Serving.....

By far my most favorite thing in the world.  I am always so thankful for any opportunity to serve.  Today our church participated in a community wide SHINE project.  The "My Fathers House" ministry was given two very old buildings to turn into a "mission", food and clothing pantry.  I hope to hear from the directors soon with some further instruction on how to get more involved from these beginning stages.  I cannot wait. 

I am  so thankful that my Pastors got us involved with this project.  This has been my hearts desire for a long time and I hope that the directors took me seriously when I said I wanted to do whatever they needed. 

This morning was spent clearing the insulation and ceiling tiles, well not me, I was outside weilding a rake for two hours straight.  We had a great time, it was a lot of work, but the fellowship was great and the sense of accomplishment when we quit was amazing. 

Days like this I am reminded how much I long to not be sitting in a cubby everyday. How much I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt I am meant for something more fulfilling than selling insurance to lawyers.  But how do you make that happen when your finances call for you to have a job that pays well?  Well I will tell you what I'm going to do.  I am going to trust God to provide for finances to be taken care of and a new door to be opened. 

I will keep you posted!!!!

Another day

Another dollar....or something like that.  I am sitting here in my living room and for the first time in a REALLY long time I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is....in fact....NOT a train.  Several times in the course of the last year, the only thing that kept me from believing it WAS a train was the faith to know that God would NOT let it be a train.

A lot of things have happened recently, some things that had me questioning every thing I thought about some things and some people.  But I was absolutely determined to not give into fear or doubt, kept my eyes and heart on God and trusted that HE would make things right.  It took some serious determination and mental fortitude and I am thankful that my dear friend Deanna always had the right words and a ready prayer over the last week.  Deanna you may never read this, but I am so thankful for you and your friendship. 

Now I am confident and want to share that confidence with anyone that is reading this, GOD IS FAITHFUL, He does have our best interest at heart and HE will work all things together for good for those that love HIM.  

I do not want to go into detail because God knows all of it, but suffice it to say that I was unsure of just about everything around me but He kept me going, He kept my heart in check and He has honored my heart's dedication to Him. 

I am finally beginning to see some of the things that I have had my heart set on come to pass.  Was there a price?  Only the price of forgiveness which is as much a gift to myself as those I have chosen to forgive.  Where would I be if God withheld His forgiveness....

I just want to......

Eat, watch tv, scream, take a bath, laugh, cry, run, walk, lock myself in a room, read a book, run away from home, go on vacation, yell, tickle my kids, pet my dog, hug someone, or sleep. 


I do not even know which one of those is the most pressing at the moment, ever had one of those days? 


And with that.....that is all......

The Raising of Teenage Girls....

Well I have come upon a point that I was not ready for.  My beautiful teenage girl has come to a place where she is looking to me to help her understand an unknown mystery......

THE TEENAGE BOY.......

After a fabulous evening at the military ball, and 10 hours straight of texting between the two of them the very next day, for some reason, unknown to all of us, he has quit communicating with her.  She's perplexed.  She has stepped so far out of her comfort zone with this young man, texting first, calling to ask him to the movies, buying him a valentines day card AND his favorite candy.  But alas, nothing.  No response texts, no to the movies and not so much as a thank you for the Valentine Card and Candy. 

I'm torn between being several females here.  First there is the teenage girl inside that remembers all too well what it feels like to be that girl that desperately just wants to noticed, wants desperately for him to think she's beautiful, and longs for him to just once hold her hand as they walk throught the school hallway.  Second, there's the best friend girl that wants to take the young man and push him up against the wall and say "what are you thinking?  Why are you ignoring my girl?  Why did you give her the impression that you wanted to be her boyfriend and then leave her hanging?" 

And last, but certainly not least, is the mom that says "honey, dating is not worth it right now, you need to focus on your grades, do not worry about boys or boyfriends or anything like that.  There are more important things in life like being grounded in Christ."

While I want to wrap her in bubble wrap and protect her from all of the pain and heartache that comes along with dating and crushes and puppy love, I know that these things will happen whether I wrap her in bubble wrap or not.  I am sure there is not enough bubble wrap in the world to protect her from heartache that will come, so with that in mind, I will choose to be the Mom who points her to the unfailing, everlasting, never changing, enduring, unconditional love that can only come from God.  

And pray, lots of praying....and maybe many nights of ice cream, reese's peanut cups and girl talk.  

It may be a bumpy ride....but I am looking forward to the journey.... 

Busy, busy, busy....

That pretty much describes my life over the course of the past couple of days.  It started with some bad weather last week that left me in traffic trying to get home for more than two hours (although I fared much better than some that were stuck for up to 7 hours). 

