Happenings, thoughts

Things are still pretty hectic, and the play my daughter is in will be shown on the weekends of June 15th, and June 24th.

As most of you know, she's one of the Oompa Loompa's in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This play is going to be so good. With the Oompa Loompa's they have added some steps, and one of them is they jump out like a cat and meow. Brooke thinks that's pretty cool.

The boy who plays Augustus Gloop, the one who loves chocolate, doesn't even like chocolate at all, lol. He does a great job with his part, as does the boy who plays Willy Wonka. All of them who are involved in the play are doing a great job, and we're having a lot of fun.

One of the things she got for her birthday was a soccer ball. That was her favorite present, and she takes it to bed with her.

I also started walking about a week ago, so I'm trying to establish that routine. So far I've walked every day. There have been a couple of mornings that have been hard to get up, but I did it anyway. I forget whose blog it was I reading but she said that she loved to exercise. I hope I get to that point someday soon. I do like to walk, but right now, since I'm so out of shape, the hills get to me sometimes, though I did start out slow.

I've gotten to the point, regarding the homeschooling issue and what others think, that I don't really have to explain to others why we do what we do, and if others are not happy about it, so be it.

We have had a couple of finches to build nests on a post on our front porch every year since we moved here three years ago. My daughters and I have enjoyed watching them so much and one reason was because it amazed us how the male finch took care of the female, and the baby birds. Unfortunately, last year another bird, which we call the speckled bird, kept coming up to their nests and just standing there looking at the birds in the nest. A couple of times last year they had a fight. Our (as we call them) birds fought with them, and kept their territory. This year it was different, the speckled bird and her cohort, a male finch, fought *our* birds, and we are so disappointed that our birds lost. The speckled bird built her nest, had her babies, and last weekend the babies flew away. Sooo, I hurried up and took the nest away in hopes that our birds would come back. Today the speckled bird and male finch are back building another nest. It's pretty cool watching that bird though because she is so funny while building it. She had a poorly made nest the last time. The only thing I do enjoy about the speckled bird is that she chatters alot.

As silly as this might sound, I loved watching *our* finches because the male bird reminded me of how a husband and father takes care of his family. And I miss watching that, and miss our birds for that reason.

I do hope to get back to posting from either the Attributes of God, or another book soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE!

Nine years ago today, two days after I turned 40, on May 21, 1998, God blessed us with a second daughter. I will always consider her a miracle because she was born five weeks early, and spent three weeks in the NICU. The day she was born my blood pressure was dangerously high. I knew that I was having unbearable headaches unlike any I had ever had before. I called my wonderful, and that is said with sarcasm, doctor at 3:00 AM, that morning because I could not stand the headaches. He told me there was nothing he could do for me at 3:00 in the morning, but to take a Benadryl and go to bed. I'm not a doctor, but all pregnant ladies know what bad advice that was. I didn't take it, but did try to go to bed.

The next day a nurse had come to our house to see how our older daughter was doing. This is something this nurse had never done before. I will never forget her, and how the Lord sent her to our house that day. My older daughter told her that I was on light bedrest, and having headaches, so she took my blood pressure, and it was so high that she made me call both my husband and the doctor before she left.

At 6:47 PM, God blessed us with a 4 lb., 9 oz. little girl. Initially she was fine, but after about an hour in the nursery, they had to send her to the NICU because she was having trouble breathing. (I'm almost making myself cry just remembering that). Her lungs were not developed, and she had acid reflux. She could only take 1 teaspoon of milk every three hours.

She came home on June 10, 1998. Because she was coming home with a heart monitor (because of her acid reflex, and sleep apnea), we had to spend the night of June 9th at the hospital. After we had gotten settled with her in the room, my husband went to Baskin-Robbins to bring us back some ice cream to celebrate Brooke coming home. This is something we used to do regularly when we lived in that area. We'd get those little small pints of ice cream and bring them home. He came back with TWO QUARTS of peanut butter chocolate. I thought it was intentional and didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I tried to eat the whole thing, and nearly made myself sick, lol. He did the same, and later told me that he accidentally got the quarts instead of what we usually got.

