Say What??

So, if you read my last post it sounded like things were calming down, and I was able to take a breath. I would love to recapture that feeling again! "Chuckle". This is Justin's last week of high school with final exams, James' last night of Bible College is tonight and he graduates Friday evening. Justin takes his SAT's June 2, and will graduate June 3. In the meantime, I am training a new office worker to help me, and doing the regular end of the month projects before the looming deadline. Next week after work I will have to finish tallying up Justin's grades, create his transcript, total his GPA, and design and print his diploma. Fortunately, Ted is whisking me away the weekend after Justin's graduation for a short "minication"(yes, I made up that word) to celebrate the end of home-school!! YEAH!!! I need another stay-cation at home just to do all the projects around the house that are begging to be completed. Sigh, I think I need some Tums and a nap! Anyway, commercial break is over, I am off to design Justin's graduation invitation so that the photographer can get his invitations to the developer sometime before June 3rd! If anyone sees me spinning out of control please feel free to remind me to take a breath and enjoy these "lasts".

Contentment Revisited

Our vacation was a real eye opener for us as a married couple. For years we have extended ourselves to everyone and everything and often felt nearly burned out. I know personally I was getting seriously overwhelmed and stressed, often feeling like I couldn't say "no" to someone who expected me to do something. It seemed so "un-Christian" not to do every last thing that was expected of me by anyone. Stepping back from some of the ministry activities helped, along with the anticipation of Justin finishing home school this year. Learning to discern what God was actually expecting me to be involved in for His glory and not just being a part of everything because it was expected of me was a hard lesson that took way too many years to learn. Taking a week to just enjoy ourselves, strengthen our loving bonds and work together as a family was such a boost to our fragile psyches so to speak. Since then I have learned the importance of not being available to everyone at the "brring" of the phone. I had not realized how that jangled my nerves and heightened my stress levels almost unconsciously every time the phone would sound off. Ted finally learned that lesson as well with his busy work requirements. I am learning to sit and be still and appreciate the beauty of God's creation around me without feeling like I have be on the moment's ready to jump at someone's beck and call. I am actually able to spend more conscious time praying and praising God. The spirit of contentment is starting to seep back into my soul. I am such a simple, country girl at heart and the hustle and bustle and busyness of modern life has always been taxing for me. Sometimes, I have wondered if I was born in the wrong era :). Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I have enjoyed the special things that the menfolk have done for me. The yard is mowed, my car is washed and cleaned, the boys scrubbed their bathroom floor. James helped me make supper tonight after Ted and I spent the day together. We even enjoyed a long nap together. Wow, that hasn't happened in a very long time. Tonight, Ted and I will work together to fix the Mother's Day dinner that he wants to make for me. I am so glad to be the mother of his children even when they leave us scratching our heads in wonder. God has blessed me abundantly with a super loving husband and 2 great sons. We are all far from perfect, but are definitely a family held together by God. James graduates with a 1 year Bible Diploma from Bible college, and Justin will graduate from High School. At the moment, James is working for CTS tree service, and Justin will get a job as soon as he has diploma in hand :). Ted is working hard so that in a couple of months we can again take a mini-vacation. We really love spending time together and have learned just how precious that is to us. Now, we are going to make it a priority to take time to get away. This is a bit more then just the 'date" days we would try to take. Usually, our dates were just local outings that would last a couple of hours, and then it was hurrying to get back to work and responsibilities. With our vacation, we found that we yearn for more then just dinner out once a week or every two weeks. I spent all of this monologue to state how I have just recently regained that feeling of contentment and the alleviation of stress that was overwhelming me. I can be a better child of God, wife of Ted, and mother of James and Justin if I can remember contentment with thanksgiving.

Weird and Wacky Day

Yesterday was Monday on the calendar, but it was a very mild day. Today I woke up and after a series of bizarre events felt like I should have been in a comic strip or at least been able to blame it on a Monday! I had a really hard time waking up, but Ted's alarm clock from the abyss which goes off without being plugged in decided to wake me again. This time I removed the batteries too!! If it goes off tomorrow, I am imprisoning it in my son's tornado alley that he calls a room. Fumbling around in the kitchen, I spied a suspicious arachnid of good proportion slipping into the window frame.

Now just looking this picture up for you has creeped me out, and I am itching all over. I took the pest control spray and drowned the window frame repeatedly. It peeked out once and I blasted it again. Of course, the spray says it does NOT kill black widows or brown recluses... the two spiders you NEED it to kill! Now, I do not know for sure that it was one of these poisonous spiders, but I wasn't going to take the chance. Ted came out and helped me dismantle the whole window even the part of the inner workings of the frame and mechanisms. We did NOT find the spider. I left late for work and put the boys on poison spider watch for the day. Then, as I was pulling into the drive at work something slammed into my leg and dropped to the floor. I came to a quick stop and hunted around for whatever exploded off the under panel of my car. Sure enough there was a good size plastic cover that goes somewhere and used to be glued to something no longer guarding whatever it was meant to shield. I think I am going to keep a basket in the seat of my car and collect all the things that fall off this poor thing and then present the puzzle pieces to someone to put back together. As long as it keeps going I am not complaining.... just thinking that soon I will look like I am driving a dunebuggy instead of a Buick.

