Calling all Prayer Warriors...time to fight

PRAY FOR...(see my blog favs on right side)

Laurel-mom of 13...flying to Ghana w/an adoptive mother to pick up her daughter..Comfort, age 6, in desperate need of medical attention for her heart...PRAY THEY GET HER BACK TO SEATTLE FOR SURGERY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. God's timing is everything and He always meets us at our point of need.

(not on blog favs yet) A dear friends grandson (twin- boy and girl, girl is doing remarkable well)....Ethan age 2.5 wks old...need of heart surgery to fix many a complicated issues surrounding his heart. Again God's timing.. for weight gain, health, wisdom.

Thank you so much!

HOME.....continued

We spent Tuesday night w/close friends in TN. (please see my entry below on home) Thanks so much MaryB and Ken for opening your home to us. Thanks for taking timeout of your weeknight Dennis, Beth, Raye, Becky (almost mother w/baby #5) Haliegh, Abby, Levi, Emma (sweet cheeks). Thank you McKenna for giving us your princess bed for the night. Bailey thank you for all the hugs- I will require more the next time we get together...and James Russell, you are an awesome teen, I am so proud to call you my friend.

From top to bottom:

Becky (mom of soon to be #5) being mom.... to Abby and Bailey (Missed you Jimmy-sorry you had to work)

The mark of true friendship....a Vol, a Buckeye and a Tiger all in the same room (Steve, Dennis and Ken watching sports)
Me & McKenna .....posing in her princess bed w/our PJ's on!(a promise is a promise)

4 Amegios.... MaryBea-the talented one, Beth-the social butterfly, Me and Becky-a mother of 5 need I say more! I can always count on these 3 ladies for anything)

Haleigh and baby sister Emma....or other wise known as sweetcheeks

Raye, Hailegh an MaryB....what's a little burgers and dogs among friends!

Where is your home?

Your home, where you were born? Is this the same home you now live in? You say, you no longer live where you were born? Huh, me too! So where is your home? The plaque states that home is "where your heart is." My dad use to say that "home is where you hang your hat." While others say that "home is where family lives."

The Bible tells us that home is where we will live eternity w/God if we have accepted the free gift of eternal life that comes from Jesus and his death, burial & resurrection from the cross.

What does your home look like? Is it larger, new, old, small, traditional, modern? Does it have a pool in the back yard, a 1,2 or 3 car garage, a rusty swing set or bikes in the grass?

Home, where I was born looked somewhat like the above. Home when I married looked quite different from where I grew up, mainly b/c we were constantly moving.Never in the same town or state for more than 6 yrs...we would pack up and move yet again. Our girls did a rather stealth job of adjusting to their daddy's job.

But if I had to do it all over again...I WOULD! B/C we have had some awesome homes! Never w/the view of the descriptions you may pick from the above list...but from the opportunities to make new friends! The experiences our children received were most rewarding.

We have lived in southern and northern Texas,Virginia, Ohio, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, and now full circle back to Ohio. Many homes that were filled w/love....laughter/sadness....victories/defeats. Crowded w/people, runaway teens, SS parties, open houses, internationals eating dinner w/us, bringing neighbors together for the first time, you name it our home pretty much experienced it. (notice I said home -not plural)

So although a home is where the heart is, and any house will be home if you live there w/family....IT'S REALLY NOT A HOME UNTIL YOU OPEN IT UP TO STRANGERS. Then after you do, those strangers are no longer strangers but FRIENDS!

WE are so blessed to have friends! You are so blessed to have friends! They are our richest asset, the wealthiest commodity we could ever hold onto. So hold on w/all your might! Sing a song of joy for your friends.

Gameday,88 degrees, lacrosse fun, celeb's & sunburn

(from top to bottom) You've seen this guy on ESPN....TBDBITL! ....Mr. Ghee, President of OSU...football and the flag. We live in a great country!

Correction to spring has sprung...

....please forgive me for a type-o.... MaryB & Ken are awesome friends and HUGE LA. TIGER FANS not UT fans. So here is a GEAXU TIGERS! cheer for great friends!
GO BUCKS! GO UT VOLS!

This is brought to you by "fair and balanced" college sport nuts. Because at the end of any given game, good friends are by far better than any ole ball game.

Spring has sprung...

weddings let us know that spring is in the air....(this is my neice and her new husband)

everything blooming lets us know that spring has sprung... (and affecting my allergies)

Flowers galore definately let us know that spring has arrived...and a few tomato plants in the back...(thanks Annie, I had so much fun w/you today)

lunch out w/good friends & awesome family let's us know that the cold has left us and we get to enjoying 80 degree weather... (Steve, John and Annie)

A SWEET HUSBAND BUYING YOU A GREAT Spring weather OSU SHIRT
...(as a treat) (picture later)

...The BIGGEST clue of all is purchasing 2 tickest to the Ohio State Buckeyes Spring Football game!

(and know that you get to watch NotreDame play the Buckeyes in lacrosse)

NOW... this can only means that the regular season for collegiate football is almost upon us!

(Let me hear a cheer from Erin & Chad in Mississippi, Shana/Bill, girls, Jill & Warren in Georgia, Mary B & Ken in Tennessee.)

GO BUCKS!

What is wrong w/this picture...

..in January our President was trying to get us to understand that the budget cuts (8 billion dollars) Republicans were asking for in his first ever budget was very small in comparison....AND NOW our President is trying to get us to understand how much a 1oo million dollar cut that he is calling for is important.

