Ta Da!!!

Sing with me!

Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful? Isn't she special? Barely six years old!

My gorgeous niece Meghan! Soon to be big sister two times over. Hey Megs...

AUNT SHELL LOVES YOU SOOOO MUCH! *muah*

My Jesus is so good!

Hmmmm..... what words of wisdom can I post tonight, at 11:35 pm?

Well... here is how my day unfolded. First - amazing church service. My pastor is totally in tune with the Spirit of God, because every time I turn around, other pastors are confirming what he preaches in their own messages. This morning, he wrapped up his message on spirituality, which was deep and thought provoking, and excellent. Then the boys and I headed home to finish homework and housework (that's kind of funny, now that I have typed it...). While folding laundry, we watched Bro. Lee Stoneking give his testimony about being raised from the dead, and even though it was my third time hearing him preach it, I was still in total awe! Jason had not listened to him give the testimony before, and being the medical professional that he is, he was blown away by the overwhelming evidence of God's miraculous power! If you are interested in hearing this story for yourself, go to www.tpcmemphis.org, click on the message dated 9/17/06, and then forward through the beginning of the service to his message. I'd love to tell you how many minutes into the service he speaks, but their server seems to be off-line right now, so I'll have to come back and update this post later. It is at LEAST 45 minutes in... probably more. Anyway, it got my older son's attention, and he was really drawn in by it. Praise God! Actually, here is a link you can use to LISTEN to the testimony without video... http://www.brownfloyd.com/gallery/displayimage-search-0-2.html

Next, my husband and boys went swimming at the Edge, and I attempted to do my Oct. church attendance reports on the computer. While creating the Oct. visitor record, I inadvertantly hit SAVE instead of SAVE AS... and over-wrote my Sept. visitor document! AHHHH! So I have some work to do....

Finally, we went to Ben and Stacy's place to welcome Julie home from Chicago, and to celebrate Laurel's 25th birthday. We had so much fun and laughed so hard we cried! I love our family! Julie called us Sat. evening from the top of the Sears tower... that was totally cool!

My husband and I ended our day by lying down and talking about the goodness of God, our upcoming revival services with evangelist Jay Stirnnamen,

and people who haven't been to church in a LOOONG time, whom we need to reconnect with and love them back to God. We talked about the strength of the youth, past and present, and how this youth group can be strong for those who are struggling. I love my Jesus. He has been nothing but good to me and my family. When I got saved 14 1/2 years ago, my family wrote it off as just another one of my extreme fads. They told me, "Every thing you do, you do to the extreme. This is the same thing. It will pass, and you'll find something else to give your attention to." But they didn't understand... this was different. This was life changing! This was the God who created everything, coming to live inside of ME! They don't know my God. Yeah, they know ABOUT Him, but they don't KNOW Him the way I do. When I was baptized in his Spirit, speaking in another tongue, completely submitted to Him, I was completely changed... a new creation. That just doesn't happen by saying, "I'm sorry for my sins, please forgive me and come into my heart." POOF! I'm saved! I'm a Christian now! Man, when someone is born again of the Spirit, you KNOW IT, because the change is totally apparent right away!

My husband's screen saver says something profound... it says, "The greatest ignorance is to reject that which you know nothing about." Wow. If I'd rejected the born again experience just because I didn't know anything about it, I'd still be lost, probably still drinking, still doing the bar scene, probably married to an alcoholic... THANK YOU JESUS FOR MY NEW LIFE IN YOU! I LOVE YOU! YOU MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME! We sing an old hymn... it goes like this...

Where would I be? You only know.

I'm glad you see through eyes of love.

A hopeless case, an empty place, if not for grace.

My other favorite old hymn goes like this...

Only one life, so soon it will pass.

Only what's done for Christ will last.

Only one chance to do His will.

So give to Jesus all your days, it's the only life that pays

When you recall you have but one life.

I wouldn't trade this life I live now for ANYTHING! There is NOTHING this world can offer me that even comes CLOSE to comparing to the glory I will inherit on the day He comes for me! Come soon Lord Jesus! (He wasn't just a man, He was Lord and King, the Savior of the world, He was deity, His name is Jesus, this man from Galilee).

Harvest Party 2006 is a smashing success!

Ah.... the harvest party at our church today was a total blast! We had 15 children, and they all had a great time! I will not post all the pictures I took of everyone's children you don't know (hee hee), but I would LOVE to post pics of my boys and my niece and nephew... take a look!


This is Adam striking a pose on our little photo op stack of hay bales.


