Dec. 15, 2008 - A new blog site
Well , I have finally figured out how to change to the blogspot site, so please visit my new blog there.
http://blassingameblessings.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
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Dec. 10, 2008 - A great message
Scott asked me to listen to this message and what I have listened to so far, is VERY good. It will take me several days to watch it, but I am determined to listen to it. I encourage you to take some time and listen to it , even if it takes you several days. I plan to use it as a discussion with my family over Christmas.
http://www.tenindictments.com/
I hope you all have a good rest of the week!
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Dec. 7, 2008 -
We had a very busy week last week. Early Wed. morning we took Ben to Chip's house and dropped off Anna at the Johnson's and Claire and John off at Mom's and Scott and I headed to Nashville for a short trip. Scott had a meeting there on Wed. and Thurs. morn.
We arrived in Nashville about 12:00 and after lunch , I finally got into our room around 2:30. I just rested and watched TV for a couple of hours. It was so quiet, I didn't know what to do! Then around 6 we went down for a delicious meal and then rode a bus to the Grand Ole Opry to see the Rockettes. It was a good show.
I had planned to do some shopping on Thurs. morning, but after Scott left for his meeting, I went back to sleep and did not awaken until 9:30!! At 11 Scott called and I met him for lunch and then we went to Micheals and Target for some Christmas shopping.
I am almost finished with my shopping, just a couple more gifts to go. I usually am shopping until the last minute and wrapping gifts until the wee hours on Christmas Eve. I have even wrapped about 10 of my gifts. (Thanks Roan for your Christmas tips)Thank you Vanita, Roan and Yonea for all your help with the children.
I am very thankful for friends and family who kept our children for us so that we could spend a little time alone. It was so nice to be able to talk without interruption. I am not complaining though, I am so blessed to be the mom of 4 precious children. They are truly a blessing from God, which brings me to a prayer request for my blog readers(all 3 of them :) Ha Ha! Scott and I feel a real burden for unwanted children and we are currently praying about possibly becoming foster parents or adopting from a crisis pregnancy center.
Please pray for us as we seek the Lord's will in this. I feel completely inadequate for such a task, but I know the Lord is faithful and able to give me what I need to do His will if this is indeed what He has for our family.
On Friday, Scott attended a men's retreat with the men from our church. He said the retreat was very helpful. I am thankful for our church and all the wonderful friends we have made there over the past two years. I look so forward to church each Sunday. It is such a blessing to worship God with such a church family. God has gifted our pastor with a great ability to preach the Word, and I feel so filled after each sermon.
Anna went home with a friend after church and I am about to try to get my house in order so that we can start our week with a semi straightened up house.
I am planning to do school each day this week except for Thursday, when we have our final Wisdom coop. My station this time is where we will discuss the qualities to look for in a spouse and then we will make a Christmas ornament for each child to give to their spouse one day with a Bible verse on it. I have really enjoyed our coop this semester with the Chunns, the Brocks, the Williams , the Corbins, the Parks and the Ards, and I am looking forward to next semester as well with several more families!!
I hope all of you have a blessed week.
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Dec. 1, 2008 - Christmas decorating
Last night, Mom and Dad came down and we had a great time decorating our tree. We have a tradition that on tree decorating night, we invite the grandparents, have party foods and end the evening with Santa's hats(cherry ice cream topped with whipped cream, ginger ale and red sprinkles, with a cherry candy cane). The children really enjoy this special time with grandparents.
We started last year doing a Jesse tree and the devotions that go along with it are wonderful. After we decorated the tree, we had the Day 1 devotion and talked about what a wonderful gift we have in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Even today in our Jesse tree devotion, we learned about how in THE FALL, sin entered the world and God killed an animal and covered Adam and Eve. Even way back then, he gave clues to the coming of His precious son and the shedding of His blood for the atonement of sins. It is an exciting season to contemplate the redemptive love of Jesus and God's promises in the Old Testament even during dark and terrible times of sin, and how God is faithful to those promises.
This reminds me of the sermon our pastor preached yesterday from Isaiah. I praise the Lord for His teaching and guiding through studying His Word.
In Isaiah 1-11, God describes His faithful mercy. The nations of Israel and Judah are living in horrible idol worship and Chapters 1,2 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10 are long passages describing unfaithful Israel BUT God gives wonderful, refreshing glimpses of light throughout these dark times. Chapters 4, 7, 9 and 11 give dawnings of hope.
