Not MY plan

Well, as you recall, my husband and I went through the classes required for us to become foster parents and we were planning on adopting a teenage girl. Well that didn’t work out and we have decided that for now, we are going to be foster parents. We haven’t had a placement yet but will get to share our home and hearts for a few days with a child whose foster parents are going out of town. She needs a crib so we got one and set it up in the room that was ready for the teen girl.

It was hard for me emotionally when I realized that we were not getting the teen that we had planned on…or the second one that we had hoped for for that matter. I know God didn’t take us through that whole thing for us to just give up. He has plans for us! We have a room prepared, thanks to many friends and family who gave us gifts to do this. We WILL have someone who needs us in that room soon. This time, only for 5 days. Next time, who knows. We are just going to wait patiently and see who God sends who needs the love of a family.
Please continue to pray for us.

Direction

This morning I was getting ready to go to the Anti-Drug Coalition of Tipton County monthly meeting and remembered that our meeting location had changed. I was sitting there putting my makeup on and thought “I have NO idea where I am going!” which made me laugh at myself.  The verse that I have pinned to my bathroom mirror is Hebrews 11:8 which tells about Abraham leaving out not knowing where he was going.  This is the verse I have clung to for the past couple of years because I want to be like him and do whatever God leads me to.

This was especially meaningful to me this morning because yesterday, we found out that the young lady that we wanted to bring into our home and adopt into our family would not be coming here after all.  As I was sitting there thinking that I didn’t know where I was going for the meeting, I also don’t know where I am going in this adoption journey.  I know God didn’t put us through the classes and everything else for nothing.

So, here I was putting on my makeup, thinking about direction and I noticed my notifications light blinking so I picked up my phone to see what it was.  It was an email from my pastor in response to me emailing him an update on our adoption and in it he said “I have heard it said, It’s not rejection…but direction.” That made me laugh!  During our classes, one thing that I said I struggled with is rejection and before I got the phone call yesterday, I had started feeling that maybe the girl didn’t want us but if that was true, I needed to know.  I didn’t feel hurt, I just wanted to find out what direction we were headed. So that quote meant a lot.  Nope, I wasn’t rejected, just redirected!  I DO feel like God has been guiding us in the right direction for these past few months and now that we have been told NO for this girl, we are now moving toward the one He really has picked out for us.

Before I left for my meeting, I told my husband that I was leaving but had no idea where it was.  I said “I am not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing that I am clueless as to where the Sheriff’s Department is.”  He gave me a funny look and reminded me where it was.  If only all directions were that simple 🙂

Still praying daily for God’s direction in my life.

Catching Up

     Since my hand started feeling better and I have a moment to sit down, I thought it would be a good time to catch up with you all.  Not that it is 100% better, but at least I can use it.  I am still seeking medical help for it.  In fact, yesterday, I had a nerve conduction study and EMG.  The nerve conduction wasn’t too bad but the EMG…well, let’s just say, I didn’t enjoy it at all!

      This is the year of special birthdays for the men in my family. My oldest son turned 16 in January, my youngest turned 13 in February, and this month, my husband will be 40.  Lots of celebrations for these awesome guys!

     Although I no longer have little ones at home, I have been serving on the steering committee for the new Tipton County MOPS chapter. We just started in January and are growing! We’ve had new moms attend each meeting, which is encouraging.  My daughter is helping in the Moppets, the class for the preschoolers, and she loves it.  We will have a booth at the Atoka BBQ Fest on April 6th to pass out info and sell baked goods to help raise funds for our chapter. Please be sure to stop by and say hello!

 My husband and I are taking PATH Classes at Youth Villages to prepare to foster/adopt and that requires a couple of nights a week away from home.  This is hard physically, because we are tired from being on the go all day already, emotionally because of some of the issues we hear about that these children go through, and mentally because of the massive amount of paperwork we have to fill out. The ultimate goal is to help a child and so we know that in the end, it will all be worth it.

 I was blessed to serve on the Memphis Women’s Discipleship Walk last weekend.  Those are always fun!  I always leave the campground tired but in a good way.  To see the changes that take place in all of the women’s lives in those 3 short days is just amazing. If you have never experience this life changing weekend, I highly recommend you do so.  The dates for the next walk will be posted as soon as they are set.

