About Me

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I am a wife, a mommy, a home educator, and domestic goddess, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a musician, a reader, a writer, and a lover of Jesus Christ.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Tis The Season

Tomorrow is Christmas Day! And I have to say that having children in our home tends to keep things around here magical and exciting.....I love it!!!

So today is TOP TEN Christmas.

1. I love Christmas Carols...love, love, love!  I feel that some of the most beautiful songs written about our Lord are Christmas songs and relegated to December singing only....What a shame...I feel that it is always appropriate to sing about the coming of our Lord.
2. I love Christmas lights....they just make me smile.
3. I love that I have a new nephew, Jude Liam Cutler that was born Thursday. He is adorable and healthy and doing great! My brother, Amick, and sister in law Christy have been through so much these past few years and it floods my heart with gratitude and joy to see them with their sweet little boy. Their family of 4 will get to spend the day together just soaking in the love and holding the fulfillment of their love and promise. You can't beat that!!!
4. I love my family so much!!! And it is rough this year being separated.....missing my sister and her family, my brother and his family, my mom, and my dad. So thankful that it is not a forever thing...just a for now thing.
5. I love that I will be spending this week with my hubby and our two boys. We are creating our own traditions and loving it!!! What a special time!!
6. Did I mention that I love Christmas music??
7. I love that even though a portion of our country try to deny the real reason for this blessed season, we are still free to tell the story of Christmas, worship Him in our churches and in our homes, that people still put up Merry Christmas signs (regardless of who it might offend), that we go caroling, that many stores and businesses refuse to be politically correct and continue to call Christmas what it is......Christmas, a day all about Jesus Christ! 
8. I love that God loved us enough to send His Son to earth to live as a man just so we would have a future and a hope in Jesus Christ. It blows my mind!!
9. I love the look on my boys faces as we talk about Christmas and what it really means. They get it! What a blessing!
10. And I love that last night our boys told us that they wanted to send one of their toys/presents to someone else that might not get one. My heart overflows!!!!

We wish you and yours a blessed and wonderful CHRISTMAS season!!!
Our Family Christmas Dance

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

A little Weepy

           Maybe it is the dreary day outside or the slight headache.
Or maybe the headache is from holding back the tears that seem to have stopped up my throat.
                                   Nothing is really obvious today.
I do not have an overwhelming reason to cry.
         My mind is not flooded with hurts or dissapointments.
                    My compulsion to sing has been stayed.
    The only compulsion is the one to curl up on the couch with my favorite quilt.
In the midst of the uncertainty and weirdness there is One that is never changing.
                                  He wants to be the quilt I wrap around me.
                                               He wants to cradle me as I try to swallow the lump in my throat.
                  Or maybe He doesn't want me to try to swallow it back.
                                           But rather to let it out.
               Let it out and let Him hold me while I cry.
Cry for no reason and for every reason.
                              The why doesn't really matter.
         What matters is that this day, this woman, these emotions of mine matter to Him.
                                             Emotions I may not fully understand until they are flooding out.
                   It isn't too much for Him.
                                                         He created my every part, that includes my heart.
So while I lean into Him and rest in His arms, I will cry.
           Perhaps the crying isn't even for me but for someone else that cannot express.
                                How interconnected we women of God are.
                                              Women. Woman. The one that does not need a reason to cry.
    But we do. Often. And it feels so much better when we are done.
                          Maybe it is the dreary day or perhaps it is not.
                                         In the end I don't really need a reason after all.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Love of my Heavenly Father

I have not walked this earth for decades and decades but I have been here long enough to figure out that dissapointments and hurt feelings are just part of the human experience. So why are we so surprised when we encounter situations, circumstances, and people that seem to leave a wake of pain behind them? Jesus clearly stated while he was here that "we would have tribulations, but to be of good cheer".  So He told us that we would face times that left us breathless, times that made us want to scream at the sky and times that would leave us curled into a ball and crying so hard that we could barely catch a breath. And most of the time when we find ourselves in those places, we want so badly to rage at a person, at a relationship and deflect any part we may have played. Because lets face it, sometimes our own choices set us up for the flood of pain and consequences that will ultimately follow. It is the simple principle of sowing and reaping....there is no way around it. But what about the times when we are walking through the consequences of reaping what someone else sowed?

I am in that place today......what is to be my response? Am I to even have one? Do I have the right to once again begin rebuilding the wall around my heart? Does the wall even help?

