Takin' a break...

Well, I thought I would take the next 40 days to write my thoughts on our Lent...but truthfully I think I'm just going to take break from blogging. Maybe the whole 40 days. Maybe more. Maybe less. I just feel like I'm supposed to take a blogging break.

A friend of mine took time off from taking pictures because she said she didn't want to live her life with the view from behind a camera. I'm kind of feeling that way right now. I'm still keeping up with my blog book...just not publically for a while. So, for a while you have one less blog to check:)

I will continue to post often on the DFM blog...so check there!

Lent Day #3 - The Fall...

Today we read Genesis 3 and it was such a wonderful discussion with the girls. In Genesis three we see the Gospel right before our eyes. So many people feel that Jesus is only found in the New Testament...but as John 1:1 tells us...He was with God in the beginning. This is His story of redeption. The Gospel IS the story!

So, tonight we walked through the Gospel story of sin and the precious way we see God cover Adam and Eve with animal skins. We see the first blood sacrifice covering the first sin. God Himself is the one to cover sin and to make the precedent of sacrafice for sin...because the wages of their sin and our sin is death.

We are loving this 40 days through the Bible, because it is reminding us ALL to see Jesus in every single part of history. It is centering our readings on the Gospel and seeing Jesus in every single part.

What about you? Have you recognizes your sin against God? Have you confessed that to Him? Have you, by faith, believed that Jesus is the Son of God and the only Way to be reconciled with God? Will you accept His sacrifice on the Cross, the shedding of His blood in your place, His ressurection and victory over the grave and live your life with Him as not only your Savior but Lord?

If you have questions about these things, email me (frances@desertflowerministries.com)! I would love to talk to you!! Be blessed...

Easter Tree

Today begins the first day of our Easter Tree. My mom always had an Easter Tree and I just loved it! I'm sure it is up in her house as I write this. So, since we all have so enjoyed turning our pantry door into our family celebration center...I began to ponder how to approach Easter. Then, upon reading about the kind of Easter Tree celebration Noel Piper used...and then seeing another crafty friend Andrea's ideas...I got to work creating something of our own.

When I began to think about what kind of tree to have...I could only think of the Cross. So, we bought some burlap (think sackcloth and ashes for grieving and for Ash Wednesday which begins Lent). Then, we cut "an old rugged cross" out of brown felt. This one is not meant to be fancy, pretty, or glamorous. This one is to remind us of the upcoming death of Jesus on the cross. This one is to cause us to reflect. The girls and I talked about how different this one looked than our valentine's one. Two displays of love.

Then, because I liked the daily devotions and yet wanted the feel of the Jesse tree we had, I used daily readings and symbols from Andrea's blog for her Easter Tree. But, I wanted to use pictures and attach them with a pin to the Cross. They are sharp and remind us the nails. Each day as we pierce the cloth with those pins...it is tangible reminder of the piercing nails and the rugged cross. This one is somber.

I simply used the daily suggested pictures and hopped on Google to print out photos of the symbol or Bible story that goes along with the reading. The readings walk us all the way through the Bible to remember the entire story of the Bible is about Jesus!!! I laminated them with contact paper and then cut them out. I printed out the readings and we began the first one today. The mustard seed...to remind us it all begins with FAITH!

Lastly, we hung our seed of faith at the bottom...the foundation. We will hang our pictures from the bottom up in order to show how the Old Testament lays a foundation! We will end at the top on Good Friday...with a crown of thorns and a cross filled with fulfilled prophesy! Then, the cross will hang there until early Sunday morning. It will be GONE...and we will celebrate that He is RISEN!!!

We will be using Noel Piper's 7 candles of Easter...much like we used our Advent candles. I posted about earlier today about her article and book that outline all about it. So, you can read it there:)

For the next 40 days all I will be posting are daily thoughts on the readings for the day and photos of the Cross. I need to focus on the Cross and less on self. I need this break to bring the Cross and Resurrection to the forefront. I need to decrease and let HIM increase.