 My term as president of Junior Auxiliary of Tipton County is coming to an end which means I have lots of paperwork and reports to prepare for National Association of Junior Auxiliaries and things to do to get my chapter transitioned and ready for next year.  Emotionally, I am excited for change but will miss being actively involved in this great organization which I have given 6 years of my life to.  The last big event that I get to be a part of as an active member is the JA5K & Kids Fun Run which is going to be on April 6th.   You can register to participate by clicking on the link or on the image below.

 

 The Tipton County Relay for Life is quickly approaching and that means that the other committee members and I are in hyper-drive to get everything finalized for the big event…PLUS we have added something new this year that we are super excited about.  We are having a Paint The Town Purple Parade in Covington on May 4th!! If you have a group that would like to participate or are interested in sponsoring, please click on the link or image below for information and application.

 I guess that is all for now… I am sure there is more but I need to get ready for our family night.  Since life has been crazy busy lately and we had nothing on the calendar tonight, we have set this night aside to just be together.  These are the moments I love the best.  Have a great weekend y’all!

Do Not Disturb

I love my smart phone.  It keeps me connected at all times.  I can do anything I need and stay in touch with everyone about various projects I am working on…but sometimes, I just need to get away.  I want to be able to enjoy family time without having to respond to an email about budget reports, a text about women’s ministry, or questions on one of the MANY Facebook pages I manage so I will put my phone on airplane mode for a few hours.  Well, this weekend, I decided that I was disconnecting Saturday evening and would not reconnect until this morning.   I hung a virtual Do Not Disturb sign…

I didn’t look at any of my emails…didn’t Tweet, stayed off of Pinterest, no texting…The only person I sent a text to on Sunday was my mother to let her know that my phone would be turned off so if there was an emergency, she would need to call my husband’s phone.

It was nice to have that break away from the busyness of my life.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my life and all of the activities I am involved in but my brain just needed a break…some time to just relax and enjoy the day.  It was really a mini vacation that I needed.  I feel that by doing this, I was more mentally prepared for this week.

I challenge you to turn off your device for a couple of hours a week to see how free you feel.  Enjoy!

Painful Post

It pains me to type this post…no, it really does!  You see, I have somehow managed to injure my left hand and am now sporting this lovely contraption

I initially strained it on December 21 and it wasn’t getting any better so last week, I told my husband that since more than a month had passed and it was still sore, I might want to get it checked out…but I didn’t make any effort to contact a Dr about it until I hurt it more on Tuesday.  I was buckling my seat belt as a passenger in my friend’s car and I felt something pop and my wrist started burning.  I called the Dr the next day and went in on Thursday.  He said that nothing is broken, I have mild carpal tunnel, and apparently have some tendon damage that requires me to “rest” my wrist.  He gave me a cortisone injection…OUCH…and put this brace on me.  I am still hurting and have little strength in that hand. I can’t pick up much of anything with my left hand.  Fixing my hair isn’t easy,unloading the dryer is painful, hold my phone on the left side is impossible, and Typing is torture!  One handed…peck…peck…peck…AUGH!

Anyway, I am just telling y’all this in case you have wondered where I have been and why you haven’t seen much of me online lately.  Please pray that this heals soon so I can get back to my regular life.

We WILL still have the Fantastic February Facebook party…I just have to figure out how I can keep up with the typing that night.

Book Review: Hope Springs

I received a copy of Hope Springs by Kim Cash Tate to review in June and I don’t know why but I didn’t get a chance to read it until this week.  I have to tell you, the timing was perfect not only because the story starts off on December 23rd, the same day I started reading it, but also because some of the issues the characters dealt with are things I have been personally struggling with lately.   God knew that it wouldn’t have affected me this way in June so He allowed it to be put aside until it was time.

The story illustrates the beauty of how God works in the lives of His people.  It is set in a small town that has two main places of worship, a church for the black families, and one for the white families. They are friends but don’t ever “join together” except for funerals until one of the ladies starts a Bible study at a local diner and women from both churches start attending.  They call their group “Soul Sisters”, which I loved because that is the name God gave me for our Women’s Sunday School class for the exact same reason that the author gave for the reason the group chose the name, because we are all sisters in Christ and are connected by our souls.

There are so many characters and relationships that it often get confusing as to who goes with who and where they fit in but thankfully, the author included a family tree at the front so I could flip to it and check.  In the end, this is a very important key to the story line so don’t neglect using it.

I love to read Christian fiction but in my opinion, many are overly sappy and often leave me feeling like I want to gag on the super sweetness and “perfect lives” of the characters but not this one. It was REAL. It would be a good book for a group of women to read and discuss together. I will definitely be recommending it to my friends.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through theBookSneeze®.combook review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Magnificent Monday

We had a magnificent Monday!  The kids got their school work done early and since I love seeing my kids working on their assignments, I often take pics of them while they do.  Today, I snapped a lot of my middle child, who usually avoids my camera or makes goofy faces.

Here he is working on his Geography lesson.  He had to use various resources to fill in a worksheet from The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide from Bright Ideas Press.

We both found it rather interesting that in the 1999 Scholastic Almanac, it showed the US Corporation with the highest revenue was General Motors but looking up the same information online for 2011, GM was not even in the top 10. Things sure have changed in a few short years huh?

And this is him doing his Algebra.  He is doing SO well with the program we are using this year and I am very proud of all he has done so far.

As you can see, we do school all over…at desks, on ottomans, outside, at the kitchen table, in the car…wherever! Learning happens in a variety of places.

We recently read about Leif Erikson  in All American History and one of the suggested resources in Illuminations 4 is the video Vikings: Journey to the New Worlds.  I was disappointed that I couldn’t find it on Netflix BUT was happy to see that Hulu had it so we watched it today. I bet it would have been amazing to view this movie at the IMAX like it was made for but unfortunately, it isn’t one of the film options in my area right now.  Be sure to check out this film if you are studying Leif Erikson. I don’t have a picture of us watching it but I wanted to share the info anyway.

Thanks for reading about our magnificent Monday…hopefully we’ll have a terrific Tuesday tomorrow!

Way To Go Award – Jennifer Livingston

I saw a few posts with this video of  CBS WKBT News Anchor, Jennifer Livingston, responding to email about being fat, so I watched it and then cheered!   It made me think about the posts I made recently about being an example and not looking at our outward appearance.  Yes, we KNOW we are over weight…we don’t have to be told. We understand that we are setting examples and so are the people who say unkind things.

Because of her stand, on the issue of  hiding behind a keyboard to pick on people who are different, I want to give her a WAY TO GO Purple Star!  You go girl!

Want to nominate someone for a purple WTG star?  Use the CONTACT button on my site!

Mirror Broken Mirror

And just like that, the mirror slid from the top of my makeup case and crashed onto the tile floor.  Shattered, Broken, Shiny pieces…Some so tiny, others large chunks.

I cleaned up the mess and went on about my day but God kept whispering to take a look at that broken mirror.

Ok, God, I see a bunch of broken pieces of a mirror.  What does it mean?

He reminded me that I had said these things in the past:

“I can’t be a women’s ministry leader. I am over weight and don’t have that perfect look that all of those ladies do.  They won’t listen to me.”

“I don’t know what my husband can possibly see in me.  I am sure he is really not in love with me but just sticks around because he has to.”

“I have a pretty face but that is about it.”

He wanted me to see something that I didn’t see.  He showed me to stop looking at what I SEE when I look at my reflection but look at what HE can do through me.

We are all broken by things that happen to us. Our past hurts can leave tiny little scratches on our heart or can remove great big chunks of it.   The comments people make about us do affect us. Sticks and stones may break our bones but those ugly words leave deep scars that take a long time to heal. Some, we may never forget. I still remember the name of one of my meanest tormentors in school and although I have forgiven him in my heart, I often wonder if he even cares about the hurt he caused me.

Yes, I still struggle with my image but I am not going to allow the lies of Satan to convince me that I am unworthy to serve my King with all of my heart…and excess weight.  I know that through Him, I can do ALL things,including get the weight off.  Not so I can “look good” but so I can bring honor to Him by being obedient.   Just like Mirror, Mirror, the song by Barlow Girl says, I don’t allow the mirror to define me and I pray that you don’t either.

Help me decide

I need your help!!  I have to choose a picture to send in with my bio for the statewide women’s ministry page and I can’t decide between these two…

Please leave a comment with which one you think I should use.  I will tally the votes and send in the “winner” by Thursday so don’t wait too long!!

Choice #1

Choice #2