My Marvelous Family

See that white by my foot yeah that is where I initially stepped and my foot went all the way down to the road. I thought it would be a cute picture with me all the way down there but nope.

Rachel is pointing the way, while I am trying to hitchhike. The dentist she works for is Dr. Perkins and so she needed this picture.

Mom sent us some copies of her pictures from when we were in Maine. Here are a few of the family. Daddy has gotten so skinny working on the farm. Mom now is trapped in a fraternity when it has always been dad trapped in a sorority. Tables have turned and I am concerned for her sanity. Naw but she does live with two ADD inflicted men and one suffering severe dementia, she has a lot on her plate.

Wow dad is actually tanner than all of us, who would have ever thought.
Sister, sister never were there more devoted sisters. Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister and Lord help the sister who comes between me and my man. Anyone can you name that movie? Other than my sister that is.
Ahh the girl's at Perkin's cove on the Marginal Way where dad proposed to mom.
And another, yes we are on the ocean and there was snow and ice on the ground. Can you say brr.

Inductive study

I am so thankful that I have a church here that is faithful to expositorily preach the Word and not just use the Word to teach some topic. In my Place of Quiet Rest today I read about how to get the Word into you. Our devotions are not just for reading the Word but using it. Suggestions she makes for getting the Word into your life are:

1. Write down two sentences about every chapter as you read, one to summarize the chapter and one to express how the chapter spoke to you personally.
2. Write out portions of Scripture to keep with you or display in your house.
3. Make notes in your Bible, I jot down ones I come up with and what I am taught.
4. Ask yourself questions as you read, what does it say? (observations) what does it mean? (implications or interpretations) and what should I do?(application)
5. Record your responses to the Word of God and share with another what you have learned so that they may help keep you accountable.
6. Record milestones in your spiritual journey, so you can remember what you have learned.

I hear over and over to study my Bible inductively and have been learning how from the ladies in my Sunday school class. One of the most important things I have taken is to pray and ask God to show you the truth and meaning in what you are reading and then use other aids such as commentaries to help clear up passages. Because those aids were all made by man and were from their studies.

Decisions, I hate them

Oh to be able to make up my mind and stick with it. Wouldn't that be wonderful. Once again I am rethinking the whole moving to Maine in September issue. I wanted to go and get into Photography school. Well last week I was talking to my friend about how I had gone to nursing school for a year and she had said she used to be a surgical tech and got her degree at UAMS where I work. She was telling me about it and my interest was peaked.

Before I looked into Photography schools in Maine I was looking here because as a full-time employee at UAMS I only pay a small percentage of tuition at any University of Arkansas school. But if I take classes at UAMS I only pay 10%, that is like nothing. So I had really wanted to do that, then I would not have more loans added to the one I am already paying. But you can only get a minor in Photography in this state.

So as she talked it made me think about how much I love to watch the "chop 'um up" channel as Tami and I call it. And really being a surgical tech, I would have to maintain the sterile field in surgery and arrange and pass instruments to the surgeon, so in essence I would be watching a real chop um up for a career.

So the next day I researched the program and profession. I liked all that I saw. So I sent out an email for more information. I can only take up to 11 hours a semester if I work full-time, but they did not have information on the part-time students schedule. I am ready to be back in school and I think this is the profession for me. I can always do Photography without a degree, my uncle did or I can go to school for that later.

I just got frustrated when I thought I had it all figured out and then this idea was sparked. Please pray for me that my boss will allow me to take classes and have a weird working schedule. That I would get accepted into the program, they only take 4 part-time students a year.

I would be so happy if God just laid out the map of my life for me. Or He would only open one door at a time and completely close all others at that time. But then life would be boring wouldn't it, hum can't decide that one yet. This could be me.

Start the Day

The morning watch is essential. You must not face the day until you have faced god, nor look into the face of others until you have looked into His.

