Don't put off until tomorrow what you should do today!!

This will be short, but I learned a huge lesson today.  I have been in the process of changing email accounts.  I was told by Intergate that I had until tomorrow the 22 to get everything done.  You know me, I put everything off until the last moment.  I did it again today and I LOST almost EVERYTHING!!!  Intergate deactivated my account a day early!  There is no way that they can retrieve any of my emails or addresses.  I really must stop putting things off until later!!!  Hopefully this is a lesson learned for a long time. 

FOOD!!

I don't know how much I have truly explained to you, so I will do some explaining now. We live at Life Action Camp. We have SO many wonderful amenities for serving here!!! Here are a few...we have a beautiful lake right behind our house, ALL my neighbors love the Lord, we have a huge water slide that we can use anytime (I will get a picture sometime this week), my husband walks to work EVERYDAY, there are MANY other amenities, but for security sake I don't want to broadcast them on the Internet. There is one more that I can tell you about, and it is the topic of this post! We get to eat, all three meals a day, down at the lodge during the summer months. It is buffet style. I love this SO much, but it makes trying to lose weight more of a challenge. Every summer we eat ourselves silly. We have our absolute favorite meals that we look forward to all year. When one of my favorites is served, I usually take leftovers home and then eat it for lunch the next day. With this method I always gain at least 5 pounds every summer. This summer I can't afford to gain 5 pounds, so I have had to change my thinking and my actions. I now don't look at food in the same way. I have chosen for this summer, to forget about my favorite meals. I can still have a little bit for one of the meals each day, but not twice a day. I eat my BRAN flakes for EVERY breakfast, this is the easiest part of my day. The other meals aren't real hard, because I eat a huge salad. The hard part for me is the snacks that are served each night. Last night was ice cream sundaes....I LOVE ICE CREAM!!! Tonight is homemade pretzels.....I LOVE THESE TOO!!! Thursday night is homemade cookies.....I LOVE THOSE TOO!!! Friday night is Sm ores.....I LOVE CHOCOLATE!!!! I am writing this post to tell you how excited I am. Last week I skipped all the snacks, but the homemade cookies (not necessarily my favorite, but I CAVED by that point in the week, I JUST HAD TO HAVE ONE..then two...then three). I failed with one snack last week, but I realized that that one snack really didn't do much for me. I felt awful after I ate those cookies. This week it is much easier for me to skip those snacks. I keep telling myself that I can have them again next year and hopefully by next year I won't feel like I need them then either!!! It really is amazing to me how much I view food as RIGHT of mine. Hey! I deserve a pretzel, sundae, or cookie. I only get them during the summer or on this date or on special occasions. I have fed myself that lie for years. I don't need those snacks, I just want them!! I am so praying that the Lord will bless my obedience and help my get rid of this last 6 pounds during this summer!! I would be SO thrilled, if I could lose weight in the midst of eating at a buffet everyday!!!

Here is the excerpt

We can learn a very valuable lesson from Edith Schaeffer. Hear her thoughts about a life of serving others from a chapter entitled "The Lost Art of Serving..." reflecting the essence of Matthew 25:40 on serving unto Jesus.

How do I regard my having to run upstairs with tea, or having served breakfast in bed, or having continued for years to do this kind of thing for a diversity of people, as well as for my husband and children? How do I look at it? Do I feel like a martyr? Let me tell you exactly how I see it.

First, I say silently to the Lord....: "Thank You that there is a practical way to serve You tea [or breakfast in bed, or whatever it is I am doing for someone]. There would be no other way of bringing You food, or doing some special thing for You. Thank You for making it so clear that as we do things that are truly in the realm of giving of ourselves in service to others, we are really doing it for You."

It's sobering to realize that all you and I do is not done only for people, but for our Savior. Serving people is a primary way for us to serve our Lord. Our ultimate motivation, as Colossians 3:23 reminds us, is "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men".

This entire post was found on page 157 of the book A Women's Walk With God by Elizabeth George.

