Monday, September 28, 2009

Today's been weird. We got up an hour late because of me being sooo tired. Then, when we went to walk the dog..i just had so much energy that I started jogging right away. Later I did not 100, but 150 crunches. Victoria almost fell asleep listening to the drone of Dr. Vernon McGee's voice during her Bible class and I found her snuggled back up in bed after about half hr. of school. Francis started his work, but then I got totally psyched about organizing his room, and off we went. About 2 hrs. later and while we were still in his room, Victoria emerged. Just a bit after that...wouldn't you know it, the weather was so nice, that both kids ended up outside with the dog, and the hammock came out of it's temp. hybernation. After I finished with Fran's room, I went outside too and took a game called Blokus with me. Francis and I played under the shade of our oak tree. Now, the kids are watching a movie, and I am here. Francis will still have to finish school and it will be finished right on time for bed. Wow, what a topsy turvey, but oh, so fun day!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Got up this morning not very motivated to do anything..including devotions. I made myself do several chores, which got me feeling a bit better, but when I sat down to have Bible reading/prayer time,( and I'm still not done...just taking a break to blog) I just sat there...read a couple of verses and stopped...tried to pray and find out what was in my way of a good time with God. I have a concern for today,( seeing someone at an activity that I really would rather not see) and maybe it's just that, or maybe since it's rainy I just didn't feel "into it", but I knew that neither of those things should be keeping me from my studies. So, as I meditated for awhile I noticed that I was letting emotions dictate my actions. I meditated on that and God revealed to me just how much of our lives are lived through the tainted lens of emotions. Even on a day that I think all is going well, my emotions may be keeping me from doing what I should in the spiritual realm. A day may go way wrong because of my irritability..which is an emotion. I let that dictate the outcome of the day, when, if I would have just stopped right there and given it over to God, I would have been able to see clearly for the rest of the day. There's a lot more to this subject, but I have to go meditate some more...and let God show me the depth of this issue. Thank God that if we really do what we should and not what we feel like doing He will teach us good things.

Friday, September 11, 2009

I have had a great thing happen to me today...it was simple but I feel a sense of accomplishment. I have been stressed out lately to see the "unfinished" places in my house. I have been going over and over in my head what corners or walls need "something". Today though, something happened that made a huge difference in my kitchen and it didn't cost me a cent. Thank you God for providing an answer to an unspoken prayer, a desire of the heart and now I feel so good to be rid of the burden. To make a long story short...I moved a large potted plant from the very unused foyer, to the wall by my hutch, moved a lonely grouping of plants from the ugly, unused porch to the kitchen and put it on an improvised "stand" in another lifeless corner, moved my pitcher plant from the porch to hanging beside the window at my sink, and finally, filled a $1.00 round, glass bowl with potting soil, went outside and dug up some climbing vines at the base of a tree and...tada, a pretty plant to go on top of the hutch,( I even added neutral colored decorative rocks that I had stashed away). Now, my kitchen has more life! And all for free..just a little rearranging, and using what was available. Now I am going to see how I can do this in other places as well.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

It's 09-09-09! It's funny but I am celebrating this day with the kids, even though it doesn't mean much to them at this age. I wish I would've started this with the kids much earlier. There are so many things I wish I would've started while the kids were still younger. A journal of their mischievousness would've been cool and the memory book I have been trying to get everyone to write in, would've been more enticing back a few yrs. It's hard because I still love all the little kid ideas and toys and have no more little kids. I wish I was with child again and I have been wishing that for about a yr. or so. I guess it's just not for me to have more,( I'm fixed) and God doesn't seem to want to undo what's been done. I know that He can do all things, nothing's too hard for Him, but it just may not be for me to do anything but raise these two that I have and then wait expectantly for grandkids. That sounds so weird! I am too young to be talking about that, but it doesn't matter because that's what I want. It's funnier that my 12 yr. old son is already yearning for a family. Maybe he and his future wife will have a lot of kids for grandma to baby-sit. Mmm, letting myself imagine!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Beautiful day today...fishing in the a.m., it was so peaceful and quiet out by the lake where we went. Victoria got vertigo for some reason and spent a lot of her day in bed, but managed to get school done anyway. Francis and I watched a couple of videos from the library and then I watched a Nooma video called "Rich". I have been trying to simplify over the last while..having days where I am totally gung ho about getting rid of stuff. I feel that I miss those incredibly small houses where we lived most of the time we were in P.R. and in Greenville too. After watching that video, I just want to sell this house and go move into a smaller one. We would be able to live with almost no debt and use our money to serve others. Wow, we are so rich but don't feel that we are...there's always more to be had. Shame on us! I will be in prayer as to how this issue may be dealt with. One thing though is the question that comes to mind when looking at the continuously growing pile of homeschool stuff that is amassing itself against my wall. I have always given stuff away for free, but I feel like there are a lot of things that I spent good money on and would I be a good steward if I gave it all away, or should I pack it up for a yr., until the next homeschool book fair and try to earn money from it? Another thing to put into prayer I guess. Does anybody else feel this way besides me?

