{1000 gifts} He will grant the desires of our heart...really!

Have you ever been "sent" to a store, wonderingly compelled, battling in your mind over the selfishness of the trip, the "don't really need the {item swimming in your mind}" thoughts...and continuing on anyway as if caught in an ocean tide pulling you along?  And then you arrive and there is something so perfect and at the perfect price?  And in your heart you know you have just experienced a God hug?  But who can you really tell, because it seems absurd that He would do such a thing?  I want to tell you right now that I have such a group of friends that love it when this happens, and when I start off saying , "God sent me..." they can't wait to hear what He did!  I pray you have such a blessed group around you!

This happens to me frequently, and it is usually to yard sales that I am being led...and always, always, always, I happen upon something I have been NEEDING/as well as sometimes things I have been wanting, and for well, you know, yard sale prices!   Occasionally it is to a store that I am sent, to find something of the same need/want  genre on a super clearance price - and what is that price point?  That I cannot find another way to make it/gain it for any less money.  And yes, sometimes, He tells me to wait, and an item in the need/want classification comes my way FOR FREE {think clothes in exactly my style, color, size from friends with price tags still on them!}.

I give thanks to God for these items - it just warms my heart to know He cares if I have 8 dining room chairs {found at a clearance outlet} that match to go with the table He sent me to a yard sale just down the street from me to find...

But now I am tired of the color of the chairs, and have spent some minutes thinking about how to get my breakfast area + dining area less brown...and I came across this image this weekend!  {I am sure, led to it by Him}

These are my chairs!  Now I know a nice chalky white paint is the answer to my heartwish...I wonder if I can find a can or two at Home Depot's returns shelf!


Thanking Him for {#224 - #226}:

Caring about the small things in my heart as well as my major life needs...

Always finding my parking spot at Wal-Mart right next to "cart corral"...

Friends - online and off - that I can share such things with...

1000 gifts and then some...so many bluebonnets {Smiling}

So much to be grateful for this week, things that produce joy, deep unspeakable joy - joy that has more depth than the reality of a grief that constantly makes itself known, that engulfs the truth of a diagnosis that is progressing, a joy that wells up during praise, that quiets the soul when the unknown comes knocking, that stills the heart to listen for His voice, that opens eyes to His gifts...

...The bounty of blooms

 

...sweet tweener getting to spend time with her best friend...
...renewed enthusiasm for school...

...did I say bluebonnets?














...the fragrance of bluebonnets -
    heavy in the morning air...

...looking across the property and the carpet of blue coming into view...

...blue in every direction...

...walking through knee high perfume...

 

 ...learning how to put a frame around all that blue easily...

...blogland friends...(each and everyone of you!)

...photoshop...

...the abundant rains that ushered in
    all this beautiful blue....


...grace that is the soil for all these seeds 
    of joy being planted...

...an empty cross

Linking with the Multitudes on Monday community here

and

10 little things with Kim Klassen here

1000 gifts and then some...heart connections

There are so many things to list when we truly start looking at our lives through the eyes of God...

One of 4 reminders from God (just in the past 4 days) that He is behind my urgings to oops, gotta just say check back this week for that info:

from Home Sanctuary

Always being reminded that His heart is forever connected to mine...

 Last week Ann reminded us that true communication comes from the desire to connect hearts, more than refining skills...and we were able to live that out this weekend...our sweet tweener loves the Lord, has asked Him into her heart years ago, but sensory disorder issues prevents her from truly enjoying our church's contemporary services...the crowds, the extra boost of speaker volume during praise and worship, and the changing of  lights between dimming and brightening can cause anxious feelings to go off the charts.  This Sunday, the anxiety was escalated further by Poppa's deep sighs as he tried to not fall asleep!  But those sighs sound a lot like his angry sighs, and tweener was sure he was angry at her for having to cover her head to deal with all her sensory issues...and of course elevated hormones didn't help matters!  I was helping with babies in the nursery, so when she found me after services were over and her voice shrilled "I need you to call somebody", I knew something was a miss!

It wasn't the phone call that was critical, but her need to connect (hearts need to connect...) No one picked up the other end of the phone (no connection = no heart available, at least in her mind - and she believed Poppa's heart was closed to her at the moment too).  "Please come to the movie with us this afternoon!" her voice begged, inviting me on their father/daughter date; (her heart desperate for connection and her hoping mine was available).  

