Lost In the Prairies.....Found by God

Muslims are reportedly coming to faith in Christ in record numbers in Iran. In recent months, The Voice of the Martyrs has received several reports of opposition facing Iranian Christians, including the arrest of 15 newly converted Christians in the city of Mashhad Razavi Khorasan in July. Despite increased persecution, however, contacts have confirmed that believers in Iran are continuing to share Christ courageously with Muslims, with many converting from Islam to Christianity as a result.

Praise the Lord for the many lives that have been touched by His grace in Iran!

Pray that new converts will grow in their faith.

Pray that God will give endurance, encouragement and a spirit of unity to all those following Christ in Iran (Romans 15:5).

After posting Caffeinated Randomness - Tagged Your It and reading Lindsey's comment about looking forward to my answers, I realized I needed a Part Two to this post to answer my own questions.   Here we go:

Purses.  I have an addiction.  I love purses.  I love the look, feel and smell of purses.  I like small ones, big ones, round and square ones.  My husband currently has me on a purse purchasing freeze.  That doesn't stop me from looking for that all important must have purse.  This is the purse I'm currently coveting.

Isn't it beautiful.

 
2.  What is one habit you do that you've done since you were a child? (ie. bite nails, etc..)
I can clap each of my hands by themselves - one hand clapping.  I've been told it's disgusting to watch.  Maybe I'll vlog it one day for all of you to watch.  My grandmother says I started doing it when I was in the jolly jumper, hence that when I get excited I tend to do it more.  

3.  If money was no object, where would you go and what would you do? 

My dream vacation is to tour every major European Museum.  I'll make it to at least the Tate and de Hague one day.

4.  As we are currently doing some home renovations while I write this, what is the one thing you wish you could do to your house?
We're actually doing it right now.  We are retiling our entry way.  The tiles the previous owner laid were cracking and were cream coloured.  The new tiles are a dark marble colour.  Once it's finished I'll take a picture and share it with all of you.

When we moved into our house, we started looking for new counter tops for our bathroom.  We liked the wood cupboards, but the counter was stained and cracking.  We found a lovely marble one and installed it.  However, to install it we removed the hideous old back splash.  When we removed it, we realized that we needed to tile over the drywall as we would not be able to paint over it.  While my husband was tiling, he was using tile spacers to make sure they were uniformly placed.  The kids were playing with the spacers while he was doing this.  Our daughter firmly informed him during this process:  "Look here Daddy!  You have a lot of X's and we WANT a lot of X's."  He had been told.  This has become the catch phrase around the house when we want something that someone has.  You just change X to what you want.   

 
6.  What kind of music do you enjoy, beside Christian music?

This is a tough  one as I love most genre's of music.  However, the one I probably listen to most would be light rock.

We try to sleep in.  That doesn't always happen as Sam wants to eat pretty early.  I make pancakes for the kids and we listen to a Shell Busey's HouseSmart radio show.  It's just that easy folks!

He redeemed me and made me a part of His family.

I want to thank you all for your awesome comments last week.  I was a little hesitant as to whether to put my testimony out there, but now I am very thankful I did.  You ladies continue to show me God's grace and love every day.  

Don't you love it.  I was going to use a picture of a mug the Babes and I purchased for Andrea.   However, the more and more I thought of it, the more I wanted to use one of my favourite mugs.  As you can see it holds a LOT of coffee.  Most importantly, it has a powerful message - "I'm Not WONDER WOMAN, but GOD MADE ME WONDERFUL!"  I purchased this mug 4 years ago at the Women of Faith conference.  It was the topic of Sheila Walsh's speech that day, as well as the title of her book  I saw the mug and knew I had to have it.  It even came with a matching bag.  The mug is well used and little chipped and cracked, just like me.  I'm not perfect.  I've been through a lot of messes and spills.  I'm chipped, but not broken.  I'm well loved by a God who made me and said it was VERY GOOD (Genesis  1:31 NIV). 

