Serving simply stated

This is my latest blog on Carpe Diem Mom. I took a poll to find out what young moms wanted to read about and this was the consensus! I hope you'll drop by!

This week we have a wonderful set of visitors coming to our home!!! Dave and Joanne will be coming to the Perz Bed and Breakfast :). Dave is preaching for us on Wednesday night, so if you are in the area, we'd love to have you visit! We also have a girls' study on Friday night! We are embarking on a set of three studies that I'm designing by the girls' request! I have just cherished this time with the girls and moms! The participation is wonderful, the feedback encouraging! Such a blessing!

We are so blessed and busy! God is good! Love to all!

Julia is now 13.

This is from my Facebook tribute : (go to the FB page for pictures)

Happy Birthday to Julia Perz! 13 years ago in WI, we welcomed Julia Miriam Perz into our family. To say that she has been a blessing just doesn't fully describe the love and joy she has brought into our home. Julia has a servant's heart and brings her own sunshine whereever she goes! God has blessed us so abundantly and, today especially, I am utterly thankful for His gift of our fourth daughter. She is growing into a lovely young lady! She will bring smiles to Facebook, of that I am certain! Here are some pictures of Julia throughout the years!

I'll be sharing a link to my next blog soon. It's in progress :). Hope all of you pleonasters are well! I've got to come back and catch up soon!

I forgot to share my last blog on here: Seeking Rejuvenation, Energy, Serenity and Tranquility.

I know there are a LOT of moms out there in need of REST! Take an opportunity to read this and make time to energize yourself!

We had a house-full-of-friends last night -- fifty for our holiday party! It was such a wonderful time and I feel so blessed that so many took time out of busy schedules to enjoy an evening of visting, games, and -- of course -- eating holiday treats and snacks! We also had two families stay the night: The Beckley's (a surprise we kept from the kids!) and the Scribners from Athens! Today was full of more meals together and lots of visting and then a night or relaxing while my washer washed all the company linens and laundry! So thankful that I don't have to go do that down by the river, right? :)

Have a wonderful week!

Keeping the home: five of five

This is the final installment in my homemaking series. I enjoyed re-visiting it and editing it to make it 'blog worthy'... I added pictures this time, learning as I went along. I am slowly improving my techie-skills!

My study at camp was well received. I learned so much by digging deep and I'm so thankful for all that God says to us about putting off ungodly speech and putting on godly speech. It always amazes me how we make things so much more difficult than they ought to be. I think often we try to put off without putting on...it just doesn't work that way. We must replace our bad habits with good ones if we wish to keep our good habits. That simple truth works as well in homemaking as it does bridling our tongues!

Camp was wonderful as always...so many friends to visit with, so many beautiful days (in spite of lots of rain), hikes with my husband, lattes with Josh, breakfast in bed every day (This is a treat because I do desserts at the other meals so we keep this one all to ourselves...and because we always let Josh sleep in after staying up past 2 every night!), watching the children play, watching everyone visit, singing, studying...one of my favorite classes ever -- Bethany Bingham's class -- she made some points that I will just cherish forever. While describing her children (of various ages and stages), she concluded each description with 'and it's THE best thing' ... toddlers to teens ... and then concluded that only an AMAZING God could make all ages and stages THE BEST THING. Beautiful...and so in tune with my carpe diem philosophy. Just wonderful.

It was a whirlwind week after camp...monthly shopping is always busy! We had another great girls' study this weekend...all those girls are just so dear to me! It's really a blessing to consider the relationships in God's word and to learn from their mistakes and try to emulate the positive things! I'm working on a study of the Prophets for my little ones' class. They are enjoying it! I rarely dumb down anything, so I'm learning a great deal, too! I love to hear them narrate what we've learned. So precious!

Did I mention that J II held down the fort while we were gone? I think I purposely failed to mention it so he wasn't a sitting duck (yes, all 6'2" and 200 lbs of him and all four dogs and I was still a bit worried about leaving him at home!). He did a great job. All the pets survived and the house was in good condition. Yay!

He's enjoying Jefferson State Community College. He just really likes his English professor a LOT. I'm so glad about that! I've been reading all his required-reading short stories so we can discuss them. Sadly, his class is reading mainly modern American Literature (my LEAST favorite). There have been a few good ones, though. Anyway, it's been fun to chat about them (I like Literature much more than he does ;))! He gets extra credit for going to a play so we are going to King Lear at Samford University in November! FUN!!!!!

And, it's FALL. I really really love FALL!!!

First, thank you all for the many prayers and kind words during the loss of my brother-in-law and during my dad's surgery and treatment. My father is doing wonderfully! God is good and I am so blessed to have seen him and spent time with him (and the others, of course).

