New Blog!!!! Please Follow Me Here…

Hi Friends!

I have some exciting news!  I am moving over to WordPress.org and I want you all to come with me!  It is a work in progress and looks completely different than it does over here, and in a couple months it will be even MORE different when I get my new theme!  I am so excited!  I will still be writing about my faith, family and our homeschooling adventures, so no worries there!

My new blog name will be “Grace For My Journey!”  I have listed all my new information in a graphic for you.  Please come on over and follow me on my new blog and social media!  I can’t wait to start sharing with you all the things God has put on my heart for you!

See you soon and God Bless!

 

Happy Anniversary!

Well life has been busy in our home due to lots of homeschooling, horse riding, drama and other extra-curricular activities that come with being a homeschool family.  Not to mention church, serving in different ministries inside and outside of our church, my personal business (Thirty-One Gifts) which I love and regular family life!

My Muppin’s school work got more intense this year and she is doing amazing.  It isn’t without it’s bumps and bruises along the way though.  I am just thankful that our fall this year has been incredibly warm and wonderful because she loves doing her work outside!

Even with all her hard work it amazing me she finds time to do some amazing things for her family… for example, most recently my and my husband’s anniversary.  She is amazing!  Let me show you why!

As you can see she went to a lot of work to draw and write poetry for us, but that wasn’t all!  She also performed a show for us!  Below is her show program, and inside it lists her poems she wrote for us and funny clips she performed.  She truly is an inspiration in our home.  And she was fabulous!

Here is her first poem.

“Happy Anniversary Poem”

Happy Anniversary, mom & dad.
I’m sure you’re very happy & glad,
Cause today’s a very special day,
for you & yours,
now you’re walking through another door.

So Happy Anniversary from yours truly,
C…. E…., now that’s pretty coolly!

She is pretty amazing isn’t she!  Here is another one she wrote and performed.

“I Love My Parents!”

I love my mom,
she’s a loving mom,
a caring mom,
a beautiful mom,
a funny mom,
the best mom…. ever…. forever.
She is a blessing!

I love my dad,
he’s a great dad,
a cool dad,
a handsome dad,
a silly dad,
the best dad…. ever…. forever.
He is a blessing!

I…. Love…. My…. PARENTS!!!!!

And if that wasn’t enough!  You know, writing poetry, performing it, drawing pictures and stuff… she also created rings for us and gave them to us to wear as a reminder of our vows 19 years ago.  She is truly a blessing and I am honored to get to be her mom!  Her heart is so full of love that I can’t wait until she get’s to be a mom someday and share that love with her kids… I mean… I can wait… lol… I can wait a LONG time! lol

Poetry is copyrighted by this blog… please do not share without permission.

Free Write Friday – Via Our Homeschooler

I love Free Write Friday (FWF) and have not done it in a while!  Kellie Elmore is an amazing writer and has a weekly writing tool for those that want to have as much fun as she does. Each week it is a different prompt and this week it is this…

This house has a story…what is it?

Image Credit: We Heart It

Our daughter saw the prompt this time and wanted to write something.  We are a homeschool family and love any new challenges she is willing to take.  So I told her if she did it, I would post it.  She wrote this in 20 minutes. So here is my 9 year old daughters take on this old house.  Thanks Kellie for inspiring even our daughter!  She hopes to have a book published soon (she has written several chapter books) and it makes this mom’s heart glad.

A  Magical Thing

Cloe and Justen jumped into the magic tree house and they sat down and waited for their next mission.  The tree house started to spin and it shook then everything went black!  Finally the black faded off and there was light.  The tree house stop spinning and shaking

Justen and Cloe climbed out.  The magic tree house disappeared.  Justen and Cloe looked around and there was a white house that was a little broken down.

“Does anybody live here?” Cloe asked.

“I don’t know but maybe that’s what we’re here for.  We are detectives you know?” Justen replied.  They climbed over the fence and hid behind a tree.  “Let’s sneak inside and find out if anyone lives here,” Justen said.  “Well,…ok.” Cloe replied.

They snuck up to the porch and Cloe looked in the window but it was too dark to see inside.  Justen creaked open the door, the wind blew and it was a little scary but Cloe and Justen kept going and went inside.  “It looks more beat down in here, “ Justen whispered. “Yeah,” Cloe replied.

They looked around and a sound came from upstairs, it sounded like a knock. “Knock, Knock!”   The sound came. “Hey, Cloe did you hear the knock.  Let’s go see what it is,” Justen said as he pulled out his flashlight and turned it on.  All that came from Cloe was a nod.  So they snuck upstairs.  There was  a long hallway and they walked down it.  At the end of the hall was door with a poster hanging on it.  The poster was so thick that it sounded like a rock banging up against the door in the wind.  Cloe and Justen walked up to it and held their flashlight to it.

It said, “Gold! Don’t come in! Gold!”  Cloe and Justen almost screamed at the same time, they opened the door.  There was a chest with a key laying on top of it.  Cloe and Justen grabbed it together and unlocked the chest.  The chest was full of gold.

Justen and Cloe’s eye’s were wide, they were speechless.  The room started to glow and a man walked in from the light and said, “I’m am awarding you with this gold.  You are one of my helpers, but I warn you.  Use it wisely,…”  He stopped for a minute then said, “I love you!”

The room glowed again and he was gone.  Cloe squealed.  They carried the chest outside, the magic tree house appeared.  They put the chest in and climbed in it.  And as the tree house started to leave, they saw the same man standing next to the house smiling.  They waved to him and he waved back.

~Muppin Schutter ©March 2014

Blood Moon

“THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME.”
Acts 2:20

Photo Credit: VegaStar Carpentier Website – http://www.space.com/18307-blood-red-hunters-moon-photo.html

There is so much today that would break my heart if I would let it.  So much suffering that on some levels there would seem to be no god at all, especially not a holy God above us.  But then you glimpse the tiny little things that cause you to wonder and ask… “Was that god?”

There are so many things that would drown out the voice of Him who calls our names that we are in danger at all times of not hearing a word He says, not seeing the miracles He performs, not feeling the love that He pours out.  The evil is growing, it is prowling and growling and stalking it’s prey… you… me… all of us.  If he could only get us to doubt that what we hear isn’t really God, or what we saw wasn’t really a miracle, then he has us.  If he can get us to shed our own blood, ruin our own lives, sacrifice our own beliefs, then we are truly his slave.

He tried to destroy our protector 2000 years ago and in the moment that he thought he won he was fully defeated and it angered him so deeply that his sole desire is to tear each of us into terrible tiny useless and ineffective little pieces.  We are the hated, despised, loathed and we have become the hunted.  We are the prey.

The blood moon is coming and as it makes its way the enemy of our soul will stop at nothing to make us believe a little less, pray with less passion, seek rarely and love conditionally… all only shadows of the real power He has given us.  If he can do those things, though we “may” be saved our treasure will be small because we were not a true light in the darkness of this world.  We were too busy listening to him who binds our minds to hear Him who frees all of us if given the chance.

How will He find you on that great and glorious day?

~~~~~~~~

This was written for Free Write Friday from the image prompt  above using what is called stream of consciousness writing, no editing, no proofing just writing! Please check out Kellie Elmore’s official site or click on the Free Write Friday Image for more information.

Post your submission with a comment and link to your blog on Kellie’s blog, post on twitter with the hashtag #FWF, Facebook and join the fun!

 

Single Soul

The Agenda

Most of us spend our lives in this country free.  Of course we have jobs to go to, commitments we need to adhere to and there is always someone to answer to.  But for the most part we live life in the “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.”

My question for you though is, are you really free?  I know most of us have been brave because of the way this world is today you have to be. There is murder, rape, abuse, slavery, drug abuse, hatred, and war.  There are lairs, thieves, adulterers, gossipers and those that just care nothing of anyone else unless it fits into their agenda.  Of course the agenda.  Whose? The world’s!  If you aren’t busy and aren’t making sure every moment is filled to the brim, there is something wrong with you.  The world makes sure you are so busy that you stop hearing that voice inside of you that screams RUN! Run away, hide… rest in Me! So on some level we all have to be brave.

But freedom, that is another question.  Am I free?  In my country I am free.  In my home I am free.  In Christ I am free.  In my mind however, I am a slave to fear and worry and the agenda… whether the world’s or my own.

We spend so much of our time worrying about what might happen that we never let ourselves rest long enough to hear how He wants to help us.  We are bound by our own prison walls. Does He want us to pack our bags, pick up and run away leaving everyone behind?  For most of us no, He wants us to run to our prayer closets and hide there resting in Him!  We hear things from every side of us.  Newspapers (mostly online now 😉 ), television, the internet, phones, iPads and people all around jockey for position to tell us what we should think, believe, and do.  It is simply overwhelming.

He wants our lives to be so much simpler, so much more peaceful, without a lot of other voices in our heads that want nothing more than to knock us down so they can be elevated and made king of our lives.

The picture above is perfect because it shows simply what I want to do most days.  I want to pack my bags and leave now, leave to a simpler life, one of joy and peace.  Some days I never want to see another living soul and others I know I would die without those I love.  But always I am wanting something simpler.  Sometimes I wonder if the Amish have it right and the rest of us have lost our minds, though deep down I know that just because their lives are lived differently, they have the same demand on their lives from their community that would threaten to drown out the voice of God.

As I sit here and pour my thoughts out onto this page God speaks to me and calms my heart.  He tells me not to leave as the man in the above picture… with his suitcase in hand.  But to run to Him with nothing in hand!  He wants me to let the Holy Spirit provide for my every need and and for me to let Him comfort me.  Jesus already paved the way for me, all I have to do is accept His road and let the Holy Spirit do all the work that I seem to get frustrated with.

What a gift the Holy Spirit is, the Comforter, the Helper, the Healer!  I am so blessed and most of the time I do not see it, do not feel it, and do not even want to recognize it.  But today I do.  And today I run helplessly into the hands of the Holy Spirit and let Him decide what I do next and let Him worry about how it will get done.  Today  I will just keep my eyes fixed on Jesus and that is all I have to do.  That is freedom, simply and fully.

Are you free?  Or are you still bound?

The above was written as part of the Free Write Friday prompt by Kellie Elmore.  Click on the picture below to be part of it too!  Blessings!

The Ultimate Artist

Both of these pictures are taken from my back porch.  The top one taken only moments before the bottom one.  One with oranges and one with purples!  Each absolutely beautiful in their own way.  God is the true Master Creator!

Do you see Him that way?

Fix your eyes on Him, because though there is so much in the world we do not understand, He has shown us through His creation that He is good and He is still working today.  He wants to work in your life just the same way He works in the beauty of His creation!

Do you believe He does?

You are a creation more beautiful than all the beautiful sunsets you could imagine.  You were created in His image!  You were created for greatness… to be loved… to be cherished… to be fought for.  Jesus fought for you!  He died for you.  Finally, He rose from the dead for you… He did all this so that you could live with HIM forever, because He loved you more than all the other things he had created.  He wants to be with you every single day.

Will you hear Him?

Thankful Thursday!

It is Thankful Thursday again and I love this day.  I do a lot of thinking on what I need to fix about myself and my surroundings and life in general and sometimes being thankful just isn’t in the mix.  And that can get depressing.  But you know, I have so much to be thankful for that I should be doing it on a daily regular basis.

Michelle over at Divas With A Purpose has decided to do just that for Thankful Thursdays!  She is going to list what she is thankful for one day at a time… one each day this week.  I think that is a wonderful idea so I will be doing the same thing.  I will add something I am thankful for each and every day this week so don’t forget to check back to see the rest of the list!