He was such a help to me, and would help me with her feedings during the night. One morning before he went to work he woke me up and asked me "do you want to feed Brooke?", and I asked "Brooke who?"

Brooke is a sweet little girl who loves the Bible, and like me, likes the old hymns. When I am sick with a headache, she comes into my room to sing the hymns to me.

Brooke, we are blessed to have you in our family, and we love you very much. We hope you are having a very happy birthday!

God is Faithful

Though I have put my study of A. W. Pink's Attributes of God book on hold for a bit, I am praying through one attribute a week from something else that I have.

When our oldest daughter began kindergarten at home, I came across a book by Cheri Fuller called When Mothers Pray. I don't remember all that was in it so I cannot recommend it for that reason. I do remember reading about Moms In Touch International in that book. I was involved with them for several years.

To sum up what Moms in Touch is, it is two or more mothers who get together for one hour each week to pray for their children, their schools, faculty members, etc. They use what is called a Four Steps of Prayer format.

Praise - Praising God for WHO he is

Confession - Silent

Thanksgiving - Thanking God for that He has DONE

Intercession - Praying for each child, schools, faculty members, etc.

During this one hour, they pray, using Scripture, as well as praying for specific requests. They praying one accord, praying one topic at a time, and then going on to the next request. You receive a Members Sheet each week and from that sheet you pray. You pray using that sheet throughout the week.

I no longer have anyone to pray with me but decided almost two weeks ago that I would begin praying for that one hour per week due to what I perceive as a crisis. Now, this is not the only time I pray, but it is keeping me consistent. I made 52 copies of the Members Sheet, and have been praying more consistently than I have in a long time. So, every Monday night I pray for my family. It's been a huge blessing to me. I pray through one attribute a week.

Last Monday night I chose God is Faithful. The definition of that is: Constant, loyal, reliable, steadfast, unwavering, devoted, true, dependable.

Here are the Scriptures listed:

Deuteronomy 7:9
Psalm 119:90
Lamentations 3:21-24
2 Timothy 2:13
Psalm 33:4
Psalm 145:13
1 Corinthians 10:13
1 John 1:9
Psalm 89:8
Psalm 146:5-8
2 Timothy 1:12
Revelation 19:11

Between studying the attributes out of Pink's book, and the ones out of the Leader's Guide I have from Moms in Touch (MITI), my faith in the Lord has grown. The more I get to know Him, my trust in Him grows.

By the way, MITI is for public schools, private schools, home schools, and colleges. They don't pray IN the schools, but FOR the schools.

I became involved in them before I became reformed, and I now disagree with several of their book recommendations, and some of the things said in another book I'm almost through reading. Overall, I think it's a good ministry that encourages moms to pray, and my purpose for posting this was to share this method of prayer with you.

Pink's book on hold for now

I'm going to have to take a break from my study on the attributes of God, out of A. W. Pink's Attributes of God. The reason is that I need to focus my studies on the reasons we home school, and also the roles of men and women, specifically that of a wife, and the Titus 2 woman. I have studied it in the past, but my ability to communicate it to others is lacking. It's become crucial that I know these things because of some questions my daughter has been asking me. This is not an option for us, as this is not God's will for our family.

It seems she might have been asked to explain why we home school, and why we do things in our family the way we do. In a way this is good because it is causing me to dig into the Scriptures to be able to communicate to others our reasons for the beliefs that we have. I did do that several years ago, but I never wrote them down, and I'm in a different place spiritually now.

The topics I need to reinforce in my own mind, and be able to intelligently communicate to others is our roles as men and women, specifically the roles of a husband and wife, and also why we home school.

If you have any good resources regarding these topics, I'd like to know them. I do have a few good resources.