You cannot expect to be victorious if the day begins only in your own strength. Face the work of every day with the influence of a few thoughtful, quiet moments with your heart and God. DO not meet other people, even those of your own home, until you have first met the great Guest and honored Companion of your life--Jesus Christ.

Meet Him alone. Meet Him regularly. Meet Him with His open Book of counsel before you; and face the regular and irregular duties of each day with the influence of His personality definitely controlling your every act.
~Streams in the Desert
This was the beginning of today's devotions with Nancy Leigh DeMoss. She gives steps as to how to get started having a quiet time alone with the Lord.
1. Make it a consistent practice. "It is much easier to breathe life back into a dead routine than to get life where there was no routine at all." This is not only something we need but something God desires. God wants to spend time with you!
2. In the morning.
I met God in the morning
When my day was at its best,
And His presence came like sunrise,
Like a glory in my breast.

All day long the presence lingered,
All day long, He stayed with me,
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O'er a very troubled sea.

Other lives were blown and battered,
Other lives were sore distressed,
But the winds that seem to drive them
Bring us peace and rest.
Then I thought of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind,
When I too had loosed the moorings,
With the presence left behind.

So I think I know the secret,
Learned from many a troubled way:
You must seek Him in the morning,
If you want Him through the day.
~Ralph Spaulding Cushman
3. A solitary place. Get away from all distractions to have an uninterrupted time with the Lord.

Happy Valentines Day

Here is the Cupid man of your dreams. He made me laugh. I sure would not want him shooting me with arrows of love, I just may end up dead. This song is for those of us who feel they have no Valentine. Whether you have love on this earth there is a Valentine who always has our hearts and lavishes us with gifts every day. His love will not fail and it is a perfect love. None on this earth can love so wholly and purely.
Hold On
Nicole Nordeman

It will find you at the bottom of a bottle.
It will find you at the needle's end.
It will find you when you beg and steal and borrow.
It will follow you into a stranger's bed.
It will find you when they serve you the papers.
It will find you when they locks have changed again.
It will find you when you've called in all your favors.
It will meet you at the bridge's highest ledge.
So baby don't look down, it's a long way.
The sun will come around to a new day.
So hold on, love will find you.
Hold on, He's right behind you now.
Just turn around, and love will find you.
It will find you when the doctor's head is shaking.
It will find you in a boardroom, mostly dead.
It will crawl into the foxhole where you are praying.
It will curl up in your halfway empty bed.
So baby don't believe that it's over.
Maybe you can't see 'round the corner...
To hang between two thieves in the darkness.
Love must believe you are worth it.

A Place of Quiet Rest

Recently I pulled out "A Place of Quiet Rest" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. My mother had sent this to me one time when I was in Hawaii, at the time I was not a believer but paraded around like I was one. I read it and really did not take a single thing from it. I read it again about a year ago to spice up my quiet time. I really struggle with it becoming, not really a duty, but rather a habit to me. I hate that my sinful flesh causes that hunger for His Word to wax and wane. It is written like a devotional with a chapter and then a Making it Personal section, which includes questions and activities to implement in your life.

I pulled it out again because once again I am there and found that I am not really taking anything with me from my quiet time. I pray that as I read it this time I can put all the concepts into practice and make my time with Him a delight. I do praise God that I am at least getting into His Word every day, before I just could not do it, but just reading is not enough, I must soak up every Word because it was spoken and recorded to bring me closer to my Master, Maker, and Lover.

Today I am starting the first chapter, "A Day in the Life of the Lord". She uses Mark 1 to explain how busy and harried Christ's day's were. I know many people even I have plead I am so busy. But that also reveals the priorities in your heart. What you hold highest will be what you spend the most time on or desire to spend the most time on. When every thing we do should be to bring glory and honor to God. Our life can be a day spent entirely with the Lord if we allowed it. The stage must be set. That stage is set for my by waking up at 5:30 to have my quiet time with the Lord. I need to start my day with Him and like Ms. Anne preaches give my day to Him before I even get out of bed.

