Ramblings

Moved

2008-07-05T18:45:00.002-04:00

I have moved to wordpress.

The Furnace

2008-06-28T08:40:00.002-04:00

July 10 - 13, 2008 at H.I.M. in Ft. Mill, SC.

Curves this week

2008-06-27T09:19:00.003-04:00

This was an interesting week at Curves. On Wednesday, I worked out hard to make sure I stayed out of the orange. Orange means you are working the machines below 80% of what you trained at. My results were that I had all green pinpoints on my c-mama likeness on the computer. ;)

This morning, when I signed in, the computer notified me that it had increased my workout 22 points. Not sure exactly what those points mean, but I do know that the computer was going to expect me to work even harder. Hrmph! That's what I get, huh? Well, I didn't push the machines like I did Wednesday. I just simply tried hard to stay out of the orange. Seems a very fine line between the 3 - orange (under target), solid green (target), flashing green (over target). Seems I can go from orange to flashing green in one rep. Oh well. I'll do what I can.

My weigh-in/measure day will be around the 15th. We will see if there is a change in my weight, measurements and/or BMI.

Wednesday workout

2008-06-18T08:26:00.004-04:00

I did my first Curves Smart workout today. Phew! First, I should have brought my inhaler with me. My lungs were acting up and with the more intense workout...oh well. I didn't pass out, so that's good. Also, with my face being as red as it was, encouraged others who were thinking about signing up for Curves Smart. Hee hee.

It was a hard workout, which is good. The computer recorded that I expended all the energy I could (YES, I KNOW!).

I'm so happy to have this first workout under my belt.

Have a happy, blessed day and remember that Jesus loves you all. :)

Curves training

2008-06-16T09:06:00.004-04:00

I was able to do my Curves Smart training today. Sheri, the owner, input my weight, height, and measurements into the computer and activated my key-card. Then I went around to the machines, stuck my key-card in, did 3 range of motion reps and 3 full power reps so the computer would know my range of motion for each machine and then it would know my full power to keep my up to that level.

Then I did a normal workout. I will do a Curves Smart workout the next time I'm in.

Sheri did a workout with me this morning, showing me what the machines look like with her key-card in. After her workout, she put her key-card into the computer and showed me what her workout screen looks like. Very cool. You can see what muscle groups are in the 91% or higher range and which muscle groups are lower than 91%. There's also a chart which shows which machine targets which muscle group. There are other helpful charts that show your progress. I'm sure the first month or so will be full of highs and lows, but as the months go by, the average will be great to see and it will be good to see when I'm able to increase my reps on the machines.

Yay!

ETA - My weight has not decreased. However, I can tell that I'm losing inches even though I cannot prove it. I hadn't gotten measured in a couple of months. I measured myself on Friday and then today I got measured at Curves. I'm a little frustrated not to see a change in weight, but both hubby and I have noticed a change in my body. I'll know more the end of this month and then a month from now. I'm going to keep up on the measurements with Curves (well, I'll have to now with Curves Smart) and will measure myself (maybe) on the 15th.

Friday Curves

2008-05-30T11:19:00.003-04:00

The Curves machines were equipped with the Smart computers yesterday. The trainers and members still need to be trained on them, but we are able to use the heart-rate on the stepper. Wow, what a difference. Taking your heart rate on your own is difficult. I would mess up my counting because my mind is listening to the beat of the music and other distractions.

But this machine is accurate. I fell between the 70 and 80 percentile easily. Hmmm. I'm reading on the Curves forums that one needs to be between 60 and 70 and the owner said 70 and 80 today. Oh well. Either way I was lower than I thought I had been. Which is good for me because I was taking it very easy at the recovery stations.

There were, of course, complaints from the peanut gallery. You know the ones. The ones who complain for every single little change. According to them, the machine is wrong because it's 20 points lower than what they used to be. They cannot possibly work out harder, and, oh, by the way, you changed which door we go in so I'm going to complain that we are all going to die if there's ever a fire. Phew. I prayed peace upon the owner and the other trainers while the members get used to the changes.

Change, while necessary, is very difficult for most to endure.

I'm happy. I cannot wait to be called for my appointment. This is going to be a very, very, very good change.

Priceless

2008-05-28T16:37:00.002-04:00

Cost for mom to take the kids to a matinée - $48.50

Cost to sugar up the kids and give them something to drink - $41.00

Cost for 6 kids and a mom to watch Prince Caspian in the theaters - Priceless

Movie was awesome and the kids were great. We basically had the theater to ourselves except for one guy. We went to a 12:30 show - figured that would be safe, school is still in session. :)

Awesome, awesome movie. I thought I would have wanted to read the book again before going, but I couldn't find it. I'm glad I didn't. I liked being surprised.

Did I mention - AWESOME?

Memorial Day Workout

2008-05-26T10:13:00.003-04:00

Hm. I'm not very creative at titles. :)

My Curves is open today from 8am to 11am. I woke up at 6:45, which is the time I normally wake up every morning. I wanted to go back to sleep, but knew if I did, I wouldn't want to work out when I woke back up. So, I woke up, dressed in my workout clothes, put my contacts in and brushed my teeth. I then worked on my Panda Cross-Stitch Afghan. I am really enjoying that and didn't want to put it down. But, at 8, I mustered up enough will-power to get my shoes on and go. Before leaving I put Blue's Clues on for the little ones and told Jodan, my now 10-year-old, to get them breakfast when he woke up.

It was a good workout. My heart rate was a bit higher than I wanted, but not over 85%.

I'm very happy Curves was open this morning and that I've gone.

Back to work on that panda blanket. :)

God bless those that serve and have served to keep our country safe. God also bless those in HIS army that put their lives on the line for the gospel - moving forward in faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blue Jays and God is Crazy About ME! (and you)

2008-05-25T13:06:00.002-04:00

I'm listening to a message given by Bill Johnson at Morningstar's Healing Conference.

Bill said, "He is so wonderful, He does stuff just because it matters to you, in fact, if it matters to you, it matters to Him. It doesn't have to be a profound message, He does it just because He's wild about you." Well, this thought came into my mind, I don't always see that He's wild about me.

I'm listening to this in my truck and I'm backing up into our driveway and I look in the mirror and see a blue jay hopping around on my front porch.

Now, you may think, "Yeah, and? This is the season for blue jays, there all around all time time right now. And, it's a blue jay! They're mean, aggressive birds!"

Let me tell you what blue jays mean to ME. During a time of financial hardship in our lives, I was sitting at the table by the window at the front of our house. I was praying and crying out to the Lord for a sign that everything would be ok. I even told Him what sign to give me (I know, heresy, right? HA! HA! I say to you - read about Gideon in Judges 6). I looked at the bird feeder that was hanging outside our house. We put that feeder out there and NO birds came to it. NOT ONE in the weeks that it had been out there. IT WAS STILL FULL! I looked at that bird feeder and said, "God, I need to know You're hearing me and that You will be there for us and that everything will be ok. I need you to send a bird to that feeder now so that I know You are hearing me." I waited and my heart rejoiced as a blue jay flew up the feeder and started eating at our bird feeder. Since that time, every time I see a blue jay, I remember God's goodness.

So, seeing that blue jay hopping around on our front porch reminded me that the Lord does stuff just because it matters to me.

Now my mind is reeling! If what matters to me also parallels what HE mandates in the scriptures - there's no stopping Him. You know what I want? I want to be so on fire for Him that I have no fear about going up to a stranger and asking them if there is anything I can pray for them about.

Yay God! Thank you for loving me!

Pray for the leaders

2008-05-23T12:09:00.003-04:00

We know (or at least, in my opinion - SHOULD know) that we need to pray for our leaders.

I saw a headline today that reminded me that we need to pray for leaders around the world, especially friends of the United States.

If you remember, Tony Blair stood by the United States after the 9/11 attacks. Not many did that. This doesn't mean we need to not pray for leaders who are not friends of the United States. But I think we need not to forget the friends.

News Link Here

Tony Blair's Jet Comes Within Minutes of Being Shot Down by Israeli Fighter Planes

Friday, May 23, 2008

Tony Blair came within moments of being killed when two Israeli fighter aircraft threatened to shoot down a private jet taking him to a Middle East conference in the belief that it might have been staging a terrorist attack.

The warplanes were scrambled to intercept after the jet pilot failed to contact air traffic control. Blair, the international community’s envoy to the Middle East, was flying from the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to attend a major conference on private investment in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.

The Israeli aircraft used to intercept Blair’s plane would have been versions of the F16 or F15, armed with Shafrir and Python air-to-air missiles. Both missiles have proved to be devastatingly effective and versatile. The Shafrir 2 missile shot down nearly 100 aircraft in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Air traffic controllers spotted a suspicious aircraft heading into Israeli airspace from the Sinai peninsula on Monday and made several attempts to establish contact. When the pilot failed to respond to their urgent requests, the Israelis scrambled two fighters to intercept what they feared could have been a terrorist attacker.

The fighters flew above Blair’s civilian aircraft to indicate to the pilot that he was considered a suspect target, at which point he finally made contact. The pilot told them that he was carrying Blair.

During the entire incident, Blair — flying with other delegates from the WEF, who were also attending the Bethlehem conference — was not informed of the situation by the pilot.

“They were unaware of it while they were on the plane,” Ruti Winterstein, spokeswoman for Blair’s office in Israel, said. “They didn’t hear about it until afterwards, from the media.”