Friday was Jacole's birthday party and her mom surprised her by coming in for the weekend.  Saturday was "Wendy K" day.  Her birthday is the 10th and we started celebrating by taking her to Easely Amused.  What a blast that was.  I will have to come back and post pictures of that later as they are all still currently on my cell phone. 

After that started the preparation for the Military ball.  Hannah and Jacole's first. And my girl Hannah has a date.  Very sweet and cute young man named Curt.  They has a blast and my daughter looked like a princess.  She started the day in a pair of jeans and a flannel button down shirt and this was the finished product.

Wendy trasnformed my baby girl from the sweet adorable girl to the beautiful mature princess that you see above.  I must say though, that my daughter had more product in her hair that night than I have ever had in my entire life.  She kept putting more stuff in, including baby powder (who knew????).  Now I know why Wendy looks glamorous every time I see her and why my routine takes 30 mintues, including showering and dressing.  Ha. 

Yesterday was my dad's surgery.  He was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year.  Thankfully it was caught VERY early and they removed his prostate yesterday.  Prognosis is excellent.  They are confident it had not spread, they removed the lymph nodes as well and we expect him to go home tomorrow and be back to his engineering self in no time.  Thank YOU God for the peace you provided throught this entire experience.  Relying on YOU and nothing else is an amazing feeling. 

Things should slow down a bit now (I hope)....

Have a blessed day....

Parenting....

Today I had a chance to spend some time with Kari Jobe and Ben Pirtle.  In the two hours I sat in that small  room with them I could feel God in the midst.  This weekend is the D-Now weekend in our area and they were the speaker and the worship leader this year.  They took the time during the break out session (i think that is what it's called) to minister to the parents of the kids, for free.  I feel for the parents that did not take the time to join this meeting today because they truly missed out on seeing the heart of the people ministering to their children this weekend. 


They both opened up and shared things from the depths of their heart and I was truly blessed by both of them.  Knowing more about them made me feel even better about them ministering to my girls at D-Now.  Their transperency today about their lives as children and what their parents did right and wrong and how it shaped them into the people they are today was very encouraging.


Kari Jobe spoke about how her parents were always there for her.  And when they could not give her the answers she sought they ALWAYS pointed her to hearing from God.  They were open and honest and there for her.  She told a story about her dad just being there with her during a down time and how he just cried with her for the two hours she cried. 


Ben Pirtle said that one of the biggest mistakes parents make is not recognizing the gifts in their children.  Not honing in on those things that God placed within them, not trying to find common ground to develop those things, and putting pressure on them to be what the parents want them to do, or what the parents think would be the best for them. 


Of course I'm paraphrasing and telling this from how it impacted my heart, but I cannot impress how much I learned in that two hours.  Besides hearing Kari Jobe sing less than 10 feet from me and literally getting lost in the worship to the point of tears, I learned more about the parent I want to be. 


Ben spoke of this scientific test to determine a person's gifts and that out of the 7 billion people in the world only .6 of a person would score the same in the top 5 gifts (out of 50) as another person.  He followed that with that out of that 7 billion people in the world God chose ME to be Hannah and Mitchell's parent because He knew that only MY gifts would be the right ones to raise them. 


I am so thankful for all of the nuggets I took away from that meeting and I am truly thankful that those two amazing, talented people of God took the time to impart that wisdom and sharetheir heart with me. 

Dontcha just love

Getting a hair cut (or as we have to say around here a hairS cut)?  It's one of my favorite things ever.  And where I have mine done they wash my hair before the cut, she even does a scalp massage.  I think I love that part even morethan the cutting, but either way, I could sit in a chair and have someone do anything they want to my head.  It's like an escape for me. 


Today I had an opportunity to show Christ in a situation that involved getting my hair cut.  I had an appointment scheduled at 10 am today since December 10.  I was there at 10 when they opened.  Turns out my stylist was not there, they told me that she'd be in there in about 30 minutes, well 45 minutes later she still was not there, they asked me if I wanted to continue to wait or to reschedule and repeatedly apologized.  I told them I'd reschedule because I definitely wanted Cassondra to do it.  I asked them to quit apologizing that I understand things happen. 


When I went back at 3:30 for my appointment Cassondra apologized again and explained what happened with the schedule.  She then proceeded to tell me that EVERYONE in the salon was amazed that I did not raise a fuss, demand anything, holler, yell, or even seem upset about it all.  I guess they talked about me most of the afternoon.  I told Cassondra that getting mad or upset or angry was not going to change the situation and that it certainly would not have shown the love of Christ.  I then told her I would continue to come back to her because of the job that she does and that was all that mattered to me.


It felt good to walk out of there knowing that my attitude had made an impression on staff at the Salon.  I hope to always be that example of His peace in every situation.  Thank You God for living through me!!


Remember that in every situation YOU have the choice to show the Jesus in you.