Sick

For the past 2 weeks my family has been dealing with sickness.
No fun.
Two Fridays ago my son woke with a sore throat an sinus congestion.
Later that day my daughter complained of sinus pain and chills.
Here we go...
So Saturday morning both kiddos were down for the count. Each having different symptoms.
All plans for beautifying our yard were put on the back burner. Time to go into mommy overdrive. Where is my nurse's cap?

About 1:00 I felt extremely tired and decided to put a movie on, lay on the floor and take a movie nap. Suddenly I felt a chill. Then another. Then I was freezing cold and shaking uncontrollably. My stomach felt queasy and up came my brunch!  Ugh. Here I go right along with them. Where's my hospital gown?

My first thought was food poisoning, but then 3 days of a fever later I realize a stomach bug had finally taken me down. This has never happened to me before. One tough little bug I guess. Where's my mom?

After each of us mastered how to solve a Rubik's Cube we were all finally able to get out of the house again. We went shopping, kids went roller skating, and we even scrubbed the kitchen floor together even though we were all still pretty weak and feeling every effort we made in our still tired muscles.

Saturday comes along, time to tackle that backyard!  John and I head outside. Jessi eats breakfast and then later complains her stomach feels "eh".  Just not right.

Around noon she loses her lunch. My poor baby girl caught the same tummy bug I had last week.
Only hers affected her much harder in that she had to run to the bathroom every half hour. After about 5 times she was afraid to leave the bathroom.

So, Saturday night after finishing our yard work me and my baby-girl pulled 2 large neon green bean bag chairs into the bathroom and camped out in there for 3 hours. Memories were made I tell ya. :)

Finally around 10pm, she was able to leave and try to get some sleep. Yesterday her fever seemed to fizzle out but today she's been running a low fever once again.
I feel so bad that this got her after already being sick last week. She hates sitting around doing nothing. And to have to do it twice, for several days, in the same month is so hard on her.

Why am I sharing all of these details?

Well for the "diary" part of the blogging experience. And to share that although being sick is no fun at all, it always makes me think about how healthy we truly are in this family. We all know that eventually, in less than a week most of the time, we will feel normal again. We might share the bug from person to person, but eventually everyone is going to be back at normal health again.

I am so thankful we don't have any crippling or debilitating diseases to deal with in our every day lives. I hold those that do in a high regard. They really do have to be strong to be able to go through some of the things they have to go through day in and day out and still keep a smile on their faces.

The Lord knows I am not strong enough to do that. Not yet anyway. I am so thankful he hasn't tested me on that yet.

Thank you, Lord. I love you. Always have, always will, come what may.

Did you know God could do this?

(Edited and revised)

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to Murrieta Hot Springs to spend a beautiful weekend there on a Ladies retreat with my church.
It was amazing! Such a beautiful place.

I had gone on a retreat almost a year ago with my church and God spoke loud and clear to me while I was there, I came back a changed person!

That first year things were not going so well in my marriage. My husband and I weren't really even talking to each other. I almost didn't even go to that retreat. I didn't feel right leaving my kids in an unhappy environment. Mommy guilt was running in overdrive.

But I knew that it would probably be best if there was some space between me and him for a weekend and I wasn't going to let the enemy keep me from spending this long awaited time focusing completely on God.

The retreat was amazing. And while I was there praying for my marriage God spoke to me loud and clear. "You need to go to bed with your husband."

Now, this girl hates going to bed early. My husband gets up for work at 4am so he goes to bed at 9PM. Having to go to bed early feels like I am being punished and sent to my room. I feel like a little kid.

But I didn't argue with God's command. I knew it must have been long overdue. I started my first night back home. At first it was awkward. My entire family all went to bed at the same time. (My kids, older teenagers, don't like being up without mom and dad) No one even asked me why I was doing it, LOL. That's the weird part.

Going to bed early means one thing. Waking up early.   
What is there to do early when you get up at 4-5am? Not really a whole lot, so I decided to make that my Bible study time. I spent 2-3 hours studying the Bible from that point on every weekday morning, and then I began craving more so I started doing a weekend day here and there as well.

I had never had a consistent time in the Word before. I never really took the time to make it a habit. But now I was so enthralled with the Word of God, it was new and exciting and I was learning things I never knew were in there! I began to learn more about who God really is!

(It's been almost a year now, I still don't like going to bed so early but I do love my quiet mornings. And I do need to go to bed early now. I am tired enough to sleep by 8:00!)

SO....

When this year's retreat came up I honestly didn't expect to get much out of it.

I was/am still kind of feeling that mountaintop experience I got last year because I am still loving God's word and how God is changing me through it!

So I went for the fun of it. For the fellowship, with hopes of growing new friendships. But never really expected to hear from God again so clearly.

I figured I got my amazing moment last year. This year there were so many new ladies coming with us, it was their turn, right?

Oh, you just wait...
With our retreats how they are usually done is, you go into a room and you decide which bed you want. In it, there will be a tiny envelope with a special Scripture  card just for you. Everyone has a different verse. Then on Saturday morning you also get a "Letter from God" that is just for you. These cards were prayerfully placed upon each bed before anyone arrived. And we were instructed to pray before choosing our letter from the box. 

So I read my verse on Friday afternoon. "Be anxious about nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God."  

I honestly had no idea why this was my verse. It didn't "speak" to me or bring anything to mind. But I decided I would dwell on it later.

So Saturday came along and we got our letters. I tucked mine into my bag to read later. After getting our letters we are encouraged to find a place to be alone when we read them and spend some good quality time with the Lord. After all, that is why we were there!

So I found my nice cozy spot  in front of a peaceful waterfall. I opened my Scripture verse and decided to dwell on it a bit. I wrote it out. I looked up the definitions of many of the words. I decided that God must be telling me that I need to pray more about the things in my life rather than sit back and wait for things to happen in my life.

"Okay, Lord, I got it. Pray more. I will. Thank you."

Can you tell I wasn't really taking this seriously at this point? Remember I wasn't expecting God to do much with me this year. 

Now on to my "Letter from God"

I open up my letter and before I even finish reading it my eyes are tearing up! seven times in a fairly short letter I see the word, "PRAY" and in the middle of all of it "Prayer is your most powerful resource."    WHOA!

I could not believe it. Here I was thinking I would not get a blessing this time because God would be busy working on others this time. I was putting God in a teeny tiny box. Did you know God is capable of reaching EVERYONE at the same time?  Well, I thought I knew that. I doubted it tremendously without even realizing I was doing it. And he just knocked me upside the head saying "Don't you know how far my arms can reach?"

WOW-WOW-WOW! God, you are so amazing! Perfect and mighty above all things!

Did you catch the number of times I said I saw the word "pray"?

SEVEN.

The number of perfection/completion.

a year ago I had heard God's voice speak to me loud and clear.
The rest of the year I was hearing him talk to me through his Word.
But for the most part I wasn't devoting much time at all to talking to him. He was doing all the talking. What kind of relationship would it be if only one person did ALL of the talking? Not a very PERFECT or COMPLETE one, would it?

Seven times. Pray. My relationship cannot be complete if I don't start talking.

So I encourage you to do the same. You don't need a special scripture card or a "love letter" from a special box to get you started. You don't need to go on a retreat either.


Retreat to your own private place. A park, a tucked away place off of a walking or hiking path. A corner of a library or even your own bedroom or prayer closet will work too. God can reach us anywhere! 

Your love letter is your Bible. God spoke every single living Word into that precious treasure of books all combined into one book. It is His love letter to us. And when you get into it you can hear God speaking directly to your heart. 

But before opening that book, pray. Seek God's direction. Ask Him to highlight the verses specifically meant for you at this very moment in your life. 

He may show you answers. He may show you direction. He may reveal a sin in your life that you never knew was there! And with each word you will grow to know more of who He is, and more of who YOU are. What a beautiful relationship that will be. 