Although I am sure Jesus needed sleep and His body probably called for it, Mark 1:35 says, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." Nancy states, "This is precisely where you and I so often miss out on all that God has for us. Unlike Jesus, we attempt to live life in our own energy. We think we can keep giving out without getting replenished."

Take stock of your current time with God in the Word, praise and prayer. What words describe your spirit when your schedule is full or a lot is demanded of you? How did Jesus respond to pressure according to Mark 1? My prayer is God will speak to me through this study and make me more like Him. I pray this for you too.

Where is the Balance

Recently on a post-holiday stint to try to get healthy again my sister and I took on a diet that we could not really afford and half killed us. Or should I say half killed me because I was actually faithful to it until the last 2 weeks. Let's note that one night I almost passed out because I guess I was just not getting enough calories. Let me tell you, when you cut out carbohydrates you are always hungry. Which was also when I decided that the diet did not fit me. You can't just totally cut things out of your diet and totally deny yourself them. Well at least I can't.

The diet we tried is the Maker's diet. Basically you try to eat mostly organic foods (but it is not required to be organic) so that you get all the nutrients minus the pesticides. But you start out by eating really limited foods such as no carbs or beans and only goat or sheep dairy products. Then two weeks later you add a few more things cow's dairy and some beans and then the last 2 weeks you add limited carbs and that is then supposed to be a lifestyle change. The idea is that hunter gatherer people's are a ton more healthy than we are and they reason that is because of the way they eat and live. Also some of the Levitical food laws were there for good reason. I do not argue that later Peter was shown that all foods have now been made clean.
Acts 10:10-15
But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came to him, "Get up, Peter, kill and eat!" But Peter said, "By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean."
Again a voice came to him a second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy."
But at the same times there are foods out there that are not good for you such as pork. Just to touch on the subject they have terrible digestive tracts so it takes forever for them to digest so their meat soaks up a lot of toxins because they are not picky eaters either, they eat anything they see. I will not get into specifics, just think really nasty and you probably hit the nail on the head. Also bottom feeders the clean up, be eating the muck that settles on the bottom of oceans, lakes etc. So when you eat them you are eating that too. Now I do love my lobster, crab, clams, oysters and STEAMERS so I will indulge sometimes but not too much or too often.
Colossians 2:16-17
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
I liked many of the concepts and would keep them accordingly with my budget but use a twist to fit my personal needs. Such as I really do need chocolate a few times a month, and I can't afford organic chocolate.

It seems I can only be tried and true on a diet if it is really strict. Like I try the whole eating portions but the rest of the portions of ice cream stare me in the face and cry like the sirens dragging my helpless body behind and I have to surrender to its call and fill myself with another portion or 2. The thing is they have it all wrong when it comes to ice cream's portion size. There just can't be 210 calories in that bite size bit of ice cream, there should be a law against that or a way around it.

The real issue it seems is a struggle with self-control. I could just eat a portion of things but I don't want to why eat 18 chips when I could clear off half the bag easily? I love to eat, that is some of my problem not so much that I crave the food but I love the taste and I love having it over and over again, until the bag seems to have just disappeared. One of the fruits of the Spirit. I battle the flesh. My goal in life is to please the Lord and my eating habits are not glorifying Him. If I do not desire and crave Him that much then I have no right to desire food that much. That makes it an idol now doesn't it. Oh the things I have to work on. Not to mention our body is a temple and filling it with junk foods is not a way to preserve a temple of God.

Rest in Peace Dante

Job 1:21
He said," Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

Last week on January 31, 2006 my friend I had gone to school with died. Dante Jacuzzi came to Walnut Valley in I think 2nd grade, we of course were not friends until about 6th grade. Before then we were both normal kids that of course did not have friends of the opposite sex. After 8th grade both he and I left, I went to Parkview and he went to Catholic, he returned his senior year to Walnut Valley and I did not.

