Today, I'm just thankful. Thankful to be alive. To have a family. To have a mom and dad and grand-parents who love me. To have friends that are loyal and encouraging. To see God at work. To just know that "It is well with my soul." Is there any other better feeling in the world? NO!
As I sit here, many sounds are in the background. The cheering of the crowd on "Rocky"- yes the kids love this series! The wash machine twisting and turning with a slight squeek- yes I need to have this checked out. The girls peeling a pear and giggling. The slight hum of this computer....somehow it's all soothing to my soul. I am blessed beyond measure.
Things are stirring in my heart about embracing a new direction...whatever that might be. God's in control and I'm ready for Him to pour out Himself in my life.
I wait with open arms.
Life is Good because of God! Thumbs up!!!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Spur of the Moment
Have you ever found that your life must be set up for success? You must remove the distractions and replace them with things that help you reach productive goals. Today, John helped me do that and I'm not sure he even understands the impact of what he did. He rearranged our bedroom...well, I helped just a smidge :)
You've heard me talk about the treadmill in the past. Of course a treadmill is only useful if you open it and USE it!!! It becomes a lovely clothes hanger if not in use. So, I've come to this conclusion- in order for ME to use a treadmill, it must be left down and look very inviting :) Anyhow, John sooooo sweetly moved it to where it can remain open in our room!! yay!!!! All afternoon, I kept thinking "just jump on that silly thing and walk for 20 min." And then I'd think "Nahhhh...it's just too hot today and I already feel sticky from the humidity."
After getting home from Evan's game this evening, I had a spur of the moment thought "Just get on the treadmill!!!" And i did!
My goal is just 20 min per day. I can do it!!!
You've heard me talk about the treadmill in the past. Of course a treadmill is only useful if you open it and USE it!!! It becomes a lovely clothes hanger if not in use. So, I've come to this conclusion- in order for ME to use a treadmill, it must be left down and look very inviting :) Anyhow, John sooooo sweetly moved it to where it can remain open in our room!! yay!!!! All afternoon, I kept thinking "just jump on that silly thing and walk for 20 min." And then I'd think "Nahhhh...it's just too hot today and I already feel sticky from the humidity."
After getting home from Evan's game this evening, I had a spur of the moment thought "Just get on the treadmill!!!" And i did!
My goal is just 20 min per day. I can do it!!!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Serenaded by My Hubby
I'm entering a new phase of life. My youngest child is now 5 years old and getting ready for Kindergarten this fall....I still can't believe this!!! For years and years and years, I would attend family events and parties with such a tense feeling as I had babies and toddlers to always, always care for. I would long for the moments when my very caring family would relieve me and take one child for a walk, or change a diaper, or just feed them and enterain them. I couldn't really ever just relax and have fun. But tonight...was different.
My uncle and fiance hosted an amazing blowout party event in W. Point. This was the first year that John and I could breathe more easily and let the kids run, play, have fun, explore, ride horses...just be kids...without us being on edge. The karoke was absolutely hysterical. The kids would take turns singing songs, dancing, strumming their pretend electric guitars, jam.....just have a hootin' good time!
As the evening went on, I kept nudging my dear hubby to try the karoke (he's super good at it and has a nice voice too) Me, on the other hand, can NOT carry a tune if my life depended on it!!! Finally, finally, he was brave enough to give it a shot and of course...hit a home run! He warmed right up and took his turn singing several songs. By the end of the night, he was confident enough to serenade me to a song that was quite funny....do you remember the movie "Top Gun" ? Remember the part when Tom Cruise decides to talk to the blonde gal and he begins singing to her? Well, my cuz Kristy's hubby Matt put John up to reinacting that whole scene! The song doesn't make much sense about our marriage or anything...but it was cute and fun to just sort of act out that scene. I'm quite theatrical and really think I missed my calling to be an actress :) teeheee...maybe not :) Anyhow, it wasn't actually the words that John sang, but the fact that he did it in front of about 50 people, that just touched my heart. I felt like I was 16 again and my crazy boyfriend, John, was wooing me with his fun-loving personality......that man melts my heart. Who would have ever dreamed that we would be where we are today? I'll tell you who....GOD. God didn't dream it though- HE ordained it and I'm blessed to walk this road called "marriage" with him as my soul-mate.
Praise and honor to God alone who has brought us this far and will continue to strengthen our marriage, our lives!
My uncle and fiance hosted an amazing blowout party event in W. Point. This was the first year that John and I could breathe more easily and let the kids run, play, have fun, explore, ride horses...just be kids...without us being on edge. The karoke was absolutely hysterical. The kids would take turns singing songs, dancing, strumming their pretend electric guitars, jam.....just have a hootin' good time!
As the evening went on, I kept nudging my dear hubby to try the karoke (he's super good at it and has a nice voice too) Me, on the other hand, can NOT carry a tune if my life depended on it!!! Finally, finally, he was brave enough to give it a shot and of course...hit a home run! He warmed right up and took his turn singing several songs. By the end of the night, he was confident enough to serenade me to a song that was quite funny....do you remember the movie "Top Gun" ? Remember the part when Tom Cruise decides to talk to the blonde gal and he begins singing to her? Well, my cuz Kristy's hubby Matt put John up to reinacting that whole scene! The song doesn't make much sense about our marriage or anything...but it was cute and fun to just sort of act out that scene. I'm quite theatrical and really think I missed my calling to be an actress :) teeheee...maybe not :) Anyhow, it wasn't actually the words that John sang, but the fact that he did it in front of about 50 people, that just touched my heart. I felt like I was 16 again and my crazy boyfriend, John, was wooing me with his fun-loving personality......that man melts my heart. Who would have ever dreamed that we would be where we are today? I'll tell you who....GOD. God didn't dream it though- HE ordained it and I'm blessed to walk this road called "marriage" with him as my soul-mate.
Praise and honor to God alone who has brought us this far and will continue to strengthen our marriage, our lives!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Ever Get Sick of Ordinary?
For anyone that has read my blog, you know that I had taken a bit of a blog "sebaticle." I've decided to return to blogging because God is making me more and more uncomfortable and pushing me to dig deeper. I'm on the cusp of a major change in my life and I'm not sure exactly what it is though I have some ideas. I've decided to start living a life more of faith and purpose, to not be satisfied with the ordinary. I'm getting sick of ordinary!
I don't want an ordinary marriage.
I don't want to be an ordinary parent.
I don't want to act ordinary at church.
I don't want an ordinary relationship with Jesus.
No!
I want an extra-ordinary joyful life. I want to be soooo contagious that if you even look at me- you see Jesus. If you speak to me- you want more of Jesus within me. If you spend time with me- you long to be more like Jesus. If I pray with you, God's extraordinary love overflows on you. If I hug you, you want to melt becasue God's love consumes you. I want more. I want more.
I want the heavens to rain down a flood of power unto me and others to unashamedly share the gospel of Jesus. Have i so quickly forgotten His power to change lives? Apparently so! When is the last time I shared about the gospel? His truth? I'm ashamed to say "it's been WAY too long!"
I asked God to light a fire under me a few days ago and it's starting to get warm...possibly real HOT...quite uncomfortable actually. I've pulled away from God over the past few months. It's been a not so fun place--spiritually speaking.
I've doubted every spiritual gift that He's given me. I've listened to the lies of the enemy as they are whispered into my ear and have gave way to these lies. I've stepped over to the side and allowed the lies to win. I've been embarrassed to even suggest that I have something of value to say to a group of women. Why would God use me? I became distracted by some personal issues. But Oh boy...I'm ready and willing to follow His call. I don't think that it is some earth-shaking radical change for me, but I think it's right before my very eyes. Every breath and step I take is being watched and compared to what I "say" I believe in.
I have 6 kids who are spending their entire summer with me...listening...watching..waiting...wondering and thirsty to know more about who God is. I have a husband who IS undoubtedly the most amazing man on the face of this earth- I adore many things about him. But mostly- I LOVE that he loves Jesus. I love his honesty, genuineness, transparency, and His growing level of discernment. I feel safe and secure with his umbrella of protection. I feel loved unconditionally. I am the love of his life and he the love of mine. Oh...how richly blessed I am. My greatest ministry is to be John's wife and I am honored!
So...my fire has been lit and I'm going to rely on God's power to live life full of love for others. May the world know HIM because of my love for his people. Whatever that looks like God, I'm ready to listen and to act upon it. Please oh please God-
I'm begging for your strength to transform my eating and exercising habits. You know I don't want to be skinny for skinny's sake, but I want to be healthy and vibrant.
There is NO doubt in my mind that you-God- and you alone are the only one who can help me succeed down this path and to change a lifelong history of leaning on food for comfort. The Bible says to give thanks for all things. Therefore, today, right now, I give thanks for exactly how much I weigh, for exactly where I am, and to know that you promise to work all things together for good. You are God alone and I trust YOU! I'm sick of ordinary when GOD- you are full of extraordinary greatness and grace. Fill me up.
I don't want an ordinary marriage.
I don't want to be an ordinary parent.
I don't want to act ordinary at church.
I don't want an ordinary relationship with Jesus.
No!
I want an extra-ordinary joyful life. I want to be soooo contagious that if you even look at me- you see Jesus. If you speak to me- you want more of Jesus within me. If you spend time with me- you long to be more like Jesus. If I pray with you, God's extraordinary love overflows on you. If I hug you, you want to melt becasue God's love consumes you. I want more. I want more.
I want the heavens to rain down a flood of power unto me and others to unashamedly share the gospel of Jesus. Have i so quickly forgotten His power to change lives? Apparently so! When is the last time I shared about the gospel? His truth? I'm ashamed to say "it's been WAY too long!"
I asked God to light a fire under me a few days ago and it's starting to get warm...possibly real HOT...quite uncomfortable actually. I've pulled away from God over the past few months. It's been a not so fun place--spiritually speaking.
I've doubted every spiritual gift that He's given me. I've listened to the lies of the enemy as they are whispered into my ear and have gave way to these lies. I've stepped over to the side and allowed the lies to win. I've been embarrassed to even suggest that I have something of value to say to a group of women. Why would God use me? I became distracted by some personal issues. But Oh boy...I'm ready and willing to follow His call. I don't think that it is some earth-shaking radical change for me, but I think it's right before my very eyes. Every breath and step I take is being watched and compared to what I "say" I believe in.
I have 6 kids who are spending their entire summer with me...listening...watching..waiting...wondering and thirsty to know more about who God is. I have a husband who IS undoubtedly the most amazing man on the face of this earth- I adore many things about him. But mostly- I LOVE that he loves Jesus. I love his honesty, genuineness, transparency, and His growing level of discernment. I feel safe and secure with his umbrella of protection. I feel loved unconditionally. I am the love of his life and he the love of mine. Oh...how richly blessed I am. My greatest ministry is to be John's wife and I am honored!
So...my fire has been lit and I'm going to rely on God's power to live life full of love for others. May the world know HIM because of my love for his people. Whatever that looks like God, I'm ready to listen and to act upon it. Please oh please God-
I'm begging for your strength to transform my eating and exercising habits. You know I don't want to be skinny for skinny's sake, but I want to be healthy and vibrant.
There is NO doubt in my mind that you-God- and you alone are the only one who can help me succeed down this path and to change a lifelong history of leaning on food for comfort. The Bible says to give thanks for all things. Therefore, today, right now, I give thanks for exactly how much I weigh, for exactly where I am, and to know that you promise to work all things together for good. You are God alone and I trust YOU! I'm sick of ordinary when GOD- you are full of extraordinary greatness and grace. Fill me up.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
How Long!
How long has it been since I first wrote on this blog??? A LONG time ago. I sort of came to a point where I didn't want everyone reading my innermost thoughts. I'm still at this point...so
God...it's all YOU and Me!
