Day 31... 1 John 5:1-5

Day 30... 2 Corinthians 5:17

Day 29... Stormie Omartin

Day 28... Lamentations 3:22-24

Day 27... Romans 12:2

Day 26... T.O. Chisholm

Growing up, my mother taught me to love hymns and I'd like to share one of those with you today. I regret that I could not find a audio/visual version to share.  But the lyrics are the most important part so you may wish to read them as if it were a poem. 

 

 

A New Creature by T.O. Chisholm

Verse 1:  Buried with Christ, my blessed Redeemer,

               Dead to the old life of folly and sin;

               Satan may call, the world may entreat me,

               There is no voice that answers within. 

 

Chorus:  Dead to the world, to voices that call me,

              Living anew, obedient but free;

              Dead to the joys that once did enthrall me—

              Yet ‘tis not I, Christ liveth in me. 

 

Verse 2:  Dead unto sin, alive through the Spirit,

              Risen with Him from the gloom of the grave,

              All things are new, and I am rejoicing

              In His great love, His power to save. 

 

Verse 3:  Sin hath no more its cruel dominion,

              Walking in newness of life I am free—

              Glorious life of Christ, my Redeemer,

              Which He so richly shareth with me.

Day 25... Colossians 3:9-10

Day 24... Titus 3:4-5

Day 23... Robert Schuler

Day 22... Ezekiel 18:31a

Day 21... Isaiah 1:18

Day 20... Martin Luther

Day 19...Psalm 51:10

Day 18... John 16:20

Day 17... John Burroughs

 

 

So what does this quote have to do with change or renewal, you ask?  Allow me to tell you...  In my life most change has been preceded by some sort of failure, whether big or small.  Circumstances, other people, or just the natural order of things can set the stage or influence the failing but when all is said and done, I must decide to take responsibility for my part and make a change.

Day 16... Psalm 34:5

Day 15... Romans 6:4

Day 14... Francis Chan

Day 13... Isaiah 40:31

Day 12... Ephesians 4:22-24

 

 

Day 11... Beth Moore

 

 

This quote comes from Beth Moore's study of Esther.  Esther obeyed her uncle's instructions even though it could mean her immediate execution, but God used her obedience to save an entire nation of people.  When God authors our change in circumstances we can have peace that the Creator of the entire universe is working for our ultimate good, and we can rest in Him.  When we do things our own way, the unintended consequences leave us scrambling for a cover up.  Ask me how I know...

Pumpkin Babies 2013

Last year during my 31Day series I posted some picture of my grandsons on "Pumpkin Babies 2012".  This year my series does not lend itself to posting those kinds of pictures so this is another bonus post.  Enjoy!

 

 

The day was very warm, not a bit "fallish", but we wanted to take the boys somewhere that they could run around outside and get a little dirty.  As usual, Levi took the lead and Liam hung back, taking it all in.  At first.  Then a not-so-usual thing happened.  Liam became the explorer and Levi became more of an observer.

 

 

 

The boys did a pretty good job with letting me take a few staged pictures.  Levi wondered where the pumpkin went.  Liam thought it great fun make the pumpkin roll around with his bum.

 

 

Grandpa was vigilant about watching the boys so that they wouldn't wander off into the high weeds and corn.  Levi was perfectly content to be carried or to hold Grandpa's hand.  Liam, not so much.  He wanted to go, go, go! 

 

After we got back to the pumpkin stand, the boys were pretty tentative about touching things for about, oh, 15 seconds.  I love Levi's face in the picture of him after he snatched a gourd from a basket.  It is his "I'm pretty sure I am not supposed to do this, but I'm gonna because it is fun!"

At first the wheelbarrow ride wasn't their favorite but once Liam figured out that they could go fast, he loved it.  Just look at the happiness on his face...



 

 

We fully expected the boys to get dirty and they did not disappoint.  Levi did a face-plant in the parking lot so his face should have been much dirtier than Liam's but as the pictures show, that was not the case...

 

We had great fun with the boys that afternoon.  I'm not sure that Mommy had all that much fun cleaning them up afterwards, though.  I just love being a Grandma!



Day 10... 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

Day 9... Psalm 149:1

Day 8... Liz Curtis Higgs

Day 7... Psalm 51:12

Day 6... 1 Corinthians 15:41

Technically speaking, this verse doesn't specifically address growth or renewal.  So why did I include it in this series?  To me, the great lights that God created work in perfect harmony to provide for a daily cycle of growth and rest.  Both growth (change)  and rest (renewal) are vital to all of life, physical and spiritual.  They serve very different purposes and neither should be neglected! 

