Pinterest!

I'm sure a lot of you...or ahem..the few of you who read this have by now heard of the phenomenon called Pinterest. It's a lovely little time sucker! For those of you who haven't heard of it, I'll explain (via Pinterest's own "About" section):

"Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."

For about as long as I can remember, before my mom gets rid of the magazines she receives in the mail, she goes through and rips out pages which contain ideas that she wants to remember, then she files them away in various colored folders. As you may guess these are now stuffed to the max! Well, Pinterest does all that for you in just a few mouse clicks! Wow, I sound like an ad.

Anyway, I am going to start a new series of posts in which I post some of my favorites from Pinterest for the week, starting today! I'm going to call it "Pinteresting Wednesdays."

Here are a few to start off!

Under Style:


Under Hair:


Under Things I Love:


Under Fitness:


Under Home and Decorating:


Under Funny:


Under Hostess:


Under Dessert:


Under I Want to Make This:


And under Someday:


As you can see, you can leave a comment, you can "repin" someone else's cool find, you can make many different categories of your own choosing. It's great! And I might be a tad...obsessed. :/

If you're like me and you haven't joined Pinterest, you might want to go join right now. You have to request an invite first, or, the faster way is to have someone invite you. If you'd like for me to invite you just send me your email address.

As Pinterest would say, "Happy pinning!"

God is Jealous

This convicted me the other morning. I highly recommend this book. Spurgeon's affection for Jesus was so evident!

September 12 - Morning by Morning - C.H. Spurgeon
"God is jealous." — Nahum 1:2

Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did He choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did He buy you with His own blood? He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world. He loved you with such a love that He would not stop in heaven without you; He would sooner die than you should perish, and He cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart's love and Himself. He is very jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in an arm of flesh.

He cannot bear that you should hew out broken cisterns, when the overflowing fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon Him, He is glad, but when we transfer our dependence to another, when we rely upon our own wisdom, or the wisdom of a friend — worst of all, when we trust in any works of our own, He is displeased, and will chasten us that He may bring us to Himself. He is also very jealous of our company. There should be no one with whom we converse so much as with Jesus. To abide in Him only, this is true love; but to commune with the world, to find sufficient solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer even the society of our fellow Christians to secret intercourse with Him, this is grievous to our jealous Lord.

He would fain have us abide in Him, and enjoy constant fellowship with Himself; and many of the trials which He sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from the creature, and fixing them more closely upon Himself. Let this jealousy which would keep us near to Christ be also a comfort to us, for if He loves us so much as to care thus about our love we may be sure that He will suffer nothing to harm us, and will protect us from all our enemies. Oh that we may have grace this day to keep our hearts in sacred chastity for our Beloved alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our eyes to all the fascinations of the world!

Dog Surfing...almost

Last Sunday, a small group of girls headed out to Del Mar to see none other than a dog surfing competition. Every year, for I'm not sure how many years now, a crowd gathers at a dog beach in Del Mar to watch a bunch of canines hang...twenty?
It was a bit of a drive. Hopes were high...as well as tension.

But we made it all in one piece, to find this...

If you look closely...you will not find a dog on a surfboard. You will not see the many tents that apparently litter the beach on dog surf day. Anyone hear about that little power outage in San Diego? Somehow it effected the sewage system which resulted in contaminated ocean water. It was postponed for the 25th, which we will also miss due to Bible Study retreats. But the disappointment did not stop us from having fun!

Maggie actually went swimming in the ocean, willingly, for the first time!

And she and Tacy even met a relative. A woodle! A mix of a Wheaten Terrier and a Poodle! There she is below. She had the classic friendly Wheaten personality, but a tad more subdued.

Sailor also had fun with her Momma. ;)

These two are so cute!

All in all it was a great day!

"Christ is All"

Valley of Vision prayer I read this morning:

O Lover to the uttermost,
May I read the meltings of Thy heart to me
in the manger of Thy birth,
in the garden of Thy agony,
in the cross of Thy suffering,
in the tomb of Thy resurrection,
in the heaven of Thy intercesssion.

Bold in this thought I defy my adversary,
tread down his temptations,
resist his schemings,
renounce the world,
am valiant for truth.

Deepen in me a sense of my holy relationship to Thee,
as spiritual bridegroom,
as Jehovah's fellow,
as sinners' Friend.

I think of Thy glory and my vileness,
Thy majesty and my meanness,
Thy beauty and my deformity,
Thy purity and my filthiness,
Thy righteousness and my iniquity.

Thou has loved me everlastingly, unchangeably,
may I love Thee as I am loved;
Thou hast given Thyself for me,
may I give myself to Thee.
Thou hast died for me,
may I live to Thee
in every moment of time,
in every movement of my mind,
in every pulse of my heart.

May I never dally with the world and its allurements,
but walk by Thy side,
listen to Thy voice,
be clothed with Thy grace,
and adorned with Thy righteousness.

Sunflowers?

The other day, Shelsy and I went on a walk during our break and we passed a field filled with pretty yellow flowers. I commented on them and when we got closer I realized they were simple yellow daisies. Shelsy then asked if I liked sunflowers. She thinks they are too "country" and we got into a discussion on whether or not you can decorate with them and still maintain a contemporary look. It's tricky, but I believe that you can!

Examples of Tacky Sunflowers

This one isn't so much tacky as it is "too country." Some people are totally into this look. But I would say it's more of an 80's style. Definitely not contemporary.

These however are hideous in every way.
It looks like someone threw up sunflowers in this bathroom.

