God Sees

This is the last part of the very, very good talk we heard at the conference I went to this winter.

I found myself reading over these points again and marveling at how deeply and how much they touched me still! I don't know about you, but I always need to be reminded of what God really wants for me and what He really has for me......

Otherwise, I forget and I start acting like a wretched, icky, grouchy and discontent Mama.

Nobody wants to see that!

Please read this last installment!

Katie's Blog

18

Well, it's official.

My firstborn, one-and-only son is now 18.

He turned 18 last Wednesday.

My heart.....oh, my heart!

It is so amazing and surreal to look at my very-tall son and see him grown up.

It is also surreal to be old enough to say I have an 18 year old child.

I never, ever imagined in my wildest, best dreams that I'd have one child, let alone 8 here on earth!

My reality really is a fantastic fantasy! It's made so wonderful by my son, who is really such a gentleman.  He is so loving and protective of me and we are a LOT alike in a lot of ways.  He just finished writing his first book and is now writing the second book in the series.  He's intelligent and very studious.  He has made me so proud of the man he has become!! And I don't even care if those sentences sound cheesy or braggy, it's the total truth!!

A lot of people say that because my son has 7 sisters, that he will be a great husband.  I do think it is true because he is learning how to treat a lady, and how ladies like to be loved and taken care of.  He has an edge over families with lots of boys!

I've included a few pictures from his first months and really, he hates to have his picture taken, so the most recent picture isn't all that recent.

Here he is at 3 months old.  He was really, really cute and really, really small!

Our son at 6 months old.  I was propping him up under the blanket!

Here he is at 10 months.  He really looks like his sister Kellie!

The day he turned one!!

And finally, a picture of him at 11 on one of our vacations.

So, there's a small glimpse at our only son.  We feel that it is so symbolic that God gave us a son for our first child.  He has lived up to everything we hoped for one of our children.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for him as he progresses through manhood!

The Home

Here's part 3 of the series Katie is doing on her blog.

It's about laziness versus hard work.

It's very convicting, at least for me.

I hate looking in the mirror at myself and my ways. But I want to change! I know that we all, as wives and mamas, have areas of our lives and our hearts that we can improve....I hope it isn't just me who needs a whole lot of work!! 

So, read this next part with a prayerful heart.

Katie's Blog

Servanthood

Here's another part of the talk given at the conference I went to this winter.  

This part of the talk was the most heart-piercing for me.

I expect my children to not complain, gripe, groan and serve each other with a happy, smiling heart and face......

Yet I often don't do that myself!!

Ouch.

Please read this post and be challenged! Please be thinking through the week about the things you can be thankful for, because like Katie said, thankfulness is like Kryptonite to resentment!! 

Here are 10 things that I'm thankful for:

*My husband lets me refill my coffee card every pay day without complaint.
*I get to live in a state that is so beautiful and so green and lush!
*My kids really do get along well and really do love each other.
*I'm so thankful for Pennie's soft, squishy cheeks and that she lets me love on her.
*I'm thankful for Titus 2 women who are dear, dear friends.
*I got the opportunity to edit my son's book.  I'm so honored and privileged that he wanted me to.
*I love that my kids love my cupcakes and muffins.
*I'm thankful that the Lord is going to make me into more of a servant.  
*Without forgiveness, where would I be? 
*I'm thinking a lot about my son lately, and how thankful I am that the medical technology was there to save his life when he was born.  I'm not a big fan of the medical community or their ways, but I do believe that there is a rare time and place for them.  My son was born early and we didn't know if he would survive for the first 24 hours of his life, and without the local NICU, he'd have died.  Praise God that my son will celebrate his 18th birthday this week!

So, go read Katie's post!

Katie's Blog

Adapting

Today I want to share a post written by one of the pastor's wives in my area.  They had a motherhood conference at their church earlier this winter that I had the privilege to attend, and I actually knew one of the speakers, and what she spoke on hit me really deeply.  I wanted to share it with you just because it is such wise and timely wisdom.....

Below you will find the link to her blog.  I pray that you would read it with an open heart which desires to grow and change, and I also advise you to pray before you read it so that God can show you what He wants you to see.  

Remember, everything we do is for Him anyway.

Katie's Blog

Singing

Let's just jump right in here, shall we?

Yesterday I got a phone call from the local college choir director.  She said a scholarship was available for me to sing with the concert choir at the college.  She dearly wanted me to join the choir as a high soprano, and so, she was making her appeal to me.

Let me just give you all a bit of background, shall I?

