A Quiet Witness

This morning my husband and I refinanced our house...I know, those of you who know me know that we are planning to sell our home and buy something smaller. So why did we refinance our house now? We were very blessed to be able to get a lower...much much lower...interest rate AND pay off debt by this refinance. This economy has not helped us in our real estate situation but we all know that God knows what is best for us. He is the ONLY one who knows our future!

After we closed on our loan, we felt kind of downhearted by losing some of the equity that we had in our house by paying off medical bills, etc...but we really felt that this was the smart thing to do. Anyway, we hadn't had breakfast yet so Roger asked me if I wanted to grab a bite!
As we sat in the restaurant, we noticed a lovely African American young woman bow her head and pray...not just a quick bowing of her head, but a "I'M NOT ASHAMED OF MY FAITH!!!" prayer.

It was uplifting to me.

Sometimes, does it seem that you and your family are all alone in your struggles in this world? I know that I do at times!! I am not attached to a homeschooling network as of yet and not very many homeschool at my church right now. (I don't mean that if you don't homeschool you aren't a real Christian!!!! Of course not! I just mean that I feel isolated sometimes...often!! )So every time I see someone with a Christian Tshirt on or a bowed head at meal time, I am so encouraged!

That little lady really made me think about what our even SILENT witness can be for our Savior! (And an encouragement to other believers!)
I think that is why I love to wear dresses...it seems like there is often an instant sisterhood/brotherhood to fellow Christians when you make it obvious that you are a Christian. It also humbles me to realize that I had BETTER BE SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE AND NOT BEING A HYPOCRITE TO OTHER PEOPLE!

For instance, am I being grumpy as I stand in the incredibly long line at the grocery store? How do I respond to a rude person behind/in front of me? How am I talking to my children? What kind of look do I have on my face?

To be honest, I have been close to families of females that I am certain claim to be Christians (due to their dress...) and felt as if I really didn't want to be terribly close to that cross, grumpy, crotchety Mother!

I guess I'm just saying that as much as that sweetly bowed head of the young lady impressed me and uplifted me, I have equally been deflated when I try to smile at a fellow Christian and get a scowl back at me.
If I feel like that, and I have been a Christian for .....ummmm......a long long time, since I was 8....believe me, lots of years......what kind of response do we get from non Christians when we carry around all of life's burdens on our shoulders and on our faces? When we claim that our children are a blessing from God yet we treat them less than honorably, what does that say to others about what we REALLY think and believe?

This post was really for me....I have been an amazing grouch lately. I've been holding onto all my worries and burdens and snatching them back when my Heavenly Father offers to take them from me. I've been really short tempered to those I love the most.

Something else that God has been telling me lately is about having a meek and quiet spirit. I have always had a somewhat difficult time trying to figure out exactly what that means. When someone in the "world" says that someone is meek, it isn't usually considered a compliment. I certainly have wanted to be a strong and capable woman, so I didn't really think this was something that I could strive to be! After all, much of my life I spent as a single parent...and that job wasn't a job for a weak lady!! RIGHT???

I've done a little bit of studying this week about what that "meekness" entails. Moses was said to have been a meek man! Wow...this man was really strong and powerful! What a leader! But he had STRENGTH UNDER CONTROL!! There is no reason that we as women can not be considered strong, capable women...but not allowing ourselves to be pushy, angry, self serving women...but instead we are supposed to be full of HIS Spirit and to have self control.
To be honest, I have problems with my self control when angry. It's not like I plan to HURT anyone but I have problems with my TONGUE and temper, especially... But a lot of hurt can be done with a woman's tongue.

I'm glad that God put my crazy, fairly bubbly, outgoing personality in ME! He doesn't intend to change THAT...He created me with that characteristic. What a relief!!
I think I had grown up and matured thinking that God isn't happy with MY personality-that He wanted me to be a weak and timid person. I remember in the Christian school I attended one of the pastors' wives said that we should intentionally raise our voices up a note or two when we speak so that we could sound more feminine. Hmmm....didn't work too well for me. I felt that I was playing a role, pretending and trying to fit into a "Christian woman" mold.

I had it all wrong. Being meek and quiet does have everything to do with letting God rule in our hearts, souls and minds and to be CALM and teachable. It DOES mean having my strength (even my very strong Irish temper) under control. It means to have my crazy bubbliness under control and USABLE! Dynamite can be a wonderful tool when handled correctly and under control. It can be devastatingly powerful when used for evil or not under control. I can still be bubbly and still ALLOW God to work in my heart. But I have to ALLOW God to work in me to teach me how to control the not so nice parts of me.

ALLOW. That is the key. Wow...I have to work on that....

Have a lovely day....
Beth

Tines UP or DOWN??

