Busy Days!!

Today has been one of those days when time just would not stand still!! We started out the morning moving my mom to her new place. She was in a two bedroom house and she moved to a one bedroom trailer. We didn't have any help but a dolly and we were thankful for that. It sure helped with the lifting of the heavy appliances. Anyway, she is moved all but some small stuff and plans to spend her first night there tonight. Hope she sleeps well.

Tonight was our annual Mother/Daughter Banquet with our church. I was privileged to sit with my baby sister Brenda, Mom and my two girls. We really enjoyed our meal and the program that our very capable leader Mrs. Vernon provided. It was a fantastic evening and I for one came away stuffed both physically and spiritually.

Tom was supposed to go to town with a friend and eat and get me a gift for Mother's Day but when we came home he was still here. I guess his friend got tied up and couldn't go so Tom left and took Tricia with him. Moral support I reckon...lol!! She was eager to shop with him. I'll see them about midnight...lol!! Like father like daughter...something like that!!

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I want to wish everyone a blessed Mother's Day!! We are the caretaker of the children God has so graciously given to us. We are responsible as mother's to raise and train them to be vessels of honor for God. What an awesome responsibility it is to be a Mother. Not only to train them spiritually, but to train them socially, economically and how to be proper young men and women. It's with honor that I train and raise my girls for God. Sometimes I fail and I am not a perfect mother, but I strive daily to be the best example that I can be. That is what God expects from us and if we do our best, all the other aspects of being a mother will fall into place.

Well, I still have floors to mop so I had better close this sermon...lol!! I'm wishing all of you Mother's a wonderful day tomorrow and the days to follow!! Enjoy your day and for heavens sake let someone pamper you!!!!

Happenings and such...

WOW!! Time surely does fly when you are busy!! The school year is about to wind down. We have three more weeks to go and then it's relaxing time. I'm looking forward to it and so is Tricia. I'll be glad to turn off the alarm and sleep in for a while. Once school is out we are going to be house sitting for a lady I clean for. They are taking a trip to Italy and we are going to stay in their home and take care of the cat and dog. The girls are all excited about doing this. They love to play with Nelson who is a two yr. old Golden Retriever. He is a lot of fun and the cat is hilarious. We enjoy taking care of them and just relaxing in the air conditioning.

Tricia has been on the A honor roll for the last two quarters. I am so proud of her. She is doing so good with her school work. She is now about 4' 3" tall and weighs about 80 pounds. She is going to be really tall!! She takes this after her dad who is 6'2". I'm just a shorty...lol!! Tricia is the tallest child in her class by far. She gets to do a lot of errands and such for her teacher. She really enjoys the trust and attention Mrs. Brown shows her. Mrs. Brown is a great teacher!! I can now ask her to do some things in the house and can trust her to do them. She is a big help to mommy!!

Katie is getting so big!! I look at her and wonder where my little baby girl went too. She wants to go to school with Tricia and is waiting (if a little impatiently) for her turn to go too. I keep telling her that she has to stay with mommy for another year but she is ready to go now. She is forever singing and talking. She carries on conversations with herself all the time. Drives you crazy...lol!! She is my computer child. She is always asking to play games on the computer and many times I've found her at the keyboard just pushing the keys. I may have a genius on my hands and just don't know it...lol!!!

Tom and I are doing well. We just celebrated 9 years of marriage. We went to dinner and to Wal-Mart to celebrate the day...lol!! Exciting right??? Tom has moved to a different department at work. He is only working about 50 hours a week now instead of 60-70 and so we get to spend more time with him than before. He just recently bought a yellow motorcycle. He bragged to me today about filling up the gas tank for $11.00. HA!!! He has a really cool helmet and I'm always on to him to wear it. He obeys me pretty well...lol!!

I have been house cleaning on the island and for a couple people here in town. It's hard work but the pay is great. I'm only gone for about 4-5 hours in the morning so I'm home to spend the afternoon and evening with the girls. I don't mind the work so much but my house does get neglected somewhat. We don't mind though. We aren't too picky. I have made some new friends lately. One of my friends, Cheryl, has been bike riding with me in the evenings. I love to visit with her. She is such a sweet lady.

God has been good to us and we are so grateful for His many blessings and all the provisions He has made for us. We have seen some beautiful people pass away in the past few months and go to be with Jesus. It has just made us want to live all the closer to God so that we can see them again. That is one blessed assurance that will never change. If we will humble ourselves before the Lord and love and serve Him we have the hope of heaven one day!! Exciting!!!

Here is a couple pictures from Easter of the girls. Take care and God bless til next time!!!

Here are some random pictures taken over the last couple of months. I haven't had time to post any pictures before now and the girls are growing up so fast.

Christmas at Darrell and Sue's in Cincy.

Opening gifts at our house.

Katie was keeping her eye on those cookies. She is my sweet eater.

Katie turned three on December 26th. We had her a party. She wanted Dora. My friend Tiffany made her cake.

This picture was taken at Christmas with their great-grandma Neoma Wheatcraft. She was so excited to see them. We hadn't seen Grandma Wheatcraft for about two years.

We went to the Thanksgiving Banquet.
Me heading to the banquet.
The girls were so excited to go too.
Tricia after she "restyled" her hair...lol!!!
We are having a wonderful time with our little family. We are so blessed!! Tricia was on the A honor roll this quarter. We are so proud of her. She gets all her smarts from me...lol!!!

Believe it or not, we are still alive. Things have been really busy here in the gorgeous south. Camp has started and this weekend was the 50th anniversary for the college. Lot's of people are here right now. It's great to see lots of friends that only come around this time.

