This man..........

This is the man that will forever and always hold my heart.  It's dangerous to do that....giving your heart to another human being.  Over the years I have learn, that this man, wants only good for me.  He has revealed to me the gospel time and time again by way of who he is.  He likely, doesn't always know he's doing it.  He lays down his life for me.  He serves me, when he's tired, when I'm unreasonable, and when he'd like to plug his ears to my request.  He leads me and reminds me of truth when lies lay await for me.  He's not perfect, but he's perfect for me.   To say, "I love him", doesn't even begin to express how dear he is to me.  Troy, is a precious gift to me and I will forever be thankful for the Lord's graciousness to me. 

Something Beautiful is Going on.......

Troy and I have been back from the desert for almost a month now.  It was a much overdue time away together.  Out of all our years together, this was, by far our most "active" trip.  We hiked in the desert.  It was crazy beautiful.  The elements were more challenging than I imagined.  The desert was a new experience for me.  As I reflect back through our photos, I'm amazed once again at how I can see the hand of my Creator all over the place and how he uses creation to point us clearly to His Son, Jesus Christ.  This is one of my most favorite photo finds.  It reminds me, as we walk through this life, which is more difficult at times than I'd like, there is something beautiful going on in the midst.

God is working all things out for the good of those who love Him.

Believing What He Says Today,

Connie 

He is near...

The above picture is not perfect by any means.  To the professional photographer there would be plenty to critique.  To me...it's perfect.  Sarah is one of my most treasured friends on this earth.  She is my partner in crime.  We do life together.  We laugh, we cry, we encourage, we celebrate, and now, we mourn together.  This past weekend she lost her sister unexpectedly.  To see someone you care about suffer, is one of life's most difficult things.  In the picture above we are trying to stand in the sun, so we could get the perfect lighting, hence all the shadows.  It's actually the perfect picture of this life.  We are 2 friends seeking to "stand in the light of the Son", and yet, in this world life and it's difficulties cast it's shadow over the joy of the Lord, and it challenges the promises that we are given from His word. As we mourn, our smiles may be dampened for a time, but we trust He is near and in time will renew our strength.  Praying for her and her precious family.

The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous

    and his ears toward their cry.

16 

The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,

    to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

17 

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears

    and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

    and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:15-18

So we do not lose heart. 

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Oh, How Life has Changed.......

OH, HOW LIFE HAS CHANGED.....

It's been 4 years since my last blog post.  I've learned a lot.  My nest is not quite empty, but it is on the horizon for sure.  The Lord hasn't completely taken the desire to write away, but He certainly has fine-tuned it some.  With age, I have learned that less words have more impact, sweeping promises, usually, can't be kept, and digging in hard and fast about things is not wise.  My kids have been my best work and biggest blessing.  Marriage will always be worthwhile work.  Living out the Gospel truth is always the best choice no matter what.  Today I am focusing on Romans 12:10 and Hebrews 10:24.

"Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor." 

Romans 12:10

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,"

Hebrews 10:24

My desire to rebell is one that still lingers on and so memorizing the above scripture is one way that I will press into the Lord, in hopes He will continue to fine-tune this area of my heart to.  Praise Him, that He always finishes what He starts and doesn't take a 4 year break!

Blessings, 
Connie

Why pay more when you can get it for less?...........

This is the question I will be tackling today. Recently Troy and I have been making "juicing" a regular part of our diet. If your familiar with juicing then you know that most people who are unfamiliar with it and hear or see what it is your doing turn their nose up and say, "ewwwwww, your gonna drink what? That looks and sounds disgusting." They may be right on both accounts, but I would totally agree with their second observation. Another thing I wanted to share with you is that for the most part the Hoehne family is pretty healthy. I must confess we, as in, Carter and myself, have just gotten over the touch of the flu. If I had to give it a letter or number, I would call it the 24 hour flu. That is about the duration that it lasted. I only share this with you to get you in a position of where this post has come from and where I am going.

