Happy Memorial Day! No Chat Tonight

My... what a WONDERFUL weekend we have had with our family all together! It has been a whirlwind... but OH so good. I will blog more about it later :)

So....for today.. enjoy the time off... enjoy your family. NO CHAT TONIGHT!

We will try to be back on schedule next week.

Love to you all!
Not only surviving... but THRIVING today!
Blessings!

The Chat is ON for Tonight

So............
The topic will be Hal's topic from his post last week. Ladies, you will benefit (or enjoy) the chat with us... but also would be a good time to see if you can get your husbands to join.

See you at 8:00 (CST) tonight!

Chat Tonight - CANCELLED

Sorry we have to cancel the chat tonight...

Too much to do before Jonathan comes home :)

We will try to be back on track for next week.

Blessings,

Hal and DeeDee

Wednesday Words for Wives # 1

Words for Today

Our Most Important Ministry

I will start with a quote from "The Excellent Wife" by Martha Peace:


God's will for every Christian wife is that her most important ministry be to her husband. (Genesis 2:18). After a wife's own personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing else should have greater priority. Her husband should be the primary benefactor of his wife's time and energy, not the recipient of what may be left over at the end of the day. Whether her husband is a faithful Christian man or an unbeliever, God wants every Christian woman to be a godly wife -- an excellent wife.

So today, ladies... May 7th, 2008... is that true of you? Is it true of me? Our most important ministry is to our husbands? Or does he get "left-overs" from us most of the time... or ALL of the time?

God wants us to be godly wives. We have instructions. We have scriptures. We are blessed to live in the time when we have many good Godly books - filled with encouragement and instruction.

But I must stress to you... it is a life-time pursuit... well worth it... but definately a pursuit.

So this week... I want you to examine yourself and your time and see what is your most important ministry? What is your first focus? I'm not talking about our relationship with the Lord.. I will talk about that on another week. But our EARTHLY focus?

Love your husbands. Focus on him. Ask God to help you to make your husband your priority.

(And go ahead and start planning ahead of time for this Friday. - Family fun. - Sometimes it can be a date with just the two of you. And then do something fun with the children on Saturday.) Let the creative juices flow!

Marriage is meant to be enjoyed.- not merely endured. It is a gift from God.

Tuesday Tips for Husbands # 1

I've had a book on my shelf (Reforming Marriage by Douglas Wilson) for a long time but I have never spent much time on it. So as DeeDee and I were talking about this blog and this subject, I thought now would be a good time to bring it out.

I am going to use it as a guide for some discussions starters. Possibly on Monday night chats (for husbands) too.

Here are a few brief thoughts:

• If you are a believer (a Christian) then your relationship with God is that of a covenant. Paul teaches us that we ought to think of our marriages as a picture of the marriage of Christ to the church. When we come to know Christ, we leave all the old behind and our life becomes new. So in the marriage -- we leave our father and mother and cleave to our spouse. This is a covenantal relationship. That is a long discussion in itself since a covenant is a binding arrangement.

• Secondly, the foundation for a Godly married life is the same foundation for all Godly living - in everything we are to seek the glory of God. And He has chosen marriage as one of the best instruments throught which fallen man may glorify Him.

These two items should give us all food for thought.

We will talk about it next Monday night at 8:00 p.m. (CST)

--Hal

Chat tonight

So... we have just finished chatting again.

Here is the roll call:

• DeeDee
• exhausted
• punkin
• late
• bubba
• anonymous

We spent time looking at the traits of the Excellent Wife - we only had time to go over verses 10-19. We will get to the other verses next time.

Had some "ouch" moments... but don't we always when we begin to study the Word? When our desire is to be the wife/husband/person that God wants us to be... When we allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn in our life... the dross will come to the top! OUCH!

So let's be diligent to act on what the Spirit of the Living God spoke to us individually about.

I will go ahead and confess.... I have been convicted of "rising early". But since my children have all grown - and gone, and since my wonderful husband fixes breakfast for me :)...I really feel as if God is prompting me to just get up and let HIM feed me some spiritual food. He wants to meet with me. Those thoughts take me back to this post. This prayer. That is my prayer tonight.

Ok... 'fess up......

What are you going to work on?

Wives - Let's Strive for Excellence

Tonight as we meet together for our Monday Meeting Chat time... The topic will be for wives.

