The fruit of the Spirit is... kindness.

The Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do. We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit. We must not be proud or make trouble with each other or be jealous of each other.

-Galatians 5:22-26

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We're called to kindness...

Excerpts, Bible verses and thoughts from and based on the

book A Woman's Walk With God and embellished by me.

 When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need—words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will do good to those who listen to you. And do not make the Holy Spirit sad. The Spirit is God's proof that you belong to him. God gave you the Spirit to show that God will make you free when the final day comes. Do not be bitter or angry or mad. Never shout angrily or say things to hurt others. Never do anything evil. Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.

-Ephesians 4:29-32

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Defining kindness...

Kindness actively plans to do something, now. Kindness is: loving others more than ourselves, caring for the comfort and welfare of others more than our own, considering others more important than ourselves, and forgoes arguing.

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, a good teacher, and patient.

-2 Timothy 2:24

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When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.

-Philippians 2:3-4

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Cultivating Kindness...

          Caring is part of kindness!

          Thinking is part of kindness!

          Noticing is part of kindness!

          Touching is part of kindness!

         

Kindness is the next step we are to take after we have practiced patience when wronged!  How many times my natural response to some one who has just hurt me is to react  and decide, "Well, you're off my list!  I don't have to put up with that kind of treatment!  I'll just withhold my love from you!"  But moments like these are precisely when our faith and love for others is being tested and we can have a spiritual victory simply by making a choice to do the opposite of what our flesh desires, a choice to be kind.

Kindness is supernatural, especially to those who have hurt us and it requires God, the holy Spirit, filling us with HIS loving kindness. So we can be overflowing with perfect Him instead of flawed us.

Wordless Wednesday-flashback to 2008

Story Hour

The kids and I immensely enjoy our local library. We love the sights, smells and quiet excitement that a huge building of books invokes!  We make it into story hour at least once a month and then in to get and look at books once or twice a month as well.  It's quite the special school occasion for my children!

On this particular visit to the library, my mom, sister and her two kids went with us as well. That is a common occasion, my sister and her kids joining us.  My sister and I love doing things together but it certainly doesn't seem to work out as much as we'd like.  We both have very different schedules, activities and live and work in two different towns, about 20 minutes from each other.  She's a great blessing of a gal, and so multi-talented!  We're excited about our plans to do a homeschool fieldtrip with our kids once each month this year! 

At Story hour, we usually meet up with friends. Four of my amazing dear friend's kids are brought by their grandma each week.  We look forward to seeing them! Here is Mr. Tyler, the fourth of eight children, showing off his awesome artwork.

I love this girl's cheesy grins.

Along with a couple of stories being read out loud to the kids, there is usually a craft or coloring page that goes along with upcoming holidays or the changing of seasons. 

With it being the first day of FALL

YIPEEEEEE!!!

this time around, the kids had a great time coloring and putting leaves on their "trees".

It's hard to see but my little angel drew a dog in her tree.  She loves dogs! Not sure why it's in the tree...

This little gal can't sit still for any amount of time... that is unless she is asleep.  So we had many quick hugs and kisses as she darted back and forth, back and forth, back and forth constantly as I ever-so-gently reminded her to keep quiet.  She's a true sweetheart, only compliant on her terms! We're working on correcting that...

My second-in-command is quite the perfectionist, along with being intently purposed until the job is done... of course it kind of has to be her purpose... but I love her for it!  I also empathize with her as she takes after her mama in that character flaw tendency.

Getting a lesson from mommy about how to use glue dots... not so easy for a 5 year old!

My little man and his thick mop of hair!

He's the sweetest little soul, you'll ever meet.

My little man and his cousin went off into the corner with each other, their papers and crayons and had a blast.  These two are only 2 months apart, so they get along pretty well and enjoy a lot of the same things!

If you have noticed the smudges and a dirt like substance on my kids' arms, that would be from the wonderful residue of old sticker tattoos...

Don't get me wrong, I love this girl to pieces but 'Peace'... Hmmm.... just a little ironic that she got THAT sticker!

{{{HUGS}}}

Okay, now it has just become hair tussling!

Trying to be patient, quiet and good.... but it's torturous for her!

God has truly blessed our family with this little guy's spirit!

My sis and I we're slightly ~snap happy~ this particular day. 

My beautiful mother loving on and helping keep the kids still and attentive.

Sitting, waiting, talking, crawling...

My oldest showing off her "battle scars" to Tyler.  She got a nasty horsefly bite while clearing brush from our yard.  It swelled up quite good!

