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so thankful and blessed… #1091-1100 ~ Joy Comes with the Morning

Written by Joy
so thankful and blessed… #1091-1100 ~ Joy Comes with the Morning

Psalm 30

1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3 O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. 4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. 6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” 7 By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed. 8 To you, O LORD, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: 9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!” 11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

The Psalm above is written by David.  It is titled “Joy Comes with the Morning”.  It is said that David wrote this song for the dedication of the temple.  It has also been mentioned that they think it was written  upon his recovery of being very sick.  It reminds me though, that through it all, the good and bad, Joy comes in the morning.  That God does get angry, but He loves us and is always there for us.  I am so thankful that God is there for me.  Even though I am a sinner, He still loves me.  His love, mercy and grace for me is amazing.  Yes, Joy truly does come in the morning.

1091. pain to slow me down, to have more precious time with my children and to refocus on what is most important in life.

1092. a husband and children who are so helpful and understanding, when I have pain and help me out.

1093. a chiropractor and message therapist to see me on short notice to help relieve the pain.

1094. a friend who helps me out with my blog when I have an issue.

1095. a new couch that is comfortable to sit on and big enough for all of us.

1096. our homeschooling neighbor who takes the kids to Lego night at the Lego store!

1097. phone calls from friends across the US.

1098. nature walks with my children.

1099. talking about memories with my children while looking at the ornaments on our tree.

1100. a new friend stopping by for a visit with her children. Such a blessing talking about Jesus with others.

I would love for you to join in counting the many blessings that God gives. Stop by A Holy Experience and visit others who are also sharing their many blessings.

2012, multitude monday, , , , , , , ,

making Christmas traditions and memories ~ ornaments

Written by Joy
making Christmas traditions and memories ~ ornaments

I love making memories and traditions with my kids.  It is my hope that my children remember these times and pass them on to their families when they are older.   One of the traditions that we have is making ornaments and collecting ornaments together.  I also love those special ones that have been given to us by people that we love.  Every ornament on our tree has a story and our children love reminiscing  about the ornament of where it came from and who gave it to us.  It makes my heart happy to see my children take such good care of these precious memories.

The angel below, Buddy and I got when our oldest son was 11 months old.  It was his very first Christmas.  That was 19 years ago.

our angel.

The beaded candy cane ornament was made by my oldest son when he was in elementary school.  The Angel is made from my youngest daughter’s footprint and hand prints.  The foam star was made by my oldest daughter.  The stocking ornament with the little girl on it was given to our youngest daughter by our neighbor in NC.   The Santa Clause, I painted when we lived in Florida, 10 years ago.  It was our first year of homeschooling and the kids and I painted ornaments.

Angel made from a foot print and hand prints.

This angel was given to our oldest son when he was just 4 years old.  His Sunday School preschool teacher, Mrs. Susie Douglas gave it to him.  She loves him so much and the feeling was mutual.  Michael loved her dearly.  She loved the children in her class.  Sadly, she passed away several years ago and will always have a special place in our hearts.

an angel given to our oldest son when he was 4.

I saw this ornament and had to buy it and paint it.  It is my favorite Christmas song.  It reminds me of that special night, so long ago, when God sent his only Son to be born of a virgin.

an ornament I painted with the kids.

The three Gator ornaments are from a very dear friend.  He sent these to us when we lived in NC.  We are huge Gator fans, since that is where we originally are from.  You can also see our sun catcher candles that we made from the very first lesson of the Advent study we are doing.

Gator ornaments given to us by a friend.

The ornaments below were made by all of our children.  We have a snowflake by our youngest son, a Christmas tree by our youngest daughter, the bear is painted by my oldest daughter and the CD ornament was made by our oldest son when he was in school.

ornaments kids made.

So many memories on our tree.  By looking at this tree, it shows just how blessed that we are.  God has been so good to us and has allowed so many special people in our lives.  I am so blessed by being able to stay at home with our children and able to make and do so much with them to make those special memories.  Yes, I am so thankful and blessed.

Do you make ornaments with your children?  What other special traditions do you have?

2012, family, , , , , , , , ,

Wednesdays Around The World: A History and Geography link-up~ Israel falling to the Assyrians and Hosea

Written by Joy
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Wednesdays Around The World: A History and Geography link-up~ Israel falling to the Assyrians and Hosea

Welcome to another week of Wednesdays Around The World.  Working through sickness in the family, we still managed to have several great lessons in our Mystery of History studies.

In lesson 45, we read about Israel and how they fell to Assyria.  By using prophets as His messengers, God had warned them to not sin.

2 Kings 17:13

13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

He told the people of the Northern Kingdom that if they continued to sin, they would fall to their neighboring nation.

Hosea 10:6

6 The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king.
Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.

We talked about what types of bad things that the people of Israel were doing.  They worshiped idols, practiced witchcraft and set up pillars and wooden images.  So many horrible things!  God was very angry with all that they did, especially since they knew they were doing wrong!  God’s response was harsh, but well deserved.  While the Assyrians thought they won, God had actually allowed the Assyrians to take the people of Israel.

2 Kings 17:23

23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

What exactly happened?  The people of Israel were taken to the land of Assryia.  They were removed from the Promised Land and others were sent to live in the land that God had promised the Israelite people.  There were over 27,000 people that left the land God had promised them, because they disobeyed God.

This was a very good lesson, because it taught the kids that disobeying has its consequences.  If we continue to disobey we can loose what has been given to us.

Lesson 46 talked about the Hosea, the prophet that God sent to Israel to warn the people about their sins.  Not only did God use Hosea to speak to Israel, God also used Hosea’s life as an example.  He told Hosea to marry a harlot.  By doing this, Hosea’s life showed what God was feeling through pain and true love.  You see, God loves us so much and it pains Him so much to see his people disobey.

The activity that we did for lesson 45 was to show the children that the 27,000 were a lot of people.  The kids were to find 100 of an object.  Then we were to talk about how there were 272+ more groups of the 100 objects to equal the amount of people that had to leave the Promised Land.  The kids actually found 100 pennies, but also found a few dimes and nickels.  We were able to get a little math in while adding up to 27,000+.

The activity for lesson 46, we were to bake a cake.  Well half-bake it.  How disappointing is a half baked cake?  very disappointing because you can’t eat it!  The Israelite people disappointed God tremendously.

Hosea 7:8

8 Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;  Ephraim is a cake not turned.

counting pennies.

 

I also wanted to highlight a couple of those who linked up last week.  The first one is Judy from Contented at Home and How They Use Mystery of History.  I love how they switch things up just a bit to make it work for them.  The next one is Stacey from Layered Soul.  They built a fort using food items!

What have you covered in history?  Any exciting lessons or activities? I can’t wait to see what you all have learned about!

 

**disclaimer~ This link-up is not officially affiliated with Bright Ideas Press but is my own project. I am a customer and fan.


2012, homeschooling, Wednesdays Around The World, , , , , , ,

so thankful and blessed… #1081-1090

Written by Joy
so thankful and blessed… #1081-1090

1 Timothy 4:4-5

4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

While I do my best throughout the year, it seems like I tend to focus much more and more intently on Jesus during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.  I think about how God sent His Son to us, knowing that one day, He would die upon a cross just to save us, poor wretched sinners.  I then look at my children and know that it would be extremely hard to do.  Yet, He did it.  I don’t deserve the love, mercy and grace that He sends me daily.  I don’t deserve the many blessings that He gives us daily.  Yet, He continues to give.  Yes, I am blessed.  So blessed.

1081. sickness to slow me down, to get refocused on what truly matters.

1082. being able to bless someone else.

1083. spending an afternoon with my oldest daughter.

1084. Christmas and birthday shopping with my daughter.

1085. baking with my children.

Sammy, Claire and Sarah.

1086. family traditions ~ getting our Christmas tree.

1087. watching my husband put lights on our tree.

1088. watching my children go through the ornaments, talking about who made them and when they were made.

1089. seeing my oldest daughter bake cookies with the younger two children.

1090. being able to make more memories with my children in a new place.

I would love for you to join in counting the many blessings that God gives. Stop by A Holy Experience and visit others who are also sharing their many blessings.

2012, multitude monday, , , ,