Just a warning, I'm getting on a soapbox and not getting down!! :)
I've often wondered if I was a good friend to others, not just a fair weather friend, but a GOOD friend. I don't need to be one of those people that you talk to every day, but I like to know that if you are going through things (good or bad), that I'd know and you'd let me know. You'd WANT me to know, because if it's a struggled, I'd pray for you and you'd know it. If it's a good thing, that I'd rejoice with you and CELEBRATE!!
I'm reading a book called "The Friendship Factor" and learning more about women-to-women friendships. Growing up, I was always friends with guys because I didn't want to deal with the drama that usually happens between girls. Now that I'm married, I do my best to keep friendships with guys very limited so that Satan has no threshold to tempt anyone or for anyone to gossip and spread false information either. (Good rule for men and women).
All that being said, I've been saddened over reactions to friends news that are rejoice worthy! We should throw parties or do small get-togethers for our friends when good things happen! :) Trying to plan an engagement/bridal shower for a friend and planning a family get-together for another to celebrate some good news! :)
Do this for your friends when they bring news to you! There are some things that cannot be changed (no matter what) and you should support your friends and LOVE them! Celebrate, rejoice, party, pray, LOVE on them when they need you most!
Psalm 66:6 "HE turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on FOOT- come, let us rejoice in HIM" MY GOD CAN DO ANYTHING!!! Rejoice in the gifts of friendship, rejoice in the news of friends/spouses, rejoice with your kids! Rejoice!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Gifts
Are you using your God-given gifts? Are you serving in your church?? For most of you who will read this post, I'm preaching to the choir.. or so the saying goes. :)
"We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully." Romans 12: 6-8
Can I just say that I feel you can use EACH and EVERY one of these gifts in Preschool Ministry?? There is a place for every gift there, as well as in each ministry in your church. My heart has been growing in Preschool Ministry each day. I love the kids, I love the people who have hearts to serve here, I love my fellow ladies in the Preschool Ministry, I love just about everything about it.
The thing I don't love is that more people don't feel the need to love on these precious kids God has blessed us with. :( It breaks my heart to know some of the answers people give as to why they don't want to serve in Preschool. Yes, I've heard them all. The one that gets me most is "I have to pray about it." :-/ Really? If God gave you ANY gift, it can be used...
Can you fill a cup of water and pass it out?? (That's a part of the Preschool Ministry) Can you push play for a movie to start for 3's and 4's, no leadership needed... (That's also a part of it). Can you be inviting and play with children? Can you change diapers, feed a baby, and rock them?? Can you play games with a 4 year old? Can you watch kids play on a playground? Can you help parents find their children's rooms? Can you type a phone number in on the computer for check in? These are all different positions in our church's Preschool Ministry that have empty spaces regularly that could be filled. I know our church isn't the only one. I'm sure the one you attend is the same way.
All I'm saying is that sometimes there are needs in a church that need to be filled to function that way you WANT your church to function. I love our Preschool Ministry at our church and I'm very happy to be there and I'm blessed by being there every day. Do you love your ministry that you serve in? Where do you serve in your church? Are you passionate about it or are you filling the wholes because you know that's the right thing to do? I want to know how you feel about things like this. :)
"We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully." Romans 12: 6-8
Can I just say that I feel you can use EACH and EVERY one of these gifts in Preschool Ministry?? There is a place for every gift there, as well as in each ministry in your church. My heart has been growing in Preschool Ministry each day. I love the kids, I love the people who have hearts to serve here, I love my fellow ladies in the Preschool Ministry, I love just about everything about it.
The thing I don't love is that more people don't feel the need to love on these precious kids God has blessed us with. :( It breaks my heart to know some of the answers people give as to why they don't want to serve in Preschool. Yes, I've heard them all. The one that gets me most is "I have to pray about it." :-/ Really? If God gave you ANY gift, it can be used...
