Tornados in the South

A contributor to one of the blogs I follow (and apparently a friend to many other blogging moms out there) has lost her home to the tornadoes. She has a big family, and JUST had a baby recently! She has a blog called generation cedar and you can read her sad, scary story here - generation cedar . Other blogs have set up a donation account for people to send money to help out the Crawford Family. We are all family under Christ. Us sisters and brothers in Christ are called to help one another out. I donated, won't you give what you can to help this family pick up the pieces and rebuild their life again? "For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Mark 12:44. Even if you can't give a lot, give a little!
Thank you to everyone and Peace be with you all!

by the way, the picture above is actually a picture of the Crawford's home, posted from her website!

Questioning the Easter Bunny

Hello! It's been a little bit since my last post (I appologise!). As Easter is approaching this year, I am finding myself questioning out traditions. I guess I really started questioning last year. I feel like I am just going through the motions when it comes to the Easter Bunny. Infact, these past two years I even FORGET to talk to the kids about him! It's like Easter week will come and I am like 'Oh kids, totally forgot, the Easter Bunny comes this weekend".

We started our journey at our church and into Christianity in 2008. Only 3 years into our journey and we are very VERY passionate about our faith! With my kids I have really been focusing, the last 2 years, on Jesus' cruxifiction and ressurection, instead of the Easter Bunny. Infact, I am seeing how the Easter Bunny often overshadows Easter's TRUE meaning. Was he created for this purpose? To get us away from the message of hope that Jesus' death and ressurection brings? I am torn. On one hand I am fine with saying "hey kids, the Easter Bunny isn't real." but with that statement comes other things. Is Santa real? I think we can incorporate Santa into the real meaning of Christmas (I say that Santa brings us gifts just like the Wisemen brought Jesus gifts, to remind us of the miracle on Christmas day and that God loves us all so much".) But how do you incorporate the Easter Bunny with the story of Good Friday and Easter? How can a basket of candy left or an Easter egg hunt have ANYTHING to do with it?  And what about their innocent childhoods? What about the magic of it all to them? The Easter Bunny, Santa, the Tooth Fairy? Should I really start to take that away from them (with taking away the Easter Bunny) at 6 and 3? It's juts not black and white in my opinion. There's so much grey area to this subject. I am open to any thoughts, ideas or suggestions! Peace to you all!

Wedding Rings

I heard recently on a podcast, that Prince Williams has decided to NOT wear a wedding ring. It's everywhere in the news.  ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/01/prince-william-wedding-ring_n_843451.html ) His wife is, but he is not.
This is terrible, if you ask me! It's just a shame. I found these statistics on one website about divorce rates - "According to enrichment journal on the divorce rates in America, the divorce rate in America for first marriage is 41%; the divorce rate in America for second marriage is 60%; the divorce rate in America for third marriage is 73%." On a podcast I heard that - "Nearly four in 10 Americans think marriage is becoming obsolete, according to a new survey that reveals changing attitudes on gay marriage, unwed couples and the definition of what a family is." Time magazine published and article called "who needs marriage?" (you can see it at - http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2031962,00.html  ).
What is happening here? We are getting SO FAR away from what God wants from us. We are obliterating the family unit! A man, IMO, MUST wear a wedding ring. Other women need to know that they are taken. I feel like, if you take that ring away, you are taking a level of the commitment away as well. What about men and their roaming eye? What about if they are approached by another woman, who has sexual intentions towards them? There's NO RING to show that he is married. I would feel very hurt if I found out my husband was not going to wear a ring. Or if he even took it off in public! Maybe I am jealous. Maybe I sound insecure. Marriage is a sacred bond between 2 people, witness by GOD! God loves marriage between a man and a woman.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. - Gen 2:24

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. - Hebrews 13:4

Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." - Matthew 19:4-6

But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. - 1 Corinthians 7: 1

There are many more as well. I know that God doesn't say "you must wear your wedding ring", but I would think that in an immoral world, there MUST be a symbol of marriage that is visible to everyone. I just think it's only a half hearted commitment if you don't wear your ring. What do you guys think? Peace!

