In Celebration of Palm Sunday

Earlier this year during school Clark and Felicity were learning about Jesus riding the donkey into Jerusalem which has become known as The Triumphal Entry.  We acted the story out.  I thought you might enjoy the pictures.

Kent acted out the part of Jesus by dressing in a long white shirt and riding a stick horse. Clark and Felicity acted out the people by waving their palm branch crafts.

Week Before Easter Challenge

Last year I took this challenge.  I was blessed by it, so this year I will be doing it again.

I'm going to be sacrificing some of my "free" time to spending more time in the Word of God.  Jesus gave us the ultimate sacrifice by dying for me to pay for my sins and to show appreciation I'll be working to hide some of God's Word in my heart via memorization and through reading my Bible get to know my God and Savoir better.  I will also be intentionally spending more time in prayer.  I usually spend 15-30 minutes most days in the Word, so my goal is to spend 2 or more hours building my personal relationship with God.  I'm also going to be encouraging my kids to read their Bibles more, listen to Bible Stories and pray more this week, too.

Would you like to join me in this challenge?  Think of what you could learn from the word if you cut out 1 regularly watched TV show, listened to the Bible on CD instead of your radio while driving, not pick up a book you are currently reading or planning on reading, read your Bible during part of your lunch break, or got off the internet for 1-2 hours a day. 

My plan:
I'm currently reading Numbers, so I will continue through that book off the Bible before choosing another book, I'm planning on praying for our missionary of the week and the people who have needs in our Sunday School class as well as for my family members, and I am going to begin memorizing a passage from 1 Thessalonians.

Thinking of taking this challenge?  Tell me where you would like to start reading.

Linked with:

Raising Arrows       Modest Monday    

2013 Verse to Reflect on for the Year

For the last several years I've been choosing a verse from my Bible reading to remember throughout the year.  I'm not sure why this verse stands out to me this year, but it's the one that God keeps drawing my mind back to.


Exodus 6:7       
 
"I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the Egyptians."

  Exodus 6:7          

Fear of Man

"The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe." 

Proverbs 29:25

This is the verse that the kids have been learning for school this week.  I've found it thought provoking.

Are you caught in man's snare?  What are you afraid of?  Are you trusting God?

It is through trusting God that he will keep you safe.  He will take care of you and give you everything you need.

Thank You - Chick-Fil-A

When the president of Chick-Fil-A took a Biblical stand that marriage is to be between a man and a woman, the gay-rights activists went to town against this company who also stays closed on Sundays so families can worship together.  Today many people have taken a stand by visiting a Chick-Fil-A near them to say thank you for standing up for what is right. 

I took the kids over for lunch today before noon.  Parking was scarce. the drive-through line was long and the people were in abundance.  God blessed us with a parking spot within walking distance and when we walked in the doors we were at the end of the line that was zig-zagging around the one side of the building.  I was impressed by the number of patient, happy people who were waiting in line for lunch.  I applaud the Chick-Fil-A staff for working quickly and efficiently to take and make peoples' orders.  The line moved forward almost constantly and we had placed our order within 20 minutes.  We had about a 10 minute wait for our food.  Again this was great to show the efficiency of the staff who were their usual friendly selves.  By the time we had placed our order the line had grown outside the doors and when I drove by again around 2:30 pm they were still very busy.

When we arrived and were looking for a parking space, Kent wanted to know why there were so many people and cars there.  I told him it was because Chick-Fil-A stood up for what the Bible says by saying that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  Just like how God created Eve for Adam.  And that a marriage between a man and another man or a woman and another woman is wrong.  That's not how God created marriage.  Kent said, "It's like the Israelites!  They stood up for what was right and did good, too." 

Thank you, Chick-Fil-A!!!

If you haven't been to Chick-Fil-A yet today and you have one near you please show your support.  If you don't have one near you pray for them to continue to stand strong for what is right.

Being Involved in Church

This post has been co-authored by Jeff and Suanna.
   
