I can hardly contain myself....!

Ok, so this week has been fabulous for several reasons:

1. My oldest daughter was off from work Friday so I had her home for 3 days instead of 2! Oh how I miss this hardworking girl-woman and I just love love love to have her home any chance I get!

2. We went to see a ballet this week! Got all dolled up and got to be a part of a huge fundraiser to raise money for my baby daughter's dance school to go on a mission trip! Yes, you heard right...my daughter's Christian dance school takes the gospel in the form of dance around the world to lead others to Christ! And let me tell you..until you have seen a ballet to the song Hosanna...you have not lived! Nothing like seeing worship in the form of ballet!

3. My hubby and I had a date night! Yes, it did include grocery shopping but first that sweet man took me to dinner and got me Starbucks! It was awesome! That mundane task turned out to be an incredible evening of hand holding and laughing! Sigh..I love my hubby!

4. Today is Sunday! CHURCH! I love church! I love my church but I love church in general and I know Jesus likes church! And boy was He there with us today! Hmmm! Pastor preached on the Return and I could hardly sit still and this was following an amazing time of worship!!! Love it!

5. There are several new lovely beauties in my life! Shannon, Kim, Mickie and the girls...Amya, Kelli, Maddie and Shelbie. Not to forget my fabulous girls too! Oh and of course our little dip of manlyness, Jesse!!! These are our dance pals and I'm just feeling super blessed by the gift of their friendships!

6. Last but certainly not least is Pumkin Spice Lattes! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Need I say more! If you haven't had one, get and and go get one RIGHT now!

Blessings and Joy to you,
Have a Marvelous Monday,

Kathy

Oh! I forgot!

Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
Psalm 37:5

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
Psalm 16:3

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge Him and shall direct thy path.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Pray without ceasing.
1 Thessalonians 5:17

So the common denominator in all these Scriptures in commiting what you are trying to do to the Lord. It is foolish to think that in our own strength that we can do anything. Even when it's a good thing that we are wanting to do...we cannot in our own strength.

This is why my week, as my daughter puts it, was an epic fail! Everthing that could go wrong has....we fell off the wagon like 2 days after doing good and we got sick.

In case you are lost, I'm referring to my last post on recommiting myself. I was sitting here thinking about the cleanse I'm about to do with my daughter and the time I plan to commit to the Lord during the time of renewal and the enemy of my soul was right there to bring me down with a whipser of, " I don't even know why you are going to try to do the cleanse and spend time with God...you couldn't even get your last commitment right." Sigh..then the Faithful Holy Spirit gently reminded me that if I want to succeed that I have to do it with the Lord by my side. I have to pray. I have to tell the Lord what my plans are and seek His advice and let Him tweak my plans however He sees fit!

I'm not a failure and I refuse to give up! I have a good plan. This time though I'm going to get with my Father and seek Him with all my heart before I proceed! With God by my side how can I ever go wrong!

I love the way this verse is written in the New Living Translation:
The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.
Proverbs 24:16

I am a righteous through Jesus Christ! I am a righteous woman, wife, and Moma not by anything that I have done but through my Saviour who died willingly for me and by my Lord who so willingly gave up so much for me! Though I did fall, I'm back up!

Blessings to all! Goodnight!
Kathy

Decision! I'm changing things!!!

