BEAR WITH ME!!

Okay, I have a question for you....yes, you!! Don't hit the back arrow :) What do you think are some of the differences between a master(boss) and a husband(soulmate)? Really think about it. Please take a couple of minutes to let me know your opinion and then stop back by tomorrow evening to find out why I am asking. I know, I know, I hate two parters too, but ...(creative pause) bear with me!!

Abide In Me

I was reading a book last night on experiencing God through prayer. The author talks about the fact that we are probably reading the book because we heard and felt Jesus' call from Matthew 11:28 to "Come unto me". When we think about God calling out for us to come to Him, we probably imagine a type of pleading and a great desire for us to turn away from sin and come to Him.

What about in John 15:4 where Jesus calls out to "Abide in me"? Do we imagine the same strong desire of our Father calling to us. I didn't. Frankly I had never really thought about it much. When reading John, I focused more on the fact that we need to bear some fruit!


Abide is defined as "to stay". We are asked not only to come, but to stay. Now, look at the next word...in. We are not asked to stay around, or next to, but IN! What do you think of when you think of Christ wanting us to abide in Him? Think of walking in a house. Before you came in you could see the outside and maybe form an opinion. You could probably even make a few logical conclussions about the dwellers of the house, but you don't really know until you go in.

Christ does not want us just hanging around the outside, He wants us to come in. We can know a little about His love, peace and awesomeness by standing outside, but we can experience, be transformed and be consumed by it when we abide IN Him!

As badly as He wanted you to turn toward Him and invite Him into your life, He wants just as badly for you to come in and make your new house a home...forever!!

Pretty cool huh!??!!

August Showers Bring September Flours!

Kalli, Emi and I had a blast this morning playing in flour! We practiced writing our letters, names and drawing a little of this and a little of that.



Can you guess whose chair this was??



We had a rough morning that quickly perked up! My friend T came over and I was really blessed by the adult conversation and the sharing of our struggles.

It has been nice today to be home! Tori hurt her knee on Tuesday at gymnastics and stayed out of practice today, so we did not even have to go to the gym (though I wish Tori had not hurt her knee). My wonderful hubby brought dinner home and then took Kalli on a walk so that I could have a bit of quiet in the house. Yup, I would say this has been a good day :)

My Pit

It has been a rough week! There have been many, wonderful things going on that I have been truly blessed by, but there is also a huge struggle going on that makes me feel like I am teetering on the edge of Ouida's pit that she talked about.

I am in the midst of a character struggle. I have probably been involved in it for quite a while, but I could not see. In a way, I am glad that I see now because I can call out for help, in another way, ignorance is bliss! I have prayed for help, but it was seeming like help was no where to be found, but I knew that was not true so I kept on.

Last night, I locked myself in my bathroom, turned my worship cd up as loud as I could without setting off the house alarm and I cried for help. Now, we are not talking a couple of glistening tears fell down my cheek, no this was bawling at its finest! I begged God to step in and help me. I told Him that I could see now this was something I can in no way do on my own, no matter how much I want to. I pointed out that I knew this change was something that was in His will because His word tells me that. I stood on the promise that if we ask anything in His will, it will be done. I cried that I was falling into the pit and I cried out for a rope or something to grab onto (thinking of Ouida's talk Saturday). I told God that though I wish I didn't, I needed something to give me hope.

After about 30 minutes I came out, puffy faced and exhausted, but feeling a bit better. I went to bed, knowing the next morning I would get up and spend time with Him in His word and maybe I would receive the strength to begin to pull out.

I messed the clock up last night somehow and reset the time for the wrong time, thus my alarm went off at 6 instead of 5 so the morning was not looking promising! I spent time in the Word, but felt it irrelevant to what I was asking for. I tried to skip that step and go to Ouida's next step of thinking of all of the blessings I had, but my heart needed the confirmation I had pleaded for last night.

As I finished up my time with God, William walked in with something behind his back. Today happens to be my birthday. We are not big on gifts and such, but William said he had something to give me. This is what he pulled out...




Guess where the branch came from? Remember our faith tree ? William saved a branch a couple of months ago when he had it trimmed and has been working on putting the promise on it.

How is that for my rope??!!

First Day of Co-op Classes

The girls and I started back to our co-op classes today. We are very blessed to belong to a wonderful group of parents that use their many gifts and talents to assist in educating our children. The girls love going every Monday! I love being able to teach there as well as meet many new mom's. This year we have 88 families that belong!! Here is a quick summary of their day:

Favorite Class: Brianna's is Latin and Yearbook; Tori's is Music (learning to play the recorder); Emaleigh's is Lego Math and Science; Kalli's is Art

Hardest Class: Brianna's is Latin; Tori's is Spelling for Dyslexics; Emaleigh's is none of them, she says she knows everything already! Kalli's is naptime!

Here are the girls before we left this morning....





Have a blessed evening!!!

Tag!!!

You're it! If you read this you are morally and legally bound to come to the M and M Mom's meeting at RE on Saturday evening at 7pm. Don't forget to bring your favorite dessert. We have an AWESOME lady coming to speak, yummy food and hey, you get to spend time with me :) You don't have to be a mom and you can be any age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See ya!!!!!

We're Baaaack!!!

Yup, we are home!! We came home Sunday to car problems, bug problems and no clean dishes, but by George, we are home :) I miss being on vacation, but I am sooo happy to be with my girls. William and I had an outstanding time. Just a quick recap....


We got on this really big boat....


I was amazed at how blue and clear the water is in the middle of the ocean...




We ate a ton of yummy food...



We spent a lot of time in here....sleeping!!



We went here...



We shopped here...




We met new people...




We snorkeled...




Here...



We swam here...



We watched the sun set over the ocean...



Then we came home to these...



Doesn't get much better than that :)