Interesting list

Ok, perhaps it won't be interesting to you, but I find it fascinating! I am going to do something my friend Kelly over at sanguinary blue does quite frequently. SHE puts lists on her blog of the last 50 songs that played on her ipod (or whatever). I am not going to list songs... I am going to list all the places in the world where my blog has been viewed in the last 100 days...

United States:

1. Topeka, KS
2. Tulsa, OK
3. Vincennes, IN
4. Elkhart, IN
5. Cincinnati, OH
6. Ray, OH
7. Massillon, OH
8. Buffalo, NY
9. Ithaca, NY
10. Silver Spring, MD
11. Upper Marlboro, MD
12. Devault, PA
13. Stamford, CT
14. Norwalk, CT
15. Greenfield, MA
16. North Easton, MA
17. Leeds, MA
18. Conway, MA
19. Boston, MA
20. Portsmouth, NH
21. Windham, ME
22. Burlington, VT
23. Colchester, VT
24. Essex Jct., VT
25. Huntington, VT
26. Waitsfield, VT
27. North Clarendon, VT
28. Bellows Falls, VT
29. Williamstown, VT

International

1. Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
2. Lambeth London, United Kingdom
3. Victoria, Hong Kong
4. Oulu, Finland
5. Bolu Dzce, Turkey
6. Izmir Bornova, Turkey
7. Veszprem Csng, Hungary
8. Valais Saanen, Switzerland
9. Ile-de-France Vanves, France
10. Lisboa Lisbon, Portugal
11. Neuquen, Argentina
12. Cundinamarca Bogot, Columbia

Now, I don't know how many of those hits actually READ anything... I imagine most of the foreign hits were not read, unless they all know how to read English. But the fact remains that the Word of God is being presented at least, in many places around the globe. It is kind of exciting to know that!

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

That is all for now... time to get some laundry done! Good night everyone!

My pastor the grammar freak

Ok... I need to set something straight here. I appreciate my pastor more than anything, but I must call him on something he preached across the pulpit this morning.

My pastor is a faithful reader of this blog, and occasionally mentions things in his messages that I have commented on here at northernapostolicmom.com. Today, however, he told the whole congregation that I, the teacher/speller extraordinaire had a misspelled word on my blog! *GASP* The horror! So of course, I had to rush home and micro-inspect my last two weeks worth of posts. I did find one error, using the word unaccessible instead of inaccessible, so I fixed that. But I couldn't find anything else wrong. Then my husband spoke to him on the phone, and pastor mentioned it was in the TITLE of a post. That's when I figured out what he was looking at. But what he doesn't understand, is that the spelling was INTENTIONAL!!!!! (click here to see blog post in question). Pastor, have you ever heard the teens/young adults saying "Thas amasing" in their funny little voice? Call Tyrel and have him say it for you. THEN you will understand. I DON'T MAKE MISTAKES!!!!! LOL!!! Just kidding! All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.... I am no exception. I forgive you for announcing my shortcomings to the entire church body. I will expect to hear a retraction next service! LOL!!!!!!!!!! You are the best! In everything, GIVE THANKS! I am thankful for such an awesome pastor!

Introducing.... ELANA!!! **UPDATED** new picture

Welcome to this world, precious little girl! Just had to show her off...

















Here she is with her very proud big sister...












And her very excited big brother...












And of course... the very proud cousins....






























As you can see, baby is gorgeous and doing well. Stacy is also recovering nicely, and should be going home tomorrow afternoon. What a nice little addition to the family, eh?

Hooray for Sandy!!!

Well, that is a big mystery solved, thanks to the great Sandini. I was beginning to get a complex because no one has posted a comment on my blog in sooooooo long! Even my pastor, faithful reader that he is, hasn't left me a comment in ages. I thought no one was reading or caring about what I wrote anymore! But Sandy just told me that when she tried to post her first ever comment on my blog, it gave her a message that said, "Comment will be posted once the comment moderator approves your message." HUH???? So I checked my settings, and somehow, a button called "Enable comment moderation" had been set to YES. Whatever. I have no clue how that happened. But I turned it OFF!!! So... now y'all can post (positive) comments on my blog when you feel so inclined! :-) Have a wonderful day!

Welcome Elana!!!

ELANA HAS ARRIVED!!!!! She was born at 2:20 am (Nov. 26) and is doing great! She weighed in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. and is 21 inches long. Mom and Dad are well and VERY happy to have Elana here! I'll get pictures later to post. YAY! WELCOME ELANA!!!

Halleluia Anyhow

SING WITH ME!

Halleluia anyhow!

Never gonna let life's troubles get me down.