A Fun Meme

I was tagged by Lisa, at Deo Volente, and here are my answers. This is a neat way for us to get to know each other better.

Here's how it goes:
Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. My dad was in the Navy; I was born in Norfolk, VA, where we lived on the base until I was four. I've lived in Norfolk, VA; Bainbridge, MD, Weatherly, PA; San Diego, CA; Portsmouth, RI; East Meadow, NY; and the state I live in now. I changed schools three times in 6th grade. My favorite place to live was San Diego, and I still miss it.

2. My favorite thing to do when I was growing up was roller skating, and playing with dolls. I had a doll named Baby First Step, and she was my favorite.

3. I'm the youngest of three, my older brothers are six and seven years older than me. They were good brothers, who were protective of me while I was growing up. They teased me alot, and I was gullible, and believed anything they told me. I've since grown up, lol, and not quite so gullible I don't think.

4. When I was about 6, I was going up to the store to buy Sweetarts (which was my favorite candy). My dad was driving by on his way home, and asked me if I wanted a ride. I told him no because I thought he was someone dressed up, and disguised as my dad.

5. I was outside of the bank at the ATM machine of the bank I used to work for downtown, and there was a car stopped in the lane. I thought it was a lady I used to work with, so I kept waving and waving at her. She waved back, and motioned for me to come over there. Well, I did go over there, got in the car, and when I sat down, turned towards her, and discovered that I did not know her at all. She looked at me and asked "you're a friend of Jennifer's aren't you?" I had absolutely no idea who Jennifer was. I had to admit that I didn't know her after all, that she just looked like someone I knew. In defense of myself though, the car this lady was driving was the same kind the attorneys had that we worked for (when I worked for the attorneys).

6. I tend to be quiet and shy, but am breaking out of that a little bit more. I have never liked getting up in front of people to speak, and almost flunked 9th grade because of an English teacher who made us do oral book reports. I preferred getting an F rather than getting up in front of everyone.

7. I love to read, and am not much of a movie fan. We could get rid of the TV and I'd be happy. I used to read alot of fiction, but I now enjoy reading books about being a wife, and mother, theology, and counseling. I do read fiction at times, I like the Journey series, Pride and Prejudice. I also like poetry.

I'm not sure I can tag seven people because I only know a few people. But, THIS time I will muster up the courage and tag Centuri0n, whereas I was too shy before. So, I am tagging:

CenturiOn

Nicki, Catriona & Nita at Titus 2 (do they count as three?!!!?)

I think I will wait for a few days and tag a couple of more people.

God is Immutable

This week I've been focusing on this attribute of God.......that He is Immutable. I have made this attribute one to use during my prayer time this week, and am using it to praise Him.

Immutable - Never changing or varying, unchangeable

Here are some of the Scriptures for this attribute:

Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

1Samuel 15:29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret."

Psalm 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

Psalm 100:5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 102:25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

Psalm 102:26 They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,

Psalm 102:27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.

On Sunday, I went and made 52 copies of the Members Sheet from the Leader's Guide that I had from Moms in Touch. I plan to pray one hour each week for Lighthouse Academy, our home school. Here is the link to the Members Sheet if you are interested. When I went to the website to get the link, this poem was on the home page. The poem was such an encouragement to me because my teenage daughter and I seem to butt heads on a daily basis. And, it breaks my heart. So, I made concrete plans to pray for her, and the rest of our family, for that one hour each week, using the Member Sheet, and the Attributes of God, and Character of God pages that I have in my Leader's Guide. Even if no other mother joins me in prayer on those Monday evenings, I will continue praying alone.

Because of these constant battles, the fact that God is Immutable, has been a great comfort to me. I may change from day to day, my emotions may go up and down at times, but God is constant, and unchanging. There is no shadow of turning with Him, or in Him.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. ESV

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. KJV

I can pray with confidence, knowing that when I pray in His will, that His will be done, He will answer my prayers.

1Jn 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

1Jn 5:15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

May this post encourage your hearts today.