Prayer Request - Owen

My little man is having minor surgery in the morning to have tubes put in his ears (2nd round for him) and adenoids taken out. Bad ears seem to be a family trait that he has unfortunately inherited - this is our 5th set of tubes & 2nd set of adenoids between all our kids.

I know it's minor surgery, but it's surgery and my baby is going under anesthesia. It makes me nervous.

Also, our experience with adenoids before wasn't the greatest so I'm a little nervous about this time around.

Thanks, in advance, for your prayers.

Stop time

I don't know about you but sometimes I really wish I could stop time. In a couple of weeks my little girl is going to start Kindergarten, move into her own big-girl room, D will start preschool, and we *should* move O out of his crib. I feel like I've blinked and my little girl went from being a newborn, just home from the hospital, to a young girl heading to elementary school for the first time. I wish I could hold my little baby girl again, see her little baby face, the little clothes, and experience all the "firsts" all over again. I want that with all my kids.

My poor youngest child - I don't want to let go of all the baby stuff yet. At his age both M & D were in a big-kid bed and I know they were treated as if they were older than I treat O. I just can't help it, he's my baby, my last baby. I know it's probably time to move him to a big-boy bed, it actually makes sense seeing as how we are moving M into her own room this weekend and putting the boys together, but I just don't want to do it. I guess as long as he's in his crib then he's still my little baby. Yeah - they will ALL always be my babies but Owen is my youngest, closest thing I have to a baby, and I'm just not ready for him to grow up yet. I'm not ready for any of them to grow up yet.

So, there you have it, my sappy, sentimental, mommy post for the week. ;)

Well, I said I wanted (needed) to lose weight

Remember this post? Well, I've lost 7 pounds this week but it wasn't through dieting. The lovely flu/stomach bug/whatever the heck it was hit me hard this week (T-TH) and I've lost a few pounds because of it. I wasn't all that sick to my stomach really but I sure haven't been able to eat. Poor Eric, the last 2 nights he got home from work and I've handed over the kids and gone to bed (6 pm each night!!!!).

So - that's the reason for my lack of blogging as of late. I felt too bad to even turn my computer on and that's saying something - I always have my computer on it seems.

Other than that, the only other eventful thing this week is that yet another tie to our Oklahoma days is gone - we now have TN license plates!!!!! Between taking the W '04 sticker off and now the OK plates being gone, I barely recognize my own car in the parking lot. LOL!

Customizing....

I am so not tech savy & blog literate. I was trying to change up my blog but for some reason can't get the color here at the top to change.

Anyone have any ideas?????

Splish Splash

A few pics from today at the Splash Pad, picnic lunch & sprinkler play at my house.

"Required" service

EDITED TO SAY: I really, really hope I haven't offended anyone with this post, that wasn't my intention. I just wanted to get my personal thoughts out on this subject.

Before I get to what is on my mind, I want to preface this by saying that I think our preschool ministry at church is FANTASTIC. The leaders do a tremendous job with our kiddos and I'm so thankful to have a church where the leadership really believes in investing in the lives of the kids.

That said, there is one thing that I have a big problem with - being required to serve. I know from past experience at my previous church that it is VERY hard to get volunteers, especially in preschool/nursery ministries. It can be very frustrating. It is also frustrating when you are one of the few that do volunteer and you see so many people who *could* be awesome in service if they'd only give up a little of their time and do so. I get it & can sympathize with it.

What I do not like, however, is being told that I'm expected to "serve" in an area simply because I am utilizing it. That's not "service". Service should come from the heart and it should be something that you want to do, not something that you're expected to do or have to do.

I got a card in the mail today telling me that our date for service in the preschool ministry is THIS Sunday. Forget that it is THURSDAY, just 3-4 days before we're supposed to "help". If we can't come, we're supposed to find someone else to take our place. If for some reason we couldn't help, that didn't give us much time to do that.

Let me be frank - I am a stay-at-home-mom to THREE preschoolers -I love them dearly, but I need a break from that age group and honestly I do NOT want to work in the preschool area. (I posted about this in a previous post that you can find here.) I don't want to feel like I can't utilize the services of our preschool ministry (or any ministry in our church) if I'm not also serving in that area. I shouldn't have to feel like that.

Do I think that I have a responsibility to serve in my local church - ABSOLUTELY. I think that ALL believers should be serving in their church and I think there is no more important area than with the children (of all ages). Am I serving in the church? Am I practicing what I preach? YES. I am serving in our church. I helped with VBS and I am going to be a small group leader with our high school ministry.

I chose to serve based on where I thought God wanted me to be, not based on where I was expected or required to be. That's what service is - CHOOSING to honor God with the gifts that He's given you in the area that He determines for you.

What are we going to do?

We are going to serve in the preschool ministry on Sunday as we have been requested to. We are going to do it cheerfully and love on those kids because that's what's important. Don't think I'll have a bad attitude about it just because I don't agree with the reason we are there.

Me + 6 kids + Splash Pad = ONE CRAZY DAY

I'm watching my friend's 3 children (ages 6, 4 & 2) for 2 days while they celebrate 10 years of marriage. I got the bright idea to take all 6 kids, that's 6 kids age 6 and under, to the Splash Pad. Ummmmm - WHAT WAS I THINKING????? We managed okay thanks to Ms. Suzanne but it was kind of nuts. They had fun though and I even managed to take a few pictures (coming later).

Hanging out with friends

The Duda's, friends from Oklahoma, are staying the week with us. We've been BUSY and having lots of fun. So far we've gone to church, the Discovery Center, the Slash Pad, Patterson Park pool, and have LOTS more fun stuff planned.

Here is Morgan with her very good friend, Adrienne. It's so sweet to see them together. I have pictures of them together from the time they were 2 years old - now they are 6 & 5!



Here's all our kiddos (minus the one that Jamie has on-the-way):

Finally!

Ahhh - the controversy in many churches and among many Christians - speaking in tongues. Does it still exist? Is everyone supposed to do it? Is it to be used opening in church?

I have to say, I've had a lot of experiences with this particular subject and am very firm and sure in what I believe regarding it. Several experiences in my past have caused me to really stop & read the Bible to see what I think God says about this subject.

My first experience with the subject of speaking in tongues came when I was a new Christian. I went to the youth group at a large church, New Life Church (yes, the same one that Ted Haggard preached at in Colorado Springs, CO). Back in 1991 I went to their youth group for a short time called TAG. At any rate, NL is a rather charismatic church and speaking in tongues is something you will routinely hear during worship services. During the youth group they asked for people to raise their hands if they had not been baptized in the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. As a new Christian who knew NOTHING about this subject, I raised my hand. If God was offering something, I wanted it. I didn't realize what I was in for. They had all of us go into a back room where we were matched with a counselor. The girl that was matched with me told me to clear my mind & let whatever come out of my mouth, come out. (WRONG WRONG WRONG teaching but we'll get to that later). After what felt like and eternity of her sitting there praying in tongues "over me" and trying to get me to speak in tongues, I just mumbled some junk, pretending to speak in tongues, so I could get out of there.

My next experience came during college when I was working with our campus prison ministry. I walked into a ministry that was going into prisons through another organization (I'm not going to name the ministry although I can guarantee that most have not heard of it - it's not Prison Fellowship). After going on several small trips to prisons, I thought this was a pretty okay ministry - no real red flags - so I helped organize a trip for about 70-100 students to go to men's & women's prisons in Texas. Now, I went to a non-denominational Christian college but most people probably were in the tongues-ceased-at-the-end-of-the-apostolic-age crew or they just didn't know anything about the subject so the events of that weekend were very challenging.

We get to the pre-prison rally and some very well-known Charismatic preachers (husband/wife) were there. Ughh - I can't remember what exactly they were preaching on but I was so disgusted that I walked out. It was blatantly wrong. Later the ministry passed us out the tracts that we were going to take into the prisons. The first one was the standard "Four Spiritual Laws" tract but the next one really stirred the pot - "You've hear the good news, but have you heard the best news." You open it to discover that the "best" news is the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues.

EXCUSE ME? That's BETTER than what Jesus did for us on the cross? SERIOUSLY???!

Well, we got on the bus, took up all of those tracts and told our fellow students to just stick to the gospel and the Four Spiritual Laws tract.

The next day we get to the prison and what an experience. I honestly can't think of another time when I was as shocked. Several of our girls were talking with some of the ministry "regulars" and it came out that they did not believe in speaking in tongues. The "regulars" then made sure that none of these girls got the opportunity to speak to the prisoners without one of them there. In addition, I witnessed several "regulars" telling the prisoners that they needed to get saved and asked them to "repeat after them" the sinner's prayer and then they moved right into speaking in tongues - "Now you need to speak in tongues, REPEAT AFTER ME." No exaggeration!

In light of the first experience I had and then this current experience, I really decided to see what the Bible said about this subject myself. It was important to me to know what I believed on it and why. I was never comfortable in churches where you could sit there and hear the majority of the people speaking in tongues nor was I comfortable being in churches that taught that speaking in tongues no longer existed.