As you know I watched the "Passion" Sat. night and was moved to remember the road of suffereing that you took to the cross. You were highly persecuted- beyond my belief. You suffered in a way that is indescribable. I realize that you not only suffered physically, but the true worst part of it all was being God in the flesh and having to bare the sins of the world. How did you actually forgive and love those who were horrifically spitting in your face. If you were sitting right here, Jesus, I would ask you how did you do it? How did your heart not rage with anger for the unrighteous treatment that you were recieving? I love you Lord. I want to seek you with all my heart, mind and soul and NOT care one bit what anyone has to say unless it is godly advice. I want to "tune out," if you will, the static of the world. I want to hone in on what is precious and important to you! I want to love my family like you want me to and be the mom and wife that you've called me to be. I want to be a crown of jewels on my husband's head that he is proud of . I want to focus on eternity. You keep telling me eternity is at hand...eternity is at hand. I do want to have self control and deny my flesh . I do want to foloow and obey you , but I'm soooooooo weak! so weak!!! My weakness actually disgusts me!!! I want to be a shining witness for you and love people and tell them the gospel and your powere to transform their lives. But Lord, Lord, want do you really want to do with my life? Tell me. Please tell me. I want to sit at your feet and drink from the cup in your hand . I want you to hold me tight and not let me go. Connvict me immediately when I'm far from you, give me the strength to make wrongs right. Please give me a humble heart that does not want worldly attention. Make me dissappear and you APPEAR through me in your greatness. I love you Lord. I do. I'm sooooo sorry for all the ways that I let you down. You are my creator, my love, my maker. You knit my inner most parts in my mother's womb and I'm eternally grateful that you chose to love me first! Why did I get privledged to live in a free country, with loving family and upbringing, not an abusive home, a wonderful godly husband...6 lovely children...why me? I do not deserve all of this. I know there are people dying all over the world just because they don't have clean water. They are my human brothers and sisters and yet I allow them to die??? Oh Lord, break my heart for the things that break yours. I want a new passion stirred up in me like I've never known. Stir my heart Lord!! Stir it up!!! I want to eat your word and breathe it...live it...love it.
Lord, i love you and want to just be overflowing with you tonight.
God...it's all YOU and Me!
As you know I watched the "Passion" Sat. night and was moved to remember the road of suffereing that you took to the cross. You were highly persecuted- beyond my belief. You suffered in a way that is indescribable. I realize that you not only suffered physically, but the true worst part of it all was being God in the flesh and having to bare the sins of the world. How did you actually forgive and love those who were horrifically spitting in your face. If you were sitting right here, Jesus, I would ask you how did you do it? How did your heart not rage with anger for the unrighteous treatment that you were recieving? I love you Lord. I want to seek you with all my heart, mind and soul and NOT care one bit what anyone has to say unless it is godly advice. I want to "tune out," if you will, the static of the world. I want to hone in on what is precious and important to you! I want to love my family like you want me to and be the mom and wife that you've called me to be. I want to be a crown of jewels on my husband's head that he is proud of . I want to focus on eternity. You keep telling me eternity is at hand...eternity is at hand. I do want to have self control and deny my flesh . I do want to foloow and obey you , but I'm soooooooo weak! so weak!!! My weakness actually disgusts me!!! I want to be a shining witness for you and love people and tell them the gospel and your powere to transform their lives. But Lord, Lord, want do you really want to do with my life? Tell me. Please tell me. I want to sit at your feet and drink from the cup in your hand . I want you to hold me tight and not let me go. Connvict me immediately when I'm far from you, give me the strength to make wrongs right. Please give me a humble heart that does not want worldly attention. Make me dissappear and you APPEAR through me in your greatness. I love you Lord. I do. I'm sooooo sorry for all the ways that I let you down. You are my creator, my love, my maker. You knit my inner most parts in my mother's womb and I'm eternally grateful that you chose to love me first! Why did I get privledged to live in a free country, with loving family and upbringing, not an abusive home, a wonderful godly husband...6 lovely children...why me? I do not deserve all of this. I know there are people dying all over the world just because they don't have clean water. They are my human brothers and sisters and yet I allow them to die??? Oh Lord, break my heart for the things that break yours. I want a new passion stirred up in me like I've never known. Stir my heart Lord!! Stir it up!!! I want to eat your word and breathe it...live it...love it.
Lord, i love you and want to just be overflowing with you tonight.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Our Trip to Disney
It's been forever since I blogged here, but I wanted to take a few moments and record some valuable information that I've noticed while being here in Orlando/Kissimmee FL.
It's quite amusing that we are experiencing record low temps here in FL on our vacation. It usually is in the 70's but our week here has been 48-60 degrees. I did discover that no matter what the temperature, you need sunscreen. Even on cooler days, the sky is crystal clear blue and the sun is gorgeous. I would love to visit here more often...it's beautiful!
I'm thanking God for His amazing generosity to our family. We were blessed with 8 days/7 nights at the Orange Lake Resorts with points from my dad and connie's timeshare. When we first booked this awesome 3 bedroom/3 bathroom villa, I knew it was a far-fetched dream that we'd be able to afford to take 6 kids to Disney. For all 8 of us, the bill would be near $600 for ONE day!!!! That is just nuts! We began to pray..knowing very well that this trip was pure luxury, nothing we needed or couldn't live without. YEt, we knew that God could provide.
Sure enough, we received Christmas gifts of finacial means that paved the way. Talk about above and beyond what we could dream or imagine.....then, came.....an additional financial gift to specifically cover a day at Disney- this person insisted to remain anonymous but wanted to bless us. This person stated "I'm just a vessel for His money." I have been in shock over this gift because it was spontaneous and it showed me something about God's character....It is better to give than recieve. Yes, I happened to be on the receiving in...but I could see in this person's heart and eyes- the true love to give unconditionally, with no strings attached, freely, generously, with GREAT JOY! More than this trip, I want THAT...I want what that person had...I want to give like mad. I have a renewed hate for debt and overspending. God released more in this trip than I could have dreamed- He gave us freedom from the bondage of things. Strangely enough, we go on a dream vacation to be taught how NOT to hold onto the things of this world. Before we even left Indiana, I mapped out a very strict budget and John approved it. God empowered me with a firm and strong stand against being tempted into spending money that we had not budgeted. I knew I was a rock and would not waver. Here's the funny thing about that statement....I, Kara, am a total mush ball of falling into temptation...especially when it comes to eating out or eating treats at amusement parks!!! So, God turned me into a hard core drill money drill sergeant...it felt good.
So, here's my recordings of expenses so that I can look back at this someday and remember how I did this....
Gas right now is about $2.69/gallon. From our home to our resort was 1080 miles. We spent $150 gas to get here and for about half of our week here driving around. We left home at about 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 1st and drove straight thru with only stopping for 2 gas trips/potty break
and to switch drivers. It took 15 1/2 hours to get here. I drove from 2-4 a.m. and john drove the rest..he's amazing!!! Before we left, we ate a solid dinner. Each child had an "activity bag" which they would keep under their feet in the van. This contained their electronic stuff..Nintendo DS, MP3 player, Leapster, crosswords, coloring/crayons, etc. Also, they each had their own snacks for the trip and their breakfast for Sat. morning. (5 starbursts, 2 granola bars, small amt. of beef jerky and pecan rolls)They could snack at their leisure and I found this worked VERY well!!! Also, I found that 10 oz. bottles of water were perfect because we wanted to control the amount of fluids so that everyone didn't have to go potty every half hour. I kept these room temperature in the van and they were fine. So, we didn't actually have a cooler. I also packed a small box that sat between John and I of additional goodies: gummy bears, starbursts, peanuts, beef jerky, Special K bars, apples, large packs of our favorite gum, tissues, and anti-bacterial wipes. We had a mini trash can lined with a wal-mart sack (with 3 extra sacks hidden underneath). Then, we had a mini trash Each child also had one fleece blanket and one pillow. Needless to say, they were packed in our 8 passenger mini van. I also had made ahead peanutbutter and jellies for Sat. lunch and pringles (when we arrived in Orlando, I knew we'd be famished and not have groceries yet). Emma and Abby got one dose of Dramamine since they tend to get car sick- worked well!
NOTE- anytime you go to a timeshare resort- they will offer you several "deals" for you to just take a tour of the property. Never accept the first few offers. The more you say NO, the harder they try and will give you more incentives. I initially said No thanks as John and I had decided that would be our answer. We checked in, got unloaded and then Anna and I headed off to local WAl-Mart to do our shopping. (Aldi's was quite a bit further away). We had planned full menu for the entire week other than one evening's dinner. I spent $230 on groceries- very pleased with that. We booked it home to prepare Johnathan's favorite dinner since it was his 13th birthday!!! We had spaghetti, garlic bread and salad..yummy! Dinners for the week: spaghetti, chili, chicken and fettucini alfredo, taco salad and tacos, egg sandwiches, and left overs. Lunches: ham or turkey sand, pb and j's, chips and salsa. Breakfasts: pancakes, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, sausage gravy and bisquits, Homemade "egg mcmuffins", cereal, bagels, hashbrowns.
Treats to make for week: Fudge, Chocchip cookies, NO bake cookies, banana splits.
John and I know exactly how the time share thing works and we decided that we were completely strong enough at this point in our lives to just get through those tours/sales pitches to get the free cash gift or excellent deal on Disney tickets. To make a long story short, we went through 2 tours and got $80 cash along with a phenomenal deal on 2 day passes plus Disney Quest for all 8 of us! Sadly, that $80 cash evaporated with parking 2 days at Disney ($14 each day) , tennis shoes for Avry since somehow we lost hers, and 2 trips to Walgreens for other stuff). My favorite part of the whole trip was when John and I told the timeshare salespeople that "we don't purchase anything without the cash to do so and we will NOT make payments on anything!" They looked shocked and politely tried to dispute our position. Oh well!!!!!! We're on our way to being debt free baby!!!!
The kids had money for our trip that they decided would be best used to purchase a family gift instead of blowing it on pointless junk and food at Disney. So...we purchased a Wii with the moola!!! Yay!!!! They've had a blast with it and it will last!!!
We went one day to Hollywood Studios and one day to Magic Kingdom. I filled my purse both days with snacks and a few water bottles. EAch day, we ate a hefty breakfast and lunch before we left for park around noon (this was the best advice anyone could've given us!) Then, we enjoyed the afternoon at the park and headed home around 6-7 p.m.
We hear it's a blizzardy mess back in Indiana right now. Our plan is to head out of here early SAt. morning and be home by 11 p.m. SAt. night. We hopefully will make it to church Sunday morning!!! I miss everyone soooo much!!!
I may add more details later...for now, I'm tired though. Space Mountain jerked me around pretty well...neck is bit sore :)
It's quite amusing that we are experiencing record low temps here in FL on our vacation. It usually is in the 70's but our week here has been 48-60 degrees. I did discover that no matter what the temperature, you need sunscreen. Even on cooler days, the sky is crystal clear blue and the sun is gorgeous. I would love to visit here more often...it's beautiful!
I'm thanking God for His amazing generosity to our family. We were blessed with 8 days/7 nights at the Orange Lake Resorts with points from my dad and connie's timeshare. When we first booked this awesome 3 bedroom/3 bathroom villa, I knew it was a far-fetched dream that we'd be able to afford to take 6 kids to Disney. For all 8 of us, the bill would be near $600 for ONE day!!!! That is just nuts! We began to pray..knowing very well that this trip was pure luxury, nothing we needed or couldn't live without. YEt, we knew that God could provide.
Sure enough, we received Christmas gifts of finacial means that paved the way. Talk about above and beyond what we could dream or imagine.....then, came.....an additional financial gift to specifically cover a day at Disney- this person insisted to remain anonymous but wanted to bless us. This person stated "I'm just a vessel for His money." I have been in shock over this gift because it was spontaneous and it showed me something about God's character....It is better to give than recieve. Yes, I happened to be on the receiving in...but I could see in this person's heart and eyes- the true love to give unconditionally, with no strings attached, freely, generously, with GREAT JOY! More than this trip, I want THAT...I want what that person had...I want to give like mad. I have a renewed hate for debt and overspending. God released more in this trip than I could have dreamed- He gave us freedom from the bondage of things. Strangely enough, we go on a dream vacation to be taught how NOT to hold onto the things of this world. Before we even left Indiana, I mapped out a very strict budget and John approved it. God empowered me with a firm and strong stand against being tempted into spending money that we had not budgeted. I knew I was a rock and would not waver. Here's the funny thing about that statement....I, Kara, am a total mush ball of falling into temptation...especially when it comes to eating out or eating treats at amusement parks!!! So, God turned me into a hard core drill money drill sergeant...it felt good.
