Is There A Full Moon Tonight?

It's been a weird day. Not absolutely wonderful, although on my end, I can't complain. But it hasn't been bad either. Well, for me. Or my kids. I just felt sort of "out of it" all day. I really can't talk here. I'm just feeling the urge to write. I can't really say anything at all. Just because I don't know who reads this.

Weird. Anyway. I saw the cutest little boy EVER on the face of this earth today and no~GASP~it was not one of mine! There's this teacher~you can find her blog on the side of mine, it's called Tater Tales~whose cute little boy goes to our preschool. I could just suck on his little cheeks. He's so precious. He made me happy just by looking at him today. Which I needed to smile at that point just because.

I have been running ever since the second I woke up this morning. I had to go to the choirpractor {YUP}, then to the grocery store, then I RACED home to put them all up before jetting off to work. I bought chips and white bread. Lots of other stuff too, but my hubby was complaining {oh YES he was} about not having any "real" chips {not baked, he means} in the house and the wheat bread I'm trying to get us used to. The boys don't complain about the wheat bread, but he does. Humph. Oh YES I did, honey. Can you hear that little gravelly thing I do when I say that??? It was there.

Anyway. I'm home now. My beautiful, talented, loves to laugh friend, Christa is coming over tonight!! Todd the manly man is working for the sheriff's dept. tonight, and I decided it would be nice for some girl time. :) That makes me so happy. We're having grilled chicken ceasar salad, and bread. Yum. The kiddos are having Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets~~which my hubby picked out and bought from Costco. He and Graham loved them~they had samples of them last Saturday. It's gonna be fun. I might also have bought a huge bag of peanut m&m's and some cheese dip and salsa. :) I'm going to HIDE it from the kids. Or not. I haven't decided. I lurve pancho's cheese dip, people. I am that crazy about it.

Well. I gotta run. Again. For the last time today. I am picking up my gorgeous young men and coming home to get all comfy and cozy. I just might pull out the 'ole Tyler Perry, too. Hallelurrrrrjah!!!! Love to all.

Prayer

Here lately, I've had several people in my life ask me to pray for them. I came across a sheet of paper that I'd written some Bible verses on this morning, and looked them up. For those of you reading this who've asked me to pray for you; consider these God's promise to you.

Deuteronomy 32:3 & 4 I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! 4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

This is for any of you that think God does something for no reason~whether that be a new attitude you get over a much prayed for situation, or that hope that you are scared is false~ALL HIS WAYS ARE JUST. Every single one of them.

Psalm 56:3 & 4 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man to do me?

It is true that when God is for us~who can be against us? Whatever that may be~in the book of Daniel, I love the story about Hananiah, Azariah and Meshael getting thrown into the fiery furnace {or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego}. They knew that one of three things would happen as King Nebuchadnezzar ordered they be thrown to their certain "death". They knew that God would either deliver them FROM that fiery death, THROUGH that fiery death, or He would take them straight into Heaven with Him. How awesome to have that same faith of those three!! But we should, because THAT is the same God whom we serve.

Psalm 111:7 & 8 The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. 8 They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness.

Here is that word again~"just". One of the ways that the Webster's dictionary defines "just" is this~"acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright and good; righteous." Just stop there for a minute and drink that in. Don't you love His written word?? You can bet that you are facing what you are for a reason. He does NOTHING without a plan.

Lamentations 3:22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

He gets us through life! Whatever trial~He will get us through. He carries us when He needs to. Remember the story of Footprints? How during the hardest season in that man's life, there were not 2 but only 1 set of footprints. The man thought the Lord had desserted him, but it was during that time the Lord carried him through. He will do the same for you.

2 Corinthians 1:21 & 22 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guarateeing what is to come.

This life is only temporary. Whatever you're going through~it's only temporary. God is going to deliver us from this world one day and the things we thought were so important will seem trivial.

God tells us not to put our hope in this world, but to put our hope in Him. He is the one thing that is everlasting. Grab onto Him today, and vow never to let go.

Just Real Quick...

since I have to leave in five or eight minutes. I'm helping out in kindergarten this morning, directing kids where to sit in Mrs. Ledbetter's class and where to put their stuff. And help kick parents out. Ha. Not really on that last part. Well, kinda.

I was sucked into the Twilight books this weekend. And I do mean "sucked into", because from the first chapter, I could not put it down. I started it around 8 or 9 Saturday night, and as of yesterday afternoon, I was halfway through the 500 pages. Yikes. It's that good, people.

What is even better than this, though, were our church services yesterday. I have not been in church in like 2 weeks because of vacation, so it was so awesome to be back. And choir has not been in session since the first week of July. And we're back. It was amazing. I love me some singing, folks. My favorite thing to do is help lead worship. I had the privilege of doing so yesterday.

How was YOUR weekend? I heard a funny story on the KLove morning show with Lisa and Scott, about how we always start Monday conversations with that question. Ours was blessed. Friday night we spent home, but Saturday night we went to Nana's and Big Daddy's. And had a great time. We stayed extra late, it seemed like, because we were having too good a time to go.

Well, I have to run. Literally. Hmmm, I should do that for some exercise. Or NOT. I have six kids to get into my car and safely into the school building this morning. The couple extras are some friends of our family~their dad was called into work early all week this week, and their mom teaches high school. So. Love to all. Happy Monday!!!

"Mrs. Goodwin"

I am still not used to this part of my job. When I hear "Mrs. Goodwin", I want to turn around and look for my mother~in~love. And then I remember, oh yeah. I'm Mrs. Goodwin. I went to the Wally Wurrrrld, as Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland calls it, for some more school supplies and some groceries so my dear sweet young men wouldn't starve next week. I kept on hearing kids say my name. I love that. I feel so loved. I also ran into my sweet friend, Kim~you can find her blog over on the right side of What I Love To Read...her's is called Twice Blessed. Love me some Kim, Weston and Gracie. It was a fun trip.