Saturday, September 5, 2009

A season of service. That's what God is putting on my heart. Over the last few yrs. I have served in the church, but mostly with the little ones. While that is a great place to serve, I felt God leading me to get others into and excited about resources that would help them know what's going on in this world and how to refute the lies that Satan has put out there for us,( and our children) to contend with. If we don't know how to answer people, then how will they know the Truth? Well, I really had this on my heart for the youth and for about 2 yrs. I have tried to figure out how to get this message to the young people. There seemed to be no open doors, so now I am trying to equip the ladies of the Body and hopefully they will teach their kids from what they learn. During this time, I began to feel that my heart wasn't in the kids' ministries anymore. I bowed out and waited. I had a season where I did nothing at church because even though my mind said," You should be doing something", my heart said, "Wait until God gives you the 'Go' ". So, now here I am and have just felt God recently giving me the desire and excitement for service. Now, not only in the church but out of it as well. I want to sign up for Meals on Wheels,
( but have to wait until Oct. to go through orientation) and I want to help with our shut-ins from church...I feel that it is time for me to get involved in kids ministries again and I want to con't to seek and outlet for the burning in my heart for the youth to know more than they do and to be challenged. What else? I want to lay tracts about Halloween in the stores to hopefully bring people into an awareness of this evil day, and bring the focus instead onto God's love for them and hopefully bring them to repentance. I have felt God speaking to me about inviting my neighbors over for one on one time so we can get to know each other and so that I can shine forth into their lives the love of Jesus. I know that my kids desperately need to be actively involved in ministry to the elderly so that they can glean from the love and wisdom to be had from them, and I want my kids to learn how to sacrifice time to serve, and to serve the unsaved in our community in order to plant seeds and bring in the harvest. It's so neat, how when God deems you ready for the next step or season in your "walk" it is a joy and not a drudgery to do his bidding. I am so eager to see how God will richly bless our lives with joy and deep satisfaction that I know will come from serving and I also pray that through this my children's lives will be drastically changed and that they will see Jesus working through us and the effect will be a deep hunger and desire to have God in their lives as their Saviour and know through their own personal experience that God works miracles, and will do amazing things in their lives.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Aaahhh! I am sitting here and trying to unwind and think about all the things I wanted to blog about today. The day has been busy in a pretty good way I guess. I am behind in my preparations for tomorrow's Into the Deep meeting. I will be spending some time on that in a bit,( I hope). This morning I was thinking about something I read in another person's blog... "Spiritual Temperature". I guess we all analyze ourselves in that area from time to time. It should be everyday though. I guess that would be a good thing to do at the end of everyday. Maybe I will have a notebook where I analyze my thoughts, behavior and actions to see where I am at. I bet I will find a lot to commit to the Lord! I guess when I am tempted to see others in a bad light, looking further into my own imbalances will keep my focus where it should be,( on the responsibility of my own walk). One thing I am not pleased about is something I have thought about off and on esp. when the conversation comes up among others. I have analyzed this and really need to decide how I will balance this out. It is the subject of healthy food. I already buy only wheat, (almost) and lots of fruits and some veggies. However, when I hear ppl talking all about only eating organic and stuff, I feel like we are not seeing things with spiritual eyes. I mean, we're not going to be here forever and all that extra money on organics could be used to feed someone who doesn't have anything to eat. I know it's good to be healthy but at what price to others? Therefore, I wonder if I should be more economical and buy some cheaper things in certain areas to provide for others. Hmm. I guess that would be easy enough to do in some areas, but I don't know if I'd be willing to really go for broke. What about other areas of my life...shopping,( clothes, home school supplies and so forth). I don't need half of what I have, yet I keep buying. I guess I need to commit that to prayer again too. I used to pray about having wisdom and self-control more but that is gone with the wind lately. Why am I not meditating on spiritual things more and allowing the materialism to grow stronger again. Hmmm, time to go over it all again. I guess all these things lead back to that occasional check of the spiritual thermometer my friends spoke of.