Trick or Treat

So we say with confidence,

'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.'

Hebrews 13:6

Loren's off to another trip. Although this one is for fun. He and several other guys are riding their Harley's to Galveston, Tx. So when I stay alone out here in the middle of Little House on the Prairie, I am scared at night. I set my alarm, but I still am afraid. My mind wanders off and all the bad things that can happen come into mind. I stay up late, and pray that God keep me safe and make me not afraid.

I'm also afraid of how I'm raising my kids. You know, comparing myself to the June Cleavers of the world. My house is not as clean as theirs, my children are not as disciplined as theirs, my laundry is still not put away and so on. But when I ask Him to help me gain confidence and not give in to my worries and such, He does it. He helps me remember that through him I can do it all.
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Well, today is Halloween. Yes, we go trick or treating. We are baaaaddd people. We also believe in Santa Clause, The tooth fairy, The Easter Bunny and the Great Big Pumpkin just like in Charlie Brown. So there!! Now you know the real us.

The boys are excited about it. They are going to be Ninja's. Isaac thinks he can use his new karate skills while in costume. The sword might be broken by the time tonight gets here, but at least he'll have a knife. Ha Ha.

We went to our friends house yesterday. She used to be our neighbor when we lived down her street and she is 80 yrs old. Now that we have moved she still calls me to change out her light bulbs, or change out her battery in her smoke detector, or reset her microwave oven clock so that she can just hit start and not key in numbers. So yesterday we went over to take out some crape myrtles that she no longer wanted that were growing wild by the side of her house.

Her back is not in good shape and she's got arthitis in her hands which make her fingers stay curled. But you would never know this while watching her pull those trees out. She wants me to bring them home to plant, but of course my husband doesn't want them. Last time she send me trees to replant, they didn't make it. So Loren doesn't want to dig a hole and have them die. I'm going to be rebellious and still bring them home. Maybe they won't die this time.

Anyway, she told me to make sure to bring the boys by today for Halloween.. I asked her if she had her candy ready to give away and she said "The world is full of candy, the kids get too much sugar that way. I am giving them sodee pops." OK. I guess sodee pops don't have as much sugar as candy. But she is 80 and she'll do what she wants. I hope I get to be 80 one day because when I do, I'm going to do what I want and people will just say, "she's just old and set in her ways" Hee Hee

You broke it!

"Give, and it will be given to you."
Luke 6:38

When we give so much of ourselves, sometimes we feel like if we can't give anymore. But God can continue giving. He can give more to us so that we in turn can give more to others.
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Well, yesterday was a strange day. The boys broke their space shuttle, rocket, etc. from yesterday's post. (aka the guitar stand) They were fighting over who got to sit in front, and it just broke. Of course when it broke, they both blamed each other. "you did it, no YOU did it" and on and on. Once they figured out who broke it the most. (their language) It was on to fight about who was going to get the bigger piece. Finally, I took away both pieces and off they went to find something else to break.

While we were doing school I asked Isaac to bring me the little stereo that was on the floor in my room. He ended up dragging that thing from my room to the school room by the chord. When I plugged it in, it wouldn't work. Why? Because I think he thought it was a dog and was pulling it by the collar. He ended up pulling the chord out from the inside of the stereo.

I haven't checked out there rooms to see if they broke anything else. I'm sure there is something else, I will just wait for it to tell me "here I am, I'm broken, you see me?"

I had send them outside and last I heard, they were trying to make a fire out of rocks and sticks. Maybe the dog put the fire out if they succeeded.

We went to my favorite place in the whole world (she says sarcastically) Wal-Mart.
I mean, that may be the only hang out place here, but I dislike shopping there . They have all those registers and only 2 or 3 are open on each side. Which means you have to wait 30 minutes to buy just a couple of items.