Nick on same said stack of hay... notice that my boys did NOT dress up in costumes... little stinkers. No fun when you don't dress up!


This is my sweet niece Meghan, who is looking fabulous in the indian costume her grandma made for her.


This is my nephew Michael in his awesome Spiderman pajamas!


We did donuts on a string... the wonderful pregnant woman to the left is my sister in law... due on Thanksgiving with number three... her name is Elana! The fabulous woman in the center holding her sweet three year old daughter is Seana, who totally made the party possible by helping set up into the wee hours of the night, and helping clean up after. THANK YOU SEANA! Also, not pictured here is the great and wonderful SANDINI! She also did the set up and tear down with me, and has my undying gratitude for her time! Love ya Sandini!!



This is gourd bowling! Fun, because the gourds roll every which way but straight!



Of course, we also bobbed for apples,



painted mini pumpkins,



searched for the turkey in the straw,



and tried to see who could move the most candy corn, using toes only, from one bowl to the other in 30 seconds.... FUN!

It was a really fun day, and I am totally beat, THANK GOD FOR THE END OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!!!!! I will thoroughly enjoy that extra hour! That is, if I get to bed in time to enjoy it... Talk to you soon!
Bye!

YIKES! SNOW!

Well well well! I posted the last post, and then whamo! Out of nowhere, it starts snowing like a blizzard, and our power went out! We got about 3 inches here in town, and our beautiful silver maple in the backyard lost about ten large branches from the weight of the heavy snow. I am NOT ready to have snow before halloween... it makes for a very long winter when it arrives that early. I called my mom, who arrived in Florida last week, to inform her of the early arrival, and she told me that it was 90 degrees and humid where she was.... no fair. I'll take that over snow any day!

Okay, I'm done complaining now. But I know one reader of this blog (pastor) who is a fellow snow disliker! We are in agreement that snow is beautiful right around Christmas time, and after that, it can GO! I think a perfect winter would be about 4-6 weeks. Then spring! That would work for me.

Well, the power came back on at 10:27, after being out for 3 hours. Now I can go to bed without the fear of candles burning my building down! Pray for warm weather! Peace out!

Busy life!!

Well, I owe y'all an apology... been missing in action for a bit here. There's quite a bit going on in my life these days. First, our church is really moving into revival, and our pastor warned us that it is not all peaches and cream... in fact, it can get quite ugly as the Lord brings to the surface things that must be dealt with and done away with in your life. Yes, that has indeed been happening in our lives. It's been tough, but God has been so faithful. We are really excited about all that is happening to prepare our family and our church for an influx of new souls!

We are having four days of revival services at our church in Jericho on Nov. 2-5, featuring a fabulous evangelist from Rhode Island by the name of Rev. Jay Stirnnamen. He has been a friend of our church and our district for many years, and we are thrilled to have him coming up in 2 weeks!

I have also begun working with my friend Ellen (wife of the pastor of the Burlington church) and our friend Rebecca on a couple of projects. First, we are putting together a Bible Study promotion for our district, and the excitement builds each time we get together! Also, we are working together to promote the Nov. revival services with Bro. Stirnnamen. In the process, we are rekindling the friendship we first developed when they moved here from Maryland. It is a wonderful feeling!

What else is happening of note? My mom and Ray headed to Florida last week for the winter *sniff, sniff*. We will miss them, but they are planning to be back for a visit at Christmas time. Also, Jason's dad and company (Al, Winnie, Matt, Brianna, RAVIE, James, and Collin) are coming from Maryland for Christmas. So.... it will be a busy time this holiday season. And unfortunately, Jason is WORKING 6am-6pm on Christmas day (that really really stinks!). But God knows and understands. We'll make it work somehow.

My husband and I are ALSO in charge of the children's harvest party at our church this year. The usual party planners are both VERY pregnant... well, actually, one just delivered a month early last week. The other one is due in about 30 days. It will be a fun time... hopefully we can do the former planners justice! :) We will have gourd bowling, turkey in the straw hunt, squirrel nut hunt, apple bobbing, donuts on a string, a pumpkin seed toss, and various other craft, coloring, and fun stuff to do! We are hoping all will have a good time just being together with friends.

Okay, done. I need to tend to the house now. Will do my best not to ignore this here corner of the web from now on. Blessings!

Michelle

Steve Irwin @ Late Night with Conan O'Brien Promoting "Croc Week"

This is too funny not to post! What a shame to have lost such a dynamic personality. I'll bet his children thought he was the coolest dad ever! View All Steve Irwin Video - http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=steve+irwin+aiaiai.com View Others - http://aiaiai.com

Phenomenal God!!

