:::: Happy New Year! ::::

Today is the last day of 2011. Tomorrow is the first day of 2012.

::: I look back and I am so thankful for God's faithfulness :::

.God has taught me to trust Him like never before.

.I have learned to be patient and content in places I thought it was impossible to be so.

.God showed me that He is God, regardless of my circumstances.

.I learned about hope in the middle of hopelessness.

.God showed me His *beautiful* grace and mercy in new ways.

.I love Him more this year then I did last year.

:::I look forward with anticipation because of God's faithfulness:::

.There will be new adventures.

.There will be more to love about God.

.There will be NEW things to experience.

.There will be more people to love.

.I will love Him more next year then I did this one.

Happy New Year everyone! May you look back and see His faithfulness.

May you look forward with hope and anticipation. Blessings on your New Year!

Love,

Heather

:: i remember your faithfulness ::

:: Life has been so full these past few months that I've only had time to post photos and very little of what has been stirring in my heart.

:: My good shepherd has been leading me on a journey of trusting Him more through reminding me of His faithfulness.

:: It began with a decision to walk in thankfulness...for everything. For the big things, the small things and everything in between. God gives so much joy and strength to a thankful heart; I have been in awe of it.

:: Then I was reading the first chapter of Matthew and meditating on God's faithfulness to His people, from Abraham to Joseph and everyone in between. I went back to the Old Testament and read some of their stories. With every chapter, I was more encouraged. God is not a God that forgets His people or His promises. He is a provider, a healer, a deliverer, merciful, just, good, and so incredibly faithful. He truly uses all things for good and His glory if we give them to Him. My heart has been continually filled with thankfulness for who He is and what He has done.

:: There is this song by Jon Thurlow called "Your Faithfulness" and I've listened to it hundreds of times these past couple months. It's about remembering the faithfulness of God to the patriarchs and His faithfulness to us. So as this year is ending and I'm looking back at it, I remember His faithfulness to me through it. I'm so thankful for His faithfulness in every single day. He has never left me and He will use everything for His glory and His Kingdom.

a little November blizzard

We said good-bye to November with snow! It was the first snow of the year to actually stick...and it stuck to everything! I know in a couple months I will be tired of the stuff but right now it's beautiful and magical the way it covers everything.

I had the privilege to be out early the morning after it all fell and I was in awe of how beautiful it was. I was like Lucy her first time in Narnia.

This looks like a Christmas card

My street was so pretty!

Giving of Thanks!

.Thanksgiving.

This year the holiday has my heart filled with thankfulness for my family, the friends and church God has given me and all the little things in life. Most of all though I have been overwhelmed by God's faithfulness and His loving-kindness to me. I am so blessed to know my God.

::Here are some pictures of our holiday::

Great Food...

...and even better people!

...Christmas crafts are always a part of the day...

The great idea that wasn't. Trying to swirl the paint on the inside of the ornament with a power drill...the result was one less ornament and paint on the kitchen floor. (If you're friends with my sister Hannah on Facebook you can watch the video.)

Some of my favorite people.

First Snow

November 10, 2011.First Snow of the season!
It started out a beautiful sunny day. But my heart fell when I opened the door to go for a run and was greeted by more rain. Minutes later though, that rain turned into snow. It proceeded to snow off and on throughout the rest of the afternoon. I was thankful for a window in front of my desk at work so I could watch! My co-worker and I even turned on some Christmas music. Thank you Jesus for the first snow!

My little sister was excited too...She was catching snowflakes on her tongue.

Good Morning November!

November is here! I began it with a Chai Latte and a piece of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread.

caramel and apples

This weekend my sister and I made caramel apples after her trip to an orchard with some friends. They didn't exactly come out like we planned...but we had fun!

My little sister helping

Caramel!

We put them in the fridge hoping they would get harder but the caramel was to thin and it ended up being apples sitting in a really big puddle of caramel. So we sat on the living room floor, watched The Incredibles and got really sticky! The perfect way to spend an October evening.

A Trip to the Orchard and Grandma's

The first weekend in October was beautiful! After a week of rain, we were ready for the sun and a trip to the apple orchard!

We went to this great family owned orchard way north of town off on a dirt road.

We won't be making applesauce for a couple more weeks so the trip was made mainly for fresh cider and donuts! For some reason though I failed to take a picture of those because I was taking pictures of all the other delightful things they had...

Like baby pumpkins!

After that adventure we went to my Grandparents house nearby for some AMAZING vegetable soup for dinner...and some home grown tomatoes!

My little sister Abigail got to pick a pumpkin from Grandpa's pumpkin patch for our front porch.

It was a great way to start the month of October and the Autumn season.

