Life is Good

So, it's Sunday morning and I'm here on the computer. I've checked out Facebook Land, had my Bible study time, and had my first diet mt. dew. ;0) Katie is having her Crunch Berries and both Tony and Hayes are still in the bed.

We love our new pastor and his family. He has been a tremendous blessing to our church. Our Sunday school class is just the best and we've learned so much from our teacher....

This afternoon I'll be helping Katie study for a biology test she has tomorrow, then she'll be off to the barn for her riding lesson.

Hayes will probably go play at a friend's house this afternoon--

While Katie is at the barn and Hayes is off playing I'll be home. Maybe I'll paint something.... maybe I'll study for my 2nd grade lessons for Tuesday.... Maybe I'll take a nap....

Tony will probably work on school this afternoon and maybe get to rest before his long week ahead. He'll be traveling late this afternoon and will be gone all week. Once he gets home on Friday he'll prepare for a camping trip with Hayes next weekend. Shortly after they get home from camping he'll pack and get ready to go out of town again the next week-- What a great daddy and husband he is....

Katie is loving high school. Homecoming is this week and she's signed up to play in the Powder Puff football game! It's a flag football game comprised of 2 teams of girls. They'll play during the school day on Friday for spirit week. ;0)

Hayes is content in school this year. He's in the 6th grade and happy to still be homeschooling. He's playing soccer with GBC for the first time. He's also very busy with Boy Scouts-- and loving every minute of it.

This part-time teaching job for me is just the best. I love teaching. I'm so glad that's the path that I chose to take so long ago in college. It was the right decision.

Life IS good.... :0)

Grieving.....

I have found that grief comes in different ways, on different levels, and to different degrees. I knew that I was grieving about a few different things in my life, but until yesterday I didn't realize one area that I was struggling. I've been struggling with heart ache because my sweet friend's mom died unexpectedly last week. My body is still trying to heal from my leg injury. While Tony was out of town we had TWO episodes of water coming through ceiling fixtures. Katie was out of town for 7 full days and we had no contact with her. I miss Mama and Daddy terribly and I want to be "home" with them. I actually found myself crying the other day and telling my sweet husband that I was "home sick".... when I've lived in this town for almost 25 years. I long for the days of Mayberry life. I long for goodness and love. I long to be known. I long to have children around me. I long for WORSHIP. I long for my family. I long for laughter. I long for sweetness and kindness. I long for real hugs and touch. I long for Truth.

All of that said..... I just figured out yesterday in addition to all of this that I'm grieving my Katie starting high school. Yes, we're excited. Yes, we're positive that God's calling us to send her to FACS. Yes, it's a wonderful thing that she's growing up into a beautiful young lady. But.... we only have 4 years left with her. She will more than likely meet her husband in the next 4-6 years. Where should we be? Where will we live when she goes to college? Do I really want her to marry and live in Memphis? What about me trying to get to my Mama and Daddy? I don't want to wait until one of them is gone to move down there. Am I jumping the gun thinking about marriage? I don't think so. Not at all.... At this point in her life we're still able to present her with settings where she may meet THE one. Where is the right place? This is such a big thing..... What a responsibility. Where and how we "do" life affects our entire little family on a MUCH larger scale than just day to day life. It's everything.

Time is flying by. Life is so short. Why can't we just pick where we get to live our "happily ever after" until our time here is done? Is it okay to say that it's not fair??? My time is running out.... and my heart hurts.

Is it a gift to have faith?

Mama and I were talking on the phone earlier today and I asked her how their revival was going at her church this week. She said it was wonderful with around 40+ in attendance. :0) I asked her to tell me something she's learned. (I'm especially hungry for the Word these days.... ;0) She said the topic came up on whether or not faith was a gift.... meaning that it was like a talent given from God. My immediate answer and thought to that was "no" that it's a command. She said she thought so, too but that there was a lady in their church who was convinced that to have faith that it was a "gift" of God--- the same as a talent is a gift of God.

So, with this hunger in my soul for Truth I had to study this topic and discern for myself what the answer was. After studying for just a short time I found scripture after scripture where God talks about faith. It 2 Chronicles 20:20 we are told to HAVE faith. In Isaiah 7:9 it says that if we don't stand firm in our faith and we will not stand at all. The next one I came to was the Lord's response to Habakkuk in Hab. 2:4 was that the righteous will live by faith. The scriptures go on and on......

Malachi 2:16 ".. guard yourself in spirit and do not break faith..."
Matthew 6:30 "... oh you of little faith..."
Matthew 8:10 (Jesus is looking for people of faith)
Matthew 8:26 ".... you of little faith..."
Matthew 9:29 ".... according to your faith will it be done unto you" (a girl was healed)
Matthew 13:58 He (Jesus) did not do many miracles because of their lack of faith
Matthew 17:21 ".... the faith of a mustard seed...."

There are so many more verses to back this up, but I stopped and was content with the answer when I got to the scripture about the mustard seed. :0)

Faith is not a gift.... it's a decision.

Prayers being answered.... :0)

Well, Katie is off to Montana! She's on a trip with Nana and Grandpa. They're going to Glacier National Park and she's very excited about it-- :0) She's learned the art of texting and she's texting Tony from time to time. what a sweet girl she is.... a true blessing from the Lord.

Over the 4th of July we spent the night with Terry and Mindy at Mindy's parents' place out in Toon, TN. We had a great time doing a whole lot of nothing much. :0) We rode 4-wheelers and the mule (golf cart thingy-- not the stinky, poopy kind-- LOL), watched a fireworks show put on by the "wonder twins", and we ate a lot of yummy food. During one of our excursions we walked out onto a long narrow dock--- very cool place with lots of lilly pads, etc. to see. Hayes decided it was too muddy to reach with his flip flops on, so he stayed back at the end of the dock. I had been out there and seen about as much as I felt comfortable to with leaving him back in the woods by himself and decided to go back. On the way back I stepped down a step and kept going--- right through the dock. Prayers have been answered.... It was not broken and I'm very slowly, but surely healing. :0) Praise the Lord-- :0)

My chairs went to the furniture hospital yesterday. Woo hoo! As minimal and insignificant this may seem it was something that was important to me. Our chairs were in overall good shape, but with about 12 years worth of wear on them the stuffing was coming out of the arms. Tony was very sweet to share a little bit of bonus money with me. The total to re-upholster the chairs AND get two pillows made for the couch came to the a little less than the amount he gave me. Is that sweet or what??!! God really does care about those little things that mean a lot to us.... :0)

Hayes is doing great. Prayers were answered with him through our ENT appointments for him. He was having terrible nose bleeds-- one right after the other. We finally gave in and took him to the ENT when he experienced 7 really bad ones in one weekend. We treated him aggressively with antibiotics, steroids, and ointment. After going to the doctor and getting started on his meds. he didn't have another nose bleed. What an answer that was! We're still keeping an eye on him and he's using the ointment because of some recent small bleeds, but they're nothing compared to what he was suffering before.... :0)

Last but not least.... it looks like I will get to teach this fall! Yay!!!!! I'm so excited. We're praying for all the details to be worked out, but we're trusting-- knowing that God is in control. I may be driving to 2 different campuses to teach, but if that's what God wants me to do, then I'll be there! :0)

God is so good.... :0) Prayers are being answered.... I'm thankful to be a child of the King.