 I was longing for another type of connection this afternoon - with the computer, with my website building plans, with creating art to use in the online, (my heart longing for impersonal internet connection!)  But hearts needed to be connected, not corrected (tho' her intensity was causing a less sweet version of tweenerhood to emerge - it was the Lord who kept a guard over our parental mouths to give her time to travel through the thorny path of the angst in the center of her soul).   One simple word, 3 little letters, a sacrifice of 4 un-interrupted hours of treasured time - "Yes," I acquiesced - and relief washed through her being, as the guarantee was sealed: the burden of un-connectedness would no longer be hers alone to bear.

"Are you feeling anxious?" I asked her, already knowing she had just gone through a sensory maelstrom...
 (Ahhh, heart connection brought her thorny journey to a quick conclusion!) "No!  I don't know!  Maybe! It was really loud and Poppa is mad at me!"

Which was news for Poppa!  He declared, "No!  Just the opposite!  Why do you think I am mad at you?" (Yes, 37 years of us learning how to make heart connections has honed his ability to reach towards her heart, and not defend his own)!

 "You were sighing so much!" (Senses trying to make order out of chaos had registered the deeper breathing of another, and assigned a sometimes true meaning...)  Research shows that only 7 percent of communication is verbal; the other 93 percent is made up of body language, voice tone, facial expression, emotional states, personal "filters", and more - is it any wonder it is hard to communicate through all that potential clutter, unless we are determined to find the heart connection!??

And it turned out Poppa was having a struggle of his own, that had nothing to do with her - she merely "misread" the meaning (and in moments her heart was re-connected with his - tho' from his perspective it was never lost to begin with!)

 Giving thanks for:


Feb. 19: 3 gifts that were "Plan Bs" - the matinee, reading the Kindle at the restaurant, early tuck-in after "possum hunting in the garage" (that says it all, doesn't it?!?)

Sharing with Ann@aholyexperience
and Painting Prose 
and Kim@beyondlayers...

1000 gifts and then some...

Photo from this source - 80 top photos of rain - go check it out, the artistry will be a treat

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#215- #223)

and remembering gifts given throughout time:

2 1/2 inches of rain, 
about 12 days ago - so refreshing!

the return of night insects singing their symphonies
even they quit singing by the end of July!

frogs croaking their songs
as they were enticed from their early muddy hibernation -
and once again silent as the heat wave continues... 

school starting 

getting back to a schedule

tweener starting her tweener youth group

her desire to help and serve now that she has "graduated" 
from being Kidzoned!

still getting in a little afternoon siesta time!

the heat -
I am sure there is something positive about the heat?-
even weeds are dying
the undergrowth of our across the street neighbors forest has died down enough
that we can actually see them! (The neighbors that is!)
 
Linking up with Ann and others lifting up the song of thanksgiving....

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#194- #214)

and remembering gifts given throughout time:

A scorching summer - reminiscent of 1980...
no lawn mowing (there is no more lawn left)
the delight of a frozen popsicle - made especially delightful by the 100+ heat
Swim team championship finals
a green fifth place ribbon
a girl loving to swim...
always having a spot in the shade for swim team practice...
Him always giving me a shady place to park the car as well.
time...
summer rhythms
free movies at the City Lights theater in Hudson Oaks
more understanding of the learning disability
she loving knowing that others' brains get tired when trying to read
a fuzzy black caterpillar
puppies keeping cool by "swimming" in water bowls

horses
ears
noses
eyes 
looking towards the future
colored contacts?
painted toe nails...

Linking up with Ann and others lifting up the song of thanksgiving....

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#192- #193)

and remembering gifts given throughout time:

Sisters in the Lord using their talents to promote the Kingdom of God

Jesus, the Lamb of God

(Thanks to Junelle of "Yes and Amen" for use of her images)

Visit her etsy shop to order prints of these sweet lambs 

Click here to read why these images spoke so much to me...

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#181- #191)

and remembering gifts given throughout time:


"leaping in the swimming pool feels good" heat

swimming pools!

electricity

air conditioning!

warm water

indoor showers
(and all other indoor plumbing)

the smell of mowed grass

the family adventures to share in years to come:
Yes, the lawn mower ACTUALLY CAUGHT ON FIRE...
as well as dried grass clippings in the deck of the mower! 
Now that is HOT!

laughter in the midst of it

playdates here AND there
(the best cure for tweener cabin fever)

one perfect week of "no school" to celebrate the beginning of summer...
(lounging around the pool or the house - 
smiles, rest, peace, contentment)

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#168- #180)

and remembering gifts given throughout time:

The souls who have fought for the ideals of this great country - throughout time...

