These are a few of my Favourite Things: Part 2

{See Part 1 here.}

After my walk in the fog Saturday morning, I came back inside to find breakfast almost ready.  The Bushman and Peanut had finished making pancakes; the eggs and ham slices were sizzling on the griddle.  What a WONDERFUL thing to come home to!!

As we ate, the fog dissipated and a beautiful, clear blue sky was revealed.  The hoarfrost left by the fog had been beautiful before, but against the deep blue background, it was absolutely spectacular.  The Bushman laughed at me and rolled his eyes when I announced I'd have to go back outside to take some more pictures.

I'm not sorry.  Wanna come for a little walk around the yard with me?

Here we are, looking up through the trees right close to the house:


And now we're headed toward the south-east corner of our yard where the driveway goes out the back, past The Farmer's grain bins and back out to the main road.  It's still pretty foggy in the distance... normally you'd be able to see the neighbours' house a mile away through this opening:



Let's turn around and look at the yard from this spot ~ I don't know what it is, but the sight of smoke coming out of the chimney of our cute little house just makes me smile!


Okay, now we're heading west along the far south end of the yard.  The girls had a couple of friends over last week and The Bushman pulled them around the yard on toboggans behind the quad, making tracks all over in the new, deep snow:


Now we're in the far south-west corner of the yard, looking down the windbreak towards the front of the yard:



And now just looking straight up!


Here's virtually the same picture I showed you exactly two weeks ago:


And here we are looking back toward the south-west corner of the yard from the same spot the previous picture was taken:


I really like that shot.  There's something rather mystical or magical ~ or SOMETHING! ~ about it...

And then I saw this and the spell was promptly broken!!



Hope you enjoyed the tour!

These are a few of my Favourite Things...

I got to walk in the fog on Saturday morning.

I think of all the elements, fog is my favourite. It's so quiet, so still.

Genesis 1:2 comes to mind, where it says the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters before anything else existed. Somehow, I always envision that like a heavy fog, even though it probably wouldn't have been visible. (You know, Him being a Spirit, and all!)  But when I'm walking in the fog, I can't help but feel like He's hovering right there, above me, beside me... wrapped all around me. His breath against my cheeks, the invisible ice crystals (or water droplets, depending on what time of year it is!) lightly kissing my nose and forehead. It's a very secure feeling.

Here I am, taking a picture of our yard from just a little bit down the road. The fog is still just moving in...


Now you see it, now you don't!

Here I am, at almost the same spot, on my way back home half an hour later:


Even right beside our trees, it's very visible now!


And of course, the BEST thing about fog in winter is HOARFROST and its beautifying effect on the landscape:


Come back tomorrow and I'll show you what the place looked like once the fog lifted and the sun came out. :)

Practicing Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving, my American friends!

We Canadians celebrated on October 11 already and I can tell you...

** spoiler alert **

...it was a very good one, ending with turkey dinner, stuffing, and pumpkin pie!!   

I trust it will be the same for you.  I'm so thankful past leaders thought it important to specifically designate a national day of thanks.

Once again, I am so thankful for so many things.  Has anyone else noticed how the more you focus on thanksLIVING, the fuller your heart feels, even when your week isn't extraordinary ~ or even when it doesn't go according to plan?  It's really quite wonderfully magical!

This week, I'm just going to share a few excerpts from my prayer/gratitude journal:

• Doc said I had to keep Fidget home today; glad she's feeling fine and got to stay home and play instead of feeling cruddy all day!
• Peanut's enjoying piano so much more now that we've got some Christmas duets I promised to play with her in church
• mom got some good-sounding news about her recovery and is "cautiously optimistic."
• The Bushman got home safe in the blizzard
• opportunities to spend time with good friends from church
• praying together out loud with friends, even when it feels a little uncomfortable
• a husband who voluntarily plugged in my van for me when it's -33!  (-27F)
• a great time at the church ladies' breakfast
• Peanut's constant begging for her own "real" Bible so she can learn about God on her own
• I have a hard-working husband
• God has answered two very specific prayers for two friends in exactly the way I was hoping He would!
• I have money to spend on frivolities.

