I love purses, so I thought I'd share

The Truth is in the Handbag
25 Aug 2010
Shari Braendel

"Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me." Psalm 31:3 (NIV)

I recently watched as a frazzled shopper fumbled around in her bag trying to find her allusive keys. As she dug through her overstuffed purse, multiple items spilled out, landing on the counter and falling to the floor. Quickly, she began collecting her items.

I thought about her pretty purse, beautiful on the outside but hiding an unruly mess on the inside. And then I started thinking about how alike women and purses can be.

Maybe you're like a small purse that only has the capacity to hold a few things. Yet you try stuffing more into your life than you can hold, only to get frustrated. Perhaps one of those things is God: He's been cramm ed into a tiny space in your world and you don't give Him much room to rule because you feel more comfortable when you are in control.

Perhaps you're like a big purse, carrying all kinds of things. You're involving yourself in so many activities just because you can; with no real purpose to why you're doing it. You end up flustered like the shopper digging for her keys because you haven't spent the time needed to organize your spiritual life.

I know you're not a handbag, but when applying biblical truth and application, what kind of purse are you most like?

It's not God's desire for our inside to be out of sync with our outside. He desires for us to have our hearts turned toward Him and have our very pulse in beat with what He is doing in us.

Where should we start to curb the chaos, release our controlling tendencies and lighten the busyness to fall in step with God?

Start by being still. For some, that will go against every fiber of your being, but try it. Perhaps you abide in chaos because it's masking what is really going on with you, just like your pretty purse hides the unorganized mess within. Sit quietly and pray for God to help you be keenly aware of Him. Nothing that you are going through is a surprise to God.

Next, relax and trust the Lord. Sometimes feeling out of control causes you to hyper-control everything around you. Let go of your fears, doubts and worries and make room for God in your life.

Finally, clear your calendar. We overbook and over-schedule out of habit and now busy feels normal. Is your fast pace driven by fear, or does it define your value or identity? If so, re-evaluate where your time and energy are being spent and why.

Making a change doesn't come easily, but it can be done. Although seeking out time with God, learning to trust Him, and reorganizing your priorities can feel uncomfortable and difficult at first, I know for sure that it's not nearly as hard as living overcommitt ed and out of control.

Together, let's commit to cleaning out our "purses!"

Dear Father, will You please meet me right here, right now and quiet my heart so that I can rest and regroup? Thank You for the comfort of knowing that while I sometimes get waylaid, You never take Your eyes from me. In Jesus' Name, Amen.


http://www.proverbs31.org/

Madison's b-day party

Madison's birthday isn't until the 23rd, but we celebrated it today. She had a lot of fun with her friends.

Here is her cake. Yes I made it, yes I kinda messed up.

Jenna getting her nails done.
Madison getting her make-up done.

The girls glamor pic.

The birthday girl.

Her and her cake.

Out in the "club house" eating the cake.

Opening presents.

After the party was done she was still so happy and had a great time.

So I can't believe it has been 7 years since I had this "little" girl. She is growing up into such a great kid, sometimes she has a bit of an attitude that she is trying out right now, but I she's still a great kid. She's always been independent it seems, always able to entertain herself and not need anyone around. Other times she is a social butterfly. Thank you God for this amazing blessing of a child.

Madison's a big girl now!!

Well she FINALLY decided it was time to do it, she got her ears pierced. She looks really cute, I think:-)

Chocolate swirrled Banana Bread

It was good! :-)

Yes, a post about the puppy again

But right now she is a big thing in our lives. After the two dogs we have I was mostly set on not getting any more dogs, ever. It's a lot to take on and I didn't like doing 98% of the work with them. Then lots of my friends were getting puppies, I saw an ad on craigslist for lab mixes and couldn't resist. So far she is fitting in really well, I have to keep her off the other two dogs because as she gets older, she won't be able to play with them like she does now. But really, I don't think we could have it easier. Only 3 accidents so far, I'm ok with that.

She fell asleep on my lap, her back legs hanging down. (BTW this wasn't an easy pic to take, my arms aren't very long)
First puppy play date with Rori:)

Me and my puppers!
Mya(left), Bella(middle), and Roscoe(right) He blinked:-)

This picture is a good one to show their sizes. Mya and Roscoe are 4 years old. Bella is 8 weeks old. They are full grown, she has about another 40-70 lbs. to go. CRAZY!!

I hope to get more pic's like this one and the one above to show how she grows. :-)

Madison has been a really big help with Bella, she takes her out to go potty and plays with her a lot. Jenna is still a bit scared of her and says that she likes Bella better in her kennel.

Now no AC?

So Sunday morning I woke up and let the dogs out. I noticed before I left the house that our fan in the house was running, but when I got outside I didn't hear the AC. I didn't think much of it though for some reason. I went on about my business not thinking about it at all, just trying to get the girls ready and to get the hubby up to get ready to go. About 30 minutes before we left, I noticed that the fan was still running, but the house wasn't getting any cooler. The temp in the house said it was 78, but the thermostat was set at 76, and it was getting hotter. So hubby checked all the breakers and switches and all that kind of stuff, but everything was in order. Since we couldn't do anything about it at the time we went to church, it was nice and cool there:-). We decided to go out to lunch because we didn't want to eat in a very hot house, and let me tell you when we got home it was VERY hot. So we went out to the in-laws house for the afternoon to stay cool. When we got home we set up tons of fans, and opened everything up to cool off the house, but even with that it didn't really get cool until 1 or 2 in the am. So I got ahold of a guy at church that does refrigeration work and he said he could come out and look at it. He had to work that day, so he wasn't able to get there until 5 or so that night. Unfortunately we had to spend the day in the house, but we made the best of it by going outside and running through the sprinklers and cooling off. What a time for our pool filter to not be working (another long story). I let them eat popsicles and other things to keep cool inside. But the wonder man came around 5 and of all things he had the part on his truck!!! How cool is that, literally. It still took it awhile to cool down, but it was up to 90 in the house, HOT!! So we left for a bit running errands and cooling off in the van. It was nice. So here I am, in my nice and cool house. It's funny because I usually complain that it's too cool in here because Andrew likes to keep it at 76, but I don't think I'll be complaining any more:)

New puppy

Just an update. I know we've only had her for a couple of days, but seriously shes great! We really haven't had any problems with her at all no accidents, YET. Jenna is a little afraid of her because she likes to play with Jenna. Bella's version of playing is nipping and jumping up on her. We are trying to get her to stop, but she is a puppy and just won't quite get it too quick. She is a smart one though. She's already picking up on so much I'm amazed. All in all I think we made a good pick and we are so very happy with her.