Friday Fave Five #127

I love blogging on Friday's and catching up with Susanne over at Living to tell the Story.  I also love to reflect back on my week also. 

1.  Receiving another gift from my Secret Prayer Sister at church.  I blogged about this earlier in the week right here.

2.  Being able to relax a bit after a stressful week with a friend and make a new bookmark.  It's always relaxing to have a cup of tea, a craft and a friend to keep you busy for the night.  I was doing that at my friend's house tonight.  It's nice.  We vent, complain, laugh, joke, tease and just plain enjoy each other.

3.  The love and support of people at church.  I really would be lonely and lost without my church family.  They help me so much.  And that extends out to fellow Christians that I don't necessarily attend church with every week.  Christian friends are really a blessing to each other.  I love having that support system.

4.  Lindt Lindor chocolates.  Enough said.

5.  Being able to spend every day with my children, watch them grow, laugh, play and learn.  Bubba learned how to read this past week.  We are so proud of him.  I love this part.  When all of our hard work finally just kinda, falls together.  When they really get it. 

I hope that you enjoyed this post.  If you'd like to read more like it, check out Susanne's blog above.

My Thanks to My Lord

Today included a few wake up calls for myself.  At one point of my day, I was feeling sorry for myself and also worrying.  The phone rings, I answer it trying to disguise my voice because I had been crying.  

It was a phone call letting me know that I was getting some help.  It came just at the right time.  Perfect timing?  No.  Just God's timing.  He knew exactly when I needed to hear that phone call.  How can He know so much?  

Because He is our Creator.  God knows all.

He is also trustworthy, true, forgiving and loving.  He guides me with a gentle hand, yet loves me with a strong hand that covers me like a shield.  He is my fortress, my refuge and my strength.  Without Him, I would not be.  

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for everything that you have given me.  Thank you for showing me when I need correction.  Lord, please fill my heart with love and patience.  I know that I can trust in you God and if You are worried about the little birds, I know that you are worried about me.  Thank you for taking care of me.  Thank you for showing me how to have a strong faith.  You are Lord!  In Jesus Name, Amen.

What I Loved About Today

1. We got all of our school work done today.

2.  I got to take a nap today!

3.  My pastor at church let me borrow books and a movie to teach my kids about dinosaurs from Christian books.

4.  I had Lindt Lindor chocolates to eat today from Valentine's day.

5.  The kids at AWANA make me smile and laugh.

6.  Seeing my pastor's wife and getting a hug and kiss from her.

7.  Talking to my sister on the phone even if it was just for a few minutes.

8.  Making plans with a girlfriend for tomorrow.

9.  Getting M&M's and a little dish from my Secret Prayer Sister.  The lid of the dish says "The Joy" in the middle of it and around the outside it says "of the Lord is your strength".  I think I'll keep some M&M's in that by my computer. Oh and the M&M's are the Valentine colors!

10.  Laughing with Stinky.

11.  Laughing with Bubba.

12.  Laughing with my hubby.

13.  Having a quiet moment to read my Bible.

14.  Going to the library with my kids.

What a great day I had!  I am so blessed to have this life!  I am taking tonight to publicly say:

THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME!

My Baby Girl

Have I ever told you the story about how my daughter came to be about?  Grab a cup of coffee or tea and pull up a chair. 

I have been blessed to be given her as a daughter.  She has taught me some things about myself.  But most importantly, she is my first born and my precious little girl.

My husband and I got married in 1998 because I was pregnant.  I was about 5 weeks pregnant.  The weekend after we got married we were able to take a little honeymoon to Ocean Shores.  It was there that I started spotting.  I had a feeling in the pit of my gut what was wrong. 

I don't want to tell that story though. 

After my miscarriage, we waited the three months to try again.  But God had different plans for us.  I sometimes wonder if that first pregnancy was just to get us in gear to get married.  We were living in sin. 

I didn't get pregnant until about five years later.  That was a tough five years!  I wanted to have a baby.  When I finally gave up, I told myself, "God has decided that you aren't to raise children, so just get used to the idea and get over it."  (Yea, I know, I have no idea about what God decides, but it sounded good at the time.) 

You can probably guess what happened after that.  BAM!  I was preggers. 

Five months into my pregnancy, I can feel that baby moving all of the time.  She hardly stopped.  It was crazy!  I used to call her my little ballerina and my tiny dancer because it felt like she was dancing on my uterus.  And it just kept going and going!

When I was in my third trimester, we were able to sit up at night and watch her just roll and roll and roll and roll and roll and roll (I think you get the point) in my stomach.  Literally, roll.  Not just kick or punch.  Roll.  She was an acrobatic in-utero baby! 