• I was home when the washing machine exploded, minimizing the flooding!
• my children forgave me for how I spoke to them tonight and tomorrow they'll live like it never even happened
• Cold snaps that make us appreciate summer more!
• semi-truck parts seem to be coming together from various locations so the repairs can begin
• being a wife and mother!
• online shopping
• a great walk in the snow
• yummy, hot, homemade cappuccino after the aforementioned walk in the snow!
• God chose me.

These are only a fraction of the thankful notes I've got written down ~ it has been a wonderful week!  No, it hasn't been a great week weather-wise, or work-wise, or health-wise, but seeing it with eyes of gratitude has made it a great week DESPITE those trials and annoyances.

I trust you will find it that way, too!


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Jesus' Little Light

Last year I bought myself a Christmas decoration ~ it's the word "LOVE" with a small, lit nativity scene within the "O." It was on sale after Christmas and I had just enough gift money left over to purchase it.

Of course, since it was only purchased after Christmas, it didn't arrive in time to display last year and it's been sitting in storage for the last 10 months. Last Sunday, I decided to slowly ease into Christmas and broke out some of the seasonal CD's. On Tuesday, I brought out the never-before-displayed crêche.

The girls LOVED it. It was already dark outside, so I flipped the little switch to illuminate the scene. They were mesmerized and for the next two days, I had problems getting them to keep their hands off it.

Thursday morning, after the girls' alarm had gone off, li'l Fidget came down the stairs to use the bathroom, but when she got down to the still-dark main floor of our home, I heard a little gasp and then she came running to the office where I was finishing up my quiet time.

"Mom!" she said with eyes wide in excitement, "you could put Jesus' little light on! 'Cause it's DARK out there!!"

I laughed and told her that if she was careful, she could tilt it back and flip the switch. While she ran off to do just that, I couldn't help but wish...


...I felt the same excitement at the prospect of being able to turn on "Jesus' little light" to shine in the dark.

Practicing Gratitude

Oh, I'm thankful for SO many things this week!!

Last Thursday was Remembrance Day up here in Canada and while it has become a statutory holiday in the years since I finished high school, The Bushman still had to work. They're hauling from up in the bush somewhere a few hours north of here, living in the trucks all week, so the chipper crews opted to work through the holiday.

And take Friday off instead!

Woo-hoo!  Long weekend!!

It was unfortunate he wasn't home the day the girls had off school, but it was still wonderful to have him around that extra day, especially since he had to leave a little earlier than usual on Sunday. He didn't even have to spend much time at the shop for a change on the weekend either, so that was great!

I was also thankful to be able to participate in a Remembrance Day service at one of our local Legion Halls.  This was a first for myself and the girls and even though I stayed on stage the entire time with the choir, the girls behaved well sitting with friends.  It was just good to be a part of honouring our war veterans and remembering why the tradition is important.

And I'm thankful one of The Bushman's sisters came out for a visit on the weekend, too.  I'm so thankful for the friendship I have with her and how much her nieces love her. She brought cool crafts to do with the girls, played with them outside, read them bedtime stories, coloured with them.... it was a great weekend for all of us!

I'm thankful I have the money to spend on filling a couple of Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes again this year. I'm always a little shocked to see the cash register receipt, but when I think of how much we spend each year on things we don't need at all, suddenly it's such a small amount.  I had planned to do the shopping yesterday and let the girls pack the boxes in the evening, but my day did NOT turn out the way I'd intended, so we may have to make use of OCC's Virtual Shoebox option instead.  Not quite the same, but that might be our only option this time.

Speaking of how my day went yesterday... I'm thankful Fidget only has strep throat instead of something worse.  When the school called me to come pick her up in the morning because her neck was so sore she couldn't quit crying, my medically-untrained mind jumped straight to MENINGITIS, especially since she also had a fever.  I raced her off to the hospital, where she got a dose of Advil, and then we were sent over to the on-call doctor's office.  After sitting and waiting for almost two-and-a-half hours in a room full of other drop-in patients sent over by the hospital (including one VERY loud barfer!), we finally got to see the doctor, who told us the neck was just stiff, and gave us a prescription for antibiotics.  She should feel like her old self again by the weekend.