A couple of hours into the work day and we had a unexpected large delivery arrive a week early by a driver who supposedly couldn't speak English. He sounded like he came from a former Iron Curtain country. Finally, things calmed down, well at least until we went to vote. My little "booth" could barely stand on it's legs and I had to hold the stand while I voted FOR the marriage ammendment. My sons both voted for the first time in their lives, and Justin nearly took out a whole voting "booth" on his way out the door.

So, sitting here thinking of food,scratching imaginary creepy itches and waiting for my husband to come home leaves me wondering if I should have worn plaid and polka dots today with odd socks????

Decade Deux

"The vacation may be over, but the honeymoon is not"-Ted. Our last day of vacation we did a special photo shoot to commemorate our love for each other and our marriage for the past 20 years. It was such a beautiful expression of our love and friendship. Our abundant thanks to Kristi at KLM Photography and also to our StepMom Gayle for helping with some of the scenery and props. It is hard to find words to express the many wonderful ways my husband loves me and demonstrates it on a daily basis. I am so honored and humbled that he is madly in love with me and I with him two decades later! God knew what He was doing when He put the two of us together, for we would have never done it on our own. Ted, I thank God for you, and I thank you for all your love. To the next two decades of love, laughter, and "looks".

Morning Strength

This week is unique in so many ways: Ted and I took a vacation at the same time for a whole week. Our original and supplemental plans did not work out for many reasons. We really wanted to get away for a few days alone and do "Something". With much deliberation and trepidation we finally headed back to Gatlinburg, TN. This has been a typical vacationing spot for us over the years and we thought that boredom or disappointment might prevail. Blessedly this was not to be. We enjoyed a beautiful celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary alone together in the beauty of the mountains. The rest of the week we are working on family projects, both physical and spiritual. Sprucing up the house and yard Putting the boys to work assisting us in the various projects Revamping our Family Altar time to be active, interactive, and pro-active, keeping the blood on the doorposts of our home. My devotional time has been extremely poignant during this time of valleys in my life. The Word of God is so personal, and I am humbled that God would choose to speak with me. I always put a date at the end of each passage I read, and this month I have been going through the book of Isaiah.... the previous dates match this same month 20 years ago as I was getting ready to be married. I look back at all God has taught me, and how much He has been my strength every morning. I honestly never expected to be married, and I could not fathom what 20 years later would look like. I am so glad that I did not know back then, because now I can lean on Him every morning for strength and thank Him for my wonderful husband that He gave me 20 years ago.

Grace One More Time

My heart is heavy and my words are labored. All week it seems I have only heard the bad stuff about people, and I was ready to turn into a hermit. Then I heard something that would directly affect our family. I was numb and searching for wisdom. Fortunately, it was the message time at church, and as I opened the pages to the place our Asst. Pastor was preaching from my hungry eyes fell upon verses that God meant for me. So I had two sermons last night... one that helped me from a church perspective, and one that God delivered personally to me for my desperate need. After a night of prayer, I am still saddened by events and choices, but there is a powerful song sung at our church called Grace One More Time. I was hoping to find a video or audio clip of it, but I have to get off to work this morning. Walking through yet another valley with a giant looming and taunting us, I am so thankful to know I have victory in Jesus Who gives Grace for every mile..... even when we fall. There is devastation and things will never be the same, and although my heart is heavy, I am soooo thankful to have My Best Friend, Lord and Savior right with me.

The Old Paths

The youth group went to Murfreesboro, TN as they do annually with great fervency. Upon their return the messages were about sticking to the Old Paths and not compromising our faith on the world's road to emptiness. The past couple of days at work, I have listened to Ted sing with an former group about sticking to the Old Paths, the ones Jeremiah wrote about. See the picture below to read the verse, the old Path points to Jesus who is the ONLY WAY(singular) to Heaven.

Then in today's email I got this well traveled poem written by a then 15 yr old. I have seen it before, but it's worth sharing again.

BY a 15 yr. OLD SCHOOL KID who got an A+ for this entry
(TOTALLY AWESOME)!

Since the Pledge of Allegiance And
The Lord's Prayer
Are not allowed in most
Public schools anymore
Because the word 'God' is mentioned.....
A kid in Arizona wrote the attached
NEW School prayer:


"New Pledge of Allegiance"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks...
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles..
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen

I'll just stick with the old paths, thank you very much!