New Blog title

Hey blog friends, what few of you there are.  I've decided to change the name of this blog to "Finding His Way."  The idea is kinda the same, but this blog was originally a vanity.  I thought I could make money on it, or make it widespread.  It was kinda cool to do, the popular thing.  Then I tried it and decided that I just like to write in it, whether anyone reads it or not.  It feels good to write and express myself.  So, the idea of the blog has changed, so the name has too.  My goal in life is to find God's way.  I want to walk where He wants me to walk.  His word tells me where to go, Psalm 119:105 - Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.  So, I am journeying in this life to follow His word and go where it leads me.  So, this blog is kind of a record of the journey.  So, if you'd like to come along with me on the journey, please come along...you're very welcome.  If not, I understand.  But, I'll still be on my way to Him!  I guess I'll see where that takes me.  Love to have you along with me and my family for the trip!   Love in Christ, Elizabeth

Savor it

Hello Moms! How are you?  It is November, can you believe it?  I really can't.  It seems, the older I get, that things just get faster and faster.  There is just not enough time between important events. It's getting closer to Thanksgiving, and it seems, as things get faster, that I have more and more to be thankful for.  I have to keep reminding myself to savor and enjoy it.  Because with the faster time, it seems I get less done than I used to, so there is ALWAYS something to do, and that means I usually rushing and not savoring.  I don't have a solution for this yet, but I WILL keep looking for ways to appreciate the myriad of things I have to be thankful for.  I think, this November, that I am going to stop trying to be like everyone else, and stop doing what everyone else is doing. I am going to do what I do.  I am going to look around to appreciate who is here with me.  I will still do dishes and laundry, pick up toys, teach the kids, and exercise, etc.  But, during those things, I will try to savor who is with me and what I am doing.  Lord, please give me the perceptiveness to see the people around me, to stop rushing and comparing, and love them with all the love and patience you give me!  Thank you God for the many blessings I have.  Please help me to use them wisely and to treasure you and my loved ones.  Thank you for loving me no matter what!  Thanks for November 2011. Help me be here and now, not looking ahead or behind. 

My own personal paradise!!!

I haven't forgotten you...

Hey blog followers, all ten of you, I haven't forgotten about "Moms serving God," thought it may seem that way.  I just got distracted by other things...like a senior in high school who is starting on his football team...like starting out in homeschooling for the first time with my two little boys...like surviving the summer crazies....  Well, I hope you all survived the summer crazies too!  I know facebook is a good way to interact, but sometimes it feels so impersonal.  I was hoping for a place where other women could be open and a bit transparent...at least I'm trying to be.  It's really hard sometimes, for me at least.  I prefer to show others my good stuff...not the messed up parts, and they are numerous. So, for me fall feels like a fresh start to be more organized, exercise more regularly, fix better meals, clean better, sharpen some new pencils :- )   Anyway, I tend to have A LOT of expectations for myself and keep everything together.  So, I ask you to add me to your prayer list...pray that I will savor God and my family and do the things that need done, but stop trying to be perfect...I covet your prayers...talk to you soon!

So many things...

I haven't written for a little while. Mostly because there are so many things occupying my mind and my time.
Me and my husband just got back from Boston where he ran the Boston Marathon. Awesome but exhausting!  We are STRONGLY considering homeschool, but I have to make up a proposal of sorts so my husband will know what's in my head and so we can decide whether to do it or not. So, I've been scouring the internet and calling local groups and talking to other homeschool parents.
It's spring break for my kindergartener, and the laundry and dishes continue to pile and we're tripping over toys.  
I am working in my church library, revamping it, with lots to do and no time. It is exceptionally hard to work in the library while my one year old pulls books off the shelves.  Deadline looming for a booksale that I'm not ready for.
My teenager is texting 15 girls at once, taking the ACT, going to track meets and the prom, with lots of plans in his head but not sharing them with us - I have this nightmare that I'm going to be trying to find a tux on the morning of the prom. Ugh!!
My husband is so busy with this three jobs that he falls asleep in his recliner every night with a computer in his lap.  I miss him!
We're planning a yard sale in a week or so, and I am tired just thinking about it.  It's the second of the season - and my "gazelle" intensity is beginning to wane. (Dave Ramsey reference.  http://www.daveramsey.com/ )
Mowed grass a foot tall today with a push mower trying to outrun the rain.  I didn't succeed.  The grass was so thick it kept choking up! (be aware that I was mowing about 5 acres of grass with a push mower, cause the riding mower isn't working)
Leading a "Big Losers" weight loss group and getting disheartened by seeing several of my "Losers" get disheartened!
I would really like to go for a run or read my Bible, brush my teeth,  or even type this without a 38 lb kid climbing on my back.  I probably could do some of that if I'd stop procrastinating because I am overwhelmed.
Am I complaining...well, maybe...
I should not be complaining because I am well aware of how blessed I am - I have a home to live in, food to eat, clothes to wear, people who love me, a healthy body, a Risen Savior!!!!!  I need to be thanking God instead of fussing!
Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us...