I'm thankful for the precious women in our church.  Last night, I invited over the other women who are married to men on our church's leadership board and we had a wonderful time together.  I'd wanted to invite them over for a long time already but had just never gotten off my butt to do it, but I also had a bit of an agenda yesterday ~ I wanted to propose that we meet regularly to pray together.  For ourselves, for each other, for our husbands, for our marriages and families, and for our church and community.  It seemed the idea was well-received and after sharing some of our burdens and blessings, we joined together in prayer.  It was just such an incredible feeling to pray as individuals, but be united in purpose.  I look forward to many more meetings like it.

And I'm so thankful for my warm, comfy bed with its fleece sheets! Yesterday was a LONG day and it was SO nice to be able to crawl into my bed and cocoon myself in soft, fuzzy fleece. ♥

* click the thankful button at the top of the post to visit our host and other thankful bloggers!

I have a sneaking suspicion...

Winter has arrived.

We'd gotten a few inches of snow last Thursday, but it was starting to look ugly already, so the fresh couple of inches overnight cleaned everything up again.

The girls got to wait for the bus in the gently falling snow. The newly relegated-to-the-outdoors kittens are not quite sure they like it very much.

Coming back towards the house, I realized the sight of smoke coming out our chimney on an all-white, snowy day in the early morning light makes me very happy.

(Even though carrying just one wheelbarrow load of wood, one armful at a time down the basement stairs, is more of a work-out than I remembered!)

Yes, I believe winter is here, despite what the calendar says.

The Replacements

Several weeks ago, our senior female cat, Tigger, had a litter of eight kittens.  For three weeks, she was a good mother, but one day she just deserted them and within 24 hours, all were lost.  She's been a great mother for two previous litters, so this came as a bit of a surprise.

We already had 3 other cats and certainly didn't need eight more, but it was still a bit sad.  Thankfully, for some insane reason, even knowing Tigger was pregnant, we'd promised the girls earlier they could have two of our friends' kittens, since they had an over-abundance this year.  (We justified it as a way to introduce new bloodlines on our yard.  I'm afraid we'll have mutants running around here soon if we don't!)

So the day after all those eight kitties perished, I went and picked up our "replacement" cats.  I wanted to call them Falco and Annabelle after the main characters in the football movie "The Replacements," but both girls instantly rejected the idea out of hand, the wittiness completely lost on them.

So here's Spike (top) and Coconut.


They live inside (for now!) and provide all sorts of viewing pleasures and distractions.

Practicing Gratitude: Lest we forget...

Today I'm thankful for freedom.

I tried to find a poem fitting to share, but just couldn't find one that said what I wanted to say, that felt how I feel, that believed what I believe.

I know we take soldiers for granted. I know we take our liberties and luxuries for granted. I believe, without having lived under combat conditions, it is impossible to comprehend the sacrifices thousands upon thousands have made to promote and preserve democracy around the world.

I believe, in our land and time of peace, it is impossible to fully appreciate what freedom really means. I think that's why it's so easy to point fingers, to complain, and to make all sorts of assumptions and accusations regarding war, the causes of war, the consequenses of war.

I get so sick and tired of the uproar that's caused whenever a soldier comes home in a flag-draped coffin. The inquests and inquiries and public outrage make me sick. Why can't we just gratefully accept the death for the gift of life it bears for us? The freedom it affords us? Why must the streets be lined with angry protesters instead of respectful mourners, heads bowed in reverence and thanks?

I know some argue that we have no place fighting certain battles, but we tend to forget that our soldiers don't just fight for OUR peace and freedom. They help others fight for theirs as well. Those who are oppressed by their own governments, those who are ruled by sadistic dictators and evil despots ~ innocent and poor and unable to escape their lot in life.

Sure, sometimes our governments stick their noses where they don't belong, and yes, it's an incalculable loss when young men and women die, especially for causes that are not particularly near and dear to our hearts, and that we don't understand. But I choose to be thankful anyway.

Thankful someone was willing to become a soldier, to bear arms, so I wasn't forced to.

Thankful someone was willing to fight so I could stay here to enjoy the peace.

Thankful someone was willing to sacrifice the comforts of home so I could continue to enjoy the comforts of my home, the embrace of my family.

Thankful someone was willing to die in my place. And in the place of countless others.

I choose to honour the fallen instead of being angry. I choose to remember instead of disrespecting their sacrifice.