Initial investigations into the events indicated a technical malfunction was to blame for the breakdown in communication, the Israeli newspaper Maariv said.

~~~~~

Lord, I lift up Tony Blair to you and ask that you envelop him with your peace. Pour out and protect him, Lord, and help him to not back down from the call you have placed on his life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen

Curvey day

2008-05-23T12:04:00.003-04:00

:) Went to Curves this morning. I'm so glad I changed to morning workouts. I think this will make a difference. I have more energy while working out and all throughout the day.

I worked the machines hard, but my lungs were being naughty today, so a little after my first time around, I had to slow down. I thought I would have to stop completely. But I prayed and heard the Lord remind me to breath correctly. So, I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth. Easy for most, but with my younger years of having sever orthodontic problems and breathing issues, I always breathe through my mouth. It takes concentration to do it the other way.

Well, that helped me tremendously. No only did my heart rate slow down (it was in the 80% and should be 60-70%) but my lungs became more obedient. I totally took it easy at the recovery stations and was able to work the machines hard. Felt like a good day. :)

They are open Monday from 8-11 and I'm very happy for that.

My workout today

2008-05-21T09:35:00.002-04:00

I left the house around 8 after getting the kids up. The owner was working at Curves and I signed a piece of paper signing me up for the Curves Smart program and gave her my credit card to charge the fee.

I worked out a bit harder today since I apparently didn't realize that I should be trying to increase my reps as time goes on. Wow, what a difference. I didn't have the machines telling me if I was in the zone or not, but I tried to focus on my reps and not slow down. My heart rate stayed in the target zone except for the 3rd last machine (squat) where I was able to do 14 reps. That was more than I had ever done, but I did push myself too far, I think. Had to take a heart rate check at that point and it was at 31 and I should be at 25. I slowed down for the last machines and then stretched. I also weighed myself when I was done and I gained 1/2 pound from last week Wednesday, but that's ok. I know it's not in the weight and today was a brand new day, with working out harder.

The owner stated that the parts for the machines will be installed next Thursday. I don't know how long it will take for the staff to get trained, but my impression of the owner is that she won't dilly-dally. She's going to want to get the members starting on Curves Smart as soon as possible.

Bring God's Kingdom to Earth

2008-05-20T07:59:00.002-04:00

I've been reading Here Comes Heaven an invitation and guide for young people to bring the realm of Heaven to earth. Let me tell you it's the best investment I've made for my kids. I read a chapter out loud to them everyday. It's even challenging ME.

I just wanted to share an excerpt from chapter 10, Nice is Not Enough.

"Three easy ways to help you bring God's Kingdom to earth is:

LOOK - use your "faith eyes" to see what your Heavenly Father is doing.
LISTEN - with the "ears" of your heart to what God is saying.
OBEY - what the Holy Spirit wants you to do.

There's still more that your Father has for you. He just loves getting you ready for your royal mission!

TIME WITH YOUR KING

As you Heavenly Papa to come.
Let the Holy Spirit bring you into His presence.
Tell Papa how great He is.
Tell Him how much you love Him.
Let the Father love on you for awhile.
Ask Him to show you again who you are.
You will see what He sees; a Royal Child.
Take a good look.
In His presence, ask Jesus to give you what He has.
Tell Him you want to be just like Him.
Thank Him for His power.
Thank Him that you don't have to sin anymore.
Thank Him for His courage.
Thank Him for His love.
Let Papa know you want to obey Him.
Let Him know you are hungry.
Be ready to receive His power and character.

Curves

2008-05-19T11:46:00.004-04:00

A little over a year ago, I joined Curves. I saw immediate results and had, in a couple of months, lost 14 pounds and 23 inches. I worked out three times a week and got weighed in and measured once a month - at the end of every month.

Curves is a place for women only. There are resistance machines and in between each machine is a "rest pad". You use the resistance machine for 30 seconds and then you go to the pad. You do some sort of cardio move for 30 seconds and then move on to the next machine.

Then summer arrived. I'm very active at church. I attend regularly, every Friday and every Sunday, and during worship I dance. I found that during the first couple months of attending Curves, my dance was more energetic. During the month of July, our church is on sabbatical. We don't have any services at all during July. So, my body was used to two extra workouts a week and with the July sabbatical, I didn't do any extra workouts.

When I got weighed in and measured at the end of July, I found that I didn't lose anything. I was discouraged. But I knew that my energy level probably decreased a bit and also, hubby and I were eating more on Sunday mornings, which made me want to eat more during the week.

But as the months progressed, I found no changes in my weight or measurements. This discouraged me even more and my attendance at Curves was not regular during November and December and I didn't go at all during January. I started back again in February. I didn't weigh in when I started back up because I knew that I had gained and I really didn't want to know where I was at. When I did get weighed in at the end of February, I had found that my weight was higher than when I last weighed in and my measurements had also increased. Well, I had expected it, however, I was discouraged.

I attended Curves in March, three times a week. At the end of March I saw no change. Discouraged again, I stopped going.

Hubby asked me, at the end of April, if I was going and I said no. He encouraged me to start up again.

Starting last Monday (May 12), I started back again. I weighed myself this time and wrote down my weight. I calibrated my home scale with that of Curves. But I was scared that, again, there would be no change even after attending three times a week.

When I went to Curves on Friday, Kris, the manager, was there and told me she had missed seeing me. I admitted that I had been discouraged and stopped coming. She encouraged me to keep going and said that something was changing in Curves and when they had more information, she'd see if I was interested.

When I went into Curves this morning, the place had been decorated and they were advertising a new program called the Curves Smart workout. They will be fitting each machine with a computer of sorts. If you join the Curves Smart workout, you will fill out some paperwork, get weighed and measured and all this information will be put into the computer. You will choose from 4 different workouts - Fit and Trim (sets resistance to 65% of your strength), Muscle Size and Strength (sets resistance to 75%), Cardio (50% of your strength), Endurance. The Curves Smart program will design a program for each individual based on information entered and workout picked. There's more to it, but it's like having a personal trainer with you on every machine to make sure you're getting the most out of the workout.

This, of course, costs extra. But I was excited to learn about it and talked it over with hubby. We agreed to go ahead and sign up for that.

It's going to be a couple of weeks before it starts. The franchise I attend still has to get the machines fitted with the computers, the staff has to be educated on it. After that has taken place, they will start training the customers, one at a time. I'm 6th in line.

But I'm hoping that I will see more results with this new program.

:)

Here's a youtube video of the program that I watched, if you're interested.

Friday's Touch

2008-05-16T10:47:00.005-04:00

1 Corinthians 14:1,2 - Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.

When I was cleaning out my truck this morning, I felt led to pray and ask the Lord to give me another word for someone I may encounter (outside my church) today. I got into the house, and after scolding the children for not getting their chores done (real spiritual, huh?), I sat down at the table and I just kept hearing in my thoughts, "I delight in you", and, of course, that thought made me smile - both on the inside and on the outside. I received that word for myself, but I knew that the Lord wanted me to share with that certain someone (probably someone at Game Stop) something about Him delighting in them.

I went to my trusty website for looking up Bible verses (I pray that one day, these verses will just be there in the front of my mind, the verses and where they are) and typed in the word DELIGHT. As I clicked the link SEARCH, I saw on the front page the word DELIGHT. Then my browser took me to the list of bible verses that have DELIGHT in them. I immediately clicked the back arrow and saw that the Bible verse of the day is Zephaniah 3:17 - “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

I just sat and soaked in God's love for a moment. I knew that this was not a coincidence and that this was the Bible verse I was to share.

I went out to my truck to find a note card (preferably one without flowers on it as I'm guessing this is going to a guy) and wrote out that I was praying for them and got the word delight and wrote that Bible verse.

I ended the note saying Smile! Jesus loves you and takes GREAT delight in you.

This giving of words gets easier and is SO much fun. My heart is rejoicing with the opportunity to share God's love with people I don't know and people who aren't expecting it.

I spent years INSIDE my church giving prophetic words to people, but I knew that was my training ground and that the Lord wants to reach the people who aren't in church. I'm so excited to be doing this. God is good and God is love.

Thursday's Touch

2008-05-15T14:39:00.004-04:00

So, I had planned on asking God to give me an encouraging word for someone while I'm out. I don't remember if it was once a week or every time I went out, but whatever, I went out today and wanted to give a word to someone.

I went to Walmart, Starbucks, Michael's and Sam's Club. I figured I'd have enough time to pray and get a word from God that I could write down.

When I was in Walmart, I picked up a pack of notecards that came with envelopes! Cool! But most are flowery, and what if I give a word to a guy? Hm. It's ok. It will work.

As I'm walking around Walmart, I'm praying and asking God to show me something. I see someone who reminds me of a friend (who is currently out of state). This friend of mine LOVES to sing. I then hear, "songbird". I knew that was the word I was to give today. But I wanted to write it on the card and I wasn't sure which store the person who is getting the word was at.

I stopped by the house after Walmart and Starbucks and while driving to the house, I heard, "Sing and make music to the Lord." So, at home, I looked up that phrase at BibleGateway and found Ephesians 5:19.

So, I wrote on the card that I prayed for this person (I'm thinking it's going to be a woman) and asked the Lord to give me a word, that I heard Songbird. I told this person that the Lord loves to hear their heart and that they make music in their heart. I then wrote out Ephesians 5:19, Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. I wrote, Smile, (and sing!!) Jesus loves you, may He richly bless your day. I simply signed Debbie.

We got to Sam's and I was thinking about the card in my purse, but at some point I forgot. Caytie and I pull the cart up to the first register I see and it's closed. So we go to the one next to it.

As we're unloading the cart, I remember the card and remember I thought it was going to be for a woman. Our cashier is, yes, a guy. Wow, what a step of faith for me. For some reason I felt it was easier to give this card to a woman.

Well, my cashier and I talked a little bit about homeschool. He was a very nice guy. Young, but I have no clue what his age was. Either late teens or early 20s. As he gave my Sam's card back to me, I gave him the sealed card. I had written his name on the envelope. I told him that I prayed and asked God to give me a word and that this card was for him. Then I left. Caytie told me he looked shocked. I looked again and he was now at the manager's post and it looked like he was giving the card to the manager, but I couldn't tell.

Oh, well. I need to trust that I heard correctly from the Lord and that God was able to touch Akaim.

Assignment: Let someone know God loves them

2008-05-12T13:17:00.006-04:00

Our pastor listed a few assignments for the congregation to pick from - thing to do to show God's love to others. We gave testimonies this past Sunday.

I chose to, while at a store, get a greeting card (pay for it, of course) and give it to the cashier. I did this on Monday. While I was sitting on my bed getting my shoes on, I was so nervous. Silly, isn't it? But I went to the store, picked out a greeting card and did some more grocery shopping. As I'm walking through the store, I was overcome with God's love for EVERYONE and thought how unfair that I was only giving ONE person a card. (Like I can afford a card for everyone shopping there!)

I picked aisle 5 (for grace!) and had my cashier ring the card up first and told her I wanted it back. She handed it back to me and while she rang up the rest of my stuff, I wrote inside the card - Smile, Jesus love you and drew a smiley face. I sealed the envelope and wrote her name on it. After I paid for my stuff, I handed her the card and said, "This is for you." She smiled real big and placed it beneath her cash register.

After I told my story, I sat down and the visitor who was sitting behind me whispered, did you know that was me? I looked closer and sure enough! It was her. I got up to sit next to her and give her a hug. My hubby was walking around with the microphone getting people's testimonies and he looked at me and I pointed at her and said, "This is her!"

He came over to us to let everyone know this was who I gave the card to. Well, this story isn't over. Dawn, the pastor's wife, also was on assignment at that same store the next day. She talked to her cashier about how gift cards worked and told the lady that she wanted to get a gift card for someone, just because. She rang it up, along with the other things she had and when she was done, she said to the cashier, this is for you, because Jesus love you. That cashier was the same one I went to! She came to our church because she knew Dawn's name and knew what church she ministered at.

How cool is that? Only God could orchestrate something like that. Neither Dawn nor I knew who the other blessed.

God is so good and His love is simply amazing.

Oh, and I have purchased some index cards and pens to bring with me to jot down prophetic words I receive to give to people while I'm out. :)

Debt Canceling

2008-05-10T08:47:00.003-04:00

Last night Todd Bentley, live on God TV had a debt canceling and prayer burning ceremony. People from all over the world e-mailed or brought prayer requests and wrote down debts they wanted canceled.

Well, at our church service last night we did the same thing, except for the burning part. :D We wrote down our prayer requests and poured oil on them, came up and prayed over them. On large sheets of paper we wrote down the debts we wanted canceled. Our family wrote down, mortgage, my truck and money owned to the company who worked on our house because of the damage from Hurricane Wilma. We had been working with this company and they had someone working with the insurance company to release more money towards the total amount owed.

This morning the guy from that company called letting us know that our insurance company has agreed to cut another check. They are paying 79% of the large sum that is still owed. We still have to come up with the rest, but that amount isn't so daunting. And besides, I'm still waiting to see what God can do with that.

Woo Hoo! I serve an awesome God.

Another Healing Testimony

2008-05-09T23:46:00.003-04:00

I've been watching Todd Bentley on God TV and tonight we watched it at our Friday night church service.

We were praising the Lord and praying along with those who were coming up to the stage giving their testimonies of healing. You have to trust that what they say is real because you don't know them and there is no "proof" that they were sick in the first place.

All of a sudden, the people around me erupt and say "PETER!" I look up and see a man who has been attending our church for a few years now. He HAD parkinsons and walked very slow and in pain all the time. He had gotten healed. Todd had him RUN across the stage and I jump out of my seat, tears running down my face because I knew that this was God. Peter was not able to do that and I saw him, with my own eyes, run across the stage two times. And he wasn't shaking.

God is so good!!!!

The deaf will hear

2008-05-05T10:57:00.002-04:00

On April 2, 2008, Todd Bentley from Fresh Fire Ministries came to a church in Lakeland, Florida. Todd is an evangelist whom God has used to bring healing to the sick. This conference, which was only to last a week, is still continuing. They have had to change venues as the church it started in cannot house the thousands who are coming from all over the world. They are not coming to see Todd but they are coming to have an encounter with the King of kings.

We have had some people from our church go and I believe they have brought an impartation of the power and glory that is being released there to our church.

Yesterday, I was serving on our prophetic team. It's a time after the service that we set aside to pray for people and share with them what we believe God has for them.

As we were ministering to the last couple, one of my team members felt that the Lord wanted to heal the man's hearing. In fact, she thought he had been in our Friday night meeting. There was a man in our Friday night meeting who had been healed in his ears and was able to hear. This was not the same man, however. We prayed that the Lord would touch him and bring healing to his ears. He had been partially deaf since serving at Vietnam.

When we were done, we asked if he felt any change. He said while we were praying, he heard 3 pops in his left ear. That encouraged us and we went after the healing again. When we were done, he said that the siren noise he had heard in his ear for 40 years was gone!

How awesome is our God! He reached down, in response to our prayers and touched this man's ears. Because He loves this man.

I want to meditate on what the Lord is doing and who He is all the time. I never want to go back to who I was. I want to see the Lord's power, glory and love released here where I live. I want to be used by Him.

How great is our God!

Hope

2008-04-02T11:58:00.002-04:00

In the midst of bad news, scary news, sad news, the Bible verse that came up for today is Isaiah 45:8 - "You heavens above, rain down righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness grow with it;
I, the LORD, have created it.

Amen and amen

Listen to your heart, not your head

2008-04-01T12:32:00.002-04:00

I had a dream last night where, after I let my anger at a silly situation come out in front of my pastor, he told me to listen to my heart, not my head. In my dream I didn't quite understand. I had thought that listening to your heart meant being ruled by your emotions.

When I woke up those words kept ringing out in my head. I believe that the Lord speaks through dreams and sometimes you need to write them down immediately or you'll forget them. But I think that sometimes the Lord is really gracious (He's gracious ALL the time, I know) and highlights things to you so you don't forget and that it's a word for right now or it's something important that you'll need to remember for the future.

As I ponder this, I remember my pastor teaching on where our spirit is located, in our gut area. The Bible writers often refer to this as where we feel and think. I'm also reminded of head knowledge versus experience.

I think that this saying is encouraging me to think on the experiences I've had versus what knowledge may be telling me. Darkness is coming, but the LIGHT will prevail. We cannot give in to fear, we cannot let the "reality" of what is going on around us take us out of our peace in God. We need to listen to our heart, remember our experiences with the Lord and trust in Him, not our circumstances.

California Woman Shot to Death calling 911

2008-03-20T16:27:00.003-04:00

News story

Southern California Woman Shot Dead While on Phone With 911 Dispatcher

Thursday, March 20, 2008

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WEST COVINA, Calif. — A woman was asking a 911 dispatcher for help when her pleas were interrupted by gunshots, then silence. She was shot to death.

The woman told the dispatcher someone was trying to break into her home in upscale West Covina, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Dan Rosenberg said. "Deputies heard gunshots followed by silence and an open phone line," he said.

Deputies arrived at the house, 20 miles east of Los Angeles, a few minutes after Wednesday's late morning call.

The woman, whose name was not released by police, had been shot several times. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.

"At this point we believe it was a burglary gone awry," Rosenberg said.

Investigators are trying to determine if anything was taken, Deputy Luis Castro said.

While police were investigating the shooting, a man arrived at the home asking about his wife.

When he heard that the woman had been shot and killed, he collapsed and started to cry, saying "No! She just called me. You lie."

The man was placed in a patrol car and taken to a sheriff's station, police said.

Witnesses said they saw one or more men running from the house, Rosenberg said.

Investigators used bloodhounds to conduct yard-to-yard searches.

No arrests had been made by Thursday morning, deputies said.

As a precaution during the search, a high school and an elementary school were locked down for about two hours, police Lt. Dan Brooks said.

There are some folks who will use this story, among others, to try to get guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens.

However, I will use this story to show why I think law abiding citizens should be able to have guns to protect themselves.

Are guns dangerous? Well, they cannot do ANYTHING by themselves. When loaded and in the hands of someone who doesn't know gun safety or in the hands of someone with murderous intent, I suppose you could say that guns are dangerous. But guns are tools. Unfortunately, in this world, there are people who do not live according to the rules set forth by society. When a law is put into effect that states that people cannot own guns (I believe it is very difficult to own a gun in California), there are people out there (criminals) who do not care what the laws state. This woman was apparently killed by someone who was robbing her house. I don't care what the rules in California are, I believe that thieves and criminals have NO chance of owning guns. But here we have a criminal with a gun.

This will not stop. Our world is getting darker, not better. It is my belief that all citizens of the United States should be allowed to own a gun and carry a gun for protection. Do I think that people should be licensed? I guess it depends on the reasoning for the licenses is. If it's to make sure that the owners are going to gun safety classes, then yes. By all means. We cannot have ignorant people handling guns. For goodness' sake, on one of the firearms forums I read, I have read about accidental (I'll call them negligent) discharges of the firearms. When handling a firearm, one needs to always be aware of the damage that can be done by the tool one is handling. But if the licensing is to keep track of the firearms the people own, then no, I am not in favor of licensing.

Had this woman had a firearm and been educated on the use of that firearm, we may have seen a different heading on that news article.

When criminals are aware that people are armed and not afraid to use those tools to protect themselves and their families, I believe they probably think twice about targeting them as a victim.

My prayers go out to the woman's husband and the rest of her family. I pray also that the criminals are caught. I also pray that the state of California takes a hard look at it's laws and make some changes to give power back to the people, the law abiding citizens.

Into the Sky

2008-02-19T22:47:00.001-05:00

Hope Deferred

2008-02-13T16:33:00.002-05:00

I was listening to Bethel Church's podcast of the week - "Why Pray?" Bill Johnson, 2/11/08. I wish I could just have the transcript here for you to read, however, you should go and listen to it. It's so awesome.

Anyway, one part just struck a cord with me.

"God looks for the glance of the eye of interest, not because material goods satisfy, but because those things that He does just help to put into language the absolute passion and love that He has for people. He desires the blessing of His people more than His people desire to be blessed. But He does not want to put something on us that cripples us. He only wants to put things on us that add to our affection for Him."

Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

"You are vulnerable to spiritual disease when you do not have the desires of your heart quenched. Because God made us to be people who live with fulfilled lives."

"When the answer comes, it is the tree of life. Tree of life = Eternal destiny"

"It is your eternal destiny to live with fulfilled dreams and desires."

"Predestined to be fulfilled in life with answers to your desires."

Why I'm voting for Huckabee

2008-02-11T10:43:00.000-05:00

I believe that the Lord wants to use Mike Huckabee to get us through these next few years.

I will forward you to my pastor's blog as he has a much better way of words than I do.

I also want to link my husband's site as he has a nice video from Huck's Army that shows that the media is mistaken in saying that it's impossible for Mike Huckabee to win.

Randal Cutter's blog

What the media isn't telling you about McCain's chances by freepatriot.com

On Intercession

2008-01-31T10:22:00.000-05:00

The Lord has blessed me with a gift and calling in intercession. Along with this gift, though, comes along many testings and trials that I need to overcome.

I believe (and have seen in my life) that the Lord speaks to His people in dreams, visions, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, etc. Mostly when I pray, I pray because a request has come up, but there are times when the Lord places on my heart these incredible feelings for the person or situation.

Sometimes I'm awakened in the night with a dream or a thought to pray about something.

Other times, the Lord uses my own feelings and such to show me an area to pray for - regarding myself, but also for others.

Last night was one of those circumstances. And it showed me that I need to infuse myself even more with Him so I don't let those feelings rule my emotions.

I was having a very irritating night. There was a fly in the house that kept biting me, I had to "frog" most of yesterday's accomplishments on the blanket I'm working on (all because I didn't wait on the Lord to show me what to do), I was irritated by the speakers at the debate and when I wanted to just go into a room to drown out the noise, THE FLY WAS THERE!!!!

I didn't handle it all very well and almost drove my poor husband out of the house. Thankfully the Lord has also blessed me with a kind, compassionate, patient husband and he didn't throw ME out of the house. One day I hope to repay him and be the kind, compassionate patient woman God wants me to be.

Anyway, I sat on the floor and just cried out to the Lord to help me. The feelings that overcame me were so scary! Depression, craziness, and others. Wow. Through all this a name came into my head. I knew I needed to pray for this person. And I did, but because I've not been into the Word like I should, because I've not been in communication with the Lord like I should, my mind didn't stay in prayer for this person for long. I kept going back to ME and what my behavior was doing to my family.

Well, the Lord, in His goodness, finally let me stop crying enough to go back to bed and I woke up refreshed and in a normal mood - so much so my husband commented on it.

But it was a stark reminder that I let this intercessory opportunity get the best of me. I let the feelings rule my emotions. I believe that I was feeling what this person that I was praying for was feeling. But had I been more in touch with God during my waking hours, it wouldn't have affected my emotions like it did.

Now, God doesn't love me any more or less when I do or don't take time to read or pray. But my response to circumstances sure is different when I've been in the Word, praying and surrounding myself with knowledge of His goodness than if I'm not.

Supernatural Living

2008-01-23T08:03:00.001-05:00

I'm reading a book by Bill Johnson called "The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind". It is forcing me to believe that I need to live a supernatural life. To call Heaven down on earth. The Lord's prayer - Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. That is what we are called to do. See and operate in God's will on earth as it is in Heaven.

My husband and I believe that the Lord has dropped an opportunity to purchase a home from a friend in our lap. The home is worth $50-$100K more than what we are being asked to pay. The home we are currently living in is 1,656 square feet. The home we are being presented is 2,738 square feet. We were given a tour of the home this past weekend and it is beautiful and there is more to it than what we originally thought.

I have learned to be content in the small home I live in. Prices for homes in the city where I live have gone up considerably. But so have the property taxes. I am aware that If we moved into a home worth 3x the amount our current mortgage is for, our taxes will go up.

We were reminded last night that we may not be able to afford the mortgage payments on this home. I cried. But it was something I knew deep down. I couldn't understand why the Lord would present this opportunity to us if we couldn't afford it.

I woke up this morning with a new outlook. No, we may not be able to buy this home on our own efforts. But we are called to live in the Supernatural. Even Jesus said He could do nothing in Himself (John 5:30), while living on this earth. In our own power, we may not be able to afford to make mortgage payments on our friends' home. But I have a Father in Heaven who is the God of the universe, the creator of all things. If I still believe he has given us this opportunity, then I also need to believe He will provide a way for us to own this home. My prayer is no longer, Lord I want be able to get a mortgage for this home. My prayer now is to own this home debt free. With God all things are possible.

John 15:5-8 (New King James Version)

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Under the shadow of the Almighty

2007-10-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust."

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation."

Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair

2007-10-04T13:11:00.000-04:00

No I'm not drunk or divorced. Today, is, in fact, my husband's and mine 15th wedding anniversary. I AM, however, covered in cat hair.

I also picked up a copy of a book with this title last night. I read the author's blog. She's got quite a way with words. I love, love, love this book. "The true-life misadventures of a 30-something who learned to knit after he split."