So we had one thing and got in line in one of the 3 speedy checkouts that had 6 people. We ended up behind a lady that was sitting in one of those electric wheelchairs. Her basket was full. She seemed to have more than 20 items and I was complaining to myself. You know, we've all done it. "I can't believe she has more than 20 items and she's in the speedy lane" "Why do I always get stuck behind people that don't bother to be respectful" "Why do I even come shopping at this place?" I was going on and on. When suddenly she turns around and looks at me and says "why don't you go ahead, it will take me longer to set these groceries on the register, than it will for you to pay"

Ouch!!! I felt really bad. I had tried to practice what I had put as my devotion yesterday. You know, the fruit of the spirit. But I hadn't practiced it at the place where I needed it the most.

To infinity and beyond!

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control."

Galatians 5:22-23

We are doing a study on the fruit of the Spirit at church and we are using the book "Naked Fruit" by Elisa Morgan. It is a wonderful book, I recommend it. But for a long time I always said fruit(s) ,but when you read it closely, it says fruit. It is one fruit that contains all of those in it. Sometimes it's hard to have love towards someone when they are hard to love, but that is what God wants you to do.



Everyday we have to pray for each piece of fruit to be visible in our lives. You don't know how many times I want to say "Ok God, I can do the love and joy and goodness and faithfulness today, but I'm just not in the mood to be kind or to have patience and and definately not have self control when it's in anger." That's not how God works, he wants us to do it all. It is hard, but it is worth it because He works through us.
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The boys think that everything, EVERYTHING, in the house belongs to them. They have rooms with toys in them and yet they play with stuff that isn't theirs. They like to dig in my dresser drawers, because what is in those drawers is more exciting that the hot wheels and dragons in their rooms.



This is another thing they like to play with. Loren's guitar stand. I can see why. It can be a space shuttle, a log ride, a horse, you know, the possibilities are endless.
The little boy says that underwear are clothes, so he stays in just that all day long. To be a kid again.


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We haven't had a pastor since the middle of March. Our search committee has been working hard trying to find us one. This past weekend we had someone come to our church in view of a call. Which meant that he was to preach and we as a congregation would vote whether we felt he was the right one for the job.



He came in on Thursday and had meetings on Friday and Saturday with different areas of the church. Then he preached both Sunday morning and Sunday night. Everyone was impressed with him. He flew in from Japan, and if he was jet lagged, he never showed it. He talked to everyone he could during the luncheon. He played with the kids, he hugged on some necks and smiled the entire time. By the time we were ready to vote, I believe everyone knew that this was the man that God wanted for our church. And the vote showed. He had 96% of the congregations vote. He accepted the positon and now we have a pastor.

His wife and daughters stayed in Japan and they will all be here at the end of January to start at our church. It's exciting to know that we have a pastor for our church, but most of all that we are getting girls. The majority of the kids in our church are boys, it was definately time for some girls.

I've got a date

"He will not let your foot slip-

he who watches over you will not slumber"

Psalm 121:3

When you are going through some tough times remember that God does not sleep. He will take care of you, he will protect you and watch over you, even when you think you're going through it alone.
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Loren and I went out on a date last night. With no family around here, it makes it very difficult to just get up and go do stuff without kids. We had a sitter and we went out. Since dates alone with my husband are few, I don't care where we go. I didn't even mind if we went thru a fast food place, picked up some food, rented a movie and sat in the backseat of the car to watch the movie on the car TVs. At least we would be alone and not have to fight over the remote.

We went to dinner then went to go hang out at the only happening place here in town. You see, when you live in a small town, with limited restaurants and limited "hang outs" you have to make do with what you've got. Where else can you see different people of all walks of life and be able to not worry about having broccoli in your teeth because someone has you beat by walking around with toilet paper on their shoe? Wal-Mart!!! The only happening place at night in small town Oklahoma.

When I worked there, I saw some pretty interesting people, but I can observe them at a different level now that I'm just a customer. Strange things happen at that place. Things that make you go hmmmm! And with that, I leave it in your imagination.