So let's see how important 1oo million dollars is in this NEW BUDGET. (not last years budget) It is 0.0027% OR in lam ens terms it equals to 1 latte coffee ($6) for one family for one day!

...Murtha, from Pa. built an airport in his district w/our money for $197 million. The best thing to this story; it's flight plan: to DC 3 times a day.

....what's with our President thinking it good politics to let everyone know our interrogation methods? Six CIA officials told him it was not a good idea, even Panetta the present CIA director, told him not to do this.

Now I am fair and balanced...the Tea Parties that were held on the 15th is the exact reason we the people are ticked! BOTH PARTIES are spending out the wazoo! It's time it stops. It's time our govt understands that cuts mean CUTBACK...STOP SPENDING LIKE A CHILD IN A CANDY SHOP. That is what we do in our own families when it gets tough. Reality will come to those in DC in 2010.

ok, I need prayer...

...funny how scripture can be read to fit any situtation...well, (over to the left side in my Ponders of my Heart) I chewed on these words throughout the weekend from Saturday...then it hit me today! Something happened to me today that has caused these words to dive deep into my spirit.

Something someone has said to me has been so vile and hurtful that I need your prayers. Prayers to forgive this person...prayers to understand...prayers for wisdom in how to deal w/it.

Have you ever been there, so hurt that you are sick? So hurt that the one thing (anger) that would come out doesn't? That is the spot I am in right now. So please pray for God to give me guidance...maybe He just wants me to stay silent, and in this case that silence would be a forever kind of thing. But that's not a bad thing, to keep silent. God knows my heart and God will deal w/it.

Thank you! Joy!

Oh the faithfulness of our Lord...

Go to one of my favs on the right side of my blog, 3/4 of the way down.
Click on Katie and Kids!

Read her story from April 8th.....makes me wonder why I don't see God working like she does. Think about it. What is different? And now what can I (or you) do to make our daily lives connected like Katie's is.

* Willingness/obedience/country~she was willing to go into a strange country b/c she was listening to the Voice of God
* Connection w/God~ her daily walk (although I am sure to falters at times) is so in tune w/Him that she hears His voice speak.
* Prayer~ time spent in communication w/God like best friends invest time together.

Katie encourages me to be better at this 3 points....I hope and will pray that after you read her journal entry, you will be encouraged to make a difference in your neck of this great big woods.

3 of a kind....

ok, everyone say "AUUUHHH!" (this is a kodak moment for when they are in their teens and pulllin each others hair..OR chasing each other thru the living room and kitchen w/the mop and the broom when the parents are out! ~ RIGHT Shana & Jill)

A simple napkin.....

....that all it was, a folded napkin placed ever so gently on perhaps a stone ledge in a cold tomb. Friends in somber faces approach the death tomb and realize that the huge rock has somehow been taken from the front of the cave. Who would have, could have moved such a heavy rock? And when they looked inside, their best friend was missing. Who would of stolen a corpse? Of what use would a dead body be to anyone? Still in shock and wonder, the friends stand inside the cave, confused. You can imagine the thoughts that were going on in their individual minds!

The friend who was loved more, was so confused. The gauze wrapping that prepared the body was tossed onto the stone ledge, but wait, what does he see? A folded napkin. Then he totally understands what has taken place. Then he remembers the conversations he had w/his now dead friend.

His mind wanders back to the servants in his home as a young child. Their job was to set the table for meals. His father would have a unusual signal for the servant that signified the end of each meal. IF the Master was finished with his meal, his would simple stand, wipe off his mouth, beard, and hands then throw the napkin onto the table. The servant would know to start cleanup and prep for the next meal. IF, however, the Master would wipe his mouth, beard and hands then FOLD his napkin and place by his plate, the servant knew the Master would be returning. In other words the Master was coming back. So the servant waited.

The friend who was loved, then knew his loving friend was returning. Thus the folded napkin!

This story is of course the Empty Tomb scene, the victorious scene of Christ rising from the grave found in John chapter 20. The story told by John who was "the one whom Jesus loved." (grave where is your victory, death where is your sting)

Our pastor told the Easter Resurrection story in such a picturesque way that for the first time in many a years, this year was very personal. Maybe b/c of things that have taken place in my life, or just that w/a new pastor, it was fresh and anew! DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? We hear these stories every year, we witness all through out the year, but sometimes we NEED TO HEAR THE STORY, THE OLD OLD STORY OF JESUS AND HIS LOVE, anew!

Pastor Terry did not finish there.....he continued about the personal relationship God desires w/us. Then he talked about the marriage feast...you know, the one in Revelation, when the bride groom will come for His bride (the church)

Then Terry said "I don't know if it will happen like this or not b/c the Bible is unclear...but picture w/me if you will... We are all at the feast, praising God in song, then Jesus stands wipes His mouth, beard and hands as we watch Him in awh! He looks to the Father and back at us, He throws the napkin on the table... It is done!"

At this point in the service I got chill bumps all over my body. And when I told my daughter on the phone a few days later, she said the same thing. "Mom I so have goose bumps right now."

Pastor Terry said, When Christ said, "It is finished" on the cross, He meant the one time sacrifice was finished, no more! But the folded napkin meant that for redemption sake, He was coming back just like He promised.

Now our job to is make sure that when Jesus returns, He will see that the folded napkin was not folded in vain....may we tell others the good news of the FOLDED NAPKIN, may we be an example toward others about the good news of the FOLDED NAPKIN. Just a simple napkin!

(disclaimer: the Easter sermon notes are my own wording, yet the scripture and examples came from my pastor)