To begin, I woke up at 3:43am this morning and felt normal after feeling a little under the weather. This gave me some time to think and be thankful for good health, not only for myself, but for my whole family really. Other than some really odd weird stuff on the "Hoehne" side we really do have good genes. Once I was up I threw together my morning juice mix in my much loved Ninja! Being thankful for its handy work, I proceeded to throw in an orange that was a blessed gift from someone who loves me dearly and I them. Normally, I am not to picky...lie, yes I am, but not when it comes to free. Anyways, when I shop, I am always trying to get the most bang for my buck without compromising on quality. This is challenging to say the least, and more so when my hubby is with me to help. I normally try to find a middle of the road product, and I usually won't compromise for the cheapest produce. A lesson that was put to the test this morning. The reason I was blessed with the oranges was because of the great deal they got on them......10# for something like $4. I was excited for both the buyer of the oranges and myself until I took my first drink. I have been doing different juicing for a few months now and really, I enjoy them normally. Well, ok, except for the one I put cauliflower in. That was just bad.
Today, I was able to drink it down no problem, but I could tell that the quality of the orange was not there. I know the skeptic in you is saying, "Maybe it was just a dud orange, that happens." I would respond, "Nope, it was just cheap." Makes me wonder if I even received any health benefits from it and if I didn't, I ask, why would I even bother eating/juicing one.
So back to my question, "Why pay more when you can have it for less?" Ah, because, it tastes better and if I want some nutrients, then I should buy one that has some.
Yes, I had some more thoughts as I drank the rest of it down and drove to the gym.
I am cheap, but I won't be cheap when it comes to taking care of my body or my families health. No, I am not afraid of death or aging, I am looking forward to both, not necessarily this minute, but I am not fighting either one.
We spend a solid amount of money on vitamins and other supplements that do a great job keeping us healthy.
Yes they are from Arbonne and yes I sell it and yes I'm bias and would be thrilled to share and even serve you if you were interested in some.
Anyways, I'm sure that Arbonne isn't the only company that sells quality supplements, but if you are taking some I think you should put them to the test. Find some apple cider vinegar and let your supplement sit in it for about 20-25 minutes slightly stirring. Whatever dissolves in that amount of time is about all that your body is able to absorb and then kicks the rest out!
You get what you pay for and normally your paying less because your getting less. I say if your not willing to invest in good oranges and a quality vitamins, save your money and buy a new outfit and pair of shoes from the thrift store, at least you know what your getting ahead of time. You might be battling a cold or the flu, but you'll look cute doing it;)

Pretty Random, I know,
Connie

13 years ago today...

13 years ago today......

  I have 3 children and on their birthdays, I tell them what it was like on the day they 

entered this world.  Today is one of those days and this is how the story goes.

13 years ago today, I woke up a little crabby because, the night before, we had celebrated Christmas at 

Grandma Vicki's house and I was still pregnant.  I wanted so badly to have a our 

expected new baby to be in my arms as we celebrated.

Oh well, maybe the arrival would be today, since I woke up having some contractions.

This wasn't all that unusual, because I had been having them on and off for weeks now.

I gave Troy a call just to let him know.  Then after awhile I called again to say, "It might be a false alarm

but why don't you just come home to be sure and go back if they stop.  Take your time because I don't think

it will be soon even if its the real thing."  Meanwhile, I jumped or should I say waddled

into the shower to at least be somewhat presentable for my hoped trip to the hospital.  As I fussed over my appearance I had to squat down because of the pain and it was then I knew I was gonna have this baby.  My water broke!  Now, with my other 2 children my water broke and they came along pretty quickly, so I was very anxious for Troy to be home and when I had the strength to stand up I looked out the window and in the driveway he pulled.  With some relief, I gathered my other 2 small children to say, "goodbye" and told Troy to run and get Dad across the street because we needed to leave.  As Troy prepared the car, I walked out of the house just as my half asleep Dad walked in with his tousled hair and untied boots. (He worked the night shift, so he was a little out of it). Then we were on our way.  The night before there was a snow/ice storm and the roads were still pretty sloppy.  We pull up to the first red light and I am really in some hard labor and Troy asks me if I would like him to just go through the red light?  My response was, "I'm not sure if you really want me to be making any major decisions right now."  I don't remember how many other red lights we got or if he stopped for them or not, but we did make it to the hospital safely.  He dropped me off under the carport and escorted me in.  The sweet little lady got me a wheelchair and told Troy to go park the car and she would take me up.  She then handed me off to a nurse whom I 

proceeded to  explain, "This is my 3rd baby and with my other 2 when I was in this hard of labor I was dilated to at least 4 and I go from 4 to 10 very quickly."  As she strolled me along, and with a little chuckle, she responded, "Oh, you mean to say you hope your dilated that much."  REALLY, you want to mess with a pregnant woman in hard labor?  Before long Troy made his way to the room in time to save the nurses life, ha, oh, I mean to help me get into the gown and use the bathroom one last time before they hooked me up to the monitors.  Getting into the gown would be fine, but using the bathroom the one last time was dreadful.  With my other 2 I experienced contractions on the toilet and it was awful  and I had no desire to do that again, so we had a plan.  As soon as one would be finished he would hustle me as fast as he could into the bathroom, I would go, then hustle me back to the bed, just in the nick of time to deal with the next one.  We are not very good at that game and our plan was unsuccessful.  There I was on the toilet having a contraction crying, "I don't want to have a contraction on the toilet."  Poor Troy is standing over me not knowing if he should pull me off or just leave me there.  Looking back its hilarious, but I assure you that at the time it wasn't funny at all.  Then it was back to the bed and time to get hooked up to the monitor and get checked.  Wouldn't you know it I was dilated to 8.  Labor was hard and to off set the pain, Troy was by my side allowing me to hold on to the neck of his shirt.  Little did I know that the whole while I had been twisting his shirt and eventually I was choking him!  Oops.  The nurse helped him out by asking me to release my grip.  Then it happened, I needed to push and I announced it to the whole room.  With my previous children when I made this announcement they always said, "Go ahead, push.", but this time I was met with eyes filled with a bit of concern.  They said to my surprise, "No don't push, you have to blow it off."  WHAT?  After doing this a few times I let Troy know that this next time I was gonna push our baby out so he should be prepared.  We only had an intern Dr. there and he looked like a deer in headlights, but I figured we had enough experience to get this done between the 3 of us and the nurses.   Then I made my next announcement that I was going to push this time and as I did my sweet midwife came rushing through the door just in time.  Push I did and it wasn't long and we were presented with our precious child, Carter.  We were thrilled.  His brother and sister came up to visit and we watched Monday Night Football, because the Vikings were playing.  That night Troy wore his Carter jersey proud as he held our very own Carter in his arms!

13 years ago today we were blessed for a third time beyond measure.

Word filled Wednesday

Isaiah 52:7

"How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, ^{B)" style="font-size: 0.65em; line-height: normal; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top; ">}who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Praying for Beautiful Feet,

Connie

Questions?

Moody Monday:  Questions?

This past weekend we went camping and spend some close quarters family time.

Fall camping is beautiful, but freezing.  We had to work together to survive!

Yes, that is a little dramatic.  Anyways, I realized that a key skill to have,

as a parent of teens, is the skill of asking questions.

Not just random questions, but the kinds that are leading.

I am not so great at this, but Troy is, so I am following his lead.

I think this is a crucial part of parenting teens.

Learning to Ask and Listen,

Connie

Favorite Find Friday......sidewalk chalk art!

Yesterday, we pulled out the broken, leftover pieces of sidewalk chalk

to draw with.

It has been awhile since we have done this around here.  I am babysitting a little boy and so we decided to entertain him with dusty pictures on the driveway as we anticipated his pick-up.

To my surprise, 

(the surprise being, even though I was sitting right there, I hadn't even noticed what was being drawn)

my 14 year old had written out Mom and Dad, with a heart emphasized over the word 

Mom.  I have since interpreted it 2 ways:  

The first, being I am her favorite:), which my husband would contest I am sure or 

the second, and the more likely interpretation,  

is that she knows the deep love that both her parents have for each other and her.

What a gift this morning!  

Have a wonderful Friday and I hope you have a favorite find of your own today.

Blessings, Connie

Thoughtful Thursday: Holy Contentment.......

Maybe your wondering where I have been, or maybe not and that is ok too;) Either way, indulge me because I am about to let you know. The past 3 months have been a restless battle for me. Not because of any particular reason, other than life happens and as it goes, I am not always on board with the direction it takes. I have been thinking on my spiritual gifts and hearing about "Holy Discontents", and at the Hoehne house the wind of change is on the front as I close out another school year. With all of that, I have wrestled with a terrible cold and some body aches that just throw a wrench in things, so I have been feeling weak and with that comes the lies! What lies you ask? Here are a few....maybe you can relate.  "You are not relevant.", "See,you aren't good enough, your much to old and don't have much to offer." "Your never enough.", "Oh, your way to much, way over the top."  As I type it brings tears to my eyes because, I know better.  Choosing joy has been so difficult.  A lot of the time people say things that they intend to be encouraging, but at times they end up being discouraging in spite of their well meaning.  (I am sure I have and will be again, one of those people.  Sorry ahead of time.)
I have been tossing around some of these things I have heard and pondering it by what I know to be true of God's word.