3 Posts I wanted to share with you!

Hello! It's been a little bit since I have posted anything. I feel very busy and a little hectic lately, and my creative juices aren't flowing! So, I thought I'd share a few things (on other sites) that I enjoyed or found inspiring! First off, if you look to the right under "Cool Links", there is a new link. It's a site called "Son Gear". It's a little company, just starting out, selling shirts and hats and children's clothing, all with messages about Jesus. Please click the link and just check them out!
Second is from a site called "A wise woman builds her home" ( http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/2011/03/hospitality-homes-and-great-bargains.html  ). She has an article about a sale going on at DaySpring. There is a lot on sale, but what I LIKED were the DVDs. the one is entitles "Biblical femininity". If you click on the picture of the video, it will take you to the site. The individual videos are all $2.80! It goes from now until April 2nd and there are some terrific titles in there!

And the last post I really enjoyed was a post from the site "Far Above Rubies" ( http://jasmine-aboverubies.blogspot.com/2011/03/you-are-gods-representative-modesty-by.html ). It's about dressing Modestly. She has 5 beautiful points about why a woman (young or old) should be dressing modestly.

I found it inspiring. Hope you all have a good day. Peace!

God is great!

Do you receive messages from God? Signs from various media, or people, reaffirming where you are at, or where you need to be? I feel so very blessed to receive signs from God, and to have the ability to see them as such!

My husband and I have been going through a rough patch. Work for him has been very stressful. I have been busier than usual (with kid activities, teaching and working part time). It seems that just when we THINK we've had enough, we get more stressful situations that arise. I haven't been able to communicate with my husband much over the past couple of weeks while he is at work. I was starting to feel lonely. And the more I felt lonely, the more "down" I would feel. The more down I felt, the less housework I did. The less housework I did, the more stress I felt and the less I tolerated the kids. You get the picture. Well, when the plans my husband and I had to reconnect, one weekend, fell through I felt so sad and hopeless that I was just about to POP. And so I called him and vented about it. Not what he needed to hear, and added more stress for him.

I have been praying these past two weeks. I have prayed for the STRENGTH to get through this. The STRENGTH to help him, and to SHOW ME what I needed to do to help him. And that I would follow any instructions God gave me on what to do. God is great. He ALWAYS - WITHOUT FAIL comes through for me!

Yesterday I got 2 articles that made me go "hhmm". I wasn't sure (at first) to make of them. But, funny enough, I was doing the dishes in the afternoon, and the sum of the two article HIT ME. Just like that. The Holy Spirit whispering in my ear.

The first article I got was from this Proverbs 31 marriage course I have been taking online (it's by women of faith - check them out!! - the button for the course is on the right hand side of my blog). It said for me to read the book of Ruth. Ruth's loyalty to her husband, her mother in law and her family. Ruth was a strong women who, when hard times came, did not leave the side of her mother in law (after her husband passed away). She had a strong devotion to her husband and to God. She was going to do what it took to take care of her family.

The second article I read was about a woman's grandmother. The story was about her grandmother's rocking chair that she had in her living room. That her grandmother had been through many trials in her lifetime. And that she taught her grand daughter so much about life. She said that her grandmother would tell her that in times of trials, to clean the house and cook for the family. She said that sometimes she would sit in her grandmother's rocking chair and sing her grandmother's favorite hymns. I wondered "what is God trying to say to me?" I know these were stories of 2 strong women. But how does that apply to my situation?