Whatever problems life may bring,

I'll lift my head up high and sing

Halleluia anyhow!

Ah... the memories. I am reminded of God's faithfulness when I hear that song. It's a story of how God did a miracle for our youth group (back in the day... long time ago) when we lost the alternator belt on our church van about 45 minutes prior to reaching our destination, but as our youth worshipped and praised God in that van, He provided battery power enough to get us where we needed to be! He is faithful!

Tonight, my car hit a CRATER of a pothole (we will NOT discuss the details of this incident here). Consequently, it flattened my tire, and it had to be towed because the donut in the trunk was not even a volvo donut... the lug nut holes didn't line up, and the alignment pin was missing.... anyway, I sing Halleluia anyhow. The Bible says "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning YOU (me)." So, I am thankful for whatever blessing He has coming my way!

I'll tell you what blessing is on it's way!!!! Elana! Stacy is in the hospital giving birth right now, and we are all as excited as can be! I wondered if my boys would ever fall asleep tonight. Hee hee! New baby in the family! Let's see... another cousin for the boys... shall we name them all?

Alex, Mark, Sarah, Laura, Trevor, Jordan, Sonja, Monique, Adam Meigs, Meghan, Michael, Casey, Ryan, Katie, Emily, Raven, Colin, and now Elana! YAY! Cousins are great!

Well, time for bed. Will give you all the "Elana" statistics tomorrow once she arrives! Night!

Because of who YOU Are

Father and daughter worshipping Jesus together in church... awesome!

The joy of mail and family

You know... technology and email are wonderful things, but there is just something about going to your mailbox... I mean the outdoors one, and finding something in there other than bills and junk mail advertisements. I know you all feel the same way! There's just something about a hand-written note from someone you love.... like these fabulous folks from Florida! This is the wonderful lady responsible for introducing me to Jesus Christ, and her terrific husband who spent many many months teaching me Bible studies to get me rooted and grounded in the TRUTH of God's Word. And of course, my two fabulously special nieces! Is this an awesome picture or what????? This was the treasure I found in my outdoor mailbox today (along with all the holiday junk mail). But wait! That is not all! There is another picture to go along with it...


Isn't it terrific?? Black and white is so....
sophisticated. It is perfect. This is Sonja (older) and Monique. And Aunt Shell loves them dearly! Please note the copyright so that the proper folks get the proper credit for a job very well done. :-)

I also happen to know that my mom just sent me a package full of pictures from their new home in Florida, complete with a long list of people to share said pictures with. Can't wait to see them!!!! Perhaps I will include one or two of them in an upcoming post as well.

You know... thinking about finding the love of family and friends in the mailbox, I have yet to pick out my Christmas cards for this year, let alone begin writing them out and mailing them..... yikes! I am running out of time! Guess I better get on it. Got lots of love to send through the mail this holiday season!

Wonderful Thanksgving and 2 year anniversary

Well.... two days ago, a significant date passed by without my noticing. My first blog entry ever was on Nov. 22, 2004. So... it has been two years of sharing life as an apostolic mom up here in the great white north of Vermont. Cool! I don't have any idea what God is doing with this blog, but I do know that when I check my site meter, people all over the world are at least FINDING my blog! For example, in the past 3 months, I know I have had people in Germany, Turkey, and Hong Kong find the site, and in the past 10 days, people in Topeka, KS, Zanesville, OH, Windham, ME (cool, I went to St. Joseph's college there!!!), Norwalk, CT, and Boston, MA have stopped by to visit. How neat! I hope the Lord is ministering to people through this little corner of the web.

Anyway, I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Ours was wonderful, although we were separated from Jason because he had to work. The boys and I drove to MA with Jack and Julie, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal and lots of good fellowship! Ben and Stacy couldn't come either, because Elana is due any minute! Everytime the phone rang and said "Ben calling..." we all got excited and held our breath... maybe this is it! The baby is coming! Nope... false alarm. Poor Ben and Stacy. Will be soooo nice when Elana finally arrives!





Also, technology is a neat thing. My husband got sick of me not having a cell phone, and so ordered one for me without my knowledge. But.... I was able to do a neat thing! The phone can take pictures and short video clips and send them to another phone (who knew??). So, when our family held hands around the meal and sang the traditional Doxology, I filmed it on the phone and sent it to Jason, who also sent it to Ben, so they could feel a part of the family tradition! They were blessed! It was neat.

Plenty of other exciting family stuff coming up! First will be Elana's arrival! Then, Christmas will be here, and my mom and Ray are flying in from FL and Jason's dad and Winnie (and crew) are coming up from MD. Phew! It's going to be a scheduling feat to see everyone, esp. considering that Jason will also be working at rescue on Christmas day (yuck). Got to figure out where we will be opening presents that morning..... no matter, being with family is what really matters.

