Archive for September 30, 2008

Dog Lover 2008 Blog award-Love it!

Dog Lover Blog Award

Dog Lover Blog Award

Peggy of AMAZING GRACE~Mazes, Messes, Miracles, gave my two dogs, Murphy and Buster, the Dog Lover Blog award. She is so sweet and that was a great pick me upper.

I literally have felt like I almost dropped off the face of the earth and the text messages from friends and emails have been a great help just keeping me connected and distracted from everything that is still going on.

I know, Buster and Murphy, really appreciates having this pick me upper due to being not to happy with us (sorry guys but we had to), keeping them on leashes but until the fence was repaired, Buster exhibit too much of a “Born Free” mentality…
Ever tried catching a moving dachshund? Not fun. Not fun. Who needs going to aerobics when you can chase a fast moving, tail wagging, weenie dog instead?

In turn, I have to give this award to several people that I can think of off hand and I know I’m going to forget a lot so please blame mommy brains for that.

  1. Melly of Mini-Pauses
  2. Pam of Beyond the Red Door
  3. Amydeanne of “160 Acre Woods”, if you haven’t seen her new family members…GO CHECK AND SEE THEM.
  4. Any of you with a bloggy and a doggy…consider this award yours!! Just link to me and let me know so I can be dragged to your blog by my own doggies to see your site!!

Thank you again dear Peggy!!

So today was my birthday…..

My husband bought me the personal cutter Cricut and like a dork…the first thing that went through my mind was…hmm…so many uses for homeschooling. LOL.

More later,  but it’s really unique how the Cricut is and I was surprised to see how it even uses ink to “draw” on paper with so now it’s a case of, oh wow…all the uses that I can do with it.

The kids surprised me with birthday cards and there is cake on the counter now, just calling out to be finished so maybe when the youngsters go to bed, I will see about having another slice.

Sunday Praise and Worship

To find out more on how to participate in Sunday Praise and Worship, come here
To find out more on how to participate in Sunday Praise and Worship, come here.
"He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.  When others are
troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." (2 Corinthians
1:4)

Sometimes until we get to the other side of a situation, we sometimes have a hard time seeing how it can be for the good for our lives until there are moments when we find ourselves later, in something that reminds of what we, ourselves, had to go through alone.
Everything works for the good and testament of God, and not because we are guinea pigs but our Heavenly Father uses our lives to prepare us, not to condemn us or to judge us or to hurt us, but to put ourselves in a better position that when we are called to serve Him in a way that through us and in us, we can touch and make an impact in His name to others.

One can imagine how many in God’s word may have asked themselves, “Why Lord,” or “Isn’t there a less painful way”, only to find themselves somewhere down the line, called by Him to serve Him as an example, as a tool, or just to simply be able to say, “I know how that feels and here is how God saw me through this and can see you through this”.

Life may never always be so simple or filled with a clear path, but don’t let this keep you from thinking that God can not or is not using you, but instead, maybe it’s our Heavenly Father’s way to prepare you for when you are called to be of service to Him to someone else. You’ll know what to do then.

Thankful Thursday


Come join Iris’s “Thankful Thursdays” every Thursday to share your praises of what God has done for you in your life.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; —Psalm 92:1

Homeschooling is working out really great and I’m just very thankful to our heavenly Father that piece by piece things are slowly getting back to normal.

There are many times when we have or see reminders but through it, we are reminded that no matter what. there are no true endings and only new beginnings.

Heavenly Father, I thank You so much for Your love and Your wisdom, for being there when we have needed You and for guiding us in all that is done in Your name and Your name only.

Lord I thank you for the strength and encouragement of my husband, my child, my inlaws, and my friends and just always a reminder that You are always there for us. Lord, pray You forgive me for keeping this short, but as my husband reminds me, short and sweet is often filled with more love, than long and enduring…oh wait, never mind that last part, he was talking about trying to get me to say goodbye and off the phone.
Lord, Thank You for the many men and women, some whose spouses I learn participate in TT, that are out there right now, still giving their all to all of us and doing their part to help rebuild and give hope and encouragement to those still in need right now.

The recovery in this area is long but may it be filled and sown in Your name and word, Lord.

Word Filled Wednesday

The best part of homeschooling is that it brings a wonderful routine to one’s day, no matter where we maybe. As I write this, home is slowly coming back as home and I’m taking each day as it goes.

There are still plenty of signs that things are not the same and that’s okay as I let myself slip into a routine again.

Photo Credit: Anna Cervova

Photo Credit: Anna Cervova

There are still many parts of town that we either can’t go to yet and there are many parts that we chose not to go to, just out of still coming to terms how much things have changed for everyone.

Through it all though, we are using this to keep ourselves more open to the changes that Our Heavenly Father is wanting for us and finding ourselves pulled into different areas that may actually be for the best of things and not for the worse.

