America - Do Not Forget!

Wow! To live in the day our forefathers were signing the constitution! The victory of having a nation under God! Oh the joy they must have had!!!! Unfortunately we live in the day people are trying to make sure our nation is not in relation to God. Sometimes that saddens me so, but I am so glad to know that there are so many who still want this nation under God. I fear showing Him no reverance and Him taking His arm of protection away as we see over and over in stories from the Bible. Here is something I recently read in Dueteronomy:

Dueteronomy 6:10-13
10. So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build,
11.houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant--when you have eaten and are full--
12.then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
13.You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name.

I think this relates to us in that our generation did not have to do the work to make this nation what it is. I guess you could say we have a tendency to forget what the people seeking God and God did to help our nation become a nation. If you read on in the rest of that chapter above you see it is not good for us to forget what He has done for Him and that we need to seek Him and love Him with all our hearts, soul and might!

First Flight

N14 was able to take his 1st flight with our friends, the Bakers. This is them before take off along with our younger boys.


We watched as the plane took off and tearfully prayed for protection...


Then we turned our prayer to a more cheerful thought that he would have an awesome time. This next picture is a picture our friends took that were with him on the plane. He got special treatment of introducing him to the whole plane and was able to go into the cockpit and sit in the pilots chair. God is so good!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above..." James 1:17

Family Camp 09

Wow! Our first experience at family camp was awesome. Some friends of ours, the Jernigans have been so sweet to invite us many times over to join them in Michigan, and we finally got to do it. What a blessing!
We were blessed to have several families come that were from where we used to live be with us for the week. Our kids have grown up together, so they were all in heaven running around camp together with freedoms they usually don’t get to experience. The kids rented bikes and rode to a fro enjoying a 24 hour snack/game room among many other activities available.
The adults enjoyed hearing Tom Harmon twice a day most days. Wow! Scott and I were truly challenged. Here are some of the main points I got: 1. let God’s Word abide in me RICHLY (memorizing scripture and reading) 2. Listen intently to and don’t quench the spirit. 3. Walk in the Spirit and pray without ceasing. Well these points are things I thought I knew, but those messages took it to a whole new level. And since I have been back, I have paid full attention to them and wow! The difference! When we walk in the spirit and abide in His word, there is no room for sin. It actually comes naturally to not sin when God has the reigns. Wish I were in the Spirit all the time!
Here are some other fun things we enjoyed while there: Date night, Scott and I went to Lake Michigan with the Bakers. We utilized our scheduled time on the boat and had fun on the lake tubing. M9 and I joined the Baker team for kind of like a Survivor game and made it all the way to the end. Those are great memories! The boys stayed out til midnight one night playing “Smuggler”. Nicholas and Alex had a great time with our family assistant, Tim, who took them pretty much wherever they wanted to go, mainly to the playground. I enjoyed having an assistant assigned to the family for a whole week to help however needed. We played human foosball in a life size foosball “table.” 3 meals and snacks prepared for us all week. We literally did not even need snacks in our room, because they fed us so well.
Do we want to go again? Absolutely!

Mother's Day

Well this Mother’s Day was definitely the best from my family. Scott took me out to Carrabas and shopping to pick anything I wanted. If that was not enough, the boys did the sweetest thing. I really like surprises. In fact I’ve tried to hint that before, but I have not mentioned it in a couple years. After Sunday school when we went to get the boys, I found out Granddad had taken all the boys except N4 on home before Sunday School. I wondered what they were up to. When I walked in the door, I came into a clean kitchen, lunch ready, the table set and such a sweet spot for me. They had given me the “Celebrate Your Special Day” plate, and decorated all around it with flowers, decorated paperclips, pictures and cards for Mother’s Day. They even cleaned the upstairs and made my bed that I missed from the mad rush to get us all in church on time. Thank you boys, Granddad and Scott for making my day so special. Oh and I topped it off with 15 minutes in the sun, a walk with the family and a great movie, “Flywheel,” which was the movie made by the same people that made “Fireproof.”

