Hi all! Have you ever been told, “you look like death warmed over?”

Well last week i FELT like death warmed over! We spent last Saturday out and about shopping and so on. We had stopped somewhere for a quick bite to eat. We got home and I was tired a laid down for only a few minutes, did some laundry and finished the cushions for our wicker furniture. Hubby made an incredible dinner which I scarfed down and went back to hand stitching the cushions closed after I stuffed the full of fluff! Then we moved upstairs to bed.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling absolutely horrible. My stomach was a mess. Was it the fast food? I remembered telling hubby it tasted a little off. I hopped into the shower to get ready for church (it was mothers day after all.). By the end of my shower i had gotten soooo overheated I got sick. I took my temp…normal. My stomach still hurt…and i mean hurt……so now the big question…church or no church.

Church…..i had to teach Sunday School! The reasons to not miss church far outweighed staying home. After all it was just something I had eaten …..right?

Well i was miserable all through church, i missed my husbands sermon, and i tried to focus on things at hand but I most definitely fell short! So after everyone had left hubby and I headed home and I was sent directly to bed….passing up the pizza spread hubby had promised and prepared for the young’ins….

I stayed in bed all day Sunday, Monday rolled around and felt still worse. Hubby was up at 6 sending two munchkins off to school. I could barely get up to go to the bathroom which was growing far too frequent. I couldn’t keep anything down for more than a few minutes….this went on for three whole days.

Monday night early Tuesday morning he awoke to our almost 8 year old son standing my our bed. “I’m sick”, were his only words. Pretty much the rest of the week is one large hazy blur as my head vibrated with sounds of daily life downstairs going on without me and Tornado. Thankfully tornado never got as bad as i had. And neither did weasel when he joined us on Thursday morning early.

People called to check on me but phone calls were short as my head just shook under its dehydrated state and I found myself in a quandary. I found myself with a head spinning due to the inability to keep food or drink down, and i would sit up to drink and my head would spin as i drank , i would get sea sick and then try to lay down quick enough before i got sick from the room moving. I couldn’t win.

Thankfully there is this magic stuff called gatorade and by Thursday i was able to drink enough to allow me to stay upright for short stints. By Friday I was eating Pizza and i was able to celebrate hubby’s birthday with our family on Saturday.

Yeah my mothers day may not have been the ideal and no neither was the entire week after that but in all of the sickness my house didn’t fall apart, everyone was taken care of and fed well, i was taken care of, i was able to rest as much as i needed, and i was encouraged to do so. Those in and of the,selves made last week the best mothers day a mom could ask for. I am so blessed to have such a competent caring hubby and such caring children!

I look forward to being back this week with you call!

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My dearest R—–
Today marks a truly special milestone. From right now 6 am I woke a very happy young lady, matter of fact I hardly slept the night before in such anticipation. This day 10 years ago I was blessed beyond measure! I had two amazing milestones. We graduated college together and then what seemed like an eternity later i walked down the aisle in a white gown and become your bride.

Oh how blessed I am dear to call you my husband. The trials that are thrown our way have done nothing but make us stronger. Thank you for encouraging me to step out and try new things and to push myself above and beyond what I one thought possible.

Thank you for embracing who I am and loving both for it and in spite of it!

I am so proud of you as you have grown into an even stronger man of God. I marvel at your abilities and you strength. I love watching you interact with our children and I love spying on you as you work, whether in your office or in the yard or in the playroom cuddling with our children.

You make me smile like no other person has ever made me do so before.

There have been some very rough times but my dear you can always know I will fight for us. We will fight together as the team God has created in us. It is with you alone I wish to grow old with and share my joys and my sufferings.

You complete me.

Thank you for being confident in me and trusting me. Thank you for your gentleness and kindness, your sweetness and your playfulness, thank you for being faithful.

I love you more each and everyday and I count it such a blessing to have been your wife for the last 10 years…..a decade devoted to you and our children. I wouldn’t change it for the world and I hope to have many more decades to come.

I love you so much,
Happy Anniversary my dear husband
Love always,
Mary

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…….a month we celebrate the birth of our youngest child.
……..is a time of growing warmth and sunshine (at least here in NY).
….. Is a month we generally remember the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior.
AND…
…….BEGINNING this year we want to share and make the world more aware of the growing number of children with …..

1 in 88 children have autism.
1 in 54 boys have autism.
And only 4% of children with autism will be able to function and hold down a job as an adult.

(Stats taken from the Autism Speaks website)

Those statistics are mind blowing! And as a parent of a son in this group….i don’t like it. It was hard to come to the realization that We may have to provide care for him through his adult life. Let’s be honest all of us want our children to grow and succeed.

