Leah or Rachel?

Hey All. Below is a post that I did this week at the Internet Cafe. I would like to see what your answers are for this question :)



You all don't know it, but about 90% of the inspiration for my questions come directly from my life circumstances. Well, this week falls into the 90% :) I was able to attend a Women's Conference this past weekend at a Church, and Liz Curtis Higgs was the speaker. Liz is so darling, and she is a witty, funny, fun loving woman of God.



This weekend Liz talked about a few women from the Bible; Sarah, Hagar, and Leah. I want us to focus in on Leah this week. Actually, Leah and Rachel. I won't assume that everyone reading is familiar with the story of Leah and Rachel, and Jacob of course. So below I will post a portion of scripture from Genesis 29. Please read before you answer the questions, and I would encourage you to read even more of the story than I posted.

(From Genesis 29)

After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, 15 Laban said to him, "Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be."
16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful. 18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."

19 Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." 20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."

22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. 24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.

25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?"

26 Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27 Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."

28 And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 29 Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant. 30 Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

31 When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now."
33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon.
34 Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi.
35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.


So after reading part of the story (again, I encourage you to read more) who do you sympathize with more, Leah or Rachel? Who does your heart go out to? Does your answer reflect the fact that you can relate to your choice personally? Share if you feel so led.



So what do you think?

365-#140-141

More fall photos...my middle son actually took the picture of me... You probably could figure that one out though :)

365-#137-#139

These 3 boys are some of God's most important tools when it comes to shaping me into the person I am suppose to be in Christ :) Thank you God for these precious children of mine :)

Do you really know Mary Magdalene?

Hey Friends...

I went to a Women's conference this past weekend with Liz Curtis Higgs... Can I just say that she is darling and way funny. She really made me laugh, and that is not always an easy thing. At the conference I did buy a DVD of hers on Mary Magdalene. Mary M. fascinates me, and I just love her story.

Well, I watched the DVD last night, and Liz told about a time when she asked about a dozen well known bible teachers to tell her what they knew about Mary M., and to her surprise much of what they told her was not in fact true. Liz went on to study Mary M., and came up with much information that she did not know.

So today, I want to ask you to tell me everything you know about Mary Magdalene...even if you are not sure it is true or not. Then later, I will go ahead and post what I have learned. It will be fun :) Well, fun for me at least.

365-#135 and 136

365-#134

Me and the Man...

365-#122-133

The little and the big brother now share something in common... Brotherly Love

Moose's new specs

I love the color contrast of the green and red and the blue sky

Totally not what you think....We had our yard aerated

Do you see the steam???

One of my hubby's favorite meals...it is lasagna

Well, I don't have my new computer yet, but my hubby has let me use his...so I am going to catch up with my 365 posts :)

Update

Well, since I wrote about my computer problems, I will let you know that the story had a sad ending... My hard drive was toast...I even crashed the computer doctor's machine. Oh well... my memory is not as good as it used to be, so I probably won't even remember all that I lost :)

On another note, I wrote a post about "sin" yesterday...it is still in my drafts as I wanted to edit it. The crazy thing is I felt like today I kept choosing my flesh (a term Christians use) and was in a constant state of sin today. I don't want to repeat this day again. Lord help me choose You over me...

Computer Crash

It figures that when I want to do some blog posting that my computer decides it doesn't want to work anymore. There may be hope to recover my C Drive, but I may have lost some beloved documents and about a month and a half worth of my family pictures :( Oh, and all the emails I have been saving in my Inbox, because one day I would do something with them. My husband warned me to back up my stuff, and I would have...one day.

I am actually borrowing my hubby's laptop to do this post, and tomorrow I will call the computer doctor and see if my hope of saving my STUFF are lost.

This is the small stuff of life that feels big, but through this situation I see that God is working in me to make me more like Him. A few years ago this could have wrecked my day, or a month or so... I would have been mad at the world, or at least my husband...I would have found a way to make it his fault :) BUT NOT TODAY. Yes I am bummed, and I feel a bit upset, but I do see this as something that just happens...no one to blame...no damage done really. So, I leave this post with hope...whatever happens will be OK.


FYI: 365 community... I will do my picture post when I get my computer fixed. I didn't stop :)

What are we really saying?

Hey All, (I am summarizing this story, so check out the Family Life website to listen to the archives if you want to know more)

I wanted to jot down a few thoughts on the blog after hearing Dr. Meg Meeker speak on Family Life today this past week. She was talking about her book that deals with the father/daughter relationship, and how very important a father is in a daughter's life. There are probably many things that I could list here that Dr. Meeker said that were wonderful, but one thing she said really stayed with me.

Dr. Meeker was talking to the hosts of Family Life about how fathers should not compliment
their daughters on physical aspects (like looks, weight, athletic ability), but rather compliment them on their character...things to do with the heart. (Again, check out website for full story)

Dr. Meeker also talked about how common place it is for women to greet each other with things that have to do with their weight. Like, "Have you lost weight? You look great." When she said that I totally agreed with her. In my own circles, I have commented several times about my friends losing weight and how great they looked. As well as many friends over the years telling me I looked good because of the weight I lost.

What are we really saying when we use these terms?

We talk so much about how it is important not to focus in on the physical things, but then a lot of our talk does just that. I tell someone they look great because they lost weight... Isn't that saying that they didn't look great before? Of course I am just focusing in on the weight thing, but even if we didn't talk about a person's weight, what other things do we say to each other.

-Hey, I love that new outfit on you.
-Your hair is beautiful... I wish I had hair like yours.
-Your kids are so well behaved.

I could go on and on...

Dr. Meeker's comments, just made me think about how so many of the compliments I give and receive are based on physical things. Things that will one day fade away.

I am not saying that we shouldn't compliment each other on physical things, but I wonder how much we feed into other's minds that the physical things are important when we spotlight them?

What do you think?

365-#115-#121

My most recent blessing.... A web cam and Skype so that my whole family can talk with my mom...she is really sick right now (I will do a post later), and this is an answer to prayer.

Playing the sax for Grandma...

Red Leaves at Fall time make me happy... As you can see I took a picture of two red leaves :)

The Terminator Below... A Cub Scout in the making :)

This is a walk down memory lane for my hubby...this was his old scout uniform from 20 Plus years ago...Terminator looks perfect in it :)

I love the smile on his little face....

Lessons from an Infomercial

I love a good infomercial, but I can't watch them too much because I will end up wanting to buy the product the infomercial is advertising. But over the last couple of days I flipped on a certain infomercial that had to do with weight loss. This time not because I am looking for the next big thing to help me lose weight, but more out of curiosity.

This particular infomercial was talking about an amazing new body shaper that can make you look like you lost at least two dress sizes, and it did. I will say right here that I am not against body shapers, as I like them and I would probably buy this particular shaper if it was on sale at some store, but it was what the woman selling the shaper said that got me thinking.

The woman selling the shaper was talking with another woman that was quite sad at the way the top half of her body looked in her clothes. The woman with the shaper promised the unhappy woman she would be happy very soon, but first she would have to submit to having her waist measured. The brave woman let herself be measured and her waist was almost 50 inches. The lady with the shaper asked the woman how she felt about that number, and she basically said that it was too many sweets that got her to that number. To which the host of the commercial told her to keep eating the sweets, and then she gave the other woman the shaper to try on. (paraphrasing the conversation)

I am sure you know what happened next. The woman came out of the dressing room, and she was so happy, and after being measured again with the shaper on she lost almost five inches. Happy Ending.

Later I started thinking about what the lady selling the shaper told the other woman that was unhappy with her body. She told her to keep eating the sweets. So my spiritual wheels were a turning.

Spiritually, I am like the lady that said her problem was "too many sweets". Symbolically, the world is like the woman that was selling the shaper telling me to "keep eating the sweets" , but just put on this shaper that makes it look like I haven't had too many sweets, but in reality nothing really has changed. On the outside I might look different, but no true change has taken place on the inside. I am just fooling myself.

So today I ask you, can you relate this story to real life and how we as Christians fool ourselves into thinking we have solved our problems, when all the while nothing has changed? I would love to see your opinions.

Thomas Nelson Book Review

I decided to try something new this time and review a cookbook. For those who know me that might give them a laugh, but the title of the cookbook is "Busy People's fast and frugal cookbook", and the word "busy" definitely applies to me. The author, Dawn Hall has promised her readers meals that are healthy, can be made anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, and meals that are perfect for those working within a budget.

First I have to say the cookbook is so cute that it would look just adorable sitting out on your kitchen counter. I also like that Hall gave her readers an introduction in which she shares her personal story and the inspiration for creating this cookbook. Hall divided the cookbook into nine different food categories, ranging from breakfast and brunch all the way to beverages. Within each category she divides the recipes up according to how long they take to make (10 to 30 minutes).

At present I have not tried to make any of the recipes, but I definitely plan to soon. For each recipe, Hall makes it easy as she gives you a supply list which includes the grocery items, as well as the supplies needed for the meal (tools, pans, etc). This is a great addition to a cookbook for someone like me. Hall also includes helpful hints along the way that might make your cooking experience a little more easy. Thank you Dawn Hall!

As I paged through the whole book, (I didn't read every single recipe word for word) one of the things that I noticed is almost all the ingredients for the recipes are simple, and are not food items that I have never heard of, or are very hard to find. I wouldn't say this cookbook is for the gourmet cook with a lot of experience, but I think almost everyone would enjoy using it from time to time.

The only thing that I wish the cookbook had is more pictures of the recipes. There are some pictures of certain recipes, but for many of the recipes there are not any pictures, or the pictures are really small and hard to see. Other than that small detail I would definitely recommend this cookbook for anyone that likes to cook, and even for those that don't.

365-#108-#114 (includes Sunday)

The most delicious caramels I have ever tasted :)

I took this picture with my other hand... My oldest with me :)

Totally blurry...but I love this face on my youngest...

The new specs...

Caught in the action playing his sax...

Oops..I didn't get the right angle on this one.

Moose joined Band this year...He is doing great and he has only had two small band lessons :)


365 Community: My pictures seem a bit blurry lately... When looking at the pictures on my digital camera screen the pictures seem fine, until I load them. Anyone know some reasons why?

Cafe Chat (Please Participate Everyone..)

Well, I would love to say that I came up with today's question because it is a good one, but I found it in a book I am currently reading. I thought the question was too good not to ask it to one of my favorite online communities.

The question comes from the book, "Did You Think To Pray?" by R. T. Kendall. A verse from Exodus 33 had Kendall really pondering about the situation Moses was in. (Feel free to read Exodus 33, and/or you could purchase Kendall's book to read more about the story if you would like). The question Kendall came up with is very thought provoking, and he asked the question to his friends as well. So today, I ask you a similar question (I changed it slightly).

If God told you that He would answer any one prayer request today, what would it be? Why, this request? (Again, I give all credit to R.T. Kendall for today's question)

I can't wait to read your responses.