This is a test...

It has come to my attention that my BFF, of 25 years mind you, does not read my blog. Now I know, I haven't been too consistent in posting lately. But we're talking about months and months. In fact, I believe she's only read it once. She then bookmarked the page and never returned!!! She claims she doesn't have time! Time to click on a favorites..what's that 3 seconds? I don't expect her to check everyday, but is every 2 or 3 weeks too much to ask? I think not! She claims to have repented of this grievous oversight. I guess we'll see. So BFF, (you know who you are) if you're reading this, say 3 months from now, please leave a comment to prove you still exist! Love you!

Love this song...and the next one too!

I Know You're There

On being 40...

On June 9th, it happened. I reached the milestone of being alive for 40 full years. In other words, I'm now working on my 5th decade of life. As much as I should be depressed by this fact, for some odd reason, I find it quite empowering. 20 is so overrated. Sure, I miss my cute butt, and I've gained 20 pounds in the last 2 decades, but 40 really is so much better than 20. And here are a few reasons why: (humor me, here)
- When I was 20, I knew very little, and thought I knew everything. At 40, I know a lot more, yet realize I still have a lot to learn.
- I didn't have a house when I was 20. Heck, I didn't even have a car when I was 20. So what I'm getting at is I have a lot more stuff now. (Thus the constant need to declutter)
- At 20, I was just beginning to realize how much my parents had done for me. Now at 40, I totally appreciate them.
- At 20, I dreamed of a family and children. Of course in my dream, it was a lot less work. Today at 40, I'm living the dream. Despite the work, I know how blessed I am.
- When I was 20, I didn't even know what a church family was...now, I know, and thank God everyday for mine.
- At 20, I knew about Jesus...but I didn't know Him. At 40, I'm getting to know Him more and more everyday, and He never ceases to amaze me.

Yes, 40 is definitely better than 20...except for those funny, little hairs that keep popping up on my chin. (What's up with that???) I honestly think I'd rather be forty than twenty, despite the chin hair. Now if I could only find a way to freeze the hands of time and stay 40 forever.

The last three weeks

I would apologize for my poor blogging record, but I know you've heard that song before...so I'll just try to quickly recap the past few weeks.

- The last weekend in May was girl's weekend in Boston. I got together with 9 ladies- no husbands, no kids. It was a reunion of my friends from our college days. Freshman year we all ended up on the same floor in BU's Towers. We called it Seventh Heaven- everyone else just called it 7 west. We had a great time! Amazing that 10 moms could manage to get away for a weekend. We must have awesome husbands...poor guys...we had so much fun we decided to do it every year, instead of every 18 years!

- When I got home, I got to packing. We left on a vacation/field trip on the first Tuesday in June. We spent 3 nights in Williamsburg, VA. Then we headed up to DC for 4 more nights. We had a great time, except for the ridiculous heat. Pictures to follow- at some point.

- While in DC, I turned 40!!! Wow, am I old, or what? I guess it's official- I'm a grown-up! More on the wonders of being 40 in a future post.

- Returned to battle my nemesis- laundry. Yeah, I know, you've heard that song before too. But I really, really hate laundry!

- While on the road to Virginia, I once again reworked next year's curriculum...for the millionth time. This time I'm sticking with it. (Although the new Rainbow Resource catalog just came in the mail- I'm trying to resist the urge to go at it with a highlighter!)

- On Thursday we hit day 180! You know what that means- School's out for summer!! Yay!

- We visited my dad on Friday. He was leaving for vacation on Father's Day, so we celebrated it a little early.

- On Sunday it was so great to be back with my church family. I had missed two Sundays teaching Sunday School, and believe it or not, I really missed it! The kids assured me that they wept and lamented my absence- or not...Then we headed to my in-laws for more Father's Day celebrating.

Well, I guess that about does it. I'll try to have something witty to post about in the future. If not have mercy on me. I am old, after all.

How Great is our God?

Pretty amazing. He literally blows my mind, on a regular basis. As I've mentioned in my last post, I've been writing to a lost teen, who I love very much. God first convicted me to write to him about two months ago. Being me, I had to discuss the point with God. I mean, it seemed kind of weird to write a letter to someone I see on a regular basis. What was I supposed to do, sneak in his house and stick a letter under his pillow? At the same time, I saw his life spiraling out of control. Within days of God telling me to write to him, I discovered he would be away, and my only means of communicating would be via writing. (See how smart God is.) So I set pen to paper and started writing. I felt very convicted to share "God Stories" with him. I wrote about the many ways I've seen God work in both my life and his. Over the course of the last 6 weeks I've told him many stories about God's intervention in his life, and the life of his family. Things he would be aware of, but not necessarily see the God connection. During that period I've received a very positive response from him. He even wrote that he didn't think I was crazy, and it's all starting to make more and more sense. Over the course of the weeks, I've shared the Gospel, and his need for forgiveness, but not in the conventional way. I just told him the stories God put on my heart. So about a week ago, I felt it was time to lay it all out as clearly as possible. I wrote him a letter that spelled out the Gospel. I even included cute little drawings to demonstrate his separation from God. I worried a little that I may have gone too far. I certainly didn't want to overwhelm him, and push him away. But God had it all in His hand! So the other day I got a letter from him. Talk about God's perfect timing. He wrote that right before he got my letter "with the drawings", he had read a little book that a "priest" had given him. He told me the book said that he had a sin problem, and he needed to turn away from his sin, ask Jesus to come into his life, and forgive him. He then wrote that right after he did "it", he received my letter. He was amazed that my letter said he needed to do what he had just done! I'm assuming the "it" he's referring to is receiving Christ as his Savior. So, how wild is that? He told me to write to this boy before I even knew what his circumstance would be. He then lays on my heart stories of His faithfulness and trustworthiness, all to prepare his heart for the best news ever. Coincidence that he received my letter immediately after praying for Jesus to come into his life? Or a "God thing", to confirm to him that he made the right choice? Now that, my friends, is a Great God. What a blessing to serve Him!

