October « 2008 « Thought Collage

Archive for October, 2008

In Christ Alone

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Prayers from the Word:

I am called in Christ (Romans 1.6).

I was redeemed in Christ (Romans 3.24).

I reign in life by Christ (Romans 5.17).

I have eternal life through Christ (Romans 6.23).

I am a joint heir with Christ (Romans 8.17).

I have victory through Christ (1 Corinthians 15.57).

I am a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5.17).

I have liberty in Christ (Galatians 2.4).

I am crucified with Christ ( Galatians 2.20).

I have put on Christ (Galatians 3.27).

I have been blessed with spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1.3).

I have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and without blame before Him (Ephesians 1.4).

I have been created in Christ for good works (Ephesians 2.6).

I rejoice in Christ (Philippians 3.3).

I press toward the mark of the high calling of God on my life in Christ (Philippians3.14).

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4.13).

God supplies all my needs through Christ (Philippians 4.19).

I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2.10).

I am dead with Christ (Colossians 2.20).

I am risen with Christ (Colossians 3.1).

My life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3.3).

Christ is my life (Colossians 3.4).

I have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2.16).

I have the attitude of Christ, choosing humility (Philippians 2.5-7).

I am preserved in Christ (Jude 1.1).*

Jesus: Who do you say that I am?

Peter: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God…

Jesus: Who do YOU say that I am?

In Christ Alone…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: That I may know Him…Know Him, press in to knowing Him…song: “becoming like Him in His death, so that in me there’s resurrection life…”

*adapted from the book by John Eckhardt, Prayers that Rout Demons

Tags: bile, christ, prayer, scriptures, song, the word of god
Posted in God's Word, Prayers for a God-full life, Songs I am singing, Stuff I actually think | No Comments »

Wanna see something cool?

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Tara http://www.flickr.com/photos/n0vk/2931590494/

Dave and Hunter (Trust) http://www.flickr.com/photos/n0vk/2938416850/

Good eye, Novak!

Tags: dave and tara powers, family, hunter
Posted in Grandkids, Mi familia, My most unforgettable people, Photos of the Fam, Stuff I actually think | 7 Comments »

All in the Family

Monday, October 20th, 2008

Just got back from 3 days in the mountains (beautiful!!!) where we kicked off Leaving a Legacy (an arm of Get the Word Out! Intensives).

The teaching team was Mary Jean Powers (my co-mother-in-law-co-Nonnas-we-share-Hunter), Joy McGinnis of Seattle, our daughter Tredessa, Dave & Tara, our daughter and son-in-law and Dave and I.

It was wonderful and difficult. I exposed myself and got honest. Dave and I both told on ourselves, about the places we have failed in raising children who have come to know and seek after God for themselves.

I told them that:

It is never too late to become the family you might have been. Don’t give up. Get the Word into your home and family and serve God fearfully with all your might.
I am still learning to parent in this new season. I still have to apologize for things as the Holy Spirit reminds me – from both years ago and a few days ago.
Raising kids who’ll love the Lord? It’s gonna take at least Forty-Thousand Days of Purpose! Sorry, Rick Warren.
And-we have all have dirt under our fingernails. We’re sowing something into our children’s lives. We may as well be sowing the incorruptible seed of the Word of God to get the spiritual harvest that God’s Word promises in Gal. 6. Is your family at a crossroads or troubling time? Stand on the promises: read ‘em, speak ‘em, believe ‘em, bury them deep in the soil of your heart in faith. Then? Eat the fruit! The harvest WILL come!

Dave taught on journaling as a way to leave your written legacy and not only taught about the blessing (learning to verbally speak blessing over your children), but prayed a bessing over the fathers and fatherless young men who were there.

I wondered aloud, at one point, if there was anyone who could possibly have messed up parenting more than I had.? Even though Mary Jean and Joy claimed they could have (and maybe we all had that potential), I am so grateful to be living to see the faithful hand of God in our lives, as a family. We’re still living it and tripping along the way sometimes, but I am so glad for the opportunity to encourage other families that God is faithful. He promises - and He will keep those promises! I was honored to get to pass that message along!

Blessed to be a blessing…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Keep living the legacy. You have to live it before you can give it away.

pictured: the view just outside our cabin door – if you look very closely, you can see some snow on the rocks from a few days before…we had 70+degrees; my husband praying for our son-in-law Dave just before he (s-i-l) reciprocated.

Tags: dave and tara powers, dave rhoades, get the word out, joy mcginnis, leaving a legacy, mary jean powers, mountains, teaching, the bible, the word of god, tredessa
Posted in God's Word, Home, Mi familia, Photos of the Fam, Stuff I actually think | 5 Comments »

The Horror

Monday, October 20th, 2008

Stormie sent me this recently:

Tags: cartoon, foreclosure, halloween, stormie
Posted in Home, Stuff I actually think | 1 Comment »

Stef blogs!