From my experience I have found that once you start building the wall of self-preservation you cannot choose what it keeps out. It is a wall....it has a purpose.....it protects....but it also keeps out joys, peace, potentially healthy relationships, visions of what the future can hold. A wall keeps you locked in with yourself and with the unforgiveness, the dissapointments, the bitterness and all those unresolved emotions that you don't deal with.

A wall is not worth it. It might keep out some bad stuff but it locks you away from the joys of life and the life you could have if you just lay it all down at the feet of Jesus. He said that He would carry our burdens. He is not offended by our pain, He is not surprised by our failings, He alone is strong to carry it all.

He is the ONLY one that walk us out of the darkness and into the light of His salvation and deliverance. No other man was meant to fill me up, not my father, not my husband, not a friend, a brother, a pastor, a teacher. Man is human, he will fail us, he will dissapoint, he will not understand, he will offend, he will get it wrong. And if we as women are tying who we are to how we feel when we are with them, then we will always feel like we are lacking, we will never be validated, our self esteem with always suffer, we will feel unworthy. Because at the end of the day others will make choices that hurt us, they will brush us aside and we will feel that pain of that rejection. Many times those people don't know that they even had that profound impact on us.....they are simply sinful people walking through life just like we are. I wonder how many times I have made others feel that way because I was so wrapped in myself that thinking of how the impact of my decisions would affect others just wasn't as important as my own wants and needs.

My Heavenly Father is the only one that will not dissapoint and let me down. He is constant in His love. He never changes, He created me so He could love me and to be loved in return. I need to rest in the fact that He will hold my heart in His capable loving hands and He will never drop it or let it shatter. And Jesus is faithful to take those places that feel raw and hurting and he will rub in the balm of His love and acceptance and make it new. I praise the love of my life, Jesus Christ, for loving me enough to not shy away when I am upset and crying out for justice.....instead He draws me close in His arms and sings over me the songs of grace, mercy, joy and peace. I cannot fathom the depth of that kind of love. But I am reminded every day, for His mercies are new every morning. I may not have gotten it right today but He loves me through it and He loves me into being the woman He created me to be.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

A Heart of Thanksgiving

Today is the day to share what has been going on in our house lately.

First, hubby is still out of work due to a back injury. It is the 4th week of him being at home. I love my hubby so much it has been hard to see him in pain and not able to work. He loves to work....it is what he does for fun. I honestly think that I have spent more time with him this last month than in the 12 years of marriage. I have enjoyed having him home and the boys have too. But I know that hubby is ready to be back at work. So praying for complete healing for his back. The last month has just about convinced him that he needs a career change.....we will see.

Our youngest son is almost 6 years old. When he was 2 and he began to really speak clearly he started telling us that his heart was "beeping". He would hold his chest, lay in our arms and get pale. His heart would race and beat so hard that it felt like it would just jump out of his little chest. We mentioned these episodes to the pediatrician and they did not have any answers for us. They said that unless he had an episode while we were at the office that they could not help us. Since the episodes only lasted a minute or two and only occurred infrequently we didn't really worry about it. But as he got older we started to notice correlations between certain activities and episodes. For a while he would have them while driving home from church on Sundays. We thought they might be triggered by certain food dyes or sugars so we asked church teachers to not let him have snacks. It seemed to help a little. But throughout the last few years they would just happen, we would sit with him and then they would stop. Fast forward to this last summer. He began having more frequent episodes and they began lasting longer than a few minutes. In July we ended up in the ER because a series of 5 episodes occurred less than 10 minutes apart and each one increased in duration. The last one lasted well over an hour. They were finally get an EKG of what was going on and were able to help the episode stop. That began a journey to the pediatrician, a pediatric cardiologist, a pediatric cardiovascular surgeon and finally a surgery to fix the heart. His diagnosis is SVT (Supraventricular Tachycardia) and we have found that it is quite common. Amazing how something you have never heard of could be common. But as we began talking about it we found many others that have had the same issue. The pediatric cardiologist surgeon recommended an ablation and at first we decided to wait and not rush into anything. Having a 5 year old go under anesthesia is not something we were wanting. So we called the doctor and told him that we were not going to have it done at this time. Our son had not had any episodes since our visit with him almost a month earlier and we were praying for complete healing without surgery. But a couple weeks later while we were all outside working in the yard, we heard a wail and he came to us with tears streaming down his face because he was having another episode. I had not seen such fear on his face before and it broke my heart. The episode lasted quite a while and nothing we did seemed to help. It finally went back into rythym and he calmed down. About an hour later we were talking with him and he told us that he wanted to have the ablation done so his heart would be fixed. When a child asks for something like that all you can do is say YES! So I called and scheduled the abalation. There have been hiccups along the way with insurance companies and hospital deductibles but the Lord used the body of Christ to provide and we were able to get him registered for the surgery last week. He was admitted at 6:00 Monday morning and we said our goodbyes to him at 8:00. The surgery lasted a very long 5 hours. The doctor was able to map the heart, isolate the area that was causing the problem, used freezing energy to destroy that area of tissue and when they tried to trigger the heart to go into SVT again it wouldn't do it. So the surgery was a success. He came out of surgery feeing very yucky but that passed in a few hours and by that night he was sipping water and eating crackers. He slept all night and woke up yesterday bright eyed and ready to go home. His incision sites are healing wonderfully and he has not mentioned any pain at all. We arrived at home yesterday afternoon and he is doing great!!!