Then she was born.  That day my heart knew what it felt like to melt.  It took me years to just believe that this was really happening to me.  I thought all of the time, this has to be a dream.  Something this miraculous and sweet couldn't be happening to me.  She was my life.

Because of difficulties when she was born, she had to be in the ICU for babies inside one of those things.  I can't for the life of me think of what they are called now.  They wouldn't let me hold her as much as I wanted so she could stay at the right temperature.  I treasured my nursing times with her so I could marvel at the wrinkly face and puggy nose looking at me. 

She ended up having to stay one more night at the hospital than I did.  Because I was nursing, and not going to leave her there anyways not matter what they did to me, they let me stay in a little room for new parents whose babies had to stay longer.  It was no bigger than a closet, but she didn't know.  I remember trying to wrap her in a blanket, swaddling her lovingly.  Only for her to push and shove her way out of it in seconds. 

In a way it was comical.  I showed Greg.  "Watch, I'll wrap her up and she'll get out of it."  I wondered how I would keep her warm.  I still do!  She still won't stay covered up and the less clothes she has on, the better.

There has not been another moment in my life like that.  She stole my heart from the very beginning.  I love my son, and he is my cuddle-bug and my baby.  But nothing can take the place of your first born.

Kids Say the Cutest Things

Today Stinky said something that just made my heart melt.

We were driving in the car and listening to Third Day's new song, Children of God.  After the song was over and we both stopped singing, I was thinking about what the song says and was thankful for Jesus dying for me.  Us.  The love that He felt and the sacrifice He made. 

I had goosebumps.

Then comes this beautiful, sing-song voice in the back.

"Mom, I bet God was smiling and singing along with that song."

Oh the joy of hearing my children worship and praise the Lord.

2nd Tag of the Day....well sorta

Kitties in coffee cups?  How much cuter can you get than that?

So my friend Kristy, over at The Man Crew answered Mishmash Maggie's questions and I wanted to answer her questions too!  So here are the questions from Kristy:

1 What is in your CD player (or on your iPod) right now? Why do you like it?
Francesa Batistelli and I LOVE her!  Such great uplifting and praising songs!

2 Tell me about your childhood in 3 words, your teenage life in 3 sentences and your adult life in less than a paragraph. Be succinct : )
Childhood:  Daddy's little girl
Teenage Life:  School was my favorite place to be because it was away from home.  Home brought anger and frustrations.  Still a Daddy's girl!
Adult Life:  I've learned what is most important in life.  I have prioritized my life the way that I think God wants me to.  I have had to make some really tough decisions to separate myself from people that bring my troubles or stress.  I learned that it is much harder to be the submissive wife than it is to try and fill a role that I was not meant to fill but with the grace of God I can fulfill the role that He has chosen for me.

3 How did you meet your spouse, or best friend?
When I was 18, my parents sold our farm and moved from Western Washington to the Eastern side.  I stayed here w/an aunt for a while, but eventually moved in w/my parents because of financial and personal problems.  While I was staying there, I came back here to visit my best friend for the weekend.  Her boyfriend had his cousin over and he was so cute!  I just had this feeling when I met him that we would be together.  And here we are, 15 years later with almost 12 years of marriage behind us.

4 How has blogging changed your life? It doesn't have to be PROFOUND
It has given me a way to unwind, a sort of release.  It has also allowed me to write, which I love, without feeling like I am being graded or might get turned down by a publisher.  It is a way for me to share my life, my problems, my joys and my love for Jesus with others.

5 What is your favorite Bible story and why?
I love to read about Saul's conversion to Christianity.  I think it is so powerful.  A man persecuting the Christians and the Lord speaks to him.  He is a changed man after that and one of our most leading Christian men of the past.  It is awing and inspiring to me.

6 How would someone else describe you in less than 5 words?
Well it depends on who you ask, lol.  I know this would be said of me, "Brings others to God."

7 If you were stranded on an island, what 4 things would you take with you and why? Assuming that food, water and basic shelter was somehow provided.
1. My Bible
2. My husband
3. My daughter
4. My son

8 How did we meet and why are we friends?
We met on Cafemom in the CEO group.  We are friends because we share the love of the Lord and that makes us sisters in Christ!  We are friends because we share some of the same problems and joys and that stirs a kinship in us.  We are friends because we both have the same sense of humor and we can take the jokes directed towards us.  We are friends because we just love each other!  I can't wait to actually meet you in person sometime Kristy!!

I am not going to post 8 more questions.  It was hard enough to come up with the first 8! lol  Hope you enjoyed!

