Harrington House

Gone With The Wind

A deadly, devastating storm hit Alabama and Georgia last night.  Buildings and homes are gone.  Some neighborhoods are gone.  Many people are gone.  

I set up a little "shelter" area under our stairs, and we were fortunate not to need it.  Once the threat of danger had passed us, we turned in for the night, but it felt hollow, knowing that there were people right in the middle of it.  

Today, I am thankful for God's promised presence.  I am thankful that He is there for all those who need comfort and refuge.  There are so many storms in this life ... I cannot imagine facing a single one without Him.  

 

Picking Favorites

When I was growing up, any time we were in the car, I would always dub just about every song that came on the radio as "ohhh, my favorite."  Momma would always say that "every song is your favorite." 

That is exactly my dilemma when I try to choose my favorite Bible verses.  My Bible is underlined and highlighted with notes written in between the lines and up the sides of the pages, important papers purposely wedged here and there in my Good Book.  There are entirely too many selections that I dearly love and too many that I hold in my heart to choose just one or two.  Too many that I cling to for counsel and inspiration.  

I reckon that is a good "problem" to have.  :o)

 

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  You shall write them on the doorposts of you house and on your gates."

    - from Deuteronomy 6

"My soul longeth and even yearneth for the courts of the Lord;
 My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
 How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!
 They are ever praising You.
 How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
 In whose heart are the highways to ZION!"

- from the 84th Psalm

"I have no greater joy than this,
 to hear of my children walking in the truth."

- 3 John 1:4

Confederate Jasmine

The confederate jasmine has just about bloomed herself out for the year.  Even though the blooms are small, I think they are so incredibly pretty, complex, and interesting...and that's without even talking about the gorgeous scent.   

How fun would it be to try something like these (found at Southern Living)...

 

On a completely unrelated note, Amelia Kate has been one sick little girl the past few days.  She has consistently run a fever of about 102 degrees.  :o(  Sick babies are the worst!!  Every single time I was sick, without fail, Daddy would come sit by my bed, hold my hand, and tell me that he wished he could take it instead of me.  I fully understand what he meant.  But I'll tell you what....since she has slowed down for a couple days, I've had the chance to give her some serious loving, for which she is usually otherwise too busy.  And while she has been sleeping, I've been granted some sweet one-on-one time with Jack Jack.  He's all about giving me sugar these days...which is more like an open-mouthed headbutt....and there is always hair-pulling involved.  Let's just say we've got lots of work to do before Jack starts to hunt a wife.  ;o)

First Hydrangea of the Season

(My first hydrangea bloom of the season!)

 

"It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves.  Our only power and success come from God."  

- 2 Corinthians 3:5

A Good Day for a Good Bye

A good day to say SO LONG, INSECURITY!  You have been a bad, bad, BAD friend to me!

Today was the Beth Moore event here in town, and it was even more than I expected.

A couple months ago, I bought the book (So Long, Insecurity), and before I had barely opened it, I cried.  I was sitting in my car with the babies in the back seat in the middle of a busy parking lot, and I couldn't wait till I got home to start reading.  Before I could even get through the first few sentences, I was bawling.  Not the it's-been-an-emotional-sorta-day-and-I'm-looking-for-a-good-cry kind of bawling.  It was one of those honest to goodness, stripped down, come to Jesus kind of cries.  I knew something good was coming.

IT DID.

The book was awesome, and today Beth was awesome.  The music was awesome.  The ladies in the crowd were awesome.  I was literally one ... in a sea of thousands ... but it was so clear we were each something different, something unique, something significant.  When we all stood and sang...when the music would stop....and all you could hear were all those ladies lifting their voices in praise, I'm telling you, it felt like the world as we know it had ceased to exist, and we were on the other side.  I can't even put into words the emotions I felt today.   

As I was driving over this morning to Woodstock, the sky was nothing but gray.  The sky all the way across was nothing more than a blanket of solid gray cloud.  Until I sat in line waiting to turn into the church.  My camera didn't photograph it nearly as obvious as it was.  Take my word for it, though.

There was a break in that haze, and you could see huge rays from above beaming down ...to the very spot we were all going.   It was a sign to me that today was a special day for lots of ladies.  (If you look closely below you can see the church steeple in among the trees and the bright spot in the sky above where the rays were shining down.)  

 

The night before, I was worried about leaving Jack and Amelia and Mike all day.  After all it was a Saturday, and I crave time with my family all together.  And I was going by myself.  Alone.  I knew how intimidating it was going to be with all those thousands of women who were all going with friends and family and church groups.  The Enemy had me almost convinced that I should just stay home.  Sooooo glad I don't pay him a whole lot of mind.  :o) 

Two sweet, sweet ladies (Sherri and Brooke - mother/daughter) recognized me from my blog (they neither one have blogs...yet!) and invited me to come sit with them!  Isn't that nice of them??  They were genuinely and authentically good people.  :o)  I am so thankful to y'all and for y'all.   God bless both of you in big, big ways, and I hope we meet again.  (And Sherri...I am sure I am butchering your name spelling...if you are reading, please correct me!) 
 

 

I took a ton of notes, and I cannot wait to pour over them and go deeper.  I want more days like today.  :o)
  

Big Tom

 

 

Someone sent me this short video this morning, and I just had to share it.  PLEASE watch it!  Very powerful!

AppreciateLife.com

Train Up a Child

He Answers Prayers

That God is at work in our lives is UNDENIABLE!  Have you read Kelly's latest update on sweet Baby Harper? 

With patience and faith, we are praying, praying, praying!

In other news...I took Amelia to "Jumpy" today, and we did not have any fits like a couple days ago.  Woohoo!  She is, however, cutting some molars I think.    

Jumpy!!

This cold, cold weather is bad news when you have an energetic toddler ripping through the house!  No park, no stroller rides, no walks down the street...what's a  momma to do?  Well, I took Amelia to one of those indoor gyms for kids.  Now, I admit, the idea of all those germs really bothered me (you know, indoor where the good, disinfecting sunshine couldn't get to them)...but I figured I just have to put some faith into her immune system and go for it.  The place I took her is right up the road, is pretty inexpensive, and she LOVED it! 

I didn't get a single picture of her face because she did not stop once!  And I think this is the first time I didn't have a bow in her hair while we were out and about.  Y'all, that jumpin' is hard work...the child can't be bothered with hair accessories at a time like this.  At least she had a pink shirt on. 

Doesn't this look like fun?  I did not want to test my big pregnant self on any of the inflatables for fear I'd pop a whole in something and ruin everyone's good time.  

Towards the end, she was getting pretty good at running and jumping on everything.  But falling down is way more fun!   :o)

Now, let me tell you about... The Fit.

After an hour, she started to slow down a bit, and since it was naptime, I decided it was time to call it a day.  As I carried her out the door, my little lady decided to throw a fit.   Oh my goodness.  Not only did she try to turn herself into liquid several times as I tried to carry her to the car, but she tried that "stiff-as-a-board" stunt, too, making it almost impossible to carry her.  I take it she was NOT ready to leave "Jumpy" (as she calls it).  And after acting like that, there was no way I was going to take her back in there.  I sure didn't want to send that message...you know, have a total come-apart and you get what you want.  Oh no!  

So, when we get to the car, she again turns herself into liquid...in the parking lot...on the pavement beside the car.  Doncha know I just wanted to crawl under the car and hide.  And had it not been for my big pregnant round belly and the fear that I might get wedged permanently under it, I probably would have.   This was by far the worst fit she has ever thrown.  I did NOT get a picture of that part of our day.  I hope to goodness our next trip to Jumpy is not like that!  How embarrassing.

Now, I can't talk about jumping without talking about candlesticks!  So let me show you a new candlestick I found at the thrift store.  It's silver-plate on brass so it's heavy, and the silver is perfectly worn like I love!  $1...Yea!  I have it in the dining room on a table that I just moved in there.  It's the only thing on the table right now, though.

I love honeycomb candles, and I just made a little wreath of boxwood for it.  

And MOST IMPORTANTLY... please keep praying for Harper and Kelly.  The most recent updates sound so good.  Prayer IS powerful!  It is amazing to be witness to so many coming together in spirit and prayer over this precious child.  

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them."  Matthew 18:20

"Before our Father's throne,

we pour our ardent prayers;

our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,

our comforts and our cares.

We share each other's woes,

our mutual burdens bear;

and often for each other flows

the sympathizing tear.

Blest be the tie that binds

our hearts in Christian love;

The fellowship of kindred minds

is like to that above."

Please, Please Pray

Yesterday was such an exciting day, as a lot of us waited for Kelly to give birth to little Harper!  She made her much-anticipated arrival in the evening, but she was diagnosed with a very serious case of pneumonia.  After being intubated, she was flown to another hospital's NICU for care.  Kelly herself had a hard delivery, losing a lot of blood, resulting in hypotension.  

Please pray for...Little Harper, that her body will be receptive to the treatments they are instituting;  for the doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists who are caring for Harper, that they be led by the Lord in their care;  for Kelly, that she recover quickly from the delivery;  and especially for the entire family, that they feel our Heavenly Father's presence and know that He is holding their Little Lamb in His hands.