Sitting on the breeze way
with the family
because the electricity went out during the severe storms last Tuesday...



Hearing the tornado sirens go off in the distance and thanking God
that it is only our comfort
temporarily compromised...


Eating up the ice cream from the freezer all in one sitting since it was going to just melt anyway!

Listening to Michael's "opera metal rock" while watching the fireflies flit,

and eventually watching the fireflies tuck themselves in for the night...

Don't you wonder why they go to sleep when the sun totally disappears?

4 days of rest for the husband...

Enjoying tweener "sleeping in" and remembering those days of my own!

Early rising to go volunteer at the Equine Therapy Center...

and husband having as much of a good time as tweener!

Prayers for health from a son far away...

and our entire family does enjoy exceptional health for our ages!

Wind in grass, childhood memories softly emerging...a young girl, playing with grass heads gone to seed, calling them "fox tails" because of the reddish tint of the head, 

and because of the soft brush of them over the cheeks....

that Texas is actually having a spring this year!

Fresh, cool air...

God's grace on it all...

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#163- #167)

and remembering gifts given through out time:



it is still mostly cool at the end of May in Texas

Thunder in the heavens (as I write!)

The twinkling dance of fireflies
on a muggy evening
(reminding me that sometimes God's Word is just
like this:    a beautiful surprising glimmer 
that fades quickly in the darkness 
softly enveloping me)



Celebrating the Lord's Supper with the church family

Pierre the cat returning home after a full night of heavy rain and thundershowers

(more firefly photos here - beautiful!)

The following was the song sung in Hallmark's movie "The Shunning"


Another song about fireflies:
"I get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs teaching me to dance" -love it!


Owl City's official video of "Fireflies" -

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#139- #145) -

and remembering gifts given through out time:

sharing with my mother over the miles between us
(treasuring the time now and recognizing the measure is becoming smaller)

Getting taken out to eat - TWICE!

Going to the matinee
("Thor" is great - action for the guys with just the right amount of romance for us girls!)

Tweener recognizing the honor and power of courtship

A generous husband
(in patience, time, finances, overlooking my imperfections, honoring me, blessing me)

Finding books at the bookfair that have captured the entire family's imagination!  As powerful as the Chronicles of Narnia

check them out here:  kingdomseries.com

children at the bookfair with swords slung over their backs...openly declaring their desire to be "Knights of the Code"

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:
 

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#128- #138) -

and remembering gifts given through out time:

sweet daughter's 10th birthday!

family togetherness at our favorite birthday restaurant

working with family to clean up the yard area behind the mailbox -

(it looks so good when we come up the drive way now)

working hard and then going into town to get shaved ice

(almost 100 degrees on the last day of April!)

THEN

turning the heater on in May!

(loving this crazy Texas weather!)

  

enough rain to end the burn bans in the county

(maybe now we can get our pile of dead branches which has grown to the size of a small house!)

the royal wedding

clinging to God's hand through a rough patch last week

dear husband who listened as tears spilled...

gaining spirit strength as I
connect to Him in prayer

winding yarn balls

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#111- #127) -

and remembering gifts given through out time:
(Just one picture today - but let the Lord fill your senses up!)

Rolling thunder and sheet lightning on an April night

The wind blowing so hard that it took out our electricity for several hours, and many blinks after that...resulting in keeping battery powered lights close at hand in anticipation of adventures in the dark!

Morning coffee, made with love

Songs of praise, voices raised together

 Remembering His sacrifice

Empty seed pods - metaphor for empty tombs

Sunrise on the anniversary of Resurrection

Friends

Cheese cake

Easter Egg Hunts - still fun for young and old alike

The trampoline covered in expoded paper confetti color

Fabric, needles and thread

Quiet moments

Personal devotions

Anointing Oil and Prayer

An empty cross

Reading the lists of thankfulness of others,
and being reminded of MORE of the blessings in my life

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#101- #110) - 

and remembering gifts given through out time:

new tennis shoes with curly laces

cardboard boxes
(do you KNOW everything I can do with a cardboard box? she says excitedly)

God-given imagination!

hair straightened

a friend calling and sharing her great news of being GIVEN an equine therapy business and wanting sweet tweener to come take horse back riding lessons!
(I've been WANTING to learn how to ride a horse! she declared.)
(Yes!  God knew it and He is making it happen at just the right time!)

lunch at school with a public school friend,
and meeting all of her friend's friends!

