Love never fails...

Here's a recap of our love passage from I Corinthians 13 from The Message:

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies.

I'm going to add the rest of the chapter from The Message because it is just so good!  I hope it encourages you today.

Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.  We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete.  But when the Complete (Jesus) arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant.  When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

We don't yet see things clearly.  We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.  But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright!  We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation:  Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.  And the best of the three is love.

Fly Lady

Thursday is Errand Day.

Do you have your Morning Routine written down or typed?  It takes just a minute to do it.  Add empty the dishwasher (we tend to think it takes too much time to empty the dishwasher so we will do it later, when it only really takes a couple of minutes) and plan dinner.  You have to plan dinner anyway, so why not do it in the morning?  Get it over with!  But, be realistic.  If you have a hectic day and know that you will not have the energy to fix dinner, put something easy in the crock pot or let your hubby know you will be buying something for dinner.  My honey is always willing to stop and pick something up if I ask him.  If your honey is stressed out at the end of the day, it would probably be a good idea if you take care of this instead of adding one more thing to his day.

I said the other day that our Habit of the Month for March would be getting dressed down to shoes for the month of March.  Well, after reading the Flight Plan for today (daily emails from Fly Lady - highly recommended!), I decided we need to stay on track with the Fly Lady.  So, our Habit of the Month for March will be - Shine your sink!  Every night before you go to bed, take everything out of your kitchen sink and scrub it until it shines.  Yes, that means you don't have to do the dishes - stack them neatly beside the sink.  And yes, just shining my sink most days inspires me to go ahead and do the dishes.  But not always...just sayin'.

Household Tip

My Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book is 32 years old and showing its age!  Pages were beginning to fall out and the corners of the end pages on the covers were curling up.  

I love this cookbook because there are so many wonderful family memories associated with its recipes and information.  Plus, it's a great cookbook.  So, I got out some glue, packing tape and some reinforcement stickers and got to work repairing the wear and tear.  After I glued down the curled edges of the end papers on the inside of the covers, I started at the front and worked my way through the entire cookbook using the reinforcement stickers and tape to make repairs.  I put the reinforcement stickers on both sides of the pages that needed fixed.

The last thing I did was to scrub the outside of the cookbook.  It looks almost good as new and should last another thirty plus years!

Preparedness

With all the talk of war and spring storm season upon us, it would be a great idea to have some items stored so you and your family will be provided for in case of emergency.  I have been reading about preparedness for a couple of years now and my honey just kind of nodded his head when I talked to him about it.  That is until FEMA showed up at his work and emphasized the importance of being prepared for emergencies.  This is what he brought home:

Now he's a little more interested and we talked about buying supplies at our budget meeting in February.  I know we have looked at preparedness before, but I think it would be a good idea to go over the basics again.  I will be using the information in these FEMA booklets.

FEMA and the Red Cross recommend that you have enough supplies in your house for you and your family for at least three days at all times.  The first item that is recommended is an emergency supply kit which should contain:

water

food

first aid kit 

clothing 

bedding

tools 

specialty items

We will cover details on each of these items starting tomorrow, one item at a time per day.  

DON'T  BE SCARED - BE  PREPARED!

Love always hopes and perseveres...

Did you know that in Ireland there is an old custom that on February 29 women can propose to their boyfriends?  Talk about hoping and persevering! 

Seriously, let's look at the Greek definition for these two words:

Hopes - To expect with desire, hope in the manner of trust, to confide.  To set one's hope upon something, that is the hope of future good fortune.  It is a decision one makes to hope, not an attitude that miraculously appears!

Perseveres - (Ok...this one is not as positive, but definitely is still an attitude that one chooses.)  To remain under, that is, to endure or sustain a load of miseries, adversities, persecutions or provocations in faith and patience.

Tomorrow, we will wrap up our lessons on love.  I know I've learned a lot...mostly how I still have a lot to learn about loving others...


Middle East Update

The U.S. and Israel are meeting this week.  Things are a little tense, to say the least.  Yahoo news has had several articles every day on this situation.  Make sure you read up so you know what's going on.  Be prepared!


Fly Lady

Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day. 

