Well, my kids have 'officially' made it through their first week of a new school. :) I am proud of them!  The boys were both a bit discouraged their 1st day, saying they didn't know what they were doing, hadn't made any friends, etc. But by day 2, they got off the bus allll smiles!

It's another rainy day here in south Louisiana.  It's kinda put me in a blah mood the past few days!!  But overall, life is good!

It's been a pretty hard week adjusting to the fact that my two oldest have chosen to live with their dad in OH....so far away!! :( We all miss them...I keep reminding myself (and sometimes have to be reminded by Sean!) that God is STILL in control and He's STILL working it all out for all of our good! 

Isn't it funny how we think that God must NOT be in control simply because things don't go the way WE imagine they should?? 

This past weekend, back in IN, I heard the saddest thing....My younger sister said 'It's funny...I see 'church people' all the time at work, and I always say 'Hi' and ask where they go to church, and tell them I used to go too....but they never talk to me about church or invite me to theirs...'

Wow.

If only those people knew how often I prayed, 'God put people in the path of my lost loved ones, to reach out to them, to be there for them in a way that I can not!'

It breaks my heart. It really does.

I recently read a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder that my parents had picked up in Missouri on vacation.  It was a pretty neat story....they had bought the book at the museum, and a descendant of Laura Ingalls Wilder noticed it sitting on the seat of their car while they were eating at a Denny's and left them a post-it note on their windshield welcoming them to Branson.  They eventually met this man, along with two other descendants, who then signed their book. Being a HUGE 'Little House' fan growing up, I found that pretty cool! :)

In the book, it recounts a incident that happened while they (The Ingalls Family) were  living and working in Burr Oak, Iowa. The hotel they worked in was next door to a saloon. One night, it caught fire....

                  "...and Ma awakened Mary and Laura and Carrie, telling them to dress quickly in case their place started burning too.  Ma and the girls stood by the front windows, looking down at a group of Burr Oak men lined up in front of the town pump.  They had started a bucket brigade to pass the filled pails down the line to be poured on the flames.  But the line seemed to be standing still.
                Ma kept saying, 'Why don't they hurry!' Nothing moved. Finally Pa gave a shout and jerked Mr Bisbee [boarder at the hotel] away from the flowing pump.  In his panic, he had been pumping water into a pail with no bottom, screaming 'Fire' but doing nothing to stop the blaze." [Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography, by William Anderson]

Reading that, after hearing what my sister had said, spoke volumes to me!  How often do we sit in church, Amen-ing the preacher and shouting and clapping when he talks of winning the lost, or pray for lost souls while in the comfort of the four walls of the church, yet when confronted with a real-life opportunity to reach someone, we pull back. We crawl back into our shell, afraid that the Gospel we want to share will be rejected. Or perhaps we see the person in front of us as 'not interested' and too far gone to reach.  Our spirit within sees the lost and cries 'Fire!, Fire', yet like the man with the bottomless bucket, we are not doing all we can to stop the blaze, out of fear, panic, disinterest or whatever the case may be.

All along there stands a soul that says, 'All I am waiting for is for someone to ask one more time'.

Will I be that someone?  Will you? My prayer today is that when I feel led to speak to someone, I'll do it.  That I will respond to that hopelessness that I see in their eyes, and ignore the tough exterior and 'Who Cares?' attitude.  It doesn't matter if that person has said 'No' one hundred times. Maybe the very next time I ask, they'll say 'Sure...Why not!'.

I do not want to simply acknowledge that there is a fire, for it goes without saying that many that I see on a daily basis are not where they should be with God.  I want to do MY part to stop the blaze from spreading.  The days of sitting safely away from the fire are gone.  It's time for the Firefighters for Souls to rise up!

Yeah, yeah....I am a terrible blogger!  To be perfectly fair and honest, however, I have more or less been computer-less for the past few months, in order to keep the peace among the kiddos and for all of THEM to have 'turns'. LOL

Anyway....Life is GOOD! I love living in Louisiana! Sure, the weather can get HOT.....but the benefits far outweigh the high summer temps! We can jump in our car, drive a short while and be at several different beaches, within just a few hours.  Or New Orleans. Or Houston. :)

My kids pretty much boycott the great outdoors, except when we get a nice dip in the temperature. They usually spend their days switching between the Ps2, the X-box, and one of three computers playing video games! I can't blame them much....I avoid the heat too, except when absolutely necessary! Gotta love AC!!!

I LOVE my church time!  Pretty much everything I have ever wanted in a church can be found at the 1st United Pentecostal Church in Abbeville! :)  We are blessed with a great Pastor and Family, wonderful musicians, and a church family that loves to love and worship!

I am pretty much outta words now....Getting sleepy!!  Hopefully I will be inspired to write more soon!

Sooo....Its been forever and a day since I posted anything here. Life has a way of getting very, very busy!! :)  Here are some random updates, in NO order of importance, but stuff you might not know since the last time I posted!

• I have now been married for two months and 8 days to the most awesome man I know!  I am so incredibly blessed to have Sean!!  We have been very happy together and each day just gets better and better...despite all those who are waiting for 'the honeymoon to be over'!! Its amazing what can happen in a marriage when both parties are fully committed to God and each other and have based their love and relationship on scriptures (to name a few!) like 1 Corinthians 13.
• I am very happy and pleased with my new home state of Louisiana!  I was VERY thankful to miss the below zero temps this past winter in Indiana!!! Not to mention we live kind of out in the country and have a swing on our huge Oak tree in the backyard and I can go out there and enjoy it at night in my p.j.'s and no one knows! 
• Our dog Suzi recently had 7 puppies....they are downright adorable!
• I have wasted no time getting involved at my church....I am now a member of the cleaning team, a Sunday School teacher, Choir Director and my hubby and I lead the Singles.  Busy sounding, I know....but I LOVE it!! :)
• My Grandmother passed away on April 9th.  In some ways it was heartbreaking, because we miss her so much. But she had also just been diagnosed with Cancer (on top of her emphysema, which they say is a very terrible way to die) .... I think her passing away this way was much easier for her.  I am thankful that she was saved, for now she can be with the Lord!
• On our honeymoon we traveled through 13 states!  Pure bliss, it was!!!
• My hubby is teaching me how to cook some of the local foods and dishes that he likes. I enjoy our cooking times together! :)
• I still hate doing dishes, but I do them anyway.  This is life!
• I have found that I am very content to just sit at home and do things with Sean here....or just be in the same room while we are both doing separate things like reading, playing on the p.c. etc.  We thoroughly enjoy spending time with each other. Yes, I know what you are thinking....'just wait til the honeymoon's over!!'....but we have decided to be 'above normal' and make people roll their eyes and throw up a little bit in their mouths (did I REALLY just write that?!?!?) by showing each other and the world how much we really love each other.  Funny things is that we aren't just doing it for show either....we really mean it! I DARE you to try it with your loved ones in public AND in private!! ;-)

That really wraps up this blog for now.  I am sure I could come up with more stuff to write that you all would really like to know, but I have dinner guests coming soon!

More soon!  REALLY! ;-)

 

I am blessed beyond measure and I know it well! God has brought me through so many storms in the past few years and has taught me so much. No way I coulda made it without Him!

As usual...its been a while since I posted a blog!  No excuses, just has been!  I have put a few more things on 'Everyone's Apostolic', but have neglected this site...poor, poor blogdrive! :-D

My life has taken some interesting turns as of late. :-)  So here's some updates!

Church- I spent this last weekend at my church's annual church retreat in Hartford City, IN. WOW! What an awesome time in the Lord!  Besides that I was blessed with some awesome friends who helped me when my brakes got all crazy on the way to the retreat.

God kept His hand upon me and my kids, that is for sure!! The brother that fixed my brakes (and wouldn't even let me pay for it!!) said it was a serious problem I had and that it could have caught fire or caused an accident!

I finally feel as if I am becoming a 'member' there :-) Yeah, I know...I am slow!  Been attending there for 10 months, but still!! 

Family- I absolutely can not believe thatit is time for my kids to start school again!! AND, I absolutely can NOT believe that I finally have all of my kids in school all day long every day! LOL Woo hooo!

My work hours have been getting sooo much better! More day shifts, and if I do work an afternoon shift, I am getting off closer to 9p which beats those 4-12 shifts I used to do! This has been a blessing for the kids and I as we get to spend more time together now! YAH!!  

I guess under this topic, I would also share that I have a 'new friend'. He is a very, very nice man from Louisiana that I met on Everyone's Apostolic. We started out just joking around, and we really hit it off! :-) Then we started talking on the phone for hours on end...ME...The Anti-Phone Queen!! Time flies when we talk. I am not sure exactly how he does that! ;-)

He recently came allll the way up to IN to visit, and I was very pleased to find that he was the same in person as he was over the phone. We had a great weekend together, getting to know each other more, laughing, eating and playing Putt-Putt. I only mention the Putt-Putt 'cause I won! LOL

I don't know what the future may hold for me, but I thank God that He has brought me such a wonderful friend! 

 

 

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

~ Hebrews 10:23

The above verse was in my email box this a.m. from K-love radio station.  Everyday I recieve from them what they call their 'encouraging word' for the day.

Today, I am 35 yrs old.  I know. Practically over the hill right??   Funny thing is that I don't feel that old, so what's up with that? Did the hospital make a mistake on my birth certificate or what?? LOL

I have never been one to dread my birthdays.  I figure having them beats the alternative. :-)

But this particular one, I have not looked forward to because of all that I have been going through in my life...getting another year old just made me feel like there would be nothing good in my future.

Receiving that verse this morning, however, just encouraged me to remember all the promises God has made me. The bible says that He knows the plans He has for us...plans to give us a future and hope...plans to prosper and not to harm! (Jer 29:11)

I may be 35 years old.  I may be divorced. I may be the single mom of four children, but when God looks at me He doesn't see any of that. What HE sees is the hope of my future.

Though many may look at me and see only my failures, God looks deeper and sees the woman I am meant to be.

I am so thankful to be His. He is my hope and my future, as well as my present help in this time of rebuilding in my life! I will hold tight to Him and His word, knowing that no matter what chaos surrounds me, I will find peace in the midst of my storm when I look to Him!

 

Obviously, my working a full-time job and blogging don't mix well. :-) I guess you can say I have been suffering from writer's block, 'cause when I have logged in to write something I come up empty! So...Here's a update on where I've been and what I am doing!

Homelife: I have been going through a bit of a finacial trial, so I have had to sacrifice some things like my babysitter, eating out, and buying those little extras that Kids love so much.  But in the end, its not been so very terrible.  My kids are getting to spend more time with their dad, which is a blessing for them, and eating out is now something the kids consider to be 'special' so when we are able to go we all really enjoy it! 

As for those little extras...it's amazing what you can find to bring a smile to a child's face when you don't have much money.  Sometimes the gift of time with them is what they long for most anyway!

Along the financial theme, I have to share a story about my oldest son, Riley.  Since we moved from a place with NO carpeting into an apartment with wall-to-wall carpeting, I was not prepared by having a vacuum, so I have been borrowing my mom's all this time! Not fun, I can assure you, lugging that thing back and forth.  I don't know how those 'Merry Maids' do it!

Anyway, this past payday I decided I would just bite the bullet and get something that would help and bought the cheapest vacuum-like thing I could find which ended up being one of those 3-in-1 kind that has a detachable handle so you can use it as a hand-vac.

That very night, I assigned each child a chore, and Riley's was to vacuum up the dry cereal that was on their bedroom floor but should never have been in there in the first place. *ahem*

Later that night when I got home from work, I asked him if he had done it. He informed me that not only had he done the chore, but he had named the vacuum.

Um. Ooookay.

He named it 'Riley Jr' because, as he said 'We are both awesome!'

Hey whatever works to keep junk off the floor!! LOL

Work: Work is still going really good.  I am blessed to say that I don't dread going to work each day.  The shift usually passes by at a decent pace, and I enjoy the people I work with.  My shifts have been getting a bit earlier, so I no longer work til midnight which is a HUGE blessing both for me and for whoever is watching the kids that night!!  This month I have even been nominated for the 'Employee of the Month' :-)

Diet: I am very excited to say that I am now at a total of 80#'s that I have lost since I started on my weight loss journey!!  WOO HOOO!!  I am pretty much at my original goal, but I am continuing to be mindful of what I am eating and trying to work in exercise as much as possible. I am sooooo glad that warmer weather is here so I can be out walking again!!  I have really missed that!  The only downside???  I am running out of things that fit, so hopefully I will be able to pick up some things soon.  The alternative is sooo not good! ROFLOL

Rumor Mill: I found out this past weekend that the rumor mill is still alive and very much active concerning the whys and wherefores of my divorce!!  Now, not only did I do something immoral, but I am living with a man too???  Really, folks. That's just too, too much. 

Honestly, I just had to laugh when I heard about it. People are just soooo stupid sometimes (I mean that in the nicest way possible of course ;-) )  But why can't people use their brains??  I mean, if I was living with someone, don't they think my kids would have noticed???  LOL  It would be really hard to hide a grown man from 4 pretty intelligent and mostly always observant kids. 

Ah, well.  I suppose that no matter how many times someone is told the truth, some people will always choose to believe the lie, just because its juicier. 

But that's ok. My life is an open book before the Lord, so its really only HIS approval that I am worried about. :-)

Bible Study: I am finished with the Beth Moore study I was doing called 'Breaking Free'. It was unbelievably awesome.  Wow.  I sit in awe of how many times the lessons would line up with something I was dealing with right then! 

We have went right into the next one which is called 'A Modern Girl's Guide to Bible Study'. I am only into week 2's lessons so far, but again...its awesome!  This one is about how to get more out of bible study so that we get to a place that its not something we 'have' to do or 'should' do, but its something that we CRAVE doing. 

I want that in my life!

I will update more (I promise...really!) about the Bible Study and my life soon.  For now, I gotta get busy with my day!

 

 

I have a perpetual calendar that sits on my computer desk.  When I walked in today I read the quote for today's date which said...

Into all our lives, in many simple, familiar, homely ways, God infuses this element of joy from the surprises of life, which unexpectedly brighten our days, and fill our eyes with light.--Longfellow

I mentally snorted when I read it the first time....and then the second and third.  But as I sat working on my computer, my eyes kept drifting back to that quote.

In the past several months, I have had several 'suprises of life' that have been anything but joyful.  A marriage that ended, bills gone unpaid, threats of a car being repossessed...the list could literally, go on and on!

None of it felt very 'day-brightening', that's for sure!

But then I felt that check in my spirit to look at the quote a little closer...and I thought, 'Ok Lord...what am I missing that You want to teach me?'

The phrase that jumped out at me was this...

...God infuses this element of joy...

I looked up the word 'infuse' in the dictionary.  It means...

To introduce, as if by pouring; cause to penetrate; instill

To imbue or inspire

To steep or soak (leaves, bark, roots, etc.) in a liquid so as to extract the soluble properties or ingredients.

To pour in

To receive an infusion means...

The introduction of a saline or other solution into a vein

I imagined that 'element of Joy' that God gives.  Through the suprises that life brings, be they good or bad I imagined that Joy being infused into my very being.

Its like receiving an inoculation...Once that Joy has been poured in, it helps protect me against all that life throws my way. 

Now I am not talking about happiness!!  Happiness is dependant upon circumstances.  Joy is not!

I looked back at all the surprises that I have had in my life lately and I found this...

Through every circumstance, every trial, God taught me something new. I keep learning new aspects of God's nature.  I have been able to see just how much of my life I can trust God with, knowing He wants the best for me. My faith has grown and keeps growing through every circumstance that I don't see a way out of, but somehow, someway God makes a way.

Its not just sunshine that is needed for a plant to grow. They require the rain as well.

I can hold fast to God knowing that nothing that happens in my life is a surpise to Him!

I am so thankful that I serve such an awesome God!

I am participating in a Beth Moore bible study at my new church, and today we had had a part of the study that I thought I would share on my blog because its just so powerful.

This is a what we learned today...

EQUATIONS THAT TOTAL LIBERTY

Environmental Influences + Experiential Influences = My Truth

My Truth + Nothing = Incompletion....Emptiness

My Truth + Satan's Lies = Captivity

God's Truth > My Truth (Can anyone say DUH???)

My Truth + God's Truth = Freedom

As Beth Moore explained on her DVD, its not enough to know the truth about something....OUR truths don't set us free.  Only by allowing God's truth to be applied to our lives and situations will we be able to see the chains of captivity broken in our lives.

 

 

 

 

So, yeah...I have been MIA again. *shew*  I guess working 2nd shift, I feel like I am ALWAYS working, even though I work just 40 hours like everybody else in the world...I guess working when most people are not makes me feel that way.  I am just glad to have my days off now and then. :-)

My job is still going really well.  Makes me wish I would have went back to work years ago! LOL I am only a half level away from taking all the types of calls that come in which is a little scary to think about (because I am afraid I won't know what to do!) but since I have had that feeling at each level, and ended up being fine at each level, I am sure I will be just fine at the next level as well.  

So then....now that THAT is settled. *ahem*  There really isn't much else going on in my life other than work. Fun, right? Hahaha.

Oh, wait...I did join a Ladies Bible Study at the church I am attending now.  It is a Beth Moore study called "Breaking Free".  It looks to be a reaalllly good one!  I am also looking forward to getting to know some of the ladies of the church better there!

I will close with this thought I have had for the past few days.  We have been experiencing a great deal of foggy weather lately.  And I mean THICK fog, the kind that makes it hard to see very far down the road, and rather scary to drive in! 

Now I don't think there is a whole lot good that can be said about fog....I mean, its usually the setting for accidents and crime scenes and horror movies for cryin' out loud.

But I like to look on the 'bright' side of things, as my training videos at work say...'keeping a positive mental attitude'....LOL

Anyway...As I was driving down the road the other day, through this nice thick fog, I had the thought strike me that because of the fog, I had to pay very close attention to what was going on right in front of me.  I couldn't see very far ahead down the road to see what was coming and worry about that until it was really close enough to worry about.  I couldn't see what I had just passed, so why trouble myself with it? 

On each side, again, I could only see those things that were closest to me, and deal with those things...not the things that were far off in the distance.  So as I drove along, my tension at driving in such a thick fog eased, and I just began to take it section of the road, by section of the road until I arrived safely at my destination.  The fog that seemed such a threat now enveloped me with a sense of comfort that all I had to do was focus on what was right ahead...the rest would take care of itself. 

I think a spiritual application can be taken from this.  Often times in our lives, we get bombarded on every side by so many things that we began to feel weighted down, overwhelmed, stressed, depressed...whatever the case may be.  Then to top it all off here comes this thick seemingly ugly 'fog' that makes it even harder to see our way clearly!! 

Next time you find yourself in this 'fog', instead of getting even MORE upset and angry about your situation, take a moment to thank the Creator of the 'fog'.  Realize that all those troubles that have been burdening you, holding you down, hurting you are covered by the fog.  Instead of clouding your vision, The Lord is making it possible for you to focus on what is directly in front of you. Like blinders on a horse, the fog will encamp all around you so that you won't have to be distracted by those troubles that surround you, as you take your journey, step-by-step, minute-by-minute, until you make it safely Home. 

I know someone might be thinking, "But what about after the fog lifts?? Then Alllll those troubles can come rushing back!!"

That's the awesome thing about God though.  It has been my personal experience that if I am willing to trust Him, and put my faith in Him, and not worry about what is going on in and around the fog, and just focus on the task that He has set before me on a daily basis...the amazing thing is that when the fog DOES lift, and the sun is once again shining, all those things that seemed so huge and troublesome have disappeared.  While I am being obedient to His wishes, He is working behind the scenes, in the 'fog', working out all those problems. 

I am His child , and He cares for me.  How much better than that can life get?

I recently had the privilege of being absolutely broke. 

Yes...that's right...I DID say privilege!  And No...I did not recently suffer from some tramatic head injury causing me to mix up my words. ;-)

What it all boils down to is money that was expected to come in (and counted on coming in!) did NOT come in. Can you say 'Ai yi yi'?? 

Now, I have always been a very big faith person.  I just simply believe that God can.  So much so, that I have been called naive more than once in my life!  It has always been very easy for me to believe in the great and amazing things I hear of God doing around the world...cancer being healed, blind eyes being opened, the dead being raised.  I have been in the presence of more than one of these miracles during my lifetime...how awesome is that?

So here I sat that week, absolutely broke, and wondering what in the world I was going to do.  At the same time, the church I am attending was announcing that they would be taking up a 'First Fruits' offering...a sacrificial offering they take up each year for a special project. This year's offering was going to help a young couple who are on their way to Cuba as missionaries, and to help build the church there.

I am not bragging when I say that it has also always been easy for me to give in offerings such as this.   So I began thinking and praying about what amount I would give, knowing that I had a payday coming up the Friday after the offering date, and hoping that would be enough time.

Then on the way to work one afternoon, worrying about what I was going to do about gas and groceries for the week, I felt God dealing with me about the 'First Fruits' offering.  And what I felt, wasn't to wait and give the larger amount from my next paycheck...Oh no!  That would have been too easy!!!

What God laid on my heart that day was to give the remaining balance...though small...in my checking account.

Talk about fear. The amount may have been small, but it was my safety net!!  I could get at least a few things at the store with that amount!!

Immediately, however, I was reminded of the widow's mite...how she gave all that she had...and how much that meant!  As I thought of that, the tears began to flow, and I said, "Ok, God...I am going to do this...and whatever happens this week, I will praise and thank you for it!"

That Sunday night, I gave in the offering.  The whole church gathered around what we had all given and began to pray that the offering would be blessed, as well as those who had given.

I felt such a peace, and I just knew that God was going to do something awesome!!!  In my mind, I wondered what would happen...maybe those checks would come unexpectedly...or someone would walk up and hand me money!  (Go ahead...admit you do the same thing and try to figure out how God is going to work!!!)

A huge financial blessing would have been the perfect ending to this little story....maybe.   But I actually think what happened, was even better!

You see...there were no checks in the mail, no people handing me money, no unexpected money found on the ground.  None of that!

But what there was.....was 'just enough'.

Just enough mayo for those bologna and cheese sandwiches.

Just enough milk for 4 more bowls of cereal.

Just enough gas to get to another day at work.

Just enough groceries to see us through.

Just enough laundry detergent...soap...shampoo...whatever!

The list could go on and on.  I think you get my point!  Everything that I was 'almost' out of, somehow stretched to make it another day...and then another...and then another!

And each time this happened, I would thank God.  I am not kidding.  It may sound silly to some, but I did thank God when there was enough mayo for my sandwich.  And enough milk for the cereal. (Ever tried to tell just 1 kid outta 4 they aren't gonna get cereal that day??? You bet your booties I thanked Him!!!)

I sing so many songs about God being 'More than Enough' for me...but I have to wonder how much I have let Him BE enough for me?  It would have been so easy for Him to lay it on someone's heart to just give me money...but for me to totally trust that God, Himself, was going to provide each day?? THAT was a lesson in faith!

As I walk this new path my life has taken, I am learning to trust God in ways I have never trusted Him before.  And He is continually asking me 'AM I more than enough?"  At least...that is the question I feel on my heart. 

When troubles come...do I turn to Him first?  When I am hurt and lonely, do I call up a friend, or seek Him in prayer?  When the blessings come...big or small...do I remember to thank Him?

I am reminded of the verse that tells us to "seek first the kingdom of God and His rightgeousness"...and the rest will be added unto us.  In both big matters and small matters, I know that I can rely on Him...that He will always be there for me, and that He knows what is best for me. 

I am so thankful for the lessons He is teaching me daily!