Braves, childplay, frogs, lice, crickets, coffee and Prayer requests...

Guess what? I got smart and moved the desktop downstairs until we get the air fixed in the study!!!! So... I am glad to say that I am not sitting with my pants rolled up, and drenched with sweat! Instead I am in the living room listening to the sound of the Braves game ( I have one of the biggest sports fan husbands that ever existed) my girls playing down the hall in Jasys room, the nasty sound of frogs croaking in the backyard (I hate frogs more than any creature on earth- well lice run pretty close) and the lovely sound of crickets chirping AND it's so cool in here!I can even sip on a wonderful cup of De-cafe coffee and not die. :>)

I am hoping and praying that everything will work out and we will be able to go to North Carolina this Sunday with my parents  to spend the night and to hear some wonderful singing! Every year the Primitive Quartet put on show called the "Hominy Valley Singing" in Candler NC and lots of wonderful gospel groups come out and do some amazing singing! On Saturday they have a family field day and have "old fashioned" fun for the whole family with games and food and then on Sunday they'll have a Salute to the Veterans and end the night with some BEAUTIFUL fireworks that will blow you away! Hopefully, they will not make my poor Jason work on his days off again (Sunday and Monday) but with it being the 4th of July, you just never know with them!! We are wanting to spend the night and just enjoy some time with my parents. My parents NEVER go anywhere and my mom is so excited and probably called me 10 times today about making plans!! I know it's a crazy prayer but please pray if you would that Jason will be able to go and enjoy this time with us. We really don't want to go without him. :>(

Also, please pray for "Bull" Larry Durham today as you are praying. He is a sweet man at church that was hit by a DUI driver about a month ago and he is still not doing any better. I know God has His hand in this situation but I am praying that it will be His will for Bull to get better and be even better than he was before! I know God is still in the miracle business! I would love to see that. Please pray for his wife Joyce too for I know she is going through a lot and needs prayer more than ever.

Ups and downs...

I have wanted to write lots on my blog lately but we just have the one desktop computer and it's upstairs in the study. The air unit up there needs Freon and it's a 100 degrees up there right now so I am limited my time on the computer or I will pass out of heat exhaustion. We have had a crazy week and I am so tired today for some reason. I guess from the ups and downs of everything within the week. Jason preached Wednesday for the first time and he did such a good job!!! We were so proud of him. Jasy prayed that day for her daddy when he "peached" and for him not to yell while he did it, lol. Eve asked him if he was going to sweat a lot while he preached like most preachers do. Kids think of the craziest little things. I know God is really going to use him.

On another subject, I posted about a year ago about a young girl who had Leukemia. Her name was Alex Carver, she passed away yesterday morning. She had just turned 15 years old. She was such a beautiful girl and I am sure that through her fight with Cancer that she was able to affect tons of people that she didn't even know. She touched me I know and I had never met her, just prayed for her and read her Caring Bridge. Please pray for her family as they are grieving the loss of their only child. How hard that would be!! Here is her link to her Caring Bridge page: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/alexcarver/journal?jid=5695079


 We are all so blessed and fortunate to have the health that we have and that our children are so healthy. So what if they drive us crazy sometimes at least they are able to do that, right? My girls love the song "I have been blessed" and they sing it all the time. We bought the Fortune Family CD a while back and they listen to that song over and over on it. Jasy just bellows out and it is a blessing to me to hear her do that. I think I need to hear it over and over to remind me just how blessed I really am! Even my downs are not really downs. They are just steps guiding me through and around the obstacles that God is helping me with.

I love Summer...

I just love summer freckles, giggles, splashing of water, the smell of sunscreen, chlorine and plastic from the floats and toys, pop sickles and most of all my little Jay-bird with her chocolate ice cream mouth!! Isn't life just grand here in the south!!! This heat is so wonderful and I love the 98 degree weather!! Even when I cut grass and my shorts are dripping wet with sweat and the fat on the back of my legs stick to the lawnmower seat. Nothing like that! Ahh...

Refuge in the time of storm...

Who is your refuge? When battles start and you are being beaten down, who is your strength? God is my refuge!!! God not only fights for you but also provides you with a safe refuge. He actually fights in our place while we rest in the safety He gives. He shields you, saves you, and gains victory for you. Isn't that an amazing picture? We have been on top of the world lately. Since Jason surrendered to preach and become a missionary we have been so happy and ready to go. Now life has been throwing us balls with me loosing my job, our finances, etc but we have been able to dodge them and go on. BUT starting the end of last week, things have gotten harder. It's all Jason and I can do to keep our heads above water. Last night we sat down and had a talk and I think that he and I both realized that we have to fight harder now than we ever had but we can't do it alone. We can't keep trying to face our battles alone and when they get so bad then go running to Jesus for help. We need to start there and finish there. I bet He is grieved with me because I make myself more vulnerable to Satan's attack. He wants me to ask for His help so He can rush to my side and rescue me so the enemy will flee. Please pray for our family more than ever. Jason is having all kinds of trouble arising daily with him and I can see him tearing down. I know that God is working with Him in a powerful way and of course evil is going to lift it's ugly head and try to tear that wall down. I know that Jason is blessed with so much that he can do for God and I pray that I will be the wife I need to be, the support, comforter, and sidekick for his needs. Pray for me to take his needs and priorities first and change my way of seeing things and make my eyes only see what I should and nothing more. Here are the verses that God gave me last night that comforted me beyond words. He always knows exactly what I need!
 Proverbs 3:5-7 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart: and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all they ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord and depart from evil. 9-11 Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord: neither be weary of his correction:
Proverbs 3:25,26 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken.Withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