So here is my list of praise!

We are so thankful for a successful surgery!
We are thankful for a wonderful doctor that was passionate, gentle of spirit, skilled and very good at communicating with our son and with my hubby & I. We truly felt like our son was his only patient. God had His hand on the whole situation.
We are thankful for the wonderful nurses that our son had while in the hospital. I think he even developed a bit of a crush on the "pretty one" (his words)
We are so thankful for family & friends that have supported us in prayers and financial gifts during this time. We are truly blessed and loved!!
And we give thanks to the One that created our son, knows him inside and out and was with us through this entire time. His peace, provision, and His Presence has made all of the difference!
Thanks be to GOD for His good gifts and for going before us with favor and preparing the way!
Thankful for a quick recovery and complete healing.
I am overwhelmed by the bigness of my God and that He has done so much for us!!!
We are learning so much and I am trusting that the plan and purpose He has had for this great and we will look back and remember how God brought us through and that others will see a testimony of the greatness and love of GOD.

Be blessed!

 


Sunday, September 30, 2012

Oh Give Thanks!

46 for rain that waters the ground and smells amazing!
47 for berries to put in my smoothie
48 for leggings that let me wear all the "too short dresses" out there
49 for church family
50 for watching my son sing with the other kids in church....so blessed!!
51 for quiet time
52 for still being able to learn and sometimes retain what I learn
53 for the Country Dollar and all of its wonderful jewelry deals
54 for the love that my hubby and I still share after 12 years of marriage
55 for the faithfulness of my God that walked hubby & I through 12 years of adjusting and learning what it means to truly love someone
56 for forgiveness
57 for restoration
58 for the promises of God
59 for the joy of the Lord
60 for the mercy & grace of my God

Monday, September 24, 2012

To Give Thanks

29 *for time with my hubby (even if he is bedridden with a angry back)
30 *healing - so thankful that the healing has begun and he is getting better
31 *for beautiful weather - loving these wonderfully pleasant temperatures
32 *for paper towels
33 *for my washer & dryer - oh so thankful
34 *for the ability to find out what I need to know with my fingertips
35 *for the unsurpassing greatness of the goodness of my God
36 *for listening to my boys sing a song to my husband and making his heart melt
37 *for brilliant authors that can intertwine a story with Biblical truth into a book that teaches and encourages as well as entertains
38 *for spellcheck - just saying
39 *for no-bake cookies....my new favorite
40 *for a week with my sweet nephew - what a treasure it was to have him
41 *for new beginnings and second chances
42 *for memories
43 *for hope of the future
44*for the gift of today
45 * my sweet boys and their love for each other

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Thanks

To Give Thanks

11 *for my home and the comfort it brings
12 *for family that shares history
13 *for the new dress I bought Friday :)
14 *for Pandora that play praise & worship music all day long
15 *for my church and church family
16 *for Beth Moore and the joy with with she teaches
17 *for the fact that the Word of God is always relevant and applicable to what I am dealing with today
18 *for electricity
19 *for my flat iron
20 *for the smell of onions cooking.....yummo
21 *for the laughter of my children
22 *for the curiosity of my children
23 *for the love of my children
24 *for quiet time with my hubby
25 *for long talks with my hubby
26 *for friends, new and life-long
27 *for chocolate
28 *for the fact that I can approach my Heavenly Father anytime.

