Musical Monday: Strong Enough

 On Mondays I like to share a song that speaks to my heart or one that I simply enjoy. Thank you for stopping by :)

I recently heard this new song on the radio by Matthew West called Strong Enough.

I like this song because I simply find it encouraging! The song really grabbed my attention because the first line says 'You must think I'm strong to give me what I'm going through.' In light of my recent adventures in life, it was very encouraging to me to think that God has allowed these challenges knowing that I would try to honor Him through them all. It's encouraging that He thinks I'm strong, that He thinks I can handle it. In the song, the singer recognizes that he is not strong enough for the trials in his life right now and asks God to be strong enough for both of them. Of course, God's answer to that prayer will always be Yes! I just love that I don't have to be strong enough because He will carry me :)  I pray that you are also encouraged and that you are drawing from His strength today.

And while you're on the computer, check out this new blog that I found! She is hosting a blog hop so hop on over and check out her blog :)

Raising Mighty Arrows

Book Review - God Said Yes

For a while now I have wanted to do a monthly book review on the blog. I enjoy reading and thought that I would like to share with you what I am reading and what I thought of each book. Here is the book review for July - God Said Yes by Heather Hornback-Bland.

This book was given to me by a friend at church (she also follows the blog - Thanks Steph!) It's a true story about Heather who was run over by a car when she was 4 years old.

The accident happened in the 1970's, before we had seat belt laws but even so, it was just an accident. The car had been parked on a slope. She was kneeling on the front seat, talking to the kids in the backseat. Because of the slope the car was on, her mother thought that her door was shut, but it wasn't - it was simply held closed by gravity. When her mother started to drive, the door opened and, by the force of gravity, Heather fell out of the car and the front wheel rolled over her belly!!

The book tells of her mother's faith that everything would be alright and how she instilled that belief in Heather. But it also tells of Heather's strength and courage. She shouldn't have survived the accident - but she did. She shouldn't have survived the ambulance ride - but she did. She certainly shouldn't have survived through the first surgery (her internal organs were such a mangled mess, that most of them were indistinguishable one from another!) - but survive she did. And even thrived! Her mother never allowed her to give in to pity or despair.

At the time that the book was published (2006), Heather was in her late 30's. She had (at that time) gone through 187 operations. This is the story of how she survived by living off of hope every day. Of how she choose to look for God's Joys in life, in the midst of pain - physical and emotional - and trials, how He so faithfully provided joy for her.

This was a really good book and I would recommend it. It definitely encouraged me!

Our Vacation To New Hampshire - Part 1

For the last few years, my in-laws have taken the family (their 5 children, 4 spouses and varying amounts of grandchildren - the number grows every year) and spent a week on vacation in New Hampshire. We meet up there with extended family from Maryland and Massachusetts and this year we even also had cousins from New Jersey. This is always a great time and is something that we talk about and look forward to all year. I am going to attempt to share the highlights with you here, but since I took over 1900 pictures, this will probably only end up to be part one :) 

This was the view from the porch at the house that my in-laws stayed in. We didn't sleep at this house because there were too many of us for the number that this house would hold. We stayed up the hill in the woods, which I thought was also perfect!

This was my view from my bed! I absolutely ADORE the sound of the wind blowing through elm trees!!! There is something about elm trees that sounds so much more relaxing than other types of trees. (Sadly I do not have any elm trees at home.) Below this window there is a beautiful deck that we made great use of last year, but this year it was either too hot (even in the shade) or I was too busy. This was a very busy week. It's funny to me how different each year is and that you can't predict from one year to the next what it will be like. Last year was extremely relaxing, while this year, even though it was relaxing, it was also very active.

 We hiked to these falls one day. There were several levels that had areas of *pools* to swim in and the kids LOVED it!!

 If you go up 5 or 6 levels, you are rewarded with this!

Or you can just not bother with scenery and simply play in the falls and splash your cousins!!

I love the way the trees are reflected in Matt's sunglasses :)

These next two are my two favorites from this particular day!

Does it get any better than this?!?! I can't imagine that it does!

Musical Monday: The Prayer

The other night I heard a tune similar to Josh Groban's Believe so I thought about using it for today's post. Well, in all honesty, it really is just to Christmas-y for me to use in July! LOL I am sure that I will use it some time in December since I really like that song.

 But while I was on YouTube looking for that song, this one was listed on the side. As I watched it, I got *God-bumps* all over! I started to cry toward the end and was just really moved by it. This really is a fantastic song so just enjoy it for it's beauty (meaning, no deep theological meaning here this week LOL)

God Bless :)

Home Alone - Woo Hoo!

A day home alone and this is what it looked like:

I started with church. We are doing a series called Destination: Life. It's about living a life that matters. Today's message was about faith vs. fear. It was excellent!

Then I came home and learned this neat trick:

Step one: Mix your lemonade.

Step two: hull your strawberries.

Step three: mix lemonade and strawberries in the blender with ice.

Step four: add whip cream and enjoy out in the backyard!

This was how the rest of my afternoon went:

Hope you all had a great day too!