Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Another pair of eyes

Don’t you hate it when you cannot find something you desperately need! Well that’s my situation – I’ve lost the battery charger for one of my cameras. We have 2 cameras – one is broken and now I’ve lost the charger for the other one!! What am I going to do?!?! We’re leaving for the beach on Sunday and the battery is dead!!! I’ve looked everywhere and I cannot find it!

I’m gonna need a new pair of eyes… I’m thinking that I’m looking too hard and it has to be there, I just cannot see it! I really need that charger - there will be many picture opportunities with the grandparents and I don't want to miss them!

Hopefully David will look around and be able to find it - since I'm not having much luck!!

Busy and Fun

This week is proving to be a very busy week! The kids and I leave Sunday for Cherry Grove SC. We’ll be there 2 weeks! The first week my parents have the condo. My cousin Wendy, her husband Steve and daughter Mandy will be coming to spend the week with us as well! I’m really looking forward to that; since Wendy and her family live in New Jersey and I haven’t seen them in I don’t even know how long! Then Chanda (my sister) and her boyfriend Tony will be down toward the end of the week – and David will be down after work on Wednesday night! It’ll be a good time for sure – as it always has been in the past!

Then the second week my in laws will be down (they get to stay the rest of the month of October!!) and we’ll spend the week with them and my brother in law and sister in law and my niece!

It’s really a blessing to like your family enough to spend 2 weeks with them! I do and I’m SO EXCITED about it!!

But this week – the getting ready week – is busy, busy, busy! Since Mom and Dad travel to SC from their home in GA it’s hard for them to pack a lot of stuff – so I pack most of what we’ll need as far as sheets, towels, kitchen stuff (that the condo doesn’t already have), our beach chairs, umbrellas, cooler, laundry detergent, and then all the stuff for myself and the kids!! Its fun packing and when I do I get even more excited, but it’s a lot of work! Then there’s the house to take care of (which for those of you who know and love me know – housekeeping isn’t my favorite thing to do!) cause I HATE coming home to a mess! It’s nice to just come home and not have to worry about cleaning and all that stuff! So I’ve got a good bit of cleaning, laundry and other such stuff to take care of!

So why you may ask, and I taking time to blog? Well – 2 reasons – one I will have limited access to my computer while at the beach! And two – my coffee isn’t gone yet, and Avery’s still sleeping!

It is however time for President Bush to be on TV, so I’m off to hear what he has to say today!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Worn Out!

Today was the day of birthday celebrations! The kids and I had a birthday party at Pump It Up which is one of those indoor jump on the blow up stuff places! It was totally fun! Avery LOVED it! She so badly wanted to be with the big kids and jump and play and all that stuff! I spent more of the 1 and ½ chasing her around! I think I was as exhausted as the kids were! Those both took long naps when we got home!

Then this evening we got to spend celebrating our good friend George’s 50th birthday! What a good time that was! I feel blessed after 2 consecutive evenings with really good friends! I could do that every night of the week! I of course love to a good time, and hate to miss a party of any kind and love to have one for any reason!!

So as I head off to bed – I’m feeling very blessed to have some truly wonderful people in my life!

And a BIG HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY to George!!!

Friday, September 26, 2008

The Armor - The Breastplate of Righteousness

What is righteousness? It’s a big word for sure, and when going through Ephesians 6 Carla made sure we had a good handle on what righteousness is - a simple definition -“morally upright; without guilt or sin.” The way she explained it so that it could be applied to everyday life was – it’s “having a right relationship with God.” WOW – isn’t that what it’s all about?!? Living right, doing right, and being right – not as important as having a right relationship with God.

How do you become righteous? I mean the definition says being without guilt or sin – I know the Bible tells me that I cannot be perfect – and try and I may I know I cannot be without sin! Based on Romans 3:21-22 there is nothing we can do to make ourselves righteous (that makes me feel better) the word says that “we are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins.” It’s His free gift to us – we get it when we “get” Jesus in our hearts! That’s an amazing gift, isn’t it?

We get a free gift of righteousness, but hen there is an ongoing righteousness – this is the one that I believe is most talked about in Christian circles. This righteousness is the work that the Holy Spirit does in me on a daily basis in order to draw me closer to God, to make us more like him (2 Corinthians 3:18). Carla pointed out that our righteousness is evident in what we say, what we do, and in our relationships with others. I’m so glad that God loved me enough to send the Holy Spirit to help me with this! We have the Holy Spirit to help us along the way. It takes a daily commitment to Christ and giving up my will in order to become more and more like Christ!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Funny Stuff

I love 3 and 1/2 years old! This is a short conversation Luke and I had on the way home from school today. Now keep in mind that we live - literally - abut 3 miles from his preschool!

Luke: “Mommy, I gotta go pee!”

Mommy: “Well, Buddy – can you wait, we’re almost home?”

Luke: “NO!”

M: “You’re gonna have to Buddy, we’re almost home!”

Quiet for about one minute, then…

L: ”Mommy, my pee is saying – “I wanna come out!”

M: “Well, you’re gonna have to tell the pee to wait!”

L: (to the pee)”Pee WAIT to come out – we’re almost home!”

