Fall Bible Study .... Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted .... Questions for Introduction Session

Okay, so you get my excited face again ~~ because.......

It is finally time to jump into Fall Bible Study and the Book of Jonah. I am so excited!!! I have been going through this study the last few weeks, so I could have time to pray and ask the questions that the Lord is asking us....and I am SO enjoying this study.

We will be meeting every other Tuesday at 7:00 PM and each meeting we will have usually 4 discussion quesions. Two from the first week and two from the second week of our study materials for that session. I will try to give a short overview and then dive write into the questions. So that is kind of the format....let's get going shall we?....
_________________________________________

Jonah was such an interesting and complex guy. A Prophet asked to give instructions to an enemy of Israel. Have you ever consider just how tough an assignment that was? I had always just thought he was being a little hard to get a long with. God said, hey Jonah go to Nineveh. I mean how hard is that? But I had never really considered what God was asking of Jonah. Nineveh was full of Assyrians who were the arch enemy of the Israelites. And God was calling Jonah to go to them and preach repentance, knowing God would have mercy. Yep tough, very tough assignment.

In our Introductory session tonight there are 4 questions we will be discussing and one assignment I will ask you to complete.


The Questions:



1). If you were to characterize your life in one word RIGHT NOW, what would that be and why?
{We did this assignment in our Ruth study over the summer and it was so interesting. God laid it on my heart to repeat. I'm looking forward to seeing our answers to this.}



2). Jonah is a very familiar story to most of us. And sometimes in a story we know so well, we can miss some wonderful truths tucked inside. Can you share something extraordinary about the familiar in the story of Jonah?



3). Jonah's was a life interrupted by our all-powerful, all-knowing, always loving-us God. How has your life been interrupted lately? How has this interruption impacted your life?



4). Priscilla Shirer made this statement in the intro video: "The best way to see God at work in you, is when you are in a place where only God can handle the situation."
Has this statement been true in your life? If so, how....




5). Assignment: Write a letter to God at the beginning of this study in the front cover of your book. We did this in our Ruth study, and it was such a Blessing to go back and read it at the end of our study.


So come join us tonight at 7:00 pm CST at Chatzy.....right here.


Now, I am a girl who believes that things happen for a reason. I originally had our Fall Bible Study to begin next Tuesday {the first Tuesday in September}. It was all planned out in my head and on my calendar, but then last week I got ahead of myself in posting about our study and said that it begins this week {which is actually the last Tuesday in August ~~ oh boy}. So when this was mentioned to me by a friend doing this study with us, I was like, oh no I can't believe I did that.

But...........

I would like to go ahead and get started. I am excited and ready for this journey, and maybe, just maybe some of y'all are ready and need to get started today too. So we begin.

Please join us tonight, and let's have a wonderful Fall in God's Word.

Love you ~~

Strolling in the Dark....with the Light....

So last night.........oh around 9:30 pm my dear sweet man came up to me and said he wanted to get our lights on and go out and take a stroll.

Now let me explain........Dick bought two lights that go on your head for things like working on the car, spelunking, ya know...the cave lights. But I had NO IDEA that he was thinking of taking us on night time walks with these lights. Oh the sweet joy of walking in the dark when you have a light and you are with your man.....pure joy.

So we set out on an adventure....yep about 9:30 last night. Now if you know us, we are generally in for the night by 8:00 pm. We have to get up really early on work mornings, so we try to get to bed at least by 10:00 pm, or so. But last night, we went on an adventure.....

It was dark, but we walked hand-in-hand down our little road and then turned on the lights. It illuminated our path and lit our way.........oh yes you know I was reminded of Jesus. He is the light of the world. In Him there is NO darkness AT ALL. He is illuminating that path of our lives if we are sold out and surrendered to Him.

When we get into that place that is dark and we don't know how to get out, we need only to cry to Him and The Light comes on. The Light of forgiveness.....The Light of understanding.....The Light of Grace comes on and we are instantly changed. Don't you just love it?!!

As we walked through the trees with our lights attached firmly to our heads and looked out into the trees we could see. And as we walked along all you could hear were the sounds of the crickets and frogs........it was so beautiful. Yes, the circumstances around us were dark, but we had on the lights and we could see.

The circumstances of your life maybe dark right now.....but turn to The Light. He is waiting for you to just reach out, and He is right there child waiting to illuminate your situation with His Light. Yes indeed, He will shed a little Light on your situation and it will all be much clearer in The Light of His Love.

Father,
You are our Light. In You is NO darkness at all. Thank You for sending Your Son into the world to show us who You are. Thank You that He is making intercession for us right now. Thank You that You never leave us or forsake us. Help us to always act like the children of Light that You are calling us to be in a dark and dying world. I love You Father ~~ in Jesus precious, matchless Name I pray, Amen.