If you are looking for a book where you can laugh and cry, I'd suggest checking it out. The book is written by Laurie Perry and my Barnes & Noble had it stuck in the arts & crafts section. It DOES have some kitting patterns in it, so I guess they figured, why not?

Excerpt from Chapter 10 - All I had heard since Charlie moved out was, "Laurie, maybe you should take up a hobby or something. Stay busy, it will keep your mind off things." Har har. Well, the joke's on you now, all you future recipients of thousands of scarves! I have a hobby, dammit!

I loved knitting so much that I didn't even care how well it cemented my role as the crazy cat lady spinster. At work, I proudly showed off my knitting to every single person who stopped by my desk. You want a banner ad? First, admire my knitting! You need a logo resized? No problem, let me tell you all about knitting class!

That's all. You'll have to buy your own copies!

No, I cannot relate completely, but the way she writes just pulls me in and forces me to have complete compassion for her situation. And I CAN relate to the yarn/knitting references, even though I tried knitting once and don't like it.

Laurie's website is Crazy Aunt Purl.

Crocheting a dream

2007-09-22T09:30:00.001-04:00

I posted this in my crochet journal, but thought it should be here, too.

First, I'll start off saying that it's my belief that God speaks through dreams. Not every dream is from God, but those dreams from Him are there.

I'm quite a dreamer. I try to remember to write them down and see what God (if it's from Him) is saying to me.

Let me also interject here that I have been praying and asking God to help me design my own crochet projects. There are a TON of wonderful crochet patterns out there, but along the way, in this funky world of design, some of these designers got the message to tell others who use their patterns that they are NOT to sell items made with their patterns. Frankly, I think that's a bit snobbish of them. Do they seriously think they'd be able to fill all those orders? No, I think they don't want someone else making a profit using their pattern. As this whole electronic/internet age widens out and I read more about what others are doing, it just saddens me. Before I purchase patterns, I read what the designers do not want you to do with their patterns. If they do not want finished products sold, I refuse to purchase their patterns. I will gladly lay out money for patterns, just not for those. Trust me, I can be snobbish right back.

Where was I? Ok, so in light of all that, I thought it would just be easier if I could make up my stuff from my own pattern and had been asking God for help. See, I don't want to take the time to do the designing. I want to go straight to the crocheting. I admire and appreciate the work that goes into designing crochet patterns. That's why I don't mind paying for them. But I thought, hey, maybe God will give me something in my dreams. I won't know unless I ask. And I believe that when I ask, He will answer in some way.

I had dreamed about crochet 2 other times that I can remember. But I didn't follow through with crocheting them out because I was too intimidated. I'm a perfectionist and was afraid of messing it up or not getting it right. I think if I had just simply worked them up the next day, He would have blessed my work and I would be getting better at this. I did write those dreams down, but since I cannot draw, those images are lost. :(

2 nights ago, however, I was crocheting in my dream. The focus was on the work I was doing at one point, but for the most part, even though I was walking around crocheting, the focus was on other parts of the dream.

I wrote the dream down, and wrote down as much detail of the crochet as I could remember. The piece made no sense to me and I didn't know what it was. I had some other things I wanted to finish yesterday, so I put the dream crochet on the back burner, periodically thinking about that dream, wondering if I'd try it out. It was a bit simpler than the others I had dreamed, but there was still that fear there. How do I start it out? What if I don't get the pattern exact? And just what the heck is it? Yes, I was saying "what the heck is it?" to God. Like He doesn't know my thoughts anyway... :)

On Friday nights we go to church. Our church started having a Friday night service years ago. It was strange, at first, going to church on a Friday night, but now I cannot imagine doing anything else. The kids and I get there about an hour and a half before church starts. I brought along the yarn I used in my dream and began. I was going to start with a swatch because that's what you do, right? Well, how many designers get patterns from God in their dreams? I'm sure some of them do, but I think I'm skipping that swatch stage (yay!). So, the swatch didn't work out as I didn't know how to work a swatch for this particular piece. I just dove right in. It was funny. As people came in, they asked what I was making. I said, "I don't know. I'm crocheting a dream." I still don't know what it's going to be and I don't know if it will BE anything. I think God was saying, "You asked for a pattern. I gave you one. Now, are YOU going to do anything with it? If you do, I will give you more." So, against every fiber of my being, I will complete this. Why is it so hard? Because I don't know it's purpose. It's hard enough to walk by faith, but crochet by faith? And the fact that this is so difficult for me shows me it's from God. My flesh screaming out in rebellion is a good indicator.

We shall see what transpires.

Evaluation

2007-09-21T22:55:00.000-04:00

Thanks Jessie!

I forget I get readers. :) The evaluations went well. Our evaluator is such a sweetie. He takes the time to just talk to them. Anyone who will just sit and talk to my kids gets an A+ in my book. :) He signed off that they progressed on to the next year. Yay. We took the rest of the week off, went to the library - as I had been lax in having them read stuff beyond their school work - and had a very good rest of our week.

I'm feeling better and God loves me. :)

Stressin' out

2007-09-19T09:08:00.000-04:00

The kids' homeschool evaluation is today. Am I prepared? I should hope so. Yes, I have their books ready for him to look through. Am I emotionally prepared? I thought so. But, I found myself to be short tempered this week. My back is in extreme pain and I'm dealing with a hurt foot. I was racking my brain to find out why my back and foot were hurting and I thought that the reason I was short tempered was because of the pain. My irritability, I think, is the result of PMS and stress. The back pain must be from that as well. Although, I don't remember my back hurting this much in the past . I can't even go work out due to the pain. Argh.

So, I will be so happy when 1:30 comes and goes. I like their evaluator. He evaluated them last year. He has a bunch of kids like us. He and his wife homeschool. He's very pro-homeschool. It's just nerve racking. Maybe by next year I won't be so bad.

Parable of the Ungrateful "Child"

2007-09-17T21:08:00.000-04:00

My children get 45 minutes of computer time at one time.

One of the programs they like to play is an online game by Disney called Toontown. There is a new "neighborhood" where you can play miniature golf and sometimes play goes a little longer than the 45 minutes they are allotted. I always let them finish up their games, even after the timer goes off.

The other day, my oldest daughter, 13 almost 14, knew that she was low on time, but decided to go for 9 rounds anyway. I allowed her to go over her time and it was 15-20 minutes after the timer went off.

Tonight, her sister, 12, was on the computer. Emily, my oldest had been asking to go on all night, but I needed her to babysat while I ran to the store. Caytie was on the computer when I returned home. Emily had asked, when the timer went off if she could go on the computer. I said yes. Not long after, Caytie came in to inform me that Emily had come over to the computer and quit the program Caytie was working on.

I was furious and told Emily she couldn't go on the computer. I then told Caytie to get back on and finish up what she was working on and told her if Emily retaliated in any way, she was to tell me.

I was in my room getting angrier at Emily's behavior, especially in light of me allowing all that extra time the other day, when the Lord reminded me of the parable of the ungrateful servant. I immediately calmed down and knew what her punishment would be. I'd have her write out the parable, in her best handwriting, and then allow her back on the computer, making sure she understood the parallels between her actions and that of the ungrateful servant.

She's working on it now. She is unaware that I will be letting her back on the computer and is a little ticked off at me right now. But that's ok. I believe the point will be received.

Matthew 18:23-25

"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Granted, Emily didn't need to forgive Caytie, however, I still think the parable fits the crime. And, of course, I don't want Emily to have a "fire and brimstone" view of our Heavenly Father, and I will be sure to let her know that He loves her unconditionally, as do I.

Love your enemies

2007-09-12T12:59:00.000-04:00

Conversation between Kenny (age 5) and Jordan (age 9). They are in the kitchen. Jordan is washing dishes and Kenny is "helping".

Kenny: You have to love your enemies
Jordan: I love all my enemies except the devil
Kenny: Then you don't love your enemies

I had to explain to Kenny that there IS a difference between human enemies and the devil. It's ok not to love the devil.

Nice Matters!

2007-08-26T14:45:00.000-04:00

Wow. My first award. Christina, my sister-in-law, over at Kwisteena's Kwaziness, has awarded me with the Nice Matters Award saying that I was a positive influence on the blogging world.

Well, thanks Cristina. You, too are a positive influence on the blogging community. Can I nominate you? :)

Here is my list of bloggers and their blogs whom I nominate for the Nice Matters award:

Dawn at Because I Said So
Jessie at Overflow of a Forgiven Soul
Dee at CrochetingwithDee.com
ladylinoleum at Monster Crochet
Lynn at mundane matters in the life of lynn
And last, but certainly not least, Christina at Kwisteena's Kwaziness

There are LOTS of blogs I read. But these ladies shine in the Nice Matters department. Thanks guys. If you want, you can take this award and put it on your blog and nominate others. But, if you're not into this sort of thing, don't worry about it, no pressure. ;)

My Yarn Store

2007-08-22T18:01:00.000-04:00

I have decided to publicly share the vision I have for my yarn store. For those of you who may not know, I LOVE to crochet and I LOVE yarns. See my Crochet Blog if you are interested. I had been wanting a yarn store for a while now, and have been praying for it, but not pressing in like I believe now I should have been.

When my family was at a conference at Morningstar Ministries in Ft. Mill, South Carolina, there was a speaker there named Bill Johnson. He has a church called Bethel Church in Redding, California.

I wrote down some things I heard him say one night and even downloaded the conference a couple of days ago so I can listen to it over and over. It was a powerful teaching.

Sorry about the flow, or lack thereof. I was just taking the snippets that the Lord was speaking to me for this.

"It is theologically irresponsible to take the great promises of scripture and put them off into a period of time for which we have no responsibility. Every generation is responsible to extract the life out of every promise." Proverbs 25:2 - It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. God hides stuff for us not from us.

"Jesus being asked by Mary to deal with the wine. Jesus says, what does this have to do with me? This isn't my hour - the hour for me to be unveiled as the miracle worker. He only said what he heard His Father say, so He got this information from the Father. Mary tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says. Jesus looks at the Father and says, 'Apparently we have a change in plans.' "

"The desperation of an individual can change the timing of an event. God is not as interested in certain events happening at certain times as He is interested in our involvement in the unfolding of those events. We are not puppets on a string. We affect one another. God has made himself vulnerable to the desires of His people. The church is waiting for the next directive of God and God is waiting on the dream of the church. Waiting for the thing that rocks us, that moves us. "

"When desires are formed in me, God is trying to resurrect them because he wants to become manifested in a practical way that affects the course of history. 'Whatsoever desires you have, when you pray, you shall receive them.' 'My works abide in you'.

"If it matters to you, whom the Lord loves, it matters to Him. It does not have to be eternally significant." Bill then referenced his book, "Dreaming with God", which I picked up last night. :)

"Jesus changing plans and performing a miracle of turning water into wine because of a mother who, in so many words said, 'I've been pregnant with these promises for 30 years and I'm going to blow up if I don't see something happen! (Like Mary saying to Jesus) This may not be your time, but it'd be a really good time for me.' You can only carry that word for so long."

"'John 12:40 - He blinded their eyes, hardened their hearts lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and I should heal them.' It's like God is saying, 'I don't want them to see because then they'll repent and I'll have to go forgive them and give them what they want.' - Puzzling verse. It's talking about Israel. 'If I show Israel what I'm going to do for them before the Gentiles are added they will ask for it and I'll have to give it to them before the designated time.' Implication - If you see it, if He does not blind your eyes, than what you can see that is a future event, then you have legal access to bring it into your day. "

"All things are yours - things present and things to come."

"King David caught a vision. Hope to set up a vision of worship. Legal access to the authentic presence of the kingdom. But it was illegal to approach the tabernacle without a blood sacrifice. What David did was illegal. But because the Lord did not veil David's eyes to the future - after Jesus' death and resurrection - that all can come before the Lord without the blood offering (because Jesus was the blood offering), David took hold of that and brought it into his own time and lived."

This is what I wrote down that night, after going back to my room and being "high" on the promises which the Lord just unveiled.

Yarn/Coffee Shop

Separate but connected.

Coffee Shop - Tables where people can sit and drink coffee/tea and/or eat pastries.

I would like to, through a doorway or a larger opening, have a yarn shop. I want to sell yarns not available locally, but also less expensive yarns available locally. I want to make available tools for crochet/knit and other needle-craft crafts.

I want to have comfortable couches and chairs for people to lounge in and work on projects. I want tables that people can sit around and work on projects.

I want to play instrumental music in the store. Christian instrumental music. Don Potter, Alberto Rivera & Friends, Bruce Dailey, Theresa Griffith, etc. Worship jams, too. Or, maybe have videos playing of worship. Maybe have Christian music playing. I like what Morningstar's bookstore has - a tv with videos of worship playing.

I want an area dedicated to classes. That people can come in and teach crochet, knitting and other needlecrafts.

I need the Lord to give me a ministry to support with money and/or projects that people make, maybe ZAO Water financially, but I want to be able to supply shawls, blankets, any handcrafted item that customers would want to donate to a ministry as well. These items would be prayed over by me and my children and any other trusted intercessor who would want to be involved.

As I was praying about this, I heard, Eagle's Nest. Might be a good name.

I want to provide a place where crafters can gather to purchase hard to find yarn, to gather with other crafters, and to be touched by the Spirit of God. A place that people would come to to have prayers be answered, to see healings take place. To come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That the Spirit of God would be so evident. That people would gather and talk about what God is doing in their lives and in their neighborhoods and not talk about each other.

Aquila is Greek for Eagle. It is also a constellation. Inside that constellation is a nebula, NGC 6751, also known as the Glowing Eye. Wow! It looks like a glowing eye! The interesting thing about the glowing eye, is this: that night Rick Joyner (Pastor of Morningstar) was speaking about the portals of Heaven and the eye of God looking down on us.

Add: I also am wanting to have a "Yarn of the week" and a "Tool of the week". There have been so many times where I thought I'd like a hook or yarn, bought it, took it home and didn't like it. My vision is that someone can come in, with the yarn of the week and tool of the week make up a granny square or something. They will know how the yarn works up and if they like the hook (or needles or whatever). Then I'll have them drop the square into a basket to be sewn together with other squares into a blanket to donate to the local hospital for babies or other sick patients.

Introspect

2007-08-22T17:45:00.000-04:00

Introspect - To look into or within; to view the inside of.

From The Supernatural Ways of Royalty by Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton, chapter 4, A Royal Flush by Bill Johnson, page 54.

~ I Don't Do Instrospection ~

It took a while, but I finally realized that my best moments (mentalily, emotionally, and spiritually) were when I just did my best, and stayed away from introspection. This was a scary thing for me, because in my mind introspection was almost a rite of passage to my biggest dream - to be a revivalist. After years of struggling with the conflict of personal holiness, I prayed something like this:

Father,

You know that I don't do so well when I look inward, so I'm going to stop. I am relying on You to point out to me the things that I need to see. I promise to stay in Your Word. You said that Your Word was a sword - so please use it to cut me deeply. Expose those things in me that are not pleasing to You. But in doing so, please give me the grace to forsake them. I also promise to come before You daily. Your presence is like a fire. Please burn from me those things that are unpleasing to You. Melt my heart until it become like the heart of Jesus. Be merciful to me in these things. I also promise to stay in fellowship with Your people. You said that iron sharpens iron. I expect You to anoint the "wounds of a friend" to bring me to my senses when I'm being resistant toward You. Please use these tools to shape my life until Jesus alone is seen in me. I believe that You have given me Your heart and mind. By Your grace I am a new creation. I want that reality to be seen that the name of Jesus would be held in highest honor.

Penske

2007-08-01T15:57:00.001-04:00

One would think, seeing this *cough* beautiful truck in front of someone's house, that they are moving or something.

Last night, after waking to something (it's a nightly occurrence), I walked out of our room, turned off the lights the children left on and peeked out the front window(again, something I do nightly when I wake up after being asleep for only a couple of hours). Mind you, I wear contacts. I can see things, but they are blurry and I cannot make out details. I rely on the contacts. I have to wear them or my glasses. I look out the window and it seems as if something is obstructing my view. Something other than my inability to see clearly. I walk back to my bedroom, put my glasses on and go to the window. Yup. Something was obstructing my view. A big Penske truck. Grrrr.

It's a public street. But I think it's quite rude and selfish to park such an eyesore in front of someone else's house just centimeters from their lawn.

I figured while I was outside I would take some photos of the sky.

We are not in a drought anymore, however, I'm not sure what the levels of Lake Okeechobee are. That's the real clue. Hmmm. Looks like, as of today, it's about 4 feet BELOW it's historical average. So, we need more rain. I should probably trim my bamboo.

This is what it looks like at the table today. Well, it looks like this almost daily except that during the week, there are kids and school books on the table, too. Ok, the kids normally are not ON the table... We took today off. Just because.

I use the anointing balm like lotion on my hands. I put a little extra on my left hand, where the thread runs through my fingers. It smells so nice, it's frankincense and myrrh. Some friends of mine gave it to me. When I get more, I'll be ordering it from Rodco, LTD. I don't think there's any magic in anointing oils and balms. But, I cannot dispute the references in the Bible to it. When I crochet my things, I pray over them and ask the Lord to give me a word for the person or pray healing over them or something.

Weight loss posts

2007-07-24T14:35:00.000-04:00

I have moved my weight loss posts here.

Living in the Supernatural

2007-07-06T08:04:00.000-04:00

I have been a Christian all my life. I attended a Christian school from k - 8. And even though I'm aware that going to a Christian school and church does not make one a Christian, I did know that Jesus Christ is God and knew that He died on the cross for my sin and had no doubt that if I were to die, I would be in heaven. I, however, was unaware that I could have a relationship with Him. I just thought that He was some far away deity who really didn't have time for our petty things.

But I have come to know better. I know that He DOES care about every aspect of our lives. Jesus said, as recorded in Matthew 6:25-34, that we shouldn't worry about things. He takes care of the birds and the flowers, how much more will He care for us. And I have also been taught that we are to live a supernatural life while here on earth. Jesus said, as recorded in John 14:12, that we will, if we have faith in Him, do what He was doing (remember that Jesus walked on water, turned water into wine, multiplied food to feed thousands - and it wasn't even a famine! - healed the sick, drive out demons, raised the dead and so much more) and that we would do even greater things than He had been doing. To me, that means, living a supernatural life.

I guess I have been bit by the poverty spirit. That is a spirit that would have us "look at our provision to help us determine our vision, and are therefore living within OUR means instead of HIS blessings." (excerpt taken from The Supernatural Ways of Royalty written by Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton). And since I'm not walking on water I'm having a difficult time believing that God can use me to heal people or to be able to live supernaturally in other ways.

Well, I was at Curves this morning. I was very happy remembering my loss this past month. I looked around at the other women there. I wondered where some of these women were when they started Curves. I then started panicking, getting scared that I might, one day, stop losing when I still have so much further to go. Then I remember, Live Supernaturally. God told me to start going to a gym. He is the reason why I stopped drinking sodas and eating and drinking so much sugar. It's totally Him. Yes, I have to wake up in the morning, get dressed and go to Curves, but even in doing that, it's Him helping me all the way. God loves me. He has a plan for me and as long as I keep that plan in my vision, I can live supernaturally, and the pauper mentality of getting to a point of not losing more will vanish.

And I hope that I will be able to apply that to other areas of my life.

Purse Hanger

2007-06-09T16:01:00.000-04:00

I had been surfing Wikipedia and came across Rose McGowan's page. Yes, I used to watch Charmed. ;)

I learned there that Rose and her friend, Natasha, started Pinken Mint making and selling purse caddies. I went to that site and found out what purse caddies were. I had never seen or heard of these. How cool! A hook you place on a tabletop to hang your purse. It keeps your purse right next to you instead of on a chair back or on the floor, yuck! Well, their prices were a bit more than what I would want to spend (although I would never turn down one of their beautiful caddies) so I went searching.

C&W Designs has beautiful hangers but were still a little expensive for my taste.

Flo's Accessories sells purse hangers at a fraction of the cost. They aren't as gorgeous, but there are some nice designs and lots of choices. But, the cost was still a little higher than what I wanted to spend. I'm not cheap, but I do live on a budget.

I did a bit more searching and found some, but the less expensive they got, the cheaper they looked. I didn't want my purse dropping to the floor.

Finally, I went to ebay. I found quite a few. Some looked the same as what I found with web searches, but I still couldn't find the one I wanted to spend my cash on. Then I found Sandstone Designs. There were different kinds of hangers and one that I saw said it held up to 20lbs. But some of the hangers didn't say how heavy a purse/bag it would hold. So I contacted the seller and she told me that the ones that said 20lbs were the only ones that held 20lbs. Ok. So those are what I'm looking at. Now, which design? Well, I made my decision, clicked on the "Buy it Now" button and paid for it. I suppose I could have driven to her home to pick it up since she doesn't live far, but she mailed it off and 2 days later it came in the mail. It's lovely and I'm completely amazed that it works. I love it.

So, if you are interested in one of these lovely purse hangers, you can check out any of the links I included, search on your own, but I love the hanger I got from Sandie at Sandstone Designs. I don't know if she made them, but it was a very smooth transaction with her.

Slave Passageway found at George Washington's Presidential Home

2007-06-08T12:45:00.001-04:00

I clicked on a link in my gmail account today. The article was from the Discovery Channel, a source which has become an untrustworthy source of information, in my opinion. ETA: I did see that the author of the article is with the A/P and not Discovery Channel. But, even so, they have the article on their site.

But this is not entirely their fault.

First, let me share with you the article, source found here (the bold, italics, underlined and small text are my comments):

June 7, 2007 —Archaeologists unearthing the remains of George Washington's presidential home have discovered a hidden passageway used by his nine slaves, raising questions about whether the ruins should be incorporated into a new exhibit at the site.

The underground passageway is just steps from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It was designed so Washington's guests would not see slaves as they slipped in and out of the main house. (How do they know why this underground passageway was designed?)

"As you enter the heaven of liberty, you literally have to cross the hell of slavery," (Because this house was the worst place where slavery occurred, or the only place where slavery occurred? Come on! George Washington lived in an era where slavery was accepted. It's not as if he was doing something he said he didn't.) said Michael Coard, a Philadelphia attorney who leads a group that worked to have slavery recognized at the site. "That's the contrast, that's the contradiction, that's the hypocrisy. But that's also the truth."

Washington lived and conducted presidential business at the house in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was the nation's capital.

The findings have created a quandary for National Park Service and city officials planning an exhibit at the house. They are now trying to decide whether to incorporate the remains into the exhibit or go forward with plans to fill in the ruins and build an abstract display about life in the house. (Leave the house as is. Do not make out the gentleman to be someone he was not. He was a slave owner, but so were most of the people living in that era. I don't think that he would have wanted that fact hidden.)

Making that decision will push back the building of the exhibit, which had been slated to open in 2009. But the oversight committee won't rush into construction, said Joyce Wilkerson, the mayor's chief of staff.

"We never thought we'd be faced with this kind of decision," she said. "We would've been happy to have found a pipe! And so we don't want to proceed blindly or say, 'This isn't in the plan.'"

Rep. Bob Brady, D-Pa., was so moved when he visited the site last week that he declared: "We need to rethink what we're doing here."

"It's astounding, absolutely astounding," Brady said. "I'm going to fight to keep it open, I'll tell you that much." (I still don't see what's so astounding about this.)

Aside from the passageway, archaeologists have uncovered remnants of a bow window, an architectural precursor to the White House's Oval Office, and a large basement that was never noted in historic records.

"We actually found a lot more of the remains of the President's House than anyone expected. Myself included," said Jed Levin, an archaeologist with the National Park Service.

Thousands of visitors have been drawn to the ruins, standing on a small wooden platform to gaze down at the house's brick and stone foundation. The public response spurred officials to continue the excavation until at least July 4; it began in March and had been scheduled to end last month.

Archaeologists have served as guides, answering visitors' questions. Cheryl LaRoche, a cultural heritage specialist, said she enjoys educating people about how even a prominent statesman like Washington could own slaves. (Does she enjoy educating people or gossiping about them? Seems like people are very much enjoying dragging his name through the mud.)

"We've been striving to present a balanced view of history that stands apart from what's been taught in history books," LaRoche said. (I don't know what's written in history books, but the very first search I came across when searching "George Washington Slaves" brought me to a site that said that he inherited his father's slaves at about age 10 and owned slaves until he died. But, if history books are hiding the fact that he owned slaves, yes, that is wrong, but don't blame Washington for that. I don't believe he hid this fact from the public.)

Before the ruins were unearthed, officials had planned an exhibit without archaeological findings. The planned design included a framework of the house, LED screens and other audiovisual elements explaining its history, including stories of Washington's slaves. (Oh, stories of Washington's slaves? You mean, they were going to discuss the fact that he had slaves? So what is the big deal about finding a slave passageway? Really, this is ridiculous.)

The remains would crumble if left unprotected. If the design included elevators, ramps or stairs to move visitors down into the newly dug ruins, costs would increase significantly.

Coard said he is confident the oversight committee will find the best way to tell the slaves' stories.

"Everybody's on board in terms of seriously considering incorporating the architectural dig into the design," Coard said. "The question now is: Is it doable? Nobody is saying, 'No, it shouldn't be done.'"

David Orr, an anthropology professor at Temple University, has visited the site at least four times. He posted a note on the President's House Web site urging officials to keep the ruins on display.

"It's just fantastic," Orr said. "I can't tell you enough how exciting it is. For years and years and years I've been trying to promote that kind of public archaeology."

~~~~~ end of story ~~~~~
Here is the first article I came across when searching "George Washington slaves", Source

George Washington and Slavery

George Washington was born into a world in which slavery was accepted. He became a slave owner when his father died in 1743. At the age of eleven, he inherited ten slaves and 500 acres of land. When he began farming Mount Vernon eleven years later, at the age of 22, he had a work force of about 36 slaves. With his marriage to Martha Custis in 1759, 20 of her slaves came to Mount Vernon. After their marriage, Washington purchased even more slaves. The slave population also increased because the slaves were marrying and raising their own families. By 1799, when George Washington died, there were 316 slaves living on the estate.

The skilled and manual labor needed to run Mount Vernon was largely provided by slaves. Many of the working slaves were trained in crafts such as milling, coopering, blacksmithing, carpentry,and shoemaking. The others worked as house servants, boatmen, coachmen or field hands. Some female slaves were also taught skills, particularly spinning, weaving and sewing, while others worked as house servants or in the laundry, the dairy, or the kitchen. Many female slaves also worked in the fields. Almost three-quarters of the 184 working slaves at Mount Vernon worked in the fields, and of those, about 60% were women.

The workday for slaves was from sun-up to sun-down, six days a week. Sunday was a day of rest.

Although George Washington was born into a world where slavery was accepted, his attitude toward slavery changed as he grew older. During the Revolution, as he and fellow patriots strove for liberty, Washington became increasingly conscious of the contradiction between this struggle and the system of slavery. By the time of his presidency, he seems to have believed that slavery was wrong and against the principles of the new nation.

As President, Washington did not lead a public fight against slavery, however, because he believed it would tear the new nation apart. Abolition had many opponents, especially in the South. Washington seems to have feared that if he took such a public stand, the southern states would withdraw from the Union (something they would do seventy years later, leading to the Civil War). He had worked too hard to build the country to risk tearing it apart.

Privately, however, Washington could -- and did -- lead by example. In his will, he arranged for all of the slaves he owned to be freed after the death of his wife, Martha. He also left instructions for the continued care and education of some of his former slaves, support and training for all of the children until they came of age, and continuing support for the elderly.

~~~~~end of article~~~~~

I am against slavery. I am also against dragging people's name through the mud. Because I can find, on the first article that comes up on a search of George Washington slave, evidence that he owned slaves and nothing in the article saying he hid this fact, I see Discovery's reasoning behind the article to simply make George Washington look like a bad guy. They do not mention that slavery was accepted when he was alive. They don't explain why the findings of this passageway was such a big deal except to tell us why it was designed, but how do they know why it was designed, if wasn't noted in the historic records. Discovery, again, is putting it's own spin on things, doing what they are accusing the history books of doing. I simply do not see "truth-seeking" in what the Discovery Network does. All is see is them stirring the pot for no apparent reason.

I have been known to overreact to things. Am I overreacting here?

Dentist

2007-05-31T13:23:00.000-04:00

I went to the dentist this morning. I got my teeth cleaned and x-rays taken and a check up. The cleaning was awful! Between the sharp pointy torture device scraping my gums and making that horrific noise (like fingernails on a chalkboard *shiver*), I'm happy to be out of there!

I still have lots of work to be done. A filling fell out of a cavity and needs to be replaced. Doc thinks there's an abscess under one of my teeth *shiver*. I suppose I shouldn't have taken 3 years off of dental care. Drat!

But besides the cleaning, no work was done. I go back in about 3 weeks to get started on the work.

They are a good dental place. Our insurance is great. One day I'll be able to smile big again.

Anger

2007-05-24T09:31:00.000-04:00

I (mistakenly) watched a clip of "The View" showing Rosie and Elizabeth arguing.

I have a tendency to feel the emotions of those around me and watching this made the anger rise and boil.

For those of you who do not know me, I am a conservative Christian. I don't follow politics completely, in fact, most of it jumbles my mind and makes me feel stupid. Even more so when I try to figure things out. When I do that I get angry because I think the whole system is messed up. So I stick to what I do best - praying that God's will be done in our country.

Anywho, people who don't "believe in this war" are spewing (yes, I know that's a harsh word) that we need to get out. Well, I heard someone say that we can't just pull our troops out. If we do, we are looking at another Vietnam where justice WON'T occur in the land. From what I've heard, the civilians over there are happy we are there.

Anyway, my point in all this is that no matter what you feel about President Bush, he's our president. Pray. Trust that God hears our prayers and that God loves our country. Trust that God has our best interests in mind. I think that if we pray that the Lord give our president wisdom and discernment, He will. But even more importantly, I feel that it is important that we pray for our next president. I am not happy about who is currently in the headlines these days - on both sides. So I just keep praying that God's will be done and that His kingdom come. There ARE more important things. It's important that the gospel is spread. It is important that our brothers and sisters are encouraged.

Well, I'm watching the season finale of Lost and my thoughts are a bit scattered.

More on this (maybe) later.

My brother and my sister-in-law

2007-05-23T16:08:00.000-04:00

Originally posted May 22, 2007

I just finished watching a video on youtube that was a tribute to firefighters. My brother, 4 years younger than I, is currently in training at the fire fighter's academy. I'm very proud of him. After watching the video and being reminded of how dangerous that job is, I'm very proud of my sister-in-law as well.

Click here for the link.

But, that's not all. They also have a daughter with Down Syndrome. Now, Kallie is just about the sweetest little girl you will ever meet. But I can only imagine how difficult things must be with the medical aspects and having to deal with an ignorant, uncaring culture that would rather make fun of people like my niece than to take the time and actually shed one ounce of caring.

My sister-in-law posted an essay that was written by a girl whose sister has Down Syndrome. You see, my brother and sister-in-law have another daughter who is younger than Kallie. She will have to suffer sometimes because of the ignorance that abounds in this society.

Here is the essay:

FAMILY | Like sticks and stones, words can hurt Retarded by association: When you make fun of my sister, it hurts me

My sister, who has Down syndrome, has a gift for shrugging off your taunts, but I'm not so lucky. By MEGAN McVAY TeenStar

When Caroline McVay left a class wearing a red hat that wasn't hers, her sister Megan tried to find out why.

I'd sworn to myself I'd never let somebody hurt her in my company. But I had never calculated that I'd get hurt more than she ever would.

Nothing's funnier than someone with Down syndrome. Really. Have you ever seen EBaums World, where it's nothing but a two-minute reel of faces of people with Down syndrome? Hilarious.

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I know you're just like me you see a kid smiling dimly with those almond-shaped eyes and flat face and you laugh. Just like everyone else.

You do it because you think it's funny, because it's not normal, because it's not you, because you're so obviously above that mental stage. No one would think to call you a the r-word, because you're so obviously above that mental stage. You aren't the one who deserves it. They do. It's a commonly known fact, don't you see? Are you retarded?

Maybe I am. You decide.

My little sister, Caroline, was diagnosed with Robertsonian translocation at birth, a common strain of Down syndrome. She has a disability, one that leaves her just low-functioning enough to be ridiculed but just high-functioning enough to know it. She won the genetic lottery, the one that happens in a split second, months before a baby is introduced to a world that already hates her.

To water it down to teenager-friendly words, she's retarded.

But because we have the same mother, am I retarded, too?

Scientists say no. Discrimination laws say no. My indignant moral compass says no.

My high peers, however, sometimes say yes. And when that happens, being a the r-word stops being funny.

I remember the first time I became retarded by association. I was picking my little sister up from youth theater class.

Caroline looked up at me and smiled. She does that a lot. Her face scrunches up in a comical lopsided grin big enough to warm any heart. She's 11 now, a big sixth-grader who says she can do everything by herself.

She's constantly worrying about her wardrobe, hair and friends, typical of any middle school girl. To me, the only difference between Caroline and other girls her age is that she cares a little bit more about other people than she does herself. That and she's constantly smiling.

But that day something was amiss. The red hat. She didn't have a red hat when we got into the car for dance class & she has one now.

Caroline? Caroline. Look at me. Whose hat is that?

Mine.

No, sweetheart. You didn't bring a red hat to dance. Where'd you find it?

Well somebody gave it to me. It's mine.

There is no need to finish this conversation. I gently turn Caroline around and tap her to get her moving. We're walking back into the building to find (and apologize to) the owner of the mysterious red hat.

We don't walk far. Caroline marches emphatically up to a tall (read: attractive) teenage boy with slightly mussed hair, as if a hat had once graced his head. Blushing slightly, I sauntered up to him and his equally good-looking friends.

Hey, sorry to bother you? This, uh, isn't your hat is it?

Yeah, he laughed, but don't worry. I don't want it back.

Oh. Uh. OK.

Yeah, didn't you hear? It's supposed to be National the r-word Day.

My blushing came back. But not the good kind.

Excuse me? My little sister and I have to leave, but we can't do that with your hat on her head.

At this point, he started blushing a little bit, too.

Glancing at his buddies, he stammered, Oh, well, wouldn't want to do that. You'll, uh, probably both be late for your life skills class. I bet you're counting change today. Ha. Ha.

I wish I could say I slugged him. Or that I had some fantastic comeback that left him speechless. Instead, I smiled tartly, grabbed Caroline's arm and headed for the car.

While still in sight of the now seemingly young, immature, hateful little boys, I yanked the red hat off Caroline's head and slammed it forcefully into a nearby trash can. I wouldn't remember tearing off my headband to give to a devastated Caroline, who had genuinely wanted that despicable red hat. I wouldn't remember her giggling as she toyed with it in the backseat, arranging it in different ways on her head.

What I would remember was quietly shutting off my car, letting us inside the house and walking calmly up to my room. I would remember locking my door, picking up a miniature glass horse figurine and, with precision, shattering it against my wall.

It was the first time I had been called retarded.

It wasn't the first time somebody had made fun of Caroline to my face. But it was the first time something bad had happened to me as a result of protecting my baby sister. That first time is always a shock.

Naturally, I had come to my own terms with the fact that I'd hear people say some pretty awful things to or about Caroline. Of course I had anticipated that people wouldn't understand. They'd be mean. They'd hurt her.

I'd sworn to myself I'd never let somebody hurt her in my company. But I had never calculated that I'd get hurt more than she ever would.

It never ceases to amaze me that of all the hurtful things people say to or about one another, many are directed toward those who are developmentally disabled.

My little sister has had some heart-wrenching (and unprintable) things said to her, and it has yet to faze her. Whereas I break down at the hint of rejection, Caroline seems to have the ability to redefine it.

Of course, I'll hear the word 'the r-word' in a derogatory sense for the rest of my life. People will continue to use the word to hurt or tear down someone they know.

But that's all right. Call me crazy, but there are times that the word, in all its low and hurtful glory, reminds me that I, too, am capable of more than simply succumbing to the labels life hands us.

Reach Megan McVay, a junior at Blue Valley North, at teenstar@ kcstar.com. She originally wrote this essay for a class.

Todd and Christina, Kallie and Brittany, I love you guys. May the Lord continue to bless you and protect you as you continue to touch other's lives. (((hugs)))

Dentist

2007-05-23T16:07:00.000-04:00

Originally posted May 21, 2007

It has been over 3 years since I've been to the dentist. The last time I went, I was in the middle of getting major work done on my teeth. I still have lots of work that needs to be done. We have awesome insurance - I didn't have to pay a penny, but in the middle of the work, I got a call from the office telling me that I reached the dollar amount for the year. Well, I chickened out and haven't been back, not to mention that I didn't have a vehicle for a little while during that period.

Well, one of my fillings has come out and I've been experiencing pain in my tooth on the lower right side. Scott got me their number and I called to make an appointment. I'm nervous since I haven't been in in a while, but they are nice and maybe I'll be able to flash a full smile again soon.

What a Day!

2007-05-23T16:04:00.000-04:00

Originally posted May 20, 2007

So, Jordan turned 9 today. Scott took Jordan and Levi to the store to get a cake. After we ate cake, Scott took Caytie (number 2 of 6 and the girl in the red shirt in my avatar) to the ER. On Friday, she was fooling around and fell off the back of the couch and hurt her arm. We didn't think it was broken and just had her put a bandanna sling on. But it was still hurting her quite a bit this morning and she was unable to straighten it out. So, after we had cake, Scott reluctantly took her to the hospital. They checked her out and took an x-ray. No broken bones (Thank you, LORD!) but she has a bone contusion. She's to keep it in a sling for a while. It's her left arm and, yes, she's left handed. *sigh* Oh, well. At least it's not broken.

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Happy Birthday, Jordan

2007-05-23T16:03:00.001-04:00

Originally posted May 20, 2007

Jordan, the boy in the white shirt in my avatar, turns 9 today.

My kids are separated into two groups. The first four are one group and the "babies" are the other group. The "Four" are all between 16 and 18 months apart. Then, after Jordan was born, there was a four year gap before Kenaniah was born. A little over 9 years ago, the Lord had shown our pastor that the number 9 was significant to our congregation. The word received actually was Benign or Be Nine. We are to be like children with our Father. I remember that well because our pastor's daughter was 9 at the time. So, now, every year one of the Four turns 9, it's like a milestone.

So today is Jordan's turn. Because of Jordan's birth order in our family, he's a little difficult to figure out. He's quiet (when not with his friends) and prefers to stay indoors, avoiding the heat (like his mom). But Jordan is an affectionate child with lots of love to bestow on his parents and his 2 "baby" brothers.

Lord, thank you for bringing Jordan into our lives. He's a great kid and I know you have many plans for him. I pray that you use him mightily in your Kingdom and that he be a blessing to both you and to others. Protect him, keep him safe and keep him always in the shadow of your wings.

Starbucks Mug

2007-05-23T15:46:00.000-04:00

Originally posted May 16, 2007

Scott and the kids got me a Starbucks card for Mother's Day. I went there last night after having to run to the Post Office and get 64 $.02 stamps (grrrr). I went to a different Starbucks than I normally go to. I tend to go to the same places all the time and don't like to sway from that. But the other one was closer, and even though I knew it would be crowded, I asked Kenaniah (my 4-year-old), who was with me, which one I should go to. He said, go to the one that is closer, mommy. So we went. As we walked into the store, I see city mugs. And I see that they are Ft. Lauderdale mugs. I have been collecting city mugs for almost 2 years. Since I don't go out of state often, I only have 3 mugs. So, I couldn't resist and spent 2 future coffees on this mug. :) Well worth it, though. It's a nice looking one.

Emma (Not Alone) - A reminder to my friends

2007-05-23T15:40:00.000-04:00

Originally posted May 11, 2007

I recently had a friend ask for prayer. Not uncommon. This time I really felt the need to post this for her and for any one else who needs to be reminded that we are not alone.

On my MySpace Friends list is a music artist by the name of Jason Upton. I LOVE to worship to his music. There is a song of his that's on his page called Emma (Not Alone). And I think it applies to my friend and anyone else who may be reading this and feeling alone.

I have added the song to my profile for a day or so. If it's not up, simply go to his site to listen to the song.

Don't be afraid baby don't you cry
Daddy's here it will be all right
You're not alone you're not alone
Don't be afraid when you're cold at night
I will keep you warm I will hold you tight
You're not alone you're not alone

Look beyond the window there
To the sky above to the open air
Look beyond what you can see
Close your eyes and just believe

The lion roars and the lamb lays down
They live together in a whole new town
They're calling me and they're calling you
From the cold hard facts that we're on our own
To the age old truth that we're not alone

Don't be afraid when you scrape your knee
I've got a band aide waiting and a kiss for free
You're not alone you're not alone
Don't be afraid of your blind belief
Because the more you fly the more you'll see
You're not alone you're not alone

Look beyond the window there
To the sky above to the open air
Look beyond what you can see
Close your eyes and just believe

The lion roars and the lamb lays down
They live together in a whole new town
They're calling me and they're calling you
From the cold hard facts that we're on our own
To the age old truth that we're not alone

Don't be afraid little warrior bride
Your victory's on the other side
You're not alone you're not alone

When Kings Pray and Fast

2007-05-23T15:38:00.000-04:00

Originally posted May 11, 2007

I had finished the book I started this past week. That's quite an accomplishment. Why? Because it's been YEARS since I have been able to read a book all the way through.

The title of this book is When Kings Pray and Fast by Kingsly Fletcher. It's an AWESOME book. And it's not talking about when the kings of this world pray and fast. It's talking about when WE as kings pray and fast. Revelation 1:4-6 shows us that we are kings and priests with Christ.

I usually accompany my husband to church on Thursday nights. He's there to practice with the worship team and I'm there to get out of the house and spend some time by myself. :)

I left my computer at home (on purpose) and brought my crochet and the book. I was left alone for a good 10 minutes and started reading the book. I started weeping while reading it. Not because of anything the authored had said, but because of what I believe the Lord was working in me through the book. So, I got up from the table where I was at and moved into the "mother's nursing room" so I could be alone when people started showing up. I spent the next 2 1/2 hours in that room reading, praying, weeping, interceding for certain things. Let me tell you it was the most awesome 2 1/2 hours I have ever spent. I also finished the book. I read over 200 pages in that time. I came out of that room completely refreshed. It was awesome.

Now, I don't know if the Lord will do that to everyone who reads this book, but I started this book for a reason. I know that a fast is to abstain from food or to abstain from SOMETHING. But I needed to dive deeper into the life of prayer and fasting. This book opened my spirit to that. It showed me the importance of a life of prayer and fasting. I pray. But the fasting part has always been a bit of a struggle with me. Knowing more about this has changed my mind.

If you are at all interested in the life of prayer and fasting, I suggest you get this book. I would even loan it to you if you are unsure if you want to purchase it.

Gun Control

2007-05-23T15:31:00.000-04:00

Originally posted on May 10, 2007

Someone on a forum I am a member of posted a link to this video. It pretty much sums up my views on gun control.

Link to ABC video

Little Baby Caytie

2007-05-23T14:58:00.000-04:00

Originally posted May 6, 2007

My 2nd daughter, who we affectionately call "Little Baby Caytie" turns 12 today. She was such a little baby and is still little today.

During her first couple months of life, I would bring her to work with me. I worked at a Home Heath Care Agency and there were quite a few nurses who worked there. Two nurses in particular would take her from me and make a little bed in a file box for her. So cute!

I cannot believe she's twelve today. *sigh*

Happy Birthday Caytie girl. I love you.

I am blessed

2007-05-23T14:40:00.001-04:00

Originally posted March 29, 2007

Due to damage done to our home from Hurricane Wilma, we had to have our roof replaced, portions of our ceiling in the kitchen and living room and the entire ceiling replaced in one of our kids' rooms. We also had 2 walls in that room replaced, portions of the living room and kitchen walls replaced. Because of that, we needed to paint the living room, kitchen and the bedroom.

The bedroom was finished last year, but work was being done this week on our living room and kitchen. We chose a brown color called "First Anniversary" (where do they come up with these names?). I cannot remember the brand of paint - we picked it out at Home Depot. We decided to paint the living room and kitchen the same color. When in the living room, one is able to see a kitchen wall and when in the kitchen, one is able to see a living room wall. I wanted the rooms to flow since they didn't before.

Yesterday, finishing touches were done and floorboards were installed.

Wow. What a difference a coat of paint makes. Not to mention floorboards. We hadn't had floorboards since we got new flooring which was almost 3 years ago. I'm not much of a housekeeper. I want to be, I just get sidetracked and want to do something else. But seeing my "new" walls makes it seem like a new house. Maybe I can get into the habit of keeping it clean. Maybe.

But I'm happy. I'm more satisfied with my house. With the high cost of homes in the area equaling higher taxes, I was VERY content with staying in my small, humble home. The "new" walls makes it TONS easier being even more satisfied.

