Not me Monday

Good morning! (or afternoon/night.....whenever it is that you are popping in my world).....I hope this finds you smiling and well.....


After surviving a week of cooking, shopping, cleaning, decorating, shuffling, bustling, and lots of eating.....I thought today would be a good day to lighten up and join in on the Not Me Monday Fun. It's a great way to look back and just have a good laugh at your own expense which, as you know.....I am totally all about.

So without further adieu (what does that mean anyway???).......I give you a little glimpse of a few days in the life of *~Michelle~*

I will not shameless start by encouraging you to start following my other blog, The Jesse Tree. This is a nightly devotional, starting tonight and is a beautiful way to learn the story of God's salvation plan from Creation throughout the Old Testament. You can get your crafty-self on and make ornaments if you would like for each devotion. It's just a wonderful way to spend a little more time with your family/children and really take in what this Season is truly about.

I also will not be pushy encourage you to grab the button (that my good friend Dawn's techy son made for me) and put it on your blog to help spread the Word. (you can get the button/code over at Isaiah 11: 1-2)

How awesome will it be to have so many families worshiping together.....all in the name of Jesus!!!

This weekend, I did not notice while driving to my 25th high school reunion that I only polished ONE hand! Nahhhhhhh.....I wouldn't be that scatterbrained. So I did not have to stop at a pharmacy on the way and try to match up the polish colors. I certainly did not walk around with two different shades of brown nails. Nope! Not me! But, this is a picture of me and my dear friend Karen, we've been friends since Kindergarten!

(And I know that you did NOT immediately just calculate how old I am with that last statement .......you would never do that! *wink)

I did not make arrangements to pick up our mama goats from their "brothel visit" as my 18-year-old son calls it this morning. Apparently, he has come to the conclusion that we are part of a goat prostitution ring since we paid a stud fee......and is quite disgusted about it.

When we headed out for Round 2 of Black Friday shopping........I did not accuse Josh of being scatter brained about leaving his wallet and cell phone at home. I did not relentlessly tease him for approximately five full minutes that my ADD was rubbing off on him after all these years together........all while I was sitting on them the whole time. No, my butt can not be that padded that I wouldn't notice.

And lastly.....I did not walk in on my toothless princess one night to find her watching TV in my room........in my bed.......with a chicken!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes.....she brought Poof (remember that story???) in and had him wrapped up in a towel, sleeping bag style and they were watching iCarly together. Of course I was tempted to take a picture, but thought that might encourage the matter more. *sigh* I told you she was Elly May Clampett!

OK, I must get going, I hope I gave you a good giggle on my behalf today.....I'm good like that!

Tons to do......we are getting our Christmas tree tonight, so I have furniture to move and dust bunnies to trap. I hope you had a blessed and safe Thanksgiving break.....don't forget to join us in worship with The Jesse Tree!

Peace and love~
*~Michelle~*

We interrupt this busy Thanksgiving weekend blog break....

.....to announce that N has now needed to update her "Chrithhhhhhhhh-muth" list:

(.....phew, much cheaper than that Nintendo DS Lite she originally asked for!)

xox
*~Michelle~*

Gobble Gobble......Happy Thanksgiving to You!

"Today is not a good day to be a turkey" I laughed out loud when I read that on my friend's Facebook status this weekend. She and her husband own a custom slaughter business. Not really sure why I am starting out with that....it just struck me as so funny.

I am posting today because I know I am going to be getting wrapped up in the busyness that this week brings about and probably won't be on the computer too much. Yes, this week is the onset of the "time-suck" that can happen with the Holiday Season....even though most retailers got that memo prematurely with Christmas decorations being displayed before I my kids had chance to shake their Halloween candy hangovers.

Anyway, for many of us.....this week will be busy. Some families are getting ready to travel as they are spending Thanksgiving with distant relatives. Some need the whole week to get mentally prepared to spend time with said distant relatives.

Some people are scrambling to get their homes cleaned and shopping for the great feast. Some are devoting their time to help the less fortunate such as collecting items for food baskets or preparing for a soup kitchen for those who have no where to go on Thursday. High school kids are getting riled up for the head-to-head rival football games while many shoppers are making their strategy plans for the adventure of Black Friday shopping.......And some have their hands inside a headless turkey pulling out some nasty stuff so that we can have that fresh bird on the table Thursday. (that's for you, Julia)

We have a nice assortment of plans this week. Today we join the homeschooling group for a pot-luck feast, the Thanks and Giving event. After we have our meal, everyone gets into an assembly line. We have bins with all the ingredients laid out and we put together bread and soup mixes as gifts for the local food pantries. It's a blessing to see even the youngest children taking part and teaching them how important it is to help out people in need.

Later this week we get to tease cheer on Gunner as he rides in a convertible and does the parade wave as Homecoming King for the Spirit Week celebration. On a side note.....is it just me or does having a parade that starts at 5 o'clock in the evening when it is pitch black sound a little off? Regardless......the parade ends at the local park where food will be served and fireworks will be blasting off, so we are there!

Thanksgiving Day starts off with the boys working at the football game, and the rest of us helping out for a few hours at a food pantry. Then we head off to Josh's parents for a feast fit for a king. It's funny....I am not a huge eater, but for some reason, for this meal.....I load my plate up to the point that it needs sideboards. I have the perfect portion of mashed potatoes, turkey and veggies to do my three point fork-full of heaven. You know......piece of turkey, swirled into the mashed potatoes and then the veggies can stick on top. After I finish that last bit of butternut squash I politely excuse myself from the table. I then change into my comfy plaid yoga pants as the circulation in my stomach region is starting to get cut off and return to the table. Most people do not even notice the fashion disaster I am sporting.....or if they do, they are polite enough not to say anything. If fact, I think most are just envious that they didn't think to do the same.

Be prepared people!

Now that I have more room, I indulge in a slice of cranberry nut bread and a piece of pumpkin pie. Then I wash it all down with a cup of decaf coffee. Because I cannot screw up the chances of my grand finale when I slip out into the den......and slip into a Tryptophan induced unconsciousness for about an hour. Yes, this plan is executed and now perfected every year.


So now, in honor of Josh and his Native American heritage, I leave you with a two different things to ponder/ingest today. This first one is just a simple Truth written by an anonymous Native American that has been passed down through the generations:

"Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way"

Let us not only give thanks to God for what He has already done......but believe His word and His promise that there is more to come! Know that He is the Author and Finisher of our lives and trust that that He has great plans for our lives.

And secondly.....I have always said that God's gifts and blessings are too many to count. When I am empty, He fills me......when I am hungry, He feeds me. I am so thankful for my family, our health and the blessings we receive everyday. As I recently shared.....I am also thankful for all the new friendships I have made in the blogosphere.

If I had to say the most important thing I am thankful for......it is my Salvation. Salvation that I could never earn, but has been so graciously given to me by the one and only Jesus Christ. I want to keep living my life the way it is pleasing to Him. I need His guidance and wisdom in every step of my life.

Native American Prayer
(translated by Lakota Sioux chief Yellow Lark in 1887)

Oh Great Spirit Father in Heaven,
whose voice I hear in the winds
and whose breath gives life to everyone,
hear me.

I come to You as one of Your many children;
I am weak... I am small...I need your wisdom and your strength.

Let me walk in beauty,
and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunsets.

Make my hands respect the things You have made,
and make my ears sharp so I may hear Your voice.

Make me wise,
so that I may understand what You have taught my people
and the lessons you have hidden in each leaf and each rock.

I ask for wisdom and strength,
Not to be superior to my brothers,
but to be able to fight my greatest enemy, myself.

Make me ever ready to come before You
with clean hands and a straight eye,
so as life fades away as a fading sunset,
my spirit may come to You without shame.

Happy Thanksgiving my friends, be safe......and remember......wherever, whenever and with whomever you are celebrating your turkey dinner with.....

