Vanessa's court Jester from Rhonda Arias on Vimeo.
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
4 hours ago
Thursday, July 02, 2009
We're done!
All's over but the shouting (and decorating) Here's how it looked before.
Here's a shot of my former dining area and front door.
Here's the new area along with the new paint and window
we switched the living and dining areas. I also got new "carpet" (not to be confused with American carpet) but very nice for us. We also replaced the ceiling. It looks great. The color on the walls is Red Tomato by Sherwin Williams.
Here's a shot of my former dining area and front door.
Here's the new area along with the new paint and window
we switched the living and dining areas. I also got new "carpet" (not to be confused with American carpet) but very nice for us. We also replaced the ceiling. It looks great. The color on the walls is Red Tomato by Sherwin Williams.
On the other wall is Honey Blush, also by SW. I want to paint a Scripture as a border, but we haven't decided on a verse.
For Kristina, the bride
The day of your wedding is coming up soon, and I know that you and your family must be terribly excited and working feverishly to get it all done it time. Godly weddings are beautiful to witness, and I am sure that yours will be very special to behold. However, soon you will find that you married a human being with faults and "issues" that you might not have seen before. Also, you may become aware of faults and issues in yourself that you didn't realize you had. So, as a wedding gift, allow me to share 15 years worth of experience. I won't be writing of my (our) strengths, but of my weakness that I am (we are) overcoming.
1 Allow you husband to be human, to make mistakes.
I often tried to "protect" and "help" my husband by telling him about his mistakes. This is not my job, unless he specifically asks for it. This is the job of the Holy Spirit. Yes, you may suffer the consequences of his mistakes, but you must trust God to protect you. You will find yourself in a heap of trouble if you try to "help" the Holy Spirit do His work. Of course, you are probably reading this, thinking, "What on earth is she talking about? Josh is a great guy, and his faults are miniscule" If that is so, Praise the Lord!
2. Focus on your position as Help Meet. He is not there to help you in your ministry, you are there to help him to fulfill his vision. Serve God by serving Josh graciously.
3. Be pleasant. During a Christian courtship, a couple rarely spends a great deal of time together. So, you can be pleasant the whole time. When you start to live with someone, 24 hours a day, its hard to maintain a pleasant demeanor all the time. However, its extremely important to be pleasant and smiley.
4. Spend the time you have before the babies come making yourself into an expert homemaker. This means housekeeping, cooking and home economy. Also, prepare yourself spiritually and practically for motherhood. Read good books and websites, but learn to not waste your time. Also remember that being a good wife and mother is a life-long process, start soon and never quit learning and improving.
These are just a few things I am working on.
May your journey be a fabulous one! It is my prayer that people will look at you two and rejoice at seeing a marriage the way God intended. Blessings!
1 Allow you husband to be human, to make mistakes.
I often tried to "protect" and "help" my husband by telling him about his mistakes. This is not my job, unless he specifically asks for it. This is the job of the Holy Spirit. Yes, you may suffer the consequences of his mistakes, but you must trust God to protect you. You will find yourself in a heap of trouble if you try to "help" the Holy Spirit do His work. Of course, you are probably reading this, thinking, "What on earth is she talking about? Josh is a great guy, and his faults are miniscule" If that is so, Praise the Lord!
2. Focus on your position as Help Meet. He is not there to help you in your ministry, you are there to help him to fulfill his vision. Serve God by serving Josh graciously.
3. Be pleasant. During a Christian courtship, a couple rarely spends a great deal of time together. So, you can be pleasant the whole time. When you start to live with someone, 24 hours a day, its hard to maintain a pleasant demeanor all the time. However, its extremely important to be pleasant and smiley.
4. Spend the time you have before the babies come making yourself into an expert homemaker. This means housekeeping, cooking and home economy. Also, prepare yourself spiritually and practically for motherhood. Read good books and websites, but learn to not waste your time. Also remember that being a good wife and mother is a life-long process, start soon and never quit learning and improving.
These are just a few things I am working on.
May your journey be a fabulous one! It is my prayer that people will look at you two and rejoice at seeing a marriage the way God intended. Blessings!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Dangerous Jobs!
I'll have to say that I think that the music industry might just be one of the most dangerous out there. So many "musicians" and "singers" have died young, the latest being of course, pop music's "king". Elvis died young, and so many others. If I was in the music industry, I'd watch out!
Of course music itself is not the problem. Look at all the older folks on the Gaither reunion videos. There's quite a bit of gray and toupee! Hmmm....must be the kind of music. Yeah, that must be it! Rick Warren and others would have us believe that all music is amoral, neither good or bad. But it seems that its only the "bad" music industry that is deadly. And the "badder" the music, the more dangerous. Fr'instance, there seem to be a lot of rappers in trouble all the time.
Christian parents wanted to please their teenagers and let them listen to whatever their flesh wants to. Now grown up, these people are mourning a profane, godless man. I shudder to think about where he is today.
Don't get angry when your pastor preaches against wordly music! He's raising a much-needed warning flag.
Of course music itself is not the problem. Look at all the older folks on the Gaither reunion videos. There's quite a bit of gray and toupee! Hmmm....must be the kind of music. Yeah, that must be it! Rick Warren and others would have us believe that all music is amoral, neither good or bad. But it seems that its only the "bad" music industry that is deadly. And the "badder" the music, the more dangerous. Fr'instance, there seem to be a lot of rappers in trouble all the time.
Christian parents wanted to please their teenagers and let them listen to whatever their flesh wants to. Now grown up, these people are mourning a profane, godless man. I shudder to think about where he is today.
Don't get angry when your pastor preaches against wordly music! He's raising a much-needed warning flag.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
All or nothing
That's what the Christian life is all about to me. Of course, we must be balanced, but not when it comes to love for the Lord. Then its all-out, nothing held back devotion. When we are sold-out for the Lord, He gives us the wisdom we need to find the balance we need.
The sad thing is when I see people I love trying to love God half-heartedly. They want to please God at Church and then live with a worldly world-view at home. This leads to all sorts of conflicts. I have a dear friend at church who is going through a terrible time. When she is honestly looking to please the Lord, she comes to me for counsel and advice. When she's not interested in what God has to say, she is friendly and nice, but doesn't seek counsel from me or anyone else who's able to guide her. The horrible thing is that she is suffering. I can see it in her face and I know she feels defeated. Please pray for my friend, that she would give in to God and let her suffering count for something good!
The sad thing is when I see people I love trying to love God half-heartedly. They want to please God at Church and then live with a worldly world-view at home. This leads to all sorts of conflicts. I have a dear friend at church who is going through a terrible time. When she is honestly looking to please the Lord, she comes to me for counsel and advice. When she's not interested in what God has to say, she is friendly and nice, but doesn't seek counsel from me or anyone else who's able to guide her. The horrible thing is that she is suffering. I can see it in her face and I know she feels defeated. Please pray for my friend, that she would give in to God and let her suffering count for something good!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Why I read the Bible the way I do
I have a One year Bible. It is divided into an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, a Psalm or a portion of a Psalm and one or two Proverbs, per day. I have used this Bible several years for my personal reading, and it has always been a blessing. I was raised in a Christian home, and I have been in Church all my life, but there are a few gaps in my Bible knowledge, mostly concerning chronology and order. Reading the Bible systematically, year after year has greatly improved my understanding of order. I have had several "lightbulb moments" over the years. Yesterday, I had another one.
Yesterday, I read the story of Elijah, Ahab, and Naboth. I had always wondered why Ahab was so upset about a simple piece of land. Well, come to find out, in the preceding chapter, Ahab defeats Ben-hadad, spares his life, and then gets a dressing down from God for not destroying Ben-hadad. So, going into the chapter about the vinyard, Ahab was already in a bad mood. And when Naboth refuses to sell him his vinyard, he completely over-reacts, with deadly consequences. Now I get it! Hurrah for my One Year Bible!
Yesterday, I read the story of Elijah, Ahab, and Naboth. I had always wondered why Ahab was so upset about a simple piece of land. Well, come to find out, in the preceding chapter, Ahab defeats Ben-hadad, spares his life, and then gets a dressing down from God for not destroying Ben-hadad. So, going into the chapter about the vinyard, Ahab was already in a bad mood. And when Naboth refuses to sell him his vinyard, he completely over-reacts, with deadly consequences. Now I get it! Hurrah for my One Year Bible!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
This and That
Its been another wacky week in the Arias household. The remodeling project is still underway, hopefully soon to be done. I am ready to get my living and dining room back. I am so pleased to have more space. We have lots of people over for this and that, so we need a place to put them!
We had a great weekend, inspite of rain and cold. We had a dinner to celebrate the church's 13th anniversary. We had about 90 in attendance. We were going to have meat and potato salad. One of my ladies put BEETS in with the potatoes. YUCK! It turned the salad pink. Obviously, we had tons of salad left over. We had a great time of food and fellowship. Sunday went well too. We had a few visitors. We have a new couple, Eduardo and Nancy. They were both saved two weeks ago. They are going to get married, and then get baptized. We are happy for them.
We had a good ladies meeting today, with 22 in attendance. We even had a visitor, a young woman named Andrea.
Between the housework, baby, homeschooling and churchwork, I am a bit overwhelmed. Add to that, I have been battling a nasty cough. Its not bad during the day, but nighttime is a different story.
We finally received the last letter need to present our paperwork to Customs to have our stuff released. Neil mailed the paperwork this morning. Please pray that things will go quickly now.
Blessings and peace!
We had a great weekend, inspite of rain and cold. We had a dinner to celebrate the church's 13th anniversary. We had about 90 in attendance. We were going to have meat and potato salad. One of my ladies put BEETS in with the potatoes. YUCK! It turned the salad pink. Obviously, we had tons of salad left over. We had a great time of food and fellowship. Sunday went well too. We had a few visitors. We have a new couple, Eduardo and Nancy. They were both saved two weeks ago. They are going to get married, and then get baptized. We are happy for them.
We had a good ladies meeting today, with 22 in attendance. We even had a visitor, a young woman named Andrea.
Between the housework, baby, homeschooling and churchwork, I am a bit overwhelmed. Add to that, I have been battling a nasty cough. Its not bad during the day, but nighttime is a different story.
We finally received the last letter need to present our paperwork to Customs to have our stuff released. Neil mailed the paperwork this morning. Please pray that things will go quickly now.
Blessings and peace!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Remodeling update
Here's another picture of Vanessa in case you needed a Venessa fix!
Here they are removing the wall.
Here are the two windows. I am so happy because now I have another window to paint at Christmas!
Another look at the new space.
You might be asking yourself, where is all of Rhonda's furniture? How nice of you to notice! Its all over the house! The couch is in Eileen's room, the dining room table is in Ronnie's and the recliner is in Vanessa's.
Here they are removing the wall.
Here are the two windows. I am so happy because now I have another window to paint at Christmas!
Another look at the new space.
You might be asking yourself, where is all of Rhonda's furniture? How nice of you to notice! Its all over the house! The couch is in Eileen's room, the dining room table is in Ronnie's and the recliner is in Vanessa's.And Chile won again! We are now in 2nd place, after beating Bolivia 4-0. They are so excited here! I just wish that I liked soccer! Anyway, JulieMom, are you up for some visitors from Chile next year?
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