I figured I had put off going to the doctor long enough.  I haven't felt well since before Thanksgiving.  It's normal for me to not feel well when seasons change, but it usually doesn't last this long.  So, I called to make an appointment and - what do you know - they had an opening this morning.  I went, I felt silly telling my doctor the same ole symptoms (well, except that weird looking bump on my right index finger - I've been told it will scare the children - thanks, guys...) and told him it had been almost three years since I had been in to see him and I just wanted a check up to make sure there wasn't anything else that needed taken care of.  He is so patient...

They took so much blood, I had to go home and eat some dark chocolate!  Ok...I know that's not true.  It just sounded like a really good excuse...to eat chocolate.


Today's Recipe - Mini Caprese Salads
These are easy to make and are so fresh and tasty and make super cute appetizers.

Cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Soft mozarella cheese or chilled cream cheese, cut in 1/4-1/2" thick squares
Fresh basil leaves
Balsamic vinegar

Take a bottom half of a cherry tomato, place a square of cheese on the bottom half and top with the top half of the tomato. 

 Place a fresh basil leaf on top of the tomato.  Push a toothpick through the leaf and all the way through the cheese and tomato.  Place on a serving tray.  When all the mini "salads" are made, sprinkle with balsamic vinegar.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

I made these for my honey to take to work and didn't sprinkle the vinegar on the salads until right before he went to work.  And I forgot to take a picture of the finished salads.  Oops...

Love always protects and trusts...

I thought this was an interesting combination - protects and trusts.  In the KJV these words are written as bears all things and believes all things. 

So, how is it loving to protect?  In this passage, protect means to strengthen by covering (like a roof covers a house) through patient endurance.  A roof protects what is inside the building. Rain drips off a roof instead of soaking in and ruining what's inside.  Hmm...  So, does that mean that if I am loving/protecting, I cause things to "drip off" instead of soaking in and getting my relationships "wet"?  I do believe this is something I could spend some time praying about!

What should we always trust?  Trust is a mental persuasion, to believe.  As Christians, we can always trust Christ - in His love for us and the salvation He has provided for us.  We can love others because He loved us first!


Fly Lady

Today is Plan and Play Day.  Wouldn't it be great to not have to put any mental effort into meals every day?  Get your family involved.  Ask them what their favorite meals are, then teach them how to make them.  Your family learns how to help in the kitchen and it's always helpful to have more cooks!


Weight Loss Tip

A couple of years ago, my honey and I went to a First Place For Health Bible study.  It was great incentive to exercise and eat healthy proportions for snacks and meals.  We both lost enough weight that we felt good and our clothes fit so much better.  Then, between my dad passing away unexpectedly (you don't care much about walking and healthy eating when you are depressed) and my honey getting a promotion that caused him to be at his desk most of the day, we have both put back on most of the weight over the last two years that we had lost.  Not good! 

We have been determined to get back on track!  We are walking again, and my goal is to make food prep and calorie counting easier. I am going to get a menu done!  Figuring out all the calories is a tedious job...

The other day when I was on Pinterest, I came across this simple idea that I think is really going to help me get the weight off.  I have put two juice glasses on my bathroom vanity with the labels - Pounds To Go and Pounds Lost.  Then I stepped on the scale...holding my breath...groaned, then figured out how many pounds I wanted to lose.  I put one marble for each pound in the Pounds To Go glass (it doesn't look like many marbles in the picture, but there are over thirty - that in itself was encouraging!).  I wrote down my goal weight at the top of a card then my initial weight from that day.  Every Sunday morning, I will weigh myself, record my weight on the card and hopefully move marbles to the Pounds Lost glass. 

Ok, I started this process on a Tuesday so I only had five days until my first Sunday weigh in.  I  LOST  TWO  POUNDS!!  I couldn't believe it!  Seriously!  I thoroughly enjoyed moving two marbles to the Pounds Lost glass!  I am a visual learner so I believe this is going to work for me.  Cool!

Love rejoices with the truth...

So...our Internet was down, thus the single post last week from Nanna's Kitchen. 

We have a lot of ground to cover to finish our verses on love from I Corinthians 13.  Lord willing, we will finish on Thursday.  Today's phrases come from verse 6:

does not delight in evil but 

rejoices with the truth.

 Love does not take pleasure in or get a kick out of things that shouldn't be or that are wrong.  But, it does congratulate or celebrate with someone when integrity is proven by reality.  How many people do you know who seem to thrive on tearing other people down?  On the other hand, how many people do you know who always seem to speak of positive things about other people?  Which of these people is showing love?  

