Chocolate Silk Coffee..YUM

Greetings Everybody,
Looking forward to today.
Going to make cake and share it with some friends tonight.


I am excited about this.


Haven't seen them in a while.


And I am thinking how wonderful it will be to have cake and coffee with our pals.


But not just ANY Coffee...one called Chocolate Silk.


If you are a coffee "purist" and detest flavored coffees, then this is NOT for you.


                        But...if you enjoy flavored coffee, this one is outstanding!                 

I Really Dig It

                                             It is a true DESSERT COFFEE.                                           


Better than any Mocha I have ever tried.


Rich, Chocolaty, but not some sugary kids drink...it is DEFINITELY Coffee.


OK then...I see my work here is done lol!


Talk with you guys later :)


In Him,
Grace

Come On Christmas Break!

Greetings All,

Do you remember being a school kid who could hardly wait for Christmas Break?

                             I do!

My husband and I are like that EVERY year...right along WITH our students.

WE are just as ready as THEY are.

As a matter of fact, I think that TEACHERS are even MORE ready for school to be out than the KIDS are. Kids only do "public school" for their allotted K-12 years, but I did  "public school" for all the years when I WAS a kid, PLUS well over 20 years sitting on the other side of the desks. That's alot of Christmas Breaks to wait for.

I've been a Kid and I've been a Grown-up. 
I can speak from both perspectives.

And I can testify that my Grown-Up Self generally wants Christmas Break WAAAAY more than my Child Self ever did.

"Just a handful of days to go."

"Just a handful of days to go."

We teachers chant this to ourselves as we drive to work.

We teachers chant this to our colleagues between classes.

We teachers chant this to ourselves as we drive home from work.

We basically mutter this mantra till folks think we've "gone round the bend!" 

But somehow it seems to help lol.

This Christmas I have a list of things I want, but there's not much on my list that you can actually buy

Things I want during Christmas Break:

         -to wake up and realize that I don't HAVE to go anywhere at all

         -to wake up smelling cinnamon buns and coffee

         -to wear flannel pj's all day long while sitting on the sofa covered in a quilt

         -to read for several hours and not feel guilty

         -to have a good fire going in the fireplace every day

         -to have enough food & supplies in the house to keep us satisfied & safe

         -enough extra to share with those in need

         -health & safety for my family and my friends

         -a sense of peace and serenity

         -to be still for a couple of weeks

There will be other Christmas's when I pour on the High Energy...but I hope that this year is a soft and gentle one...my soul needs it


"Just a handful of days to go."


In Him,
Grace

I Woke Up Smiling This Morning

Greetings,
Today has the mark of Wonder upon it, for I woke up SMILING.


At 4:30, my eyes fluttered open and I realized that I was fully rested and WANTING to get up.


No alarm clock.


Isn't that cool.


Don't you just love the mornings when you wake up on your own and you realize that you are just simply DONE with your sleep!


We live in an age of time management.
It seems that our lives are lived out in strictly-managed time-allocated chunks.


But today was a total violation of that norm.


I just simply woke up ready to be UP.


I did not have the desire to just snuggle back down in the covers.
I did not have something I woke up worried about.
I did not have a huge agenda-laden day that I woke up thinking about.


Rather, like a baby who is done with her nap, I simply woke up...smiling.


I LOVE this morning.


This Day Has HOPE and PROMISE and JOY written all over it.


Psalms 118:24 " This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."


Yeah THAT's how I feel about today.


Just finished my prayer journal, emptied my heart out to God...and was, as always filled back up in the process....and now here is sit.


The lights on the Christmas Tree are twinkling behind me, and the house is so still and quiet...and my coffee is so perfect this morning...and I am deeply, honestly, simply content.


This Peace is of God!


Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."


It is deep and it is precious and it is wonderful.


Regardless of what this day may bring, I want to cling to this sense of well-being. 
My Heavenly Father has wrapped me in his warm embrace and is holding me safe and secure this morning.


I Am Thankful For This Peace.


In Him,
Grace

In the Quiet of the Dark Morning

Greetings,
It's a little after 5 am on a Saturday morning.Yes I am an early riser, usually earlier than this.  Today I slept in for a bit.
This is my prayer time and I have found great joy and comfort in the discipline of getting up early, getting my coffee and sitting down at my computer to do my prayer journaling.
Let's talk for just a minute about prayer journaling: It's Amazing.

I start off every morning with a blank page. I type the date and the phrase "Good Morning God,"
It looks like a letter to God.  And I have found that in the quiet of the dark morning, the first words out of my mouth are generally "Thank You".  This is when I usually begin to itemize the list of Blessings that came to me the day before or have already come that morning.

It is a humbling and soul satisfying thing to begin itemizing every little thing that God has blessed you with.  Often I thank God for my coffee, and the fresh milk in it, and for the coffee pot and the filter and the sugar and the pretty cup I drink from,... and the refrigerator to keep the milk cold, and the money to pay for the electricity that runs the refrigerator.

Do you see how one blessing links to so many others?
Do you see just exactly how many things we tend to take for granted?
Do you see my point about how humbling and soul satisfying it is to itemize the zillions of blessings that surround us?

When I am done with the listing of the blessings (though I have never managed to exhaust the list...ever), my frame of mind has been altered significantly.  The tasks of the upcoming day, the cares of the world and the fears in my soul have been subdued; for I have just been reminded that I am loved, blessed and protected by God.

I challenge you to start off your prayers listing blessings and see if it doesn't change your whole sense of well being. My prayer journal awaits:)...time to list my blessings and invite God to enter my day. It's time to thank Him for allowing me to ride in the palm of His Hand once more.

God is Good!

In Him,
Grace