Chloe handing out programs before the musical.

Talking Cow

 

Here is Chloe in her "cow" outfit. She was a speaking cow last night in our children's choir musical. She did an excellent job!! We know of one person that accepted Jesus as Personal Savior last night!!

Waiting

How I long to share with you what is going on in my heart and mind right now. But I can't. God will not allow me to speak to anyone else about this right now. And that is so HARD for me, I love to talk. :) I have been seeking His will with a particular thing for two weeks, and yesterday morning I felt Him calling me into a fast. For how long, I don't know. I feel as if He's asking me to focus all my energy and concern with this thing in prayer. So, that's the reason I haven't blogged in a week. It's very tempting to tell just a little because I'm so nervous and excited.

What I can give you is my favorite quote from the movie "Facing the Giants" : "If I win, I'll praise God. If I loose, I'm going to praise God." And I will thank Him for this very intimate time He and I have had in the waiting. He's just good and I can not take a single step or breath without Him. I don't want to either. The more I learn about Him, the more He takes my breath away. I just love His ways.

O Lord, we wait for you. We long for you. Our souls pant for YOU just like the deer pants for the water. We desire You with an unrelinquishing desire; there is no alternative! You are everything.

I love you sweet sisters, I hope that whatever you are seeking Him for, He makes His will known to you and that you will obey and accept it. He is our faithful Father, our Abba Daddy I promise you can trust Him.

Wow Moment

About 45 minutes ago, Chloe and I returned from our first Women's Ministry event together. Can I just say that it was incredible!!! It was at our church and the speaker was Candace Cameron Bure. (DJ from Full House) She of coursed started out with the typical tidbits about Full House, but quickly shifted her focus to her relationship with the Lord and what He has done and is doing in her life. For the last few days, Chloe and I have been praying that those people coming to see "DJ" would see Jesus, and that we would very clearly hear what God wanted to say to us tonight. So, last night as I tucked her into bed we chatted for a few minutes about today and what it would be like. She was just giddy and could hardly wait to see and hear what Candace had to say. While she was excited to meet an actor, it became so obvious that she was really anticipating God and what HE was going to do.

When we got there, the interior doors to the Worship Center hadn't been opened yet and so we joined about 10 people in line and began the 20 minute wait. I was so proud of my 8 year old. She never once complained or asked "how much longer?". She stood quietly, patiently with a smile on her face. Despite the fact her leg and foot were really bothering her. We read the program and just talked. It was at this point that I began to realize that not everyone there was there to encounter God, and it grieved me. My heart began to ache and I was a little aggravated that my daughter was in earshot of this. But, God reminded me of what we had prayed and I just started praying again.

As Candace got to the meat, she shared some personal things about praying for an unbelieving husband, and trusting God to change hearts... the lady sitting in front of me had been emotional the whole night but during this part, she just wept. Shortly after this Candace wrapped up and did something unusual for her and gave an altar call. It was very impromptu and 3 or 4 women gave their life to Christ tonight. So AWESOME!!! One of those women was the daughter of the lady in front of me. During the prayer she was sitting there shaking so I just put my hand on her shoulder and she let it all out. I was so moved and thanked God that he had orchestrated my seat near hers. We had prayed to see HIM move and change lives and I was sitting right behind a new sister and got to rejoice with her mother!! It was powerful. I could write all night. But I'm ready to just get alone with God and thank Him again for what He started tonight.

Easter Morning

 

We woke this morning to a crisp 29 degrees with a windchill of 24 degrees. It was brisk to say the least. The girls had fun on the hunt for their baskets. We had quite a bit of time before church and I'll say that it was nice to have a somewhat leisurely morning.

The Easter service up in Gainesville was packed out. And I mean packed out. There wasn't a seat left in the place. I didn't realize how crowded every pew was until I went to sit with my family on the second row. I practically had to sit in Chad's lap!! It was a great service. Chad and the girls sat down front so we could sit together (that in and of itself is rare) what they didn't realize was that they would quickly be surrounded by youth. Their youth group all sit together on the first 4 rows!! I was so impressed at their behaviour and the attitude of respect they showed during the service. They were clinging onto every word the visiting pastor said. I feel like these young adults have a growing hunger for the Lord. It was very exciting to see. Overall it was a great experience and those people warmed our hearts and made us feel like one of their family.

This afternoon, everyone is napping and taking it easy. We plan to make a run to the Target in a little while, but other than that we are just enjoying being together.

Happy Easter.

GO VOLS!!!!!

