Psalm 51:10...

I love it when my heart feels soft and tender to God's Spirit.

It reminds me of a field all plowed up, with all the rocks, sticks and roots removed, 

all ready for seed to be sown in it.

Or, a free flowing fountain with nothing hindering the flow of the life-giving water.

On the other hand, I hate it when I know my heart isn't right with God.

When I'm struggling with any sort of sin issue my heart feels hard.

It reminds me of a field full of stubborn roots and buried rocks.

Or,  a fountain all stopped up.

I want to live a life of repentance.

I need God to create a clean heart in me everyday.

I need Him to renew a right spirit within me constantly.

I want to live with my heart soft and tender to God's Spirit at all times.

Still following,

Friday's Favs...I'm still lovin' it!

Do you remember the great hard boiled egg disaster?

For those of you who aren't long time followers here,

three summers ago I accidentally left the house with a pan of eggs boiling away on the stove.

The resulting stinky smoke damage necessitated moving everything out of the house, repainting, reflooring and cleaning everything that was going back into the house to remove the smell.

I thought I'd take you around the house and tell you what I'm still loving

and maybe share a few things I'd do differently.

First up, painting white over the oak kitchen cabinets.

Yes, I'm still loving it!.

However, I regret listening to our painter tell me we didn't need to sand the cabinets down and that just priming them would be enough.

This summer I'm probably going to be doing some sanding and repainting.

{eew...that close up they look dirty too, in spite of the fact that I wipe them down constantly}

Painting every room in the house,  except one bedroom and two bathrooms, this soft gray and all the trim white...still lovin' it!

I'll be touching up some doors and trim this summer when I work on the cabinets, though.

That Ikea light we hastily chose when we put in new lighting while we were changing everything else...

not lovin' it so much.

Maybe I'll start looking for something different.

Our big farmhouse table was purchased over a decade ago.

That large table in our wee little dining room isn't ideal, but overall, I'm still lovin' it.

The dish cabinet in the corner was purchased at World Market during the big boiled egg clean up.

Still lovin' it and it's amazing capacity to hold three sets of dishes.

Rustic heart of pine flooring that we bought off of Craig's List...

still lovin' it!

Three years later it has dings here and there from dropping things, but that's just part of it's rustic cottage-y charm.

I never want to go back to living with carpet in the main areas of a house.

A quick mopping with some Murphy's Oil Soap and water and I know it's clean,

whereas carpet traps dirt.

Blue and white Target area rug that I bought that summer...

still lovin' it.

I need to take it in for a cleaning, since it has a lot of white, but I still love the look.

Dark blue leather chair and couch that are over 13 years old...

still lovin' them, too.

In this season where white slipcovers are seen everywhere, {and I do love that look},

the fact that with a baby wipe I can clean any spill off my furniture makes me happy.

These pieces were an investment when we bought them and the fact that they still are in great shape and still look decent makes me happy with the choice we made.

Antique wooden cubby that I bought spur of the moment at an antique mall sale,

thinking it might be an exact match for the antique table I already had...

still lovin' it!

Who wouldn't?

Well, that's all I have for you today.

Hey, it's almost Friday!!!

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and 

a BLESSED weekend!

              

                                            

Also linking to Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday

My cardboard Jesus...

At Christmas time my eight year old grandson surprised me with a cardboard Jesus he had made out of packaging from a gift we had purchased at Ikea.

The first thing I noticed, (you too?), was how very, ummmm, "bosom-y" Jesus was for a man.

But, after the initial giggling to myself, I remembered that one of the names of God,  is El Shaddai.

The root word of Shaddai is shad, meaning breast.

The full meaning of El Shaddai is "One mighty to nourish, satisfy and supply".

 I began to wonder if God wasn't trying to tell me something through my cardboard Jesus.

God is Love the Bible says.

If God is love, then He is all the facets, the sides, of love.

One of those facets is the love we would call motherly love.

We are all familiar with God's father heart, that He is indeed "Our Father".

But in His great heart is also the nurturing heart of a mother.

He is the perfect parent all wrapped up in One God.

We all need, at one time or another, the protective strength of a Father.

But, sometimes we need Someone to just hold us and sing over us like a mother.

Sometimes we need Someone to make us chicken soup.

He's mighty and He's tender.

He's strong and He's nurturing.

I'm quite smitten with the details my grandson put on my cardboard Jesus.

The crown of thorns taped to His head.

The loin cloth, the sash, the beard.

This is the picture of Jesus that came out of my grandson's heart and mind.

