Perspective

Ok... it would be real easy for me to complain my way through this post, as I am feeling absolutely wretched because of strep throat and a miserable head cold. BUT ... (see previous post... hee hee hee)
I will make an attempt to look at things in a positive light. First of all, I am married to the most wonderful husband in the world. Second of all, my boys are awesome. Third, I am in love with my Savior Jesus Christ, who took the punishment for MY sins. I love my church, I have a great pastor who isn't afraid to tell it like it is, and I am an American, living in a country where I have more food than I need, and the freedom to speak as I choose, freedom to worship Jesus Christ in Spirit and in Truth, I have a job, a roof over my head, food in my refrigerator, and a soft warm bed to sleep in. I am one of the most blessed people in the world! 99% of the population of Earth would give ANYTHING to have the blessings I have!

This is called encouraging yourself! I feel physically horrid, but in my spirit, I have peace and a spirit of gratitude to God.

Today, in my yuck-ness (yes, I made that up), I managed to rest in between each of my 7 loads of laundry, I got my taxes done (grrrrrrrr....), and since I missed my own church service this morning, I joined the Pentecostal Church in Memphis, TN online for their live service, which, by the way, was POWERFUL!!!! Bro. Huckabee preached about unity in the body, and also about the authority of the man of God behind the pulpit. Wow... God is amazing! I LOVE THE INTERNET when it is used for GOOD... to spread the gospel to a lost and hurting world. In addition to missing church, I also missed my little nephew's 4th birthday party *sniff*. Sorry buddy! I understand he is feeling quite under the weather as well.

Speaking of birthdays, today is the birthday of my sweet niece Sonja! I really miss her. She lives in FL. I called her this evening, but she was not home. I will write her a letter instead, I guess. Happy Birthday, Sweet Sonja!!!!


Tomorrow the boys and I are going to visit the Statehouse in Montpelier with the cub scouts. Hoping it will be interesting for them....... not boring.......

Well, I definitely need to go to bed. God is good! Ps. 150 says to praise Him according to His excellent greatness... not according to how you feel! I praise you Jesus because you are worthy of it! Good night to all!

But...

Greetings! It's VACATION... and you know what that means? Hanging out with teenagers! Yes, we will be spending much of our vacation with the youth group from our church. We started last night with the consecration bonfire. It was fun. It was cold. The fire was HOT. The fellowship was excellent! My husband gave the consecration message, and it was entitled "But..." He spoke of the 12 men going in to Canaan to spy out the land that God had promised them. They ALL came back with a good report... They agreed that the land was good, flowing with milk and honey. They were holding EVIDENCE of God's promised blessing in their hands (the huge cluster of grapes that took two strong, grown men to carry it). Then the doubters spoke the word .... BUT....

• BUT there are giants in the land
• BUT the cities are walled and fortified
• BUT we are not able to overtake them
• BUT ...

Our next task was to take a piece of paper and write down what comes after the "but" in our lives. I want to live for God BUT...

I want to do what God is speaking to my heart about, BUT...

After we wrote down our "buts", we prayed and believed God to take care of those "buts" for us, to believe that we CAN do what God is calling us to do! To trust Him with all the things written down on those papers.

Then we threw them into the fire.

It was, for me, a very powerful moment. Sometimes, we take those "buts" that we know are a very real threat to our Christian growth, and we sweep them under the carpet, because it's easier to ignore them than to deal with them. That moment forced me to acknowledge the buts and face them head on. God is good!

We are once again dealing with sickness in the house. Deliver me! Adam is trying to recover from strep, Jason injured his back, and Nick and I are battling colds. Ain't winter great?? Lysol wipes, baby! Industrial size! I'd open the windows for fresh air if it wasn't just 8 degrees outside....

Anyway, I will post often this week to keep you abreast of youth week events. We'll also be going to Montpelier with the cub scouts Monday to visit the statehouse. Cool!

Joseph ran

My pastor is awesome. Have I mentioned that before? Oh yeah... this is not new news. Anyway, he preached an incredible message this morning... to the teens... but the adults benefitted greatly from it as well. It was a message on integrity, and it was good! He was trying to get across to the teens that making wrong choices has consequences that will follow you the rest of your life. The inverse point was that making right choices will bring great blessing into your life. He preached this message in such a way that the teens could laugh (he was funny) but still say, "whoa... good point." Pastor did a great job relating to them and their culture, because he's BEEN there! You should have seen them squirm when he preached about being "propositioned"... but they were listening intently to every word. He made them aware that he knows what they are facing in this culture, and acknowledged that it is very easy to give in to the pressure. He told them that it is very easy to fool parents and even your pastor. But you'll NEVER fool God. Of course, this point crossed over well in the adult arena. There are people in the church that struggle with things that are sinful, and they think they have people fooled... that they have it all together... but God is not fooled.
I found a short Bible study on the Christian character of integrity online ( http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Bible/Integrity.htm ) and I'd like to share some of it with you here.

