I'm learning that as a Christian, our country is going down quickly...but subtly. If we don't stand up for things like this http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp to start with, we're not going to know what hit us.

California is passing laws to change school books to be more "inclusive" and that if you don't support these "inclusions", you won't be able to rent public buildings - i.e. churches using schools. The dollar coin now out doesn't include In God We Trust. I can't imagine raising my kids in that, let alone what they are already going to have to deal with.

If we stand for our Christian beliefs, we're considered "non-inclusive" or discriminating...but this is Biblical to stand up...think of Moses when he came down from the mount and saw all that the people were doing...God doesn't stand for these things and neither should we.

Alright...I guess it's time to let the cat out of the bag to everyone. Hopefully no one from Todd's family reads this or gets wind of it or I will be in trouble...

But Will is going to be a big brother. Early next summer.

Please keep us in your prayers for health and for direction for several things we need to figure out before then.

I just saw this on yahoo and had to put it on my blog. This is great for all the mom's out there but also for those who still are living at home...
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1197846

I don't know why I set unrealistic expectations on myself...but I do. I don't blog a lot because I feel like it has to be something amazing or something people will want to read about...

So I'm stepping out and sharing some basics about me and my life today.

1) I am very sleepy today - 2 yr old with the flu for three days so he is not sleeping well and wanting mama to "hold you."
2) I really want to find a new job but I don't just want a job, I want a passion. Really feeling lead to do something with those who have fertility issues or with adoption. It's kind of scary putting this out there because I know you all will hold me accountable.
3) Right now I work for a teleconference company...but I hate to call people. That's the reason I'm in the clerical department.
4) I'm so glad I have been lead to this "blog" stuff because there are so many of my friends who are spiritual leaders to me no matter how close or far away they are.
5) I want to move. I love my house but I'm ready for a move. However, I hate to think of all to go through to sell it. I would love it if someone would just knock on the door, offer to buy our house and we'd move on. But I know in real life that doesn't happen.

Small things about me:
I love to scrapbook, take pictures, rock Will to sleep, would love to ride my bike - just don't know where, love old and new praise music, love brown and light blue together, love to travel - just need the funds, love cultures!!!, love to spend time with my friends, love it when my nieces and nephews run to give me a hug, love to be challenged to find something for people to help them out - can't find a gift item or where to have a party, favorite type of food - real mexican! Pilar's cooking anyone, love to play board/card games, somewhat of a procrastinator, not a morning person - but most of you know that already, need 8 or more days in the week or a job closer to home to get everything done. Thank you God for both the good and the bad. I have been reminded a lot lately that in the bad is when I am closest to God and that is what he desires from us all the time...that no matter the circumstance - we go to Him first.

Okay, so I finally remembered how to log in to my blog...and I was getting flack for not writing anything...so here goes...

Short but sweet this time...

I'm not a big Oprah follower but I did hear her once say something like - When God wants to get our attention, he starts by tapping us on the shoulder. If we don't respond, he might hit us a little harder with something of a little more substance. If we still don't listen or get it, we might watch out for the cars coming our way.

I had a "car" a couple weeks ago. Getting sick on vacation, 103+ temperature, tonsillitis and an ear infection that prevented me from enjoying an all you can eat fresh from the sea - seafood buffet and then after my second trip to the ER being grounded - literally. No flying until my ear popped...so I sent Will home with mom and Ryan, laid in bed for three days and then was told by the second doctor - who graciously saw me for free to see if I could fly yet - that I couldn't fly for three more days. So, being a mom away from her son for this long at this distance for the first time, we hopped a bus - 22 hours/3 buses/6 states and so much more I won't even begin to share - I was home. My ear didn't pop until 4 days later so we would have been stuck even longer in a hotel doing nothing but racking up charges.

So, what did I learn from all this.

A) When God wants your attention...He will get it.
B) The first thing that came to my mind when I realized how sick I was, was my church family. Once they were called and I knew they were praying, I knew I could make it.
C) Being the oldest child of 6 and a getter done kind of person, I am all about making sure all the details are done and with no stone unturned. Being this sick, I had to leave who was staying with me and who was going with Will, travel plans for Will, living arrangements for Will, daycare arrangements, work arrangements, hotel, air fare, medicine, food, everything up to someone else...and know that whatever was decided, even if it wasn't what I would have done, it all would still be okay...and it was. In fact, things turned out better than I would have imagined. Since this ordeal, I am learning that if I don't have my hand in something, it's still going to be okay.
D) God is good. I knew that but He reminded me. I heard another saying this past week...there's not a testimony without a test. Hmm...I like that.

So in current St. Paul's Sunday fashion, can I get a hallelujah for all the ways God is good.

The beginning of the new year...resolutions, commitments, renewals of commitments. I'll loose 10 pounds, I'll eat better, I'll spend more time with my family, I'll give more to the church, I'll volunteer more, I'll cut down my spending. So many promises yet by mid February they're all but gone.

Why do we fall away so quickly? Lack of passion to do those things? Passion: a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything. What do we have a strong desire for in our lives? What do we do with an extravagant enthusiasm? Such descriptive words. Our lives are filled with I love the Chiefs. I can't wait to eat this piece of chocolate cake, it's amazing. This new movie out is awesome. But do we use those words for - I spent 2 hours yesterday giving out food to the homeless and it was awesome. I love giving time to work with the children at my church. I can't wait to give my tithe, it's amazing how it feels to give back to God. We have lost our passion for what God is passionate about. We see helping others, giving back to the church, reaching others as a duty that we must perform versus a passion that we share with God.

How do we change that? Well, how did you fall in love with the Chiefs (or for my husband the Colts - yes it was an interesting Saturday)? How did you begin to enjoy the chocolate cake? When did you find out that you really liked the new movie? When you tried it, because you had been a part of the game experience or watched movies like it before? So, if my math is correct (and yes it is MidAmerica math) trying it = liking it = trying it again = a beginning of a passion.

So my challenge this year to myself is...what am I going to be passionate about this year? God what do you want me to be passionate about?

Okay, let's see who all is out there...

Question 1)

*What is youre best/favorite Christmas memory?

Question 2)

*What is the best thing you have given at Christmas?

Question 3)

What is your best memory of giving/helping someone out around Christmas?

Mom was talking to us today about how we get so caught up in the activities of our lives that we forget to be a part of people's lives. She said that one of our church members, who is recently widowed, had a group of people stop by her house and clean her gutters, trim her bushes and offer to paint her house...all at no cost. It was a group from a church in the area who had decided to adopt that block and help them out. Shouldn't it have been her church family coming over to help her, without her having to ask. Our bulletin's are full of dinners and activites for the upcoming weeks, our schools offer so many programs, our jobs require more and more time (or so we think) that we forget in all of this the people who are around us. What if for every activity we removed from our lives, we replaced it with helping/loving someone around us, what a difference we could make. What if for every hour we didn't stay late at work, we took dinner to someone who just needs a friend, how could God use us? Just thinking about it and typing it out in this blog is really making me think about how we, as a church and as individuals, need to transition our thinking from how can we provide activities to new people so they will want to come to our church to how can we show the people around us God's love so that they will want to come to God. Just a little something I will be thinking about this week.

What cute boys!

* Will is 4 months younger than Carson, can you tell?
*The Royals won 9 of 10 times Carson was at the game and 8 of 8 times Will was there (over the past 2 seasons).
*They are both big Royals fans but Carson is a Chiefs fan and Will is a Colts fan (but still supports his hometown football team unless they are playing the Colts) "Blue 18 Baby"
*Carson's favorite sport - Basketball (he surfs the TV until he finds a game and then sits there in awe)
*Will's favorite sport - Soccer (thanks to his Papa and to cousin Sierra who is an amazing soccer player)
*Will just started saying ball but when he says it, he says really loudly "BAH" over and over. (Which sounds a lot like what he says when he's playing peak a boo.
*Both boys are the apple of their mother's eyes!!! And their Nana kind of likes them too!

Well, Here I am. Set up with a blog. Don't know who will read it but...here I am.

These last few weeks have been a growing time for me as a Christian. Well, not as a Christian but a growing time for my relationship with God. I have made time, not always consistantly, for talking with God and reading His word. It's funny, when I don't really think I have time in the morning for reading the Bible but stop and do it anyway, I have been early to where I need to go. I guess in our humanness we think that we're too busy and can't fit in time for God or we make excuses...but God is showing me that if I make time for Him, he will work out everything else.

Every time I think of being busy and fitting things into "my" schedule I remember a speaker on a radio show a few years ago. She said, we try to put all the wrong things into our schedule first. If you take a jar and try to fit all one size of rock in and then the next and the next, it doesn't always fit. But if you take the important things (time with God, family, etc) and put those in first, then put in all the little things (grocery shopping, washing clothes, etc), it fits in around the other things.

That said, my life is full and the jar can't hold anymore...at least from my perspective. When I think of what I can cut back on...I have an excuse for keeping everything in my jar as is. It may be because I ejoy that area or I don't think there is anyone who wants to or can do it or I just am a helper...it's in my nature as a first born of 6 or I don't want to disappoint someone. It's easy to say, put the important things in first and then fill in the rest...but to actually do it.

I'm writing this as a friend is beginning brain surgery to remove a tumor. I have peace from God that she will be okay and that He has big plans for her but it puts my own life in perspective. If I had to go through something like that right now, would all the things that I think are not able to be done by someone else or that I think someone will be disappointed if I stop doing be of any importance? Honestly, no.

So, Here I Am God, show me. Teach me. Release me from my own thinking.