 I grew up in a small town church where I knew everyone.  When you stay in the same place for the majority of your life you make relationships with people that are strong and you know each other well.  Then I got married and moved to Texas where the only people I knew were my husband's family and the church we chose to attend was very large.  It was a hard change and sometimes still is hard.

     Jeff and I realized that we needed to make ourselves get involved in our church, so we started going to the Young Married Class.  We really liked that there were various ages and stages of married couples who attended the class and we quickly made a few friends and signed up for a small group.  We also got actively involved in our class greeting on Sunday Mornings and working in different areas of ministry. After a couple years the church was growing and built a new building and the Young Married Life leaders felt that there was a need to change and try to get more people interested in attending our class.  So the Young Married Class split into two classes: Young Married Life and Married Life.  It was hard to make a new transition as we didn't feel that we really fit into the Young Married Life class because of the evening meeting time and the fact that we already had two or three kids, but we had friends who were now attending that class.  We attended the Married Life Class then.  This class was mostly made up of those who had been in the Young Married Class, but didn't fit into the new Young Married Life Class.  The Married Life class moved around a little and changed some and became a Sunday School class that anyone was welcome to, but much of the teaching was still geared toward married couples or those who had children.  During part of this time we volunteered in the children's Sunday School classes to be used in whatever class we were needed in on a week to week basis.

     So again we stayed involved.  We weren't to sure about what God wanted us to do, but we knew that being involved was a key part of what we needed in attending a large church.  One Spring Sunday in 2009, our Pastor announced that we would be doing a special group prayer thing and they wanted people to host one time prayer groups.  We signed up.  Several local people came to our home that evening for prayer group.  We didn't know a single one of them.  That was okay though.  After we talked with the people who joined us to pray and prayed we told them that we had been thinking about starting a small group and if they were interested in coming back again the next week we would pray again.  God wanted us to do that, because the next week all but one of them returned.  We met for several weeks to pray and then we asked them if they would be interested in doing a book study.  They were and we started studying The Power of Integrity: Building a Life Without Compromise by John MacArthur.  We've been meeting with most of those people since then.  We've also enjoyed getting to know new people who've joined our group for short times.  God has blessed us by allowing us to lead a small group of believers in our town that we join together with for prayer, Bible study, fellowship and encouragement.

After a while the Married Life, Young Married Life, and young singles classes merged into what is now called Fusion.  When this merge took place Jeff and I didn't feel like this was the right class for us, so we ended up not attending any class.  Sometimes we would help out a Sunday School class, but more often than not we found ourselves just sitting in the lobby during the 11:00 am service.  Before the Married life class ended, we would normally attend the 9:00 am service with Kent, Katy and Kaomi and then at a 11:00 take the kids to their classes and then go to the Married life class.  After the Fusion class started, the kids still wanted to go to Sunday School and we still wanted them to join us for church (we are very much old school in that respect-we believe that the kids should go to "big church"), so we couldn't just change to going to one service.  We thought about maybe trying to find another church, but that didn't really seem to feel like that was what God was wanting us to do.  This all might sound odd to some, but you must understand that Denton Bible Church has always intended their members to get involved in small groups during the week.  That is why there are only a few adult Sunday classes and only one church service per week.

In October 2010, Jeff and I started thinking and talking about starting a Fellowship and Prayer Sunday School Class that we would also have missionaries come to and share about God's work through their ministries.  We realized that we had enough commitments that we couldn't start the ball rolling in that direction until the beginning of the next year.  In January of 2011, we heard about a new class that had started called Adult Bible Fellowship.  We started attending this class and have enjoyed the teaching, the sharing of prayer needs, the small group breakouts during class, and hearing the missionaries who share what God is doing where He has chosen to have them serve.  Another thing we appreciate is the variety of ages and life stages (singles, newlyweds, empty nesters, etc.) that attend Adult Bible Fellowship.  We feel that it is important to build relationships with a variety of people as God can give us wisdom and guidance through those who have already been in our stage of life and our hope is that we would be a Godly encouragement to those who are where we have been, as well.  This class has met a large portion of our need to stay involved.  Though we don't participate in everything that our class plans we enjoy the fellowship and camaraderie that comes from building relationships with other Christians.  We would not have that blessing if we didn't get involved in our church.