I do think that the gift of speaking in tongues exists today but I think that it is abused and misrepresented.

Where am I going with all this talk???

This morning in church, Pastor Pat preached on the gift of tongues. It was SO STINKIN' REFRESHING. Finally, speaking in tongues laid out there as it's outlined in the Bible. If you've ever questioned this particular gift, if you aren't sure of what you believe, if you wonder what the heck I'm talking about then go HERE and listen to JULY 15 message.

It got quiet

If you have young children then you probably know that a quiet house isn't always a good thing. The other day I was getting ready to go to church and realized that I hadn't seen Drew or Owen running around in the past few minutes.

I found them in D & M's room like this:




We don't have a dresser yet for M & D's room so we got a cabinet that had 6 spaces and got 6 pop-up baskets for things like socks, underwear and pj's. D & O completely emptied all of them (making a HUGE mess) and then got in the baskets and pulled Drew's quilt over their heads. They were having a BLAST.

I'm glad that they had fun, despite the mess. Messes can always get cleaned up!

Death Sentence for choosing Christ

Can you imagine being put in jail and given a death sentence just for being a Christian? For those of us in the US it seems surreal but for those in other parts of the world, it's reality.

Yesterday there was a press conference at the National Press Club
in Washington D.C., concerning the situation with Son Jong Hoon's
brother. Senator Sam Brownback and representatives from VOM
attended the Press Conference. The following is part of the press
release from yesterday:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Son Jong Hoon, who is visiting the United States
from his home in South Korea, today pleaded with the world to
pressure North Korea to release his elder brother awaiting public
execution for the crime of simply being a Christian. For more than
a year, Son Jong Nam, former North Korean Army officer turned
underground evangelist, has been beaten, tortured and held in a
bleak, North Korean death row basement jail in this capital city.
He has been sentenced to public execution as an example to the
North Korean people.
. . .

VOM was been joined in the initiative by Brownback, a noted
supporter of human rights for North Korean refugees. Brownback sent
letters last week, also signed by Senators Baucus (D-Mont.), Durbin
(D-Ill.), Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Vitter (R-La.) asking U.S. Secretary
of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice and U.N. Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon to work to secure the release of the Christian prisoner.
VOM is directing people go to its web site, www.prisoneralert.com,
where they can compose a personal letter of support and
encouragement to Son. The letter is to be mailed to the North
Korean delegation to the United Nations, along with a cover letter
asking the North Korean government to spare Son's life, release him
from prison immediately, report on his current status and deliver
the personal letter to Son. "We are asking for prayers for Mr. Son,
but also that people around the world take action on his behalf,"
said Todd Nettleton, director of media development for VOM. "Jesus
said ministering to a prisoner was like ministering to Himself.
Every letter and email can make a difference."

To learn more about this situation please click here to visit the
website set up specifically for this.

Also, today on Janet Parshall's America in her 3 PM EST, Noon
Pacific, hour, she will be discussing this situation for the full
hour. If you can, be sure to tune in live at JPAMERICA.COM

Please take a few minutes today to visit Prisoner Alert and write a
letter! Thank you all!!

Please visit www.prisoneralert.com

Conflicted

I went through several titles and just couldn't come up with a good one. I'm going to preface this by saying that this is another one of my "being transparent" posts. Knowing that there are many people out there reading this that are not Christ-followers and also knowing that my family reads this, it is hard to put it out there but out there it is.

A while back I came across an blog that I wish I could remember. It struck a cord with me because the author was talking about how she suffered from anxiety attacks that would basically cripple her - make her want to stay in bed all day with the covers over her head. She said something to the effect that her life was great, too great, and that she expected the other shoe to drop and something horrible to happen in her life and with her family. The expectation of the worst caused her heart-stopping anxiety. She struck a cord with me because I struggle with that a lot.

I have a great life. I have a wonderful husband, 3 fantastic children, we go to a fabulous church, have great friends, live in a nice town and have a great house. I can't really complain about my life. It's TOO good - something bad just has to happen - right?

Then I read blogs/stories about young moms who have been stricken with cancer and are going through treatment and/or dying, leaving their poor young children & husbands behind. Ughhh - it just rips my heart out. Suddenly every ache and pain I have seems to be magnified and, of course, I think, that's what's going to happen to me. This pain I'm having is really cancer and I'm going to die (Ughh - I hate even writing that).

Or, I read stories about children who have been diagnosed with cancer and are going through treatment and/or dying and that too rips my heart out. The mere thought of losing one of my children is too much for me to think about. I NEVER want to have to go through that.

