Peace like a river...

Just wanted to make a quick post and let everyone know how great Eve's State meet went yesterday!!! She did so wonderful! She had such a good time during her meet and the whole time she was in smiles!!! She shined the whole meet and she scored higher than she has all year! We taped her ankle up and wrote Phillipines 4:4-8 on her tape.Above it I wrote, I've got peace like a river because since our lockin the other night at church she has been singing that over and over and over! One time she ran to the restroom and I went in there to see her for a second and she looked at me with her eyes all lit up and said "mama, I am having so much fun and I just keep looking at my verse and He is really helping me today, isn't he"? I thought we were going to having a shouting session in the bathroom, lol. What peace He gives us! She got 5th on beam and bars and 8th All Around! WOW!!! After the meet she just kept talking about how much fun she had and I could see that joy  that the devil tried so hard to take away coming right back! Praise Him!

God given smile...

 
I have had an amazing week so far. I went to the monthly Ladies meeting at church and it was a true blessing to my heart. That night Jason and I were talking about some scriptures that the Lord had put in our hearts. He shared some that God had given him regarding Eve and her situation. He explained to me how his Sunday school teacher had taught on that this past Sunday and then how the preacher touched on it both Sunday morning and Sunday night. I was sitting on the bed at the time of our conversation doing my devotional. I immediately looked down at the book I was studying and flipped forward a few pages, and low and behold there were those scriptures! Philippines 4-8




4: Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.



5: Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.



6: Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.



7: And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.



8: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.



Amazing, huh? All week we have been studying on these verses. We have had devotional time with Eve at night before she goes to bed and let's just say it has made the devil MAD! He has come at us full-power and I don't mean just me or just Jason, I mean all three of us! Yesterday, he hit me hard but when I normally would have been quick to react -I wasn't. I felt an ease come about me and I knew that it was just that mean old devil. Last night we went to church and God was there speaking right to me saying "its okay my child, keep going, I'm right here holding your hand". It was all I could do not to stand up and shout like a mad woman! When we got home last night, Eve got out of the shower and started asking me how to spell some words. I didn't notice right off what she was doing but then I caught on. She was writing down Bible verses that God had given her to put in her gym bag. She was writing down things that she knew would help her at her meet this weekend. One being " pray, trust in God to give me strength". How proud I was of my baby to see her trusting in Him. All week, I could see the devil battling Eve. With her attitude, her train of thought, her confidence, but last night (and this morning) she was at such peace. Wearing a God given smile, a heart of hope and confidence for the battle ahead. My heart is overflowing this week. The last couple of meets I have truly dreaded going. I could feel this awful power working to make my daughter fail and to take her joy away. BUT, I am so excited to go watch her this weekend!! I know she is going to have so much fun, and I know that God is going to be there the whole time, holding her little hand. What the devil can take away in a minute our God can restore in a second!



Who am I to be so lucky to have such an amazing Father? Do you know Him? If not, I would love to share my peace with you?

Girls rule...

We had so much fun at our All girls lock-on last night at church! The theme was Jump for J.O.Y.-Jesus first then others before you. The idea is to build bonds between our Mile Creek girls and foster good Christian friendships and mentors and I think it did just that. We split into 3 different teams and came up with a name. My team was the Beach Bums. We didn't win ( BTW-those Cockeyed Cuties cheated) but we gave it our best.

 Did I mention that those girls are crazzzy!! Wait a minute.... those grown ups are crazzzzy, lol!! I was so amazed at how well it turned out! The planning was awesome and the minds behind it did a FANTASTIC job!! The speakers blessed my heart and spoke right to me (and I hope to my Eve) Although I froze my toes off during the night (I am a wimp anyway) and had a stomach bug hit me into the night, I had a ball! I don't think I laughed that much in a long time! Isn't it nice to take a moment and just have a good time and let your inner child come out? Jason says that I am a kid a heart anyway and I embarrass Eve most of the time. I do have to say though, I don't think I was the parent receiving the embarrassing glares from her kids last night. lol. You know who you are ladies, you know who you are!! Just teasing. It was great!

Grace in a time of storm...

