Journey into 40

Hello friends! Well, the countdown is over, and I am officially in my 40s. Yikes. I have to tell you , though.... I dreaded the day. But God, my pastor, and my husband, family, and friends made it a wonderful day to remember!

First... we went to church. The children's choir was gathered in the back room for prayer before opening the service with singing. They were being a little goofy and silly, distracted from the purpose before them. So, I sort of laid the smack down. I told them there were people in the congregation that needed the Holy Ghost. I told them there were children in the children's choir who needed the Holy Ghost! I asked, "Do you think God will move and fill someone with His Spirit if we go out there and just sing without really worshipping? If we go out there and goof around? He could, but probably won't. You have a big responsibility... let's give God the opportunity to save someone by lifting Him up!" Then we said a simple prayer. "JESUS, DO AMAZING THINGS WHILE WE SING! AMEN." Let me tell you... those children sang with passion and enthusiasm, and they lit a fire under the seats of the adults! They were on their feet worshipping and singing their hearts out, along with the children! It was awesome! And God DID do amazing things during that service... it was powerful. God is so good. :) My pastor then got up and announced that he would be remiss in his duty as a pastor if he forgot to do the birthday and anniversary celebration today. So I went up and got my birthday candy bar (I paid with forty pennies). Of course, his wife's birthday was the day before mine, so he had double "duty" in that department!

Second... I went home, and did NOTHING! It was cool! My hubby did the dishes for me (LOVE YOU BABE!), and the children played quietly. I played the piano a little, but basically sat around BORED... because I never have nothing to do! Finally, Julie showed up to pick up the boys, and my husband and I headed out for a nice quiet, romantic dinner for two at a wonderful local restaurant.

Here's where it gets interesting. We get to this wonderful italian restaurant, and we are seated in a room by ourselves. The traditional music of Italy is playing softly. The manager brings a vase of flowers with a balloon that says Happy Birthday in bright cheery colors. This is going to be wonderful, I think to myself! Suddenly, behind me, I hear BOO! Happy birthday! It is my son! Both of them. And Julie and Jack. Now, don't get me wrong.... but I was disappointed! I didn't want them there! They were spoiling our romantic moment! This is esp. bad because we did not get to go out to dinner for our anniversary because of the tragic events that occurred in Nick's elementary school, resulting in the death of a teacher, and a second teacher being shot and wounded. So this romantic dinner for two was sort of a combination birthday/anniversary celebration. So I thought. I smiled and acted happy to see them. :>) Then, my step brother and his family walked in. Then my mom and Ray. Then my next door neighbors! OK, I get it! By the time all was said and done, there were over 30 people there to ring in my 40s with me! My husband is very sneaky! I am very impressed at his ability to pull this off. The biggest and most cool surprise was seeing my sister from Maine! How awesome was that??? I love you Bean! So totally cool that you came all the way up to celebrate with me! Remember all the years of having our parties together, because our birthdays are only one day apart? It was like old times!

Once the celebration was over.... it wasn't over. My friend Sandy went to my house to relieve Julie and Jack of babysitting duty, and Jason took me to the waterfront on the boardwalk. We just walked, sat on the swings, cuddled, talked, and enjoyed the peace and quiet, as well as each other's company. Ahhhhh... the little things in life! I realized that evening that I am truly maturing. I didn't even give ONE THOUGHT to receiving gifts or cards or any type of recognition when I woke up that morning. I just had one thing in mind... being with my family.

Thank you ALL for making the beginning of this journey into the 40s a positive and happy experience! I am blessed to have such outstanding family and friends!

Long lost blogger found!

Hello everyone! Remember me? I haven't been here to write anything in over a week. Sorry for putting y'all on hold. There is plenty to write about, so hang on and get comfy. :)

First, the countdown now stands at 6 days.

Second, our beloved goldfish Toby, whom we have had for seven years, died on Saturday. We were sad (heck, he's been in the family since Nick was 6 months old!), and because he was so big, I was afraid to flush him (who wants to call a plumber on Saturday because your dead goldfish clogged up the john?). SO... we had ourselves a little fishy funeral, and buried him in the backyard. He has a little tombstone that says:

Toby

1999 - 2006

We love you

Then, Adam went inside and retrieved from the tank our little shark guy leaning on a sign that says "only cool fish allowed". He told me, "There will never be a fish as cool as Toby." and he placed the little statue on Toby's grave. Sweet. We went to Wal-Mart that evening to pick up some stuff for Sunday School the next day... the boys and I lingered in the FISH dept. We gave daddy some puppy dog eyes, and left the store with two new fish! One looks just like Toby (only much smaller), so we call him Junior. The other one is orange, black, and white, and Jason thought he looked like Joseph with the coat of many colors, so he is named Joseph. Junior and Joseph. We like it! Don't tell Adam, but I think these fish are going to be cool, too!

Third, we had another FABULOUSLY anointed church service Sunday evening, with yet ANOTHER teen receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost, speaking in other tongues! That is three teens in three weeks! Jordan was first, then Travis, now Chris. I feel a revival coming on... in fact, Pastor's message was incredible.... A REVIVAL OF ONE! I am a revival of one! I am hell's worst day! Enough is enough, and the devil can just go suck his thumb, because I am going to live my life on the edge! Bold! (WORD!) LOL! You'll have to ask my pastor about that one!

In other news, we celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday on Sunday afternoon (Benjammin). It was good to be with family. I love our family so much! Family is God- ordained, and a precious gift. It infuriates me that these homosexual activists are spending billions of dollars trying to destroy the family. My family brings me such joy! My brother calls me on the phone just to say hi and check in... you don't know how much I appreciate and enjoy that! I feel loved.

Well, I am certainly rambling here. What have I been learning from God this week? That if God is not in it, no matter what you are doing, then it is meaningless. God should be the center of every area of our lives. He is pleased when we get ourselves off the throne of our hearts, and allow Him the privilege of ruling and reigning there.

I pray you all have a blessed week. Make it a point to put Jesus in the center of your life this week. Find out more about Him this week! Seek Him while He may be found... His return is very very close! Love y'all!

Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice!

I have been in such a "funk" lately... crabby and anti social. But tonight I have much to rejoice about! What an awesome day this has been in the Lord!

This morning we began a new adventure in Children's Church. We turned the Sunday School building next door into an auto mechanic's shop, called the Master's Care shop... total care for your soul. It was so much fun! We were packed in ( a total of 34 people in one room full of tools, keyboard, etc etc) and I don't know who had more fun, the children or the adults! Crystal took lots of pictures, and I will post a few of them once they give me a CD of them. Kelly kindly videotaped the whole thing for us, and I can't WAIT to see it! Ben let us use his video camera (thank you thank you thank you!!!) so we need to borrow it from him to be able to watch it. Their were many fun moments, like when Ron blew the air horn and freaked a few children out (not bad... they laughed afterward)... and when he did a load test on the battery and caused smoke to come off the battery (planned, not dangerous)... and when Seana smeared car grease all over her face... lots of laughs! But there were also some serious times, like Bro. Lyon's message about the flat tire, the nail representing sin. Very powerful image for the children. And the prayer time at the end was wonderful... all the children were praying. However, the highlight of the day was when Ron took them outside to the huge tractor trailer truck he had parked on the front lawn, put them all in the sleeper cab, and took them for a ride down the street! They'll be talking about that for months to come! They got to pull the horn and shift the gears! They were thrilled! They were wondering if we were going to be doing this every week... LOL! NOT! Maybe every 8 weeks or so... but not every week!

THEN, we went to brunch with Jack and Julie at a new restaurant called "Tuscan Kitchen". I have never been there, but it was delicious! It was a Sunday brunch with a little bit of everything you can imagine! YUM!

Then off to evening service. WOW! The Lord was really moving, and one of our teens who has been seeking the baptism of the Holy Ghost for a year and a half finally received it at the end of service! What a wonderful time of celebration! I think he spoke in tongues for about a half an hour. The angels of God rejoice over ONE sinner who repents... so we just celebrated right along with them! He was so full of the love of God, he just hugged and hugged people! It was so cool!

SO, I apologize for my complaining. It is not a godly characteristic. I choose to rejoice tonight!

Stand by....

YES, I will be blogging this evening! Once the kids are in bed, I will be posting some exciting news and information! Stay tuned!

Where is everybody??

Well, I really didn't feel like posting anything tonight, because I am crabby and don't really have anything worth saying. But the name of this blog is Northern Apostolic Mom... supposedly a picture of day to day life as a christian mom in Vermont. If I only post on days when I am feeling good, then you get a skewed picture of what day to day life is really like. So, here is my confession. Today has been a lonely day. I just needed someone to BE here to talk to. My husband was at work (which of course I appreciate greatly), and my boys were downstairs at the neighbors all day... in and out only to get food and leave again. Now, normally I enjoy my downtime. But today... I just wanted someone to BE here. Someone to talk to. Someone to listen to. I got online and watched an excellent service at Britt's church in Memphis. It was fun to sing and to listen to the message. But that was the only point in the day I had that. Yep, I'm complaining, I guess. I don't know. Where do you draw the line between telling the truth about your thoughts and feelings, and complaining? Whatever. (That is a Sandini-ism). I suppose I will just go to bed... everyone else is in bed, and it's only 9:00! I'm not tired! But since there's no one to talk to, I'll just hit the sack early. I hope this isn't a side effect of all the trauma we've been through recently. I just want to feel connected.

Healing

Sorry I haven't been here too regularly. The events of last Thursday were so emotional, it's been a pretty rough road. It's been 8 days, and feels like yesterday. But we've been doing a lot of things to bring healing, like bringing flowers to the school, drawing cards to send to Ms. Snedeker, going to many of the services and meetings and events that are designed to bring healing to the community. The school board meeting on Wednesday was extremely helpful, hearing from the brother of Alicia Shanks, asking for a vote of confidence for teacher Andrea Lambesis, the intended target of the shooter. And this evening, the entire community turned out to form a human chain around the playground at the school and sing "This Little Light of Mine". It was tremendously powerful. Jenky Snedeker, the other teacher shot in the school, was there in a wheelchair, just released from the hospital. She got about a million hugs and an incredible ovation from the crowd! There were two sundogs around the sun, and a rainbow up overhead... not the kind that goes from ground, up to sky, and back to the ground, but it was like it was pasted flat against the sky, arching from side to side like a smile. It was only there while we held hands. As soon as we were finished singing and dropped hands, the rainbow disappeared. It was weird. But comforting for many people. Of course, I don't believe that it had anything to do with Alicia, but many many people did, and it brought them great comfort and peace. I am doing really well now that I am back to work in the school district I work in. There is comfort in routine. It really helps to refocus your energies on the positive things in life. I know that once the boys are back to school, they, too, will take comfort in routine. The boys think it is cool that they have had their picture and their sign on the front page of two local newspapers. It makes them smile. There is much to smile about in life. God is good. You'll probably see more of me here now that I have pulled it back together. Hug those that are special to you tonight and tell them you love them. TTYL.