This almost works. I think it would really only be okay at a B&B or something in a "sunflower" dining room.

Examples of Classy Sunflowers

I love some sunflowers in a blue vase in a kitchen. It reminds me of Italy. How cute are these cupcakes? Too cute to eat!

Sunflowers look super classy when mixed with yellow roses in a boxy blue vase or in a repurposed vintagy looking can.

A Van Gogh painting is always classy on a wall.

This sunflower mirror is perfectly modern!

And a country wedding with sunflowers is superb!

5 Places I Love

South Africa

A team from the high school group recently went to Malawi and it reminded me of how much I love South Africa.

Right below is one of the main reasons. The Archer's live there!

And here are some other reasons:

Animals

We actually got to PET this little guy.
Beauty! We were able to spend part of our time at a place callled Hope Valley in the middle of some sugar cane fields.

And fun times with friends and sisters. :)

(And here's a couple more animal shots that got out of order.)

Monterey, CA

I don't even know quite what it is about Monterey, but I love it. I think I was in 6th grade the first time my family went on Spring vacation. I think it was a mix of the fresh, crisp air, the pletheora of cute, fuzzy otters and the quaint old-time feel of Cannery Row. I remember sitting on a rock overlooking the ocean somewhere off the 17-mile drive and just being amazed over God and His beautiful creation! I especially liked walking along the streets of Cannery Row at twilight. The streetlamps would come on, sounds of fog horns came off the water and I just felt so relaxed. Let me just say that it also didn't hurt that a Ghirardelli's is located along this street. Yum!

It was once the destination of one of Megs, Mel and my road trips. :) We are at Ghirardelli's in the picture below.

(There is just one thing I DON'T like about Monterey. And that would be the underground wax museum. There is an added creepiness of a wax museum being near the ocean. Yuck. I get shivers just thinking about it.)

Monterey does have a fabulous Aquarium. If you haven't been, what are you waiting for??

Ephraim, Wisconsin

My great great grandparents moved here from Norway. They helped found the town. The pictures above and below are of Anderson dock. My relatives, the Anderson's, owned it and all the big ships that brought supplies to the town would dock here. It's really fun too because the building is now all covered with names. Kind of like an "Amanda was here" kind of thing. The sunsets there are beautiful. My relatives chose to move here because the peninsulas reminded them of the fjords in Norway. You can see in the picture below. Ephraim is now a touristy town and it is really fun to visit. We've gone kayaking, took hikes in the peninsulas, eaten delicious ice cream at Wilson's (they put a jelly bean at the bottom of the cone), and explored family history. The Anderson's also owned a store and one of their homes was turned into a gift shop.

(The sunset's there are AMAZING!)

New York City

I could never take a good picture of Times Square so here's a nice one from the web. When Em and I first saw Times Square in person, it was right after a show and it had been raining but the rain finally cleared up. I felt like the princess in Enchanted when she comes out of the pothole. I was overwhelmed!

There's nothing quite like the view from the top of a skyscraper!

The first time we went to New York, I tried to take a picture of this fountain and my camera died right as I started to shoot. So here it is in summer!

Downtown Bozeman, Montana

Beautiful mountains and wide open spaces. :)My mom went to MSU for her last two years of college. My family drove to Bozeman every summer to visit my grandparents who retired there. They fell in love with the town when they came to visit my mom. My mom used to take Emily and me to the college so that we could toss pieces of bread to the ducks in the little pond they had on campus. It's to the left in the picture below. I absolutely LOVED going there.

I could have added another five places, but this post would be too long. These are the top five now. I can't wait to see where else I get to travel to someday!

Worth It

In the past week, I've thought a lot about motherhood and the relationship between a mom and her children. From the horrific details of the Casey Anthony case to the amazing account of Jacey Dugard told in her book, A Stolen Life, to a blog post I read here, one in a series of blog posts on how women balance motherhood and their careers.

"Choice" is a popular vocab term that pops up. I'd really like to do a study on this word as it appears in the Bible. I'm guessing you'd be hard pressed to find it in the context of "a woman's right to choose." Yet so many women feel this way and not just in regards to abortion, but also in whether or not they should have a career. I understand that financial hardships exist and that for a time a mother may have to work, possibly even outside of the home. But hopefully her heart lines up with Titus 2:5 and Proverbs 31 and this circumstance would exist for only a short period of time.

Too often believer's start listening to the movies or shows they watch and begin to adopt the world's view on this matter. (Just as we are prone to do on any issue.) I am obviously not a mother so some may say I have no right to speak on this or that I have no idea what I'm talking about. It's true that I may not know how hard it is to be a mom (although I have a small clue from babysitting and teaching Kindergarten.) But either way the Bible is always where we are to look for the true standard. A well known verse that's not always easy to follow is Proverbs 3:5-7, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowlege Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil."

How comforting that no matter how hard it may it be, or how confusing it might seem, if we listen and obey God's Word, we can trust that He will lead us where He wants us to go. And He is always faithful to provide for His children.

And a short word on abortion. A common argument in favor of abortion is, "Well what if a woman gets raped? She didn't choose to get pregnant!" Well read Jaycee Dugard's opinion on the matter:

"Despite years of torment, Dugard, who was kidnapped in 1991 at age 11 near her home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., insists she would suffer it all again for the priceless reward of her beautiful, loving girls." (You can read more here.)

Did you hear that??? She would endure 18 years of rape and other tortures all over again to have her kids!!!

This perspective can be anyone's if they trust in the love and sovereignty of God.