I started to make these two separate posts, and then I thought….Why? Sometimes if I post twice in one day, only the top one gets seen. So — feel free to peruse whichever part you might be interested in!

PhotoHunt

Theme: Purple | Become a Photo Hunter

I haven’t done the Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt in a long while…either I didn’t have time to visit the others participating, or I just drew a blank with the topic. But the theme this week is “Purple,” and while this is more lavender that purple, I think it’s related enough to count:

This was taken last June. The hydrangeas are starting to get green leaves now but won’t bloom for a while yet.

You can visit TN Chick‘s place on Saturday for more posts of purple pictures.

Here are some interesting things seen around the ‘net lately:

• Do you still have Easter ham leftovers? Tipnut.com has 12 ideas for leftover ham, the Common Room shared Fettuccine and Ham, and one of my own most searched for posts after Christmas and Easter is Swiss Ham Ring Around (we had this one night this week!)

• A man decorated his basement with Sharpie markers — and it looks pretty good! HT to Lizzie.

• I thought for sure I had included this link before, but I can’t find it if I did: a humorously told story of a new husband’s first experience with the dishwasher.

• The Common Room also has a good post that runs counter to what you often hear about decorating when there is a man in the house. Bottom line: talk about it, don’t make assumptions one way or another. My husband has often said the walls would probably be bare if he lived alone, but he likes the personal decorating touches that make it “home.”

• Organizing Junkie has a few links to different kinds of master grocery shopping lists. I have been needing to make one, but I think I’ll try one or two of these. I so often end up going twice a week (or more!) to the store or discovering after I’ve shopped that I’ve forgotten something, and I’d like to get that more under control.

• Encouraging Caregivers linked to an article about how caring for parents and children differs, though there are some similarities. One difference I’ve found that wasn’t mentioned is that, with children, you have the expectation that their learning curve will grow along with them, that as you teach and model how to act, they’ll learn, and they’ll improve in the area of hygiene, manners, etc. With elderly parents it is just the opposite: it is likely going to get worse. It’s just one of those things you have to accept and work with, but is a factor, and realizing that helped relieve a bit of frustration.

• Nancy Wilson at Femina had many good posts this week: a convicting yet instructive one on self control; how preventative prayer can help ward off wrong reactions and prepare you to deal with problems in a more godly way (I did this earlier this week, praying Colossians 1:11 when walking into a situation I knew was going to try my patience); and the importance of setting things right in relationships as soon as possible. A favorite quote from the last:

To illustrate this principle, my husband uses the example of a home where things are picked up compared to a home where things are knee deep. In both homes people drop things on the floor. But in the one home they are picked up right away. In the other home, things accumulate until you just can’t even see the floor and you have no idea where or how to begin. In the first home, having a pick-up policy not only keeps the house clean, but it acts as a a deterrent on how much stuff is dropped. Of course no home will be perfect. Things get dropped and can be picked up every day. But if you let things pile up, you can hit the point where you just don’t care anymore. And many people just walk away rather than face the consequences of picking up years of junk.

The Bible says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us of all our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we step out and begin to seek forgiveness for specific offenses, God will bring more to mind. As we keep confessing, He scrubs off the layers of dirt, we experience real cleansing, and our hearts are washed.We are restored, put right with God and put right with one another.