Technical difficulties!

Computer has been acting up for the past few days...but I will be posting pics tonight or tommorow

Pre-Turkey day

As is tradition, it is the night before thanksgiving and the family is all together prepping some food for our feast tommorow. This year, the twin, is making the turkey! This is huge! She found a recipe in a magazine and her and my dad have begun to attack it!

Memories...

So today , the last day of work before break, I fininshed my morning shift and I was exhausted...

and so I took a nap.

While I slept I dreamt of Hungary & Slovakia two countries that are also dear to my heart. Two countries the Lord brought me to before Africa. Two countries where the Lord began prepping me for africa.

My picture for today...is a group of photos and one postcard taken over the 4 different summers where I went to Hungary(city of Esztergom) and Slovakia(city of Sturovo) with the Lord. I am so thankful for the adventures the Lord has led me on and grateful that He allowed me to be apart of His work along the way. To God be the glory!

Confession!

Hello,

I dont think anyone is really reading this lol but my confession is im not a very faithful blogger! lol I tried and tried lol. And with my new schedule it is not getting any better. I am hoping though this will change soon. Even if it is just pictures. Since I am attempting to get better with my camera I shall attemp to take one picture a day. And lord-willing I will post them. My camera was really a gift ..I had a hard time recieving it but eventually I did. And because it was such a great gift I think I should learn how to use it and learn how to use it well! And so I am challenging myself to take one picture a day till new years!! So today as day 1 !! and an exciting day at that! -- my dad came home from Oregon!! we just got back from picking him up from the airport so here is my first picture -- my dad & my sis! I am so glad that my dad was able to come home for thanksgiving!!!

FIx it fridays!

My Fix:

Original FOr more fun fixes go check out http://www.iheartfaces.com/

Dance & other ramblings =)

{ So I wrote this and realized my thoughts were not as put together as I thought. I started one place and went somewhere else. But, I also know my writing will not get better unless I practice, so here is me sharing the thoughts in my head....and practicing! Trying to get back into the swing of writing...this is quite the process...its like learning to ride a bike again...for me..its something I used to do so often and now ..yeah well yall will see in this blog how my writing has suffered and hopefully overtime we will see some improvement!

I usually Just start typing, but will work on planning things out a little better
hopefully the next post will be better!


PS. I will be plugging in more scripture later, have to look some more up that I wanted to put in it }

[Eccl. 3:4 "A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance"]

{ Short note reflecting on last week at one of my child care jobs}

It was the end of the day and almost time for me to leave and go home. Little Susie had put on her princess dress while me and her mom chatted. She snekas up and hugs my legs, and

*

says " excuse me ms. treneka, excuse me" , looking up at me her big brown eyes ginning from ear to ear

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"Yes little Ms. Susie"

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" can we dance now? " (Dancing had not been mentioned before that momment)

*

Our day had been filled with Reading,storytelling, building forts and castles and building traps for the invading enemy, spiders, and chores. Twas' a full day for me and a bunch of the kiddos. But before I go she says "We have to dance before you go" with such vigor; as in her eyes it was the most important thing we did that day.

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"We are princesses" she tells me

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"Ok, Susie hold on"

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She grabs my hands as to prepare to dance

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"One minute Phoebe, we will dance"

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she just giggles and holds my hands silently as she waits for me to finish talking.

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I can not ignore her hands in mine, I stop talking, tell her mom I should get going.

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Then we danced.......

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She giggles, and twirls, and swirls around me in her pink princess dress and there is no music playing , no rhtym to jam to nothing but our synchronic laughter. I smiled so hard my cheeks were hurting.

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She is happy, she is a joyful princess, swirling around and enjoying life, and I dance in this momment with her.

*

...reminded of another conversation with this precious girl.

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She came up too me -- quite literally in my face and says , with all seriousness a 4 year old can give you. "

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"Ms. treneka can I tell you something?"

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"Yes, Susie go ahead"

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She holds one finger in the air, her one point, "We are pretty princesses"

{Image copyright: Marinka van Holten, from stock.xchng.}

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I said "Thats right Susie, princesses of the King of Kings!"

*

Ladies I hope that we dont forget to dance with our father the king! And by "dance" I dont mean just literally dancing with Him for Him! I mean dont forget that despite the fact that we will face persecution, and hardships that there is a Joy we have in Christ, when spending time with Him we find this. We know we will experience hard things because the bible warns us of this. We will deal with fear, and struggle with different things and will need to build up traps/attacks against the enemy by filling ourselves with the word. But Dont forget to delight in the Lord, to enjoy His presence to observe and be gateful for all that He has given you.

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The sun that shines on your face, the flowers for you to smell, your friends and family to laugh with. Your voice to sing and shout praises to Him, and your feet to frolic, to run, to waltz, to dance with!

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The Lord desires so much to spend time with His princesses for them to come away with Him, not only when we need to build up our defense , or need to be healed, but to come to Him just cause, not because we need something.

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{Song of Solomon 2:10"My beloved speaks and says to me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. "}

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Just because we love Him, just because He is our father , friend and beloved, because we want to know Him personally!

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Joy is a weapon against the enemy. Praise is a weapon against the enemy. The enemy wants nothing more than to make you ineffective in kingdom business. He makes you look at yourself instead of to Christ and makes us focus on the "bad' things, our hardships and struggles and not to Christ.He wants to make us grumblers instead of people who are grateful. He wants is to pity ourselves in our weariness instead of perservering with Christ who is our strength. Christ who is completely sufficient to help us with any struggles or trials that may come our way. Christ who equips us for all things that He has called us to and walks with us through our storms. Christ who died on the cross for you so that you may spend eternity with Him, and live life in abundance here on earth. The Lord God whose Holy Spirit lives in you!

Princesses: Sing, praise,shout,dance,war against the enemy, with our Lord, the King of Kings.

Psalm 45:11 (Amplified Bible)
11So will the King desire your beauty; because He is your Lord, be submissive and reverence and honor Him

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Song Of Solomon 2:4 "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love [for love waved as a protecting and comforting banner over my head when I was near him"

Fading scars

ramblings....thoughts....
















Fading Scars of remembrance





Today I noticed that the scars left on my arm and kneck are fading.


scars. Scars that make me remember Gods grace and love and faithfulness


from a most unexpected day.


Unexpected because somewhere in 6 years


I thought I might never see the day but, God remembered.


God remembered my prayers for Africa...


My tears for africa....


My desire to go , to be there to serve, to give, to do SOMETHING!


for africa





I remembered how many times He told me no,





"No not yet my child"





How many times He shut the door





"No, It is not time"





And then when it seemed that it was going to come again,





the "no"


the shut door





I was moved to pray...pray that what seemed to be


wouldnt


that God would speak to our leaders, to our church





there was peace


He said "Go"





And so there we were that unexpected day


6 years later


In AFRICA


With a team from my church





We had Just had delivered bibles to people who NEVER had one


we were excited


on our way to serve more of God's people





and


we were in an accident


no seatbelts on


our car full


7 passengers


our car flipped


in the middle of nowhere


some dirt road across the ocean


Tanzania





And we were "KEPT" that day


glass shattered


car dented


out of commission


I blanked out





eyes opening......





We were "KEPT" that day





My hand was on my kneck wondering what was that pain I was feeling


scar forming, lord healing





the first words I heard were "praise God"


and we praised Him, we laughed and cried, and sang





and we prayed


we layed hands knowing that God would heal us





we were "KEPT"


and I am still learning lessons from africa.





My scars have begun to fade but they remind me of how much God loves His people


we could have easily died that day. Flung out a window, broke our knecks


but no


we were KEPT


minor burns, few scars





Our work has not been completed


we are still here


and as long as I am


I will be about His business





6 years I asked


I prayed


for africa


to be there...





6 years


He answered


I was there





He is faithful


and my scars remind me of that.


they remind me that God is bigger than I am or what I think or what I think I know





my scars remind me that He has a plan and a purpose for me


and I will be here until that is completed





He will Keep me until I have finished what He has set me out to do


and I will keep praising Him along the way


and I will keep praying for Africa


and I will praise Him because I know our Lord is there moving and working and loving His people.


'


Scars are fading but His faithfulness endures!

____________________________________________________________________

John 17: 15 " I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one". We read all of John 17 this very same morning of the accident. Where Jesus prays for himself,the disciples, and all believers. Vs. 15 is where He was praying for the disciples. But, this is the verse that I thought about and I think some other team members those few momments after when we got out of the car. I do recommend everyone read all of JOhn 17 it is a great chapeter to read/study!

FIx-It Fridays

"I Heart Desserts"

My attemp at a chocolate souffle!

It fell pretty quickly but it was still tasty!




Be sure to go over to I Heart Faces ( http://iheartfaces.com/) to check out other sweet entries!

My bad!

So sorry!

I have not posted as I thought I would but life kind of got crazy. I will be updating soon!

In the meantime a random pic from my trip to Tanzania last summer seeing as I was reminded of lessons learned from that trip, during this week.

Exemplify Magazine

http://exemplifyonline.com

Great online magazine & community I found awhile ago! Check it out ladies!

Also people! this blog is new,
my old blog is http://www.xanga.com/writesalot733 I have not figured out how to put my posts from there here so check out the old site as well!

Peace!

Psalm 45:11

Psalm 45:11

"The king is enthralled by your beauty honor Him for He is lord"

Love this verse!! It's something I will forever remember my sis reciting! And it is forever in my mind!! Our savior thinks we are beautiful!! Do not be wooed by the world ladies out there, the King of Kings calls you beautiful!! He is "enthralled" by the beauty He made in you! Praise Him and honor Him in all you do!

I really enjoy cooking!

Well the title speaks for itself. In addition, I enjoy cooking for my family , especially lately. So I thought I would post a few of my creations!! Chicken with my favorite seasonings including hungarian paprika!! I served it with peas and rice seasoned with Adobo. Followed by Chocolate caramel cookies w sea salt!

The cookies, though delicious, did not turn out exactly how I wanted them too. I will be experimenting with the recipe more and will post it once I get it right!! They were a little too thin for my taste and the carmel stuck to the pan on some. I need figure out a different way to include the caramel. I am thinking of just drizzling it over the top?? Any suggetions?

BTW

I will be posting things as they come...thoughts,adventures,things God is teaching me,art,travel, what I have cooked lately. SO feel free to check it out anytime and leave comments!

Hello..Let's try this again!

Hello

I am starting to blog here ...rather...attempting soon seeing as basically no one uses xanga anymore. So to check out my past posts go to http://http://writesalot733.xanga.com/weblog/
the last few posts are a poem, and some pics and a little bit on my trip to Africa. Apologies in advance I have not been as consistent with posting as I was in the past! I am attempting to try and keep up again. Ya know at least, once a week! though with a new camera yall may see more pics than writing for the first few posts!

~ Tra