Guidance for the journey...

I just love my life!! Some people would live in it for a day and hate it, but not me!! I love to stay home with my girls, I stayed home with Eve for seven years and never got bored and wanted to go to work-NEVER!! I didn't want to go back to work two years ago and leave my little baby girl but I had to at the time. It felt right, and I know it was meant for me to. God wanted me to have the experience that it gave me. I learned so much about computers that I never even knew!! I had computer experience before but the level that it took me too was amazing. I had a lady that I worked with that was a computer genius and she showed me so many tricks and cool things-it was loads of fun. I met some great people and made such good friends, worked with amazing kids and developed a love and burden to help those less fortunate. I hope I impacted them the way they did me. I hope I was able to be a light for them that a lot of them had never seen or experienced. God creates paths for us to take to get to where we need to be for Him. He closes doors, cracks doors and opens doors only in His time. Sometimes we want the door to be wide open so we can see exactly what is ahead but He politely closes it just so a tiny light is peeking through and says "wait my child, it's not time yet". I wish sometimes that God would put a cloud over me like He did for the children in the desert to show me the exact way I need to go that way I don't let worry set in that I am not going the right way. Even then though, I am sure just like most, I would still struggle to obey, and follow like I should. God wants to take us to a place far above the limitations of our circumstances, unfamiliar territory, that if we were to go on our own, we would stumble. Yet, when we take His hand, we walk with confidence and without worry. No fret. God wants us to soar far above the limitations of our circumstances and ourselves. He wants to take us to a place we have never been before and can't go without His help. When God used Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, they had to learn to depend on the Lord for every step of their journey to the promised land. When they did not do that, they got into trouble. It's the same for us today. I am at a place in my life where I feel as if I can't take one step with out the Lord's help. The Bible says for me to be glad. He has me where He wants me. It says, if you're wondering, Have I done something wrong? The answer is most likely that you've done something right. God has you on this path, regardless of how difficult and impossible it may seem right now, because you are willing to follow Him. He wants to accomplish great things through you that can only come out of a life of faith. He wants your undivided attention because you can't do these things on your own. The path is not a punishment, it's a privilege. It's not a restriction; it's a reward. I look for signs all the time. I do, I pray for signs and that's when God shows me the same verse over and over and over. Mark 8:12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you. There shall no sign be given unto this generation. Yep, no sign for me, He tells me that I need to have faith and trust in Him. Then He gives me this verse. Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Uh-huh, that's what I get. BUT- those two verses along with the peace that surrounds me, keep me at peace, they fill my heart as gasoline fills the tanks of our own engines, so I can keep going, preparing myself for the journey that I am taking. I am so excited and privileged to be on this journey, ready to go to heights that I have never been. Boy do I love my life!

Swim lessons...

Summer has begun...

 Well... it's official, Eve will be in big 4th grade next year! She had her end of the year party on Thursday of last week. It was so much fun. She was in an all girls class this year and we really loved it! Her teacher was remarkable and we are going to miss her! We had a "sleepover" theme for their end of the year party and they all wore PJ's and brought their sleeping bags and pillows and watched a movie. It was so relaxing this year, usually I feel like I am running all over the place but I got to enjoy the kids and take it all in. We found out that she will be able to be in the all girls class in 4th grade as well!! She is so excited and so is her daddy who is a bit overprotective, lol.

I am so proud of all the 2010 graduates and their accomplishments! I know they worked so hard to get to the point that their at right now. I remember the day I graduated high school like it was just a few days ago. It was so neat walking down and getting that diploma and the sense of pride you felt for yourself. Nothing like that. We enjoyed going and watching some graduates Saturday from  D.W. Daniel High graduate. You know that blue and gold runs strong in my blood!! Julia (my nephews girlfriend) graduated with honors and got a scholarship to Clemson where she is going to become a teacher. She is going to make such a wonderful teacher one day! Such a sweet, talented young lady. My girls really love her.

Here are some pictures of our last few days. One is of Jasy last night after church in her cute little slip. I

remember when I was little my sister and I would come home and take our church clothes off and just run around in our Sunday slips in the summer. It felt so good to be out of those hot clothes and those slips were so comfy and breezy. It was a flash back and she looked so cute!!! I wish I could keep her
this age forever so she never had to get any older.