The children's choir at our church is now working on the song "Happy Birthday Jesus" for our Christmas eve service. They love that song! So do I. That is, after all, why we celebrate in the first place. Remember back in the 80's when they recorded that song "Feed the World"? I heard it today, and it really made me think. One line says, 'Do they know it's Christmas time at all?' Hmmm.... They (starving Africans) are struggling to survive day to day, not even THINKING about the commercialized holiday we celebrate here in America. They don't understand the presents, trees, lights, food, and all that. And there are also many who don't know about Jesus as well. They don't need to know about the commercial holiday... they need to know the ONE we celebrate on that day. So... maybe if you are not knowing what to give someone for Christmas, because they already have more than they need anyway, consider sending an offering to an African missionary in your relative's name, and put a card in an envelope on the tree to let them know. THAT is the kind of gift we should be giving , anyway.

Well, time to unpack and make some dinner for the kiddos. Nice to be home! I get the whole bed to myself tonight because Jason is working overnight... you can't understand this blessing, because you didn't share a hotel bed with a 7 year old BEDHOG last night! I am sooooo looking forward to my WHOLE bed tonight! *yes!* Signing off.....

Greetings! I am here to give you the quick update of life this week... in bullet form!

• Parent/Teacher conferences went well. The boys are doing well in school, although one of my sons is struggling with writing (he hates it!)
• My boys have been OFF school all this week, but MOM had to work Mon. and Tues. SO, Dad brought the boys to my school for lunch and recess today. Adam decided to hang with me for the afternoon and relive 1st grade for a day. It was cool. Nick went home and took a nap. He's got a nasty cold.
• The boys broke a bed yesterday. I won't get into it... it was an ugly scene (mostly because mom lost it). I now have one child sleeping on a mattress on the floor....
• Sandini is house/dog sitting this week, and brought the dog over to visit tonight. His name is Cladd (short for claddaugh, like the ring). He is a Burmese Mountain dog... yup... BIG! But he is sooooo sweet!
• We are going to MA for Thanksgiving this year with Julie's family. Will be spending the night in a hotel (with heated pool - BONUS!). Going to be a ton of fun! But my hubby has to work *sniff sniff* and can't come with us. I am way sad. But he is looking forward to getting the entire bed to himself and SLEEPING IN! So he's not as sad as me. I WILL MISS YOU BABE!

That is about it for now. OH! Wait! My hubby's stepmother sent me a hilarious Hallmark greeting e-card for thanksgiving. To see it click here . I cracked up! Make sure when you click the acorns that you listen to their silly songs all the way to the end. LOL! I know that link will not be good for long, but if you read this post LOOONGG after the link outdates, go to this website for more of these two hilarious little guys! Ciao for now!

A thanksgiving funny!

LOL! Happy thanksgiving all!

Great thanksgiving picture!

Just HAD to post this great picture! One of the first grade students in my class directed me to this great shot at www.funnydog.net . CUTE!!!!

Blessing on the home front!

OK!!! I have to tell you! After a long day of work (we had a substitute teacher), a parent/teacher conference with Nick's teacher, and about 1/2 hour on the playground, it was time to head home and cook dinner.

But when we pulled in the parking lot, the boys spotted Sandy's car. "Why is Sandy here?" they asked. Good question. Let's find out.

I walked in the door, and Sandy had dinner ALL COOKED for us! Oh my goodness! What a tremendous blessing! I love her anyway, but tonight I love her especially much!!! Sandy, you rock!



You'll never know how much you mean to all of us in the Ziter clan! Thanks from the bottom of my heart!

Tough news from back home

The human spirit is an amazingly stubborn thing. It is driven by this force called PRIDE. WHY are people so stubborn and full of pride that they can't ask someone for help when they need it? I am not pointing a finger at anyone, because I am a #1 offender in this area. But it was a glaring reality this week when I received a phone call from a dear, dear friend whom I love very much. She and I grew up together and have been very close over the years, even though separated by many miles. She called me this week to inform me that she has been involved in a battle against cancer (among all the other battles she's confronted that I already knew about). She was diagnosed in September (I think). The doctors are pretty sure that surgery has taken care of it. She fought this battle mostly alone (except for her awesome husband and children) and just reached out to me here in mid-November. I do not condemn her or blame her... because I know. I've been there. When I was battling my depression, I fought alone for two years before finally taking the advice of my husband to get help and get meds to bring balance. Pride is an ugly thing. It does no earthly good, and only causes problems in the long run. Again, been there. I love my sweet friend dearly, and I will be here for her 1,000,000 percent! I have cried and prayed a lot over the past couple of days. My husband was interceding for her in prayer yesterday in the Spirit. I'm considering a weekend trip home.... I soooo want to be with her and be able to just love her and help her and minister to her. Just be there. So we can laugh, cry, and do whatever... together. I thank GOD for our friendship! She is awesome. Love you, my friend!

