The Mysterious Muddy Footsteps

Today I was cleaning our shower and started to wonder how all those muddy footprints get in there.   Jerry and I are both adults and usually clean up after our selves.  Yet every time I clean the shower there are muddy foot prints in the bottom of it.  Last week end I watched the girls on Thursday through Friday.  Our church had a teen conference and since Josh is the Teen Pastor he and Jessica were very busy.  To keep from having the girls stuck in the nursery for 3 solid days they stayed at Mema and Bepa's.  We had so much fun with them.  Then this week we watched the girls on Thursday night so Josh and Jessica could celebrate their anniversary which was actually July 31st. As I was scrubbing the floor in the shower it suddenly dawned on me
how the footprints got there.  When Kyndra was smaller and we took her to Menards with us several times.  One of the highlights of our trips was when she was allowed to play in the shower stalls they had set up.  She loved going in and out of the doors.  Of course that's how the prints got int he shower!  Kyndra was playing.  One less mystery in life.

Looking on the bright side!

I just realized that I am an optimist.  No matter what happens I look on the bright side (this doesn't mean I don't have things I could get sad or depressed about).  I do sometimes get grumpy or discouraged but for the most part I am content where I am.  I know that part of this is because my step dad always looked on the dark side.  He was constantly complaining about the weather, the economy, the news, business, life, whatever.  I determined then not to be like that.  Everyone gets down sometimes  but for the most part we choose our attitude.  We decide how we are going to look at things.  As for me...I choose to be happy.

Leaving in the Morning

Tomorrow morning I am leaving for Washington, Iowa.  I am going to a youth conference with our teens.  I am very excited.  The name of the conference is Our Time.  It is at Marion Ave. Baptist Church.  This church has been lead by Bro. Larry Brown.  At Pastors School Bro. Brown announced that he is giving up his church and become a traveling Evangelist.  His son is in the running to take over the church.  Bro. Browns wife died last year and he really has the gift of spreading the gospel.  I can't wait to attend this conference.  I am also excited to get to know the teens better.  Praying for a safe trip and for the teens to be changed. 

My Darling Class

What a Wonderful Life

God has truly blessed me.  He gave me a wonderful, loyal, hardworking, loving husband.  He gave me 2 fantastic daughters, 2 adorable granddaughters, 2 son-in-laws that love and care for our daughters, a great church and lots of friends who we love and care for.  I am so thankful for all of it.  He has given me so much that I can't even thank him for everything. 

We recently had a visit from one of our favorite people.  Rachel was here from Oregon with her 2 little girls.  We were so happy to see her and to get to know her babies.  She is just like one of our own kids.  Sometimes in life you think you will never see someone again.  We never thought we would see Rachel's parents or even Rachel again.  It was a very pleasant surprise to see her parents when we went out to lunch with Rachel, Gary and Cassie.  Gary arranged to surprise all of us.  He was pretty proud of himself.

I am getting more and more excited about my Mom coming to come visit.  She will be here May 13th.  Jerry is killing himself to get the house done before she arrives.  I can't wait for it to be all done and to see Mom. 

School is nearly out for the year and I feel really good about it.  The kids are all reading and are all doing very well.  I am proud of them and how hard they have worked.

AGAIN

About a month ago we were informed of some exciting news.  Jessica is expecting again.  We are so happy and just can't wait to meet # 3 in the Graham family.  We had to promise not to say anything for awhile.  Our new grandbaby is due Oct. 21st.  I'm hoping for my birthday on the 28th.  Jessica posted the cutest video of  them telling the girls about the new arrival.  Kyndra is so funny. 

Speaking of funny... today I asked Kyndra if she wanted a baby brother or a baby sister.  She said she wanted a baby brother.  I then asked her what we would name her baby brother and she said Bree.  I explained that that was a girls name  She thought for a minute and said OK we should name him Shadrack.  How funny.  As we were walking around the thrift store she saw a bunch of old records.  Look Mema,  Really big Cd's.  Gotta love her.

