Monday, April 28, 2008

oh..... my...... goodness......

ok... my previous post about my allergies.... I have had a really tough time this spring... worse than ever before. I was taking Claritin D... no good. I found the Zatidor drops.... pretty good for about 6-7 hours, then back to no good. So I spoke with my friendly and helpful pharmacist about a new recommendation... what seems to work for most people? He suggested Zyrtec. Great! Thanks! I took my first one this morning.... Whoa! I feel pretty good with regard to the allergy symptoms, but MAN! I have fought to stay awake ALL DAY!!!! Serious... I am so tired... trying to be productive at work was a major challenge, as was trying to help my kids with things like algebra and spelling homework, and cook dinner. I am totally going to be asleep before my boys are... guaranteed! I can barely think I'm so groggy......

Saturday, April 26, 2008

vacation is over

Well.... you know what they say about the best laid plans. I intended to do some major cleaning at my house during this week off from school. However, my allergies have been so severe, that I have had very little motivation to do much of anything! I did manage to pull off a birthday party for my 9 year old son on Saturday the 19th, and I dragged my self out on a couple family hikes, but other than that... I kept a very low (energy) profile this week, just resting... and sneezing, and blowing, and itching, and sneezing...... oh! I also helped the great Sandini move out of her apartment this weekend.

My husband preached two messages last Sunday, and this Sunday (tomorrow) he is preaching 3 services in one day... yikes! He's doing a terrific job, I am very proud of him.

My friend Emily had her baby yesterday, a little boy named Clayton! She ended up having a C-section (not planned), but baby and mom are doing just fine! I can't wait to see him!

Well, I need to go tend to a pile of dishes. I will come back later and try to address something a little more spiritual. This was your basic "catch up everyone on the week's events" post. I appreciate every one of you that reads this little blog of mine!

Thursday, April 24, 2008



It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!!! WOW! I love the sun! Here in Vermont, we get an average of about 100 sunny days a year. Yep. That's it. Which means the other 265 days... not so much. Gray and yuck. And this week has been so beautiful... we've had 5 gorgeous sunny days in a row, which means we only have about 95 days of sun left (just kidding). I'll take it! Sun does something for ya! There is a condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in which lack of sunshine brings on symptoms of depression, lack of energy, sleeping and eating too much, etc. The cure??? GOOD OL' SUNSHINE IN LARGE QUANTITIES! This is the reason people from the northeast retire to Florida! LOL! This is the reason my pastor heads to Florida for a well-earned vacation every year come February or March. Anyway, I love the sun, and I'm going to get outside and enjoy it! Lata!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

no title needed...

SAVE ME!!!!!!!!!!!

This is murder.... Yes, I wanted spring to come, because this was just such a long winter.... but my allergies have never been this bad...

Ever tried this stuff? It works pretty good... it gives you at least 6 solid hours of relief from the itchy eyes. Beautiful. However you can use only one drop per eye every 12 hours.... so... the last few hours before you can use it again are a little agonizing. But those 6-7 hours of relief are SOOOO worth it!!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

words from the pulpit

This morning's message at my church was such a good one, that I just have to share it here with you. It was about the breath of God, and it was excellent.

He began with the story of Ezekiel prophesying to the valley of dry bones. Most of you reading this know the story. If you don't, find a Bible and look it up in Ezekiel chapter 37. Matt spoke of how the breath of God was a "violent wind" that made a dramatic, instantaneous change. Now, the word violent did not have a bad connotation. Simply that it was not a gentle change... it was a forceful change. Then he went on to take us on a journey back to the days of Creation... when God created Adam, the first man. He had us imagine what it was like when God blew His own breath into the lump of clay and it came instantaneously to life... breath that penetrated the blood and in a single moment gave life to every cell... dirt came to life! That is not a gentle change... that is AMAZING and POWERFUL!!!

He did a word study on the Hebrew word for breath, and every time the breath of God was spoken of, it was the same word. Then he went to Joel 2:28 where Joel prophesied about God pouring out His SPIRIT on all flesh... and it was the same word... when God pours out His SPIRIT on us, he is breathing His eternal breath into us again so that we can instantaneously come to life spiritually! The only way to have eternal life is to be filled with that breath of God... His Holy Spirit.

Now, there are a lot of people who will immediately put up their defenses and say, "You are narrow-minded and intolerant... just because YOU think being filled with the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues is the only way doesn't mean you're right! There are millions of GOOD PEOPLE all over the world that are going to heaven."

Well, the problem with that line of thinking is that it goes directly against the word of God. Let me share some passages from GOD'S word. You can think about them, and then argue with God about it, because He said it, not me.

Romans 8:9 (NLT) But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.

Isaiah 64:6 (KJV) All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

Here is the scoop... ALL good people would go to heaven IF anyone could be good enough. The problem is, NO ONE could ever be good enough... even if they were good their entire life!! The problem is the flesh we live in, and the sinful nature of that flesh. Even in all your goodness, you still need the blood of Jesus to cover your sins and His Spirit to make you "righteous" in God's eyes.