FL Spring Break 2009 Recap

Monica and Luis joined us on this trip until Wed. They were already planning a trip to Cocoa the same week in a hotel right next to us, so that worked out great for the boys to get to travel and vacation some together.

First we stopped by Nana and Papa’s for a couple nights. It was Nana’s birthday. We got to see Jon, Elizabeth, Cade and McKayla, Katyn, Stuart, Luke and Josh. Monica and I got to drive down and see the great work Bruce and Mira were putting into the lake place.
Then we headed to Cocoa for a business meeting for Scott and fun for the kids. We enjoyed the beach and pools, especially the pool Luis’s hotel had. I enjoyed doing a photo shoot for Monica and Luis.

Next we left for St. Augustine where we got to spend the day with Grandma and Papa Steve. Mom and I headed for the store while the boys joined Papa Steve and Daddy in the pool. They did a photo shoot of the boys and of our family. We enjoyed watching Bolt.

The next day we got to spend with Aunt Betty. She showed up with lots of cooked food and cupcakes! Yum! Aunt Betty joined us on the beach where she got her workout lifting Nicholas to jump the waves about 100 times and later caught waves with the older boys body boarding ending up a mile down the beach! Well, maybe not that far. J We ended the night with the glow in the dark necklaces on the beach attaching them together making fun light designs in the dark. We had a birthday party for Alex since we were going to be traveling on his actual birthday.

The next day the Bakers stopped by for a visit. N13 and A13 played football most every second we were together even in the ocean. The younger guys, except N3, body surfed for a long time. M8, G9 and I got in some racing in the pool. G9 is the winner! We had so much fun with the glow in the dark necklaces with Aunt Betty, we got some more and took the Bakers to the beach in the dark. We had a whole new set of fun this night. Everyone made anklets, and such and decorated their bodies with the colorful necklaces. G8 was a dancer while the boys were using the lights as armor and swords.

Finally we headed home but took a detour to the mountain cabin for a night. It was a nice way to end the trip.

I Was Asked, "Do You Homeschool Your Kids?"

After the photographer of our church directory had spent some time with us, he asked, "Do you homeschool your kids?" When I said, "Yes," he said, "I can tell. They are so well behaved." He went on to tell how most kids are not as easy to work with, but homeschooled kids make his job so much easier and pleasant.

It was music to my ears. I remember before having kids thinking the same question about several different families and it never failed, they were homeschooled. I was so impressed with those kids, that it helped in my decision to homeschool my own. And to think others might be seeing those same qualities in my kids just made my day!

They would have made their Grandma & Papa Steve proud of their obedience and attention to the photographer! Grandma and Papa Steve should get credit here too. They have been trained since birth to listen and obey that photographer!

93 Million Google Hits for John 3:16 in 24 hours

One cool part about the story below is that most christians already know John 3:16 and would not need to look it up. So who was looking it up?

A day or so before the national championship game God touched his heart with a message…Tim Tebow needed to change the message on his black eye liner that he wears when he is playing. All year he had a reference to Phillipians 4:13 on the eye liner which represented the following: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. He talked to four or five others about switching the message and everyone except his parents told him not to do it because they had been so successful all year with the Phillipians 4:13. His parents, Pam and Bob Tebow, supported the change and Tim knew it was the right thing to do. He played the championship game with John 3:16 on the eye liner which represents the following: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.We all know the outcome of the game, but the phone call that Tim received a couple of days later when he was back in Gainesville was nothing short of unbelievable. Tim answered his cell phone and it was the P.R. guy for the UF Football game. He said, “You set a record.” Tim wondered what kind of record was he talking about. “In the 24 hour period from the start of the championship game, JOHN 3:16 was Googled…93 MILLION times! No other topic had ever been Googled that many times in a 24 hour period of time.”

Follow up story from Urban Meyer, Coach of the 2008 National Champion University Florida football team:

We all hear about the incredible family Tim is a part of. With everything going on in the world, you just know there is no way Pam and Bob Tebow can be as perfect as they are made out to be.

I am here to tell you I witnessed the most amazing conversation which is the truest testimonial to how incredibly good the Tebows truly are.