Monday, September 10, 2012

The Road to Graditude

I have decided to attempt once again to read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I have had the book for over a year and have begun reading it several times but always put it down when it began to step on my toes. I am determined to finish it this time. Perhaps I am ready at this point in my life to truly absorb the message and make some changes. So the first change I am making is that I want to begin each week on the blog with a list of at least 10 things for which I am grateful.

1.Jesus and the price He paid for my sins, shortcomings and failures
2.Grace
3.Mercy
4.Hubby & the knowledge that He is in love with the Lord
5.Our 2 beautiful sons
6. Knowing that both our sons have accepted Christ
7.Health & healing
8.Family
9.Music
10. God's Word, Bible

It is a start and I pray to continue to look around me and be intentional about my thankfulness of all that I see.  Ingratitude takes you down a familiar yet unsatisfying and lonely road. I don't want to travel that road any longer.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Drama Free

About a month ago the hubby and I decided to get out of debt and get caught up on our bills. Moving twice in a year gave our finances a bit of a sucker punch. But we are steadily climbing out of the pit. There are many lessons we are learning now that should have been learned a long time ago.....that is the funny things about growing up and maturing....if you don't learn the lesson the first time around, there will be one or more opportunities to finally pass the test.  (whether you want another chance or not). Anyway, we decided to disconnect our cell phones because we were just throwing huge chunks of cash right out the window. Especially since I can't use mine while at home....terrible service. I am sooooooo enjoying not paying that out each month. But it has had another surprise benefit. I had not realized how much pressure there is these days to be available to everyone at a moments notice. People are used to calling and texting and getting an immediate response. And if they don't, then they are automatically offended and wondering why you are avoiding them.....so much drama...too much for me. I have enjoyed being able to tell friends & family that we have a house number and leave it at that. If someone really wants to talk to me then they will call that number. If I am home, I will answer and if I am not home, then they can leave a message. If they are unwilling to do that then they probably didn't really want to talk to me anyways. I am getting so much more done and have been released from technology guilt. And if anyone ever came to my house they would notice that the house phone was dropped and no longer displays caller ID. So if I am available I answer, and if I am not, then I don't. It is nothing personal. I am just finally taking back my life. Now I can truly give my undivided attention to my children or anyone else that I am talking to without needing to text back a reply to a text I received.

Don't get me wrong, cell phones are great. I do not have anything against them. I am just enjoying my life at this time without them.

So that is my two cents today.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Still Here

I have been doing some thinking the last few weeks and have come to several conclusions.

1. You either write a blog trying to appeal to the masses or you write as a cathartic exercise for yourself. I have straddled the fence for several years and have found the my blog is a random, expressionless version of me and my life. I have shied away from posting things I am feeling and doing because I didn't really want to hear what someone has to say about it. I have also been leary of posting things about our family because there have been some folks that I feel are kinda "cyber-stalky"...you know who you are.....you know, those people who would like to be a part of you life but are not, so they try to get to know you through your blog?? yeah, kinda creepy! But if I don't start writing what I NEED to write then I am going to explode. So if you don't want to read what I want to write, then feel free to take my blog off of your reading list. It won't hurt my feelings at all.

2. If you don't really like who you are then a change in geography WILL NOT be the answer to your issues. Hubby and I moved 1200 miles away and back again in a matter of 13 months. While there are things about here that I prefer and several things about Kansas that I feel are better, I was in both places and didn't find contentment in either place. The last couple months I have felt anger, frustration and a general bad attiude. Needless to say, I haven't been the easiest person to live with.  I very rarely get to go anywhere by myself these days, but one day last week while running to the store to pick up a thermometer and Childrens Tylenol I had a revelation....Contentment has nothing to do with where you live, where you work, where you go to church, what hobbies you find enjoyable, how much money you have or even getting to live the exact life you feel you deserve....it is about finding who you are in Christ. Now, anyone with any measure of spiritual depth has probably already figured out that my relationship with the Lord at this precise moment is not what it should be. I have realized that while I missed our church here in Georgia, I was completely fine in Kansas. I had made some great friends, I felt like we were moving forward as a family. And moving back here has felt like a step backwards. The hubby and I are having the same conversations yet again. I am feeling the same frustrations I was feeling that led us to search for another place to live. And I would be lying if I didn't mention that I have been just a little upset about the whole thing. I know that at some point down the road I will look back and see that there has been a purpose in the whole situation but things are just not clear at this point.  You see, at my core I am a bit of a control freak and I don't feel like anyone asked my opinion in all this. (That is a lie, I know it even as I am typing it, but that belief is still there).

