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 .                                                    

                                      

Moody Monday Teen tip: Prayer

During my teen years I began to spread my wings.  

Teens today haven't changed that much.

Well my wings were being spread, I ended up flying into some trouble.  

(I know it's hard to believe:)

The teens I am raising are too, spreading their wings and swooping around trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in this world.  In the middle of it all, they have to found trouble and I am sure they may find it again.  One thing that we have going for us is that, the Almighty, can see in the places us parents can't.

My teen tip for today is to cover them in prayer.  They are on a battle field daily.

I had a dear friend share with me something that her teen had done and she is terribly heartbroken over.  As she shared with me it reminded me of a prayer I had not prayed in awhile.

Lord, I pray if they are being drawn to trouble or are in trouble, that they would get CAUGHT!

My kids use to complain, "Don't pray for that.  It's not very nice or fair."  

I would just laugh, and say, "Well, if you are walking upright, then you don't have a thing to worry about."

As, I listened to my friend and felt ache with her over this matter, I said, "At least it has come to light.  Now we can deal with it."  If it would have stayed hidden, then we would have went on with life as if everything was just swell.  Now that it is out we can begin dealing with the consequences from it.  Better to do that under the care of loving parents.  They are still in training. When they are little and do something wrong we just deal with it, but it seems, as teens, we think more about what we must have done wrong in our previous parenting, as if we are all finished.  Here is some news, just because they get/got into trouble, it doesn't mean were terrible parents, its just more opportunity to train them.   If we get to caught up on what we have or haven't done then we may miss out on the bigger picture. These are the times where we get the opportunity to talk about mercy and grace that we have been given in Christ.  These are the times when the consequences are a bit bigger then when they were small, but not quite what they will be as adults.  They may not need us as they use to when they were small, but they still do need us.  They need our coaching and guidance.  We forget sometimes that this is still our job, because they are beginning to act like grown-ups and look like them to.  We are still the parents and our jobs aren't finished yet.

Prayer, what a gift.  Cover your teens in it!

Praying they'll get caught, 

Connie 

Favorite Find Friday......

I am so thrilled about today's post I could hardly wait.  This past weekend my hubby and I did some thrifting.  Normally, I don't weed through the clothes only because for him it can be quite boring and I really enjoy spending time with him so I didn't want to ruin it.  But as we browsed I stumbled on 3 items that kind of just stuck out and he liked them, so I tried them on and then hemmed and hawed over spending $12 on these sweet pieces.  (Cheap skate, I know)  Anyways, that was until I saw a sign that said 50% off entire store.  WHAT, 50%!!!  Could it be?   Yes it was true.  So now my hubby was off to his section to see if he could find a few things for himself.  I'm sure you can guess what I started to do......shop, shop, shop.  It was a grand day and can't wait any longer to share my favorite find for this week and the fab. prices I paid.

Markon boots (never heard of the brand myself, but love the style)

$5.99 on sale for $3!

Ann Taylor Loft orange sweater

$3.99 on sale for $2!

Banana Republic white tailored button top

$3 on sale for $1.50!

The belt is old and the jeans I got for Christmas.

Kohls on sale for $19.99. (not a great deal, but jeans can be tricky for me)

That is a grand total of....$26.50 for a new outfit.

Here I am, pleased with my bargains. 

Not only am I excited for me, but the little money I spent that day goes to a good cause!

Thank you, Bethesda Thrift store in Appleton and Five Days...Five Ways blog for the inspiration.

Blessings, Connie  

Thoughtful Thursday

This is a photo I caught of my beautiful cousin and her new husband.  I just love it and the computer doesn't do it justice compared to when I had it printed.  I don't even think they know I took it.  I love to think that in the midst of the hoop-la of the day they were able to have a brief intimate exchange between just the two of them.  Their wedding was the best wedding I have ever been to.  Makes me want to have a do over.  My uncle, her dad, performed the ceremony and it was the most honest and encouraging one I have ever heard.  They both went into marriage with eyes wide open.  This was so opposite from my very own wedding ceremony. On the day I took my vows to be Troy's bride, I did not realize what I was signing up for.  Good thing, because it is a big responsibility to be a wife and I may have gotten cold feet.  

It's no wonder why some do.  

I entered into this covenant very naive, but I am so thankful to be learning as I go.  

I am in the middle of a Bible Study right now that is on marriage.  The title is "Women Making a Difference in Marriage".  I have done many marriage studies, so I am pretty familiar with the usual material.  Today, I am pondering something that I read a few weeks ago, that has left an impact.  She wrote, as the wife, it is my responsibility to guard my husband heart and to manage my home.  Hmmmm.....I know about managing my home, but hadn't given much thought to the guarding my husbands heart.  What does that look like?  After all, he is a man, doesn't he know enough to look after his own heart?   

My thoughtful conclusion.

It is my responsibility to build him up and not tear him down with my words.  I am to be his helper, not his boss or his mother for that matter.  I am to intercept the ads that come in the mail that may be trying to seduce him in to lust and an unrealistic impression of beauty.  When were out, I am the one to help when women dress to draw his eye.  I am his sounding board when he finds himself in a dilemma.  When I am speaking of him to others, my words are to be honoring.  

Guard his heart, guard his heart.  It's my job as a wife.   

If you were to ask me 2 days ago, "How are you doing in the area of managing your home?"  My response would have been......"Pretty well, thank you for asking."  But after further thought, I'm not so sure I am doing that swell.  For years, I have been barking out, "Let's get rid of that silly TV."  Mind you, I just mean in the sense of watching shows, not the actual TV itself.  I have never discuss this in a way that would be open for discussion, more like, just do what I say, type attitude.  Needless to say, this has not worked out very well.  After reading my study and watching "our" shows this past evening, I have realized that I need to present this in a way that is respectful and in a way that will be received well, for the very sake of protecting not only my husbands heart, but my precious children and even my own.  

If I am to take my responsibilities seriously, that means I need to act in a manner that is receivable.  I may be right in my efforts, but if I acting like a drill sergeant, it is likely I will be repelling the very people I am responsible for.  Guard his heart and manage your home, guard his heart and manage your home. 

It's my job.  

I asked the question, "What does that look like?"  It looks like it begins with my own attitude.

"You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by it's deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

Ephesians 4:22-24 

  Blessings, Connie   

Word-filled Wednesday

"Your eyes saw my unformed substance; 

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there were none of them."

Psalm 139:16

What I would have said.

She was a woman who was fearfully and wonderfully made.  Her Creator knew every hair on her head.

He has loved her with a love that goes beyond all measures.  

He had a plan for her life and so many times when we face loss of someone young, we struggle to understand all the, "whys".  I don't have all the answers, but I do know that as we wrestle to understand and make our way through this life, the same Creator that had a plan for her has one for us.  We are put together by no mistake.  We are divinely set in families and friend relationships with great care.  Becki's life has left fingerprints all over each of our lives.

It's likely we will continue to wrestle with the whys, but I know that with each turn of restlessness and each tear that falls we can trust the one who sees it all.  

"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.  The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:16-17

"You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?"

Psalm 56:8

Blessings, Connie