Blessings a plenty!

Sorry friends. Stomach virus crept through my house AGAIN this week, hindering my blogging. So I'll squeeze three days into one and condense for time's sake! :0)

I have said all week, "All I do is go from one mess to another mess to another mess. Laundry and dishes, laundry and dishes." It seems some days that all I do is clean up one kid made mess to move to another kid made mess. But when I stopped a minute to think about it, I am blessed to have a family to make a mess at all. There was a time in my life when I didn't want children or to get married. Can you imagine how lonely that life would have been? UGH! My life is so busy with the things that matter most now, my children, my husband, and my home. I'm not world's greatest house cleaner. Honestly, I simply don't like to clean! But, I also don't like dirty clothes, dirty dishes, and a stinky house, so therefore I have to pick it up. But, it does get old! I like change. I know most people don't, but I do. I like spontaneity. I don't like the mundane and I consider cleaning the same thing over and over mundane. Bleh! But, I consider myself blessed that I CAN do it and that God has given me a family to clean up after. Without them I would be lonely! In that, I am blessed. I will never be the preverbial "Proverbs 31 woman". I do try, strive even, but I do not consider getting up before the sun bless-ed and then burn the lamp oil late into the night my idea of fun. But, I do consider being able to homeschool a blessing, so I get up early just to teach my children. I stay up late to prepare for the next day and spend time with my husband. There are a lot of things I sacrifice, but I consider that a blessing, not a hindrance. So what if I'm not the P31 woman all the time. My prayer is that one day my children will say of me what I say of my mother, I hope I can be just like her one day!

My mother WAS the P31 woman. She could sew, cook, clean, teach, sing (to me anyway), play an instrument, she was SOOO GODLY. I truly do strive to be like her. She was the Proverbs 31 woman to me. I was so blessed to have a mother like her. I miss her daily! Her wisdom was astounding. She was and still is one of my blessings!

I have the rare pleasure to homeschool my children. I have had some think I've lost my mind for doing such a thing when there are such great schools out there to do it for me, but in truth, I LOVE IT! We have such fun each day; laughing, talking about history, and exploring the world together. It is not always a picnic mind you, but I love it all the same. I feel I was made for teaching and who better to teach than my own children. When we learned about indians I cooked some of the things they ate and we ate in a teepee and made our own little teepees. When we learned about Columbus, we made boats and spy glasses, when we learned about The Declaration of Independence, we made Liberty Bells. It's such fun. My children have learned almost 10 memory verses! How EXCITING! It excites me that I get to teach them that, that I am blessed to be home with them. I have been told my children will not be as smart as school children, they will be weird, unsocial, taciturn. My response is, HAVE YOU MET MY CHILDREN? They will talk your ear off. They love to tell you all they have learned, recite verses, sing. (Well maybe not Madeline, unless she really knows you, but that's just her.) Homeschooling is a wonderful blessing!

If you know me just a little, or even if I just met you, I'm sure I've mentioned the Philippines to you at least once!! I go every January if I am able, to share the gospel with the amazing Filipino people. I went for the first time three years ago not knowing what to expect and a little intimidated by it all. I had not really shared the gospel with many people before and it made me nervous. Would I be able to? Would I do it right? It is a rush to share the gospel of Christ with someone. Who needs to jump out of a plane for that kind of rush!? Sharing eternity with someone is so exciting. I hope that makes sense. When you know you're investing in someone's future in heaven, you feel amazing, like you are part of God's fight to make the population is hell smaller! I AM A SOLDIER IN GOD'S ARMY!! YEAH! I get a little excited as you can tell. For me to go to the Philippines now is like going to my other home. I love the Philippines. I have such a heart and a passion for the Filipino people. I love sharing the gospel, but I love getting to see my family there now! Yes, family. They truly are like my family to me. Can you imagine not getting to see your family? That's how I feel about the team we work with when we're there. They are my family! I am so blessed that my husband doesn't mind keeping up with the house and children for two weeks. I am blessed that God always provides the money for me to go. I am blessed that our pastor has an equal passion for missions that I have and is willing to drop his VERY busy schedule TWICE a year and go to the Philippines for two weeks. I am blessed that we have such a great Filipino team that works so hard BEFORE we get there to plan out places for us to go to share the gospel and I am blessed that God allows me to go! Investing in others eternity is the ONLY reason we are here. If we're not sharing, why are we here? I am blessed that God loved me enough to forgive me and allow me to share His loving forgivenss with others.

I am such a blessed person! I am blessed with friends, children, a husband, family, homeschooling, my amazing parents, and being a missionary (in country and out). I could go on for days about all the things God has blessed me with, but I want you to stop and think of all your own blessings. Let us thank God TODAY in this Christmas season for all the blessings He's given us and reach out in love and share some of those blessings today with others. If we're not giving, then why are we here in the first place? Bless you today friends. Whether you like me or not, agree with me or not, I pray God grants you blessings A PLENTY!!!

