Sunday Thoughts

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One finds God because one is already found by God. Anything we would find on our own would not be God. – Catherine M. LaCugna

Isaiah 55:6-11

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Weekend Links - October 1, 2011

How is it October already?! Yeah, I know. It comes after September. Thanks, all you {presumed} smarty-pants.
Pins of the week:
This outfit by Kayla from Freckles in April:

Source: frecklesinapril.blogspot.com via Karen on Pinterest

This beadboard coffee table (I'm sure I've mentioned that I'm a sucker for beadboard)

Source: remodelaholic.com via Karen on Pinterest

 I know the girls would love this dollhouse in an Expedit:

Source: branca-rotelli.blogspot.com via Karen on Pinterest

And now for our usual random assemblage of links. (Some of these are older because I'm considering deleting my Delicious account and I thought I better share them here so I don't lose them altogether.)

1. Jon Acuff took on the idea that saying "I'm just saying" is some kind of magical get out of being a jerk card. Sounds to me like "I'm just saying" is the new "bless her heart." For those of you unfamiliar with the phrase, it's common in the south. Any criticism or negative comment, when followed with "bless her heart", is excused. For instance: "She looks like she hasn't found her hairbrush since 1986, bless her heart."

2. I, for obvious reasons, really identified with this post: When Your House is Like a Clown Car. Contrary to my occasional grumbling, I do love this house. How could I not? I've brought each of my babies home to this house. I think it has magical expanding properties: all four girls and all their stuff and we two adults and all our stuff still fits here.

3. Did you know you can refill Wallflowers at home with essential oils? Now we know.

4. I wish I could print this out and give it away to everyone: How to Use an Apostrophe.

5. You may have noticed the changes at Facebook. Well, there are more changes on the way. This post unpacks some of them and explains some of the implications. (Delicious and Pinterest both changed this week too, just as a side note.)

6. Looking for online language arts games (I was for Miss Polly). Jimmie has a great list of the 10 Best.

7. 20 Reasons You Are Not Getting Extreme Coupon Results. I - being the frugal girl that I am - love coupons. I do not love when shelves are swept clean of a certain product or that stores are tightening up their policies as a result of this show. Thoughts?

8. Here's a great list of Math games to play with a simple deck of cards.

9. Love, love, love this post about Being Home.

10. Want to read a beautiful post about marriage? Try this one: Marriage Myths - I Never Really Loved Her. Then go hug your husband. Seriously. I did.

11. This is the post that challenged me the most this week: Circle of Influence. This quote right here is when I knew Kris was talking about me:

It’s not that I don’t like people, but rather that I often have an impatient attitude toward many of them.

Gulp. I may not be a "people person". (OK, I definitely am not.) But I can be patient and loving. That's a choice I can make, not something I can't control.

Stumbled on anything interesting this week? Comments on any of my links? Share in the comments!
This post is linked to Saturday Stumbles at Simply Staci.

Finer Things Friday - Family Resemblance

For Tigger's birthday this week I shared this picture of her on facebook:

Lots of people left her birthday messages, which I shared with her. Among the messages were the following comments.

One person, an old friend from our Tennessee days, said:
"Very cute, looks like her dad."

Another old friend from our growing up in Tennessee days said:
"She looks so much like you, Karen."

I love it. I love that two different people can look at the same little girl and see a parent reflected in her, because I think they're both right. (Another thing I love about this is that these comments were not from relatives trying to "claim" Tigger. These were disinterested parties who had never met Tigger in person nor seen Philip or me in at least seven years.)

One of the best things about parenting more than one child is getting to see some of the different ways their daddy's and my DNA combines to make {beautiful} children.

Philip made this picture comparison when Miss Lili came along:  so similar, so obviously related and yet so individual and perfect.

Family resemblance - it's a Finer Thing.