Day 1 of Summer Faith Adventure

We had a good first day of homeschool VBS today. We said the first decade of the Joyful mysteries...the Anunciation and learned more about that. We talked about baptism. We learned about King David. We made kings and crowns cookies...they had a hard time with carving. Emmy made a crown in her dough and Tracie just wanted to do a heart. Josiah wound up eating all of his dough before it could be carved out. Oh well. They had fun anyway. We talked about the pope and they got to make miter hats too. We also played "I am a child of God." I really enjoyed the day with them and I did learn that I could homeschool if I ever needed to afterall. :-) It went surprisingly well.

A very messy Tracie...



Emily carving a crown into her dough...



Josiah's picture that he colored of John baptising Jesus...



Tracie and her miter hat...



Josiah tasting the batter...



Emily helping to make keys and crowns cookies...

Volleyball and T-Ball

I went to see when the summer sign-ups started for volleyball and t-ball at the YMCA today. The kids have all played for the last 2 summers. Sign-ups were closed and I was devastated that I missed them and said a silent prayer to God...asked what other sign ups for other sports were open so I could see if anything was appealing to have them try that they would like. The sports director happened to hear me and asked me what ages the kids were...she was able to sign up Deidra on a volleyball team for the summer and their first game is tonight. And she had a team that I was able to get all 3 littles on for t-ball. God is awesome...what a blessing!

Resolutions?

I have a couple goals in mind for 2011. It's my Mom's birthday (in Heaven today) and she unfortunately died from diabetes complications after some complications from surgery and some other things that went wrong too. She died at the age of 30, but I wonder all of the time if she would have taken better care of herself if she would have still been with us today. I owe it to my children to be the healthiest that I can be...and Andy too of course. I want to get back down to a healthy weight and off the diabetes meds and high blood pressure pills.

And, I spend so much time taking care of others that I barely make time for myself. I want to focus on making more friends and nurturing the friendships that I currently have and I want to get back to looking nice. I've let my clothing choices slide and I'm tired of looking frumpy all of the time. I took some time today and ordered my color palette and I'm getting fashion advice for my body type. I want to look nice again. I look back to when I was in high school and how I tried to look nice and my hair and makeup were done more often. I want to look that way again.

And I want to continue on my path of being a better Christian, wife, mom, sister, and friend. I'm looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me and my family this coming year.

God Speaks...

Bible study has really been a big blessing to me. I have a Daily Devotional that I got about a month ago from Kay Arthur that I have been trying to read daily as well. It's so neat to see that some of what I am learning in Bible Study is also appearing in my devotional. We just studied the "Follow Me" command and it also appeared in my devotional. God is really laying a lot on my heart lately and I hear it confirmed through some of my Christian friends too that are also trying to do similar things. (Spending more time away from tv, doing more for others, getting off the computer more, just stuff like that). I have a few ideas in my head about some things. I'll share as we start to plant our seeds. I've had a lot on my mind lately and have just been trying to give it back to God...God doesn't want us to worry...he just wants us to have faith and trust in Him. So, I've been trying to do that more. I love it when I read something and know that He is totally speaking to me and letting me know that He is taking care of my worries and of me or whoever I have been worrying about. God has truly blessed me and I love it when I He speaks to me.

Deidra's First Communion

Deidra made her First Communion on Saturday, April 25. She looked beautiful! Mommy cried when I got her dressed and Deidra told me "no more crying!" Then when I saw her go up to receive communion, I cried again. Such a precious gift and it's so nice to share that with her! We went to Johnny Carino's for lunch with Grandma Davis and then we came home to do presents and cake. She had the neighbor girls down later in the evening to have cake with her as well. Their Mom made this beautiful cake for Deidra. It turned out way prettier than I ever imagined.

What a difference...

Monday and Tuesday were not good days for me. The kids were totally wild, didn't want to listen, and we had speech and occupational therapy to get through. I had a melt down yesterday afternoon and was crying. I was really low and didn't know how to get myself out of the funk that I've been in so far this year. I wound up going up and meeting my Mom as she left work and we went for coffee at Hastings. I talked with her about how I was feeling and I told her how I just felt that I was on empty and I had no more to give anyone and I needed Andy's attention and love to try to fill me back up. She told me that I was going to the wrong source and that only God could truly fill me back up. Andy would help, but she said that whenever she gets in a funk it's because she's not spending enough time with Jesus. She gave me a book by Bruce Wilkinson yesterday (it's on my bookshelf if you look down below on my blog) and told me to start spending some quiet time in the morning. I told her that's so hard for me right now but I knew that I needed to spend some time doing daily devotions again as that had been on my heart lately, but Baby J gets up so early that I didn't know when I could do it anymore. She prayed with me that God would allow him to sleep long enough for me to get some quiet time in. I came home and talked with Andy (we really had a good talk and I felt a bit better). The night ended well and I went to sleep feeling so much better.

I woke up this morning when Andy left for work at 5. He told me good-bye and I heard him leave. Baby J woke up and I told him it wasn't time to get up yet. Most mornings, that would result in a huge temper tantrum and he would refuse to be quiet. However, he laid down and tried to get up again. I just walked in and put him back in his bed. He told me "I don't like beds." I told him he needed to stay quiet in his room. He laid in there for 40 minutes and I was able to read the first couple chapters in the book my Mom had given me, read the first Chapter of Genesis, and say my morning prayer. Then, he was at the door calling me. I brought him down and fed him some breakfast and let him watch some tv while I finished up. What a difference that truly made in my day. I was out later listening to Christian radio and they were talking about spending quiet time with Jesus and how it truly gives you peace. That was totally an affirmation to me that I was on the right track and I need to get back to giving Jesus part of my day so that he can feed me with what I need to sustain me throughout the day.

New Years Goals...

Well, I think this is the year to lose this weight I want to get off. I'd like to digiscrap at least one layout a day. I'd like to read 1-2 books a month. I'd like to spend some time with God for at least 15 minutes a day. I'd like to make a few local friends down here to spend some time with. I'd also like to continue doing well in ebay and paying off our debts to become debt-free. I'd also like to stay current with fly lady and keeping my house clutter free.

Time to make some friends and do some stuff for me and others...

Andy has really been getting into frisbee golf lately and he's been playing with his co-workers. They're talking about starting up a team and playing frequently. I got rather resentful about it and I know I'm in the wrong. I told him to go and play and not to worry about me. Just because I don't really know anyone down here doesn't give me the right to hold him back because I want his company when he's not working. I've been thinking about it and Andy told me if I wanted to go out a couple nights a week or something that he'd be glad to watch the kids so I can have a break. I have such a hard time with me being so shy with making friends. He asked me why I didn't ask another fosterparent out for coffee or something. I don't know who to ask...

But, I also had the thought of getting involved in some volunteer work...maybe volunteering at a homeless shelter to feed the homeless or something. I feel a pull in this direction and it would be a way to serve God at the same time. So, I may look into doing something like this one or two Saturdays a month. I'm going to keep praying about it and see where God leads me...I know He'll open the door if I take the steps forward.

Called to love, give of ourselves, and to be humble...

I didn't go to mass this morning, but I watched it on tv. His homily spoke to me today. He was talking about how Jesus leads us to a very simple way to get to Heaven. He's prepared a room for us there and that He calls us to lead a life of love, giving of ourselves, and to humility. He said too often we have the thought of "what am I going to get out of it if I do this for someone?" He said we just need to give of ourselves anyway and realize that God will see our actions and bless us. We're to be humble and not expect anything in return when giving to others. We are called to serve others for God and yet, I too see that I often have the wrong attitude. I need to just do it and offer my actions to God and trust that He appreciates what I am doing and I don't need to expect return favors and such from others. I am to be humble and do it for God, yet I will be the first to admit that it hurts when I give to others and they can't give back at times. I need to work on changing my attitude. God sees and that is all that truly matters.

The voice...

I've always known that there was a God. I've always loved going to church and my Mom has always said that when she used to say my good-night prayers that I always said the most beautiful prayers. My family has also been blessed in Godly ways. A few moments stick out in my mind and I've really been thinking about them a lot and so I thought I would share.

When I was about 12, there was a travelling statue of Mary that would be passed around between the Catholic churhes in our area. Each church was given a certain amount of time to have it and families would sign up to have it in their homes for a certain time period. We had her for a week. It was beautiful and we dressed up our coffee table all nice to put her on and we would say our daily rosaries kneeling before the cross that we had hung in our living room and we had the statue directly beneath it on the coffee table.

One day, my Mom and I were home alone together and we were saying our rosary and we were saying our prayers at the end of the rosary and we said the "Act of Contrition" and as I was saying "I firmly resolve with the help of your grace" this big booming voice of a man said the end of the prayer with me "to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life." I immediately asked my Mom if she had heard that. She didn't and I told her what happened. I still to this day remember that voice and I believe it was the voice of God. There's no other explanation for it. Nobody else was home and it was a very powerful voice.

Another incident involving my parents happened when I was in junior high. My Mom and I are visited at times by Mother Mary...no we can't see her...that's not what I mean. But, we pray to her often and she would visit us and give us her scent of roses to smell while she was visiting. You can smell it over and above anything else. I can't really explain it. Anyway, My Dad had gotten a motorcycle and my Mom and him had gone out riding. I was with some friends while they were gone for the day. Mom had seen a statue of Mary and said a Hail Mary (something we always used to do and still do to this day and I do it as well whenever I hear a fire truck or ambulance siren). Anyway, they pulled into a gas station to get some gas and my Mom said that this overwhelming scent of roses came over her. There weren't any roses around her and my Dad was fueling up with her still sitting on the bike. She couldnt' smell the gas at all and she went into prayer with Jesus and Mary. Dad got back on the bike and they drove off. Mom was still in prayer when a pick-up truck ran an intersection. She felt my Dad swerve, never opened her eyes as she was still in prayer...she had no idea what was happening around her. The truck totally ran into them and they should have been thrown from the bike and they both said that they should have been killed with what happened. My Dad said that it was almost like someone waved a hand over his eyes and took over the wheel and when he opened his eyes, the handle bars on the one side were bent (where his hands were) and the mirror was broken off. Neither one of them had a scratch on them and were totally fine. They both believe that Mother Mary intervened for them and protected them. Mom said that the smell of roses was with her through the whole thing. And Dad feels that either her or Jesus took over the wheel and closed his eyes at the point of impact. He said that he felt his eyes being closed.

I can't explain some of the things that have happened in our family, but never will I doubt divine intervention. There is a God, and Mother Mary is real as well. I don't think enough people give her credit. I just felt the need to share. It's been on my heart for awhile.