Know Jesus and Make Him Known

Awhile back I heard the phrase "Know Jesus and make Him known" on a radio show.  It was from this devotional .  I loved the phrase as soon as I heard it.  Of course, my visual mind made a little picture and it reminded me of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" print.

I learned today the origins of that print date back to World War II.
Watch this video about the origins of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" print.

When I heard about the print being created during the war, I thought about the war we fight daily.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Ephesians 6:12

I decided to create a visual reminder that I now refer to as our family rules.

Know Jesus and Make Him Known

Adopting

It was around Thanksgiving weekend, 2012 that a nine month old baby entered our home.  We have enjoyed watching him grow, progress and become an active toddler.  A few months ago, parental right were signed off/terminated.  We then began the process to adopt him.  Over the past couple weeks, I have felt such a greater emotional connected (yup, the attachment word) and it has been amazing.  It is  crazy how much he looks like Sam and Sydney.  He has the same skin tone as Sydney and similar hair to Sam.  Needless to say, Sam and Sydney are crazy in love with him.  We are so blessed to love him.  I pray that he has a strong identity as a child of God and will have a heart that seeks him early.  He loves his Bible story book I read to him every day.  He often goes into his room and starts looking for it. Actually, he calls most books Bibles because we read his Bible the most.  Prayers are already being answered. Praise God.

Below is a design I created for His room.

Chosen Print

https://www.etsy.com/listing/163515963/orphanadoption-printable-8x10-colossians?

Fall Decor printable

I just love philippians 4.  The verses have really spoken to me lately as some things in my life are out of my control and I am not liking the outcome.  But I will rejoice and pray and think about true things and guess what, I get peace!   I hope these verses will bless you and your home as much as they bless me.

Overwhelmed

It seems like I keep running into people that are stepping back from commitments because they are overwhelmed and have too much on their plates.  While I think we can all get ourselves overcommitted pretty fast and we do need to make sure our priorities are in check, I also wonder if we are worrying too much about tomorrow and not relying on God's strength to get us through each day.  This morning I read in my Jesus Calling Devotional by Sarah Young.
"DO NOT LET any set of circumstances intimidate you.  The more challenging your day, the more of My Power I place at your disposal.  you seem to think that I empower you equally each day, but this is not so.  Your tendency upon awakening is to assess the difficulties ahead of you, measuring them against your average strength.  This is an exercise in unreality.  I know what each of yours days will contain, and I empower you accordingly.  The degree to which I strengthen you on a given day is based mainly on two variables: the difficulty of your circumstances, and your willingness to depend on Me for help.  Try to view challenging days as opportunities to receive more of My Power than usual.  Look to Me for all that you need, and watch to see what I will do.  As your day, so shall your strength be.
EPHESIAN 1:18-20, PSALM 105:4, DEUTERONOMY 33:25"

I just love Psalm 105:5, Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

Christmas Prayer Printable

We are all familiar with the song, 12 Days of Christmas. I decided to act on that song and have 12 Prayers of Christmas. This is so great to have in your home over the holidays. Spend a few minutes in prayer as you walk by this print. You can order your own printable at my Etsy shop

Advent Printable

I saw this great blog post the other day for an advent reading scheduled that followed the Jesus Story Book Bible. So I went to work and design a cute printable for each day that has the bible story as well as the bible verses. I am excited to do this with my family and look forward to the added visual for the kids as we read the story. Find these and other Christmas printables at my etsy shop

Candy

It looks so sweet and innocent!

Ugh, Halloween came and went.  I am not a fan of Halloween and especially not a fan of the candy.  I really try to keep the sugar out of our diet. I am so fed up with this question, "Mom, can I have a piece of candy".  How I hear it is similar to nails scratching down a chalk board.  Right now, I limit the kids to 1-2 pieces a day.  I just realized that in the end that will result in many, many, many more days of the dread question.  To be honest, I am almost waiting for my kids to be bad so they have to dump their candy as a consequence (that did happen 2 years ago).