We thank God that he has given our church a desire to teach the Bible and that there are smaller classes and life groups that we can be involved in that help us have a sense of belonging which can be hard to find in a very large church.  We thank God for the vision he has given to the various leaders in our church and that the Bible is the forefront of each ministry.  We also encourage each of you to get involved in your churches.  Being involved provides many opportunities to build relationships and friendships that help us navigate through our lives, provide us support when we are in need, and give us opportunities to get beyond ourselves and minister to others.

Week Before Easter

Starting tomorrow, I will be trying to spend more time in God's Word each day.

I will be replacing most of my evening online/entertainment time with reading my Bible and communing with my Savior.

This is to get to know my Savior more and the timing is perfect as we approach Easter and the celebration of His life.  Prayerfully this will instill a stronger desire to spend time with my Savoir every day and help me see that it is something that I can do with His help in the midst of our chaotic world that tries to tell me it is all about myself.  I was created by God to glorify Him.  The example of His selfless Son should be my standard as a Christian and an encouragement to give selflessly of myself in all areas of my life to the will of God.

Next Saturday I will be spending a half day in prayer as an end to the week and in preparation for Easter Day.

I'd like to challenge you to spend more time each day in God's Word as well.  Try to take at least 2 hours each day of your entertainment/phone/computer/etc. time and devote yourself to getting to know God better.

2012 Verse to Reflect on for the Year

Psalm 27:4
    "One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:  that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple." 

Psalm 27:4

To My Children (Part 2)

Part 1
Even though I feel as though I have nothing left to give you I am not giving up.  God has called me to be a Mom to each one of you and I intend to continue trying and doing my best.

God will provide everything I need to continue on.  If He didn't want me to be your mom He wouldn't have given you to me.

I will continue searching out different methods of teaching and training you and pray that God will use this for all of our benefit and growth.  I will pray for God to give me endurance and that I would be able to exemplify God's love to you as described in I Corinthians 13.

I do love you.

Shooting Stars

Psalm 19:1
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."

Last night Jeff and I sat out in our back yard looking at the stars and talking about the depth of the heavens and how God created everything just perfect so we could live here on earth.  While we were looking at the stars we saw several "shooting stars"  in an hours time.  Two of them flashed right toward us and looked as if someone were taking our picture from space using a camera with a really bright flash.

The Story of Our New House, Part 3

This is the story of God's plan for our family and getting our new house read Part 1 and Part 2 if you wish to.

So we started moving into our new house on Monday night.  On Tuesday I ran over to the old house to do laundry and get a little bit of stuff that I could fit in my car.  Including food that didn't need to be kept cold and didn't need to be cooked in a stove.  We had bought our own new appliances and the ones that came with the house we had sold to the appliance company.  The only thing was that with the closing date change our appliance delivery date had to change too.  They couldn't bring us our new appliances and pick up the old ones until Friday.  It wasn't a big deal, it just meant I had to think about what we were going to eat and use the old house if I needed to cook something.

On Tuesday afternoon I was working on unpacking a little bit and Jeff's Mom came over to begin painting.  Jeff came home early from work and helped paint and got a couple more loads of stuff from the old house in his truck.  Jeff had made arrangements to stay home from work on Wednesday morning and his brother was planning on coming and helping move the fridge, freezer, washing machine and dryer, but his brother had hurt his back and wasn't going to be able to help that day after all.  So Jeff and his Mom worked on finishing up the painting and then he stayed home for the rest of the day to move whatever he could move by himself.  By Wednesday night or Thursday morning both Jeff and I were beginning to wonder how we were going to get everything moved by Saturday, which was when we needed to turn the keys over to the new owners and be out of the old house.