Can you fill a cup of water and pass it out?? (That's a part of the Preschool Ministry) Can you push play for a movie to start for 3's and 4's, no leadership needed... (That's also a part of it). Can you be inviting and play with children? Can you change diapers, feed a baby, and rock them?? Can you play games with a 4 year old? Can you watch kids play on a playground? Can you help parents find their children's rooms? Can you type a phone number in on the computer for check in? These are all different positions in our church's Preschool Ministry that have empty spaces regularly that could be filled. I know our church isn't the only one. I'm sure the one you attend is the same way.
All I'm saying is that sometimes there are needs in a church that need to be filled to function that way you WANT your church to function. I love our Preschool Ministry at our church and I'm very happy to be there and I'm blessed by being there every day. Do you love your ministry that you serve in? Where do you serve in your church? Are you passionate about it or are you filling the wholes because you know that's the right thing to do? I want to know how you feel about things like this. :)
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Share your thoughts
With some of my daily struggles right now, I'm also learning some new insights. Let me share them with you. :)
Right now, I have a 7 month old with an ear infection who has not been sleeping well as most babies with ear infections don't. He's been averaging 4-6 hours of sleep each night for a couple nights now. I have a 2 year old, with an ear infection in both ears, who was up for 3 hours in the middle of the night on Saturday night. I have a 4 year old with a slight cold in her eye. With all that, plus being at church 5 days a week, all I can say is I'm a little exhausted.
All of this got me thinking about Romans 12:1 and Proverbs 31. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." Also in Proverbs 31 about the wife of noble character... "She gets up while it is still dark" and "her lamp does not go out at night."
So, I'm finding myself getting up before the sun to tend to my kids and get things ready for the day. I'm serving the Lord by serving at church (a lot lately). :) I'm teaching my kids more about God and schooling each day. I'm staying up past the kids bedtime to do chores and get the house ready for the next day. All of this on top of children not sleeping is making me very exhausted and tired. However, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
I'm wondering and thinking that maybe the part of being exhausted and tired is part of being a living sacrifice to God?... I feel like it could be if I don't go about complaining about it and just embrace it as the phase of life we're in right now.
Thoughts on this....???
Right now, I have a 7 month old with an ear infection who has not been sleeping well as most babies with ear infections don't. He's been averaging 4-6 hours of sleep each night for a couple nights now. I have a 2 year old, with an ear infection in both ears, who was up for 3 hours in the middle of the night on Saturday night. I have a 4 year old with a slight cold in her eye. With all that, plus being at church 5 days a week, all I can say is I'm a little exhausted.
All of this got me thinking about Romans 12:1 and Proverbs 31. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." Also in Proverbs 31 about the wife of noble character... "She gets up while it is still dark" and "her lamp does not go out at night."
So, I'm finding myself getting up before the sun to tend to my kids and get things ready for the day. I'm serving the Lord by serving at church (a lot lately). :) I'm teaching my kids more about God and schooling each day. I'm staying up past the kids bedtime to do chores and get the house ready for the next day. All of this on top of children not sleeping is making me very exhausted and tired. However, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
I'm wondering and thinking that maybe the part of being exhausted and tired is part of being a living sacrifice to God?... I feel like it could be if I don't go about complaining about it and just embrace it as the phase of life we're in right now.
Thoughts on this....???
Monday, September 13, 2010
You've got to be kidding me
Just some updates on what my children have been doing and what has been going on in their lives. I just felt the need to brag on them and tell all their new accomplishments. Enjoy catching up with my kids.
Christopher's learning how to express himself using his words (yes, this is part of his "schooling"). He loves his silly bandz and his Veggie Tale watch! :) He loves his Cars shirts and cartoon character undies! He brings so many smiles to me every day as he runs to me and says I love you. The simple things light up my life! I'm learning about having boys, since all I know is GIRL! He is a rough and tumble kind of boy. He throws everything and says "catch it" and wants to catch everything too. He gets so discouraged when he doesn't catch it that it breaks my heart.