Last week, Bobbi of Blogging Along (I love the alliteration), challenged us to answer 8 questions and then to make 8 of our own.  So I will answer the 8 questions this lovely lady gave us and then challenge all of you to answer my 8 questions.  Here are my answers:

This is a tough one.  I loved stories and didn't really have an absolute favourite.  It wasn't until I was in my early teens that I could define what my favourite book was.  I know my favourite book when I was young was a compilation of old stories - Cinderella, Princess and the Pea, Cobbler and the Elves, Rapunzel and the Ugly Duckling.  I loved this book.  Not for the stories, but for the pictures.  It was done with the same animation used in the old Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer TV special (stop motion).  I loved the costumes all the female characters had on and used to draw them on paper and always hoped that my wedding dressed looked as beautiful as Cinderella's (very baroque).

2.  What christian book, other than the Bible, has deeply affected you lately?

It would be and Shofar Blew by Francine Rivers.  What an eye opening experience about the church in North America and the possibilities of what could occur if we don't first ask God what His will is and go down our own path and make concessions.

3.  What was your Pastor's sermon on last week??

I honestly don't know.  I was in the Children's Church teaching preschoolers about spreading the word of Jesus.  I'm not sure they understood the entire lesson but we had fun.

4.  Chips or Popcorn?

This one is hard.  I love both.  I would have to say Popcorn probably would win as I always keep it in the house.  It just is the longer process as I air pop it and melt the butter.  Yes, I said BUTTER!  

5.  What is your favorite Christmas cookie?  I'm up for recipes too!!

My favourite Christmas Cookie would be Butterscotch Gingerbread.  You use baked butterscotch pudding in the ingredients.  The cookies are always moist and yummy.  We make them all year round .  The kids refer to them now as Gingy from Shrek.

 
6.  Do you have a favorite chair?  Are you brave enough to share a picture??  At least share why.

In our living room we have two rockers - one is a swivel rocker and the other is just a rocker.   My chair is the rocker.   I read once that as a mom you should stake out a corner of the house where you can go to calm yourself and have 5 minutes of peace.  This is my claim.  I have a basket on the side with my books, magazines, bibles, pens, pencils, fliers, bulletins, etc...and a side table to hold the rest of it.  The kids know this area as the place where mommy prays and reads.  They also know it as the place where mommy reads to them and holds them when they want a cuddle. 



7.  How much (and of what type) CAFFEINATED (or, okay...sigh...decaf) RANDOMNESS do you daily indulge??  (I love Starbucks Verona...about 4 cups a day...iced, espressoed, latted, etc.)

I have at least 2 cups, if not 3 a day.   I have to have the first cup within an hour of being up and then I sip on a few throughout the day.  I have to admit that once the coffee maker is off, I'm not opposed to microwaving a cup to heat it up.  I know you're all cringing while you read this.  I always have milk and sweetener in my coffee so I really don't notice that much of a difference.  If anything, it's a stronger cup of coffee.

8.  How did you choose your childrens' names?

That is quite a story so the short form is as follows:  Nicole was a name that my hubby chose that I didn't mind as long as we NEVER called her Nikki.  Thomas was a name we both liked and was biblical.  Samuel was chosen after Sam Gagner, of the Edmonton Oilers, scored a goal during one of their games.

Here are my questions for you lovely ladies:

1.  Purses/shoes/chocolate - Which could you not live without on a desert island?
2.  What is one habit you do that you've done since you were a child? (ie. bite nails, etc..)
3.  If money was no object, where would you go and what would you do?
4.  As we are currently doing some home renovations while I write this, what is the one thing you wish you could do to your house?
5.   What is the funniest thing one of your children have ever said to you?  (I'll tell you about the X's story one day)
6.  What kind of music do you enjoy, beside Christian music?
7.  What do you do on a Saturday morning?
6.  What is the most significant thing God has done for you?

I can't wait to get to know more about each of you.