Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Birthday, birth, exhaustion

Wow, today was a big day. My second day of work, exhaustion! Today is my daughter's 18th birthday. My cousin, Jackie, had her baby today. A boy, Wyatt Dane, 8lbs 20oz, 21 1/2inches long.

I started a job yesterday. I am cleaning a 5000 sq foot house. I haven't worked since 2000. So this has been quite the experience. I am so tired and sore. It is good though. I am making my own money, but I can't wait to buy stuff for our house.

My daughter, CPB, turned 18 today. I can't believe she is 18. It has been a long road. It still isn't over, but she is now legally an adult. I pray that she will keep God first and follow His lead in all things.


My cousin, Jackie, had her beautiful baby boy, Wyatt Dane, he was born this morning around 6:30 am. Which is funny, CPB was born around 6:30pm on this same day 18 years ago. Mom and baby are doing awesome!


God is good, His Word is true and it works in our lives!!!

Monday, March 21, 2011

What a day!

I got a job today!

I am cleaning a 5000 sq ft house.

Nice money for a month.

Haven't worked since 2000. So a bit nervous.

Pray!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Moon over Alabama



Saturday cleaning.....

Today is a day of cleaning. You know how it is....through the week things are just kind of let go. So today is pick up day, and laundry day!

EAB (our six year old) and I already exercised. We have alot of errands, a few essentials from the grocery, library and then whatever else we can knock out today. Sunday's, I try to make that our total day of rest day, other than going to church.

So what do you do on your Saturday's?

Friday, March 18, 2011

Happy Anniversary to Me!!!

Well I was just sitting and studying my Bible when the UPS truck pulled up. I knew I hadn't ordered anything. Well I open it up and what do I see, but a brand new Kindle! My sweet husband had bought me a NOOK Color when we got our tax refund. Our six year old had wanted one, plus I had debated back and forth between the two. Well JTB bought the NOOK. Well not to complain, but I have really not liked it. There have been a couple of times when I had it on the charger all night and woke up to it dead. You have to be so particular how you put the charger in there.


Also, I love to sit out and read, but you just can't read it in the sun. It is great at night, but not during the day. I will say the downside to the Kindle is you can't read it at night without a light. I will live with that! 


So thank you JTB for blessing me so! I love you and can't imagine my life without you! It isn't because you bless me so, it is because of who you are. You love me so completely, you are my best friend, and the man who loves Jesus! I couldn't ask for more!!



Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Today is a traditionally devoted to eating and drinking. Even though I am not Irish, I still have taught my children the true meaning of Saint Patrick's Day. Like Christmas we tend to get away from the true meaning of the day.




From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Day


 Saint Patrick's Day (IrishLá Fhéile Pádraig) is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It is named after Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of thepatron saints of Ireland. It is observed by the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),[1] the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutherans. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early 17th century, and has gradually become a celebration of Irish culture in general.[2]
The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services, wearing of green attire (especially shamrocks), and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on fasting and drinking, which is often proscribed during the rest of the season.[3][4][5][6]
Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland,[7] Northern Ireland,[8] Newfoundland and Labrador and in Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as the United KingdomCanada, the United StatesArgentinaAustralia, and New Zealand, among others.
St. Patrick's Day cake I made today.

So if you are out celebrating the carnal day, be safe and don't drink too much! If you are like my family and celebrating the life of the man who devoted his life to Christ and to proselytizing the Irish people then have fun! It is a great day to learn about a godly man and his people!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Glad to be home!

The drive from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to Birmingham, Alabama is a tough one. I remember when JTB was stationed in Rochester, NY. It was 1997 and that fall my dad died, so we (the kids and I ) were driving from Rochester to Indiana regularly. I was 28, I could make that drive with no problem. There are differences, then I was 28 and smoked, so that helped with the drive. Today I am a non-smoker and 41. Big difference. The drive will be in our lives a lot. 


I am grateful that I am able to make the drive to make it easier on JTB so he isn't burning up any leave time. Plus I get a mini-vacation out of the deal. Other than cooking and cleaning up the dishes, which NSB, our 14 year old, did most of the time for me, I pretty much got 10 days to read books and my bible and play on the computer. I took the kids to the library and to the park. We were able to attend church with JTB at Northwood Temple. So we had a great time. It went way to fast, but praise God we got to spend the time together.


So we patiently await until JTB either comes home or we go back to Bragg for a visit.



Sunday, March 13, 2011

A lazy Sunday

Today is the day the kids and I pack up to go back to our house in Alabama. We leave early in the morning, JTB leaves in the morning as well.  A week of TDY (temporary duty) for him. So leaving won't be so hard. I know he has work to go do and he doesn't have to return to an empty apartment.