I’m not saying our son won’t grow up to be amazing but as parents we had to come to terms with this sooner or later! We are grateful that he talks (he didn’t until age 3). We are also thankful that he is potty trained. It’s the simple things in life that I at times have taken for granted.

So. Thank You to all of the doctors, researchers, and not for profit organizations that helps families like ours! You really do make a difference in our kids lives and in our family’s lives!

Next year we will join the thousands of others in the light it up Blue campaign through the month of April. Will you consider joining us as well?
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Have you ever had to sit out in the “vestibule” with a cranky child? Maybe for some other reason? Has it happened frequently? How do you feel? Do you feel left out? Frustrated that everyone else gets to participate? Maybe you feel alone, but yet when someone volunteers to help out you kindly say no?

Well i have a confession to make…I’ve been there! It was a frustration that I couldn’t be a part of worship. But this past Sunday as I started to enter the auditorium with my 5 year old son, and he put on his brakes and said “please mommy no”. My heart sank! I didn’t even make it in this time. We took our place on the pew under the coat rack and I said to him…”can’t you please try? Daddy said if you tried you could put the offering in the plate”. To which he replied” but mommy there’s too many people and it’s too loud”. “All i could muster was an “ok we will sit here.” I gave him a little squeeze and listened to the music playing in the next room. As I sat there watching him finger his little tiny toys he would interject his observations on life…..he would make me giggle and then all of sudden he chimed in “i like this song”.

In that very moment I realized something…..i was worshipping along with everyone else. I may not have been sitting in the same room, i was not even singing the songs with my mouth. I was listening though. I listened to the music, the prayers, and in those quite moments with my son I praised the Lord. I praised Him for two things…..
1. My son is learning to communicate what overwhelms him. It wasn’t all that long ago that my son would have screamed whined, made awful noises, hide his face, fidget, and try to run away.
2. That in those moments when my son seems most distant, and that he is absorbed in examining life’s little oddities, like bubbles in a glass of water. He is listening to the faith based surroundings…like a simple song being played and sung in the next room.

My heart leapt for joy. I knew that at that moment I will not live the “normal life”. But it is the life God has for me. Will it ever change it may or it may not but for now, I will worship with my little boy in the Narthex!

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Some women love shoes….clothes….knick knacks……art.
Some people call them fetiches.
Some people call them Collections.
I call them….things.

I have a thing for…..
Matter of fact there are three.
PJ’s (the softer and comfier….the better)
Bags…not necessarily purses ( i really have to be careful when 31 gifts is involved)
AND…..
NOTEBOOKS.

I am a writer for Pete’s sake! That is a lot of how I organize our lives as a Family. I have notebooks for nearly everything. My husband often asks how I can keep them all straight. My answer is…”i just can!”

My absolute favorite notebook is the white three ring binder that has a clear plastic cover that i can insert my own custom cover.
Way back in high school/college that consisted of a clipart laden printout but today has morphed into what I truly like. My style. Distressed. Old looking. Pretty. It’s unique.

My hope is to complete a set of these to house our home organization. I have mostly completed our kitchen one.

It consists of my creativity and free printables! And one of those white three ring binders!

This is my cover.
Paper ink, stickers ink, glue, colored pencils and a blending pen. The old paper look is hand done by me in literally under a minute!

But as much as I love being creative i also love being organized and knowing what I have!

So that led me to search out some options in keeping a kitchen inventory….and I just adore what I found.

You can find inventory printables
Www.couponsnob.com

I have inventory sheets for my pantry, freezer, and household items.

In this notebook i also have my menus for the year. Yes year. I am in the process of taking notes and adding new recipes which i will change at the end of this year. This is huge for us because their are just some nights where i am exhausted on so many levels and this takes the thinking out of it!

My hope in the next few months is to implement some freezer cooking as well i have started collecting recipes for things i already make that are “freezer friendly”. Which will in the end become a part of our freezer inventory!

One of the other things that i have started again is making our own mixes.
There are some fantastic recipes floating around out there to help you make healthier choices for your family.

And lastly i have what I call a hospitality calendar. It helps us keep track of all of our events that we have people over for. We TRY to have everyone from our church over for dinner in a year, two open house, a deacon’s Christmas Party, a New Year’s Eve game night night and anything else that might happen
. It helps me not to repeat meals either!

I also have a small sized 3 ring binder that houses the dietary needs of everyone that comes into our home. If so and so is gluten free then that’s in the smaller notebook under their name. If so and so doesn’t like pickled herring…..then that’s there too….(not that I would EVER serve that…ewww!)

My next notebook in the works is my garden notebook! Hopefully in the next couple of weeks i will be able to share that with you all as well!
Hopefully i have sparked some inspiration in you!
Happy creating, organizing, and planning!
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Hey you…yeah you…the one with the notebook and pen in hand…..obviously you are like me right? You like to write….or journal, right. You have all the signs, including the pen indention on your middle finger (that is if you hold you pen correctly , if not oh well.)