You maybe to have heard it said, "God 1st, husband 2nd, family 3rd, and "ministry" 4th." You know "God's priority list".  I think I too, may have said this at one time until someone challenged me in my thinking.  This has been an area I have been struggling with these past few months.  You see, I am not so sure that is what scripture teaches exactly.  Of course God 1st and there is tons of obvious scripture to back that, so my wrestle isn't necessarily with that part.  My struggle begins with "ministry".  I am wondering why it always ends up in a separate category.  I think that when we are serving our husbands, families, and whomever else, it should be considered ministry, don't you?   So many times, I go away feeling like, I just need to get a good hubby/ family balance, then I can go and do ministry.  Yiphee, that's what I want to do, but this hubby and family  is so needy, uggg, by the time I am done with them, I have nothing left.  I am being obnoxious if you didn't quite get that.  I don't think that is the intended message, but, I do think it is the underline message being sent.  This God I serve does not do things in different boxes.  He calls us to "Love one another" and "consider others better than ourselves" so I have to believe that I need to do that in each step I take.  I am a bit antsy in this stage of life.  10 years of home schooling and 17 years of being known as a "Domestic Engineer" and living in a culture that overall doesn't put a high priority on the calling.  This tends to make you a bit antsy to see what is on the other side.  For example....a paycheck:), paid vacation, fancy clothes, and maybe a few pats on the back.  Forgive me Lord!    Please don't misunderstand me, I LOVE the calling on my life and to trade it I wouldn't in a million years.
I have been asked, "What is your Holy discontent?".  The question is suppose to lead you to a calling to where I could possibly be used by God is a tremendous way.  The Lord knows I have quite a few "Holy" discontents, and with that being said, I truly believe He is the one who has placed them there, but for a time such as this I believe He has called me to a place of "Holy" contentment!  UGGGG, that certainly doesn't seem like much fun, does it?  Lessons are being learned and He is reminding me of who He is in the midst of this world I live in.  I am smack dab in the middle of His plan A for me and I will say along with Moses, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here." Exodus 33:15  He has made himself clear on what I am to be doing right now and that is training up 3 generations of followers, teaching others who have not heard of this gift of grace, and loving people right where they are at.  This is a high calling and I am privileged to be called to it.  SO LIES.....get lost.  I chose today, to move forward.  Yes that is right, I'm up Lord and I will follow you to where ever you want to use me today, learning to delight in you as I go.

"The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong for the Lord upholds his hand."  Psalm 37:3-24


"Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.  Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:3-4 

Learning to Delight,

 Connie

March Photo Challenge Finally!!!

                                                           

 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Ok, it is not as creative as I wanted it to be, but I am spending way to much time on it and some kinks I can't work out for some reason. UGGGG.  But here is what I saw in the month of March.
March Photo Challenge
#1 Green,  #2 Letter "C", #3 "3", #4 Favorite woman, #5 water, #6 Lines, #7 awesome, #8 Candid,
#9 Irish, #10 blessing, #11 Work, #12 Clovers, #13 March Madness, #14 Shape, #15 You on 15, #16 a jig, #17 lucky, #18 Letter "D", #19 hobby, #20 Snack, #21 pattern, #22 Night Lights, #23 Games, #24 Paperback, #25 motion, #26 gadget, #27 transportation, #28 My weakness, #29 eye, #30 texture,
#31 song!

Blessings, Connie

Word Filled Wednesday

                                       "But you, man of God, FLEE from all this, and pursuerighteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

Fight the good fight of the faith.

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called

when you made your confession in the presence of many witnesses."

1 Timothy 6:11-12

The Florida Keys!  I had only heard about them and now I can say I have been there.  It is a LONG drive!  All I ever remember hearing about the Keys is fun, sun, and more fun.  As we drove the excitement began to mount.  We made it, Key Largo.  I was thrilled as we browsed the local tourist information hot spot.  We grabbed brochures after brochures that promised all different sorts of fun.  Our expectations were high to say the least.  Snorkeling sounded fun and the price seemed to be reasonable, so off we went.  Who would of thought that it would cost $9 just to enter the State Park to get to the spot you needed to register for the trip.  Then as we entered the building, with everyone else, mind you, I remembered we didn't have any towels.  No big deal, the day was real warm, and we could always buy one that cried out to us while we stood in line.  Our turn!  2 for the snorkeling trip, please.  Then reality set in with her response....."Do you have reservations?"  What?  Reservations?  Were on vacation, who was thinking we needed reservations?  Nope, no reservations for us, so they put us on a waiting list and we were to check back in 1 hour.  Mind you we were about 10th on the waiting list.  No worries, lets just spend some time strolling around the park and check out the beach here.  Needless to say the paths were surrounded by bushy tree like foliage so we couldn't really see the ocean and as you can see from the photo above, you could only go so far.  The beach was in an inlet area, so it wasn't as blue as we had seen during our drive.  I could go on, but I won't.  We had expectations that were not met and I felt myself fighting the urge to complain and become discouraged.  At that moment I needed to flee from my desire to pout and carry on because I am a follower of Christ and even in this small thing God put up the signs to not go there. (Literally)  After a few more hours of driving, you will see below that we did make it all the way to Key West and it was gorgeous. 