.

Lastly, we are so excited about summer!!! Lounging by the pool and eating those delicious Popsicles!! Yummy!!! We found a slide for our pool the other day and the girls have had a ball sliding on it. I tried doing it myself, but obviously it's made only for little fannies bc I got stuck. Oh well, it was worth a try. Eve and I had a handstand contest in the water and I am proud to say that I beat her for a while until she put on her goggles, then she about killed me bc she stayed under forever walking on her hands. I think it surprised Eve when I could still do front and back flips in the pool. She thinks I am old and I shouldn't be able to do anything anymore but be a mom, lol. I used to live in the pool when I was little. I literally stayed in the pool for about 5 or 6 hours a day!!! I would go in and eat/use the restroom, go back out, go in and eat/use the restroom and then go back out. My hair would turn white as snow and I looked like a little Indian girl with bleached hair I stayed out so much, lol.  I am really enjoying the wonderful 97 weather this year!! Isn't it so nice???????? I really am, not being sarcastic at all. This southern weather will never be overlooked by me again. Looking at lots of things differently now!! I hope everyone has a WONDERUL week!!!

Awards night...

Eve looked so old getting her award tonight at school!!! Last year, she looked so much younger to me! She got A/B award (her yearly average was all A's- very close to getting all A's) She was a little upset that she didn't get all A's because she is very hard on herself. She is a hard worker, and that makes us very proud no matter what she gets! Congratulations girl!

Two monkeys, a PRINCE and a king...

I was thinking about changing the name of my blog. You know, now that Jason is no longer a toad and all. He has fully developed into a prince and I am so happy for all that God is doing through him! He surrendered to the missionary field the other week and a burden has been lifted off of him. I can just see such a relief on his face now. He has been dealing with it for a while now and the devil kept feeding him all kinds of worries. He was so worried he said about taking us from our family and friends and going where God had layed on his heart. He knew that I have only lived in South Carolina my whole life and that it would definitely be out of my comfort zone. He knew how hard it would be not to be around my family bc we are so close. My mom is my best friend and always has been since I can remember! I'm a daddys little girl and Jason was scared about what my dad might do to him when he told them that he would be taking his baby daughter and grandkids somewhere far away. He worried about our girls and how they would take such a drastic change with everything. He worried about Eve or Jasy meeting their mate there one day and never leaving. He worried about us leaving our beautiful little house that we built together and I spent so much time decorating - which he knows that I cherish so much.  He worried that we wouldn't be able to follow God on where He wanted us to go since we are tied down to a mortgage and debt like most families with anything. He worried so much that I don't see how he didn't have a nervous break down!! He didn't tell me until last year that he was dealing with being a missionary. I was blown away but deep down; I knew that he was going to be called. I was not surprised but I was not ready either! I cried and cried, and I remember one night standing in Eve’s room in front of her closet, I was getting her clothes out for the next day and I just started throwing stuff and screaming out and crying "I’m not going, why would God want to use us!!" "I’m worthless, I’m stupid, and I am not of use for Him". Jason came in there with tears running down his face and we had a yelling spell for a while. He told me that he thought the same thing about himself but obviously He sees differently. If we only tried harder, prayed harder and got closer to Him, maybe He would show us that we are useable, he said. I remember I got mad at him for being right. I was so mad that day that I could have actually left the house and drove around just to cool off. That's how bad it was. Well...I have come a long way since then I am proud to say. Once I surrendered my life to Him as well- for him to use me however He needed to, He gave me a peace that I could never explain. When I start to worry and feel afraid, that peace overtakes me and I just feel myself drifting off to where I need to be. When I think about where we might be years from now, I am excited, not so much scared anymore. I am starting to see things from the past year and I see how He layed them out just right for us and for our new journey. It still amazes me every time though. He is speaking to me so clearly now that I feel like I am talking to Him face to face. I know He will supply our every need. I had a feeling that I was going to loose my job for next year for a while now. I never prayed to keep my job even though I loved it so much and financially we need it. Instead, I just left it in His hands and said "do whatever you think I should be doing and whatever it is, I am fine with it". That shocked me that I didn't get all upset about it like I used to. I know that He will take care of us financially even if I don't see the money right now. He has never let us starve yet. Please pray for us more than ever. Please pray for my family as well. My mom was fine the other day when we told her but then Monday she called me crying her eyes out and it was so hard for me to hear her struggling with it. I know God will give them peace about it too, but please help us pray for them especially.




Colossians Chapter 1







2To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.







3We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,







4Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love [which ye have] to all the saints,







5For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;







6Which is come unto you, as [it is] in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as [it doth] also in you, since the day ye heard [of it], and knew the grace of God in truth:







7As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;







8Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.







9For this cause we also, since the day we heard [it], do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;







10That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;







11Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;







12Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: