The Lighting of the Blue Whale

Derrick, the kids, & I went to the "Lighting of the Blue Whale" tonight! Our Mayor was there too! We are getting really excited about Christmas! Derrick and the kids got the nativity scene (Papa Rick's) and stockings down from the attic today and decorated. Soon we will get a Christmas tree...

Also, I always like to share a good book. I can't remember if I mentioned how much I have enjoyed, The Shaping of a Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot. I have had many sweet moments curled up with that book and snacking on dark chocolate dipped in my favorite White Chocolate Wonderful Peanut Butter. But, now I'm on to a new one that I know I'm going to love just as many others have said how much they love it. It is called, What Did You Expect and is written by Paul David Tripp. I love everything I have read by him and also his brother, Tedd Tripp (Shepherding a Child's Heart). I often wonder why God has allowed certain things in my life or my marriage...Paul David says, "We will grieve because we will face difficulty that we neither anticipated nor planned...With this word, tested, God tells you one of the most significant things you will ever understand about your marriage in the here and now. God decided to leave you in this fallen world to live, love, and work, because he intended to use the difficulties you face to do something in you that couldn't be done any other way...Now, it is not wrong to want to be happy, and it is not wrong to work toward marital happiness..." He went on to say that there is nothing wrong with this goal but the only problem is that it is too "small a goal." He said God is working on something much deeper and if He wasn't, He wouldn't be faithful to His promises to you. He went on to say, "The words mean that God is working through your daily circumstances to change you. In his love, he knows that you are not all that you were created to be. Even though it may be hard to admit, there is still sin inside you, and that sin gets in the way of what you are meant to be and designed to do...God is using the difficulties of the here and now to transform you, that is, to rescue you from you. And because he loves you, he will willingly interrupt or compromise your momentary happiness in order to accomplish one more step in the process of rescue and transformation, which he is unshakably committed to."
;)Love it...