His best for us. Who knows how things are going to work out. I'm trying not to get too emotionally attached to anything. It's such an exciting time.


Hugh and I have known each other and been together now for fourteen years. We knew within our first year of dating that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, but we also wanted to finish school (college) before we got married. So, we dated five years and got married a year after we both graduated. We lived just a little over a year in Ridgeland before going to medical school. We lived in the same apartment complex in college. And our first home in Ridgeland was a very quaint little apartment. It was perfect for us. We have also rented while in medical school and here in Ohio while we have been in residency. So, this will be our "first home." I have to say that I think we have made the right move renting all along. I am so so glad we don't have the extra added stress of trying to unload a house up here right now, in this unstable economy. But, we have spent such a long time planning and dreaming. I can honestly say that sometimes I feel like it's never really going to actually happen. Like it is always going to be a dream we just talk about and dream about. And then again, it's kinda scary to think of it actually happening. I know that sounds strange, but, change is a little scary too. I've known this for so long and I'm comfortable with this, and I don't know what our lives are going to be like once this change comes, and I don't want "us" to change. The core of us. I don't want a little comfort to take our eyes off our focus, which is the Lord. So, all we can do is pray and keep Him close. And take it one day at a time, right?

Anyway, I feel like I'm missing out on sharing my favorite time of year. I love the fall season. The rich colors, the crisp cool air. The yummy smells coming from the kitchen or from candles burning. It makes me feel all warm and cozy inside and reminds me of all my many many blessings. I love Thanksgiving. I hate that it gets so overlooked. So, I'm going to celebrate Thanksgiving all this month. Here is where I'm going to start...


GOD BLESS THIS HOME IN WHICH WE LIVE;
GOD BLESS It's EVERY PART.
GOD GRANT IT PEACE AND SWEET CONTENT
GOD GRACE OUR EVERY HEART.
-Bert Whitehouse
More Fall fun to come! Love and Blessings!

Away Sick with the Flu...

well, we thought it was the flu. But, I think it was more of an intestinal flu. I never got the respiratory symptoms. Thank goodness with my my asthma. I just had fever, chills, aches and tummy troubles. And I had dizziness and weakness for a couple days that just wiped me out and required me to ask Hugh to stay home. I can usually just carry on through, but this one hit hard. So, I've been away from the computer for a while. I've even had my husband update my face book page a couple of times, letting my friends know I'm still alive, just very under the weather.
I've missed visiting all my blogs but, I have come across a new (or new to me) group called the Sisters. Have you heard of the Ruppes sisters? They are fabulous! Let me say it again! Fabulous People, FABULOUS! My husband introduced them to me one night last week. I was curled up on the couch, sick as can be, and he said I have something I want you to listen to. He played me the song I am about to leave here for you and all I can say is, I was weeping when it was over. I felt like I'd just been to church. You can feel like you have just been hit by a mack truck, and be overwhelmed with God is good. -Amen

Our New Preschool Ministry

I have been having such a wonderful time teaching our new preschool class at church. We don't have a curriculum for our new class, but, we have been making due with scripture, crafts and the help of my Christian Mother Goose book. Ms. Pat, our pastor's wife, always leads our time together for Master's club. She opens in prayer, takes up offering, and then we have our pledge to the American flag, Christian flag, and to the Bible. After that she reads our Bible story. We start with the Old Testament in the fall and work our way into the New Testament in the spring session.

I knew from working with her last year that she would begin with the creation story. Our class is using construction paper and stickers to make a wordless book of the creation story to take home. We will be doing this over a succession of weeks together. When we separated into our individual classes, I tried to build on what Ms. Pat read to us, by talking to my class about day one, where God separated he darkness from the light. As a prompt, we are using a peek-a-boo motion to remind them of day one. Then we talked about what God made to give us light: the sun, moon and stars, (day four.) I asked them if they knew the nursery rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Of course they were all very excited and wanted to share with me that they could each recite it together. Then I shared a new version of that nursery rhyme, a Christian version that says.....

Twinkle, twinkle little star, God has placed you where you are;
Up above the world so high, you're God's light hung in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, when you look down from afar,
What's that little light you see -shining here for God? It's me!

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, I can't reach you in a car;
But someday by Jesus' might, I'll fly to visit you each night.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, God has placed you where you are!

We added motions to it by opening and closing our hands like little twinkle stars, which is a great motor skill activity for preschoolers. Then we used rhythm sticks, bean bags, and shakers to work on our scripture verse from Psalm 27:1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation..." I used eight quarter notes and two eighth notes to help them tap or shake out the rhythm. We did this several times together, giving everyone a chance to use an instrument or bean bag. Then we did other songs, where they could get up and move. Little ones have such a short attention span and can not stay still for long, so we kept things moving, always connecting what we were doing to our scripture, story and theme. We finished the evening with a craft to take home with our verse on it.

I am sharing this with you in hopes that you will be able to use it in your church or even at home with your little ones.

For our second week, we continued to build on week one. Our verse was from Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world..." We talked about how when we know Jesus/God, and we love Him and follow Him, we begin living a life filled with God's light. Other people can see that light, and we can share it with them by sharing Jesus with them and His love and kindness. That's how they get to know Him. Then we can bring them to church where they can learn about Him through the Bible, the pastor and other teachers. We sang songs like This Little Light of Mine, and we used the nursery rhyme Jack Be Nimble to make crafts with our verse to take home on it. We also reviewed Twinkle, Twinkle little Star, and our memory verse form the previous week together, as well as, other songs.

This week (week 3) we talked about sin and when Adam and Eve left the garden of Eden. Side note:(I was so happy when they remembered that the first man and woman were Adam and Eve, from the week before.) Again, I truly believe this is because we are using songs, games and prompts to build on the Bible story Ms. Pat shares each week. She talked about how Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with leaves, but it didn't help, and God knew that they had disobeyed Him (enter -sin.) She connected it to how we sometimes disobey our parents, and it makes God very sad just as it did when Adam and Eve sinned. And how even when our parents punish us, they still love us, just as God still loved Adam and Eve. She also talked when Adam and Eve had to leave the garden, and how the Lord made a covering for them out of animal skins. And how we think they might have been sheep skin, because in other places in the Bible we had to sacrifice or shed the blood of a spotless lamb/sheep to cover our sins until Jesus came. And how Jesus shed his blood on the cross to cover our sins, so we wouldn't have to sacrifice sheep any more. (Pretty deep, I know. But it's an introduction to what they will hopefully come to know and understand later as they get a little older. She is also sharing this story time with children up through the six grade.) We used the verse Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. in our class time to connect with what she had taught for the night. They took the verse home on the bottom of the cotton ball sheep they made at craft time. We also used a Christian version of Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full:
One for the Lord, and one for my family too, And one for the little boy that says, "Thank you!"

Since we use the sign for Jesus already when we sing our songs, i used this opportunity to teach them the sign for "Thank you."

This next week we will continue to talk about sheep and using these two Christian nursery rhymes....

Mary's Lamb
Mary had a little lamb,
It's fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go.

Now Jesus has a little lamb,
That little lamb is you!
And He is pleased when all His lambs keep following Him too.

Little Bo-Peep
Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep
And doesn't know where to find them;
But, Jesus knows and can bring them home,
Wagging their tails behind them.

We will also use the Christian book One Lost Sheep by Rhonda Gowler Greene.


And our verse will come from John 10:27 The sheep that are my own hear and are listening to my voice; and I know them and they follow me. Please pray over this children's ministry, and our little class if you have time. It would mean so much to me! The majority of the children we serve do not attend church and don't even own a Bible in their home. I know this from giving seven Bibles to little ones last year in my k-1st grade class. I am praying that they will share all we are doing with their families at home and their excitement will bring their families to visit our church. I'll leave you with a few pictures of our craft ideas that we've used to go along with our theme and lessons. -Blessings!

The Gentleness of my Savior

Oh, how sweet the Lord is. He is so gentle and merciful in our weakness and pain. It brings tears to my eyes just to type the precious moment He gave me last night. If you have lost someone in your life very dear to you, a loved one or family member, you know that there are times, some little something will spark a rush of memories to wash over you. I had such a moment last night. I was sitting here alone. The babies were asleep, and my honey was at work, and I was thinking about and missing my mom. It started out sweet and then all of a sudden, I was crying a flood of tears and I just couldn't stop them from coming. I lost my breath and I buried my head in my hands and just sobbed for a few minutes. It ached way down deep inside, I missed her so much. "It's not fair. It's not fair," is all I could think or feel for a few moments. "I just wish you were here. I need you."

Then I heard a little creek, and out came my sweet little girl from around the corner. As, she toddled in with her blankie, I could tell she was still half asleep. "Hold you, momma," and she crawled up into my arms, and laid her head on my shoulder. She snuggled in, and I quietly held her close and let the tears continue to fall.When she was ready, I carried her back to her bed and tucked her in. I leaned over and kissed her softly on her the side of her head and whispered, "I love you so much." Then she turned over and wrapped her arms around my neck. She gave me a little pat pat on my back and whispered, "I love you so much momma." And she kissed me goodnight. It was such a sweet and comforting moment. And the Lord knew it was exactly what I needed. Other people may just shrug it off as a coincidence, but, I know it was a "God" moment. A healing moment. I have always said that the Lord gave me my son to sustain me through the heart ache of losing my mom so unexpectedly. And He gave me my daughter, a year later on my mom's birthday, to help me heal. We mirror image so much of the closeness and the bond I had with my mom. And it helps me feel close to her, like she is still everyday a part of my life. Not just as a memory, but in a real tangible way.

Oh how sweet His love is for us. With all in the world that He has to take care of, He still has time to show us that He cares about the small things our hearts ponder over. He takes the time to say I see, I know, I do care and I love you. That is how sweet my savior is. That is the God I know and love. Do you know Him that way? Not just know about Him and who He is, but, know Him. Do you share things and moments like this with Him?

New Post at Our Sweetest Dreams Come True!

Just letting all my friends know that read my other blog, I have a new post up there. I'll be posting here soon as well. But, for now I'm off to play baby dolls with my sweet girl and get ready to host my weekly ladies Bible study! Blessings!

Here's your sign.....

I know I've been missing in action for a little while. I've been hiding out on purpose. No really, it's been a very long five days, filled with what seemed like endless drama. And I am sooo done. And I'm thankful that the Lord provides a way out of toxic relationships and situations. I am very serious people, when you hear that little small voice in your head saying "Caution, back away slowly and say nothing," listen to it. Because it may be the Holy spirit whispering in your ear. I believe with all my heart that the Lord still speaks to us today, and it doesn't have to look like a burning bush. But, if He is a real part of your life, He most definitely guides and protects you from those that mean you harm. But, we have to know His voice, and we have to take heed when He gives us instructions. I can see now, so many horrible paths this situation could have taken if I had acted out of emotion. I am thankful for all the ways He speaks to us, through prayer and His word, through other people and especially through my spouse, whom I should have listen to a long time ago. There is a reason that the Lord gave us to each other as life partners. And sometimes I have to be reminded of the fact that it may not have anything to do with romance or courtship, but more with counsel , wisdom and guidance. Thank you God for teaching me that I am also still learning everyday and should not always lead with my own perception or emotion about a situation. And more than anything I thank you right now for your protection.