Did Somebody Hide a Camera???

Thanks for all the prayers last week! The mission trip was great and Satan did NOT win! More on the trip in a later post...

But seriously..I expected to catch a small break this week after last week's car drama.

Sunday night after arriving home from the mission trip, my car was broken into in my driveway and my purse was stolen. The purse had the usual credit cards, drivers license, etc. and also contained the money bag left from the mission trip that had some petty cash and receipts. Yes, I know I should have taken it inside with me. I also know that I shouldn't let S play with markers but somehow she still manages to get ahold of them.

So on Monday I had to explain the fact that I really did use the money the church had given me to buy ice three times on the trip, and that no, I don't still have the receipts and that yes, I am a reasonably responsible adult. Somewhat.

On Tuesday, S came down w/a 102 fever that lasted FIVE days. I missed the Good Friday services at our church and had some serious cabin fever. Meanwhile, I still had to get a replacement driver's license, cancel the credit cards, call the bank, etc. And just so you know, getting a new drivers license when you have absoultely no identification at all except for the new AAA cards that were mailed after your purse was stolen is no easy task. Suffice it to say that it is best to jump through those hoops without a feverish three-year-old in tow.

TODAY, after a trip to the basement to flip the breaker switch for the bathroom outlet that apparently couldn't take two little girls drying their hair simultaneously, I sat down to do my quiet time. But I really couldn't concentrate because all I could see out my window was the bottom of the trampoline that had been thrown over the back fence by last night's storm! Now I have a trampoline sitting high in the tree branches and a hubby who is again out of town.

I am seriously lookikng for the hidden camera....

But on a brighter note, E had her first "gentleman caller" today. The little boy across the street came to the door and asked for E. When I said she wasn't home, he asked if I would give her something from him- a pink flower and a red starburst. Kindergarten love at it's best.

Happy Monday everybody. Continue to celebrate our risen Saviour today. He is risen...even in the midst of everyday chaos.....He is risen indeed.

L

A Match Made in Heaven

Literally...

It is funny to me (and frustrating at times) how totally opposite my husband and I are. Last week I was reassured that it's not all in my head...it's also on iGoogle. Our internet homepage is iGoogle...Paul rarely uses our home computer, he brings his home from the office most nights to work. Whenever I get on the internet, my personal iGoogle page pops up with all of my own settings. I would have never even guessed that Paul would have taken the time to even personalize his iGoogle page, but the other night I got on the computer after Paul (our home one) and he had not logged off of his iGoogle page, so it opened to it when I got on the internet.

Paul's iGoogle page:
His wallpaper is Google Earth
Google Calendar
Weather: Birmingham, AL.
Date/Time
Top News Stories
Google Reader
CNN.com
How To of the Day

My iGoogle page:
My wallpaper is Dynamic Dots (colorful polka dots that change everytime you log on)
You Tube
Movies: 35226
Weather: Birmigham, AL; Orlando, FL (hello...Disney?!?!); Destin, FL (gotta know what's it like at the beach!!!)
3chixandablog comments post
Places to See
Google Map (if you've ever been anywhere with me, you understand!)
Quotes of the Day
Facebook Profile and link

They say, "Opposites Attract"...well, there you have it!

He's Not Going to Win!!

Hey Friends-

It's been forever since I've blogged and I have tons of blogs in my brain, but today I just had to sit down and write about the week I've had.

Monday, I asked some friends to pray for me this week. I knew it would be a stressful week and I knew I needed extra prayers. Today I leave for a Mission Project weekend with 95 preteens, my husband has been out of town all week, and I knew I would be under a lot of pressure. Every year, this week is always tough and I have learned to ask for prayer covering before the battle begins!

"When you are important to God, you become important to Satan." I firmly believe this (and if you haven't read the book "Same Kind of Different As Me" I HIGHLY recommend it..this quote is in the book) As soon as those prayers were offered up, the battle began. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!

Tuesday (the day after I knew that people were fervently praying) I went downtown to one of our minsitry locations to drop off some flyers. When I returned to the car in the middle of a thunderstorm, my car wouldn't start. I am in the middle of downtown in a storm with a three-year-old in the back and a husband out of town. I called AAA, and they came out and checked the car. Not only did I need a jump start, the battery needed replacing. Two hours and $125 later, we pulled away just in time for the bus to arrive home with my other daughters. No other work on the mission trip was able to happen that day.

Wednesday, as I was driving home from picking up S from preschool my car started shifting into overdrive and it felt like I was losing control of the vehicle. I pulled into the car dealership and had them look at the car. After getting S a sprite and bag of M and M's (because everything with her is all about a snack), we sat down to await the verdict. "It's definitely the transmission- could be bad. Why don't you rent a car and we'll keep it a few days, see what's wrong and then you can decide whether or not you want to trade it in." (WHAT??????????) Hubby is still out of town, the bus is coming soon and after-school activities await me. So, after renting a car, transferring all of our "stuff", and putting a $100 deposit plus the cost of the car on my credit card, I again arrive home just in time for the bus to arrive. No other work on the mission trip was able to happen that day either!

Thursday, as I sit in the carpool line waiting to pick up the girls from school to take P to piano, I feel a big bump. The lady behind me in carpool hit my RENTAL car from behind. Are you kidding me???? So we pull to the side after getting our kids and exchange insurance info, etc. WHILE I am out of the car talking to the lady who hit me, S is happily inside coloring with orange crayon all over the seats of the RENTAL car. The plan was to return the car as soon as I dropped P at piano, but instead I spent an hour scrubbing the seats with wet paper towels from a local restaurant bathroom.

I could go on, because there's more. But some of the drama that ensued is not bloggable. Suffice it to say that when you get 95 preteens together you also get 95 phone calls, questions and issues. But that's OK..because God is on His throne.

If you are reading this and you do not believe in spiritual warfare, I encourage you to read what scripture has to say about it. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."- Ephesians 6:12. Satan is real. He is active. He lurks about and he seeks to kill and destroy. If you feel like you are in a spiritual battle and that the more you pray about a situation, the more opposition you feel, then you are more than likely smack dab in the center of God's will. Satan does NOT want God's Word to go forth. He will lie and make us feel defeated every single time. But the condemning voices that we hear in our heads are NOT from God. You know the ones I mean..."you're a bad mother, a bad wife, your life is unorganized and a mess and there is no way you can lead anybody to go anywhere"....and they go on and on. But here's the wonderful TRUTH- "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"- Romans 8:1.

The Bible does not promise this life will be easy. We live in a sinful world. But praise God that He is "able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever."- Ephesians 3:20-21.

My dear friends, service for the Lord is not easy. There will be a zillion roadblocks aong the way. But the blessings this weekend are MINE. God will teach me much more through these precious preteens than I will ever teach them.

So keep praying for us. Satan is NOT going to win!

Even if I did eat two snickers easter eggs and a diet coke for breakfast. I'm just hangin' on however I can!

L

Girlfriends

Alrighty, here's the skinny...the 3 chix and a group of girlfriends headed to the beautiful Gulf Coast this past weekend for some much needed R and R. It was glorious! Our conversations were varied...deep and trite...funny and serious...high school and marriage...spiritual and secular...a lot about gardening...and for some reason we even talked about the Myers Briggs Personality test (and some even took it on the lap top)...Nerdy??? Ummm...yes, but we love it!!! We spent hours on the beach, some (well really one) swam in the freezing cold waters and others huddled under hooded sweatshirts, sunglasses and beach towels, looking very Unabomber-ish! And those wonderful girlfriend conversations that make you laugh so hard you're crying or cry so hard you just have to laugh! We held hands in a circle, looking at God's amazing creation, and went from speechlessness to prayer.

I am so thankful for my girlfriends...All of them ~ the ones that went on this trip and the many more that didn't. So let's give it up for Girlfriends ~ who let us laugh and cry and be ourselves! Who love us desite our faults! Who eat fried seafood with us while talking about dieting and exercising! Who'll drive way out of the way for frozen custard! Who'll complain about their husband's snoring, but never yours! Who would have never been your friend in High School, but find an intimate connection with you as an adult. Who'll still play beauty parlor with you ~ telling you how wonderful your anti-aging skin products are working and will straighten your humidity curled hair and paint your toenails! Who'll call you up because their Bible study is so moving, they just need to tell someone. And the ones who make you cry just by looking at you, because they understand you. The lifelong friends, the brand-new friends...God has brought them all into your life for such a specific purpose...what a blessing you are to me, and to each other!

"Anyone who says that they don't need a girlfriend just hasn't found a good one yet!"

~J
(ENFJ)

...and a special shout-out to my girlfriend, Amy O. in Monkeytown! Thanks for the pressure to blog again!!! I love you!

