Day 9: Fine Arts

 The choir program at our high school is top notch. They continue to earn awards. Libby has always loved to sing and it is great that she has a school that embraces that love. They got to sing the National Anthem at the homecoming game this weekend.

Libby is in Chamber Choir which is like an honors choir class. Last year they got to perform at multiple venues. It is great to see how close they have all become because of their shared love of music.

The choir teacher goes above and beyond to encourage and promote her students. I have been able to chaperon two choir retreats and was so impressed with how much she respects her students and in turn receives the students respect. I'm very thankful that Libby has had this opportunity. ~Happy Friday!

Day 8: Yoga Challenges

I enjoy participating in yoga challenges on Instagram. It's a great way to learn new poses and stay flexible. I have a separate Instagram account just for yoga. My favorite is when Holy Yoga hosts them. They always incorporate scripture with their yoga practice.

 I also enjoy Erin Motz's "Bad Yogi" challenges because she typically lets you pick your pose but adds a challenge as to where or how to "strike a pose". It makes it interesting for my not so creative mind. It can also push me out of my comfort zone when she picks something out in public.

When given a the option of "your favorite pose" I almost always will pick some kind of handstand. I just love handstands. My poor family has gotten used to hearing me say "hang on I need to do a handstand". There is just something about them. Maybe it's just the health benefits of having all the blood run to my head. LOL. ~Happy Thursday!

Day 7: Sunsets

Day 6: Furry Friends

How could I not be thankful for that face?

~Happy Tuesday!

Day 5: Vacation Days

Mark took a vacation day today and we took Libby out of school so we could check out ArtPrize7. We learned after the first year of ArtPrize that it is much more laid back on weekdays versus the weekend with all of the out of town visitors. 

She put her hand print on this piece of art.

Libby got this picture of Mark. He is always so willing to lend a helping hand.

Libby and I called this Grand Rapid's take on Chicago's "Bean".

Our only "usie" of the day.

 

My angel. 

I'm so thankful that Mark enjoys using one of his vacation days to see ArtPrize every year. ~ Happy Monday!

Day 4: Teaching

I enjoying seeing my husband teach our kids. He is great at sharing his knowledge with other and explaining how things work. This afternoon he needed to get one of his guns sighted in for deer hunting. He has sighted in plenty of guns himself over the years. Instead of sighting in yet another gun himself he took it as an opportunity to teach Anna how to sight in a gun. It was fun watching them spend one on one time together. ~Happy Sunday

Day 3: Opportunities

My husband played football for MSU. One neat thing from that is every year he is invited back for the homecoming game. We are given 2 tickets for the game and can attend some events put together for the alumni. It is something we look forward to every fall.

This year we invited our daughter, Anna, and her boyfriend, Josh, to go with us. It made it even more fun since Josh had never been to a college football game.
We showed them around a little bit of the campus that included the Spartan statue.

Another fun part was Mark called earlier in the week to see if he could get some on field passes. He was able to get one for both Josh and Anna. It allowed them to be on the field while the team warmed up for the game.

Other then the fact that it started raining in the first quarter and continued the entire game we all still really enjoyed ourselves. ~Happy Saturday!

Day 2: God Given Abilities

A couple of weeks ago our dryer decided to stop heating up. It continued to tumble it just refused to give us any heat. 

Being the engineer I am I seen it as a challenge to be conquered.

God has not given me the ability of dissecting a sentence and knowing when and where to place a comma but he has given me the ability to figure out how things work.

I did a little research online. It is amazing what you can teach yourself from YouTube. After watching 3 or 4 videos I determined it was either the thermal fuse or the high-limit thermostat. However I had read that a couple people ordered the part just to find out that wasn't it and wished they had checked their parts before ordering replacement parts. So I called my dad and asked to borrow his multimeter. (If you don't know what that is don't worry neither did my husband. HA!) 

Turns out it was a good thing I took the time to check our parts because they were both working fine. The next thing to check was the heating element. Bingo. Ours was broken. I ordered the part on Friday at 3pm and it was sitting on our doorstep on Saturday by the time I got home at 6pm. THAT IS CRAZY FAST! I was planning on installing it Monday but couldn't wait. Yes, it is something that I was excited to tackle. By Sunday night my dryer was back together and drying clothes like a champ. 

After completing the laundry today I am reminded again that I am thankful for the abilities God has given me. ~Happy Friday

 For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:14 ESV 

Day 1: Revelation

Today I am thankful for everything God is showing me through the study of Revelation. If you are looking for a good in depth bible study that really focuses on God's word I highly encourage you to look into BSF International. There are classes held all over the world and everyone studies the same thing. This year is a brand new study on the book of Revelation. I am thankful that I have never had a fear of studying Revelation but I actually really enjoy it. I liked what was mentioned in our lecture time today "Revelation was written to comfort and assure." I hope that this is also true for you. ~Happy Thursday

31 days... Can I commit to it?

31 days isn't that long right? I keep wanting to wake this blog back up so I'm going to give it my best attempt. For the next 31 days I will focus on THANKS. It may just be a picture or it may be a chance to pour out my heart. I have no idea right now but I'm up for the challenge.

 

I even made this fancy little button with a picture I took last week Friday of Lake Michigan. 

Day 1 - Revelation

Day 2 - God Given Abilities

Day 3 - Opportunities

Day 4 - Teaching

Day 5 - Vacation Days

Day 6 - Furry Friends

Day 7 - Sunsets

Day 8 -Yoga Challenges

Day 9 - Fine Arts

Day 10 - Fall

Day 11 - God's Word

Day 12 - Fiancée

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

more links to follow (hopefully).... 

Strength and Beauty

This is my daughter Kaylyn. She is all the way to the right in the picture in my header. She is a Junior and GVSU this year and is on the track throws team. I can't even believe she is able to lift all of this weight.

(This post loads really slow for me so if you aren't seeing a video image yet it might not have completely loaded.)

Kaylyn Hill 84Kg Power Clean Fall 2015
Posted by Grand Valley Throws on Friday, September 11, 2015

Enough...

God's portion for today is ALWAYS enough. 

I'm leaning into that truth over the next year. I have chosen my One Word 365 for 2015 and it is...

God knows my needs and meets them and then blesses me even further with giving me my wants.

Lamentations 3:24 ~ I say to myself, “The  Lord  is my portion;  therefore I will wait for him.”

Philippians 4:19 ~ And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:11 ~ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Do you have "One Word" for 2015? I'd love to know what it is.

Ugh!

I desire to wake this blog up but I'm lost with where to start. 

I need some direction. 

Any suggestions?

Readers Challenge 2014

Are you up for a challenge? I think this sounds like a fun way to read a variety of books this year. Go check out the challenge at mommynificent.com.

The challenge for February is:  

*February – Reread a favorite book from a time gone by (your childhood, your college days, the first year of marriage, etc.) and share it with someone you love who is in that phase of life.

I'd love to know if you will be joining the challenge. 

Words

Words. They're powerful.

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. ~Proverbs 18:21

They can build others up...

 Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. ~Proverbs 16:24

or they can tear them down...

They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. ~Psalms 64:3

I'm participating in One Word 365 again this year and my one word for the year is "Words". I'm hoping to improve my "words" by focusing on how I am using them. 

Do you have "One Word" for the next 365 days?