I'm moving on... please come join me!

I enjoy blogging. I really do. Life just often gets in the way. :) Last night I was reading a book and found myself really wanting to share quotes from it, and expound on my thoughts about it.

Did you hear the singers Roer? has been a place for me to just share things about life in and around my family. Almost a year ago, I joined a blogging community and online "class" that gave me one year of web hosting and my own domain name for free. I decided to see if I'd be able to create a niche blog that would generate a little bit of income -- at least enough to pay for the yearly hosting and domain name once the time for renewal came up. It was a ton of fun, but I didn't make a single dollar. So I've decided to allow that hosting and domain to expire, and have moved back to Blogger (which is free!), and start somewhat fresh with a somewhat new blog.

I've imported all of my old posts from Did you hear the singers Roer? into the new blog. I'll still write about the home, garden, and cooking like I did at inthesweetsunshine.com, and I'll still write about my family and love for books and music like I have been here. So I invite anyone who knows me personally, as well as anyone interested in an almost-30-year-old, happily married, mom of almost-two kids, who desires to spend her days in the sweet sunshine and attempt to live the simple life, to follow my journey at my NEW blog: carrieinthesweetsunshine.blogspot.com. I hope to see you there! :)

Book Talk Wednesday: Just in Case You Ever Wonder

When I worked at Family Christian Stores, I never had reason to spend much time in the Children's section. Yes I stocked books, and sorted and organized toys, but never had a personal attachment to the products. Even for the last few months I was there, while I was pregnant with Abby, I didn't see it as a section for me to shop in.

(Now I would love to go back and spend all of my time there... :)

Some of the most popular children's books we carried were the ones by Max Lucado. From the Hermie series to the Wemmicks collection, to many stand-alone books, he always had something in the top ten. When Booksneeze offered Lucado's book Just in Case You Ever Wonder, I jumped at the chance to review this one.

Just in Case You Ever Wonder is a book I think my daughter will appreciate more in the years to come. It's not the best book for a 17-month-old to sit still through, but the message is very powerful. It tells your child that no matter what happens as they grow, you will always be there for them and will always love them. "I'll always love you. I'll always hug you. I'll always be on your side. And I want you to know that... just in case you ever wonder." The images are in soft colors, which again I think will appeal to my daughter more when she's older.

Overall, it's a book that I personally appreciate very much, but will need to wait a couple of years for my daughter to appreciate it.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Saturday 7: October 22-28

Whew it's been a few weeks since I posted a Saturday 7! Some of these notes might go back more than one week...

1. Update on Abby's teeth: The last time I checked she still just has the top 2 incisors, bottom 3 incisors, and THREE MOLARS! Crazy kid... hurry up and get the other two top incisors so your buck teeth don't look so silly...
2. We went to a Halloween party last Saturday night. We were given a cow costume for Abby, so we based our outfits around hers. :)
3. I think Abby's teeth were the cause of her miserable-ness earlier this month. This week she has been so fun to be around. She's actually starting to truly "play". She'll get her little barn and animals out and make them run around the room. Or try and stack blocks. Or lots of other things -- sometimes involving me, but also playing well on her own. I'm going to ask soon what toys she likes to play with in the church nursery and at our Friday daycare friend's house, to get some Christmas ideas...
4. Abby is also working on expanding her vocabulary. I have to listen really hard to understand what she's saying, but some words are pretty clear -- up, cracker, apple/waffle... And every so often she'll mimic what we say. Not very well, but it's a start!
5. Our first GEMS fundraiser of the year was a huge success! This was the third year we've participated in Hand 'n Hand, and it was our best one yet. The best part is that 30% of the money taken in stays with our club, and the rest goes to help GEMS clubs in Africa! And the money we raised for our club? This one fundraiser will easily pay for one of our leaders to go to next summer's Annual Leadership Conference in Chicago!!
6. Our church is in the process of getting a new pastor. We've had a "specialized transitional minister" for about 2 years, and his purpose has been to help us heal from some of the issues and divisions we've been having, and guide us toward a place where we can call a new permanent pastor. The next 3 Sundays we have potential candidates coming to preach, and so hopefully we'll be able to extend a call to one of them before Christmas! 
7. Our small group went on a date night last night to a movie and dinner. We saw Courageous. It's made by the same people who did Facing the Giants and Fireproof. It's a great movie for couples to see together, and even moms or dads with their teenage sons. I was glad someone told me ahead of time to bring some kleenex...

Have a great week!

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The Saturday 7: Post seven things that happened to you this week. Just a quick summary. Things you might not necessarily write a whole blog post about. Idea taken from Sadie's Lovin' Life with Lucy.

Musical Mondays: How Great

The Glory Revealed projects are two of my most favorite cds. Sung by a collaboration of Christian artists, each song is taken directly from Scripture. This particular song is from 1 John 3:1. This is probably my favorite style of music too -- a sort of folk, Americana feel. May this song lift your spirit and fill you with joy today!




How great is the love the Father has poured out on us
That we should be called the children of God
How great is the love the Father has poured out on us
That we should be called the children of God

How great how great
Is God's amazing grace
That we should be called the children of God

How great how great
That we believe our faith
And we can be called the children of God

How great is the love the Father that he sent his only Son
That we could be called the children of God
We will never perish if we believe in him
And we can be called the children of God

How great how great
Is God's amazing grace
That we should be called the children of God

How great how great
That we believe our faith
And we can be called the children of God 

That is what we are
Sons and daughters of God
Oh by this we know love
That he laid down his life for us

How great is the love the Father has poured out on us
That we should be called the children of God

How great how great
Is God's amazing grace
That we should be called the children of God

How great how great
That we believe our faith
And we can be called the children of God 
Yes we can be called the children of God


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Musical Mondays -- Pick a song, post the song, tell why you love the song!

Faith and Deeds

It's always interesting to me when something I've been reading about in my own personal quiet time gets emphasized Sunday morning. It makes me stop and listen more closely, and roll things around in my head.

I've been part of an online Bible study the past month where we're going through the book of 1 John a verse or two each day. Two weeks ago we were in the beginning of chapter 2, and the verses that stuck out to me specifically were verses 3-6:

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

I liked what my Life Application Study Bible had to say about v.6: "To 'walk as Jesus did' or living as Christ did doesn't mean choosing 12 disciples, performing great miracles, and being crucified... To talk today as Christ did we must obey his teachings and follow his example of complete obedience to God and loving service to people."

Then in church we're going through the book of James, and yesterday's message was about chapter 2 verses 14-26:

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder.

You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Some of these verses seem to walk a tricky line. Works (deeds) are not required for salvation -- belief in Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross for our sins and his resurrection are all that is needed to spend eternity in heaven.

Yet James says faith without deeds is dead.

image source

Maybe it has to do with the word "complete". It appears in both the 1 John passage: "If anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him." and in James: "His [Abraham's] faith was made complete by what he did."

The life of a Christian is a process. When someone makes a decision to follow Christ, believing in His death and resurrection, that is the beginning of the process -- it doesn't end there. The actions and deeds and obeying God that follow are what show that our commitment to God is real. They help complete our faith -- they alone don't define it.

Thoughts?

Musical Mondays (belated): My Next Thirty Years

Today's Musical Monday post is somewhat purposefully belated... It's my hubby's birthday today, and I wanted to share this song in honor of him. :) I love you Rocky! Your next 30 years will be the best years of your life!!



I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

Hey my next thirty years I’m gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I’ve done
Maybe now I’ve conquered all my adolescent fears
And I’ll do it better in my next thirty years

My next thirty years I’m gonna settle all the scores
Cry a little less, laugh a little more
Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear
Figure out just what I’m doing here
In my next thirty years

Oh my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late
Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers
Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years
In my next thirty years

Book Talk Thursday: A Mud Pie for Mother

A Mud Pie for Mother by Scott Beck is one of the books we received last spring from the Imagination Library. It sat on the shelf for awhile, but once Abby discovered it, it quickly became a new favorite! It's one of the first books she's actually searched for on the shelf, then taken it and plopped in my lap for me to read to her. So cute!

It tells the story of a little pig who needs a gift for his mother's birthday. He visits other farm animals, who all give an excuse why the pig shouldn't take the things he sees. So he gets sad that he can't find a gift for mother pig's birthday. But it has a happy ending. :)

The pictures are very simple and there are only a couple of sentences per page. It's a great chance to teach Abby animal sounds as the little pig visits a bee, cow, chicken...

I think there was one day when Abby had me read it five times in a row...

A very fun, little-known book! 

I want to know You more

"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. Whoever says 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." --1 John 2:3-6

Whew! Quite a few if-then statements here, all basically saying the same thing.