A few days after the championship game I sat at a table in the back of the Ballyhoo restaurant with Tim, Pam and Bob Tebow. It was just the four of us and I listened in amazement as Tim’s future about moving to the next level of football was decided. Unbelievably, the NFL was never once mentioned. Tim’s dad started the conversation by saying that Brett Farve spoke about his faith and no one ever listened. Here was a future Hall of Fame quarterback and no one heard his message. Tim then said…”I can think of 93 million reasons why I would want to stay in school and play my senior year at the University of Florida .”

That’s how the decision was made.

Which platform would provide Tim with the best opportunity to share the word of God? As you now know, playing his senior year for the University of Florida would be that choice.

And, is there any doubt about Tim’s passionate commitment to FINISH STRONG

Another Funny

I never set out to keep posting funny things my kiddos are saying or doing, but we seem to be on a roll here. N3 did something that we wish we had the video camera for.

N3 was watching me flip through a catalog. He asked me, "Why are you doing this?" while he stuck his finger on his tongue. I realized I must have licked my finger to make the pages turn better. I explained it to him and tried to demonstrate how it works. I first told him to flip the pages to see how it flips without a wet finger. Then I said, "Now lick your finger then try it." He licked his right hand pointer finger and placed it on his chest while he took his dry left hand to flip the pages fully anticipating something to change for the better. It was too cute. N13 and I were so wishing we had videoed that. He never got how that helped, but we got a good laugh.

A Family Favorite Story

The boys and I were remembering a vacation with some friends of ours, the Chapmans, back when the oldest boys were 4 and 5. Back then, we had been talking a lot about if something was an accident or if it was on purpose. At that age they would get hurt sword fighting and such and we would have to clarify if the child was intentionally hurting the other or if it was simply play.
Well, we were with the Chapmans at their beach condo when our oldest, who was 5 at the time, got in a verbal argument with their daughter, Julie, over whose sun glasses it was they both wanted. My oldest was not being so sweet. The 4 year old saw the struggle and decided he would be the "good guy" and went up to her and wanted to let her know he was nice unlike his big brother, so he said, "Julie, you are my bestest girlfriend." He meant nothing by saying "girl"friend. He meant friend, but Julie took him wrong and hauled off and slapped him across the face for calling her girlfriend. He stood there in shock. If that was not funny enough, he slowly turned to where the adults were sitting and said, "That was no accident."

Thank you Julie for giving us something to laugh about for years. It is still as funny now as it was back then.

Precious Moments

I was jogging around the track yesterday, when M8 and A6 challenged me to a race. I had already been running a while, but I was ready for a fast run, so I raced them for a little bit. I did not realized they wanted to race the entire track, so I slowed down and started to walk. M8 ran right past me. A6 caught up to me, held my hand and started walking with me. After a minute of that he sweetly said with a smile, "Mom, if we keep holding hands, we will tie." How sweet! We actually were side hugging as we "crossed the finish line" together. A3 wants me to add, "Hooray!"

N3 Tells Us What Happened in the Garden of Eden

When I picked up N3 from his Sunday School class, he showed me his picture he colored. It was a picture of Adam and Eve in the garden. Eve had a piece of fruit in her hand. N3 had mainly just colored the fruit. He pointed to his picture at the fruit and said, "Mom, you know what happened after they ate that?" I asked, "What happened?" N3 responded, "They turned into bad guys." I love little children!