The answer??? There is only one true & honest answer and for some reason I have been avoiding it. Turn it over to God, lay down any plans I might have had at his feet and trust that He will resurrect what needs to be raised up again. Seek Him and spend time in His presence. AND IN THE MEANTIME BE THANKFUL, BE THANKFUL & BE THANKFUL.

On the road.....time will only tell where it will end up.

Here is a blog post I wrote almost 4 years ago that just reminded what it is all about.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Say & Repeat again

"It is truly a blessing to be a stay at home mom of two rambunctious boys, It is a blessing to be a stay at home mom, it is a tremendous blessing to be a stay at home mome, It is tremendously huge blessing to be a stay at home mom" Today I will look at the blessings.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Update

I haven't blogged in a little while so I thought I would post a Top 10 about what has been going on around here.

1. Last Thursday I ended up in the ER with our youngest son. His heart was racing and going way too fast. After about an hour it went back into rythym and he was feeling much better. He has a cardiologist appointment next Tuesday to see what is up. We are standing in faith that he is healed and that the tests will confirm that fact. I know the healing power of Jesus Christ and we are believing that it has already been done!

2. I am so glad to be back in Georgia and back in our home. But I was not expecting the feelings of lonliness that I have been feeling. We came home to find that they rest of the world kept going ( as it should have) and that friends had moved on too. I was pushed out of my comfort zone in Kansas when it came to seeking out friends and building friendships. I was also alot better about making sure to cultivate and make time for those friends. Guess I need to take stock and do that here as well.

3. My mom has moved in with us for a while. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about it but it has turned out great. I enjoy having her here and am thankful for this time. I had missed my momma tremendously while we were away and didn't think we would ever live near her again. So to not only be in the same state but the same house again has been a wonderful surprise that the Lord arranged for this time.

4. I am constantly amazed at our two sons. They continue to grow and develop. I see new talents and giftings come into the light daily. Our oldest son loves the piano. He sits for hours at a time playing, composing and singing. I came in from our screen porch last week and found him playing a new song and singing out his prayer to the Lord. Melted my heart and I know it melted the heart of his Heavenly Father too.  Our youngest son has begun singing all the time. No matter what he is doing, he is either humming or singing a song. Sometimes it is a praise & worship song, sometimes a song by "Journey " or a song he just makes up while he goes. It thrills my heart to see that my children love music as much as me & hubby do. God has long used music to minister to me and I see it happening with our children too. What a blessing!!

5. Another school year is fast approaching. It will be the third year of homeschooling the boys. I am looking forward to it! It still seems surreal at times that this is the life we are living but what a blessing it is.

6. I am married to a phenomenal man of God. He works so hard to provide for our family, and to make a way for me to be able to homeschool the boys. There are so many times that I forget to be grateful and thankful for all he does that enables me to live out my dream as a stay at home mom and home educator. He is working so hard at a "job" while I live my dream. We are standing in faith and waiting on God's timing so he can live his dream, working his own farm. We know that it will happen and are preparing ourselves so when the door opens we will be able to walk through. Patience is not our greatest virtue but apparently it is a lesson we are to be learning right now. My hubby is a hard worker with such incredible talent & skill and he has such a passion for working the ground and feeding people. I know that God did not put a desire like that in him without also planning to walk beside him while he walks it out. I am looking forward to what the future of our family holds.

7. My sister and her family are coming for a visit in a few weeks. CANNOT WAIT!!!!

8. I am needing some ideas regarding setting the house up this year for homeschooling. This is the first year that I will be teaching 2 children at the same time. In past years we didn't need alot of space but I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to set up the house. I want the boys to feel comfortable but also need things to look neat before hubby comes home. Would be so much easier if we had a school room.....might have to work on that one....hhhmmmm.

9. You know that your boys have hit the " I am a boy not a baby" stage when they walk into the library and ask the librabrian if she has any books about Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, tractors, trains and natural disasters...hahaha.  And all could think about was that I wanted to read them "Amelia Bedelia" books....haha

10. I am not a morning person but I am feeling that the Lord is wanting me to make an effort to get up before my family to spend time with Him THEN.