He made it home in time!

The Armor - the Belt of Truth

Putting on the full armor of God is something that most long time Christians are familiar with. It’s talked about in Sunday Schools, children’s churches, church camps, and Sunday sermons in many churches fairly often. It was a topic I was familiar with, and pretty comfortable in my understanding of, but God can always show us something new, and speak to our heart in a new and different way if we’re open to it! And that’s just what He did for me last weekend at the annual WHWC (that stands for Wendover Hills Wesleyan Church) ladies retreat!

Carla Bethune did a great job of presenting Ephesians 6: 13 – 18! And as all good speakers do, she added some creative things to make it interesting and funny for us. But the meat of what she had to say was so powerful you would have thought I was hearing it for the first time!

First we talked about being Powerful – so she talked about the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness, and the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace. We spent a good bit of time talking about what is truth? And is it ever OK to lie, or tell a half truth, or maybe just not the whole truth – in order to not hurt someone’s feelings? She pointed out that we as a society have lost our value of the truth! She’s right… she challenged us to think about how often we’re lied to in a day – whether it’s on TV, radio, political adds, whatever it may be – we as a society have lost how important it is to be truthful! She was so right! The Word says that God never lies – NEVER – not to spare someone’s feelings, or to make a situation less uncomfortable, or just because it seems easier to tell a small lie than to tell the truth!

So the first thing that the Holy Spirit thru Carla challenged me to do was take a good look – and be more aware – of how often I’m lied to during the day, and how often am I being untruthful to others during the day! I challenge you to do the same… I think you’ll be amazed at what you find!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

8 Years!

Today I celebrate 8 wonderful years of marriage to my best friend in the whole world! It’s hard to believe it was 8 years ago that we were planning, inviting, shopping, having family down, and getting ready for our wedding day! Which by the way was TOTALLY beautiful and EVERYTHING I ever imagined it to be!

Now here we are today – 10 years after we started dating and 8 years of marriage – with 2 wonderful, healthy children, David’s running his own successful computer consulting business, I get to stay home with the little ones – we have a beautiful home, a dog (which I’m still trying to find someone who would like to take her?!?!), godly friends, and a good church. I never thought I would be this happy in all my life!

Not to say it’s always been rose petals and rainbows (sometimes we still have a tiff or two). We’ve had our times – just like everyone else – but what’s most important is that we have found and continue to find ways to work through those things. Also we made and effort and a commitment to keep Christ at the center of our lives and our home, and He’s been faithful to us as well. Marriage isn’t always easy, but I wouldn’t go back for anything in the world! I truly love being married – and I couldn’t have asked for a better husband than David!

I’ve been truly blessed! I pray the same happiness for my friends in their marriages! And for my single friends (Sahara, I’m thinking mostly of you Sister!) I pray that the Lord will send you the godly spouse you desire and then spend the rest of your married life blessing you for trusting in Him!

I encourage you today to think about how much God loves us, and how he shows that love to us thru our marriages!

David, I love you Baby! Thanks for 8 amazing years! I'm looking forward to the next 60!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Home Sweet Home

I cannot tell you how good it is to be home again! I was only gone for a total of like 3 days, but it felt like forever for some reason! But I arrived back home yesterday evening so happy to be with my family again!

The retreat was WONDERFUL and a ton of fun! It was a time of hard work, servant-hood (is that even a word?), planning, arranging, as well as time with the Lord, hearing His words thru Carla (who goes to my church and was our speaker this year!) and just enjoying some time without the kids! It was a blessed weekend, but I was glad to be home last evening!

I have a ton to do today and really need to make myself go do it, so I’ll post more later on some of the things I learned from Carla this weekend!

It’s good to be home!!!!!!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Luke

The sun is shining – well partly (I’ll take it, it’s not raining!) – and the day has been productive so far, I’ve done 4 loads of laundry, vacuumed my downstairs, cleaned the master bath, cleaned the hardwoods in the kitchen, and started packing to be gone to the beach! Woo… tired just typing about it! I hate it when there’s a ton to get done but I love it when I can get things done, and feel good about them!

I have been having some very funny and interesting conversations with Luke lately! He’s really growing up and he’s starting to ask some of the hard life questions. For example – the other night in the bath tub he asked me where air comes from? I told him I didn’t think I could answer that question – that was one he would have to ask his Daddy! 

Then yesterday in the car he asked me where God lived. So we talked a bit about heaven and what a wonderful place it is and how one day when he asks Jesus into his heart he can go and live in heaven with God! On the other hand, I’ve also been telling him at night time (he doesn’t seem to want to go to sleep “by himself) that he’s not alone, that Jesus is with him – always no matter where he goes! So explaining how God can be in heaven but with him always - not an easy thing to do! He seemed satisfied with my answers and moved on to something else (big trucks I believe it was!).

His questions reminded me of how critical this age is and how important it is that he sees Jesus in my life so that he will want Jesus in his life too! I pray continually for his (and Avery’s) tender young heart! It’s an awesome responsibility and I don’t want to misuse the gift I’ve been given to raise strong believers for Christ! I covet your prayers!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Rainy Tuesday

This morning greeted me with a cute little voice talking about his trains, and rain! UGGGHHH! I know we need it, and it’s really been wonderful to have more rain this summer than in many summers in the past, but I find it hard to be happy when it rains a lot! But as Luke said this morning, “the grass must be thirsty or God wouldn’t have sent the rain!” So I’ll try to remember that and be thankful!