Everett, well, what is there to say about that cute monkey! :) He's trying to crawl, he rocks back and forth on his knees, moves one hand or one knee and then goes down to his belly again. ANY day now and he'll be moving more than I know how to deal with. I DO believe I will cry when he accomplishes this. I can't believe that he's already 7 months old! I feel like it was just a couple of weeks ago that I had him. He says "dada" like it's going out of style. He's started learning about whispering, he will whisper "dada" and it's just the cutest thing ever! I'm still waiting to hear that sweet word "mama" that will forever be etched in my mind. He smiles very big when I say "mama" to him so I know that he knows what it means. It's cute, he's cute, everything's cute... (in case you haven't noticed).
Hannah's new phrase, yes you guessed it, is: "You've got to be kidding me." We just finished school and she went to the center of the book to get her stickers and she saw that it was the same stickers that were in her last book that she worked on... Yep, first thing she said "You've got to be kidding me." LOL! I love how she's learning new things and then uses them as well, it's not just words and phrases either. She's learning new "fashion" things like how to wear a watch, what silly bandz are, what shoes to wear stockings or socks with, etc. She loves to wear headbands and hair bows and she LOVES her jewelry and dress up clothes! 98% of the time you'll find my girl in her dresses. :) She would rather wear a dress than anything else. She told me this morning that sometimes she likes to wear pants but not today! I seriously did laugh out loud to that! I'm so blessed to have my sweet girl!
This was going to be a post about home schooling but I ended up just needing to brag on my cutie pies some! :) I think 4 is my new favorite phase of a child's life after the first year of course. :)
So back to home schooling: we're doing some preschool stuff, nothing too structured yet but nothing overly FUN either. That'll come. This year, we're learning our alphabet, cutting and gluing, numbers, counting, same and different, and how to color in the lines and out of the lines. :) Hannah's catching on SO fast and sometimes I'm so surprised at some of the things she knows. I love how she gets to practice writing her name 8-10 times a day on each paper she does. She loves it too! :) Since we learned the letter M, I showed her how to write the word "MOM." :) Yes, I know where my priorities are. :)
So, that's what is going on in our lives right now. My children hold the heartstrings to my heart and I love them dearly! I just thought I'd share some of our comings and goings with you. This is my life at home with my 3 wonderful children! :)
Christopher's learning how to express himself using his words (yes, this is part of his "schooling"). He loves his silly bandz and his Veggie Tale watch! :) He loves his Cars shirts and cartoon character undies! He brings so many smiles to me every day as he runs to me and says I love you. The simple things light up my life! I'm learning about having boys, since all I know is GIRL! He is a rough and tumble kind of boy. He throws everything and says "catch it" and wants to catch everything too. He gets so discouraged when he doesn't catch it that it breaks my heart.
Everett, well, what is there to say about that cute monkey! :) He's trying to crawl, he rocks back and forth on his knees, moves one hand or one knee and then goes down to his belly again. ANY day now and he'll be moving more than I know how to deal with. I DO believe I will cry when he accomplishes this. I can't believe that he's already 7 months old! I feel like it was just a couple of weeks ago that I had him. He says "dada" like it's going out of style. He's started learning about whispering, he will whisper "dada" and it's just the cutest thing ever! I'm still waiting to hear that sweet word "mama" that will forever be etched in my mind. He smiles very big when I say "mama" to him so I know that he knows what it means. It's cute, he's cute, everything's cute... (in case you haven't noticed).
Hannah's new phrase, yes you guessed it, is: "You've got to be kidding me." We just finished school and she went to the center of the book to get her stickers and she saw that it was the same stickers that were in her last book that she worked on... Yep, first thing she said "You've got to be kidding me." LOL! I love how she's learning new things and then uses them as well, it's not just words and phrases either. She's learning new "fashion" things like how to wear a watch, what silly bandz are, what shoes to wear stockings or socks with, etc. She loves to wear headbands and hair bows and she LOVES her jewelry and dress up clothes! 98% of the time you'll find my girl in her dresses. :) She would rather wear a dress than anything else. She told me this morning that sometimes she likes to wear pants but not today! I seriously did laugh out loud to that! I'm so blessed to have my sweet girl!
