Prayer Requests!

First of all....I need you all to pray for my little man. He has been sick since Saturday. He has run fever, thrown up, had headaches and blown out so much snot it's unbelievable! But all tests at the doctor's office say it's not the flu, strep, bronchitis or pneumonia. We are waiting on some blood results to see if they tell us much.

Now my other request.....we have been asked to go to a church in view of a call as the Youth Minister. We have been in MUCH prayer over this since about 3 days after everything happened. God has really been working fast around here as far as that is concerned. I do have to tell you all though that we were also contacted by 2 other churches this week and by the local college (they want hubby to interview for an Assistant Director of Student Activities position). We haven't actually talked through anything with the other churches yet, because we just have some "hang ups" with talking to more than one church at a time. (feel free to comment on that if you feel led) But the one we have been talking to called hubby today to let him know that when we come down next weekend it will be in view of a call.

Here is our prayer....that God show us that this IS the place He wants us. And that we not just go here because it was the first place that contacted us. They are a very sweet congregation from what we have been told and from what we have seen, (we've been to the town once already, not the to church, but to the town to meet with the committee.) And that IF this is not the place, that He slam those doors shut and open these other ones. There are many pros and cons to this place, but we are really trying NOT to look at all that, and instead to LISTEN to His voice! So please help us....lift us up and listen along with us!

***UPDATE**** Just after I posted all this above, the doctor's office called. All the test results came back fine....so he is putting him on ANOTHER antibiotic and if he is still running fever on Monday, they will admit him into the hospital....SO please pray for Timothy!

God's Bigger Picture and Some Faith

So, do I know what's in His bigger picture yet? Not exactly....but do I know that He is faithful and that He is our provider and protector....Yes I do.

God is doing so much in our lives right now. He has changed our hearts on so many different things. He keeps reminding me that He is in control and we are not.

Today I visited a couple blogs I had not been to in a long time, and one of those was Rachel Anne's, and this is the post she had today. The verse she posted about was one that I have read many times over the past couple weeks.

Psalm 31:14-15 "But I trust in you O, Lord; I say, "You are my God." My times are in Your hands."

What a comforting verse. Has fully trusting Him been easy? No, because honestly I haven't fully trusted Him in a long time. I have trusted Him in the little things, in the things that I still felt I had some kind of control over, but to be quite honest I haven't had anything happen in my life that I had to FULLY trust in Him for, or at least that I realized anyway.

I have learned even more so that His ways are higher, and that they are definitely NOT mine. Would I have chosen for us to leave this church so abruptly? No. Would I choose to have 3 months to repair the house and get it sold? No. Would I choose to watch my 6 year old cry when he finally realizes that moving doesn't mean to another house, but instead it means far away? No.

There are many other things I will share about this experience God is allowing us to go through once I feel it is appropriate, but for now I will say that God is teaching us a lot about dependence on Him, a lot about faith, a lot about His provision and hearing His voice.

God is blessing us! We give Him the glory for all He has done so far and once a little time has passed I will share those blessings with you all.

Now, for the FAITH part...

Once more I ask you all to pray for the house. The work started today. We were given money from a friend to pay for the plumbing, but we still need money for the foundation and the repairs to the inside of the house.....and we need it NOW. This is one of those things we have been having faith about. We don't know where it is coming from yet, but we know God will provide. To be exact, we will need about $2500 within the next week and a half.....and we have no idea where it is coming from.....only God does!!!!

Faith is sometimes scary.....but "without faith it is impossible to please God..." Hebrews 11:6.

"I kicked off my flip flops off...it's a Texas thang!"

I know this is not the post some of you were waiting to read, but I saw this tonight on MSNBC and I just had to post it somehow. I tried to post it on my Facebook page but couldn't because I don't know how to yet....so I hope it works here...

If it does....get to the last 50 seconds....there is a woman that comes in to help and what she says cracked me up!!!! Hubby and I laughed so hard....however, it's just one more stereotype for us Texans!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

We are human!

"We are human!"

This is one phrase that I feel we all use WAY too often. One that when I hear it, I often think..."SO, what's your point!" Don't we have the Spirit living in us? I know we are NOT God and will never be as perfect as Jesus, but why do we use this phrase so unconcernedly. Please know that I am not saying that I have never or will never use this phrase, nor do I condem others who do, it just something I have struggled with in the past couple weeks when I've heard it. This is a phrase my hubby and I could have chose to use just a few weeks ago, but instead, chose to tell the truth and own up to our mistake, confess our sin, seek forgivness and repent.

My friends, the past three weeks have been very

shocking......trying......testing.....emotional.....sad..... confusing.....tiring.....

and full of

searching....seeking....listening....praying.....hoping....healing.....repenting....

I have wanted to post about all this since it started on Jan. 11th, but God
has not allowed me to until now.

