a devotional thought

Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. {Psalm 23:6}


But why "follow" me? Why not "go before"? Because some of my enemies are in the rear; they attack me from behind. There are foes in my yesterdays which can give me fatal wounds. They can stab me in the back! If I could only get away from the past! Its guilt dogs my steps. Its sins are ever at my heels. I have turned my face toward the Lord, but my yesterdays pursue me like a relentless hound! So I have an enemy in the rear.

But, blessed be His name, my mighty God is in the rear as well as my foe. "Goodness and mercy shall follow me!" No hound can break through that defense. Between me and my guilt there is the infinite love of the Lord. The loving Lord will not permit my past to destroy my soul. I may sorrow for my past, but my very sorrow shall be a minister of moral and spiritual health. My Lord is Lord of the past as well as of the morrow, and so today "I will trust and not be afraid."

{J. H. Jowett, from My Daily Meditation}

A Day in Sandwich

Today Mom and I went with another mom and daughter from church to a little town called Sandwich. We visited 4 antique shops. It took us a while as there were TONS of things to look through! I mainly looked through all the books I could find, but I did take a few pictures of things I liked. :) This pic was taken in a room full of country-ish fabric. I love all the plaid and brown and red.
Love all the blue stuff!
So many books! So little time! (And money...)
Here are the books that I ended up taking home with me. I shall list them simply because I'm excited about them. :) Here's the list: St. George for England (Henty), Self-Raised (Southworth), The Trail of the Serpent (Southworth), Tennyson's Poems, Pollyanna Grows Up (Porter), Tommy and Grizel (Barrie), Daily Food for Christians, Daddy Long Legs (Webster), Mother (Norris), Seven Last Things (Scofield), and Prince Tip-Top (Bouvet). All of them are the pretty, antique kind with the nice dusty smell and pretty scrolling writing in the covers from people long ago. I just love it. :) Anyway, not sure if I'll blog again before Christmas, so Merry Christmas, friends!

May it be my prayer...

As I was reading my devotional book, Streams in the Desert 2, this morning, I came across this challenging and beautiful poem. I wanted to share it with you. :)

Lord, help me to live from day to day

In such a self-forgetful way,

That even when I kneel to pray,

My prayer shall be for OTHERS.

Help me in all the work I do

To ever be sincere and true,

And know that all I'd do for you,

Must needs be done for OTHERS.

Let "Self" be crucified and slain,

And buried deep; and all in vain

May efforts be to rise again,

Unless to live for OTHERS.

And when my work on earth is done,

And my new work in Heaven's begun,

May I forget the crown I've won,

While thinking still of OTHERS.

Others, Lord, yes others

Let this my motto be.

Help me to live for others,

That I may live like Thee.

{Charles D. Meigs}

It Happened Again.

As soon as I saw this picture on Pinterest, I knew it was an immediate "must-have, must-make" pin. :P For weeks I've been saying, "I have to make these!" and never got around to it. (People ate my pretzels, we had 21 people in our house over Thanksgiving, etc. Email me for the complete excuses list. :P) This morning I realized I wasn't busy and didn't have anything pressing to do, so I decided to bake. (I'm trying to make this a habit.)

These cookies are SO. GOOD. I will say though that you have to like the salty/sweet combo. As a Take 5 fan, I've always loved it; especially pretzels with chocolate. The three main tasty things in these are pretzels, peanut butter chips, and milk chocolate chips. I think the recipe does a good job with proportions. Nothing sticks out too much.

Happy December, by the way.

A Day Downtown

Today my friend Emillie and I went downtown for a day of fun. :) Once we made it there, we went straight to the Skydeck of the SEARS Tower. (It is NOT Willis. No. NO!) Neither of us had been there before, so it was super fun!

The front of the building.

Emillie and John Hancock. :)

Me and the same.

Some pics from the amazing-view windows.

It's a LONG way down...

Really long. I had to not think about it. :P

Sitting in "The Ledge."

We ate at Ed Debevic's, where the waiters are bratty and treat you like dirt. As soon as we walked in, the hostess girl yelled, "Hey weirdos. How many in your party?" And when we left: "Bye! Thanks for leaving!" :P This time I didn't get shorted on my change. :P

Blurry picture, but I liked this sign.

My first time to The Bean. It was really impossible to get good pics as it was crowded, and we both were in skirts meaning we couldn't do the usual feet-up-on-the-Bean pics. :(

Some theater.

I loved all the red seats. :)

After walking around Millennium Park, Em and I walked the Magnificent Mile and looked into a few shops. I just had to get a pic of these gorgeous blue plates I drooled over in Crate & Barrel. I might buy just one somewhere. That blue is perfect.

This was one of three windows full of Singer machines. Pretty neat. :)

Amen.

"Anything you're looking for, miss?" "Yes. Something red and Blackhawks." {The Blackhawks Store, naturally. :P}

And the one-day-over-full moon. It was spectacular tonight. Still is, in fact. :P

So very fun day, and many thanks to Emillie for kind of putting it together and driving. It was great! :)

Yummy in the tummy!

