Extending Grace: The Beginning

Extending: holding out, offering, reaching out, puts my desires second, unselfish, thinking of others {Phil. 2:3-4}

Grace: undeserved favor or blessing, believing the best, non-judgmental, not critical


Yes, I know there are times I should extend grace to myself! Those times are there - but today I am thinking of extending grace to others. Jesus is our ultimate example of this. I cannot extend salvation like He can, but I can still follow His example in grace.

To whom should we extend grace? There are many examples in Scripture of who we should extend grace to - because of the grace that has been extended to us. This very moment however, I'm drawn to Proverbs 31 to look at the virtuous woman and how she extends grace and to whom she extends it.



~ vs. 10: she is a wife {she extends grace to her husband}
~ vs. 10: she has noble character {receives grace to be able to have this kind of character}
~ vs. 11-12: she extends grace to her husband
~ vs. 15: she extends grace to her family - she serves them; meal times are an extending of nourishment and are a wonderful opportunity for beauty and grace
~ vs. 16: the way she plans her finances and the choices she makes extend grace to her family
~ vs. 17-18: she extends grace to herself by working hard, diligence and taking care of herself; laziness does not match well with extending grace - it requires initiative
~ vs. 20: to those in need, the poor, she is ready to help and serve
~ vs. 25: she extends grace into the future
~ vs. 26: gracious words - she extends
~ vs. 28: to her children, to her husband
~ vs. 31: the extension of grace from her heart and life create beauty that pleases and glorifies the Lord and generates reward - eternal reward

So much grace that has been extended to us, we take for granted.

The mere fact that God has equipped us to do good things for Him. Our eternal security through His free gift of grace when it is especially undeserved.

Beauty extended to us, a warm quilt, a cup of tea, a beautiful flower, a prayer offered on our behalf.

All these thoughts bring me again to our perfect example ~ which is where we'll begin next time!

{Photos: enjoying my new camera and its ruffly strap!}

Mason Jar Lid Pies

I recently saw these little mini pies on Pinterest and knew I wanted to make them! I have tons of mason jar lids and what a fun way to make tarts without buying tart pans! To top all of that off - David's aunt and uncle have a pecan farm in Georgia and sent me a big box of fresh shelled pecans from their farm - what a gift!

So, one evening when I had a friend over for movie, crafting and fun - I made these little delights - mini desserts are so fun!


I loved the tart dough - all done in the food processor - I had success with pie crust for once! And, since you don't have to roll it out - just press into the lids, even better. Then, I tried a family recipe for pecan pie that David's aunt included with all the pecans and my sweet friend shared some whipping cream from her fridge.

YUM!

Courageous

I can't say enough good things about the movies from Sherwood Pictures! We love all of them and are so pleased that we can even share a couple of them with our children. I was excited when I heard they had a new movie coming last Fall ~ Courageous.

In our house, this movie lined up with so many things that envelop our life: faith, family, law enforcement, marriage - David and I both loved it. And, if you haven't had a chance to see it yet - I hope you will get to!

We got to see it on a date night with some dear friends and that is a fun memory in itself. But, the movie really was great - I laughed and cried and was moved and reminded of my walk with God - wow, how often can you say that about a movie!?

I love seeing movies like this succeed - for their willingness to stand up for our Lord publicly, to complete a project with excellence and to show how it can be done on an exponentially smaller budget.

Our copy arrived last night and David instantly wanted to watch one of his favorite parts where Javier pretends to be a really bad guy in the back of a patrol car and in Spanish describes what he wants for lunch - a perfect Chick-fil-A lunch, it's hilarious. I love that they know when you need a laugh and when to let the moment move you.

Learn more about the movie, which is now out on DVD, here.

Have you seen Courageous? Did you have a favorite part?

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Disclosure: I'm telling you about the movie in exchange for a free copy! All opinions above are my own.

Around Here

Just an assortment of snapshots of life around our place {for some reason, I had the urge to call it a homestead!}

~ one morning I ventured outside to see what caught my eye and was shocked to see spring hiding very close by

~ enjoying our home: the lived-in feel!

~ playing Monopoly for the first time with littles: a loose connection to the monopolies of the Industrial Revolution!