 

Isn't this the coolest little thing you've ever seen!! This was Emma's birthday present from Aunt Val. She lives near Knoxville (The Holy Land to Tennessee fans) and has access to such wonderful things. We have been overcome by the amount of black and red in this part of the country, so a little orange is just wonderful. We are contemplating orange and white rocking chairs for our front porch, we'll see.

My Mother-in-Law "A" will just love this and I'll probably have to hide it when they come for a visit!! Just kidding, but I am sending my sister on a mission to get another one for her. She has to have one. (Chad has two great sets of parents and I refer to them as A -Daddy and Susie and B-Mom and Hubert just wanted to clear that up before I get e-mails wondering what in the world that means.)

It's the night before Easter and we have everyone's clothes ready for Sunday morning. Only one child will get to wear her new outfit, the other one would freeze since it's supposed to be 29 degrees in the am!! Can you believe this. BUT, it was a great teaching moment to remind ourselves what Easter is about. Of course, I was all prepared for wailing and gnashing of teeth, but she said okay, I don't want to be cold!!! So cool. I think sometimes they get so much more than we give them credit for.

We'll be traveling up to Gainesville for me to play in the morning worship at a small church there. It will be so strange to not hunt Easter eggs at Mom's this year. I've done that every year of my life. But, I have to say I agree with Chad, the making of new traditions can be as fun as we make it. So we intend to make some pretty awesome memories this weekend. Of course, the outdoor memories will have to wait, I guess we'll hunt eggs inside!!

The Pitcher of Blessing

Okay first, the meat of this blog is about 3 paragraphs down, I've just got a ton to share tonight!! So if you want the good stuff skip the first little bit! :) Or not and see what's going on in my life today. Either way, I love you for reading it!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my "sister's" who came down for a visit and how they challenged me to be obedient and go to a particular conference for songwriters. Here's an update on that.

After I finished that blog entry, I went to the website to download the entry forms and info for the conference. Once there I found that they had decided to cancel the 2007 conference and were planning a pretty awesome 2008 conference. Okay, so I was pretty bummed out and just wondered what God was up to. It was pretty weird the timing and all, but who am I to question God and His plan. The people hosting this conference are grounded in HIM and I trust that they heard Him speak pretty clearly to cancel this close to the conference!! Maybe He just wanted me to say yes.

Chad challenged me on Tuesday night to write for a particular thing, it was totally out of my comfort zone, but I like a good challenge so I said yes. So tonight actually about 10 minutes ago, I emerged from the music cave with the final product.
I typed it up, charted it and gave it to my man to read. I quickly left the room so I couldn't observe his facial expressions. When I came back, he grinned and said, "It's awesome". The knot in my stomach briefly went away then he said let's record it and send it. I about lost my homemade Philly cheese steak sandwich. (This is my latest creation, it's easy and very cheap!) We'll see what happens, I'll keep you posted if anything neat happens. (Not about loosing my dinner, but about the song)

My sister and her husband were here today for a visit. They are spending the weekend in Atlanta and going to all the Braves games. (Of course tonight, they've already called it quits, it's cold and windy. So they walked across the street back to their hotel to watch it on t.v.) It was good to see them. We get to bring their man-child home with us for a few days next week, I'm looking forward to having him here with us! Chad and Paddington are really looking forward to another boy, this will even the numbers for a couple of days. :)

By the way, do you know how good God is? He continues to amaze me with how he takes care of us. Emotionally, spiritually, physically He is enough. I felt Him speak to me today. I had a pitcher of water with me this morning as I worked in my flower bed since my water hose doesn't reach to this spot and we can't use our sprinkler system on Friday! Anyway, so I'm pinching off the dead buds and cleaning up around them and of course watering them. (this pitcher runs out about halfway through, so I have to come back in to fill it up.) As I made my way down the bed, I felt the Lord say to my heart, "You know Stephanie, just like you love to fill up your pitcher of water and pour it out on your flowers, I hold a pitcher of blessing and I love to pour it out over you. Trust me, my pitcher never runs out. Just like your pitcher holds water the very thing your flowers need to live, My pitcher holds everything you need and more. Just trust Me." I love it when He does that. Later in the day after all the company left, I realized I hadn't checked the mail. So I sent the man out for it.(It's cold outside!) Chad came in with his mouth on the floor and a smile on his face. You see, in the mail was a check from a very unexpected source, and it came at the time we needed it most. I can't begin to tell you what we felt. It was the pitcher of blessing being tipped over us today. Thank you Jesus! I pray that you experience a good soak from the Savior!

New Adventure

I wish I could tell you how busy and productive I felt after our first day at the agency, but quite frankly, I don't feel like I got anything accomplished other than school with the girls.