A new day, my friend!

My faithful few who have stuck with me through my absence in blogging, I now vow to re-appear! I love to write, but life has been so busy I haven't had a chance to just sit and write, I refuse to let it get away from me anymore! So as the re-grand opening of my blog spot, I will begin this week by writing of my many blessings each day. I begin this week with a blessing that I take for granted sometimes though I don't know why; friendship.

People who somewhat know me know I am friendly. I love people! I love to watch people, talk to people, get to know people. However, I have precious few "real" friends that I talk to on a somewhat regular basis. Believe it or not, I am a somewhat private person, if not a secret introvert. I only have one best friend, who is a non-family member, other than my hubby that is. She has been with me though actual thick and thin (life and body wise). She's loved me when I certainly didn't deserve it and listened when I know I was whining like a big baby. She has stood beside me and taken my side when I felt like no one else had my back. I thought I lost her once, but through God's amazing grace and love, He gave her back to me. I have told her everything there is to know about me, the good, the bad, and the ugly!! I have told her things that the only other person who knows is my husband. I trust her with my life and my children (same thing just about). My point is, that if I'm only gonna have one "best" friend, she's it. I know I could call her at stinking three in the morning and wake her up and she would (reluctantly) wake-up and talk me through whatever it is. The best part, is that she is also my spiritual accountability partner(apart from my husband). She reminds me that I am blessed, that God is the most important force in my life, He is my rock and my fortress. She is a Godly lady. I am truly blessed to have Kristy as my friend. I have been thinking about true friends over the past week or so and my husband constantly reminds me that a person doesn't need fourteen best friends, they really only need one. I am reminded of Jesus and His 12 disciples. Yes, they were His close friends, but if you really break down the passages about His disciples, you see through the lines who His closest friends were, Peter, James, and John. He brought those three with Him everywhere. Jesus knew His time on Earth was limited and He had to teach the disciples as much in the short time that He could. But as with any person, there were His favorites, His confidants, His true friends.
We encounter a lot of people in our short lifetimes. Some we just pass, others we talk to in passing, while others we are drawn to and engage with. But there are those few that we open up to completely and love, those are our true kindred spirits. They love us, carry us, walk with us. Not everyone can be that person because well, you only have two sides. You've heard the saying, two's company, three's a crowd? We are meant for friendship, but not every person who says hello can be our best friend. Sometimes we have to learn that the hard way. We all learn that at some point. Life's hard and very rarely is it forgiving. It's good to know that God provided a friend for me to lean on when life gets hard, and although my husband is my best friend, help mate, and love, a girl needs another girl she can lean on, talk to, cry with. Do you have that? I pray you do! I prayed at one time that God would bring me a friend. I thought I was so lonely, but I didn't realize that He'd already provided me with a friend. I had to lose that friend to realize just how great she really was! I pray I never take advantage of her again!! Now I do have some very good friends that I love dearly. They listen and love me and I am so very grateful for them (my family included). But I am so very grateful for my sweet red headed friend who loves me even when I'm me, who can complete my thought and listen to my dreams. We can go months without talking and pick right back up where we left off like it was nothing but a pause in a sentence. That's friendship, that's the kind of friendship that's lasting and I am completely thankful for her today. Thank you Kristy for ten years of friendship, for always being just a phone call away, and for loving me when I most certainly didn't deserve it! You (and Brandon) are one of my many blessings!

What 30 has brought me thus far!

For those who don't know, I turned 30 yesterday! Yes, that's right. The age when you are 18 that you think is old. Well I've been 18 and remember thinking that 30 was old. Now I'm 30 and thinking, it's not so bad. I was in bed with a nasty migraine for the first part of the day yesterday, so the idea of being 30 didn't get to sink in. I have heard many people (women mostly) tell me how hard turning 30 was for them. I have even had a few men tell me it was hard. I thought it would be, I even joked about staying 29 forever, but I don't think it's so bad. What's 30, but a number. Jesus was 33 when He began His miracles, you can't be president till your what, 35? Seems being in your thirties is a good thing to me. Besides, I had one raging birthday party last night that let me know just how loved and rocking I am. Check out that cake! I had exactly four guests at my party and they were the only ones I cared about being there for my main event!

Turning 30 has made me stop and look back though. In the years since I graduated high school to now, I am amazed at the transformation from that girl, to this woman. I am ashamed of some of the things I have done, and disappointed that I didn't do some of the things I wanted. But overall, I am quite blessed to doing the things I'm doing now. God has blessed me with so much, that in my thirty years, I'm just thankful to be here, loving my family, serving God, teaching my children, and being open to what God brings next. Bring on 31!! (but now for 12 months please!) :) Smiles friends! Happy Tuesday!