Playing coy.

Being good little boys.

Sweet face. Dear girl. One of God's major instruments of growth in my life!

These two are the same way as their younger brothers, at 5 years old and only one month apart, they love playing, pretending and sitting together.

Time to start!

So thankful for resources such as our local library and ALL that they have to offer.

Fall is officially here!

Cooler weather is sure to follow.

'Book-IT'  program, ready or not (and we're quite ready) here we come!

Fall Harvest

It's no secret that I love the color red, flowers, the crispness of fall and a cloudy day.
So when I have experiences that incorporate all of those loves, I am on cloud nine!
This first-of-fall-weekend, we we're fortunate enough to once again head out to our family-owned Countryman Farm (pics and story to come one day... soon) and pick, dig, clip, reach, arrange, search, pull and fill until we were loaded up with an abundance of fall harvest produce such as melons, rhubarb, plums, apples, potatoes, corn, zucchini and tomatoes. Ah, the bliss!  A more productive (and cheaper, too!) trip than to the local grocery store. I even managed to quickly clip a couple beautiful bouquets. ~One to keep and one to give away~
We are fortunate to have extended family within a few miles of us literally on ALL sides. They all also love to garden. Who needs to dig up an already small yard to stake out a garden plot in town when beautiful generous country dwelling family members gladly share the "wealth" and keep our fridge and cupboards stocked full? 

Walnuts, cornstalks and pumpkins are next! How blessed and thankful we are!

Random Thoughts Thursday

Breathing in deeply this morning, trying to catch my breath, clear my emotions and settle my heart... and in God's presence I find nothing is impossible.

The past few weeks have been wonderful, exhausting, beautiful, taxing--to name just a few.

I look back to the beginning of September and recall a conversation between my husband and I about our upcoming month's schedule. He was slightly worried I was over-committing...well, you're hearing reading it straight from the fingers of his wife- "you we're and just about always are, completely right, my dear!"

Softball games, homeschooling, major house construction projects, training for a half-marathon, gymnastics, Bible studies... I could go on and on and I'm not even mentioning all of the everyday tasks required of me-as a wife and mother!

Life is full. We wouldn't want it any other way, but it's important to keep my heart protected in the light-still and focused and reliant on Him, cleared of any nagging hindrances that sneak into my heart amidst the busyness.

Almost 2 weeks ago now, my sister Janna was married. It was a gorgeous day. Full of beautiful content and surrounded by friends and family. Janna said YES to Lon and they have now started their life together. God is faithful. Always. Her Christian walk has been an inspiration to me!

We celebrated 2 nights before the BIG day with a "bachelorette" party (i.e. a bunch of friends and family out for dinner, including my littlest girlie)!  Wow, I was just blown away from blessing after blessing during the preparation, set-up and ceremony of this event.  It was simply beautiful. I will have pictures of their amazing wedding someday soon I hope!

My sisters!!

Kathy, a dear heart. Janna, my beautiful friend and sister. And Susan an amazing lady!

Lovely Mothers

Friends! 

I have to say that Beka (on the right) was truly a God-send. She came with Beka (my husband's sister) and her family because she knew Janna from a small group they we're in together in Colorado.  Beka was always there, guiding, helping, corralling, organizing and loving on our children!  We didn't even have to ASK her to do a thing, she was always busy, eyes wide open to impending needs.  I seriously do not know WHAT we would have done without her!

I was blown away once again by how dear my family is to me, to ALL of us! How completely the Lord has blessed our family of seven in every way. A wedding has a way of bringing on the waves of meloncholy and reflection.

I love photography. I love snapping photos, setting up props, editing takes, documenting life, watching personality come out onto film... but one thing that I have taken note of is how I can relate the focusing of the lens onto the main subject of my shoot to how I willingly and freely choose what circumstances to focus my gaze upon in my life. Some days it is easy to get stuck in the negative rut... look at everything hard, unfair and worrisome and dwell in that heaviness. But the beautiful fact about my gaze is that it can be moved and by adjusting my focus just slightly, my view changes completely! It's a state of practice and tiring concentration some days. I pray for help, for desire, for joy and willingly and obediently change my mind and heart's focus to those good and perfect things in my life... and something wonderful happens, I rejoice!

Please check out Kate's website. Pray for her. Pray for all of these dear children in our world suffering today. God knows them intimately. He loves and cares about every single little life here on earth. No one is insignificant to Him.

He's coming for ALL of His children soon.