He was crazy to say the least. I remember in 6th grade there was a boy who had a crush on me and Dante prank called me one night acting like he was him and asked me out. I had the hardest time refusing him and tried to avoid him the next day, but he came up to me and told me that we had both been pranked by Dante and another guy. I could not help but laugh even though I felt really dumb. I guess it would have been worse if I had liked him and not refused the offer.

Dante always was the class clown and many times he got away with it. On top of his clowning around the boy was a genius. When most of us took Latin and struggled through it, he was striving and also taking a Greek class. This was only 7th grade. I remember he was a favorite of that teacher and she had something against me. He helped with the plays that she put on and I clearly remember he was helping with the sewing of the costumes for the play "Little Women" and probably others. Doing "girl's work" did not scare him and he would walk around with cloth he had been working with draped on his shoulder sometimes. He would proudly proclaim that he was helping with the sewing. The boy was a jack of all trades and probably a master of many of them too.

He was a great friend while the other boys were very reserved about being friends with girls, Dante had many, he could be our friends without liking us and being awkward with us. This is not a feat most teen boys can claim.

I remember in 6th grade he had tried to skate down his slide and came in the next day with a broken wrist or arm, and I had to help him fill in the bubbles for some sort of standardized test or something like that. Yes Dante was a daredevil nothing was out there that could cause him fear. He loved skating so much, most of the time he would mimic skate tricks in his shoes, rather than walk like the rest of us, Dante would perform his skate moves no matter where he was.

I remember him being very proud of his bodily functions and flat out killing the rest of us in Mr. Chambers class. Windows would have to be opened because it just lingered.

The last time I saw Dante was a year and a half ago at the Greek Food Festival. I was always glad to see him and learn a little of what he had been up to.

I don't know what choices Dante made in his life. I do not know if he is resting with the Father right now. I pray that he is and I will see him again some day. But I rest in the fact that God planned out his days before he made him and his heart only beat the number of times it was supposed to and ultimately His will has been done.

I do wonder how we are to have hope when we do not know if the person is in heaven. If we know they are in hell then we can not hope at all and it truly is a time for mourning because they have been lost permanently and there is no turning back for them. We can have hope knowing that our eternity is secure but that does not help as far as grieving the person. I pray that through his death others would be touched by their own mortality and humbly fall at Christ's feet.

I Have Been Blessed!

God has truly blessed me and proved Himself faithful another time. In the past I posted about my problems with a software company that cashed a check they should not have and I had to pay about $52 worth of overdraft fees. I tried to talk to them and request they pay it and they refused. A coworker told me to go to the Attorney General and make a complaint, I was tired of talking to those people so I filed my complaint and let go of it all. All through I prayed for God's provision and His blessing whether they refunded me or not. Months have passed and God has enabled me to only passingly think about it. On my own I would have called the Attorney General every couple of weeks. Then this weekend I received an envelop with that companies name on it, tears filled my eyes and praise came out of my mouth even before I opened it up and before my eyes was the $52 check.
I also had a problem with my credit cards. For some reason both cards had been charged with the same amount from the same place on the same day. This was in September. I called the card I knew should not have it on there, since the other one is my gas card, and I had been purchasing gas. They had me send in all sorts of paperwork and a month later I received a letter that they needed that information again so I mailed them the information. Then a month later I received a final letter that they needed the information that they were putting the charge back on and consider it reconciled. So I called and they had needed to know if I had contacted the merchant, she said with double charges it is the company that will just refund the charge. So I called them and they asked me to send in the two statements and they would figure out what happened. A few weeks later I tried to call them back and ask what they found but I could never get a hold of someone. So I decided to let God take control of the situation. Then about 2 days after I received my check I looked at my credit card statement online and the charge had been taken off.
Lessons I learned: Trust God, do what you reasonably can about a situation and then let it go to God, also practically make sure you have the right card when pumping gas because if you scan one and press cancel it may charge both cards. Better said pay attention to what you are doing.

Philippians 4:6-7
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.