GraceFull Home

Mother’s Day Thoughts

May

Written By Amy

Happy Mother’s Day! We just finished making plans for today…a bike ride, a little shopping, a movie, and pizza all with one stipulation–our whole family is together for every little bit of it. We are in a phase of life that pulls our family five different directions each day, so I treasure a day where I can say, “No sports, no friends, no school…just family.” This is a gift to me!

Last year I blogged about my soul-searching journey as a mom. If you would like to read it please click here.

Moms, I pray that you are blessed today!

Hugs,

Amy

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“May Day!”

May

By Jen

Written By Jen

Hey friends! Amy and I are going to take the month of May off from blogging. May is one of the busiest months of the year. It is full of celebrations, graduations, parties, performances, ceremonies, and it is busy, busy, busy. So, we are going to give ourselves some grace and take the month off. We may post here and there, but for the most part we are going to just try to remain present and thankful in the moment, while trying to keep our ships afloat! We hope you all have a wonderful May! We also are going to take some time at the beginning of June to talk and pray about Grace Full Home. We will we talking about what’s coming up for the summer months and the fall for the blog. See you back here soon! Grace to you this May!

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Men and Women: “Why are you so different than me?”

May

By Amy

Written By Amy

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the differences between men and women, and how we can find more peace in our relationships with the other gender when we understand God created us to be different, to compliment each other.

That being said, those differences will continue to crop up in unexpected places and surprise us.

A story that illustrates my point happened a couple of months ago when we were visiting some family friends. My daughter Maddie (10), my friend, and her daughter in law and I were sitting on the couch chatting. The topic of getting pulled over by the police came up and my friend shared how she and her husband had been pulled over that morning for making a turn from the wrong lane. My friend was being her nice self and pleasantly nodding to the cop while her husband, who didn’t agree with officer, respectfully questioned him and explained his driving intentions. I laughed and said, “Yep, that is totally how it would have played out in our car. Me, appeasing and being as sweet and agreeable as pie, and Jon respectfully “discussing” the situation with the officer.” There was a slight pause as the three older women in the room pondered this silently (because we are wise enough to keep our mouths shut) and then Maddie, who had been quietly listening to this conversation blurted out in an exasperated tone, “MEN!”

Oh boy, did we have a laugh over that one.

How do we reconcile how different we really are? We look at God’s intentions.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 (NIV)

^“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: ¹⁰ For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.”

God created us for companionship. The more we are able to accept and let go of our differences, the more blessed and easy that companionship becomes. We were created to compliment each other, strengthen each other’s weaknesses, lean on each other’s strengths. Instead of being exasperated by the way your significant other handles something, what if you saw him/her as fulfilling the true purpose of who God created them to be? What if, those exact things that annoy are actually the strengths that fill in your weaknesses?

God’s intentions were to create men and women in his image (which is perfect!) and provide us with companions to walk with us and differences to strengthen us.

When you are exasperated with your spouse, and cannot imagine how he/she can react or see things so differently than you, ask God to create a miracle of understanding in your heart. Ask him to show you how He sees your spouse…I bet it would be with eyes of grace and forgiveness.

Who He Is

May

By Jen

Written By Jen

I am trying to read a little bit of 1 Timothy each day this week. There is one bit that keeps running though my mind. It comes from 1 Timothy 1:15-18ish and I posted it here in the Message and the emphasis is added by me, it says this:

Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever.

Deep honor and bright glory
      to the King of All Time—
   One God, Immortal, Invisible,
      ever and always. Oh, yes!

I have been thanking God for his endless patience with me. I love the last part that I bolded. It is all praise to God, all honor and glory. It states who he is, King Eternal, Lord Immortal, God Invisible. He is worthy of our praise.

Leave a Comment Filed Under: General Bible Bites

Three Websites To Simplify Life

Apr

By Amy

Written By Amy

I recently learned about three websites that have already been helpful/made my life easier and wanted to pass them on.

1. PUNCHBOWL is an e-card sharing site…I recently sent a quick thank you note to someone, and they have a good selection of free cards! You can also do a paid membership, but I’m sticking with free. Just go to www.punchbowl.com

2. THE KAHN ACADEMY is a website full of online lessons for your child to look up when he/she is struggling with a concept. Math, Geography, History, you name it. Mr. Kahn has uploaded hundreds of tutoring snippets which he presents on a chalkboard lesson–helpful for those of us parents who want to brush up on our Algebraic linear equations to keep up with the kids! My friend who has a high school student recommended it to me, however my elementary-age kids were just on the site getting some math help. Love this resource! Click here

3. MANILLA is a website designed to help you organize all of your online bills. I recently joined Manilla and it was simple and straightforward. I linked all of my online bills to this site and with one password have access to everything–I am even getting reminers about due dates on my email.