Life Lessons

Throughout the years I have learned a lot from my family, good and bad. #1 If we aren't going to be here for our kids...no one is! #2. My future grandchildren WILL have a grandparent in their life because it is so very essential. #3 I am, and always will be here for my children whenever they need me. I have learned by not having family that this too is essential. #4. I will tell my children "I love you" every single day just as my mom did, because we don't know when you might say it for the last time. I miss having a parent that tells me that. #5. Even though they don't like getting up early and going to church, I want to instill Godly morals in my kids and pray that they stick up for what they believe. So thankful for all of my kids! I love you Brittany, Cody and Sierra!!

Happy Mother's Day Dorothy Louise Hall

Momma, I miss you as much today as I did the day you left us. I can't wait to see you again and run into your arms. You would be so proud of these beautiful granddaughters of yours! I love you more than words can say...I hope you enjoy the roses.


Roses for Mama

Lord, are there roses in your garden
On the shores of jubilee
Would you pick a dozen of your best
And deliver them for me?
For you see, today is mothers’ day
And I can’t visit my mom
For it wasn’t very long ago
The angels came and took her home.
So if there are roses in your garden
On the shores of Jubilee
Would you pick a dozen of your best
And deliver them for me?
Would you take them to my mother
And tell her that I love her.
Tell her that I miss her
In oh! So many ways
But I have joy in knowing
We’ll meet again someday
And we’ll pick roses together
On the shores of Jubilee.


Source: Roses For Mama, Mothers Day Poems and Stories http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/holiday/poetry.asp?poem=20619#ixzz1LjartAL7
Family Friend Poems

Savings and coupons and discount cards...oh my!

Yes, most of my blogs are about my walk with God, but this one is going to be different. And if this one goes well, there will be more similar to this on here! I was sitting here thinking awhile back (which I rarely have time to do! haha) and I can to an obvious conclusion; in order to have more money I would have to do one of two things...make more money, or decrease debt/spend less money. Since I already have no credit cards or car loans, that means I would just have to spend less. Now having two teenish daughters at home, that isn't easy. I already feel as though I can't give them the things to keep up with the teen Joneses! I already work two jobs, sometimes three, I don't buy anything extra, what do I do?! I miss my kids and don't want to take on another job. Hhmmmm......COUPONS!!! Yep, I have stepped back into the world of crazy, extreme couponing! I say back into because I used coupons years ago but not to the extreme.

This is where YOU come in! Share, share, share! If you have ideas on money saving tips, couponing, discounts, etc please share your secrets! I have never been so excited to get my hands on a Sunday newspaper with all the coupons in them than I have the past few weeks! A couple of things I have learned to help you save $$$ on your next shopping extravaganza...

1. Kroger and Marsh (and possibly some other grocery stores) have their weekly fliers online. You can look through them, check your coupons and combine deals!

2. Don't forget some stores, including Marsh and Kroger, will double any coupon up to $1.

Okay, and lastly, who would be interested in getting together once or twice a month here in Bloomington, IN to do a coupon exchange? I always end up having coupons that I might not be able to use, but someone else could. Let me know! :) It could be a pot luck get together! :)

Reckless Abandonment

Okay, so I know it is a week overdue but here goes....Happy Resurrection Day! As usual, it's been awhile since I've written and I apologize.

Have you ever set goals and had high ambitions to do something and it fizzles out before you even realize it? One day you just stop and go, "oh wow, three months ago I promised my kids we would spend family nights together.", and you never have. Or, "I heard that inspiring sermon last week at church and I was going to send a card to my friend who hasn't been to church in months.", but that's all it was...a "going to", it never became a "I did it". That has happened to me on many many occasions. I use the excuse that I'm a single mom working multiple jobs, raising daughters, so on and so forth. But when it all boils down, none of that even matters. I didn't do it, that's all that matters. I did promise my kids we would do things weekly, I let them down. I have told myself several times that several friends that I have been missing at church would probably appreciate a call or card, I let them down.

I attended and minutely worked at an amazing even this past Friday called Warehouse Jam featuring an amazing group from our church called Xalted, a wonderful speaker named David Ball and a well known contemporary Christian group called Abandon. I knew what to expect because we had a "preview" at church a couple of weeks before the event. But the whole time I was there not only could you feel God's presence in the worship and the speaking, but I kept hearing the works "Reckless Abandonment" in my mind over and over. I thought it was interesting because I have heard this term before but to be honest, didn't know its true meaning. Let's look at it together...

Reckless~ adjective

1. utterly unconcerned about some consequences; without caution; careless

Abandonment~verb

1. to leave completely and finally; forsake utterly; desert

Wow, sounds pretty drastic, final and life changing! As I searched the term online last night and added the word God to the search as well, I came up with some interesting things. First, I don't know about you but there are some huge changes coming up in my life. Am I concerned, you better believe it, am I losing sleep over them, nope! But ask me again in a month! Just kidding, just kidding! I have been told by my landlord that I have to be out of my house of four years by June 1st, my job with the school ends June 8th and as of this moment, I have no income for the summer, I have two wonderful daughters still at home that are so deprived of the things they need, of time with their mom because she works multiple jobs to keep food on the table, and they are deprived of a deep relationship with Christ because their mom hasn't taken that extra few hours each week to teach them about their Creator.

Good news! We are all still living so it's not too late! With Reckless Abandonment running through my mind I wonder...what would it be like to live our lives in reckless abandonment to God. Love God utterly, unconcerned about the consequences; without caution; careless. And to leave everything at His feet completely, finally, to forsake all, and desert everything...except to love, serve and surrender all to God with reckless abandonment.

I have said the saying many times, "Let go and let God." But I wonder what our lives would be like if we got up tomorrow morning living our lives exactly how we know God wants us to live them. We read our Bibles daily, and a lot, we talk to God constantly, we witness to others, we love one another, we forgive completely and we lives our lives in reckless abandonment to Christ.

As juvenile as it sounds, I am going to work tomorrow with two things written on my hand as a reminder. Yep, you guess it, one of them is Reckless Abandonment. The other is something that our awesome Pastor, Jimmy Cain at South Union Christian Church spoke of today and that is, "He/she matters to God." That's just a reminder to me that no matter how frustrated I get with someone, no matter how much I believe they will never take me up on the offer to go to church with me, God doesn't want us to give up on them and they matter to Him.

I hope you all have a blessed week. Tell me how your life is if you decide to live in Reckless Abandonment too!