Ok, this is me confessing....I'M NOT A MORNING PERSON! There, I said it, it's out in the open! This has been my crutch! Instead of changing things, I just lean on this...I'm not a morning person! This is has got to change....this days events have proven it to me. I have always been a spontaneous type of gal but the Lord saw fit to bless me with a daughter who is a creature of habit and structure! In my world...We would sleep in, casually get up and get around, finally sit down to some school.. You get this picture. Casual. Spontaneous. Ok, structureless too. Alas, this does not work. I have known this for some time now but since I don't like to get up early I have made excuses til now! I'm done! I'm going to become a morning person...if for no other reason than I don't want to struggle/fight with my precious daughter anymore. I know that Danae does her best work in the morning, before playing or anything else...but I lack discipline in this area. My daughter needs me to be faithful in this area. Besides, I'm fairly certain, ok I'm positive that the Lord addresses this in His vauble Word: Hang on.... Ah yes, The wonderful Proverbs 31 woman! The woman I love to hate!! Just kidding. But God's Word clearly states that she rises early while it still dark to provide for her family. Geez, I really don't want to be in disobediance to the Word of God!
Today went something like this: Up late, school late, student had bad attitude, Mom began to yell, student cried and it went down hill from there. So I closed the school books, pulled my 4th grader into my lap and apologized to her. I told her that I was sorry that I expected her to function is a manner that she can't. I'm sorry that I havent' been more diligent and that I told her that my relationship with her is so way more important than school will ever be. So we closed our books, made some new goals and gave each other forgiveness and kisses. She scampered off and I decided to blog about our new goals. (Somehow telling the internet world my intentions keeps me more accountable. Strange, yes, but true!)
Goals:
Mom and Danae- early to bed.
Mom- up at 6 for alone time with God, getting dressed, and preparing breakfast. (My dear husband is up at 4:30 so his breakfast and lunch are packed to go the night before)
Danae- up at 7, dressed and chores done.
Mom- take Kim to work at 8:15
Mom and Danae begin school at 9:30
If all goes well we can be done by lunch at 12, Danae can play and I can get house chores done! It looks great on paper! Now I need to do it!
The Lord is gracious and I know He will help me! I kinda wish tomorrow was Monday so I could get started on these new goals!!!!
So friends, how is your school year going? Homeschooling or not. Someone want to volunteer to keep me accountable and encourage me?

Joyfully,
Kathy

'Faithingit'

Hi friends! Hoping everyone is well! :) We visited a new church this past Sunday and the message was really awesome. It was totally what I needed to hear but didn't have a clue that it was needed! Isn't that how God works a lot of times! :) Anyway, the Pastor preached on faith as a verb. He said that in our vast english language we don't have a verb that tranlates faith. It's used as a noun. Like something we have...I have faith. He went on to give many examples of other words in our language that have both a noun and a verb tense but not faith. Usually when you say faith as a verb it is the word believing, or trusting. I'm drawing a complete blank on some of the examples that he gave for noun and verb words....perhaps you homeschool momas can help me out... Anyway, the Pastor said we should have the word "faithingit". Not as faith as something that I only possess BUT it something that I'm doing! AS A VERB!!! I even came up with a 'faithingit' walk...it's a little jig. As I was teaching my children this concept I told them that if they see me doing my 'unique' little jig to know and understand that I was actively "faithingit"! It's fun! Come up with one of you on! So my friends, now I want to have faith as a noun and as a verb! Faithingit!
My oldest wants to be a missionary- I'm faithingit!
My youngest is a lovely but a strong willed child- it's ok, I'm faithingit!
My mom's health is shaking- I'm faithingit!
My husband is a cop...Sigh---It's ok, I'm faithingit!
We are in the process of finding a church home- faithingit!
My dear friend wants a baby desperately- faithingit!
This world is getting really bad!- By God's grace I'm faithingit!

My friends, leave me a comment: What are you facing that you are faithingit?

Joyfully,
Kathy

Being lazy...errr.... I mean chillin!

I should do some laundry. I should mop the floor. I should start the dishwasher and of course there is dust that could use a could wiping! BUT...here I am in front of my computer..listening to Father of the Bride with my little princess. I was gonna be productive today, really I was but then Danae ( my youngest) said, " Moma, will you come sit with me for awhile?" To some, I should have said," Baby, Moma has work to do." But not me, not today...sure I say that to her...a lot sometimes but not today! You see...I have been enlightened. A clean and orderly house is very important but so are days spent doing nothing but enjoying each others company. You see, my eldest daughter has graduated from high school now and is working full time and preparing for college this fall. I don't see a whole lot of her. She's becoming a woman...doing her thing. Finding out who she is. Don't get me wrong...I'm happy! This is how it supposed to be...but I miss her. I miss seeing her all around the house, talking to her all day long. This has served as a reminder that one day my house will be empty and I will be willing to sell a major body part to hear my precious child say, " Moma, will you come sit with me?" So today, I sit! I'm watching her play and blogging...she doesn't care either..she just wants me to sit with her! Again, so her I sit! My house work will be there later but for now a precious little person still thinks that I'm the greatest in the world and would love nothing more than for me to sit with her! Blessings!

