iamsecond

This brought me to my knees, it broke me.  I don't know why, not that I ever listened to this man's music but I knew what it was.  Not that I was never blameless, I'm not.  There was plenty in my past to sit in this white chair and tell you "i am second."  

There was just something about what felt like total hopelessness and to listen to how Jesus saved. this. man. and how He keeps saving me.  How i am not but that I know I AM. 

Just as this man testifies God used his child to save him, so that he could save her later on, 

God used my children to save me so that later I could be there for them.  

from one of my favorite books, outside the bible, authored by Louie Gigleo,

     "The skies declare that I AMis huge; but Calvary affirms that I AM has the best interest of every I am not in mind at all times.  Our God is in the heavens and the whole world is under His command, but now because of Christ we can personally know how much He loves us and believe that He is using everything that comes our way for His glory and for our ultimate good.  It is time for you and me to live as those who can never be the same because we have encountered both the great power and the great love if I AM.  

     And in the days to come, when you're questioning, needing, searching, wondering, asking, and struggling, you will find His sufficiency at the end of every desperate prayer.  When you cry out all the things that you are not, you'll know His answer is, "I AM."

i am not but I know I AM.  get it, read it.  

Blessings.

In-couraged

Have you check out this new blog?  I'm sure you have.  All the big name blog writers are there and some that I am just meeting.  They have a way of taking an ordinary everyday activity and relating it to Christ.  Like buying a box of crayons  for school supplies.  Comparing our walk with the 24 crayon box all the way to the" crowning glory of the boxed crayon empire - 96 count with the built in sharpener."

And then there was the one reminding us that sometimes "hope waits in the dark"  and that the promise of  brighter things come after a long, cold winter.  

They are giving away a necklace and I found the writing on the card something to hang on to.

In God's heart, you are . . . 

created

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 

psalm 139:14

chosen

The Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession

Duet 14:2

celebrated

He will take great delight in you...He will rejoice over you with singing

Zeph. 3:17

cherished

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness

Jeremiah 31:3

I in-courage you to check them out.  

Craft Room

Thanks to Misty at Studio M Designs, she is featuring my craft room today.  So if you have come from Studio M, please click here to see the craft room post that I like the most.  And the one that caught Misty's eye.  Thank you.  

If you like looking at other peoples grandkids, please feel free to scroll down.  I kind of like um and would be honored to hear your oohs and aahs, :)   

This week I featured most of my grand babies.  Two of them are not featured but in honor of my mom and dad who couldn't be here when baby Hadley arrived, I dedicated this week to catching them up on the most recent pictures.

They couldn't stand it, however, so they are loading up tomorrow and making the trek across Texas to come see for themselves.  haha poor daddy, he says he's down in his right hip and mom is down in her left hip.  I guess if they plan it out just right they can balance each other out.  

Enjoy. 

See ya.   

My Favorite Vacation Hands Down - New Zealand

I have decided to join in, "Show Us You Life - Favorite Vacations" from Kelly's Korner.  This is a trip we took to New Zealand.  It is a seriously beautiful country.  The first set of pictures were taken around Christchurch. 

We hired a tour guide and she took us to one of her friends vineyards David Schuster Winery.  To this day still one of my favorite wines.  

This is the breakfast table we sat at every morning.  This is a lodge called Grassmere.  The family has owned it for generations but the grandson built lodging to house guest in the summer.  The air is so pure that I could smell the rose bush right outside this window.  It was lovely.

This was the view from our room. The morning we arrive, by train, it was cloudy and these mountains were shrouded in clouds.  You can imagine my surprise when I looked outside and this is what I saw.  Check out the wine glass.

This is the ranch from across the road, you can see the original house a white Victorian, where we had dinner every night with all the guest that were there.  Made for interesting conversation.  They ranged from London, to Germany to us.  It was a ton of fun.  The picture may be to small for you to see the house and the lodge.

One last parting shot of the grapes grown in the region.  

Next, we went to Queenstown.  This must be one of the extreme sports enthusiast favorite places on earth.  They have snow skiing in the winter, bungi jumping, para sailing, speed boat river riding, hiking, you name it it seemed to be here.  Great town for the young and the young at heart.  An interesting fact about New Zealand, there are no predators, no snakes, no bears, no anything to get you in the mountains, just mosquitoes.  Isn't that interesting. That's why hiking is such a big deal here.    Also, this is where the Lord of the Ring was filmed.  No wonder it's super beautiful. 

The water, everywhere we went was so pure and clean that the blue color was fascinating.

I love burros, have I told you that lately?   One of my favorite collections in the house is paintings of burros.   Hey, Kelly maybe that could be one of your future post; the things we collect.

The last morning in Queenstown.

NEXT;  Invencargil

 

 the most southern spot on the south island. 

This was an interesting house right on the beach.

This is a picture of what the wind does to the trees.

Last Stop was this lovely small town, I don't remember the name of it, sorry.

They are celebrating the fact that they successfully bought the remaining historical homes for preservation.  Seems an someone was buying them up and re-building on their spot.

The kids were having fun, so were the older folks.

Awe so quaint, I could just sit down, read a book and hang out here for a while.

Parting shot from our bungalow, isn't it beautiful.

That's it or at least enough of it.  I have more, trust me.  I have to say that this was a very genteel (or gentle) country, so laid back and calm.  Every time I look at these pictures I relax. 

What a beautiful creation, thank you LORD.

American Idol - Theatrics vs Acoustic

Thank you DVR.  You give me freedom to go when I need to and not miss a thing.  So I loved the show, I'm looking forward to tonight, I was on the road (again) so I didn't get to vote, but I knew who I would vote for, didn't matter what the performances were like.  And speaking of performances, lets get right to it.

Kris wins the coin toss, and chooses to go second.  

Up first Adam Lambert with "It's a Mad World" - hum, singing is great, his vocals are on, Gothic in theme, reminded me of twilight (if I had seen twilight which I haven't) .  Yea, haunting.  Go figure.

Cute Kris - gets personal with "Ain't No Sunshine"  I think it's ROCKIN!  Yea I love it, I will buy. this. kids. music!

note to Simon - again you were not sure and again he proves you wrong and again you take it all back.  WHAT?  Seriously, even I have a better memory than that.  Get up off my boy Kris.

Round Two

Who is Simon Fuller anyway?  "Change Is Gonna Come" - 

Adam sings the blues, nice change of pace with him, not really buying it, looks to me like he was a tiny bit uncomfortable with it, but he sings the phone book so why not the blues, right?  I"m feeling like I need to hear the original Sam Cook version.

Kris, "What's Going On" 

Can I get a coupon?  Wonder if he would come over and sing on my patio?  I'm loving it!  May have been a little light for the night but, hey, he didn't choose the song, so whatever.

Round Three

No Boundaries - ?

I have no comment on this round for the performers, they did their best with this song.  

Bad Kara! 

I'll sum it up with Kris' comment on the night, they agreed, not competing,  just singing - putting on a good show.  I think they did that, they gave it their all.  While I am not a fan of men in guyliner and nail polish, I think it speaks volumes from the people who are living with each other, that they seem to like and respect each other.  I am looking forward to much more from these guys.  In my opinion America got it right.  Stupid Simon! 

Oops, I forgot to link up with BooMama.  Check her out, it'll be fun.