Lord, help me focus my attention on you, not on all the stuff and the little things.  In Jesus name...

Government shut down

I was recently appalled to learn that the government might shut down.  FYI my husband is a government engineer and a soldier.  So, this potential shut down scared my socks off. Everything we relied on might be gone.  The main reason I was scared is because we're not prepared.  I disobeyed God. I got in debt, bought things I didn't need, sought the things of the world instead of the things of God.  So, I made my own bed, and if the governement shut down I'd be laying in it.  I was doing those things is relative ignorance.  Not total ignorance, but partial.  I was raised in a family that had little money but my mom knew how to take care of it.  Same for my step-dad who came along later.  I didn't really see them do budgets or save money or pay cash for things, so I didn't really understand much.  But, I did know about living within my means.  I just didn't really want to.  I thought budgets were for people who don't have enough money.  I thought people with money didn't need to worry about it. And I wanted to have things and I didn't want to worry about it.  I didn't think getting in debt was a big deal, after all, nearly everyone I know is in debt. However, if I'd been familiar with my Bible at the time, I'd have known what God's word says about debt - Proverbs 22:7  The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.   It doesn't get much more plain that that.  So, in January, me and my husband knew we had to do something, be were weren't sure how.  Fortunately, our church began a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class.  We joined it, and I am SO glad we did.  The mud was cleaned off and our eyes were opened. We "graduated" last week, but just because we "graduated" doesn't mean we're done.  It's like a healthy lifestyle, you're never "done."  You just keep learning and growing.  So, we're on our way to getting out of debt and having emergency savings and not being slaves to the lenders anymore.  The only one I want to be a slave to is God!  So, I'm on my way, but I am NOT ready for my husband to be out of work!  That's a bit too much!  So, I will keep working  with "gazelle" intensity - Proverbs 6:5 - Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.  Praise the Lord for second chances and grace beyond my imagination!!!

If you're in debt, like the majority of the population,  I pray you'll take a Financial Peace University Class near you!  Or do it online yourself.  It is worth the time and money!  http://www.daveramsey.com/

Here I am again...

Well, I haven't written anything for several days.  I've just felt overwhelmed by all the things going on.  It wasn't always the things going on around me as much as it was the things going on in my head. I can't even pinpoint some of the things chasing each other in my mind, they were just there, jostling for attention.  Admittedly, some of it was worry, an unnamed, general worry. At church, before communion yesterday, I had to talk to God about that because I know I don't need to worry. His word promises He will provide everything I need. And, often He generously provides a lot of what I want too. A favorite part in the Bible about what is important and about worrying is in Matthew 6 - I copied this from http://www.biblegateway.com/

Treasures in Heaven

    ¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
   ²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,^[c] your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy,^[d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
   ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Do Not Worry

    ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?
   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I've revisited these verses many times since I became a follower of Christ.  Especially, verse 27 - "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?"  In reality, I subtract time from my life by worrying.  I worry when I could be doing something else, effectively wasting time.  I'm just so thankful that God loves me anyway and stays patient with my by reminding me again and again to just trust Him.

Quite a morning

Well, it's sure been quite a morning.  Whew...I'm exhausted.  Well, and a bit worried too.  After me and my little one (18 mo.) took his big brothers to school, we went to Wal-mart to have the oil changed in the van and to do the grocery shopping.  We were trying to get home by 10am, which is when nap time is.  While we were walking into the Wa-mart service area, I tripped. Since I was carrying the baby, he fell too.  I did my best to break his fall with myself, but he hit his little head and got all scraped up on his forehead. I felt so horrible about it.  I'm kinda clumsy and used to being bruised and bumped, but I don't want to hurt others too.  He cried a lot, but I fixed him up, and he was okay after he got his pacifier.  But the scrape has swollen and he has a bump on his head.  It makes me hurt just to look at it, even though he doesn't really seem to notice.  I feel guilty for accidentally hurting him.  This is the part of motherhood that always suprises me - the intensity of emotion.  I feel more hurt for my children then I ever do for myself, whether it's emotional pain or physical.  This always takes me by suprise.  Yet, it usually helps remind me of my heavenly Father's love for me.  I know from His word that he loves my children more than I do. I also know he loves me that much too. So, I can't imagine the intensity of emotion he feels when I'm hurt or struggling for any reason. It staggers the imagination.  It also shows how steadfastly he will care for me, too.