We knew that many of the people who had planned on helping us move originally weren't available to help on the Saturday that we would be trying to move.  Thursday morning while Jeff was at work he was getting ready to send an e-mail to the friends who helped us move on Monday night and see if they were free to help us again, but he stopped and decided to pray.  He said he decided that we've been trusting God this whole time, why should we stop now.  A little later he sent a text to the same friends to see if we could borrow their trailer or if he could help for a little while that evening.  God worked it out that we could borrow their trailer and they were available to help.  Then Jeff contacted another friend who lives close by to see if he could come around the same time and help move some heavier furniture.  The friends who had the trailer also contacted some other friends from our Bible Study Group and they showed up to help us move and clean, too.  We moved a lot of stuff on Thursday night.  Thanks God for providing for our needs again. 

On Friday Kaomi and Katy weren't feeling that well, so I didn't get over to the old house to work on bringing anything over during the day.  Friday night Jeff and his Dad were going to hook up the appliances and almost everyone who came on Thursday night came over again and helped hook up appliances, assemble furniture, and unpack several boxes.  Thanks again, God.  On Saturday several of Jeff's siblings and his Mom were able to come help finish packing, moving, and cleaning the best they could as we had the electricity shut off on Friday.  Thanks everyone for helping.  God is so good.  He knew exactly how much help we needed and when we would need it so we could be moved out on time.  Now we know why our closing was delayed.  It was so we could have a whole week to move and trust God even more.  Jeff finished loading up the last load just before 6:00 on Saturday, just in time to hand over the keys to our old house.

Lessons Learned:  Trust God completely, He know what is best.  Pack like you are going on vacation, then live in a hotel while you hire someone to pack your house.  As much packing as we tried to do ahead of time, their was still much to do, come moving day.

The Story of Our New House, Part 2

If you haven't read Part 1 you may wish to do so before continuing with Part 2.

We thought the easy part was over.  We sold our current house, we were renting it back from the new owners and we thought we had a closing date on our new house.

We were still trusting God, but it seemed like everything had fallen into place.  One week before we were supposed to close we were getting mortgage paperwork finalized and had our walk through of our new house.  Our builder said we needed to call and make an appointment time for our closing, so Jeff proceeded to call and try to get that set up right away.  We found out that we couldn't set the time until all the paperwork was turned in and processed, we turned in everything that we could, but had to wait on two documents that were coming through the mail to us.  We got them and sent them in.  Then they said we have everything, but we need one more piece of paperwork from the USDA and that usually takes 2-7 days to process.  That meant that maybe we would close when we planned and maybe not.

We contacted our realtor, he contacted the new owners of our home, and they were going to graciously let us rent our house for one more week if we needed to.  Our original closing date passed and so did the next day with out anymore word on when we would be able to close.  We knew there was a reason, why we didn't close when we were expecting to, but we didn't know why, we just chose to trust God.  The Saturday that we had many people lined up to help us move came and we had let everyone know that we appreciated their willingness to help, but they could have the day to do something else fun as we weren't going to need them that day.  That Saturday morning the guy Jeff had been working with through the mortgage company called and said, we got the paperwork in last night and you will be able to close on Monday.  We will let you know what time as soon as we can.  Thank you God!!  That was a relief just to be able to have a few more details.  They called us later and told us what time and we were able to arrange childcare, while we were closing.

On Monday, we went to closing.  It took about 45 minutes and we had the document that would let us pick up our keys for our new home.  We were praising God on the way home as we now could begin moving into our new home.

Jeff picked up the keys and we went back to our old home and decided to take a load of stuff over with us when we went to see our new home for the first time that day.  Then we had some friends call and ask if we had closed and they wanted to help us begin moving that night if we wanted them to help.  Of course we said "YES!".  So they came over and brought their trailer and helped begin moving things.  They brought our beds/mattresses over, so we spent our first night in our new house right away.  We were going to be painting the boys and girls rooms, so Jeff's Mom and Jeff worked on getting the rooms ready to paint right away that evening.

Part 3

The Story of Our New House, Part 1

We've been thinking of moving to a bigger house for a while.  We looked at building a couple of years ago and it didn't feel like the right time.  We started looking again toward the end of last summer, we thought we were ready to build, but the builder wasn't ready for us so we waited and prayed.  Then Jeff noticed that another builder in the area where we were wanting to build had some new floor plans, we took a look at them and both of us felt that the time was right to try again.  We put our home up for sale in late December and signed a contingency with the builder, saying if we didn't sell our house we would default our up front costs to them.  We felt like this was what God was wanting us to do, even though neither of us are keen on taking risks like that.  We had a peace from God about this and decided that we would be trusting him to do what was best for our family.

