Mz. Butterworth’s Neighborhood

I always say God's timing is perfect.  I never know when I turn on the radio what great thing I may hear on my favorite Christian talk radio station.  Many times I get delayed then I turn it on and think, wow, if I had been in the car 15 minutes ago or 15 minutes later I would have missed this.

Well, today I was listening to Family Life with Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine.  The neat thing is they were interviewing a woman named Sharon Jaymes and she is the author of a new parenting book a friend gave me on How to Be a Great Mom and Raise Great Kids.

A quote was shared during this broadcast that really struck me and it was about managing yourself...mind, body and spirit. Especially your spiritual life.....

Here is the quote:  "Most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you're listening to yourself, instead of talking to yourself.   The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself."  That's ultimately what you're talking about here, is knowing how to handle yourself.

So many times people just let life happen to them without truly engaging in a relationship with God.  God has really been teaching me about really listening to Him and being led in all things.  I am trying to look at predictable patterns that work and do not work and how to be more effective.

In fact, my latest prayer has been, "Lord teach me a better way.  How can I be a better mom, wife, friend and disciple. God show me how to be more effective in all I do."  But more imporantly than that, I am just learning to trust God when I do not always see how things are going to turn out.

Also, I am really worshiping the Lord a lot.  Our family listens and sings a lot of praise and worship music.  Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  So I am excited to see what God has in store for myself and my family.  Life is full of many ups and downs and uncertainty.....but that makes the certainty of God so much sweeter.

I am so thankful for a Savior because I have needed a lot of saving :)

I always like to share a video.  My daughter and I have been practicing this together for her to sing as a solo.  Love this.

Recently I heard someone say you should focus on what God is about and what He is for, not about trying to argue but trusting God to give us what to say in due season to bless in His Power.

I am always intrigued by Christmas Cards as so many are just useless.  Like cards that say Happy Holidays.  Well....what Holiday.  How can it be happy if there isn't one.  Why not say Merry Christmas.  I find it maddening that so many people want my money for gifts under the tree but don't want to let me call it Christmas. 

The beauty of faith is that no one can take away our freedom of thought, our salvation and our heart to worship God and love others.

So I am praying that people will look for meaning in Christmas.  That it will be more than a Holiday.  God says He draws all men unto him.  Draw us Lord and let us respond to your calling.

Recently I have been focusing on blessing others.  Finding kind words or helping someone.  I try to show my kids how to find something nice to bless someone whether it be their hair, smile, or painted fingernails.  Just asking someone how they are really doing knowing that you really mean it.

I have found that giving freely of my time and blessings is the greatest blessing of all. 

Be blessed this Christmas and remember that JESUS is the reason for the season.

I recently heard this song and loved it.  I love to end with a worship video.  Enjoy as this is what Jesus is longing for.

First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!

The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.

TypePad Micro

7 comments

A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.

Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.

On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.

And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!

~ daisy

Dear friends & family,

I hope this email finds you all well!  Although I'm still in denial that we're already half way through the month of November, I wanted to send a quick update with the following news...

20% off THAT HOLY NIGHT (A CHRISTMAS EP)
through November 30th
The Christmas EP I recorded last winter is available now for $7.99 (regularly $9.99) at my website or at CDBaby.  Or, for those who 'go green' & prefer digital downloads ;), the album is now available digitally at CDBaby and iTunes.

Christmas cards for sale!
In my free time (read: unemployment) of late, I've re-explored my artsy side and designed three Christmas cards, inspired by the hope, joy, & peace that we celebrate in the upcoming holiday season, which are also for sale on my website.

Thanks for your continued support!  Patrick & I covet your prayers as we continue to trust GOD's provision for my employment situation.  More news to come soon!

with love,
Amy (Gustafson) Oden

As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.

The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.

When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.

It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.

Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.

As always, thanks for your patience.

~daisy

Psalm 86

(A prayer by David.)

A Prayer for Help

¹ Please listen, LORD,

and answer my prayer!

I am poor and helpless.

² Protect me and save me

because you are my God.

I am your faithful servant,

and I trust you.

³ Be kind to me!

I pray to you all day.

⁴ Make my heart glad!

I serve you,

and my prayer is sincere.

⁵ You willingly forgive,

and your love is always there

for those who pray to you.

⁶ Please listen, LORD!

Answer my prayer for help.

⁷ When I am in trouble, I pray,

knowing you will listen.

⁸ No other gods are like you;

only you work miracles.

⁹ You created each nation,

and they will all bow down

to worship and honor you.

¹⁰ You perform great wonders

because you alone are God.

¹¹ Teach me to follow you,

and I will obey your truth.

Always keep me faithful.

¹² With all my heart I thank you.

I praise you, LORD God.

¹³ Your love for me is so great

that you protected me

from death and the grave.

¹⁴ Proud and violent enemies,

who don't care about you,

have ganged up to attack

and kill me.

¹⁵ But you, the Lord God,

are kind and merciful.

You don't easily get angry,

and your love

can always be trusted.

¹⁶ I serve you, LORD,

and I am the child

of one of your servants.

Look on me with kindness.

Make me strong and save me.

¹⁷ Show that you approve of me!

Then my hateful enemies

will feel like fools,

because you have helped

and comforted me.

My humble and sincere thanks to all veterans who have served to keep my country and my liberties safe. My heart goes out to all of you, especially to those who have made serious sacrifices. While I go about my daily business and snuggle down safe and sound in my bed, many of you are guarding a wall, battling with the enemy, or rescuing people off rooftops during a natural disaster. Some of you are tipping your last-call glasses of beer down in the halls of the American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Your time of service has passed, yet a part of you lives always in the men and women who now serve. Some of you are praying, alone or in groups, that all sons and daughters, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, and parents are home by the next Veterans Day. You know He can grant your prayers, but it's unlikely given the evil in the world.

Many of you will march in parades -- some of you will be escorted in your wheelchairs -- and be either encouraged by the numbers of people who gather and wave flags along the parade route or disappointed by the numbers, which seem to dwindle more each year. But you should know that the intensity of pride and sincerity of gratitude from just a few who gather are much richer, fuller, and sweeter than all the speeches, blog posts,and five-minute clips on the late news hours.

Some of you are homeless. We can argue about whether you are crazy or on drugs or a victim of the recession or whatever it is that makes you chronically without shelter, but I am at a loss as to how this could happen in my country. With the billions of dollars we borrowed from the Chinese to give to banks and companies who turned around and thumbed their noses at us while they got massages and played golf at an exotic resort, we couldn't spare a couple or three to shelter people who, conscientiously or not, went and stood in the way of bullets when others did not? I apologize to you, for both looking the other way and not being sincere enough to promise you I will not do it again. But I know that you sacrifice to this day for what you did for your country and I live in the grace of your sacrifice.

Some of you are recuperating in a hospital, trying to recover physically, mentally, or spiritually. Some of you are being taken care of by people who care about you, and some of you were forced to endure deplorable conditions at a military hospital, where people were supposed to care for you and try to make you whole as possible, in the name of the American people whom you served. I cannot understand this breach of faith and I'm angered by it, as I believe other Americans were, but like other government-run horror shows it appears to have been easy to sweep under the rug.

I am one of those people who get a lump in their throat when they see an American flag backlit by the sun's rays. A sucker for icons, I get it when anyone plays the national anthem, even though I love "America the Beautiful" a thousand times better, or a color guard comes out onto a baseball field, or some jets fly over a memorial. The arresting sight of a string of motorcycle guards heading to a funeral to protect a grieving family from a bunch of evil nutcase protesters from a Topeka church makes me want to pull in line and follow them to their destination.

But I get downright weepy when I walk through the tombstones of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, whether they mark the graves of Civil War soldiers, entire crews of planes shot down in World War II, or soldiers from other conflicts. And, even though some of the graves are for World War II and Vietnam vets from my own family, the the saddest to me are the newer graves of people who have died in recent wars.

I mourn those men and women who kept the wolf at bay.

And thank those who today still keep it from my door.

A one year old boy, who could have a tracheotomy, be taken home from the hospital and live his life, may have his ventilator removed at the wishes of his mother and the HOSPITAL TRUST PAYING FOR HIS CARE, because his severe physical disability has been deemed 'intolerable suffering'. His father disagrees and is fighting for his son's life.

Go forth and fill your libraries with media.

Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.

~daisy