So today I decided to actually try making two recipes I found on Pinterest. The first was "Revolutionary Mac & Cheese," found here. This recipe called for Dijon mustard, and I really liked this as it kind of spiced up the flavor and made it a less-boring mac & cheese recipe. :) I couldn't get a picture before certain people dove in, so unfortunately it doesn't look so gorgeous, but this stuff was creamy and flavorful and rich. Take my word for it. :)

The second recipe I tried was "Oreo Cake Balls," found here. TALK about easy!! These things are DELICIOUS and addictive. Fun to make for a party or something. (I'm a serious Oreo addict.)
So yay. Miss Timid tries 2 new recipes and doesn't mess them up and they actually turned out like the pictures. VERY happy day. ;P

Goofy, I know...

Happy Wednesday, my friends! :)

Home!

Got home to my wonderful family last night. :) I missed them a lot. Charlotte and I talked our heads off. (It's a sister thing. :D) She had drawn this on my board in my room.

Love you, Char! :)

SC: Round 2 {Day 3}

Absolutely no pictures today. Today we attended Chris and Meredith's church. I loved it. The messages were great, the people were super nice, and the music was completely normal. :) (AND my stomach didn't growl at ALL. Miraculous, really.)

This afternoon we went to some coffee place. I got to sit on some swings outside with Hannah, a 2(?)-yr-old who can never remember my name, who constantly wants to show me her baby and her Bible, and who asks me if I wet the bed. LOL

Tonight after church we went to a place called Yogurt Mountain where I not only ate outstanding mint stuff, I saw 3 people I hadn't seen in forever. I love when people don't recognize me but I totally know them. :D

Tomorrow morning we leave. Drat it. It's been really fun, and I'm so thankful for the people who made it so. Looking forward to catching up on journaling all the little details. :)

I am a very blessed girl, and I have a 12-hr drive back tomorrow during which I can think and smile and think and smile and maybe journal for 2 seconds before getting sick. :P

SC: Round 2 {Day 2}

Woke up at 5:40 this morning, a bit earlier than I had planned. :P Kinda good though as I hate being rushed. Got ready and WENT HIKING. I have wanted to hike for so long, so it was super nice to get to go. :) Sometimes things are so lovely you know they'll never turn out in pictures, so I didn't take a single one on the trail(s). :P Here is the only one I took.

Guys, you are about to see a picture taken in a girls' bathroom. Proceed with discretion. :D

I'm about to leave the restroom. I think I'll wash my hands in the...sink? Um, something's wrong with this picture. Notice the hand dryer on the wall. LOL

Tonight we went to a farm-ish property where the kids had a blast climbing hay bales, shooting a tennis ball gun, going down the slide, and looking at goats, piglets, and other typical farm animals. We went on a hay ride. It was slightly breezy. The sunset was gorgeous. AND it was my FAVORITE time of day. I wish I could do that every fall night. :)

And now I must needs retire. I don't want to, but I have to look somewhat decent tomorrow for church so I'd better get some sleep. :P Bye y'all. :)

SC: Round 2 {Day 1}

We just can't get enough of SC. :P This time Mom and I drove down with my friend Meghan's mom. We got here Thursday. I was invited to go watch a Tae Kwon Do class (ikr?) which I ended up thoroughly enjoying. :) (Other than the fact that it made me feel TOTALLY inept and out-of-shape. :P)

Yesterday morning Mom and I went to IHOP with Meghan and her mom. Meghan already had a few LOL stories to share, so it felt like old times. :) She had to get back to the campus for classes, so we not-so-quickly got a few pictures before saying goodbye. This is the ONLY one that turned out on my camera. :( Oh well.

Mom and I then proceeded to visit the BJU bookstore, where I got a few CDs and piano books as usual. Educator's Marketplace had a few clearanced piano books that also made me happy. :)

Final stop: Miracle Hill. Didn't find any books here - (I never do) - but I did find two blouses that I am SO excited about!

Today some of us are going hiking at Caesar's Head and then doing a corn maze that apparently gives you maps at the front. (Doesn't that defeat the purpose?? :D) Should be fun. TTFN!

The Challenge

Yes, I am really wanting to do this every day. Every single day till I see results. I'm hoping it doesn't take too dreadfully long. :P

Siblings' Love = Occasional Pranks

Yes, today was prank day. All of last night Charlotte kept saying she was going to prank me, and I didn't know whether to get scared or not. :P Turned out to be something I actually liked. REALLY liked. She had turned everything upside-down in my room. Felt like Alice in Wonderland or something. :) I ran downstairs yelling, "I love it I love it!" :P Here are some pics of the fun she had while I was gone this afternoon. :)

Even my mugs. She must've stood on a chair...

I like knowing my sibs still care about having fun with me. ;P

Johansen Farms

For a long time I had been planning to take my two friends, Megan and Mercy, to Johansen Farms. It finally happened today! Megan is 5 and Mercy is 3, and they are some of the funnest kids ever. :) Charlotte came along to help me keep an eye on both of them. ;) We had a blast!

Holding a little chick. This is (I think) an essential childhood activity. :)

Mercy wasn't too keen on the holding-a-baby-chick idea, so she just petted it. :)

On the hayride (obviously). Apparently something was very fun in putting hay in her hair.

{oops} A bit too short??

Megan enjoying her apple cider donut. :)

Look at that face. She's beautiful.

{It's why we come.} :P

My two lovely little friends enjoying the bouncy house.

We really had so much fun. Got pumpkins afterwards, too. Fabulous first day of fall. :) Looking forward to doing it again sometime!