In Chapter 4, God tells of a beautiful, glorious, effective Branch of God that will come. The effects of His labor will be to judge and purify. They(WE) had so much filth, they were filled with it and spewed it from their lives daily. He would come to wash away that filth. He would change them(US) from the inside out and there would be real change on the outside as well. He promises re-form- ation of His people. New creatures -a radical idea. Chapter 4 also says that the Lord will create over all of His people a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of fire by night, indicating His prescence would be with them continually and that there would be a covering over them to be a shelter where all their needs (internal/external struggles) would be met. God's glory will dwell with each rescued soul and that soul will be covered.
Pastor John also told of the other glimpses of light from ch. 7 where it is foretold that HE would be born of a virgin, and in Chap. 9 that He will be from the line of David and the government will be on His shoulders and from Ch. 11, He will come from the stump of Jesse and the Spirit of the Lord will rest of Him.
Because of God's faithfulness, all these promises did take place. WE live on the other side of them. Joy to the World - He has come!!! We have the record of where they were gloriously performed in the birth, life and death of Jesus.
The Lord has shown me lately how priviledged we are to live in the light of the gospel story - how the OT saints only caught a glimpse of what was to come and how we can walk in the promise that Has come.
How do we walk daily in the light of these truths?
How do we live on these truths?
We must respond to His word that we hear and read. We must come to the Bible and Bible study seriously, not just checking it off as done for the day or whatever we think.
Do we believe that He is faithful, do we expect Him to be faithful to us as a believer? I know my life falls short of the wonderful promises of Isaiah ch 4,where God promised that Jesus, the glorious branch, would make us holy, set apart, cleansed on the inside so that it shows on the outside in what I say and do. And another question to ask ourselves,do I experience the joy that comes from abiding in His glorious cloud and fire presence?
Help us to pray to experience these promises for His glory.
Do we know the difference in waking up and living the day for ourselves as compared to living for Him in His prescence?
Do we believe God lives in us as He said in John 14:23?
Does Isaiah Chap. 4 guide our expectations of a Christians life?
What must be altered in my life so that I can walk in these promises?
This should effect the way that we pray and we should be sure not to lay our expectations on our own performance but on the faithfulness of God. Our good intentions are not a good foundation.
He is faithful, He said His branch would be effective. Let us live in submission to this truth so that others can see that He is the true God.
These are just some of my notes from the sermon yesterday. Please do not take these as direct quotes from Pastor John. I hope I have gotten at least some of his message across. His sermons are available on the internet at http://christchurchnewalbany.org/
I hope you all have a blessed week of thinking on Him and His faithfulness to all His promises.
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Nov. 25, 2008 - Thanksgiving baking
Anna Beth had a friend over last night and they baked some delicious desserts for Thanksgiving. We have carmel cakes and chocolate chess pies waiting to be devoured in a couple of days!
If any of you need a carmel cake for your holiday get togethers, let me know. Anna makes the icing from scratch and it is superb!
She made several last year for Scott's coworkers as well as for our family gatherings.
I plan to do my last minute cooking on Thursday morning before Anna and I go to serve Thanksgiving dinner at the Saltillo Community Center. This is the first year we have done this and I am looking forward to it.
My family will start arriving around 1 pm and we will snack on and off on appetizers until my brother, his wife and his two sons and their girlfriends arrive from Jackson about 5:30 or 6 when we will have our Thanksgiving meal.
I am very blessed to have been born in such a wonderful family. My parents are so loving and I feel so special when I am around them.
My siblings are role models and each of them truly seek God. We have a great relationship, especially my sister and I.
I hope each of you have a fantastic Thanksgiving with your families!
"Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O Lord, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love!
Ps. 36:5-7
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Nov. 21, 2008 - Thanksgiving Coop Fun!!
Margaret and Anna Beth
Today we had a great time at coop. We have been studying wisdom all semester, and we are wrapping up with a look at general wisdom in the Bible as well as the wisdom of people in history. So this week we looked at the wisdom of the Pilgrims. At coop we dressed as Pilgrims and Indians and had various activites that we did in small groups.
We had a Thanksgiving feast and sang songs of praise and thanks to our Great God.
Here are some pics:
Martha, Anna and John
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Nov. 20, 2008 - Lori, the photographer!!!!