You see, I do sing.

I have been singing since about age 6, and I've been in one choir or another ever since then.  Singing is the only musical talent God gifted me with, and I haven't ever really been sure WHY He did!! I simply love to sing.  I've been on one worship team or another over the years, and sung with All State Choir and another elite choir years ago.  I'm always singing.  

I met the college choir director last Spring when my husband and I joined the community choir.  She is small, tiny, but she is a powerhouse! She has a pretty impressive background, and she's definitely accomplished and has had a stellar career.  She's so sweet and such a fantastic teacher.  Husband and I immediately came to esteem her highly.  I also took a semester of voice lessons from her, on her recommendation, and I learned SO much.  She had recommended that I take one more semester of voice and also wanted me to think about auditioning for concert choir, but Husband and I just couldn't swing it financially at all.

So, up to the present, after the Spring season of community choir, my husband and I chose to drop it from our list of things to do because we were simply gone for too many nights each week.  We were just wanting to spend much more time with the children.  We knew we loved to sing in the choir and we knew the choir director wanted us there, but we just had to make some hard choices.

Last month we went to an Opera Gala put on by the college opera students, which she also teaches.  It was a wonderful evening with fabulous music and some really great talent.  Afterward, we met the choir director in the wings and talked to her for a little bit, and she mentioned how I ought to think about auditioning for concert choir, and how they'd love to have me there.  I chuckled and snorted a bit....I just thought she was trying to be nice....

Fast forward to yesterday.

Apparently, she was dead serious and had been thinking about me and having me join the concert choir.  So, she applied for a scholarship for me, and got it. She called me personally yesterday to tell me that she had already taken the liberty of telling the young women, whom I had a fabulous experience with at voice class and community choir, that I was going to join, and apparently, hallelujah's were sung! And she put in a waiver for the audition part too.

Wow.

I guess she loves my voice and thinks I'm capable of much more.

I'm stunned and bewildered and kind of feeling surreal right now.

But here's a little secret about me: whenever I see a singer perform a beautiful piece, in front of a live orchestra, with the gorgeous, elegant gown, and she just hits the piece out of the park, I've always wished that were me! I've always had that inexpressible desire rise up within my heart and soul.....

I know God has given me this opportunity.  It is only because of Him and by His hand that this door has swung open for me, and I'm walking through it now.

We'll see what happens.

Confirmation

I just read a really, really great post from my friend Erin over at The Superfluities.  

She recently began, with 7 of her friends, to delve into Jen Hatmaker's book called "7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess". Prior to reading her post, I'd never heard of Jen Hatmaker or this book.  But Erin's post instantly got my attention and confirmed some things I had been hearing the Lord try to speak to me.

It may seem so small and insignificant to you, but I have sensed the Lord trying to get me to scale down on the number and frequency of my favorite coffee drinks that I have been having lately.  Lately, I fight constantly with myself and my conscience when I crave a drink and want one so bad....I actually feel guilty for having one! Now, I'm not at all saying that coffee drinks are bad and awful and unGodly and you oughtn't to have one, I'm just saying that, for me, it's getting excessive and I feel the physical and mental effects of having so many. And for me, I have felt that tugging on my heart, and have heard that still, small voice, and when I start feeling guilty about something, I know that's the Lord trying to get my attention!

This is as honest as it gets, people.

I have been having at least two drinks, and a lot of times three a week.  I used to have 4 drinks a month.  That's up from previously having two a month.

And I know that the Lord is trying to tell me something here.

I view that many drinks to be excessive in my life.  I originally was having the drinks as a special treat.  They were few and far between and something special and rare I could do for myself.  The problem is, now getting a coffee drink is no longer special.  Now they just don't taste as good.  Now they don't make me as happy as they once did when the getting of them was rare.

I sense the Lord wants me to scale way down on the coffee drinks.  My coffee drinks are not healthy, and I sense that He wants me to embark on a journey to be healthier, for my children and my husband.

And the fact that I have a Mt Everest of trying to lose 50 lbs in front of me stares me in the face every morning when I look at myself in the mirror.

The Lord is speaking and I really, dearly want to respond to Him and submit to whatever He is trying to do in my life and heart, and even in my physical body.

So, I loved Erin's post because it addressed this very issue.

Go read it and leave a comment for her! And thanks for letting me be honest!

**This post has been edited because I wanted you guys to go to Erin's blog to read her great post, but forgot to give a link to her blog!!! So now there's a link and now you can go to her blog!!**