Blogger break

Well, it appears I've disappeared from bloggityville. It was not a planned break, just a lot going on. Between sports and the play the girls are in, I've been going non-stop. Also my Grandmother is in the hospital, Mother's Day etc... I've been expending most of my writing energy to correspond with a troubled teen I know and love. Let's just say he's "away", courtesy of the State of RI and his own poor choices. But he's responding well to my letters, so if you can send up a prayer for him, I'd appreciate it. Hopefully I'll be back next week when things slow down.

On assignment for God

This Sunday my church began an adventure called Kingdom Assignments. 30 people or teams of people were given $100 to use to bless people, and further God's Kingdom. In 90 days we report back to the church. This is our second year doing Kingdom Assignments. Last year people did an assortment of tasks from a coffeehouse, to collecting used shoes for disaster relief. I had an idea of a fun assignment, but I was worried that it was my idea, not God's idea. During the service the pastor was teaching about Elijah from 1Kings. Two of the points seemed to confirm that my idea was a God- thing. The first was the truth that God can engineer circumstances and make divine arrangements. The question is whether we trust Him to do so. This seemed to answer one of my concerns. The second point was that God can miraculously multiply limited resources. That pretty much wiped out my second concern. So when the time came, I went forward to recieve the hundred dollar bill, and signed on for a "Kingdom Assignment." So here's what I'm going to do: When going through the drive thru at Dunkin Donuts, I'm going to pay for the customer behind me, and leave a note and a small gift explaining my assignment. The gift will be a small book by Max Lucado. I hope to bless 20 people, but I guess that's up to God. Depending on who He puts behind me, and how much they order, I should be able to meet that goal. I've already ordered the booklets, and can't wait to start blessing people! How fun is that?

I'm back..still dizzy

Well, after two weeks of vertigo, I'm back. I'm not sure if the vertigo is really better, or if I'm just getting used to it and adapting. Anyway, life has been very boring at my house. The kids are climbing the walls, and so am I. We've had two weeks of very light schooling, as I haven't been up to much depth. It's been interesting to watch the kids during these two weeks. Rachel has been spending more and more time on the computer on various writing projects. She finished one chapter book she wrote, and is working on another. She also has 2 plays in the works. It's ironic that's she's doing all this writing on her own. If I assigned her these writing tasks, there'd be all sorts of whining involved. Alex, my reluctant reader, has been spending lots of time reading Spiderman books to himself. Maybe there is something to be said for unschooling. Rachel, who struggles with spelling, has grown by leaps and bounds since she started her own writing projects. She finally has a reason to spell properly. We're planning on trying IEW next year to help her grow in her writing skills. She writes with a strong voice, and her writing is very interesting. She has decided to become a writer when she grows up, so she can work from home, and homeschool her own kids. Alex, on the other hand, has decided to be a "hobo". This decision came about when he was lamenting the need to learn Math. He finally saw the light about the usefulness of reading. "It's like watching a movie in your mind." Yes, it's all about entertainment for my little guy. I tried to explain how important Math is in real life...paying bills, buying a house, shopping...etc. Well, he decided he doesn't need to learn these things because he plans on being a hobo. In his mind that means wandering around in the wilderness with a sack of his stuff. He'll bring books for entertainment purposes. Ironically, he is very gifted in Math, he's just not a fan. He can do math quite well, by walking around in circles while he calculates in his mind. Sitting down and doing math the "right way", is not his style. I just need to learn how to channel his bright mind into a productive citizen. He is not your typical learner. Olivia on the other hand is my star student. She is very bright, and is learning to read and write with ease. She's needs to be homeschooled for totally different reasons. At the ripe, old age of 5, I can already see her attraction to worldliness. We are very concerned about the teen years with this one. She's managed to wrap around her fingers anyone over the age of 13. EVERYONE loves Olivia. They also think I'm nuts when I express concerns about her. In the words of my BFF "Oh no, not Olivia, I don't believe it." Yes, she knows how to work it, and has pretty much snowed everyone with her sweet, innocent act. But, we're on to her, and are going to do everything in our power to mold her strongwilled nature for good. As you can imagine, that will involve a lot of prayer. I guess that's all my ramblings for today. Have a great weekend.

Tricia got the call!!

I've been so out of it the past 12 days, that I haven't kept up on my blog reading. Apparently, Tricia got the call for her new lungs a few days ago. It turned out to be a dry run, meaning upon further examination, it was decided that the lungs were not a good match for her. This morning they found out a new set of lungs might be a fit for her. The team is flying out to check out the situation. They hope to hear soon, and she may be on her way to surgery tonight! Please pray for Tricia and Nate, as well as the donor's family. Check here for an update, since I've been too dizzy to be reliable about posting. If you have no idea what I'm talking about click here to get a quick overview of this incredible family. Best wishes, Tricia! I'm praying for you!

Update: It's a go!! Tricia is being prepped for surgery right now! Please pray. By the way, today is Nate's birthday! What a gift!