{Blog Post}

Yea, I really couldn't think of a title.  I really can't think of a blog entry.  I want to blog about what me and the kids did today, but I need to edit pictures and such before I can....so I need to wait. 
Tonight we are just getting ready for church and Sunday school tomorrow after a nummy Chinese food dinner.  We haven't had that for.....I don't even know how long!
I have been having some good conversations with my sister the past few days.  Yesterday was her birthday.  It makes me feel older when I hear how old she is because I'm the oldest daughter.  And I can hardly believe that my baby sister is that old!  It's just crazy.
My sister and I have a really good relationship.  We are really close and can talk about anything with each other.  I am her confidant and she is mine.  And it's just cuz we're coolot like that!

That is all of us last Summer.  This was at my mom's wedding so we all were matching.  Stinky was cuddling up next to my niece G. and Aunt T.  Then Bubba is next to me, Miss Chicken Legs.  Seriously...I hate them.  I almost didn't post this pic, but it was the most recent I could find fast. 
My sis lives across the US.  Literally.  I am on one corner, she's on the other.  So we see each other about every 2 years.  I wish we could see each other more.
I never got to any of the correcting of the schoolwork or finishing the plans today like I was supposed to.  Again.  *sigh*  I'll be extra busy tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning we'll go to Sunday school, then church.  I will come home for lunch and have a couple hours of free time.  Then I go to hand bell practice for an hour and a half.  Usually I go back home after that instead of going to the evening service because the kids and Greg are home.  But, my girlfriend and her kids are getting baptized this Sunday evening and Greg and the kids will go to church with me.  After practice, I will head out to pick them up, and go back to church for the evening service.  That gets over at 7pm.  I better do some of my work tonight.  Which means, I better go. 

Friday's Fave Five

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five! I can't believe it is Friday already. Where on earth did this week go? And Fridays mean it's time to look back over our week and look for those five favorite things, big or small, that were a blessing in our lives. Please join in with a post and then link on up so that we can visit you. If you are new, you can get the details here, and then just jump right in.

Friday sure seemed to get here quick this week.  And Monday being a holiday didn't have any effect on me since hubby nor I work, and the kids homeschool.  It was just another day.  But a fast week.  What was good this week?  What were my blessings?  Let's take a look:

1.  Monday we didn't have school to visit with stepdaughter before she went home and Tuesday I had bad kidney stone pains so there wasn't school that day either.  I am thankful that we got all caught up on Wednesday and Thursday.  I am trying really hard to stick to my schedule this year, especially since I wrote the whole plan.  I really didn't want to get behind already, in my 3rd week!  And I didn't.  Today I only have to do today's lesson plans.  I don't have any catching up to do.

2.  I finally got my PC counter/desk organized.  See, my pc is actually on my kitchen counter.  I didn't want to run cable through my house, or pay extra for the cable guy to do it, so I put my pc where I could plug it into the cable.   So half of my desk, is the kitchen counter.  It gets messy up here with my piles of paper.  Along with being a huge list maker, I am also a pile maker.  :-)  My piles on my desk can get pretty high.  We're talking, Tower of Babel high.  I don't know how my hubby stands it honestly....Anywho, yesterday I got almost all of it picked up and cleaned off.  There are a few things left that I will finish today.  I love it when I have more room to make more piles!

3.  The other day while my kidney was hurting so badly, my hubby was itching to get out of the house, while I was not.  He decided to take the kids to the fish hatchery.  I was thankful for him doing that while I was in so much pain.  I don't like to be in that much pain around the kids.  It scares them too much.  And that was a nice way for them to get their minds off Mommy being hurt.

4.  I am thankful this week for my cousin, Amber.  She works for a urologist and has told me over and over that if I need to get in, her Dr. will get me in.  That is good for me to know!  Now, I'm really hoping that I won't need to go in.  And last night, things were looking feeling to me like it is getting close to coming out.  That will be a blessing indeed!

5.  Today is my little sister's birthday.  It is also the birthday of Pastor's wife, and my adopted Mom, Jackie.  These two ladies are so special to me.  They stand behind me and support me.  My sister is an amazing woman who I have literally watched grow up into such a good person.  And Momma Jackie is my strong hold, when I dare to give in and have one.  I always can come to her with a problem or a question. 

Thank you for reading my favorite things for this week.  I am also blessed by all of my readers!  My purpose with my blog was to get out there and meet other women and offer them words of encouragement or just simply something to read.  I love you all!  Without you, I'd just be writing in my diary!

