Thursday, December 31, 2015

Resolutions for 2016


I asked myself what I really wanted to work on this year...God brought me some things as well...and I also asked my husband and my children too.

For me...I want to pray about anything and everything and learn to be quiet.  I need to quit complaining and getting upset about things I cannot control.  I just need to learn to be quiet and go to God in prayer.  I want to work on my business.  I want to be a better wife and mom and I want to get back on track spiritually, physically, and emotionally.

Hubby says he wants to work on being more diligent and better at time management.

We had some marriage goals of spending more quality time together and to have a date night once a month.

We wanted to work at being consistent with our business endeavors.

As a family we wanted to work on reading more, eating out less, daily Bible time, and choosing peace.  I also want to be more intentional about sending out cards and texts and spending more time with other family members.

Deidra said that she'd like to work on being more positive.

Emma said that she's going to work on having a better attitude.

Josiah said that he's going to work on his anger.

Tracie says that she is going to work on not ignoring me and Dad.

Melins says that she is going to work on not having any more accidents.

With all that being siad...we have a lot to keep in prayer this year...

What are you going to work on this year?


Daily Habit of Spending Time with God

How have you been doing with your daily habit of spending time with God?  We were supposed to be working on that challenge daily.  Things got really crazy around here with Christmas and sick kids and I quit updating daily, although I tried daily to spend time in prayer, reading God's word, and reading through our daily prayer book at the breakfast table with my family each morning.  I'll post about my next daily habit that I'm going to focus on soon....but I just wanted to check in and see how your challenge went.  I definitely love that God speaks to me and makes my paths clearer when I take the time out of my day to truly spend time with Him.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Spending Time with God Day 6

I woke up feeling very overwhelmed again today, but I prayed and asked God for His peace and I prayed with the kids.  As I was walking into Bible Study today, one of the ladies took my hand and told me "you are always so faithful."  I squeezed her hand and tears came to my eyes.  I like to think of my compliments as coming from God Himself.  I felt His peace come over me while at Bible Study today.  I have some things I'd like to share...but I will try to share those tomorrow.  I took myself out to lunch at Panera and Christmas shopping at Uptown and I need to get the gifts out of the car before the kids come home.  I just wanted to take a few minutes of quiet before they come home to take a few minutes and blog.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Spending Time with God Day 5

I woke up this morning feeling very overwhelmed.  My kindergartener didn't want to get up (not usually like her) and she started crying this monring about not wanting to go to school because she hates to write and doesn't write well and writing hurts her hands.  My 3rd grader had a meltdown after getting caught doing something that she was told not to do twice now and got grounded after school.  My 4th grader had a bad afternoon after school yesterday with some behaviors towards Mom and his sister and tried carrying that over into this morning.  My 5th grader was basically caught lying after several times of Mom asking about why she had no homework lately and basically told on herself at dinner last night and when I caught it and asked her about it she totally shut down.  After we were in bed my husband discovered that her math teacher had send us an email basically concerned because she had a math test today that she was sent home to study with and she was refusing the one-on-one help from her at school and didn't know what was going on and how best to help her.  I've seen similar things here at home lately, but I did tell the teacher that math is very difficult for her and I think she truly doesn't grasp the concepts and in her mind if she just ignores it or just refuses help then nobody will know.  She has a teacher to go to for content mastery, but it's a struggle to get her to go there too.  I just don't know how to advocate for her right now.  We keep telling her that her teachers and us are here to help her, but she just blows us off.  I felt very overwhelmed and God brought me to Psalm 23.  I love that He tells me that He will care for us and gently lead the mother.  The kids and I prayed together before school and I sent some e-mails to the teachers and I am just going to tackle it one step at a time.  Thank you for caring for us, dear Lord.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Spending Time with God Day 4

I got up to read my BSF notes this morning and do my prayer time before the kids get up for school.  We were reading about the final judgment day and the day of the Lord.  All who believe in Jesus will be saved from God's day of judgment and all the terrible things that will happen that day.  One passage in my notes that I loved too was "In His sovereign purpose and time, God will bring the present order of things to an end.  God is not powerless or passive about His world and its people.  He is supremely real and intensely involved, and evil will not stand."  The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem.  But, I love the promise that Joel reveals to us "Though the earth and the heavens will tremble, the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel."

This message does 2 things for me...it makes me want to pray for the people I know that are unbelievers all the more that they will accept God and make the choices necessary to live for Him.  And it also makes me happy to know that I am a child of God and that He is my refuge and I have nothing to fear.  I am His and He is my refuge and my stronghold.  I am so thankful for His promises to us and that I am redeemed and renewed through Jesus.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Spending Time with God Day 3

Andy and I went to bed feeling nauseated last night.  Shortly after I fell asleep, Melina came running into my room saying she felt like she was going to throw up.  I sent her in my bathroom and she made it just in time.  Andy wound up having the opposite problem all night.  Add the storms into the mix, and we barely got any sleep and I've got a headache and tummy pains.  Feeling like it could come out one end or the other...I guess it's a waiting game.  I just pray that if we're going to get a stomach virus, that we all get it at once and get it over with.  I don't want the kids to miss their Christmas parties and Andy has major stuff to do at work at the end of this week before his vacation starts.

With all that being said, we went through our little prayer service and learned that God wants us to share with others when we have an abundance of things and take only what we need.  Some of my kids have had a problem with not wanting to share or take turns lately, so that was an applicable message.  Going to buy a few extra groceries today to offer to those in need as well so that they see that it's not just them that are asked to share.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Spending Time with God Day 2

I read with the kids out of the Children's Daily Prayer book.  We learned that when we do the right thing, God blesses His people with quiet, and a peaceful habitation.  The Devil must have been trying to prevent us from hearing that message as my kids were anything but peaceful during our prayer service this morning.  Disobeying Mom, arguing with one another, and just trying to interrupt each other constantly and I'll be real that I lost my temper when one of my children started talking over me and trying to rush me through the prayer.  I had to ask for forgiveness for all of us at the end.  Going to go spend time in prayer and take a bit of a time out from my kids.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Spend Time with God Day 1


I woke up to the sound of one of my little ones coughing this morning and couldn't fall back to sleep.  So, I got up to do my morning prayer time.  I am studying Revelation in BSF this year and I was reading my notes from lecture this week.  I love how God brings me answers to things that are going on around me.  Deidra's in journalism at school this year, although she's wanting to drop the class after this semester.  Her teacher and her are polar opposites on a lot of issues and Deidra is constantly feeling like she's the only one in there that has any kind of morals on a lot of issues.  It's led for many debates, but she gets upset.  With all the shootings going on, ISIS stuff, and a lot of other things that she's been learning about going on in the world, she has asked me many a time if I thought we were in the end of times.  She doesn't want to die and leave her friends and family now, but I keep telling her that if we are all believers of Jesus we will all be together in Heaven.  We shouldn't be afraid to die if our focus is on Jesus.

She asked me about the blood moons and stuff the other day and we had a discussion about some of the signs of the end of times and that God talks about the signs in the sky.  As I studied my lesson in BSF this week, I found it interesting that at Jesus' birth, a star marks Jesus' first coming, but the sun, moon and galaxies will announce Jesus' second coming.  The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.  Even Jesus taught of His return by quoting similar words from Isaiah:  "Immediately after the distress of those days "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken."  Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.  Then, all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.  In Revelation, these same cosmic signs appear when Jesus the Lamb opens the sixth seal on the scroll.  The tumult in the heavens and the earth are merely the prelude to the great day of the Lamb.

This tells me that we must pay attention and be ready.  We must think rightly.  Expect scoffers to mock us and try to get us off track.  We must trust God and His timing.  Live holy and Godly lives and confess our sins and repent.  Be forewarned about false teaching.  Read God's Word and pray to grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus.


Thursday, December 10, 2015

What do you want for Christmas?

My oldest has been asking to go camping for so long.  I just discovered this deal of the day on Amazon on a 8 person family tent and I'm goimg to ask my hubby if I can order it as a family Christmas gift.  It's normally $219.99 on sale today for $119.  So awesome!  As a family of 7, I'm all for this!  We are always travelling somewhere and finding hotel rooms for a family our size can be difficult.  I think it would be fun to start visiting the State Parks and so forth too.  Hoping I can get my hubby on board as I'd really like this.  :-)

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

5 reasons to start your day with God...



God has really been putting it on my heart over the past little while that I am to be intentional with my habits.  I have some things that He's been talking about and I think I'm going to run some challenges here to help me keep on track and anyone who wants to join me most definitely can.   The challenges are going to run for 21 days.   The first healthy habit I do pretty well in with listening to others preach about God or reading from a devotional or a prayer book almost daily, but I want to make sure that I am letting Him truly speak to me in reading His Word ever day and hearing what He wants to say to me.  So, we'll start on Friday, December 11 with checking in daily and establishing this daily habit will run through December 31st.

Why am I choosing to start with spending time with God as our first habit?
#1  Nothing else is supposed to come before God, so I want to start my day with Him
#2  I need His words in my life to keep me on track.
#3  If I keep my focus on Him, I know what His will is for me.
#4  It also helps me to see my blessings and what He is doing in my life.
#5  I can share the Gospel and be more encouraging to others if I'm in the Word myself.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Money Making Mom by Crystal Paine Book Review

I just wanted to take a few minutes to write a quick post about a book that I read that I really loved.  I've read her blog at moneysavingmom.com  off and on for a few years now and followed Crystal on Facebook and now even on Periscope.  I love to listen to her scopes on morning motivation and her money making mom scopes too.  She's so humble and down-to-earth and she's somebody that I could really see myself being friends with in real life.  She's 1 of the couple people that I watch on Periscope almost daily.  Anyway, when her new book Money Making Mom by Crystal Paine came out a few weeks ago, I had to read it.


I loved all of her book, but I really loved where she said that "she wants to make a difference, to live each day as though it were my last, and I want to invest my life, my energy, and my time into things that have a lasting impact".  She wrote down a few of her goals concerning God, her marriage, her children and inspiring women and my heart teared up.  I've given myself some pretty big goals and a lot of mine were what she had written here.  God also keeps giving me a certain phrase about feeding the hungry and when I read about the vision that she shared with her friend for the orphans in South Africa, it really spoke to me too.  I just really enjoyed seeing how she isn't afraid to dream big and go for things and make an impact there in South Africa.  

I loved her chapter on giving back too and having that giving budget.  I want to help with family, friends, community, and even on an international level if possible.  I loved that she shared some ideas on how to do that.  Some, I've already done, but it's given me more ideas as well  I am a giver by nature anyway and it gives me great joy to give and make a difference with people.    I really love that Crystal is a giver too and is so down-to-earth and real with her readers.  She's somebody that I truly wouldn't mind meeting in real life one day.

Now to see where God leads me and my ideas as I begin to pray over them more and more.  Her book gave me a lot to think about and I highly recommend that you read it.
Money Making Mom by Crystal Paine (this is my affilate link )

Own Your Life Chapter 9


Sorry that I am just now getting up to Chapter 9 on Own Your Life but things have been a bit crazy around here.  I was going to do it last night, but I wound up falling asleep at 8:30.  Running after 5 kids makes you a little tired sometimes...just a little.  :-)  Anyway, let's discuss learning to take risks and owning your faith.

I loved the story of Sally's first mom's conference and how they stepped out in faith and God met their needs and more.  I love that they prayed and stepped out in faith and God did so much with the women there.  She said it best with "I believe God wants each of us to have the privilege of living by faith and watching Him work.  It is His desire to respond personally to all of us who are His."  Yes, we are not our own, we are His, and we are called to do His work.  We all have our own stories and dreams, but we must seek His will for us first as we leave our mark upon the world and on the people around us.

"Satan hates it when we hold fast to God and wait on Him to provide for our needs."  Yes, Sally brings it home there too.  She goes on to say "Then there are the naysayers, those voices that tell us we are foolish for choosing to take a risk by living by faith."  She really convicted me too when she said that "If we are going to focus on pleasing God by faith, we must realize that we will not always be able to please others."  Raising my hand...guilty of being a people pleaser here.  Yet, I am trying to work on that one.  Further conviction came as she said "When we choose to navigate our lives using fear, formula, or flesh, we set ourselves up for deep disappointments--and limit what God can do in and through us."  I am guilty of doing that again, although I have been trying to pray over my fears and trust God that He is taking care of us and making the choice to choose peace.

"Living the Christian life by the flesh is utterly exhausing and eventually wears us out."  Guilty again.  I keep telling myself that I need to pray about everything and follow in obedience with what He is guiding me to do.  I don't know how many times I forget to pray first before making quick decisions.  And how many times I set my wheels spinning and wind up totally stressed out or freaked out that I can't move and I just get stuck.  I am in the flesh at those moments...I forget to put prayer and God first and then follow in obedience to His will.

I loved her stories of how they stepped out in faith in certain areas and what God did in those circumstances too.  Faith is truly an act of trusting God to work in each of our circumstances and believing that He will in His time and that He truly knows what is best for us.  "No matter what our lives hold, God wants to work through the details and circumstances so that we will have a story of faith to tell throughout all of eternity."  We just need to pray about it all and trust Him with it.  God wants to bless us and He wants us to go to Him.  He wants that intimate relationship with us.

"Faith is a legacy you can pass on to your children as they observe the choices you make to believe God."  Yes, I want to pass my faith on to my children and give them hope of things to come.  I want to raise my kids to be "His warriors" and to own their faith as well.  I need to live by faith and show them how to do that.

Lord, help us to have an increase in faith and to wait patiently for Your personal miracles reserved uniquely for those of us who will take the risk to believe.  Amen.

I will share a little story...the week of Thanksgiving we were off to Goodwill.  I told my son that we needed to look for a winter coat for him while we were out and about.  He said that he wanted a Nike coat.  I told him that the chances of us finding one were pretty slim, but we'd look to see what they had available.  The first store we went to, barely had anything.  He was disappointed.  I told him that we were going to another store.  We went in and I found 2 coats in his size.  I had to smile as I realized that the red one was a Nike coat.  He was happy.  Later, that day, he got upset about something  and I sat down and talked with him.  I told him that I thought it was totally cool that he asked for a Nike coat and that God had provided that for him.  It brought him out of his little fit that he was in and back to being thankful.  I'm still thinking about that incident and it reminds me that God does provide....even in the tiny details.  How awesome is that!  My only mistake is that we should have prayed about it first and I shouldn't have said that the chances of us finding one were pretty slim...when me of all people should know that God can do anything.  Everytime I look at his coat, it will be a reminder of what God truly can provide...He cares about even those tiny details.