WOW! This week was the General Conference for the United Pentecostal Church International in Columbus, OH ....... WOW! I love technology! For $40 (thank you Julie!) we were able to watch all the services live, and if we missed the daytime ones due to work, we could watch them in the archives. Plus, my pastor was there and was "live blogging" on the ninetyandnine.net website, and he was hilarious! He and 5 others were commenting on all aspects of the conference, from business meeting election results, to "hall ministry" out in the lobby, to the fashion statements being made by certain individuals (green towel girl!), to the powerful, anointed preaching and the sovereign moves of God that were occuring during the services! It was almost like BEING THERE! All I can say is that revival has arrived in America! I am not even going to go into the content of the messages given each night (because this post would be WAAAAAAYYYY long). All I will tell you is that Sunday night in the crusade service, over 1,100 people received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, speaking with other tongues as the SPIRIT OF GOD gave them the ability! WOW! Did I already say Wow??? It was an awesome sight to behold. Also, back in April of this year, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Azusa Street revival, where God poured out the Holy Ghost in an unprecedented way, filling 1,305 with His Spirit in two days. Hang on, folks! The wave of revival that is about to sweep this nation will be something that no man can take credit for. Jesus' return is VERY near! I'm so excited about the harvest of souls that is beginning in these last days! If you have been watching CNN, then you know that evil and darkness, hopelessness and despair are rapidly consuming this lost and dying world. This is the hour of darkness, but the victory belongs to Jesus and His church! When it gets this dark, the Light of Truth shines brighter than ever; a beacon of hope leading people out of darkness into His marvelous light! Remember that Sunday school song?

This little light of mine

I'm gonna let it shine!

Well, I refuse to be silent in these perilous times! I can't be! People are going into our children's schools and killing our kids, they are hijacking planes and using them as weapons with innocent people onboard, the atrocities happening in Sudan and other oppressed areas around the world are unthinkable and unacceptable. The Gospel of Jesus Christ declares that the only real hope is found in the blood of Jesus! It is in HIS NAME that we are saved from our sin. Yes, sin. Nobody likes to talk about that word anymore. SIN IS THE REASON FOR ALL THIS WICKEDNESS that is occuring today! And whether people want to admit it or not, EVERYONE is a sinner in need of God's salvation. Period. There is no other way to heaven.... this interfaith GARBAGE that says, "Just believe what you want... there's more than one way to God..." is a lie straight from the pit of hell. Jesus said "I AM THE WAY, the truth, and the life, and NO ONE comes to the Father except through ME". It doesn't get much clearer than that. The salvation message is not some big mystery that can only be figured out by going to seminary or Bible college. It is a very simple message. Jesus came back from the dead and spent 40 days with his disciples in His resurrected body, opening their understanding of the Scriptures and telling them exactly what the message was that they were to spread to the world. Then He said, "Go to Jerusalem and wait for the power. After the power has come upon you, THEN you will be witnesses to all the world." They went to Jerusalem, they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit speaking with other tongues. They were accused of being drunk. Peter stood up and preached what the resurrected Jesus had just told Him 10 days earlier. "Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus (yes, the name of Jesus) for the remission of your sins, and you WILL receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost." He did NOT say, "Just believe in the Lord and you will be saved." That was Paul's encouragement to the CHURCH of Rome which had already followed Peter's instructions to repent, be baptized in Jesus' name, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY! We are accused of being intolerant and narrow- minded, but we cannot believe something that is NOT in God's Word.

There are too many people who have settled for "easy believism" Christianity... who have been sold a lie that just believing is enough. It's not. The Bible clearly states that in the last days, there will be people with a "form" of godliness, that reject the power of God... and it says "from such turn away". The power is in the infilling of God's Spirit. If you haven't received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, don't take a chance. Eternity is too long to be wrong! This is not meant to condemn people or belittle them... it is simply a warning being shouted out to the people I love! I love you too much not to tell you what God's Word says about how to save your soul.

If you are interested in checking this all out for yourself, there are some great online Bible studies you can do on your own... get your Bible out and see if I am telling the truth!

http://www.thepentecostals.org/marvelouslight.html

http://www.aplaceprepared.com/index.htm

http://www.greaterlife.org/exploring.htm

If you don't have a home church, or if you have been wondering, "Is this all there is? Is God real or not?", then please please visit one of our churches (ours is in Jericho, VT). You can locate the church nearest you on the www.upci.org website using the church locator. You will be glad you did!