The weather is going to be perfect today! In the upper 70's and not humid. There is so much I ought to be doing, like finishing some of my sewing projects, painting my bedroom, refinishing the table Russ bought for me for my birthday, but instead I am being lazy. Not a good trait to have...In fact, it's sinful to be so lazy....*big sigh*

Okay, I'm going to find something constructive to do!

update:

Here is what I am going to do today...get it started at least...paint my bedroom and add a boarder. Here is what I purchased....

Mitchell feels sorry for his dad.

Edit again: Russ likes it!!! Here is Russ holding the boarder up to the freshly painted wall to get an idea of what it looks like. I can't wait until we get the boarder up. :o)

The weather is going to be perfect today! In the upper 70's and not humid. There is so much I ought to be doing, like finishing some of my sewing projects, painting my bedroom, refinishing the table Russ bought for me for my birthday, but instead I am being lazy. Not a good trait to have...In fact, it's sinful to be so lazy....*big sigh*

Okay, I'm going to find something constructive to do!

update:

Here is what I am going to do today...get it started at least...paint my bedroom and add a boarder. Here is what I purchased....

Mitchell feels sorry for his dad.

Edit again: Russ likes it!!! Here is Russ holding the boarder up to the freshly painted wall to get an idea of what it looks like. I can't wait until we get the boarder up. :o)

I found my cousin, Brenda, on Facebook!! We haven't seen or talked to one another for at least 20 years. We are doing a lot of catching up. We talked on the phone for an hour and half earlier today and have been emailing each other all day as we think of something more to say. We have discovered that we know some of the same people. For example, my niece by marriage, went to school with her daughter for a year. We have so much in common that we could be sisters...In fact, we are sisters. Sisters in Christ! Now that is a huge blessing!! I can't wait for us to get together!!

I found my cousin, Brenda, on Facebook!! We haven't seen or talked to one another for at least 20 years. We are doing a lot of catching up. We talked on the phone for an hour and half earlier today and have been emailing each other all day as we think of something more to say. We have discovered that we know some of the same people. For example, my niece by marriage, went to school with her daughter for a year. We have so much in common that we could be sisters...In fact, we are sisters. Sisters in Christ! Now that is a huge blessing!! I can't wait for us to get together!!

He makes me laugh...

Mitchell discovered that he can make movies of himself with the iMac. This, folks, is an example of what I listen to all day long....*giggle*

Mitchell discovered that he can make movies of himself with the iMac. This, folks, is an example of what I listen to all day long....*giggle*

My friend has a very sweet and helpful little boy of almost 3.

Is he not adorable? :o)

If you need a laugh, go read about the adventures he has been putting his momma through lately over at Count It All Joy. :o) Make sure you read Root Beer and today's adventure with Nestles Quick and molasses. You might want to leave a kind word of encouragement or two, or three, or four. I think she needs it. *wink*

My friend has a very sweet and helpful little boy of almost 3.

Is he not adorable? :o)

If you need a laugh, go read about the adventures he has been putting his momma through lately over at Count It All Joy. :o) Make sure you read Root Beer and today's adventure with Nestles Quick and molasses. You might want to leave a kind word of encouragement or two, or three, or four. I think she needs it. *wink*

Things In My House Thursday

I'd like to have one of these things in my house. Does anyone own one? How do you like it??

Edit: Okay...Did some research. They aren't Mac friendly and a reviewer said that the videos you can make with a digital camera are just as good....So...Guess I don't want one in my house, now. ;o)

Come join MommySweetMom for Things In My House Thursday and share the things in your house!!

PS: Mitchell's room is clean. ;o)

I'd like to have one of these things in my house. Does anyone own one? How do you like it??

Edit: Okay...Did some research. They aren't Mac friendly and a reviewer said that the videos you can make with a digital camera are just as good....So...Guess I don't want one in my house, now. ;o)

Come join MommySweetMom for Things In My House Thursday and share the things in your house!!

PS: Mitchell's room is clean. ;o)

This picture really shows off Brooklyn's outgoing personality. She claps and says, "Yeah!" a lot! She is very expressive. :o)

This picture shows off her sweet face... What a dolly. :o)

This picture really shows off Brooklyn's outgoing personality. She claps and says, "Yeah!" a lot! She is very expressive. :o)

This picture shows off her sweet face... What a dolly. :o)

A grateful sheep

Image by Greg Olsen

"He will feed His flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young." Isaiah 40:11

Our Lord expressly calls Himself the "good Shepherd of the sheep", and the apostle Peter calls Him the "chief Shepherd." (John 10, 1 Peter 5:4)

With respect to power and authority, He is the chief, and, indeed, the sole Shepherd. The eyes of all His people are upon Him--and His watchful eye is upon and over all His flock. None but an omnipotent and omnipresent Shepherd can relieve all the necessities of all of His people, in all places, in the same moment, and be equally near and attentive to each one! Such is our great Shepherd! He is eminently the good Shepherd also, for He laid down His life for His sheep, and has redeemed them by His own blood.

This great and good Shepherd has a flock, whom He loved from eternity, and whom having once loved--He will love them to the end! (John 13:1). He humbled Himself for their sakes, submitted to partake of their nature and their sorrows, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He died for His sheep, "the just for the unjust," to redeem them from the curse of the law, from the guilt and dominion of sin, from the power of Satan--and to bring them to God!

