Does Trouble Follow You?

Have ever noticed that there are just some people that can’t stay out of trouble? If they aren’t in trouble, they are surrounding themselves by people who are. And then they complain about all the things that are going on in their life!!

As I was doing my devotion this morning a verse in Proverbs showed me why that was so:

Proverbs 13:19 The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.

According to God’s Word – it is an abomination for these types of people to leave their ways of evil. How sad is that?!?!?!?

Life does not have to be made up of drama, hardship, and evil. Those are the kinds of things you find when you are not on the path that God would have for you. Sure, there will be trials for the faithful Christian, but the trials aren’t made up of trouble and evil! And the trials are there to strengthen us ~ not to chasten us.

Don’t live the life of a fool. Depart from evil and read the benefits of doing so:

Psalms 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

Psalms 37:27 Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

Proverbs 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Proverbs 16:17 The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.

It’s been almost 6 months since our church caught fire and finally we can say things are starting to come together. We can say.....WE HAVE WALLS!!! They aren’t finished walls, but at least it’s a start.

The sheetrock has all been hung (upstairs and down) and this week the plumbers are supposed to finish up their part and the taping a mudding should begin. That could take a week all by itself – and longer if our weather doesn’t dry up ~~ AND WARM UP!!

Back in February Jeff told them the church HAD to be ready by June 30th. He has a wedding to perform on that day. They still keep telling us, “No problem.” I keep thinking its going to take a big miracle to have it done by then. I am also thankful that I serve a God that is very able to perform that kind of miracle.

Please, if you think about it, pray for the completion of our church building. Right now we are actually starting to outgrow the place we have been worshipping in since the fire (which is a GREAT problem.) Yesterday morning before services I was worried we were going to run out of chairs. An even bigger problem is that we have no nursery right now. Many of the new people we are having come in have little children that have never sat through church before and when you have all of us in one room that can be quite the distraction. Usually I end up taking them all out to an indoor play area in the mall where we are meeting.

Anyway ~~ here are a few pictures of our walls:

MOVING FORWARD

Proverbs 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

I don’t know what the Lord has in store for me tomorrow...I don’t even know what He has in store for me this afternoon. All I know is that I need to live my life in such a way that my actions bring Him honor and Glory. If I do that then I can look forward to the day when He will say to me, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Do I always live up to these expectations? NO. But I keep trying. When I fail, I get up and keep moving forward. How about you? Are you moving forward today or are you stuck looking back, or worse yet, moving in reverse?

Take time today to put your life in forward motion. Don’t worry about tomorrow; it’s not ours to worry about. Just make today the best you possibly can!!

Trying to get back to normal.....

It is such a blessing to be home. For some reason on this trip nothing felt “right.” I didn’t feel like I could get into a routine – and Jeff said the same thing about him and the kids back home.

Now that I am back I hope to get things back on track again. This includes my blogging, my exercise routine, my sleeping schedule, etc!!!!! One good thing.....I did lose 8 pounds while I was gone. That thrilled me!!!

Here is a picture of my beautiful granddaughter, Maddie, in the dress I got for her in India.

The other picture is just one of the many I took for Brett and Elisabeth ~~ that is Hope and Tennishead having breakfast in Germany.

Have a great day everyone!!!

TRAVELLING ABROAD

Sorry no pictures….I haven’t figured a couple of things out with my camera and this computer. Obviously this is when I need Jeff around to make it all work for me!!

I have been in India for almost a week now and things are going very well. I miss everyone back home though, and am praying that we will be able to cut this trip short. I would love to be home before Memorial Day.

One thing I promised Brett and Elisabeth was that I would bring TennisHead (yes that is a name) and Hope on this trip with me. They are two very special stuffed animals…currently sitting on the bed with me. While on this trip I am taking pictures of them throughout the trip. This is why I am very disappointed that I haven’t figured out the whole camera thing yet.

So far they have been photographed at several locations in Germany and India – but more locations will follow.

I must say that I am very thankful for technology, especially while travelling. Because of technology I get to talk to (and sometime see) my family twice a day. I also get to “attend” church (although, due to the fire, it is not my church.) While I’m here I get the privilege of hearing live services from Hope Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio. This is a church where a dear friend attends. What a blessing to know that even be halfway around the world I can still sit in on wonderful preaching. It truly makes me feel closer to home.

Tomorrow I will try to get someone to help me with my computer and camera and get those pictures downloaded for my kids to see the WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF TENNISHEAD AND HOPE!!

TO MY FAMILY ~~ I love you and miss you very much. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!!

TO MY FRIENDS ~~Thanks for your prayers. They are very much needed and appreciated.

My Mooser

Nine years ago today I had a doctor’s appointment at 10am. At that appointment my husband, my doctor, and I had decided I had been pregnant long enough....(actually, I thought I had been pregnant WAY TOO LONG.)

She told me to go home and get my stuff together and meet her at the hospital in an hour. We got there around 11am and got all signed in. There was a lot of excitement and also a lot of emotion. The last eight months had been really rough for our family. This baby was our bright spot, our joy, and a feeling of hope.

At just after noon my doctor broke my water and then said she was going to grab some lunch and head back to the office for her afternoon appointments. Little did she know, she wouldn’t get to do either one.

About 25 minutes after my water was broke Jeff was finding the nurse and telling her, “It was time!!” Of course, they didn’t believe him ~ it hadn’t even been a half hour. The nurse finally came in and discovered we knew exactly what we were talking about. Our baby was ready to enter this world.

We hadn’t found out what we were having, so we were waiting for the moment of surprise, the moment we would not just meet our baby, but find out if we were having a boy or a girl. Jeff was absolutely convinced it was a girl. I had gone back and forth throughout the whole pregnancy.

45 minutes into my labor the doctor was finally there, the nurses ready, and my baby made his entrance into the world. God blessed us with a precious baby boy!!! He was the biggest baby I had ever had – weighing in at 8 lbs. 8 oz. Like his brothers and sister, he was born with a head full of thick hair too.

Jeff was so shocked to see that we had a son, but the joy was written all over his face. Actually the joy that filled the room that day was indescribable!! I think I saw tears from just about everyone in the room. Everyone there knew that we had lost Steven just 8 months earlier. Needless to say, there were a lot of emotions. But the most overwhelming emotion was the love we had for this little boy in our arms.

Brett Samuel was named by his brother, Steven. And the name was perfect. It just fits him to a tee ~~ although I must admit, I usually just call him Mooser!

So ~~~~~~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY MOOSER. MAMA LOVES YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

Two Steps Forward ~~ Four Steps Back (Church Update)

We thought we were at the stage of rebuilding, but we are back to the demolition phase. The majority of the upstairs sanctuary had not been torn out because between the contractor and the insurance adjuster they were not sure it would need to be done. Well....when the temperatures warmed up this week, the smoke and fire smell came back full force!!

Due to all of this, they are now demolishing the entire upstairs sanctuary and attic area. This means all the wiring, heating, and plumbing also has to be redone. Below are new demolition pictures taken yesterday:

Day-to-Day life, A Fire, Grandchildren, & A Trip to India

What do those things have in common??????

They keep you too busy to blog!!!!

I'm going to try to make more time to keep this up to date ~ especially since I leave in 13 days and will need to update this regularly while I am away.