And I choose to be grateful for the countless freedoms they helped ensure.


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The Can of Worms

I've discovered a funny thing sometimes happens when a piece of the faith puzzle falls into place: You discover there are more empty holes than you first thought there were!

Yesterday's post does a nice job (I feel!) of reconciling God's sovereignty with so-called "acts of God" ~ natural disasters, death, etc., ~ but it presents "new" problems then, with the freedoms of men, their sinful choices, responsibility/accountability for sin, and even our differing levels of spiritual maturity!

This is SERIOUSLY a whole new can of worms! (at least, for someone who did NOT grow up with Calvinist or Reformed theology!)

I've decided there will have to be a "Part II" to that post. ('Cause you know, we should be able to cover the sovereignty of God in just two! HA!!) There are still obviously things I don't fully understand, but I'm not necessarily content to say that's the way God intended it in every case. Yes, I believe there will always be things we don't understand because our minds were just not designed to contain the fullness of God's wisdom, but I don't believe that means we shouldn't TRY. I love that there are always new reasons to dig deeper!  I am a little geeky that way, but I do believe it's the responsibility of each believer to grow in biblical knowledge and wisdom.  To progress from baby formula to solid, hearty food!  It's a lifelong process.

I can't promise when I will write "Part II." I don't have a plan, other than to dig into the research ~ to devour my Bible, and read what other, much more learned, individuals have concluded on the matter. And to pray.

And if any of you would be interested in sharing your thoughts on the matter, I'd love to hear them. Please feel free to direct me to a blog post or article (either one you've written or one by someone else that you've found helpful in your own search), write them in the comments section, or email me at tt_valleygirl at yahoo dot ca.

Maybe we'll never quite be able to satisfactorily reconcile God's sovereignty and evil, but we can grow wiser and closer to God ~ and maybe even have some fun making new personal discoveries! ~ if we try.

The Good, the Bad, and the Sovereignty of God

I've grown up somehow believing that God ALLOWS bad things to happen and can use them to His advantage, but that He, Himself, doesn't CAUSE them.  That His PERFECT plan doesn't include really bad things like tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, murderers and rapists.  That His perfect plan is perfect the way WE conceive perfect, but that since God knew bad things would occur, He had to make provision for them and miraculously compensates for them, in order to continue carrying out His original plan.

Shortly after the earthquake in Haiti, we were together with friends discussing this very subject and while I wasn't confident to say God definitely DID send the earthquake, I found it a little too presumptuous to claim He couldn't or wouldn't have. The statement was made that God just doesn't send these catastrophes for mankind the way He often did in Old Testament times. I've grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view and yesterday, a piece of the puzzle fell into place. Using discussion in and after the morning's Sunday school class, and a beautiful afternoon walk with God, He brought to mind something I hadn't considered before.

I don't believe God punishes entire nations the way He once did. Mostly because the prophet Jeremiah promised a time when faith would became a personal thing and each person would become accountable for his or her own choices; no longer would God hold everyone responsible for the sins of the majority.  This happened when Christ came and became the ultimate, final sacrifice for sins.  (Jeremiah 31:27-34; you can read my observations on this passage here.) However, I DO think God still sends tragedies and catastrophes our way. I don't believe they are necessarily punishments, but I DO believe He isn't just sitting idly by, allowing them to happen, and then managing somehow to work it all to His glory in the end anyway.

I don't believe He merely allows bad things because that paints Him as a reactionary. Like certain events happen that are somehow beyond His control, that He didn't actually intend for them to happen, but since they have, He's forced to incorporate them into His plan for humanity. That's a problem for me. How can He be the omnipotent, omniscient God if this is the case? He can't.

But here's where I think the problem is: it's not whether God is loving versus sovereign, it's that we humans have a very limited view of what is good and bad.  We equate what is good with what is convenient and immediately beneficial to us, and "bad" is what is disadvantageous and injurious to us. What if God views only what is done for His glory as good, and whatever is NOT done for His glory as bad? Looking at it this way, the events in our lives then are completely inconsequential. What is truly good or truly bad in God's sight has absolutely nothing to do with us FEELING good or bad about any given circumstance.