I wrote about Ed's funeral on FB and shared pictures...it was a blessing to see the family come together, yet heartbreaking to see my great nephews that will never remember their grandfather. It was a full military funeral and it was overwhelming in so many ways. The slideshow, the flags, the 21 gun salute, taps...many tears were shed. My great nephew sat with us so my niece-in-law could nurse the baby easily in the front pew and my nephew could speak about his father (all three of my nephews spoke and it was beautiful and heartbreaking). When the coffin lid was closed and covered with the American Flag, Lyn Edward (seeminly unaware, playing a game on my iPhone -- without sound -- because he never has need to sit still and is not trained to that and a funeral is not the time to do it so no judging please -- looked up at me and said, "Where is my grandpa?" Children don't miss a thing. A few minutes later, when his uncle (the youngest of the three boys who is 26) spoke through many tears, Lyn Edward asked me, "Why does his voice sound like that?" Oh, the tears. But, the healing words of the boys -- my nephews...those babies who were the first ones I babysat, the ones I visited as a young girl, the ones who are all grown up and starting familes of their own...the hope for the future, the late-learned-love of the value of life, the acceptance of my brother-in-law's desire to live in spite of his ALS deteriorating everything but his brilliant mind, the beauty of a broken family beginning to heal, trying to love...always hoping...and my prayer is that God will be sought and FOUND.

I know it's been a long time. My updates here are infrequent and I am overwhelmed with so many missed comments and new blogs from you all. Slowly, slowly I am catching up. I recall a time when I eagerly visited this place...and shared many things...I do that on my blog now and on Facebook. The moment FB allowed more than 420 characters, it became faster and easier for me to share there...uploading pictures is a snap, scrolling through to keep up with friends is faster, and all of the private options (groups, messaging) just seem easier. I won't leave here, mind you, but for some reason many of the less-than-pleasant encounters I had here have given it a bit of the cringe-factor for me. Sharing makes you vulnerable to criticism -- some deserved, some undeserved and based on false assumptions -- and sometimes you have to shake the dust off your feet. For those of you not on FB, I still plan to check in here now and then!

I have been studying the scriptures on words, the tongue, and kindness. I also came across some valuable quotes in some old books that I found on our recent FL trip. Because I am the one who loves books the most (of the five siblings in my family), I am often asked to go through the books and take what I want. I've done this dozens of times...how are there any left? Perhaps, too, my mom is letting go of some favorites and I'm able to take some real treasures now! This time, in the midst of a few giant bags of hundred-year old and new books, I also found some books that I read often as a child: Words of Inspiration, The Art of Living and Apples of Gold. I don't know what drew me to them as a child (perhaps the fact that two are bound in gold quite nicely? :)), but re-reading them made me realize how the words in them have shaped me. Many ideals that I held -- even before my conversion -- are nesteled nicely on these pages. The power of words...incredible! Yet, still, it is only God's word that is fully TRUTH, that shows us the way to Him, through His Son. That's priceless.

The blog title is the topic of the study I am preparing for the young girls at hscamp. I teach every year (various ages wherever there is a need) and I love to teach. I especially love to challenge myself to prepare a worthy study of topics from God's word that will not only benefit the girls, but that will cause me to grow spiritually. Teaching others from God's word is a blessing indeed. Meditation on God's precious word, abiding in Him, seeking to do His will...that is what it is all about.

I have always loved words, perhaps that is why I love to write (and read). As many times as I've been inspired and encouraged and even admonished by words, I've also been wounded by words spoken carelessly (haven't we all?). Isn't it strange how a thousand beautiful words from wonderful people can be seemingly erased by a few hurtful words from a near-stranger? In the midst of being hurt by words, it occured to me that I did not have it in my power to change others' words, but I had it in my power (with God on my side) to control my own words, to use my words wisely, to remember to have the law of kindness on my tongue. I had resolved to do that years ago, but this last year determined that seasoning my words, controlling my tongue, and encouraging others to speak with love and kindness would be a top priority.


I found a quote about the power of words in one of the old books I found:
All the beauty, all the joy, all the love that man has known, all his kindness, all his yearnings, all his dreams for better things; his passionate desire for peace and an anchorage within a universe that has filled him with fear and mystery and adoration; his daily round of toil and commonplaces; his assumption of things as they are; his lofty and sublime contemplations, his gorgeous imageries; his valor, his dogged will, his patience in long suffering, his ecstasies, his sacrifices small and great—even to the casting aside of his life for a thought, a compassion, an ambition—all these are bound up in words; hence, words are dangerous when let loose. They may mean man’s destruction. They may signify a way out of the dark. For light is a word, Courage is a word and Vision is another. Therefore it is wise to use words with caution. Their content is so complex and explosive and in combinations, they may work beautiful or dreadful things. ~ Louis Sullivan