This was a winter that had Preston and I discussing why on earth we live in the Midwest - on several different occasions.
A laid-back beach shack in Hawaii...
or a house with an outdoor pool in Arizona...
both sounded very tempting while we endured the ice storms, blizzards, and frigid temperatures that are part of the package-deal that come with Winter In South Dakota.
A laid-back beach shack in Hawaii...
or a house with an outdoor pool in Arizona...
both sounded very tempting while we endured the ice storms, blizzards, and frigid temperatures that are part of the package-deal that come with Winter In South Dakota.
But I do to some (small) degree enjoy the change in seasons - especially when the change includes temperatures rising and the sun coming out more often.
I don't know about you, but I don't get very far in the morning without the daily cup of coffee I allow myself (okay, maybe 2 cups.) While I'm sipping my coffee, I love to start my day with a devotional, scripture, or a couple chapters of an inspirational book. Right now my "morning devotional" is Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst. It looks like she has written tons of best-selling Christ-based, 'devotional', self-reflection type books, and I'm really enjoying this one so far.
Of all the places to get a book recommendation, I saw that Emily Maynard ("The Bachelorette" from last season, who has talked about her Christian faith) was reading it -- she posted she was reading it on her FB page or something about how good it was. I don't remember the details, but I'm so glad she posted it and introduced me to a great, new author.
The book talks about how God created emotions for us to enjoy life -- not to ruin our lives with anger, fear, etc. -- and "how to make wise decisions in the midst of raw emotion" -- from a Christian's perspective.
We live in such a "follow your heart at all times" society -- and unfortunately, as Christians, it's not as easy as that. Sometimes you have to go against what "your heart is telling you" in order to make a godly decision. I saw this quote on Pinterest:
I know a LOT of people who would disagree with me if I told them NOT to follow their heart. That's how engrained into us that concept is unfortunately.
A favorite quote so far from the book is,
“Feelings are indicators, not dictators. They can indicate where your heart is in the moment, but that doesn't mean they have the right to dictate your behavior and boss you around. You are more than the sum total of your feelings and perfectly capable of that little gift . . . called self-control.”
I don't know about you, but I don't get very far in the morning without the daily cup of coffee I allow myself (okay, maybe 2 cups.) While I'm sipping my coffee, I love to start my day with a devotional, scripture, or a couple chapters of an inspirational book. Right now my "morning devotional" is Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst. It looks like she has written tons of best-selling Christ-based, 'devotional', self-reflection type books, and I'm really enjoying this one so far.
Of all the places to get a book recommendation, I saw that Emily Maynard ("The Bachelorette" from last season, who has talked about her Christian faith) was reading it -- she posted she was reading it on her FB page or something about how good it was. I don't remember the details, but I'm so glad she posted it and introduced me to a great, new author.
The book talks about how God created emotions for us to enjoy life -- not to ruin our lives with anger, fear, etc. -- and "how to make wise decisions in the midst of raw emotion" -- from a Christian's perspective.
We live in such a "follow your heart at all times" society -- and unfortunately, as Christians, it's not as easy as that. Sometimes you have to go against what "your heart is telling you" in order to make a godly decision. I saw this quote on Pinterest:
I know a LOT of people who would disagree with me if I told them NOT to follow their heart. That's how engrained into us that concept is unfortunately.
A favorite quote so far from the book is,
“Feelings are indicators, not dictators. They can indicate where your heart is in the moment, but that doesn't mean they have the right to dictate your behavior and boss you around. You are more than the sum total of your feelings and perfectly capable of that little gift . . . called self-control.”
Moving on, the other day when we had some sun, Preston and I took advantage of the nice weather to get our vegetable garden planted. Or he got it planted, while I took the cats outside and watched. :)
It was interesting to take a little trip down memory lane trying to remember all the mistakes we made last year (example: planting WAY too much, realizing we're running out of room -- and digging up the already fully grown tomato plants and replanting them somewhere else --causing them to quickly die) so we don't make the same ones again.
I would snap a pic of our garden quick, but it's raining once again, so that'll have to wait for another day. :) Big boy tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, green beans, red bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, and strawberries are what we picked this year.
SURGERY UPDATE: Lucy's doing great post-surgery! She'll be at the vet until around noon tomorrow, so she can be monitored. When they went in to remove the penny-sized stone, they found a bunch more smaller stones, the vet said they were like grains of sand, and they were able to get those out too. Sounds like she'll be on a strictly wet-food diet for a while and possibly prescription food after that -- but we'll wait and see what happens when all the tests come back. Vet said surgery couldn't have gone any smoother --- so I know God was keeping an eye on our little kitty. :)
It was interesting to take a little trip down memory lane trying to remember all the mistakes we made last year (example: planting WAY too much, realizing we're running out of room -- and digging up the already fully grown tomato plants and replanting them somewhere else --causing them to quickly die) so we don't make the same ones again.
I would snap a pic of our garden quick, but it's raining once again, so that'll have to wait for another day. :) Big boy tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, green beans, red bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, and strawberries are what we picked this year.
SURGERY UPDATE: Lucy's doing great post-surgery! She'll be at the vet until around noon tomorrow, so she can be monitored. When they went in to remove the penny-sized stone, they found a bunch more smaller stones, the vet said they were like grains of sand, and they were able to get those out too. Sounds like she'll be on a strictly wet-food diet for a while and possibly prescription food after that -- but we'll wait and see what happens when all the tests come back. Vet said surgery couldn't have gone any smoother --- so I know God was keeping an eye on our little kitty. :)
