Parents of adults

As a parent you struggle when your kids struggle, no matter how old they are. We as parents of adults have to learn when to step back and allow our kids to struggle through situations and not try to fix it for them. We have wisdom and advice that can help but ultimately it is on their shoulders to bear. As a mother who is a little bit of a fixer like most mothers are, and I have a husband who takes things more to heart than even I do, we have to talk ourselves through not wanting to fix things for our grown children. I told Joey last night, Josh is a grown man with a wife and kid on the way, it is up to him and Abby how they do things in their lives, we just need to be supportive and if we see something they don't, give the best advice we can give if they ask.

We all want good for our kids, but as we all know sometimes learning comes from hard times, with harder decisions. We sometimes stop the Holy Spirit from doing what he wants to do because we try to help and God wants us to sit still and be quiet. Don't let anyone tell you that after they leave home it gets any easier...

Opportunities

Yesterday Joey came home from Cagney's from meeting the men for breakfast. He was a little teary, and you have to understand in 29 years I have seen Joey cry maybe 3 times ( at deaths in the family) until this last year. I asked him what was up, he said that for the last week or two, one of the waitresses kept kind of bugging them at their table, she kept coming often, messing at the table and Joey was getting annoyed. But yesterday morning God spoke to Joey during this time, he realized that Jennifer might have been trying to listen to their conversations. Joey and a few of the men there have these great deep discussions on God, the church, life, and other aspects of living the christian life. It hit him between the eyes, so he asked Jennifer if she went to church anywhere, she has lived a hard life, she told him she was looking for a church for her daughter to get involved with. So Joey invited her to church on Sunday and she says she will come. He told me after he got home that we sometimes forget that the mission field is right in front of our faces and we don't pay enough attention to what is before us. We all have a mission field, some of us see more people than others, but we do have opportunities everyday, if we slow down and watch for God to move.

Easter

Joey and I are heading to the mountains today, we haven't been in weeks, but the last time we were there it had flooded the bridge out, so we are taking up the backhoe to fix it this weekend. I am excited to get away and see the mountains. I do truly love it there. Our fasting is slowing coming to an end, Saturday will be the last day, I will tell you I have dreamed of food.....

But I have learned alot over the last couple weeks, I can get by with much less, I have more time when I don't think of food so much, and I have alot more energy. I really didn't need alot more energy because my brain doesn't slow down much as it is. I still am coming away with new things to ponder everyday, our main prayer is for Joey direction in a job, that still has not come to us yet. However we both feel it is near. We are expecting and looking for his direction. Last night we read Proverbs 2, the devotional for the day. I learned what we should mainly be looking for is wisdom and common sense in our everyday living. When we are presented with something be wise about it, use the brain God gave us and make good decisions. With Easter on Sunday, let us rejoice for we do serve a risen Savior, one who is there for us, who leads and guides us, who wants to be there with us when we make our decisions. Thank goodness we don't have to depend on ourselves or some dead statue or god, but to a live King who is sitting on the throne...He is risen, he is risen indeed.....

Problems with posting

I have been trying for a week to write a new post and this crazy thing will not post it, so I decided to try a picture of what has been going on at my house the last 2 weeks, as you can see I have some dinner there. Now lets see if this will post

Hairspray

Last week I went to see Hairspray in Greensboro. We had a wonderful time, a friend of mine Carolyn,invited me, she didn't know that this is one of my favorite musicals. She had never seen it before. I bought the CD when it came out a few years ago. I don't really care for the Riki Lake version, I liked the last one that came out. I think John Travolta is a hoot. We talked about how we get so caught up in the day to day living that we forget to do something fun every once in awhile, I even stayed our past 11o'clock on a week night. Our lives become boring, stale, busy, hard and so planned that we need to laugh sometimes. Make time, like Carolyn did to enrich and

encourage me with someone this week.

Vision and Dreams

Joey and I are in the middle of a 21 days fasting experience. He wanted to do it more than me but I agreed so that when he is at home at night Audrey and I weren't a temptation with what we were eating. I told Joey from the beginning, I don't exactly know what I am searching for, or needing from this fast. He had read a book called "Awakening" by Stovall Weems and a few in our church had done this back in January. So I agreed because I know the Lord has been tugging at me to try a fast, little did I know it would be 21 days, not one. We agreed that we could have fruit, or fruit smoothies, vegetables and that is it. We have tried to stick to one full meal a day, no meats, cheese, eggs, milk, chocolate, soft drinks, or pasta. I knew I would probably be crazy from no sugar or cokes, but to tell you it has been better than I thought is an understatement. I read this book and kind of follow the prayer and scripture it talks about for each day and I also read the chapters in the front that Joey read to encourage him to do this, so that I would understand more of fasting. To tell you that I hoped it would jump start me a diet and that I would see results even though this is not why you fast, losing weight does help. Joey has lost down to almost what he weighed when we first got married, but as in those stick people commercials, mine is not coming off quite as fast. As part of this we have learned that through fasting you should be hearing from God in a clearer voice, and that is what we are searching for. I will tell you a little story, Joey had a dream (vision) last week and when we woke up it shook him up, he waited till that night to tell me about it, All he heard is his dream was go see Tommy's Dad. Tommy is the friend we had who killed himself last summer that sent Joey into somewhat of a downward spiral. Joey didn't know Tommy's dad, didn't know where he lived, and he didn't understand why that is what came to him. I told him to ask God to confirm that this is what he is really suppose to do. In Sunday school, our teacher Keith mentioned, don't let what your dreams tell you to do, stop you from doing it. Joey looked at me and we knew he was suppose to find Tommy's dad and go and see him. He went this morning, I found his name and address on line and Joey paid him a visit. The man didn't think Joey was crazy, Joey explained everything to him, they visited a while, Joey prayed with him, and Joey left a little camouflage New Testament with him with his phone number in back of it. He was relieved when he called me to let me know how it went, he doesn't know the reason he was suppose to go there and he may never know, it could be God wants to see if Joey will be obedient even in the odd request he makes to us, or it could have been for Mr. Kluttz. All I know is God knows and that is enough.

James 5:16

"The effective,fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" I learned alot today from this little verse. Avail means to exert or have power, to be a force, to overcome. When we have effective prayer(Based on the authority of the Word of God) Fervent prayer(Based on the purpose of glorifying God) Righteous prayer(Based on the righteousness of Jesus) Our prayers are forced to be reckoned with.....To say this verse another way is "when by the authority of the Word of God, and with the glorifying of God, because of Jesus righteousness and the Holy Spirit living in me my prayers are a force to be reckoned with."

Tulips

I have tried to grow tulips a couple of different times, this year they grew.

I love tulips, the squirrels seem to love tulips also, I thought I would take a picture of them I didn't know what they would look like if it frosted last night

I planted them in two different places to give them 2 different chances and they both grew. It funny how excited we can get over simple things. But God's creations are something to get excited about.

Childrens Church

Yesterday, I took on preschool childrens church for Abby and Josh, they went out of town, so I volunteered. When your children are grown you forget the attention span of toddlers and preschool. We had 9 kids, 3, 4 and 5 years old. To tell a whole story and hold the attention of all of them is pretty much impossible. Audrey helped me, and half way through she commented she didn't know if she was up to motherhood yet. I tried to explain only a few have this many little kids at one time, you learn one by one. I decided that since the attention span was short, I would just repeat myself throughout the class. We made crowns for the kids, so that they would know that if you are a child of the King, you are a prince and princess. That is how they learned yesterdays lesson, repeat, repeat and repeat. I have come to realize that we have short moments with other peoples kids, they don't always pay attention to what you say, but repeating what you know every time sometimes seems to stick. I know when we worked with the youth group, I would think, they don't listen to a thing we say, but a 30 year old who use to be in our youth group told Audrey the other day, I know what your mother would say to me, but I don't always listen. So maybe sometimes it does get to their brain from their ears. Then it is up to them what they do with what they know.