I just got back from my 20 year high school reunion.  It was a lot of fun catching up and interesting to see that though everyone seems exactly the same, we're all very different.  Everyone was bigger and balder, for the most part (except those of us covering the gray!).  The geeky, quiet, studious guy is now a 7 ft tall mayor who owns an accounting firm.  Hilarious.

I'm much better.  Still seeing the doctor regularly, and still have a small "hole" that needs to be tended to, but he promises that I will be skiing with my kids this summer.  We had company three weekends in a row, and then I was off to my reunion, so I would say that my life is back in full swing.  Paul is concerned I'm overdoing things, and he's probably right, but I want to LIVE. 

If you think of it, please say a prayer.  Our homeschool right now has hit a challenging time.  The inconsistency of the last two years has caught up with us and as I'm trying to get back to some routine and order, we're butting heads.  I so want the very best education for them, but we are really struggling with laziness and self-control and focusing.  So is their Mom - I guess it stems from the top!  I just want them to give their best, not the least that they can get by with. I want them to be a man and women of excellence.   When you see so much potential, it's frustrating!!!  But then I realize that God must want the same things for and from me.  AH - the lessons you want your children to learn are really the ones God needs to teach you as well.

I had the privalege of taking some of the members of "Terra's Team" to tea a few weeks ago with the help of my mother and mother-in-law.  It was so lovely.  I was awed to see how God fit the pieces of the puzzle together and created a beautiful masterpiece.  From grocery shopping, to childcare, cheauffeuring, laundry, cleaning, meals, spiritual support and prayers, there was not one thing that we needed that He didn't provide through this incredible group of women.  I have learned to be available for Him to work through me.  I must put down that "to-do" list and listen for His voice that tells me to go and minister for Him, even in a small way, because together, the body of Christ can do wonderful and big things that bring Him glory.

We spent Easter here with precious friends and had a family brunch and egg hunt.  I'm reminded so frequently these days that though the world is giving many false hopes and alternatives, Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life.  And no one comes to the Father but through Him.  The wisdom of God is foolishness to man, and in this day and age of Oprah, where man is so "enlightened" that he is his own God, the place I need to focus is God's word, and make sure everything I believe comes in line with that.  We can "think" and rationalize our way out of a simple, childlike faith, but everytime I study His Word, He reveals again that He is TRUTH.  Thank you, Jesus, for your life, death, and resurrection.  Thank You for everything that You are.  Lead us in the everlasting light.

One of my friends brought her yearbook to the reunion.  I was saddened and disheartened as I looked at the pictures of myself from long ago, and read some of the things I wrote and thought were important.  In fact, I cried a lot of the way home, realizing how very far away from God I was back then. I begged Him to protect my daughters and to put within them a desire for purity.   What could He have done with my life during those years if I'd just sold out for Him instead of doing all those things that instead brought dishonor and shame?  But praise the Lord for His amazing grace!  I once was lost, but now am found - was blind, but now I see.  "BUT GOD"  have become two of my favorite words from the Bible.  Nothing can stop His ultimate plan for our lives.  There's a song Alicia Williamson-Garcia sings called "Restored."  I kept singing it in my head all weekend.  The chorus goes something like this:

"Restored, restored.

What I used to be, I am not anymore.

No signs of condemnation hanging on my door.

Praise the Lord, I've been restored.

Thank you, Jesus.  I've been restored."

We had a little contest to see who was the most changed.  The 7 ft mayor won, of course.  But I wanted to jump on the table and cry "It's me!  Don't you see, it's me?" What the devil meant for bad, God can use for good!  There's hardly a part of me that's the same person on the inside!"   Redeeming love.  Amazing grace.