Youth Garage Sale

We worked yesterday getting things organized for the youth garage sale and we really got alot accomplished! Lorenia, Laura Fuller, Robyn Miller, Jeff E., Ty, Tracy, Ers, Shawn, Randalyn, Josh and Fallyn were all there. We are planning to get together again on Sunday immediately after church and work until whenever. Tracy has a very simple plan of pricing things and we hope to have more items to go through and put out. Please continue to bring things and spread the word so we can get as much as possible to sell. We have a great start and I think we will have an awesome turn out. Waymon will be running the ad for us in the paper this week. We will need workers for Friday as well as Saturday. If you think some of the parents of youth would come Sunday and help or bring stuff while we are there please give them a call. Thanks and hope to see you Sunday.

Believing in our Blessings

I called a friend this evening to talk about something that has been on my mind for awhile and the first thing she said to me was "Have you prayed about this?" before I could even talk about what was bothering me. I was able to answer yes!!! I was even able to tell her that I was not even mad, I just needed to take what was going on in my head and put it into words and get someone elses perspective to make sure I am on the right track. As I am talking, the longer I am talking, the less important this situation becomes to me. The more I talk the more I become focused on the many blessing that my life is filled with. It was so amazing! I started a conversation with a small bother that was making me uncomfortable to a feeling within me in minutes of how good I felt about how much God has given me in my life! I have such a wonderful loving husband. Two really good kids. A great church. A good job, very demanding but good. We always have enough money to pay the bills, put gas in our vehicles, and buy food. I have lots of very loving friends. I have a wonderful and supportive family. I have a nice home. I am in pretty good health compared to many. Why would I waste energy on anything other than the fact that I am blessed beyond measures and I have so much to be praising God for. So many times we focus on the tiny specks of negative that cloud our judgement or enter our minds, hearts, etc. and it only takes that speck to make us forget all the good that God has done. Think about when you have something in your eye how bad it hurts and how it feels like it is huge and you feel like you can not do anything else until you get it out of your eye. Your eyes are watering and you are absolutely miserable. You get what is in your eye out and you see that it is this tiny little thing that does not amount to anything that is causing you so much pain. It is a speck. When it is out you can see just fine but your eye is still red from irritation from that tiny little speck. What if you where wearing eye protection? You would not have the specks in your eyes. There would not be any lingering irritation. This is what God is trying to teach us by preparing ourselves with spending time with him in prayer and reading his word. We will have his protection so when the specks come at us we will not let them in! We are protected and they cannot irritate us. If they do we can handle them easier and the irritation does not last as long. I am so thankful that God never gives up on me! I have leaned on him so much lately and he has taught me so much about myself and I feel I am really growing. It is painful, there is no room for pride at all but I know from experience recently when I started removing specks from my eye, the world has become a more beautiful place!

Taking a break!

You are all at Youth right now and I am suppose to be studying! I have studied for two hours and I hit a wall of frustration and had to take a break! I came to check our blog sites and this was such a breath of fresh air. First, I see that Ty has accomplished his first blog and wrote such nice things and then I read Paige's blog about the Women's Retreat along with Brook's comment. I knew Saturday night when my mom called that I had missed a great thing but Sunday I was hit with several of my friends that I bonded with last year at the retreat that said it was so good. I vow to never miss another Women's Retreat again. I normally go to all of these type of things but Dawson had a Winter Guard Competition here this weekend that Ty and I had to work at and we had not seen him perform at any of them yet because they have all been out of town and we have been bad broke parents and have not traveled to them. So, I had already committed to work this event earlier in the year. I get there 30 minutes early to find out it has been cancelled due to the weather. This just makes it worse now knowing what all I missed! It never crossed my mind to go on to the retreat Saturday because I was suffereing from a migraine that I had all week. I even hosted a house full of people Friday night with the migraine! (which I enjoyed despite the pain!) I can't get the weekend back or the speaker back but I have learned that it is ok to put my needs first sometimes and tell people NO even if it involves kids and take a much needed ladies weekend for myself! I will be with the ladies next year!

My Heart Stopped

I play Bunco the 1st Monday of each month with a group of Christian Women that I have grown to love more this week then ever before. I normally go each month and play Bunco but I have been somewhat reserved with my "Bunco Babes" as we call it because I do not know them well and I have to really know you to trust you much. Well, even though they all seem really nice, the past year and half that I have spent one day a month with them has been really shallow on my part. That is until Monday, March 3rd, 2008! God made me "Get Real"! Here is my story!

Dawson who is 16 and you all know how overprotective or (if you must, you can call me overbearing), I am with my kids I have to know where they are, who they are with, and what they are doing at all times. Ty was working as always and I was off to Bunco. Dawson and I talked earlier and I told him I had to have the car so he would need to find a ride home with so in so or so in so. Can't mention names. I told Drew to have Dawson call me as soon as he got home. I left the house at 6:00 and Dawson should have finished practice at 6:30. He would be home no later than 7:00. I am playing and we are loud and having fun, the most fun I ever had at Bunco. Then I realize, my phone has not rang. I stop and call home. Dawson is not home yet. I ask what time it is and it is 8:00. I HONESTLY THINK MY HEART STOPPED! I got confused and questioned the again. When it was verified that is was really 8:00 things after that are a little fuzzy! What I can remember is Mary immediately was dialing his coaches number who she has in her phone. I am calling home again. I call another friend and ask for help. I call Ty. Still no Dawson. I am thinking he has been in an accident. So far, as a mother, this is the scariest thing I have ever experienced. Not just as a mother but ever! We almost lost Dawson as a baby to congestive heart failure and I was more scared Monday because of the unknown. Dawson shows up at home within minutes of the start of the phone calls and he was in our driveway all along talking to a friend. I was furious! Relieved he was alive but furious that he had been so irresponsible. Brook quickly came and hugged me, I remember once I knew he was okay. We continued playing and I did the best I could to contain my composure. I wanted to just cry! At the end we always have prayer request and we all started talking about my situation with Dawson. They were in fear of his life once I got home. Lorna suggested that I say nothing to Dawson right away and let him just have to think about what was to come and about what he had done. This is so not me! I did it anyway! I said nothing, not even the next morning. Not one word! I scheduled my parents to pick him up from practice the next night while I was at school and nothing was discussed. That night I met them at a restaurant after class where they were eating and I acted like nothing was wrong! He shared with me his success on a test and we acted like nothing happened. I decided to let him come to me. As soon as we get home and I change my clothes, I see him come in and out of his bedroom a couple of times looking nervous. Then about 5 minutes after we are home and I am settled, he comes to me and apologizes for the fear he caused me. He sincerely apologized and told me where he went wrong and why he would never do that to me again. I just sat and listened and when he was through, I said "Thank you". My hearted stopped the night before when I thought he was hurt or dead but my heart broke when he came to me and owned up to his mistake like a man. To all my Bunco Babes, thank you! They were praying while I was franticking, they shared with me and loved me through this in a way I would have never done on my own. I believe God worked through these women to reach me and show me how to be merciful when my child made a mistake. I learned more about loving Dawson this week then I ever have. I have to give to him time and space in order to receive! Love you all!