My Little One is Moving Out

My sweet little 3 year old wants to be with his big brothers. He has been sleeping with us since he was born. We did let each of the boys sleep with us some. Not so much the oldest. You know we followed the book with him, but with the more children we had we just kinda started writing our own book. I certainly feel like what works for each family is good. There is not right or wrong on some issues like kids sleeping with parents or not.
Well I have to say, I was wondering how we were gonna break our youngest. I still remember my 3rd asking, "Will A6 (he was A3 then) have to move out when he is 4?" He thought that was how it worked, since he had to move out then. The bed was certainly getting tight with a newborn and a 3 yr. old sleeping with us. Well I kinda had that in mind for our youngest. I thought we might stick with the 4 year old move out idea even though A6 did move on around 2 yrs. N4 does turn 4 very soon, but he is already telling me he is not sleeping with us each night. It is kind of funny how he keeps making sure I have it straight that he is sleeping with big brother, M8. For a couple nights he wanted to sleep with his big brothers but fell asleep before they did. I just put him in my bed when I found him asleep, because his big brothers were making too much noise in their room. Each morning he woke up mad at me that he was in my bed. That is what makes it funny. And in the middle of day 3 after that happening twice waking up in my bed, he said, "Now mom, I am not sleeping with you. I am sleeping with M8 tonight. Do not put me in your bed." This 3 year old, N3, can be quite demanding at times. It is a good thing he is 3 and we are thinking it is cute.

Congressional Tours with Dad

Highlights: Mount Vernon (Washington's home), riding the subway for the first time, The Mall, Lincoln's Memorial, meeting senators and congressmen, sat in on some congressional meetings, special tours, walked by the White House, and more.
This is the tree George Washington planted.
It is hard to believe they are just a year and a half apart! 6th to 7th grade seems to be a doozy for growth!

Mile Stones for A6

A6 was so happy to finish this Reading Book this past week. We started him on it before K, but let it go while he went to our local school. When we brought him back home for 1st grade, he still was not ready for 1st grade material, so we went back to this book, reviewed lessons he had done before and got back going on it. The book is a little worn, because three bigger bros used it to learn to read too. A6 was also blessed at church recently when he picked one awesome car for the RA car races. He not only won 1st place for the 1st graders, he one 1st place over all the elementary kids. The bigger trophy is for 1st place overall.

A Monument to Remember

If you never read another post, read this one! I think the only reason I did not share this earlier is I was worried I might not do it justice in my writing. I have a particular "parting of the Red Sea" that was just precious to me and I am forever in awe. "Parting of the Red Sea" simply means witnessing a huge miracle like the Israelites did when the Red Sea was parted for them to go through. They were told to build a monument to remember what God had done so they would remember.
I had taught Sunday School to middle schoolers to the best of my ability for over a year in the jr. high dept. As much as I wanted to be there, I never felt adequate and worried they needed someone else. I had to leave to have my 2nd baby and I went ahead and told them I would not be back. After several months of not teaching, I felt like the Lord was telling me to go back. I felt like I laughed like Sarah. I laughed at the fact that now I had 2 babies and never felt adequate before. I had given it my all. I am sure God's Word does not return void, but I just felt like I could not do the job. Because the nudge to go back did not go away, I finally told the administrator my desire, but quickly blew it off to him like it is no big deal. I just did not want to be disobedient, so I let them know. I felt better. I had obeyed, but luckily there was no need. (Well that day anyway) Not long later I got a call that they needed me to teach again. I did not realize at the time it was only 2 Sundays they needed me for, but these were 2 Sundays that forever changed my life.

In the midst of teaching that first year and my time off for having babies I was learning through Beth Moore Bible studies and other means how God works through us. We need to not take the reigns. As I sat down to work on that first SS lesson I was going back to do, I was excited. I was going to make a sheet that looked like Beth's bible studies. It was gonna be awesome. I wanted multiple choice, fill in the blanks, and heart digging questions. As I sat down to do it, I felt like the Lord nudged me, "No, do it my way." You are going to die when you hear my first thoughts to the Lord. Can you believe I actually thought back to him, "But Lord, you do not know how good her Bible studies are."? That was a split second thought and then I thankfully came to my senses. I heard it again, "My way", so I reluctantly obeyed taking my fist and literally slid my wonderful "Beth Moore" idea to the side. My dreams of this wonderful Bible Study seemed to be being crushed. I felt like a kid on the candy aisle having to put the candy back. I then listened and let him lead. I no longer heard anything, but I felt like He got me on the right track, and it all fell into place. That first Sunday morning was the best SS lesson I ever taught. The girls were full of questions and taking notes. I was even amazed at the girls who had the most awesome pastor I ever knew as their dad and were learning from me! And they even stayed after class to ask where certain verses were. I had never had a mom sit in on a jr. high class, but this time a parent was there. She asked at the end of class if she could come back next week! Well this was not my "parting of the Red Sea". That is next, but it certainly was an awesome experience to let God lead and watch lives be changed! This experience is what led to the next week's miracle.

