Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

It's that in between week, where we are mostly just staying in pajamas and hanging out watching movies and playing on the wii... Which, somehow, is better than the computer. I successfully made bean and ham soup from leftover ham, and I'm as shocked as anybody that it actually turned out great! 

And, of course, we've all caught the dreaded winter cold. So, I don't feel so bad about staying in and vegging out😊🎄🎮

Peace to you all!

It's Officially the Holiday Season!!

Just a catch up post from my regular FredParent blog--- in case you missed it:):)

http://bit.ly/2fuOddD

Happy Holidays, and remember to breathe and love one another!

Blessings:)

                         

    

Sometimes, it is just SO obvious that God is in every. tiny. detail. It's like, wonderful and gives me chills all at the same time when I recognize it! Because, of course, I know He is bigger than anything, and, I now the details are where He works, but when I get the privilege of seeing it... of recognizing... Just, wow.

The verse we are praying over Danielle this week showed up in a completely different prayer circle. The challenge of once again changing some diet habits is on my mind, and within 24 hours, the message that God has it, He helps me, He, indeed, fights my battles, has been shown to me multiple times. A verse, a parable, a nurse practitioner, and a book have all delivered to me the same message:

"Child... Why do you try to do this without Me? Invite Me to help. I will carry you..."

                                                   

       

Just, Praise. God is so good. And He is so in the details, in the waiting, in the challenge.

Pray

                     

    

Pray before you vote today. Beg the Holy Spirit to guide you. Be obedient to His urging and utterances. Pray after you vote. And have Peace. God is in control. He is already there. 

November:):)

It is a mild one this year, they say. "They" being the professional weather people, and "it"being November in Virginia. I, having lived here now more than half my life, disagree. I've got to just say it is the bipolar time of year. After all, we're only three days in:)

I'm loving the Un-news these days. With all of the negative rhetoric on the news, I'm happy to look on the positive side of things. The sun is shining, the colors are beautiful. People, contrary to popular belief, are doing good things. 

Danielle is a published writer!! She wrote for Fredericksburg Parent, and here is her post:  

http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/blogs/fresh-voices/3941-special-needs-siblings-a-kind-of-our-own

Here is my post from this week:

http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/blogs/we-re-all-a-little-mad-here/3923-five-ways-to-make-fall-fabulous

Who doesn't like Virginia in the Fall? Plus, election season ends in just a few more days, so there. That is all I've got to say about that.

Join me in continuing to pray for our country, integrity, people, compassion. Jesus really does make it better to bear. Live and love well. You'll be better for it❤️🙏🏻

It's almost over😅

Another week gone:) 

Another week closer to the end of this election season. I can't even. Seriously. I can offer a little wisdom, though, and it is this:  stop scaring the children. 

Also... It is not about who gets elected... Fix your eyes on things above, specifically, on God. He raises up rulers, and He takes them down. When you start feeling despair, just look UP. And pray- because we should all be doing a little more of that:)

http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/blogs/we-re-all-a-little-mad-here/3914-what-to-do

Mission work

                                      

Good Morning! 

I am slightly sick with a cold, and I'm thinking about mission work. Right now my mission field is the home. I've read that so many times this week, that I feel like I need to say, "ok, God, I got it!" Although, admittedly, I am a little slow on the uptake most days. 

My daughter, my middle, old-soul, child is going on her first mission trip in December. To India. Over Christmas. Please pray for us all. She is both excited and a little nervous. 

The spiritual attacking by the enemy is palpable to us all. She is going to do great things, and the enemy is doing his best to wear her down

Jesus. 

Please consider joining in prayer with me, with Danielle, with all of us for protection from the trickery of Satan, for a great trip, for her to impact those she will be ministering to and with. Pray for peace. Pray for safety. 

So many things to pray for this week! Across the world are atrocious acts, flooding, poverty, soul-emptying pain. Pray for all of it, them, people, politics, the world.

We need You, Lord.

Amen.

         

Catching up, of course!

Again, again, and again...

I'm totally failing at writing more often. 

Again, check in at Fredericksburg Parent magazine for my weekly blog. 

Here are some links:

http://bit.ly/2deDGRi about homeschooling:)

http://bit.ly/2cXavBO a Tommy update!

http://bit.ly/2d3aMlD the love/hate of technology🙄

http://bit.ly/2c57Pn2 and the half-way point for Tommy

It's a crazy, crazy life, isn't it?

A marriage moments post

My post at Fredericksburg Parent this week is about marriage.  I can't talk enough about how important it is to feed and nurture your marriage every. single. day.

Pray for your spouse, pray for yourself, pray for your kids, pray for your family, then pray for your spouse again. Keep date nights, and quiet time alone with your spouse the top priority in your home life. Marriages are under attack, and it is so,so important to fight the good fight. Don't give up, don't stop fighting and don't give in to the lie that marriage is easy, or that marriage is based only on being in love. 