Confession time

Confession Time:

I have been a Christian my entire life.

Nope. I only thought I was. I was a "good person" my whole life. But I learned many, many years ago that this is not possible. I was a fairly well behaved person, followed most of the rules, tried not to cause any problems for anyone, tried to be polite and responsible, tried not to tell lies, tried to always be kind to others, kept my language fairly clean, never smoked anything, never touched drugs or alcohol except for the one teeny, tiny sip of champagne on my wedding night.

I was good, right?  In my own eyes, and maybe others saw me as good too. But my own eyes lied to me. Other people's eyes didn't matter then either. The only eyes that matter are GOD's eyes.

I was comparing myself to others. What I should have been comparing myself to was Jesus and God's rules for living in His will.

When I finally realized that, I became His child. I accepted the amazing gift He gave me and decided to let Him come into my heart, to be my Lord and Savior.

But I did it wrong.

I lied to myself again. I believed that as long as I stayed "good" and said those "magic words" at the foot of the altar one Wednesday evening in a youth group that I was good to go.

Wrong again.

I was going to church every Sunday, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night. I went to every possible church event and fellowship gathering, Bible studies, Christian concerts, I did it all.

But when I got home I lived MY LIFE. I did what I wanted to do. Nothing "bad" just not necessarily God's will. I wasn't seeking Him on the plain old ordinary day during the week when there wasn't a church activity planned. Honestly, I wasn't seeking Him on Sunday after 1:00pm!

I have heard those words over and over...and over again. "You need to be in the WORD OF GOD"
And I would sit there and nod my head I agreement and say to myself, "Yep, you all should listen."

I was in the Word, a lot...or so I thought. I went to all of these functions, I heard God's word here and there repeatedly. I took extensive notes during 95% of the sermons I heard, I followed along in my Bible, I only listened to Christian radio stations, A LOT, they not only sing but they read God's word all day long, I even have pictures, signs plaques, pens, folders, books, everything I could find with scripture verses printed on them. I was surrounded by God's Word! Oh I was IN God's word alright!

Wrong again.

I realize now that throughout all of these years I wasn't really growing or changing. I was alive, very much alive but barely but if I were a plant I probably had yellowing leaves! I wasn't growing. Just getting enough of the living water to keep me from dying but not allowing me to grow into the beautiful plant I was meant to be, with fruit!

It was only just a few months ago that I realized what it really meant to be IN God's Word.
It meant to devote myself to reading from the Bible. Studying it. Soaking it all up.
I began in October and since then I have spent 1  to 3 hours almost every day (still working on consistency) reading his Word. 

I have never felt so filled before. In my reading and studying, I have finally learned what it truly means to fear the Lord. I have learned lessons on OBEDIENCE, being patient, on trusting God, on faithfulness. I have read about God's providence and His protection. 

I have gotten to know God on a deeper level. I feel like I finally invited Him into my home rather than keeping him as close as the neighbor next door.

So, I encourage you, if you aren't opening your Bible on a consistent basis and really reading it, trust me, you are missing out on one of the greatest blessings there are! I promise you it will change your life!

And if by chance this post is helpful in encouraging you to start a new devoted time with the Lord in His beautiful Word, please let me know so I can pray for you and encourage you.

God Bless.

 

Confession time

Confession Time:

I have been a Christian my entire life.

Nope. I only thought I was. I was a "good person" my whole life. But I learned many many years ago that this is not possible. I was a fairly well behaved person, followed most of the rules, tried not to cause any problems for anyone, tried to be polite and responsible, tried not to tell lies, tried to always be kind to others, kept my language fairly clean, never smoked anything, never touched drugs or alcohol except for the one teeny tiny sip of champagne on my wedding day.

I was good, right?  In my own eyes, and maybe others saw me as good too. But my own eyes lied to me. Other people's eyes didn't matter then either. The only eyes that matter are GOD's eyes.

I was comparing myself to others. What I should have been comparing myself to was Jesus and God's rules for living on this planet.

When I finally realized that, I became His child. I accepted the amazing gift He gave me and decided to let Him come into my heart, to be my Lord and Savior.

But I did it wrong.

I lied to myself again. I believed that as long as I stayed "good" and said those "magic words" at the foot of the altar one Wednesday evening in a youth group that I was good to go.

Wrong again.

I was going to church every Sunday, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night. I went to every possible church event and fellowship gathering, Bible studies, Christian concerts, I did it all.

But when I got home I lived MY LIFE. I did what I wanted to do. Nothing "bad" just not necessarily God's will. I wasn't seeking Him on the plain old ordinary day during the week when there wasn't a church activity planned. Honestly, I wasn't seeking Him on Sunday after 1:00pm!

I have heard those words over and over...and over again. "You need to be in the WORD OF GOD"
And I would sit there and nod my head I agreement and say to myself, "Yep, you all should listen."

I was in the Word, a lot...or so I thought. I went to all of these functions, I heard God's word here and there repeatedly. I took extensive notes during 95% of the sermons I heard, I followed along in my Bible, I only listened to Christian radio stations, A LOT, they not only sing but they read God's word all day long, I even have pictures, signs plaques, pens, folders, books, everything I could find with scripture verses printed on them. I was surrounded by God's Word! Oh I was IN God's word alright!

Confession: wrong again.

I realize now that throughout all of these years I wasn't really growing or changing. I was alive, very much alive but barely but if I were a plant I probably had yellowing leaves! I wasn't growing. Just getting enough of the living water to keep me from dying but not allowing me to grow into the beautiful plant I was meant to be, with fruit!

It was only just a few months ago that I realized what it really meant to be IN God's Word.
It meant to devote myself to reading from the Bible. Studying it. Soaking it all up.
I began in October and since then I have spent up to 2 and a half hours every morning minus a weekend morning here and there (still working on consistency) reading his Word.

I have never felt so filled before. This past few weeks I have finally learned what it truly means to fear the Lord. I have learned lessons on being patient, on trusting God, on faithfulness. I have read about God's providence and His protection.
I have gotten to know God on a deeper level. I feel like I finally invited Him into my home rather than keeping him as close as the neighbor next door.

So, I encourage you, if you aren't opening your Bible on a consistent basis and really reading it, trust me, you are missing out on one of the greatest blessings there are! I promise you it will change your life!

And if by chance this post is helpful in encouraging you to start a new devoted time with the Lord in His beautiful Word, please let me know so I can pray for you and encourage you.

God Bless.

 

How did THAT happen?

My daughter read something interesting to me the other day and it literally dumbfounded me.
 "Years ago everyone had horses and only the rich owned cars. Today everyone has a car and only the rich have horses."

JAW-HITS-THE-FLOOR (I literally sat there staring at here with my mouth wide open for like 30 seconds!)

Seriously?

First of all, why did that affect me so strongly hearing that said out loud?

But second, really? How did that even happen?

Here I am wishing I was "rich enough" to own a horse of my own, something I have wanted since I was in 6th grade, I hear that simple sentence and I am floored.

Do you think maybe, just maybe, it will reverse itself again someday and I may be able to own a horse when I am 90?

One can only hope.

Onions, Onions, aah aah aah!

Could someone please tell me WHY, just WHY,

 would the first person to ever cut an onion, 

eyes burning, 

tears streaming down the face-- 

WHY would they proceed to TASTE IT?
And then when it stung the tongue, 

why would they not then RUN FROM IT?!

Why did that insane person have to go and add it to food 

and discover that it helps food taste better? 

Frankly, I could do without

 but knowing what I am missing now

 makes it that much harder to say no to onions.

I really wish we could eat them without all the pain.

But on a serious note, for the past few months every time I cook with onions it makes everyone's eyes in the house burn painful for the rest of the night, Anyone got any ideas why this may be all of a sudden? It is actually getting to the point where we decided to not cook with onions the other day because none of us wanted our eyes burning all night . :(