Several times throughout the next week, I had looked over the SS material the church was wanting me to teach and I did not quite get it. I kept putting it down until I had more time to focus. Well it got down to about 10PM Saturday night when I finally got to fully dive into it more. I started begging God to give me permission to teach something I already knew. I read the verses they wanted me to teach, I read the commentary from the material, and I prayed for God to either reveal it to me or allow me to pull out something I already knew about. I just could not get what the verses meant! I felt like I was to honor the churches request to teach the material provided, but was ready for God to tell me I could change the subject. I prayed, paced and read over and over for 2 hours until I got so tired I could hardly stand it. I was convinced how God is supposed to work through us and I know how my ways are useless without Him. I remembered how He pulled a great lesson together the week before, and I did not want to go on my own! In the last 15 minutes before going to bed, I started thinking, "I guess You are going to reveal to me what to teach in the morning." He was silent this whole time.

As much as I hated to go to bed without a Word to teach in the morning, I had to. I turned off all the lights in the house and headed toward the bed in hopes His provision would come in the morning. You could say I felt a huge sence of determination not to do this lesson with my abilities based on what I experienced the week before. I pulled the covers back, got into bed, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I experienced a miracle. My head was flooded with what the lesson from Isaiah 40 meant. The whole chapter! I sat up quickly in shock... came to my senses and started running to the room that had my papers. I turned on all the lights as I went back to the table where my pencil and paper were to write what I was getting. My hand could hardly keep up with my understanding of Isaiah 40. I stood as I quickly wrote it all down and when I got to the last verse in Is. 40, "They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up with wings as eagles...", I fell back into my chair in awe! This is when the pondering began. I have been in awe ever since! Yes, this was one of those verses you see over and over and probably have memorized, but I never knew why it was so awesome until that night!

Can you believe I lost these sheets of what came to me about Is. 40? As great as that chapter is, I could never learn more than waiting on God and truly mounting up with wings as eagles! I think He allowed me to loose the sheets. I don't think He wanted me to ponder the notes over and over, but to ponder His provision when WAITING. You can bet I have!

Do you want to know a characteristic about God that I have seen over and over? He waits until you have fully surrendered the battle to take over. This is when He gets the glory! We can clearly see that it was God and not something we did. He waits until every last "neck muscle is resting on the pillow" and fully resting and not trying in our own power. "When the battle is the Lord's, the victory is mine!"
If you are past the Nicole Mullens song on my juke box, "When I call on Jesus," go back listen and SOAR! You can bet I do when I hear that song. Yes arms out and all!

Our Week with Cherished Friends

The boys became best friends with the Baker boys when they were 3 and 2 years old. The Bakers had baby #3 about 4 months before our #3. Of course baby #3's became best buds even though they were a girl and a boy. Our families have had several trips together. After 2 years of being away, it seems as if not time has passed. One of the Bakers would not tell anything they wanted for Christmas. When asked what he would do with $1000 if he had it to try to pry something out he wanted, he said he would visit our family. Well, that was it. A trip up north was planned.

Now to recap some of this week together:

roller skating & ping pong in the basement
G8 played school with N3 and A6. Boy how I remember these days with my aunt (Angie). Although she always got to be the teacher.

Football in the yard

Which reminds me the one day we decided to run by the mall 1st to play with the life sized chess game instead of going straight to the park for football, we decided to kinda hide a camera (pictures blow)and tell them our new plans of going to the mall instead of the park. Reactions in photos below. It was a hoot! Especially after A13 saw the flash, he went to the biggest smile and pointed at me and proclaimed, "You got me!" He was so relieved that it was a joke. Funny thing was, we were serious. (They did not know about the life size chess game.)

OK, we both did the same writing class with DVDs at our seperate co-ops, so we did this together while they were here.

Wii OF COURSE!

Movies: Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, Madagascar 2, Iron Man, Lord of the Beans, Minnesota Cuke

Park for play ground fun & roller skating before a storm drove us to Chuckie Cheeses.
Played Star Wars and Hide N Seek

Creation Museum

Went to IN at Perfect North for snow tubing.
Drove through Cincinnati to finally visit Ohio and see the city lights.

Mammoth Cave- My dad got to go with us here. Scott forgot about the time change, so we were a little early.

When we went in, it was raining. When we came out of the cave, things were amazingly white. Fun w/snowball fights!

The day of their departure was a great time for sledding, so they left an hour late and headed for the slope in the backyard. I am so glad they got in some sledding!
Cousin Kelly (the Bakers cousin) came for a few days too and got in on several outings. The boys were so excited to see her. Even Nicholas grabbed her up and gave her the house tour. The next morning he saw my TV in my room and said, "I forgot to show Kelly the TV." Kelly, Tonya and I had some great laughs staying up a lil too late one night. I think we were delirious.

Cousin Mike (the Bakers other cousin) got to meet us and joined us for tubing. He also got to help Tonya clean the ice on her windshield from when she tried to clear the window with washer fluid. Floridians!

Tonya got to slip on some ice before leaving. So did G8, but I don't think she laughed, so we might not want to remember that one. We all got a laugh at A13 slipping when getting out of the vehicle, but he caught himself hanging onto the car door. Unfortunately, N13 landed on him on a sledding trip to be sure he got to go home with injuries. Boys! 2 of them standing on one sled going down. One fell and the other on top!It is a good thing we get to see them again in a few weeks. It helped ease the pain of them leaving.

Why do you call me Lord?

In the rush of life these past weeks, I made myself finally sit down to pray this morning. I started out, "Lord,..." Then my thoughts went to these verses below, namely the part in bold. (Go down and at least read the bold part.) That was truly scarey! I am thinking I have been living my life based on what I know, but not at the feet of Jesus daily. I have failed lately too in my responses to people. That scares me when I think of the foundation story below also. Convicted again! Based on these, I need to remember to humble myself under His Lordship and quit acting like my life is my own.
Matthew 6:44-49 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."

Pictures from Ice Storm

And one picture of our new bed and night stands! Kinda blury but, oh well.

Ice Storm 2009 ~ We Loved It!

We actually enjoyed the ice storm a couple weeks ago. We were only out of power for one day. We woke up in the morning with no power and the kids loved it! I looked over at Matthew wondering why he was up already, and he said, "Dillon woke me up to say the power was out, so I got up to see." If I would have known the power being out would be so much fun, I would have thrown the breaker myself. We enjoyed cereal, sandwiches and such throughout the day. Thankfully we have a burner on our grill, so we could boil water and make instant coffee. There really was no stuggle here. The thing I missed the most was my blowdryer. I needed a shower, but with no heat, I was afraid to wash my hair and have a wet head. We sled down the hill. Daddy stayed home due to the office closing. The boys were all excited about our smores and having the entire family sleep in the living room by the fire. We were getting all set for the night in the living room and were roasting marshmellows when the power came on about 9PM. The boys were so disappointed! We rushed to turn off the lights and keep enjoying our camp out in the living room. Scott and I did go for the heater and our own bed, but we let the boys stay in the living room that night. Sledding was totally awesome in our backyard. I have never seen such a great packed snow that felt exactly like a perfect ski slope... not too much soft snow and not too much ice. We had friends over for several days and played all week. The schools had a snow week and so did we. It was just too good to stay indoors! We would rather work into the summer than miss that!

"A Woman's Heart..." for the 4th time!

I am so excited to be doing A Woman's Heart God's Dwelling Place for the 4th time! Is that crazy? I even helped lead it 2 of the 3 times I did it. They say you only retain about 10 percent of what you read, so I figure after this time, 6 more times should do it. LOL This will be the 1st time doing Beth Moore's revised version. This has been my favorite bible study of all time! I used to think the Old Testament (the books in the Bible before Jesus came) were the "old" way of doing things that has nothing to do with what we need to focus on today. How wrong I was! It is so amazing how it all works together! I found through this study that God's Word is like a treasure chest loaded with tons more cool stuff than I ever dreamed.
I have 2 goals with doing it this time around. Number one, I am including my kids in what I learn. Especially my older ones. The second goal is to come away retaining a lot more to be able to share these wonderful truths without botching the story up. If you read my "N3 Gets the Concept" post on Dec. 17th, you may understand what I mean here. I don't want to "sing" the wrong words even though I get the concept. So I will try more memorization.

Hillarious!

OK, this one had me doubled over, but I must warn you, this is a little on the stuff boys love to talk about.
One of my guys yelled from upstairs that he needed some paper. (or so I thought) I reached in our stash of recycled paper and handed a sheet to a brother to run up to him with the instructions, "Tell him to use the other side." My sons that were in the room with me looked shocked and asked, "Mom, did you hear what he just said?" and then went on to tell me he did not ask for paper, but asked for toilet paper.
We all just busted out laughing.

National Champs

The younger boys and I made this fun Gator Game Cake while the oldest and hubby were fretting over the game. I was able to fully watch the last quarter which was enough excitememt for me. After the cake was made, they did not want to cut into it, so we took pictures and looked at it for 5 minutes, and then cut. It was funny.

For my homeschool friends who read, you may not be familiar with Tim Tebow. He is the quarter back for the Gators, was born in the Philipines, home schooled all his life, raised in a missionary family, was the Heisman tropy winner last year and almost this yr. and sets such a great example to all who love him. In the stands, you might find someone holding a sign, "Home schoolers love Timmy!" So, now are you happy for the Gators too?

Congrats to the Gators! Time to go get some National Championship shirts!

The Word Experienced ~ Answered Prayer

Below are verses I have had memorized for many many years and yet I did not realize that I had not fully put them to practice until recently.

Philippians 4:6 & 7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus..

I had been carrying this burden or "monkey" on my back that was bothering me and yet I did not realize how much it was weighing on me. About a year ago I found myself speaking up in a ladies class several times and later worried things like, "Did I say too much?" "What do they think of me?" "Did they get what I meant?" "Is what I said so elementary that they did not need that?" "Do they wish I'd shut up?", yada yada yada. Months later, I found myself asking these questions after some of our Sunday School classes. Then in another ladies bible study in a smaller setting, there I was again, questioning myself. They ask questions, and I am one of the ones that speaks up (no more than anyone else that speaks). I do try to wait to let others talk, but later I question myself. Even times when God has done a great miracle in my life and I share the story because it relates to what we are talking about, I will still ask those crazy questions.
Something was said at the last ladies class that really stood out to me that someone in the room had been "a talker", not in those words. I was kind of certain it was not me and it was not, but it just made me wonder again. (You know... insecurities) I could hardly hold back the tears. I came home sobbing to my husband and shared all these thoughts I had been having over the last 6 months or so, and he said he felt that way some too at times and he thought that devil may be the one that wants us to shut up. He says such profound things in class that what he said encouraged me that even he heard those thoughts. But still... I was not fully satisfied within myself. So that night when I climbed in bed heavy hearted, I decided I needed to take this to God. I asked God to speak to me whichever way I needed. I asked him to either teach me if I should be more reserved in speaking or if it was His will that I should keep speaking as I have been, that He would send me some sort of encouragement. I had not been encouraged in quite sometime, so I felt this would be a good sign. Not to mention I needed it!

The second I finished that prayer as I lay in bed, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself smiling. I went from soooo upset to sooo at peace. I THEN remembered the verses above in Phil 4 that I already knew and was so blessed that I had just fully experienced it! I gave my burden of questions to Him and was willing to let it go! I was ready to just trust that He will take care of my question, and I could rest and not worry.

Ok, now for my answered prayer the very next morning. How gracious He was to not make me wait. Maybe it was because He knew I was fully resting and no longer holding on at all. (Sometimes I think He waits til we get to this point to answer.)

