Summer Babysitting

I was babysitting my nieces the other night and Audrey loves to have her picture taken. I being the aunt that I am, love taking pictures of them!


Poor Allie had blueberries all over her face!

My favorite part of the evening was when I was putting them to bed. Audrey gave me a big hug and said, "Katie, stay". "Stay forever". It feels so good to know that she loves me:)

My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord

Psalm 84

How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise!

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.

O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob!
Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your annointed!

For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!

The Fiery Furnace

Chapter 3 of the book of Daniel is so encouraging to me. When ordered to bow to the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar set up, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused. They knew how offensive this act would be to their God, the true God. Because they refused, they were sentanced to be thrown into the fiery furnace-- a sure death. Before this sentance was carried out they were offered one more chance to bow. They remained unmoved and spoke with boldness to the king:
"O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
They knew that their God would deliver them from Nebuchadnezzar's hand, but this deliverance could have been manifested in one of two ways. One, to take them out of the fiery furnace unharmed, or two, to bring them into glory for eternity. In the Lord's providence he rescued them from the fire and astonished Nebuchadnezzar!
The faith of these servants was great. They trusted that the Lord was not witholding any good thing from them even though they knew that their death was a definite possibility. It makes me wonder how I would have reacted in their situation, or how I will react if I encounter a situation like this. Will I be bold in proclaiming that whether I live or die, God is still the Most High God?

My Loves

Aren't my nieces the cutest kids ever?! I love them lots and lots!

New Obsession

I go through phases of obsession. I should just expect them to come. It's actually kind of fun!

Last month I was excited to create my own recipe book. I printed off recipes from different websites and placed them neatly into a 3-ring binder. My favorite website is www.marthastewart.com. Not only did I create a recipe book, but I'm also trying to make as many recipes as I can. So far it's going well.

Now that spring is here, my new obsession is gardening. It excites me to just think about it! Two days ago I took out the dead leaves from the existing garden in our backyard and it looks nicer. Now I am dreaming of what flowers I will plant in my new garden space. I love flowers!!! I think I'll probably take off a day in May to get it all set up. I also told my mom that I would go to her house and plant her a garden.

If you have any recommendations of what types of flowers you would like to see, just let me know!

Thy Face, O Lord, I shall seek

One of the areas I desire to grow in is prayer, and it has been a desire for a couple of years. Although the growth has been slow (sometimes painfully slow) I can see the Lord's work and I am thankful for the people/ resources he has put in my life throughout these years.

Currently one of the most helpful resources in my life is going through the study Becoming a Woman of Prayer with my mentor Ruth. It is a good reminder of how necessary prayer is and a helpful guide in how to make me intentional about spending time in prayer. O. Hallesby said,

"To pray is to let Jesus come into our hearts. This teaches us, in the first place, that it is not our prayer which moves the Lord Jesus. It is Jesus who moves us to pray. He knocks. Thereby He makes known His desire to come in to us. Our prayers are always a result of Jesus' knocking at our hearts' doors."

I'm so glad that he knocks.

One of the most amazing things to me about prayer is that God himself invites us in! He invites us to bring our prayers and petitions to him, and tells us in Hebrews to "draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." In Matthew 7 he reminds us that he is our Father and that he desires to give good things to his children. But the key is that we have to ask.

However, prayer is ineffective if it is not done in the Spirit and without us being in the Word. I like what R.A. Torrey said,

"Indeed the whole secret of prayer is found in these three words, in the Spirit. It is the prayer that God the Holy Spirit inspires that God the Father answers...The one who would pray in the Spirit must meditate much upon the Word, that the Holy Spirit may have something through which He can work. The Holy Spirit works His prayers in us through the Word, and neglect of the Word makes praying in the Holy Spirit an impossibility. If we would feed the fire of our prayers with the fuel of God's Word, all our difficulties in prayer would disappear."

My increased desire is that I would know God more and that I would read his word and that I would pray more. The Lord is pleased when we come to him. When we do, we are putting our dependence on him instead of trying to do things on our own. I want to pray like Asaph in Psalm 73: 25-26:

"Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

The Count of Monte Cristo

The last three years I have been content in only watching the movie version of The Count of Monte Cristo, but I kept hearing about how good the book was. So, last summer I bought my own copy of the 500 paged abridged version and decided to read it...eventually.
In January I made a list of all the books I wanted to read during 2008 and gave myself a maximum of 3 weeks to read each one. Last week, I was able to start The Count.
I was at first very surprised that the the movie was not closely related to the book! It made me not like the book because I couldn't predict what was going to happen. However, I got over it quickly because the storylines are so amusing. I'm glad that this long book is a page-turner because I don't think I would be able to finish it otherwise!

I am now 60 pages from ending and I wish I didn't have to work today!