Sisters Night Out

It has been one month since Chris passed away.  My sister didn't want to sit around the house and sulk, so she invited me to go with her to Disney on Ice.  I love ice skating and she loves Disney, especially Mickey Mouse.  There were four movies represented hosted by Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, & Daisy.  

The first movie represented was "The Lion King".

Followed by my favorite: "The Little Mermaid".

"Lilo & Stitch" was next, but I didn't take too many pictures;

the ones I did take didn't turn out the best.

After intermission, the main movie representation was "Peter Pan".

"We can fly, we can fly, we can fly!"

Watch out for Captain Hook!

Time for the Grand Finale...

Prepare Day 5

John 1:1-5, 10-14

1.  What God said to me today through His Word...

The Creator of the universe chose to come live among us even after we went our own way and did not recognize Him!  Can you believe that!  He brought light into the darkness and understanding to those who receive Him!  It is easy to dwell among those who are kind and love you; it is another to give grace and light to those who do not.  Christ set the example for us.

2.  What I saw God do today...

He gave grace and strength to my sister to make it through today.  (It was exactly one month ago that her husband passed away.)  He is also helping to build a stronger bond with me and my sister.

3. My prayer for today...

Thank You, God for giving my sister the strength that she needed for today.  Thank You for the opportunity for us to spend time together tonight and that we were able to be an encouragement to one another.  Thank You also for bringing Your grace and light and choosing to live among us and setting the example for us to follow.  Help me to see the ways I can bring Your light into the darkness.  Give me strength and courage, wisdom and discernment.  You Were in the beginning and You Are and You will forever Be.  Thank You that You are always here.  Please wrap Your arms around my sister tonight and help her to get the rest that she needs.  Amen.

Prepare Day 4

Genesis 3

1. What God said to me today through His Word...

Just like the fruit on the tree that looked good and desirable, there are things in my life that look harmless and good.  However, they may prove be bad for me.  God may tell me to not partake of it in order to protect me from something.  Some times I may know why later while at other times, I may never know why I am to stay away from it.  

2. What I saw God do today...

He protected me from an accident and kept me calm instead of getting angry with the other driver.

3. My prayer for today...

Lord, I thank You for Your hedge of protection today and also for helping me to keep calm and not get angry over the situation.  I thank You for giving me the quick response time to swerve in time so I was not hit.  You are the wise Counselor; show me Your wisdom and discernment in all areas of my life.  When I am tempted, help me to see the way out that You so graciously provide and to take the way out and not fall into the trap.  

I pray for K.  I pray that You will give his doctors wisdom and discernment to know what to do and how to adjust his medications.  Give Dave & Wendi strength and wisdom in handling the situation as well.  Give strength to my sister and niece as well as they continue to deal with the passing of their husband and father.  Wrap Your loving arms around them in an extra strong and special embrace.  Fill up their loneliness and continue to help them through this sad time in their lives.  Bring people into their lives at just the right time.  Thank You for how You care for each one of us right where we are now and for loving us enough to challenge us to grow.  Amen.

Prepare Day 3

Genesis 2:4-25

1. What God said to me today through His Word...

God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  What if God has placed me in my "garden" for a specific purpose?  Am I listening to Him and following His direction?  Are there things in my life I am to stay away from because it will only hinder me or cause me or someone else to stumble?

2. What I saw God do today...

He allowed me to face some feelings that I have kept pent up inside for so long and provided a way for them to come out.  He also gave my mom the time to talk me through them.

3. My prayer for today...

Lord, You know my heart and my desires as well as my anxious thoughts.  You are always with me whether I realize it or not.  You are there in my happy times.  You are there in my sad times.  You are there when I feel loved.  You are there when I feel lonely.  I am not sure exactly why my loneliness and longings of the heart came forth while celebrating my sister's 30th birthday tonight.  It has been very difficult being single all these years with a strong desire to get married and have a family of my own.  I can truly say that I am happy for my friends and family and can celebrate with them in their weddings and having babies.  While at the same time, I can't help but feel a bit jealous and envious.  Oh how I have longed to hold the hand of a special someone or to hold a newborn baby that was formed out of love or to be sent flowers at work from someone special just because or to surprise them with a special dinner that I created just for them.  Instead, I have watched so many friends and family get to do that and I don't even seem to have a hint of a glimpse of that in my future.  I know that You know the plans for my life and why I am still single at the age of 33...but sometimes...ok a LOT of times...I can't help but think "what's wrong with me?"  I even feel bad for thinking and saying to my mom tonight that I was jealous of my sister.  She seems to get all sorts of surprises, even when it's not her birthday or Valentines day.  I feel bad that I told my mom that: yes, I know that Chris is gone now and I feel for her and I know that their marriage wasn't perfect, but at least she got to experience having a husband and a child.  For some reason, the feelings just overflowed tonight and my mom picked up on it.  I don't want to feel lonely...or undesired...or...When will it be MY turn?  Lord, please fill me up with Your Spirit, surround me with Your loving and comforting arms. Hold my hand and walk with me down this journey I am on.  Prepare me for the man You may have for me one day.  Prepare him for me as well.  May he be a man who loves You and seeks after You.  Amen.