Maybe tomorrow we’ll get some sunshine! I’m looking forward to tomorrow as it’ll be my last day at home with my hubby and kids for a few days! I’m off to the beach for my church’s annual ladies retreat! I’m positive the Lord will have something to teach me, cause I’m feeling like I don’t really want to go. That’s a pretty good sign that something good will happen while I’m there!

I wanted to thank you all who were keeping my good friend Shannon in you’re prayers today! She had her appendix out today and the removal went very well! I talked with her about an hour ago and other than being very sleepy (good meds will do that to ya!:-)) she’s doing very well! Also Coen Locklear (son of our friends Glen and Crystal – he’s 2 years old!) had a procedure done today, and he’s doing very well this evening! Thank you all for your prayers!

God so loves us!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Long Time, No Post

My goodness – a whole week and no blogging!! What happened? I have no idea really; I guess I had nothing to say of any real importance (amazing, I know!)! That and it was a busy week for me as I prepared all the needed things for this year’s ladies retreat! Somehow I ended up in charge (how did that happen Leslie?!?!) and so this week was spent making sure things are all lined up and ready to go. It’s been fun getting ready and I’m sure the retreat will be a blast as well!

Yesterday was our church’s yearly “Friend Day”, except this year we called it our fall festival – which was nice in name but the 90 degree weather wasn’t cooperative with the theme! It was a good time for sure, and the food was so good I ate myself silly – seriously, I didn’t feel so good! The food sure did taste good though!

This week holds lots of things to do and get done, as well as a trip to the beach! I always have mixed feelings about going without my family! We all so love the beach that I hate to go without them! On the other hand, it’s nice every now and then to have some time with just other women who love the Lord!

I got a ton done today, which is good, so I feel good about the next few days! Hopefully I’ll get some more blogging done before I leave!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Too Exciting!

The following isn't actually happening to me, but it's happening to my cousin, and that's reason enough to be excited!

I live so very far away from my side of the family (except Chanda of course, she lives in High Point) whom mostly all live in PA, and I'm here in NC, that keeping up via the computer is really neat. Betsy's blog is More than Mom. She and her family are finally getting their house and she's got pictures and information about it up on her blog. Follow the link and experience the excitement for yourself!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Triad Park

David and I decided that this past weekend was one of the nicest weekends we’ve had in a long time! We had a whole lot of nothing to do and we did just that!

We spent an hour or so at the park on Saturday afternoon, which was tons of fun! The down side was that since Avery isn’t walking yet, and doesn’t want to just sit in a stroller - she wanted to be down on the ground – and therefore she ate a good bit of mulch! YUCK! But we had fun! Here are a couple of pictures!


Luke and Avery - we tried to get them to sit together!

Daddy, picture taken by Luke

Mommy chillin' in the shade

Luke climbing around!

Avery

I wanna play too!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

New School Year Resolutions

This school year, I have an extra day with only one child, so I’ve spent a good bit of time thinking about what I can do (and some time thinking about what I wish I could do…) during those 3 hours 3 days a week. I’ve come up with a list of things that I would like to accomplish – or attempt to accomplish during this school year. I'm sure there will be more, but here is the list so far.

Here are my New school Year Resolutions:

1. Keep my house cleaner. (So far so good on this one. Today I vacuumed the whole house, cleaned all my baseboards in the living room/ kitchen area, and did 3 loads of laundry!)

2. Do more regular daily devotions.

3. Do more scrapbooking. I’m WAY behind!

4. Mat and Frame some Mary Engelbreit pictures for Avery’s room.

5. Exercise

6. Get some early Christmas Shopping done.

7. Print digital pictures of my kids, so they can be put in frames!

8. Continue on with my 2 week at a time meal planning – working toward a whole month!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

First Day of School

Today officially started our “school year”! Luke had is first day of school at his new school, with his new teacher, and his new friends! He seemed to have had a good time. It’s always hard getting information out of him. You ask, “What did you do at school today?” He says “Built a train puzzle!” “Great, what else?” “I don’t know.” “Did you make new friends?” “Yes!” “Who are they?” “I don’t know?” “You have snack?” “Yes!” “What did you have?” “Pretzels!” “Oh, Yummy!” “Yeah.” End of conversation – he’s off playing with his trains! Or thinking about something else, or whatever! Anyway, he seemed happy when I picked him up, and Ms. Krista wasn’t crying so I guess she made it through the 3 hours on her first day too!

I did take a couple of pictures – he’s getting so big! Avery seemed to really miss him, because she spent all of her lunch time look at and laughing at Luke! Oh, yes… peace between the two while they are young! I’ll take it!

I have also been working on (mostly in my head) some things I want to do while Luke is in school this year, so be on the look out for my next post!


"My new bookbag!"


"I'm Ready to GO!"


"Avery - looking cute!"


Luke's book from Ms. Krista