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 

will award me on the day---and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

2 Timothy 4:7-8

Blessings, Connie

Favorite Find Friday.........

Here is my Favorite Find!  She is not only my hair stylist, but my dear, beautiful friend.

She has such a tender, kind heart and is the BEST at what she does.

The sweet Lord has placed her in my life about 10 years ago and I have been better for it ever since.

This week I got the blessing of having her work her magic on my mane:)

Here is the Before:

I'm not sure if I could of gotten a worse before picture. 

(I had to bike to my appointment:)

Now for the After:

Yes, she is a miracle worker!

I'm not sure if she even knows what a blessing she is or how important the work she does.

She cuts hair and works on our outer beauty all the time caring about our inner.  She is one of a kind. 

If you are looking for someone to give you a fresh new look for spring give her a call.

You can find her at Salon Eternity is Menasha.  

For an Appointment call: 920-205-3281.  Tell her I sent you.

You will not only be blessed with a new do, but a sweet friend.

Thanks Nicole, I am truly blessed to know you!

Blessings, Connie 

Thoughtful Thursday........Veggies!

This is about as thoughtful as I have been today.

One of my children, who will remain unnamed, woke me up very early this morning.

As I spoke with the child, I half rolled over to see the clock and saw only a 3, and I knew

it was way to early to be opening my eyes, let alone talking to anyone.

Nobody ever tells you that they will never really sleep through the night.

Anyways, my point.  I have really been struggling in the later afternoons with getting sleepy.

I take pretty good care of myself and other than the abundance of bakery goods my precious daughter makes, not a whole lot has changed lately.  I really shouldn't be getting so sleepy.  After some discussion with Troy we decided it would be good to ground her from baking to see if that would help. (When it comes to the girls baked goods I just can't resist.) Results, well maybe not as sleepy, but I for sure can't say I was full of energy.  This week was time to meal plan again and I am always thankful when I am finished.

So today I  went to the store and bought some fresh veggies in hopes to encourage my husband to eat these at work to tide him over from meal time to meal time and to avoid the sweet snacks that sometimes linger.  Normally, Thursday is my out to eat lunch treat.  Today was a little different, I had to get home because we had someone coming to the house to do some work, so no treat for me....or was it.

After I cleaned and cut all the veggies, I decided to eat some of  "Troy's" veggies with my cold tuna noodle salad.  I am sure your thinking TMI, get to the point already.  Ok, I will.  Veggies are good for you.

It is very late in the day and I should be wiped out, but I'm not.  Now, I am starting to slow down some as I sit and post, but overall, I think the veggies gave me the extra boost I needed today.  Ha, and I thought I was helping Troy!  Come to think about it, I haven't had to many fresh, raw veggies in quite some time.  I even bought the organic grown cauliflower and carrots.  Turns out together, they were only 30 cents more than the "other" kind.  Well, I have plans to keep on eating my veggies, because I felt great today and hope to feel this good more often. 

Blessings, Connie

P.S.  My precious daughter is no longer grounded (in case you were worried) and as I type she is mixing up some super sweet treat that I am sure I won't be able to resist.  Good thing it is a treat for a class we have tomorrow:)

P.S.S.  She wasn't really grounded.  Just in case you thought we could be so mean.

Photo Project for March

I am going to just go for it.

I am going to commit for March to do this photo challenge.

I always wanted to do something like this.

I usually don't because of fear of failing and plus I always start behind.

It's the 7th already, so I have some making up to do.

Anyways, I am going to just have some fun with it.

You take a photo of something each day that goes with the prompt.

It is not my idea, so if you want to get more details hop or should I say "Do a jig" over to http://aprilmwalker.blogspot.com/.

It says to link back at the end of the month, but I will have to figure out how to do that come the end of the month.

For now, I will be looking for green, letter "C" and the rest I need to catch up on.

Let me know if you are going to join, I would love to see what your March looks like.

Blessings, Connie

Word-Filled Wednesday

Before

?

After!

 As you can tell there is a missing picture.  Uggg.

The story of my blogging life.

The before was the most adorable snowman made by my girl with things found outside.

Today, this is what is left.

Here is the word that I think is very fitting.

Both for the snowman and the lesson God has taught me through his silence on my front lawn.

"Behold!  I tell you a mystery.  

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 

in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, 

then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 

"Death is swallowed up in victory."  

"O death, where is your victory? 

O death, where is your sting?"

1 Corinthians 15:51-55

        Blessings, Connie .