Beloved??

I had the awesome opportunity yesterday to go to a womens seminar called Selah with my mom and sister. It was kind of a mini Women of Faith kind of thing. The topic of the day was 'uncovering joy'. One word that was used quite a big throughout the day was 'Beloved'. Our talented speakers spoke eloquently about us being Gods 'Beloved' daughters. And being 'Beloved' children of God. Now this is by no means a new word to me. C'mon, I'm 24 years old, been through school, been in the world long enough to have heard it used several times throughout my life. I have to admit though, up until now, this word has kind of gone in one ear and out the other.
I found myself kind of lost in thought yesterday after returning from our little ladies adventure, going over it in my head and finally wondering, "What does 'beloved daughter' really mean??"

So, being the major dork that I am, I googled 'beloved'. Yes, you heard me, I actually looked up the definition. To my utter suprise being a beloved child of God means so much more than 'God made us and for that reason he really really likes us'.

Here's the official definition from good old Dictionary.com:
A person who is greatly loved; dear to the heart

Now, taking my self to even greater depths of dorkiness, I looked it up on Thesaurus. com:
Beloved: admired, cherished, highly-regarded, loved, treasured

I am GREATLY LOVED by God. I think the most awesome thing ever is that I am 'highly-regarded' by him! Even though I am 'just' a stay at home mom and in the worlds eyes have done nothing with my life, I am exactly where God wants me to be! He admires me as a mom and cherishes my place in this world. Thats so awesome.

Cheez-its or Jesus??

My daughter said the absolute cutest thing ever last night.
Sunday nights are usually our snack-for-dinner night. Our meal consisted of Apples, cheese slices, crackers and popcorn. Liv had been enjoying the wide assortment of delicious snacks and seemed to have walked off with some of them....

John (hubby): Liv, where did the cheez-its go??

Livie (daughter): Where did Jesus go?? In my heart.

SO matter of fact. SO true. :)