Saturday, February 28, 2009

new purse


My really good friend has started to make purses and other really cute things, check out the custom purse I purchased from her.
It has pockets all around the inside and the outside and it is washable!
also it has a pocket for my cell phone that is not near as deep as the others..... 'nough said!
it is even big enough to carry my bible study in as well as all of the other stuff I carry....




Saturday, February 21, 2009

Cookies at Midnight Slumber Party

"Cookies At Midnight" or beyond......
Last night I helped to co-host a ladies slumber party. We called it "Cookies at Midnight" and we invited all of our little children to join us.
We decided to have dinner first at 7pm and moved fairly rapidly into some other activities.
Dinner was mexican! We had a turn out of about 25 women and 18 kids, it was a full house as far as sleep overs go...

After dinner the kids played a little volleyball and then went off in search of the other activities that we had planned for them. mean while the women had a little down time before Debi introduced us to some rather viscious games. Here we are playing ball, and although we are sitting it is the most physically demanding game of ball I have ever played. 1st we sat in 2 rows facing each other. Knee to knee and we were in teams, the persons facing me to my right and left were on my team and it went that way down the entire length of the rows. The goal was to get the ball to the designated garbage can on either end, by fighting each other for the ball trying to pass it to our team mates. All of that with out leaving your seat. I can attest that there was atleast 1 woman who was crowd surfing at 1 point and several women were rewarded with instant bruising! I am so glad I was in the middle of the row and not on the end.....
we decided that the kids would have cookies and milk at 10:30 so that they could watch a movie and fall asleep, so the women were getting the beds ready while the kids made some cookies. This particular mattress was just not cooperating so Christa decided to do it the "Old Fashioned" way. (not really)
The cookies the kids made ended up more like a pizza..... check this out! It is a triple cookie, mint chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal butterscotch, and m&m cookie.
we will be serving the giant cookie in the coffee house this sunday.
After cookies and milk the kiddos settle in for a movie. We thought that this would be a good way for the kids to head off to sleep but were we ever wrong! First they watched "Horton Hears A Who" and then they watched "Nim's Island" And when we looked at our watches thinking we could go put on our movie the kids were coming in asking for a 3rd movie, mind you it was almost 3am!!! and every single child was still wide awake and was coming in for more cookies. We had to ban some of them from the cookie table. about that time alot of the women had either went to bed or headed home.
But of course you have those die hard women who can stay up till dawn, as long as we are having fun. There were a few of us who pulled out a new game at 3 and played till 4 am before heading off to bed. Some of the women I am informed didn't hit the sack until after 5 am. They were also some of the first ones up. We had a really great layed back breakfast of muffins and fruit and of course more cookies and coffee and cocoa. It was a most wonderful slumber party!!!!! And WE HAD MORE FUN THAN THE MEN!!!!



Monday, February 16, 2009

Adventures in Blogging

Today I decided it was time for a new background for my blog....
Little did I know it would be an adventure into a world I would rather not visit.
I am not technologically advanced, no I am more behind than I would like to admit. I can't even text someone on my phone and as for getting a new phone and figuring that out, I am hopeless. I live by the motto "Give It To A Teenager". I have the hardest time figuring out how to change the template on my blog and I won't even attempt to change my layout on my myspace. It is a big enough mess as it is.
I am happy to announce, and I think the technocrats out there would be very proud of me if they new what a feat of technological proportions I have achieved.... I changed my blog layout!!!!

Now this you may think is not such a big deal.
But I tell you I had to deal with such things as:

1. My page color would not change. Bright green just did not go with the theme I have changed to.

2. I had to figure out what an html code is, or at least how to get to it, I still don't know what it is but I am figuring it is sort of like the genetic make up of my blog, if you will.

3. I learned that the colors on a blog are not named black, red, green, brown, etc... they are called hexidecimal color codes, such as the brown you see as the back ground to this text is called #f5deb3. I like wheat better, at least I know how to spell that!

4. Lastly I learned that in order to change the back ground to this text you are reading I needed to know what it is called.... it is a wrapper, imagine that. I kept thinking it was the background even though I knew that was not correct but what else could they have called it.

So as you see I went to the technocrat world and I don't really want to visit there again.... it was all a bit much for me. However my blog is looking good!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Zax



The Zax
by Dr. Seuss From The Sneetches and Other Stories Copyright 1961 by Theodor S. Geisel and Audrey S. Geisel, renewed 1989.

One day, making tracks
In the prairie of Prax,
Came a North-Going Zax
And a South-Going Zax.
And it happened that both of them came to a place
Where they bumped. There they stood.
Foot to foot. Face to face.

"Look here, now!" the North-Going Zax said, "I say!
You are blocking my path. You are right in my way.
I'm a North-Going Zax and I always go north.
Get out of my way, now, and let me go forth!"
"Who's in whose way?" snapped the South-Going Zax.
"I always go south, making south-going tracks.
So you're in MY way! And I ask you to move
And let me go south in my south-going groove."

Then the North-Going Zax puffed his chest up with pride.
"I never," he said, "take a step to one side.
And I'll prove to you that I won't change my ways
If I have to keep standing here fifty-nine days!"
"And I'll prove to YOU," yelled the South-Going Zax,
"That I can stand here in the prairie of Prax
For fifty-nine years! For I live by a rule
That I learned as a boy back in South-Going School.
Never budge! That's my rule. Never budge in the least!
Not an inch to the west! Not an inch to the east!
I'll stay here, not budging! I can and I will
If it makes you and me and the whole world stand still!"

Well...
Of course the world didn't stand still. The world grew.
In a couple of years, the new highway came through
And they built it right over those two stubborn Zax
And left them there, standing un-budged in their tracks.

*****Sad, yes, But those Zax chose not to budge..... I would much rather budge than to be stuck living under a bridge...... They had each other there but it must have been a lonely place all the same. They never became friends. And that is a shame!

yesterday I posted (moving on) but I deleted that post 2 min. later, it was not a good morning for posting so if in error you happened to receive that post I would ask you to disregard it. Today is a great day for posting! I have learned a lesson however. Emotional blogging is not helpful to anyone, least of all me!

Friday, February 6, 2009

GOD SPEAKS!

This week I was verbally attacked. My Character was maligned and I was led to believe that everyone in my church believes that I am a Lying Conniving Snake who lies in the grass waiting to cause division in my church, I am a bitter, jealous, angry, proud person who needs to be knocked off my high horse, and my daughter is just like me. I am an instrument of Satan.....I am a Witch........

These things really stung and quite frankly I was devastated that any one could be so malicious especially a fellow Christian.
However I have had support and love from so many people this past week, assuring me that this was not the case. But things like this screw with your head and you start to think things like maybe I am being punished, Maybe God has a lesson for me. Maybe I am a horrible person and my heart is really black inside. And then you begin to dwell on the words said, you are hurt and then anger begins. I would deal with the hurt anyday but the anger is like a cancer. A tumor of bitterness and hate starts to grow I found my self thinking about these things with increasing animosity. I did not want to forgive ever, this was not even an option for me.

Fortunately for me, My GOD already knew what was going to happen! He knows everything about my life before it ever even happens. God had started to put things in motion to help heal me months and months ago, little did I know this!

A few months a go I happened upon a book sale, (my favorite kind) and they were brand new books 2/$1 wooohoooo! I was so excited I started filling my shopping cart. I came upon 2 books that I thought I really needed. The first one is the story of Mandisa and her journey to American Idol and beyond. The second one was a bible study called Victoriously Frazzled. I was very excited to get home and start reading the Mandisa book, however I was in the middle of a novel and it would have to wait. I put off reading Mandisa for months, I wanted to read it but somehow something else kept coming into my hands to read..... imagine that!

It just so happens that I was not reading anything this week, and durring my most dismal hours I picked up the Mandisa book to get my mind off things. There I started reading a forward by none other than Beth Moore I really love Beth Moore's teachings and I was surprised to find her in this book. I just completed two of her bible studies this year. Phenomenal teacher! After that I was reading the first few pages by Mandisa and she had some verses there from Psalm 40. I posted them in my previous post if you want to read them. I was very moved by the verses and I was able to meditate on them for a while. I kept reading Mandisa enthralled by her struggles but also by how she is a Woman of God and how she allowed Him to direct her every step when it came to American Idol. Especially the time when she had to forgive Simon Cowell for his nasty remarks about her weight. She did not want to forgive him but she prayed God would give her a spirit of forgiveness. WOW! That is what I needed. I needed to pray for a spirit of forgiveness, because this is not something that I had the power to do on my own. There is no way!

My attempts at prayer were meager to say the least, they always seem to be hardest when there is anger and hurt roiling around in there. Somehow it constipates the process. I just said Lord I need a spirit of forgiveness, please help me with this. I put down my Mandisa book and went about my day trying to not think about all the nastiness in my head.

I was in a funk I did not want to go out, I did not want to do anything. Not dishes, not lunch, not laundry, not school, nothing. I love to do my grocery shopping I am a foodie and I love to cook and even the grocery store did not hold any allure for me. So Idecided that if I was just going to mope around maybe I should try doing something productive. I had to try to find a devotional for a ladies night out slumber party I am co-hosting this month. So I took down book number 2 from the shelf "Victoriously Frazzled". And as I started reading the first page my attention was drawn to the verses to focus on for that week. Guess what??? They were the exact same verses from the Mandisa book. In that moment I knew God was speaking to me. I did not hear a loud thunderous voice. It was not a whisper, it was through his word..... The word coincidence entered my mind, but No Not This. This was God who had orchestrated something for me to help me heal months before I would experience this! There is no coincidence that I purchased the books on the same day. There is no coincidence that Mandisa was in my bedroom while Frazzled was in my living room and I had put them both off for months. No coincidence that I picked up both books in the same day. No coincidence that in the very first few pages of both of these books, the same verses were written there for me to see.

At that moment I felt an immediate lightness come upon me, not like a ray of sunshine but like things in my heart were not so heavy any more. I knew that God was there to lift me up out of this muck and mire I was stuck in. I began to soften in places I was not sure I wanted to yet. Something about anger and hurt, they seem to coat your heart with a very thick quick drying plaster, until this hardness penetrates to the core. Admittedly I wanted to stay angry but I had already prayed for a spirit of forgiveness.

I am so amazed at how quick God answers our prayers sometimes. Right now I am still dealing with alot of things, but I am beginning to see why things have happened, and I see how deep His LOVE and provision is for me.

I have also been able to realize that forgiveness between human beings is not about the one being forgiven it is about the one who is having to forgive, it is a balm God allows you to apply to your own heart. So often we think that forgiving someone means letting them off the hook when in truth it means letting yourself heal. Forgiving someone does not make them a better person but it keeps that hard plaster from forming on your own heart. It stops the cancer from growing!
Praise God!!! Forgiveness is for me!!!!

Am I over this? No, but God is doing an incredible work in my life right now. Was this with out lessons learned? No way, I have learned more this week than I wanted to.....But they are valuable lessons and I will not forget them. Praise the Lord I am being healed even in this moment! Thank you Father for your love and mercy!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Under Attack?

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and out of the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.
He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what He has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.

Oh, the joys of those who trust in the Lord,
Who have no confidence in the proud
or in those who worship idols.....

Lord, don't hold back your tender mercies from me.
Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me.
For troubles surround me,
Too many to count!
My sins pile up so high, I can't see my way out.
They outnumber the hairs on my head.
I have lost all courage.......

But may all who search for You
be filled with joy and gladness in You.
May those who love Your salvation
repeatedly shout, "The Lord is great!"
As for me since I am poor and needy,
Let the Lord keep me in His thoughts.

Psalm 40:1-4, 11-12, 16-17

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Blogging for Therapy

Todays blog is for theraputic purposes......

For the last 2 weeks we have been suffering through very cool mornings and some chilly days due to the fact that our furnace decided to (how to put this nicely????) quit on us.... well not exactly the furnace but the brains of the furnace apparently had Alzheimers and was not able to remember that when we said we wanted it at 70 degrees it needed to turn on and warm up the house. The beast was obstinate, there were days we could get some cooperation and then there were days when the thing would just sit there testing our patience. I finally had it when it took me 3 days to fully warm up after sitting in a 60 degree house last tuesday! Justin's dad came over and spent the better part of a day trying to get it up and running. Justin had been working crazy hours he was up at 3am and worked 10 hour days and just did not have the time to get to it. Kent finally did get it running and it has been really nice to be warm again, all we had to do was get new brains for our furnace...... yea...... I thought. This photo will tell you exactly what I am dealing with today....

Once again I am freezing!

Now on to the 2nd part of why I am blogging for therapy today. It seems that we had some visitors to the neighborhood last week that thought we could use a window replacement. The following is a photo of my living room window. Some how they thought that sending a pellet through our front window would be a great idea..... I don't seem to be of the same mind. I am now having to deal with window glass replacement and estimators, who are supposed to call when they are on their way, but don't. More irritating than that was seeing the work order on my sofa that said "call when on way" highlighted in bright pink! HELLO!!!!

So now what to do??? Fix furnace or fix window, HMMMM does not seem like we have a choice in either matter. I think the furnace is of much more importance right now.
I hope my venting does not bring you down, because this is alot cheaper than therapy!
Thank you my friends for listening to my ranting and raving.....
until next time,
S

focusing today on: well trying to anyway...

1Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.