hope

Just an update – April 20,2011

April 20, 2011 by Dana

First I have to say, that my growing son is going to eat me out of house and home. Seriously where did this kid develop his sudden hunger? And his little sisters are not far behind him. Growth spurts contribute to much of it. They are growing and growing requires more food to fill up their small systems. Fuel. Fuel to run their sweet bodies and charge their overflowing minds. But it is CRAZY how much food they can eat! Wow!!

In my first steps to a more balanced life, I have been putting up inspirational quotes in both obvious and less obvious places throughout the house. The ones I have placed are written in print for the kids to be able to read, though they are more for me at this time than for them. My next step will be to create some simple quotes, both biblical and inspiring, to place around for the kids to read. I think inspiration is important for us all.

One thing I’ve noticed is that my inspiration for redesigning my house has hit a “blah-pffff” moment, as if all the air has been deflated from my enjoyment of life and home. In combatants, I have been watching HGTV, Food Network, reading blogs and magazines for ideas. Is it helping? No not really, at this time, but maybe something will click eventually! LOL

In my reading, I have found some great books. I’m not revealing which ones as of yet, but I will reveal that they have one common thread. Just Do Something! That’s right, just get up and DO something! Do it with God in mind, showing your love for Him and the Life He’s blessed us with, for the beautiful children He’s gifted to us. Just Do It! (Sounding like the Nike commercial now.)

And have I been “just doing it”? Well yea, I have. I have started with cleaning out our outside building. (Huge building that is seriously bigger than some of the first American homesteads.) There is so much room in there but in it’s continuous disorganization you couldn’t tell it. My goal is to get it organized enough to sort through over the summer and also find some storage to put some of the extra “junk” still in the house out there for now, until I can chunk it or find it’s “home” inside (or in the building, as I see fit!).

This brings me to another realization, which I have known for a while. I’m a spoiled, lazy American girl! There are days when I sit back and wonder: If I had to live 100 years ago, would I have survived? My answer: only if I was rich! I’m too spoiled to modern day conveniences, like dishwashers, washing machines, computers and the internet. There are many days when I have trouble just getting up and doing anything. I find I have been trained that my “wants” are most important and should come before the “needs” of housekeeping and care-taking of home and life. I find a lot of American’s have this same problem today, which is why you can now find a million how-to, cleaning and organization websites online.

As you can see, I’ve been pretty busy lately mostly with re-organizing my brain and learning more about myself and about homekeeping. There’s still much more to come but for now I think this is about as good a start as any. God bless all!

God’s Truth {Thoughts From Me}

March 31, 2011 by Dana

Lately, this one thing has been weighing on my heart. I have noticed both online and off, that many people profess to be Christians. Yet these same people still go around talking and thinking about things like many Non-Christians do. This truly saddens my heart.

Please, note that I am not saying I don’t do these things at times. I do. I also do my best not to. No one is perfect and if we were I’m sure our name would definitely be Jesus.

I have noticed many professed Christians talking in negative language about others who have ticked them off. I have noticed others speaking of situations that are possibly negative, yet never shedding a Christian light into the “what if it wasn’t like that” aspect of thinking. I have seen in my own family, members telling other members “sometime life is better without that person in your life”, speaking of what’s considered to be unwanted drama in their lives. I have even seen sisters turn against sisters and brothers against brothers over such things.

My question is: is this what God really wants? Is this thought process of negativity, of turning against one another, of NOT supporting decisions, thoughts, love and caring relationships through thick and thin, truly what God wishes of us as Christian beings? Does God want us supporting each of these negative thoughts with a “yes I see it your way”? OR Does He wish for us to see life and love through His eyes?

My answer is to take a step back and truly view the situation. Truly attempt to see Life and Love through the eyes of the Father. View things as He wishes us to see and don’t take the first response as your answer. Some things are better left to prayer.

