The Body of Christ

I cannot even begin to tell you how this new church of ours has ministered to our hearts. I've been there almost 6 weeks now and feel like I never want to leave. I know that the "honeymoon" phase will pass, but God has brought us to this place. I'm not really sure we would be doing as good as we are without this body of believers.

Remember the home school curriculum? Well, it turned out to be the complete Kindergarten set from A Beka. This is the curriculum that is used at the church's school. I do not have to buy one item for Kindergarten and it is top quality stuff. To think that God provided that for us before we even knew we needed it amazes me to no end. Speaking of their school, we were offered free tuition this year. Free private school tuition? Ummm, Wow! We have been asking the Lord for His wisdom, and I believe we are going to continue the plans to homeschool. I know...who turns down free private school education? Well, apparently we do. The final decision has not been made yet as we are still asking the Lord for an answer.

Last night the men laid hands on my husband and prayed that the Lord would provide a job for him that is beyond anything we can imagine. We have been asking the Lord for the same thing. My husband was moved to tears as he stood up and praised God for believers who fill up our spiritual tank. We leave there loved on and encouraged by every single person. They love on us like we've been members for 30 years. We are so very thankful to God for His provision in leading us to this church.

You know how you can just tell when God is about to do something really big? We have had that feeling these past few weeks. Of course then my husband lost his job. That's big. But God is about to do something bigger.

Speaking of big, a child was conceived in our hearts on January 15, 2010. We attended Winter Jam 2010. We sponsored a Chinese girl. Our hearts were moved. The Lord has been at work. He has used women of God in my life to speak truth about the orphan. I have learned so much and have been taught so much about God's faithfulness in adoption and I have been able to pass it along to my husband. Adoption is scary. International adoption is down right terrifying. The money? Forget about it. The travel? I've hardly left the east coast of the U.S. But disobeying God's prompting to adopt is even more scary.

He's been speaking about it though. He's been working on our hearts. He's given me a name. And I mean that there is no way that I will ever name her anything else. He has laid it on my heart to stop giving away my daughter's clothes. Usually I find a family with smaller girls and pass them on. Or I give them to my mom for her foster care closet. I didn't hear a voice, but I felt a gentle leading to stop. Just plain and simple, stop giving away the clothes. I can sense that He is working.

Let me just stop and clarify that last statement. I have never been one to hear God speaking to me. I have always wanted to, but didn't really know how to listen. But, again, thanks to Godly women, I am learning more. I try to soften my heart in so many ways. I lean in and listen. I have learned THE HARD WAY to listen good and when I think its the Lord speaking I better listen up and listen good. About 90% of the time, its Him and He means business.

So, I'm sensing Him move. All this during a time when we are renting a house that we can't afford. My husband has no job, our property has a foundation on it only. And we are not sure if we even have the money to finish it. We are caught somewhere in the middle. Now, this is a good time to see God work miracles in our lives. Can God work when everything is perfect? Oh sure. But I think we will be most likely to take credit for it ourselves. How does it go? When we are weak, He is strong. When we can't get our crap together, then the Lord can work. When we can't do it ourselves, the Lord steps in.

I just wanted to let you know whats been swirling around in my heart lately. I would appreciate your sincere prayers for our family. Praise God we are healthy! But its still hard when its finances. How can I pray for you today?

This is the way

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it."
Isaiah 30:21

I had this posted in our house in Florida. We desperately wanted to be in God's will and to hear His voice. We didn't want it, if God wasn't in it. We both truly thought a move to Virginia was the thing to do. We prayed about it, and felt a peace that we should pursue jobs up there. After 2 months my husband got a job offer. We were so excited and felt like the Lord provided.



Fast forward a few months and we are starting to second guess. Don't you hate that? I do. A lot. We keep trying to run things through our head. We want to justify all the things that are going wrong. But the whole time we have only wanted what the Lord would have for us. We just got to a point where we needed to make a decision since we didn't believe one was just going to fall from the sky. Actually we thought it did in the form of a job offer.



But folks, things are just going all wrong. We really thought things would work out perfect. I hate when our expectations are so high. But really, shouldn't they be? But husband's job is NOT what he thought it was going to be. He's not making enough money for us to live off of and that is a problem. Our living situation that we were trying to work out with this gentleman has not worked out. We have no place to move to and no money to live on when we got there. Our mobile home is not selling so we can't really move forward on building our house either. We are stuck and, literally, only God can help us. We can't help ourselves. It is a scary place to be. But I wonder if this is exactly where God wants us.