So, here's my recordings of expenses so that I can look back at this someday and remember how I did this....
Gas right now is about $2.69/gallon. From our home to our resort was 1080 miles. We spent $150 gas to get here and for about half of our week here driving around. We left home at about 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 1st and drove straight thru with only stopping for 2 gas trips/potty break
and to switch drivers. It took 15 1/2 hours to get here. I drove from 2-4 a.m. and john drove the rest..he's amazing!!! Before we left, we ate a solid dinner. Each child had an "activity bag" which they would keep under their feet in the van. This contained their electronic stuff..Nintendo DS, MP3 player, Leapster, crosswords, coloring/crayons, etc. Also, they each had their own snacks for the trip and their breakfast for Sat. morning. (5 starbursts, 2 granola bars, small amt. of beef jerky and pecan rolls)They could snack at their leisure and I found this worked VERY well!!! Also, I found that 10 oz. bottles of water were perfect because we wanted to control the amount of fluids so that everyone didn't have to go potty every half hour. I kept these room temperature in the van and they were fine. So, we didn't actually have a cooler. I also packed a small box that sat between John and I of additional goodies: gummy bears, starbursts, peanuts, beef jerky, Special K bars, apples, large packs of our favorite gum, tissues, and anti-bacterial wipes. We had a mini trash can lined with a wal-mart sack (with 3 extra sacks hidden underneath). Then, we had a mini trash Each child also had one fleece blanket and one pillow. Needless to say, they were packed in our 8 passenger mini van. I also had made ahead peanutbutter and jellies for Sat. lunch and pringles (when we arrived in Orlando, I knew we'd be famished and not have groceries yet). Emma and Abby got one dose of Dramamine since they tend to get car sick- worked well!
NOTE- anytime you go to a timeshare resort- they will offer you several "deals" for you to just take a tour of the property. Never accept the first few offers. The more you say NO, the harder they try and will give you more incentives. I initially said No thanks as John and I had decided that would be our answer. We checked in, got unloaded and then Anna and I headed off to local WAl-Mart to do our shopping. (Aldi's was quite a bit further away). We had planned full menu for the entire week other than one evening's dinner. I spent $230 on groceries- very pleased with that. We booked it home to prepare Johnathan's favorite dinner since it was his 13th birthday!!! We had spaghetti, garlic bread and salad..yummy! Dinners for the week: spaghetti, chili, chicken and fettucini alfredo, taco salad and tacos, egg sandwiches, and left overs. Lunches: ham or turkey sand, pb and j's, chips and salsa. Breakfasts: pancakes, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, sausage gravy and bisquits, Homemade "egg mcmuffins", cereal, bagels, hashbrowns.
Treats to make for week: Fudge, Chocchip cookies, NO bake cookies, banana splits.
John and I know exactly how the time share thing works and we decided that we were completely strong enough at this point in our lives to just get through those tours/sales pitches to get the free cash gift or excellent deal on Disney tickets. To make a long story short, we went through 2 tours and got $80 cash along with a phenomenal deal on 2 day passes plus Disney Quest for all 8 of us! Sadly, that $80 cash evaporated with parking 2 days at Disney ($14 each day) , tennis shoes for Avry since somehow we lost hers, and 2 trips to Walgreens for other stuff). My favorite part of the whole trip was when John and I told the timeshare salespeople that "we don't purchase anything without the cash to do so and we will NOT make payments on anything!" They looked shocked and politely tried to dispute our position. Oh well!!!!!! We're on our way to being debt free baby!!!!
The kids had money for our trip that they decided would be best used to purchase a family gift instead of blowing it on pointless junk and food at Disney. So...we purchased a Wii with the moola!!! Yay!!!! They've had a blast with it and it will last!!!
We went one day to Hollywood Studios and one day to Magic Kingdom. I filled my purse both days with snacks and a few water bottles. EAch day, we ate a hefty breakfast and lunch before we left for park around noon (this was the best advice anyone could've given us!) Then, we enjoyed the afternoon at the park and headed home around 6-7 p.m.
We hear it's a blizzardy mess back in Indiana right now. Our plan is to head out of here early SAt. morning and be home by 11 p.m. SAt. night. We hopefully will make it to church Sunday morning!!! I miss everyone soooo much!!!
I may add more details later...for now, I'm tired though. Space Mountain jerked me around pretty well...neck is bit sore :)
Monday, October 12, 2009
Why?
Today God is reminding me to think on things that have eternal value- character, relationships, deep meaningful things. I feel spiritually "heavy." I'm battling the flesh as usual and am finding myself very "me-focused." I can become consumed with negativity about myself to the point of not being able to see obvious ministry opportunities right before my very eyes.
Remind me again- Why does God want people like me who have junk in their hearts and lives? Why does He choose to give me things I do not deserve? Why can't I just quit and be a reclusive person who never has to face the fear of failing people????????????? Why do I easily forget that this life is but a vapor of time compared to eternity? Why do I settle for less when He wants the best for me?
There's really only one answer....BECAUSE He is God and He is love. The deep mysteries of God
are beyond my comprehension. No eye has seen nor ear has heard the wonders of his love! He can do above and beyond what we can think or imagine!
So....I'm resting today in His truth. I'm seeing more and more spiritual things around me- a war is going on and it's rough! God- here I am. Just plain ole me- use me as you want to please!
k
Remind me again- Why does God want people like me who have junk in their hearts and lives? Why does He choose to give me things I do not deserve? Why can't I just quit and be a reclusive person who never has to face the fear of failing people????????????? Why do I easily forget that this life is but a vapor of time compared to eternity? Why do I settle for less when He wants the best for me?
There's really only one answer....BECAUSE He is God and He is love. The deep mysteries of God
are beyond my comprehension. No eye has seen nor ear has heard the wonders of his love! He can do above and beyond what we can think or imagine!
So....I'm resting today in His truth. I'm seeing more and more spiritual things around me- a war is going on and it's rough! God- here I am. Just plain ole me- use me as you want to please!
k
Monday, September 21, 2009
Spiritual Awakening
Sometimes you don't know how dead you are until you've been made alive again. There are times in my life when I am more alive..the sky is a little bluer...the grass a little greener....the air a little fresher. However, I'm taking note that these times usually come after a very dark time....when the sky is grey...the grass is brown and full of weeds....and the air is heavily polluted.
Less than one week ago I was lower than low. A spiritual awakening seemed miles and miles away...nearly unattainable. My wretchedness had boiled over with ugly comments to my precious hubby, sarcasm that could slice a soul in two, a desire to just dissappear for a while, a swelling discontent heart- things were a bit ugly to say the least. I could barely muster up the prayer to ask for His help to change my heart. Lies were swarming through my mind like a mad bee's nest. The lies became so loud and distracting that I questioned my entire purpose in ministry. I wanted to hide because what I once heard God say appeared to be a deception.
Bottom line- I became ME focused instead of God-focused.
I began to beg God..."please, please bring back my passion to evangalize. Bring back the boldness that was not worried about what other's would think. Bring back my passion to teach and speak to women. Lord, bring the opportunities that are of you." The buzzing of the bees were distracting, loud and mind-cluttering. The lies were continually NON-stop! "Kara, get real...no one will want to listen to an over-weight crazy like yourself! You are going to flub everything up and won't convey salvation in a clear way, etc...etc...etc. Bla...Bla...Bla!"
Then, the God of the universe, the lover of my ugly soul, the forgiver of my disgusting selfishness, the perfect creator of all good- He chose to scoop me up, cradle me and love on me!
He revealed truth to me and let me tell you....Oh, Oh...how sweet truth is and how freeing.
There was a course of events that He used specifically that I will not go into. But these led up to last night-
downtown Lafayette
Lafayette Theatre
6-8 p.m.
Elston Family Church- Night of Worship
He rocked my world.
I want to be healthy...if for NO other reason so I can bounce up and down and not feel that my rolls are on their own gravity program :) I want to jump higher than Heather (you had to be there...teeheee) a person half my size can easily spring themselves several inches higher than me! I want to dance my toosh off and not tire easily. Ideally, I would not be dizzy and light-headed at the end of some rockin' awesome worship :)
Side note- I 100% used to be convinced that people that acted the way in which I am describing were PURELY nuttso! Crazies! Wack-jobs! Deceived! How could a godly, conservative Christian act so "free?" Remember...I spent 9 years in a church where swaying back and forth might have been considered too radical! And raising your hands....uh....NEVER! Veering from the songlist and time allotted for worship- No way!
But last night- God rocked the house. He blew the top off. He said "Worship ME and Me alone!"
He wooed the spirits of many. He caused me to yell out to Him with affirmation of how great HE is. I couldn't sing loud enough. I couldn't jump high enough. I couldn't lay flat enough. I couldn't cry hard enough. I couldn't smile big enough. I couldn't express in human ability how much I believe in His power and might.
He can move the mountains. He can calm the seas. He reigns. He died for me. He restores. He is on the throne. He listens. He cares. He moves how and where He pleases. My God is mighty to save.
I saw a woman whom I call my friend, Tisha, obey the Lord and stand up before all of us to beautifully sign "Amazing Love." She's finally going to use the gift God has given her and not hide it any longer. Praise be to HIM.
I saw another woman try to "pass the buck" as she called it. The Spirit kept telling her that an invitation for salvation needed to be spoken from the mike. God pushed her up on stage so she could share how great our God is and to invite anyone who didn't know to come and find out!
I saw friends worshipping like they had never worshipped before, reaching higher and higher to the throne of Glory- going after all that God had for them and stopping at nothing.
I saw passionate worship leaders pour their heart and soul into chasing after God and taking us higher and higher. I heard the voice of an angel.....Lindsay sing my favorite...."Come to me."
But it was more than her angelic voice that echoed in the place- it was a gifting like I've NEVER, NEVER seen or heard.
A spiritual awakening is a beautiful thing. I woke up this morning with a revived heart.
All glory be to Him.
k
Less than one week ago I was lower than low. A spiritual awakening seemed miles and miles away...nearly unattainable. My wretchedness had boiled over with ugly comments to my precious hubby, sarcasm that could slice a soul in two, a desire to just dissappear for a while, a swelling discontent heart- things were a bit ugly to say the least. I could barely muster up the prayer to ask for His help to change my heart. Lies were swarming through my mind like a mad bee's nest. The lies became so loud and distracting that I questioned my entire purpose in ministry. I wanted to hide because what I once heard God say appeared to be a deception.
Bottom line- I became ME focused instead of God-focused.
I began to beg God..."please, please bring back my passion to evangalize. Bring back the boldness that was not worried about what other's would think. Bring back my passion to teach and speak to women. Lord, bring the opportunities that are of you." The buzzing of the bees were distracting, loud and mind-cluttering. The lies were continually NON-stop! "Kara, get real...no one will want to listen to an over-weight crazy like yourself! You are going to flub everything up and won't convey salvation in a clear way, etc...etc...etc. Bla...Bla...Bla!"
Then, the God of the universe, the lover of my ugly soul, the forgiver of my disgusting selfishness, the perfect creator of all good- He chose to scoop me up, cradle me and love on me!
He revealed truth to me and let me tell you....Oh, Oh...how sweet truth is and how freeing.
There was a course of events that He used specifically that I will not go into. But these led up to last night-
downtown Lafayette
Lafayette Theatre
6-8 p.m.
Elston Family Church- Night of Worship
He rocked my world.
I want to be healthy...if for NO other reason so I can bounce up and down and not feel that my rolls are on their own gravity program :) I want to jump higher than Heather (you had to be there...teeheee) a person half my size can easily spring themselves several inches higher than me! I want to dance my toosh off and not tire easily. Ideally, I would not be dizzy and light-headed at the end of some rockin' awesome worship :)
Side note- I 100% used to be convinced that people that acted the way in which I am describing were PURELY nuttso! Crazies! Wack-jobs! Deceived! How could a godly, conservative Christian act so "free?" Remember...I spent 9 years in a church where swaying back and forth might have been considered too radical! And raising your hands....uh....NEVER! Veering from the songlist and time allotted for worship- No way!
But last night- God rocked the house. He blew the top off. He said "Worship ME and Me alone!"
He wooed the spirits of many. He caused me to yell out to Him with affirmation of how great HE is. I couldn't sing loud enough. I couldn't jump high enough. I couldn't lay flat enough. I couldn't cry hard enough. I couldn't smile big enough. I couldn't express in human ability how much I believe in His power and might.
He can move the mountains. He can calm the seas. He reigns. He died for me. He restores. He is on the throne. He listens. He cares. He moves how and where He pleases. My God is mighty to save.
I saw a woman whom I call my friend, Tisha, obey the Lord and stand up before all of us to beautifully sign "Amazing Love." She's finally going to use the gift God has given her and not hide it any longer. Praise be to HIM.
I saw another woman try to "pass the buck" as she called it. The Spirit kept telling her that an invitation for salvation needed to be spoken from the mike. God pushed her up on stage so she could share how great our God is and to invite anyone who didn't know to come and find out!
I saw friends worshipping like they had never worshipped before, reaching higher and higher to the throne of Glory- going after all that God had for them and stopping at nothing.
I saw passionate worship leaders pour their heart and soul into chasing after God and taking us higher and higher. I heard the voice of an angel.....Lindsay sing my favorite...."Come to me."
But it was more than her angelic voice that echoed in the place- it was a gifting like I've NEVER, NEVER seen or heard.
A spiritual awakening is a beautiful thing. I woke up this morning with a revived heart.
All glory be to Him.
k
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Here we go again!
The following is my very first post ever. March 2008. I just re-read it and can't believe that was me. I want that fire back. Sadly, I am back up in weight to where I first began. What a journey.
So....here we go again. It's time to get my hiney back in gear. Anyone want to come along???
March 2008:
I've decided to begin the end. Sounds odd doesn't it? Well, is what I mean by that is that my entire life has been consumed by food- what I'm gonna eat, what I'm not gonna eat, how much I weigh, how much I've lost, what size I wear, etc.Well, I've decided to begin the end- the end to a lifelong struggle with weight, food addiction and unhealthy living.This journey is gonna be lovely and ugly, happy and sad, triumphant and dissappointing.This is going to be a frank and honest journal of my past, present and future health. Please join me on this journey and watch the "me" turn into the "me" God wants me to be. My precious friend Renay is also walking this journey with me, one bite at a time :) We can and WILL do this and NOT for our own glory, but for God's Kingdom. We are going to be 2 hot, fit mamas ready to serve our King like crazy!!!!!!WARNING: Sit down and be prepared to read some shocking numbers... I hate weight. I'm sick of being labeled by my weight. I remember various times in my life as to how much I weighed.. that's crazy!!!!First and foremost, I must give all the glory where it belongs and that is to the God of the universe, the one who sent His one and only Son to die a painful death on the cross in place of MY sin. Hmmmm... my sin? Yep! Jesus went to that cross for my addiction to food. My life is full of sin that thankfully Jesus has wiped clean from the slate so that I can be righteous in God's eyes! Yay!!! I was saved at about 8 years old and asked Jesus to cover me with His sacrifice on the cross... yet, I have struggled all of my life since about the age of 8 with loving food more than anything else! I can remember my Kindergarten school picture just looking as cute as can be, then by 4th grade I didn't sit up straight and you could see the roll of my chest (didn't have real boobs yet)... that was a mortifying picture!!! Anyhow... my years after that were spent "sucking it in" when trying on an outfit, standing before the mirror. Hearing many comments from people who loved me about my weight and the importance of "suck in your gut and stick out your butt" for pictures or "that makes you look thin" (yes, I know that sounds crazy, but I heard it more than you can imagine at a very young age.)At last.. a beginning to an End of negative comments by family tearing at my heart and destroying my healthy view of myself, food and weight. (yes, I know that loving people will always say negative things, but this is the end of it ruling my life!!!)Some more history.....At age 10 I weighed 135 lbs. Then, the summer before 8th grade, I lost a lot of weight and was looking pretty good- a size 9 in juniors! But that wasn't good enough since all of my friends were a size 5!!! (This was also the same summer of my parent's divorce).Highschool was going good with me getting to about 145 lbs. I played volleyball and loved to exercise. I battled on and off with bulemia though. Then at the age of 16 I became pregnant with Anna. John and I got married at 17. My highest pregnancy weight was 175.... ahhhh... those were the days.... :) After Anna was born the roller coaster began again... up and down.... At age 19, John, me and Anna lived in Beaufort, SC as JOhn was in the Marine Corps and I went to the Dr. for an exam. This was the first time a dr. ever told me that I was obese and needed to lose 50lbs. I was devastated, embarrassed and shocked! By using Herbalife products, I got down to about 160 and felt great. Then, slowly back up, up, up again! After a miscarriage in 1999 (before Abby).. I became very depressed. I gained a ton of weight with pregnant with Abby in 1999-2000.At last.. a beginning to an end of the food roller coaster.Eventually I got up to 273 lbs., after Evan was born (yes, that is a 100 lb. increase)!After praying and begging God to help me, I was guided to LA Weightloss and lost 90 lbs. withthem before getting pregnant with Emma at 180 lbs. After Emma my weight skyrocketed again.. I could eat 5 qts. of vanilla icecream with chocolate syrup in just 2 days. No, i'm not exaggerating. I was struggling with post partum depression too. My weight crept up over 200 lbs. and then I got pregnant with Avry! We finally figured out what causes that and John got a visectomy :) tee -hee! I remember stepping on the scales and full pregnancy with Avry and seeing 250 lbs and thinking- I can't believe I got this heavy again!!! After Avry, I was up and down...a long story to say that as of last Friday, Good Friday- I weighed 272 lbs.I was told a year ago by my Dr. that I had to lower cholestrol- triglyc. were the worst (carbs!) and that I was "pre-diabetic". I promised to work at it and lose weight. Shocker... it didn't happen! I went back recently to find out that the cholestrol is still bad, but thank the good LORDthat I am NOT diabetic!!! That was it!!! I have had it!!!God is sooo cool.. His timing is always perfect. The very next Sun. after hearing this from dr. ,Pastor Randy did a message about "specific sin"... Hmm.... He even asked that people come forward and pin their sin, written on a note card, to the huge wooden cross at front of church. I can still remember exactly where mine is pinned. It read "overeating".Now here's the sad part.. I wanted to really confess it to God, cause that's the right thingto do. But I definately wasn't ready to give it to HIM fully. I was terrified that "I wasn't ready" or "I'll just fail, so why bother". Nonetheless, I pinned my card up there out of obedience to Godand went on with life. That was also the weekend of our church-wide 24 hour prayer and I knew breakthrough was coming.. I just didn't know when. God kept stirring in my spirit all week long.I have recently heard that many of my friends use Weight Watchers and I became very interested. Finally, by Friday which was Good Friday I logged onto Weight Watchers and joined the online version! I love it and have been doing it now for 1 week.At last .... The Beginning to an end of weighing 272 lbs.Please pray for me whenever you see a fat person... :) I hate that word.. "fat".. but you got to call a spade a spade. I desire for every inch of my body to be pleasing to God. It doesn't have to be perfect, but I do want Him to be pleased with my stewardship of HIS temple... my earthly body.I'm only 30 years old and I don't want to be unhealthy anylonger!!At last... The beginning to an end of an unhealthy body.For years, I've desired to be very close to God.. to walk like HIM, to think like HIM, to talk like HIM, to eat like He would. I've wanted this intimate relationship with Jesus that has been somewhat obtainable. I don't want "somewhat" anylonger!!!! There's ONE key thing holding me back and separating me from my heavenly Father and from living the fullest life that He has for me... and that is my love affair with food. I want to dance the dance of my life in the arms of Jesus. He is the lover of my soul, my biggest fan, the one who will NEVER leave me.I'm sick of being sold short and buying into the lie that food will satisfy my deepest longing. It won't and can't. I know God has made me a passionate person for many reasons and I believe the biggest reason is so that I can turn my greatest weakness into my greatest ministry.This is the Beginning to an End of a "somewhat" close relationship with Jesus. I'm ready for the REAL thing!
Today, September 5th- one and half year later....here I go again :)
k
So....here we go again. It's time to get my hiney back in gear. Anyone want to come along???
March 2008:
I've decided to begin the end. Sounds odd doesn't it? Well, is what I mean by that is that my entire life has been consumed by food- what I'm gonna eat, what I'm not gonna eat, how much I weigh, how much I've lost, what size I wear, etc.Well, I've decided to begin the end- the end to a lifelong struggle with weight, food addiction and unhealthy living.This journey is gonna be lovely and ugly, happy and sad, triumphant and dissappointing.This is going to be a frank and honest journal of my past, present and future health. Please join me on this journey and watch the "me" turn into the "me" God wants me to be. My precious friend Renay is also walking this journey with me, one bite at a time :) We can and WILL do this and NOT for our own glory, but for God's Kingdom. We are going to be 2 hot, fit mamas ready to serve our King like crazy!!!!!!WARNING: Sit down and be prepared to read some shocking numbers... I hate weight. I'm sick of being labeled by my weight. I remember various times in my life as to how much I weighed.. that's crazy!!!!First and foremost, I must give all the glory where it belongs and that is to the God of the universe, the one who sent His one and only Son to die a painful death on the cross in place of MY sin. Hmmmm... my sin? Yep! Jesus went to that cross for my addiction to food. My life is full of sin that thankfully Jesus has wiped clean from the slate so that I can be righteous in God's eyes! Yay!!! I was saved at about 8 years old and asked Jesus to cover me with His sacrifice on the cross... yet, I have struggled all of my life since about the age of 8 with loving food more than anything else! I can remember my Kindergarten school picture just looking as cute as can be, then by 4th grade I didn't sit up straight and you could see the roll of my chest (didn't have real boobs yet)... that was a mortifying picture!!! Anyhow... my years after that were spent "sucking it in" when trying on an outfit, standing before the mirror. Hearing many comments from people who loved me about my weight and the importance of "suck in your gut and stick out your butt" for pictures or "that makes you look thin" (yes, I know that sounds crazy, but I heard it more than you can imagine at a very young age.)At last.. a beginning to an End of negative comments by family tearing at my heart and destroying my healthy view of myself, food and weight. (yes, I know that loving people will always say negative things, but this is the end of it ruling my life!!!)Some more history.....At age 10 I weighed 135 lbs. Then, the summer before 8th grade, I lost a lot of weight and was looking pretty good- a size 9 in juniors! But that wasn't good enough since all of my friends were a size 5!!! (This was also the same summer of my parent's divorce).Highschool was going good with me getting to about 145 lbs. I played volleyball and loved to exercise. I battled on and off with bulemia though. Then at the age of 16 I became pregnant with Anna. John and I got married at 17. My highest pregnancy weight was 175.... ahhhh... those were the days.... :) After Anna was born the roller coaster began again... up and down.... At age 19, John, me and Anna lived in Beaufort, SC as JOhn was in the Marine Corps and I went to the Dr. for an exam. This was the first time a dr. ever told me that I was obese and needed to lose 50lbs. I was devastated, embarrassed and shocked! By using Herbalife products, I got down to about 160 and felt great. Then, slowly back up, up, up again! After a miscarriage in 1999 (before Abby).. I became very depressed. I gained a ton of weight with pregnant with Abby in 1999-2000.At last.. a beginning to an end of the food roller coaster.Eventually I got up to 273 lbs., after Evan was born (yes, that is a 100 lb. increase)!After praying and begging God to help me, I was guided to LA Weightloss and lost 90 lbs. withthem before getting pregnant with Emma at 180 lbs. After Emma my weight skyrocketed again.. I could eat 5 qts. of vanilla icecream with chocolate syrup in just 2 days. No, i'm not exaggerating. I was struggling with post partum depression too. My weight crept up over 200 lbs. and then I got pregnant with Avry! We finally figured out what causes that and John got a visectomy :) tee -hee! I remember stepping on the scales and full pregnancy with Avry and seeing 250 lbs and thinking- I can't believe I got this heavy again!!! After Avry, I was up and down...a long story to say that as of last Friday, Good Friday- I weighed 272 lbs.I was told a year ago by my Dr. that I had to lower cholestrol- triglyc. were the worst (carbs!) and that I was "pre-diabetic". I promised to work at it and lose weight. Shocker... it didn't happen! I went back recently to find out that the cholestrol is still bad, but thank the good LORDthat I am NOT diabetic!!! That was it!!! I have had it!!!God is sooo cool.. His timing is always perfect. The very next Sun. after hearing this from dr. ,Pastor Randy did a message about "specific sin"... Hmm.... He even asked that people come forward and pin their sin, written on a note card, to the huge wooden cross at front of church. I can still remember exactly where mine is pinned. It read "overeating".Now here's the sad part.. I wanted to really confess it to God, cause that's the right thingto do. But I definately wasn't ready to give it to HIM fully. I was terrified that "I wasn't ready" or "I'll just fail, so why bother". Nonetheless, I pinned my card up there out of obedience to Godand went on with life. That was also the weekend of our church-wide 24 hour prayer and I knew breakthrough was coming.. I just didn't know when. God kept stirring in my spirit all week long.I have recently heard that many of my friends use Weight Watchers and I became very interested. Finally, by Friday which was Good Friday I logged onto Weight Watchers and joined the online version! I love it and have been doing it now for 1 week.At last .... The Beginning to an end of weighing 272 lbs.Please pray for me whenever you see a fat person... :) I hate that word.. "fat".. but you got to call a spade a spade. I desire for every inch of my body to be pleasing to God. It doesn't have to be perfect, but I do want Him to be pleased with my stewardship of HIS temple... my earthly body.I'm only 30 years old and I don't want to be unhealthy anylonger!!At last... The beginning to an end of an unhealthy body.For years, I've desired to be very close to God.. to walk like HIM, to think like HIM, to talk like HIM, to eat like He would. I've wanted this intimate relationship with Jesus that has been somewhat obtainable. I don't want "somewhat" anylonger!!!! There's ONE key thing holding me back and separating me from my heavenly Father and from living the fullest life that He has for me... and that is my love affair with food. I want to dance the dance of my life in the arms of Jesus. He is the lover of my soul, my biggest fan, the one who will NEVER leave me.I'm sick of being sold short and buying into the lie that food will satisfy my deepest longing. It won't and can't. I know God has made me a passionate person for many reasons and I believe the biggest reason is so that I can turn my greatest weakness into my greatest ministry.This is the Beginning to an End of a "somewhat" close relationship with Jesus. I'm ready for the REAL thing!
