I got a Crush! {Floral Delivery!}

The Bouqs Co.

Just wanted to share my surprise that came via FedEx this morning...

The Bouqs Co.

Seriously, the prettiest, best wrapped and most beautiful bouquet my sweet Knight has ever sent. Hydrangeas, snapdragons, roses, Gerber daisies and green Eucalyptus to adorn the bouquet entitled 'Crush!'

 They arrived in a large brown heavy weight cardboard box.  The flowers were tied down with a heavy weight zip tie. They were bundled in 2 separate cellophane bundles and once we unpackaged them saw that some of the flowers had stem support (to avoid breakage) and some even had a netting over the flower to keep them from damage during shipping.

Well, my husband got a big thank you for this beautiful bouquet, even the tin container (which has an old fashioned enamelware feel) is lovely.

My Knight use to order from 1800 (flowers), in the past...but no more of that!  

The Bouqs Co. use U.S. farm growers and are into sustainability!  Artistry is high on their hearts and they look to work with florists and farmers who love what they do too! What they deliver was great evidence of just that.

Looking to send beautiful flowers?  The Bouqs Co. even offer a coupon page!

Want to take a peak at some more of their work?  So very lovely!

I am not getting paid to post on this lovely company, just felt like sharing with you something really good and worth your money!

As a practical girl, I discourage my Knight from sending flowers on holidays. But he slipped these in before Valentines Day and honestly my heart is so blessed! What a lovely Friday surprise.

The love note and bouquet care instructions.

Happy Friday friends.

Be blessed.

Love for you to leave a note and let me know you popped in. Encouragement does a heart wonders! ❤

Looking For Spring

Wooden Spoons as of Late

They each emerge as the shavings fall. A surprise to the creator, each one so different. 

The whittling away brings you to the place, the moment where you say stop, enough.

The middle spoon was a bother.  In the center I found out not only a knot which penetrated through, but wormwood none the less.  Sigh, but just like a mother finds love for each of her children, even this spoon has worked itself into my heart.

A branch of birch awaits me. I hear it is a lovely wood to work. Time will tell.  Sharpened the axe and perhaps later will see how she behaves.

Hope all is dandy in your part of the world.

Have had sickness here and finally the children are out to get fresh air. Perhaps we've turned a corner from 'flu A'.  Had one trip to the E.R. and not due to my carving, but with our youngest Princess unable to breathe.  So glad she is feeling well enough to bundle up and go out in the snow for a bit.

Be well!

Prayer Request Sunday ❤

  

Morning Friends❤

Would love to pray for what is on your heart today.  Leave me a comment and we will stand together believing God will not only hear us, but move on your behalf.

Love you, be blessed!

Matthew 18:20 The Passion Translation (TPT)

20 For wherever two or three come together in honor of my name,[a] I am right there with them!”

The Beauty of Homemade Bread

Warm bread straight from the oven, oh what more says love?

Simple ingredients: yeast, warm water, flour, salt.  A little mixing, a little kneading of the dough, wrapping her and then giving her time to slowly fill to her potential.  

Pressing her down, reshaping her again and letting her slowly rise up again. Keeping her gently wrapped to prevent a hard outer crust that would limit her full potential. She needs to stay warm and soft in this waiting process.

Heating an oven to nice and hot, then baking her until perfectly golden. Give her a thump and see if she sounds rather done.  

Release her to a cooling rack and sit staring at her until you can stand it no longer. 

With a serrated bread knife slice, smell, close your eyes, and thank God for such a wonderful gift as bread.

As I write this I realize how much life and trials that come are like the making of bread.

Though I have been knocked down in life, sometimes looking rather deflated at such times, the Holy Spirit that lives in me causes me to rise and reach to my potential that God Himself has put within me.

Where does my help come from? The One who made both heaven and earth and every grain that grows upon it.  I look to Him in difficult times and He fills me up and enables me to rise.

Be blessed my friends, may you too overcome and rise to bring Him glory!

Spoon Carving

   

   Carving in front of our study's pellet stove. Which makes a mess as wood chips fly off, but gives me an outlet to let some much needed creative energy to flow. Other seasons I am either outdoors with this passion of mine, or in the barn in quiet solitude.

  

        I wish I knew tree trees better. This is a very hard wood, it has a yellowish hue to it as I carve deeper beneath the bark. I find it a bit easier to handle as it dries out a bit. Ironwood, perhaps.  Smooth grey bark and inner wood harder than oak for sure. I need a tree mentor! 

     After many hours it will become a spoon. Learning to read the wood and which way to remove the parts in pleasing ways to my eye.  Rustic. But I feel that true beauty often is.  Perfection is overrated.

   From fallen branch in my forest yard, to gift unearthed from God to me, a spoon is born out of something most would never stop to notice.

 Yet my heart becomes a vessel of worship as axe, sloyd knife, hooked knife or scorp reveals the hidden jewel beneath the bark. 

The Look

Words Over 2019

                     

                        Morning friends!

           

      What sits on my heart in this fresh new year is some words that have recently been stirring in my heart. My time away from this blog that I loved so dearly and was so the focus of so much of my mothering years, had to be layed down in order to press my life into His in ways deeper than I had gone before.  You see my children needed a mother who was strong in the Lord, in order to have the strength and wisdom to fight the battles for their hearts and lives.  And a battleground it has been.

  But today that is not my focus, today I will embark on sharing my hunger for God and for His Word with you.  My missing posts over the past are due to the facts that my time became fixed to immersing myself both in prayer and in studying the Word.  No formal classes, no how-to book, just a need and a cry to my Father rose up from my soul and His wisdom to me was to lay down this blog and to pursue Him.  And in it lies the beauty of His love for me and for mine.

  Life is a battlefield. We are in the midst of spiritual battles constantly whether we are aware or not.  My heart saw the battle, my mind didn't always know what to do in regards with the solutions.  My soul tried to fix things.  When I say soul, I am referring to my mind, my will and my emotions. And soulish fixing of things just doesn't work.

   So I layed down my soul before God and asked Him to help me.  I asked Him to give me wisdom and strength.  I studied and the Holy Spirit taught me about my spiritual armor (Ephesians 6). He also became my very best friend and counsel. Wisdom, strength, and His mighty power have clothed me.

  I am growing to trust Him more.  I am learning to be Spirit filled and Spirit led in my walk and call to mothering.  It is a hard job, particularly in the hearts of adopted children, who carry a brokenness within that can manifest in so many ways.  Ways that are too much for me in the natural to handle, but we know with God all things are possible.

  So today I share the words that the Spirit is speaking to my heart.  He is saying that this year, more than any other, I will be a disciple-maker and that, 'strong in Spirit' will be our life aim here at our house. Jesus was strong in Spirit and this will be our aim.

Luke 2:40

  40And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

  A Christian who is strong in Spirit will not live from their soul and will not be a soulish led Christian, but one who instead is empowered by the fullness of God's Spirit within and will be able to live from victory and wholeness. Soulishness comes from us at the center, it leads often to sin and self on the throne of our lives.

  We also are reading through the Bible together. We are using the YouVersion Bible app and a plan that takes you through the Bible month by month. (My 4 youngest who don't have cell phones follow the plan with me in their Bibles).  It is a few chapters a day and will keep us on track.  In the end together we will have read and discussed the entire Word of God. (Which they have individually been in since they could read).

The Word is essential and we need its entirety.

 Bless you. Hope to reestablish old precious friendships and to begin to make new ones.

                            Happy 2019!

Hi Friends!

Just sending out a test to see how things are working on my end, prior my posting was giving me some trouble.  It's on my heart to be able to get back to posting and sharing my thoughts once again.

I hope you are all well.  Amazing how life zips along.

This is our newest family addition, our sweet Lucca.  She was added after much prayer and named after a little town in Tuscany that my Knight and I visited for our anniversary.  She is a delight and not short of attention from us.  Puppy training is fun, but keeps you on your toes- kind of like being the mother of 8.

Thanks for stopping by...so much to catch up on!  

Embassy of the Kingdom of Heaven

Hi friends, miss you all! 

 I came across this as I was doing my devotion on
 YouVersion Bible app  

(Life Church for those of you looking for a great Bible app.)  Email me if you need help finding it, or if you want to be friends on it.  I feel like it is a better way to sharpen each other than some other things that are offered out in the great big world today.  I love it and digging in the Word is so good for us!
*my email is on the sidebar.
 

Need a lift to your sagging spirit? 

 Do you need God to help you move out of stuck and into a new realm of Kingdom business? 

 Well, I might have just the opportunity for you. Click and watch and then bow your head and see what our Father will do!  I was humbled as I watched, but also inspired to ask God to use my life in such a way.

A piece of what God is putting on my heart... Asking Him how we can accomplish this vision He has given me through this

beautiful 82 year old inspiration

 to my soul.

A Word on Love:

I was sitting listening to my Father's heart when these words came into my spirit~

For Love to flourish

 we need to allow God

 not only to fill us,

 but also to empty us.

It can be so easy for us to pray for God to show us a revelation of His love for us. It is often harder to take what is revealed to us and apply it to where we currently stand. 

 I do want to flourish in His Love.   I think there is wisdom in asking God what that looks like, it avoids us walking out in our strength or wisdom into areas He never really asked us to 'put our hand to.' It is in our willingness to be poured out that we are filled with the Love of God.

 It means the Love is not containable, but seeps out into who He brings us to brush up against.  Today will look different than yesterday's "empty", a constant flow of Love being poured in, so it can be lavishly given out. Love is not just meant to be known or received, but to be displayed for all to see.  I just thought about that saying, "Seeing is believing."  Well, if plugged into this concept of Love, it becomes a billboard for His Glory.

Thanking God for time with Him and for hearing His heart for me today. 

 Hope it speaks to your heart too!