They all, by nature, had "gone astray, every one to his own way;" but having thus bought them with His blood, in His own appointed time--He seeks, finds and restores His sheep! By the power of His Word and Spirit, He makes Himself known to their hearts, causes them to hear and understand His voice, and guides them into His fold! They are then under His immediate protection and government.

Considered as individuals, they are fitly described by the name of "sheep". A sheep is a weak, defenseless, foolish creature; prone to wander, and can seldom return of its own accord. A sheep has neither strength to fight with the wolf, nor speed to escape from it; nor has a sheep the foresight of the ant, to provide its own sustenance.

Such is our character, and our situation! We are . . .

unable to take care of ourselves,

prone to wander from our resting-place,

exposed to enemies which we can neither escape nor withstand,

without any resource in ourselves, and

taught, by daily experience, the insufficiency of everything around us.

Yet, if Jesus is our Shepherd, as weak and helpless as we are--we may say with David, "The Lord is my Shepherd--I have everything I need! Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever!" Every sheep has an inheritance reserved for them in heaven, (1 Peter 1:4-5) and they shall be safely kept, while they are sojourners upon earth, for the Shepherd of Israel is their keeper.

The Good Shepherd cares for His flock. Not the slightest circumstance in their concerns, escapes His notice. When they are ready to faint, borne down with heavy exercises of mind, wearied with temptations, dry and disconsolate in their hearts--He seasonably revives them. Nor are they in affliction without a needs-be for it. All His dispensations towards them are medicinal, designed to correct, or to restrain, or to cure--the maladies of their souls. And they are all adjusted, by His wisdom and tenderness, to what they can bear, and to what their case requires.

The Good Shepherd is represented as counting their sighs, putting their tears into His bottle, recording their sorrows in His book of remembrance; and as being "able to sympathize with our weaknesses".

There are lambs among His flock, and for these He expresses a special tenderness. "He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart." Though they are weaklings, they shall not be left behind. If a poor lamb is weary, and unable to keep up with the flock, He shall carry it. These are new converts in the Lord's family--they are, as yet, weak, unsettled and inexperienced. Almost every day brings them into a new and untried situation. They often meet with opposition and discouragement. What would become of them in such circumstances, if their faithful Shepherd had not promised that "He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart!"

John Newton

Image by Greg Olsen

"He will feed His flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young." Isaiah 40:11

Our Lord expressly calls Himself the "good Shepherd of the sheep", and the apostle Peter calls Him the "chief Shepherd." (John 10, 1 Peter 5:4)

With respect to power and authority, He is the chief, and, indeed, the sole Shepherd. The eyes of all His people are upon Him--and His watchful eye is upon and over all His flock. None but an omnipotent and omnipresent Shepherd can relieve all the necessities of all of His people, in all places, in the same moment, and be equally near and attentive to each one! Such is our great Shepherd! He is eminently the good Shepherd also, for He laid down His life for His sheep, and has redeemed them by His own blood.

This great and good Shepherd has a flock, whom He loved from eternity, and whom having once loved--He will love them to the end! (John 13:1). He humbled Himself for their sakes, submitted to partake of their nature and their sorrows, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He died for His sheep, "the just for the unjust," to redeem them from the curse of the law, from the guilt and dominion of sin, from the power of Satan--and to bring them to God!

They all, by nature, had "gone astray, every one to his own way;" but having thus bought them with His blood, in His own appointed time--He seeks, finds and restores His sheep! By the power of His Word and Spirit, He makes Himself known to their hearts, causes them to hear and understand His voice, and guides them into His fold! They are then under His immediate protection and government.

Considered as individuals, they are fitly described by the name of "sheep". A sheep is a weak, defenseless, foolish creature; prone to wander, and can seldom return of its own accord. A sheep has neither strength to fight with the wolf, nor speed to escape from it; nor has a sheep the foresight of the ant, to provide its own sustenance.

Such is our character, and our situation! We are . . .

unable to take care of ourselves,

prone to wander from our resting-place,

exposed to enemies which we can neither escape nor withstand,

without any resource in ourselves, and

taught, by daily experience, the insufficiency of everything around us.

Yet, if Jesus is our Shepherd, as weak and helpless as we are--we may say with David, "The Lord is my Shepherd--I have everything I need! Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever!" Every sheep has an inheritance reserved for them in heaven, (1 Peter 1:4-5) and they shall be safely kept, while they are sojourners upon earth, for the Shepherd of Israel is their keeper.

The Good Shepherd cares for His flock. Not the slightest circumstance in their concerns, escapes His notice. When they are ready to faint, borne down with heavy exercises of mind, wearied with temptations, dry and disconsolate in their hearts--He seasonably revives them. Nor are they in affliction without a needs-be for it. All His dispensations towards them are medicinal, designed to correct, or to restrain, or to cure--the maladies of their souls. And they are all adjusted, by His wisdom and tenderness, to what they can bear, and to what their case requires.

The Good Shepherd is represented as counting their sighs, putting their tears into His bottle, recording their sorrows in His book of remembrance; and as being "able to sympathize with our weaknesses".

There are lambs among His flock, and for these He expresses a special tenderness. "He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart." Though they are weaklings, they shall not be left behind. If a poor lamb is weary, and unable to keep up with the flock, He shall carry it. These are new converts in the Lord's family--they are, as yet, weak, unsettled and inexperienced. Almost every day brings them into a new and untried situation. They often meet with opposition and discouragement. What would become of them in such circumstances, if their faithful Shepherd had not promised that "He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart!"

John Newton