I wanted to share with you some fun journaling ideas i have found on Pinterest!

I have been actively pursuing both, mostly because they take so little time. To be quite honest, it has been sparking my blogging juices! And i have some posts coming up that are triggered by the journal prompts.

Here they are as i sat working one morning a few weeks ago when we were in Florida.

They are great for both the novice and experienced writers. I find it just enough to get me thinking without overwhelming my busy schedule.

The first is a five year journal. I actually found a very nice thick journal while in Florida. Basically you need to save enough space. Under each day for one line for five years. You can do this either with prompts or without them . For this year i choose to use them but i cannot guarantee i will always!
You can find the Prompts for the five year journal here.

The other is a fun printable……ok so 50 fun printables….you can pick border free, a border you can doodle and color yourself or pre-colored. I have been copying two at each sitting so i can photo copy the next set! I will say though that I must put a disclaimer here. In a rare instance I need to scratch out some options in the lightening round section….mostly related to alcohol. I do not prefer to drink anything with alcohol in it. So make you choice but i would not throw out the baby with the bath water just for one choice.

You can find the printables here

I hope you enjoy these journaling opportunities as much as I have. Whether you are a blogger, writer, or journaler (i think i just coined a new word). Give it a shot!
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Grace is giving someone something they don’t deserve…..not all too far removed but still very different than Mercy which is Not giving someone what they deserve. Do you see the difference?

Grace is something that Jesus exemplified right until his death when He uttered “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34 (ESV)

Even the thief next to him on the cross received grace. He knew what he had done was sin, understood who Christ was asked for Grace and it was extended to him when jesus said “today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43

Did that mean that the robber would no longer suffer the consequences of his sin? Not a chance. He still died that horrible death on the cross. Far worse than anything I can even imagine.

There are so many instances of Grace exemplified by Jesus even before His death. There were tax Collectors, harlots, accusers, the mob, his disciples (yes they of all the rest seemed to need FAR. More grace than all the others).

I am no different and neither are my children. Let me start off by saying this, we could learn a lesson or two from kids, they are just chock full of grace! But we as parents (and even non-parents) can sometimes come down hard on those same grace filled kids! It really is very sad. I have found myself on more than one occasion set to discipline a child for something that had nothing more than the purest intentions. I have pretty sweet kids. But sometimes they just go about being thoughtful in the wrong way. So I have two choices, i can come down hard on them and say….”you broke a house rule, i don’t care why, you will have to do this……” Or before i get to crazy I can stop and listen. Just by stopping and listening shows an amazing amount of grace. Sometimes as parents hubby and I need to do just that. Does that mean by doing so that our kids get away with something though? NOPE. By slowing down though it gives us more opportunities to teach and train, and by doing so we are also teaching and training them how to handle others as well.

One of the hardest things to do is to try to understand the motives of your child. Only God truly understands ones motives but as parents we must become students of our children. Understanding every little thing about them and what drives them to do what they do (just another way we as parents depict Father God to our children). This is why children who have been abused by their parents have such a hard time picturing God as the loving Father that he is. This can be exceptionally hard in counseling sessions and church settings.

When you stop and listen you learn so much. A child’s heart is something that is so pure. Despite all of Jesus’ exhaustion He took time for the children. He saw the importance of time on a child’s life. He laid the groundwork for the grace they so desperately needed. I often wonder what kind of impact that moment had on the lives of those children.

There is a saying that is uttered in our house often, ” there isn’t anything you could say or do to ever make me stop loving you.” We want our children to know that our love is not dependent on their performance in life.” They will make wrong decisions and Will have to suffer the consequences. They will say hurtful things and will apologize. Trust will be broken. But no matter what I will love them…and they hopefully never question that (though I am human too)

God’s love isn’t dependent on me being good. i am obedient to God because I love Him. Love and grace though no the same go hand in hand. God is gracious because he loves me. I should be gracious to my children AND to all those around me because I love God. And i follow his commandments….and he commands me to love my neighbor and my enemy!
Its hard to do when someone hurts you but how else will they ever see the love of God? Grace is not synonymous with trust. Grace is giving someone what they don’t deserve, they might deserve what they did you in the first place. Grace is not giving it to them! Love them instead, give them kindness instead.
Live a grace filled life….it’s contagious!

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Hi all,
Sorry for the absence but we took a week of vacation! It was wonderful!
And now that we are back and mostly recouped from our insanely long trip back. I am renewed and refreshed!