The following is a highly fictionalized story that I found posted on front of our dishwasher....

"Once upon a time there was a rambunctious little boy who loved to play. One day "Grammy Beth" was doing the dishes while this little boy was playing outside. He RAN inside really fast to show her the "flowers" that he had picked for her. With his excited little legs running fast, he TRIPPED head first into the silverware compartment of the dishwasher....

I like all my nephews and nieces to have two eyes please.....FORKS AND KNIVES GO DOWN!!!
Thanks, Marci...."

I am not the only person who loads the dishwasher around here...just want to make that clear....

Way before Marci was born, her big brothers were six and two. They were running and playing in the house and Danny, two, was running from his big brother.
"You can't catch me....MOMMY!!!!!!!" he shouted running as fast as he could to me while I was putting the supper dishes into the dishwasher.
He REALLY DID TRIP AND HE REALLY DID FALL FACE FIRST INTO THE FORKS AND KNIVES ALL POINTING UP!!!
I was terrified about what I was going to see when I lifted his screaming little body from the dishwasher.

He had ONE tiny scratch on the side of his face.

It really was absolutely impossible for him not to have been seriously hurt or killed. I SAW HIM FALL AND I SAW HIM FALL ON THE SHARP KNIVES AND FORKS!!! He had to have been hurt!
The Lord must have sent Danny's guardian angels to protect that little boy...now a policeman and a soon to be daddy.

So....in writing this, I want to thank God for his protection and to ask for his further protection of Danny, his wife and unborn baby, and for the rest of our family.

Secondly, please be careful of the silverware in your dishwashers...crazy insane accidents can and do happen but if we are a little more careful, maybe we won't drive our little one's guardian angels crazy by trying to protect them!!

Misc. Pictures of our days!!!

Last Sunday was Becca's trumpet recital. (She is the 2nd from the left...) I think this was her 3rd recital and she has been taking lessons for just over 2 years. We are really excited about how much she has improved lately! (Goodness, that sounds critical, doesn't it? I meant, simply, that she has kind of matured in her abilities now. She does a pretty good job for a 7th grader!) She has played in church once and she and one of the other girls, the first girl on the left, who is a friend of hers, are planning to get together with the girl's father and create a little group to play at church. Exciting times! Becca isn't terribly thrilled about playing in public but I told her that she needs to honor God with what He has allowed her to do! Yeah, so she's playing at church.....

Last week, my dear hubby took me out to eat for my birthday...age will go untold...but I am NO spring chicken! ANYWAY, we ate outside and from the little terrace where we at, we could see the little gazebo where Roger asked me to marry him! At that time, he had made me believe that we were going out to eat along this little strip of quaint shops and restaurants and then he asked me to come over to the gazebo. I was really getting pretty hungry and wasn't terribly interested in the gazebo right then but when he dropped on one knee and "popped the question", my hunger somehow dissipated! We never did go to the nearby restaurant that night! Instead, we went to a Japanese restaurant where ALL of our children and one little grand boy was waiting for us! They all started cheering as we went in...evidently they were all in on the big engagement secret! There were 14 of us then and our blessings just keep growing!!

This is the new room for our most recent blessing, Liam, due in a month or so! His mommy and daddy have been working hard to make his nursery so very cute for him! In the middle of the picture, there is a football toy box that had belonged to Danny, Liam's daddy, when he was just a little guy! I think either my parents or I bought it for him for his 3rd birthday!

Erin got this wonderful giraffe at her baby shower! Isn't it incredible??

This young lady is a girl after my own heart! Erin is proudly showing me the pair of designer jeans she was able to purchase at Goodwill for a DOLLAR!!

Jennie, Becca and I went shopping today and I called Erin to ask her if Liam needs anything else. She said that he could use some shorts but that's about it. Soooo...we went to the baby stores in the mall and spent too much money. We really didn't get what we were looking for and on the way home, tired and with aching feet, we stopped at a children's consignment shop. They were having a sale on certain baby items...buy one get one free! We were able to get the shorts Erin needed and upon calling her AGAIN, we decided to buy him some jeans in slightly larger sizes!

I spent less in that store and bought probably 8 or 9 things than I did in ONE of the mall stores! Guess what's going back??? I am keeping one or two things to take to the hospital when he makes his big appearance, but I am much happier with the consignment shop shorts and jeans than with the Gymboree and Children's Place clothing! Good Grief!! What was I thinking????

Well, Becca is trying to be patient with me...her trumpet lesson starts in about 20 minutes so I guess I should take her, right? Tomorrow starts my long hard weekend...these 30 hours are really beginning to take their toll on me. I may decide to look for another job within the hospital I am working for!!

God bless you, my friends! You mean a LOT to me!