During the offering time at our worship service on Sunday, Mike prayed that we would be satisfied. And the way he said it wasn't the normal sense of being satisfied. It wasn't, give us everything we want until we're happy. It was, help us to be content with what we have - satisfied. I never equated being content with being satisfied. Maybe I should have.

Lord, I want to be satisfied with everything You have given me. I enjoy the "toys" You give me, the "extra toppings", but I want to be satisfied with what I already have. Satisfied and thankful. And, Lord, I am thankful for what you have given me. I have a loving husband and 6 beautiful, healthy children. I live in a state where I am able to freely educate my children. My state also allows me the honor and privilege to protect myself and my family. We have a home. We have a roof over our heads that You have allowed us to get fixed so it doesn't leak. We are able to enjoy rain showers and thunderstorms again. (Bring those in, Lord! We need rain!) We have 2 vehicles that are OURS. We have food in the house and gas in the tanks of our vehicles. My husband has a job and I am able to stay at home with the children. We are able to freely choose the house of worship we attend. The list goes on and on and on.

I am blessed. I am loved. I am a Kings Kid.

Suburban

2007-05-23T14:38:00.000-04:00

Originally posted March 1, 2007

We bought a Suburban for me! Yay! I had wanted one since I was in grade school. It's large enough to fit all the family plus cargo. Awesome.

37 degrees

2007-05-23T14:18:00.000-04:00

Originally posted:

Monday, February 19, 2007

I live in South Florida. The tropics. Sun, sand (all over the house), palm trees, rain and heat.

We, ok, I'll say I, am blessed with a few days throughout the year of cooler weather. Being from Wisconsin, I tolerate the heat when I'm outside, which isn't often. I mostly stay indoors, out of the sun and the heat. So when the temperature drops to 75 or lower, the windows get opened and the fresh air comes in.

This past weekend, it was COLD. I enjoyed it, knowing it wouldn't last long. But I did have a blanket in the truck with me to lay across my lap. Sunday morning, I woke to rain. And wind. And cold. Not a good combination. Brrrrrr!

This morning, it was cold in the house. I had wished I had another blanket to sleep with. When the alarm went off, I got up to make coffee and peeked at the thermostat. 65. Walking around the house in shorts and it's 65 inside. I wonder what it's like outside? No, I didn't open the door to check. I was still sleepy. ;) I checked weather.com and it said 37. Scott is still under the covers, wishing away the alarm. He asked me how cold it was. I told him if I said how cold it was, he wouldn't want to get up. He insisted. I told him. It took him another 10 minutes or so to get out of bed. Hee hee.

I think my early risers may sleep in a bit this morning. They won't want to get out from under the covers. Maybe then I can sleep in a bit. Ha ha!

So, I like the cold, but this is freezing. Not literally, of couse. I do know that freezing is 5 degrees colder than what it is right now. But in my book, it's freezing. It's a simple reminder that I love where I live. I do not miss being so cold I can't get warm. When it feels as if my hands are burning because they are so cold. No, give me Florida heat over Wisconsin winters anytime.

My kids keep begging me to see snow. I try to tell them they can live perfectly happy, productive lives without ever seeing that stuff. But the unknown has intrigued them. They pray for snow. They ask if we can take them to see snow someday. Sigh. Ok. One day we'll go see snow.

Sweet Tea recipe

2006-11-11T08:13:00.000-05:00

A year ago I stopped drinking Coke. I had purchased a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea maker that was working out very well. I would just add sugar to my glass of tea. I tried to make sweet tea once, but it got clogged with the sugar.

Two weeks ago, I decided to try my hand at making sweet tea. I found some recipes online and had been interested in the kind where you make a sugary syrup first and then brew and add water/ice. I think I found my ideal recipe.

Get a pot with a lid. Add water (it doesn't matter how much water you use) and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Bring to a boil and add 4 Family size Lipton Iced Tea bags. Remove from heat, cover and brew for 2 hours. Add to a pitcher and add 2 trays of ice and fill the rest of the way with water.

YUM!

I'm loved by God

2006-10-16T11:17:00.000-04:00

I do know that He loves me. A friend requested that if someone had a word from the Lord for him, he sure could use it because he's been feeling quite down lately. I wanted to get a word for him, so I sought the Lord. I looked at my verse of the day on my page. Although this is a word for all, of course, I wanted something more. I found something that I thought was for my friend and sent it to him.

During that time, I received 2 e-mails from friends. They were the sort of e-mails that are sent out to a bunch of people - the sort of e-mails I usually just skim through and delete. But today I read them. And I felt the Lord speaking to me through them.

I think that since I had been so focused on hearing from the Lord on behalf of my friend, the Lord is opening my eyes to His love all around me. Even though today is Monday, I have yet to make my bed, my kids are arguing and I have not started school today, there is a joy in my spirit and an excitedness about what today will bring.

My prayer today is that the Lord will continue to open my eyes to His goodness and love for me and for all who are in need of it.

May your day be blessed. May you allow the Lord to reach out and capture your heart. May your ears be open to the wonders and mysteries He longs to share with you. May your heart be open to others that they may see the love of God in you.

His soul could no longer endure

2006-09-14T07:42:00.000-04:00

I've been reading the book of Judges. It is interesting to read how the Israelites would follow the Lord under one judge, but then go back to worshipping false gods under another. And the Lord looks on that like adultery. His anger would burn against Israel and He would deliver them into the hands of their enemies. And after a few years, they would cry out for deliverance.

In Judges 10:14-16, the Lord responds to the cries saying, "Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress." The children of Israel admit that they have sinned and deserve whatever the Lord will do to them, but they plead for deliverance. They then put away the foreign gods and served the Lord. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.

So, because the Lord had a covenant with them and because they were His chosen people, He could not turn from them. Even though His anger burned hot against them for turning from Him to false gods. When they finally came back and served Him, He could no longer endure their misery.

I take comfort in knowing that when I put my trust in anything but Him, I can still return and He will not be able to endure my misery. The knowledge also helps me to not want to turn from Him and serve Him even more. Think about it. God's soul could no longer endure their misery. His love is so great that when His children turn back to him, He is not able to endure their misery. THAT's the God I want to serve.

Victory with 300 men

2006-09-13T08:20:00.000-04:00

Judges 6:27-7:23

The Lord caused Gideon to do something that made the Midianites angry enough to come against Israel to fight. Remember that the Midianites had forced them out of the land into caves and ruined crops and killed their animals.

The Lord had Gideon bring together men to fight the Midianites, but said that the 32,000 that were there were too many. He brought the numbers down to 300 so that Israel would know that this was done by the Lord's hand.

The army gathered around the countless men of the Midianites and Amalekites and did as the Lord had said. This caused the enemy to turn against themselves.

I take from this that no matter what comes against us, no matter how difficult things may seem, if we seek the Lord and do what He tells us, no matter how strange it may seem, He will prevail.

But Lord, how can I ...

2006-09-12T08:53:00.000-04:00

Judges 6:15, 16

God does not look at outward appearances or even our physical strengths (or lack of them). He searches to find those whose hearts are open to Him so that He can work through them.

Gideon stated that he was the "weakest in Manasseh and the least in my father's house." So of the thousands of Israelites, God chose someone who said that they were the weakest in their tribe, the least in their family. He didn't choose the one who looked like he could whoop some, well, you know what. He didn't chose one who was great in his tribe or family. He chose Gideon. And I think this is why. In Judges 6:13, we see that Gideon is questioning why war has come to Israel, why they have become impoverished, why the nations are rising up against them, when they should be the ones taking the land. He questioned. He rememberd the stories from his fathers about the Lord's miracles and the Lord bringing them up out of Egypt.

Seek the Lord, remember his promises, remember what He has done in our lives and in the lives of those that went before us. He uses those who seek His face and remember His deeds.

I want to be used by God.

War and Peace

2006-09-12T08:10:00.000-04:00

Leonard Jones had posted a bulletin about peace and war and in this bulletin, he said, "peace does not mean an absense of war, but in the Kingdom that is inside of me there is peace in the midst of war".

I had been reading the book of Judges. Israel had been told to drive out the inhabitants of the land He had given them. But after Joshua's death, the Israelites fought, took over the land, but did not drive out the inhabitants. In Judges 3:1-2 the Lord shows us that the Lord used the enemies still living in the land to teach the Israelites to know war. I think it's important for us to know war. To not sit back and peacefully accept the enemy in our land i.e. sickness. We are to fight the enemy. How? With the tools that the Lord has given us.

In the account of Deborah, Barak, Jael and Sisera (Judges 4), I believe the Lord is showing that peaceful negotiations would not have worked in this situation. Could Jael have said to Sisera when he passed by her tent, "My lord, please come in and have a seat. When Barak comes through, you all can sit down and talk this through." No, it was God's will that she take action. Angie Thompson has said that Jael used a tool, something that she was used to, something she probably used everyday to bring down the enemy. The Lord used her to stop someone who was coming against His people. God did not use peaceful negotiations, but violent action.

When we come up against the enemy of our souls, we are to take action. We are not to peacefully accept what the enemy is bringing against us. We are to violently fight. Fight with the tools our Lord has given us. Fight with crochet hooks, guitars, fight while we cook and clean. In doing all things as unto the Lord, we are violently advancing the kingdom of Heaven. We are being obedient to the call the Lord has on our lives.

Scents

2006-09-01T09:28:00.000-04:00

I have been blessed with a wonderful sense of smell. I could say it's a curse, but really, there are so many wonderful scents out there, I would hate for it to be taken from me. I am able to pick out certain scents even if they are not strong. Comes in handy when I smell smoke. I can tell right away if someone accidentally pressed the dry button on the dishwasher.

It did seem to be a curse during my pregnancies, however. I felt I could always smell cat urine, even when we didn't have a cat. That was not fun.

Today some of my kids are eating waffles and some are eating Honey Nut Cheerios. For some reason, I just do not like the scents of either. And having both of them overwhelm me at the kitchen table makes me wish my recent purchase from Yankee Candle of Tart Wax Potpourri would come in. I got a bunch of different scents - Autumn Wreath, Biscotti, Cinnamon Vanilla, Cranberry Peppermint, Roasted Coffee, Sage & Cinnamon, Spiced Cocoa and Sugar Cane & Vanilla.

I'm looking forward to filling my home with these wonderful scents.

Evaluations

2006-08-23T16:43:00.000-04:00

The evaluations are over and were a success! It's a simple reminder that the God of the universe loves me.

Evaluation

2006-08-22T19:21:00.000-04:00

I pushed back our evaluation from last Tuesday to tomorrow (8/23). I'm wishing now I hadn't. I am so not looking forward to this, I feel sick. I know, the worst that can happen is that they will not progress. But I just have this awful fear of failure and what the evaluator will think of me. I know - silly. Fear of man thing and all. But I just went through the girls' books and, well, I just want to buy those books.

Scott is coming home for the evaluation, it's at 1. I'll check back in when it's over.

Evaluation

2006-08-12T14:17:00.000-04:00

I homeschool 4 of my kids.

The first year I homeschooled, I gave my daughter a standardized test and turned it into the state.

The second year, my daughters were seen by an evaluator. She was a bit rough around the edges, but things went fine.

The third year I took my girls to her again. She passed my youngest daughter and did not pass my oldest daughter. Her understanding of my daughter's curriculum was incorrect. And her basis of evaluation was incorrect. She did not look to see if my daughter showed progress - she looked at my daughter's age and said that she should know cerain things that she did not know and did not pass her. I turned that into the school board instead of getting a second opinion. I was not a strong person and just didn't think of getting a second opinion.

But that evaluation caused me to believe that I couldn't teach my children effectively. But I knew that the Lord called me to homeschool my kids. There was a war going on inside my head and I was going crazy.

I continued to homeschool my daughters the next year and my son also joined the ranks. But when it came time for evaluations, I couldn't take them to the other evaluator for fear of the same thing happening as last year. But I also didn't pursue getting another evaluator because I was afraid of what to tell the other evaluator and I was afraid I would be judged and my kids wouldn't pass. I told you I wasn't a strong person.

The next school year, I homeschooled 4 of my kids. A friend of mine was looking for an evaluator and told me that she found someone and gave me her number. I called her because I knew I needed to get the evaluations done, but I was a year behind and cowering in fear. The school board hadn't contacted me about the missing year, but I was so scared to open my mailbox everyday for fear that they would suspend my right to homeschool.

I saw Wendy, the new evaluator, and explained that we hadn't had the kids evaluated in 2 years, can she do 2 years for us. She did. She wrote up 2 letters per kid, well, the three that needed them and one for my son who had just started.

2005 - I was feeling insecure again in this area since we started out thinking we would do unit studies. Homeschooling 4 kids and having 2 babies was stressing me out. I did one unit study, had them do math and for a couple of months (they go by so fast), I did only Math. I didn't have all the books, and the fear just started taking over because of my procrastination.

I think it was January when I started getting back on track with the school work, but I was having the kids correcting each other's work. I still was having a difficult time managing everything.

Then I found out that Wendy moved out of state. I was crushed because I thought we had finally found someone who worked for us. Now we would have to find someone else.

I sort of left the ball in my friend's court since she was the one to find Wendy in the first place and I knew she would have to find someone for her son. They went away on vacation during July and I got to spend that whole month worrying.

We started up homeschooling again this past week, just picking up where we left off with one exception. I am now sitting down with them. We all work on the same subject at the same time. I work with them to make sure they are understanding their work. I read aloud and work with them on their problems. I still hadn't found an evaluator. My friend came back this week, but I hadn't spoken to her. I realized it really wasn't up to her to find me an evaluator, although, it would easier that way. I had been praying nearly every day for the past month that the Lord would send us an evaluator.

My friend called today to let me know she found someone. I called him and he sounds very kind. He had 7 children of his own that are homeschooled. He has been an evaluator for the past 10 years and has taught highschool, middleschool, been a principal and is now writing curriculum.

I had gone through the boys' work last week because their drawer was completely disorgainized. I don't think the girls' work will be too difficult to go through.

I have an appointment with him to evaluate my kids on Tuesday at my friend's house with her son. I am so scared. I guess I'm still weak. I am trying so hard not worry about what other people think, not to be a man pleaser, but my kids future with homeschool lies in this man's hands. Ok, it lies in mine, but if I blew it last year, he has the power to pass or fail them.

So, tomorrow and Monday I will be going through their books to gather a sample of their work for the evaluator to go through. I will be praying that the Lord give me peace and help me stop worrying. It is what it is. I cannot go back and do things over. I need to accept responsibilty for my actions and hope that things go well on Tuesday and make this next year our best year so far.

This phone call today should have increased my faith. The Lord answered my prayer and sent me an evaluator. But I am still feeling so insecure in my ability to teach my kids that I forgot to look at that as an answered prayer - a blessing.

If you believe in the power of prayer and believe in Jesus Christ and believe that God still answers prayers today, if you are reading this and it is not yet Tuesday, August 15, 1:00 PM EST please pray for me. Pray for Bill, the new evaluator and pray for my kids.

Thanks.

Necklace

2006-07-25T13:56:00.000-04:00

Some friends and I pitched in to purchase a necklace for another friend for her birthday. I contacted Melissa from Glory to God Designs and told her what I had in mind, based on a vision I received while in prayer about this. I had seen hands cupped together with blue inside.

Well, I received the necklace today and it's beautiful! She did such a great job on it.

The silver bowl is about the size of a quarter. Around the blue opal, it says, "Before the lamb holding golden bowls of incense prayers of the saints singing worthy" - parts of Revelation 5:7-9.

I highly recommend Melissa if you have any jewelry you'd like to have made. She's professional and a joy to work with.

Exercise

2006-07-24T08:46:00.000-04:00

I exercised today. It was the first time since June 9. I could feel that I gained weight and last night I just knew I needed to start up again. Although it was difficult, I could tell that my body so desperately needed this. It was good to get back in it again. I was glad when the 25 minutes were over, but I was also happy that I did it.

Finding crochet in worship or finding my worship in crochet

2006-07-19T18:28:00.000-04:00

For quite a while now, I had been desiring to create my own crochet pieces. But I get stuck on the idea that I just don’t know how to put stitches together, or, in the aspect of making doilies, how much to increase with each round.

It’s been catching up on me, though. The need to create my own projects. And, yes, I believe it’s a need. The Lord has given me this gift and the desire to crochet. I love that things are created with yarn and a hook. It’s amazing to me. But there was something missing.

I have been working on a Superman blanket that I charted out myself and have come to the conclusion that cross stitching on an afghan stitch canvas would yield better results. I will be finishing the blanket how I started it, but I want to try out the cross stitch on an afghan stitch canvas.

Well, today I had decided to practice the afghan stitch/Tunisian stitch. This is a first for me because I usually do not practice crochet stitches, I just pick a pattern and crochet it. But I was a little intimidated by cross stitching on an afghan stitch canvas. I had attempted to do the stitch about 2 or 3 times. The first was successful, however, I got some other requests for items to make so the afghan stitch got put to the side. The other 2 times I just couldn’t get it.

I went into my stash and found some grey yarn that I probably wouldn’t be using for anything else and thought this would be good to practice with. After practicing and researching the “curl” and finding out that this is something that happens and that I can work with, I decided to go forward and make a canvas.

As I was crocheting, I turned on some teachings from Morningstar. It’s from a series called Beholding His Glory and is a teaching series on worship. In the teaching, “The Life of a Worshipper”, Leonard Jones points out that we need to give over our grey matter of our minds to creating new things. I smiled as I watched the grey yarn creating a canvas, knowing this was an encouragement from the Lord that I was going in the right direction.

2006-06-16T17:31:00.000-04:00

So, we've been having work done on the house all week. We've had damage to ceilings and wall due to hurricane Wilma last year. My four oldest children are at my mom's for the week. Good timing as I don't know what I would have had the kids do while the work was/is being done. For the moment, the babies and I are either confined to the living room or, later, to my bedroom.

It's been a hard week emotionally. Scott has had something to do outside work/home Monday and Tuesday. He's been working late the other days. I'm stuck at home with no vehicle and no privacy.

Although I'm so happy this work is getting done, I'll be so happy when it's over and I can have my home back.

So, tonight I was feeling a bit emotional. I was listening to these awesome cds by Misty Edwards called Always on His Mind and Eternity. There is this one song that just really spoke to me. I'm going to type out the words, but I found that the music speaks more to me than the actual words do. The music and the way the artist sings it, which cannot be captured in written word. But here it is anyway:

What Only You Can Do

I'll take my cold, cold heart
I'll take my unrenewed mind
I'll take Your word in my hand
and I'll give You time to come and melt me
2x

I can't even love You 'less you call my name
I can't even worship 'less You anoint my heart, God
I can't even want You 'less You want me first
Come, fan the flame
Come, fan the flame

I'll take my cold, cold heart
i'll take my unrenewed mind
I'll take your word in my hand
and i'll give you time to come and melt me

Do what only You can do
Come, fan the flame

Do what only You can do

Just let my heart be alive
Let me be living deep deep on the inside

Come, fan the flame

More on The Da Vinci Code - Opus Dei

2006-05-20T16:39:00.000-04:00

Last night, we were given a book by Josh McDowell called, "The Da Vinci Code - A Quest for Answers". It's a short book with 3 college aged characters discussing the movie and then reading the book together and meeting up once a week to discuss the book. One of the characters has done research on some of the organizations and events that occur in the book. When the other two raise questions, he pulls out the research he has found.

I have not read the book. I have not seen the movie. The only way I will read the book or see the movie is if I do not have to put down any money for it. I do not believe in giving people my money who deliberately mock God's word. Although I trust Josh McDowell and trust that his book is a reavealing of falsehoods in Dan Brown's book, I wanted to research for myself, which I am sure that Josh would be more than happy to see people doing.

I start with the first discussion in Josh's book - The Opus Dei. This is a real organization. According to their site and on a page talking about the book and movie, they let truth seekers know that most of the organization is made up of lay people and 2% are priests. But there are no monks in this organization.

I have been hearing that this movie is entertaining and well done. These people have been taking it in as fiction, pure and simple. They also recognize the falshoods stated in the movie and some disagree with what he has said about Christ. My question is, how can a book and movie with so many falsehoods in it do so well? I understand that it's a novel and not marketed as a documentary, however, having truthful statements about events and organizations is nice to be able to get into the story. Many people get angry and upset when a book or movie is inconsistant or incorrect in their portrayal of firearms. I know I am. When a character has a certain firearm and in the next scene he has a different one in hand (this happens alot) or when the character uses the firearm in a way that particular firearm - if real - cannot work. But when a Christian voices concern about a movie depicting Christianity in such poor lighting we are told, how can a book or movie shake you in your faith? My faith is not shaken. But I do not appreciate the lies that are being told in this book.

Mona Lisa Smile

2006-05-17T08:19:00.000-04:00

Another W.I.P.

I am watching the movie, "Mona Lisa Smile" with Julia Roberts. Based in 1953, a radical thinker from California comes to the west coast to teach art at a conservative women's college.

I knew that I would like the movie. I knew that the writers wanted to "liberate" the minds of the conservative, or to show it's liberal audience how silly and primitive conservatives are.

The audience is supposed to shudder at the thought of young women being pruned to become wives and mothers and not even out of college.

I am a Christian. I am not religeous. Well, I don't want to be.

Conform to what other people expect or you can (our mega conservative character steps in and finishes the sentence) be ourselves.

It is my belief that liberal society expects women to work. Work, work, work, make money, have sex, get an abortion if you get pregnant, fulfill your dreams now while you are still young. Rise to the top, who cares who you step on.

I'm not saying that the conservative society is better. I don't really know what the conservative society would have women do nowdays. I do know that the choices I have made, the choices my husband and I have made for our family are frowned upon by both sides. 6 children. I stay at home. I homeschool. It's shocking.

We follow what we believe to be the leading of the Holy Spirit. That is the difference between what I do and what a conservative or liberal woman would do. I don't follow what a certain party does or thinks. I don't follow what a religeous party does or think. My frame of reference is the Bible. My bible is the Bible. The inspired word of God. My God is alive. My God is not stuffed in a book. I have a relationship with Him. I know that He has my best interest in mind.

Conservatives are all about traditions.

Liberals are all about breaking them.

No one has all the answers.

I agree with what the writers are saying, that one must not blindly follow others. But don't you dare look down your snooty liberal nose at me, when I tell you that I am a wife who loves her husband. I am a wife who stays at home and homeschools her children. And I want to homeschool through high school. I want my children to be the best at whatever it is they choose to do. But I do think that mothers should be mothers full time. I do not think that it's healthy for a family when a mom works outside the home. The mother should put her husband's needs and the needs of her children first. There is time for a woman, who chooses to get married and have children, to pursue her other dreams after the children have left home.

Ok. So I finished watching the movie. I liked it. I liked the characters and I liked the way Julia Robert's character made the girls think. To not accept something just because it's been this way always.

I did appreciate the interraction between Miss Watson (J.Roberts) and Joan (Julia Stiles) when Miss Watson approached Joan at Joan's house to give her some law school information in the city where Joan's boyfriend was going to be residing. Joan let Miss Watson know that she and her boyfriend eloped last night. Miss Watson was clearly disappointed, but quickly regained her composure and said that Joan could have both. Joan told Miss Watson that being married and having a family was what she wanted. Joan reminded Miss Watson that she told the girls to go after what you wanted. Joan told Miss Watson that what she wanted was to be a wife and mother.

The problem with the interraction was that I was made to believe that Joan wasn't sincere. That Joan was "settling" because that was what was expected of her and was not really what she wanted. Again, the "conservative" lifestyle was made to look like a compromise and not really following your heart.

We are a diverse nation. We all have our own dreams. Just because I am living out my dream of being a stay-at-home mom and a wife diesn't mean I compromised anything else. Not a balanced movie at all. But, is there really a balanced movie out there? This one just struck a nerve because I felt that the "family structure" was being attacked.

The Da Vinci Code

2006-05-16T10:27:00.000-04:00

Rick Joyner at Morningstar Ministries had some good information on the book, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I encourage anyone wanting to seek out truth on this to include this on your list of things to read.

The Da Vinci Code and The Gospel of Judas
Rick Joyner's Word of the Week for week 19 also touches on this.

Rogue Waves

2006-05-10T20:39:00.000-04:00

I had been watching the television show on the Discovery Channel called, "Deadliest Catch". Cool show about Alaskan crab fishermen. They had mentioned something about rogue waves coming and coming over the ship.

Monday morning, I awoke to a strange dream. I was in the ocean. There were lots of people there at the beach. This wave comes out of nowhere. It's HUGE. It is over us and smashes us down. I'm ok and look back and there is another one. I run to the beach and the next wave comes and overtakes the beach.

There's more to the dream, but more on that later.

I'm now going through the tv guide looking for interesting shows to record and come across History Channel's, Rogue Waves. I'm watching it now and am reminded of my dream and what I saw on Deadliest Catch.

I think I have some research to do and see what God is speaking in this.

I write to you, little children

2006-05-03T11:40:00.000-04:00

I write to you, little children,
Because your sins are forgiven
you for His name's sake.
I write to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him
who is from the beginning.
I write to you, youn men,
Because you have overcome
the wicked one.
I write to you, little children,
Because you have known the
Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him
who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, youn men,
Because you are strong, and
the word of God abides in you,
And you have overcome the wicked one.

1 John 2:12-14

Jeremiah 17:1-18

2006-05-02T10:42:00.000-04:00

My calendar for May has the scripture Jeremiah 17:7,8 - Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord...he will be like a tree planted by the water.

I love this verse. I want to be like a tree planted by the water. I want to be blessed because I trust in the Lord. This verse is awesome. But I wanted to dig a bit deeper and read what happened before Jeremiah wrote this.

Jeremiah 17:1-18

1 "Judah's sin is engraved with an iron tool,
inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts
and on the horns of their altars.

2 Even their children remember
their altars and Asherah poles
beside the spreading trees
and on the high hills.

3 My mountain in the land
and your wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,
together with your high places,
because of sin throughout your country.

4 Through your own fault you will lose
the inheritance I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies
in a land you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
and it will burn forever."

5 This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.

8 He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."

9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

10 "I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
according to what his deeds deserve."

11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
is the man who gains riches by unjust means.
When his life is half gone, they will desert him,
and in the end he will prove to be a fool.

12 A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,
is the place of our sanctuary.

13 O LORD, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust
because they have forsaken the LORD,
the spring of living water.

14 Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed;
save me and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.

15 They keep saying to me,
"Where is the word of the LORD ?
Let it now be fulfilled!"

16 I have not run away from being your shepherd;
you know I have not desired the day of despair.
What passes my lips is open before you.

17 Do not be a terror to me;
you are my refuge in the day of disaster.

18 Let my persecutors be put to shame,
but keep me from shame;
let them be terrified,
but keep me from terror.
Bring on them the day of disaster;
destroy them with double destruction.

I want to be that tree planted by the water. I want to make sure that I don't let sin in my life get in the way.

Mommy, are we going to Morningstar today?

2006-05-01T22:23:00.000-04:00

I've been hearing that every day for a week now. It's awesome. The Auld family is going to The Gathering Conference at Morningstar June 29 - July 1. I'm SO excited and so is the rest of the family. Kenaniah, our 3-year-old, has been the one asking me every day. I've been playing the Morningstar worship DVDs and I showed the kids that that's where we are going and that we are staying in the hotel where the conference is going to be held. Kenny wants the conference to be tomorrow! How sweet. He's actually the only one of my kids to have gone to a Morningstar conference. But he cannot remember as he was less than a year old. :)

Frann. Debbie.

2006-04-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

I believe that God uses dreams to speak to us. I woke up this morning (maybe around 8:00 or so) to a woman saying, "Frann. Debbie." My mother-in-law's name is Frann. My name is Debbie. My first thought was that an angel was calling both of us. I don't know exactly why, and I did ask God why we were both called. I know that we both suffer/suffered in the past from asthma. So I prayed against asthma, prayed for healing from asthma. I also prayed protection for Frann.

I do pray that the Lord reveal more as the day goes on regarding this.

Hatred and the Power of Forgiveness

2006-04-28T13:19:00.000-04:00

I'm listening to a Jack Deere teaching, "The Power of Forgiveness" part 1. I am only 23 minutes into it and have heard the first 15 minutes of it about 4 times today. I'm coming up against some massive opposition to listening to this teaching. It's amazing. I know that it's something that I have to listen to as I'm dealing with forgiveness issues right now. I'd much rather sweep the issues under a rug and forget about them than deal with this forgiveness thing that is so hard.

Anyway, Jack, Mr. Deere, is talking about a time he was praying for this 23 year old woman who has arthritis. He's praying and he thinks that it doesn't seem right that someone so young has arthritis. He hears two phrases. "Failed romance". "Fired". So, he asked her about these things and it turns out that a guy she was involved with broke up with her and around that time she had been fired from a job that she loved working with people that she loved.

Jack told her that she needed to do two things. He said that first she needed to tell God that she forgives them for firing her and then ask God to forgive her for hating them all these years.

Then Jack went on to say that it's not popular in "the church" to say that you hate someone. Some people will say, "you don't really hate someone, you're just very irritated with them." He was saying that you need to be real and understand what it is that you are really feeling. Stop being "religious". Can't we call hate, "resentment, bitterness, advanced loathing". 1 John - if it's not love, it's hatred.

Anger, unforgiveness, rottenness. Wanting someone to pay for their wrong. Proverbs 27:4 - Anger is cruel. Anger is the exact opposite of the currency of the Kingdom of Christ. When we hold anger in our heart, and we don't want to forgive them because they don't deserve it. It's like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies from it.

Lord, thank you for helping me to let go of this. You are an awesome God who loves me.

The beauty of the cross will have it's way in me.

Take my life
I belong to You
Take my life
You make all things new
Take my life
I belong to you
Take my life
You make all things new

I belong to you

Coffee Tavern

2006-04-28T13:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I cleaned off my desk. It's something I need to do about once a week since I put tons of stuff on it all the time. I came across a coffee mug I bought from a place called the Coffee Tavern.

About 2 years ago, Scott, the kids and I went to North Carolina for our family vacation. A friend of ours told us to check out the Coffee Tavern. She had seen it online and thought for sure I'd like it.

We went and it was great. It's this barn that's also a coffee place. It's pretty big. It has a deck that goes all the way around. Besides the strip mall and medical building, there are woods and grassy areas all around. Nice and peaceful. It's deck intersects with a walking path through the area.

This morning I was thinking about the Coffee Tavern. I think it would be so nice to have something like that here. Some place to gather together with others, walk outside, enjoy the scenery.

*Sigh* I'm just feel nostalgic right now. :)

Coffee Tavern's web site

Being obedient to the voice of God

2006-04-28T13:17:00.000-04:00

I'm listening to Brad McClendon speak. I have the mp3 of the Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare Conference. Brad's teaching is Ministry of Deliverance and Healing. The teaching is just really stirring up my faith. It's a reminder that God said in John 14:11-14, "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Sometimes I think it's a scary prayer to pray - "Lord, I want to do greater things than what you had been doing. Use me, Lord. I will obey." But I want to see God's Kingdom come and it starts with the Kingdom inside of me coming out. I think that asking the Lord to use us as He will is the the only way for the Kingdom to come. So that is the prayer I will pray today. Use me, Lord.

~just a thought~

You have not because you ask not

2006-04-28T13:16:00.000-04:00

I recently heard a story.

A friend had been receiving phone calls to his cell phone and it was the wrong number. It was a collection agency trying to get a hold of a customer who was behind on their car payments. The collection agency kept calling. I suppose they thought my friend was lying about it being a wrong number or something. Well, my friend decided that since they kept calling, he would go ahead, take the calls as this person and see about getting some grace on this loan for the person. He figured it wasn't going to cost HIM anything, why not? I don't know exactly what happened, but it made me think. Why do I get fearful and intimidated whenever I'm on the phone with these people? It's crazy, I tell you.

Today I checked our bank balance online. Yesterday we had purchased tickets for the family to attend a Morningstar Conference and 2 hotel rooms. Cost a pretty penny, but it was a good price, considering. Anyway, I realized that there wasn't quite enough in the bank to cover it. So I had to write a check from another account we have to cover it. When I checked the bank yesterday, the charges had not gone through. I checked today and the deposit was listed first, but then the bank charged us, 4 times, NSF fees of $25 each! So, I thought, why not call and see about getting the charges reversed? What can that hurt? So I did. The gentleman I spoke with put me on hold, came back and said, "I went ahead and reversed the charges." Cool.

I figured, let's see what my mortgage company will do for me. We have been paying our payments the month the payment is due, but after the grace period. I wanted to see about getting the due date moved from the 1st to the 20th. Unfortunatley, I was unable to make this happen. I did find out, though, that it does not affect our credit when we are late, as long as we pay that month. That's helpful since we are working on getting that fixed up. The $65 late fee a month is hurting a bit, though. Maybe one day, soon, we can get caught up. But the important issue to remember is that I got brave and called to see if it could happen. I was nice on the phone and not intimidated. It was a great feeling. :)

Now, I know that in the context of James 4:2, James is letting us know that we need to ask God with correct motives and not to be greedy. And I don't believe I was being greedy. ;)

Molly Williams

2006-04-28T13:15:00.000-04:00

I love listening to Molly's music and know that God has many exciting plans for this woman of God.

This is her MySpace site

This is her website

Enjoy God through Molly's music.

Blue Jays

2006-04-28T13:13:00.000-04:00

About 9 years ago, I was sitting in my little kitchen crying out to the Lord about our financial situation. Things looked bleak. We were about to lose our house and file bankruptcy. I prayed and asked God to show me a sign that things were going to be ok. I looked at our bird feeder and said, "Lord, just let a bird show up at the feeder". Sounds like a silly prayer? Not really. I had yet to see a bird at our feeder - and I sat there looking for birds to come.

