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!

My Ultimate Valentine

I don't know why, but Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. No, it isn't because I have the greatest husband in the world and I want to celebrate our love. As a matter of fact, I haven't had a Valentine in many, many years. However, I do have three of the most wonderful daughters and a just as wonderful son-in-law that I could ask for! Don't get me wrong, it would fabulous to wake up on the big "V" Day with the best Christian husband I could ever lay eyes on, but that isn't my reality.

Being a single mom for many years has had it's Valentine's Day ups and downs. There were many years when I couldn't buy them anything. Or on a good year, I would buy them the typical candy, stuffed animal or tee-shirt. Then would lay in bed awake at night wondering if I would be able to pay bills that month because money was so tight and I just used part of the rent money to buy those precious kids a little token of my love. But, none the less, through all the hard times and great times, Valentine's Day has always remained a favorite. Right up there with Christmas and Easter.

I was trying to figure out the other day, why I did love this particular holiday so much? Well, I am definitely a warm weather kind of girl and part of the reason is because even though it is cold in February, it still means Spring is right around the corner! And we all know that spring means all things new, new blossoms on the trees, new flowers springing up out of the ground, new baby rabbits, squirrels and deer to watch discover a whole new vast world. I love the red, pink and hearts everywhere and the feeling of love that is just thick in the air! But you don't have a "love" you say...oh but I do! "But that God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 Wow, we tell a lot of people we love them, but just how much do we love them? I mean, would we die for our loved ones? Would we be willing to see our son or daughter tortured by others just to save total strangers? My favorite Bible verse says this: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39. Nothing, absolutely nothing, my friends, can separate you from God's love! There is no greater love then that of your God!

So, to answer the question, why do I love Valentine's Day so much. Because it is a beautiful reminder when I look around at all the hearts, the word "love" written everywhere and just the simple sweetness of such a holiday, I am reminded of how Jesus gave not only His pure heart for our sinning heart and how He demonstrated the ultimate sacrifice of love. And although it is simple, do we show how much we love and appreciate what He has done for us?

Make this Valentine's Day like no other. I challenge you to not only love one another, as God also commands us to do, but to remember His especially on this day. Celebrate the people that He blessed you with and thank Him for them. Then celebrate His love for you. God loves you, He always has, He always will and He made the ultimate sacrifice for us, let's show Him just what love is!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Happy Monday!

Hey everyone! Just a quick few notes!

Please send along prayer requests to this blog. Hopefully sometime in the near future, we will have lots of readers, which means lots of prayers going up for your requests!

Speaking of prayer requests...I have a few. My daughter has the flu. She is 16 but no matter now old, they are our babies when they are sick! Also, many of the kids in my special education class has severe medical conditions. Right now, we have many kids out with a variety of illnesses, some have even been hospitalized. Please keep them in your prayers. My cousin, Dale is having severe back pain right now also.

So, what is your favorite Bible verse? Mine is Romans 8:38! I have many but that is my rock I stand on!

Well, hope you all had a fabulous start to your week. Be a blessing to someone in the days to come, even if it is just a smile! You never know, it might be just what that person needs!

See ya soon!

Let the writing begin!

What a blessed and wonderful weekend we had! We had so much fun, it just flew right by. So happy to get to spend some quality time with my family. I love them all dearly!

Well, I have told myself that as soon as I got a laptop, I could start writing my blog more consistently and begin on the many Christian books that I have wanted to write. Well, guess what friends, this is the weekend! I have finally gotten a laptop, hence why I am writing so often the past day or so. I am totally excited and overwhelmed at the same time! I would like to ask for prayer in that God guides my hands and mind throughout this wonderful new adventure. And also, that He leads me to the right writing jobs and that what I do is a blessing to Him. I sure wouldn't want to do anything that was a smidgen less than a blessing to our Lord.

Seems as though the weekend has gotten away from me and it is way past my bedtime. I hope everyone had a blessed weekend and has an equally blessed week to come! Stay warm!