Signs and wonders....

LOL!!! Ah, the love / hate relationship we have with our computers! This cartoon is sooooo totally ME!!

DANIELLE IS MARRIED!

What a WONDERFUL time we had at my dear friend Danielle's wedding yesterday! She was radiantly beautiful, and I think maybe her new husband Steve may have been out-glowing his new wife! I don't think I have ever seen a man with such an "I'm head over heels in love" look on his face before! (except maybe my husband) :) Anyway, it was so much fun to see them enjoy their big day, and we had such great fellowship with church friends from throughout this district (NH/VT) and beyond. We sat and talked with Bro. and Sis. Chesson from MA, Bro. Lyon from Burlington, Bro. and Sis. Loseby from Rutland, Bro. and Sis. McAllister from Barre, and Bro. and Sis. Duval from Dorchester. What a wonderful time of fellowship! We even met Candy, our pre-camper assistant this summer at church camp! Nice to finally have a face to put with the name!

Well, the other exciting part of our day came AFTER we left the wedding reception. We were in Concord, NH, getting ready to get back on I-89 and head home. I suddenly said, "We're only 1 hour from Kittery... let's go take my grandparents out for dinner." My grandfather's health is very bad, and I just don't know how many more chances I will get to see him. My husband is AWESOME! He said, "Sure! Let's go!" So we turned around and headed to Kittery. My grandparents were THRILLED! So was I! And as a little added bonus, my husband suggested we make a surprise visit to my good friends Allen and Rhonda on our way out of town. THAT was totally fun!!!!

I have to say a HUGE HUGE thank you to my mother-in-law and her husband for making it all possible! They took our boys for the day (and night) so they could be in the parade and just have fun without sitting in the car all day (which was even tough on the adults!). By the way, my son's cub scout float won FIRST PLACE in the parade this year!!! How cool is that? It was 80 feet long!

Anyway, enough rambling! I just had to get my thoughts down on (paper??).... screen.... before heading off to church and another incredibly busy day! Today will be filled with church, a barbeque, a birthday party, and possibly ANOTHER birthday party! Never a dull moment around here! Blessings to all my readers! Hi Kel! Hi Sandy! Hi Pastor!

Michelle

another funny blog cartoon

Hey Kel! I need to find out where you find these great blog cartoons! They always make me laugh! Thanks!

Michelle

Another Bible study complete

Tonight was Lesson 12 in my Tuesday evening Bible study with my sweet mother/daughter friends, the Monica's! Yes, they are mother and daughter and have the same name. :) I just love these wonderful ladies! We have been having such fun digging into God's word (and into Monica's yummy snacks... what a fabulous cook!!). Neither has the Holy Ghost (YET), but they are both seeking and desiring this wonderful salvation experience!

Tonight's lesson was on endtime prophecy and such. I had not intended to get into great detail, but I did feel the Holy Ghost nudge me to cover a bit of the prophetic information in Daniel 7 about the beasts/nations of the end time. Well... their jaws about hit the floor in eye-opening shock when they saw for themselves the incredible accuracy of God's prophecies regarding nations and such that would exist in the times just prior to the return of Jesus... it is quite literally like reading today's front page of the newspaper! One of them actually hollered out "OK Holy Ghost! Come on down! We're waiting for you! We need you!" Yep, she should be speaking in tongues in no time. :) I pray that now the Lord will just give the increase as the Word takes root in their hearts. I just LOVE teaching the Word of God!!!! It is a rewarding, fulfilling labor of love for my Savior! Next week, we will close out our Tuesday evenings together with ice cream sundaes, and watch a video of Bro. Lloyd Squires, the King's Clown, give a message on Noah's Ark... it is just hilarious, and a perfect way to close out our study! Jesus, please fill Monica and Monica with your spirit! Amen!

Need a good laugh?

My friend Kelly, a former college roommate and current fellow blogger, recently posted this hilarious little blogging cartoon on her blog site.... thought I would share the laugh with y'all!

Michelle

Going on a bear hunt

How fun! Today was "walk to school" day in Essex! There were three locations that students could meet and walk in together. We were originally going to walk from the closest location (because our kindergartener wasn't up to the challenge), but at the last minute decided to walk from the movie theater, which is about a mile and a half away. What a great choice! On the way, we saw a bear cub up in a tree about 50 yards off the road! The children (and adults) were all pretty excited! The tree was in a horse pen, and I will have you know that the two horses had their eyes fixed on that bear! They were pacing. How often do you get that kind of opportunity?? It was just a neat way to start the day! And Nick was the only kindergartener in our group, so he got to share the news with his whole class!

Special day!!

Today is my spiritual birthday, and I just couldn't let the day go by without thanking Jesus for saving me 13 years ago today!! I hold this day in MUCH higher esteem than my natural birthday. Without the Holy Ghost, A.) I wouldn't be going to heaven, B.) Only the Lord knows what a mess my life would be, and C.) I would not know the peace, joy, and love that can only come from living according to God's Word and in relationship with Him. I love the song we sing in church, "You don't know like I know what He's done for me!" Amen! He's done so much for me, it will only be made known on that day when I stand before him in glory. So I want my Jesus to know.... "I love you and thank you and praise you with all my heart!"

The Heart of God

Today, I received in the mail a DVD I had requested from a ministry called Life Outreach. One day as I sat at a friend's house doing laundry, I was watching the program and it moved me deeply. I thought to myself... "Every person who calls themselves a Christian MUST see this video." I emailed the ministry, and they GLADLY sent me the DVD at no cost, as my intention was to share the very heart of God with everyone I knew through this footage. The purpose of this ministry is to minister to the orphaned and abandoned children of India. I have seen this show many times before. However, this time it was VERY different. Contemporary Christian singer/songwriter Kathy Troccoli had been on a missions trip with these wonderful people, and was forever changed as she encountered Jesus Christ in these children and their unspeakable suffering. She felt the very heartbeat of God and was completely broken in His presence. The footage is so powerful. She is shown with a sweet, precious little boy named Santoosh who lost his mom and dad to disease, and as Kathy sat with him, he showed her a picture of his "papa". As she spoke, he began to caress the picture of his dad, and tears began to pour down his face, as he tried to gain comfort and love and peace from the picture of his dad. Kathy's heart was again broken before God (as was mine), and suddenly the scriptures leapt to life in my soul... "Inas much as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me." "LOVE covereth a MULTITUDE of sins." "I will show you my faith BY my works." As much as proper salvation doctrine is vitally important, I believe many times we as Apostolic Pentecostal Christians major so much on the strict adherance to the doctrine that we miss the heartbeat of God. My pastor and the pastor of the Burlington UPC have both preached THIS WEEK about Christians who camp out just inside the gate of salvation and don't go any further ( my pastor calls it "borderland"). I don't care if Mother Theresa was catholic. She loved the people of Calcutta, India, and gave her life in service to them that they might know the love of Jesus Christ, who also gave His life FOR them. Her love, the love of Jesus expressed through her to a lost and dying people, covers a multitude of sins, and I won't be the least bit surprised to see her in heaven!! The catholic religion may not have the doctrine correct, but they understand the love of God very well! Sometimes I wonder if WE have a grasp on it the way Kathy Troccoli now does? This link is a devotional describing a little of what I saw and experienced on the DVD. Please, please, consider helping this ministry to minister to the little ones in India. "Suffer the little children to come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Be blessed.

PS I shared this DVD with my two children, and they were moved with compassion as Kathy Troccoli spoke of children in America wanting new gameboys and computer games, when instead they should be desiring to use their money as a tool to help children just like them to have a home, food and clothing, and people to love them, since most are without parents to give them this very basic need. Adam begged me to write the phone number down, and both boys were willing to give of their own money to help God's precious children. I told them it was admirable to want to send money, and if they felt like Jesus was telling them to, then by all means, obey Jesus. However, we discussed the importance of prayer in this case as well. We will do what we can by PRAYER first, and giving second. Who knows? God may call my boys to the foreign mission field in the future... Jesus, thank you for showing your heart to my boys. Let the seed take root and grow strong and produce abundant fruit. Amen.

Just a thought...

I have been thinking today (scary, I know). My pastor said something this morning that made me think and take inventory (isn't that what is supposed to happen?). Anyway, he gave an illustration about messy houses (YEP! THAT WOULD BE ME!) and how when you have company, if you don't have time to clean the whole house, you just close the doors to the messy rooms, and show guests only the clean ones (can I get a witness??). He made the comparison to the condition of our hearts. If you have an area of your heart that is full of darkness that you don't want God or anyone else to see, you "close the door" to that room and only show the part of you that looks good. It was a fabulous message! But I got to thinking... is there another parallel we can draw? Usually the condition of the heart manifests itself in the natural... My house is a disaster QUITE OFTEN... I have two boys, and we are constantly on the go (ball games, cub scouts, bible study, life group, etc etc etc). My house suffers. I truly hope my messy disorganization is not an indicator of spiritual things in my life... need to think and pray about this one. If I find a correlation, then I need to seriously "take inventory" again and "clean up" my life. I'll let you know what I discover.
Blessings!

Picking friends wisely

What a fun morning this has been! My son's cub scout pack had a rocket launch at the fairgrounds, and it was a blast! The problem came after my son launched his rocket the second time... he didn't see where it landed and we subsequently lost it. He was so upset, he went to my car and hid (and cried, and got mad, and generally had a wrong attitude). I tried to tell him that other boys had lost their rockets too, but they just shrugged it off and had fun chasing the other scouts' rockets. Nothing I said could console him. After a while, his friend Ian came to the car window and was friendly, kind, compassionate, disarmed Adam, and then told him that the cub master's wife was launching a rocket called the "Barbinator" that had a Barbie doll inside it... "Come watch them launch Barbie into outer space!!" Adam perked up and jumped out of the car like nothing had happened! Amazing! I am so glad my son has learned how to pick his friends wisely! THANKS, IAN!

Reminiscing

When my oldest son Adam was born, we were the typical first-time parents... "If you want to hold the baby, wash your hands first." We boiled the pacifier every time it hit the floor. We bleached the toys on an every other day basis. You know the drill. We also bought a camcorder and filmed endless hours of "baby footage" that anyone other than mom and dad would consider boring to the point of death. Unfortunately, when Adam was just over one year old, he brought death to the camcorder by grabbing the recharge cord and pulling it onto the floor to its untimely demise. We've never since had the ability to watch these videos without an 8mm camera to run the little tapes.

I just recently found someone with an 8mm camcorder who was willing to transfer my countless hours of "baby you're a star" onto VHS. WOW.... talk about a time capsule! We have enjoyed watching him grow up all over again ... and Adam (who is now 8 1/2 years old) thinks it is a RIOT to watch himself as a baby! So many things you FORGET!! The sweet little coos and the hilarious hiccups, and the funny noises and peekaboo games... seeing all your "favorite outfits" on your little one, and the day he learned to give dad zerberts! THAT was hilarious!! It has been really fun! My biggest regret is that we have ZERO footage of Nicolas because of his big brother's destructive capabilities. And you can never go back... oh well. I am hopeful that one day in glory, Jesus will replay my life for me, and I will get to relive Nick's young years again in that day.

For now, I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to my neighbor's dad who was willing to spend hours recording so we could be SOOOO blessed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are appreciated more than you know!

Michelle

Ladybugs and loving your neighbor

Happy Mother's Day to all you beautiful, wonderful mothers out in blogland! In my (humble) opinion, mother's day is the best day of the year! :) Yes, I'm biased. I got French toast and bacon for breakfast (and did NOT have to cook it!) and flowers, and cards, and a bracelet, and lots and lots of LOVE!

This morning at church, I helped out the teacher in the preschool sunday school class (age 2-4). How fun! This particular classroom happens to be full of real live ladybugs (really... tons of them), and the children are enamoured by them! Noah (our pastor's 2 year old son) thought that squishing them was kind of cool, and he loved watching them fly around! And since I know my pastor is going to read this, (hee hee hee) I will also inform you that Noah thinks that gluestick is equivalent to chapstick! What a great kid!!

But actually, what I REALLY want to write about this evening is the FABULOUS move of God we had this evening in our missionary service. We had a missionary to Uruguay, South America tonight, Bro. Darrell Geissler, and I'm telling you....God began to move from the very beginning of the worship, which blessed the socks off this wonderful man of God from Uruguay! He could hardly contain himself behind the pulpit! And the people had a mind to worship God this evening! Spontaneous worship kept breaking out over and over! The missionary told us story after story of the miracles he has seen God do, and faith rose in the saints. My husband, who has had a sore throat for 5 weeks, was instantly healed in tonight's service. Praise God! Then the missionary preached from Mark 12 on love your neighbor as yourself... his message was simple...tell everyone you meet "Jesus Loves You". He said, "Where there is no love, PUT love, and there you will FIND love." So to all you who are reading this blog, please know for certain that Jesus really does love you... for real! Be blessed! And if you are wondering about this Jesus, and you have never met him... that's what I said...MET HIM, for yourself and come into a personal RELATIONSHIP (not religion) with Him who died on the cross so you didn't have to, then email me at shellziter@msn.com. Let's chat! He is the most wonderful part of my life! Peace!

Michelle

Proud Mom (and Dad)!

So.... I am sitting at the laundromat yesterday, flipping through this week's copy of the Essex Reporter (local paper), and all of a sudden, on page 10, there is a huge picture (1/4 page) of Little League Opening Day ceremonies. And right before my eyes, is my little Nicolas, carrying the flag as his team parades onto the field! I was so excited, I squealed! Of course, I had to show all the strangers in the laundromat (LOOK! That's MY SON!). They all smiled politely (she is wacked). I immediately went and picked up five more copies of the paper so I could mail out copies to the Maryland, Maine, and Florida relatives. Hey! It's almost Mother's Day... I can have my bragging rights, can't I? Oh well. Just wanted to share my excitement with the world. Thanks for listening!

They're coming to take me away, ha ha!

Ok... who's idea was it to sign BOTH of my sons up for baseball this spring? Huh? If it was mine... then please slap me. I will SURELY not do this again next year! This is quickly turning out to be more than ANY of us in the family bargained for. Up in the morning for school, get said children on the bus, head off to work myself (husband has been up and gone since 5 am). Work all day, come home, get aforementioned children OFF the bus at 4 pm. Practice starts at 4:45, which means you must leave the house by 4:30. This gives me 1/2 hour to feed them dinner (which I cooked WHEN?!?!?!?) and get out the door. One child plays on M, W, F, and the other plays on Tue, Thurs. FIVE NIGHTS A WEEK we do this. Tues and Wed present special challenges with cub scouts, church, and Tues evening Bible study with my friends Monica and Monica (who happen to be mother and daughter). My poor husband (who works until 6 pm) tries valiantly to make as many practices/games as he can, and also gives up a lot of meetings and trainings related to work to be able to take the older son to scouts or to be there for the games.

Am I complaining? Yes! Is it my own fault? Yes! Am I learning a lesson? Yes! Our pastor taught a series last year on "Simplifying your Life"... I really need to revisit those lessons, which can be listened to on our church website www.lifeteaching.com . Next year, things will be different. Guaranteed. Jesus cannot take a backseat to baseball. He paid much too high a price for me.

World changers

As expected, yesterday was anything but humdrum! Although exhausting, the day was as fulfilling as you can get! Morning church service was very good. Our pastor is teaching on spiritual disciplines. This message focused on balance... not going to the "extreme" to prove yourself spiritual... abusing the body to prove the mind is superior. Hard to explain unless you have heard his previous teaching on the mind-body split (Plato), but it was excellent. THEN the baseball frenzy began. We left church and went straight to the field for 3 hours of parading in, hearing opening day speeches, playing a game, and having team pictures taken. Then directly back to church for the SFC kickoff rally. Let me stop here and tell you that God moved in a profound way during this service. The worship was extremely powerful, and the message that Jason McAllister preached about becoming "world changers" and saving our children had most everyone in the building in tears. Prayer at the altar after the message was deep and emotional and passionate. The love of Jesus is beyond description... Anyway, after service, we had our good friends the Loseby's over to our place for pizza and fellowship. I truly appreciate their friendship! Sure wish we lived closer to one another. Needless to say, it was a late night, and the boys didn't get to bed until 11pm (on a school night!). So they slept in this morning, and mom brought them to school. But our breakfast conversation was so wonderful, focusing on the events of the evening before. I have determined that my children will have a Godly heritage to look back on, and will not be able to deny that mom and dad gave them a solid Christian foundation while growing up. "Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it."