A Pair of Bartletts

Stupak-Pitts Amendment

The House of Representatives at this very minute is debating the Stupak-Pitts amendment, which is the only amendment that is being offered to explicitly exclude funding for abortion in the Democrat's health care bill.This is going to be a close vote.  Call your Representative.  Tell them to vote Y on the Stupak-Pitts Amendment.Remember to tell them the  Pitts-Stupak Amendment is the only amendment that provides clear language that prohibits federal funding of elective abortions and plans that cover elective abortion.Call your Representatives now.Thank youNote:  The House Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121

via www.huckpac.com

DO NOT FRET....AND DO NOT FORGET

Psalm 37 (New King James Version)

 Psalm 37 A Psalm of David. 

 1 Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon

 be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb. 3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in

 the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the

 desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. 6 He shall bring

 forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday. 7 Rest in the LORD, and wait

 patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who

 brings wicked schemes to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes

 harm. 9 For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth.

 10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his

 place, But it shall be no more. 11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves

 in the abundance of peace.

12 The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth. 13 The Lord laughs at him,

 For He sees that his day is coming. 14 The wicked have drawn the sword And have bent their bow,

 To cast down the poor and needy, To slay those who are of upright conduct. 15 Their sword shall

 enter their own heart, And their bows shall be broken. 16 A little that a righteous man has Is better

 than the riches of many wicked. 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, But the LORD

 upholds the righteous. 18 The LORD knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be

 forever. 19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, And in the days of famine they shall be

 satisfied. 20 But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the LORD, Like the splendor of the

 meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away. 21 The wicked borrows and does not

 repay, But the righteous shows mercy and gives. 22 For those blessed by Him shall inherit the

 earth, But those cursed by Him shall be cut off. 23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the

 LORD, And He delights in his way. 24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD

 upholds him with His hand. 25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the

 righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. 26 He is ever merciful, and lends; And his

 descendants are blessed. 27 Depart from evil, and do good; And dwell forevermore. 28 For the

 LORD loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the

 descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. 29 The righteous shall inherit the land, And dwell in it

 forever. 30 The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice. 31 The law of

 his God is in his heart; None of his steps shall slide. 32 The wicked watches the righteous, And seeks

 to slay him. 33 The LORD will not leave him in his hand, Nor condemn him when he is judged. 34

 Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked

 are cut off, you shall see it. 35 I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a

 native green tree. 36 Yet he passed away,[a] and behold, he was no more; Indeed I sought him, but

 he could not be found. 37 Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that

 man is peace. 38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; The future of the wicked shall be

 cut off. 39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of

 trouble. 40 And the LORD shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked,

 And save them, Because they trust in Him.

Marriage Monday--A Love Letter To My Husband

To My Dearest Rob,

I will never be able to say it enough in the days that I have on this earth--aside from my Bible, you are my greatest earthly treasure given to me by the Lord.  It seems unbelievable that this month will be the third anniversary of the day that we took our vows to enter the covenant of marriage before a Holy God.  That is a beautiful candlelit evening that I will never forget.  The beautiful white rustic chapel looked like it fell out of the pages of a magazine.  I'll never forget how incredibly happy but incredibly humbled I was to meet you at the altar that day.  I thank God that He saw fit to knit our hearts together so tightly that no earthly influence could ever break their bond.  You are the sweetest, kindest and most gentle soul that I have ever and will ever know in my life.   It is said  that you will always know the character of man by the way that he treats his mother and his sisters.  Unfortunately, I was never able to know your Mother.  But, I can definitely say that the way that you esteem my Mother, your step mother, my sister-in-law, my nieces and all of your sisters is an unbelievably precious quality and one of the many that I treasure in you.   Thank you for loving me the way that you do.  You are my faithful supporter, my champion and my earthly hero.  There is nothing in this world that could ever make me love you any less.  As a matter of fact, I love you more and more with each new day.  Thank you for being who you are and thank you for letting me always be who I am.  And most of all, thank you for being the spiritual leader of our home. 

My dearest, I could write for days and days on end of the love that I have for you.  I thank our Holy and Omniscient God for the day that you walked into my life.  I am proud to be your wife and help meet.  I look forward to spending the rest of my earthly years at your side.

I love deeply and I love you always,

Jen

If you would like to read more Marriage Monday posts, or if you would like to participate in Marriage Monday, please stop by Chrysalis.  

Back from hiatus!

Dear readers....I'm FINALLY back!   I have been on an "off again on again hiatus" of sorts for a couple of reasons.  The first is that my precious Father-in-law has been very ill and we've spent some time there.  I will treasure the times that we have been able to spend with him, though so far, they have been few. We are praying that the doctors will be used by the Lord to give us even more precious time with him.   You can read older posts  right here on this blog that detail my husband's glorious reunion with his Dad that took place last year after being apart for about 36 years.   God is SOOOOO good!  Forgiveness and reconciliation are precious and God gets all the glory for this in their relationship!  Please keep our precious Dad Bartlett in your prayers.  He is in the hospital at Duke University right now.  He has the best of care and we're praying that the doctors can make him strong enough to go home soon.  

Also during my hiatus, I had the great pleasure of taking my Mom on her first cruise!   We had SO much fun together and I know that this will not be the last one!  It's really funny...for years she was never wild about the idea of even thinking about getting on a ship.  Now she has been bitten by the cruise bug!  She can't wait for the next one!  If you have the chance to do something fun with your Mom that you've always wanted to do, but never have, DO IT!  You will not regret a minute of it!

Well, my dear friends, I'll wrap this post up with a little reminder.  Tomorrow is Marriage Monday at my dear friend E-Mom's blog Chrysalis.  Here is the info below and I hope that you will join us!

Call for Submissions
Written by e-Mom. Follow me on Twitter. Subscribe in a Reader

Please join us for Marriage Monday on Nov. 2, 2009. 
By majority vote this month's topic is, "A Love Letter to My Husband."

Every marriage begins on a high note. We're full of love, and we trust that the days ahead will be full of joy and fulfillment. Early in your relationship, no doubt you received (and sent) a love note or two from your sweetie. When was the last time you scribed a few words of appreciation to your man? Let's recapture some of those romantic good feelings this month.

Our challenge is to write prose, a poem, or even a song that expresses our love and gratitude for the man God gave to us as our life partner. Celebrate your husband in words, and let us share in your excitement! I guarantee you'llhave some fun in the process.

Please Bring a Friend

Feel free to copy any part of this announcement and post it on your blog. As always, the more participants we have, the better.

For Newcomers

Our community of Marriage Monday bloggers is a diverse group of joyful, Godly women. We are young, old, seasoned, and newlywed. For the past two years, we've been meeting at Chrysalis the first Monday of every month. Please join us! You definitely don't want to miss out. You'll meet some amazing women, and gain a little of wisdom along the way.

Your entry doesn't need to be fancy, clever, or very long.Just speak from your heart. Once you've posted, come back here and add your permalink to Mister Linky. Then, take a few minutes to visit a few of the other Marriage Monday contributors.

All Good Vacations Must Come To An End

Hidey-Ho Bloggy Land!

Sorry I've been gone for a while.  Rob and I made a trip to see his Father in North Carolina (week before last) and then my Mom and I just got back from a cruise (from Thursday until yesterday).  I have lots and lots of things that have been spinning around in my head during some of my travels, so stay tuned!  I have lots of writing to do!  I hope that everyone has been well over the last few weeks...I have missed all of my blog sisters (and all the other readers!).  

So, for now, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures....I miss Cozumel already!

The sunrise over Cozumel was breathtaking!

The harbor at Cozumel

Early morning streets in Cozumel

And one last look at our ship docked at Cozumel...the Carnival Holiday

 

Wild Horses Can't Be Broken

As most of you know, we made a last minute trip this week to Beaufort, North Carolina (BOW-fort) to see Rob's Dad who has been suffering from chronic heart failure.  We made many, many  memories this week that will forever be embedded in our hearts and our minds.  

While we were there, Rob and I got out of the house for a bit on Thursday afternoon.  It was a GLORIOUSLY beautiful day...the kind of day that was a postcard...everywhere that you looked. The air was cool, the sun was shining and there didn't seem to be a cloud in the sky.  While we were out, we decided to drive to the waterfront in Beaufort to take a few pictures.  If you don't know about Beaufort, it's the 3rd oldest city in North Carolina and there is history oozing from every corner of Carteret County.  Part of that history has to do with the Wild Horses of Shakleford Banks.  The horses are called "Bankers", for obvious reasons.  These are not just any horses either.  The horses are said to have come over from Spain via Hispanola (between Cuba and Puerto Rico).  The horses swam to shore from the sinking Spanish ships and have, since then, lived on the nine mile stretch of island known as Shakleford Banks.  I tell you all of this not just to give you a history lesson, but for a deeper point.  As Rob and I were driving, the horses just "appeared".  You can't always see then from the Beaufort waterfront, but if you are patient, they will come out at some point.  The minute we saw them, we immediately pulled off so that I could grab some shots.  I'm telling you, when you see them, and when you STOP for a minute to realize the bloodline that these horses have maintained for over 500 years, it's BREATHTAKING.  Think about it.  These beautiful creatures have survived hurricanes and all kinds of other storms.  They have survived on fairly brackish water and not totally fresh water.  And even more amazingly, if they are not near a watering hole at the time, these horses actually have the sense enough to go to the sand and dig holes with their hooves.  Once they dig the hole, the hole begins to fill with water, at which point, they drink.  If you can't see the glory and splendor of the God of the universe in this behavior, then my friend, I could never convey it to you.  That to me is totally and completely amazing and astounding.  These horses, even the tiniest fillies, can even SWIM!  

Like I said, to see this is to witness the Glory of the Lord.   These amazing creatures have sustained themselves on so much less than what a regular member of their breed would.   I hope that you can catch a glimpse of the sheer beauty of these creatures in the few shots that I've loaded to this post.   I was reminded of these scriptures as I watched these beauties graze and gallop next to the shores of Shakleford Banks. 

19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. Genesis 2:19-20

If you would like to read more about these fascinating creatures, you can find their history and MANY more beautiful pictures of them on the website titled, The Wild Horses of Shakleford Banks.  

I'm writing this post from our hotel room in Georgia.  We drove the first leg of the trip today and will be headed home tomorrow, the last 8 hour leg.  Pray for us as we travel tomorrow.  I'll be back to blogging a little more regularly once we get home and settled, so I hope that you'll come back and visit soon.

For now, I wish you many blessings,

What Are You Thankful For?

As I sit here writing this post, I am just overcome with joy and the sweet peace of the Lord.  Rob and I are in Beaufort, North Carolina on a trip that we had to make at a moment's notice.  Rob's Dad has been battling heart failure and up until recently, has been in the hospital.  He is home now and his attitude is as sweet as ever.  The heart failure is at a very serious level right now.  But in all of this, we did not rush from home to go fourteen hours and three states away, only to mope around and have "woe is me" spirits.  We came to celebrate the life that Dad has and that he is the patriarch of this great family.  We came to change tradition.  I'm sure that you celebrate Thanksgiving in November, which is perfectly okay.  However, for us, we decided that it needed to be on a different day this year.  As a matter of fact, it was today.  And it was so sweet, so special and so tender.  As Daddy Bartlett sat in the wheelchair on his oxygen, he offered the most precious prayers to his heavenly Father who lives in his heart.  Dad didn't know his earthly father, but I assure you, he knows his heavenly Father.  He offered sweet and tender thanks for all of his children and grandchildren that were there surrounding him.  And our Momma Toni continued the prayer and thanked God through teary eyes for everything that He has done in this family and will continue to do.  It was a most precious time....one that I will never in my life forget.  My brother-in-law, Woody, and I actually decided that as a matter of fact, we'll celebrate Thanksgiving as many times as we want to all throughout the year.  I understand the story of the pilgrims making their way to this country and all that they were thankful for.  But today, my friends, I regret to say that I was not thinking about the country.  I was thinking about my husband's most precious family and how banding together at this time in Dad's life was the most important thing that I could have ever been a part of.  We thank God and praise HIS HOLY NAME for salvation in Him.  We praise God for the work that He has done in this family and for all the work that there is still to be done.  

Thank you Father God for a truly blessed day.  Thank you Lord for each day this week that we will continue to spend with our precious family.  Praise you Lord!

My Psalm Today

Journeying Into Fall

I love it when my kitchen is filled with the warm candle scent of an inviting Fall filled with warm peaches, apples and berries mixed with yummy spices.  And even better, on a day that is finally letting a cooler spell of weather take it's place over the hot and sticky summer that is finally coming to a close.  This has to be one of the most favorites times of year for me.  I love the rainbows of changing leaves, my front yard littered with pecans from the 100 year old pecan tree and watching the squirrels run around with sheer glee as they scramble for all of the plump pecans...as many as their cute little paws can hold.  And I can't be upset at them in their gathering.....there is plenty for them and for us.   In fact, there are more than enough to serve us humans and as many of the little scampering squirrels as possible.  I have the best time watching those little guys.  Some days they run around as if they can't believe their little eyes.  They almost don't know where to start with their harvest!  God was so generous to us when He created all of the beauty that He did for our sheer enjoyment!  He could have easily made this a black and white dull place to be.  He could have created it any way that He wanted to create it.  But, in His infinite wisdom and because of His great love for his finest creation (that's us!), He created a place that could be enjoyed and treasured by us humans.  I am so thankful that when He created our surroundings that He did give us things like this that could bring such great pleasure.....be it the scents from a simple candle or the squirrel army in my front yard!

As I was sitting here reading and studying, I came across another of the Puritan prayers in The Valley of Vision; Puritan Prayers and Devotions that I enjoyed reading today.  So, I'll leave you with this from The Valley of Vision; Puritan Prayers and Devotions--

JOURNEYING ON

LORD OF THE CLOUD AND FIRE,

I am a stranger, with a stranger's indifference;

   My hands hold a pilgrim's staff,

   My march is Zionward,

   My Eyes are toward the coming of the Lord,

   My heart is in thy hands without reserve.

Thou has created it,

    redeemed it,

    renewed it,

    captured it,

    conquered it.

Keep from it every opposing foe,

     crush it in every rebel lust,

     mortify every treacherous passion,

     annihilate every earthborn desire,

All faculties of my being vibrate to thy touch;

I love thee with soul, mind, body, strength,

     might, spirit, affection, will,

      desire, intellect, understanding.

Thou art the very perfection of all perfections;

All intellect is derived from thee;

My scanty rivulets flow from they unfathomable 

       fountain.

Compared with thee the sun is darkness,

       all beauty deformity,

       all wisdom folly,

       the best goodness faulty.

Thou art worthy of an adoration greater than

        my dull heart can yield;

Invigorate my love that it may rise worthily 

          to thee,

   tightly entwine itself round thee,

   be allured by thee.

Then shall my walk be endless praise.

Memory Monday--Isaiah 45:2-3

Isaiah 45:2-3 (New King James Version) 

 2 ‘ I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron. 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel.

My verses for Memory Monday are some verses that were in my quiet time earlier this week.  In the context of the verses above, God wanted Cyrus (The King of Persia) to know that He was giving him a victory here.  When I read these verses in my quiet time this week, they literally leaped off of the page.  I know that God called Cyrus "His anointed" in the opening of chapter 45, but in the verses above, God was speaking directly to ME as His anointed.  There has been SO much going on in my life and in the lives of my family lately.  But, God reassured me here of the victory that He has for ME.  He wants to make the "crooked places straight" (or "rough places smooth", New American Standard).  He reminded me that He has indeed called me by my name...and not just the name that was given to me by my parents at birth.  No, He called me by MY name, the name that He has given me.  The name that only He knows.  WOW....I don't know about you, but that gives me goosebumps!  He has blessings to bestow on ME, HIS beloved.  And He has a name....just for ME.  For those who have come to a saving relationship with the Lord, can you imagine what it will be like to be in Glory with the Lord and find out the name that He has just for you?  

I pray that you are all having a great week.  If you would like to join Memory Monday, please drop by my friend Joanne Heim's blog at The Simple Wife.  

Many blessings to you,

If you aren't sure that you have eternal security in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and would like more answers to your questions, please click on this link.