Beth

Pretty Pictures!

Thirteen year old Rebecca is entering Photography in 4H again this year so last week I took Jennifer and Becca and grand daughter Seraphina to Marian University in Indianapolis to take pictures of the Japanese prayer house. We dressed little 18 month old Seraphina in an Oriental outfit and the older girls snapped lots of pictures.

Isn't this beautiful? They have so many pictures and probably tomorrow we will get them developed and decide which ones are the best! Seraphina was a pretty good sport and she looked so pretty...of course, I'm a bit biased, I must say! By the way, the outfit was only $2.99 at Goodwill!! Becca has been studying China and Japan so she is incorporating that study into some of her projects for 4H! (Kind of a nice "end of the year" display for her, I guess! We used to belong to a homeschool group that had a year end open house to display items the students did but we are no longer living in that area.)

Ok, yeah, the dress was a bit too long for her....but in the farther away pictures, you couldn't tell. We are also intending to print out some 4X6 or larger photos and frame them to use as gifts to Seraphina's Mommy and Daddy AND for Grandpa Roger! Ssshhhh!!!!

Last Wednesday night, my hubby told me we needed to go to bed early. I agreed. However, he had ALREADY told Rebecca to stay up and bake me this cake! "Early"...being about 10pm...and poor Becca had to BEGIN to bake the cake at that hour AND to keep it a secret from me AND clean it all up before she could go to bed! Roger then took the cake to work with him and decorated it for me after 5 p.m. What secrecy that had to take! Aren't they sweet?

Roger bought me this purse for my birthday! He was somewhat disappointed that I didn't recognize the "brand name" on it. ( I love purses and he was sure that I would know this designer...I know a few but usually I buy my purses from #1 Goodwill #2 Salvation Army #2 Walmart #4 Kohl's clearances!!! ) I do like it and I appreciated it that he went shopping for me! He also bought me some earrings. I got flowers from Gideon (who rode his bike to the grocery store to get them!) and a new Beverly Lewis book from Marci!

We've been trying to sift through our junk and get rid of things. We will probably try to get our house on the market in a while...we are planning to do some work on it first updating the appliances and flooring. Kind of worries me a bit, I am sure that we won't get the money back out of the house. But some things just have to be done. After all, people USUALLY expect the stove's burners to work, the refrigerator and freezer to operate correctly and the dishwasher's upper rack to stay in place....Imagine that!! I told Roger that we probably ought to keep the old appliances just in case we are desperate for them when we DO get into another house! (I think I will get rid of the refrigerator, though! It is now 20 years old and wow, do we need another one!

I cleaned it out top to bottom last night and this morning, though! It doesn't RUN any better but it looks and smells nicer!!

Bright and Shiny Birthday Morning and an Urgent prayer request...

Isn't this a gorgeous picture? Becca took it a few weeks ago when we were hiking in Turkey Run State Park. (I think Indiana might be the only state to have a State Park with a strange name like Turkey Run!! Maybe we're a little backwards? It's a gorgeous park, though, and I believe that there might still be some wild turkeys roaming around...I'm not sure. I was awake early one morning while spending the night there several years ago and went on a hike by myself. I saw something that might have been a wild turkey but it just MIGHT have been a turkey buzzard...who knows!!)

I have an important prayer request!! My 23 year old son, who has JUST started on a southern Indiana police force, called me at 11:30 at night a couple of days ago and scared me to pieces! I was just SURE that his little precious wife had gone into premature labor. She hadn't, but what he called me about is much scarier than that. It seems that while on an arrest and car search, he was poked by a heroin needle. Now he has to go through almost a month of treatment to prevent him from getting something terrible and life threatening. He is NOT tolerating the medication well at all and his wife is so extremely upset. They need prayer. Please pray for him to NOT get anything from the needle and for God to strengthen his body against the medication. Also, please ask the Lord to quiet Erin's troubled heart and help her not to be afraid and worried.

They are soooo incredibly precious to me.

Sooo....today is my birthday and I decided to treat myself to a birthday present! I am just ready to step out the door and drive to visit Danny and Erin! I haven't seen him in possibly two months or more and that would be a wonderful present to myself, to get to spend a little time with them. I have seen Erin lately but not Danny since he is working some strange hours. They live about an hour away, which isn't far, but it is also a good chunk of your day when you are trying to figure out a time when THEY can be available AND when we're not busy with babysitting and so on! We are going to see their decorated baby nursery today! I'm sure it is adorable!!