Joyfully,
Kathy

Faithful or No?

Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit. Not so long ago my loving Father gently told me that unfaithfulness is a weak spot for me. Sure I'm faithful to my husband and my children. I'm even a really good friend...just ask Jamie! :) But I am unfaithful when it comes to my relationship with God. It's not that I don't want to be or that I don't desire to be faithful to Him. I just stubble here. I'm wondering does anyone else have this issue. I claim to love God yet I'm not always good at spending daily time with Him. It's kind of weird acutally....I think about Him, a lot! Most of the time infact. But to sit down and study the Word or to just spend time with Him....I just fail miserbly. A wise lady that I know once said," If it's important then you will do it." Example: If you are meeting a girlfriend for dinner chances are your not gonna bail last minute or show up 30 min. late. It's important to you so you make sure that you make it happen. Pedicures anyone??? I know that if I actually get out of the house to get one...I'm gonna get there! Early even! So what's the deal with my Creator! I know I have an enemy that loves nothing more that to distract me from being with God and boy, is he good at it! I need to stomp Him more often! All of this is stemming from the challenge that I'm beginning tomorrow. Reading the Bible in 90 days! I'm in a group with others that are going to be my accountability partners and encouragers...but I'm so afraid that I'm gonna fail and I really really don't want too! I want to do this. Not so I can that I did but because I love God and the wisdom in His written Word to us! He speaks to us through His Word and I so long for a good washing in the Word! In the words of my eldest daughter, "I'm thirsty, so thirsty for a drink of God's Word." I'm there now...I have gone without a good long drink for much too long! I've been having some short tastes...but I want to bathe in it...drink deeply...and be filled!


Joyfully,
Kathy

New Bible Studying!

Hi friends, I accidentally stumbled onto an awesome new blog called WWW.Momstoolbox.com. This site is so encouraging and has some great ideas! I have began using this ladies Bible Study method called: SOAP
S scripture
O observation
A application
P prayer
This is a verse by verse method. Check out her blog if you are interested! Also, I can joined a group via her blog for the challenge of reading the Bible in 90 days! I think it would be fun if a whole group of ladies were to do this together! Think about how effective we could be for our families if we were to read the whole Bible...at least an hour a day! Wow! I know this is going to change my heart and deepen my relationship with Jesus! That's what I so long after! I deep, all knowing relationship with my Creator! So that's where I am with my Spiritual stuffs! Check it out!

We are getting ready to go to Las Vegas for a vacation. My sister in law, brother in law and my nieces live there! We are going to make it a long trip and stop off in New Mexico and do a little site seeing. My youngest desperately wants to go to the spot where you can stand in 4 states at once so we deinitely going to do that!

Also, every year when it is time to begin preparing for our new school year I get a case of the jitters. I can't explain but I find myself thinking...I can't do this...I don't know what to do. I'm sure this is an attack by my blasted enemy! In the end God and my precious hubby give me the encouragement that I need to get everything organized and then I get excited! Well yesterday, Danae and I spent some of the day at the Homeschool store and I did get her a few of her subjects..went home and began to plan! Now I'm excited! There was one sad thing about yesterday...for those of you that are homeschool moms maybe you get me here. I need other moms. I need their support, their encouragement , the ideas! I had a mom snub me at the Homeschool store and it kinda hurt my feelings. Anyone who knows me know that Im super sentsitive and that I get hurt easily. I was trying not to have a melt down in the store when I, again, realized that one of babies will no longer be under my homeschool teaching and that I was shopping for only one curriculm and it would have been nice to have struck up a conversation versus being snubbed. But you know what... she probably had her own thing going. Also, I noticed that most of the moms in there looked frazzled and really not enjoying themselves. I don't want to look like that. There are days that I'm frazzled and out of sorts but I want to look friendly and approachable and full of Jesus. "Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven." Matthew 5:16
Moms, ladies... smile...look approachable. You never know who's caring the weight of the and need you to tell them who can really carry their troubles for them. Or they may already know Jesus and just need a listening ear!
Well there's my preaching for the day! Lol! Be blessed ladies!


Joyfully,
Kathy