Gourd Designs

Shameless plug for my step mom, Marla, She does some great art work. She paints gourds, yard art and now Cypress Knees. If any of you happen to have a moment and want to check out her work stop over at her blog Gourd Lady 247

Child's Point of View

So I am showing Leo the floor plan of the new house. He asks where do our windows look out. I told him the playground. He gets all giddy. So then he looks at the girls rooms and says, "the girls will mess with the blinds and lower the value of the house" Oh my he's 10 years old. It's military housing. Where do kids learn these things?

Tomorrow the boys have a program for Adventurer. Leo is doing the scripture reading. Caleb is helping with the praise team.

Happy Sabbath!!!

Words can't express all my feelings

As parents God gives us a huge responsibility to raise HIS children to follow HIM. Sometimes that task seems daunting and often don't feel qualified to job given to me by God. But yesterday I saw a sign on a church that said "The Task Ahead of You Isn't as Great as the Power Behind You" I was reminded that God is there for me to lead me and guide me and show me how to raise His children and be the best mom I can be.

The past three Sabbaths we have had baptisms, some were people giving their lives to God for the first time, some were people giving their lives back to God after wandering away. The first week Caleb asked me if he was old enough to get baptized. I told him I thought 8 was a little young but that if we studied and he felt that he was ready then he could get baptized. Today I was in the mother's room with the girls. After the baptism, the pastor is an altar call.
Caleb asked Brian if he could go forward.
Brian told him we need to talk to mom.
Caleb said I already did and mom said when I was ready I could.
So Brian said then you can. Caleb went forward and I was totally crying.

This won't happen overnight. I don't want him to rush without knowing what he's doing. Yet at the same time I can't be more proud of him. This means that over the last two weeks he's continue to really think about our conversation and take it to heart. Our pastor is leaving in a month, so I have asked my brother-in-law who is a pastor in a another state to consider baptizing him this fall.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. Matthew 19:14, 15 NIV

My best friend Nique also went forward today after being nervous the past few weeks so overall this was a very emotional day for me. Follow this up with Communion a totally HIGH Sabbath. God is awesome.

thought for today

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, Ps 107: 1 & 2

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, there is joy in my heart, I am alive!!! I have lots to be thankful for. Sometimes I forget to thank God for the little things in my life.

10 years ago

I became a mom...We had been married for nearly 7 years; actively pursing having a baby
for 3; suffered an early miscarriage and the loss of his twin as well. Leo came into the world at 550 am after 35 hours. He was beautiful. I couldn't have been happier. Brian couldn't have been a prouder dad. Like Hannah in the Bible I felt like my prayers had been answered my tears heard. A few women from that time really encouraged me and upheld my hand through prayer and hugs and love. I couldn't have made it through that time without them.

Leo is growing into a young man who loves his younger brothers and sisters and God. Just this past weekend he was given $5.00 by his Sabbath school teacher for his birthday. He put a $1.00 in the offering plate for church offering then put the remaining $4.00 in the children's offering. He did so without any prompting from me or my knowledge. After he placed the $4.00 in he was remorseful and upset so we talked about it and how God loves a cheerful giver and the widow who gave all she had. I am so proud of him. He/I wiped his tears and he was ok after that.

Brian & I took him out to breakfast just the three of us. It was a nice change from the norm of all seven. We have the favorite homemade pizza for dinner. His cake was Nascar theme.

Back in school

But this was not without some phone calls and trying to figure out my status at the school. The admissions office said I was a transfer returning student and that I needed to request my transcripts for my ONE chemistry class that was already transferred back to the the school so that I could get my Associates Degree. When I asked why I was told "We transferred record's systems back in 2004 and all prior transferred transcripts need to requested again." So then I needed clarification since it was part of my AS. So I was transferred to the registrars office where I was told "no, you aren't a transfer returning student, that credit has already been transferred back and your degree covers the chemistry class. You are a returning student" Now I am waiting for the admissions office to reset my account but I am a college student. The financial aid has been approved. I am excited.