I am sorry that I have not been posting like I should but our life has been put on hold by the words GYMNASTICS! It has took control for the next month and it is squeezing us hard. I know I have talked about Eve being involved in competitive gymnastics before but I have never really elaborated about it. She has done team for about 3 years now. At first it was so much fun. The more skilled she gets, the higher the level she moves up. Harder skills, more practice and more worries for me. She started off this season doing great. Remember me asking you to pray for her to have confidence in herself? Well, she was doing so well. Around the 4th meet she started having some trouble. She was doing her skills fine but you could tell that her head just wasn't in the game. By the 5th meet (this meet was a HARD MEET) you could tell that she just wasn't controlling her actions.We had a talk with her and asked her if she was still enjoying the sport. If she still wanted to do team. I explained to her that she not only agreed to do her best for herself she agreed to do her best for the team. She admitted that she could have tried so much harder. She was very upset with herself. We always put Bible verses in her gym bag so if she is feeling uncertain of herself or just afraid, she knows that she can pull them out and read them. We have always taught her to pray for God to help her and let Him have all the glory. I asked her if she had been doing this lately and she looked down with disappointment and shook her head no. We reminded her to do this and never try to do anything on her own. We went to the meet this weekend, she looked so much better than the week before but she still was not doing 100% of her best. She still scored low and by the 2nd event you could tell that she was noticing the scores were not going her way. Saturday her and I were practicing her routines. She is a very hard worker and she was working away. I was amazed at how well she was nailing her routines!! Then the bottom fell out you can say. The devil stuck his evil little head into our home and started destroying things for us. Before we knew it we were arguing and she was discouraged and it just wasn't good. Then... flick the light came on... That devil had been using gymnastics this year to get into our home and life! He knew how much time, effort, dedication we all  put into it and he knew that if he could just rattle our minds little by little it would eventually come crashing down. Gymnastics is not a cheap sport, we have to do what we can do to get sponsors every year to help pay for her sport, we are even cleaning the gym to help pay for her. We have had meets on Sunday this year, we have had so many out of town meets this year, we have had expense after expense and Jason and I were praying that if God was wanting her to quit doing it for Him to show us. All of this happened this year (with so much more) so we thought, maybe God is trying to show us that He doesn't want her doing it anymore. Then Saturday we realized it wasn't that at all. It was just the devil taking control of the situation and using it against us. God set up her last meet just right for her. He was laying it all out for her to do her best. He has helped us all along this year. He gave us sponsors this year, he allowed us to clean the gym. Now with her last few meets... she was letting that devil get in her head and take the joy out of the sport for her. He was feeding her with half work ethnics, and "you can't" attitudes and she wasn't seeking higher help. I was praying for God to show me what was best for Eve and our family but I wasn't praying for the evil that was controlling my little girls mind. I wasn't praying for the God to help Eve know the difference in evil help and Gods help. I am reading a book now about praying for your children. In that book it talks about how you need to pray for your child and for their mind. You need to pray that they will not be controlled by the leading of the wrong hand because he will come in and take all that joy that was once there and strip it away in a second. He thrives on misleading families and confusing their paths. This whole time we thought that God was wanting us to quit doing gymnastics bc it was consuming so much of our time when it wasn't that at all. He was just wanting us to trust Him fully and teach us a lesson through it. She has State in about 2 weeks. We have been praying hard that her meet will NOT be on a Sunday and that it will not be on a Friday either (neither one of us really want to ask off again). Also, please help us cover Eve in prayer that she will have a praying heart and a comforted mind as she does what she loves. That she will only listen to the one true voice that will give her strength and determination in all that she does.She can't fight this battle alone! God doesn't want to take away something that she loves so much, He wants to help her accomplish her fears, and strive for her excellence. What about that? We went and watched the Georgia Gym Dogs perform last night. After the meet Eve got to meet one of her idols, Grace Taylor. She is a gymnast from Aiken SC. She is a senior and has accomplished so much through this sport. She helps in the community through a program called "SHINE" which is through her church. When Eve saw her after the meet Eve's eyes lit up. As Grace was signing Eve's poster Eve just stood there staring at her with admiration. Grace handed her the poster and they posed for a picture. As she walked off Eve looked at me and with pride and said "look mom, she wrote a Bible verse". As I looked at that signed posted I saw "Matthew 6:33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

 Not a doubt in my mind that God set that up to happen. I want Eve to be able to use gymnastics to portray God through it not the other way around. God gave her this talent and love for this sport and my heart is so full knowing that He is in control!

Here we come...

Sorry I have been slack this week with my blog post! It has been a good week at the Donald crib! Eve is getting all better (her chest has been hurting for 2 weeks) and Jasy is healthy right now. That makes things so much better just knowing that my girls are feeling good.



The snow was beautiful and I really enjoyed getting to go home early from work/school,  put my pj's on, spend time with the girls and kick back and watch the beauty of it.

My parents celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary this week! WOW, that's a long time! Eve was quick to figure that they had spent 14,600 days together! That's a lot of days! No wonder my dad hunts a lot and my mom allows him. :>)



We are leaving out this afternoon for Charleston and we are very eager to get there. The girls were excitedly packing their bags for the trip last night. Jasy kept putting stuffed animal after stuffed animal in her bag, and when I went to put some clothes in for her their wasn't any room. lol. That girl! Our hotel that we booked with called yesterday and said they overbooked so they moved all of the Foothill gang to a sister hotel down the road. At first I was a little unsure but when they started telling us how they cut the rate for us ($20.00 less a night) and that it had all the same amenities (plus and indoor pool) AND... it was newer! I knew it was a blessing in disguise! The weather is supposed to be so nice this weekend! It felt good to pull out those new summer/spring clothes! I went a little overboard packing but I always do. Jason gets very frustrated with me bc I do take a lot when we go somewhere. He kept mumbling over and over, "it's just for 2 nights". lol. I take sheets, comforter, and pillows bc I can't allow myself to sleep on a strangers linens. I take the sheets off and spray the mattress and headboard with Lysol then I go through the whole room Lysoling until Jason is running out of the room gagging from the fog. I take about 3 extra outfits per person bc you never know what you will be in the mood to wear or not wear. I pack a lot of shirts and shoes for myself bc you can always change a whole outfit around by just adding another shirt or shoes. Now...all we need now is some sun!



On another note...I have a couple of people on my heart that I would like for you to pray for with me. They are lost and I pray for the right words and actions to spread the word of salvation to them. Will you help me pray for them?