God doesn’t wish us to turn our backs on one another. He doesn’t wish us to JUDGE one another or to LET GO of one another. He wishes for us to see each minute thing, each burden through with love and support and caring of one another. By all means, He KNOWS we are NONE perfect but He asks us to STRIVE to be our best. Yet HOW can we be our BEST when we are busy being our worst?

Stop what you are doing today and really let these thoughts, these statements I have made, sink in. Let the TRUTH of God’s LOVE sink in. He loves EACH OF US REGARDLESS! Why do we NOT LOVE each other in the same way??? Why do we allow the DEVIL to work in our lives, instead of allowing God to do His work instead? Today, I am making the conscience decision to LET God WORK in my life, as it should be in all our lives. God Bless!

Birthday Party Prep

February 19, 2011 by Dana

This week is not going at all as planned, unfortunately. I think the events of last weekends flood and various other things are really getting to me. I’m feeling exhausted and like a Tiger trapped inside a cage. I want to get out of here and DO something but time right now doesn’t allow for that.

Tomorrow is my beautiful girl’s party. It’s not exactly how I wanted it but I know she’ll be happy regardless. I am postponing the sleep-over part of the party to a later unknown date. Everything is going to be moved out into our yard so I know the kids will all enjoy that, being able to play and enjoy the fresh air.

First in the morning I must back the cake and cupcakes for the Princessa’s party. I also have heart shaped cookies to make for her. I just pray I can get it all done!

I bought her gifts tonight. I know she is going to LOVE them. Some things she had asked for and others I just happened to come across by chance. I bought a lot to encourage her artistically: paper, markers, stickers, stickers, sticker kits and so much more! I can not wait to see her creations. She’s such an amazing artist already.

Since tomorrow is such a busy day, I must go to bed. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately and I’m sure I’ll get to sharing more of that later on. But for now, my sweet Princessa’s birthday party tops my list! I love my baby girl and all of my kids. They are my greatest gift from God.

Finding God in Children’s Disobedience

November 23, 2010 by Dana

Recently, my dear friend made a blog post about depression on her blog. In it, she spoke of how God looks at depression in us. All the things she posted she backed up with biblical reference. One of her mentions really struck me as truth in my own life. She mentioned that God changes children’s attitudes when you are depressed, and even when you’re not, in order to bring us to our knees. This is so very true in my life.

My beautiful daughter, Emmalee, who I mentioned last night in my post about sickness, is possibly my strongest, and my hardest child to raise. She wants things her way and will do everything to make that possible. She doesn’t throw fits, she doesn’t whine and cry but instead she will just do what she wants regardless of consequence or respect of my wishes. She is a messy but inspirational child. She is a loving but needy child. A perfect balance of good, and not-so-good all in one. And her little sister is not far off from her either, attitude-wise. Both of them are a true test for me in parenting, faith and life.

I have been looking for ways to deal with them, to learn how to live with their strong spirits and raise them as God wishes, teaching them to use their unique qualities to work for the Lord, instead of themselves. It never really dawned on me that part of their attitude is from the Lord, in order to change my own ways of life and my own attitude. God wants to bring me to my knees.

Why would I think that, you may be asking? Why would I think that God wants to bring me to my knees by causing me strife with these two beautiful children, or how could I even think that? Well, God wants all of us to be closer to him. He wants us to get down on our knees and call out to him, begging him to help us so that we are fully dependant upon him for guidance, love, and help. God is meant to be our encourager, our best friend, our Father and our confidant. It is the way of the world to turn us away from these things with him, the way of Satan to pull us apart from our Loving Father in Heaven. By bringing us to our knees, God is bringing us Home to Him, home where we belong. He is forcing us to pay attention, to listen to His Divine guidance, to share in His love and to share His love with our children and others.

Disobedience in children is all a part of God’s bigger plan to bring joy to our lives and our lives closer to him. This whole concept has completely changed my view in life when it comes to my children’s attitudes. It has helped me in my journey to be a better parent. This concept has challenged me, has shown me the truth behind what God wants from me. The crazy part is that it was there the WHOLE time, but I was just too stubborn to listen. Well, I am listening now and I am thankful for the sweet lady who God led to write this blog post on depression, for it has truly changed my own life and those of my children for the better.

“Don’t make God yell, listen the first time.”
– A friend from my past.

Praise in the Midst of Sickness

November 23, 2010 by Dana

Tonight I sit here with my beautiful 7 year old daughter. She is sick with a sore throat and fever. I gave her tylenol that has helped break the fever for now and honey which has soothed her little throat. I pray for her and give Praise to the Lord for blessing me with this strong, faith-filled little girl.

Times like this make me realize just how much I love this little girl. Sometimes in the midst of the busy-ness of life, I forget just how little she really is. In the pace of today’s world, children are grown before you blink your eyes. Seven year olds often act like pre-teens and in turn are treated as such. But nights like tonight remind me that she is indeed only seven, just a baby who needs her loving mother’s care. I thank God for her and praise him in her time of sickness.

Times like tonight remind me how easy it would be for the Lord to call her home. How quickly she can be taken from me. Times like tonight reminds me how much I should appreciate the Gift of her being, of her belonging to me, even for this short season of life. God has entrusted me to raise and love this child of His, to guide and take care of her. He’s entrusted ME, of all people, ME. He is wise, He knows best and for this I am thankful, for this I give Him praise and teach her to praise Him, even at her worse. He will not fail either of us. He is the Great I Am, Father of Heaven and Earth and all the Universe.

(Luke 8:48 NKJV) And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Update and a Thought {July 14, 2010}

July 14, 2010 by Dana

Update and a Thought…

I’ve been extremely busy lately re-organizing the house and doing a late-summer cleaning. Plus kids, a terrible two-dler, working on Saturdays and keeping up with the day to day, hasn’t left much time for fun stuff and online. Good news is that it’s all getting done and bad news is that I’m still no where near the end of the tunnel (HELP! I can’t find the light! LOL).

While I was cleaning up earlier, going through the monstrosity of stuff I’ve accumulated (with my dear Mom’s help) over the past 31 years (and let’s not forget to add the kids’ over-abundance of possessions that are never played with), I had a lot of thoughts. For one, why do I keep all of these things? And why do I feel guilty to get rid of a simple ugly doll just because my Mom gave it to me at a time when she didn’t have a lot of money to give me anything? Why do I feel sad to toss Grandpa’s old steel cup that I never once saw him drink out of? These are just things, material possessions, not the persons or memories themselves.

Then I began to consider even more stuff. Like why do we teach our children the same things that we have been taught from birth. We come into the world with nothing but a Mother and possibly a Father who hopefully loves us more than life itself. We have no possessions. We are naked and as basic as we can be. It’s then that we are taught to want and need and that we begin to crave these unnecessary things in life.

We are taught we should grow, we should walk, talk, play. We are taught we should need a Barbie because Sally has one, or a bike because Joe peddles his like a mad fool. We should attend schools with 1000’s of other children and spend our days with them, until we come home to a Mom who has a great meal cooked waiting on Dad to come in from work. And we should want a similar life, with a nice home, a car, dog or cat, and beautifully well-behaved children. The American Life. Our life’s goal is to grow into a very old person, with a loving family and something to show for our time here.

Truly, life doesn’t work that way at all. Many children don’t have that home-cooked meal from Mom, or a Dad who works hard to provide that meal. Some don’t have a Barbie or bike or that cool new Zhui Zhui pet. They’re home may not even be there in the morning. And life can be taken away in a flash. Tomorrow is not promised, only this moment we are in.

So my thought is, why do we teach our children to want and need the American Life? Why not teach them instead to live in the day, in the moment and to love and appreciate what they have in this instant in life? The Now. Life is short, and God is calling each of us every day. I, for one, want my children to be ready to live in the Love and Light of the Lord. To hear His will and be guided by Him and to want all the treasures of Heaven, for they will be there before we know it, in the blink of an eye, when He calls us all home.

Till next time… Dana