The next morning at like 7:30 AM, I got an email from my Aunt Betty that she had written that morning before work that said many sweet encouraging words about my christian walk, but in the midst of it, as if that was not enough, she wrote, "I love hearing you speak out loud of these things, and it is so good for me to hear how you deal with different situations. Thank you!!!!!!" I copied & pasted it here and bolded the "speak out loud" part.
That made my day! I believe God used her to help answer my prayer. I do not believe in co-incidence, because His word says, "All things work together for good ..." Why else would she say, "speak out loud". Of course I speak out loud to her; we speak by phone. Well I was encouraged and so blessed! I will be happy to lay my burdens down a little sooner next time. And I now know to not listen to those voices that tell me to not share what God has done for me.

My Aunt Betty read this and joked with me about busting into a ladies classroom and saying, "I'm here, now listen up!" She is so funny. No, by all means, I hope to never overbear any conversation, but I do feel like I should not let those insecure questions keep me from sharing the amazing things He is doing and has done in my life.

Were They Angels?

There have only been a few times when I ran into some stranger that said just the right words or something that struck me enough to ask myself, “Could they have been an angel?” I know the Bible tells us, “Some have entertained angels unaware.” This tells me you or I could have spoken with an angel and not even known it. Wow! Well, this experience is one I have been meaning to write about.

I was in the Wal-Mart with N3 walking on the main aisle away from the restroom/layaway area when 2 people came towards us and when they got to us, they were very kind and “into” N3. So much so like I have never seen before with all my 5 children. There was such an interesting peace about that encounter that as they walked away, I thought to myself, “I wonder if we just entertained angels.”

Well this is where the story got even more interesting. After speaking with mainly N3, they continued towards the bathroom area. For some reason, after about 15 feet, they turned around and I had a strange feeling like they were following me. Although there was still a great peace about them, I felt slightly uncomfortable as I would with anyone following me and took a left on that next main aisle still near the back. They turned too! Still uncomfortable, I thought I have to turn again to be sure they are not following me. As I took another left turn that would have taken me towards the back restrooms again, they said, “I would not go that way if I were you.” OK, they truly had my attention then. I looked at them like, “Why?” and they said there was some man in the store that was over in the children’s dept. (on the other side of the store) that was looking at children and some parents reported him. They may have said something about wondering if he was back there where I was about to go, but I can’t quite remember that part due to realizing there was danger that I needed to get on alert about. Again, major peace with these 2, but I had a strong feeling it was time to get out of Wal-Mart! As they were warning me of not heading back there, they were so cheerful and pleasant and then walked off ahead of me. I went straight for the checkout looking everywhere, but saw nothing. Not even the 2 that warned me. Nothing in the parking lot either. We just went home safely.

Well, I may never know if they were angels as I suspected even more after the warning, but it is a reminder to me that God says in His Word that He has His angels watch over us and protect us. I am so thankful that we are in His hands and He is watching over us.

Our Family Christmas Recap

Wow! So much has happened over the Christmas holiday, but I will try to remember. I know these next 3 posts are not edited down, but we just want to remember all we can.
First off, before Christmas, we participated for the 1st time in Operation Christmas Child. I can honestly say that was the best thing I have done for Christmas in years! I was amazed how you can get so much in a lil box to give an entire Christmas to a child somewhere in the world that does not get a Christmas. All given sharing about God's love. I highly recommend it!

Another new thing I loved was decorating our blog. Oh, our blog seemed so cheerful & fun with bright colors to the tune of Jingle Bell Rock. I chose this song thanks to memories of visits to Grandma & Papa's (my Dad's parents) & playing it over & over & over on the real jukebox and playing it so loud the whole house was rockin.

We had our lil Christmas at home before the 25th. I think the thing that was the coolest is our new pingpong table. Dad and N13 have been at it the most. N13 can't wait to get back to it. N3 wanted cars, D12 wanted Narnia game, M8 wanted Wii games, A6 wanted a pirate ship, N13 mainly wanted NCAA 09. So thankful we could honor these wishes & more.