And it's a New Year....

I took a long look at my internet life last year.  I had a not so pleasant internet/real life experience that made me question how much was too much to post online. I do have a facebook page and I love posting on it.  I am super blessed with lots of family and friends who are stretched from sea to shining sea and being able to communicate with them makes me SUPER happy.  My FB is set to private, only people I really know in real life are my friends, so while I post a lot and sometimes personal/emotional things on my page, it is no different than me telling any of my 'friends'....... and I would!  If you know me, you know I enjoy talking. =D 

I had a real life friend, who abandoned my husband and I in our ministry.  This person remained my FB friend (which was fine. Since they did the leaving, I left that to them and  I would NEVER delete someone over a petty reason), however, when we ran into each other in real life- it was awkward.

Really awkward.

It was quiet. It is hard to talk to someone who texted you one day and the next won't return calls...who was helping in your search for a church building//////////...who was begging you to be their Pastor and then telling you that you aren't preaching the truth.  It is hard to chit chat, as you can imagine.

So I received a snarky FB message about our encounter.  How they were shocked at my 'unfriendliness'.  
And they deleted me so I couldn't respond.

Well, in all honesty I didn't know HOW to act.  I didn't know WHAT to say. 

I wanted to cry.....I missed them.  I thought they were my friends.  I loved their children.  I wanted better for them spiritually than to be bouncing from one place to another.  I wanted to see them grow their talents at Gods' leading.  I wanted to see them laboring beside us, rooted in the Word of God.

I wanted to get mad.  They hurt me.  They hurt my husband. They hurt my kids.  They hurt the morale of our church family.  They lied.  They didn't hold up their end of the 'deal'.

But since we were in a church service, in front of people who knew nothing of any of this,
I did nothing.

It was all I could do.

And it was all wrong. (according to them)

So, I wondered what I should ever do online or in real life when I'm faced with hard situations.  This family refused to talk with us in person, so we have no idea what their 'take' is on anything.  We are left to wonder. But 'wondering' gets you in trouble- 'vain imaginations' lead to no good end, so we took it to God.  We gave it all to Him.  He has given us strength.  No answers, but strength. He is helping me to not look at everyone who walks in our doors as potential deserters.  I must look at them and love them as if they are here forever.  Just like I did this family, and even if all the families (Heaven forbid!) choose to leave us, I have done what He asked us to do.  

We minister to people but our service is to God alone.

Does my heart hurt?
Will it hurt again?

Yes

Does it make things ok?

No

Is God ever faithful?

Yes, yes, a thousand times YES!!!

I wanted a blog to encourage, to uplift and to connect and I will do it...with a bruised yet open, honest, hopeful heart.

So, with that behind me, I'm taking up the pen  er, typing my heart away to connect with my friends again.

  The Bible tells us that this will happen.
Psalm 55
"For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.  We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company."

Have you ever been hurt by a friend?  
Let's pray our hurts make us better, more faithful friends in this new year!

-Sondra

How To Pack A Lunch

I love how the Bible is truly a book alive. How each time you read, you find something new. How sometimes, it isn't something 'new' as much as you see yourself in the story...you see an element that is relative to you in your season.  My season (for the last 18 years) has been Motherhood. 


When I read my Bible, I read it through the eyes of a Mother.
I feel sympathy for Job's wife.
I feel the awe of the Stable birth.
I ache when David's baby died, because every baby has a Mother.
I feel the moment helplessness became heroism for Jochebed. 
       *did you know that the midwives who were supposed to kill the
        newborn Hebrew boys grew to fear the Hebrew woman, because 
        they learned to give birth silently....on a stool.....alone 
        Just to keep the murderers at bay? AMAZING!


So when I read the story of the little boy who brought the lunch to the field that day....I think about his Mother. Surely she packed that lunch. (I do often wonder how long she thought he would be gone to pack 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread!!) I've admitted in the past to being a minimalist. I would have given my sons 1 fish and 2 pieces of bread. (poor little things!)


But he was SO prepared...and was so willing to share. The disciples asked who had brought food. I can just see him running with his little basket, the innocence of childhood on his face. He didn't think they would steal it- but he had no idea they were going to multiply it. He was eager to share, because his Mom packed good lunches.


We have to prepare our children with a 'lunch' spiritually.  Why?


For THEM: They have to eat. It sure needs to be the Bread of Life.  We have to teach them to eat, teach them to accept the blessings God gives them, for their own souls' sake. They have to LIVE!


For OTHERS: They need to know how to share with others, so others can be blessed. There is a hurting world out there, and your kids' lunch can feed them.


For CHRIST: They need to be prepared to be used by Him. God will use them in whatever way He sees fit, but only if they are prepared. The Kingdom needs workers...the Master is calling.


      They should be well prepared. (Sunday School alone won't 
                                     do it!)
      They should be willing. (A child who won't pick up his 
                               clothes, won't willingly work 
                               for God.'The Lord's Work' 
                               isn't all preaching and 
                               teaching ...someone has to take 
                               out the trash. They also have 
                               to be able to work...teach them
                               HOW to do jobs well and train 
                               them to look for them.)
     They should be CONFIDENT. (It isn't fair to be thrown 
                               into something ill prepared.)


We cannot depend on others to feed our children, just like this Mother didn't send her little boy out hoping someone would give him some bread. We must send our children out everyday, knowing the voice of the Shepherd...with their Lunch of Truth, ready to serve, willing to listen and confident that they are doing the Father's business.


Let me get to packing.....

If you give a boy...

a slingshot,

He will ask to go to this creek.

And he will get a handfull of rocks..

Then he will spit in the water.

And when the minnows come check out the spit...

The boy will smack the minnows...

And kill one...

Then his brother will want to try.

If you give a boy a slingshot.

Since our move to Tuscaloosa, I have jumped on the 'couponing wagon'.
I LOVE IT!
It is really therapeutic for me, and it is addicting.  The more I save, the more I want to save. It's a vicious cycle, but one that I'm not fighting too hard.  Every time I go shopping, my  hubby calls to see how much I saved. I encourage him to keep working hard, so I can keep saving him lot's! It is one perk of being a stay at home Mom. I do not know if I could do this if I worked full time. Clipping and comparing takes a lot of time-but I'm so glad to do it. I love being a good steward. I feel that the Bible lays out a really good idea of what a woman should do in Proverbs 31 and thrifty shopping is on that list.  By using coupons, I am able to feed my family better brands for much less than I'm used to spending. It's a win/win situation for me.  The best way to catch on to the coupon craze, is to GO SHOP! It all makes more sense once you start 'doing' it.

Today's Winn Dixie shopping trip.

Our Winn Dixie has BOGO each week. I use coupons on both items...it's the most savings possible.  These were my BOGO's this week, my coupons are in (quotation marks).
Suddenly Salad (-.$1.00 on 2)
Rice-a-Roni (-.50 on 2) had 2 coupons, bought 4
Ronco noodles
Cutter Product (-$1.00 off 2)

They also have a "Make A Meal" purchase. This weeks was buy 3 selected cereals and get a gallon of milk, 1/2 gallon orange juice, squeeze smuckers jelly & Muffin Mix FREE) I had a coupon for $1.00 off two boxes of cereal.

Buy 2 Pantene products for $11.98 and get a pkg of cotton balls, secret deodorant, crest toothpaste and ivory soap FREE. (-$3.00 off two Pantene products, -.75 off crest toothpaste, -.50 off secret deo)   Great tip to use coupons on the 'free' items...makes your overall total go down.

Colgate toothpaste was on sale for .99 and I had .50 coupons...I don't need toothpaste so I only bought two tubes at .49 each. Great deal!

Hillshire Farms had their deli meat for 3 for $10.00. I had a -.35 coupon for each package. Winn Dixie doubles these small coupons, so I saved .70 on each package.

Hamburger Helper were 2 for $4.00 and I had a -$1.00 on 3, so I bought 4.

My total was $127.99, swiped my Rewards Card, used a $5.00 coupon on a $55.00 purchase and $10.85 in coupons and I paid $58.91 for this items in the picture. I was very pleased and THANKFUL!

 At CVS....I scanned my ExtraCare card and received $1.50 in rewards. This is money I have been paid back for shopping there. I had a $3.00 off a liquid Tide purchase of $8.00 from a week ago with my ExtraCare card. (ALWAYS scan it when you walk in the door!)  Glad I saved it! Today, Tide 50 oz was on sale for $5.97 and I had (2) $1.00 off coupons from P&G.
9 oz Dawn was on sale for .97 and I had (2) .25 coupons.
The water was on sale for $2.44. We are going camping soon and I needed this water!

My Total $30.85, I paid $13.31  I saved  $17.54

I am very pleased with my shopping today.  Hope this helps any of you 'newbies'....I still consider myself a newbie but I've learned a lot from other friends and www.couponmom.com. This is my most helpful sight.

Every dollar I save, I can spend on something else- that is the reason I cut and compare each week.
God bless!
-Sondra

What I make God....

I'm a minimalist. 


If there are 5 of us eating, I take the chance and buy the 8 piece chicken.


If the little boy in the Bible had been my kid, he'd have had one fish and two loaves of bread. 


I have 6 pairs of shoes. (Yes, I'm female!)


My kids have 4 pairs of dress pants each.


I only buy peanut butter when we are running out.


I make God a minimalist.


I only ask Him for just enough.


I only expect just enough to get by.


I am almost never disappointed.


He gives me just enough, because I don't believe Him for more.


He made 20,000 species of butterflies just so we have a variety to enjoy.  The stars are a testament to His handiwork for our pleasure. (we could easily get by with one big night light) 


Yet I ask for a tiny drop of water as to not run His well dry....and He holds the oceans in His Hand.  


I ask for the exact amount of money we need, and not a penny more, because I don't want to take away from someone else...and He put the gold and the diamonds in the hills.


I refuse to make God a minimalist any more, the last thing I want is for my God to be like me!


;)


Do you limit God?

A new month means.....

A new month around here will mean lots of things....America is having a birthday!  We will be renewing our lease (unless the Lord has another plan QUICKLY) on our church building. We are almost done with summer, thus almost ready for school to begin. (yippee/booo in no particular order) It means one year our house has been on the market. :( We will be attending Campmeeting at our home church.

So much to do (which is how I like my life) when do we get started?

Well, we started off July at church. Sunday morning is a great way to start a new month. (Or anything for that matter) We had a couple in our church to have a new grandbaby this week, so they brought her to church for the first time. I love FIRSTS at church. <3 Church was the first places any of our boys went...we dedicated them there...we learned to worship there....we learned to pray there...we've had one get married there...we celebrate all of our biggest achievements there, with our church family. LOVE IT!

Been thinking a lot lately about how quickly our boys grow up...you have 18 summers with them (unless of course, you are like me, and continue to vacation with your parents haha!)  Time is running out to have any 'firsts' or 31's with them.
So far we have enjoyed these "firsts"
Camped on the Black Warrior
Water skied
Tubed
Got a pet ferret
Gavin & I took (and passed) our vessel license
Larry & I sailed down the river ALONE! (what?)

Love my guys. <3 Here's to many more firsts this summer.

Monday-the day you catch up from the weekend.


Isn't that what Monday's are for? They are around here. Our weekends are so packed, that I don't think we breathe. (I know we don't do any chores!) Monday, I fall apart and put the house back together....I feel so exhausted, but also happy, as I remember why I'm so tired. Here's why...


Friday evening, the guys took the lawnmower back to Casey's house while I fixed a huge Breakfast for Supper. It is one of our favorite meals, and quiet frankly, we haven't had it in a very long time due to bacon being about $1,000,000.00 a pound or something like that. I got bacon and sausage on sale so it was ON!!!


After supper/breakfast, we got our fishing and picnicking gear together because Saturday morning, we headed out to Burchfield Lock on the Black Warrior River and fished, picnicked, sat in the water and ultimately had a WONDERFUL DAY!


I had all my little chick-a-dee's there and a family friend and her son joined us. The guys were happy, we gals were soaking up some rays and the sandwiches and bottled water were AMAZING! lol A picnic just hits the spot when you've been outside all day. I sat in amazement at the different birds, fish and insects we saw. As I rode up the river in the boat, I was reminded of how wonderfully creative THE CREATOR is. Our Father's World is truly a gift to us-He painted and carved something wonderful for us to enjoy each day. I'm determined to enjoy it more this year. We are admonished to teach our children when we sit, walk, get up, etc...and going outside is a terrific place to guide a little heart toward the Father.


Sunday morning is always a wild a crazy experience around here. It mainly consists of Larry getting up earlier than the rest of us. He likes to pray when it's quiet....I follow him and get Lunch started and the boys sat on the couch in a confused state as I bark  gently guide them to the shower, the breakfast table, the sink to brush their teeth, their clothes, to the comb to brush their hair, etc.  As they wake up- they are ready to greet everyone who enters. Aaaah, it's good to be me..."Oh, I forgot to fix my hair!", I realize as I'm walking down the stairs.


This Sunday, we had Lord's Supper and Foot Washing during our evening service.  I have not been in a sweeter Spirit at a service like this.  The whole point of this service is to remember, reflect and humble ourselves...to draw us closer to the One we are serving. That is exactly what happened last night. From the beginning of the service, the Holy Ghost was right there with us...so many tears, so many thankful hearts...such conviction...I know people left changed. 


I know I did.


I know God was pleased.


So now, Monday showed up. It's crazy. It's chaotic, but it's HERE. And we are going to serve the Lord with gladness. (even if we are slightly sleepy!)