Well, soon after that prayer, I saw a blue jay appear and I was SO excited! Now, we did lose the house and we did file bankruptcy. However, we have never had to live on the streets, I am able to stay home with my kids - all 6 of them! - and God has blessed us mightily. Every time I see a blue jay, I am reminded that the Lord cares enough to let me know that He's there, listening to my prayers and He's in control.

He is jealous for me

2006-04-28T13:12:00.000-04:00

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I'm unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me

Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so

We are His portion and He is our pride
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
And grace is an ocean and we're all sinking
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy, wet kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
Well, I'll think about the way
He loves us

My little guy is a big boy now

2006-04-28T13:11:00.000-04:00

Kenaniah is 3. He will be 4 on July 30. He has been potty trained for the most part for a few months now. He's been slow on the naptime/bedtime stuff, though. We've had him in pullups. Well, we ran out and Scott decided we would try him without. That was Sunday afternoon, all day Monday and all day Tuesday. He woke up dry all those time.

I am so happy. Logan's diapers are going to last longer and I no longer have to buy pull ups. At least not for another year when Logan is ready. :)

Bad Days

2006-04-28T13:09:00.000-04:00

Originally posted on 4/18/06

It's amazing that one little thing can just set me off. I guess if you were to look deep enough, you'd know that it wasn't REALLY just one little thing. It was simply something that reminded me of an underlying issue that has not been resolved. It seems as if it just will not go away.

Oh, if only... No. I will not go there.

God, remove the root of bitterness so that this cannot happen. Remove the root of bitterness so that the enemy cannot win the battles if/when this happens again.

I just need to listen to Inhheritance again.

The Lord says that there is nothing that you can do
That would make Him love you more
There is also nothing you can do
That would make Him love you less
He loves you because he loves you
because he loves you because he loves you
because he loves you because he loves you
because he loves you because he loves you
because he loves you because he loves you
Because that is what He is like
It is His nature to love
And you will always be the beloved
And His love is unchanging
And He loves you 100%
He won’t love you any better when you become better
He loves you 100% right now
And even if you have no plans to become better
He will still love you 100%
Because he loves you
Because that’s the way that He is
And even if you don’t want to change
He will love you 100%
Even if you have no plans to walk with him
He will love you 100%
Because that’s His nature
He loves all the way – all the time
His love is unchanging
What will change, says the Lord, is your ability to receive my love
And this evening, I want to cram some more of that ability inside you
So I challenge you, says the Lord
Open your heart to Me
Open your heart to Me
And you will receive more of my love than you have ever experienced before
I dare you, says the Lord, come up
Open your heart to Me
Give me your heart
Give me whatever your obstacle is
I’ll take it. I’ll remove it out of the way
Because I love you as you are right now
I love you 100% as you are right this moment
I love you as you are
So be loved. You are the beloved
It is your job, says the Lord, to be loved outrageously
It is why I chose you
That is why I set my love upon you
That you would live as one who is outrageously loved
That you would receive a radical love
So radical that it will blow all your paradigms of what you think that love is
And know, says the Lord, that I will love you outrageously all the days of your life
Because I don’t know how to be any different
This is who I am
And this is who I will always be
This is the I Am that I promised you
I am He that loves you outrageously
And you may love Me back with the love that I give you
You may love Me back outrageously with the outrageous love that I bestow upon you
And know this says the Lord that you can only love Me as much as you love yourself
So My love comes this evening to set you free from yourself
To set you free from how you see yourself
To set you free from the smallness of your own thinking about yourself
My love comes to set you free from rejection and from shame
and low self esteem and from despair and from abuse
Because when I look at you says the Lord
I see something that I love
I see someone that I can love outrageously
And I have so much to bestow upon you
So much to give you
So many places to take you in my heart
But you can’t go there unless you allow Me to love you
And My love for you will break every barrier
bring every wall crashing down
And know this, says the Lord, My love damages fear
My love hates fear
My love will fight fear
It will fight fear in you
It will fight fear around you
And if you have fear this evening says the Lord, than know that you have a treat in store
Because My perfect love casts out fear
There is no fear where I am present
Because My love casts out fear
Beloved, you are My beloved
You are MY beloved
And in My love I want you to feel good about yourself

Jeremiah Bowser

2006-04-28T13:08:00.000-04:00

This week I am going to point you to Jeremiah Bowser. I had purchased his latest cd and absolutely love it. Normally I import new cds into my computer since I have a tendacy to lose things. I had forgotten to do this with Jeremiah's cd. I brought the cd out to the living room to play in the DVD player. I forgot to take it back out again and the kids had since watched Chronicle of Narnia on the DVD player.

I went looking for the cd and found it in the living room, tossed aside on the book shelf. I looked it over and found some scratches on it! I was so upset. :( I took it into the bathroom to wash it with soap and dry with a soft towel. I then imported the album into my computer. After doing so, I played it on my bedroom DVD player. It worked fine. Whew.

Jeremiah is currently working on a new album and you can visit his blog to keep up with what's going on. Jeremiah's MySpace

I hope you enjoy his music as much as I have been.

Be blessed in Jesus' name. :)

Working Out

2006-04-28T13:06:00.000-04:00

I had gotten very lazy over the years and my body is definately showing it.

Monday I started going for walks. I am starting at 15 minute walks since 15 minutes is just about all I can handle.

Thursday I didn't go. I had to wait for the handiman and by the time he left I was depressed that I'm still handwashing dishes and still have a leak under the sink. So I didn't go out walking. And I paid for it. I was lazy all day. I know that had I walked I would have felt better. I looked on the tv for any excersize programs, but they come on early in the morning. So I went ahead and set Denise Austin's 2 shows to record the next day.

Yesterday I walked and in the afternoon I did the fit and lite program which is pilates and yoga. Ok. Not bad. I can tell I'm out of shape, but I can do this.

This morning I started with the fit and lite and then went to her aerobics. Oh man. When she got to the abs, I had to stop. Made me sad to see how strong I wasn't. But, you know what? I am getting stronger. I can feel it already. One day I'll be able to do the whole program. As long as I stick to it.

Jackson

2006-04-28T13:05:00.001-04:00

On January 5, I found out through a forum I post at, there was a little boy who was born at 29 weeks. They didn't expect him to last long as he had calcification of the heart. His parents are friends of one of the posters on this forum. I asked her if it would be alright to make a blanket for him. She said yes, but wasn't sure how long little Jack would live. I made it and had my intercessor group pray over it.

They received the blanket and even posted about it on their online journal at CaringBridge. They sent me a Thank You note and mentioned that it matched the colors in his room. It was a green color.

I had been following closely and rejoiced with the family when they brought him home. They brought him home in the blanket I made for them as a symbol of all the people they didn't know who were praying for their little Jack-Pot.

On Monday he was taken to the hospital because of labored breathing. The docs figured out what was causing the labored breathing, but it compromised his heart.

Early Friday morning, Jackson passed away. I was so sad when I read this and when I visited his site this morning and read about the funeral arrangements, I cried even more.

This little guy lived for 3 months when he wasn't even expected to live a week. Even though I didn't personally know Jackson, I will never forget him.

Morningstar Worship DVD

2006-04-28T13:05:00.000-04:00

The Fed Ex man just dropped off my set of DVDs from Morningstar for the worship at the Kingdom Leadership Conference.

Oh boy am I excited. :)

You can get a set, too. ;)

Just click here.

Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker

2006-04-28T13:00:00.000-04:00

In November, I think, I stopped drinking Coke. I would drink 3-6 cans of Coke a day. Insane, I know. I went from Coke to Diet Sierra Mist. But that was only for a couple of weeks. I rarely drink soda anymore. If I "need" a soda, I'll grab one of Scott's diet cokes. I will also drink an orange soda if we are out. But I mostly drink iced tea.

I would boil water and pour it over the tea bags in a small pitcher. I'd be making it every day. I went to Walmart one day and saw the Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker. At first I thought, why would I spend $20 on something like this? I can make iced tea just fine.

Well, I decided to get it. I love it. You add water to it like you would a coffee maker. A pitcher comes with it - a 3 quart pitcher. You don't add 3 quarts of water to the maker. You add 3 cups. The pitcher is then filled with 3 quarts of ice. You add your tea - loose or in bags and you can also add sweetners and flavorings (put in a coffee filter if you are going to use loose tea and/or other additives). The pitcher is placed flush to the maker and the maker will dispense the tea into the pitcher on top of the ice. The ice will melt only a little, but then you put the pitcher in the refrigerator so the ice stays pretty much until the tea is gone. I love it that I don't have to do 3 steps.

Just wanted to share. :)

Yes, I got the blue. I love blue. :)

Click here to buy online from Walmart

Oh, yeah. Make sure you have plenty of ice on hand before you decide to make some. The first time I tried this, I found all my ice trays empty. My kids use ice and don't fill the trays back up. That lovely habit has since stopped. I have 6 ice cube trays and use about 4 of them. Today I used all 6, but there were cubes missing from some of them. Maybe the lesson hasn't been learned, yet. That reminds me. I need to get new ice trays. :)

Adam Nitti

2006-04-28T12:59:00.000-04:00

The bass player on our worship team had heard about this awesome bass player who played at the Morningstar conference - Kingdom Leadership Conference held in February 2006. She loaned the DVD to my husband and we watched Adam Nitti play. Wow. The whole worship team was awesome, as usual, but I had never seen Adam play.

I found his MySpace site and added his song to my profile. Very talented man of God. Check him out when you get a chance.

Adam's MySpace site.

Adam's website.

Holy Week

2006-04-28T12:58:00.000-04:00

I read the verse of the day at Gospelcom.net. It is Romans 5:6-8 - You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I grew up in a denomination where church traditions were very important. I am no longer in that denomination, however, having been infused in the traditions for 9 years - going to the church's grade school from kindergarten through 8th grade - I remember clearly the traditions.

Holy week was one of the important holidays. We would go to school through noon on Good Friday. At noon there would be a church service and then we would go home. If I recall correctly, every Good Friday was overcast and often stormy.

I held Good Friday in high esteem. Even though I didn't have a relationship with the God of the universe, I knew He existed and I was fully aware of what transpired on that first Friday. I was always so sad. I knew the reason for His death, I knew I would be lost without that death, but I was so heartbroken that Jesus had to die such an awful, painful, long death. Maybe I never realized that He would have done it only for me if it came right down to it. I wasn't angry at those who actually put Him to death. That's good, because later, I would have had to be angry at myself, realizing that I would have had to be angry with myself. But it's interesting looking back at my days in grade school and thinking on the traditions of long ago.

As soon as I got home, there was Easter to look forward to and, of course, a week off of school. Good Friday was over and I didn't have to think about the death of my Savior anymore.

Sometimes I run across something that asks what our regrets are. I spent 18 years in a denomination that didn't believe one could have a relationship with God. We prayed, but didn't really expect an answer to prayer. Maybe on the large scale, for the denomination, for missionaries, for countries, but not really for our own personal requests. My denomination didn't believe in the supernatural workings of our God. Well, at least, they didn't believe that regular people could walk in those workings. They didn't want kids listening to Christian music. It was explained to me that it would encourage those kids to think outside denominational teachings. The denominational teachings were preserved in hymns of long ago and there was no danger of us learning wrong theologies through the hymns. Christian music is written by people of many different denominations and learning about different theologies is a big no-no in that denomination.

I am no longer a part of that denomination and I am thankful for that. It's a wonderful thing to have a relationship with God. It's wonderful to see His awesome workings in my life and answered prayers and to see Him work in the prophetic words He gives me for others. I would not want my life to be any different. Well, I would love for my relationship with Him to be deeper, but that will come. I do not regret my time spent in that denomination. I was able to learn important biblical truths that I know helped lay the foundation of my faith. I knew without a doubt that Jesus was real, that He is God and that He died so that I might live, and I knew without a doubt that when I died I was going to Heaven to be with him. I was not looking forward to spending forever in Heaven. I thought it would be boring, but I knew I'd be there one day.

This holy week, what will my heart ponder upon? Will I look to this week as putting to death my flesh so that I can rise in glory with my Lord. So that I can rise above my circumstances and walk in confidence in who I am in Jesus? It sounds like a good start to my week.

i'm off to take a walk to put to death my flesh and reflect on the goodness of God.

The weather in Florida

2006-04-28T12:57:00.000-04:00

I left in Scott's truck to pick up some pizza for tonight's dinner. I looked at the sky, which promised rain. But in Florida, what looks to be promising rain is more like a tease. I was going to say it was a lie, however, that would not be correct. One just has to learn to read the skies in Florida, and I am not sure anyone has that art down yet.

I was hoping it would rain. It has been 2 weeks and 2 days since our last rain. That was a Thursday. I remember it well. Our lawn service had just been by, although they had already been by in March. Joel had been by to pick up my kids to take them to their homeschool athletic class. He dropped off his daughters in exchange. My oldest daughter was staying home with me. I heard thunder in the distance and reluctantly unplugged the modem, the televisions, and the replay machines. Not long after the rains came down. I made sure the buckets were in place, since we are still suffering from the effects of Wilma. Then the storm passed. I was hoping for a little bit longer storm, for the grass, but it was ok. Not long after, I went outside. I don't remember why. They sky was green. It was still. I looked up at the sky and the clouds were swirling. My stomach dropped. I shooed my daughter inside and said, there's going to be a tornado. I quickly prayed that there wouldn't be and that our house would be kept safe. Then the winds came. They were strong and reminded me of Wilma, which frightened me and made me wish that Scott was home. I sent him a text message alerting him to the storm. When he called me back I asked if he thought the kids were safe at the park. He assured me that they would be fine.

I heard this awful noise at our front window and thought for sure that the wind was going to bust it in. The rain was blowing right at the window and I couldn't see out. But I realized that what I was hearing was hail. Yes, hail in Florida. It happens about once a year. Joel brought the kids home early. The class was dismissed because of the storm, and yes, a tornado was sighted.

So, that was it. We hadn't had rain since. And our grass is cruchy. Nice description, huh? Well, it is. We had been hoping for rain so we wouldn't have to run the sprinklers.

Oh, yeah, back to my trip to get pizza. I'm driving down the road and I realize, a mile from my house, that the road is wet. No rain in sight, but the road is wet a mile from my house. Now, why coudn't have rained at my house???

*sigh* You know that song, "Have you ever seen the sun on a rainy day?" I have one for you, "Have you ever seen the rain on a rainy day?" Because I sure didn't.

Being Crucified with Christ

2006-04-28T12:56:00.000-04:00

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20

My prayer for the day. That the reality of this verse sinks into my heart.

I have been crucified with Christ. Does this mean that all my fleshy junk died, too? Does this mean that I don't have to get frustrated with my kids when they don't behave as I think they should? That I can walk in peace and choose to, instead of REACTING, I can be kind and gentle. That means that I don't have to lie down and accept whatever, but I can gracefully deal with the circumstances that come my way, because I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God. Each step I take, each task I tackle, each breath I take, I do it all by faith in the Son of God. I can choose to let this be a normal Friday, allowing my circumstances to swallow me whole and get frustrated and angry and out of peace (yes, this happens every Friday) or I can remember that the life I live in my body, I will live by faith in the Son of God, faith that I can tackle this day gracefully, gently, knowing that the Son of God loves me. The Son of God loves ME. The Son of God loves me, Debbie. The Son of God loves me. He gave himself for me. For ME. For me. The Son of God loves me and gave himself for me.

Lord, as I go through this day, make this verse alive in me. Debbie has been crucified with Christ and she no longer lives, but Christ in her. The life she lives in the body, she lives by faith in the Son of God, who loved her and gave himself for her.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

And I am OUTRAGEOUSLY LOVED. <~~~~ That is a clickable link to some awesome words.

Don't Go Away

2006-04-28T12:55:00.000-04:00

I found Jeremiah's myspace and fell in love with the song, "Love is Everywhere". I went to his web site and purchased his CD, Don't Go Away. I purchased it April 3 and just got it in the mail today.

I'm very pleased with it so far.

God bless you, Jeremiah.

Not content

2006-04-28T12:54:00.000-04:00

I'm not content. I'm not content to sit on the sidelines and watch anymore. I am sick and tired of caring what others think. If I put half the effort in pleasing my God as I do making sure I don't look foolish, well, I'd be well on my way to being content.

Change. It's in the air. It has been. But I think it's finally starting to permeate thick skins. I literally see raindrops with the word change in them soaking into a thick layer of skin. It's coming. And when change comes there's no going back to what was. When change comes, there is no WANT to go back to the way things were.

Over a year ago I crocheted a banner that says change. It's framed and hanging in my room. I think it's time to take it down off the wall and bring it to church with me, along with my Love Affair picture. I have GOT to stop worrying about what others think. I created these pieces for the Lord, not for anyone else. He delights in me and I want His love to come bursting out of me.

I'm getting ansty, like I'm super excited for something and I don't know what. But I do know what. I'm so excited to see what the Lord is going to do.

God, I surrender myself to you. Do with me what you will. I am yours. I will not let fear of man or anything physical get in my way of worship to you you.

Be glorified in me. YEAH GOD!

Glory to God Designs

2006-04-28T12:53:00.000-04:00

I had been surfing Myspace and found some really cool sites. One in particular is called Glory to God Designs. Melissa makes beautiful jewelry. Check her out:

Glory to God Designs