One blog that I've been reading, Especially Heather, noted the other day that "Do not fear" is found 365 times throughout the Bible. That's one for each day of the year, yet I am extremely fearful. I'm a Christ-follower yet I have made the very deliberate choice to not trust that He has the very best out there for me and I've instead chosen to live in fear of what might happen and how it might happen. How wrong is that?

Something I heard soon after accepting Christ has stuck with me all these years:

Not being a Christ-follower is easy in the hear-and-now but is hard when you get to eternity. Being a Christ-follower is hard now but in the end it's easy because we get to spend it with Jesus in heaven.

That is so true. It's easy to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour but sometimes it's just not easy to follow Him. There is a battle between good & evil - between Jesus & Satan. I've read the Book, I know who loses in the end & it's not Jesus, however, I do think that Satan sometimes wins some of the battles. Does that make sense?

When we completely surrender our lives to Christ, Satan gets mad. His goal is to separate us from Jesus. The Bible says that he roams around like a lion and seeks to devour us. For me, when I really start following Christ whole-heartedly, the way He wants me to, Satan come at me with the same old bag of tricks. I know them. I expect them and yet I fail to stand up against them every single time. I make myself so mad.

I haven't posted about much of what God has been teaching me lately because, honestly, I haven't been doing much listening. I got tired of fighting the anxiety and the fears that I was being bombarded with. I got so tired. I'll be honest, I chose to step back instead of trusting that Jesus would be my strength in times of weakness. I know, not a good example of a Christian.

However "safe" and "peaceful" it seemed to "take a breather", in the end it's not. I'm still choosing to be separated from the only One who loves me unconditionally, just as I am and that just stinks. Do I want to live like that? Is that the kind of Christian testimony I want to leave?

No, it's not.

Lord, please forgive me and be my strength - I am so weak.

"Is your mamma gonna have a baby?"

If I ever needed motivation to get my tail in gear and lose the extra 20 lbs I've gained over the past year (and the add'l 20 that I need to lose on top of that), then hearing someone ask Morgan if I was pregnant was it.

Don't get me wrong, looking in the mirror, trying on my clothes, seeing pictures of myself, etc. are all fine motivation but hearing it from a child is pretty darn good too.

So - I need to lose weight. I keep talking about starting Weight Watchers but all it's amounted to is talk. I need to get my tail in gear and go. I also need to get consistent about exercising again too.

I was doing pretty good at the working out and being consistent but then summer hit, and well, it's hard. I haven't gone consistently because it's hard to, especially this month. We had company, then a week off, company, then a week off, and then a family reunion - how do you be consistent in all that?

Eating - that's another story. As the WW leader in Oklahoma so aptly put it, she liked having a party in her mouth, and so do I. Why do I want to eat stuff that tastes like sawdust (which a lot of "healthy" food does)? I also tend to eat when I am bored, eat when I am stressed, eat when I am happy, etc. etc. etc. You get the idea.

All that to say, I am OVER-WEIGHT, I know it, I want to lose it and I think I'll keep reminding myself that obviously others have noticed it and so I should do something about it.

Checkin' it off my list.

Do you ever make a to-do list and write down things that you've already done just so you can cross them off???? :) I do & did today.

What a productive day:

1. Grocery shopping done (with 3 crazy kids along I might add)
2. Photos on computer almost all backed up (I had a years worth - over 20 CD's!)
3. New tree in back.
4. Trees in back watered, just in time for the rain.
5. New bush in front.
6. Cabinet fixed (not the air leak, another problem)
7. Yard treated (lawn-care company)


Now, granted, *I* didn't do much of these things, others did, but they would have been on my list to follow-up on so it counts, right? :)

Thank you Scott, Heather & family!!!

Well, my brother Scott & his family came to visit us this week. We had a GREAT time! It was SO nice to see them and get to show them where we live. The kids had a great time playing together and I believe the adults all had a great time.

Of course I have tons of pictures but I'm too tired to get some posted tonight. Perhaps tomorrow.

At any rate, THANK YOU Scott & Heather for taking time to come visit us. We LOVED having you at our home and miss you tons!

Need I say more?

Enjoy!

Happy 4th of July!

HAPPY 4th of July! I hope everyone is having a good time.

We've been enjoying my brother, Scott, & his family this week.

Today we went to the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, TN. We're not big whiskey drinkers but it was still very interesting seeing how things are made. The Distillery grounds are also very beautiful!

Here's a picture of all of us at one of the more scenic spots on our tour.