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

I love Stefane Phipps! She is blogging now. She even wrote the sweetest birthday blog for me. She is passionate and crazy, elegant and striking, extremely competent and caring and remember that little thing called Heaven Fest? Well that girl got us through it in style! She was our cheerleader/encourager/go-to girl!Think glamour. Think Hollywood. Think Stef and check out her blog here!

pictured: Stef with lover and husband, Wrex (aka Sexy-Wrexy); Tredessa and Stefane during one of their many summer evening HF meetings; Stef at a Speedway HF promo thing, and Stef at work in the HF office with my niece, Elise.

Tags: blogging, stefane phipps
Posted in Stuff I actually think | 3 Comments »

The Five

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewspics/2944915064/ You can barely see Gemma because she is on Gavin’s lap, but these are the 5 amazings, my grandkids, my loves…by one of the wonderful Heaven Fest photographers.

Tags: Grandkids, heaven fest, matthew greenleaf, photography
Posted in Grandkids, Mi familia, Photos of the Fam, Stuff I actually think | 1 Comment »

Choo! Choo! Train Cake for Hunter

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

Whereas last year’s firetruck cake (see here) was about 80 pounds and I toiled in fear over it, I have now realized I am not really “into” novelty cakes and was very relaxed. It was simple and straightforward (with Dave explaining to me what a train must have) and instead of doing lots of piping and icing stuff, we “glued” Tropical Twizzlers and M & Ms and Dots, along with a couple of varieties of cookies onto this train cake for Hunter’s 4th birthday. Dave piped windows for me and I came up with mini-Kit Kats as the idea for the railroad ties.

The board it was on was 13 inches wide by 3 feet long. The engine was 3 2-inch layers of cake at it’s highest part and was 4″ wide by 14″ long. The other cars were 8 inches and 12 inches long, respectively. The “coal” was a box of Junior Mints. It was just plain white cake wih the almond-infused buttercream, which, it turns out, Hunter is not a fan of. He wants his icing (which he prefers to cake) to be plain, old vanilla-flavored. Next time, Magoo, next time.

The smokestack was my favorite part: icing glued cookies, and a “Dot” base holding a cocktail pick threaded through popcorn for the smoke. Pretty cute!

I had looked at a bunch of train cakes online and cracked up at them and wondered why people would even post them. Then mine turned out like theirs. Ha! But there wasn’t any sweat and the grandkids loved it. It was quick, simple, easy, fun and in the end the candy was the huge hit!

There are still vats of buttercream here…takers?…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: A Candyland cake! YES! Using MMF and lots and lots and lots of candy!

pictured: the cake, the chalkboard in the kitchen; and Hunter at his house about to blow out his candles!

Tags: birthday, birthday cake, cake, family, fire engine cake, food, Grandkids, hunter, train cake
Posted in Birthdays/Anniversaries, Garden/Food/Seasons, Grandkids, Home, Mi familia, Photos of the Fam, Stuff I actually think | 6 Comments »

David – a Word Mosaic

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

Shepherd boy, anointed and chosen, leader, giant-slayer, fugitive, covenant friend, musician-Psalmist, worshipper, lust-driven, adulterer, murderer, father, lover, warrior, king. A man after God’s own heart.

So good. So terrible. So high, so low. So called, so errant. And yet, God didn’t leave him. God doesn’t leave us.

Tags: Bible, david, goliath, king david, man after god's own heart, mosaic, word mosaic, worshipper
Posted in God's Word, Stuff I actually think, Worship | 2 Comments »

Fall Frost

Monday, October 13th, 2008

I think we had an actual, true frost today. I know it was 58 degrees in my kitchen when I started up the coffee pot. And no, I will not turn on the heat, yet. I am a die-hard. Can I make it to November? This is the question.

Most of the plants seem to be perking back up, even though I have done nothing to save them. Even the zucchini, whose leaves froze and look soggy, dark and droopy, are boasting some bright new flowers in response to the returning sunlight – after 3 very overcast days.

I am studying and preparing for the Leaving a Legacy Intensive kick-off this weekend, but keep getting distracted by 3, small adorable orange moths of some sort. Though they are probably depositing some evil larvae all over the garden as we speak, I think I will call them butterflies because they are delightful as they frolic, alternately swooping and circling and tag-playing, with sunning themselves on the patio and garden rocks Try as I might, and though I swear I have seen them all in the view-finder at once repeatedly, I cannot seem to get the camera to click quickly enough to capture all three, though they are dancing and prancing about just inches from me here near the glass doors.

Yes, the garden is slowly, but surely shutting down for the year, but it makes each plant that is still showing all the more ravishing, makes me more grateful. Why, the petunias are practically haughty today, all purple and abundant, flowering with gusto, unaffected by the cold – perhaps even encouraged by it?