One of Those Days

I know you've had them. The kind of day that nothing goes right? And no matter how hard you try not to get frustrated, well, you do?

So yesterday it started with the fact that I kept thinking it was Monday. The whole holiday weekend thing really threw me and I kept trying to get Monday stuff done, but would remember "No, it's Tuesday!" and get very stressed out because I was already a day behind. Now in all truthfulness I STAY behind, but still.

The first sign that it was going to be a bad day was when I walked into the kitchen and discovered that water from some unknown place upstairs had leaked and stained the kitchen ceiling. At the very least, the ceiling would need repainting. Forget the service call fee and the possibility that some major plumbing thing could be very wrong and costly- I AM GOING TO HAVE TO HAVE THE CEILING PAINTED AND WILL NEVER EVER BE ABLE TO AFFORD TO REPLACE THE TEAL COUNTERTOPS THAT I DETEST. Can you tell I have been struggling with these countertops for a while? And that every time we get close to thinking about replacing them the money has to be used for something else?And you also have to understand that we have just had the house painted, rotten wood repaired, five windows replaced and a new back door put in. Not that you can tell any of the above has occurred from the street. But it has. And it wasn't cheap. Next time you come over please comment on the lovely non-rotted window sills. It will make me feel much better.

So being that I was already under duress over the ceiling, I was much more stressed about leaving the house on time to get to my Bible Study class. Unfortunately, instead of heading straight to class w/S which is our normal Tuesday routine, we had to stop by E's school to return Lily Belle the guinea pig who had somehow found her way into our home for the weekend. Needless to say, after covering up guinea pig droppings with wood chips all weekend, not to mention trying to keep Lily Belle and ultra-hyper Maggie the schnoodle puppy apart for four days, I was ready to return her to her Kindergarten class owners.

Have you ever thought about how one would transport a guinea pig from point A to point B? Well in case you haven't, it is isn't always easy. And the Rubbermaid tub with all the guinea pig paraphernalia doesn't quite fit if you try to hold it in front of you while trying to go down the basement stairs. Especially while trying to balance a Bible Study bag, a three year old and her coat, two bags of guinea pig food tied up with ponytail holders because you couldn't find the twist ties that came home on Friday, and a Diet Coke. Because I can't leave home without a Diet Coke.

Unfortunately by the time we finally made it to the bottom of the stairs and said guinea pig was nice and snug in the back of the car, I had kind of forgotten about the Diet Coke. And the fact that I had stuck it inside my Bible Study bag. Open. And then bent down about four times to pick up something I'd dropped. With the Bible Study bag on my shoulder.

One would think things would start to look up at this point. After all, enough is enough with ceiling leaks and spilled Diet Coke and guinea pigs and everything. But sadly, the story does not end here. As a matter of fact the day was so long it felt as if it would NEVER end. Regardless, after I dug through the 4 foot tall mountain of clean laundry that hadn't been put away because I thought Tuesday was Monday, I turned on the iron to iron another shirt. Now my iron has issues because for some reason if you add water to it after it is ALREADY hot, then the steam turns to something akin to watery mud. And it stains. So out went the 2nd shirt of the day and I ended up in some black sweatpants and a sweatshirt which totally didn't bother me, but was totally out of place in my Bible Study class of precious women who must not have to drop guinea pigs off on their way.

The day got a little better for a while, but definitely went downhill again late in the afternoon when S decide to say "DAT IS SOOOOOOOOOO STUPID" about 30 times in the car in front of eight little girls I was taking home from an after-school Bible club. Besides the fact the I am the teacher and would hope that the girls would not hear my OWN child using three year old cuss words in the car, this was S's 2nd offense of the day using this same lovely term. So I told S that she was going to get sassy sauce when we got home. Please don't call DHR- it's just hot sauce on the tongue. But to say that S is less than thrilled about getting it is a gross understatement. So S begins to scream at the top of her lungs "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I NOT WANT SASSY SAUCE NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And I could go on and on. And she did go on and on. For approximately 20 minutes as I dropped each girl off and bid them a pleasant afternoon.

By the time I got home, gave the sassy sauce punishment, gave everybody showers in the one bathtub we don't think is leaking and cooked dinner, I was done!

D-O-N-E.

So today I start all over and am thankful for home warranties, forgiveness for frustrated Moms who ask for second chances and homes filled with love amidst the chaos. And I'm thankful for a God who just loves me...even me...despite the fact I am a total wreck at times.

Hope you have a great Wednesday that seems like Tuesday!

L

Whatever It Takes Lord...

I just had the most amazing experience with God. You know how some people will say, "God told me..." or "I heard God's voice..." Well, I had one of those moments last week...but for me, God may need to talk a little bit louder!!!

Okay, in preparing for mission opportunities in conjunction with D'Now at our church, I was asked to speak to a group of women about parenting/being a Christian mother. My first thought was, "Seriously...you've clearly never been to my house or talked to my children about this idea!" But I was extremely humbled by this and gladly accepted the opportunity, but was somewhat uncomfortable and felt terribly un-equipped. Within the next few weeks I was faced with a very difficult situation with my relationship with my own mother. One which she's not even aware of and one which I wasn't even sure I was ready to turn over to God or really willing to even pray about yet. I was smack dab in the middle of being a victim and vindicated in my anger and bitterness. Then my lovely almost 11 year old daughter (who is my clone, bless her heart) decided that she needed to take a stand, right on top of my last nerve, and dare me to find fault with it. She and I came to mental and emotional blows daily, which, for me, turned into spiritual blows every night when I would process my day with my Heavenly Father. During this time, I was feeling the self-made pressure to prepare for my "talk" and figure out what in the world I was going to say. So, I dove into the Word...looking for what God wanted me to share with these women...I read Proverbs about a mother's teaching; verses about being kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other and others about being imitators of God (Eph); verses about discipline (Hebrews) and then in Joel (who knew?!?) was about traditions of families...it literally goes on and on! I flipped through old devotional books for "mothers" to find words of encouragement and the joy found in being a child of God, raising their children for God. I felt like I could give a good message, but felt so uncomfortable with being the messenger. At the very least I would start by explaining how I was the least likely women to share on this topic, but I knew it was good because it was God's.

Well, a few days ago, I got a phone call about the mission project and what my role would be that day. As it turns out, lots had changed and the day had gone through many different looks before it came to the most recent change. There would be no speakers that day. WOW! I knew right that second, with a smile on my face and tears in my eyes, that God is so amazing! I wasn't gathering information to speak to other women...God was speaking directly to me. He knows me. He loves me. And, He's comforting and encouraging me with His Words. He knows me so well that He knew I wouldn't take the time to do this for myself...but I would do this for someone else. He needed to speak to me, for me to hear His voice! And he spoke directly to my heart, and to my stubborn will, and to the daughter and mother that co-exist within my spirit. Oh, He is so good to me...please let Him be good to you! Seek Him!

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. JOHN 16:33

~J

Loved

This morning as I was driving, God and I had a talk. It went something like this:

Me: "Lord, it is amazing how much you have taught me in the last ten years..it is truly overwhelming. I mean, I never thought I would be a stay-at-home Mom and be OK with it, but that is exactly where you have me. And during that time, Lord, I feel like I have become more patient, more humble, less assertive and more gracious. I know that if I ever went back to work I would be a totally different person..thank you for teaching me so much during this season."

God: "I Love You."

Me: "I mean, God I totally recognize now that every gift and ability I have comes from you and was given to me so that You will be glorified. I have always known that was true in some sense, but I didn't really understand it completely. Thank you so much for helping me see that my life is a reflection of my Wonderful Creator. I have so much more freedom in my ministry now that I understand that."

God: "I Love You."

Me: "I love you too God and I'm sorry I haven't been as productive as I should have been this week. Please forgive me for slacking around the house and not getting the laundry folded. Also, I know I need to get caught up on my Bible Study today and I pray that you will help me to multiply my time and use it as wisely as possible."

God: "I Love You."

Me: "You really do just love me, don't You Lord?"

God: "I do love you."

Me: "And you just love me no matter what, don't you Lord? I mean, I know You love me, but You love me period. No conditions. Doesn't matter how much I do in Your name, how effective my ministry, how clean my house, how polite my children, how healthy my marriage, how much weight I've lost or gained...You just really and truly love me, don't You Lord???"

God: "Yes, I just love you."

Me: (sobbing as I'm driving and fearing I look ridiculous since I am alone in the car but not really caring)"You know, Lord, every other love I've ever known has been conditional, and even though I have always known You love me, it is really overwhelming me today. I mean you just love me and nobody else in my whole life love me likes You do and they never will. I so don't deserve that".

God: "No, you don't but I still love you and always will no matter what."

How Deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He would give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds that mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory


L