Love is an action verb... Not just an emotion...Love is a daily choice. 

http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/blogs/we-re-all-a-little-mad-here/3838-present-moments

Posts from fredparent:)

I've written a few posts over at fredparent- so I'm sharing them here...

http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/blogs/we-re-all-a-little-mad-here/3807-social-parents

http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/blogs/we-re-all-a-little-mad-here/3809-life-skills

It's a new month!

                                    

 

Everyone likes a fresh start, right?  We've had a lot of them around here, lately.  

Every month seems to bring a new (ish) commitment to health and nutrition.  A couple of mine for August are to eat more protein, and less carbs, absolutely no (none, nights, nada) popcorn or corn products, and walk somewhere, somehow, every single day.  We'll see how that works out!

Tommy is back at the Woodrow Wilson Workforce! He is learning life skills, and being more independent.  He also neglected to brush his teeth, or open his soap for the first two weeks. Imagine my surprise when I picked him up for a visit last Friday, and I noted that his bath caddy was right where I had left it when we moved him in... Toothbrushes and toothpaste intact in their boxes.  After being dutifully mortified, I reminded him of the importance of hygiene. Apparently, I hadn't been specific enough when we dropped him off. "Shower every day" had to be modified to "shower every day, use soap to scrub your body, shampoo to scrub your head, rinse off and brush your teeth with toothpaste and a toothbrush. And rinse. And wipe your face."

The girls and I are ceasing summer studies, and just embracing that, for the next two weeks.  Maybe just one week, though, due to my anxiety levels.  We have actually been doing summer stuff, like play dates, pool time, sleep ins, and minecraft.  It is what it is. We've had company, and absolutely NO motivation for any academics. Especially math. Ugh. So don't enjoy math.

                                         

       

So, here's to a fresh month, a fresh week, a fresh day, a fresh moment.  God gives us fresh mercies everyday. Praise God!! The fresh starts are wonderful, for sure. Every moment, though, is a gift, and it's worth it to be grateful for all of it.

Rest

                       

Ahhhh... Friday.  Today we have on the agenda library time, pool time, friend time, and grocery day. It should be good.  I'm trying to be better about meal planning, and shopping smart. 

I've been in prayer a lot this week.  The political scene is just so... Abusive, maybe?  I know it is important to follow, but I find all the infighting and mud slinging distracting. 

So. Prayer.

International news is no better... Coups, terrorism, axe-slashing, drug doping. Heart breaking.

So. Prayer.

Family and friends, we have hope. We have prayer. We have a God who loves us. He declares we are free.  You just need to claim that.

Good, welcome news is Jesus who conquers death so that we may live.  It's free. It's a choice. 

He says come to Him, and He will give you rest. It's a promise.

                           

A little catch up!

My post from this week over at fredparent is about my sweet girl, Danielle!

http://bit.ly/2a01fMA

We all have our moments❤️

Mourning.

Our hearts have been heavy this week.  Sunday, church day, God's day.  Actually all days are His, but this day, especially, has been special.  I've got a great church, with some great pastors, who in their wisdom decided to spend today's service in prayer, in praise, in worship, in mourning. 

I was reminded to take some moments to step out of the shoes of my perspective, and step into the shoes of those survivors of the violence that happened this week.  My circumstance and perspective are not the most important, or the most right, or the most relevant.  

As a Christian, I pray for the lives lost this week, and for the families and friends of those lives lost.  All lives are precious.  I was reminded that pro-life doesn't just mean in the womb.  We need to be pro-life for all lives.  

Blog love

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/17259035/?claim=ryss6gt8hc3">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Katie cat!

A Katie update on my fredparent blog:)

http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/blogs/we-re-all-a-little-mad-here/3739-my-katiecat

Summer School

Summer School from Fredparent, too:)

http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/blogs/we-re-all-a-little-mad-here/3732-summer-school

Just Love

Amidst these uncertain times, One thing is true.  That is the love of God through Christ Jesus, our Lord.  

We do have trials, we do have hardships, we do experience loss.

And it hurts.

God, though, is for us. Everything works to the good of those who love the Lord, and it is for His glory. We can't possibly know the far reaching effects of the hardships we go through, that God uses to work for good.

It all comes down to this:  Love.

Love God first, love others second. That doesn't mean to agree, or to embrace things that go against God's word.  It means to love- love God, love others, trust God. Period. It's just love. 

Prayers

I am heartbroken for so many people this week... 

My heart goes out to parents, friends, loved ones, brothers, sisters- the list goes on and on and meanwhile our fears and anxieties grow, and hate and fear are trumpeted.  

God is sovereign. His ways are not our ways.  He sees what we do not see.  He loves how we can never love.  He understands and has wisdom that we will never have.

As Christians, we are called to love. Period. This command is uttered more than once by our good, good Father. It's who He is. 

And we are loved. It's who we are.

And love sometimes looks like an action verb, not a feeling, nor an emotion.  It's what we need to do.

http://youtu.be/NjEYtaD-Ywg

Fill the Mall

PEOPLE!!!!! 

Far and wide, friends and family!!! There is an event coming to the National Mall, July 16, 2016.  It's called together, and reset, and fill the Mall.  

All for Jesus. To give Him glory. To pray for our Nation.