One more Birthday Post...

Okay, so I wanted to post one more Birthday post....

My friend Georgia took Sir Cuteness and I out to the Japanese Gardens on friday.

It was so much fun, and I wanted to post pics of this day to go along with the other funness of this years birthday.....Thanks G!!

The Japanese Gardens are so pretty....

and here is Sir Cuteness enjoying the beauty.....

okay, or just being a kid....either way =)

He loved these rock benches.....

Here we are in a little corner rest spot....
Yes me talking to Dick.....
A very natural pose for me =)

Look at this tree.....so pretty....
Sir Cuteness liked it as well.....

Again me in my natural habitat......the phone......

How did we communicate before cell phones? =)

There was a HUGE pond with lots of fish...

and frogs....

Did I mention how pretty it is out here?

And how many fish there are?....

And how much fun Sir Cuteness and I had running around.....

and sitting..... =-)

Georgia and Sir Cuteness.....

Yep so pretty..... Loved this bridge .....

Ahhhh..... pictures with a 2 year old......

priceless!!!.....

He is so stinkin' cute!!!

Yep, Fun was had by all....

Thanks G, it was fun!!!

Random Friday ~~ Birthday Edition

Okay, first of all, IF YOU ARE MY FRIEND GEORGIA AND YOU ARE READING THIS....

STOP!!!! GO NO FURTHER..... I WANT YOU TO SEE THINGS FIRST HAND FIRST......PICS LATER =) YOU KNOW I LOVE YA.....

Okay continuing on..........

Yes my birthday fun continues on today. My friend Georgia is coming over to take me and Sir Cuteness to lunch. We tried to do this yesterday, but with my schedule we couldn't get it worked out, so today it is. And this will work out even better because I have more time today...yay!!!!!

So my birthday, day really started off kind of stinky.

Yep it happens that way, but I tried to keep a good attitude about it,

and I did and it ended up being a FANATASTIC day!!!

But......

To start it off, Dak was NOT happy!!! His I-pod Touch locked up and he had to do a COMPLETE restore and lost ALL his music and everything else on that baby..... oh yeah, he was NOT.happy. And of course, he felt the need to take it out on his poor unsuspecting mother who was NOT expecting it. Needless to say, it was NOT a good morning!!!

So I wanted him to take a series of pics of me yesterday morning to post before my day even got started. I had a whole post planned out in my head,

But....

that just was not happening. I barely even took this pic......

which by the way......

cracks.me.up.

I was trying to put on the happy face, but Dak was just being a booger (just keeping it real =) and I told him "I don't even want to take a stupid picture."

Dak: "Oh your taking a picture!!!!!"

hahahahaha ~~ cracks me up!!!!!

All turned out well, but that morning....whew a doozy!!!

Well, from there, the day proceeded with stinkiness, but I was DETERMINED to make it a good day. I was not going to let the enemy steal the fun of what a birthday is.......... the day God brought you (me) to this earth. He chose me in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight (Eph. 1:4-5) and I was bound and determined to celebrate that fact.....so I pressed on.

And boy am I ever glad I did....

Because..........

I got to go get this little bundle of absolute, eat-him-up goodness!!!

Look at the cuteness of this pickle eating baby.......be still my heart!!

My beautiful mother took me to lunch at one of my favorite spots.....

Yep, McAlister's.

It was YUMMY!!!

Me and the pickle eating Sir Cuteness....the boy loves him some pickles!!!


Here he is eating a chip I believe.....
Yep he is a COMPLETE doll!!!


No his does not mean I am 8.....
It means number 44 for me....
Just wanted to clear that up.... =)

These two are the cat's meow.

I mean it is the biggest joy to watch them together.

Sir Cuteness is keeping my 71 year old mother young...and on her toes =)

It is a beautiful thing!!!

Then we went to pick up this lovely.....

Now let me just say that my family LOVES the Dairy Queen Blizzard Cakes.

They make them happy.

So in true mom fashion, I ordered one and they enjoyed!!!

This is the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard Cake ~~

Be still their heart!!!

Hear I am peering over the top of this loveliness...

And that's about as close as I got to eating it....

Not my thing.......

But I sure enjoyed watching everyone else enjoy it.....

Does my heart good!!!

Speaking of loveliness....

This beauty came and joined in on the fun....

The lovely K.....

I heart K..........

Oh and speaking off loveliness...

Since I don't do Ice Cream cakes, or cakes in general for that matter.

I know RJ you are gasping ~~ GASP ~~ right now......

