Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to take a moment to say Happy Thanksgiving. I'm so blessed. As I look back over the year, so much has changed. I wanted to take a second and write down just 10 things I'm thankful for this season in no particular order...

1. My Lord & Savior
2. the Word of God
3. my husband, Don
4. Emma & Chloe
5. my family in NC
6. my family in OH
7. living next door to my sister
8. my close friends
9. my Bible study
10. smiles & laughter

May you all be blessed beyond measure everyday but especially today.

Snow Days

Well...here I sit in the great state of Ohio. We journeyed up north on Saturday when Don got off work. We left at around 9:15am and arrived here in OH at around 7pm...LONG DAY! I haven't really been feeling too well either. The entire trip I battled with some sort of nausea feeling. I'm sure it's the same thing that's been going around at home. I've been trying to pray a prayer of faith (James 5:15) that the Lord would heal whatever alien thing is in my body so I can enjoy my Thanksgiving with the in-laws.

It's pretty cold here. It's been snowing all morning. I'll have pictures later, I promise. It's just so beautiful seeing it all fall. The beauty of it is even more gorgeous when you don't have to get out in it and run errands! The kids apparently love snow. When we were driving up, all 3 of the kids (Don, Emma & Chloe) fell asleep. When Emma woke, she screamed out for me to stop. I turned around to see what the matter was, and she was just excited to see snow on the ground in WV....you know..."the big white fluffy snow" as she called it. It was so cute.

We've spent the morning preparing some new dishes for the Thanksgiving meal we'll have on Thursday. I'm sure the afternoon will have lots to present. Have a blessed day!

Layers

Ok...just had to post this. Last night I had a night out with a friend. I came home and Don was watching Survivor. I asked..."are the kids in bed?" He said, "Yeah, they should be asleep by now." I was having my doubts since I had seen Chloe's light on in her room. I head that way and as I'm opening the door, this is what I saw....

Under her pjs, Emma wearing 9 shirts and 7 pairs of shorts/capris.

Emma & Chloe being silly.

I thought Don and I were going to pee our pants. I can't believe she was able to put them all on. She looks like a football player with all kinds of padding under her clothes. We rolled. Then, she thought she was a hoot!

Distorted Views

I would like to begin by apologizing that I haven't posted in a while. I'm really at a loss for words it seems. I've been extremely busy trying to get up our Christmas decorations (yes, I know that it's not even Thanksgiving yet & yes, I have talked about people before for doing this), but I was trying to get them up before we leave for OH for Thanksgiving. When we come back, it will be December. What's really funny is, we had told Emma & Chloe we were going to Grandma's for Thanksgiving. After we put up the tree, she looked at me puzzled and said "I thought we were going to Grandma's for Thanksgiving??" I replied, "We are." She said, "Then why do we have up the Christmas tree?" I guess she thought maybe she missed Thanksgiving. Pictures of the tree will be coming soon.

Let's see...what else has been going on?? Oh...I got the girls' hair cut. They are SOOO cute. However, Emma decided she wanted to be a beautician and she decided to CUT HER OWN HAIR!! Urggg...she now has bangs. I must admit, she did a good job! I am still quite furious over it. I guess she'll wear a headband from now til it grows out. Again, I'll try to post some pictures later.

Don didn't get the job he interviewed for. He really wasn't surprised though. I guess that means he stays on 3rd shift for a while. Oh well...I know that God has a plan and purpose.

Speaking of God...He's been teaching me quite a bit lately. Well...trying anyway. In the Bible study I'm doing, I'm learning (again) that God is who He says He is. That means He is Unconditional Love. I've learned that my view of Him has been quite distorted. I'm His child and He loves me even when I'm unlovable. That's hard to take. I tend to forget that God is God and not a human....and He is not limited by the human mind like I am. I wanted to share how He has been showing me my views of Him (as twisted as they are).

I spank my kids. It really doesn't bother Emma too much. Chloe, on the other hand, is different. The other night I was at my mom's. They were disobedient, so they both got spankings. I then put them on the couch for a few minutes. Emma was like "no big deal". Chloe just wanted me to hold her. I told her no...that she was in time out. My mom says to me..."She sure doesn't like it when you're mad at her, huh?" I replied, "I'm not mad. I just want her to obey when I tell her to do something or not to do something." That was that.

The next morning in my quiet time with Him, He spoke. I was thinking about how I truly viewed the Lord. My mind was flooded with the previous scene. I realized that that is how I view God....meaning, when I do something wrong whether I'm punished directly or not, He doesn't want me...doesn't want to put His arms around me. I sobbed. Truly, because I don't feel that way about Chloe. I love her no matter what but had conveyed the opposite to her. I cringed at the thought of the times I had pushed her away after she had been punished. Not only did I have a terribly distorted view of the Lord, but I had conveyed to my child that when she did something wrong, I didn't want to "love her up". Broken doesn't even begin to express how I was feeling.
I've begged the Lord...
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; renew a right spirit within me." Ps. 51:10
You see create here in the hebrew is bara which means to create from nothing. There is nothing good in me. The Lord must create that clean heart and right spirit.

Father, I praise You that You are Unconditional Love. I thank You that no matter what I do, I'll always be Your child and You will always love me. Please Lord, change my views of You. Help me to believe Your Word...that You are who You say You are.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 33rd Birthday Don!

Thank you for...