Think of it this way: If a loved one dies, we see it as loss and tragic and, well... BAD! But if only TWO people come to know Christ somehow through that death, God has displayed His glory by doubling His army here on earth. For you shoppers, that's the ultimate BOGO. For you investors, that's a 200% return!! Would you see being stripped of every. last. thing. you possessed as a good thing?  Probably not.  But what if you already knew ahead of time that you'd get it all back twice over ~ or maybe a hundred times?  Would you see it as a good thing then?  Of course you would! It's a no-brainer.

I'm beginning to believe that this is how God operates. We see NOW how events in the past have been used for great gain in God's kingdom, but God saw their effect on humanity long before the fact. What seemed a tragedy at the time it occurred was to Him a thing of beauty because He already knew in eternity past that it would bring Him great glory. We, with our limited vision and perspective, only came to the realization after the fact.

Can we believe that Jesus' horrific death on the cross was God's SPECIFIC plan, and yet refuse to believe that all the tragic events since then somehow weren't? I don't think so. Christ's death was the ULTIMATE tragedy! How could God see anything as being worse ~ or even anywhere close to as bad ~ as having to sacrifice His own Son to reconcile sinners to Himself? SINNERS! And yet Christ's death, as physically and spiritually horrifying as it was, was ultimately a thing of unimaginable, incomprehensible beauty. It was a VERY. GOOD. thing!  It displayed God's glory like nothing ever has before or since.  How can we see our earthly sorrows as being apart from God's specific plan if the worst thing that ever happened wasn't?

I don't know about you, but I find far more reassurance believing the perceived good OR bad that happens in my life is specifically designed for me, hand-picked by Him to be a part of my life, than in thinking that there are parts of my life that are just simply outside of His perfect plan.

Experience vs. Excellence

Yesterday, one of my piano students decided to quit.

She was three lessons into the year.

Apparently, there was just too much going on and she wasn't enjoying it, didn't feel like practicing, and had accidentally-on-purpose left her music books at home in the morning as her final say on the matter.

This nine-year old is the same one who had been BEGGING for lessons only a year earlier. She'd been willing to pay for them out of her own allowance if only her parents would let her take lessons! And after five months of lessons last winter/spring and one month now in fall, she's decided it's too much work. She's giving up. And her mother is letting her.

Now, to be fair, her mother has a lot going on. I completely understand why she isn't interested in fighting with her daughter to practice when she just won't. But at the same time, I find this to be typical of a rather sad trend in our society.

See, I would just never have gotten away with that as a kid. Granted, there were less options 30 years ago, but my parents were pretty strict with how many things they would sign me up for. Part of it was a money issue, part of it was them wisely choosing to leave me free time in which I had to use my imagination and play (I am an only child and grew up without a TV), and partly it was because they wanted me to focus, to dedicate myself, and to excell. At SOMETHING.

I was allowed only ONE extra-curricular activity each year and evidently, piano is the one I chose eight years in a row. (I toyed with the idea of gymnastics and baton for a while, but it seems those were just phases) Each year before they enrolled me in piano, they would sit me down and say, "Tammi, if you want to do this again this year, you're committing to a full year. You will not decide at Christmas that you don't want to do this anymore. If we sign you up for the year, you will practice and go to lessons for the. entire. year. Deal?"

Deal.

Now the opposite seems to be the norm. So many parents are enrolling their kids in SO many things, all in the name of experience and being able to make better, more informed choices on their own once they're older, but I wonder how many times it actually works that way. And how many kids try and give up countless times, year after year with their parents' full support, and just never really end up sticking with anything, including jobs and marriages as they get older? Are we really doing them a favour?

Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule, and I don't for a minute think that just because your kids are involved in more than one extra-curricular activity over the course of their school career that they are doomed to a lack-lustre life. But there does seem to be a disturbing trend in that direction. And I'll freely admit I've contributed to this problem so far in my parenting career.

If we never insist on perseverance, aren't we encouraging failure ~ or at the very least, embracing mediocrity? It seems like everyone these days is all about "experience." Sadly, I think all this experience is coming at the high price of excellence. Our kids are getting all sorts of great experience in all sorts of new and exciting areas that we never could, but they never end up being really GREAT at any of them.

I don't want to teach my kids that mediocrity is an achievement. I want to encourage excellence, even if it's only in ONE thing!