For the first 2 months that our house was on the market, we didn't have anyone look at it.  Jeff was praying that we would sell our home and I was praying that we would sell our home and be able to stay in it until we could move into our new home.  We still felt like this was what God was wanting us to do.  We both struggled with trusting him and trying to see if there was something we could do, but we both understood that it was going to have to be God who did what we needed.  He knew best anyway.

It was coming right down to the line and we hadn't had very many people look at our home, but we kept praying that God would send "the one" who was to buy our house.  We had about 6 weeks to closing on the new house and still no bites on our home.  Then we had someone scheduled to look at the house and they canceled.  Then they rescheduled and two days later we had an offer on our house.  It wasn't just any offer though.  They offered us less than we would be able to accept, but they also offered to let us rent it back from them until we could move into our new home.  It sounded perfect, it was just what I was praying for, but would they come up on their price?  Jeff and I sat down and figured out what the lowest price was that we could accept, then we counter offered.  They accepted our counter offer and we were set to close about 1 week before the closing on our new house.  Then we found out that if we closed on our home before May we would actually save a little money, so we asked if they would be interested in closing earlier.  They were and we had it set up to rent the house for the next two weeks.  We closed on our home less than 30 days after we received their acceptance to our counter offer.  How good God is and he knew exactly the timing of all of this.

Part 2

Rejoice in the Lord

This song by Ron Hamilton goes right along with what we've been studying in James chapter 1 at our Adult Bible fellowship Class.

Rejoice in the Lord

God Never moves without purpose or plan

When trying His servant and molding a man.

Give thanks to the Lord though your testing seems long;

In darkness He giveth a song.

Chorus:

O Rejoice in the Lord.  He makes no mistake.

He knoweth the end of each path that I take.

For When I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold.

I could not see through the shadows ahead;

So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead.

I bowed to the will of the Master that day;

Then peace came and tears fled away.

Now I can see testing comes from above; 

God strengthens His children and purges in love.

My Father knows best, and I trust in His care;

Through purging more fruit I will bear.

Joy and Answered Prayer

I am still working on "Counting it All Joy".  Each day I write the things I am counting joy on my white board, then I erase and start over again the next day.  Some  of the "joys" repeat themselves and others are "new" every day.

Here are today's "joys".

Extra snuggles and play with Felicity:  I needed to be making supper because Jeff had a meeting tonight, but all the other kids were busy on something and couldn't help watch Felicity and keep her out of trouble, so I got to spend that time with her.  We had fun.  Then when Katy was done with what she was doing I was able to ask her to help.

Phone call about car:  our car is for sale and someone called who may be interested in it, they would like to schedule a time to get a chance to look at it.  We don't have that time scheduled yet, but phone calls about it are good.

Jeff helping grate cheese:  since I didn't get supper started early, Jeff helped out by grating cheese to help me get it ready a little bit sooner, so he could get to his meeting.

Kent's math went better today:  Kent has been struggling just a little with his math, but today we started a new related concept and he did much better, his errors were due to lack of paying attention to what he was supposed to be doing.

Disobedience:  not my favorite activity, but gives opportunity for teaching and training Godly children for the future.

Counter Offer Accepted on our house:  just what it says.

As the title mentioned I have an answer to something I've been praying about for a few months.
I have been praying that our current home would sell at just the perfect time.  I prayed that if it sold right away we would have a great place to stay for a few months and I've prayed that if it didn't sell shortly after we put it on the market that we would be able to rent it back or stay in it for a few days until we could move into our new home.  We are closing on our current home one week before we close on our new home (answered prayer).  The buyers of our home are willing to lease it back to us for a couple of days until we can close and move out (another answered prayer).

