Posted in Thoughts

Hello all! I'm still alive! It's been a roller coaster at my house for a few months now!! Nothing crazily dramatic-just life! You can all relate, I'm sure!! I want to share something the Lord has done in my life! One of many!!!

I praise Him for the amazing power of His grace in restoring broken relationships!! Here I am 5 yrs later and He didn't forget! He didn't forget the pain and anquish when that friendship was torn from me. He didn't forget the anger and bitterness I struggled to get over. And He didn't forget the feeling of absolute loss and grief I suffered from.

I stand here today completely reconciled to that wonderful friend. We are working at restoring the beauty of that Godly relationship to a better place than it ever was!!!

I want to share a song that ministered to me during my trek in the desert w/this friendship!

(Turn my player off first. It helps!)

May you be blessed as I was!!!

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Posted in Thoughts

I was recently asked 'How do you love someone who has disappointed you?' I really didn't know how to genuinely answer that. Oh, I could've given the 'good christian' answers. Ya know, like...'Through Jesus.' 'With grace and mercy.' And my personal favorite...'Pray about it and see where the Lord leads you.' I'm not saying these aren't good answers, but sometimes I throw these out there without truly seeking a specific answer. The 'grace and mercy' thing kept resonating with me though.

As the day moved on, a song I recently came across on Michelle's site kept going through my mind...Mercy Seat by Vicki Yoh'e.

If you haven't heard it, I encourage you to listen all the way through. It truly ministers to me EVERY time I listen to it. Thank you Michelle! I hope you know how you have truly ministered to my heart with this song!!

You'll want to turn off the player in my sidebar. Trust me. It'll be worth it!

This is where I'll start! Runnin' to the Mercy Seat!!!

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Posted in Thoughts

I must tell you that I was humbled and honored to come back from my little 'bloggy vacation' to find that I had received this wonderful award from two absolutely wonderful friends ~ solidrock and Michelle122161. Wow!

 What I've learned is now I'm supposed to pass this on to three others.

There were many I could've chosen, but these three were the ones that were laid on my heart when I prayed about which ones to choose. 

patrizia ~ She is a Godly mom doing her best to raise her daughters to be Godly Proverbs 31 women and I commend her for that!!! She is ALWAYS forthright about her faith, yet transparently honest about her faithwalk!!! Gotta love that!! : }

diamondsintherough ~ Sally has been absolutely wonderful to this less that skilled html person and I love her for that!! Thanks Sally! :} I love 'visiting' for she is always encouraging and I can usually  get a great laugh when I go over there!! (I need laughs often!) I love how she is sold out to her husband and his call ~ so much so she moved to the desert. Not her most favorite place!! : }

mansemamma ~ I love how honest she is with the ups and downs of her faith walk!! This is the kind of person I want to surround myself with!! She always encourages me and I seemingly always get 'visits' when I need them most!! Thank you for that my friend!!

Like I said before, there are MANY who encourage me and I'm blessed by them ALL!

If you'd like to give the award to someone, feel free to pass it along and bless someone else the way I've been blessed!!!

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Posted in Thoughts

My children never cease to amaze me. For the last couple of weeks I've been talking about this book. 'Do Hard Things'!  My 13 yr old and I have been reading it and using the study guide they offer. It's been quite eye opening!!

Well, yesterday I was once again faced with my own low expectations!! My 10 yr old reminded me that when we purchased the book it was something the three of us would do during school. After starting it, I thought it was geared more towards 'teens' so I decided just my oldest and I would do it. WRONG!! My 10 yr old is VERY interested in it. He's not a reader. He's very literal. I'll have to explain EVERYTHING to him and that will take twice as long.  These were all of the excuses that ran through my head as to why we shouldn't do it. (Do you see me hanging my head in shame?) That's just what they are excuses. If he's asking and interested, I should do it and with JOY!!!

So, not only am I taking this journey with my 'teen' (I'm beginning to hate that word), but I'm also taking it with my 'little man'!!

He not only read ALL he was supposed to ~and without complaint or nudging~ but he sat right down to do the study guide with me!! HALELUJAH!!!

His answers made me shake my head in awe. He gets it!!!