• making my life what it is
• making me smile even when I don't feel like it
• balancing me out
• taking care of our family
• working 3rd shift even though it's not ideal
• being a good daddy

Those are just a few of the things I'm thankful for about you. You are the only man for me! I praise God that He knew us both before He put us together...He knew exactly what we would need in each other. Thank you for loving me. Have a blessed birthday, my sweet. I love you!

The man of their dreams!

Absent-minded

I feel quite absent-minded on a regular basis. Honestly. If I don't write something down, poof...there it goes, right out the window. And sometimes it goes out the window even if I do write it down. Go figure!
That's kinda how I feel with my devotions. Right now, I'm struggling with living out the Word of God. I have my quiet time with the Lord, but when I close my Bible, it's like before...POOF...out the window. I can't seem to recall what God was speaking to me about. I hate that. I want so much to remain in the Spirit, to think on His promptings, to dwell in His truths and to snack on His Bread all day long. But I can't seem to get past myself. I, all too often, stand in the way of the Lord. I'm learning that my quiet time is to be more than what it has been. To be in a relationship with someone, you long to know all there is to know about that person...you long to talk to that person on a regular, frequent basis. The more I know God and the more I know about God, the more I'll be like Him. But you know what...with great knowledge comes great responsibility (I have no idea where I heard that...it could even be a verse somewhere). Therefore, the more we come to know Him, the more that is required of us...the more we are responsible for. It seems that the more I've come to know about my Lord, the more He's allowed testing in that area, to continue fashioning me into that pot He wants me to be to be able to carry out the purpose for which He placed me here.
Sorry I've been all over the place tonight...just typing my heart.

Father, I love what I'm learning about You. I love the fact that just like with Abraham You have the power to do what You have promised. I love that I can depend on You for all I need...that no matter how far I run, you still pursue me. Lord, thank You so much for Your grace. Thank You that You're not done with me yet.

Romans 4:16-24
"Therefore, the promise comes by faith (or believing), so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: 'I have made you a father of many nations.' He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.' The words 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."

My All in All

After my post yesterday, the war was on. I will first say that I'm not sure where the tests originated. I'm not sure if the Lord was just testing me or if satan himself approached the Lord for permission to battle me. Nonetheless, I battled.

My first battle was not really being sure who would keep my kids. I had 2 options, but keeping them was not convenient for either one of them. So, I felt bad about having to put them out. Then, I realized Emma wasn't feeling well. She was running a low grade fever, almost 101, so I gave her some Motrin. I still thought...ok...I can handle this even though I became quite emotional. My supper took forever to cook. I told you about Don's interview, so I was trying to hurry so he wouldn't be late. Chloe nor Emma would eat dinner. Emma, I understood...after all, she wasn't feeling well. As Don got ready for work, his human resources mgr. called and wondered where he was. He apparently had a 4:30 interview as well...not just a 5:30 interview. He was devastated as you can imagine. He left upset....I was more upset.
As I walked in the house, the Lord brought this verse to my mind...
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Isaiah 26:3
So, I tried to rest in that thought. I came in. Emma got some tea to drink. Not 5 minutes later, she proceeds to throw up "orange" (probably Motrin & tea mixed...yuck!) all over my light tan carpet. Ok...so now what. I still had my Bible study at 7:15. No one wants to watch a sick child....I didn't want to leave her sick. Not to mention I couldn't get the stain out of my carpet. After my emotional break-down, I prayed for a word from the Lord. This is what He gave me...
"... Believe ye that I am able to do this?...According to your faith be it unto you." Matthew 9:28-29
Both of these statements were said by Jesus. They were for me, because He seemed to keep to asking me, "are you going to believe me or not?" I did believe Him, and asked Jesus to please heal her with no more throwing up so I could still go to my Bible study.

God is so faithful. Even after all that, He still made Himself real to me. I guess He must have thought I needed some "examples" for my study. :)

Why do we doubt Him? He has proven Himself to us...to me...time after time. Because He is all knowing, He already knows our struggles...our doubts....our insecurities. This morning I was reading and studying Ephesians 1:11-23. This has so many little nuggets in it. But one that I wanted to point out is from vs. 19. He tells us that He wants us to know "...what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe...". This power is compared to the power He had when Christ was raised from the dead. When we believe a promise God has given us, we have greatness of His power. That should be encouraging.

Then in vs. 22 (NIV) it says..."And God placed all things under his feet...". What does all mean? ALL. He is Lord over ALL. When you step on things, they are not moving unless you pick up your feet. All includes me. When I'm put under pressure, God will not let me fall. He has me under His foot...keeping me within His reach. I'll never get too far from Him.

Thank You Lord for being my ALL.

Big Day

Today is a big day for a couple of reasons. First of all, the obvious....a new president will be elected. I'm not very political. I read the topics, look at the stand that each candidate makes on that topic and vote based on the Word of God. It really wasn't a hard decision even though neither candidate is perfect for the job in my eyes.

Second of all, Don has a huge interview tonight at work. It's an internal interview for a 1st shift position. He would love (did I stress LOVE enough) to be able to come off of 3rd shift even if it's in the same position he has now. We are praying God's will for our family though because it will greatly affect our family life.

Thirdly, tonight I will start the Bible Study, Believing God, that He has called me to lead. This past week and especially today have been so hard. Satan is obviously attacking. I am praying for each lady signed up to come. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you have signed up, satan is fighting and will do all in his power to keep you from attending. Please don't let him win. The Lord has something for us to hear tonight.

Father, I bow down before You, Omniscient and Omnipotent. Thank You for having our future in Your control.