Tuesday, June 30, 2009

What's Up?

You may wonder where I am and why I have not posted since last week. I am getting ready for a mission trip to Vail, Arizona. We leave on Saturday, July 4th, and come back on July 11th. I am working like a busy little bee to get everything packed and the house as clean as time will allow before I leave. I've had some distractions, but God is good and His purpose will be achieved.

New verses to memorize:

John 10:10 - The thief comes only to kill, steal, and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

James 1:2-3 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

PS. I am loving the LPM summer siesta bible study - "Me, Myself, and Lies" by Jennifer Rothschild. Great study.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

I'm Learning

Last week when the A/C was still out, we visited my mom's house and hung out at her pool a lot. Once again, I learned something. I happened to be sitting out of the pool at this particular time, and my daughter wanted to jump into the pool. Pea had already been jumping in, so she wanted to do it too. And, she wanted to do it BY HERSELF. You know how that goes - they are so jealous of one another, so they have to try to one up the other one. Anyhow, she wanted to do it by herself, but she lacked the follow-through confidence to make it off of the ledge without hurting herself when she jumped. The first time her back hit the wall. The second time her bottom hit the wall. So I said, "Okay, you can't do that anymore." She got in one of her moods and sat down angrily on the edge of the pool. Since I was really a sideline viewer and not an actual participant of the drama, I realized what I had done, which I so often do. I kicked her confidence when it was already low. Of course, what I intended to say was that you need to stop and either jump farther or hold Nana's hand to learn how to jump farther, but that's not the first thing that came out.

My daughter is a lot like me - very sensitive to others, and she really wants to do it right the first time, or she feels like a failure. And of course, as a child, she is still learning how to be confident and do things even when she might mess up at first. The difference between us is that as a child, I did not have an outlet to voice my fears or failures, and as such, I struggled with insecurity and low self esteem for a long time (still do at times). I was taught to stuff my thoughts inside and not to have emotions. My fear is that I will make my daughter into me. So, even though, sometimes there are a lot of emotional fits and tantrums which are unpleasant, I am hoping my daughter has a voice and can learn to talk about these things in a healthy way.

I gave her a few moments to cool off, and then I said, "I'm sorry, Princess." She said in a small voice, "That's okay, Mommy." Then she got up and tried again and had a lot of fun.

Ephesians 6:4 says, "Do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Lord, help me to parent so as not to provoke to anger. Help me to see my children through your eyes that I might encourage when encouragement is needed and instruct when instruction is needed.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Praying for Their Footsteps


Father God,

I pray for Princess that she would grow in understanding of You, Lord, and what it means to tell other people about Jesus. Help her to understand that you do not have to know everything about Jesus to know Him and be His child.

Lord, I pray that Princess would not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifice God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16

Lord, I pray for Pea that he would do to others as he would have done to him. Luke 6:31

I pray that both of them will grow in love - love that is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud. 1 Corinthians 13:4

I pray that that would grow in love for you - that they would desire to obey your commands, because your commands are not burdensome. 1 John 5:3

I continue to pray that they may come to know you at an early age - for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13

Saturday, June 20, 2009

The Flowers

One day earlier this week Princess decided to pick a flower off of one of the day lilies. I was fine with her picking a flower. From time to time, we let her pick our flowers for enjoyment. This time however, she picked a bloom with 9 other buds on it that had not bloomed yet. This made me sad. There were nine other flowers that could have matured and that we could have enjoyed at some point later. Yet because they were picked too early, they instead died.

This made me think of the Father, and about how we probably don't let some things mature like they should. One example is a baby Christian. When we are content to allow the mature leaders to do all of the work, we don't allow the baby Christians to mature and become beautiful flowers themselves. Another example would be when the less mature Christian is "picked" by deceit and believes lies that he was not created to believe. John 15:5 says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing." Well, because of Princess's mistake, I made the observation that a branch cannot separate itself from the vine. Someone must pick it, nature could sever it, but there is nothing it can do on its own other than not be fed by the vine. I think then in the John 15 example, we must train ourselves to hear the Father's voice and only His, so that we do NOT believe the lies Satan throws our way causing us to wither and die and be separated from the vine. The bible says the only way to remain in Him, to bear fruit and flowers ;) is to know His commands - know what the bible says.