On January 11th, the kids and I stayed home from church because they were both a bit under the weather. My dear hubby went to the morning services, came home, then left around 4:00 to prepare for a meeting he had that evening. But before his meeting he was asked to attend a deacon's meeting around 5:00 or so. Anyway, right around 6:00 that evening he walked into the house. The kids had not napped, so as soon as he came in, I automatically started telling him,

"They are about to get up, eat dinner, then go to bed!"

Then it hit me.....what was he doing home???????

I looked at him and said, "What's wrong?"

He looked down, and said, "I need to talk to you." Then pointed to our bedroom. Immediately my heart began to pound in my chest for I saw the tears in his eyes. I know my husband, so I knew this couldn't have anything to do with infidelity or anything like that, but I couldn't imagine what would have him so upset, and home early from church.....Did someone die? Is someone seriously hurt?.....WHAT was going on???

I sat on our bed and he started talking.....

"I was asked to come to the deacons meeting." (me shaking head) "When I got there, there were only 5 of them (I am leaving out names) so I knew this was not good." (me asking "WHAT? Did they fire you??" not thinking they would've) "Yes, they did. (insert tears and loud crying)" (Me asking all the who, what, when, where, why, how soon questions....) Then the explanation came...

Hubby told me that when he entered the room they told him that our tithing record had been brought to their attention and that we had not tithed in the past year. Then they asked hubby if that was true, and why. He told them it was and shared with them a few reasons why things had been difficult, the house, medical stuff for the family (all the while knowing it didn't really matter ...). Then one of them pulled out a piece of paper with a resignation letter already written and told him that since this was true, they were asking for his resignation, effective immediately. He asked them if any grace could be given and one of them told him, "I am sure God will show you grace, it just won't be here." (those words still ring in my ear....but God is working on that!) They proceeded to tell him that with this resignation there would be 3 months severance, but if he decided to push the issue, they would be forced to fire him and he would loose the severance. Not wanting to risk loosing the severance, he signed the letter, handed them his keys and walked out.

He came home, we talked and sat in shock...................

There were many moments of my dear hubby and I asking God questions and saying things like, "How could we be so stupid? How could we let this happen to our family? How could we do this to You? God, please forgive us!"

Then there were questions and statements from both of us like, "What are we going to do with this house? We can't live here past March. What are we going to do? The foundation and plumbing are still NOT fixed, we can't sell it like this. What are people going to think? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to tell everyone? How do we tell them? When do we tell them?

We were not given the option of going before the church to explain, or give reason for leaving. So hubby and I decided that the only thing we could do is wait until we were asked by others, then tell the TRUTH. "We were asked to resign because we had not tithed in 2008." That was the truth, and that is what we told others when we were asked.

The phone calls started that evening and hubby left his comments to what I stated above. He kept all his personal feelings about how things were held to himself. The others vented about it all, and everyone that called found it absurd that they would ask for his resignation so quickly.

Many of them asked us questions like, had anyone brought this to your attention before now? Had anyone asked you before now if things were ok, if you needed any help getting back "on track"? Did they tell you to take a couple months to get "caught up" then we will revisit this issue with you?

Our answer to those questions...."No, they didn't. Ultimately, we sinned, we are in the wrong. Do we like this, no, but what they accused is true."

When some told us, "we met with______ and gave them/him a piece of our mind....." I was very proud of how hubby responded....he simply told them, "I know you did what you felt like you needed to do, but I must be honest with you and tell you I find no joy in that." We know that ultimately this is a consequence of our sin. Do we like how it all came about, or how it was handled......no we don't, but does God like the fact that we have robbed from Him.....no He doesn't........

Through all this, GOD is teaching us SO much. HE is blessing us! I will share more about that in the next couple of days.

I ask one thing from you all.....Please pray for our house. We are finally getting everyone lined up to do all the work. Then it will go immediately on the market where our realtor really thinks it could have a contract on it in 30 days if not sooner! SO PRAY!!!

More in a day or two!

Just a Hello!

Me and my man! (and some creepy guy in the back that was staring at the camera too!) This was taken at this year's Thanksgiving game. We went again with our friends and we had a great time.

I just wanted to take the time to tell you all Happy New Year and to let you know I will be back soon. I have been spending time with the fam. and honestly.....I have become addicted to Facebook!

Anyway, I will share more with you all later.

Oh, by the way, my man and I will be celebrating an anniversary on the 4th! This will be anniversary #12! WOW.....

Christmas Tour of Homes

Welcome to my home! (a day late!)

hope you enjoy.

This was the first year that we were able to set up our village since we started the collection about 7 years ago! I know that seems like a long time, but we are a little funny in that we wanted to have EVERY piece before we sat it all up! Well, now we do SO....I give you.....Little Town Of Bethlehem, by Department 56.....you should be able to click on the pictures to see the details! We are amazed at the detail of this village!

There is actually more to the desert scene, I guess I just didn't get it all loaded!

Now on to the living room.....

Our tree....although I am allergic to every tree known to man, we always have a real tree! I just pop the antihistamines! :)

This is the same angel we have had on our tree since our first Christmas together. This will be her 12th Christmas on top of our tree!

Just a few ornaments....we have a wide variety!

The kids fought over who would put this one up....they both miss our dear Pongo!

This tree is a small fake one I had at school. I put it up in the breakfast area and let the kids decorate it!

These two hang under the base of their little tree. They each made these little trees in Mission Friends at church a few weeks ago. They glued Hersey Kisses to the dots, and have taken off one each night, counting down the days to Christmas. I will use it again next year....maybe with a more spiritual meaning though!

And my tour ends with a visit from Santa. He stopped by this past Sunday. The kids were in total shock. The girl just stared at him and played with his beard, and the boy talked nonstop! Reminding Santa that he REALLY wants a Red Rider BB Gun! Santa played along and told him that he would "shoot his eye out!" LOL The great thing about this Santa was that he reminded the kids that the TRUE meaning of Christmas is in Christ, not him and the presents we get. It was really nice to have that come from him and we didn't ask him to say it at all!

And that ends my tour...

Hope you enjoyed.....

Go visit the other 700 + homes over at BooMama's!

Praise and Coffee Giveaway!

Do you want some PRAISE........

and some COFFEE......

If so, then head on over to Sue's at Praise and Coffee. I love going to her site. I get a lot from her Two Shall Be One Tuesday posts. Check them out!

Spotted Boy, Tired Momma, Whiney Girl, Vacationing Daddy and Home Repairs

WOW...what a couple of weeks we have had around here. First, Rachel had fever for 5 days.....YES 5 days! She had no other symptoms than fever but it was high. Her only problem now is that she has reverted back to the whiny 3 year old. Well she is 4, but I remember 3 as being whiny....... gotta love her though....she's so stinkin' cute!

Now Timothy has CHICKEN POX!!! I praise the Lord that he didn't get them as bad as I did when I was a child. I had them EVERYWHERE!!!!! Timothy has only had them on his chest, back, and a few on his face. He never ran fever, but did complain of a stomach ache and sore throat a couple days before the first spot showed up. And yes....before you ask....he did have his vaccination. Well, he had the 1st one, but when school started and it was time to get his second one, NO ONE had it...not even the health department. SO, it makes me wonder.......does he really need it now? Hmmmmm......

As for the Momma of the house......well I am exhausted. I have had SO much going on at work lately, and have had to bring a lot of it home too. SO, I am tired. I am drained emotionally, physically and mentally! And today, one of my students didn't get his meds before coming to school, so the day was almost wasted. He was in RARE form and therefore the others fed off his behavior. There wasn't much I could do to "discipline" him because it really wasn't his fault and at the same time, I didn't feel I could do much to the others either.....it was just ONE OF THOSE DAYS!

The man of the house is on vacation. He had several days of paid vacation from the church that he had to take before the end of the year. So, he took some now and will take the rest at Christmas. I praise God for this because I don't have much leave built up at work, and since Timothy has had to stay home, it has worked out wonderful. He is out tonight at a Rockets' game.

As far as our house goes.....we will really need your prayers. We are about to have to take out a loan of some kind to pay for all the repairs. The plumbing will be around $5500 and the foundation will be around $6000 and the repairs to the inside we are not completely sure about but I would venture to say they will be in the ball park of $5000 as well. This is definitely money we don't have right now, but repairs HAVE to be done. Pray I can lay it at HIS feet and leave it there!

WOW!!! $100 Jewelry Giveaway!!

I just went to Lisa's and she had a post about this giveaway over at Rachael's. I can't get over the cuteness of this stuff! The picture above is my absolute FAVORITE of the bunch.

Many nights a week Rachel asks me, "Mommy, how much do you love me?" And I tell her, "I love you to the moon and back, to the moon and back, to the moon and back and back and back and back. How much do you love me?" and she says the same thing back to me.

Go check out the giveaway and while you are at it, check out her ETSY shop too.

Fever, Fever, Fever!

Today is day 4 of fever. Well, yesterday was a fever free day, so I guess it's actually day 3 with fever. Rachel woke up Thursday morning and told me she needed medicine. (sometimes I think she is a little hypochondriac!) Anyway, that afternoon, the daycare called me at work to let me know she was running a fever of 102.4. So I left work since the man was in Houston for a doctors appointment himself.

When I got to the daycare, she was listless and burning up! I called her doctor (cause I am the momma that runs to the doctor) and since she had just gotten over the bronchitis and ear infection, they told me to bring her in to the office. We were a work in, so you know what that means....yep...we sat and waited for 2 1/2 hours to see a doctor! The only positive thing about that is that Rachel slept the whole time.

Once we got in they took a swab to check for strep and it came back negative. Therefore, the diagnosis was a virus. A virus that they had been seeing with high fevers for 24 hours up to 5 days! Her fever has been as high as 103.4 and that's with Motrin and Tylenol!

She was fever free on Saturday, but woke up this morning telling me she needed medicine. She was on Carlton's side of the bed and he said, "Angie, I think you need to get the thermometer." Sure enough her temp was 101......UGH!

Pray for my little princess!