Shaun and I regularly gmail chat on the internet when he is away from home and the other day we ended our conversation like this:

me:  I love you more than gingerbread mochas

Shaun: and I love you more than a macbook air

Clearly, we have our priorities in line.

[Photo Courtesy]

For class this term we read Mark Wynn’s article that examined how the aesthetics of a beautiful church building enriches a believer’s experience in church (i.e. consider the old church buildings that were originally designed to model after the heavenly city or think of stained glass and the images that help to remind one of certain bible stories).

In the essay I wrote (see it here: Final Copy) I discussed how Mark Wynn’s article is more or less a reformulation of the Design Argument. I think it is important to think hard about why we believe what we believe. So, even if you don’t read it, perhaps have a conversation tonight discussing the ways you would describe God’s existence [without using the Bible, likewise to the design argument above]. Examine the parallels between beauty and worship. Does it provide an enriching experience? How so? Perhaps discuss with your children how they know that God exists and provide them with some answers.

Some of the issues I worked through in this essay include:

-What is involved for a person’s identity? (Is it their mind, soul, body, or a combination of two or all three joined together?)

-What do philosophers John Locke and Rene Descartes suggest is the best status of the soul?

-What are the ethical implications of affirming an emphasis of the mind over the body for moral accountability and personal identity?

Here (click on this link: Locke on the soul) is a copy of the paper if you are interested in a more in depth look at these questions. If you don’t skim the essay, I would encourage and challenge you to take an evening to think and discuss these issues with someone you admire to try to flesh out your response to these tough questions. Perhaps pick up a copy of a modern philosopher’s thoughts on the soul to try to contemplate how you would address a contemporary view of the soul from a biblical perspective.

Via: amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com

Why didn’t I think of that?! We guarrantee you’ll be uttering those words more than once at these ingenious little tips, tricks and ideas that solve everyday problems … some you never knew you had! (Above: hull strawberries easily using a straw).

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Via: apartmenttherapy.com

Rubbing a walnut over scratches in your furniture will disguise dings and scrapes.

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Via: unplggd.com

Remove crayon masterpieces from your TV or computer screen with WD40 (also works on walls).

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Via: athomewithrealfood.blogspot.com

Stop cut apples browning in your child’s lunch box by securing with a rubber band.

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Via: marthastewart.com

Overhaul your linen cupboard – store bedlinen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match.

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Via: realsimple.com

Pump up the volume by placing your iPhone / iPod in a bowl – the concave shape amplifies the music.

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Via: savvyhousekeeping.com

Re-use a wet-wipes container to store plastic bags.

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Via: iheartnaptime.net

Add this item to your beach bag. Baby powder gets sand off your skin easily – who knew?!

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Via: realsimple.com

Attach a velcro strip to the wall to store soft toys.

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Via: flickr.com

Look up! Use wire to make a space to store gift wrap rolls against the ceiling, rather than cluttering up the floor.

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Via: instructables.com

Gotcha! Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a stocking over the vacuum hose.

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Via: realsimple.com

Make an instant cupcake carrier by cutting crosses into a box lid.

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Via: stephmodo.com

For those who can’t stand the scrunching and bunching: how to perfectly fold a fitted sheet.

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Via: sprwmn.blogspot.com

Forever losing your bathroom essentials? Use magnetic strips to store bobby pins (and tweezers and clippers) behind a vanity door

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Via: realsimple.com

A tip for holiday packing. Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty soles rubbing on your clothes. And you can find them in just about every hotel!

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Via: familyfun.go.com

A muffin pan becomes a craft caddy. Magnets hold the plastic cups down to make them tip-resistant.

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Via: unplggd.com

Bread tags make the perfect-sized cord labels.

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Via: kiboomu.com

Bake cupcakes directly in ice-cream cones – so much more fun and easier for kids to eat. Definitely doing this!

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Via: squawkfox.com

Microwave your own popcorn in a plain brown paper bag. Much healthier and cheaper than the packet stuff.

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Via: jengrantmorris.blogspot.com

Brilliant space-saver: install a tension rod to hang your spray bottles. Genius!

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Via: 9gag.com

Win friends at breakfast with this heart-shaped egg tutorial. Aww shucks!

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Via: wilton.com

Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila – you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream. Click here for recipe.

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Via: realsimple.com

Freeze Aloe Vera in ice-cube trays for soothing sunburn relief.

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Via: lifehacker.com.au

Gutter garden: Create a window-box veggie patch using guttering.

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Via: re-nest.com

Use egg cartons to separate and store your Christmas decorations.

Mine is: Bon Jovi, “Livin’ on a Prayer”

Shaun’s is: Abracadabra (Steve Miller Band song)

Augustine’s is: I Gotta Feeling (Black Eyed Peas)

[you tube clip is a little too intense, so we'll leave that off]

Jane’s is: Rolling in the Deep (Adele)

What about you? Go to Wikipedia (this link) and click on the year you were born, then find the week!

When I was single, I hoped for a husband. Maybe this year, he will come. I imagined myself married by the following New Year, or at least engaged. Maybe the New Year was holding my future husband in the wings. God eventually gave me an amazing husband, but new hopes still sprang up with each New Year’s Day. When we lived in a teeny apartment, I wanted to move to a bigger place. When I experienced secondary infertility, I wanted to have another child. Maybe this year.

I’m sure you have hopes for this year. They are probably whatever you are thinking about right now.

But in her book, Keep A Quiet Heart, Elisabeth Elliot encourages us to focus on the most important of New Year’s hopes:

“Will the young woman find a mate? Will the couple have a child? Maybe this year will be the year of desire fulfilled. Perhaps, on the other hand, it will be the year of desire radically transformed, the year of finding, as we have perhaps not yet truly found, Christ to be the All-Sufficient One, Christ the ‘deep sweet well of Love’” (page 49, emphasis mine).

This year, let us ask God to dissolve all our hopes (however good they may be!) into a single hope: to know Christ and to be found in Him. May this be a year of desire radically transformed, a deeper, truer, knowing of Christ as our All-Sufficient One.

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”(Philippians 3:7-8a).

reposted from girltalk blog

How many times were you able to read through the Bible this past year? Were you able to read consistently and systematically throughout the year? If you are like me, a reading schedule is of great importance. Why not consider sticking to a Bible reading plan for the next year?

I wholeheartedly agree. If we want to know Christ and make Him known, we must read and study the revelation He has given us in the Bible. (See Piper’s helpful blogpost on this topic) I am going to try to work through this free Bible Reading Plan. Here are the features I like about this scheme:

• By reading from four separate places in the Scriptures every day, you should be able to better grasp the unity of the Scriptures, as well as enjoy the variety of four different viewpoints.
• You can begin at any point during the year.
•To prevent the frustration of falling behind, which most of us tend to do when following a Bible reading plan, each month of this plan gives you only 25 readings. Since you’ll have several “free days” each month, you could set aside Sundays either not to read at all or to catch up on any readings you may have missed in the past week.
•If you finish the month’s readings by the twenty-fifth, you could use the final days of the month to study the passages that challenged or intrigued you.
•If reading through the entire Bible in one year looms as too large a task, you can alter the plan to meet your needs. For example, you could read the gospels and the wisdom books this year, and the other two categories next year.

If this is your first time reading through the Bible, pray that the Lord will give you the strength to push through this daunting task. Remember, we do not read through the Bible to earn Christ’s love and favor (we have already received it!). Christ loves us because of our identity in Himself. We come to Christ to be cleaned from our sin, we do not clean up our problems before coming to Him (or we will never make it there!). We read the biblical texts because we are able to know more about who Christ is and what He has done for us.

A friend and I have joined together to write out our prayers (in a private blog) and keep each other accountable to praying more frequently for our spouses. How easily it is to forget to fervently lift up the needs of those we see everyday.  I know Shaun better than anyone else and have the high honor and privilege to intercede on his behalf. I want to be a wife who is regularly on her knees in prayer.