My heart

Yesterday I told you all about what God is doing in the lives of some of my family members. Today I need to tell you what He is doing in my life. God is working on softening my heart and making my speech sweet!!! Many times I fall short in these two areas.....especially when I am in a hurry!!! I often think that I am so easy to be around. I am kind, I like to smile, I don't want to hurt any one's feelings, and I love to serve people. This is me almost ALL the time...when things are going MY way, but only some of the time when things are not going MY way!!! (Man this sounds A LOT like my children!!) Well, I want God to change me. I want to "shine" even when things are not going my way! I want my sweet attitude to be my first response when I am in a hurry, when the children are disobeying me, when things are just not going the way I planned, and even when I am tired!!! Wow...God has a lot of work to do!!

Prayer REALLY works!!!

I know that most of my readers already know that PRAYER works, but I just have to post about it anyway!!!!! God has done TWO major things this week and I am just SO excited to share them with you.

I often read through a chapter of The Power of a Praying Wife and The Power of a Praying Parent whenever I think of it. The books are AWESOME for guiding you in knowing what and how to pray for your family. Tuesday, the chapter focused on.....my husband's relationships, just jumped off the pages at me. I knew that he needed to be prayed for in this area, because honestly, I am Jeff's one and only friend. There was a specific part in the prayer that talked about broken relationships. Jeff has been stuffing some real hurt from someone at work, because he just wouldn't talk about it. I prayed for Jeff and just gave it to the Lord. The VERY NEXT morning, Jeff and I were called into a meeting down at the lodge. I was shaking, so worried that I had done something wrong, but for the life of me couldn't think of what it could be. The meeting started and come to find out we were not in trouble. God had planned this meeting and I feel a true miracle happened. Jeff openned up and actually shared about his hurt to the person that had been hurting him for these past years!! Tears were shed, NOT from Jeff of course, but from me and the other person involved. We talked openly about things and it was wonderful!!! When Jeff and I left the meeting, almost two hours later, we felt like we were floating on air!!! All that hurt and anger was gone. Thank you Jesus!

The next thing was just as major to me!! This one involved one of my children. I will not go into much detail, but I will give you the highlights. This child has been prayed for probably more than any of the others. In a nutshell, very stubborn and hard to get close to. Lastnight before bed, this child lashed out at me for the umpteenth time. Here we go again, they reject me, I don't like to be rejected so I close myself off into my own little world, leave the child alone and let Daddy deal with them. Lastnight, God changed things up a whole LOT. Jeff told me to tuck this child in bed and to pray with the child. I went up and did it and God broke this child's heart. This child was sobbing, because of how they had been. (This is huge for this child, we don't often see much repentance at all for any wrong doings.) God broke my heart too. Actually He softened it. I was able to forgive this child, love on this child and share my heart with this child!!! Truly a miracle. You can pray for us in this process. I so want my children to grow up and be some of my best friends. I need to change A LOT to make this happen. I need to have more fun with my children NOW and I need to touch them SO MUCH more than I do!!!!

We are not "there" yet, but God sure is working in my family's life this week!!!! By the way, just for clarification, I am not the only one that has been praying for these things to happen in my family. My mom has been praying for us probably more faithfully than I have been. Thank you so much Mom!!

How am I doing?

I am STILL working to lose those last ten pounds! I gain a pound, lose it again, gain a half pound, lose a whole pound, gain a pound, lose that last half pound again. There just doesn't seem to be any reasoning with this whole diet thing. I have essentially weighed about the same for the past month, but with all the gaining and losing I have done.......technically I have lost about 5 pounds. Does that make any sense to you?

I have been staying away from most Internet things, except for email and my blogs. It is going well, but I REALLY miss reading about what everyone is doing. I can't wait until May to be able to play catch up with all my friend's blogs. During this month away, I was supposed to be spending most of my time in the Bible. I haven't done too well at that. If I am not on the Internet, I seem to find something else to distract me! I have been in it more than before, but not as much as I had planned! My plan was to be reading it all throughout my day...in front of the children. I so want them to hunger and thirst for God's Word. I need to be that example for them.