Can you think of some other spiritual examples?

The A/C

has been out for what seems to be a really long time. Yesterday, I had a biopsy, which appears will be good results. I will know for sure in the coming week. But after I got home, my kids were at mom's, and Daniel went back to work, and it was just me and the A/C repairman. He worked, while it got hotter and hotter. It actually got up to 90 degrees in here. Having no one to care for and nothing in particular to do was actually difficult and the raising heat did not make it any better! I watched a movie. I worked puzzles. I put on my swimsuit and went outside (the cooler option). I paced. I did not look at the computer much yesterday. It just seemed too hot to do. Finally after working all day, the A/C began putting out cool air. Praise the Lord for A/C!

The A/C was out for a little over 2 weeks! In the beginning we called a familiar company to come and fix it, but they gave us an estimate of $1600 for one solution and $4000 for the suggested all purpose solution. We said thank you, paid our $85, and began looking for other solutions. Daniel was given the name of a family friend who works on air conditioners, so he decided to call him, even though my sister in law had warned me not to. I followed along with what my hubby had decided. The family friend came out, replaced the part, and lo and behold, the A/C still did not work. Then he came the next day, replaced the unit for free, and lo and behold, the A/C still did not work. He came the very next day to recharge the freon, and still, the A/C did not work. Oh my! Then he decided that the original part had been defective, ordered a new part, and sent someone else out a whole week later.

I was actually very patient although not fully supportive of Daniel's decision to use this man. In the middle of VBS, I was HOT and tired and lost it one night. Okay, not so bad, but not wonderful either. However, when somebody would ask about it, I would tell them the whole megillah (the whole story for those of you who have not studied Beth Moore's Esther). Many women would say things like, "Well, I would not be as patient as you." Despite being somewhat patient and even submissive to my husband's choice, I was still undermining my husband's decision by telling the whole story and my hesitation with his choice. After the first week was over, I began to realize that even though I was being somewhat patient, I had still hurt Daniel by not supporting him 100% in this decision. There was little I could do in the way of taking back my words. No, the damage had been done, and all I could do was really support his decision.

Anyhow, I learned a lot about being Daniel's helpmate in the way of supporting him this week, because I made a bad decision. Some would say he made a bad decision. Maybe he did, but it was his bad decision to learn from, just as I learned from mine. There is more to the story about the fixing of the A/C which includes Daniel doing some of the work himself, but hey, I am one cool momma right now.

Lord, help me to build up my husband and not to tear Him down.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Another Award


I've won an award. I love to get awards. Sarah from God's Not Finished with Us Yet nominated me for an Kreativ Blogger Award, and I am sincerely happy and blessed to receive it! Thank you, Sarah!! As a recipient of this award, you are supposed to nominate 7 people to receive the award, and you are to tell 7 things that your blog readers may not already know about you.

First, the nominees:

1. Robin at Robin's Chicks - this is a very humorous mommy blog. Robin and I went to high school together and connected on facebook and in the blog world. Her blog is such a funny read - she even has her own newspaper column now and is also working on getting a book published.

2. Courtney at A Day in the Life of a Housewife - this is a great crafting blog. I am not crafty in the least little bit, so I love to look at the crafty things that Courtney comes up with - they are so beautiful and delicate looking. Courtney has been a great encouragement to me through the blog world.

3. Shirley at Alabama Times - a blog about life in Alabama when you are not from here. Ha! Shirley moved from Pennslyvania, and her husband does prison ministry. She blogs about daily life, and I love reading about God's work in her life and about how selfless people are for her family. She is one of the first people who read my blog somewhat regularly that doesn't know me personally, and I love her blog.

4. Alabama Bloggers - I recently found this blog site, and I love it. It is a place for other Alabama bloggers to connect and blog together. I don't know if this site even receives blog awards, but I love it anyway. :)

5. Brooke at Off the Cuff and On the Fly - this is great blog about the Thompson family, and it talks about everything from vacations to homeschooling to a mommy learning a new sport - runnning. A good read!

6. Valerie at It's a Wonderful Life - this blog is new to me, as in I found it because of the LPM bible study I am going to participate in, but I wanted to nominate a blog new to me too.