It'll be okay.........you can eat an extra piece for me next time you have cake......

anyway..... I did want to have a little cake on my birthday, so I decided to try my hand at a Vegan Chocolate Cake, since that is how I roll these days, and it was......

DELICIOUS!!!

K was the only one brave enough to try it with me, but she did and liked it......

So Dak tried a bite and so did my mom and they both like it too.....

Yep it's a keeper.....

Oh and me?!! Delish!! A little rich, okay A LOT rich, but so yummy!!!

Now I must fess up....

It was not your regular cake consistency, so that is probably why I liked it so much.

It was more like a pudding cake.....so good!!!

Hanging out!!

Wow this post is getting ridiculously long.....

Hang with me......

Dak came in from school with these....

Aren't they just beautiful!!!

And yes they are real.....

And yes they came with a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and an apology for the nastiness of the morning....

I love my kiddo!!!! He makes me sing!!!!!

These flowers are just gorgeous!!!

Then Sir Cuteness painted me this picture (with mama's help). She said they sat out on the back porch and painted before I got there. How sweet is that. (Oh yeah, Sir Cuteness also painted the rocks too.....hahaha)

Be.still.my.heart.

He loves tele-ta-thomas (that is what he calls him....we have yet to figure out why, but it is the cutest thing)....

See the hole in the sign, yep he was rubbing in the paint for Grandma....

How cute is this?!! Oh.my.stars.

Then, Oh then, sweet bliss.....

My hubby bought me this.....

Yep, a guitar....

With lovely detailing....

Okay so I picked this out....

called him and told him about it and he said get it.....!!!!!

YAY!!!! We had been looking..... and I couldn't get this one out of my head or heart for that matter.....

That my friends is a peacock, and when I saw it I INSTANTLY thought of my grandmother.

She had peacocks and we used to go and chase them and try to pull their feathers out. I was so fascinated with their beauty as a youngster. I LOVED those feathers. And loved it when I found one that had fallen out.

My grandma was so special to me.

So in honor of my dear sweet Heaven Loving Grandma,

I introduce you to Hazel............

Yep I named her Hazel after my Grandmother.........

it's very fitting, and I can already play the E Chord......

YAY!!!! I am well on my way to learning.....

Me and Hazel getting to know each other =)

Sir Cuteness and I playing a duet.

I have this on video....

so I'll be sharing that soon too...

But for now, let me leave you with my dear sweet boy singing Happy Birthday to me....

This was, by-the-way, way later in the day when he was happy.....

To stinking funny..........Thanks son =)

44 Things that make me happy.....

Hahaha ~~ just jk'ing with ya. I'm not going to list 44 things that make me happy because let's face it NO ONE would read to the end of this post.

But why would I even be thinking about such a thing? Well, because there will be 44 candles on my birthday cake today, that is if I was having a birthday cake that would support 44 candles. Instead, we'll be having a Blizzard Cake....okay, they'll be having a Blizzard Cake because I do not eat such lovely nonsense =) I will hopefully be having a vegan Birthday Cake if I get home in time to make it. I'm actually looking really forward to trying out a recipe I found, but I have a pretty busy day....so we'll see, or ummmm, I'll see =) anyway......

So actually I'm off and running, but hopefully I will post later with LOTS of pics and fun stuff from my day, and perhaps even a little surpise........maybe.......stay tuned.............

Save the Date.....

Is your life a blur? Do you wonder when things got so blurry?

Does your life feel interrupted? Could it be that God is trying to get your attention?....



If you answered yes to any of the questions above then come join us on our journey through Jonah....

When does it start Dawn? So glad you asked =) Next Tuesday is our first meeting right here....

This will be our introductory session, and you don't have to have started yet. So if you'd like to just come check us out, please pop over next Tuesday evening, 7:00 PM (CST) we'd love to have you.....

What are you studying? Another good question...... We are studying the book of Jonah and using "Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted" by Priscilla Shirer to guide us through it.....

Whose invited? Wow you guys are good =) Anyone who wishes to grow in God and to know Him better...... Anyone who wants to dig into the Word and grow...... You are invited!!!

See how excited I am?!!! I'd love to see all your beautiful faces, so if you have a blog and will be joining us, post your excited face =) and let us get to know your Bible Study lovin' side....
Then let me know through a comment or e-mail so I can come visit your excitedly beautiful face.....

Hope to see you there....ummm here.....

Love you ~~

Random Friday ~~ The Truth is.... Edition ....

The Truth is...... "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14

The Truth is....."..You brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God." Jonah 2:6b

The Truth is..... "If ever He loved me, He loves me forever." Pastor John - James River Assembly

So what is your Truth today? Are you holding onto The Way, The Truth and The Life or are you holding onto a poor substitution? hmmmm.........

________________________________________________

Last night I was working on Dak's Senior Scrapbook, and if anything will jump you right into the middle of your reality, it is working on your BABIES SENIOR Scrapbook!!! As I worked, I came to the page of his first day of school this year, his Senior Year (have I mentioned MY BABY IS A SENIOR?) anyway.....

A big part of Scrapbooking for me now is journaling; it is almost as big as the picture itself, for it tells the story behind the picture and we each have one....a story I mean.....behind our eyes..... our picture....you know.... anyway.....

As I came to that particular page to work on and came to the journaling part what stuck out to me is what we read on the first day of School.....yep Psalm 139. It is a tradition you know. So as I sat in my recliner and wrote these Words.....

"O LORD, You have searched me and You know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways." Psalm 139:1-3 .....

I thought about my dear son....nothing profound......nothing earth shaking.....just about him..... who he is.....about our times reading this Psalm together every first day of school.......and now we have read it together for the last time on the first day of a High School, Secondary or Elementary first day of school scale, but I'm not really sad....not really. He must grow up I know. I'm just trying to savor every.single.solitary.moment. And this Scrapbook is helping. I am thankful. God is SO good to me!!! So Good!!

The Truth is.... "Those who cling to worthless idol, forfeit the grace that could be theirs." Jonah 2:8

...... I never want to cling to anything worthless. As I travel this journey through life, I want to be pleasing to my Abba Father and NEVER want to forfeit the grace that is mine through Jesus Christ my Savior, in any area of my life, ever!! And that is the prayer for my son as well. I love this verse. This little tucked away verse that Jonah prayed, incidentally while he was in the belly of a fish......not so incidental huh? Powerful prayer he prayed...you can check it out in Jonah 2.

The Truth is..... I am trying to work out some things in my life right now and I'm trying to figure out what in the world to do with this knee!!! Last night I was walking to our office when I just started having pain.....my knee felt very tight so I knew it was swelling, I looked at it and the knot that sometimes shows up on the inside of my knee, off to the side was huge....I was irritated. Yep had to sit and ice, but it was in that quiet icing time that my fingers wrote out of the Psalms on a page I will always cherish.....it was a sweet moment and one I might not have had so profoundly had I not taken the time to sit....and breathe.....and ice.

Okay so a couple things before the Randomness ends for this Friday edition =) My Auntie Stella has started a blog. YAY!!! She is so sweet, and so GREAT!!.... I am VERY Blessed to have a wonderful relationship with my Auntie (my dad's baby sis) and I'd love for you to check her out right here. Show her some love.....follow her.....listen to her wise words.....share her life....and grow her way.....she is a beautiful person.

I don't often ask for prayer for this knee, because well, it is what it is.....or is it? I believe that God has a plan and a purpose, so would you please join me in prayer over what that plan and purpose might entail. Yes I would LOVE to be able to perform daily tasks pain free, but what I want most is His will. So if we need to start pursuing other avenues of treatment, I want to get on that. But ultimately I am in the passenger seat and not the driver's....so what God says and does.....goes. Thank you for joining me.

Father,

There is NONE like YOU and I praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. You are the best Father!!! Thank you for teaching me and showing me more of who You are. Grow me in You Lord and help me to be all that YOU created me to be. I love you ~~ Amen.

Have a Beautiful Weekend,

Fall Bible Study.... & Oh How They Grow!!!

Good Morning....
I wanted to introduce you all to our fall Bible Study and give you some particulars.....

"Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted" by Priscilla Shirer

Jonah is so interesting and the story of his life so remarkable. Priscilla brings out things in this study that I just didn't know or realize about Jonah and the over all situation going on at the time. I don't want to give anything way, but let me just say, that this study is so good!!! I am really enjoying it and I'm learning a lot.

It will start on September 7th at 7:00 PM (CST) and we will be using our Chatzy link to "meet". We will meet every other Tuesday evening. I will post the link on our first meeting day, 9/7/10.

I will post the questions we will be discussing in that particular session on my blog on Tuesday morning, and then we will meet that evening at 7:00 PM (CST).

Our study on Ruth was so great and using Chatzy really helped a lot in the flow and ease of doing an online Bible Study together. It was great.

So if you would like to join us, please let me know in either a comment or e-mail. You have plenty of time to get your book. They are available at Lifeway stores or Lifeway online. If you have any questions, please let me know.