Last Monday we loaded up and headed for Longview to get some pictures done of the children. Lori Corbin has been doing some fabulous pictures for some homeschool families in our group.
Well, we were not disappointed. They were fantastic!!!
I will post some of them as advertisement for her. Her prices are VERY reasonable, and we are using several of these as Christmas gifts and for our Christmas cards this year.
She is also doing a DVD of all our pictures put to music for gifts for the grandparents.
By the way, I am grateful to my wonderful Lord for allowing me to celebrate another birthday. It has been a rather hectic day with a lot going on, but my family has made me feel loved and special by their thoughtful gifts and acts of service.
Our blessings do overflow!
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Nov. 20, 2008 - need recipes
My wonderful Mom and I have been planning this year's Thanksgiving feast and we feel like we are stuck in a rut. She makes chicken and dressing, garden peas and beans and pecan pies. I am planning on doing hash brown casserole,corn casserole, 7 layer salad,and Anna's caramel cake. My sister is down for a congealed salad, sweet potato casserole, honey baked turkey breast and ham.
This is basically the same foods we have every year. Do any of you have a new recipe that is extra yummy for us to try this year??
Thanks!
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Nov. 17, 2008 - A new book
I have just finished reading an awesome book loaned to me by a friend called Overcoming Fear, Anxiety and Worry. I struggle with each of these issues and have really cried out to the Lord lately for His help. HE is So Faithful!!! He has used so many things to help me. It was as if this book was a summary of some of the many things He has taught me in the past months. The book is FULL of Scripture and I found it to be very, very helpful. In the beginning she states that it is not her intention to give the answers but to point to the one who is the Answer. God truly uses our afflictions and infirmities to draw us to Himself for our good and His Glory.
I want to give Him the praise and glory for His help during this difficult time in my life.
Bless the LORD, Oh my soul !
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Nov. 9, 2008 - I was tagged by Anna Beth
What is your favorite Bible verse? I like the Psalms, the Lord is really speaking to me through them lately
What is your favorite place in the world? any where with a friend or family member!
What is one thing you want to do before you die? I would love to feel like I was living by walking in the Spirit instead of living in the flesh so much
What is you favorite color splled backward? evilo
What is your full name? Amy Renee Goddard Blassingame
What is your favorite website? Foxnews of course
Who are you going to tag? No one , I do not like tags very much
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Nov. 8, 2008 - Coupon Crazy!!
It sure feels good to get FREE stuff!!! The coupon queen, Penny, gave out some very helpful info on her blog today. So, with coupons in hand, I headed to Kroger. Well, the cash register rang it all up and then, when it took off my coupons and Kroger card savings, my total bill came down a whopping $100 dollars!!
I was able to get several items for nothing - cha ching!!
It was great fun, but it did take a little time to clip the coupons.
I stapled all my coupons together and made a list of couponed items.
Check out Penny's blog for a wealth of coupon and bargain hunting tips. http://tupelodeals.
I have also been enjoying my freezer meals that a group of us got together and cooked a few weeks ago. It is so nice just to pull something out of the freezer and pop it in the oven, and in an hour or so, have a hot meal!
I give God all the glory for the happenings of today - a relaxing day at home(for the most part) with my wonderful hubby and children.
His blessings overflow!!
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Nov. 7, 2008 - new blog
Well, I have decided to try blogging. I enjoy reading other people's ideas and thoughts and thought it would be neat to record some happenings around our house, if for nothing more than to have as a record.
The most exciting thing that has happened today was that John came running into the schoolroom screaming that a big spider was in the den. We pretty much ignored him until it was time for Anna to watch her MUS Algebra I video. Then SHE came running in screaming that there was a huge spider under the chair. So, when we went in to investigate, there was this ugly looking creature under one of John's shoes. It was not even a spider - we called in Ben the expert and he said, "Oh that is an assassin bug." Anna started screaming that it was a blood sucker - she was hysterical!!
So, we went in to research the assassin bug. We found out that our particular bug is a wheel bug. Wheel bugs can indeed crawl on you in the night and stick his mouthparts in you and suck out blood!!
Gross and horrors!!!!! They prefer soft, fleshy parts of the body, such as the lips and eyelids - EWWWWW!
We have emailed my entomologist brother to get some more details.
The kids are bringing in different types of bugs to see if our assassin will eat them. This is my kind of school!!
I feel so blessed to be able to be at home with my children as we learn together.