7. Lindy at Levi Hughes - this blog is all about baby Levi and what he is doing.

Now for the 7 useless, but still rather interesting and new/updated, facts about me:

1. After having my second baby, I like eating pickles on my Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, and I've never liked pickles on any sandwich. Also, now I like to eat guacamole too.

2. I had a c-section first and a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) second.

3. I made straight A's until I switched high schools (that's why I love awards so much), but much to my chagrin, I was already behind the other honors students when I transferred in the 10th grade. I did not make straight A's in college.

4. I have always wanted to write and publish a book since I was like 7. I "wrote" one right after my baby sister was born telling about her birth, and my best friend, and our move from Anniston to Cordova shortly thereafter.

5. I would love to adopt a child, especially an ethnic baby, but an American child would be good too.

6. Both of my children nursed almost exclusively from me and had a total of less than twenty bottles for the first year of their lives. We own several bottles but really did not need them.

7. I can imitate people's voices very well, and this also includes some TV and cartoon characters. For example, I usually only read the VeggieTales book "in character." And, if I have talked to you and you have an accent or an interesting way of talking and I'm retelling a story about a conversation we've had, I'm totally going to impersonate you, and I'm pretty good at it. Mind you, I'm not totally making fun, but I love the differences we all have. :) I know somebody out there impersonates my accent too. ;)

Nominees, if you accept this award, please be sure to copy the graphic at the top of this post, and nominate 7 new people and write 7 facts about you. Congratulations!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

More Funnies

Tonight, we actually witnessed a man beating a woman up in a public parking lot. It was very horrible to see it. We managed to flag down the cops who were directing traffic close by, and they went and settled the situation. It stirred up my emotions, and I was thankful that the children did not see it or know what had happened. I feel that God put us there at exactly the right moment to help. Of course, we left, and I don't know what happened next.

Apart from that serious incident, here's a couple of funny things Princess said while we were out tonight.

"Ice cream sure does cool you off. I won't ever get hot again, will I?"

"My belly button makes my love and gives it to me."

Monday, June 15, 2009

Hello again.

Hi!

I have been one little busy bee. I can't even remember what I blogged about last, other than the "Praying for Their Footsteps."

So I'll just start somewhere. We went to the beach with my mother and father in law the first week of June. I meant to post some pics, but posted them to my facebook instead. I'll try to post a couple on here as well. We had a great time.

Last week, we had Vacation Bible School at our church. I taught the 2's and 3's. This is my third year to teach that class, AND I teach it every other Sunday at church, so I am kinda comfortable teaching this age now. I know to expect the crying, the potential potty accidents, and all of that fun stuff. Princess was in my class. We had a lot of fun. It was Thursday when she finally came out of her shell as she tends to be quiet and reserved at church around "new" kids. Thursday was also the day when all of our missions team prayed specifically for Princess. Wow! Prayer is awesome, because that was an awesome Princess day! ;) I had a max of 11 kids and a min of 9 kids. I co-taught, and we had a teenage helper. I really loved being around the kids. Even though I was busy teaching and managing them, I was really able to enjoy them this year too. I'm not sure my enjoyment showed, but I did nevertheless. :)

Friday evening, I got to Ross Bridge for a girl's night away from home. Actually most of the girl's spent a weekend away. I stayed until very late on Saturday night, so it was almost a whole weekend away. I had so much fun getting to know these women better and just chilling and laughing and talking and listening, and especially playing in the pool and sliding. I am so much more comfortable being me as an adult - how I pray that Princess will not be as awkward as I always was. She is so much like me at times. I was very tired today after VBS and since I had very little sleep from the weekend, but I am so glad that I went with the girls.

Princess is doing much better physically, and I am very excited about that. We go to the doctor again on Thursday.

On another note, I will be having a biopsy on Friday, so please keep me in prayer.

We are also trying to get busy preparing for our mission trip which is quickly approaching. We are so excited!!

I am doing the Summer Siesta Bible study, and I have formed a small group. Please let me know if you are in any way interested in joining us!! It starts on Thursday the 25th, and we will meet every other week for a total of 4 times.