Monday, July 16, 2012

How easy it is.....

how easy it is to forget how blessed I am.
how easy it is to focus on my hardships.
how easy it is look at what I don't have.
how easy it is to forget about what I do have.
how easy it is to compare blessings and feel discontent.
how easy it is sing and not truly enter into worship.
how easy it is to hold unforgiveness.
how easy it is to justify myself and my actions.
how easy it is to look around instead of up.
how easy it is to feel discouraged.
how easy it is to forget where God has brought me from.
how easy it is to not invest in others.
how easy it is to live selfishly.
how easy it is grasp aimlessly.
how easy it is to judge others.
how easy it is to waste my time doing nothing worthwhile.
how easy it is to forget what a wretched sinner I am.
how easy it is to feel entitled.
how easy it is to feel worthless.
how easy it is to feel forgotten.
how easy it is to walk away from the presence of the Lord.
how easy it is to not find time to be with my Saviour.
how easy it is to complain.
how easy it is TO BE A SINNER

Because of our sinful nature, it does not take any extra effort to walk like the world and in defeat and bondage.

But because of the blood that Jesus shed for me I get to have a choice to walk differently.

He doesn't make the choice for me........I have to choose! I have to make the decision!

My Savior, Jesus Christ has already paved the way for me to live a life of abundance, victory, peace & joy. But I have to choose to walk in it. I must choose to believe what He says and walk like I believe it.  It is easy to walk in the flesh........but Christ has made it easy for me to walk differently.

Christ made it easy for me to remember how blessed I am.
Christ made it easy for me to surrender my hardships to His control.
Christ made it easy for me to rest in His provision.
Christ made it easy for me truly see what He has provided for me.
Christ made it easy for me to be content in Him.
Christ made it easy for me to enter into worship and approach His throne.
Christ made it easy for me to be able to forgive.
Christ made it easy for me look to Him for justification.
Christ made it easy for me to look to Him and not my circumstances.
Christ made it easy for me to be encouraged.
Christ made it easy for me to invest in others.
Christ made it easy for me to live selflessly.
Christ made it easy for me to reach out to Him.
Christ made it easy for me not judge others but walk in love.
Christ made it easy for me use my time wisely and efficiently.
Christ made it easy for me to know that I am a sinner saved by grace.
Christ made it easy for me to know that I am a child of God.
Christ made it easy for me to know that He loves me and I find my worth in Him.
Christ made it easy for me to know that I am not forgotten.
Christ made is easy for me to walk back into His presence without qualification. His love is unconditional.
Christ made it easy for me choose Him first and order my day accordingly..
Christ made it easy for me to be thankful.
Christ made it easy for me TO BE REDEEMED.

Today I choose! I choose Christ. I choose a life of abundance, grace, mercy, delieverance, peace, joy and fellowship with my Saviour.

Friday, June 29, 2012

My brain is where???



Ever have one of those days when you wonder if your brain is in Stand-by mode or has shut off altogether?

Yeah...me neither......

Ok, that was a fib. I am having one of those days today. Things have happened that had they been recorded might have won me some major cash on some stupid TV show.

What? You want some examples??? Ok, if you insist.

1. Got lost in a town that is as familiar to me as my own home.. Seriously...my boys were the ones to help direct me to where I needed to go.
2. Drew a complete blank when the teller at the bank struck up a very familiarly toned conversation. She even mentioned seeing my hubby mowing the grass at our house....still have no idea who she is.
3. Apparently the brain fuzz was catching because my sons kept looking at me with blank stares on their faces while we were shopping and people were waiting for us all to move out of the center of the aisle. I would say " boys, move" and then repeat 6 times while trying to not pinch a hole in their arm. Ok, so I am not perfect.
4. I looked up a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent. The directions said to mix all the ingredients in a HUGE bowl......yeah I decided to skip that part and just dump it all in storage container and shake it to mix. Might have worked had I made sure the lid was secured. Are you seeing the picture of me shaking the container full of Borax, Washing Soda, lemonade packets and salt?? Are you seeing me shake it all onto the counters & floor??? Looked like a powder bomb went off. Lesson learned....directions are there for a reason....almost makes me wonder if the lady that posted the recipe was soooo specific because she too made that mistake. I am choosing to believe that just to make myself feel better.
5. Another on-line washing tip attempt was next. Decided to clean the inside of my washing machine. So I filled the tub full of hot water and added a quart of bleach. I let it sit and igitate for a couple hours. So I got the brilliant idea to scoop some of this bleachy water onto the parts of the machine that were not immersed. I was just sloshing and sloshing until I saw water running out from the bottom of my machine onto the floor.....so apparently there is not another drum under there catching all the water I was sloshing...who knew??? Not me!
6. And a tip to anyone else that wants to make anything with Borax....dont just dump an entire box of it into a container that has an opening at eye level.....that stuff produces a dust plume matched only by cake flour.....makes the eyes itchy too.
7. And lastly, don't you just hate it when you take the time to make a grocery list and are diligent and throrough in your preparation and then discover once you get home that you forgot something as important as trash bags??? yeah, me too!!