It’s a lesson that there are many things in life that will disappoint us and this is a lesson that there are many things in life that will set us back but God is unfailing and no matter what, He is always there for us.

Something I’m learning is to just let time do it’s part and not feel the need to rush and things slowly go back to normal and sometimes for the better and for the stronger.

There are many things that will never be the same again but there are many things that will be for the better and that is okay as well.

Sometimes….it takes something like a hurricane to remind us that not everything is forever except that of our Heavenly Father and everything else…well…in the long run…is small stuff. He is everlasting, but our fears, our worries, our concerns….they really are just small things compared to the big picture.

Taking small steps again

And he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. (Matthew 6:33)

Life has slowly being going back to normal…as normal as can be and I’ve found myself, blissfully caught up with homeschooling while making calls in between for necessary repairs, follow-ups to see how those I can reach are doing and seeing what else there was, me and my family, could do for others.

Internet and phone is working more smoothly these days and it’s a late evening for the family and I, that I let myself check my emails and see how far I’ve gone behind with everyone and the world beyond.

As I was checking my email, my eyes fell on the following devotional that I receive daily. The devotional went:

A man was out driving in the country during a heavy rainstorm when he came across an old farmer who was surveying the ruins of his barn. He pulled over and to ask the farmer what happened.

“Roof fell in,” the farmer replied.

“What happened with it? Why did it fall in?” asked the stranger.

“It leaked so long, it just finally rotted through,” the farmer said.

“Why in the world didn’t you fix it before it rotted through?”

“Well, sir,” said the farmer, “I just never did seem to get around to it. When the weather was good, there wasn’t a need for it. And when it rained, it was just too wet to work on.”

Isn’t it amazing that when you want to do something, you find the time, no matter how busy you are? But when someone asks you to do something you don’t want to do, suddenly there is just no room in the schedule.

This can happen when it comes to the Christian life as well. If we are serving God only when it’s convenient, then we are settling for second-best. If we only make time for the things of God when something better doesn’t come along first, then we are missing out on what God wants to do in our lives.

How much better it is to make time for the things of God–to put the things of God above everything else. How much better it is to get your priorities right.

Instead of making excuses, make time for the Lord. It is not only the simple way to live, but also the best way.

Copyright © 2008 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

My jaw dropped, my heart felled and it sounded like God talking to me.

We hadn’t attended church since really getting the biopsy reports and had planned on returning after recovering from the surgery, then the hurricane happened and we didn’t make it that Sunday back.

Lazy perhaps? Tired? Or just feeling out of joint so to speak.

Instead of just letting life happen, we let life happen to us and in the process, though we never truly left God, we didn’t take the time to really spend time with Him either.

It seemed we allowed ourselves to get caught up with everything and then….drifted like a boat that forget to completely drop anchor in a good secure spot and now was dragging. We were near harbor but not in a safe position either.

My biggest and most honest fear was stopping;Stopping and then facing the wave of emotions that we felt after everything that had happen.

My husband and I really haven’t talked about him riding the storm out or just our honest emotions in the days afterwards and in the meantime, when we did talk, it was to express how we just didn’t feel as anchored as we would like to be.

We all feel that don’t we, in some points in our lives. Like we are not really anchored near shore but just slowly drifting along the river bed not really in danger of drifting away but no close to shore like we really were before.

It’s a matter of tiny steps going back. Letting the emotions just go through and not rushing to fast but trying not to rush to slow either.

I’m getting there..back to where I was and at the same reconciling it’s okay too.The hardest part is letting myself feel like it’s okay and things are safe again and it’s okay…it’s okay…all the time remembering…God is and was and will always be in control.

Be Still Sunday

BeStillSunday

Sunday Praise and Worship

To find out more on how to participate in Sunday Praise and Worship, come here
To find out more on how to participate in Sunday Praise and Worship, come here.

The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower. Psalm 18: 2

There is a lot of cleanup, healing, reflection and just awe in the days, weeks and months to come, but through it all, Praise God that He is here, yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever.

Though we may have lost, though we may have gained, though we may have health, though we may have sickness, we serve a loving Father who sees us through everything and anything, no matter what the circumstances throw our way.

This Sunday and coming week, take the time to reach out and just say hi to a neighbor you may never have said hi too, reach out to a blogger whose blog you haven’t commented on yet, and say a prayer for many who are healing, grieving, rejoicing and just being.

Thank You Heavenly Father that You are our God and no matter what this world throws at us…You Lord will deliver us through it.


Thankful Thursday


Come join Iris’s “Thankful Thursdays” every Thursday to share your praises of what God has done for you in your life.

91st Psalm

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Heavenly Father this Thankful Thursday means a lot to me in many ways.

