Anna and Dad

Psalm 63

I thought I would share a little of what God is teaching my in my devotions. I was reading Psalm 63 the other day and I read vs.1, "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water." When I read this, I thought, I wish I felt like that all the time, because, honestly I don't. There are more times than I'd like to admit that I think, "oh I'd better do my devotions so I don't feel guilty", or "I can check that off the list", or "God will be happier with me if I do my devotions". Do you ever feel that way? As if I can "score points" or something with God. His grace has nothing to do with my righteousness, praise the Lord! Thankfully it's all about relationship not about keeping score.
Anyway, I do desire a closer relationship with God, I desire to have this "desire" all the time. I'm not a very proactive person, I'd rather have things just come to me, rather than me do the hard work to seek them out. Basically, I'm lazy. So that is why vs. 2 struck me, "So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory." David (the author of the Psalm), didn't just sit around and wish for a better relationship with God, he went and did something about it. He "looked upon Him in the sanctuary". He sought out God. He didn't just do it for a minute and count it good. He took time, it says that he "looked" and that he "beheld" God. I think this means that he spent time with the Lord, he really looked deeply at Him. I need to do this more. I need to not just check that Bible chapter off my list, but really spend time, see the heart of God, behold Him.
The rest of the Psalm tells us David's result of looking and beholding God. You should read the rest of the chapter yourself, but it tells us that David was satisfied, he had joy, he had a deeper, closer relationship with God. He had dependence on God and confidence, security. And ultimately he praised and glorified God.
I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty great result!

Matching PJ's

Bathing Beauty

Chore Chart Example

For some reason I couldn't get this to post with the previous post.

Controlling my Chaos

I found this blog that I love! Controlling my Chaos has tons of great crafty and organizational ideas, as well as free downloads and printables. Don't you just love that name too!
I got the idea for a Take-out Menu/Restaurant Coupon organizational binder. I had all these menus and coupons laying around and now they are all in one place, neatly organized. Now if Ryan wants to take the girls to get an ice cream cone at McDonalds I can tell him, "get the free coupon from the binder"! I also got the idea for chore cards from her (more on that on another post). I love her free printable chore charts for the girls. (She has a boy version too.) They are so pretty and my girls are having fun using them.
I also printed out her recipe binder dividers. They look scrap booked and I love that. I'm trying to be more organized and if I can use pretty things to help me, I'm more likely to really use them.
Hope this helps you get more organized as well!

Orange Julius Recipe

• 3 cups Orange Juice (Pulp Free Works Best)
• 1 envelope Dry Dream Whip
• 1 package Dry Vanilla Pudding
• 3 cups More Orange Juice

Preparation Instructions

Pour the first 3 cups of OJ into a blender. Add the dry Dream Whip and pudding. Blend it one more minute on low.

Pour the mixture into a 2-quart pitcher. Add the other 3 cups of OJ and stir well.

I made this the other night and it was soooo good! Recipe from Tasty Kitchen, on the Pioneer Woman's blog.