This was going to be a post about home schooling but I ended up just needing to brag on my cutie pies some! :) I think 4 is my new favorite phase of a child's life after the first year of course. :)
So back to home schooling: we're doing some preschool stuff, nothing too structured yet but nothing overly FUN either. That'll come. This year, we're learning our alphabet, cutting and gluing, numbers, counting, same and different, and how to color in the lines and out of the lines. :) Hannah's catching on SO fast and sometimes I'm so surprised at some of the things she knows. I love how she gets to practice writing her name 8-10 times a day on each paper she does. She loves it too! :) Since we learned the letter M, I showed her how to write the word "MOM." :) Yes, I know where my priorities are. :)
So, that's what is going on in our lives right now. My children hold the heartstrings to my heart and I love them dearly! I just thought I'd share some of our comings and goings with you. This is my life at home with my 3 wonderful children! :)
Friday, September 3, 2010
Rhea Lana
So last night, thanks to a sweet friend, I got to go shopping at the Rhea Lana Half-Price early sale. :) I'm so glad I did. I found a lot of clothes for a great price! Christopher got 4 pairs of pants, 3 pairs of pajamas, and a fleece jacket. Hannah got 3 pairs of pants and 3 pairs of pajamas. I also found 2 My First Leap Pads and 1 Cars book and cartridge for Christopher and 1 Princess book and cartridge for Hannah. I also found 2 large Cars, Snot Rod and Mater. :) I spent $48 and I'm SUPER happy about that!!
As I was finishing up, I walked right by Mrs. Duggar!!! I was SO excited! I sent a text to Shannon, who was working and gave me my pass and told her that Mrs. Duggar was there. :) We met up and went to say hi! :) I didn't want to monopolize her time as she's a very busy woman and a local celebrity in her own right. I figured everyone would be bothering her. :) Anyways, I said hi and shook her hand. :) I'm so glad I did as that is the second time I have seen her up close and I didn't want to waste another opportunity. She's so sweet! :)
As I was leaving it was pouring rain (again). Those who saw me on Wednesday night, know why I say it like that. :) Wednesday night as I pulled in the parking lot, the heavens opened up and it started pouring. I got totally drenched!! My shirt was dripping water off of it, that's how wet I was. :) So, last night, as I was leaving Rhea Lana, it had started again... I took off my flip flops so I wouldn't slip and fall, I rolled up my jeans, and took off running. :) I was parked very close thankfully as I got there early (thanks to my sweet friend Shannon for the EARLY pass).
My children woke up this morning and immediately found the piles of their stuff. :) They are SO happy with their Leap Pads. :) It's almost like an early Christmas for them! They are still playing with them and they've had them for 3 1/2 hours! :) They are even showing it to Everett and telling him the story and showing him how to find the things in the games. :) I love it when a purchase (especially a cheap one) goes well with my kiddos. :)
As I was finishing up, I walked right by Mrs. Duggar!!! I was SO excited! I sent a text to Shannon, who was working and gave me my pass and told her that Mrs. Duggar was there. :) We met up and went to say hi! :) I didn't want to monopolize her time as she's a very busy woman and a local celebrity in her own right. I figured everyone would be bothering her. :) Anyways, I said hi and shook her hand. :) I'm so glad I did as that is the second time I have seen her up close and I didn't want to waste another opportunity. She's so sweet! :)
As I was leaving it was pouring rain (again). Those who saw me on Wednesday night, know why I say it like that. :) Wednesday night as I pulled in the parking lot, the heavens opened up and it started pouring. I got totally drenched!! My shirt was dripping water off of it, that's how wet I was. :) So, last night, as I was leaving Rhea Lana, it had started again... I took off my flip flops so I wouldn't slip and fall, I rolled up my jeans, and took off running. :) I was parked very close thankfully as I got there early (thanks to my sweet friend Shannon for the EARLY pass).
My children woke up this morning and immediately found the piles of their stuff. :) They are SO happy with their Leap Pads. :) It's almost like an early Christmas for them! They are still playing with them and they've had them for 3 1/2 hours! :) They are even showing it to Everett and telling him the story and showing him how to find the things in the games. :) I love it when a purchase (especially a cheap one) goes well with my kiddos. :)
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