If we obey his commands and walk as Jesus did, then we have truly come to know him and God's love is complete in us.

If we don't obey, then we are liars and hypocrites.

Yikes!

[It's not salvation at stake, just our everyday life of trying to know him more.]

Author Brennan Manning has said, "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." I wrote about this idea a little bit a few months ago. I can't change the way other people walk. But I can change myself.

My Life Application Study Bible has this note: "To 'walk as Jesus did' or living as Christ did doesn't mean choosing 12 disciples, performing great miracles, and being crucified. We cannot merely copy Christ's life -- much of what Jesus did had to do with his identity as God's Son, the fulfillment of his special role in dying for sin, and the cultural context of the first-century Roman world. To walk today as Christ did we must obey his teachings and follow his example of complete obedience to God and loving service to people."

Our GEMS theme song for this year is "I Want to Know You More." We're going to be teaching the girls how to "Get Wisdom" from the book of Proverbs. This should be the desire of ALL of our hearts. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.  What will your walk look like today?

   

Musical Mondays: Just Another Day in Paradise

This has always been one of those "feel-good" songs for me. Some days life just sucks. Everything seems to go wrong. But I look at Rocky and Abby and realize I wouldn't trade it for anything...




The kids screaming, phone ringing
Dog barking at the mailman bringing
That stack of bills - overdue
Good morning baby, how are you?
Got a half hour, quick shower
Take a drink of milk but the milk's gone sour
My funny face makes you laugh
Twist the top on and I put it back
There goes the washing machine
Baby, don't kick it.
I promise I'll fix it
Long about a million other things

Well, it's ok, it's so nice
It's just another day in paradise
Well, there's no place that
I'd rather be
Well, it's two hearts
And one dream
I wouldn't trade it for anything
And I ask the Lord every night
For just another day in paradise

Friday, you're late
Guess we'll never make our dinner date
At the restaurant you start to cry
Baby, we'll just improvise
Well, plan B looks like
Dominoes' pizza in the candle light
Then we'll tiptoe to our room
Make a little love that's overdue
But somebody had a bad dream
Mama and daddy
Can me and my teddy
Come in to sleep in between?

Yeah it's ok, it's so nice.
It's just another day in paradise.
Well, there's no place that
I'd rather be
Well, it's two hearts
And one dream
I wouldn't trade it for anything
And I ask the Lord every night
For just another day in paradise


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Musical Mondays -- Pick a song, post the song, tell why you love the song!

The Saturday 7: September 24-30

1. Abby decided her 6th tooth was going to be a molar. She now has 2 top and 3 bottom incisors, and the bottom right first molar starting to poke through. I think that's what's been making her miserable all week.
2. She has been SO fussy and clingy!! I can't get ANYTHING done because she freaks out as soon as I set her down!! (ok she doesn't do it all the time, but most of the time...)
3. She was sick last weekend. Threw up on Saturday evening, and during the night the next two nights, and had diarrhea pretty bad on Sunday-Monday. On Monday all she wanted to do was cuddle. Which I was fine with. We read lots of books and watched some Baby Einstein. She didn't eat much of anything. Just yesterday she finally got her appetite back and holy cow! She'll almost eat more than me the last few meals!
4. It's October, which means baseball playoffs! I don't mind watching baseball throughout the year, but I'm not one of those die-hard fans that knows the ins and outs of their team. But now that the Tigers have been on a great streak, I'm actually wanting to watch their games. Here's to hoping for the World Series!
5. It's October, which means the heart of fall!! Pumpkins, apple cider, sweatshirts, candles... Mmmm... :)
6. Keeping a budget is tough. September was the first month that we've truly sat down and planned out how much we were going to spend in each category, and try to stick to it. I went over our initial grocery budget (but we readjusted things toward the end of the month so it turned out ok) and realized I hadn't bought any meat all month except a family pack of hamburger. :( Grrr how do I make this work?! And we have like NO money for anything extra like a movie or clothes or birthday gifts... Sigh. I guess we'll just keep plugging away...
7. Abby learned a new animal noise this week. What does a chicken say? Cluck cluck cluck! Soooooo cute. :)

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The Saturday 7: Post seven things that happened to you this week. Just a quick summary. Things you might not necessarily write a whole blog post about. Idea taken from Sadie's Lovin' Life with Lucy.