Cookies, I'm at it again...

I feel bad for my husband. Why? Well because I continually change my hobby. One minute I want to scrapbook another minute I want to bake. Who knows, some day I may want to do photography! 

Recently I decided I wanted to decorate cookies again. Yes, again. You can see here where I began decorating cookies. I would like to think I have improved a great deal since that post.

Here are the most recent ones I have done. I ordered a ton of cookie cutters with my birthday money! I may just have to order some more. I'm thinking of having a cookie decorating party for the boys. That way we can meet some of the kids in their Sunday School class at church and maybe make some friends. Poor Ian has been asking to have friends over and I don't know how to tell him that we don't really know anyone well enough that has kids. :( 

Ian and Owen asked me to make the rocket ship for them and for daddy :)

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P.S. I got the recipe for these cookies from the blog Bake@350! She is so talented and I actually won some of her cookies before! Check out her blog for some amazing cookie ideas!

sleep please...

You know when you are sick and you realize that what you really need is just a day to stay in bed and get some rest? 

cough.

I'm there. Right now. 

moan.

I am dealing with either bad allergies or a cold. Either way I feel like all I need is a day in bed. Of course seeing how I am a stay at home mom, who is in a new town with very few friends who are available to babysit, I will just have to deal with the allergies or cold and wait till the hubs gets home to go to bed. 

Kleenex are my best friend today. Do you hear that? It's the sound of the cough drop package opening.

sneeze. 

Jericho...

Do you ever feel like you are praying and nothing is happening? I know I feel that way at times. This week though I was reminded about Joshua and the battle of Jericho. Remember how they walked around the outside of Jericho for 7 days and for 6 of those days nothing happened? They were quiet and just walked.

Joshua 5:10 But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!”

Can you imagine being one of the Israelite army? I am pretty sure my thoughts would be “this is stupid, if God is going to deliver the city into our hands, why not just do it the first day?”

The cool thing about God is that he knows what needs to happen. If he would have taken the city the first day then his Glory would not have been seen as much. Imagine the Israelites were being ridiculed by the people of Jericho, thinking they were crazy for trusting in a God who is having them walk around their town once every day. And then to top that off on the 7th day they keep walking and on the last lap they shout!

Are there things in your life that you feel like you are just “walking around the wall” with? I know I have a friend who is going through an adoption and the birth father is contesting the adoption. I just can’t help but think of her and her husband walking around this “wall”. Could God have given them baby S without any complications? Yeah, he totally could have. I just have this feeling that at the end of this the “wall” is going to fall down and God’s power and might will be seen to all of those involved in this.

Do you think it was hard for for Joshua and the Israelite army to trust that God had this under control? I'm thinking so. I imagine they spent time in prayer before, during and after each walk around the town.

What is your Jericho situation? Let me encourage you to continue to trust in the LORD. He’s got this.

Joshua 5:20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.

Seeing God's hand...

I love getting to see God's hand in my life! There have been multiple times where I have been able to look back and see that he had things under control. Usually though it isn't so close to it happening. Here are a few ways I have seen that God has this move under his control:

1. My friend Mary introduced me to a friend of hers from college. Her name is Lindsay and the way I saw God in that situation is that if Justin would have got this job 3 years ago when he first applied I probably wouldn't have got to meet Lindsay. You see she was out of the country doing mission work! Lindsay is who invited us to the church that we attend and also has introduced me to other friends! I just love how God has taken care of us in this area!

2. Our living situation was looking dim. I was getting worried that Justin would have to live up here for a long time before the boys and I came. One day Justin and I drove up to our new town and we tried to find a place to live. The nicer apartments were either full or low income housing. We began to look at near by towns and thought we were going to end up either living 30-45 minutes from Justin's office or that Justin would have to live in a hotel for a few months while we continued to look for a place to live. Well two days later I brought the boys to our new town and we looked around once again.  My mom knew someone, who knew someone, who of course knew someone that works for a property management company. She gave me her number and we found out that she had a duplex available for rent. We went and looked at it and I fell in love with it, but it was about $50 too much. So I went home once again feeling down that we would not have a place to live. But God was in control! The property manager called the next day and said she wanted to do a move in special and would allow us to live there for the exact price that we could afford!!!! 

3.  When we first put our house on the market, I began to pray that God would provide someone who would just fall in love with it like we had. I can still remember when we walked into the house for the first time. I was just so excited about it! God has brought a young couple to buy our house and I couldn't be more thrilled! We even got to meet them this weekend, again, I think God brought that together. 

Skipping a few...

I am not going in order on the list of questions from the "30 things my kids should know about me" series. I figure I can either come back to them or just skip them all together. :) 

Today's topic is "Describe your most embarrassing moment." I'm pretty sure I will never forget this moment and now because I feel like putting a smile on your face you will never forget it either! 

Let me start by saying my high school drama teacher was scary. In fact I'm pretty sure I am still scared of her. You will need to keep this in mind as you finish the rest of my story. 

My freshman year in high school I auditioned for the musical. They were doing South Pacific. My sister actually got the lead roll, but that really has nothing to do with the story. I was cast as an island woman (not sure if that is really what my part was called, but there were 3 or 4 of us in that group). Basically part of the chorus. 

Anyways, it was the day that we were trying on our costumes and the director, Mrs. Brown, told me my costume was in her office and told me to go try it on. I went to her office and looked around. I found one outfit and put it on. Honestly I wasn't sure about it, and as I'm typing this I'm wondering if this was for the musical my junior year, either way it is still super embarrassing. So I go out there with this outfit on and this is what I hear...

"That isn't your costume, that is what I wore to work today!"

Oh My Goodness! I was so stinking embarrassed. I'm surprised that I didn't ask to be home schooled after that. 

Obviously I got over it and life went on. But I will always remember that as being my most embarrassing moment in life...but I'm still living, so I'm sure there will be something else. :)

What is your dream job, and why?

Here is another installment of 30 things my kids should know about me: #7. What is your dream job, and why?

In a job interview at LifeWay Christian Stores (OKC location), I was asked a very similar question. I think it was more like "If I could do anything what would it be?", I'm not sure why I remember this so much. I remember my answer too! I told her that "I just wanted to be able to help people". I love helping people, whether it is to help them find a new shirt, a book or maybe a gift for another person, it has just always made me happy to see another person happy! 

So with that being said, I think I would just help people. I put together an entire power point presentation one time on my dream job. It was called Lindsey's House. It would be a maternity home for girls/women who find themselves in a crisis pregnancy situation. Whether the parents kick them out or perhaps the boyfriend or husband is abusive. I wanted to have classes to inform them of their options on parenting and adoption. Then of course have classes for them to go to, especially for those who were teenagers, they could learn things to help them be able to get a job and even their G.E.D. if they don't finish high school. 

I could really go on and on about Lindsey's house. I still would love to put this into action, even if it is on a smaller level. I would love to be able to host a girl who finds herself in a crisis pregnancy at our house. Maybe someday....