Then, I'm going to see my parents and they are going to go to Taco Bell and get me a large raspberry Iced Tea!! Yum Yum!! Isn't that crazy, that I love raspberry tea that much??? I had a migraine the other day and my dear dear hubby stopped at Taco Bell and got me a big glass of it to bring home to me! (I don't know why he would do that, every time we go out to eat and if they have raspberry iced tea, I order it. THEN, when he goes to the salad bar, the restroom, or wherever, I switch his glass of diet coke with my raspberry iced tea! When he comes back, he takes a BIG drink of his "coke" and gags and makes a terrible face because I have tricked him!! He is not a fan of my iced tea!!!! He falls for it every time!!! It is a hoot!!

Anyway, thanks for sending up a prayer for my boy and girl. (and their baby...)

I'm going to try to enjoy this day and try not to worry so much. I know that my hubby and kids here at home have something concocted for my birthday...there is much whispering going on!

Have a lovely day!

Nasty Old Economy!!!!

Oh dear...we got our appraisal back for our house and it was really really bad! I'm not sure what we are going to do...not much we CAN do about it, I suppose. In this current economy, we seem to have lost $100,000 at least on the value of our home. We had intended to sell it and pay a small modest home off (or close to it) and now we aren't certain of what we can do. We still need to stay in a certain area due to my babysitting the grandkids and the location of our jobs. There are sweet little homes in the counties surrounding Indianapolis that are affordable but the distance might be too great especially for our children who depend on me to take care of our precious grandchildren.
I'm sure that God will provide but it is certainly upsetting. We have been praying for God's leading and directing our lives. We are pretty certain that we aren't supposed to stay here since our house payment and expenses will SOON be more than we can afford.

I usually have this little "plan" in mind of HOW He is going to work in us and through us and MY plan just doesn't seem to be working out! Didn't GOD get MY memo??? I really don't mean that to sound disrespectful or irreverent but isn't that how WE sometimes think? I mean, I have everything all planned out and then HE doesn't do what I want HIM to do! Oh dear, I think I'm a Diva......

God provided for Elijah by having ravens feed him and then by the widow woman feeding him! Our wonderful God provided for the widow woman by her obedience to God in taking care of Elijah!!

I am sure He will provide just the right thing for us and we will be sooo grateful for His provision for us. He loves us and we are His children!

Part of my "plan" includes adopting from foster care or foreign adoption. I was hoping that we would have enough money from our current home that could help us adopt from Ethiopia or somewhere. That doesn't seem to be happening. Roger is thinking more about adopting from foster care in the United States. I honestly don't care where but I think that there are some issues in adopting from Foster Care that intimidate me a bit. I guess that's where faith comes in.
I'm also concerned about the SIZE of house that we can afford. I was hoping to be able to find a house that would have enough bedrooms to ALLOW us to adopt. We currently have an extra bedroom all ready.....

I was thinking about the failure of our lot purchase and the little house we were going to have moved not working out. I told Roger that perhaps there were issues with that house that would have been unhealthy for us, such as asbestos or mold. Maybe God was protecting us from it.
Roger simply answered that it doesn't matter...it wasn't God's plan and that we should be able to accept that. RATS....I hate it when he is so much better than me....!!!!! hahahaha. (I am so grateful to have a husband like him! ...and he's cute, too....)

So, that's what's been going on, another chapter in our saga of our house.

What's been goin' on!!!!

It's been a while since I've posted anything...we've been very very busy! I am watching little grandy kids two days a week and working my 30 hour weekends as well as homeschooling. The girls are a BIG help with the little ones! This picture was taken on Easter...Dylan goes to kindergarten but I did have him on Spring Break and it was just a JOY! Brody is now 3 months old and sooo skinny...oops...did I say skinny?? He's kind of chunky and so precious and smiley! Seraphina is 17 months old and so very precious! She's learning new things every day and one of my favorite things is to see her walk up to me and with the tiniest little voice, say, "hi." Melts my heart!!

My hubby installed these antique windows...two of them...about a year ago but I just wanted to share them with you! I love them!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our bedroom is fairly clean and neat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has only taken 3 years to get things organized enough to share a picture with you! I just love our bed...we bought it at a good discount...I can't remember the manufacturer, for some reason, I keep thinking it is Lane but that doesn't sound right, either. We bought it at Direct Buy...by the way, I have my own opinions about Direct Buy...I'm SURE they wouldn't put ME on a commercial for them.....'nuff said.

My hubby installed the blinds in our bathroom two nights ago and I just love them! We had been having a "makeshift" curtain looped over a curtain rod and then I lined up pretty linen napkins to make a "valence" but I like this soooo much better! It was an expense that we didn't want to do but since we are considering selling our house, it seems like we need to invest a little bit of money to update it a bit.

My girlies and I are off to see a movie and maybe get something to eat...they have helped me soooo very much lately that it is time to just have a good time together!

Have a happy day!

Blessings to you all!