In case you haven't heard, Chad asked me to help him out with the phones and some light paperwork at the office. The idea is that the girls and I will do school there 3 days a week and I will help until the amount of work becomes too much. At that point he will hire someone full time and I will be the backup when they are out.

Okay, that said it was so quiet!! The phone got a little busy there for about 10 minutes, but other than that, it was completely opposite of what I'm used to in an office setting. I guess I should be thankful, it's been almost 9 years since I worked outside the home and I probably would have had a breakdown if it got too busy. :) I only had one hateful person, but I couldn't understand half of what she said so it didn't really bother me. I just prayed for her after we hung up.

During my devotion this morning, I was once again reminded that God's arm is long enough and strong enough to hold us up. On down in the reading was this phrase: "God doesn't ask you to DO, but to BE." This hit me hard. As a mommy we often do this for our child, or do that for our husband, do this for our boss.... the list is endless. God doesn't want us to DO, He wants us to BE. I want to be a better wife, a better mother not for a pat on the back or a sappy card on Mother's Day. I want it because that is what God has called me to be, it's what He has asked of me and I want to obey Him. I want His blessings on my family. I want my husband and children to say, that I'm the the godliest woman they know. I can't do that with the proper attitude and a daily dose of my Jesus. Goodness knows, I need Him to hold me up! The Do'in me isn't as nice as the Be'in me. :)

So as this new adventure begins, I wait with anticipation at what God is going to do. He said He came to give life and give it abundantly. I want that abundant part more and more every day!! If this new adventure is part of that then bring it on!!

Just so you know how crazy our house is right now, the dog has left a "gift" in Emma's room, Chloe is still limping around "requesting" help, and even though everyone brought me all their dirty laundry this morning and it was done before we left, they have NOTHING to wear. To top it off, it's raining, there goes the plan to grill out tonight. I guess I better figure out a back up.
CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ouch, That Hurts!!

 

What a weekend. Friday night was wonderful. My parents brought our grill down a couple of weekends ago, so we fired it up for some grilled corn on the cob and steak and veggies. There's just something about the taste of that first grill of the season. After dinner, all the neighborhood kids were out riding bikes. The gang of 10 must have made 25 laps before it was all over! They were just exhausted. It was great to see them all out playing together again. It makes me long for the pool to open!!

Saturday we had company, so Chad and I were up and dressed early since we weren't exactly sure what time they would be arriving. Soon after they got here, Chloe and Emma decided to take a walk on our treadmill. According to Chloe, she was showing Emma how to "surf" when her croc flew off and her foot was pulled under the "conveyor belt." She emerged from the guest bedroom, where our treadmill is, with tears and in some obvious pain. I'll be honest, I got sick, really about lost it in the kitchen sink. It looked and still looks horrible. I'm really surprised she didn't break her foot. The cuts, yes that is supposed to be plural, look terrible. I was changing her bandage this morning and her little foot has beautiful shades of blue, purple...... needless to say she's taking it nice and slow.

So after our company left, we were all pretty antsy and needed something to do. Since Chloe's injury wouldn't allow us to go ride bikes, or take a walk, Daddy came up with a brilliant idea to make a quick run to Chattanooga and pick up a leather chair and ottoman my parents had in their basement. (If you know my parents, you know they have an unending supply of furniture, and it's always really good furniture so we take it and find a place for it!!) When they were down for Emma's party, I had rearranged our living room and Dad said I needed a small chair in this particular spot. Dad has a great eye, and searched through the basement until he came up with this one. He's so cool. That was a rabbit trail so back to the weekend,

What would normally be a 2 1/2 hour trip to Chatt. turned into a 3 1/2 car ride. We pulled in around 6:15. By the time we got there, Chloe's foot was swollen and putting her shoe on was out of the question. Chad and Uncle Matt, the firefighter, cleaned it up again and we got a pretty good look at just how bad it was. A little Tylenol,a band-aid and attention from the 2 most handsome men in the world goes a long way for an 8 year old. It was a fun trip, we had pizza with my brother, sister-in-law and my sweet nieces. It had only been a week since we had seen them, but they have changed! We headed back home around 8:00 and were in our beds around 10:30. Not bad if you ask me!!

When we got up Sunday morning, Emma couldn't breath thanks to the pollen, and Chloe couldn't walk, so we had family church at home and just rested. It was nice to have everyone together in one place and since both the girls were feeling pretty bad, we had their undivided attention!! But, by the afternoon they were sick of Mom and Dad and ready for Choir.

This was such an untypical weekend for us, but you know what, it was a good one. (Other than the "surfing" accident)