October Sunshine

I love that October began with a glorious week of sunshine and warmth!

Pom juice + Sunshine = happiness

Psalm 119 again

This is a continuation from what I shared last week from Psalm 119. Reading through this chapter only one verse a day has showed me so many things I never noticed before because I always read through it so quickly. This week I read verse 75:

I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

That word "afflicted" caught my attention. And not just because it's kind of an unpleasant word. What struck me was he says "you have afflicted me". The Psalmist isn't saying God has allowed him to be afflicted, or seen that he is afflicted. He is basically blaming the Lord for his afflicted state. Yet it's not in a bitter tone because of the preface to it. He says he knows that God's judgments are righteous and it's because God is faithful that He has afflicted him. In His perfect righteousness and goodness, in His love and faithfulness, God sometimes leads us through valleys and seasons of affliction. But in those places we can be confident in the goodness of God. We can know that even though we don't see the whole picture, God does and somehow this mess fits into that. In His faithfulness He will work all things together for good.

Indian summer!

I think we've been having what they call "Indian summer". Although it's September on the calender, the weather is warm and sunny. For this I am very thankful because my little heart (and my toes) have been dreading the coming of winter. I enjoy the changing of seasons but I wish summer lasted longer and winter ended sooner. Anyway...Praise the Lord for summer as long as it lasts!!

Sandals to work once more!

This tree across the street from my office seems determined to have a jump on the competition and change colors before the others.

good

I'm taking a little break from all the photo posting to share something that has been sitting in my heart the last couple days.
I've been reading through Psalm 119 one verse per day and it has been turning me upside down. Yesterday I read verse 68:

"You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes."

The first part of that is what really hit my heart. David is declaring this of the Lord, that He is good and does good. This is such a strong comfort because no matter what happens, God is good and He does good. Even though things are so hard sometimes, even though they hurt so much, even when they make no earthly, humanly conceivable sense, I know that if they are submitted to God, it will be good. We might not see the good now, we might not see it until we are with Him in Eternity but He promises that he will work all things together for good for those who are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus (Romans 8:28-29). Because He is good.
In the Hebrew this word is: יָטַב or yä·tav'. It has many shades of meaning as most ancient Hebrew words do. One of them is "to be well placed". No place is "more good" (excuse my English grammar) than where our heavenly father places us.
It reminds me of a scene in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when the Pevensies are first hearing about Aslan. "Is He safe?" asks Lucy. The beavers laugh and tell her, "He isn't safe, but He is good." And it's so true...sometimes surrendering everything to God isn't the safest thing to do...but it is the best (or most good).
This word can also mean "to be well with". Like one of my favorite Hymns that says "What ever my lot, you have taught me to say it is well, it is well with my soul."

I am so thankful I serve a good God...that does good.

Kissing Summer Goodbye...The Bridge

So here are pictures of the reason we went Up North for Labor Day Weekend...walking The Mackinaw Bridge!

The day was a little chilly...we did our best to stay warm!

TOMS on the bridge

Don't look down!!

We made it!

That almost concludes the first weekend...yes there are still a few more :)

Kissing Summer Goodbye...Camp Store Installment

Here are more pictures as I promised from the end of summer vacation part 1. Aloha State Park has a little camp store with ice cream, fresh donuts, firewood, and all the things campers need. The lighting was great so I took a few pictures...

The anticipation of ice cream at the camp store is killing them...hence the lack of smiles

I decided to take pictures in the mean time

Gas and Firewood...

They might have been FRESH but it didn't help their flavor

Abigail enjoying her ice cream

Next time I'll post pictures of the reason we went up north on Labor Day Weekend...

Kissing Summer Goodbye...Part 1

I'm afraid I have already done a poor job of posting more often on my blog. The day after I posted my little resolution, my family went on vacation for Labor Day Weekend. I was only home for a couple days to work full time before leaving for the next weekend as well.

I can't think of a better way to say goodbye to summer than spending it in beautiful northern Michigan.

Here are some pictures from the camping portion of our trip:

The Sweetest part of camping!

Scotty thoroughly enjoying his S'more

What is a camping trip without a lake?

Regrettably it was far to cold for a swim...so we climbed on rocks instead.

Jacob relaxing with his book

More pictures to come tomorrow...I didn't want to make this massive by putting them all up at once.

Happy September First!!

Today is September First already!! So crazy!
Apparently September is Better Breakfast month. In light of that, and the fact that we had banana's that were attracting fruit flies, I made Banana Strudel Muffins this morning.

In an effort to use my blog more I have decided to use it as a photo journal of the little things in life that I am thankful for. God has been teaching me so much about contentment and being thankful in this season so this is a way for me to be accountable and share it!

Happy September!!