________________________________________________
Well, I was looking through some pictures from last year and I found this little video of Sir Cuteness and thought you might need a dose of Sir Cuteness this morning....I know I sure did =)




I mean seriously.....how cute is this little Sweetie. Can you believe how little he was here? Oh he is so sweet =)

Have a Blessed day ~~

Effective Parenting....

I thought I would share the book that I am reading right now. This book is very insightful to what our teens are going through in this day and age.

The truth of the matter is, is that it is certainly a different world than 1983/1984 when I was a Senior, when the biggest issues I really faced were hand-me down clothes and pining over a certain boy....

Yes there were certainly other issues, but not nearly as prevalent as today. Today it seems that kids can get anything they want. The internet has made this a much different world for our kids.

So I am reading.........

And this book is really good. I'd like to "read" an exerpt:

"My effectiveness seems to be wrapped up in two challenges: creating a safe environment for discussion, and asking questions and listening without passing judgement."

I'm finding that this is so very important to my teen; to create a safe place for him to talk to me. When it comes to asking questions, it is asking the RIGHT questions, not just probing to get answers, but rather asking questions to keep in tune with your child, to give them a safe place to talk. And it is SO important that I must listen without passing judgement on him, and certainly keeping in mind that before I try to take the speck out of his eye, I must first get the plank out of my own.

In another place Mark writes: "Approach is everything. The demeanor of your approach will determine the demeanor of your teen's response. How do you approach your teen? With gentleness and humility..."

Right on Mark.....this has been an area that I have been lacking in at times, but I am understanding how important the approach is. It often times determines how the entire conversation goes....it is just that important. And approaching my child with gentleness and humility, even in the most difficult of conversations, gives him a safe place to discuss even sensitive issues.

This book has been really good so far.....next on my list is: "The Five Love Languages of Teenagers" by Gary Chapman. I'm looking forward to it as well.

Do you have any book suggestions for me? If so, please let me know. I'd love to hear your insight.

Have a Blessed day ~~

Birthdays & What's one to do on a HOT day if your 2...

Disclaimer: These pics and the captions are MESSED-UP ~~ I've tried to fix them but to no avail. So I apologize in advance for my Blogger issues ~~ =o)

Okay, so grab a nice cup of coffee (if your reading this in the morning) or a lovely glass of iced tea and enjoy a myriad of pictures.

Friday the 13th was Dak's 18th Birthday, which by the way, he thought was SO cool!!! heehee teenagers =)

We had a friend make his birthday cake, and she does such good work.

He wanted something simple, and this was just the right blend of simple and beautiful. Thanks Kathy, you did a GREAT job!!! And can I just tell you.....this cake is just delicious!! I am not really a cake eater....it's just not my thing, but this cake was absolutely delish!!!

















Beautiful!!!

Here is Dak well, being Dak as only he can be.

Really son? heehee Oh and the finger in there is Brandon's. Thanks Brandon, you made our afternoon so much fun as you always do!!

And here is the cake on fire ~~ hahaha

And this pic cracks me up ~~ yep that is smoke ~~ so funny!!!

He had a GREAT birthday!!! On Saturday his grandfather met him at Johnny Mac's and ordered Dak a letterman's jacket for his 18th birthday. He had done the same for his two other grandchildren on their 18th birthdays. Dak is SO excited!!! What a special and thoughtful gift ~~ thanks Granpa P!!!

Well, on Friday, while Dak was at school...........

let me just start by saying, IT WAS HOT!! REALLY HOT!!!

So Sir Cuteness and I decided that a little water fun was in order.

So we headed off to our local Community Center water park. It was SO fun!!!

This first pic cracks me up.

Sir cuteness is eating a Gummy Lifesaver....and me, well I am undoubtedly imparting my wisdom on eating said Gummy Lifesaver ~~ hahaha sometimes I crack me up =)

I LOVE this pic....Me and Sir Cuteness ~~

Sir Cuteness had SO much fun!!! Oh my stars, he was definitely a bundle of fun!!

Look at my knees ~~ oh brother ~~ eek!!!

Look at this child..........he had SO MUCH FUN!!!

He would run right through these fountains.

I was so impressed with this little guy ~~

Here he is under a fountain of water ~~ so fun!!!

I LOVE this pic!! Look at those water drops ~~ Thanks G for taking pics for us!!

Here he is running right through one of those fountains!!

Priceless...

Beautiful..........

Grandma's g-babe getting the rub-down....again =)

WOW hope you made it through all those. We've had some fun around here lately. If you missed my cruising post, cruise on down to the next post after this one and check it out....yep more fun was had over the weekend. I love my family!!!

On the knee front.....had a bad night last night, and so far not a great day. But we forge ahead and believe for healing. More to come on that.....

Hope you all have a Blessed and Beautiful day ~~