Encouragement For The Heart

You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.

If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

~ Psalm 139

 Keep your smiles on! Until next time!

Happy Sunday!

I hope your Sunday is restful and blessed! Keep your smiles on! Until next time!


Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. - Psalm 37:7

Feminine Friday: A Strange Obsession

Hello my lovelies! Obviously, Friday is girl day and there is one thing that has to be included when talking about girls. One thing we are obsessed about and can never pass up when we have a little extra money. One thing that guys will never ever EVER understand. What is that one thing? Shoes! 

We. Love. Shoes! Heels, flats, sneakers, flip-flops, rain boots, etc. I've officially lost count of the pairs I have. This being the case, Target is a bad place to be with money in my pocket. Hey! They have cute shoes! We can't explain it. We just do!

So, now that we've established the fact that we girls love shoes, here is a song about shoes. :)

Keep your smiles on! Until next time!

Funny that a pair of really nice shoes make us feel good in our heads - at the extreme opposite end of our bodies.  ~Levende Waters

Fashion can be bought.  Style one must possess.  ~Edna Woolman Chase

Today I Feel Like...

........ TRAVELING!!!!!

Yes, I'm feeling very adventurous! I want to go see the White Cliffs of Dover and Jane Austen's home and the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Galapagos Islands! I want to find kangaroos and pandas and the Loch Ness Monster! Anyone up for an adventure with me?

Keep your smiles on! Until next time!


The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.  ~St. Augustine


A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.  ~Lao Tzu

Stuck In My Head

Do you ever get things stuck in your head? Most of the time it's something annoying. Repetitive songs, silly comments of a conversation, an embarrassing moment that keeps replaying itself. Well I have some things stuck in my head except they are much more pleasant than that! What's stuck in my head? A certain smile, a certain pair of eyes, a certain laugh, a certain hand that fits perfectly in mine. :) Yup. And I can't get it out! <3

And now for the song that's stuck in my head! Appropriate if you ask me. :)

Keep your smiles on! Until next time!

True love stories never have endings. ~ Richard Bach 

Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. ~ Robert Heinlein

Feminine Friday: Chocolate Sweet Chocolate

Well it's Friday again so I'm led to talk about something girly. And what do girl's like more than chocolate?! White, dark, milk, orange, German, whatever! If it's sweet and tastes like that wonderful cocoa bean, we love it. (Men, take notes. ;) )

Chocolate is the answer.  Who cares what the question is. ~  Anonymous

Here are some random facts about chocolate that I found very interesting!

- Chocolate is a champion antioxidant.
- Dark chocolate stored under perfect conditions will last for 10 years.
- Chocolate is associated with the release of serotonin, the hormone that makes you feel relaxed, calm, and happy.
- Cocoa Beans were used as currency among the Mayan and Aztec cultures.
- A single chocolate chip can provide enough energy for an adult human to walk 150 ft.
- People spend more than $7 billion dollars a year on chocolate.
- In Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Psycho" chocolate syrup was used to indicate blood in the famous shower scene.

 There are four basic food groups:  milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles. ~ Anonymous

Now for your songs today. Three songs from the soundtrack of a fabulous movie about chocolate! Enjoy!

Stay beautiful and keep your smiles on! Until next time!


As with most fine things, chocolate has its season.  There is a simple memory aid that you can use to determine whether it is the correct time to order chocolate dishes:  any month whose name contains the letter A, E, or U is the proper time for chocolate. ~ Sandra Boynton


Momma always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. ~ Forrest Gump

Lake Adventures

Well my dear readers, I'm back! Miss me much? 4th of July was great! It included all I talked about and more and was definitely the best three days of vacation I've ever had. Here are some pictures:

Now for your song. Something summery and fun:

I hope your holiday was as fantastical as mine! Keep your smiles on! Until next time!

Celebrations

Happy Fourth of July.... early!!! Why am I posting this today? Well, tomorrow I'm going to the lake with my family, Dearest Carl, the Ostendorfs and the Remmels for a big ol' 4th of July celebration! It's going to be a blast! Games, swimming, boating, friends, food, laughs and lots and lots of fun! Aaaaand I'll be there for a few days soooo I'm writing you your post now! 


Ah, our country and freedom. It's a good thing and we are blessed to live here! No duh we have a whole day to celebrate it in the loudest way possible! Can you say fireworks? OH YEAH!!!!! Thank you Lord for America!!!


Ok, for your first song, one that always comes to my mind on the 4th. And please! Watch the whole video! I know it's long however there's the best use of firecrackers toward the end that I've ever seen! (Kudos to Fred Astaire! :D)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rd37pOgO5A

Now for the traditional 4th of July song that everyone must hear at least once on that day! It just fits!

I hope your own Fourth of July celebrations are as fun and loud as mine will be! Keep your smiles on! Until next time!

How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!  ~Thomas Jefferson


I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives.  I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.  ~Abraham Lincoln


When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea.  He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect.  ~Adlai Stevenson

A Different Mirror

Good morning my dear readers! I meant to give you this post as a Feminine Friday yesterday however I was a bit busy with other things. So, instead, I'll just give you a post about it today. 

I was looking for a picture the other day and this one popped up. Needless to say, I was inspired! Why? Well just look at it!. In the girl's lap sits a picture of a lovely elegant lady. Beside her stool lays a brush and comb and an open tube of lipstick as if she tried to improve her appearance and look more like the pretty lady. You can just tell by the disappointed look on the girl's face that she's disappointed with the results and doubts she will ever be pretty.  


I'm sure all of you ladies can relate to this feeling at some point. It's rare to find a girl who is happy with her looks, no matter how pretty she is. The problem is, though all of us struggle with it, we fail to see that all of us struggle with it! We look at the perfect girl on the magazine cover and immediately feel inadequate, even though the model is airbrushed and computerized to perfection. We think "Oh if I only had green eyes or wavy hair or a thin waist, I'd be happy and beautiful!" when THEY are thinking "Oh if I only had blue eyes or straight hair or wasn't quite so thin, I'd be happy and beautiful!" 


Okay, this post might seem a little hypocritical because I struggle with this a lot. I don't like mirrors so much. But it makes me sad when I look at the girls around me and know they're feeling the same thing! I want to tell them "You are beautiful! God made you the way He wanted you and He thinks you're gorgeous!" Unfortunately, I know from experience that words like that can help for a moment but they fade and we go back to feeling exactly as we did before. 


One thing got to me though. I realized that I'm looking in the wrong mirror! There is nothing like looking into a person's eyes who loves you and seeing yourself in their eyes. You know that they see what you see in the mirror and they still think you're beautiful! That being the case, I need to be looking at me in God's eyes! No one could love me more than He does and no one could think I'm more beautiful than the One who made me! So I encourage you, my dear reader, look at yourself through His eyes and in that mirror, you'll be more beautiful than any magazine in this world can portray!

Keep your smiles on! Until next time! 


Beauty comes in all sizes, not just size 5. ~ Roseanne


Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance. ~ John Ruskin