Reflections on the weekend

Remember the video about everything a mom says in 24 hours? I am just sitting down after putting my kiddos to bed, and reflecting on my day..... it has been a busy one, albeit not out of the ordinary. Get up in the morning, get kids up, make 3 breakfasts and 3 lunches. Get kids on bus. Go to work and work a 6 1/2 hour day. Come home. Help kids with homework, cook dinner, set and clear table (because kids are STILL doing homework), do dishes, sweep floor, do a load of laundry, take out the trash (Adam's job, but he's STILL doing homework...), change the beds, stitch up Marty (Nick's stuffed animal), read devotion, tuck boys in and pray with them. I'm done.

Now, I sit down to check my email, only to find out that my 90 year old grandfather is back in the hospital with pneumonia, CHF, and he also suffered a mild heart attack yesterday. Not the best news.... but he is still alive, and recovering quite well, actually. He is an amazing man. He will leave this world smiling, I'm sure.

My weekend was an amazing one! What a whirlwind! We hosted a Canadian bible college student this weekend named Brittany, and she was just so much fun! We ate WAY too much, and watched so many great church/youth/worship videos on youtube. We also watched Ken Davis "Is It Just Me?", and also "Flywheel". We had two amazing church services on Sunday, and this handsome young man, Jared, received the Holy Ghost at the youth service last night! Right on!

Also, Adam came full circle this weekend in his Moo Gong Do. He got his whole start in this last year when we happened upon the Moo Gong Do fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Pay a dollar, break a board, then sign up for one month of free lessons.... one year later, he was participating in the kick-a-thon at the mall. Neat....

Spiritually? Well, I am content in my walk with God, but not TOO content! Always striving to become closer to Him and to know Him more. I have a LONG way to go to become more like Him! But I am current in my Bible reading (so are my children), and I have made peace with God regarding the position I find myself in currently. I am very very proud of my husband, who is getting ready to enter the ministry, and also has lost over 40 pounds! WOW! He looks (and feels) terrific!

I need to head to bed. God's blessings to all out in bloggerville! Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment! :)

More Easter Day images

Here are a few more pictures of our wonderful afternoon this Easter.

Group photo in the quarry

George and Laurel

Jason and I

Julie and sons

Sandy

Family.... it is the most important thing next to God. I love spending time with my family. Thank you Lord for blessing me with the fantastic family I find myself in!!! You are so good to me!

Easter pictures from church

Ok... I don't seem to be doing so well keeping this blog strictly spiritual... but I can't resist posting pictures of my life... they are relavent to my existence! So, here you go! These are pictures from church this morning.

Kids singing the Rainbow song

Nick just plain looking handsome

My ROCKIN' AWESOME drummer! Dude, you so rocked this morning!

The Ziter family (yes, Sandy is part of our family!)

Me and my honey!

Now.... let's talk about cuteness for a moment...

This is Elana under the veil part of her Easter dress...

This is the smile that lights up the darkest room and melts my heart every time I see it!!!!!

Stacy and Elana... they matched today!

Stacy Elana Meghan and Mike... they are beautiful!

And this is just an awesome picture of Sandy... period!

So that is it in a nutshell. I don't have access to the rest of the pictures from today. When I get them, I'll put them here. God bless you!

Funny bunnies

Hello everyone! I know I have posted this in Easters past... but my friend Kelly had it on her blog, and it made me laugh all over again!! So here is a good chuckle for you all! Of course, we know that Jesus' victory on the cross is what Easter is REALLY about, not bunnies, but you have to admit... this is funny!

God bless you all this wonderful resurrection Sunday!!!! Jesus is alive!!!

Amazing, amazing God!!!!!

Ok.... my last post had the following comment...

I'm told that there is a new movie out called "The Flywheel", produced by the same church that created "Facing the Giants". I have not seen it yet, but if God is at the center of it, I'll DEFINITELY check it out..... and possibly add it to my list of favorites!

Well..... The Flywheel now TOPS my list of favorites! I don't even know how to begin! It is about honoring God with your money, and with every area of your life, and about the husband being the spiritual leader of his household, being a godly husband, father, employer... and letting GOD be in control of every area of your life. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How is it that this movie came out in 2003, and I am just finding out about it 5 years later?? God's timing is amazing amazing amazing!! We are at a place in our life right now where we are on the other end of this same story. My husband had a call to ministry on his life many years ago... 1989. He knew he was called of God, but at such a young age, he made choices that took him in the opposite direction for a while. As his wife of 13 years, I have been praying for him to answer that call. I prayed many of the things that the wife in this movie prayed. It has been so amazing to watch God work and get ahold of my husband's heart! Praise God!!! Not that he wasn't loving and serving God. He totally was! But to see him step with authority into his God given role as spiritual leader of our family and then answer the call to ministry has been an incredible experience. We have been working hard to correct wrong choices in our financial life, and have been honoring God with our tithes, and it has been quite an experience to watch God work on our behalf. He is so wonderful. I have been talking alot with my next door neighbor, Chris. She and her family attend a different church in the area. She really loves the Lord, and we have lots of great talks about God. Lately, her pastor has been teaching a lot on finances, and last week, every person in the church received a plastic card the size of a credit card to keep in their wallet/purse. She picked one up for me. It is two sided. Here is what it says:

Side one...

My Commitment


Today I trust God with my money and
commit myself to His financial plan.
Contentment is mine,
knowing that He will meet
my every need.

Side two...

Taking control of my money

Step 1. Ask God for the courage to take control of your finances.
Step 2. Ask God for wisdom and develop a spending plan.
Step 3. Ask God for faith, and tithe consistently.
Step 4. Ask God for the discipline to get out of debt and stay out of debt.
Step 5. Ask God to give you a heart of contentment.

Wow....

I have to tell you....this is an amazing end to my evening. Tonight was the fire department banquet, and my husband and I got a baby sitter and headed out. It was the typical evening of banquets that we attend for fire and rescue... good food, good fellowship with friends, lots of honor given where honor is due.... lots of alcohol, lots of lousy ungodly music.... and tonight, and unexpected jab at my husband (typical of the enemy since my husband has committed to serving God in ministry) that I found quite hurtful, but said nothing except to my husband. One very cool thing is that my husband was asked to give the blessing before eating( which occurred directly after said jab)... he turned an embarrassing jab over to God and the Lord left a Godly impression of him in everyone's mind instead. How cool is that??? We left when the music started getting particularly bad. But the evening took a turn for the better when I took our sitter home. She is a member of our youth group and my kids LOVE her! She is a great young lady. As I was taking her home, we were talking, and the subject turned to the awesome miracle working power of God. We discussed the couple in Arkansas whose house was totally blown away by a tornado as they stood in the kitchen of their home, but they were unmoved and unscathed.... the linoleum floor they were standing on was stripped from under them and the house blown away.... they never moved or felt a thing. God is amazing. We talked about my husband's little brother who was two years old when he ran into the road chasing a dog, and a car came.... mom called on the name of Jesus, and he became spirit as he passed through the moving car.... it didn't hurt him at all!! We talked about the blouse or sweater or whatever it is, on display at the museum of UPCI headquarters, which has a bullet hole in it where a bullet hit a lady, I think, in the chest, made a hole in the sweater, then bounced off the chest and onto the ground. Our God is a God of unlimited wonder!! There is NOTHING He cannot do.... nothing He WILL NOT do for His children!


THEN.... I come back home, and my husband puts in the Flywheel movie, and I bawl my eyes out half a dozen times as God speaks to my heart through the words of the actors.... the end of my night FAR surpassed the beginning, even though I DO like going out with my husband for the evening once in a while! YOU ROCK, babe! But God is mind blowing!!!!!! Thank you, Jason, for choosing to serve Him!!!!!

Top 5 List

So I don't have to repeat myself, click here to read about the movie the boys and I just watched again. It still moves me!! I am not much of a movie person, but there are certain movies that I am just riveted by:

1. Facing the Giants
2. The Miracle Worker
3. Mr. Holland's Opus
4. Apollo 13
5. Finding Nemo

Yeah.... not a large list, because I'm not really into movies. But those are my top 5! I'm told that there is a new movie out called "The Flywheel", produced by the same church that created "Facing the Giants". I have not seen it yet, but if God is at the center of it, I'll DEFINITELY check it out..... and possibly add it to my list of favorites!

My children are ready for Bible reading, so I must close. Talk to you soon!

Old Testament nourishment

Hello all! Remember me? I am the author of this little blog. I am concerned that I have been away so long that it has become somewhat of a "cobweb", if you will. Truth be told..... that spiritual discipline fast we did in January really did its job. I have not been here in quite a while... it is as if my passion has taken a back seat to my Bible reading and Bible study time, as well as time with family and friends. That is NOT a bad thing (unless you are Beth!! ) LOL! Sorry Beth, couldn't resist! I love that you like to read my blog! My pastor reads it too.

Anyway, just wanted to say a quick little blurb about our Wed. evening Bible study this evening. It was really good! I have been bugging my pastor to teach more out of the old testament prophets. About a year ago, he handed me TWO general Bible knowledge quizzes, 100 questions each. I did REALLY WELL, except for the questions on old testament prophets. I told my pastor it was his fault, because he doesn't teach enough out of the OT prophets. LOL! So, he has begun doing some lessons, and they are really interesting, and I am getting a LOT out of them! Tonight he started talking about Malachi, but to do that, he had to lay the groundwork from Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zechariah, as Malachi was their contemporary. It really put alot of things together for me, and I loved it! We have another gentleman in our congregation who is a real Bible scholar, and after church this evening, he and I and the pastor had an incredible discussion that left me feeling very uplifted and encouraged! I love to talk about the Word of God... it is without a doubt my favorite topic!! And the reason is because I love the Lord with all my heart! John 1 says "In the beginning was the WORD and the Word was with God and THE WORD WAS GOD!!!! And the WORD became flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us." You cannot say you love God and not love His Word! He and His Word are the same!!

Anyway, that is what I wanted to share this evening. If you want to know how to pray for me... pray that God gives me holy boldness to be a witness for Him! Thanks! I'll try not to stay away so long this time!