Prepare Day 2

Psalm 8

1. What God said to me today through His Word...

Verses 3-4 really stuck out to me.  (For those of you who may not know why these verses stick out to me see my 2nd blog entry ever.)  It is hard to fathom just how BIG all of God's creation is; yet He knows us and cares for us!  In the vastness of time and space, He knows every little detail about me...even better than I know myself!  He placed me here in this place at this exact time for a reason.  I may not know exactly what that is or where God will take me next, but He does and has had it in mind since before the beginning of time.  I don't know if I am capable in this earthly limited body to fully comprehend how that is possible.  God is BIG, but cares about the minutest details!

2. What I saw God do today...

He helped me be patient with some people who can be very trying in my life and not want to get moody back.  This is a difficult area in my life.  It is so hard to treat others who 99.9% of the time treat you mean with graciousness and kindness.  I (with God's help) desire to improve on how I respond towards others.

3. My prayer for today...

Thank You, God, for making all the beautiful things big and small for us to enjoy.  It is wonderful to think that I am so important to You.  Thank you for giving me grace in dealing with my difficult people today.  Please continue to give me the strength, persistence, and grace to continue to do so even if they never come around and treat me respectfully.  I thank You that You never turned Your back on me!  

Prepare Day 1

My church has put together a 40-day study to prepare for Easter. The first day is today. There is a passage of Scripture to read and then the following three statements. 

Today's passage is Genesis 1:1-2:3

1. What God said to me today through His Word...

Even God rested after six days of work; I need to take time to not only rest from daily activities, but also learn to "be" in Him and spend quality and quantity time with my Creator.

2. What I saw God do yesterday...

-God was able to take 2 complicated situations and merge them together creating a non-complicated situation

-God reached out to me and my family through His children (my small group) to care for, pray for, and bless me and my family during this time of loss.

3. My prayer for today...

Lord Jesus, teach me to take time to really rest in You; to allow you to soften my heart and take hold of my life. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear You and what You have for me. I want to really learn who You are and not just facts about You. I seek to have You be LORD of my life. Thank You for your patience with me. Amen

Then Sings My Soul Saturday

I saw "Then Sings My Soul Saturdays" on a few other blogs and decided to join in on the fun... For my first ever TSMSS, I would like to share my favorite hymn, "To God Be the Glory."  When I googled it to find a video, the below video is the first one that popped up.  It is a little different arrangement, but I like it.  It is also sung by Tommy Walker who is one of my favorite worship leaders.  I even had the privilege to sing in the choir when he came to our city a few years back.  Remember to give all glory to God today and every day!

Quick Update

Today I had my 90-day evaluation at work. It was nothing but great marks and comments.  I even got a raise!  God has also been providing for me in many other ways as well.  He is stretching me in some areas as well.  

Lessons from Philippians

Today at church, we finished our study of Philippians.  Paul's letter to the Philippians contains four chapters with a total of 104 verses.  What you may not realize is we began our study on June 1, 2008!  Even before this study, Philippians is the book of the Bible that I knew the best...sad to admit, it was more head knowledge than heart knowledge.  I am still in the process of taking these teachings and putting them to practice.  I am pressing on toward the goal because He who began a good work in me WILL complete it!

Here is a summary of our study...

Chapter 1: Partners Together

What would it be like if we realized we are not merely customers/employees but PARTNERS together?

What if the good work that God began in me is somehow connected to healing the broken world?  What is my passion/good thing?

Chapter 2: Upside Down Living

What would it be like if instead of pursuing the typical American dream we would look for ways to serve & give & love & find greatness redefined?

What if my decision to follow Jesus and make myself "nothing" could lead to a life filled with "everything"--(unimaginable joy, peace, comfort, celebration)?

Chapter 3: Pressing on Together 

Let's not give up!

What if I decide I REALLY want to KNOW Christ?  Not know more about Christ (facts)...but choose to really KNOW Him...let Him invade the darkest, deepest parts of my soul and my heart and let Him lead me from there; not from my head in a book, but from my head up following Him.  Choose to know Christ so well that I would sense His presence, His pleasure, and His leading intuitively.  It would be the most natural thing.