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it ALL

for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Practicing Gratitude

I'm so glad I joined this weekly parade of thanksLIVING! What a great thing to be a part of!!

I find when I really sit down and think about it, I'm thankful for SO many things!

I've also found that literally practicing gratitude changes the tone of my day.  I have a prayer journal and since Thanksgiving a few weeks ago (I'm Canadian, remember?), each day now has TWO pages ~ one for my prayer "schedule" and the other for 15 items of thanks.  First thing when I wake up in the morning (well, after I've dragged myself out of bed and poured myself a cup of coffee!), I write down 5 things I'm thankful for.  Mid-afternoon, I sit down and do the same thing.  The last five I record right before bed.  Sometimes I don't really have more words than what I'm physically writing on the paper, but I try to remember to actually say thank you to God for each and every item.

This past Sunday and Monday, I struggled with a bit of bitterness and resentment about a certain on-going issue, but Tuesday was COMPLETELY different.  I had a smile on my face all day, a spring in my step, and it was just a really great day!

You know what I noticed in my prayer journal?

Ten of the 15 Thanksgiving spots on Sunday were empty.  There was NOTHING on Monday's Thanksgiving page.

Coincidence?  I don't think so.  I have already learned that it is virtually impossible to have a bad day when you sandwich it with two periods of time reserved for thanksgiving ~ gratitude for anything and everything good.  From simple, uncomplicated pleasures like soft, fluffy new kittens or minty-fresh toothpaste, to deep, unshakable, theological truths like salvation and sanctification. So when I DON'T take time for daily thanksgiving, it stands to reason that my day just doesn't go as smoothly.

Now, this is not to say our circumstances will necessarily always be wonderful. Bad THINGS will still happen, but if our heart attitude is one of giving gratitude rather than seeking gratification, that makes all the difference.

Try it, I dare ya!

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Walking with God.

I wish you could have been there on my walk this morning, seeing what I saw, hearing what I heard...

I almost wish I'd had my camera along to at least record the sights, but at the same time, I think that might have cheapened the whole experience. (the pictures I've added were taken at various other times in the past year)

I started out on my walk as soon as the schoolbus rumbled off with my girls. The sky was just starting to brighten; the south wind made it feel more like early spring than late fall.

I turned on my mp3 player and began to listen to the last ROH broadcast in the series on Habakkuk. It's been almost five weeks since we started. You might not think a book of only three short chapters needs 22 half-hour programs, and truthfully, the overall theme and three main points could easily have been dealt with in just a few. At times, I've been anxious for the host to move on to something else, but I have to say, it's been a wonderful encouragement to me, speaking right to my weakness, my habit of choosing fear over faith. Habakkuk does just the opposite ~ he moves from fear TO faith.

There was a small patch of cloud hanging right over our area, and against the still-dark sky, it looked like a rain cloud. We'd had lots of rain clouds in the area yesterday ~ and even some rain ~ so I thought maybe this was just the last remaining bunch.

As I walked and listened, the sky continued to get brighter and brighter and the clouds began undergoing their glorious transformation.

I listened to the incredible story of Horatio and Anna Spafford, how within a span of just two years they lost virtually everything ~ essentially all their wealth in the great Chicago fire, as well as their four children in a shipwreck ~ and the rising sun painted the clouds in hues first of pale pink, then light orange, and fiery fuschia.

Just as Nancy Leigh DeMoss got to the part about Spafford sailing across the Atlantic a week after the shipwreck to comfort his wife in Europe, who had witnessed her four daughters being swept away off the deck of the ship; the part where the captain of the ship called Spafford and let him know they were over the spot where his children had perished, the sun began to peek over the horizon.

To know this man of faith whose family had just been decimated by the waves immediately went back to his cabin and wrote the words to one of the most famous hymns of all time is just incredible.

The fourth verse was read at exactly the perfect time ~

And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll.

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend.

Even so, it is well with my soul.

~ and the sun reached its fullness above the horizon and suddenly the clouds that had looked slightly ominous just minutes before were revealed as they truly were: white and whispy against a crisp, blue, fall sky.

The incredible parallel to the light of faith overpowering the darkness of fear was unmistakable.

Truly, I walked in the presence of the Holy God this morning and He allowed me a small glimpse of His glory.