What's up?

This is a test.... my blog seems to be inaccessible, but everyone else's is. So I'll see if this works or not... Thanks for your patience.

Me

Hard message

It is Sunday afternoon. I've been "chewing" all afternoon on the message my pastor preached this morning. It was like an arrow through my soul. His message was about living in the NOW. He talked about how people who live in the future seldom do anything in the now to change the outcome of the future. They just hope that the future will turn out alright when they arrive there. That usually doesn't happen. How did this affect me? Our financial status is less than desirable. But do we have a plan in the NOW to fix it so that when we reach retirement, there is something THERE?? Nope.

Then he spoke about people who live in the past. There are nostalgic people who live there because they liked how it was back then. They can't even enjoy the present. There are also those who hold on to a hurt from the past and refuse to let go of it and move on in God. He gave the example of a woman who never forgot how her dad gave the best lollipop to her younger sister and not to her on her fifth birthday. She's now 83. How sad.

The really sad part is that I saw myself in that example. I have held onto a hurt from years ago. I said I forgave the person, and in fact, I willfully chose to say "I forgive him." But it wasn't enough. The root of bitterness that pastor spoke of this morning is buried deep within my heart, alive and well, and keeping me from moving on in my relationship with God. It doesn't show itself readily. But it will occasionally spring up and rear its ugly head, causing all kinds of emotional havoc in my life. For years, I have known this root was there. In fact, I acknowleged its existence way back before I was married, when I read a wonderful little book called "Hind's Feet in High Places". In that allegorical story, the girl named Much Afraid makes this journey that leads her to a stone table where she willingly lays down and asks the Shepherd to rip out the bitterness by the root. It was painful. But it was worth it. I have actually prayed many many times to have God do the same for me. I have laid down my will and my pride and asked Him to rip it out by the roots. But it continues to spring up and frustrate me. I am at a loss as to how to get rid of it, because it is so deeply rooted. The person that I held my forgiveness from for so long lives far away from me. I am unsure if a phone call will suffice... or if I will need to make a very long trip to handle it face to face. I have tried... but have always been a coward when face to face with this person. I am really chewing on this. Pray for me. Time to head to church.

A Saturday with no plans? Thas amasing!

Today was one of those rare, precious days. Saturday... with NO PLANS! That almost never happens, and I can vouch for it! But today was beautiful! First, I slept in until 9:22 am! That in itself is a gift from God! Also, my boys spent a large amount of time playing with the new game cube Adam got for his birthday last week. They played together...say it with me... together... and they were getting along... and LAUGHING! Another miracle of God. I just LOVE the sound of their laughter. God says that a cheerful heart is good medicine... esp for MOM! LOL! Anyway, I made the boys a hearty candlelight breakfast of bacon, cheesy scrambled eggs, and toast with cinnamon. Mmmm Mmmm! They spent the entire morning playing and laughing together. I spent the entire morning on the phone. I called my mom in Florida and we had a wonderful chat. THEN... I called my dear friend Britt in Mississippi, and we talked for WELL over an hour. It was soooooo great to reconnect and really really talk like we used to when she lived here. I miss her a ton! Well, then we decided to go to the Ultimate Racing Experience at the mall and use Adam's gift certificate from his birthday. Sandini met us there, and so did my brother, who happened to have a gift certificate there, too! We did three races. Sandy rode with Adam, I rode with Nick, and Tim drove solo. Let me just say two words.... MOTION..... SICKNESS. O my word! I was so sick when I climbed out of that car, I was sure I was going to either throw up or pass out. It was bad. The boys had a BLAST!!! On the last race, my brother was in 1st place on the last lap, when Nick decided to take out Uncle Tim! It was hilarious! Anyway, we all sat in the food court and I had a soda to try to settle my woozy innards. Then Tim left, and Sandy, the boys, and I went into FYE to check out some of the Christian CDs. What a blast! We were singing out loud and worshipping right there in the store. Sandy bought Toby Mac's "Welcome to Diverse City" CD and Byron Cage's new one called "An Invitation to Worship". Both awesome choices. On our way out of the mall, we ran into Sue Hazenburg and Grace and Adele. OH yeah, we also saw Donna and Andrea right after the racing, but I was too sick to socialize. I probably looked green around the gills.