My family, my home, my community, my state has endure something that we weren’t as prepared for as we thought we were. We were shaken and yet showed our strength. We rejoice even as we grieved, Lord, through all this, YOU, have shined through and showed Your love, Your strength, the power and testament of having a personal relationship with YOU,Lord and more than anything, YOU have proven to conquer what no one can.

Lord, I thank you SO much for watching over my husband who rode out the storm. We consider it a literal miracle that Your love and hand was on him and covered him as the center of the hurricane went literally right over him.

Lord, Thank you for my mother in law. Really. We had evacuation plans that would have inadvertantely put us in the path of the hurricane and she called up saying she felt pulled to have us leave with her instead, and God bless her and just I give You praise for a loving and caring woman. It was a challenge to be stuck with my inlaws without my husband, but it was worth it in the long run…particularly when he came to get us. LOL.

No really, she was a great encourager and helped us through this. She reminded me to pray and to have faith in You.

Lord, I thank You for guiding me and leading me through this and giving me strength when I felt like I didn’t have strength. Coming home was difficult to see how much had changed and yet to see and feel the pull of the community as everyone pulled together to help each other was a lesson in You, Lord.

Lord, in the process, I thank You for making this easier too with a clean report from my doctor and alleviating fears of possible cancer. Thank You for a doctor who is vigilant and who is overprotective and pro-active rather than vice versa.

Lord,less of thanks but more of prayers for the state of Texas and all who were in the path of Ike. I pray that You give comfort where comfort is needed; Encouragement where encouragement is needed and through this open the door to You Lord for You conquer where no other can.

Lord, Thank You for reminding us of Matthew 6:25-34. God bless the co-worker who showed up unexpectedly with two bags of ice and water when we needed it the most and didn’t know where to find some and Lord, thank You for my husbands’ company providing the generator when we expected to go through another night without power.

We were reminded of Matthew 6:25-34 so much:

25″Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]?

28″And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

when things fell into place by trusting You and Your timing and in turn, we found ourselves bless with power returning sooner than expected and in turn being able to share not one, but four generators with other families that were in need of generators and even to this day, are still waiting for power to be turned on.

I praise YOUR name,Lord, because You are using us in ways YOU see fit to reach out to others here in this community to be of service and I pray that I can be more Your humble servant,Lord and for whatever reason we were spared, that we use that to serve and be of help to others here Lord.

God bless the men and women who are out there sacrificing time and family and service to be there for the men and women of all those affected by this hurricane. Give them strength, encouragement, wisdom and discernment and I pray You bless them for the compassion they are giving to strangers.

Lord, I pray for doors to be open so that I may share more blessings to those who are in more need than we are and that we can be of more use to others. Right now, many are still without the bare essentials, without power, without water and Lord, I feel so unworthy to have what others don’t and pray that we can be of use to others who have and are of more need than we are Lord.

Thank You for Your blessings, Heavenly Father and through all this, I thank You for remind me of Isaiah 43:2:

When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.

Our internet maybe spotty; Our phones may go on and off, but that is nothing in the strength and comfort we have in You,Lord, we are just humbled by Your love and what You have done NOT for us, but for everyone.

There are long days ahead for all of us and I pray that we can be of more service to others for there are harder days ahead of us. I can’t stop thanking You for helping me remember it’s okay to take the time to laugh, it’s okay to take the time to cry, it’s okay the time to smile and it’s okay to take the much needed time to grieve and through it all Lord, may this unworthy vessel forever be of service to You,Lord and be Your humble servant.

Forgive me Lord for being so imperfect and Thank You Lord for loving me for being so imperfect. Keep teaching me, refining me and lifting me up. I don’t want to fall away from You Lord and though this storm may have roared through this world…It can not tear me away from You, Lord.

After the Hurricane-Praise,Prayers and Recovery

The 16th of September and it’s hard to believe that this was a place called home. Everything has changed; A lot is gone and at the same time, moments of just praise to our Heavenly Father for those that was spared, for homes that are still there and just for moments when all one can do is either laugh or cry.

Internet is very sketchy but most time has been spent either homeschooling (Praise God) which helps pass the time and keep the mind off of other things, trying to contact people with what little telephone service is available, trying to find ways to just give to those who are in more need of us. That has been the hardest part because power and telephone service is still out in many places and it’s hard to find out what we need to find  and praying that many are safe and not in harm’s way.

Please if you can, keep all areas affected by Hurricane Ike in your prayers, it is much needed and much appreciated.

I thank God for just the opportunities He has given to bear testament to His word and I thank God for the many times when His comfort was solely needed.

I’m still in disbelief that places that was familiar is gone.

Gentle Readers, I pray you bear with me, we are getting things back to normal and internet is so sketchy but I praise God though for the little things that we still have and for the needs He covers.

God Bless You dear Gentle Readers.

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