Our Scripture will come from Proverbs 31 (wouldn't you know?)

I will print it here - and if you have time today - try to read over it - and be ready for some good discussion. Of course - we will not be covering it all tonight. I will be breaking it down for discussion time and also for my blog later this week. For tonight - We will be starting with the Christian wife's Top Two priorities. . .

(10) An excellent wife who can find?

She is far more precious than jewels.

(11) The heart of her husband trusts in her,

and he will have no lack of gain.

(12) She does him good, and not harm,

all the days of her life.

(13) She seeks wool and flax,

and works with willing hands.

(14) She is like the ships of the merchant;

she brings her food from afar.

(15) She rises while it is yet night

and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.

(16) She considers a field and buys it;

with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

(17) She dresses herself with strength

and makes her arms strong.

(18) She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.

Her lamp does not go out at night.

(19) She puts her hands to the distaff,

and her hands hold the spindle.

(20) She opens her hand to the poor

and reaches out her hands to the needy.

(21) She is not afraid of snow for her household,

for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

)22) She makes bed coverings for herself;

her clothing is fine linen and purple.

(23) Her husband is known in the gates

when he sits among the elders of the land.

(24) She makes linen garments and sells them;

she delivers sashes to the merchant.

(25) Strength and dignity are her clothing,

and she laughs at the time to come.

(26) She opens her mouth with wisdom,

and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

(27) She looks well to the ways of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

(28) Her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

(29) "Many women have done excellently,

but you surpass them all."

(30) Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

(31) Give her of the fruit of her hands,

and let her works praise her in the gates.

Join with us tonight at 8:00 p.m. (CST)

Invite others to join you. The more- the merrier :)

Love, DeeDee (and Hal)

Hoping to Help - in Surviving and Thriving!

(Notice the blog below - to see the plan/schedule for chats and blogs)

Proposed Schedule

Ok... I really have been working on the plan for this blog and for the chat nights.

Maybe a little structure and schedule will help us all.

For the Chat Nights - I have posted the schedule on the side bar for the Month of May. I will update each month.


For the Blog - This is what I hope to be able to keep going:

• Monday Meetings - somewhat of an introduction for the chat topic for that night.

• Tuesday Tips for Husbands - Hopefully Hal will be able to give us a blog on most weeks. But this will also be a time for the wives to comment and respond from their perspective.

• Wednesday Words for the Wives - I plan to have a blog with some encouragement/instruction for us ladies. But we will welcome some comments and response from the husbands' perspectives. (Also - sometimes I will throw in a Wordless Wednesday and/or a Word-filled Wednesday)

• Thankful Thursdays - We will join other bloggers with our list of things that we are thankful for. But on this particular blog we will be focusing on the home - the family - the children - etc.

• Friday Family Fun - Plan some fun for your family. Enjoy the time with them. Share the plans so that we all can be encouragement for each other. Sometimes we just a need a fresh idea.

Next Week - I will add this to the side bar - for future reference.

Tell me what you think - will this work?

We want to be encouragement for you. The world is fighting for your home. We want to offer some help. We want your home/your family - not only to survive - but also to THRIVE.

Love to you all!

Busy Busy Busy

Sometimes life just gets too busy to breathe.... and certainly no time to blog. :)

But I want to take just a quick minute to encourage you to have some FRIDAY FAMILY FUN! Then.... post a reply so we can all be encouraged by your plans.

Hal and I are going to have some fun, food and sweet fellowship with MaMaw, Danny, Dena, and maybe Paul, Susie and Matthew too. Fun Fun Fun. We all have such a good time together - and MaMaw is cooking!!! I am going to try and go by to steal Aubrey away for the evening too, since Jen and Andy cannot come.

Family is important. Time with family is needed. This is part of our extended family - and we are excited!

Then tomorrow - we have our precious Aubrey's two year old birthday party. She is a constant reminder to us of how fast time flies!

So... let that be encouragement to you to spend quality and quantity time with the precious family that God has blessed you with. Make the most of each day knowing that when you lay down your head tonight - May 2, 2008 is gone. Today will be over.

And one more thought..... even when life is just too busy....
Remember that you can do EVERYTHING today that God wants you to do. If you have too much on your plate... God did not put it there. Spend some time with your Savior and let Him help you set the agenda.

OK...... so share the plans for the evening with us......................
Love to you all!