This was out first vacation in FOUR years. Over the last few years we have spent two weeks in spring in Michigan for hubby’s Th.M. program. Last may he graduated so we didn’t need to go out there! That was half school and half vacation!

The last full vacation we took was to Tennessee and Kentucky before my husband accepted the call to the church he now pastors back in February of 2009!

On this trip we got to spend time with my aunt and uncle in South Carolina and on the return trip we got to see my brother for a few minutes. While in Florida we got to spend time with hubby’s brother HT and sister -in -law L. And our new (and only) niece Ducky (that’s her nickname)

Isn’t she sweet! hubby and I fought over her and the kids all loved her to bits! We enjoyed the sun and warmth of southern Florida!

We as a family we rested…well that is until we headed home from South Carolina! What should have taken us 13 hours ended up taking us 26! The traffic we hit was unbelievable and we even avoided the DC /Baltimore area!

All in all it was a real blessing. We miss everyone!
I look forward to jumping in with both feet over the coming weeks!

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This is the very first installment of a series i mentioned on Facebook a little while ago entitled Why we do what we do. We get many questions about why we choose certain things.

Today as i am nearing the end of my reading through the book of Philippians i was reminded of the reason we opt out of regular media.

It says :

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Everything thing we consume media wise is put into our minds we will recount them. We need to be sure not to put something in that does not fit these requirements. It is setting ourselves up for failure otherwise!

It’s far too easy for our kids to see something they aren’t supposed to. We let our kids watch movies and some TV shows that we pre-pick

We are called to be good stewards of all we have and that includes our children. We need to make sure their minds and hearts and eyes are protected at all costs. Let’s face it today’s media lacks in the pure quotient. Hubby and I also need to focus on these things as well because our hearts could become numb to sin, and that would affect our ministry!

Remember focusing on right things is a commandment of God…..garbage in garbage out fits perfectly into the Bible!

BLESSINGS,

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Chapter 9- when the World Presses in
Yet again another chapter that hits right at home!

I think at one time or another we have all experienced loss…..matter of fact I have experienced loss many times. A year ago our family experienced a year full of loss. In my adult years I have lost both grandmothers, many friends, and aunts and uncles, and church family.

But going back farther, as a teenager I experienced deep loss. Loss of what I initially believed defined who I was. At thirteen I was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration. I was told I was the youngest kid in the U.S. to have it at the time. At that moment in my life, I wasn’t really phased. I had that all too familiar invincible mentality. No worries I would have eye surgery and everything would be all good. Fast forward three years later. I was one month away from turning 16. I was so excited to get my driver’s license. My dad and I had even spotted car I really wanted….a little cobalt blue something. But then i started to notice things were changing, it was getting to the point where I couldn’t see notes on the board….I was terrified. But this time I wasn’t invincible, and everything began to unravel! There were eye doctor visits and at the end of one such the doctor asked me to really consider my options…..i could either have surgery and run the risk of making my eyes weaker, or possibly not being able to see at all, or not have the surgery, let the scar tissue become attached and have it stabilize. I prayed very hard and with peace that even I still don’t understand today, i chose no surgery. Everyone around me thought I was giving up. But what I was really chosing to do was to embrace what I still had. I thought it was a bad choice to risk what I still had.which coincidentally is quite a bit. I had people telling me i wasn’t trusting God enough. That He could heal me if I just believed enough. Here’s the thing what if God doesn’t want to heal you? What if by you having some sort of affliction brings Him more glory.

I won’t lie it was probably the darkest time in my life. Thoughts flashed through my head of not being good enough. Friends, I pretty much had none. They were ok as long as everything was going great but for the most part kids were cruel, and I was different. That usually makes for a bad mix!

Fast forward 17 years. I have been blind for over half of my life now. It hasn’t been all roses but I am married to an amazing guy. I have four amazing kids and a church family who loves us. I am living out my calling as a pastor’s wife. Those things are my bright spots but if you have been following my blog you know the last few months have been nothing short of a trial. And yet again It has been required of me to let some dreams go.

As our third child, our second son was diagnosed with Aspergers an autism spectrum disorder. There are some things I have had to let go of. I’ve had to come to the realization that we might be lifetime caregivers of our son. There is no guarantee that therapy or diet will work. We have seen that already as he gets worse instead of better. We also had to let go of the simple dream that he may never be able to read. There are many other dreams we have had to hand over to God. We have had to mourn the loss of relationships through this. It’s terribly difficult to have fair weather friends but you can tell who your true friends and cheerleaders are as you embark down a dark path with no idea where it would possibly lead.

Am I mad at God? No, no i’m not because i know what I deserve is far worse than this! I deserve the pit of hell. But through His grace and mercy I have a promise of HOPE, and I will gladly endure whatever for His Glory, for it is ONLY by his love that I can all ALL things!

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