Well, okay not me. Had you there a minute didn't I? lol.
Our pastor and his wife are. Capt. Luke just called me and said that their contractions were 10 minutes apart and they should have a baby by this time tomorrow! I'll post the news when I hear more. Meanwhile please keep them in your prayers.
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1. I don't want to buy larger clothes again 2. I want to fit in the clothes I already have 3. I want to buy smaller clothes when I actually have the money to do so 4. I want to feel good about my body. 5. I need the encouragement of others 6. This is cheaper than WW 7. Leann is doing this too! 8. I want to start making heathier choices for me and my family 9. I want new taste good recipes to try 10. I need to work to avoid the high blood pressure that runs in my family 11. I need hubby to avoid it as well 12. I kept saying I needed to do something.... 13. There is no time like the present! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants |
Okay this is a newly discovered idea. I love the idea of weekly menus and have tried several different times in the past to implement them. But it has only been just recently that I have figured out a way to make them really work.
I wish I could actually sit down and post when I had things running through my mind instead of grasping at straws when I do have time to post. I guess I need a running blog list and jot down things when they come to me and then I would have blog fodder when it I actually have time to post I have ideas to write.
This week has been different for me. I interviewed with the private school again Tuesday afternoon. I heard back from the principal Friday afternoon. She wants to hire me but is unsure of the numbers and weather or not they will have enough to create the another class. She thinks so and is praying about it but asked that I wait a week until she can make a determination on the numbers. I said I would. What else am I going to say? I have other resumes out, but no open interviews right now. Just as she said I am beliving God for the opening. I am completly at peace on having to wait, but get impatient on wanting to know. Does that make senses. God has been saying "Be still and wait" and "I know the plans I have for you" over and over so that is what I am striving to do. I think, however, that I am slipping into a school mindset once again. I keep thinking of things I will get to do and trying to plan things so that I won't get stressed out in the classroom or at home.
I have also been semi-preping my oldest two to start thinking of going to school. For the oldest it is somewhat easier than the middle one. She has been in a classroom setting before. But this time it will be so much different for her because she will be making the jump from kindergarten to second grade as it were. She will be fine I believe, the curriculum will be a much better fit for her ( an me for that matter ) and she won't be so far ahead of her classmates.
The other one is a different story. Even if we didn't homeschool last year, this would still be his first in the classroom. He was asking his sister about what all would be going on and of course she was more than happy to tell him. I think he will be okay as well but not quite as confident about it.
".... For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstance" Phil 4:11
Jules over at Everyday Mommy has a new endeavor, a weekly topic on everyday things. Read more about it here.
Today's Everyday thing is a take off on Jules' herself. I choose my glass of Southern Sweet Tea. That is my coffee. After years of practice I have gotten the technique down to perfection, at least at my own house. When ever I make tea elsewhere it hardly ever tastes right.
For me and my house it goes like this.
Back in the kitchen for this week!
Those of you that read me often know how much I love recipes and cookbooks. I even have a unique recipe collector, subject to a prior WFMW. Keeping these handy and clean while in use have been a challenge for me and so I have come up with some ideas that have helped tremendously.
To keep those recipes from getting splattered and easy to read I have slipped them into page protectors. That way I can easily wipe off any splatters that occur and the actual recipe stays neat and clean.
If I have recipes that I have cut out of something, like a box or bag, that don't fill up a full page and would get lost in the protector I simply tape them to a page of computer paper and slip that into the protector.
Also, if you turn the protector upside down and slip the page in from the bottom, things don't splatter in from the top. A simple piece of scotch tape will keep the paper from falling out if you have trouble with that. But you don't have to seal the entire top.
Now I can take the recipe out of the binder and place it where I can see it when I am working. I either lay it on the counter or table, or hang it under the cabinet next to the wall - a piece of scotch tape works well here too, or if I am cooking on the stove - use a magnet and keep it on the vent hood over the stove.
For more great ideas see Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer
In the last week I was the recipient of a gift from two dear friends of mine. They sent me a gift card. I simple gesture, that expressed a LOT of love. These ladies knew of the stressful times my family has gone through in the last seven months. We have been the recipient of several gifts of love in these last few months. Each of them has been greatly appreciated and saw us through just a little bit further. And while we have thanked each and every giver immediately and several repeatedly, the ultimate thanks and praise go to my Father in Heaven. For without Him, we wouldn't have survived, with out without the gifts. Without Him, I don't believe we would have received those gifts. He prompts those who love Him to act, fills them with compassion, and prospers them to be able to give. Thank you Father, and thank each and every one of you who have prayed for us. Please continue these prayers, I feel we are on the verge of an answer. I want to be open to it and accept God's Will for us at this time.
But is is not here it is at my MIL's site. Please go by and see.
For James
James, We love you too, don't you ever forget that.
the kids are all in the boys room picking up toys, on just the other side of the wall from me. Daddy put the oldest "in charge" to keep the boys moving.
I heard the oldest saying "Pick up cars." after the second or third time I heard, "I am going to tell Daddy you aren't helping."
I quietly remarked to my husband, who is behind me watching the news of the day, "you are about to be drug in the conflict."
"How so?" He asked. To which I repeated the statement I just heard.
"Oh I thought you meant the Israeli/Lebannon conflict." ...........
My Everyday thing this week are good God loving, God fearing, Seeking to serve Officers.
As some of you know, my family is a member of The Salvation Army. Many people don't know that the history of the Army, and the fact that it started out as a church and is still a thriving Bible teaching, God loving, God serving church. In reference to the term "Army" in our title, we use military terms for many things, our churchs are called corps and our ministers are called officers. Which brings me to my topic for the day.
The corps we are members (or soldiers) of is relativly young, only about 10 years old. And about half of that time we have been in turmoil, because our leadership was in personal turmoil. And as many of you know first hand, when the leadership staff of a church is in personal turmoil it flows out to the rest of the church, wreaking havoc on every day life in everything it does. After several leadership changes in the last few years, we have finally begun to heal. Most of it was started with our last set of officers and for the first time in 10 years we have had a change of officership that wasn't forced and has been totally natural. Capt. Luke and Annette have been wonderful to get to know and share our vision for the church. I am so happy to have them here.
It is 93* outside. Why oh why are my children arguing and throwing fits over fall and winter jackets?
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Ah My favorite meme of the week.... I just love Wednesday's I get to read so many different ideas. I have taken several adapt for my own use. My problem is just thinking of my own to share. But this week I have racked my brain and racked my brain and still haven't been able to come up with something until I remembered my Bible Case. Mine is not the exact same as the one pictured here. But it is very similar. The very best feature is the fact that it has a shoulder strap. When I go to church, I often have a diaper bag, purse, and my church bag all on my shoulder. A toddler on my hip and either a four year old's hand or my van keys in my other hand. I have often left my Bible laying on the seat of the hall tree right by the door so I wouldn't forget it. But now that I have the shoulder strap on my case, it goes on my shoulder with the other stuff.
For more great ideas see Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer
How many of you remember when that phrase was in it's hay day at the risk of telling me your age a simple yes or no is sufficient. You don't have to tell me you were in elementary school in the mid '80's. Anyway that has been going through my mind in the last few days.
You see I have been through a cycle of emotional downswings and lows. It has been coming on for awhile but something seemingly simple triggered a new cycle of lows. I sat and went through a laundry list of perceive failures getting worse on myself with each one. I finally thought it would be easier if I just left.
But you know what? I have a wonderful husband and an even better God. In conversations the last two nights my husband just wouldn't let me degrade myself any longer. He wouldn't let me show him why, what I thought and did didn't matter. And my God, he wouldn't let me voice the words "Would it be better if I just left?" Not because I my husband would have let me leave. But because it would hurt him terribly if I mentioned the prospect. God also knew if the words had voice they would be out there hovering over any and every conversation we had in the future and could possibly affect decisions later on. So the words went unuttered and are safely out of reach of the Satan and his minions, he can whisper in my ear but can't work any more damage through my words. Now I must work on the directive in 2 Corinthians 10:5 . And say no Satan when he whispers those thoughts in my ear.
I love recipes and cookbooks. The thought of getting a new recipe or cookbook just delights me and so when I saw Stephanie Succulent Sunday post, I followed her link and found the host.
May I present my first offering to:
My g randfather makes and cans his own pickles. They are big thick slices of sweet and sour pickles. I love them. And there are NO duplicates. Anyway, one day my daughter dropped and spilled the pickle keeper on the floor outside of the fridgrr. We grabbed a towel and cleaned up the mess. I threw the towel in my laundry hamper I keep in the pantry for the kitchen towels etc... When the time came to do that load of laundry, I did as I usually did and picked up the hamper and dumped it in the washer. When it was finished, I went to transfer to the dryer and as I finished the putting the load in the dryer, in the bottom of the washer was 2 pickle slices.
Reading a comment on my previous post, I realized that I had not talked alot here about what is going on in my life, and why I am going back to work, or at least trying to.
For the past school year I have been a stay at home / homeschooling mom. I have loved it. It has been wonderful for me and my family. It was a great learning expereience where I learned alot about myself, my children, and my husband and our dynamics as a family.
The step to get there was, I believe a God directed step. I decided early on the year before, that I would be home the next year. I kept that information to myself as I worked through the first sememster that year. Finally through a series of powerful messages, given in different ways, I realized that God was asking me to trust Him and state my intentions publically. I jumped at the chance and talked to my husband. He relunctanly agreed. I had what I felt I needed. God's direction and my husbands approval. I talked to my pricipal after returning in January, and told the staff early in March. I was ready to come home.
The fall came and our income was cut basically in half. It was lean but we made it for awhile, until the fateful day in December when my husband lost his job. The reasons aren't important here but needless to say when the sole income is cut out things get tight very fast!
In the last six months we have learned a LOT about God's provision. I told some of that earlier. Another lesson I have learned is on submission. I will go into it more later but basically the gist of my learnings. Yes there is a biblical role for each member of the family, many people, including me believe that is for the wife to stay at/ work from home to be there to educate and take care of the family, there is not a direct command for this in scripture. However, there is a direct command for wives is to submit to their husbands. Yes there are many ramifications to that directive, that I am not going into here right now, but one is prime right now, I need to submit and be willing to what my husband asks (as long as it isn't unscriptural) and trust God to fix the mess if my husband is wrong in his directive. So 3 weeks ago when my husband asked me to start putting out resumes of my own, I willingly complied. Yes I said willingly. By this time, I had already realized some of the things I was doing were not fair to my family. So I was and am willing to go back to work to help support my family. I am looking at this as a season in our lives, preferably allowing my husband to get back on his feet in a career so that he can support us all once again and I can come home. However, I will be willing to listen to God and my husband follow their directions.
Meanwhile please pray for my husband to find a good job/career and for the interview I have coming up.
Of course I think all my children are highly intelligent but......
We are at Grandma's for the holiday. The new attaction at Grandma's house is the rats. She is rat sitting for my children's cousins as they move to a different state. The first and main intructions given to my children regarding the rats were "Don't put your fingers in the cage! The rats WILL bite them" So what does my oldest do instead? Stick her nose right between the bars of the cage...... Needless to say there are now four little pricks right on the tip of her nose.
Tomorrow we will be headed to my MIL's. It is because of some money she sent us earlier that we are able to make the trip. We will be able to see hubby's sister and her husband before they make their move to Oklahoma. While that isn't terribly far away it is still further than they are presently and my kids won't be able to see their cousins quite as often. So we are glad to be able to make this trip for the holiday, maybe we will get to see some fireworks as well. I'd rather watch a city display than shoot off our own.
Last night we had the Parkers over for dinner (don't be jealous Lori). They are our new officers. Our kids hit it off really well for the most part, in fact their middle child wanted come back over today after church. I haven't had that happen before. Our service this morning was small, we were missing a couple of regulars that are out of town. As I mentioned before every pastorate change we have had in our small, relatively new congreagation has had negitive vibes on the leaving or the incoming sides, this one has had none of those. While we miss the Lucas' and their minstry already, we are glad that they have had the opportunity to move and mister elsewhere. And we are so glad that the Parkers are here as well, it is wonderful to have more than our children consistanly in church.
I got word this week that I wasn't selected for a job that I interviewed for last week. This one was for a director in a new day care starting up in the church my mom and sister attend. I am so glad that God's voice was evident in this or I would have been crushed. I am really okay with the decision. While I would have liked to have a chance at the job, because it was something that I felt I could do but haven't had the chance to do, there were many other things that would have been difficult for us, like moving, especially away from a town with a Salvation Army corps. That move would have effectivly ended our chances of moving into ministry right now. So we are going to concentrate on our involovement in our own corps and praying that God will work out the details for us to be more active there, which is one of the things that will be looked at as we move onward.
I still have one other job that I have interviewed for. This one is for a classroom teacher postioin at a local private school, there is one and up to three openings. The one for sure is a kindergarten classroom. There quite possibly will be a second kindergarten class and another first grade class, in addition to the one that they already have. When speaking with the principal, I was thrilled to hear the numbers they would accept into a class, much better than the 28 in my last first grade class. I also don't think I would have the problem with a hindu as a classroom aide as I did that last year either. There appears to be much better stability in this school, unlike my last one that had 3 different pricipals during the seven years I was there. I loved that school, the faculty was wonderful and the parents were supportive, but it lacked stability in leadership. I will know something about that this week. I feel good about the interview, and know that I am qualified for it. So we wait.
I am also going to mail in another resume tomorrow, to our library, for a full time aide. I don't have the hours for an 'official' librarian, but would love a chance to work in the library if I don't have a classroom job.
Well that is a long update, but I wll try to do better ............
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