Verse of the Day, 3 Feb 08

My husband, Rich, and I are reading through the Bible together this year.  This is somethng I enjoy doing but it’s the first time, after 8 1/2 years of marriage, we’ve done it together.  I must admit that I am a little behind, but not too far.  On the other hand, Rich is ahead!  I thought he would be the one to fall behind….that shows me!

 A lot of the verses I will share here are verses that I am reading as Rich and I read through the Bible together.  Some will also be verses I have been meditating on, that are special to me, that have been preached on in church, or that I have read/studied in my Bible study time.  I also want to say that most of the time I use the NASB.  So, unless I say otherwise, this is the version I am quoting from.  I also use the Amplified Bible a lot.  I love the Amplified Bible because it takes a Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek word and expands on the meaning of that particular word or phrase.  This is wonderful because oftentimes the meaning of a word or phrase is lost in translation.  This helps to clarify many of those types of common misunderstandings. 

For my first verse of the day I have chosen

PROVERBS 2:7

He {the LORD} stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.

 For this verse I also love the Amplified Bible:

He hides away sound and godly Wisdom and stores it for the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with Him); He is a shield to those who walk uprightly and in integrity.

This verse is special to me because it tells me that God is hiding away and storing up wisdom for me.  If I am in a right standing before God then all I need to do is go to Him and He will give me those little nuggets of wisdom that I need each and every day of my life!  This verse reminds me of the the verse in Psalms about hiding God’s word in our hearts.  We are hiding those treasures away, storing them up, for when we need them (which is every day for me!).

I’ve been tagged…

Well, I’m not really sure what to do…but I guess I just have to copy and paste the info from the tagee and then change to my info??  Thanks, Leah, for tagging me

Four jobs that I’ve had:
1. Cashier at a small farm store
2. Janitor at my college (but I worked my way up to being a manager, so I got to tell others which bathrooms to clean!)
3. Asst Secretay for the Institute of Jewish Studies (the BEST one year Bible program available!)
4. Wife to my wonderful husband and mama to my precious children (The BEST job in the whole world!)

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Anne of Green Gables
2. Sound of Music
3. Princess Bride

4. ?????

Four of my favorite foods:
1. A good ole green salad with LOTS of goodies
2. Fresh from the oven homemade bread
3. Stromboli
4. Homemade soup….to go with that homemade bread

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. HGTV
2. Food Network
3. ??????
4. ??????

Four Places I’ve lived:
1. Upstate New York
2. West Virginia
3. South Carolina
4. Heidelbery, Germany

Four places I’ve been on vacation:
1. NY & WV (to visit my family & friends)
2. Germany (first Christmas Rich & I were married)
3. Word of Life in the Adirondacks in upstate NY
4. PA (to visit Rich’s family)

Four websites I visit daily:
1. None, daily
2. None, daily
3. None, daily
4. None, daily

Four places I’d rather be right now:
1. Closer to my sister & my Mom
2. Israel
3. WV
4. Germany, visiting some of our friends

5 People I’m tagging:
1. I don’t know anyone who has a blog besides my sister, who sent this to me
2. Well, I do know a couple others….like Abby….but Leah already took that one
3. ????
4. ????
5. ????

Our Visit

Here are a couple pictures of our visit with the Fuetterer’s. We had such a wonderful time…it didn’t last long enough! Joerg, Eva, Me (w/ Rayna), Rich (w/Alayna)

All the Kids! Amelie, Alayna, Micah, Joel, Elias, Jacob, Seraphina, Rayna

Our Little Cowgirl!

A week ago yesterday a friend of mine at church gave Alayna an adorable little cowboy hat. Cyndi had used this when her son was little, but for us, it’s a cowgirl hat. Alayna loves it and just had to have her picture taken….

My Famous Brownie Recipe

Christina’s Famous Brownies
1 1/3 cups flour (I use freshly ground whole wheat flour)
2 cups sugar (I use Rapadura sugar [best option for sugar] or “unrefined”/”raw” sugar)
3/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 teaspoon baking powder (without aluminum)
1 teaspoon sea salt (I use Redmond’s RealSalt, it is a “pink” sea salt)
1 cup chocolate chips
4 eggs (Joyce’s fresh eggs )
2/3 cup cooking oil (I use unrefined coconut oil)
2 teaspoons real vanilla

Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl. (If using “raw” sugar, I put it in my blender for a minute or so. This sugar is so coarse that it doesn’t dissolve well unless it is helped along a little bit.) Add chocolate chips. Mix wet ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently fold together just until everything is wet. Do not overmix or the texture of the brownies will not be right. Spread into a greased 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 23-25 minutes….just until the brownies are no longer jiggly in the middle. Cut into 24 pieces.

I sometimes add nuts or swirl some peanut butter into the batter before baking. Use your imagination! These are very moist brownies, not cakey. I don’t think they need any sort of frosting.

ENJOY!!

Good Friends

It certainly is difficult to find really good friends! I have lots of friends, but I would say that only a very few of them are really GOOD friends. I consider a “good” friend to be someone with whom I can talk about the Lord, to be encouraged by her as well as admonished by her. She is someone who shares my love for the Word of God and my passion to serve my Lord in all that I do.

I had a really good friend here yesterday. She is someone I have known for several years. She attended the last church we went to before we moved here on the eastern shore of MD. I spent a lot of time with her during a very difficult time in my life (when Rich was in Iraq for a year). We don’t really talk all that much when we are together. But, she is still a very good friend. We both love the Lord and are striving to raise our children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (can’t remember the reference for that verse). It had been 2 1/2 years since I had seen her when they arrived yesterday. When I saw her and her children it seemed like it had just been a day. We spent the day as we had so many other times, just being in each other’s company, talking a little here and there….about church, our kids, our journey’s in our walk with the Lord. My friend is Eva, she is German and I, of course, American. She understands quite a bit of English, but doesn’t speak much of it. I understand quite a bit of German (though her English is better than my German), but don’t speak too much of it. Despite the language barrier, I believe that Eva and I are very good friends because our hearts are in the same place. It was so refreshing to be with her yesterday, a really true friend!

I also love having people over to our home. When we lived in Germany we had people over for lunch, dinner, coffee, or sometimes even for breakfast probably about every other week, sometimes more often. I miss doing that! I LOVE having people over. Here in the States it seems that people are so often too busy to get together in our homes. It is so important in our walk with the Lord that we get together…to simply fellowship. By fellowship I mean encouraging each other in the Word, admonishing one another to continue on and move ever further in our walk with God, to weep when others weep and to rejoice when they rejoice. Sure, friendship is talking about what we had for dinner and how that football game was but fellowship is basking in the God’s presence with others that love Him as we do!

I thank God so often for the truly good friends that I have and the fellowship we have together!

Hey There!

Well, I am rather new to blogging. I have one other blog that I started awhile ago. I don’t think it’s gotten many hits, but that’s OK. My other blog, Inky Wings, was meant as a business tool for me. I was hoping it would help me to build my home-based business as an Independent Demonstrator with The Angel Company. I haven’t gotten any business from it, but I still have high hopes for what it might become.

This blog is so much different than my other one. I really couldn’t care less whether anyone else reads these postings or not. Of course, I don’t mind if they do, which is why they are here. If my everyday life can help someone else in their everyday life, then so be it! This blog, {Mama’s Blessings}, is about my life, my passions, my joys, my pains. It is all about my everyday journeys both spiritual and physical.

One of my goals is to share a daily verse….something that has meant something to me and I hope and pray will bless you as well.

I welcome any comments. May the Lord be glorified in all that I do! I Corinthians 10:31- “Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”