As you've probably noticed, I love praise and worship music, I love finding great ways to save money while being blessed by praise and worship music, I love Amazon's free music offers AND I LOVE sharing all of these with YOU. SOOO, here's a special Sunday blessing for each of you in the Sandwich Generation – free praise and worship mp3 songs from Amazon.

I pray these will be a blessing to you if you aren't able to get out to church, or perhaps as you head for church and are preparing your hearts with praise and worship music.

I am enjoying them all, but I was especially blessed by the lyrics to the Big Daddy Weave praise and worship song, "In Christ." They are especially comforting to this busy Sandwich Generation senior home care giver and grandmother, reminding me of the spiritual blessings I have in Christ, and I pray they will encourage you as well! Here are just a few of the lines:

In Christ I can do all things
In Christ I mount up on eagle's wings
In Christ I wait for a great reward
That I have in store
In Christ I have His righteousness
In Christ I have what I confess
In Christ I don't worry about all the rest
Cause everything I need to be is in Christ

And here's the whole song wrapped up nice and neat in a fun Smilebox Card!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Have a blessed Sunday. And don't forget to sign up for the FREE SandwichINK email full of resources to inform and encourage Sandwich Generation senior home care givers and grandparents everywhere!

Merry Christmas to the Sandwich Generation!

I wanted to share one last Smilebox card with you this year, along with a delightful Christmas CelebrationMedley from the album  Christmas Celebration, performed by the U.S. Army Field Band and Soldiers' Chorus.

I would also like to take this moment to say thank you to all the brave soldiers fighting to protect our freedom all around the world, along with their precious families, many of whom have sacrificed valuable time together during the holidays.

As a proud mom, daughter, niece, aunt, and friend of many brave men and women of the military, I am blessed by them and pray for God to encourage and protect each of them.

I pray too, for them and each of you, my readers, a blessed Christmas!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Merry Christmas! 

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope you are having a delightful week. We had such splendid plans for this week. Yesterday we were to have gone to a pre-Christmas Eve service at my old church. I've been blessed to attend this service in years past and it is always a glorious celebration of God's love, power, and the excitement that only Christmas can bring. The praise and worship music is always powerful, the lights very dramatic, and the sermon brings you face to face with God and His love for us that is shown in the gift of the Christ – both as Christ Child and as Crucified and Resurrected Lord. This service is big, exciting, and majestic and I love it. Think of Joy to the World in its most magnificent presentation!

Today's service is being held at a friend's church. I've enjoyed attending this one as well. It reflects another side of Christmas. This is the "Silent Night" style for a Christmas Eve time of praise and worship. At this service, we were blessed with a more intimate experience of quiet yet still joy-filled praise and worship carols, sweet fellowship, and more words of encouragement from another gifted and giving pastor.

I began the tradition of attending Christmas Eve services years ago as my gift to God. As with so many other gifts we give to God, it has ended up blessing me hugely. Of course, down through the years, we've also had our years of missing the services due to illness, senior home care giving requirements including hospice or other family crises. This year is seeing us homebound, once again, due to coughs and colds

I guess the years we aren't able to get out could be represented by:

"God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, Let Nothing You Dismay, remember Christ, our Savior, was born on Christmas Day to save us all from satan's power when we were gone astray! O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy."

No matter whether we are homebound or out and about, having a peaceful Christmas or a Christmas in the hospital, enjoying the season or having to deal with hospice during this time, we can take great comfort and joy in knowing that God is here for us – yesterday, today, and forever!

I pray you will be blessed with a joy-filled, peaceful Christmas Eve, as well, whatever your situation. And that this Smilebox card and Christmas praise and worship song, Silent Night (Emmanuel), will be a blessing to you. It's another one of Amazon's free Christmas mp3 downloads. The song is by Matt Maher and  I especially loved the ending. What do you think?      

Make a Smilebox greeting

Merry Christmas Eve to all of us in the Sandwich Generation!

Frosted window panes, candles gleaming inside, Painted candy canes on the tree…

It's that time of year when the world falls in love, Ev'ry song you hear seems to say "Merry Christmas…"

Ahhh, one of my favorite Christmas songs.   And it carries with it a delightful reminder that one of the fun signs of the season are all the lovely Christmas lights coupled with Christmas carols and Christmas praise and worship songs. So far this year, my grandchildren and I have enjoyed a myriad of delightful displays as we've driven back and forth on errands. In addition, my senior mom, some of the grandkids and I have enjoyed a delightful outdoor display put on by the city they live in. This particular one is set up for you to park and walk around in the middle of the lights. I wasn't sure how well my senior mom would do since it was a particularly cold night. I should have remembered this is the same mom who tries to walk every single day no matter how cold it is! She did great and enjoyed it very much! Of course, the grandchildren found it the most magical, but we grownups loved the twinkling lights as well. My favorite part was the big tree that was set up to twinkle to the Christmas carols that were playing. Deee-light-ful!

Now that we are back home, we have a few more options like that available to us here. These won't be quite as much fun for the grandkids, but the aging parents will appreciate them more. You tour the display in your car with the heater running and the windows up. Granted, you might not get to hear their sweet Christmas carols, but the car radio or CD player should work just fine

I really appreciate that many of them are open through the first of the year. That way out-of-town guests who may visit after Christmas can join in the fun with us. I'm already looking forward to taking my senior mom and a good friend out to look at one of the displays available. It will remind her and me of one of our favorite Christmas memories – driving around to look at the Christmas light displays eons ago when I was just a little girl. My dad found the coolest area. Several neighborhoods got together and did block displays. One block would have all candy canes. Another block would have ice skaters. Nativity scenes were the priority on yet another block, and so on. We'd drive slowly by and enjoy the lights thoroughly. Then we'd head home for hot chocolate and Bing Crosby.

For those of you whose aging parents can't get out to see the Christmas lights, I hope you'll enjoy these videos I found. These light displays are incredible and I especially love that two of them are synchronized to Christmas praise and worship.  Merry Christmas!

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the music. I grew up with the Christmas specials by Bing Crosby, the King Family, Lawrence Welk, Andy Williams, Dean Martin, and so many other wonderful artists. Today I have a huge collection of Christmas music on CDs. Most is packed away in storage, but thanks to iTunes I have several hours of  the songs stored on my computer. I usually add one – two new CDs each year, along with giving Christmas praise and worship music CDs as gifts.

This year I bought with the grandtween in mind, ending up with Santa Claus by Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana), and Joyful Kings by the Jonas Brothers. Last year my focus was more towards my senior mom's taste with In The Swing of Christmas by Barry Manilow along with The Ray Price Christmas Album.

Two of my favorite holiday only songs are The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Kathy Griffith and Two Step Round the Christmas Tree by Suzy Boguss. You should hear my friend and I sing together on the chorus for that one!

As fun as all these songs are, they don't come close to the joy I feel when listening to Christmas praise and worship songs like Mercy Me's Gloria, Third Day's Joy to the World, and Michael W. Smith's Christ the Messiah. I listen to those and God gives me a brief respite in the midst of Sandwich Generation senior home care giving and grandparenting. It's like a tiny taste of what the shepherds experience! Listening to Christmas praise and worship is a wonderful way to bring the joy and peace Christmas should entail into the real world where the peace is so often missing.

Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious! Psalm 66:2

Let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You.  Psalm 5:11

Another way we enjoy the sounds of Christmas joy during Advent are by attending Christmas musicals at local churches. This year our new church is offering a contemporary Christian praise and worship night for tweens, teens, and young adults, a kids''' musical two of my grandchildren are taking me to, and a choir presentation of old and new Christmas carols and hymns. You can find times and dates for many of these at the church's website or in the local newspapers.

This is one of the best weeks to enjoy the Sounds of Christmas and it's a delightful way for all the generations to celebrate together. And for those of you who can't get out, or who have senior parents who can't go out, here's a special Christmas praise and worship just for you  – Casting Crowns singing Joy to The World. . You'll be happy to know that Amazon is giving away mp3 downloads of many Christmas songs, including some Christmas praise and worship!  That's definitely one of my favorite holiday ways to save money!  (Be sure to pop in on Christmas Day, too, for another one!  Merry Christmas!)     

It is good

to give thanks

to the LORD

And to sing praises

to Your name,

O Most High,

To declare

Your lovingkindness

in the morning

And Your faithfulness

by night.

Psalm 92:1-2

As a member of the Baby Boomer Generation, I often find myself lying awake at night, unable to sleep. Sometimes it’s due to my metabolism…sometimes it’s because of constantly being awakened due to care giving needs…sometimes it’s just middle of the night worries.

For a couple of years, I spent many sleepless nights getting up and reading or working. That doesn’t happen very much any more. I still wake up. But now when I do, I’ve found that one of the best ways to fall asleep is to use my mp3 player to listen to praise and worship music or a quiet sermon. They focus my thoughts on God, Who blesses and encourages me. And most of the time it also relaxes me enough I can go back to sleep.

For more lovely photos accompanied by inspirational Bible verses and words of encouragement, pop on over to Critty Joy who is hosting this week’s Word-Filled Wednesday. You can also find plenty of fun and interesting photos at 5 Minutes for Mom’s Wordless Wednesday.

I was visiting at one of my favorite blogs, Penny Raine,  and discovered a delightful meme she is participating in, Word-Filled Wednesday. The purpose of Word-Filled Wednesday is to share God’s Words (no famous quotes or other literature — only the precious and beautiful words of our Lord God) through photos & a Bible verse! I noticed we can also add a little thought of our own, as well. What a great idea! And what a great encouragement it was to me as I read the various sites.

I decided to share this with you, as well, on a weekly basis. As Sandwich Generation senior home care givers and grandparents, we can always use extra encouragement. So I am actually posting early for my next post and in the future, I hope to be participating in this great meme each Wednesday. I’d love to hear your comments about it. And do be sure to check out the other encouraging and uplifting photos and verses which you can find at Penny’s site. It’s a great opportunity to stop for just a second to spend time in praise and worship to our wonderful Lord, then head back to caregiving duties with a lighter heart!

The earth is full of Your lovingkindness, O Lord, teach me Your statutes. Psalm 119:64

When I am tired or discouraged, I love to walk out to look at the gorgeous flowers, delightful trees, fluffy clouds…

All of God’s creation is a gift to us, reminding us of His love, His power, and His majesty!

As I look at all the beauty He created, I am blessed and encouraged!

Thank You, Lord God!

There are three verses that I have been thinking about a lot this week, as my grand-twins, grand-big-brother and I keep plugging away at our Fruit of the Spirit summer project. (Well, technically it’s eight verses – or two verses and a passage ) They are all wrapped into one of the songs we’ve been learning for our project. I Walk By Faith by Chris Folson is a fun praise and worship song for grandma and grandkids alike and it includes quotes from each of the three verses.  We’ve had a great time learning the song and singing it together as we continue to “hide God’s Word in our hearts.” In focusing on this song over the last few days, I realized how encouraging they are for all of us in the Sandwich Generation.

We don’t always understand why things happen the way they do. Why Grandma got Alzheimer’s Disease, why granddaughter has Spina Bifida, why Uncle George is struggling after his third stroke. Why all these things happened so close together. They do, though, to so many. Particularly in our Baby Boomer Generation. The question isn’t “why.” The question is, “what.” What can we do about it?  We can prayerfully seek to keep our eyes fixed on God, putting one foot in front of the other, and taking care of whatever needs doing each day.

We walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

What happens if one or more of our beloveds develops dementia of some kind, arguing with us unreasonably, yelling untruths about us from a mind clouded in a fog.  God holds us close and tells us,

“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD. Isaiah 54:17

There are days when we feel so alone, so lonely, and as if the world is coming against us. That’s when we can grab hold of the book of Romans, particularly the 8th chapter, and hunker down and dwell in it. I often like to write out verses and carry them with me to “snack” on them. Romans 8:31-35 is wonderful for that:

If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Romans 8:31-35

If you’re in the midst of a difficult circumstance, feel free to join me in printing these out and carrying them with you. If you’re in a quieter, more peaceful moment, cherish it! And prepare for any future rapids that may carry you into rushing water by hiding these blessed Words of God in your heart. In that case, my grandsons and I invite you to join us in that project as well with this fun video.

Grab a grandkid or five and learn it with them. Have fun singing it at the top of your lungs, making up fun hand and feet motions, knowing you are tucking vital truths into your heart and the hearts of your grandkids. What better way to spend time! 

Leaving the house too early yesterday, I wound up listening to a sermon on my iPod instead. I really enjoyed it. There was one point, in particular, that really caught my attention. The pastor talked about preparing to worship before you ever get to church.

He suggested that we would be wise to purposely choose to drive to church in an attitude of “let’s get ready to worship.” Listening to praise and worship music on the way there, whether old hymns, contemporary praise, or whatever your taste, can help set the right atmosphere.

I have done this many times without thinking it through. In looking back I can, indeed, see a more positive attitude towards worship as a definite result. I am setting a new goal to make this a chosen habit each week as I head to church. I would add to this idea that we should also be praying as we drive there. One thing I often do is pray that God would use me to encourage someone else at church, and that I would also be encouraged there. God has always blessed that prayer wonderfully.

It can often be hard for caregivers to be in a positive mood when going to church. We may have been rushing to help others before we could get ourselves ready. We may be worried over the health of one of our loved ones. We may have been dealing with those who are in bad moods due to chronic pain. Or we may just have gotten a poor night’s sleep. Whatever the reason, starting your morning in the car with music that glorifies God, praying for Him to be honored in all that we say and do, and asking Him to give us the right attitude and thoughts for worshiping Him when we get to church will help. I encourage you to join me in choosing to start worship in the car instead of in the pew.

I love iTunes. I have made a playlist I call Happy Praise and Worship. When I am really tired, stressed, or frustrated, I start listening to that and it is like a shot of extra energy! I have a wide variety of songs on this list, including Lincoln Brewster’s rendition of “Everlasting God.”

Another great thing about iTunes is that you can send gifts of just one song to others. For 99 cents I can send the blessing of encouragement to anyone in the world. I have sent many songs out to different friends over the last couple of years when they were ill, or going through tough times.

Of course, the recipient has to have a computer, email, and iTunes so it’s not always a good option for older adults unless they are computer savvy or have someone near who can help them. But for those who can handle it, or perhaps for grandchildren living far away, this can be a great way to reach out and give a big hug of love from you and God.