I completed my Associates in Science in General Studies a long time ago. I have enjoyed being a mom and teaching the kids. I haven't really had the desire to go back to school but have enjoyed various hobbies and enrichment classes. An opportunity to take some classes with financial aid has come available. So I am taking this time to go back to school. I will be taking Health Care Coding and Classification. My ultimate goal once Brian is out of the Military is to get a Bachelor's in Health Care Administration. So the Coding and Classification is a step in that direction. I will taking online classes at about 6 hours per semester. Hopefully some of the classes will be a little easier on me as I have a 2 and a half year background in the medical field as an insurance biller/medical records/clerical manager. Going back to work outside the home is probably not in the cards anytime soon. I will continue with my Pampered Chef business and homeschooling the children for now.

Enjoyment of life

This weekend was filled with sunshine. After a torrential rain storm on July 2nd I started looking at rainfall stats. In the month of June, we got more rain than Seattle, Portland and New Orleans combined. On July 1st and 2nd we got more rain than New Orleans did for the entire month of June. I am so done with rain for the moment. God knew I needed some sun and blessed me with a beautiful weekend.

Sabbath we went to church and had a wonderful service with a baptism. The sermon was on "Only One is Worthy" How often do we praise someone or something else above God? So often God seems to take a back seat to everything else in our lives when He should be the priority. The baptism was beautiful one young adult. Afterwards the pastor gave an alter call and I think 5 or 6 went forward including one man who is a leader in the church who felt the need to rededicate his life publicly. He got rebaptized and rededicated his life right there. The others will get baptized at a later date after studies. Caleb asked me if he's old enough to get baptized. I think he's a little young but don't want to discourage him so I told him that he can do studies and see if he has an understanding of what this committment means. I was baptized at a young age and strayed away as a teen/young adult. But I also feel that if we tell young people they have to wait til they are older then they may never come back. It does make my mom heart proud that he's thinking about it.

We came home and spend the afternoon relaxing at home. Brian fired up the grill and grilled chicken, corn and squash. Anneliese comes inside and her pants are wet.
This is how the conversation goes

Dad "how did your pants get wet?"
A "God water"
Dad "what?"
A "God water"
Me "where did this God water come from"
A "outside"
Me "where outside"
A "walden pond"
Me "how did walden pond get outside" (Walden Pond is 4 miles from our house and she is obsessed with wanting to go back there)
A "Jesus banging on drums" (now we have told them that thunder is Jesus banging on drums to keep them from being so scared)
So we figured out that there must have been a puddle in the back yard from all the rain we have had.

Kids imaginations.

We loaded up and headed over to the nearby fireworks display. It was really nice. Nothing like having front row seats literally. It was at the school ball field. We We laid out a blanket and set up our chairs and were 10 yards from the roped off area.

Sunday and Monday were more just relaxing around the house enjoying the sunshine. Brian mowed the lawn and organized the garage. I listed a few things on our local twins club. I really need to go through all the kids clothes and either sell them or just donate them to charity. I am looking at curriculum for the fall for the kids and fun stuff like that. I found an add-on for firefox Glubble that makes the internet a little more family friendly. In the process, I found some really cool educational links that the kids can easily access.

Now as I type this the rain is pouring. Off to have some coffee. Have a blessed day.

Happy Birthday America

Today we celebrate America's Birthday. The Declaration of Independence was signed 233 years ago. The Revelutionary War didn't start or end on July 4th. But we do celebrate our country's birthday today. I am thankful that we have freedom to worship. Today we were able to go to church and celebrate with our friends and family.

Oh and we have a mostly sunny day. I am thankful for that. It is a rarity these days. We have had more cloudy and rainy days than sun lately. So now we are enjoying some family time outside.

Happy 4th of July and enjoy your holiday weekend with your friends and family. May it be a safe weekend.