Watch-It Wednesday: Joy!

This video makes me smile...

Have a joyful Wednesday!

On the Twinkles' Bedroom Door Tonight

Just one of a million reasons why I love having wee ones around. :)

Watch-It Wednesday: "Big Ego" in Turkish

Imagine this: You are the greatest military commander of all time, you have an immensely good opinion of yourself, and you've just taken yet another city. What is the first thing you're going to do?

 

Listen to your advisers and study languages...at least well enough to know your own name! :p Wishing you a happy and humble Wednesday!

 

Make-It Monday: Muffins, Granola, and Blogs (Oh My!)

Happy October Monday! Is it as lovely where you are as it is here? Cloudless blue sky, trees with a multitude of colors, afternoons in the 70s...autumn in the Northwest is wonderful! :)


I've been saving up for this Make-It Monday. Not on purpose, necessarily, but because I just haven't gotten around to posting, the last few weeks. In the first place, I have been making breakfast with the Twinkles, and they both wanted to get pictures for me to post. It's the same lovely laptop camera, but it makes them happy, so without further ado...

 

Megs and I got up one morning, and decided to make muffins!

 

I was going to post the recipe but...I can't remember which one it was. :) I do know we substituted honey for sugar, and flax seed for over half the eggs, so it was fun to show "Nellie" (my recent nickname for her - don't ask) how to make and figure out the differences.

 

Muffins, home-made plum jam, and tea - what could be better?

 

They were delish!

 

And then we have the next week, with Maddy...

 

Before we were quite sure what we were making...

 

We decided on granola! Chopped macadamia nuts, almonds, and dry rolled oats, mixed into yogurt, jam, and honey ~ it was pretty good! :)

 

The last thing I've made (or am in the process of making) to share with you this Monday is ~ as you've probably deduced from the title ~ a blog! Yes, another one. I decided, the other day, to put together a blog for my music students/parents. On the practical side, there will be the policy, the schedule, pictures of the various bow exercises for violin students, competition updates... But this is where I need your help: What would you want on a blog your music teacher had? Information about concerts in the area? Music in the news? Book/movie reviews? My students are mostly in the 6-16 age range, so there's a wide spectrum of potential interest. What would make it fun? Check out the "under construction" deal here, and give me some feedback. I'm positively greedy for ideas, so even if you're a reader who never comments, or a person just passin' by this blog, hit me with any and every cool (and practical) brainstorms you have!

 

Happy Monday!

 

A Tale of Windows - Part II

(for Part I, click here)


Photo Credit

...If you leave the smudges, you will soon loose everything else. You already avoid the light. You already see nothing beyond your own pane.

"But..." my voice faded to a whisper as the realization dawned upon me:

They were my smudges.

 

My house. My windows. My smudges.

 

Wordlessly, I filled a bucket and picked up a sponge. Painfully, I dipped into the warm, soapy water and began to scrub. May no one ever know what it cost me to clean that first window! I felt the dirt, the grease, and the mold scrub off as though the filth was torn fom my very soul. I cried unrestrainedly, finding it necessary to stop my work every few minutes to exchange foul-smelling black water for fresh, clear water from the tap.

 

But as I finished that first window, as the light came pouring in with greater beauty than I could ever remember, I caught my first glimpse of life beyond the pane. Beautiful world! The second window was cleaned so quickly, I didn't even have time to remember how each smudge it held had come into existence. I wanted to see again! I wanted the dirt gone! I wanted others to come and marvel at the view with me! The smudges were nothing, compared to the glorious light and immaculate sight that clean windows offered!

...I was there, I must confess, for hours. Never before, and never since, have my windows seen such thickly-laid smudges. A few times, I came upon a smear so big, so hard to eradicate, so vivid in the memory of how it came to be, that I almost gave up. But then I would hear the musical "Keep going! You are only just beginning to really see!" from the pure, untainted light shining beside me, and I knew I couldn't stop.

Now, when the sun rises each morning, it finds me sitting before my windows, waiting. As it pierces through the crystal-clear panes, my joy knows no bounds. Yes, smudges still come, often daily, but now I know the truth. The effort to clean my windows is nothing compared to the glorious light I see through spotless panes. If I scrub them faithfully, immediately, never leaving a single smudge through the night, I receive the greatest of rewards:

Photo Credit

Pure.

Undefiled.

LIGHT.
 

Watch-It Wednesday: Our Identity

This isn't the post/video I was planning on posting today, but sometimes you are just so surrounded with a theme, that it's impossible to ignore, you know? Lately, the LORD has been teaching me so much, I feel like I don't have enough pens and paper to be writing it all down - and I'm filling out sheets and sheets!

 

Here are some beautifully encouraging lessons on God's love and grace; which, as He has bestowed them upon us, give us a whole new identity: that of a child of the King. First, you really should read Alistar Begg's devotional here. (And while you're there, sign up for the daily emails - they are such an encouragement to read each morning.) Are you, like Daniel, a "man greatly loved"?

 

And here's a song I've been listening to over and over again...it's become my theme song, this last week, echoing precisely my thoughts and prayers as, daily, I realize more and more just how badly I mess up:

 

 

Beautiful, isn't it? Our Father's love and grace - there is nothing as lovely and glorious. He is so sufficient for all we could ever need. Rest joyously in this, and have a wonderful Wednesday!

 



For Jenny

Dear Jenny,

You have no idea what all I've learned in the course of trying to get a single picture for you...

1. I've learned that I really, really don't like the quality of my laptop camera.

2. I've confirmed that self-portraits are soo not cool, and that I'm better behind a lens than in front.

3. I learned that I have a very pointy nose. Yes, I'd gone 21 years of life without realizing it! :p

And all for you. All 'cause you asked. Here it is ~ appreciate it, for it will not happen again! :)

(notice I chose the nose-cropped-out photo :)

Your now-cross-eyed friend,
Sarah