PASTOR'S SCHOOL

I just got back from Pastor's School/ Educator's Convention.  It was such a great blessing.  I got to hear many great men of the faith and attend hands-on classes in different areas.  My biggest problem in my Christian life has always been prayer.  I try very hard to do what I know what I should do but I fail everyday.  I say the quick God bless my food prayers and I ask God to help people who need help but I don't seem to be very good at having long conversations with God. 
One of the sessions I attended was entitled "Why You Hate To Pray" by David Gibbs III.  He talked about the reasons we hate to pray and I suddenly understood something.  I wasn't the only one.  I am just like everyone else.  Bro. Gibbs said, "The only way to have a great prayer life is to have a great prayer list."  This struck home to me.  I will be working on a great prayer list.  I already have many things I pray for everyday but I need a more detailed list.  A list that pinpoints the areas of life that really need help.  I am so thankful that God showed me how to talk to him and I can't wait to get started on this great journey.

IS IT SPRING YET?

One really nice thing about living in the midwest is that there are actually 4 seasons.  Pretty soon it will be spring.  I can't wait to start doing yard work and fixing up the outside of the house.  My husband has been working very hard on the inside.  The dining room is almost finished.  We plan on moving the dining room table and some other furniture for the dining room this week.  It will be so very nice to have a real table and another room finished in the house. 

Kyndra had a third birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese last night.  She is such a delight.  She picked up the card from Beth and said,"Oh boy!  A card....with no money."  It is so hard raising a smart kid! 

All I can say is I LOVE MY LIFE!

POOR ME

Last time I blogged Jerry was sick.  Now a week later it is my turn.  Please feel sorry for me because I don't have time to feel sorry for myself.  Just kidding.  I have been praying for everyone with this stupid bug.  It sure has been going around and it really hangs on.  So more TV and more reading and more sleeping for me.  See you all soon.

POOR JERRY

My wonderful husband planned a get away for us this past week end.  He got us a room in Springfield and we went to the Lincoln Museum, saw Lincolns home, and went to a big mall.  He didn't feel real good but decided he could handle it.  Sunday instead of going anywhere else he asked if we could go home.  Of course we did.  When we got home about 3pm he went directly to bed. Around 6:30 he woke up with a 103 fever.  After 3 Advil it still didn't go down.  He had the worst headache and he was coughing and just feeling awful. I gave him a vicodin and an hour later his fever still wasn't down. I called the advice nurse at our insurance company and after a profile they said to take him to the ER.  The ER decided he had Bronchitis. No flu, no pneumonia.  They gave us meds and sent him home.  As soon as we got home he started throwing up.  After a couple of hours with no relief I called the ER.  They said to give him Dramamine wait 1/2 hour and then give him more pain meds.  He threw up the Dramamine so after another 1/2 hr I took him back to the ER.  This time they gave him a shot of morphine and something to keep him from throwing up.  He has now slept all day and so far not thrown up anything else.  He is still taking vicodins for the headache but no coughing .  I think he is on the mend. Love this guy.  He is such a trooper. He keeps apologizing for ruining the week end.  I'm pretty sure he didn't do it on purpose.

WHAT MAKES IT WORTH IT?

Have you ever wondered what makes a person devote much of their lives learning to be a doctor or face danger everyday as a police or fire person?  Do you wonder why Pastors give up any chance for a normal life by being on call 24/7 for their congregation?  What about someone who does something less heroric?  What about a stay at home Mom?  I was fortunate enough to be a working mom and a stay at home mom.  We started out with me working full time plus at a start-up electronics company.  I worked 8-9 hours plus an hour commute each way.  I did that until Cassie was 3 and then we decided that I needed to be home.  At first I felt home bound and isolated.  Then I started to enjoy staying home with my girls.  When they were both in school I got a series of part time jobs so I could be home when they got out of school.  I got to stay home every summer with them and we had a wonderful time.  I was able to teach them about gardening, housekeeping, grocery shopping, and lots of other things. We never got a new car.  We seldom had an extra penny but it was worth every bit of the time I spent at home.  Our girls turned out to be beautiful accomplished young ladies.  Jessica is a wonderful wife and mother.  Cassie is a great wife and I'm sure someday she will be a great mother also.  Was it worth it?  You bet.