When we compare our lives to God’s holy standards, all our good works—our morality, religion, charity, pleasing personality—fall far short of His absolute righteousness. The truth is: “There is none righteous, no, not one…” (Romans 3:10). We stand condemned by a holy God who must judge our sin. We are sinners in need of a Savior. The only way to know for sure that you are going to live eternally in heaven is to get alone with God and lay down your "good life" in surrender to Him, and be filled with this BREATH of God, His Holy Spirit, which is still evidenced by speaking in other tongues, just like on the day of Pentecost over 2000 years ago! Don't let anyone sell you short! Don't let them tell you that speaking in tongues doesn't happen anymore (it does... all over the world!!!). A gentleman in our church started coming and initially thought the same way. Then he began to hear my pastor preaching the Word of God about the infilling of the Spirit of God. He wanted to experience it for himself, but was leary about it. So one day in November, he went hunting up at deer camp, and told God, "I'd like to have this Holy Ghost." And he was suddenly speaking in tongues in his deepcamp! All by himself!!! Don't let them tell you it's a cult thing, of the devil. It is straight from God. You can read in the book of Acts chapter 2 to find out how it all started. In John 3, Jesus himself... God in flesh... told a prominent religious leader, "You MUST be born again of the water and the Spirit, or you will NOT see the kingdom of God." Hear that? You MUST receive His Spirit!

It is impossible then for anyone to be good enough for Heaven. That is why the Son of God came to earth.




Saturday, April 19, 2008

A near perfect day!!!

First of all... let's just revisit this post for a moment... ok? That is the current state I find myself in physically. However, mentally and emotionally?? I am THRILLED BEYOND BELIEF that spring has finally arrived! It was 80 degrees here today! WOW!!!

Today was an exciting day, because our baby turned 9 years old today... half way to adulthood..... hard to believe. Let's compare...
Nick 9 years ago...


Nick today...


Amazing how fast time goes by. And while we're at it... let's talk about the oldest...
This is Adam's baby picture from 1996...


And this is him today receiving his BLUE BELT in Moo Gong Do martial arts! Yikes! Talk about growing up...


Yes, Adam is now on his 6th belt level. Today I invested about $20 and bought him some patches for his uniform (which he should have had from the very beginning), so now he'll look super sharp in uniform!

Other noteworthy news... Jason is preaching two services tomorrow... the morning in Burlington, and the evening in our home church. He is ready and excited to bring God's word to God's people! I'll let you know about it another time.

I'm really tired, gotta make a song list and hit the sack! Talk to you again when I am far more conscious!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

edit

Hello... to those of you who have been here in the past couple of days, you'll notice the change. I have deleted a couple of previous posts. I need to learn NOT to post when I am feeling the way I was feeling. The purpose of this blog is to show what the life of an apostolic Mom is like. It is NOT to air my frustration about things other than regular family life. No one really cares to read that... there is enough of that in our culture to gag a horse. So, my apologies to those of you who read my little rants... I have been overtired and short on patience, and that is not what I want to portray to you all. Things overall are really fine here!! Next week is school vacation, and I will have the opportunity to SLEEP IN EVERY DAY and get well rested. That should do wonders for my attitude! LOL! It will also give me much interesting material to blog about! Talk to you soon! Thanks for sticking with me!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGE!!

Happy Birthday to a fabulous brother-in-law! You always make me smile!

So sorry we missed seeing you on your special day... we'll make it up to you next week! SOOOO glad you are back north!! YAY!!!!!

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

My Soul Magnifies the Lord

This is how I am feeling this evening... when everything else around you is frustrating and out of control, the peace of magnifying God in your soul is an incredible experience. Be blessed!

Sunday, April 06, 2008

My hubby rocks!

I am so proud of my husband for answering the call of God on his life. He received his call to preach at age 16, and after 20 years.... he finally preached his first church service today, and he did it as if he had been preaching for years! I was totally impressed, and God received all the glory! He preached his message with a major backache (injured at the gym just 1 day prior), but did it as if nothing was wrong. Amazing.

One very cool thing about this particular evening, is that after church was over, a couple from Tennessee showed up. He was a truck driver, she was his new wife, and they were making a delivery to the factory right behind the church we were at. They are apostolic and saw the church sign, thinking "Hey! Maybe they are having evening service!" (We weren't... they do one service from 2-4 pm). But we got to talking, and Sandy invited them to dinner with us at the house (we had a barbecue... yum!!!). We thoroughly enjoyed their company, and I think they were grateful for some good Christian fellowship! It is so neat how God orchestrates everything... He brought this couple right to the back door of the church for some much needed fellowship, and we happened to still be there!

Well, it's late and time to hit the sack. Pray for my husband that his back heals quickly so he can function at work. Talk to you soon!

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Proud mama!!

Hello all! I just need to do the proud mama thing for a moment here. We had our children's parent/teacher conferences today, and our children are doing fantastic in school! The report we got from Adam's teacher was particularly encouraging! He had a rough start to 5th grade, and his teacher cracked the whip on him, and he responded, and has matured so much, and taken responsibility for his learning, and improved 100% in every area! YAY ADAM! His report card was fabulous this trimester....
  • Reading B
  • Writing B+
  • Social Studies B+
  • Math A
  • Spelling A
  • Science A+

She was particularly impressed with one of Adam's persuasive essays. He wrote about why he thought Mike Huckabee should be president. He even included 3 verses of scripture. And his teacher showed that essay off to just about every adult in the school! I am so proud of him!

Nicolas' conference was great too! He was in charge of it, and showed us all the things he has been working on. He is definitely ready for 4th grade. His teacher is very proud of him, too! He has gotten much better at his math, and his writing (neatness and content) is beautiful!!! He has a good grasp on the reading/writing process. Now he is working on math problem solving... he'll figure it out soon, I'm sure!

So.... that is my proud mama moment. Now I have to go to work. I picked up my new glasses this morning (they are no-line bifocals... yikes!) and I feel like I am constantly ready to fall into a ditch or off a cliff! So, walking down the hall in school should prove challenging enough for today! Talk to you soon!