When Sunday Afternoons Are Good

This Sunday morning was the day the kids in church move up into their new classes for the new school year.  I was sad to lose two of the boys in my class, but so excited to gain 5 new students!  And that was just today, there may be more to come in next week.  Today I also got to teach one of my favorite Bible stories.
It's the one where Elijah challenges King Ahab to a friendly little "Let's See Whose God is Real" war.  I just love the dramatics of this story.  The way the 850 prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth act to get their gods to light their altar.  But the best part of the story is when Elijah, who has been calmly standing there waiting for his turn for about a day and a half.  First he mocks all of the false prophets.  "Maybe your gods are sleeping, maybe they are on a journey, maybe they are busy...".  That makes me laugh every time I read it.  Then Elijah gets his turn.  He goes up to his altar, puts 12 stones for the base, puts together the rest of the altar and the sacrifice on top, and then he does something no one expects.  He digs a trench around the altar and they pour water all of it.  Then he calmly, confidently, says "God, show them your stuff."  And fire comes DOWN from the sky and lights his altar!  Everything burns up and the water is licked dry.
aaaaahhhhhhh  I just love that story!
After a wonderful Sunday school lesson, I taught kids church.  I love doing this.  They little kids are so much fun!  It's the 4 and 5 year olds.  They are too cute.  We had a blast today.  The kids helped me retell the story of Jesus being born, a personal request from Evie.  She actually told more of the story than I did!  lol  They colored a picture and then we sang some fun songs.  They were get up and move around fun kinda songs!
My girlfriend's daughter talked to the Pastor and deacons after church to become a member and get baptized.  Next Sunday evening, my girlfriend, her daughter and her son are going to be baptized and become members of my church!  I am so excited for all of them.
I drove Jessica (the girlfriend mentioned above) and the kids home from church and our guys had gone fishing.  So we decided to go check out some garage sales.......*devious grin*
The first one had tons of kids books, in really good shape, for 25 cents each!  I bought 17 of them!  Our 2nd stop brought some of the Redwall novels by Brian Jacques.  I bought 5 of them!  Then the next one had 3 books that I bought for school on American History for $1.50.
I just love books!  I love to buy them for me and for the kids.  The ones that I bought for homeschool are The Americans: The Democratic Experience, The Americans: The National Experience and The Americans: The Colonial Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin.  These books will be going on my To Read book shelf before I put them on my school shelves though.
After finding all of our treasures, which we bought more than just books today, we came home.  The guys were back by then and we had a little snack.  Then it was time for me to head back down to church for my hand bell practice.
I love playing the hand bells.  We are playing next Sunday and the Sunday after that.  They are beautiful instruments and so much fun to play.  A lot more challenging than people would think.
And now, sitting here with dinner done and kids are relaxing in bed, I am thankful for this precious day that I had.  It seems like a normal Sunday, but it wasn't.  There are people that just have their way of lighting up my life, even if they don't know it.  My church family is my family.  I see them more than my blood relatives.  I am blessed to belong to such a loving and caring church.  I know that God led me there and am extremely thankful for it.

I'm Thankful For......Today

Today I am thankful for a few things.  That is my post for today because of how extremely busy I am and also still in pain from kidney stone.

• My camera: to catch fun times that we have together as a family, even if we are only at the store.
• My Bible and books
• Water: to help me flush this kidney stone
• Friends: we're going camping with them for a much needed break

Now because I am so tired and have to get up so early to pack, I am heading out to lay down and veg before going to sleep.

 

Bringing My Friends To Christ

I am not one who will go door to door, or walk up to a stranger and strike up a conversation about Jesus.  If I have reason to assume that another person is a Christian, I will try to find some way to talk about Christ with them.  But evangelizing to total strangers for no reason is just not something I am comfortable with.  
What I am comfortable is bringing or inviting people to church that I already know has that curiosity of the hunger for Jesus Christ.  I have brought friends and children to church who then became saved, baptized, became a member of the church or frequently attended after I brought them.  I have had the pleasure of bringing 2 adults and 3 children to church with me and having seen all of them get saved.  I was personally there with both adults when it happened.  One of the children I was bringing invited a friend who also got saved.
What a glorious feeling to be bringing in a larger family for Christ!  It is pleasing to be able to honor Him in that way.  I am not proud of me, I am proud that He used me. 
Today I was there to witness an extremely close friend get saved and agree to join the church with her children!  Her children both already got saved, one during VBS last year and one during VBS this year.  I am so excited about this!   It is goose-bumping goodness!