We have had a lot of fun the past 10 days. Doing the geographical bachelor thing has been hard on us all, but every time I come to Fort Bragg, it is reinforced that this post is just not for us. This is the first assignment where I have looked upon it and said this place is just too dangerous. Others do it, but I just can't. At least not right now.

We are looking forward to the day that we can all be together in Alabama, but then JTB would be out of the Army....so we have a double edged sword and {James 1:8 (KJV) 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.} It is difficult when you do want two things, but you know you can only have one. So you trust in God and know that He will direct your paths, even if it is down the one you aren't so sure of.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Beside Still Waters: Author Interview




Need a good book, then check out Tricia Goyer's "Beside Still Waters"!!

Fig Tree, Money Changers and Faith

Today's reading is from Mark 11:12-26. We start out as Jesus and his disciples are walking and Jesus was hungry. Wow, what a word. Jesus was hungry. Just a quick search, not an exhaustive search, I only found two times that Jesus was hungry. The first was Mark 11:12. Jesus and his disciples were leaving Bethany and the scripture said He was hungry. Let's back up and see what had Jesus been doing? One he had been in Jericho teaching and then walked to Jerusalem, which was not a short walk. It is about 17 miles from Jericho to Jerusalem. They would have arrived in the later afternoon. Jesus sent the disciples to get a donkey for Him to ride into Jerusalem on. So in one day Jesus walked 17 miles, then rode a donkey into Jerusalem, then after all that went into the temple complex, looked around to see what was going on, then He and the disciples walked to Bethany (bible says it was late) which is about two miles. So Jesus had a physically tiring day, He also had an emotionally tiring day.. Yet the scripture waits and says at the beginning of the day the next day, He was hungry. We know Jesus ate, but we don't really know the details. I do like that the times that the Bible talks about Jesus eating it says He was hungry. Gives us true direction on how to eat. Plus what to eat, He was going to eat a fig. Not ice cream, not chocolate, but a fig.


So it is the next morning and Jesus and the disciples are heading back into Jerusalem from Bethany. He walks past the fig tree, He was hungry, and there were no figs on the fig tree. This is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary: 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE CURSED, THE TEMPLE CLEANSED. (11:12-18)

Christ looked to find some fruit, for the time of gathering figs, though it was near, was not yet come; but he found none. He made this fig-tree an example, not to the trees, but to the men of that generation. It was a figure of the doom upon the Jewish church, to which he came seeking fruit, but found none. Christ went to the temple, and began to reform the abuses in its courts, to show that when the Redeemer came to Zion, it was to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The scribes and the chief priests sought, not how they might make their peace with him, but how they might destroy him. A desperate attempt, which they could not but fear was fighting against God.


So is Christ making an example of the tree and what will happen to us all who don't produce fruit? I'll have to let you decide that. We know Jesus was without sin, I had read a comment in YouVersion that lpakele had said that Jesus was upset one because of no figs, but  he also made the comment that Jesus had fasted for 40 days and nights and could  handle no food. Then he goes to the Temple expecting to see fruit from His people and found none.  So I just threw that in as food for thought.


Then we go to the last point. Jesus said, "Have faith in God". So simple, so true. I grew up with Kenneth Hagin talking about Mark 11:23.   I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.


So faith is having total trust in God. To know that if we do not doubt in our heart and believe that what God says he will perform it. It goes back to the word I felt God speak to me at the beginning of the year. Expect....Expect me to perform my Word. 


Are we expecting from God, are we being fruitful...let us not be like the fig tree, as Christ followers we are to have a fruit producing life, all the time! Go ye and produce!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Lent from a Charismatic view point.

I started the YouVersion.com bible reading, 40 Days of Lent. It follows the last week of Jesus' life. I cannot imagine what the women who were following Jesus thought. As a woman I know it would have been horrible. My emotions would have been all over the place. Emotional, moody....I can't believe that Mary Magdelene, Joanna, Susanna and the others who supported Jesus in His earthly ministry weren't affected by his upcoming death. (Luke 8:3)

Yet, God was merciful and gracious. He allowed the women who were with Him (Luke 24:10) to be the first to hear the good news. The women had been grieving Him, they had prepared Him for the tomb. He allowed them to know He was alive. What a wonderful God we serve. He knows our nature, He knows our pains and He allowed these precious women to be told the good news first, "He is not here, He is risen!" Wow, to be the first to hear these words.

Lent just started Wednesday, but my thoughts went to these courageous women of faith. To go 40 days watching Jesus fast, go through those days in anguish and to hear Him speak about what will happen. I have such admiration for these women. They sacrificed everything, their homes, marriages and finances to follow the Christ. They weren't concerned with what others would say, they only cared about Him.

To be more like them.....to be willing to sacrifice everything is my prayer today.