God has been teaching me this week to think positive about people and to stop assuming the worst. I don't know how many times I have gotten half the information and yet totally assumed I knew the whole situation. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to be Christ on this Earth and NEVER assume anything!! He just KNEW all the facts!!

Thank you

• Ya all are AWESOME!!!! Thank you SO much for commenting on the kids blog!! I just found the comments tonight and I can't wait to show them to the kids in the morning!!! They are going to be so excited!! I so appreciate the wisdom that you left for Lauren. It is nice for her to hear those things from someone other than MOM! I also love the question for Amy. That will really help her with her next post.



• We sent two packages to soldiers in Kuwait on Friday......at least one package arrived already!! Thank you USPS. You guys rock!!



• Thank you to my wonderful nephew Austin.

He came to my door today and asked if Joel could come out and play with him and his younger brother Bradley. I jumped at the chance to get Joel outside while the rest of us did school. It was a huge blessing to me!! They were out there for over an hour and a half having a great time playing. I had some free moments so I snuck outside and took some pictures of the fun.

Bradley is the one on the left, next is Joel, and then Hayden Sutton. Austin played with all three of them. He actually played with another child, but he wasn't around for the picture!! Way to go Austin!! I can't thank you enough for doing that for me!!

• Next I am just SO thankful for my new camera that my mom bought me this Christmas. It takes great pictures for a small camera. Here is a fun picture I got of Hayden today! Isn't he the cutest little guy?

• Thank you to my exercising buddies. We have been getting up at 6:00 am and meeting in one of the buildings on the camp. We exercise to a walking/jogging video. I the exercising part, but I LOVE the fellowship!!! We have so much fun together!

• Thank you lastly to my Lord for getting a hold of my heart this morning. I have been addicted to reading blogs. I spend hours just going from link to link to more links. I have wasted more time in the last two weeks than I care to admit. As of this morning, I have given up for the month of April reading any blog other than the three that I am a part of. I have set other boundaries, but I won't bore you with all the details. Let's just say that God's Word is going to be my main focus this month!!

Incentives

Today was a lesson in the importance of incentives. I learned today that I do not offer my children enough incentives.

School is such a battle in our house some days. Some school days bring me to tears and today was one of those awful days. Two of my children just wouldn't do school without complaining constantly. It didn't matter what I said or did. School was just "TOO HARD" for them to do. I kept telling them that it was not too hard. Their real problem was that they didn't WANT to do it. To make my point, I offered Amy a Hershey's kiss if she could get one section of her English done in under two minutes. I was told it was too hard to do that fast, but for the kiss she would try. I set the timer and she feverishly started her work. Guess how fast she did this "difficult" work......1 minute and 18 seconds. She didn't even hesitate at any of the work. She flew through it. I knew she could do it, so I wasn't the least bit surprised. I was kind of upset at her though. I really didn't want to give her the kiss, in my mind she didn't deserve it. She should have done it that quick without an incentive. Right!

Well, the Lord would have none of that attitude. He reminded me of how much I NEED incentives! For instance...my mom and I are losing weight together. I will get a brand new outfit from my favorite store, if I lose 20 pounds by September 13th. Now that is incentive that will motivate me. Shouldn't I lose the weight without the motivation? Yes, but I don't!! I LOVE to be motivated and rewarded for the things that I do. Why do I find it SO hard to motivate and reward my children for the things that they have to do? Don't get me wrong. I am not meaning offering Hershey kisses for doing school everyday, but it sure did work today. What I am meaning is that I need to work on coming up with some incentives for doing school with a great attitude, BEFORE the crisis comes!! Maybe even on a regular basis, but change around the incentives to keep them useful! I have no idea of what incentives to offer, because I am SO bad at this. I just expect them to do what I say and then I become VERY frustrated when they don't obey with a great attitude.
I need help!! How do you motivate your children or how were you motivated when you went to school? I really want to make school more fun for everyone!!

