Sunday was great!

My old self keeps going to say "I can't believe what happened at church on Sunday" because I have never seen it before but I can believe because I know that God is capable and willing to do it. We are in the middle of a building project, as some of you know. We have taken our old sanctuary, built a second level put the ACE classes on the bottom floor and the WRTC classes on the top floor. We are getting our new sanctuary building today! For the last few weeks we have been having our church services in a tent...not too bad but, given the choice, I would rather not be in there for too many more evening services. It does get a bit chilly toward the end of the service.

Now, here is where things got really cool on Sunday. We, as a church, had a financial need in order to get the cement poured so we can get our building up and ready before too long. The money we needed was $30, 000.00. Pastor Kevin informed us of the need and asked who could help with that. Within 10 minutes we had raised $30, 000.00!!!

What is so astounding about that? I mean really $30, 000.00 is nothing when we are speaking about God's capabilities, right? The part that has really gotten me is that most of the people there that day were single moms and their kids. We had 120 people there that day and through them and their willingness to give and their faith in God 120 people gave $30, 000.00!!!

Most of our Junior Highs/Seniors have jobs (most of them paper routes) and between 10 kids they came up with $640.00 to give to this need!!! We definitely don't need one of those little thermometer guages when we need to raise money for something! The money is there before one could even find the paper to make it!

There is such a desperation in our congregration for the presence of God and each service it is getting thicker and thicker. Other than going to WRC in Kansas City, Mo I have never been in a place like this; I have never felt this anywhere else! You really do need to come and check it out for yourselves!! (Services are Friday at 7 or Sunday at 10:30) Even talk to the Dean or Principal and see if you can audit one or some of the Training Center classes to see if that's the place for you! Some of my friends here may be interested to know that we will be learning some Hebrew and the Jewish culture in these classes in the weeks coming up. I can't wait!!!

My Absurd Religion

A video from Utube from Pastor Steve Gray on My Absurd Religion...

and one more...

Why do so many Christians push their morality and their laws instead of pushing for the presence of God? If we would just seek for His presence everything else would just line up. You can not be in His presence and remain unchanged. You just can't!

Can You Believe It?

It took two days of being open for our church's ACE school to be full to capacity and we haven't even completed it yet. so, we are facing another building project before completing one of the three parts we are in right now. It was Day Two and there was all ready a waiting list to get into our school. I think it is pretty cool.

Rush has been having some of the best times of her life in this school! She loves her "teachers" and she is excited to see what Coach has in store for them this year. They will be learning Cree too so that will come in handy for their career prospects.

Rush has a new friend, a girl who just moved here with her family; she is deaf but that hasn's stopped the girls from getting to know her. In fact, they are sort of breaking the rules but getting away with it on a technicality. There is the no talking/no passing notes rule and if you get caught you get a demerit; they have never once broken that rule yet still communicate during class. I think there needs to be an added clause to that rule...No sign language during class time.

So week one of school: the paces aren't here yet as they were waiting for more kids to finish their diagnostics but my daughter has learned how to say a few words in sign language and has learned how to efficiently communicate with her new friend through "spell" signing...and we have all ready outgrown our space...I'd say that that is a pretty good week.

Strange Friends

Jellybean and Bug have a friend who I just met tonight. They have never mentioned this friend to me before and I have to admit he is kind of, well, different, strange even. I was giving the kids their baths when it was time to drain the water; Bug told me he had to wait until he could see his friend.

Uh, ok. Who would that be.

Well, their friend is that little swirl you get at the end of draining your water from the tub...yup and he has a name...he is their friend and he is Swirlie.

I have strange kids...


...but they sure are cute...


...and entertaining.

I don't even know what to call this other than I really want to be home for my kids; I want to be a stay-at-home mom again...I miss it terribly. I know that feesibly it is not possible financially or mentally for me to be a stay-at-home mom 100% of the time but I am really looking forward to being done this temporary fulltime position I have so that I can be with my kids and taking care of my home.

My job is less than ideal; I completely understand and accept that but, that being said, it is not the reasoning behind this wishfulness...this longing. Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to be a mom, wanted to stay home and take care of my house and family, plant a garden, can and freeze food, bake, be with my kids more. I DO NOT want to wake up one morning, find my house empty and wonder why I worked so much. Granted, full time isn't "so much" but I guess it is what you feel is important...being a stay-at-home mom is a job too so I would still be working full time.

I just got to spend some beautiful time with my two youngest children...we snuggled on the couch for a bit, Jellybean went to the kitchen table to do her math homework and needed my help so I was there, leaning over her shoulder, helping her solve some problems and watching her rejoice as things began to click and giving her the occassional high-five. We had a nice quiet supper, just the three of us and then I will be giving them a bath, getting them as ready for school as possible the night before and going through our bedtime routine.

