Friday, August 20, 2010

Homemade Butter and Changes

Happy Friday to those of you reading my blog today. I absolutely LOVE Fridays! Especially since January when my work schedule adjusted to allow me to work Mon-Thurs and have each and every Friday off. When I first began this schedule I had grand plans of what to do with my new 'free' time and some of it has actually happened. Being the Type A, plan too much and try to cram it all in kind of gal that I am, there have been more than a few weeks when my fantasy did not match up with reality. However, I am settling into a flow and being more selective in how I spend these days.

For instance, today I thought about all the things I wanted to get done. A 'to-do' list from two weeks ago had some tasks without a checkmark or line through. Meaning I still wanted/needed to do them. Then there is the never ending list of household chores that keep popping back up no matter how many times you do them. This morning as I was ending my quiet time with the Lord and began to think about how my day was going to proceed I was prompted to separate my list of 'want to do's' into two categories. First, what are the things I want to do that either require solitude or are things that I won't do once surrounded by family again. On the other list are those things that can be worked into the normal weekend routine. What a revelation!! 'Cause I can tell you that normally I just jump into the list of household chores first and find myself leaving out the things that are more important.

Here is how that worked for me this morning. After my extended quiet time with the Lord, I worked on my speaking topic for the upcoming women's retreat (Oct. 15-16...get it on your calendar if you are in the Hopkinsville area!), caught up on a couple of emails, ordered a book from Amazon that I want to read, and then made homemade butter.

Yep, homemade butter! I got the recipe from Kelly Hancock at Faithful Provisions. Love, love, love that gal's website and all of her helpful hints on saving money on your grocery shopping and her yummy recipes. If you aren't familiar with Kelly, check out her website at www.faithfulprovisions.com I promise you will love it! (You can find her recipe for homemade butter too...big smile!) It is resting and cooling in the fridge..can't wait to try it on my toast at breakfast tomorrow.

Now I am off to the shower so I can meet my sweet hubby to do some b'day shopping for one of our sons, try to snag some scrapbooking bargains at Hobby Lobby, and then have supper together. As you plan your weekend, I pray that God will help you build in some quality quiet time with Him and some focused time with your family. Chores have to get done sooner or later, but let's ask God to help us keep it all in perspective.

Now about the 'Changes'. In the next few days I will be posting my personal blogs on a new blogspot. Sharing the Journey won't go away but it will become primarily a place for you to keep up with what is going on with the Women's Ministry at Hillcrest. I will put a link here for you to pop over and visit me at my new bloggy world home. (And I do hope you will follow me over there 'cause it surely is precious to a blogger's heart to know that someone is reading what they write.) So stayed tuned...............there is LOTS more to come as we continue our journey toward Home.

Blessings and hugs,
Molly

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Back to School..but it's still summer!

Just a few years ago back to school signalled the start of fall. Summer ended with Labor Day weekend and school was back in session the following Tuesday. Temps, though still quite warm in the daytime, began to moderate with cooler evenings. Back to school clothes shopping included jeans and jackets...never shorts.

Slowly our school schedules changed and now we send our children back to the classroom in early August. Temperatures are sweltering and I would guess that most kids plus their parents are nowhere close to being ready for the summer to be over. (Now would be the time for me to step up onto my soapbox and launch into my 'speech' about the misguided folks who come up with the current school calendar and our education system's shortcomings but that would change nothing and is not the direction of this post.)

Regardless of our opinions of when the school year should start, the fact remains - Tuesday our kids will be back at school for a new year. Tomorrow at both morning services, we will honor our teachers and other educators and pray for our children, parents, and teachers as they each face the coming year. For some it will be the first time in the classroom. Others will find themselves in a new school, perhaps in a new town. Some will simply move up a grade with their friends with a new teacher but in familiar surroundings. All need our prayers and support.

My 'kids' graduated long ago and now have children of their own. My grandchildren range from baby to high school senior. I see the challenges facing them from a different perspective than the one I held when my own children were in school. However,one thing is a constant - our community children need our prayers. Their parents need our prayers and their teachers need our prayers. They need our support.

I will pray tomorrow morning along with others gathered at church. May it not be just a one time, one day prayer. May we all make it a priority to daily petition our Heavenly Father on behalf of the precious children in our community, their parents, and the teachers who strive to love and educate them.

Hugs,
Molly
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