~ playing grocery store

~ apparently fun = a living room that looks like this!

Rooms Updated!

The girls got a new bed for Christmas - a bunk bed! As David and I talked about the idea we knew that we could not really give the girls each their own room in our home, but we could give them their own space and a space that suits them more as they are growing.

David wasn't thrilled with the ladders on bunk beds {for safety} and I was nearly insistent on a twin over full as the full bed has been our guest bed as well. More storage is always a plus too and this bed fit all the details. We saved up our money and were happy to surprise the girls for Christmas!

They were very surprised and then we had fun waiting for the bed to arrive! Nothing else in their room is new - I had fun using what we already had as we rearranged!

And, since the box spring from the twin bed was now unused - we were able to fix Samuel's room up a little bit too! I had intended originally to paint the head and foot board for his room that I found at the Habitat ReStore - but I just loved the color and decided to try and make it work - now I love the contrast of turquoise with the chocolate and red! The only thing we had to buy for Samuel's room was a mattress for his bed! {In the photos, there is no mattress yet - though we've got it settled now!}

We still want to replace the blinds in his room and have a chandelier {free to us} for the girls room - but I'm so pleased with the progress and they are enjoying their new digs!

Art

I love this quote from Emily Freeman and it was a perfect choice to write on my big chalkboard one Saturday some crafting took place here.

Just thinking about art gets me excited and opens up that place inside that longs to feel alive. I've waxed on and on about my love of beauty and how it speaks to me.

A few nights before this, I watched a movie that I'd seen recommended in a recent magazine. Babette's Feast. I had no idea it was a foreign film, or that it was subtitled or what it was really about. I could only guess based on the title and with a moderate G rating, what did I have to lose?

Well, for the first long time of the movie - I wondered why I hadn't turned it off. Nothing was wrong with it - but there was no plot, and I could not really figure out exactly what was going on. Emily watched most of it with me and she was enjoying it - so we persevered.

The last part of the movie redeemed the whole thing for me and made it so worth watching. Babette {a French refugee} spends all of her money for one dinner. It is a work of art. It is sacrificial and beautiful and inspiring. The recipients of her art don't really appreciate it for what it is until later. And, I don't think that they get why she would do something so extravagant for them.

But, see - that is just it! She does create art for them {in her case, cooking} but she also does it for herself. You can just see how alive she is in the kitchen. What joy and care she is taking with each dish, each plate, each presentation and impression.

YES! This reaches that place in me that longs to be like her in the ways she was artistic and true to her art. My art is not someone else's art. I am an artist. Right or wrong, it is my art. My eye that sees the beauty. My heart that was created to create and beautify.

Valentine hoop art inspired by this.
Silver Chalkboard inspired by this.

Rainbows

Rainbows and I go waaaaay back ~ oh, yes - I can picture my bedroom in Overland Park, KS circa 1980 with sweet yellow furniture and pastel striped rainbow bedspreads! I had rainbow stripey sandals and a Rainbow Brite doll. I had a bunny with rainbow striped ears that played Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Cheer Bear Care Bear. Rainbow earrings, socks, necklace, everything - I loved rainbows!!!!

And, how cute is this? I saw a friend from elementary school this summer and asked her daughter what her favorite color was - she said rainbows because her mom told her that rainbows were my favorite. Oh.my.for.cuteness. (as Carrie would say!)

Moving 30 years (ack!) past 1980 - we are being revisited by a rainbow love! While discussing science project ideas for an upcoming homeschool science fair Rachel mentioned wanting to do something with rainbows. Okey dokey - that's just fine with me! And, so fun!

So, we've been working on her project board and doing some fun rainbowy things ~ plus, with rainbows on the brain I've just noticed a few others around our home.

These rainbowy popsicle sticks even look amazing in Film Grain mode - my new fave:

A super fun new breakfast idea - which was a big hit!
Note: We are loving reading these stories at breakfast!


Art supply rainbows! {thank you, Kayleigh & Kassy!}


I'll share more about Rachel's project as we get closer to the Fair!

So, did you have a favorite color as a child? Mine was rainbows all the way!