The girls are growing up and I'm sad over that. They will be out and gone before we know it. We are having a blast with them and are so thankful for God allowing us the privilege to raise them. Buddy is still here and the girls still love him. I'd find him a home if I could. The dog hair can be too much at times. But I persevere...lol!!!!

Hoping to see some of you this next week during camp. It's a great time to visit Florida.

Take care and remember that God is still in control. He has never failed us and we are trusting in Him. God bless!!!!

I'm thankful for...

Here's a couple of things I'm thankful for.

1. My family!!
2. God and the salvation He has provided for me!!
3. Rain!!!
4. My jobs. I didn't think work would ever pick up and now I'm swamped!!
5. Friends who love you in spite of your bad days.
6. Little girls with lots of laughter!!
7. Grandmas and Grandpa's who make you feel special.
8. Especially thankful for a wonderful husband who works so hard to take care of us!!
9. My church and the wonderful messages that feed my soul each week.
10. Last but not least, I'm thankful for the hope I have of heaven!!

Ok. How about you?? Are you thankful today?? Try this. You'll be surprised at how good it makes you feel. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you my friends.

God answers prayers we do not utter!!!

This is really so true. He knows the desires of our hearts and the needs in our lives before we even breath a prayer. So was the case this week. Here's my story of a miracle working God.

Tom and I bought a couch from our local thrift store during the summer. We were happy with the couch even though we saw a few tares and snags here and there. The nice thing about the couch was the sleeper bed in it that looked brand new. Tricia lives for Friday nights because that is the night she can pull out the sleeper bed and and camp out in the living room. It is great too when company comes. We had noticed that the rips and tares were getting worse but we figured it was because the girls are a little rough on it and Buddy (that bad dog) sleeps on it when we aren't home. He has been caught so many times but what do you do??? Anyway, we decided to move the furniture around the other day and upon inspection found that the couch was really in bad shape. The back of the couch was literally falling off.

So that night we sat down to talk and decided that another couch was going to have to be bought as this one was on it's last leg. The problem was, we didn't want to purchase a new one with Christmas just around the corner and we didn't want a new one because the girls are still small and accidents happen. We didn't see any reason to waste money on a new one that would get stained up with drinks and pee. So we decided it was time to do some more thrift store shopping for another couch.

Tom went over to the church to help with the tree and while working heard a dear lady from the church holler out, "Does anyone need a couch. I have one for sale." Tom told her that we were looking for one and could we come and see it. She said yes but that if we bought it we would have to move it that night as her new one was coming in the morning. Tom called me and we went to her house to see the couch. We were impressed!!! And it has a sleeper in it. The only draw back was money. We had some in the savings for a couch but this is such a beautiful couch we figured we couldn't afford it. When she told us the price, we were overjoyed. Then she told us her story.

Last week she had the couch for sale for a whole lot more money and the couch wasn't moving. She was selling the couch to donate the money to the school and desperately needed to sell it because of the new one coming. When we told her our story she looked at us in amazement. She said that last week God told her to lower the price on that couch. He even gave her a specific amount which just happened to fit our budget. She lowered it over half of the original price. When we told her our story we all exclaimed how good God is and how He knew what our need was even before we asked Him.

That night Tom moved out the old couch and moved in the "new" one. Here are a few pictures I took so you could see the couch God gave us.I've decided to post a warning sign "No drinks, food, dogs or peeing allowed!!"

HA!!!!

Dr. Gordeuk's message in a nutshell...lol!!

This past Wednesday night and tonight Dr. Gordeuk was the speaker. He is always so interesting because he is very knowledgeable about the political and religious issues in America today. His topic was concerning our families and are we sending them to "Egypt" to learn the heathen ways. Last Wed. he started a story about the yellow school bus that pulls up to the Israelite home with the words on the side "Egyptian Public Schools #666." Then Dr. Gordeuk began to speak about our Christian homes and have we sent our children to "Egypt" to be educated and trained. He said that next door to this Israelite family lived a family who sent their children to the Synagogue to study the Torah. These children grew up knowing the Bible but because of the "Egyptian" influences in their home strayed far from God and lost out.

He then made these points (I'm not sure I will get all of it)

We can send our children to church every time the door is open.
We can send them to a Christian School all of their lives.

But...if we do not teach them at home about God and His ways, then we as families are failing our children. They are in church only a few hours each week. The majority of the time they are in school and home. If we do not reiterate the teachings of the church/school while our children are at home, then we have failed. Then he pointed out the ways that "Egypt" has entered our home.

1. Through the media we allow our children to see. He commented on the VCR and are we controlling what is being viewed on it.

2. Through the literature that lies around that our children see. He brought out an interesting point here concerning boys in the home. He said that it doesn't have to be "bad" magazines to wet a boys appetite for the sexual things of life. Just lay around a mag of women mostly naked for them to see.

3. Through the attitudes and actions we show them.

He also talked about the story in the OT where the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan river and when then got to the other side they began to build a monument to God. This is where we were and this is where we are now. This is an obstacle I overcame and I'm placing this stone here to represent that I do not want to face that obstacle again. Reminders that our children can go to and ask "What is that for" and we can tell them it was victories we have won.

Then he cautioned parents about devotions in the home. I must admit, I don't do as well as I should. Dr. Gordeuk talked about the importance of reading and praying with our children and discussing the principles found in God's word. He called it "laying the foundation" for our children to build on.

I'm sure there was much more said and I can't remember everything but this is the basics. WOW!!!

I have to do better!!!