SNOW DAYS

Well living in Illinois has been a real adventure.  Last winter it was really cold living in the motor home. It snowed more than we had ever seen and  all the locals told us it was more than usual.  This winter has broken records of snow fall.  Chicago announced the first school snow day in years and years.  We have 2 1/2 to 3 ft drifts on our deck.  Jerry had to dig our cars out this morning.  Now that the blizzard is over the temp is dropping like crazy.  The forcast is for -9 tonight.  It is now -1 outside.  We have been out of school for 2 days and will not have school tomorrow either.  The truth is I kind of like it.  It feels like winter in a way that the rain and clouds never did.  I like the cleaness of the air and the way everything is all soft and white.  I like unexpected days off from work and getting to do things around the house we usually don't have time for.  I am sad for the people that were stuck on Lakeshore Drive in Chicago for up to 12 hours in their cars and for anyone who has been injured or hurt due to the snow.  Illinois is a all new experience for us.  Cold in the winter, hot and humid in the summer.  Taking all of that into consideration I LOVE IT!   So glad to be with our kids and our grandkids.  So happy for all the new really good friends we have made.  So happy that our house is coming along and that we both have jobs and that we are healthy.  God has truely blessed us in everyway.  He deserves all of the honor and glory.  So loving my life.

BEING SICK

What do you do when you are home sick all day?  It's fine for the first day.  You can catch up on your reading, tv watching, sleep, etc.  On the second day you start getting bored.  You've watched all the tv you want, you've read for hours.  You start climbing the walls.  If you try to sleep you can't.  You know that you need to stay down and rest but your body is sick of laying around.  The longer this goes on the worse it is.  I have had a headach for 3 days.  Not the throw up kind but the kind that just hurts.  It is really hard to teach when you have a headach.  You have little patience and all you really want to do is go home.  I decided today to stay home.  I have slept off and on all day.  I have watched enough tv to last me a month.  I have facebooked, blogged, searched and googled.  My head still hurts but by golly I am going to work tomorrow.

SONS OF THUNDER CONFERNCE

Tonight starts our Sons of Thunder Conference.  We always so enjoy having the Gray Brothers come and preach.  Satan is fighting us tooth and nail. This morning school was cancelled due to freezing rain. Yesterday it snowed 2 inches.  Praying that both brothers arrive safely and that all of our members can make it to church for the conference.  Can't wait to hear what God and the Gray Brothers have in store for us.

WINNING

I have a new hobby. Well not really new.  I started last summer and it has been fun and somewhat lucrative.  There are posts on facebook from people who take the time to find all of the best freebies, sweepstakes, instant wins, contests, coupons, etc.  I started signing up for the contests and sweepstakes and in the first month I won a $500.00 gift card to Office Depot for my class room.  Kay and I had a great time spending it.  I have gotten several free magazine subscriptions, a $10 Starbucks card, 2 months worth of Toaster Strudels, many shampoo and conditioner samples, toothpaste, lotion, coffee, tea, snack bars, free Sobes, free cough drops, pain relief patches, movie tickets, and paint.  This last week I won a $10 Dollar General gift card and a $50 Visa gift card.  I believe that God is allowing me to win so much because I told him Iwould use anything I won for the benifit of the church.   I spend 10 to 15 minutes a day enter contests and requesting samples. I have a separate email that I use for these so that any junk mail goes to it.  My favorite blogs for this are stockpiling moms and freebies 4 moms. Both are on facebook and you can link them to your email.  I actually have fun with this and I am so blessed whenever I win.  Its fun to try and figure out how to use the winnings for God.   If you have any questions just comment below and I will try to answer them.

BIBLE READING

Ok so this Bible reading stuff is pretty cool.  I have read the Bible thru a few times and have read different sections many times.  Every time I read it I learn something new.  This week I read about Lot. In Genesis 19:8 that scumbag offered up his virgin daughters to the men of Sodom so they wouldn't come into his house and bother the angels of God.  What kind of father would do that.  I guess that explains why later his daughters did what they did.  Not only did they have a scummy Dad but they were raised in Sodom and were surrounded by all the sin and debauchery that went on.  I am constantly amazed at what God shows me.  If only those girls would have had a loving bus worker or a Sunday school teacher who cared, or a youth Pastor to give them guidance. Maybe they wouldn't have tricked their father into sleeping with them.  This encourages me to keep working in jr. Church and loving on those kids.

New Year New Bible Reading Schedule

I am so excited about reading my Bible this year.  Jerry now has a Daily Bible too so we are literally on the same page.  We get to talk about what we have read that day.  One thing we discovered
Gen 3:16  Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.' Before Eve messed up Adam didn't rule over her!  I guess God figured she needed practice obeying!