The Old Rugged Cross...

Our small little seed...

The pin to remind us of the nails that pierced his hands and feet on that Cross...

The seed is hung at the foot of the Cross to lay the foundation of faith...

May this 40 days be amazing! May we boast in the Cross and celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! May our lives radiate the Gospel!!!

Thrive 365~

Frances

Lent...

Today begins Lent. This article by Noel Piper (John Piper's wife) and her book which is online for free explains much better than I can about the meaning behind Lent. It is like Advent in that it is a season of reflection and waiting. It is a time when we focus our hearts and our lives on the Cross and the empty tomb. For 40 days many fast in order to focus themselves on Christ and his life, death, and Resurrection. Each of us will be praying about what God would want us to fast from in order to have more pockets of time to focus on Him.

We are beginning the daily devotions (in addition to the weekly ones found in the article above...I'll post the link on my first Lent post tonight) and also do a unique Easter Tree for our pantry door this year. I am excited that Noel Piper has shared some wonderful ideas with us and we can all take a few and maybe incorporate them into our family traditions in our own unique way!

I pray that I will embrace the Cross this year more than ever. I pray that I will boast in Christ alone! I pray that this blog will be a place where grace and the Gospel are shown and proclaimed. I pray that I will decrease and HE will increase.

I will post about our Easter Tree and how we can take these 40 days to focus on the Cross and the empty tomb!!! I can't wait!!!

Fun with friends...

This past week, we had the chance to hang out with some college buddies that were in town for the week. They are from Alabama and are some of our closest friends. Jay gave me a late birthday present when he took off half a day of work from me to get to have lunch and shop a little while with Brooke! We had so much fun!!!

Then, we headed to Mellow Mushroom for a night out with she and her hubby...and some of our other Auburn buddies Shannon and Craig. We got to sit in the coveted tree where we felt like we were in our own restaurant. It was balloon and magic night (which Jay said he arranged that for me) and before too long we were able to get the magician to come into the tree and make some special hats for us. Y'all...it was HYSTERICAL! OK...do you SEE the size of MY hat???? Well, since it was my birthday week...I got to be the "star" of the night. We laughed so hard that I literally was crying unable to breathe most of the night. It was the most I have laughed in a long time...and boy it was fun.
Brook and Joey...so cute!!

Sweetheart Shannon...I loved her hat the best!!!

We thought Brook looked like Suzie Lu Who!

Jay had a crazy hat that he kept poking all of us with...that's my handsome man!

Are you kidding???? This things was HUGE! We laughed and laughed...it was so wonderful to be with buddies that have been friends for over 15 years and there is just nothing like it.

Shannon and her hubby Craig...are "airheads" he said on his facebook! I think they are too cute!

After we had laughed and eaten WAY too much pizza, we headed back to our apartment for a fierce game of Scene It...80s Version. It was pretty good...I don't know nearly as much about the 80s as I thought. But, the girls won...and we had a blast together.

Thanks guys for a night of wonderful memories and just time to laugh nonstop...it was great!

Valentine's comes early...

On Saturday morning, us girls woke up to a wonderful surprise!!! Jay had gotten up early and made us some wonderful PINK *heart* chocolate chip pancakes, sausage balls, and decorated the table with goodies for us all! Jay has always takes loves to give his Valentines sweet gifts. Thanks Jay for making us all feel so special and for loving us so well:)

(I love that Virginia can't wait to check out her present...caught in the act!)
Anli gets a kangaroo Littlest Pet Shop and a box of chocolates!

Virginia gets a Peacock Littlest Pet Shop and a box of chocolates!

AND...I got a dozen PINK roses (to match my pancakes!) and a bag of my FAVORITE Lindt dark chocolate truffles...yummmmmm!

I tell ya...we are some spoiled girls for SURE!