What does the Bible have to say about integrity?

• 
  Integrity means treating people fairly and honestly. (Leviticus 19:35-36, Deut 25:15, Proverbs 16:11-13)
• 
  Integrity is giving your word and keeping it. (Exodus 8:28-32)
  
• Integrity will protect you. In Psalm 25, David prays that integrity and uprightness will protect him. How can it? (Psalm 25:21, Proverbs 2:7-8, 10:9, 11:3, 13:6)
• 
  Integrity is more valuable than riches. (Proverbs 28:6)
  The Lord will test and judge your integrity. (1 Chronicles 29:17, Psalm 7:8)
• 
  The Lord hates lies and lack of integrity. (Zechariah 8:16-17)
• 
  It may be difficult to maintain your integrity. (Job 2:3, 2:9, Proverbs 29:10)
• 
  Your character can be corrupted by bad company. (1 Corinthians 15:33)
• 
  Integrity will be rewarded. (1 Kings 9:4-5, Nehemiah 7:2, Psalm 41:11-12)
• 
  Your integrity should set an example. (Titus 2:7)

Who do you know that you would describe as a person of integrity? What sets this person apart from other people of a similar age and position?

If people who know you were asked for five words that describe you, would integrity be one of them?What can you do to improve your integrity?

Some powerful questions to think about.... would integrity be a word someone used to describe me? I shudder to think that they may not. Looks like I have room for vast improvement in my Christian character as well. After all, the teens need adults of integrity in the church to look up to as role models, right? Lord Jesus, help me to be a person of upright and moral character... a person who is complete in you. I want my children to have a role model to show them the right way to live. You, Jesus, were the ultimate man of integrity, and you are a perfect role model for all of us! Help me to walk in your way. Amen.

Very cool!!!!

Check out this cool thing here!

Cool Slideshows

Click on the pictures on the cube as it spins and that picture will come up stationery. Very neat!

Oh...My...Aching...Back! UPDATED!!!!

Well... I have been shoveling for hours, and I am DONE! I took some pictures of the giant snowbanks created by all the shoveling, but Jason took the laptop to CT with him, so I can't download them until he gets back. I'll update this post with pictures Sunday or Monday. Time for a hot shower and a heating pad! *groan* I imagine the altar will be FULL of people getting prayed for (for back pain and muscle pain) on Sunday morning! LOL!

UPDATE!!! Duh... I have a cell phone... so I took a picture of my back breaking shovel job with that! Check it out...
Now... it may not look like much to you... but this out of shape 40 year old body hasn't shoveled snow like this in a very long time! That walkway is at least 35-40 feet in length, and my children need to be able to get on the bus in the morning!


Anyway, that is all for now. I will be watching Winterfire live on line, but first I have to take my son Adam to the doctor for a throat culture.... please pray.... NO STREP! IN JESUS' NAME!

The morning after...

Well, here they are... pictures of the aftermath. I couldn't really get any pictures from a good angle since the snow was so deep. But here they are.

This last picture of the huge mound of snow is the same spot as this one taken yesterday...

Quite a difference! My children (and the children of this building) will most certainly be having a ton of fun today on their second day off from school! Moms and Dads will most certainly be needing the BenGay and heating pads!

Pray for my husband and Matt as they drive to Connecticut today. The biggest danger they face is high winds blowing this powdery snow around, causing huge snowdrifts across the highway and whiteout conditions. If you want to watch the Winterfire 2007 conference live online, go to www.abnglobal.com . Click on Upcoming Live Services and you will see the most incredibly anointed preaching, (and you may even sneak a peek of Jason, too!). Services begin at 7pm EST, so you know where I'll be then! Have a great day everyone! Time to go shovel!

more blizzard pics... about 5pm

As promised... more pics of our fun in the snow!


These are the "big kids" (my husband and our next door neighbor Chris) playing in the snow!

















Now that it is dark outside, I can't take any more pictures until tomorrow morning... I believe they will be impressive! We've been having fun watching the freight trains go by our house like 5 miles per hour, plowing snow off the tracks. Cool!

It's been interesting listening to the scanner, too. The ambulances are having a TERRIBLE time getting anywhere, and can't even get up the hill to the hospital. Hmmmm.... not a good night to get hurt or sick!

Will see you here tomorrow with more info from storm central. If you are interested, go to www.wptz.com to watch the weather reports and see the winter storm slideshow of pictures people have posted. Adam and Nick each have a picture on there. Cool! Bye for now!

Early peek at the Valentine's Day blizzard of '07

Hello all! Happy Valentine's Day! We got a snow day off from school today, and the kids are having a ball! Here are some pictures of the storm so far... it is supposed to get MUCH worse this afternoon and evening.

I'm sure tomorrow morning's pictures will be much more impressive! We are expecting 2 1/2 - 3 feet of snow by tomorrow morning. Yee ha! Snow is currently just above my knees. This should be fun! I'll try to keep you posted!

Anybody out there?