What I’m into – April 2015
AROUND THE WEB
- If you want to create better social media graphics, here’s a great 30-day series that just started for free with Crystal Stine. I signed up!
- Church in general gets a lot of bad press—and granted, some is much deserved—but not all. This article about not blaming the church for these 5 things is something to think about.
- I’ve been using pexels.com lately for free stock photos with no attribution required.
- We finally finished cleaning out my parents’ house to sell. So this article on kids not wanting their parents’ stuff was right on target, not just for me the kid, but also for me the parent.
THINGS I LOVE
- My favorite song of late: Good Good Father by Housefires. I play/sing it over and over.
“You’re a good good father
It’s who You are, it’s who You are, it’s who You are
And I’m loved by You
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am”
[Click here if you can’t see the video “Good Good Father“]
- ReplyMe plugin. It’s old but I *think* this is working properly to reply to the comments you leave on my blog.
- Some of my favorite sermon podcasts lately have been from Pastor Stan Mitchell and his guest speakers at GracePointe Church in Franklin, TN.
- I never get tired of watching and listening to my daughter Jenna sing with her grandfather Daddy Don. It’s hard to tell who enjoys it the most. This was her last Spring Break home before she graduates from Auburn in May.
WHAT I’M READING
- I’m excited to start the novel Ruby by Cynthia Bond. It’s the 4th selection from Oprah’s Book Club 2.0. I saw her on Super Soul Sunday and it drew me in.
- I hope to finish reading through the four Gospels this week for Lent and through 40 Days with the Holy Spirit. It’s been beneficial (and also fun to color my Lent calendar every day).
- My 2-year Daily Bible Reading has me in 2 Kings 8 in the Old Testament and John 20 in the New Testament.
- Reading and thinking about one chapter a month in The Power of Now since my OneWord2015 is “now.”
“The moment you realize you aren’t present, you are present.” – Eckhart Tolle - More of what I’m reading here.
ON THE BLOG
- My car was broken into and my purse was stolen a couple weeks ago. But this is what happened afterward!
- 5 ways to really sympathize in a sympathy card
- Celebrating my once-homeless friends’ 1 year anniversary in a home
- Review of Donald Miller’s new book Scary Close
LOOKING FORWARD TO
- Several Easter services with our church this weekend
- My oldest daughter Morgan running her first half-marathon soon—Auburn’s Finish on the 50
- Spending time with these two sweeties and their mom yesterday
- Seeing some dear friends next weekend when their baby girl turns 1
- Laughing with Henry Cho that same weekend to benefit His Way recovery center
- Even though my bracket fell apart and now I’m dead last, I’m still looking forward to the NCAA Final Four games Saturday and Monday. (And I love using the ESPN TC app again this year)
- We’ve started memorizing James 1 this week! I’m excited about how the Lord will reveal new things to each of us as we journey through.
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What are you looking forward to in April? Please share in the comments.
Linking at Leigh Kramer’s
Previous Daybooks
LOVED the article about kids not wanting their parents’ stuff. Oh so true!
May your Easter celebration bring you joy, friend!
Glad you related to that article too, Linda. 🙂 I know my kids aren’t going to want our “junk” so I try not to accumulate too much now. My dad had a LOT of stuff that we had to go through, and throw much away because it was stuff only he could have used. Given time, he might have thrown away much of it himself, but his sickness came fast and furious and didn’t give him that option.
Praying you have a sweet Easter celebration yourself!
Thanks for the mention of Pexels. I’ve been trying to find more free stock photos. I don’t mind attributing them to the source but I don’t want to mess with “credits” and such like I’ve seen on some sites.
Jenna is graduating already?! :-O Wow, it has gone fast.
We have a lot to look forward to in April: Easter, Timothy’s first birthday, my oldest son coming home for a few days, and the first Ladies’ Tea at our church, which my d-i-l is attending with me. She doesn’t always come to ladies’ functions, so it will be a treat on many levels.
Two other free photo sources I’ve come across the past two days are Creation Swap and Unsplash. Both are from Crystal Stine’s emails in her series.
Yes, I can’t believe Jenna is graduating already. 🙁 It has been fast–she took classes every summer too–so she’s graduating in 3 years instead of 4. I’ve enjoyed her college days myself so I hate to see them end. ha.
Lots of fun things for you in April! I’ll look forward to seeing 1-yr pictures of Timothy! Hard to believe that it’s been a year already.
I always find something new and exciting on your blog, Lisa. I explored and then signed up for the Social media emails from Crystal Stine too. Thanks for sharing that. I love pexels and that article about the church was very interesting. He certainly draws the comments, quite honest ones, too.
I’m glad you signed up with Crystal too! So far it’s been easy (although I haven’t done today’s assignment yet, oops). I didn’t read any of the comments on the church article–the comment section on some blogs is too contentious for me. 🙂
What a lot you have to say, Lisa!
loved …not blaming the church for these 5 things … personally i try not to and if i have in the past it tends to have been short lived, but sadly there are those you stop attending meeting because of one of the 5 and yet when it come down to it, we make the choice to stay or go.
love – your advent calender, think it is a really good idea. We don’t celebrate lent as a church where i attend, but i keep trying to understand it. Where i get stuck is that my friend tells me it represents Jesus Christ’s 40 days of fasting, but that didn’t happen just before his crucifixion, but at the beginning of his ministry???
always love the books you are reading!
love, love, love James 1:5 but don’t like the modern translations, i tend to stick to the King James version – ‘If any you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and unbraideth not and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith nothing wavering…’
I am about to become homeless for the 4th time, but thankfully i have never had to live on the streets, but thanks to the charity of other i have always been given shelter, i expect the same will happen this time. Although i am trying to force the local social housing people to rehouse me this time, wait and see, but it is having me call upon every ounce of my faith that God really does know what he is doing.
You’re right, Beverley, that ultimately we are responsible for our own decision to stay or go. I’m guessing you don’t have as many options in the UK as we do in the US, but over here there are a multitude of churches and styles (for better or worse?).
We don’t celebrate lent per se at my church either. It’s just something I do on my own each year. I loved doing the calendar this year! I’ll try to do it next year too (if I can remember, ha).
There are several people in our memory group who feel like you do about the KJV, and so they’re using it to memorize James 1. There are many verses that I learned as a child in the KJV that still come to mind even when I hear them in another version.
I pray that you will find a place to live that you can beautify and make into your own sacred space–and soon.
I love that song. Thanks for sharing it!
Isn’t it beautiful? Glad you like it too, Fiona. The message is powerful.