Matthew 6:34So don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I am so very blessed to have been given this wonderful heirloom of my grandma's!  She recently gifted me a quilt that my great-grandma (her mother) pieced together, cut out and lovingly and laborously put together and then my grandma quilted it.  It is such a treasure to me.  Seeing it in my house brings back so many memories of growing up at grandma and grandpas!  I would ride my bike the whole two blocks it took to get there almost every day!  The quilt brings such a sense of peace and contentment and I just feel like part of her is here with me so far away in North Carolina.   She also made flannel quilts for my twin girls..when we get them big girl beds I will take a pic of them.  They are also beautiful and a treasure all of my children will have to cherish.  Each grandchild is given a quilt and a pillow with their name on it.  It is so special!  I have some free time tonight so I will start on the quilt my older kids and I started piecing and cutting out in the early spring.  I just need to make time to do those things to create memories for my children.  We did can 18 jars of strawberry jam last week--during the hottest days we had here in NC--my parents came back from IL the day I was canning and they laughed as to why I would be making strawberry jam on the hottest day of the year?  To further the comedy--they brought me 20 jars of grape and white grape jelly from my grandma!!!  You can never have enough jam or jelly--that's my kids' motto!!!!!

I started a new bible study this week using the book "On the Other Side of the Garden" by Virginia Ruth Fugate.  I LOVE it!!!  It is such a great book and really helps us to pray  to enable us to be the woman God intended us to be..the wives God intended us to be...the mother God intended us to be...the friend God intended us to be!  I've only indulged in the first three chapters, but it is absolutely powerful and eye opening!  The first chapter talks about whatever happened to old-fashioned love?  You know--the kind grandma and grandpa had.  They stuck together forever--no matter what!  Growing up in the 80's and 90's I guess I never believed that fairytale to be true--what I realize now is that I just didn't know what it takes to get the fairytale!!  The book talks about two things:  unwavering commitment and sacrificial effort that are necessary for old-fashioned love to survive.  Sacrificial effort.  Just say it.  It rolls off your tongue like a foreign word.  But what a powerful punch those two words bring!  I realize now that grandpa and grandma's and my own parents marriages' had strength of character--as the author says--the integrity to honor their commitments no matter what!!!  Do we have this today?  Do modern marriages believe in this?  Food for thought.  I love that the she states that people today give up on developing a oneness in marriage and replace it with the singleness of self-interest--(it makes me think--separate checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, ) (not that this is inherently wrong, but if we are to develop a true oneness in marriage it seems as if the separation of those things would work against that goal of being one in everything we do.) She goes on to  say that people today have placed self above all others and even argue they have the "right" to do so.  She continues stating that they are looking for fulfillment without commitment to anyone else (including God)--but they will not find it--it's like looking for an ice cube on the sun.  She goes on to question if a Christian woman can live a biblical life and experience old-fashioned love in today's world. Her answer is an astounding yes!!  and that our husband and children are depending on us to do that! 

Proverbs 31:28-30     Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.  Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised!

That's enough food for thought for today!  My next thoughts will go into what is God's design for our lives and if a woman functions according to God's design, she will be able to have fulfillment in marriage, success in training her children and confidence in her relationship with God and others!  Okay, so I might use the submissive word--but that means being a strong, powerful woman of God!!!  and not weak and ignorant as society wants you to believe. 

I leave you with Genesis 2:18...."it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help fit for him."

Blessings to all!!!

THANK YOU GRANDMA!!!  I LOVE YOU!!!  I know she won't read this unless somebody takes her to the library to see it...but just in case!!