I am so grateful to my husband and children! They gave me as a birthday present a whole new design for my blogs…(you will soon can NOW see some changes in my Spanish blog too)
Have you seen the new image on Daily On My Way to Heaven?
I would love to see you there!
Daily on My Way to Heaven, Under His Sun by His Grace.
P.S. Thank you for journeying with me!
Monday is here, and so my favorite list, a gratitude list for the endless gifts I have received from my God. (#560- 580)
“O God, I adore You as the Author and Giver of every good and every perfect gift. You are daily loading me with Your benefits. Every returning morning brings with it fresh causes for gratitude—new material for praise. I bless You for Your temporal bounties—”how great has been the sum of them!”
Lord, thank you for friends over for lunch after Church.
Two young men and a Grandfather flying safely home.
My Beloved’s diligence.
Rain pouring, us holding hands while watching it; and the question in the air; How do you hold so much water in the palm of your hand and let it flow in just a second?
Perfect hail.
Green grass.
Plucking apples and oranges from our trees, and the question again…How can you make grow from a small seed a tree, a flower, a fruit? I know my biology, but to be true, this amazes me. How can this be? Why did you choose to “invent” this beautiful, perfect way to feed us such delicious fruits?
Perfect sandwiches and the so many compliments from my Beloved!
My son’s passion for drawing.
A godly teacher that has inspired him to keep filling his sketchbook.
A delicious frozen key lime pie, a gift from a grateful friend.
Him in a cold, freezing cold room, with me.
Songs of praise.
Poetry that glorifies Him.
A snail and a little girl wondering about it.
Staring a summer of prayer here in our home. (this book, my first companion)
Friends that just finished their first year of homeschooling.
Friends ending a cycle of homeschooling.
Summer reading lists.
“Lord, this day shine upon me with the light of Your countenance; may every mercy I experience in the course of it be hallowed and sweetened by the thought that it comes from God. And, while ever mindful and thankful in the midst of present mercies, teach me to keep in view the crowning mercy of all—the hope of at last sharing Your presence and full fruition, and of joining in the eternal ascription with the ransomed multitude above, who cease not day nor night to celebrate Your praises.
Bless all near and dear to me. Defend them by your might power.Give them, too, gratitude for mercies past and the sure and well-grounded hope of a glorious inheritance in that better world, where mercy is unmixed with judgment, and joy undarkened by sorrow. And all I ask is for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
“Cause me to hear Your loving-kindness in the morning, for in You do I trust.”
Quotes from Grace Gems
I am in a plane flying above the clouds, my precious family is already asleep. The flight attendant is passing some beverages and I ask for coffee, “black please”.
This has been an incredible long week, a week, my family awaits every year. We came to the End of the Year Gathering of Veritas Press Scholars Academy.
We came to a place where eyes see each other, where arms reach for hugs, and laughs are heard out loud; a place where feet dance and little ones play in the mud.
A place, a time, a season, a song, a hug, a kiss, all is real.
A place where friendships are strengthen and joy is in the air.
We met these families through an online school, and now we meet in a frame of green fields, and we love to be together, all in a barn, dancing and laughing, moms and fathers, little ones and grandmas, teachers and students.
I found my way through the tables and sit beside her, a long time friend, yet this is the first time we see each other face to face; we hug and we hold hands. The music is loud, the rhythm is contagious. Our conversation follows the rhythm, we know we can talk openly and this we do.
I see my children dancing, laughing, chatting, I am grateful.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you for godly families gathering together in a place where friends find a common place to feast.
Thank you for my children’s friends.
Thank you for my friends, moms who struggle, love, pray and are passionate to serve you in their homes.
Thank you for my Beloved’s friends, men willing to pray.
Thank you, for those friends who love farms, I love learning from them.
Thank you for the best home-made rhubarb pies, traveling from Canada just for us.
Thank you, Lord, for a phone call in New York with Christina. Hearing her voice was a gift.
Thank you for sandwiches and peanut-soup with my great friend, and a long conversation that brought us closer.
Thank you for a precious family traveling to meet us.
Thank you for a large van filled with dreams in young men and women hearts.
Thank you for a creek and wet feet.
Thank you for girls wearing matching dresses, and freckles, and dolls.
Thank you for tears, and long good-byes.
Thank you, Father, for choosing this journey for us.
Thank you for the clouds under this plane, and your hand upholding us.
Thank you for the horizon line.
Thank you for different hues of blue.
Thank you, because every good gift comes from above, from your hand.
Thank you, Heavenly Father.
This week my endless gift list #569- 599
Around the family table our conversation was about gratitude and giving; both are so related, they go hand on hand, they love each other, they cannot exist apart.
From His hand we receive every perfect gift and when we receive we know we must have an open hand, the key is learning that saying “Thank you, Lord”, means not closing our hands; gratitude will always lead us to give with an open hand as well.
Gratitude is also manifested in giving, and this is a life lesson that we have learned over the family table.
This week I keep up with my favorite list, a gratitude list. (#570- 597)
I Thank you, Lord for the unexpected gift this week. We believe in your Providence.
Thank you for those situations which I do not understand but in which You reign.
Thank you for a Church.
Thank you for bruised reeds.