Today, September 5th- one and half year later....here I go again :)
k
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Never a Coincidence
So, the story of my life is bumping into people that I know. It's not just a social occasion, but there is ALWAYS a deeper, underlying spiritual message that God has for me. Here's what happened to me today.
John and I attended the funeral of a young man named Jesse whom we used to attend church with at our previous home church, Grace Baptist. We were there for 9 years and the attendance was usually around 25 people, so we were very close knit and we had the opportunity to get to know Jesse pretty well. Jesse was being raised by his grandparents and attended regularly from about the age of 12-18 years old. We hadn't seen him for about 3 years when we received the sad news that he was tragically killed in a car wreck over this past weekend. We are so thankful that he knew Jesus and is in Heaven!
He was planning to marry Heidi, the mother of his 3 year old son, Austin. He was going to also adopt her other son whose now 16 months old. They were not planted in a church and I'm not sure of where she stands with God. Today was of course a tough, heart-wrenching day for the entire family. I was able to hug and grieve with most of his close family members...all except Heidi. My heart literally broke for her as I overheard her little son's question of "Mommy, where is daddy?" She answered, "Remember, he's in the coffin." Tears just streamed uncontrollably down my face. All I could think about and pray for was for God to PLEASE, PLEASE guide this little boy and to make sure he was raised to know Jesus.
Fast forward 6 hours later. After church, I dropped off the 4 teens that we had taken or needed a ride home. As I pulled up to Julia and Hunter's apartment complex, I noticed a gal with a purple top on speaking on the cell phone in the parking lot of the complex. My mouth dropped open in disbelief. I whispered to Julia, is that girl's name Heidi (as I didn't have a clear view of her face, but recognized the purple top that I had seen 6 hours earlier at the funeral) She said YES! I pulled up to her, got out of the car and motioned to her. She got off the phone and came to me with her arms opened wide. I embraced her and began to weep. She kept telling me that she had to be dragged from the coffin because she wasn't ready to let him go. Her entire world has been flipped upside down and she is mourning, devastated, crushed at the passing of this young man. She pulled me around to the back of the complex and said "I want you to meet my mom."
We talked for about 20 minutes as she would occasionally just crumble into a weeping mess. I couldn't even imagine the sorrow or pain.
Then, out of know where she said, "I want your family to come to Austin's bday party this Sat. at the park. And I want you to know Kara that anytime you want to take the boys and spend time with them, take them to church, whatever...you just let me know because I know that's what Jesse would've wanted." Literally, she opened her heart and just handed me the spiritual guidance of these 2 boys. I had no idea that God was going to answer my prayer by using me in this little boy's life. Not only in 1 little one's life, but she opened it up for both of her sons' lives.
Little does she know that I'm not going to leave her behind.
I have no idea where this story will lead. But I do know that God knows and He's in control.
He loves this young mommy and her 2 little boys like mad!!! I have complete faith in God that he orchestrated this encounter this evening and that He has a plan for Heidi, Austin and baby Cody that will blow us all away. My eyes have been opened this evening to a new personal ministry. After telling John this story, he said that we have been commissioned by God to love these boys and mom too :)
There are 1000's of homes in West Lafayette. What are the chances that I would pull up to just the right location at just the right time to interact with this young lady who I saw just 6 hours before? What are the chances that my prayer for a little red-headed adorable 3 year old would be answered with such a clear offer from his mother? Well, with God in control, I guess the chances were pretty good. There is definately NO such thing as a coincidence!!
Isn't God awesome??
k
John and I attended the funeral of a young man named Jesse whom we used to attend church with at our previous home church, Grace Baptist. We were there for 9 years and the attendance was usually around 25 people, so we were very close knit and we had the opportunity to get to know Jesse pretty well. Jesse was being raised by his grandparents and attended regularly from about the age of 12-18 years old. We hadn't seen him for about 3 years when we received the sad news that he was tragically killed in a car wreck over this past weekend. We are so thankful that he knew Jesus and is in Heaven!
He was planning to marry Heidi, the mother of his 3 year old son, Austin. He was going to also adopt her other son whose now 16 months old. They were not planted in a church and I'm not sure of where she stands with God. Today was of course a tough, heart-wrenching day for the entire family. I was able to hug and grieve with most of his close family members...all except Heidi. My heart literally broke for her as I overheard her little son's question of "Mommy, where is daddy?" She answered, "Remember, he's in the coffin." Tears just streamed uncontrollably down my face. All I could think about and pray for was for God to PLEASE, PLEASE guide this little boy and to make sure he was raised to know Jesus.
Fast forward 6 hours later. After church, I dropped off the 4 teens that we had taken or needed a ride home. As I pulled up to Julia and Hunter's apartment complex, I noticed a gal with a purple top on speaking on the cell phone in the parking lot of the complex. My mouth dropped open in disbelief. I whispered to Julia, is that girl's name Heidi (as I didn't have a clear view of her face, but recognized the purple top that I had seen 6 hours earlier at the funeral) She said YES! I pulled up to her, got out of the car and motioned to her. She got off the phone and came to me with her arms opened wide. I embraced her and began to weep. She kept telling me that she had to be dragged from the coffin because she wasn't ready to let him go. Her entire world has been flipped upside down and she is mourning, devastated, crushed at the passing of this young man. She pulled me around to the back of the complex and said "I want you to meet my mom."
We talked for about 20 minutes as she would occasionally just crumble into a weeping mess. I couldn't even imagine the sorrow or pain.
Then, out of know where she said, "I want your family to come to Austin's bday party this Sat. at the park. And I want you to know Kara that anytime you want to take the boys and spend time with them, take them to church, whatever...you just let me know because I know that's what Jesse would've wanted." Literally, she opened her heart and just handed me the spiritual guidance of these 2 boys. I had no idea that God was going to answer my prayer by using me in this little boy's life. Not only in 1 little one's life, but she opened it up for both of her sons' lives.
Little does she know that I'm not going to leave her behind.
I have no idea where this story will lead. But I do know that God knows and He's in control.
He loves this young mommy and her 2 little boys like mad!!! I have complete faith in God that he orchestrated this encounter this evening and that He has a plan for Heidi, Austin and baby Cody that will blow us all away. My eyes have been opened this evening to a new personal ministry. After telling John this story, he said that we have been commissioned by God to love these boys and mom too :)
There are 1000's of homes in West Lafayette. What are the chances that I would pull up to just the right location at just the right time to interact with this young lady who I saw just 6 hours before? What are the chances that my prayer for a little red-headed adorable 3 year old would be answered with such a clear offer from his mother? Well, with God in control, I guess the chances were pretty good. There is definately NO such thing as a coincidence!!
Isn't God awesome??
k
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Good Ole Fashioned Cry
A good cry is worth a lot. Do you ever find yourself crying and thinking "what is wrong with me? why am i so emotional?" I tend to want to make excuses for a good cry. Excuses like "Oh, I'm just hormonal" or "I think I'm close to THAT time of the month." Why can't I just be fine with a good ole solid cry? Well, last night- finally I just let it all out and cried and cried and cried. I almost hypervenilated, but it felt good! There was a burden lifted from my shoulders as I sobbed. Anyone who knows me well knows that I rarely ever sob, I'm just not a weepy person in general.
I realized that life is passing so quickly. God holds everything in the palm of his hands and knows the pains of my heart. He also knows when I try to bury those pains. Have you ever let your thoughts take you to a deep dark place of sadness, lonliness, desperation? I had convinced myself that one of my family members didn't care about me anymore and that I didn't hold a special place in their heart. I started to picture the future and how I would become just a nobody to that person. I was so wrapped up in my own sad fantasy that I didn't even think to just pray about the situation. How silly of me. Seriously! God wants to comfort me and restrengthen this relationship and He loves for me to just pour my heart out to him. So, today I'm choosing to release all of those thoughts and lay them at Jesus' feet. He says to cast all our cares on Him for He cares for us. So, there it is. God, I'm waiting on you to strenthen my relationship with this person and I trust you have what's best for me in store.
Not sure what God has in store for me today since I can't do laundry or dishes. There is a main valve flushing occuring in our neighborhood community well water system. Thus, the water is disgustingly orangish/brown. Hopefully, by this afternoon it will be all flushed. So, today...I'll just watch for Him to move.
k
I realized that life is passing so quickly. God holds everything in the palm of his hands and knows the pains of my heart. He also knows when I try to bury those pains. Have you ever let your thoughts take you to a deep dark place of sadness, lonliness, desperation? I had convinced myself that one of my family members didn't care about me anymore and that I didn't hold a special place in their heart. I started to picture the future and how I would become just a nobody to that person. I was so wrapped up in my own sad fantasy that I didn't even think to just pray about the situation. How silly of me. Seriously! God wants to comfort me and restrengthen this relationship and He loves for me to just pour my heart out to him. So, today I'm choosing to release all of those thoughts and lay them at Jesus' feet. He says to cast all our cares on Him for He cares for us. So, there it is. God, I'm waiting on you to strenthen my relationship with this person and I trust you have what's best for me in store.
Not sure what God has in store for me today since I can't do laundry or dishes. There is a main valve flushing occuring in our neighborhood community well water system. Thus, the water is disgustingly orangish/brown. Hopefully, by this afternoon it will be all flushed. So, today...I'll just watch for Him to move.
k
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Early risers
What a glorious day it will be. This morning was much more peaceful as most of the kids did not wake up until 7 a.m.! How can I be so blessed as to have early risers? I KNOW for a fact when Kristy and I were kids that we had to be pried out of bed. I NEVER woke up before the alarm clock went off. We could have our kids go to bed later so that they would hopefully wake up later in the morning. Nah...I don't want to sacrifice that sweet, quiet alone time with John. Wait a second...why am I even complaining. Have I forgotten the days of being woke up several times a night? Nevermind all this jabber...I am thrilled to have early risers :)
I'm praying that God holds the rain off for our church event tonight. Last time we had one, the gray clouds loomed overhead and it barely sprinkled as we were tearing down. I'm really looking forward to tonight!!!
Well, I feel rather boring this morning- so I'll say farewell! I need to go weigh myself actually.
Yesterday afternoon, I got nasty stomach cramps and didn't feel well all afternoon- so I didn't walk :( That's ok...it's a marathon and not a sprint.
k
I'm praying that God holds the rain off for our church event tonight. Last time we had one, the gray clouds loomed overhead and it barely sprinkled as we were tearing down. I'm really looking forward to tonight!!!
Well, I feel rather boring this morning- so I'll say farewell! I need to go weigh myself actually.
Yesterday afternoon, I got nasty stomach cramps and didn't feel well all afternoon- so I didn't walk :( That's ok...it's a marathon and not a sprint.
k
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Goals and rambling
Physically- My goal for today is to take a 1 mile walk. Drink at least 100 oz. of water. Eat smaller portions.
Spiritually- be on the look out for God sightings. Pray and worship as I'm driving in the van. Listen to God.
Did anyone else get woke up last night to the pounding sound of thunder and the sharp crackling of lightening? I actually made myself laugh in the middle of the storm because as I listened to the various "tones" of the lightening striking, I found myself thinking "that kaboom sounded like it had to burp." You may think I'm nuts, but it sounded just like when someone is about to belch and then the belch just kinda fizzles out. Sometimes you don't know if a burp is going to be loud and forceful or lose it's momentum half way through:) When the lightening did strike loud and strong- I was almost convinced that a tree by our house had been struck and I was waiting for it to come crashing through the roof!!! By God's grace, only one child woke up, Abby. That was a miracle!!!
So, this morning all but 1 child were up by 6:15 a.m. I tried to be cheerful, but was a little dissappointed and wondered "How can my children sleep through storms like last night, but the smallest movement in the kitchen awakes them?" Anna is very quiet in the mornings and we even whisper! Oh well...just thankful to have children to referee in the mornings.
Have a blessed and glorious day today! Look for those God sightings- He's at work all around us!
k
Spiritually- be on the look out for God sightings. Pray and worship as I'm driving in the van. Listen to God.
Did anyone else get woke up last night to the pounding sound of thunder and the sharp crackling of lightening? I actually made myself laugh in the middle of the storm because as I listened to the various "tones" of the lightening striking, I found myself thinking "that kaboom sounded like it had to burp." You may think I'm nuts, but it sounded just like when someone is about to belch and then the belch just kinda fizzles out. Sometimes you don't know if a burp is going to be loud and forceful or lose it's momentum half way through:) When the lightening did strike loud and strong- I was almost convinced that a tree by our house had been struck and I was waiting for it to come crashing through the roof!!! By God's grace, only one child woke up, Abby. That was a miracle!!!
So, this morning all but 1 child were up by 6:15 a.m. I tried to be cheerful, but was a little dissappointed and wondered "How can my children sleep through storms like last night, but the smallest movement in the kitchen awakes them?" Anna is very quiet in the mornings and we even whisper! Oh well...just thankful to have children to referee in the mornings.
Have a blessed and glorious day today! Look for those God sightings- He's at work all around us!
k
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Crazy in Love with....
Change. What does it take to change? What do I have to do? What do I have to believe? Why does it seem that I can never outrun the need to change?
This morning's amazing sermon by my brother in Christ, Kyle Burke, was phenomenal! There really aren't the proper words to express the power of brokeness and how it can and will transform our lives. Coming before the Father and before your beloved family in Christ and allowing the light to shine on the darkness of your life IS life transforming. This action of humility releases God's power at a level that is unimaginable. I wonder why light can be so painful? Isn't the light meant to be good? Ahhhhh....but, the light is good. It does shine goodness, but it must face a level of darkness and wickedness that is ugly...beyond ugly actually. The Bible says that our righteousness, the very best we could ever be, is like a filthy, dirty rag to the Lord.
I also wonder why it can be heart-wrenching to share truth, love and correction with others? I avoid it at almost all cost. I hate the fear of looking into someone's eyes and possibly hurting them, possibly screwing it all up with my fleshly tongue and nature, possibly bauching what God wants to do through me. It stinks and I'm just a human being whose life is also filled with sin and the need for correction. God continues to stir a boldness in me that is full of love, compassion and wisdom. I am boldly going to proclaim the truths of Him...not what feels good, not what feels right, not what "I think" is best....but I must choose to encourage others with the truth of His words that are eternal and everlasting.
I also wonder how love is such a beautiful thing, yet so difficult and unnatural to walk out. It sounds fun in theory to talk about loving others like Jesus would. Every moment that God gives me another breath on this earth, I realize all the more....that I am solely and utterly insufficient to make it through this life with out Him. It's insane to think that I have any power of my own. As a matter of fact, I constantly show myself how much I need him, by screwing things up. Any and everytime that I've leaned on my own understanding of something, it's led me to destruction. The destruction may manifest itself outwardly or even inwardly. The sad part is that the inward manifestion can be darker, more disgusting, and more repulsive because it's hidden. Or should I say, I attempt to hide it. However, I'm learning day by day that the more real I am with where I am, the more He has the power to change me.
Kyle brought to light this morning this...."Humility is acurately accessing who you are before God." He said some harsh, but loving truth too...it's the kind of truth that most of us know but hate to believe. He said...YOU do not have the right to get your feelings hurt. Your preferences should NOT matter. You are alive by the grace of God. We should wake up every morning and make a list of all the reasons why we deserve HELL. But because of God's great love and compassion for us- we have hope and a new life. He loves me. He loves you.
Kyle also highlighted the importance of unity and not getting hung up over the details. Really...really...if we were to have the accurate view of ourselves and be full of humility- who cares what color that paint is on the wall!??? He pointed out how churches have been divided over stupid, silly stuff...all because one's opinion got in the way. What is the big picture here??? JESUS!! It's all about JESUS! He deserves the glory and praise and honor forever and ever!! Period. No qualms about it. We need to constantly keep the end goal in mind and work towards drawing others closer to Jesus and shining His light in this world through His love!
I love my church. I love it with all my heart. I love the people who make up my church. I love my pastor and Lisa and their family. I love the leadership team like crazy. I love the women of my church and of our Heart 2 Heart ministry. I love all of the children, even the naughty ones :) teeheee :) But above all- I love their love for righteousness, for growth, for holiness and truth. I love the fact that a man can preach how God has opened his eyes and revealed disgusting behaviors that did not bring God glory. I love how people can go to the alter and be prayer for, loved on and encouraged. I love how the people worship and catch the Spirit of God. I love that grown men can bawl their eyes out and be hugged/comforted by other men. I love how we are not so rigid as to avoid God's call. The preachers aren't afraid to veer from a planned sermon or point- to run after where God is working. It's a beautiful thing. I'm growing more and more crazy in love with my church family. I see how that love is going to overflow into reaching Lafayette. I looked out at the congregation today and fell into a deeper love with them. God gave me a fresh new love for each person. I felt sappy. I wanted to hug everyone and pray over every person. I wanted them all to come over for lunch, but my little crockpot with sausauge, green beans and potatoes wouldn't have quite cut it :) My point is that on my own strength, I just don't have it in me to love those around me like I should. But- because HE died and rose on the 3rd day- I have power over satan's schemes. God moved me to notice the single mom beside me crying her eyes out. I asked her "How can I pray for you?" She said her life was a "disaster...everything was a disaster." That broke my heart. My next question was if she already had a relationship with God...she immediately answered yes, that she was saved already. Awesome! We briefly talked about her being consistent in church, coming on Wed. nights and getting plugged into a family group. Her work schedule and taking her son to visit his father seems to always fall on the same nights as church. Well, I'm determined to follow up with the other family groups and ask them all to pursue her...surely one of our groups will fit into her schedule!!!
You know how we all have ups and downs in our walk with God. Well, it's time for me to put me aside and start putting His agenda first. It's time for me to start evangelizing again like crazy. I have slacked off for quite sometime. But I'm ready to change....again!
I'm so thankful that I do NOT sound like a broken letter to my Father. I'm crazy in love with Him and satan will NOT fool me. God wants to change me....one day at a time.
k
This morning's amazing sermon by my brother in Christ, Kyle Burke, was phenomenal! There really aren't the proper words to express the power of brokeness and how it can and will transform our lives. Coming before the Father and before your beloved family in Christ and allowing the light to shine on the darkness of your life IS life transforming. This action of humility releases God's power at a level that is unimaginable. I wonder why light can be so painful? Isn't the light meant to be good? Ahhhhh....but, the light is good. It does shine goodness, but it must face a level of darkness and wickedness that is ugly...beyond ugly actually. The Bible says that our righteousness, the very best we could ever be, is like a filthy, dirty rag to the Lord.
I also wonder why it can be heart-wrenching to share truth, love and correction with others? I avoid it at almost all cost. I hate the fear of looking into someone's eyes and possibly hurting them, possibly screwing it all up with my fleshly tongue and nature, possibly bauching what God wants to do through me. It stinks and I'm just a human being whose life is also filled with sin and the need for correction. God continues to stir a boldness in me that is full of love, compassion and wisdom. I am boldly going to proclaim the truths of Him...not what feels good, not what feels right, not what "I think" is best....but I must choose to encourage others with the truth of His words that are eternal and everlasting.
I also wonder how love is such a beautiful thing, yet so difficult and unnatural to walk out. It sounds fun in theory to talk about loving others like Jesus would. Every moment that God gives me another breath on this earth, I realize all the more....that I am solely and utterly insufficient to make it through this life with out Him. It's insane to think that I have any power of my own. As a matter of fact, I constantly show myself how much I need him, by screwing things up. Any and everytime that I've leaned on my own understanding of something, it's led me to destruction. The destruction may manifest itself outwardly or even inwardly. The sad part is that the inward manifestion can be darker, more disgusting, and more repulsive because it's hidden. Or should I say, I attempt to hide it. However, I'm learning day by day that the more real I am with where I am, the more He has the power to change me.
Kyle brought to light this morning this...."Humility is acurately accessing who you are before God." He said some harsh, but loving truth too...it's the kind of truth that most of us know but hate to believe. He said...YOU do not have the right to get your feelings hurt. Your preferences should NOT matter. You are alive by the grace of God. We should wake up every morning and make a list of all the reasons why we deserve HELL. But because of God's great love and compassion for us- we have hope and a new life. He loves me. He loves you.
Kyle also highlighted the importance of unity and not getting hung up over the details. Really...really...if we were to have the accurate view of ourselves and be full of humility- who cares what color that paint is on the wall!??? He pointed out how churches have been divided over stupid, silly stuff...all because one's opinion got in the way. What is the big picture here??? JESUS!! It's all about JESUS! He deserves the glory and praise and honor forever and ever!! Period. No qualms about it. We need to constantly keep the end goal in mind and work towards drawing others closer to Jesus and shining His light in this world through His love!
I love my church. I love it with all my heart. I love the people who make up my church. I love my pastor and Lisa and their family. I love the leadership team like crazy. I love the women of my church and of our Heart 2 Heart ministry. I love all of the children, even the naughty ones :) teeheee :) But above all- I love their love for righteousness, for growth, for holiness and truth. I love the fact that a man can preach how God has opened his eyes and revealed disgusting behaviors that did not bring God glory. I love how people can go to the alter and be prayer for, loved on and encouraged. I love how the people worship and catch the Spirit of God. I love that grown men can bawl their eyes out and be hugged/comforted by other men. I love how we are not so rigid as to avoid God's call. The preachers aren't afraid to veer from a planned sermon or point- to run after where God is working. It's a beautiful thing. I'm growing more and more crazy in love with my church family. I see how that love is going to overflow into reaching Lafayette. I looked out at the congregation today and fell into a deeper love with them. God gave me a fresh new love for each person. I felt sappy. I wanted to hug everyone and pray over every person. I wanted them all to come over for lunch, but my little crockpot with sausauge, green beans and potatoes wouldn't have quite cut it :) My point is that on my own strength, I just don't have it in me to love those around me like I should. But- because HE died and rose on the 3rd day- I have power over satan's schemes. God moved me to notice the single mom beside me crying her eyes out. I asked her "How can I pray for you?" She said her life was a "disaster...everything was a disaster." That broke my heart. My next question was if she already had a relationship with God...she immediately answered yes, that she was saved already. Awesome! We briefly talked about her being consistent in church, coming on Wed. nights and getting plugged into a family group. Her work schedule and taking her son to visit his father seems to always fall on the same nights as church. Well, I'm determined to follow up with the other family groups and ask them all to pursue her...surely one of our groups will fit into her schedule!!!
You know how we all have ups and downs in our walk with God. Well, it's time for me to put me aside and start putting His agenda first. It's time for me to start evangelizing again like crazy. I have slacked off for quite sometime. But I'm ready to change....again!
I'm so thankful that I do NOT sound like a broken letter to my Father. I'm crazy in love with Him and satan will NOT fool me. God wants to change me....one day at a time.
k
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Strepp AGAIN and School starts tomorrow
(I began this post yesterday)
How many times can one person get strepp throat in 7 months? The answer for me is ....3 times!!!!! Thank you God for Z-packs. Within 7 hours of taking my first 2 pills, I was a different person. After I realized that I had strepp, all I could think about was being a sick mama and not being able to spend today with my kiddos like I had hoped and planned. Abby, Evan and Emma had an openhouse at their school tonight from 6-7:30 p.m. This has always been a neat time to meet the teachers, see the classroom, and help the kids put away their school supplies. John had to work tonight at the Colt World Series (it's summertime, and we need the moola so he didn't want to take the night off). Anna and Johnathan had MP3 also. John was going to drop them off, then Kim kindly agreed to bring them home. Needless to say, I was stressing a little as to how I was going to feel good enough to take the kids to their openhouse. I prayed and asked God to just figure it all out for me. Mom came and got Avry for the evening. I took at least 3 naps today and broke a fever a couple of times. When I woke up at 4 p.m., I felt like a new woman. The kids and I had a great time at the openhouse and I just took it slow. Sadly, my stamina began to wither away after our 1 hour adventure at Klondike. God was so gracious this evening to me.
I don't know about you, but I often get stuck in the rut of believing that certain bad habits will just never change. Now I know that is not true because the Bible says so! But, boy oh boy is it easy to be deceived. John has instituted a new family habit that has already been life transforming, amazing, phenomenal, monumental. "What on earth could it be" you ask??? It's simple actually. He has decided that we WILL and MUST get up in the mornings when the alarm goes off. The difficult part is that the alarm goes off before the kids wake up and this requires some self control and discipline to get up to the accountability of God and not to children's voices.
I'm proud of John and his new found love to lead our family. It's definately exciting. Oh, and another thing...we're reading the Bible with the children in the morning. Now, before you get too impressed, let me OVERemphasize that this is not by our own accord. The Holy Spirit is completely responsible for this one. Praise be to God!!
It's been a nice slow morning as Anna needed up at 5:40 and the others woke up after she went to school.
Have a great day everyone!! School has begun and a new beginning is here.
k
How many times can one person get strepp throat in 7 months? The answer for me is ....3 times!!!!! Thank you God for Z-packs. Within 7 hours of taking my first 2 pills, I was a different person. After I realized that I had strepp, all I could think about was being a sick mama and not being able to spend today with my kiddos like I had hoped and planned. Abby, Evan and Emma had an openhouse at their school tonight from 6-7:30 p.m. This has always been a neat time to meet the teachers, see the classroom, and help the kids put away their school supplies. John had to work tonight at the Colt World Series (it's summertime, and we need the moola so he didn't want to take the night off). Anna and Johnathan had MP3 also. John was going to drop them off, then Kim kindly agreed to bring them home. Needless to say, I was stressing a little as to how I was going to feel good enough to take the kids to their openhouse. I prayed and asked God to just figure it all out for me. Mom came and got Avry for the evening. I took at least 3 naps today and broke a fever a couple of times. When I woke up at 4 p.m., I felt like a new woman. The kids and I had a great time at the openhouse and I just took it slow. Sadly, my stamina began to wither away after our 1 hour adventure at Klondike. God was so gracious this evening to me.
I don't know about you, but I often get stuck in the rut of believing that certain bad habits will just never change. Now I know that is not true because the Bible says so! But, boy oh boy is it easy to be deceived. John has instituted a new family habit that has already been life transforming, amazing, phenomenal, monumental. "What on earth could it be" you ask??? It's simple actually. He has decided that we WILL and MUST get up in the mornings when the alarm goes off. The difficult part is that the alarm goes off before the kids wake up and this requires some self control and discipline to get up to the accountability of God and not to children's voices.
I'm proud of John and his new found love to lead our family. It's definately exciting. Oh, and another thing...we're reading the Bible with the children in the morning. Now, before you get too impressed, let me OVERemphasize that this is not by our own accord. The Holy Spirit is completely responsible for this one. Praise be to God!!
It's been a nice slow morning as Anna needed up at 5:40 and the others woke up after she went to school.
Have a great day everyone!! School has begun and a new beginning is here.
k
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
And the results are in....
Thank you all for praying for Anna as God has unveiled His will....she was cut from the team today. She's been sad on and off, as to be expected. I really don't have any other thoughts on it- just trusting God. Thanks again for your support!
k
k
Monday, August 3, 2009
Tryouts have begun!
A quick post to say that Anna's volleyball tryouts have begun!!! We'll know the final result Wednesday and we trust God's will to be done. Anna thought that this morning went very well
and was very motivated. We're getting ready to leave for the second of 2 practices today...each 3 hours long!
Pray for me as I'm having a moody day...just asking that the Lord speak truth to my heart and
encourage me. I've been meditating quite a bit lately on recent sermons that have been highly impactful! Good stuff! Meaty...juicy...rich...thought provoking...convicting...good stuff.
Question for you all if you'd care to answer.... What has been the most meaningful part of your summer and why?
love ya,
k
and was very motivated. We're getting ready to leave for the second of 2 practices today...each 3 hours long!
Pray for me as I'm having a moody day...just asking that the Lord speak truth to my heart and
encourage me. I've been meditating quite a bit lately on recent sermons that have been highly impactful! Good stuff! Meaty...juicy...rich...thought provoking...convicting...good stuff.
Question for you all if you'd care to answer.... What has been the most meaningful part of your summer and why?
love ya,
k
Friday, July 17, 2009
I blinked
My summer is evaporating before my very eyes. Again, life seems to be slipping away and my kids are growing too quickly. John found all of our VHS tapes of video recordings of the kiddos. He popped one in last night and I watched in disbelief. Anna was just 8 and dancing and singing in a white fairy dress. She also did this hilarious dance with a expandable tunnel thingamabop wrapped around her body...she kept singing the song at the end of Shrek which is funny, but the original song is sooooooo inappropriate! "I like big butts and I can not lie...." (that song!) Abby danced around Anna dressed in a white slip (of Anna's) and she kept trying to hide in Anna's closet. Then, little red man Evan, whose 17 months old toddles his way to the closet and peeks inside to get bonked by Abby sliding the door shut. He fell down and cried for 1.2 seconds then stood up and was on his merry way! The best part of this whole movie was when I was holding Emma who was 2 weeks old and Evan came up to give her a kiss and hug. I had to pry Evan off of this fragile 2 week old baby and then I looked at the camera and said "Emma, some day when you watch this you are going to realize what a miracle it was that you've survived!" Evan was not good at being gentle.....he just loved her soooooooooo much :) ha!!!
Oh...the memories. That movie was taken just 6 years ago. We had just bought our home, Emma had been born and life was glorious. My days used to evaporate with nursing babies, dirty diapers galore, dirty bibs, holding little hands as they tried to walk, gooing and gaaaing, making baby talk, kitchen sink baths...and more. I recall being sooooo tired from getting up throughout the night with babies that I'd question how I would function the next day. My eyes would barely stay open and I'd take baby 2 min. naps as I nursed in the recliner. It seems like I was in survival mode most days. Trips to the grocery store were nightmarish with these 4 kiddos on hand. I had to put Emma in a cuddly carrier on my chest and listen to Evan scream for me to hold him, which I couldn't do. A normal 45 min. shopping trip took me at least 2 hours. I had the super mom mentality and tried to conquer unthinkable things during this time of my life. God sustained me, but boy, would I crash after exhausting myself! Then...Then....Then.....
Emma was just under 1 year old and SURPRISE....I was pregnant AGAIN with little Avry Nay!
By this time, Anna was only 8 1/2, Abby 3 1/2 , Evan 2 1/2 and Emma 1. As I write all of this, I'm a little in disbelief myself. Have you ever looked back at your life and say "Was that really my life....did I really get through that?" That's how I feel. Thank goodness, I'm not speaking of a tragedy, but instead a challenging time of great blessings!
Then I blinked. I slept. I cried. I laughed.
Now, they are 14, 9, 7, 6, 4 and Johnathan is 12! What??? No more diapers, No more baby food, No more of a lot of things. But, this is a new chapter and it is a little surreal. In less than one month, my alarm will go off at 6:15 a.m. The highschool bus will pull up and pick up Anna around 7 a.m. Then, four more kiddos will hop on the bus at 8 a.m. Avry and I will be left for her last year of being home with mommy before school the following year. We'll head into town 3 days a week for 1/2 day preschool.
The Bible says to worry about today because tomorrow has enough worries of its own. So, I'm not at all worried about the future. I know God is control. There will be new bumps in the road and obstacles to overcome.
My prayer today is that I'll live today to its fullest and savor every precious moment that I have with our 6 children. They amaze me.
k
Oh...the memories. That movie was taken just 6 years ago. We had just bought our home, Emma had been born and life was glorious. My days used to evaporate with nursing babies, dirty diapers galore, dirty bibs, holding little hands as they tried to walk, gooing and gaaaing, making baby talk, kitchen sink baths...and more. I recall being sooooo tired from getting up throughout the night with babies that I'd question how I would function the next day. My eyes would barely stay open and I'd take baby 2 min. naps as I nursed in the recliner. It seems like I was in survival mode most days. Trips to the grocery store were nightmarish with these 4 kiddos on hand. I had to put Emma in a cuddly carrier on my chest and listen to Evan scream for me to hold him, which I couldn't do. A normal 45 min. shopping trip took me at least 2 hours. I had the super mom mentality and tried to conquer unthinkable things during this time of my life. God sustained me, but boy, would I crash after exhausting myself! Then...Then....Then.....
Emma was just under 1 year old and SURPRISE....I was pregnant AGAIN with little Avry Nay!
By this time, Anna was only 8 1/2, Abby 3 1/2 , Evan 2 1/2 and Emma 1. As I write all of this, I'm a little in disbelief myself. Have you ever looked back at your life and say "Was that really my life....did I really get through that?" That's how I feel. Thank goodness, I'm not speaking of a tragedy, but instead a challenging time of great blessings!
Then I blinked. I slept. I cried. I laughed.
Now, they are 14, 9, 7, 6, 4 and Johnathan is 12! What??? No more diapers, No more baby food, No more of a lot of things. But, this is a new chapter and it is a little surreal. In less than one month, my alarm will go off at 6:15 a.m. The highschool bus will pull up and pick up Anna around 7 a.m. Then, four more kiddos will hop on the bus at 8 a.m. Avry and I will be left for her last year of being home with mommy before school the following year. We'll head into town 3 days a week for 1/2 day preschool.
The Bible says to worry about today because tomorrow has enough worries of its own. So, I'm not at all worried about the future. I know God is control. There will be new bumps in the road and obstacles to overcome.
My prayer today is that I'll live today to its fullest and savor every precious moment that I have with our 6 children. They amaze me.
k
Monday, June 29, 2009
Emma's Birthday
Today marks the beginning of prep work for Emma's 6th birthday party..to be held tomorrow evening. Out of all of my kids, she's the most dramatic and enthusiastic (well, Anna can hold a candle to her on that one). I went with the famous Strawberry Shortcake theme and was blessed by Angela's mom with the character cake pan so that I could attempt to decorate the cake myself! Holy smokerooos! I've had all of the cake tips for 11 years (I did one Winnie the Pooh cake for Anna's 3rd birthday). Now, I'm remembering why I've only done one in all of these years- that was a LOT of work! The most difficult part was changing colors and tips. If I would have had duplicate tips and plenty of couplers then it would have been a breeze as I could've just
filled all of the bags with various colors and put the tips on and went to town on it. Strawberry Shortcake almost had a sunburned affect until I got smart and lightened up her skin tone :)
If you know John at all, you know he's hard to impress. So, the best part of my entire evening was hearing my honey say "Wow, I'm impressed!" Yahoooo!!! Doesn't it surely say somewhere in the Bible that the Proverbs 31 woman goes to extrenuating efforts on her child's birthday party??? Ok..probably not :)
Another thing to note about a birthday party at the Townsend household, there are a minimum of 23 people that are always invited- this is just family plus anna's BF Cayla. I always have a meal because i feel like it's a way to bless all of my family who have been so supportive of our BIG family and I do love to cook:) Well, I know everyone is eating lots of grill out food this summer, so I decided to go NON traditional for summer and make a good ole down home meal- pure comfort food! (Dont' worry I'm going to almost starve all day tomorrow so that I can enjoy dinner). In preparations, I went crazy and decided to do a time consuming meal- homemade beef and noodles (yes, from scratch!), mashed taters, corn and green beans, deviled eggs and veggie tray. My mom insisted that we use up the 24 Beef House Rolls- so I'll bake those up too! Is your mouth watering?? Mine is! The good news is that I asked my mom to bring the deviled eggs and my dad to do the veggie tray (my kids love to snack on veggies before the meal). I'm going simple with drinks- tea, lemonade and 1 - 2 liter of Coke. Besides the main cake, I made a lowfat angel food cake with crushed pineapple in it- yummmy!
YOu probably already know this recipe but if not:
Take 1 box of angel food cake mix and add a 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, juice and all!
Stir up. Grease ONLY the BOTTOM of a 13x9 pan and bake on 350 for 30 min, or until golden brown and firm, not sticky. Cool. I take a bag of frozen whole strawberries from Aldi's and put a little sugar or splenda on them and let them thaw in fridge overnight. Serve cake with scoop of strawberries on top and a dollop of fat free cool whip- To die for!!!
Emma stayed over night at Auntie's house and will arrive at the party to see everything decorated and adorable...pink, white and light green streamers, pink balloons, strawberry shortcake tablecloth....and of course the cake in the middle of the table. I can't wait to see her eyes light up and the big smile on her face.
My legs now hurt so badly from standing all day in my kitchen that I can barely move..but I need to go clean up the kitchen so I don't wake up to a tornado of strawberry shortcake colored icing leftovers! Ok...off I go to drink some water and try to do some clean up! So, tomorrow, I just have to finalize cleaning my house, set up a couple of tables, decorate, peel 10 lbs. of taters, cook and mash 'em, let the rolls raise and then bake, cook the noodles that are drying on my counter. Ahhh....and this time tomorrow night it'll all be over :) Don't get me wrong...I love having our family over- it'll be a blast!!!
k
filled all of the bags with various colors and put the tips on and went to town on it. Strawberry Shortcake almost had a sunburned affect until I got smart and lightened up her skin tone :)
If you know John at all, you know he's hard to impress. So, the best part of my entire evening was hearing my honey say "Wow, I'm impressed!" Yahoooo!!! Doesn't it surely say somewhere in the Bible that the Proverbs 31 woman goes to extrenuating efforts on her child's birthday party??? Ok..probably not :)
Another thing to note about a birthday party at the Townsend household, there are a minimum of 23 people that are always invited- this is just family plus anna's BF Cayla. I always have a meal because i feel like it's a way to bless all of my family who have been so supportive of our BIG family and I do love to cook:) Well, I know everyone is eating lots of grill out food this summer, so I decided to go NON traditional for summer and make a good ole down home meal- pure comfort food! (Dont' worry I'm going to almost starve all day tomorrow so that I can enjoy dinner). In preparations, I went crazy and decided to do a time consuming meal- homemade beef and noodles (yes, from scratch!), mashed taters, corn and green beans, deviled eggs and veggie tray. My mom insisted that we use up the 24 Beef House Rolls- so I'll bake those up too! Is your mouth watering?? Mine is! The good news is that I asked my mom to bring the deviled eggs and my dad to do the veggie tray (my kids love to snack on veggies before the meal). I'm going simple with drinks- tea, lemonade and 1 - 2 liter of Coke. Besides the main cake, I made a lowfat angel food cake with crushed pineapple in it- yummmy!
YOu probably already know this recipe but if not:
Take 1 box of angel food cake mix and add a 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, juice and all!
Stir up. Grease ONLY the BOTTOM of a 13x9 pan and bake on 350 for 30 min, or until golden brown and firm, not sticky. Cool. I take a bag of frozen whole strawberries from Aldi's and put a little sugar or splenda on them and let them thaw in fridge overnight. Serve cake with scoop of strawberries on top and a dollop of fat free cool whip- To die for!!!
Emma stayed over night at Auntie's house and will arrive at the party to see everything decorated and adorable...pink, white and light green streamers, pink balloons, strawberry shortcake tablecloth....and of course the cake in the middle of the table. I can't wait to see her eyes light up and the big smile on her face.
My legs now hurt so badly from standing all day in my kitchen that I can barely move..but I need to go clean up the kitchen so I don't wake up to a tornado of strawberry shortcake colored icing leftovers! Ok...off I go to drink some water and try to do some clean up! So, tomorrow, I just have to finalize cleaning my house, set up a couple of tables, decorate, peel 10 lbs. of taters, cook and mash 'em, let the rolls raise and then bake, cook the noodles that are drying on my counter. Ahhh....and this time tomorrow night it'll all be over :) Don't get me wrong...I love having our family over- it'll be a blast!!!
k
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Shipshee
What a scorcher of a day I had yesterday at Shipshee with Tina! We began an annual tradition of going up for the day in celebration of our birthday month (June). The thing I love about Tina is her excitement, her preparedness and her sense of adventure. Even though it was just one day..I felt like it was a small sense of rejuvenation. She is the most prepared person i know...she remembered to bring things that I was oblivious to remembering... like a fanny pack to keep money sound and safe right at her belt level- brilliant! She remembered a hat and even had an extra visor for me- my, oh my, how cute I must have looked with my bright red visor on :) She brought an extra back pack to carry her "finds" in, cause let me tell you...those little plastic sacks they give you with your stuff really cause your wrists to sweat like a pig in 93 degree weather.
She had sunscreen conveniently located in her glove compartment and that was a huge life saver because I would have come home scorched had it not been for that. We have a tradition of eating at this stand called "King's BBQ" and get this scrumptious slow roasted, smoked chicken
and a pickle. It's only like a dollar more to add on baked beans and a roll, but Tina was brilliant...and said she didn't really want those items so she was going to go with just a pickle and water with the chicken. I never, never, never would have thought of that! That's how warped my eating process has been for so many years!!! I drank at least 3 more waters and felt great.
I walked my toosh off (not really, don't worry..I still have plenty of a toosh) and sadly had to retire to the air conditioned car about 5 rows early as Tina plowed her way to the very end- go Tina go! I was so proud of her to press on. I couldn't...just couldn't. My feet were killing me due to my shoe choice. AFter leaving the flea market, we planned to stop at a family style dining Amish restaurant that we had visited last year. Then, Tina shared that her mom recommened a new place that was even better!! Yahooo....so we ventured to "Essenhaus" and my oh my...it was a delight. I can still taste the mashed potatoes- to die!!!!
As I layed in bed last night, I tried to calculate the approximate calories of my day and realized something strikingly valuable- it is very easy to forget about other food that I had eaten that day and I must, must write down my food intake. There is just something to be said about a written record of things. During my first 2 weeks of my "Weigh N Pray" adventure I had the most success losing 2 lbs per week. I was dedicated to writing everything down and actually doing a running tally of calories. I started the day with 2200 available calories and then subtracted everytime I ate something. This allowed me to consciously plan ahead for the next meals and snacks of the day. Another huge key was small pieces of very dark chocolate- the
Green's and Black brand of individually wrapped pieces. I would eat 4 or 5 of those a day- no prob! But, see they are only 25 calories each and they just do something to your taste buds to cause a deep satisfaction. Up until about a year ago..I hated dark chocolate. But now I love it-how strange.
God is always reminding me how HE is in charge and it's no problem for him to change our likes and dislikes. Too often we are convinced that we are the way we are and that's just final. NOPE! That's a lie. We are pliable and moldable in God's hands.
Stay cool today!
k
She had sunscreen conveniently located in her glove compartment and that was a huge life saver because I would have come home scorched had it not been for that. We have a tradition of eating at this stand called "King's BBQ" and get this scrumptious slow roasted, smoked chicken
and a pickle. It's only like a dollar more to add on baked beans and a roll, but Tina was brilliant...and said she didn't really want those items so she was going to go with just a pickle and water with the chicken. I never, never, never would have thought of that! That's how warped my eating process has been for so many years!!! I drank at least 3 more waters and felt great.
I walked my toosh off (not really, don't worry..I still have plenty of a toosh) and sadly had to retire to the air conditioned car about 5 rows early as Tina plowed her way to the very end- go Tina go! I was so proud of her to press on. I couldn't...just couldn't. My feet were killing me due to my shoe choice. AFter leaving the flea market, we planned to stop at a family style dining Amish restaurant that we had visited last year. Then, Tina shared that her mom recommened a new place that was even better!! Yahooo....so we ventured to "Essenhaus" and my oh my...it was a delight. I can still taste the mashed potatoes- to die!!!!
As I layed in bed last night, I tried to calculate the approximate calories of my day and realized something strikingly valuable- it is very easy to forget about other food that I had eaten that day and I must, must write down my food intake. There is just something to be said about a written record of things. During my first 2 weeks of my "Weigh N Pray" adventure I had the most success losing 2 lbs per week. I was dedicated to writing everything down and actually doing a running tally of calories. I started the day with 2200 available calories and then subtracted everytime I ate something. This allowed me to consciously plan ahead for the next meals and snacks of the day. Another huge key was small pieces of very dark chocolate- the
Green's and Black brand of individually wrapped pieces. I would eat 4 or 5 of those a day- no prob! But, see they are only 25 calories each and they just do something to your taste buds to cause a deep satisfaction. Up until about a year ago..I hated dark chocolate. But now I love it-how strange.
God is always reminding me how HE is in charge and it's no problem for him to change our likes and dislikes. Too often we are convinced that we are the way we are and that's just final. NOPE! That's a lie. We are pliable and moldable in God's hands.
Stay cool today!
k
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