I miss my kids; my heart breaks when I think of the time with them that I have lost, the time with them that I will never get back...at supper Jellybean tried to use her straw (in her straw bowl) to drink her 'orange soup' and burnt her throat; she ran into my arms and even though my heart broke for her and her pain, it felt so good to have her run to me and just trust in me so completely and to just feel her so close in my arms.

I know being a working mom doesn't make me less than a mom but it is not where my heart is...granted maybe it is not where any working mom's heart is but I feel empty and lost not being at home with my kids more and I am really looking forward to March '09 so I can be with my kids just a little more often and look after my home just a little bit better...

Let's get caught up

This past week has been a week of changes in one degree or another so, let's get caught up on them all.

Tuesday began Jellybean's Grade 3 year; nothing too terribly new to report on that front: one new kid in the class, Hunter is still there and still her sweetie; Sharmayne is still there and still her good friend. She had math homework the first day (was excited by that) and has had everyday since.

Tuesday also found us in the midst of tornadoes and the choas of said tornadoes has ensued. Baseball sized hail did its number on windows, vehicles and most importantly, animals... My hometown, where family still lives, has been called a disaster. Jellybean & Bug figured that since there had been a tornado people were either dead or they got to visit their brother in Kansas...I get a kick out of how kids' minds work sometimes.

Tuesday also found BigB, Rush & I in emergency with Rush. She hit her head very hard, lost consciousness, began throwing up and all the other wonderful concussion signs. We took her to the walk-in clinic where they checked her over and felt she was ok to go home but doc told us if anything got worse to take her to Emerg right away...a half hour later she was blacking out again and slurring her words, so off it was to Emerg until 3:30 AM, home for a couple hour snooze and then back to Emerg at 7 to get the girl.

Wednesday I was off work because I had yet to have any sleep and we needed to keep a good eye on Rush. She was very groggy, very sleepy, very headachy but better. I got to pick Jellybean up from school today too and that was good because I wasn't able to get the time off work to take her to school her first day; I felt VERY ripped off for missing that!

Thursday I found out through phone calls and emails from co-workers that there had been a meeting I wasn't told about that directly effects my job. It was a tad bit stressful and I have to admit I did not react nor handle this situation as well as I would have liked to have. (I never did anything dumb but I just would have like to have handled it better.)

I did get birthday cake at work as Thursday was the day that we had the cake for August's birthdays. My friend, Carol made a special trip to 1521 to make sure that I got a peice of my cake. I really appreciate her for that and thought that the gesture was really, really nice.

Friday was my day off and I had planned to relax for the morning, take Bug to his first day of Kindergarten and then go to a children's church workshop before the evening church service for our Raising the Standard conference. Well you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men...Friday morning did find me getting to go downtown to pay the water bill but as soon as I got home I began calling our family doctor (on holidays), our "second" doctor (not in until 10:30) and finally talked to the doc who had taken care of Rush in Emerg as her headaches were NOT getting any better. Dr Ribeiro (or Dr Rubberroo as Bug called him) quickly arranged a Catscan and C-spine xray for her and we got that out of the way with the happy knowledge that there is nothing clinically wrong other than she got a bad concussion and may have to endure headaches for awhile (fortunately we have a God who heals and we don't need to endure anything of the sort).

I got Bug to his first day of Kindergarten (after giving him a lunch of Kraft Dinner and "octupus") where he was very pleased to see two of his buddies from Pre-K. Immediately following his drop-off I went to the workshop and was there until just before supper time.

Friday evening's service and our first night of Raising the Standard conference was very good; we got lots of things to think about that night (however I heard Saturday's was very, very powerful)

Saturday Rush worked until 11 AM at the grocery store and BigB worked at the church (the school is almost done and can be occupied by our students on Tuesday!!!!!). After they got home we headed off to McDonald's (yuck) and ate our lunch on the way to the lake where we were going to watch my cousin get married. It was really nice (a little windy on the beach) but it was nice to see family again and Bug had so much fun dancing with his buddy and cousin, DD.

Bug and DD ran up to the head table at one point ringing their bells to make the bride and groom kiss when the bride told them that if they kept doing it she was going to kiss them. She then planted a big kiss on Bug and he strutted back to the table looking proud as a peacock (he even got to have a dance with the beautiful bride).

Sunday held the final two sessions/services for the conference and in between we had a nice lunch and visit with a new family to the church.

There hasn't been much down time this week and today I am pretty worn out but, there is lots to do: School supplies for Rush, last minute stuff on the building, bath the kidlets, make lunches...I do, however, think I have to get a nap in here sometime. Yeah, a nap would definitely be nice.

Just found this...

Our friend J.D. King has gotten himself a blog and has some very interesting views on religion that some of my friends may be interested in reading...