Beauty day 14- 2 hour delay

I heart 2 hour delays!  They are a thing of beauty for this momma who likes to sleep.

Beauty day 13 pets

I know its crazy and my husband would so disagree with this post.

Kelsey is our 10 year old dog who brings us much joy. 
She brings me much strife sometimes, but for the most part, she is a joy.

I took her to the vet today and watching her all nervous and acting like a real kid just cracked me up.

So today having pets is a thing of beauty.

Beaty day 12-Corporate worship, personal God

As I mentioned earlier, we had a great day of worship yesterday.
Worshipping with a large group of people can seem impersonal to some. I felt God speaking to my heart as if I was the only one there!
One of my favorite songs of the morning was "Your Beautiful" by Phil Wickham.
I love it, but it brings me to tears every.single.time!

Worshipping with others is a thing of beauty, as is the God who speaks to each of our hearts independently.

Beauty day 11- family worship

We attend a large church with over 4000 members.  We usually attend on Saturday night with 800 others.  This week, though, we had to attend on Sunday morning with over 1500 other people.

The service was quite the production.

But..... what was more beautiful was worshipping with the whole family.  Seeing the kids sing and worship was great.  Nothing brings me more joy than knowing (and seeing) that my kids worship the King of Kings.

Family worship is a thing of beauty.

Beauty day 10- teenagers

People like to scare me and say how BAD teenagers are or they  say "wait until they are teenagers"  like it's a bad thing.  I think the group in general gets a bad rap.  (I know that there are plenty of really bad kids out there)

I have never been a youth leader, or really wanted to be.  Joe was good with that age of kids, not me. Right?

But I am loving having a teenager.  She and her friends are full of life and love to laugh.  A group of them were going to see the new Narnia movie tonight and wanted to watch Prince Caspian at our house first. 

They know they are always welcome here. 

In they walk.  Right to the pizza, opening the fridge like its their house to get a drink.

We have a long way to go, and many more teenager to have in our house. 

I will keep the fridge stocked and the pizzas on hand.

Teenagers are a thing of beauty.

Beauty day 9-quality time

My ten year old daughter Annie loves crafts and her love language is quality time.  We combine the 2 when we do crafts and scrap booking together.  Time for just the 2 of us is hard , so I have to be intentional about it.

We made this knock off last night from an old bulletin board we had.  It is a cheap and easy way to show off those pretty Christmas cards.

                                        Quality time with my sweet daughter is a thing of beauty.

Beauty day 8-the written word

It happens every year.  I start making my cookies and open up my cookbook to this page. 

And, I cry.

My late sister-in law Jane wrote this out for me 14 years ago in a letter she sent to me.  She was encouraging me to go forward with a cookie business, so I could continue to stay home with Amy.  She sent her most complimented recipe and I make it every year.  Honestly, they are not my favorite.  This recipe is though, it is in her handwriting and I can't get that anymore. 

We lost her 12 years ago to breast cancer and I still miss her.

Handwritten messages from those we love are a thing of beauty.