It's been a great Saturday. I tried to sleep late, but couldn't for a couple reasons. For one thing, I am now used to waking up at 5:30 or 6:00. And B, Drew just had to come wake me up by standing over me. I swear, one of these days, he's going to do that, and I am going to knock him into the next room. Not on purpose, of course, but hello. I HATE waking up with a kid staring over me. Ugh. For whatever crazy reason {that seemed to make sense at the time}, I told him to crawl into bed with us. Duh. This would be Drew, the cuddler. Not a good idea.

I had a long time by myself this morning so I spent it wisely and stalked people on facebook. :) Come on, you know that's all it is~a window into your friends' lives. Todd went and bought us donuts, yum!!!!!! Then he cut the grass {front yard} again and I went shopping. For clothes. Which you know I hate, but was forced to do because you know. I work. And I can't very well wear the same things over and over every day. Actually, the only reason I went was because I ripped my favorite pants. :( I had to replace them, but then they were having this sale, and before I knew, I'd been sucked in by all things cute and blingy. I know. Big shocker if ya know me at all. I woulda made Debi proud.

So now I'm listening to SpongeBob. Have I ever told you how much I despise SpongeBob SquarePants? I do. Detest, abhor, cannot stand, plain 'ol HATE him. It is the most annoying show I've ever seen. In my entire 32 years. Seriously. Ok, well, I'm going to run. Love to all and hope your weekend is blessed!!! I am ready to get my praise on in the mornin'!!! Are YOU??

Happy Friday!

Well, kind of. Last night we were sitting in the living room, when Jonah looks at me and starts bawling. I asked him what was wrong and he said his throat hurt. He also had fever. So. Because of it being the weekend, Todd took him to the doctor this morning, and yup. It's strep.

We had to cancel our plans with the friends we had coming over. So sad. We did reschedule for the same thing, just next Friday night. So here we sit, watching the newest Suite Life On Deck, listening to Todd mow the jungle, I mean GRASS. And here I sit.

Don't get me wrong, I love you folks, but I'd much rather be sitting around a table, talking, laughing and playing cards with our friends. I guess this isn't too bad of a way to spend a Friday night, though. Just hangin' and relaxin'. After our first week back, I must admit, it is pretty nice.

So, I am in the mood to watch Madea. I am needing to laugh some, and who better to make you laugh than Madea? If you have never watched Tyler Perry, you might want to start. He is ahhhmazing!! Lurve me some Tyler Perry. I'm trying to talk Todd into watching it with me, but he's kinda busy right now.

So. I'm gonna go hang with the brothers. Have a happy, great, funtastic Friday night. Love to all.

Please Pray

for this sweet child. If you have never done anything I have asked, please do this one thing. This beautiful, God~loving family is facing the hardest thing they have ever had to face. I cannot imagine their frustration, the pain that they have to go through watching this sweet boy endure what he endures on a daily basis. Yet through it all, they still acknowledge that God is on His throne. This smile of his melts my little pea~pickin' heart. Please pray for them, if you would be so kind.

Finally, Some Quiet!

Well, almost. I don't quite have the house to myself, since my hubby is home this morning. He had a slow morning, so he is hanging around here until it's time for his next job.

I am quickly starting to love these quiet mornings, once again. I love the summer, but it is great to have the house silent for once. My favorite thing to do in this time is pray and read God's word. Ahhhhhhhh. I can just feel myself filling back up with Him. It's amazing what happens when you don't have that quiet time. Nothing bad, I mean, just...I don't know...tension, stress, aggravation at mundane things. I experienced all of those during our 2 months' vacation time. I love my young men {I have promised myself not to call them just 'boys' anymore, but that's a whole OTHER post on another day}, but I desperately need this time.

When I picked up my devotion book, I almost laughed at the title: Does It Really Matter? I say this phrase all the time. I love to look at life as the big picture. When you take the time to do that, you quickly realize than in the big 'ol grand scheme of things, certain things just DO NOT matter. Do you need a 'for instance'? I can give you several. How about that person that cuts you off in traffic? The author of my morning devo actually used this one. What about doing EVERY SINGLE LITTLE thing in your child's classroom at school? I am preaching to myself here. What about how clean your house is? Is that more important than spending a precious weekend with your family?

I am stepping back and doing a reevaluation of my life and schedule this year. I have already prayed over this school year, and I have promised to myself and to God that before I agreed to do anything at the school~ANYTHING~I would take time to pray and ask for guidance. I don't really want to do all the things I did last year. I want to cherish the time off that I have in the mornings and use those mornings growing in my relationship with my Creator. I don't want to fill them with a bunch of different morning activities. Of course it would also be nice if I could spend some of that time keeping house so I can more fully enjoy my weekends.

What about you? Is there something YOU want to change this school year? How about some new challenges or goals in your Spiritual walk? I encourage you to find something....whether it be a new Bible study {or your first!}, or reading the Bible everyday, or learning something new. Try it and see what God does through you. Ask Him to take what you're doing and use it to His glory! You will stand back and be amazed at the end, I promise.

I love the devotion I did with the kids this morning~it was all about making wise choices. Our verse of the day was from 2 Timothy 1:7 which says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self~discipline." Why don't we make some wise choices today, step back and examine our lives, and see what needs to change. I know I am. Anyone care to join me? Comment on here if you do~I can't wait to rejoice with you when God does something amazing through you! Love to all!