I've Moved

I have finally made the move to the dark side. After over three years on Blogger I am now blogging at wordpress. Please join me over there. If you don't, I will be very lonely and will probably cry. www.bridgetbabione.wordpress.com I can't wait to share my new place with you all!!! Bridget

Divine Life

(* I am completely over blogspot right now. I did not write this post as one long paragraph. But when I publish it, blogspot changes it and I don't know how to fix it. UGH.) I used to think that the Eternal Life that I was given through Christ Jesus meant that after my physical body died my spirit would live forever with Him in Heaven. That His sacrifice gave me the ability to live MY LIFE forever. I have since come to understand something quite different and much more beautiful. You see, I was reading Scripture with myself as the focus. Every story I read I tried to fit myself into. Every letter of Paul's I tried to figure out how it pertained to MY LIFE. Here's the rub: Scripture isn't about me. It isn't about you. Scripture is solely about one person. Our magnificent Lord Jesus. From the first page to the last, it is all about Jesus. God is enraptured with one Person, His Son. Jesus Christ is the thing that is always on God's mind. And Since Scripture is God-breathed, the only thing that God talks about is His Son. "All Scripture testifies of me." -Jesus Every story in Scripture is a picture of Jesus. I used to read about people in Scripture and try to see how my life fit with theirs or hoped that the Lord would use me in as grand a way as He used them. I was so focused on me. On MY LIFE. Now I realize that all those people in Scripture are pictures of Jesus. There are aspects of our Lord in those people and those stories. They aren't to be read to figure out MY LIFE. They are to be read to know our Lord more. God wasn't thinking about me when He inspired Scripture to be written. He was thinking about His Precious Son. And He wrote Jesus onto every page. Now when I read the Bible, my focus isn't on how this pertains to me or how I need to change MY LIFE to fit. And since I have started reading the Bible to find Jesus in it, the Scriptures have opened up amazingly. The depth, the clarity, the beauty; it's all Christ. After understanding this, a new revelation dawned. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to a NEW LIFE because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. Col. 2:12 Since you have been raised to NEW LIFE with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your REAL LIFE is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, WHO IS YOUR REAL LIFE, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Col. 3:1-4 When I believed on Christ and confessed Him as my Lord and was baptized something amazing happened. I WAS BURIED WITH CHRIST. Bridget was buried. We don't bury things that still have life in them. We bury things that are dead. I was dead. Dead in my sin. And I was buried. But God in His infinite mercy and grace gave me NEW LIFE. He gave me HIS SON. I now have Christ living in me. Christ is my life. He is the ONLY real life. Because He is living in me I am now alive in Him. And here's the rub, It's not MY LIFE anymore. I am now living by another life. Christ's life. He is living HIS LIFE in and through me. It's not about me. It's always about HIM. And it's not MY LIFE anymore. It's His. His beautiful, glorious, powerful, peaceful, joyful, restful LIFE. The only REAL LIFE. DIVINE LIFE. "Christ in you, the hope of glory." -Paul

Paint Update

Sorry it's taken so long to show you my painting progress. I've been painting small sections at a time so it's taken a while for one room to be complete. The kitchen is finished as well but it isn't clean so I don't have any pictures of it yet. Soon. The office before: The 'office' is actually just a wall in our dining room. This works great though because we do school at the dining table so if I'm on the computer then I'm very close at hand for the kids. The after: basically paint and organization.

The dining room before: you know how on those infomercials where they show the before of someone without any makeup on and no smile so that the after is even more dramatic. Welcome to my makeupless and smileless dining room.

The after: I painted stripes on one wall. I love them. They add a little somethun - somethun, you know? I also changed out the curtains with some I had in a box. Fabric is a weakness of mine so I have lots stored just waiting to be used.

Don't forget-you can click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Bridge

Lazy Day Lasagna

Bobo helped me cook dinner last night. We made lasagna. Lazy Day Lasagna. The reason it is called Lazy Day Lasagna is because this is a lasagna recipe where you don't cook the noodles before you assemble the lasagna. My kind of cooking. First you brown the hamburger meat. We used about a pound and a half. While the hamburger meat is browning, add one carton (15 oz) of ricotta cheese to a mixing bowl.

Then two tablespoons of Parmesan cheese.

One teaspoon of Italian seasoning.

And combine.

Once the meat was browned we added one and a half jars of spaghetti sauce. (about 40 oz)

Now assembly time. First start by putting about 1.5 cups of sauce/meat on bottom of casserole dish.

Then layer on your uncooked noodles.

Then add half of the ricotta cheese mixture, spreading to cover the noodles.

Sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella cheese on.

Then start the process over. 1.5 cups of sauce/meat.

Noodles.

Ricotta and mozzarella.

Finally, pour the rest of the sauce/meat mixture on making sure to cover the noodles and sprinkle with even more mozzarella.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Let cool for about 15 minutes

And serve with some garlic bread.

Yummy!

Bridge

Daddy Daughter Date Night

Chick Fillet had the brilliant idea of hosting a Daddy Daughter Date Night. When R.C. saw the advertisement he signed right up.

Princess had a blast. As did R.C.. Chick Fillet actually hired a limousine to bring the guests to Chick Fillet. When you signed up you were given a time for your date. If you wanted the free limo ride you had to be in the Best Buy parking lot 15 minutes before your time. (The Best Buy parking lot was across the street from Chick Fillet. The limo driver took a longer than necessary route to Chick Fillet, but it was still a short ride. We thought it was a really fun idea and nice touch to the evening.)

These pictures were taken by the photographer at the restaurant. I think they are priceless. This is definitely the first of many.

Bridge

Blogging in Real Time

It's Tuesday afternoon. We actually accomplished school today for the first time in two weeks. (Yesterday we graded everything and got caught up) Also, Yesterday morning Popeye came to me and asked what he could do to help me. Not really having anything that I could think of that I wouldn't have to help him do I just threw out there, "You can make my bed." I wasn't sure if he would reply that he didn't know how, but instead he smiled and headed up stairs. What a blessing. And it never even crossed my mind to remake it. It was beautiful to me. (anyway, if I'm ok living with it unmade why wouldn't I be fine with it like this?) So, after we finished most of our school today (yes, we still need to grade math and read science) we headed to Michael's for some fun. I needed to get out and so did the kids. I gave them each a budget of $2.

Popeye found a snake that came with paint. His favorite color, too.

Princess found a horse that came with markers in pink, purple, and yellow. Every girl's dream.

Bear also got the snake. I'm gonna make him write a story about it. Bobo opted to wait till he could add his own money to the $2 and buy something a bit more pricey.

After Michael's we hit up Walmart. I'll give you two guesses as to what I bought and the first one doesn't count.

Yup.

I've lived with the white walls for a week and a half and I just can't do it anymore. (it doesn't help that they are dirty and scuffed up pretty bad.)

I plan on starting tomorrow evening.

=)

Bridge