God's blessings on her even when she is R.E.A.L.L.Y. grounded
(the shoes were 1. on clearance; 2. the brand we had been looking for all week; 3. had the new "fitness heel"; 4. and gel in the bottom!!! He gave her EXACTLY what she wanted!)

Two sleepover birthday parties (but on the same night!)



watching her live in joy

learning, always learning

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

How to REALLY receive a gift...

Our sweet tweener received an early birthday present in the mail this week, and while I can safely say that I do not know where this total delight and savoring of every aspect of the event was learned from (I do believe it is from the Holy Spirit, because even though she doesn't quite recognize how she flows with Him, she TRULY does!), I also DO know I learned much as she enjoyed the treasure:

1.  Pick up the package, hold it close to your heart, and twirl around the kitchen a few times...

2.  Kiss the writing in the "From" corner...

3.  Delicately touch your fingertips - with wonder - over the "Addressed to" writing...

4.  Run to where ever there is another human being in the house so that they can document every move and share in the awe and excitement of the package (aren't gifts even better when someone can share the joy with you?)

5.  Sit on the bed together and babble about "Isn't it nice, I got a package in the mail...!"

6.  Carefully open the superlarge envelope (which is the package) and slide out any card or letter that is inside, all the time making sure that you really don't see what the gift is quite yet...

7.  Kiss the card and/or letter...

8. Ask that person to read the card/letter to you as you dreamily look in the distance, letting the feelings of belonging and specialness wash over you as that person read the words of love meant to be lavished over and through you...

9.  Peek inside the package, and if the present isn't wrapped, make sure it is face down or that you look away as you draw it out of its container...

and I must mention here that all the while you might be smiling, or at least the corners of your mouth turned up, and that there are a million stars in your eyes sparkling to mirror the beaming joy of your soul...


10.  Carefully draw out the gift...

11.  Look at the person with you and ask if they are ready for the reveal, when they nod acknowledgement, take a gentle breath, hold it, and...

12.  Turn the gift over!

13.  Gasp with the beauty of it!

14.  Babble about every detail to the person you are with...let the words of awe tumble over each other as you both just pour out all sorts of comments and blessings on the one who gave it...

15.  Hug the gift to your heart as you close your eyes and smile...

16.  Prominently display it and share it with everyone who comes by...

And THAT is how you REALLY receive a gift!


and I imagine to myself, how receiving the gift of Christ the first time, and every day might look if I used her example....

Linking up with Tiffini at:

The House of Belonging

Linking up with Emily at:

1000 gifts and then some...good links to come back to

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#93- #10) - 

and remembering gifts given through out time:

A weekend of rest...

Having time to get inspired online by visiting the blogs featured
and meeting many new creative people here - (at (in)courage)!



Good verses applied to creativity and offering ourselves to God and others here
Not to us, LORD, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness. 
Psalm 115:1 

"How to paint a bird's nest" tutorial here and here

Home made ideas for Mother's Day and Father's Day here  

Really good recipes here

A great acrostic for the word "creative" here as well as another verse illustrated so beautifully...

'The earth is wrapped in darkness...but... 
God's glory rises on you.' 

Isaiah 60:2-5


Field trip to the new Legoland Discovery Center, leaving in a few minutes!
 

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#82- #92) - 

and remembering gifts given through out time:

Breathing in the wonder of this beautiful, splendid even in its fallen-ness world...

Soft lambs ears pushing through winter's hardness

Finding plants (coral bells and calla lillies - Angel's favorite) that will work in that troublesome spot of the prayer/fairy garden...

Oak tree blossoms and

Leaves unfurling, raised palms open towards heaven

The first wild flowers of spring

Wild weather - changing 30 to 40 degrees in a matter of hours!

Bluebonnets: determinedly emerging even in drought conditions - an example for my spirit!

The Tweener:  praying for Katy Perry because her songs don't reflect the values of her missionary parents and not really wanting to go to church on Sunday...but going with a great attitude!

Thunderstorms in the wee morning hours that make us burrow deeper under layers of hand-pieced love...

Visits from old friends and reminiscing about when the children were MUCH smaller!

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#79- #81) - and remembering gifts given through out time:

The touchable stillness of dawn, just before the birds begin to stir...

Psalm 46:10...

Cold air that hangs in space like a thick blanket covering the world, inviting us to stay still just a few minutes longer; to just be...

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's: