In Georgia

Hello Family and Friends,

We arrived safely in Georgia. We are visiting friends here right now through the new year. Found out last night that Lil' Phil has pnemonia so please pray for him to recover quickly. I will be writing more soon of our adventures here in GA....much love to you all and may you have peace and joy as we prepare for the birthday of our Savior!!

So thankful

A thanksgiving message way to late.

I am thankful for my husband who is serving our country and enduring so much over there that I have never experienced nor probably ever will experience in my life time.

I am thankful for my beautiful daughters and my handsome lil' son who have changed my life...they've added meaning and purpose where there was none....and joy and happiness....and have brought me a whole lot closer to my Lord and Savior.

I am thankful for family that have prayed and helped me over the years financially and emotionally. You have all been such a blessing to me and I am thankful to God that He has placed you in my life.

I am thankful for many more things....all my needs being met, my health, a car that works, lots and lots of blessings from the Lord.

Thank you Lord for every good and perfect gift is from above....(from the book of James.)

Hidden in Christ

This past Friday the girls and I made chocolate covered pretzels, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin seeds for a bazaar at our church. We were hoping to make some money for Samaritan's Purse, an organization that helps the hurt and the poor around the world by supplying needs and bringing them the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Even though we didn't sell alot we had a lot of fun baking together and talking and meeting new people at the bazaar. Here are some pics of the girls working together:

I also wanted to include part of a devotion I read today in my daily devotion book, My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. It said, "The true test of a saint's life is not successfulness but faithfulness on the human level of life. We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life "hidden with Christ in God" in our everyday human conditions (Colossians 3:3). Our human relationships are the very conditions in which the ideal life of God should be exhibited."

The title of my blog really pertains to what this is saying. I desire my life to show the glory of God in any and every relationship I have. That requires total surrender to myself and total obedience to the will of God.

Do I falter...yes

Have I failed miserably at this...yes!

But, oh, those times when I shined my Light to those around me...I felt a sense of peace, joy, and all that the Word says I am in Christ Jesus came true.

He is true...He is real...and the question I have now is....

Am I willing....

no...

am I determined to follow Him, daily, minute by minute, hour by hour, at all cost...

... to experience all that He has for me.

After all...

I know it can only be good and far better than what I have planned for myself.

God bless you all tonight.

Love you.

Happy Fall Y'all!!

It is so beautiful outside in our backyard. The leaves are so colorful and the girls and I and Lil' Phil love to go to the ponds and do schoolwork. We also feed the ducks and the geese and go fishing. We have two fish that K and Z caught with a net in one of the ponds. I don't know what kind they are but they love eating goldfish food and they are still alive after a week.

My man has been gone a little over two months. The days seem to be flyin' by now. We still miss him though very much and pray for him daily. We talk about once a week and the girls have been really good about making letters and cards for him. We hope to send cookies soon...

Today we went to West Produce Farm. We went on a hay ride and picked out a pumpkin. We had a great time and the kids learned so much about farming and harvesting bees and about how to plant a peanut pumpkin and all kinds of things.

Here are some pics of our day today:













Well I will write more soon...until then enjoy the beauty of God's creation. He made it for our enjoyment...

Take care.

Disciplining our children for His glory

Today I was able to Walk in the Spirit, I'd say 60% of the time...my goal is of course 100%....

So I am really working on loving my children and....disciplining them. I know they go hand in hand. I can't love without showing, teaching, and training them in the ways of God. I have to have a right relationship with God throughout my day, otherwise my teaching and training will be useless.

It says in Scripture that if I spare the rod, I actually am hating my child. I have heard a mother say, "I love my child too much to spank them." Yet scripture speaks clearly that the rod of correction drives our children far from hell. God's word is very clear about one thing in discipling our children. It is the rod.

My rod is a Paula Dean wooden spatula...(I'm living in the south so I figure that the tool I'm using for correction should be made up of some southern hospitality!!!) So anyway, it doesn't matter what you use I've been told, but how I use it. I have to ask myself, am I spanking effectively and biblically that will put a stop to having my children become separated from God???

Spanking has become so controversial in our nation today. Yet it is the very thing that God specifically talks about (several times in Proverbs) to discipline our children.

Going to sleep...

Hello blog world...

It has been an interesting and tiring couple of weeks. I have been having my ups and downs with baby and sick kids and been walking in a fog the past couple of days with lack of sleep...

But tonight I know it is gonna be better. Baby is sleeping and all the kids are sleeping and I am about to go to bed...

So I will write more soon. God has been showing me so much and I want to write about it so I don't forget...

Hope all is well with ya'll...

God bless.

Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest...

Hello ya'll

Well since I can't go back to sleep and it is four o'clock right now in the am, just thought I would type a few words here...

I have been reflecting on the day that I had yesterday...another hard day, but a day to see God behind the circumstances as my devotion book tells me to do when faced with difficulties...

I realize now that I again let circumstances rule and did not let the Spirit of God rule in my heart...

I recently have written a few scriptures on notecards on doing God's will and obeying God's will. I have been correcting my children and praying and talking to them about doing His will instead of our own. God in turn has been correcting me by the circumstances I find myself in these days and showing me and teaching me to do His will because otherwise I find myself weary, frustrated, overly tired and so on....

I found myself that way today. The morning was wonderful and then as the afternoon wore on I started drifting away from His presence and into my own way of doing things. This showed me how just how desparate I am for Him and how badly I need Him in my life because I fail miserably without Him. I can do nothing without Him no matter how hard I try...

These are just some thoughts that are circulating in my brain right now as I am typing in black and not purple...oh how I miss typing in purple and want so badly to know why I can't change the color of the font??? (anybody know??) Such a small and silly concern right now, but just thought I'd ask...