Praise Him anyway!

So this morning after struggling to decide what to wear to church I finally decided on a orange shirt and khaki skirt with some nice brown boots. I felt like I looked nice...not that that is what going to church is about but being a stay at home mom...I enjoy getting dressed up on Sunday! My girls are taught to bring their best to the Lord's house too. Anyway, as we are sitting at the red light to turn onto the church's street when my COFFEE CUP LID COMES UNSCREWED AND DUMPS THE CONTENTS ENTIRELY ON MY SKIRT!Yes, I know at this point normal people would be thinking about the scalding that my legs took with the coffee spillage but no, ladies, no. I was devasted at the wreck on my skirt! I mean it was drenched!At this point there was no going home..gas prices and we live a good 30 minutes away. Plus, my youngest baby would have to miss out on her Sunday school class. I resigned myself to sitting in the car and listening to worship music for the time that my kiddos were in church. I mean, come on. I couldn't possibly go into church in that condition. What would people say/think? They would stare or feel the need to comment because they were caught staring at my mess. I acutally toyed with the idea of running to the local walmart to get a new skirt...but the budget told me to get other ideas. As I was sitting there in my car, wearing my coffee, I felt the gentle nudge of The Holy One..." You were looking forward to church today are you really gonna let a little spill keep you from my house?" Thinking that apparently God was having a little trouble with His vision today, I pointed out to Him that I was wearing almost an entire cup of coffee. There was no hiding it! But what a persistant God He is..." Praise Me anyway." My response, " Really?" He said, " This is not what church is about. It's not about the right clothes, the right hair. It's not even about you...It's about Me. So, yes, Praise Me anyway." With a renewed love for Sunday worship in God's house I got out of the car and strategically held my sweater in front of me as not to cause too much of a ruckus. When I sat down next to my oldest daughter she said," I'm glad you joined me." I said to her, " Praise Him anyway right?!" Turns out I really needed to hear the message and you aren't going to believe the Scripture that I was led too. Well if you have been enjoying a relationship with God for any length of time this will probably not surprise you one bit. Philippians 4:4 Rejoice at all times. Again, I say, Rejoice! WOW! Then the Lord gently pointed out that that Scripture doesn't have any add ons. No rejoice as long as your aren't wearing coffee, as long as your hair looks good, as long as the kids behave and hubby picks up his laundry. Nope, we are commanded to Rejoice! Rejoice because God is good! Because we are free to go to church, because Jesus saved us...I could go on for days! This morning was a good reality check! I needed to be reminded of why I go to church in the first place and last but not least....it was an awesome teaching time for my girls! Praise God! Happy Sabbath to you all!

Joyfully,
Kathy

New Beginnings and Such

Ever find yourself searching for a "do over" button or a "begin again" button? As one who is forever on the search for the perfect "do over" button I'm especially fond of January! January represents newness, starting over, a fresh start! I love it! It excites me...I love to plan all the new things that I want to get started on! I love the saying, " Out with the old and on with the new"! That spells January to me! Trouble is, I fail shortly after beginning all these great new things. Failure is very disheartening to me. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. So the other day I proudly announced that I haven't failed at my no resolutions making year! My dear friend suggested that we have a goal each month and keep each other accountable for it! I love this! I think I can really succeed at this! I'm going to begin on the small scale and work my way up. I have a great many things that I want to accompolish around our home and I'm excited that I don't have a long resolution list! I'm simply going to make a list of things that I want to accopolish this year and choose one a month! Now, of course there are things in my day to day life that I want to begin implementing and those I'm going to start slowly too. I'm not going to rush into it with several things to start doing differently. I will just get frustrated and quit all together! So there you have it! The newness of this year has me excited and I'm going to begin with purging my 10 yr old's room! ( Shivers in fear)! Have a beautiful day in the Lord!
Just a helpful tidbit: it takes 21 days of doing something over and over to form a habit. I'm thinking I'll start with Bible reading quiet time!

Joyfully,
Kathy

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