ALSO, we are without air conditioning, and we have been for almost 2 weeks now!! Hopefully it will be back on soon.

Summer is VERY busy, so I don't know how well I will do with blogging, because we are on the run a lot, but I will attempt to write some more thoughts soon.

Praying for Their Footsteps


Father God,

I thank you so much for my children. I thank you for seeing your hand at work by praying here for them.

For Princess, I pray that she would grow in love for you and that as she does she would learn to love others as she loves herself. Leviticus 19:18

I pray that she would seek you with all of her heart and that she would find you. Deut 4:29

I pray that as she goes up she will know that she is fearfully and wonderfully made by You. Psalm 139:14

Give both Princess and Pea a heart for the nations that each one would desire to be messengers of your hope all of their lives. Matthew 12:21

For Pea, I pray that you would appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him as you created him to be an adventurous little boy. Psalm 61:7

Lord, I thank you for Your precious presence in our lives. Let us cling to you and seek you always.

Amen.

PS. Mr. Linky is not working properly for me right now, so leave a comment if you wish to link here. Thanks!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Praying for Their Footsteps


Princess has had some health difficulties - none too major, but not minor either. She is doing well right now. I pray for healing over her little body that it would work as God designed it to work, and that it would do and efficient job.

Father God, I pray that both Princess and Pea will enjoy good health and that all will go well with each one. 3 John 2

I pray that you would not let Princess be enslaved by her emotions. Christ has set her free, so let her stand firm, refusing to let herself be burdened by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Let Princess and Pea know that they belong to you. Romans 14:7-9

I pray that Pea would be like Enoch - a man who walked with God and then was no more. I pray that he would be like David - a man after your own heart!

I pray that Princess would be like Ruth - an industrious hard worker (not lazy). I pray that she would be patient, obedient, and noble. Let her use her observant nature for the good of your kingdom and glory, and may it allow her to grow in humility.




Friday, June 5, 2009

Pray for Princess All Day

We found out some issues about Princess, and she is going to have a physically rough day today, so please be praying for her and me too, but mostly her.

Thanks,

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Able

Princess's favorite words to say are those she can just attach the ending -able to, for example:

"I'm not spankable."
"That's not laughable."
"I'm not pickupable."

Notice it is usually used in reference to something she doesn't want done. I'm not quite sure how she figured out that she could add the -able ending to most words to make a new word meaning able to do (fill in the blank with a verb). We get a kick out of it sometimes, especially now that she has used it quite frequently and understand what she means when using it.

For example, spankable means you should not be able to spank me.
That's right, sister, we shouldn't, but you keep being naughty, so we keep doing it.

New Memory Verses

Here are the latest verses I have chosen to memorize following the LPM Scripture Memory.

"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light." Colossians 1:10-12

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:18

"But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the Lord will perish." Isaiah 1:28

Monday, June 1, 2009

Me, me, me

We are on our way to the beach. Here we go again jumping onboard the bandwagon for a free trip to the beach. And free means we are staying 8 to a room at the expense of my mother in law's work, since she will be on a work conference, and we will be schmoozing it up (I mean working real hard at the beach).

A trip to the beach while fun is not a relaxing vacation when you take the kids. It is work, but that is beside the point.

I am writing this post via my Blackberry!

I mentioned before that God has been dealing with me about selfishness in a big way. And of course when one learns about selfishness, you can't help but learn your own selfish ways. It seems that somewhere along the way, I have taken up the world's view of life that I am owed something just for being me. What I mean is in the past, I think, I hope, at some point I wasn't all about me!

Now I find myself focused at times on things I feel I am owed or deserved, when really I deserve nothing, and my sweet Jesus gave me the Cross anyway.

Do I really need recognition for anything? Do I really have "rights"? Must I really care that I feel at times unnoticed? Since when is anyone responsible for anything in my life, but me and God? The Bible says that I "am not my own. I was bought at a price."

It is now Monday, and I have read, "Same kind of different as me" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It is a must read.

"Praying for their Footsteps" will be delayed, and more lessons on selfishness to come, or at least what I am learning about selfishness will come again soon. I feel the Lord upon me in this teaching just as closely as I felt to Him in college, which probably speaks sad volumes!

You are in my heart.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin