Saturday

A Real Noah's Ark? It's How Big? - Xtra Special Day




Yes I really do love arks and collect pictures, ornaments and some jewellery

                                        all to do with Noah's Ark.


But this time

          this Ark was going to be completely different.







I looked forward to this day all the time I lived in Belgium.

Having found out about this from the internet I wanted to get a time when all five of us would be together and could go see the Ark Replica.

This was a scale model of Noah's Ark and not just one that you could put on display inside a museum or exhibition this was one you could actually go inside of yourself because it was so large.


The Best time to go see it was while we were living in Belgium because this Ark was in The Netherlands.  The replica was moved from port area to port area all around the coast of The Netherlands so I really wanted to find a time to go see it when it was in the South West because that would mean a shorter distance for us to drive from Tervuren through the north of Belgium and into the southern area of our northern neighbour, in the part actually named Holland.





In 2010 we really had to make this happen because before the end of that year we knew we would be returning to Northern Ireland and in August all three kids came back to visit at the same time as the Ark was going to be in a place called Vlissingen which would be very accessible for a day trip.


You can imagine how excited I was to be going there and even more so because we would all be together.




Fred is so good and has always accepted the fact that I would have different "Ark Decor" around the house and the kids have often laughed and guessed that perhaps a new thing I may have got would have something to do with an Ark and occasionally they were wrong!

But I must admit I do like it when my family humour me.


It was a beautiful day for the drive and for wandering around the Ark.


Naturally because Noah's Ark had been a Safe Haven during the flood for animals as well as Noah's family we were bound to meet a selection of animals in this Ark.





But there were other things to be found inside as well which would not have been in the original Ark such as a representation of the Ark of the Covenant.






And a large mural on one of the walls depicting the creatures that would not have been within the Ark.





This was in the process of being created while we were there and we had the opportunity to watch the artist at work.





After we went home I realised from the pictures we had taken that rather appropriately we had a picture of Fred with the baby giraffe - tall and thin






and me with the baby elephants (no comments here please!)





There was no set tour around the Ark but everyone was left to walk around as they pleased with some guidance from information on the different items and some videos. 

We were able to take our time and stay as long as we liked.

There was a small cafe area with a view out of the Ark 





and we were also able to go up on the deck of the Ark and look around from there.





On the way out there was a shop with Ark toys, books, bookmarks, etc. and jewellery.

So you may have guessed that I could not resist leaving with out another momento, yes I got a nice Ark necklace.

We were still in no hurry to leave and stood around taking pictures of us and the ark and even Daniel (not a photo lover) had his phone out to take some pics which he then used some filters on and put up on instagram.






It was a fun relaxed day out together at a very unusual exhibition and we all enjoyed it.





  The Ark was very large but was not the exact measurements of the original.


Since then the same people who created this one have worked on a full size replica and have plans to take it around the world.


If you would like to have more information about this you can watch the video below





and you will also find details at their website

Arc of Noah



Wednesday

What is Mercy? - A Dose of Encouragement


Last month I wrote about God bringing my attention to a special song to share about His Mercy in the post You're Not Guilty Anymore.


Today I would like to draw some more attention to
God's Mercy.





The obvious thing might be to start by looking at
What Mercy is,

but

I think it is important to focus first on
what it is NOT!



Mercy is not:


A Gift of the Spirit.

Gifts of the Spirit are given to believers.

Mercy is extended to everyone.

Even to the people who have not accepted His Salvation, God has extended His Mercy.
Even to those who never accepted His Salvation, God gave them the chance to receive His Mercy.


A Fruit of the Spirit.

The Fruit of the Spirit is the result in believers of walking in the Spirit of God.

Mercy is not listed as a fruit of the Spirit in the Bible but rather it is one of the attributes of God it is part of His character.

"He is kind and full of mercy; he is patient and keeps his promise. . ."  Joel 2:13

As we grow and the fruit of the Spirit is produced in our lives then we will become more like Jesus and more merciful in our character because all the fruit of the Spirit are expressed when in a merciful character.


Something we can earn.

Mercy is freely given by God, not something we have to (or can) earn by how good we are or how much we do.

There is no grade of person we must be to attain Mercy or be worthy of it.








Mercy is:

God not treating us as we deserve to be treated.

We are so used to being rewarded, commended, praised or punished, rejected, attacked, condemned for our actions and words that we just naturally expect God to react to everything as others do.

But God is God 
and 
He is not like other people.

Even when in the eyes of everyone else we deserve punishment, even when we have broken God's laws, God decides what He will do so

His Mercy is
the act of  
NOT 
meeting out the punishment we really do deserve to get.



Shown in the form of several things.

There are many things that we could list here that would form part of His mercy like love, cleansing, forgiveness, and acceptance.
They are the ways we should recognise His Mercy.

It is like our mother heart for our children, we do not always punish wrong doing, we talk to them in love and explain things to them and show them the right way.
We are actually setting them examples of the type of God's Mercy.

By our mother heart for our children, we can actually be setting them examples of the type of God's Mercy



A Lifter of depression and oppression.

It is God's hand on us.
If He turned away from us when we disobeyed or didn't follow Him then His hand would not be on us and if His hand is not on us then the hand of Satan would be on us.
So each day when God's hand is on us we are receiving His Mercy in keeping the hand of the enemy from us even when we don't realise that is happening.
This means that Satan is hindered from continually oppressing our minds and bringing depression upon us.


Photo Credit: BigStock



MERCY
is

NOT

the receiving 
of the damnation that we are due 


BUT

the
offering
of a 
substitute 
to take 
our 
punishment



Are we like Jonah?

Jonah did not think the Ninevites merited the patience God was showing them and the second chance He was willing to give them because he did not understand what mercy was.

Even though he then disobeyed God and ran in the opposite direction God preserved his life, God showed him mercy.

Jonah did not have a merciful heart toward the people of Ninevah until he himself had fully experienced the mercy of God.


Even if we start out like Jonah we can also learn to recognise God's mercy toward us and in turn be merciful toward others.


Let's thank God for His mercy to us and have mercy for others stamped in our hearts


If you did not listen to the song "Not Guilty Anymore" by Aaron Keyes in the blog post last month then you can listen to it here






Join me for some more thoughts on
When Can I Receive Mercy?
Where, Why, Who of Mercy
The How of Mercy



Monday

Charlotte Name Rhyme - FREE PRINTABLE



My grandmother was called Charlotte,


     my mother-in-law was called Charlotte


          and we named our daughter Linda Charlotte,


hence the name Charlotte has some special meaning in our house.





So now in honour of the new baby


  Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge


     born to Their Royal Highnesses William & Catherine the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge








I am offering this FREE PRINTABLE of a Name Rhyme of the name CHARLOTTE

because you probably know a special girl called Charlotte too.





Don't forget to download your free printable for the "Charlotte Name Rhyme" HERE  if you have not already subscribed to Sandra's Ark


If you have previously subscribed to Sandra's Ark then you will find the link for all my Resources in any of the emails you have received from me.




 Or pin this for later:









Sunday

Songs for Worship #18


Welcome to the Sunday Series

Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.


At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.






I hope you will follow along with me.



                         Looking today at 



God is Righteous









Cornerstone


My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus' Name

(Chorus)
Christ alone
Cornerstone 
Weak made strong 
In the Savior's love 
Through the storm 
He is Lord 
Lord of all 

When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

(Chorus)

When He shall come with trumpet sound
Oh may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless stand before the throne

(Chorus)









If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below










Friday

An Organised Sun Room


The Sun tried to come out on different occasions this month but was terribly hindered by the wintery conditions that kept butting in like winds and rain and sleet and hailstones.

I was tackling the Sun Room but this fact about the weather did not encourage me at all.
Though as I write this the back garden is brightly lit from the sun after another lot of hailstones yesterday.








The Sun Room


The Sun Room in itself did not need much work as there are not too many places for items to be kept.

But a few tips are always useful to keeping it organised.

1.  Think about what you want in your Sun Room
2.  Think about what you want to be able to take outside quickly
3.  Think about how to make things HANDY!







The only cupboard we have in the Sun Room is in the TV unit and it is useful for storing light bulbs which I sorted and made a note of the types we did not have a spare one of.


Also in that cupboard we keep the 3D glasses that the kids got at various times just in case we need them to go see a 3D film sometime - which really is a very faint probability as Fred & I have not ever gone to a 3D film.  Perhaps the kids should have each kept theirs for wherever they are?


Then the other main things in that cupboard are
  • a few puzzle magazines,
  • Sun Tan lotion,
  • Sun Tan wipes
  • After Sun Wipes
  • and some pairs of sunglasses.


This is a useful spot to keep these as the Sun Room opens out to the Patio and when the sun appears (for the short periods that happens here in Northern Ireland and let's face it we need to make the best opportunity as we can of those short periods of time) we can grab those things on the way out to sit on the Patio or Deck area.


The bulbs were already in a basket but these Sunny Day items were just lying in the cupboard so I got one of my favourite small Lakeland Storage Caddies for these items that we need for hopping out to sit in the sun.
You can see in the pictures above & below that it is ideal in size and that handle makes it so easy to grab.






What else might I want in that cupboard if I am going to use it daily during the next 5/6 months?

Well I decided to add
  • a post it pad 
  • a notepad 
  • and a pen 

 because those are always useful things to have at hand instead of having to run to the study.


PLUS 
there was still room for the three remotes that are needed in that room.



Lastly 
There are two other things that I like to keep in the Sun Room but they will not be in that cupboard.





A navy fleecy throw 
which is very handy if it gets a bit cooler in the evenings 
or even if I just feel like curling up on the sofa to read .







The 4 cushions for the Patio Chairs 
which I keep in a jute type bag pretty much out of sight behind the chair which sits beside the door out to the patio so that any time we are going out for breakfast we just grab a cushion on the way past.  
With our climate the cushions never stay out!



I have already written about how much I love Arks and pictures of Arks last year but now I had decided that some of these may go soon!!! but some will stay here in the Sun Room.  Some of my favourite Ark pictures just match in nicely with the style and decor of the Sun Room.




Here are two on the bookcase that holds most of our CDs



And here is another one above a window





That does not mean that some other Ark decor items will not be found in other rooms in the house of course.










Wednesday

I don't want to pet a snake - A Dose of Encouragement


"Mummy she wouldn't let us out until we did it"

This was what my daughter told me when she got off the school bus and I could see that she was still very upset.

Linda was only in Kindergarten in a school in Delaware, where we had moved to live for a few years because of my husband's work.

Now we had come from Northern Ireland and  there are no snakes in Northern Ireland (but actually nothing to do with St. Patrick).  So the only time we needed to come into close proximity with one is when we saw one in the Zoo.






I have never liked snakes so even when we would go to the Zoo I quite often would just pass by the area with the snakes and my kids had never really complained about this because they were not keen on snakes either.

Well there we were in Delaware in 1993 knowing that there were snakes in America but hoping that they were confined to the hotter, drier mid & south areas of the country.

Wrong!

One day while we were walking with a friend and her children in a large parkland I saw a snake on a rock.  I didn't say a thing but just hurried on by with all the children.

Philadelphia Zoo had snakes but same as before we just didn't bother to go near them.


But never did I think that my daughter's school would be the place where she was going to be confronted with a snake.

Never did I imagine that in her school she would be forced to touch a snake!

Never did I imagine that her Kindergarten teacher was going to be so nasty as to tell the children that they would not be allowed out of the library until they petted this snake.


It was not even a pet in the school but had been brought in by the librarian.

Who would ever think that they were sending their child off to school one day to be told they would not get out of school to get the school bus home without petting a snake.  A child that age would believe what they are told and would worry about how else they would manage to get home.







Linda was like me she hated the sight of snakes and the thought of a snake being near her but the teacher didn't care about that.


Bullying can be done by teachers as well as by pupils and this was bullying.


Touching the snake did not physically harm Linda but it did emotionally for a while.

Thankfully we are not a family to make something like this grow and fester in a child's mind by going over and over the incident or by showing her how really annoyed we were that this had happened because children do not need to know every feeling we have or action we take over things as a protection for them.

Unfortunately we can all go through forms of this kind of thing where people, through some means of manipulation, pressure us into doing things that we really don't want to do.  That we are really uncomfortable doing.  That is just not a right fit with us.

Those things will not harm us physically but they do harm us emotionally and sometimes spiritually too.


God made us all and He made us each as a unique person.

Our thoughts each day are different from others thoughts.

Our feelings are different from others.

Our needs, our gifts, our physical abilities are all different.


What one person does not mind dealing with, the rest of us may cringe from, like Linda and the snake.

God has not made us as we are to then expect us to do a job for Him that we are not suited to.

Sometimes God will bring us to deal with something we are not so keen on but He is there to help us through that and if He is bringing us to deal with it He will not do it through the bullying tactics of another person.

We do not have to listen to people if they try to claim it is something God wants us to do - if God wants you to do something He will confirm that in your heart.

We do not have to listen to people if they try to persuade you that we need to do it because there is no one else to do it - remember if God wants you to do it He may use someone to cause you to know of an opportunity, but He will still confirm it in your heart.

I want to

Learn to seek God for wisdom to know when to say Yes and when to say No


As Linda grew up she learned to say No when something was not right for her, to stand up against the manipulation of others.


However we also cannot take the "say No" idea to mean that we don't have to do anything and that we can just say No to God as He stirs us toward His service.


We can learn to say No 

when it is a man-made opportunity and Yes when it is a God made opportunity.


We can learn to say No


when people think they know best and Yes when we know that God knows best.


We can learn to say No


when others try to manipulate us into the wrong road for us.

BUT




We can learn to say YES 

when God confirms in our hearts that this is something He is preparing us for.




I want to

Learn to stand up and say Yes when it is a God made opportunity


I don't want to pet a snake, do you?









Monday

10 Things That Made Me Laugh in Ireland



Laughter is good for you.


I have often said it and I do believe it is true and it was certainly good for us during that trip we made for Fred with work in Ireland.





It's the trip that produced the blog post Top 10 things that make a good Hotel Room.


The first comment I had on that blog post was about a hospitality tray and it really made me laugh as I thought of a certain incident during that trip.


So where better to start my list of







1. The Missing ....?

It was in the same bedroom that had all those other failures of being a good hotel room and although it was something we definitely noticed we had to laugh at it because it just seemed so funny compared to everything else that was wrong in the room.


Have a look at this picture and see if you can notice the mistake.





Yes we were in a double room with 2 saucers & 2 spoons 
but only 1 cup.


I can quite understand it if a spoon is missing because well who takes sugar these days (don't laugh - we do) but I certainly think we might need the cup to actually drink the tea or coffee from.




2.  No Room for a Chair.  


Doesn't seem that funny well at least not until you see where there was no room for the chair.






Yes just the very place you need a chair - at the desk/dressing table.

There was so little space between it and the bottom of the bed that a chair could not be placed there and the only way I could work at the laptop was to pull the bed down even closer to the desk and sit on the end of the bed.

Oh yes and guess what  -  it was that same room again!




3.  The Gift of a Crunchie.




I
n a lovely hotel near Athlone we were greeted with this in our room.


We wondered how they greeted guests on any other days.

           
           Maybe
"Make it a Malteser Monday"
"Turn in with a Twirl on Tuesday"
"Wake up to a Walnut Whip this Wednesday"
"Take a Taste of a Twix on Thursday"
"Sit down with some Smarties this Saturday"
"Snooze after a Snickers on Sunday"



or maybe it was only the special visitors on Thursday Nights who received a special chocolate treat.




4.  The 9 Colours of Light.




One of the hotel rooms had a large wall mirror which was not unusual.

Then we discovered a panel with lots of buttons & switches beside the bed.

The buttons were numbered 1 to 9 so of course we had to press each one to see what it did.

And the result was the 9 different colours of light which appeared at the top of the mirrored wall.

The last one was just normal light but hasn't come up well in the picture.

It was rather hard to take all 9 pictures of the lights because I was giggling so much.

I just thought - What a waste of money!  Especially when lights 6 & 8 were so close in colour.




5.  The Picture Mystery.


The very next hotel brought us this puzzle.






How could they possibly manage to lose two parts of their pictures?





6.  The Cow Roundabout.



I enjoyed walking around this little town with its narrow streets and just as I realised I had got myself lost I saw this large roundabout with a cow.





Now I have nothing against roundabouts with animals as we had a beautiful one close to where we lived in Belgium but then there were several animals creating the Tervuren Fountain.
It always made me smile.

I really wasn't too sure whether it was the cow that made me laugh or the fact that the roundabout seemed too big for the narrow streets.




10 Things that made me laugh in Ireland



7.  The Case of the Missing Hotel Information Books.

In one hotel we wanted to find out the usual information about the opening hours of the hotel pool and restaurants along with info. on the surrounding area and the ever important checkout time.  So we hunted the room for the Information book or file.

The only thing I could find was a plastic covered page containing the Room Service Menu which had a rather ragged edge (never thought at the time to take a picture).

Eventually I rang reception to say that the hotel information was missing from our room only to be told that they had removed them from all of the rooms because

        wait for it

     they were getting new ones the following week.

Surely the sensible thing would have been to remove the old after they had received the new?

They must not have thought of that.

Oh and the ragged edge of the Room Service Menu   -  was obviously because they had torn the hotel information sheet out of the old info. book to be able to leave the book in the room.

Yes we could have the food menu so that we could spend more money in the hotel but we were not allowed to have other info.




8.  The Foggy Morning.


Our last morning was the morning when there was to be an eclipse of the sun but in Clonmel there was



as we had heavy fog to cover the sun.




9.  The Toilet Key.


Driving back home late that afternoon we had to make a pit stop.






and I laughed so hard when Fred held up the key on a chunky chain.

I had only ever seen that happen in the movies.




10.  A Very Appropriate Song.


We enjoy listening to music and chatting as we drive along.

Suddenly at one stage Fred started to sing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" at which I really laughed because we were actually driving through the County of Tipperary at that time and he didn't know we were.

Of course I then suggested we might make a wee detour to go see





Tipperary town itself and we followed a few signposts only to find out that it actually was going to be a Long Way to Tipperary from where we were.


One of the hotels had given us a complimentary bottle of Tipperary water so that just had to be our Tipperary memory instead.





I'm looking forward to finding things to laugh about in other trips as well.




Sunday

Songs for Worship #17

Welcome to the Sunday Series

Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.


At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.







I hope you will follow along with me.



                         Looking today at 



God is Wise









Perfect Wisdom of Our God


The perfect wisdom of our God,
Revealed in all the universe:
All things created by His hand,
And held together at His command.
He knows the mysteries of the seas,
The secrets of the stars are His;
He guides the planets on their way,
And turns the earth through another day.


The matchless wisdom of His ways,

That mark the path of righteousness;

His word a lamp unto my feet,
His Spirit teaching and guiding me.
And oh, the mystery of the cross,
That God should suffer for the lost
So that the fool might shame the wise,
And all the glory might go to Christ!



Oh grant me wisdom from above,

To pray for peace and cling to love,

And teach me humbly to receive
The sun and rain of Your sovereignty.
Each strand of sorrow has a place
Within this tapestry of grace;
So through the trials I choose to say:
“Your perfect will in your perfect way.”








If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below