Chapter 4: Whatever

Whatever happens to you-rejoice!

Whatever happens to you: let your requests be known to God and don't worry.

Whatever happens to you: think about whatever is true, right, honorable...

Whatever happens to you: be content!

Whatever happens to you: trust in God's provision!

What if I start practicing the discipline of gentleness? Could I really have the peace of God?

How do I choose gentleness first?

Unclench your fist...unclench your heart; is there a gentle word you could bring here so that it is evident to all?

Paul encourages and reminds the Philippians throughout the letter who they are; who they could be; and how much God loves them.  This is true for us today.

This is my prayer for myself as well as you:

"And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God."  Philippians 1:9-11

Tribute to My Brother-in-Law

It has been almost 2 weeks since you left us; but it still seems unreal.  You have impacted so many lives...more than you realized.  For someone who didn't like to be around people, you sure impacted as well as cared about so many!  You were able to bring out the best in my sister.  It was great to see how you both grew in love with each other, especially during the last couple of years.  I enjoyed helping Alex with your 5th anniversary dinner party.  You were a loving, caring, and fun dad to your daughter.  She will have many fond memories of the zoo, go-carts, mini-golf, bowling, eating out...You not only did fun things with LouAnn and Alex, but you also had creative ways of deciding where to go/what to do.  They also had fun trying to decipher your clues.  You were an honest, hard-working, generous person.  You were great at making plans for your family.  We are still discovering some of them even now as LouAnn finds more of your drawings and notes for the house.  I even noticed how much you changed for the better over the past two years.  You quite some bad habits...were beginning to see how much LouAnn loved you...becoming more comfortable around people...  Thanksgivings will not be the same without you there helping LouAnn host it.  We are all saddened by your absence and you will be missed.  

Birthdays & Memorials

On February 10th, we celebrated my Dad's birthday at Flat Top Grill.  Since it was on a Tuesday, my nephew even got to come!

I've been working with my niece on how to use chopsticks.  She is learning pretty fast!

On February 15th, friends and family gathered for a memorial service for my brother-in-law.  I want to thank those of you who attended; it meant a lot to us.  Several of you travelled a few hours!  It is great to know we have a supportive and caring family and friends.

One of my mom's co-workers brought a stuffed lamb for my niece to the open house.  Her church has a ministry where they pray over these lambs and then give them to people who are grieving, sick, or having surgery.  

Emotional Weekend...

This has been a loooong weekend.  Saturday morning began very early when my mom called me and told me to read my e-mail because she could not talk to me at that moment.  I went downstairs and signed onto my computer to find out that my brother-in-law had passed away the day before.  My niece was already with Grandma & Grandpa since they were going to watch her for the weekend and were hosting a tea party for my niece and two of her friends.  My sister and I went to our parents' house after taking care of a few things.  

My parents and I went to church with my sister and niece this morning before going to their house.  My brother -in-laws cousin, brother, & sister-in-law joined us at the house.  Mid-afternoon, we took my niece to Build a Bear to make a bear.  

This will be a long road for the family, especially for my sister and niece.  They have both lost their best friend.  Please keep them in their prayers.

God is there in all circumstances!

A friend of mine sent me the link to this video.  I was touched by it and thought that I would share it with you.  

Just goofing around...

On my computer, I have this program called photo booth.  When some of my relatives came over, we had a blast and were doubled over in laughter taking pictures with it.  Here is a sampling of those photos...

Grandpa

Frogger tongue

The meeting of the minds...

The January birthday buddies.

January birthday party

Last month, we had a birthday party for the January birthdays with the focus on my nephew's 10th birthday.  I hosted the event at my house.  There were about 20 people in attendance with 5 of us having January birthdays.  I think we might have wore the song out!  We enjoyed visiting with each other as well as eating DQ cake!

The 2 cakes that we had.  You can't see it, but there were birthday wishes to other January birthdays written on the sides of the cake.

The birthday boy!

Anthony with his maternal grandma, aunt and half brother.

My paternal grandpa.

The ladies with the birthday boy!

The guys.

Anthony's half-brother.

Dinner & a Snowman

Tonight, I met up with my parents, brother, and nephew for supper at McD's.  Not my favorite place to eat, but I was happy to spend some time with them...especially my nephew who I don't get to see too often.  The guys brought my mom some flowers for her birthday which is tomorrow.  

About 2 blocks from my house, I saw this snowman in someone's yard.  I thought it was cute and stopped to take it's picture.  It has been years since I built a snowman... not for the lack of snow mind you. :)  It is suppose to snow more tonight and tomorrow with subzero temperatures.  I think I hear florida calling my name!