Dear Heavenly Father, I am so thankful that you have used me to fulfill Your heavenly desires.  Without You, I could not have done this.  Lord, I pray that you fill those 3 new Christians with Your Holy Spirit and allow them to feel Your love.  I am so excited about this Jesus!  Who else can I bring to church?  Lord send more my way!  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Family Pics and Picnics

It is not often that my family can do something and ALL of us enjoy ourselves.  For some reason, it just works that way.  But Saturday afternoon we had a great family day and all of us enjoyed ourselves!  I am so thankful that the Lord gave us such a great day.


The weather was beautiful and I wanted to get out and take some pictures.  I thought first that I would go down to the Farmer's Market in Orting and take some shots there.  I mentioned to Greg that it would be a good day to get out and take my camera somewhere.  He apparently thought so too!  But he didn't want to go to the Farmer's Market, that I knew.  But he had other great photo ops in mind!

A while ago he had shown me something that he discovered on one of his drives.  He likes to get out and just take drives.  Anyway, it's an old stone chimney.  It's the only thing standing around the whole area besides tress.  And the trees are old.  He also wanted to take me to see the trees that the beavers are chewing down by the river.  

We started out our day trip heading towards Kapowsin.  Our first stop was to get a few refreshments for our trip.  Across the street for the gas station that we stopped was a whole gang(?) (crew?, group?, flock?) of bikers neatly lined up at the Kapowsin Tavern.  Now for many of you who do not live near me, Kapowsin is basically a 4-corner town.  One corner is a gas station and another corner the tavern.  That's about it.  

I liked the looks of these bikers and decided to snap a few shots.  A few of them watched me and sat for me to take their picture.  

Our next destination was to see a huge tree that beavers have chewed almost all of the way through.  When we arrived at the spot, there were fishermen there so we decided to leave them alone and come back another time.  But I did see trees where the sap suckers are making holes to suck out sap (hence the name, sap suckers ;-P ) and I found it interesting that they make almost straight lines. 

 I was really excited about our next stop.  It was the old chimney.  I do not have a good enough camera to really get the details in my shots of this.  But one day I will and I'm going to go back.  The trees that are grown up around it are old trees, you can tell by the thickness.  So that chimney has been there a long time!  There isn't evidence of a foundation anywhere around it, so my guess is that it was a cooking chimney.  

Long time ago, kitchens were not built onto houses because kitchen fires were all too common.  So the kitchen was built away from the house.  Greg's uncle mentioned that a railroad used to go through there and maybe it was used at a camp for railroad crew or something of that sort.  There is a number on the front of it, you can't really tell what the number is by my pictures.  I don't know if it is a year or a type of address, or maybe if it was a work crew it was a number to identify them?  I don't know, but it is 2917.  That is carved in the shield.  Below the shield is a ribbon.  The left side of the ribbon has writing carved into it also, but I couldn't make it all out.  The center and right side as well had writing and says "of", but the right side was all worn smooth.  There is also an image on each side of the shield.  I don't know what they mean.

My pictures do not do it justice....This first picture shows the stone chimney hidden in the trees.

 Here is the front of the fireplace

 The shield that says 2917

 This picture below shows the size of the tree growing not too far from it.

 Greg always likes to drive on this road called Camp 1.  It is a road that trucks use for the rock quarry and I think it used to be for logging trucks too.  He sees lots of wildlife up on this road.  He's seen countless deer, elk, quail, bobcats and probably others.  With him I have also seen a baby coyote wandering around.  The kids and I don't necessarily enjoy this drive too much, but he does, so we endured for him.  :-)  I did take a few pictures on this leg of our trip and ended up with a beautiful one of a foxglove that I am going to save for another blog.  But I will show the picture that I took of a little water fall and the pictures of the foxgloves that I am not saving for another blog.

 Now it's off to more beaver trees.  I made sure to get the logs and the wood chips in my pictures because the kids loved it.  This first one I love though!  It shows the funny side of my husband.  I told them to ignore me and told Greg to pretend he was showing them something.  He did!  lol 

 This log below looked like brass in the sun.  My camera didn't capture that. :-(

Hanging out and having a picnic at the river was our last stop of the day.  We didn't get to relax and hang out quite as long as we wanted to because of some disobedience but still had fun all the same.  We let the kids get in the river where there was a calm little pool.  They certainly loved that!  Here is the path that we take down to the river.

 Bubba's strawberry with pepperoni.  YUCK!

My sexy hubby standing there with his Non-Alcoholic Beer.  

Can you see the kids playing?  It was so weird to be at a place where they could get that far away from me and I didn't have to worry.  There was no one else there.  It was just incredible.  I felt the presence of God out here in His wonderful handy works.  Very comforting.

 This rock appeared to have baby rocks stuck to it.

 I love love love putting my feet in mud!!

  Doesn't that look like a good family day?  Praise the Lord for that!!