For His Service

You can go to www.babyblues.com and look at all of this week's Baby Blues. The kids have decided they would like to be home-schooled and their reasons are so very funny. If you can enlarge your picture enough to see the cartoon here, you will see that the mom is about to be told about the kids wanting to be home schooled and she says, "I sense a great disturbance in the cosmos"...just like Star Wars. I was a public school teacher for 7 years. I have my master's and specialist's degrees in Early Childhood Education. I thought I would be a principal, not a homeschooling mom. I still take classes to keep my certification active so I can quickly go back to work in the public school system if God calls me there. My hope is that God allows me to home school my kids all 12 years. I don't know. I don't dare to think I can figure out His plans...as this is certainly not what I thought I would be doing. This week has been one of those weeks that I l...

Spring has to be about my favorite season. Here is a picture of the pond and waterfall I built two summers ago. I love feeding the fish, looking for frogs, seeing tadpoles, and watching dragonflies dance about. I love smelling the flowers and seeing what new beauty has bloomed that day. I love growing tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and other fresh veggies just waiting to be eaten. I love seeing the chipmunks scamper about and play in the grass. Nothing is sweeter than seeing a daddy bird feed his baby. I look right out and see God's handy work and it still amazes me! In Georgia, we have had an unusually wet and cold winter. It will make this spring all the more enjoyable. We get a little taste of spring the next two days as the temperature will be in the warm 60's. I am certain that the temperature will once again dip to chilly winter degrees but so thankful for the break in the midst of the winter. Thank goodness for the small blessings and big blessings; new life in the spring ...

I think I have a PHD in worry. Don't get me wrong; God has been working on this in me daily for over 3 years....and in a slow and painful process he is helping me to stop trying to help him. (I tend to try to get a Junior-god pin). I also instinctively want to trust myself and my own abilities instead of going to the one who created me. I used to stupidly and full of pride shake my fist at God. It is hard to fathom that I was stupid enough to do that....and do that for years. He has been so gracious and merciful to me. So, my trust issues with people had spilled over to trust issues with God. I wanted to trust in no one to take care of me...other than myself. However, experience and God's gentle correction, I have learned to trust only in Him. I love how Psalm 25:3 says no one who's hope is in God is put to shame. I love how Psalm 37:25-26 says King David was young and now he is old and he had never seen the righteous forsaken. Those are the things that bring me ...

I am going to try to update this blog every day. I feel like so much happens and I will forget it. It astounds me that 23 years ago I met Russell and began dating him. It shocks me that we have been married for 20 years. It doesn't seem possible that Noah is 11 1/2, Madeline is 9, and John-Michael is 6. Why does time speed up as you get older? It is a fact. Shouldn't it really just be October? It certainly feels like it. And ...on top of all of that ...I will be 40 in a couple of months. How is this possible? I feel like I am in my 20's, except when I see the wrinkles and gray hair. :) Enough of that... I am thankful that God is creating in me a go with the flow attitude. I don't easily get ruffled. I couldn't always say that. Want proof? Thursday I decided to go get my nephews from middle Georgia to give my parents a break as they raise them. I arrive in Byron, get my nephews, leave Madeline with Grandmama to spend the night (Russell's mom)..and head back towa...

John-Michael said he wanted to tell me a secret. (John-Michael is my 5 1/2 year old son with some medical issues/ www.carepages.com/johnMichaeldp ) He said not to tell anyone but I am his best friend. That is the best feeling . He sees a surgeon next week. Pray for Dr. Williams and for us to have wisdom as to what to do.

God talks to me in the strangest ways. I was in Lowe's and passed by a shelf full of Amaryllis flowers stuck in a box. A few were trying their best to grow and poke right out of the box. Others had given up and it was obvious they would not grow. Only I would be sad by this fact. :)Instantly, I heard God speak in my heart and say, "How many times are my people like that and they blame me?" I feel like He was saying that He created us to bloom and be free but we stay stubbornly stuck in a box and blame Him for being stuck in the box when He has given us tools NOT to be stuck in the box. How? First, we must choose to see we are stuck in a box and decide to open it. Then, we must take additional steps to make sure we thrive. We need the right amount of water so the compacted soil can soften and expand. We need that soiled tucked in around us. Then, the bulb, being nested into the soil will have the nutrition and warmth needed to grow. What does this have to do with us? I fe...

I look forward to a new year...a fresh start. I look forward to see what blessings this year will hold. Not to see I am naive, as I know things will be hard as well. Next week, John-Michael sees a surgeon for his tumor by his spine. I still have a friend dealing with terminal cancer. I still have several friends grieving the loss of loved ones. I still have friends in abusive relationships. I still have friends who have imperfect lives, as do I. However, I look forward to the laughs with friends, conversations with loved ones, times with people I care about..... These are the things that make all of the bad stuff more tolerable. So, I look forward to the New Year....trusting God is good...all the time. John 1:16 From the fullness of His grace, we have all received blessing after another. Look around in 2010. They aren't too hard to find.