Thursday Thoughts

Last week I shared with you some thoughts I had from Psalm 33. I learned that there were 14 reasons to praise and worship the Lord. This week I have been focusing on the first way: His Word is right and true. What is His Word? The Psalmist (by the way, this Psalm doesn't have a title so we don't know who the author was), didn't have the whole canon of Scripture at this point, but he did have the Law and the Words of God spoken through the prophets. He had God's promises that he saw fulfilled. He had God's wisdom and God's view of Holiness. He had the creation account, etc. Now, for us, 1 Timothy 3:16 tells us that "All Scripture" is inspired by God and that the whole of Scripture is right and true. It is very useful in our lives. If I take God at His Word, that means that I believe that all of His promises will come to fruition, I believe the Gospel, I believe that there is certain conduct required of me, I believe His warnings of future judgement, and I believe what it tells me about God and His character. If I desire to know who God it, I have to turn to His words. Then, I can praise Him!
I looked up this portion of the Psalm in some commentaries so I thought I would share some random thoughts from them:
-God is not prompted by selfishness or greed. He sets the standards of righteousness.
-"All truth, all right, all justice are measured against His norm." Robert L. Alden
-It is dependable, trustworthy and Divine revelation.
-His promises are all wise and good.
-The threatenings deter us from evil.
-His word is right and therefore all deviations from it are wrong and then we're in the right when we obey it.
-It is straightforward in expression and intent, perfect in moral worth, and impeccable in truth.
-Ps. 12:6 tells us that His words are pure, 19:8 say that they are right, rejoicing the heart, and enlightening the eyes.
-His words hold true.
These are pretty good reasons to praise Him!

Wordless Wednesday! Iris Part One

Snake Love! (We love Aunt TeeTee (Sarah)!)

Valley of Vision - God Honoured

O God,
Praise waiteth for thee,
and to render it is my noblest exercise;
This is thy due from all thy creatures,
for all thy works display thy attributes
and fulfil thy designs.
The sea, dry land, winter cold, summer heat,
morning light, evening shade are full of thee,
and thou givest me them richly to enjoy.
Thou art King of kings and Lord of lords;
At thy pleasure empires rise and fall;
All thy works praise thee and thy saints bless thee;
Let me be numbered with thy holy ones,
resemble them in character and condition,
sit with them at Jesus feet.
May my religion be always firmly rooted in thy Word,
my understanding divinely informed,
my affections holy and heavenly, my motives simple and pure,
and my heart never wrong with thee.

Triplets

My brother works with a guy who's wife is pregnant with triplets - yes I said triplets, that's three babies folks! Pam organized a baby "shower" for them from our church. Today, Pam and I got to deliver (no pun intended) the gifts to them! It was fun to be able to help them out in a small way. It was really interesting to see a nursery with three cribs in it! Do you realize the amount of diapers they are going to go through in an average day?! And the amount of trash that generates?! They are thinking of getting a diaper service for that reason alone. They have a web site if you want to check out the progress of the pregnancy or donate towards any of their needs: www.frostfamilytriplets.com . Pray that Carla and the babies (2 girls and 1 boy) remain healthy!

Conversations with a Toddler and Happy Birthday Sarah and Sara!

Me: We got those nesting dolls when we were in Poland when you were a tiny baby in Mommy's tummy.

Rylie: (lifting up my shirt) Can I go back in your belly?

Happy Birthday to my two Sara(h) friends!!! The one in the picture is my mentor/friend Becky and my friend Sarah T. We went to this adorable little Italian cafe today to celebrate with her. (If you're ever in my neck of the woods, I'll take you to it, the food is delicious!) She has been my friend since she was in junior high, but since I was a few years older than her, we are much closer now. We are truly sisters in the Lord, and I love her!

It is also my best friend, Sara's birthday. I would put her picture on here, but alas, she won't let me photograph her! :( She is truly beautiful inside and out! She is striving to be the Proverbs 31 woman and is doing very well at it. She is the proud mommy to three wonderful children and the wife to a man of God. We have been friends since we were both in junior high. We have gone through bad hair, bad boyfriends, and the joys of marriage and children. I love her very much!

Happy Birthday my dear friends!

Vacation Review

Ryan and I thought it would be fun to do a review of our recent anniversary trip to Ocean Shores, WA, in case any of you were thinking of going there.
Accomodations:
The Judith Ann Inn (if you want to see more, check out the slideshow from Wednessday's post)This was a beautiful Inn, in an old southern style mansion. The decor was very pleasent, and their was a great view of the ocean. It had a fairly large kitchen, a jacuzzi tub, and wireless internet service. The only drawbacks were that the office wasn't on site, it was down the road about 7 blocks or so. Their point in this was so that people wouldn't be disturbed, but it was kind of a pain if you wanted fresh towels or anything. The other drawback was that there was a $30 housekeeping fee on top of the room rate and you still had to do your own dishes and take out your own trash. There was a $20 fine if they found any dirty dishes.
Dining Out:
Gallaway Bay- Typical pub fare, fun Irish ambience, friendly people. They sometimes have live music. Ryan says to try the Blarney Burger.
Mike's Seafood Restaurant- It was very muggy and the decor was old diner, but not in the nostalgic sense. The fish and chips were ok, but the salmon was full of bones. One to avoid.
Sandcastle Drive In- Get it to go, the food is good, ecspecially the fries, but they must have had the same interior decorator as Mike's!
Ocean Crest- Very nice, fine dining, unique ocean view, good creative food, suprisingly well priced. Ryan had the pan seared halibut with mango-strawberry salsa and mashed potatoes mixed with garlic and horse radish. I had the King salmon brushed with apple cider and wood fired tomatoes with polenta. For desert we had raspberry cheesecake; it was delicious and on the house as their anniversary gift to us. They also took our picture and put it on a card for us as a gift. This was in Moclips, about 18 miles from Ocean Shores. We highly recomend it.
Overall, we had a great time. If you're looking for a fun get-away, you could do a lot worse.