Thoughts--

There is a book entitled "Men are Like Waffles, Women are Like Spaghetti". How true this is.... I think about that title (I've never even read the book) often and you know it's really the way it is. Tony has the ability to think about ONE thing and one thing only at a time. He can't even consider life any other way. He also has the "gift" of an "empty box" if he wants to go there in his mind. I do not have an empty box available in my mind. My mind really is like a bowl of spaghetti. My latest bowl of spaghetti is so all-over-the-place that I felt the need to write it down. So...... here it goes:

*I really want that teaching job for next year. I feel like God wants me there.
*I have used "too" and "they're" incorrectly in the last week. Where the heck did THAT come from? I have made A's in grammar all of my life and right when I want to get a second grade teaching job I goof up--- and in front of "everybody" on Facebook.
*Our two wingback chairs have stuffing coming out of the arms. They really need to be reupholstered.
*I HATE asking Tony for money.
*God has no doubt placed us back at GBC, but I really, REALLY miss contemporary worship. I would really rather be with Pastor Sam, but I'm not sure God will allow us to go.
*Why do I keep losing things?
*Katie is a freshman now? Good grief.
*Hayes is finally getting taller. I hope his weight continues to come down.
*I really want a covered section on our back patio. I think it's completely blank back there with nothing on it.
*The tile in our kitchen is exactly the same white 4" square tile that's in our bathroom. Go figure.
*Hayes threw a sticky hand up in the school room. There will probably be a permanent mark up there. Sticky hands are cool.... ;0)
*Why do I bite my fingernails?
*I want to sit and read, read, read.... and study, study, study the Word of God. I have such a desire to learn and know more Truth.
*I really wish LOST had not ended so politically correct. They were setting themselves up to be another "Narnia" type of show.
*I'm still broken for Karen and the girls in their loss of Cale. My heart still hurts....
*Will I desire food and let it win for the rest of my life? Will I always be a size 14/16?
*I love Facebook--- Don't know what I did before without it.
*I wish Chad and I were closer. I miss him.
*I wish I we lived closer to Mama and Daddy.
*I have to get about a million more yards of ribbon cut for VBS in the next couple of days. Not sure that craft is going to come together right--- Those thumb tacks are going to be all over the church. I hope nobody steps on one.
*Hayes will really miss Maurice this summer.
*I can't believe our preacher said "old Negra spiritual" the other day at church.
*I hope GBC doesn't completely fall apart before they get a new pastor. Good grief.... we REALLY need a contemporary service to pull some new people (and younger families) into the church. All the old people who are there who only want the Baptist way are going to let the church die.
*I really want to paint more.
*If I could have an old house I think I could just nest and nest forever. I've found that I'm happiest when I'm nesting.
*Katie really wants to go spend time at Mama's house. I want her to go.
*I can't make decisions. It's like my brain has a block-- I really wish I knew how to remove it. I would really like some clarity in my mind..... Most of the time I'm okay, but I seem to be in a fog right now.....
*Why do I feel like everything is surely my fault? And I really do believe it really is my fault?


So, this is all going on in my mind right now.... All at one time. It's "on" continuously.

I AM a bowl of spaghetti. ;0)

a very, very sad day

Tears are pouring as I write tonight. My first real boyfriend died today. We fell in "true love" in the 8th grade. He played football and I was in the band. He took me to my first homecoming dance. :0) I'm so, so sad that Karen and the girls are left without him that I can hardly stand it. Yet, I'm so thankful that his death was sudden-- not a terrible car accident that might have affected other families and not a terrible sickness that prolonged the pain. He went straight to be with the Savior. He knew the Lord, so there are tears of comfort there..... but, of course tears of great sadness because he will be so terribly missed by so many-- including me.

Thank you Lord for letting our families meet that weekend. Thank you Lord for a silly thing like Facebook that has allowed us to connect with old friends. It has allowed some healing and sharing time. Thank you Lord for his sweet family. Thank you Lord for sweet memories and first love.

the season

It's time for Mr.Winter to move on now.... I loved the snow and cold while it was here, but I think it's time for daffodils, tulips, bunny rabbits, baby chicks, and GREEN. It's just amazing how the weather outside can affect me. I really don't mind the cold weather so much.... it's the gray colors, the "dirtiness" of everything outside, and the lack of real sunlight. The bright, glaring rays reflecting off of the snow just don't count ;0)
So, thank you, Lord for the seasons... Thank you for the fall and winter that bring us into new life in the spring and summer.... :0)
Happy almost-Spring time!!!!!