Middle East Update

Please check out Joel Rosenberg's weblog.  There are things happening daily in the Middle East as tensions are mounting and countries are taking sides.

Fly Lady

Monday is the day for our Home Blessing Hour.  How have you been doing with your new Finally Loving Yourself habits?  

FYI - For the month of March, we will add the new habit of going to bed with a shiny kitchen sink.  This is definitely one I have to master!  See - you're not the only one!

Healthy Lunch - Cheese Melt

You can add a slice of meat to this sandwich for added protein.

2 slices multi-grain bread

1 organic tomato, cut into thick 1/2" slices

2 slices organic mozarella cheese

brown mustard

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.  Spread mustard on the bread.  Place bread on a cookie sheet.  

Place one slice of tomato on each piece of bread, then cover each tomato with a slice of cheese.  

Bake in oven until cheese is melted.  Yum!

Love is not easily angered...

I am finally feeling well enough to get some things done!  Yea!  Ok, back to love. Let's look at the next two phrases:

not easily angered...
This means easily provoked or exasperated.

it keeps no record of wrongs... 
This phrase means to keep an inventory of worthless or injurious things.

Probably for the first ten years or so of our marriage, I thought that I could just put aside things my honey said or did that hurt my feelings.  I mistakenly thought that I was being submissive.  Goodness!  The things we believe when we don't know the truth...

Back to the story... Stuffing all those feelings down inside was only possible for so long and I spent a lot of time being exasperated with him.  About twice a year, I would explode and the record of all my honey's wrong would come spilling out of my mouth.  I will never forget when he looked at me and said, "Would you just tell me when I do something that makes you mad?"   What a novel concept!

Now, when he does or says something that hurts my feelings, I pray that God would help me to understand the truth about the situation and that He would help me to kindly explain my feelings to my honey.  I no longer carry around the burden of that record of all his wrongs that I used to keep.  It's so much easier!


Homemaking Tip

The last time I was packing my honey's suitcase for a business trip, I noticed that his suitcase was looking a bit shabby. 

 I thought I would have to go look for a new suitcase for him, but then got an idea.  I would see if I could make it look a little less shabby.  I got a pair of scissors and my sweater shaver.  First, I cut off as much of the loose fibers with the scissors as I could.

Then, I used the sweater shaver (which I had previously purchased at Walmart) and shaved off as much as I could. 

 It looks so much better!  Maybe it will do for another year or so...

Now I just need to figure out what to use to get the dirt off the tan part.  Hmmm...

More love is coming...

We got back from visiting family and I was down all afternoon yesterday...swollen glands and fatigue...again...

It is what it is!  So, today's post will consist only of a recipe.  Enjoy!

Today's Recipe -  Gluten-free Dairy-free Rice Krispy Treats
This recipe is for my little buddy, Leland.

These delicious treats were so easy to make and taste very close to the original treats. You need three ingredients:  Gluten-free Rice Krispies, gluten-free marshmallows and coconut butter.

Grease a 9x13 glass pan with coconut butter.  Set aside.

Melt 3 tablespoons coconut butter and 4 cups (10 oz) miniature marshmallows in a large pan over low heat.  Add 6 cups Gluten Free Rice Krispies and stir until well coated.  Pat into the greased pan.  Yum!!

Love does not act unbecomingly...

I Corinthians 13:4-8a tells us what love is and isn't.  There are eight things listed that love is and eight things that love is not.  Today's phrase is the fourth of what love is not.  The Greek word for act unbecomingly is from the same root as rude or arrogant - yesterday's thing that love is not. Hmmm...  I'm not sure why this word was chosen.

So, I pulled out my trusty Webster's Dictionary to see the definition of unbecoming:

not according with the standards appropriate to one's position or condition of life; indecorous - not conforming to what is accepted as right, fitting, or in good taste.

Oh... So yesterday was talking about actions and today is talking about an attitude of rebellion that causes action.  Now, admittedly, conforming is easier for some people than it is for others.  It still doesn't give us an excuse...

We have to keep in mind, though, that the only standard we must conform to is the standard of God, set before us in His Word.  All the more reason to read and study! 

I want to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day!  Celebrate by truly loving those around you!  I will be spending time with family through next Wednesday, so the next post will be on Thursday.  God's blessings!


Fly Lady

Friday is Paperwork and Misc. Day

Love yourself:
Make your bed.
Get dressed down to your shoes first thing every morning.
Swish and swipe your bathroom.