For some reason, his Jesus, is quite "bosom-y", 

and now that I think about it,

so is mine.

Still following,

Bubble head...

Today's Texture Tuesday challenge at Kim's was "anything goes".

She encouraged us to share a favorite photo.

This sweet, silly photo of my granddaughter immediately came to mind.

(Edited with one layer of Kim's Cora texture, soft light mode, 20% opacity)

Still following,

Banana cake with cream cheese frosting...

I had a good sized Tupperware filled with leftover cream cheese frosting from this cake.

I also had 6 or 7 "well past their prime" bananas.

So, I decided to make a banana cake.

I looked up a few recipes on-line and, taking some general ideas from a few, 

ended up doing my own thing.

My recipe made 24 cupcakes and an 8x8 pan because I had so many bananas to use.

{A loaf pan would work instead of an 8x8 if that's what you prefer.}

When I took the cupcakes out of the oven, I thought I had blown it and used too much butter.

The cupcake papers felt greasy.

Since the Hubs is off sugar and I'd like to lose 10 lbs. my plan was to freeze what I baked and pull them out when the family comes over for dinner or share them at Bible study.

But, when the cupcake papers felt greasy, I decided to taste one before posting this recipe

 so I could tell you if you should decrease the amount of butter.

I took one bite.

YUMMMMMMMM!

Banana-y, butter-y heaven!

{I made myself throw the rest of the cupcake I tasted away so I wouldn't eat the whole thing,

 but I sure wanted to!}

Here's the recipe:

Mash 6-7 overripe bananas.

In mixer bowl beat the following until creamed together:

1 cup butter

4 eggs

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup Greek yogurt (I used fat free because that's what I had)

2 teaspoons vanilla

Add mashed bananas and combine.

Whisk dry ingredients together to remove lumps:

4 cups flour

 {I used 3 cups cake flour, because it's been in the pantry awhile and I wanted to use it up,

 and 1 cup all purpose flour}

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix approx. 2 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.

Bake cupcakes for about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Pan spray an 8x8 pan or a loaf pan.

Bake approximately 25 minutes.

When cool frost with cream cheese frosting.

Recipe for frosting found here.

YUMMMMMMMM!

Still following,

              

A taste of heaven...

It was so lovely on Friday and Saturday that it seemed like a taste of summer
before spring has even officially arrived.

There are days here on earth when it seems like a taste of heaven

 before I've even left this life.

Today I woke up to gray skies and rain sprinkles,

(a more typical March day in Portland),

and yet God's love warms me,

His arms hold me,

and it seems like a taste of heaven,

no matter the weather.

**********

In 2012 I followed the prompts in Ann Voskamp's Joy Dare in counting my thanks.

In 2013 I'm going back to the way I did it in the beginning,
just noticing and recording the many extraordinary blessings in my ordinary life.

And so I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my little black journal.

(and capturing some of them via my camera or iPhone)

#2870- #2897

3-4-13-

-spring cleaning done!

-afternoon sun

-reading You Are Special by Max Lucado and singing worship songs with my granddaughter

3-5-13-

-braiding my granddaughter's long blonde hair

-using my gift certificate from one of my best buddies

-a yummy hamburger for dinner

-snuggled in my warm bed on this cold evening, working on my Bible study, sipping hot tea

3-6-13-

-starting a new She Reads Truth devotional plan

-dinner at Chipotle with youngest daughter

-God's help to write a blog post

3-7-13-

-sunlight streaming in the windows

-a great run this morning

- a little visit with our neighbor, an older gentleman, who loves God and knows everyone in the neighborhood and who is known for his kindness and friendliness

3-8-13-

-an almost cloudless, sunny, March Friday

-trying a new Thai place for lunch, 

(delicious and a joy to find that the owners are believers judging by the chalkboard on the wall there)

-devotions outdoors

-two oldest grandkid's Spring Program at their new school

-the aunties and our two youngest granddaughters coming to the program

 and the little one trying to join in the singing

3-9-13-

-Saturday chores done early so I can enjoy this lovely day

-going to the Catholic grotto here in our city and, though I'm not Catholic, 

walking through the stations of the cross and thanking Jesus for willingly laying down His life for me

-bright spring colored toenail polish

-the Hubs taking the grandkids to Fort Vancouver

-meeting up with them by the river

-enjoying my run and devotions there by the river

-the most relaxing Saturday in a long time

3-10-13-

-wonderful worship

-the message from Colossians

-watching Les Miserable, (the one with Liam Neeson), and sharing a bowl of popcorn with the Hubs

Gratefully yours,