Today I am praising God for: the return of the sun…hot coffee (and decaf for when I have reached my limit)…the 3 fanciful orange “butterflies” performing gleefully outside my window…the grape tomatoes, packed with flavor, my morning snack…the love of a good man: my husband, my friend, my lover-the one who talks me off the ledges…my family, both the one I came from and the one I am getting to create, still…e-mails in “secret code” from grandkids…people who know how to pray…the sweet Presence of God, who joins me on the first sound of a song……First frost-warm home…the wisdom of the Word (I am in Proverbs today!). And the temp in my kitchen has reached 63 degrees. I am thankful!

Blessings in all things to you and yours!…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: So glad I didn’t get in a hurry to uproot the sagging sunflowers (see photo here). Yesterday they were the host to a couple of amazingly beautiful bluejays and I got to watch! What would I have missed by stripping them away before their whole work was through? Get back to Legacy notes…

Pictured, top, left to right: the orange “butterflies” sunning themselves on rock and concrete. Bottom, left to right: the first two were taken through the window on the Dahlia plant that is apparently enthralling the little “flutterbies.” Finally, the mum, quiet the summer through, has now exploded into this happy hello in its off-the-beaten-path locale. I snapped it chasing butterflies.

UPDATE 10.14.08 – I have been informed that my 3 little orange “moths” were actually baby Monarch Butterflies. I didn’t know Monarchs were ever this small? I hope they keep visiting!

Tags: butterflies, family, garden, gratefulness, Home, husband, life, moths, orange, praising God, proverbs
Posted in Garden/Food/Seasons, God's Word, Home, Marriage, Mi familia, Stuff I actually think, Worship | 2 Comments »

Hunter Magoo – I love you!

Friday, October 10th, 2008

Yesterday, October 9, on Hunter’s actual turning-four-years-old birthday, I was once again explaining how his mommy had been my baby and I remembered her turning four and how now he was her baby. The concept is still mystifying to him in some ways, but he pondered, “So that’s why you love us both so much?” Yes, pretty much – that is why.

Hunter is four. Happy Birthday, Magoo! I really really love you! Isn’t turning four fun? You’re having a whole birthday week! Monday you got your new trampoline (mommy and daddy were too excited to wait – so they led him to it, eyes closed. He liked it, he smiled, he jumped. Then he said, “I really wanted a motorcycle.” ???). Wednesday, on my birthday, all the cousins were at your house and you were more excited about that than your own birthday!

Then yesterday, we got to spend the day together and wow was that fun! Shapes and colors and letters and school-work and cousins and play and indoors and outdoors and making funny faces as we sat in Pa-pa’s big leather office chair. You were my cuddle-bug and silly man. You asked a million questions (your favorite being “why?”) and you watched some Sprout and jumped some rope and had plenty of candy and Rice Krispie treats and snuggled with me and made me chase you around the house and made me laugh! But the best part? When we got out the old vinyls and how much you love the ceremony of changing a record and learning how you must be careful not to scratch them or bump into the player (NOT an I-Pod!). And I love how interpretive you are in your dancing, from marching your head off to “76 Trombones” from “The Music Man” soundtrack to an aggressive, very modern and physical rendition when I introduced you to “Footloose.” Kevin Bacon had nothing on you, my little man! Seriously! I’m so glad we had this time together…

pictured: I knew I had, within the past two weeks, taken lots of pictures of Hunter, but when I went to look at them – they are ALL a blur. I swear he is looking me in the eye and looking cute when I pick up the camera to shoot, but by the time I press the button-he is already long gone. But this is the current view of Hunter, in reality.

Pictured: Finally, I snuck up on him as he was side-by-side with his cousin, Gavin, one of his all-time favorite people, and I was ready as I whispered his name and he turned his head! Yea! And on the right-Hunter’s first day of pre-school with Nonna, juice mustache and all.

We are still celebrating you, Hunter,because we love and adore you! Chucky Cheese with mommy and daddy last night and your party still coming up (“I hear a train cake comin’…”). I love your deep, inquiring melancholy side, your gruff little voice and the cowlick right on the front of your head. I love your greenish-blue eyes and brown skin and your little M & M toes. I love that you know a million songs and lots of scripture and that you still determine whether or not you are going to be flying today based on whether you have the Superman cape on or not. You ARE a superhero to me!

Happy Happy Birthday week, Hunter Magoo. I love YOU!…Nonna

NOTE TO SELF: More “Footloose” and other great movie dance sequences for Hunter while he is still living and interpreting the music unabashedly and with great passion!

Tags: birthday, dance, footloose, hunter, kevin bacon, superman
Posted in Birthdays/Anniversaries, Grandkids, Mi familia, My most unforgettable people, Photos of the Fam, Songs I am singing, Stuff I actually think | 6 Comments »