Jay, I am so glad that we have been Valentines for the past 15 1/2 years. I love you so very much! Thanks for the way you love me and our girls. You are such a blessing to each of us and those two girls will have a tough time finding a husband as wonderful as you...you've set the bar high and shown us all the example of God's love for us.

Happy Valentine's Day...143!

Valentine's Party

On Friday, we got up and did some school and then headed to our co-op Valentine's Party!! We are a part of two groups this year...First Baptist Woodstock's Timothy Ministry and SHOUT. SHOUT is the group that sponsors our Keepers At Home group that we attend each month. They also have lots of playdates, field trips, and parties all through the year. We were so excited to be a part of this one!

The girls have met such sweet friends at their Keepers group and many of them also attend Timothy Ministry every Tuesday. So, it's extra special when they get to see these friends at other times. These events are really important to all of us as our girls get older. They love having friends to hang out with who also are homeschooled! There were over 100 kids at the party, so they divided up all the children by their age groups. Then, they had about 30 minutes at every station...then they moved on to other activities! The good thing was that they were in the same group together and that friends were also in their group too:)
Our first activity was arts and crafts! They made really neat bookmarks and Valentine magnets for my fridge:)

I am always so grateful that Jay LOVES to do things with the girls whenever he can! Thankfully, this party was on a Friday and he was off and able to come. He was one of two men there surrounded by kids and moms. What a mighty good man I have...and the girls have!!!

Socializing is one of their FAVORITE parts! I love that they are making sweet friends and enjoy meeting new people too. These two co-ops and our church have been so wonderful for them to have and make friends. I am especially grateful that they have lots of girl friends...as at our last church they mostly had guy friends. I prayed for years that God would bring us girl friends:)

Game time was our next stop. We hung out playing some games for a while...then headed to an organized game time too.

And no party is complete without LOTS of yummy treats!!!

Then...the snow started and the kids lost all interest in anything else but playing in it!! They had snowball fights and FUN! It only lasted a little while since our girls didn't have their snow gloves or coats on...so they got a little cold making snowballs.

Beautiful...

LOTS more Valentine's fun to come...

What a DAY!

Today has been amazing!!! We woke up to more snow and sunny weather and were were headed out...after a yummy Valentine's surprise breakfast from my hubby (another post!). Then...we were outta there! As we came down the stairs we met some of our neighbor friends and they were "sledding" today. This sledding was using the tops of large plastic storage containers. So, Jay headed back inside to find ours and the FUN began for everyone...
The really nice thing about living in an apartment is all the hills and space to play!!! Our complex is surrounded by beautiful woods and has lots of room to play in the snow and sled!

I LOVE this...sister racing!

I guess you could call this Southern sledding:)

Then..in a tribute to the Winter Olympic Games...snowboarding!

They ROCKED this sport out all afternoon!! Watch our Shawn White...the Flying Tomato has nothing on these girls!

Jay and I HAD to get in on this fun...and no I did not win:( I think he had a head start...

And of course, the traditional snow fight broke out that was started by Dad! But, the girls were ready to use their "sleds" as shields.

If you look at this photo in the top left side you will see the LARGE snowball flying at me as I tried to take his picture...YIKES!

Then, we had to make some snow...people! Jay and I set to work to make ourselves in honor of Valentine's Day! This one was mine and...

...this was Jay's. Now, I hope this is not a picture of things to come 'cause he looks a little plump for my man! But, the hair is awesome!

Anli made her snowman and decided to take it for a ride on the sled. Only Anli things of those kinds of things...that is why we are CRAZY about her!!!!

Virginia balances on a HUGE snowball...maybe a future Olympic game in the works?

Their friends came back out after lunch (yeah, we were out there a long time!!) and they had a blast playing with them.

Virginia and her little friend decided to make a HUGE snowman! Great job girlies!

What a GREAT day and now we are all in our jammies, cooking a wonderful dinner, and watching some speed skating, ski jumping, and luge today. Oh boy...what a DAY!