I'm tired of hearing the bad news that keeps getting worse.  This is such a positive way to respond❤️❤️❤️ love, in the name of Jesus.  Come to DC and fill the Mall.

 

                                   

In Memory Of--

Happy Memorial Day!!

I am so thankful for those who served and sacrificed so I could live in a free country today.  I am afraid that many Americans take it for granted- that they are free. 

God gave us freedom, and Christ died for us that we may have eternal life. A lot of countries in the world have leadership that don't believe in freedom for all; many don't have governments that support freedom for any.  As you celebrate the holiday with picnics and grill-outs, take a minute to think about how many people throughout our history that have died so that we may have picnics and grill outs, and speak English, or Spanish, and talk about all the problems we have in this country...  

We have so much to be thankful for. And all of us have a responsibility to remember that freedom isn't free.

Sunday❤️

I love my Sunday time.  I serve at our church's nursery and get to hold babies and whisper to them how much God loves them.  I always get an awesome message from the sermon.  Today, Danielle was on the big stage, keyboarding praise and worship (can I just tell you how awesome it is to see your children praising and worshiping?)!   It's just so good.

And today, the sun was out:) I love sunshine.  I have missed the sun.  May has become rainy season in Virginia.

Yesterday, the whole family participated in #foodfight.  We were missionaries for two hours.  I want to do more, because it just felt so good!

Have a fantastic week! 

Another catch up

So much has been going on!  I write rather regularly now for Fredericksburg Parent as one of their bloggers.  It's great! I really like having the accountability to write more regularly.  I may link this blog to that one, so I'm accountable here, as well.  This one is just much more personal, and deep.  Here, I get to talk about how crazy I am for Jesus, without any type of restraint!  

It dawned on me today, that if I link the blogs, I'm actually being like a missionary.  This is so cool!  I want people to be led to Christ!  He thinks of everything!

So, true story:  I am finding myself more focused on being more ecclesiastical.  I'm shy, though.  I pray for the boldness to proclaim Christ is King.  I want to share without being labeled as a crazy person.  I am crazy, though, because, in my old age, I'm starting to understand how beautiful life is.  There is nothing easy about living, but once I started to look through the perspective of my relationship with God, I began to appreciate the beauty in all things.

My prayer request is that I can share the Good News without hesitation.  Life is truly beautiful.  It's even more beautiful when you can look on the ups and downs with an eternal perspective.

Check out my last few posts!

http://bit.ly/1TaWluy

http://bit.ly/1T5zkG9

http://bit.ly/23gzVML

Catch up time

I write for an actual newsletter/magazine, now, so I haven't blogged here as much as I would like.  So... I'll be attaching the links to those posts. I need to keep my eyes focused upward, these days, to be honest.  There are a lot of distractions to contend with lately, like sickness, politics, appointments.... Join me in praying that through it all, we keep our eyes on Him❤️

http://bit.ly/1KxTAgt

http://bit.ly/1QjTbWS

Thanks for reading:):)

History lessons

My sweet, wise, very old grandma celebrated her 92nd birthday last week!  It is hard for me to imagine being that old. She was born during the Great Depression, was married to a man who fought in the Second World War, totally left him when he proved to be unworthy, and moved herself and her children to the projects and slept with a 2x4 under her bed to protect them.  She then met and married the man I knew as my papa.  He was in the battle of Iwo Jima! He actually had a Japanese rifle that he picked off a fallen soldier.  Could you imagine? History lives in all of us.

I am saddened by death- believe me -but it is important to remember that we aren't meant or made for this world.  As sad as it is to say goodbye to loved ones, when one lives in the Lord, because of His sacrifice, good byes are not forever.  I know that doesn't make them less sad- but it does mean that one day everyone will be reunited. Do you live with that Hope?

While I love my grandma, I am comforted that she knows the Lord, and that she has surely lived a rich life.  I know because she shares all of her stories with me.  She shares them multiple times in one sitting, and forgets that she has just told me this or that story, but she remembers the past with such clarity.  She may not remember she just turned 92, or that it's time for breakfast, but she remembers at age ten being in charge of her four year old baby sister and riding a train from Jacksonville, Florida to Little Rock, Arkansas... By herself.  I wouldn't put my 12 year old on a train by herself- just saying.

It'll be ok to say good bye (for now) to G-ma, because she has outlived her husband(s), her sister, most aunts, uncles, and cousins, and one of her children.  And I'm sure she is tired.  God still has a plan for her, though, and while I don't understand what it could be, I certainly trust it.  One of my favorite preachers (Clayton King) was preaching about sadness and loosing person after person in a short period of time. He said, though, that he heard this message about tough times:  "if you aren't dead, then God's not done."

I love that.  It's powerful.  It's a reminder that He has a plan for all of us.  It is empowering to me to get the message of the Gospel to any loved one I know, too. 

We are here for only a short time.  Jesus died so that we may live forever. If you don't have that hope, please feel free to contact me, or comment on my post... I'm happy to talk about the life changing love of Jesus Christ:) with anyone.