 

Day 5... Charles L. Allen

 

Day 4... Psalm 51:7

Day 3... Ezekiel 36:26

 

 

A bonus post for October can be found here... SOME STORIES REQUIRE FEW WORDS

 

 

Some Stories Require Few Words...

... but this isn't one of them!

A friend and I joke about how we love to make a short story long.  And chances are, if you've read many of my posts, you'll know just how true that is.

Yep, I use more words than necessary to flesh out a humorous story or dramatic re-telling. 

Not so with my twin grandsons, Levi and Liam.  They don't have many words at their disposal at 19 months old, or at least few that we can understand.  They are fantastic jabberers and twin-language talkers, but it ain't much English they're speakin'!  Yet.

Being twins (preemie twins at that!) and boys, their proper language is naturally going to be a bit delayed.  Also, we're pretty sure that Liam's hospitalization last Spring had at least a temporary affect on his speech development.  But progress is being made and I am thrilled with every little word they speak.  Even the babble is music to my ears!

For a long time Levi was the one to do most of the yacking with Liam responding to him with a slight nod of the head and something loosely translated "I know, right?"

But things seem to be shifting at the moment with Liam's increased interest in verbal communication.  Once fairly silent in his car seat, he now sings along with the radio, vocalizes both frustration and excitement, and lets Levi know his thoughts in a way that we cannot understand.  

Levi expresses himself quite well, too, but he'd rather be on the go than take much time talking about the situation.  His favorite word at this time seems to be "Go!", arm outstretched, index finger pointed as if he were about to charge onto a battlefield.

One day last week we had the boys at our house for the afternoon.  First we spent some time outside running around the yard, testing our balance by toddling up and down the "hill" out back, playing in a puddle, and just all-around seeing what there was to see.  They are mostly motion personified.  Nearly constant in their forward-moving activities.  It is truly an accomplishment for me to get pictures of their faces! 

As Liam was running past a concrete bench out by the shed, he stopped dead in his tracks, pointed and said "Puppy!".  It took me a second to realize that we do, indeed, have a concrete "puppy".  Two of them, really. 

 And I do believe we have 2 up-and-coming story-tellers on our hands. 

Later on when we went inside Levi bumped his lip as he was climbing up onto a wooden bench, and he began to cry.  As Grandpa picked Levi up to console him, Liam stopped his play for about 3-fourths of a second to take in the scene and walked away shaking his head with a "jabber, jabber, jabber... waaaaa (poked out lip and all!)... jabber, jabber, jabber",  as if to recount what had just happened to Levi.

And then a couple days later when the boys came to visit while Mommy and Daddy went out for dinner, Levi showed us his talent for telling a true tale...

As they always do, the boys threw all the pillows on the floor.  But this time, after Mommy and Daddy arrived to pick them up, and we were chatting, and Levi decided to dive head-first into a grouping of three of the pillows.  He apparently does this at home all the time, but since we have a concrete floor and smaller pillows, the result was MUCH different.

"Crack" went Levi's little noggin on the floor! Wailing followed.  Mommy held, rocked, and sang to him until he was calmed.  With tears still in his eyes and a large red circle on his forehead, Levi climbed down from Mommy's lap and re-enacted the whole episode with running commentary, jabber style. In slow motion.  Several times. (Fake) crying included!  It was awfully entertaining!

I realize that these kinds of stories, the Grandma kind, aren't unusual or atypical but I just love telling them.  I'm not really going for amazing, profound, or educational with this.  Just pure, joyful thankfulness that I am able to be an active participant in the lives of my grandchildren.  Not everyone gets that opportunity so I feel compelled to acknowledge  what a blessing it is. Not a right.  Not a duty.  But a gift. And I become a more grateful recipient with the retelling.

And now for the pictures you've ALL been waiting for <big grin>...

Levi thought the blocks were fun for about 2 minutes but Liam played with them for almost 20 minutes.  I took full advantage of him sitting still!

  

Day 2... Oswald Chambers

Day 1... Revelation 21:5

 

 

This is the very first bloom of spring in my yard so thought it a most appropriate picture to begin the series.  Plus words from the Creator Himself... can't top that!
Just as an aside, today marks my 1st blogiversary.  Read my very first post HERE and view the links of my first 31Day series HERE.