One question was "Do you see advantages to two teens trying to persuade other teens to change how they think?" Kung-Fu's answer, "They're helping out younger kids learn life lessons earlier instead of learning it by themselves." OK, where did he learn THAT? (proud mama moment!:}  )

Another question was 'Do you feel average? If so, what makes you feel average?' This is his response...

"Kind of. I want to fit in and go with other kids, but I'm different than other kids. You can like the same things, but you're different. You're 1/2 average and 1/2 not."

One last one I want to share with you is this~ the question asked was "In what ways does popular culture misrepresent what the teen years are for?" I explained to him what 'popular culture' was and his answer..."It's all about being popular and fitting in." The second part of this question was "If you believed, truly believed, that low expectations were ripping you off, what's one thing that might change?" He answered it with this..."I'd accomplish more. I'd get to do more!" Ok WOW!!

Oh my! This one is going to challenge my expectations also!!

I think that's what this book is trying to say. If we raise our expectations, they'll rise to meet them.

I could go on and on as to how proud I am of my children, but I'll spare you!! I know this journey is just beginning with BOTH of them!!

Hold on! I know I am!!!

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Posted in Thoughts

I started a journey last week with my 13 yr old son. We began reading the book 'Do Hard Things.' The first thing I want to tell you is 'WOW'!! It's starting to rock my socks off! (Not always a bad thing!!)

The first chapter is pretty introductory. You get to know the authors ~ Alex & Brett Harris~ and what led them to writing this book. The study guide asked some general questions that I didn't think were too challenging. Well, once again, my 'low expectations' were blown out of the water by my son.

One of the questions asked "We don't think 'average' teenagers exist. Do you feel average?" My son's answer to me was 'What's average?' Do you know that this simple statement rocked my socks!? How incredibly awesome that he doesn't know what that is!!! Hallelujah!!! I just told him to just keep thinkin' that way!!!

Another question asked was "In what ways do you think popular culture misrepresents what the teen years are for?" I gave him this example...

He has wanted to earn income for the last 3 yrs. We have been trying to come up with a creative way for him to do this. He is not old enough to get a 'conventional' job and some of the 'kiddie' jobs are no longer available to him. (I had a paper route when I was his age. Where we live they don't allow children to have paper routes. They are given to adults who can drive.) I suggested that because society has such low expectations of what a 13 yr old is capable of doing he isn't able to get a job. You should've seen the lightbulb come on!! He was not happy!!

I then proceed to ask him my own question ~ "What do you think the teen years ARE for?" His answer once again blew my socks off ~

"Well, they're for preparing me to be a man. You know, mom, like an astronaut. They have to train for a few years before they can do their job. You don't want to START learning how to be a man when you're 20. You need to be doing it by then."

Ok. Somwhere in the last 13 yrs. my hubby and I MUST'VE done something right!! Can all of you see me doing my happy dance? Of course it's at the same time that I'm blubbering like an idiot!! It's one of my 'proud mama' moments!!! HE'S GETTING IT!!!!!

 We're taking our time and going through the book nugget by nugget.  I'll share more on the next few chapters next week!! I've read ahead and....well, BLOWS MY SOCKS OFF!!

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Posted in Thoughts

I just wanted to send a shout out to a great friend  who took quite a bit of time out of her busy schedule to hold my hand and walk me thru the process of fixin' up my blog.  (Writing code on your  template is tedious and time-consuming-Not the most joyous of things to do for someone else's blog!! )

Where would I be without you, my friend? You know who you are!!

As I learn my way around the 'blogging' community,  I'm learning this can be quite addictive. Is anyone else learning that?  I love the convenience of it.  The sharing on it. The different perspectives I encounter with each new blog I visit. This is the internet working at its best.  Working FOR me. Not against me.

I must learn boundaries with this as well as I sit here looking at the clock and figuring out just exactly how much time I get on here today before I need to leave to get my children. (They stayed with friends overnight so I have had ALL morning to play!!! YEAH!!!!!!

I digress. Back to the shout out!!!  Also, thanks to you wonderful bloggers and your really COOOOLLLL blogs.  My mother has always told me that flattery is the highest form of compliment. Well, for quite a few of you I'm flattering you quite a bit!!!

Hope you enjoy the page as I continue adding and playing with it!!

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