AGH!

In my quest to be transparent I need to get this out there. I am struggling with discipline with my 4 year old. He is not listening. He could get in trouble for something and then turn around and do it again with in the next five minutes. I have tried so many different things that I just don't know what to do next. I know boys are different, but I am really having a hard time with him. I don't know what else to do with him or for him. If anyone has any suggestions please pass them on because I just don't know what else to do.

My precious Son!

We have been struggling with our 4 year old. He is going through this stage where he doesn't want to listen and will do what he wants to do when he wants to do it. Well as you know this doesn't work in a family, and it really doesn't go work well with me or my husband. I have been praying for him and things are getting better, however, last night was not a good night. I feel like sometimes all I am doing is disciplining him and that makes me sad. I am glad though that his feelings don't get too hurt because this morning at about 6 am he asked if he could cuddle with me for a bit before we had to get up. This made me so proud as a mommy that I said yes. I don't let the kids in bed with us usually, but I made an exception today. During my quiet time later this morning the Lord was showing me how he just needs some extra mommy and daddy time since he is the middle child. Anyway, I just wanted to share my heart today. To get this our there so I can let it go for now. I love my kids so much, and am so honored that the Lord would use me to be their mother that I don't want to do anything to hurt them. I do however want to train them up in the ways of the Lord. So, have a blessed Saturday and GO BUCKS!

Down in the dumps.

The past couple of days I have been feeling kind of down in the dumps. I have had a bad headache which I think is related to this wonderful weather we are having and the kids have been fighting with each other much more than normal. Also, both of my boys have been sick this week. Well, today this down in the dumps feeling is going far, far away! I am tired of this hanging around my house and I am making it leave. My routine has been off since my husband has asked me to not walk by my self lately. We have a serial rapist in our city and he has been close to our house a couple of times. Because of this I have not walked in over a week and I think this had made me less active. Now I have to figure out how to change my routine until this man is captured and I can walk again. Anyway, today is Friday and it is sunny, which makes me happy and puts me in a good mood. I hope everyone has a great weekend and GO BUCKS!

Last Week!

Last week was a busy week for me. That is why i didn't post. Let me tell you about some of it. Monday I had the privilege of spending the afternoon with a friend of mine. She adopted her youngest daughter on National Adoption Day and it was so exciting. Me and my kids had a great time with their family, celebrating this special day with them. Thursday and Friday, I watched my best friends kids while they went to a craft show. It was fun. Everyone got along so good and played nicely. It was a blessing for me to be able to help them. My kids were upset with me when we left them on Friday and were disappointed on Saturday when we didn't go back out there to play again. Saturday marked the two year anniversary that we adopted our oldest two children. We didn't make a big deal out of it, but we did just hang out together and spend the entire day as a family. We watched movies, ate lots of food and played games and tickled a bit too. We had such a fun and relaxing day together that none of us wanted it to end. Anyway, I just wanted to give you a quick update of last weeks events so you would know where I was and why I didn't post. I hope everyone has a blessed day today!

Used by the Lord!

I always get excited when the Lord uses me in the lives of others. I have been praying for a while now that He show me my gifts and then teach me how to use them. Well, as He is showing me what they are it has been exciting because just like patience, He is showing me how to use them by actually using them. November is national adoption month and my husband and I have a ministry at our church for orphan care. This is for anyone interested in helping children either through foster care, adoption or orphanages. So, we had our first adoption conference on Saturday and it was great. We were done early so many of the people just hung around and talked to the speakers and asked some great questions. Well, in the end there was one couple that just kept hanging around so I began really praying for them to see if the Lord wanted something special for them and He did! He had a word for the woman and she needed much encouragement. So, I was able to pray for her and reveal some things to her that she knew was only God and it was so precious to see her and her husband change right there. It was so exciting being used by the Lord on Saturday and I totally stepped out of my comfort to say the things I knew the Lord wanted to say to her. I share this to say, if the Lord is talking to you and wants to use you don't hesitate. Go and do what He is saying to do because it is so worth it in the end. This woman walked out of our room a new woman and I was blessed even more knowing what God was doing and going to do for her. I hope everyone has a blessed day and begin to look for ways to be used by the Lord!

Greetings!

I am learning that how we greet each other plays a big role in how we reach them with the love of Jesus. 1 Peter 5:14 says "Greet one another with a kiss of love." Now you can take this literal or not, but I want to make sure that my greetings to everyone I encounter has a kiss of love. I don't believe that everyone I will actually give a kiss too, but I do think that I can love them with the love that Jesus has given me to give them His kiss. Anyway, I wanted to just get this thought out there this morning and challenge you to think about you greet anyone you encounter. Even the people you don't really want to greet. I know this is a challenge for me and I can only do it with the Lord's help.

Be a Blessing!

I received an e-mail this morning and it said who you are makes a difference and I hope everyone reading this knows that. Who you are makes a difference! My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would make Himself real to you today and you may encounter Him on a new level. I don't have much to say this morning but I hope you have a blessed day and to be a blessing to someone today!

My heart today...

Let me start by saying that I was truly grieved this morning when I heard that Obama is going to be our next president. I have been in prayer and will continue because I don't think things are going to get better with him in office. Okay, that being said, my heart today is heavy and I want to share a little of it with you. As I have been doing my Love Dare book I am finding many areas in which I want to change to become a better person. On Day 6 there were some scriptures that really touched me and I want to share them with you.

Colossians 3:12-14 says "So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it." So out of this I want to let Love guide my relationships and not get caught up in unnecessary arguments. This is how I want to be dressed too!

Philippians 4:6-7 says "Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life." I don't want to do things on my own anymore, I want to pray through them and let God take care of them. I want to let my petitions and praises shape my worries into prayers.

Exodus 18:17-23 says "Moses' father-in-law said, "This is no way to go about it. You'll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you - you can't do this alone. Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men - men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible - and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They'll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They'll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases they'll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. If you handle the work this way, you'll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also." I want to learn how to delegate things when I am overworked. I have a hard time with this and am learning that it is okay to ask for help from my family when I can't get it all done. I am also learning that this makes my kids feel important and helps to show them how important they are to our family.

Proverbs 25:16 says "When you're given a box of candy, don't gulp it all down; eat too much chocolate and you'll make yourself sick." I want to avoid overindulgence. This has been a struggle for me lately because walking has increased my appetite and there has been lots of candy around the house and not enough fruits and vegetables.

I am also making it a priority to take my Sabbath and rest. I am using it as a vacation day, to not do my daily routines and to rest and refocus on the Lord. I want to teach my kids to do this and I need it to make it through my busy week. Thanks for listening to what is going on in my heart and I hope it ministered or blessed someone today.

Organized

I have a confession to make - I am not an organized person. I know to my friends this isn't a surprise at all, but I just had to get it out there. Now with school too things are really crazy in my house and it has become too much. So, since I am trying to be honest and transparent here I wanted to just get it out there and let you know that I have to change things this week. It has gone on too long and it must stop. Today begins a new week and I will change and my house will change! Oh, if you are reading this and have any suggestions they are more than welcome because I can use all the help I can get!

Saturday update

I normally don't post on Saturday mornings. The weekends are very busy for me as with most people, but this morning I just wanted to give a quick update on some things I have posted in the past few days. They walking is going good. I walked this morning which made my fourth day this week and I have met my goal for this week. Now next weeks goal is five days - yeah! My love dares are going great. I can see a change in my husband and I have shocked him a couple of times already and it is only day 5. Today could be a challenge for me as he is going to have to tell me a few things about me, but actually, I am ready for this because I really want to change for the better and this way I will know some things that effect him and how I can change to be a better wife. I am so thankful the Lord has called me to this love dare book and encourage everyone who is married to read it. God has blessed me with two other friends doing the book with me and it has been encouraging to go through it with them. Okay, now last night, I had so much fun with our friends. The food was good, slow, but good. Then the playing was fun. The kids went off and played in the play area, the older kids (Dad's included) went off and played and the babies and moms sat around and talked. It was just so much fun being with friends and playing. I really wish I could do this more often. So, I guess this wasn't really as quick as I thought but it is just some ramblings on my heart this morning. I hope everyone has a great weekend and has an incredible encounter with the Lord!