Remember in another post I mentioned how in the past I have opened up my Bible to a random scripture and God spoke to me loud and clear? While I don't believe this happens every time and I believe that we need more than just random openings, it is still scripture. Tonight I got off the phone with my husband and felt totally hopeless. His down moods don't help, I'm sure. I immediately went to my secret place (Matthew 6) and just poured out my heart to the Lord. I got up and opened my Bible and turned right to Ps. 37:7-"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." How much clearer can it get? Be still. Let the worry go. Let the Lord work.

I'm sorry if these posts are so random. Your getting things as they happen. Live. It's like we are the knitting needles (ha!)and we are only going stitch by stitch. But eventually all these stitches will make something.





We love the movie Facing the Giants. One of the themes repeated throughout the movie is praising God no matter what. And so I am going to praise God right now, even when I don't feel like it.

Praise God for my husband who works crappy jobs even when he doesn't want to because he knows the importance of providing for his family.

Praise God for my daughter who is the bestest daughter in the whole wide world.

Praise God for friends who have been with me through it all, even when they shouldn't have been.

Praise God for my parents who graciously opened their beautiful home to me and my daughter.

Praise God that my parents have such a heart for the orphan (even if they don't know the mighty importance of that) that they open their home to as many foster children as their house can hold.

Praise God that we can do fun things even when we don't have the funds.

Praise God that my mom is generous enough to drive through Sonic whenever I want and buy me as many diet coke with vanilla Route 44's as I can drink (or my bladder will hold.) And that she will buy me a Bump-it knowing that I will wear it 2 times and let it fall to the bottom of my hair accessories basket never to see the light of day again.

And I Praise God for you. I know you pray for me and you have no idea who I am or what my name is. I am so thankful for every one of you who read even one sentence of my blog. I pray for you too.
Once again I just ask if you would lift up my family to find a place to live together. And that my husband would have the Lord's favor at his job. And will you ask at least one of your friends to pray for me too? I believe in prayer and petition.
Thank you and God bless you.

My prayer Request

Ok, so its not something so life altering. But I believe that it is still important to God.
I miss my husband. This has been really hard on us and it looks like we might be apart for about one more month. I am praying that the Lord will work out our living situation where we can all live together for very little money.

We also really need to sell our house. Its just a mobile home so we won't get much money for it, but we need this money to finish our house. I know the Lord could provide for our house without that money. And I trust Him to do so. But we are having such a hard time waiting on His timing.
And this makes no sense why we can't be patient, because He has proven Himself so much, especially here lately, that His timing is perfect. Yes, we do believe it.

I have had a sinus infection for a week now and either nobody will take my insurance or they won't take new patients right now. It seems to be getting better, but I am taking care of 4 kids this week and I'd love to have some relief.

There are also a few others that I don't want to put on the blog. So please take time to pray for those as well. They are just as important.

I would love the opportunity to pray for you. Please leave your requests in my comments and I will lift them up.

Thank you! All of you! I don't even have a reason for this blog. But for some reason you still come and that is so lovely. Thanks so much!

Simple Pleasures

Kelly at Kelly's Corner is hosting a Simple Pleasures post today. I have a few to share...

1. Rainy days when you don't have to go anywhere.
2. Opening the blinds up on rainy days to enjoy the dreary weather.
3. My girl freshly bathed.
4. Vacuum lines.
5. A clean house
6. A balanced checkbook.
7. A new purse.
8. My homemade Fettuccini Alfredo.
9. My homemade French Baguette with my pasta.
10.My Virginia Is For Lovers bumper sticker.
11.Flannel Sheets.
12.2 laptops in the house.
13.Watching the Biggest Loser.
14. Making a new tutu.
15. My galvanized tub that holds my blankets.

Just gonna throw this out there for anyone wishing to pray. My husband lost his job yesterday. We "kinda" knew it was coming, but shocking anyway. We are in the midst of building a house in Virginia and don't have the rest of the money to finish it. (We live in Fl.) We are asking for wisdom. We don't know if we should look for work up there, or stay here and try to find better work since the economy is slightly better here. We know God has great plans for our future. Just not sure what that would be.