Thank you for leading us when we know not the way.
Thank you for an open home with many friends filling the air with godly conversations.
The love between my Beloved and I.
My little girl’s hands giving me a” feet spa”
Reminders of the blessing that it is to say “yes”
Saying “yes” to a tent in the backyard for one more week.
Saying “yes” to water balloon fights.
Saying “yes” to pajamas parties on Skype.
Saying “yes” to baking when I did not feel like.
New ideas for my Bible memory project.
Grateful people who give, (more free resources in Spanish)
A woman who freely shares a Theology Word of the Week every Monday.
A new recipe that made my family happy. (I will be sharing it later this week)
Grateful friends who give.
Sunday mornings.
A great exhibit.
Laughs.
Growing sons.
Growing girls.
Seasons in my life.
More hugs from my Beloved.
The Word.
My books.
Catechism.
Being able to give.
What fills you with gratitude today?
Art shown in this post: The Peasant Family, by Josef Israëls and Sunday Morning by the same artist.
My favorite teacher, my Beloved Husband, taught us at Church, and this I learned:
Gratitude is vital.
Gratitude should be a character trait in every Christian, but it goes beyond that. It is more than that. It is vital; having a gratitude heart towards our God can keep us from the terrible consequences of having a foolish heart.
Paul wrote this:
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
We know these verses but just stop and read again how the chain starts…“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him”
The end is not happy for those who dishonor God or have an ungrateful heart, the end is terrible…God stops restraining them and they die.
Gratitude is vital, it should to be a mark in every Christian; it is a sign that cries out loud “I am alive!”
Saved people are grateful people.
Thank you, Lord, for giving me life, eternal life.
Thank you for my Husband’s diligence.
Thank you for the marriage bed.
Thank you for a house full of teenagers.
Thank you, my God, for…
An incredible dinner that everyone enjoyed.
Wine and dessert.
Balloons filled with water and girls laughing.
A tent in the backyard.
Our family journal
Singing Latin songs with my little girl in the car.
Abú’s dessert.
Rain, and more rain.
The smell of wet soil, and flowers that only smell at night .(Cestrum racemosum)
Son and Father spending a day together.
Being able to read.
Singing in the rain...”Sing songs of deliverance, songs of joy and songs of pain- for they are all part of the great musical epic that God is directing in each of our lives.
A great new recipe for pancakes.
Great mangoes.
A message in Facebook from a good friend who has been struggling.
The itinerary of a trip in my email box.
Being able to whisper a prayer when my heart fears men.
Being able to say “Forgive me” to my Son.
A reminder on how important it is to write letters to our children
A time to sit and recollect gratitude moments.
What are you grateful for today?
As I write my heart overflows with joy for the Lord is pouring rain on our very dry land.
Monday is here and I love to write about all the goodness the Lord has poured over our lives. I try to count what is impossible, His goodness, His mercies, His bounty.
{522-543}
I am thankful for balloons filled with water and the laughter of my children.
My Beloved’s hands holding mine. {and all that it means}
The reminder of what it means to be a Wife of Valor
Fresh parsley, and sweet conversations with my precious daughter as we cooked.
The beautiful relationship between Dad and Daughter, always loving each other.
A bird on the cable. Beauty in the ordinary. A girl’s patience and eye to capture the moment.
Long phone calls with friends.
Free breakfast at Starbucks.
Friends over, and little ones making nests.
Bubbles.
“Brown paper packages… ” {more books to read!}
A great book on being a mother full of practical advice.
Peace in my soul.
Quiet after the rain, and birds looking for food in the wet ground.
My mom.
This place to write.
You.
As I opened this morning my computer and read through my favorite blogs, I found that a day like today J.C Ryle, one of my favourite authors, was born. Read more here.
I am so grateful to the Lord for such an incredible week. Last week in Boston, MA was one full of joy, surprises, sticky love notes from my husband even in the ceiling of our room, a great time with a special friend of mine, and getting to know a new friend. My cousin traveling two hours to meet me and share good talks and a great walk.
I am thankful, because again, all is grace.
I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for giving me the opportunity to spend two full days with my sister. Her laugh, her smile, her contentment, her spirit. She is a joy to be around, a friend, a teacher, my sister.
I am thankful to the Lord for colorful tulips, and flowers in bloom. Air on our faces, happy moments and memories to hold forever.
The Lord has been so graceful to us because we also have wonderful husbands who love to spend time together. And these few days were no different.
Only beacause of Him we can truly enjoy moments like these; only because of Him we can be really happy.
Because it is in only in Him that we live and move, and have our beings.
And so my list continues, trying to count what is really ummeasurable, God’s goodness.
510. Antique shops, the smell, the smile from the old lady, and the piece that made us us think our great-grandmother.
511. Not being afraid to grow older, and laugh at wrinkles…and long together to never loose the joy of growing older.
512. Tears and hugs.
513. Embracing our lives with passion.
514. Marriage and wine.
515. Children laughing.
516. A girl drawing and the other one playing with a musical fairy.
517. Lemon and orange granite in the freezer.
518. Unpacking.
519. An incredible post about the best book we can give as a Mother’s day gift.
520. The preaching of the Word.
521. Being alive today, here. Thank you, Lord!