Day 1-  I am thankful for the beautiful sunshine that we have had all this week.  If you know anything about Western Washington, you know this time of year can be very rainy, grey and wet!  The sunshine has been love for my soul.

Day 2-  I am thankful that I can work out again and get back to being healthy.  God is good even through the pain 😉

Day 3-  I am thankful for my church and the leadership we have.  My pastor, Jon Cobler, is an amazing man of God and I am grateful to him for listening to God when preparing to teach us.  This week he had a plan and notes and on Saturday morning God said, “But I want to say this!”  And our pastor listened.  Because of that I am now paying attention to my belief in something very simple…. I believe God can… but do I believe God will?  It is important for us to believe God desires to and will do what He said He will do!  Just food for thought for you!

Day 4-  I am grateful for my mother and father-in-love.  They are truly great people and care for us very much.  I love seeing my daughters eyes light up when they are around.  It was wonderful spending time with them today.

Day 5-

Day 6-

Day 7-

Click the picture below and join us in Thankful Thursday!  Have a blessed day!

Thankful Thursday!

A friend of mine, Michelle, over at Divas With A Purpose has started up her Thankful Thurdsay’s again so here I am to share with you what I am thankful for!  If you get a chance, check out her blog, she is amazing!

So, what am I thankful for?  Many things really 🙂

1. For the most amazing God and His love He has for me regardless of how bad I am or how many messes I make.  He is always there to pick me up and help me move in the right direction!
2. For my amazing husband Mark, who loves me through all my issues and always stands by me no matter what… who provides so well for our family and who makes me laugh like no one else!
3. For my beautiful daughter, the most special gift given to us.  She is pure joy and I love her so much.  She teaches me to have joy every single day.
4. For my church and the ladies that I love there.  More gifts from God.
5. And finally, for the ability to write, how boring would life be without writing!

God is so good.  And I have so much to be thankful for.  What do you have to be thankful for?

Keepsakes

Kellie Elmore has a wonderful little thing she does each Friday called Free Write Friday and each week she comes up with amazing prompts.  This week her prompt is “Keepsakes”.  What is the one special item that we have and what does it mean to us?  Or maybe our keepsake is a memory or a special moment in time we will never forget.

~Monkey~

It was difficult for me to think of my special keepsake at first.  I have lots of things that mean something to me but nothing really that was coming to the front of my mind. Then I thought of my daughters little monkey.  We got Monkey (monkey’s official name) in September 2004, two months before my daughter was due.  We were on an early anniversary trip to the coast because my doc didn’t want me that far away from home so close to my due date.  It was an amazing trip and that is where we saw this little monkey in one of the toy stores and knew we had to have it.  It was so small and cuddly that it would be perfect for her to love on while she was little.

My pregnancy was not easy to say the least.  It took a long time to get pregnant and we thought maybe we would never have a child because of the problems.  Then once pregnant I seemed to have one difficulty after another, from severe nausea/vomiting throughout the whole pregnancy, nerve damage in my leg,  and gestational diabetes to name just a few.  The scariest parts of my pregnancy though, would come when we got home from our trip that brought us Monkey.  For the last almost month before my doctor insisted on taking her early my daughter had stopped moving and growing in my stomach.  This little monkey became so important to me and I remember thinking that I can’t lose my little girl, and I held that monkey many days when I was home alone just praying she would be ok.

My silly little Muppin and Monkey at one month old.

My daughter was brought into this world only two weeks early yet she was so tiny.  What an amazing day it was to bring her into this world.  She was beautiful, full of life.  We ended up in the hospital all week because she was not thriving as well as they hoped, and I had some minor complications because of a reaction to the drugs, but we were ignorant to that because to us she was amazing!  We were only allowed to go home over the weekend if we brought her back on Saturday for more tests to make sure she was ok.  I remember the first couple weeks (maybe more) going to the doctor’s office every other day, yet thinking nothing of it, because that is what you do… right?

I am so glad I was not all with it in those short weeks!  If I had known how sick she was I might have fallen apart. Monkey though was with her through it all.  She was in her little bed at the hospital, next to her many nights and days at home, and while she was meant to bring my daughter comfort, it was me that she really soothed.  Monkey was a silly little gift from God that no one would really understand.  And to this day it holds a special place in my heart.  For me, it tells the whole story of the joy and trials of my daughters entry into this world.  And what a wonderful thing that is.

And my beautiful little Muppin today with silly Monkey! What a joy she is in our lives and what a joy Monkey still is in hers.

If you have not joined Kellie Elmore for her Free Write Friday prompts you are missing out.  Click the picture below to go to her site, you will be blessed!