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. ~Psalm 100:4-5

Peace and love~
*~Michelle~*

Variety is the Spice of Life

Today I share a typical sample of what we collect each morning from our little feathered friends. As you can see, we get a nice variety. Our Red Stars and RI Reds give us super jumbo brown eggs.....The Polish and Wyandottes produce perfect white eggs......our mixed breed bantams lay medium beige ones. Our Americauna girls will make any Dr. Seuss Fan smile with the gorgeous green eggs they lay.

Eggs play a pretty important role in our lives when you think about it. Most importantly, we, meaning me and you.....started out as an egg.

Eggs are also used in common references such as.....a brainy person is often called an egghead.

If you blurt out something that comes back to bite you in the butt......you have egg on your face.

Dealing with an overly sensitive person? You are walking on eggshells.

You never wanted to come in last in a relay race as a child, or you'd be the rotten egg.

Wanna stir up a great debate? Ask which came first, the chicken or the egg. (*I go with chicken)

OK, back to our eggs.....focus Michelle, focus!

So even though we start out with a carton of various colors, shapes and sizes of eggs here at our house, they all scramble up the same. Although they came from different breeds, when brought together.......they serve the same purpose.

Isn't that true with Christians/Followers of Christ? I am finding out, even more so with the blogging world.....that although we all come from different "breeds" and backgrounds, we all are called for the same purpose. We are called to yield the same fruit/seed.

Another side note.....(I promise to tie it all together) When we went to the concert this past weekend....this concept rang true as well (as did my ears). It reminded me of a mini version of The Soulfest. The line-up was five bands.....all with different styles. Therefore attracting a variety of fans. There were the hardcore youth who came to see the insanely energetic Family Force 5, who were responsible for my blown-out kneecaps and ringing ears.....then David Crowder brought in a more mellow crowd. But I can assure you that in reference to DC*B, "mellow" can only describe the mesmerizing, almost hypnotic level of worship with his amazing performance.....and bringing the house down for a grand finale was the southern rock style of Third Day who brought everyone to their feet to dance and sing.

Again.....completely different styles of worship, but all with the same purpose. To glorify God, encourage others to put their faith and hope in the Only One who brings Life......to bring everyone from all walks of life and different denominations together with a common purpose.

I guess today, what I trying to say......is that I am blown away when I visit my fellow Believer's blogs and find that common thread that is woven within us and keeps us all connected. Although we all come from different denominations and maybe have slightly different interpretation of The Bible....... we believe in the same concept, Jesus Christ is The Way, The Truth.....He is Life.

I enjoy and appreciate all the variety of friends I have made through the blogging world. Some have been born and raised in Christian homes and have stayed tried and true on their path to salvation. Some of us......including me.....were not always living as we should, and only by the grace of God were saved and have found The Way. I have befriended some great encouragers who always offer such hope. Then I visit others who are so inspiring, they are born leaders......they take a stand on an issue that is dear to their heart and set out to accomplish their goals. I visit certain blogs where I know I will get my toes stepped on......but in a healthy convicting way. I have a special place in my heart for the bloggers who just keep it real and raw with their transparency. And of course I always enjoy my fun loving friends who insert just the right amount of humor to fill my daily needed dose of laughter.

So today......I want to thank you all for just being who you are. You all bring so much to my life, and I am so thankful to have "met" each and every one of you. I am thankful that God has a plan for each and everyone of us. Christy Rose passed an award onto me about adding sunshine to her day (I cannot get the image to work!!!).......so now, I am passing along this award to every person who has brightened my life and added SONshine in any way. So if you are reading this now, you've left a kind word my way or I've visited your place and done the same...... considered yourself "tagged" with my own farmgirl version of the award, let's call it the "Good Egg" award. (**yes, this is my cheeseball and corny side)

And lastly......I thank you all again for the outpouring of prayers and emails that still have been coming my way.....so keeping it consistently corny and cheeseball til the end....I'll leave you with this quote from Bernard Meltzer.

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg
even though he knows that you are slightly cracked."

xox
*~Michelle~*

Everybody Stumbles....

Good morning.....I wanted to thank you all again for your prayers over the past week.....we had an awesome time at the concert! It's amazing how through the power of Jesus, prayer and faith our whole family came through the trials, individual and collectively......changed for the better. What could have torn us apart, brought us closer and stronger. Praise God!

.....I am blessed and honored to be featured over at Abundant Living today! Tracy is a wonderful sister in Christ who I am blessed to call a friend. She chose to share a post I wrote last December (when I had about 4 reader friends.....one being Josh) that I think is perfect now that the Holidays are rapidly approaching. Follow me on over!

Peace and love~
*~Michelle~*

ps. If you get a moment and you are in the blog hoppin' mood......check out my hubby Josh's recent post about how something so little can flip your world upside down....or inside out....or put it all back together......you decide. ;)

ReFINE-ing Friday

I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers, emails and kind words over the past couple of days....to know that we are surrounded by so many faith filled friends means more than any of my rambling words can convey.

With that said.....we are still amidst some trials. And you know, in the big scheme of things, we know we are blessed beyond our wildest dreams and these are just little roadblocks/hurdles that are arising during our journey.

Part of me wants to think the enemy saw the door slightly ajar last weekend and jammed his foot right in. And he took the opportunity to find each of our weaknesses and kick us when we were down. And that's how quickly it can happen.....when our guard is down and we are distracted with our own emotional hangups, we become vulnerable for more his attacks and adversity. The negativity stemming from his presence is like a powerful magnet now pulling in more junk to try to cloud our judgment/focus even more.

Going with another avenue and not wanting to give the enemy any credit for anything in life, I can look at these trials as part of God's refinement plan for our lives. I know that God can allow and/or bring situations into our lives so that we are forced to walk through the fires and burn off things that need to be removed.

So I guess what I am trying to say, is that I do not have the answers to why these things happen in our lives......our ways are not His ways, our thoughts are not His thoughts. But what I do know is that we are so thankful that we have God in our lives and we continue to keep our eyes focused on Him. He is the ultimate Navigator during these storms......He is The Lighthouse that shows us the Way. Thankfully, through the power of prayer and faith, we are pressing ahead and will come out of these refining fires more purified.....

This reminds me of a story that was emailed to me one time.....I saved it so that I can turn to it when I find myself in the middle of a trial. So now I want to share it with you:

Malachi 3:3: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'

He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

So, if today you are feeling the heat of your own fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.


I will leave you with this song that I have been playing over and over this week......it's off the new CD by Kutless who rocked our socks off at Soulfest '08.


Enjoy and have a blessed weekend~
*~Michelle~*

PS. don't want to get y'all a teeny bit jealous (that wouldn't be a very Christian thing to do, now would it? *teasing!! gotta keep my quirky sense of humor around).....but our family is blessed to be going to a Rock The Sound V concert this weekend with David Crowder, Third Day, Family Force Five and a few other bands. This event couldn't be happening at a better time......as a family, this week has been rough......and are so grateful that we have this opportunity to bring us closer to each other and worship together. We are all looking forward to a full night of praise and worship!!!


*don't forget to pause my playlist

Matthew 18:20 (prayer request)

I believe what Matthew tells us about the power of gathering in prayer.....so with that, I am asking for all my friends, prayer warriors, fellow Believers for prayer at this time.

Our family is under attack. We know and believe it is only because we are shining God's light and the enemy wants to extinguish it when we are spreading His Good News and are becoming more effective. His job is to send issues our way....distract us and take our focus off of God. Pray that we recognize God's grace/purpose and the mercy that He is showing us by providing us the opportunity for us to work through these issues. We believe that God can and will turn what was meant for bad into good.

I have always kept it open and real, but at this time.....I need to keep our matters private, as I hope you can understand.

Thank you all.....

xox
*~Michelle~*