Boasting in the Lord

Let her who boasts, boast in the Lord. So that is what I will do. God is so amazing! He is teaching me so much each day that I don't even know He is teaching me. My very sweet accountability partner just left and I can not even type fast enough to get all I need to say out before I have to leave to get the kids from the bus. Just sitting talking to Lori allows me to "talk through" all I am going through with the Lord. Reason #865 why we need good Christian friends. I was recently asking her to pray for me that I would embrace freedom in my relationship with the Lord. That I would not think that I had to do things in my relationship according to a pre-described mould. I wanted to just "chill" with the Lord. And by golly - that is what is happening. By no means of my own though. It is so weird....the most recent thing is the purchase of this "new" van. I have been praying about it and in the past I would wait for a "sign" to let me know that what I was doing was in line with God's will. Then today I was editing and came across some discussion on faith that said faith is not just "wishing and hoping", it is acting. Not just any old acting, but acting according to the Bible. I know - the Bible does not say anything specific about buying a used van, but I know we are doing the right thing. Even though at the current moment Greg does not think so. This is another test of our faith. It is like God is saying to us, you trusted Me to get you the van, are you not going to trust Me to make sure EVERYTHING is ok? I mentioned this to Greg last night. We just have to trust God - it is what He demands from us. And I am A-OK with that. He knows the beginning from the end. He knows the good from the bad. Who the heck else would you want to trust?

BTW - The "stuff" I am talking about with the van is the fact that the air conditioning compressor hisses when the air is turned on. But, oh how God orchestrated this, to have us buy this van from a Christian man who said he would cover the repair cost. Isn't God so amazing? I love it when I back off and let God reign. He is the Ultimate King of Kings. Oh, God Most High - I love you!

Lest you think my love for the Lord is conditional....I would love Him even if the repair was not covered.

I am lecturing Greg on the fact that perfection is not attainable. The sooner he realizes this the better and easier his life will be. I mean, it has made all difference in my life. Well...that and trusting God in ALL situations.

It was cool for me to hear from a girl in my Bible study that she has been using my story of how God answered my prayer about dinner. I am not sure if I blogged about that or not. If I didn't, I should have. Let me check. I did....it is "Answered Prayer" - fitting. Anyway, this girl in my Bible study just told me the other day that she has used this story to talk to people about trusting God. How cool is that?

We have a HUGE surprise happening tomorrow. So far, we have been able to keep it a secret, but it is killing me. Tomorrow Krystel and her boys are coming here via train. Last week we were home and Krystel and her boys came downstate at the end of our stay, so Jacob was only able to see Spencer for one day. He was kinda bummed about it. But we (Krystel and I) knew all along that they would get a bunch more days here. They are coming tomorrow and staying until Saturday - I am even letting my kids play hookie for one of the days!! So tomorrow night we are taking the kids to the train station to watch the train come in - you know, just for fun. Greg asked me how we were going to do it and I reminded him that HE was their dad. That means they are used to randomly getting in the van and going to obscure places at weird times. It will be great! I am almost out of my skin with eager anticipation. I know that my kids will be crazy happy too. That is what I love the best!!!! I can't wait to see their faces!!!

BTW - we got a "new" van tonight. A 2005 Grand Caravan SXT - blue in color. It is going to be great. It is a huge blessing and you know what it makes us???? DEBT FREE Baby! Woo hoo!!!!

We've Got Some Catching Up To Do.....

Easter Egg Hunt at Grandpa & Grandma Boss's House

We are back. We went "home" (to Howell) for spring break this past week. It was a good time of visiting and resting. The bad part was that we had to leave Greg home. We were all kind of bummed about that. But he was able to do some catching up at work and some looking into a "new" van for me. Tonight has been a VERY rough night for Grace. It was difficult for Grace and Grandma when we left this morning, but Grace's sorrow has continued on throughout the day and now spilled over into bedtime. Apparently while I was out, Grace spoke to Grandma on the phone and was advised to get a picture of Grace and Grandma and stick it under her pillow. She found one and while we prayed tonight she hugged the picture and sobbed. Then she told me that she need to get a picture of Grandpa too. So now she has 2 pictures cradled in her arms as she sobs herself to sleep. Very, very sad. But we have had many discussions on how we need to focus on all the fun we had and look forward to the next time, instead of being depressed over what we do not have. *Note to self* There is no point in that.

So on a way more amazing note....I believe with EVERY fiber of my being that my dad experienced a miraculous healing. You know, the kind that took place when Jesus walked this earth? Two weeks ago, my cousin Becky went to have lunch with my dad (they both have diabetes and Becky is a nurse). She lives over 1 1/2 hours away, so this was no small thing. They went to lunch and then she hung out with him for awhile. She also tested his blood sugar. It was too high for the meter to read (over 600), which is not good at all. Becky also described him as too weak to even stand, extremely tired, jaundiced eyes, and that his lips were sticking to his teeth as he talked. She left there and consulted with her doctors, who told her that he needed to get to the hospital IMMEDIATELY because the thickening of his blood would be causing his organs to work overtime to pump the blood and cause them to shut down. She told him this, but if you know my dad....he was not going to the hospital. He would "just take a handful of pills." Apparently, on his own, he went and had a bunch of blood work done the next day. Fast forward to Friday as I am driving home. I was about one hour into a 5 1/2 hour trip, when my brother calls me and asks if I was on my way and when I would be there and tells me that "dad needs to go to the hospital now." I guess Becky called her dad (Mike, my dad's brother), who called Scott (my brother), who called me. I was later told that they chose Scott because they thought he would be the most calm one - apparently not. Anyway after calling me Scott told Mike to call Dan (my dad's other brother) and have Dan MAKE my dad go to the hospital. Sure. Long story short - Dan went over and called the doctor with my dad and the doctor said to come in. Dan took my dad to the doctor and they went over the results from the blood work done on Wednesday. The results were blood sugar of 212, blood pressure 120/80, cholesterol 194 (down from over 400). The doctor said that he was doing amazing! They even checked his blood again at the doctor's office, just to be sure. When I got there Friday afternoon, my dad looked great. He had lost a ton of weight (which I am sure contributed to the good numbers), his eyes were bright and he looked healthy. This is what I am talking about when I say miraculous healing - from what he looked like on Tuesday to what I saw on Friday, was nothing short of God's Hand at work in my dad. God healed my dad - I have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT OF THAT!!! Praise His Holy Name! This is all on the heels of me reading in the New Testament in the Bible about Jesus and the disciples and the healing that they did. As I read, I so wished I could be a part of that - that I could see it firsthand. Oh, did I get a glimpse of it! And after seeing even this one miracle...how could I not trust God Most High with everything?

I have so much more to say, but must continue tomorrow. My beloved is waiting for me.

Shoe Shopping

Tonight Grace, Jadyn and I went shopping. We were looking for tennis shoes for Grace. They had to not have ties, be cute and not cost an arm and a leg. Easy, right? Not so much. We travelled all over this city to every store that sells shoes (except Shoe Carnival) and had no success. We are all exhausted....we did not go slowly through any store. We ran in, check the shoe area and ran out. However, we were perusing the pajama clearance rack at Gordman's because I need new pjs and don't want to spend too much. Grace kept pulling things that I would barely call pajamas off the rack and suggesting that I get them. Then she pulled a purple piece of thread off the rack and started to suggest it, but then said, "You couldn't even put this on your pet bird." My pet bird? Exactly what does that mean? When I asked her she just brushed it away. Needless to say, we left those racks and continued our shopping frenzy. Which, as you already know, was a bust. I guess she has to wear her junky old ones, or learn to accept what is there for her to take.

The Weekend Edition

This weekend I went to my first Hearts at Home conference. Friday night was "Mom's Night Out" - concert with Christy Nockels and comedy by Sally Boucke and Nicole Johnson. It was such a good night for me. Saturday was the conference and I attended some good seminars. Greg stayed home with the kids, but by Sunday morning he was finished. Sunday morning, as are most Sunday mornings, was kinda crappy. The devil always gets his stinky rotten foot into our Sundays. Greg was crabby and short. The kids dressed for "March Madness" at church, only to find out when we got there that they were dressed for the next week (basketball clothing) and that this week was pajama day. Jacob, Grace and I sped home so that they could change BACK into their pajamas to go to church. We had our discipleship class and that was fine. Then Greg left to go to work for a couple of hours. I went into the service, only to be pulled out after 10 or so minutes because Jadyn was hysterical in her class. The rest of the service as good (only I am so sad that I am going to miss the MARCH MADNESS concert on March 26 - EPIC Band rocks the house!) I called Greg and we were going to go out to lunch after church. We decided on Carlos O'Kelly's because according to the wjbc website they had kids eat free on Sundays (2 per adult meal). Well, what they really offer is $2.50 off one kid's meal per adult meal. NOT KIDS EATING FREE. Oh well. We ordered and ate (it was not very good), but not before the guy dressed as a leprechaun, passing out beaded necklaces, scared the living stuff out of Grant. I mean he was screaming bloody murder. I was trying to get him out of the highchair to console him, but he had his legs and feet wrapped around the bottom of the highchair, so that every time I tried to lift him out the entire chair would lift off the ground. I eventually got him out, only to have him behave like an infant monkey for the rest of the meal. Greg went back to work and the kids and I went to Michaels to get some journals for them. We are going to start pillow pen-paling. They write in their journal and stick it under my pillow, then I write back and stick it under their pillow, and so on and so on. (Thank you Hearts at Home conference) We came home, put Jadyn and Grant to bed, studied for a science test, then it was time for Jacob and I to go to the Mother-Son Fun Day. We played basketball, parachute, had relay races, raced scooters, and Jacob even made a mummy out of his mommy. It ended with a fun pizza dinner - Jacob's favorite! We had an awesome time - just hanging out together - and of course, beating all those other kids. If you know Jacob, you know he had to win (and know he won). He told me he didn't get a trophy. I told him I could fix that - I ran up to him and gave him a BIG KISS - only to get a mouthful of sweat! ICK!!!! We really worked up a good sweat - I had to crab walk - are you kidding me?

When I got home, the rest of the family had not eaten. Of course, the one in charge knew we would be gone for dinner and knew that this person was in charge. Needless to say, a small fight ensued. Something along the lines of Greg being tired of doing everything and me expecting that he should gladly step in and take over completely for the entire weekend. Both of us - completely wrong. Both of us acting our frustrations out incorrectly - most specifically...publically in front of the kids. Later in the evening Jacob came up to me with a piece of paper on which was written "Dad" and "Mom" at the top. Under each one were lines indicating "how many we had" - you know the lines where you have 4 down and 1 on the diagonal? The lines were for how many timeouts we each were getting from him for our behavior. How perfectly sad is that? Our poor behavior affected our child in a serious way. OK - secretly I was wishing for more "timeout" and would have gladly gone there right then. Instead, I went to Greg, who was in the shower, and had a little conference in the bathroom. We need to get our act together....BOTH of us.....and NOW.

Fast forward to bedtime. I have all the kids in the girl's bed and we are getting ready to do our devotions and Greg comes in and tells Grace that she HAS to get her room cleaned - now. She was none to happy, but I told her we would wait for her to do the devotions. As she finished cleaning, she got on the bed and was crying, saying that "this was a terrible night." I kept asking her why, but she wouldn't answer me. I was getting irritated - you know the way you can when your daughter is sassily making a totally untrue comment just to irritate you and you want to slap her upside the head? Instead of doing the above-mentioned, I asked her to come with me and we went to my bedroom, shut the door and sat directly across from each other. I asked her what was making her feel the way she was feeling. After some coaxing, she said that it wasn't fair that she had to clean the room because a lot of the stuff that was out was really Jadyn's. I told her that when she is to clean her room she needs to only be concerned about her stuff and that I will have Jadyn take care of her stuff. Then she went on to tell me that she was concerned because she was "getting slow." Her explanation when something like this:

I just don't know, Mom. I wonder if something is wrong with me. Like when you tell me to get dressed, and I put my socks on last because they are on the bottom, I just sit down and look over here and then look over there and don't do what I am supposed to do. And when Dad told me to clean my room, I just didn't want to so I went real slow, you know.

Holy cow. I asked her if I could pray with her. She said yes and at this point was sitting on my lap, facing me, legs folded so that her knees were by my hips and her feet were between my legs - get the picture? We were real close and she was snuggled up in me. Before I prayed, I held her face in my hands and told her how much I love her and that God loves her more than me, and that she is so very special and important to us. Then we prayed, asking God to help her not to be distracted but to keep her eyes focused on Him as the source of her strength. After praying she said to me:

Mom, you just made my whole night so good.

PRAISE THE LORD!!! If just doing something so simple (and something that felt SO right) works like this, I AM ALL IN!!! Instead of screaming at her and asking what the heck her problem was, I was able to take her away privately and let her talk to me - ALONE. She just opened up. That easy. Crazy. But I love it - and I love her desperately. Thank you again Hearts at Home!!!!!!

Girls are in bed. I have moved onto the boys. Grant is almost asleep and I am laying in bed with Jacob. He is just going over everything we did today at the Mother-Son Fun Day and talking about how much fun he had. Then he sticks his hand under his pillow and finds his journal. He asks if her can read it now. I say yes and he reads it. I think he liked what he read because he asked if he could get up now and write back to me. Woo-hoo....score another point for Hearts at Home.....my kid WANTS to get up and write! YES!!!! BTW - Jacob wanted me to write first and Grace wanted her to write first, so Grace's is under my pillow awaiting my write-back.

The Amber Alert

Tonight there was an Amber Alert that came over the TV. It was for 2 African-American kids taken from Decatur, IL. As I was putting the girls to bed, we were talking about it. Grace brought it up during "high-point, low-point" - it was her low-point. Jadyn then popped in with her take on the situation. She said, "Mom, Gracie's friends are black, so they can be stolen." Sometimes I can't even help my laughter. She cracks me up. Grace had some friends over today who are Eastern Indian. They were not black.

Jadyn

I was talking with Jadyn this afternoon, after she got up from her nap. I was asking her who loved her the most, to which she answered, "You!" And I told her she was right - no one loved her like I do. Then I thought a minute and said, "Well, there is only One person who loves you more than I do." She said, "Dad?" "No, someone bigger than Dad," I told her. "Bampa (Grandpa)?" she asked. True, although since she has last seen him I believe he has lost a lot of weight and is probably smaller than her Dad now. "No," I said, "Someone who is here even though you can't see Him." Again she asked, "Bampa?" I love how her mind works. Again true, but not where I was headed. I explained that I was speaking about God - He is the Only One Who will ever love her more than me.

As I am typing this, she is working diligently on her letters next to me. So I had to take a picture. She did not even look up to pose.....she loves to do this and is a very hard worker when it comes to her letters.

My Personal Prayer List

• Daily enter God’s Presence – FIRST
• God as my source of joy, strength, being
• Read Bible/study/books
• Be a godly wife/mother
• School/home/van decisions
• Nursing homes
• Exercise

Jacob and Grace

I was waiting at the bus stop yesterday when a lady (who never gets out of her car) got out of her car and walked up to me. This is what she said:

"Your little boy is so cute! I work in the library with Mr. Bohne and your son is the best child in that class. He always raises his hand and asks me for help whenever he needs it. He is really the nicest boy in that class."

Interesting....because at first I thought she was talking about Grant, who for the first time since fall came with me to the bus stop that morning. But when she got to the part about school, it dawned on me. But I laughed (to myself) at the little boy comment because, comparatively speaking, Jacob is anything but little. I mean, he will always be my little boy, but you know. Of course, when he got in the house (because I am not allowed to love on him outside) I was all over him and made sure he knew how proud I was that he was so well behaved and that someone else noticed and told me. If you know Jacob, you know the smirk he got and how he tried not to smile. Man, I love that boy!

This morning Grace was laying in bed with me and I mentioned that I heard a "puddle jumper" getting ready to take off. We live right next to an airport, so I am becoming a pseudo expert on the sounds certain planes have when they are taking off. So Grace says to me, "Mom, what is a pumper-junker?" I don' think her ears were quite awake yet.

Quickie from the Sickie

Grace was home sick today. Not terribly sick, but woke up with a headache and then threw up bile 12 times (her count - not mine). She napped and said she feels fine now (of course, it is 3:15 and school if over, but I digress). At one time during one of her "sessions at the toilet", I walked in and she said to me (and I quote):

"I hit that one hard."

What the heck does that mean? I was cracking up so hard, I almost fell to the floor. This girl is HILARIOUS!!!! Even sick - actually more often when she is sick. I love her so much!!

The Close of Upwards Season

Yesterday was the awards ceremony for Jacob's Upwards basketball season. Apparently they only give out one award and one kid per team is nominated by the coach for the award. Then from the nominations, they pull from a hat to pick who wins. Know what the award is for? CHRISTLIKENESS! Guess who was nominated from Jacob's team? JACOB!! I am more proud than words can say. I mean playing good and hard and doing your best is very important, but it is nothing if you are not following Christ. Of course, I am his mom and I always think he is the best, but for real, he really was the most Christlike on his team. He was the only one (of the ones who wanted to play) who didn't always think of himself. What I am trying to say is he was the only one who played like a member of a team. He would rebound (because he was the tallest), drive down to the basket, look for the open teammate and pass the ball. The entire season he was the only kid to pass the ball for the sake of the other person. Sounds Christlike to me. I know it sounds like I am bragging on my kid - I AM! This is not mom-xaggeration either, it is the truth. So, I must tell. Jacob did awesome and I am so proud of his basketball ability and even more so of the award. YAY JACOB!!!! I love you son!!!!