So I guess I need to go re-boot my brain with a combination of Coca-Cola & chocolate....now that is a cure all if there ever was one.

****update- not 3 minutes after I posted this, my youngest son walked in and told me his belly hurt. I asked him when it started and he calmly suggested that perhaps it is hurting because of all the pool water he was drinking. All I could think to reply was  "You think?" - told you it was catching........so be careful the next time you have a loved one that seems to be on autopilot.

Have a great weekend!!!!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Arms of Jesus

I have been hesitant about sharing this but today I feel like God wants someone else to know what I know. So here goes....

Sunday morning the family & I went to church like every other Sunday morning. Amazingly the morning was calm and we got out the door on time. And let me tell you....that is something that hardly ever happens.  So while we were driving we prayed and thanked the Lord for the day and asked Him to be with us as we worshipped and met with other believers. (side note.....such a wonderful feeling to hear your children pray that prayer) We arrived and joined the rest of the praise team in practice, prayer and preparation for service.

Service began and we sang several songs and prayed and entered into worship. We were on the 4th song, Your Great Name by Natalie Grant and I began feeling like I was on fire. I have had the feeling several other times and it usually associated with a prophetic word. I began to feel so overwhelmed and like I was coming unhinged. I began praying about whether I was to open my mouth to speak aloud. About this time the entire congregation was singing "Jesus" over and over and over. I closed my eyes and saw Jesus....guess you could say it was a vision. Had never had one before so was new to me. But in my vision I saw Jesus walking amongst the people and drawing close to them, leaning in, drinking in the sound of His name pouring from their hearts, spirits and lips. He was touching them, leaning over them, and smiling so big that He looked like He might laugh out loud. He would touch one and then walk to another. The heart cry of His people singing His Name, Jesus had drawn Him into their presence and He was ready and available to meet needs, offer healing, comfort, provision and love. I was so overwhelmed that I found it difficult to breathe. I feel so blessed to have seen that. It is something that I will never forget. My Jesus is just waiting on me to invite Him to make a difference in my life. He draws pleasure from my calling on Him. He is not inconvenienced and too busy or waiting for me to do all the "stuff" before I call on Him. He just wants me to call on Him. His name, Jesus, is above any other name. He is everything I need. He is my Source, my Deliverer, my Provider, my Healer, my Father. He is waiting for us to call on Him, invite Him in and let Him put His arms around us and give us what we stand in need of today.

No matter where you are, what you have done, what you need, just call on Him. He is waiting.
Be blessed!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Top Five

Wow! So much has happened since I blogged last that I don't even know where to start. So first things first. How about a Top Five post....

1. A year ago we picked up and moved 1,200 to a new state, town, job, church and people.  It was quite the adventure and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. We met some wonderful people and made some great friends. Our family saw parts of the country that were foreign and odd to us but it was beautiful. We got to expereince tornado sirens...didn't realize how loud they were. We were able to join a phenomenal homeschool group and learned alot. Glad we went!

2. Meanwhile our house in the South stayed empty and didnt sell. I join a large portion of the American population with a huge sigh of frustration.

3.Hubbys job was not what he had expected and we started missing our home, our friends, our church and the humidity and heat of the South. So after much praying and seeking we packed up yet again and moved 1,200 miles back home. Moved back into our house and its familiar surroundings. I had never been so happy to see trees and grass and also have a repreieve from the constatnt winds of Kansas. Yes, I am a fan of "the light breeze"..hahaha  We miss the folks we met in Kansas but are very glad to be back home.

4.My hubby is a homebody so the fact that he moved away from the South at all is a miracle. I feel so blessed to have had the experience we did. Our family will remember the last year fondly.

5. Sooooo, we are back and getting back into our groove. We finally got a computer to replace the one that was blown up last year so I will be blogging again......yeah!!!   So that is all I have today. Will post again soon. Be blessed and have a wonderful day!!