ISN'T GOD GREAT!!!!!  HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED, WHEN WE NEED IT, AND HE PROVIDES ACCORDINGLY!!!!

Count it all joy!

James 1:2-4
Count it all joy. my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We started studying James this week in our Adult Bible Fellowship class at church.

Count it ALL joy!

I've been trying to see what I can count as joy each day this week.

Today:
Rain - the kids can't play outside without getting muddy, but we really need the rain to green everything up for spring.  God knows how much rain we need.
Dishes - it seems like the dishes just keep piling up today, but that means we have plenty of food to eat and I enjoy getting a chance to work in the kitchen.
Trying New Recipes - I tried a new bread recipe today, I'm hoping we like it.  It was really easy and I like to try new things.
Broken Stoneware Cookie Sheet - I was just following the recipe's instructions and wondered if my pan would break.  Now I have one less thing to pack and I'll get another one later.  I have others I can use for the time being.
Lost Pencils - Kent is often losing his pencil during school, that means he can't do any more school til he finds his pencil or finally decides to get a different one.  I get to practice patience when this happens, and remember, I probably did the same thing.
All School Books Ordered - I finished ordering next school year's books today, then I will have them on hand whenever are ready to start school again.  We only have the equivalent of 5 weeks left this year.
Kent got in trouble and lost his playing privilege - this meant I expected him help exclusively with Felicity while I made dinner (and he even had fun).
We still don't have a buyer for our home - trust God, we should be able to stay here until it is time to move directly to our new home.

Are you counting it ALL joy?  How can you start thinking joyfully, knowing that God is testing you and you will be better for it in your faith?

Question About Thankfulness

Yesterday in our Sunday School class we were given a question to ponder this week.  It is a thought provoking question and I thought I would share it with you.



"If you had woken up this morning with ONLY the things you had been thankful for yesterday, what would you have today?"





Are you thankful for the things God has blessed you with and do you express that thanks?

Missions Conference

Our Family attended Proclaim Missions Conference this weekend at our church.  The kids enjoyed going to "different countries" and learning about different aspects of those countries and missionaries that are there.  Jeff and I enjoyed hearing about many of our church missionaries and how God is using them.  We had the opportunity to attend 3 breakout sessions where we got to choose which mission teams/groups we wanted to learn more about.  We went to hear what the Mexico team is doing, as we know one of God's missionaries on that team.  Then we went to hear about Cadence International, which is a ministry to our Military and their families.  Lastly, we went to hear from the team in China.  There is so much going on that they do and much of their work is with men who live on the streets, God has given them so many opportunities to help physically and spiritually.  We have a new calendar of God's missionaries to pray for one specific missionary every week.  I'm looking forward to implementing this new calendar into our school prayer time and hopefully we will get to know some more of God's missionaries better.

It's amazing how God takes plain, ordinary people who do ordinary things and uses them for His extraordinary work.

It's a beautiful day!

The sun is shining.  It's warm.  The birds are chirping.  We went outside this morning and played some activities to help impress Kent with his history lesson.  The kids played nicely outside, and came in muddy after lunch.  The sky is so blue.  The leaves on our sweet gum tree are turning yellow.  The front yard is full of dainty white flowers.  Thank you God for the beautiful day.

Ramblings

I'm watching Sound of Music it's a good time because Jeff and Kent are on the Christian Service Brigade camping trip this weekend.  I hope they have a great time.  I can finally fit into my pre-pregnancy clothing.  YEAH!!!  I have for a few weeks and it has been great.  I took the girls out tonight.  Katy's birthday is Monday.  I'm afraid she saw most of her presents and knows they are hers, though I didn't tell her they were for her birthday, but it was either that or not have any.  I don't have a clue when I would have been able to shop without her.  I was supposed to make her a dress, but there is no way to make it right now and keep it a surprise, so I gave up.  It's hard to get much accomplished lately.  Jeff is gone so much studying for his test.  He only has two weeks left.  Pray he passes it.  I do not want to go through him studying like this ever again.

Lamentations 3:22-23
"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

The scriptures I've been reading every morning have definitely been an encouragement this week.