So, I decided to start my cleaning early yesterday, before I had to take my youngest to his Mommy and me class. And as I'm doing the dishes it hits me. I need to be strong for my husband. Not only do I need to be strong, I need to CARRY HIM right now! I need to understand that 1. he loves me, even though he feels spent and doesn't have much left to give at the end of the day (we as mothers ALL know how it feels. Sometimes we say we are "over touched", or we are so tired from our day that we have nothing left to give). God was telling me that a strong wife SOMETIMES needs to support her husband. How? Well, by keeping the house clean. By cooking foods that he enjoys for dinner and lunches. By making the home a relaxing atmosphere for when he returns home in the evenings. By making sure the kids are happy. And by picking up extra chores (that are his) for him. I made sure the trash was taken out last night and that I washed a couple comforters he had been asking me to wash. Today I plan on getting more candles and lighting them all over the house for a soothing, calm atmosphere. The kids homework will be done. The house will be clean. Kids bathed. Dinner out on the table. And lastly, one thing we can really do is to let them know that we are thinking about them, we are grateful for them AND we are missing the. Whether in an email, a letter stuffed in their work bag, a text message on their cell phone OR a phone call. They need to know that we are so thankful for all they do for their family. We are such an important part of the family unit as women. I really believe (if we are doing our jobs correctly) that we are the glue that binds and mends our family. And sometimes it is up to us to carry the weight of the family for a little bit, until our husband can get back on their feet (emotionally). Thank you God for giving me the message of STRENGTH that I needed and asked for. God is truly amazing! Peace!

Today I choose....

I saw this today and thought it was so great, I wanted to share it with you all! We should all make these declarations...even everyday perhaps! Peace!

I CHOOSE LOVE…
No occasion justifies hatred;
no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love.
Today I will love God and what God loves.

I CHOOSE JOY…
I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance.
I will refuse the temptation to be cynical…
the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see
people as anything less than human beings,
created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as
anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I CHOOSE PEACE…
I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live.

I CHOOSE PATIENCE…
I will over look the inconveniences of the world.
Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I’ll
invite him to do so. Rather than complain that the
wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment
to pray. Instead of clenching my fist at new
assignments, I will face theme with joy and courage.

I CHOOSE KINDNESS….
I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone.
Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to
the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I CHOOSE GOODNESS…
I will go without a dollar
before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked
before I will boast. I will confess before I will
accuse. I choose goodness.

I CHOOSE FAITHFULNESS…
Today I will keep my promises.
My debtors will not regret their trust. My associates
will not question my word. My wife (husband) will not
question my love. And my children will never fear
that their father (mother) will not come home.

I CHOOSE GENTLENESS…
Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle.
If I raise my voice may it be only in praise.
If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer.
If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I CHOOSE SELF-CONTROL…
I am a spiritual being….
After this body is dead, my spirit will soar.
I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal.
I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy.
I will be impassioned only by my faith.
I will be influenced only by God.
I will be taught only by Christ.
I choose self-control.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day.
If I succeed, I will give thanks
If I fail, I will seek His grace.
And then, when this day is done,
I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

-Max Lucado, from “When God Whispers Your Name”

10 Things

Today I entered a contest, on a blog that I follow, to win the book "One Thousand Gifts". I have been hearing a TON of buzz around this book (all wonderful things) and even a beautiful journal a woman made in conjunction to this book. I am praying that I win this book! Anyways, in order to submit an entry, you had to leave a comment about 10 gifts from God that you were thankful for. I wanted to post my list here, and encourage you all to do the same! Or leave me comments with your 10 things. It feels good to think about the blessings you have in your life (and don't forget to thanks and praise God for these gifts - for HE gave them to you!!). Peace be with you all!!

Here are my 10 things!
1. My husband who is also my soul mate
2. my children who each hold a piece of my heart.
3. I have a house to make a home
4. I have a car to get me places I need to go
5. I have a gift and love of cooking
6. I have money to buy food to cook
7.I have a wonderful church!
8. My friends are few, but they are cherished!
9. That the tragedies I have gone through,(I've had some doozies) have only brought me closer to the Lord!
10. That the Lord gave us the gift of prayer, to talk to him and ask him for the changes we need in our lives!