I thought I would post the first prayer out loud, perhaps to give you a suggestion for lifting up the needs of your companion (Here is a helpful calendar to spur you on to pray day by day).

If you are looking to renew your mind, to be sanctified be some solid biblical teaching, to be encouraged by fantastic praise and worship music, challenged by wonderful christian women’s fellowship then you need to reserve your calendar for the 22nd-24th of June, 2012.

“The Gospel Coalition’s 2012 National Women’s Conference is for women but not all about women. It’s about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s a time to learn more of what Scripture says to us—and to say it to each other. A time to dig deeper into the character of God and his purpose for his people. A time to gather together and share biblical encouragement  as sisters, daughters, wives, mothers, and friends.

Several renowned Bible teachers, including three TGC founding members, will explore the theme “Here Is Our God!” by guiding us through the Bible’s unfolding revelation of God to human eyes and hearts. Plenaries will offer exposition of biblical texts in which the Lord shows himself to his people. Seminars will feature women living out the Word, seeing and serving God with transformed and transforming lives. We’ll worship together through music led by Keith and Kristyn Getty.

This time together in Orlando will fix our eyes on Christ, in whom God has shown himself fully, to enable us to see him more clearly and serve him more powerfully.”

Today is the last day for Early Bird Registration (but if you are a student or an international, registration is even cheaper for you!). I’m super hoping to be there as we will tentatively be in the States in June. Will I see you there?

Now hear me out: I’m not about to make an unrealistic New Years Goal and wiping out of facebook/checking blogs altogether. Instead I’m going to use a free desktop tracking device which logs how much time I spend on websites and enables me to limit access to certain websites after my designated time allowance. I’m using Rescue Time feel free to sign up along with me! (FYI- I’m not getting paid for advertising, just excited about a free accountability resource)

Let me elaborate: I recently read this article and was super convicted about how I rob myself of authentic community by using facebook instead of visiting or calling (even emailing!) those I love and care about. I am not advocating that we should eliminate facebook altogether, there are wonderful features which this website provides. However, personally (and I would challenge you to evaluate your heart as well) I find that I spend far too much time reading dumb updates from people I never talk to in person in order to procrastinate more important tasks which should be occupying my time.

Plus, what type of image am I displaying for others when my facebook status updates mainly revolve around pride (“look at the new tea pot I received!”) and sympathy (“Augustine spilt milk all over my new dress”)? Instead of authentic representations of who I am before the community of believers. Again, I think facebook can be used for vulnerability (perhaps posting prayer requests, or links to blogposts like this one). On the whole though, I think we are better communicators when we converse over a cup of tea rather than in 140 character tweet.

My gracious husband has also discussed this topic with me quite a bit. Intentionality is a wonderful outlet to enable us to glorify God well. I spoke on this a bit yesterday regarding dating and marriage. When we say “no” to  wasting our time in unproductive areas it enables us to embrace the places we enjoy. As a mother, I can choose to spend my time reading godly books, initiating crafts with my children, preparing wholesome meals, going on a date night with my husband, meditating on God’s word, praying for friends, completing school assignments, and even planning to spend time on facebook for personal pleasure. I must simply stop using the internet as a means for laziness and procrastination. When Shaun arrives home from work, I want to have created a haven of rest and relaxation for us to enjoy. When he asks me about my day, I want to give an exciting report. It is all to easy to let the chores escape me.

I find that I am most tempted to distraction when the mundane tasks are overwhelming. The dishes are piled high, nappies are soiled, laundry has become a mountain, and my kids are screaming for attention. Who really wants to jump into these activities when I can look at pictures of my friend’s trip to the beach or watch a youtube video of somebody’s newborn. I much desire to read a blog about Sally’s afternoon adventures than to repeatedly play cars on the floor and wipe runny noses. Paul’s exhortation is timely and apt:

Galatians 6:8-10

English Standard Version (ESV)