But by far the best part of the day occurred this evening while putting the boys to bed. I always read what we call DEVO (Bible devotion) before lights out. But tonight, DAD held the honor, because he was actually HOME! *gasp* Anyway, the boys begged him to read in a funny voice, so he read in a chinese voice, and it was hilarious!!! We could hardly breathe! And even though it was fun, the message got through loud and clear. He read about Joseph and his brothers. My favorite part was when he was going over the names of the other brothers... Reuben the sandwich man, Levi the jeans man, and Issachar, not issatruck. ROFL! The boys will definitely remember the details of this particular devo. It was great!
WHO SAYS LIVING FOR GOD IS NOT FUN!?!?!?!?? I think it's awesome!

Well, that is the course of the day's events. What else can I share with you? Let's do some short news announcements here:

• For an interesting article on the neuroscience of what occurs in the brain while a person is speaking in tongues as the Spirit of God gives the utterance, click here.
• I checked my "site meter" on my blog today... you can click on the world map to see where in the world people are finding your blog. This week I have had hits in Hungary, Paris, Honolulu, Manitoba, California, Colorado, and lots of places all over the USA. Neat!
• I heard a powerful little sermonette today (10 minutes long) called "Twinkle, Twinkle" about the rapture of the church, preached by a 17 year old young man. Whoa. To take a listen, click here, then click on the Sermons link. To see the YouTube video he is referring to in his message, you can see it on our youth web page here.

Ok, I could go on and on, but this post is getting too long. Let's wrap this up by saying, Jesus died for YOU! You owe him everything! Give him your life NOW while the choice is yours. If you die and leave this life without doing so, the choice of destination will no longer be yours. Give him your heart and every area of your life TODAY. You'll NEVER regret it! Living for God is the best choice I ever made! It'll be the best one you ever make, too! :-)

Revival notes

Whew! It has been a whirlwind since revival started here on Thursday! It took me 2 days just to recover.... revival is exhausting! But also exhilarating! God is truly amazing and so very good. We ended our revival with 5 people receiving the Holy Ghost for the first time, two young adults who had walked away from God praying and renewing their walk with the Lord, and 6 people baptized in the lovely and powerful name of JESUS! We had 8 first time visitors, including the great Sandini's dad! Praise God!

Now... here's the trick. Revival "services" with Rev. Jay Stirnemann are over. Now it is up to US to keep the revival spirit moving and active. It is up to US to continue praying, fasting, and inviting people to church. It is up to US to continue preaching the salvation message and teaching Bible studies. If we go back to "church as usual", it is not God's fault. We must continue to act in FAITH, believing God wants to do the impossible. God help us!

Life group is at my house tomorrow! So..... that means I need to stop blogging and start cleaning. I will write more later.

Michelle

REVIVAL IN JERICHO!!

WHOO HOOO! What a time we are having in Jericho!! We are two nights into our revival services, and God is moving in amazing ways! We have had 3 people receive the Holy Ghost, and 3 people baptized... a fourth will be baptized tomorrow night at the youth revival. We have had healings occur, and deliverance from bondage... and I KNOW God isn't done yet!

Tonight's message was a heavy hitter about a topic people don't like to hear... Hell. Yep. Hell. It's amazing how many people say they believe in a place called Heaven, but they don't believe in a place called Hell. I think they just don't want to THINK there could be a place called Hell. But it's as real as the town you live in, and there are people there right now who would give ANYTHING to be able to tell you "DON'T COME HERE!!!!!" There was a deep move of God at the end of that message, and people were at the altar making sure they don't end up there! It was so awesome.

Tomorrow night is the youth revival service, and it looks like it will be a phenomenal time! They have spotlights, a fog machine, lasers, and fabulous music geared for the teen generation.... I fully expect to hear of many teens being filled with the Holy Ghost, because Jason McAllister is a dynamic preacher with a tremendous burden to see teens give their lives to God... and he preaches it straight.

Sunday morning, Bro. Stirnamenn will be preaching again, and then Sunday afternoon, we will be having our VT churches rally... packing around 160 people or so into our church... with an awesome time of children's church next door, including puppets, games, singing fun songs, and hearing good preaching! Tell your friends and don't miss this opportunity to come and work out your own salvation with Jesus! We are located on Rt 15 in Jericho. See our website for directions. www.lifeteaching.com . See you there! I love you Jesus!!!

Happy Birthday Adam!!!

Hey hey hey! Look who's turning TEN today!!! Wow! Hard to believe you are in the double digits, little buddy. I sure do love you a ton! Have an awesome day!

Love, Mom