What a travel day

Let me start out this post by just saying that I never imagined that these past three weeks could go so well! I left here begging God to change my circumstances and returned home sure that I can trust Him and thank Him in whatever circumstances I am in. I remember before we went, I kept saying that this time away would be anything but a vacation. I was so wrong. God knew exactly what we needed and He gave it to us. I have come home refreshed and very challenged to become who God wants me to be.

Okay, now on to our travel day. If you remember, we didn't drive down to Rocky Mount. The Week's family rented us a van to get home in. They expected to be able to just rent a van in Rocky Mount, but in order for us to take the van just one way, it had to be rented from the Raleigh Airport. So Jeff packed the Week's van with all our tons of luggage. We left Rocky Mount a little before 8:00. We got to the car rental place in Raleigh just after 9:00. It was raining hard by this time. We were all praying that the rain would stop so that we could transfer all our luggage without getting everything and everyone wet. We were assigned our van and the rain stopped! We were praising the Lord for His perfect timing. Jeff pulled the rental over to the Week's van and the loading began. 15 minutes later we were ready to drive away. We said our good byes and closed the doors. Jeff started the van, let me rephrase that, Jeff TRIED to start the van. He kept trying, but the thing just wouldn't start. Someone from the office came out and tried...nope wouldn't start for him either. Now what were we going to do? Well, they just "happen" to have just one other van there that we could fit into. It was an 8 passenger Toyota Sienna, nicer than the first one. The children were very excited, because it had more room to stretch out in. My dream van all the way. There was only one thing wrong with the van....it hadn't been cleaned out from the last person! Oh well. We needed the van, so we hurried and started cleaning it as best as we could. The people in the office felt so sorry for us that they knocked off a 1/3 of the rental fee. We were so excited to see all that God was doing. We were also excited that God allowed this all to take place right in the parking lot!! We could have broken down on our way home! Once we finished cleaning out the new van, Jeff packed a van for the third time that morning. By 10:00 we were pulling out and heading home. The van was SO comfortable that we really enjoyed riding home. It was one of our best travel days ever. The children were exhausted, so in the comfort of it all they SLEPT most of the time!!! The weather was everything imaginable. Jeff drove us through sunshine, rain, sleet, snow, wind and perfect darkness. None of the bad weather lasted very long at all. It was so neat to drive through storms and then drive right out of them. We arrived home at 1:00 am. The children were all in bed by 2:30. I have no idea what time they woke up, because Jeff and I left at 7:45 to return the rental. When we arrived home they were watching a movie and having a great time by themselves. At that point in the morning I became VERY overwhelmed. The house was a MESS and I had no idea where to begin. So in my typical "tackle the problem fashion" I went back to bed!!! It was so nice to be back in my own bed again. I stayed there for the next few hours. When I awoke....the mess was still there, but I was feeling much better prepared to tackle it. It took us the rest of the day, but it is back to normal once again. Now my next thing to tackle is school tomorrow morning. I can do it, I CAN do it, I CAN DO it, I CAN DO IT!!!

What a week

This week has been so good for me. God has asked me to do one of the hardest things I can ever remember doing. He wants me to TOTALLY trust Him with my husbands heart. I thought that I was "pretty" submissive, but He has shown me this week that it is not good enough to just be partially submissive. I need to be submissive in EVERY area. Well there is one specific area that I have reserved for myself. Imagine this, I didn't think that I could trust the God of this universe to direct my husband in what is best for our family. I have struggled GREATLY with this for years. I would "give" it to God and then find myself taking control again. I have given it to God again this week, but this time I didn't just say it....I wrote it on a piece of paper and laid it down on the alter. I bawled like a baby. I chose to TOTALLY trust God with my husband. I know that this battle is not over! Actually just typing this out is making me cringe, but I want so much to please the Lord and obey Him fully. I can't changed my husband.....ONLY GOD CAN!!! There really is such freedom in that knowledge. Now living it......I can only do it with God's help!!!

Now onto the more fun thing about this week. Lauren and Emily have been attending a drama camp during the day. Friday night they got to preform a play with the whole drama camp. Lauren sang her first SOLO in front of a crowd of about 200. She sang half of a song and her friend Sharon Weeks sang the other half. While Lauren was up on stage preforming, Jeff and I were beaming from ear to ear!! We were so proud of her. She actually looked like she belonged up there. Emily did great with her speaking parts. She also looked pretty natural. I can't imagine how two people who HATE to speak to a group, produced two children that seem to love it!! Only God knows how it happened!!

By the way, if you are interested in watching the exact services that Jeff and I are sitting in on, you can watch them LIVE over the Internet!!! Just go to http://www.lifeaction.org/lam/ Then click on the Revival Summit: live video stream. It should take you straight to the page. Services on Sunday morning start at 9:15 and go to probably 12:00 or so. Sunday night starts at 5:30. Monday through Thursday night begin at 6:30. If you get a chance to watch the services, I know that you will be TRULY glad that you did. Even Lauren is loving the services!!!

Sleepover

I love having a friend who has children the same ages as mine. My friend Maria's children are my favorite children to have over for a sleepover. I usually don't want to send them home when it is all over. Our children just do not fight, they really get along with each other. Moriah and Emily are the ones on the floor. Daniel and Micah are eating pizza. Jocelyn is Amy's BEST FRIEND! They are so cute together. Last but not least are Lyndelle and Joel. No, she did not sleepover. I am not that brave. Lyndelle was just here for a few hours so that Jeff and Maria could go out on a date. I had so much fun with her. It was like having twins for the night!

Okay now on to my life. I have something to tell you. My friend Sheila is going through a REAL hard time right now. Her daughter Susanna is having medical problems, they have been in and out the hospital, had many tests done and they have NO answers. The family is scared, but they are trusting the hand of our Heavenly Father. Well Life Action had a prayer meeting for her this morning. I love Sheila and her family, so I had to go to this prayer meeting. Here is my confession....I did NOT want to go! I hate praying in a group of people. I went to the meeting, but I never said a word the entire time. I kept sitting there comparing myself to these other ladies who were praying. I just couldn't pray as wisely as them. Why do I do this to myself? I do this in a lot of areas of my life, but I really do not enjoy feeling so inferior to people. If any of you have any answers, please share them with me.

I am so excited. I just found the answer to my question on someone else's blog. I just had to add the quote. "You will never really enjoy other people, you will never have stable emotions, you will never live a life of Godly contentment, you will never conquer jealousy and love others as you should until you thank God for making you the way HE did." Isn't that an awesome quote!!?

How we survive the cold

This first picture is our window, from inside of the house, covered in snow and ice. It is SO cold here, that the children can not go outside to play! They could get frost bite in a matter of a half an hour. It is probably needless to say, but we are going crazy being inside of the house for so long. I swear the children woke up fighting yesterday morning!! I might have done something to the children that I would have regreted, if the Lord hadn't changed my heart. The children and I had our family Bible time and things just worked its way out to everyone having better attitudes. The next BIG attitude changer was, my next door neighbor, Karen called and invited my children to go up to the Tabernacle to play inside with her boys. There is A LOT of running room at the Tab. They had a blast and so did I. I went up too, just to get out of the house. I really needed to run also. Karen brought up her workout video and we did it while the children ran in six different directions! That day will go down in my memory as one of the most fun days I have had this year. I guess winter can be fun!!

Today was a better day than what yesterday started out being. The children's attitudes were much improved. I guess we really did need to get out of the house for a couple of hours. Thanks Karen for inviting us up to the Tab. Lets do it again real soon! Most of all, thank you Lord for changing the attitudes of this family before we even got outside. We need you more than we need to run!