Saturday Sunset In Westcliffe, Colorado

I just wanted to share a beautiful sunset that we saw when we were here last March. This happened to be a Saturday night. It was so beautiful! We are in Westcliffe right now but will head to a camp ground in Leadville tomorrow after church. We went to the little Baptist church when we were here then and it was small but nice.

I am so excited to be on vacation. We didn't get to leave the house until about 11, instead of 9. The toilet backed up, one of the day care kids forgot to flush after using too much paper. Then another child went in and added more to it. So.....that was fun....NOT! But we had to clean it up before we left. I drove until we got to Amarillo at 5 a.m. and then John took over. Bless him! I was so beat! I slept until we got to the border of Colorado and ate breakfast at Denny's. We have been up since then. Everyone is asleep but me. I got in the shower after everyone was asleep. I am beat so I am going to go to bed so I can get up for church tomorrow. I will have work to do on my hair!!! So I need to get up early!

Until next time...blessings to you.

Spiritual Warfare

Just when you start to grow, Satan begins his attack. When you are ready to grow in your relationship with the Lord and/or the relationships that the Lord says are important to maintain, he starts throwing things at you to get you off track. We each have a choice to make at that point...let him stop you in your tracks or... tell him to leave you alone and put your focus back where it was before. How do I know this? Because I have lived it many times and am living it now.   As a lot of you know, there is a 30 Day Challenge to Honor You Husbands that I am a part of. I am trying to stay focused on that challenge and Satan is throwing all sorts of things my way. I have not slept well for the last few days. I think I am feeling the pressure of our trip coming up so soon and not having anything ready yet. Nick, who has been doing so good for so long had a small but bad meltdown yesterday. That really made me feel depressed for most of today. Satan has done a job on me in that area for many years and he knew that would bring me down faster than anything else would. He was right. It tore me down. The meltdown wasn't very big and didn't last very long but it made me feel as if the whole world had come down on top of me. The weight was enormous. I have tried to push those feelings away all day but some kept lingering. I think I had to have the chance to get on here and put my feelings down so that I could let it go and move on. My day has been so busy with kids that I have not had a chance to do this.

So now that the kids are in bed and all the daycare kids are gone, I can sit down and spend some quiet time praying and reading encouraging words to build me back up to where God wants me to be. I have spent so many years, yes years, letting his meltdowns bring me down. I could be postitive about anything else and look at the bright side of things. But not that. I just couldn't see past the pain I felt. For years I have heard and believed, except for this situation, that "God doesn't give you more than you and He can handle together". I felt like it was a lie in this situation. I would shout to Him that I couldn't take anymore. That He was wrong if He thought I could handle it. The problem was that I was trying to handle it on my own. I kept taking it back and trying, like most moms, to "fix things". But I can't fix this. I can only give it to the Lord and leave it in His hands and be comforted in knowing that He does want the best for His children and does not want us to suffer for nothing.

I know these things and have for many years. But sometimes we have to be reminded of what we know. God is growing me in this and someday I know I will be able to offer some kind of support for someone else that has had to go through things like it. If I come away from all this learning nothing then it was for naught. I do not want that. Of course, no mother wants her children to suffer for any reason. I am no exception to that. I have watched my son suffer for many years now and feel the pain because of it.

I am looking forward to seeing him happy more than sad for a change. He has actually been pretty happy the last few weeks. I pray that returns for our vacation so we can build some good and happy memories for all of us.

Until next time...blessings to you. 

An Almost "Midnight" Trip To Sonic

I was sitting here watching a movie with Jenni. JC had just gotten home from his friends house around the corner. His dad had picked him up before he left for work (He works nights). I got a thought out of the blue. "Wanna go get a chocolate shake?" A resounding "YES!" was heard throughout the house.

Why not? I can run to Sonic for a late night snack at 10 p.m. to spoil myself and my kids ever once in awhile, can't I? Sure I can. Normally, I am too tired at the end of the day to do anything but fall into bed. I don't know why I have a little more energy tonight than normal. It might be because I have been contemplating godly things all day and seeking His will in many things as I have gone through my day. I have drawn strength and wisdom from other godly women on their blogs.

So why did I go to Sonic at 10 at night? Part of it was because I really wanted a chocolate shake. And part of it was because it is summer, my kids don't have to go to school and they can sleep late in the morning if they want to. But not too late. During the summer we go to the free movies on Tuesdays. So we will go see Curious George in the morning and have a good laugh at the movies for free. I am trying to do lots of fun things with the kids during the summer so that we can build some fun memories of their childhood summers. I am big on memories! I sure wish I could find more time so I could scrapbook. I really love to capture my memories that way. Someday....

Night!

Until next time...blessings to you. 

Finally Friday

  Thank You, Lord, for Friday's. It has been a LONG week. Not a bad week, but long. The weekend was a busy one, remember it was Father's Day. Sunday started out with Donuts with Dad before Sunday School. After Sunday School, like any other Sunday morning, we headed to the apartment complex to teach Bible Study to the kids that come to hear about Jesus. Afterwards we met our oldest at Cracker Barrel to celebrate Father's Day with all four of our children. It was a great lunch but we had little time to sit and enjoy it. Sami had to get to work and the two younger kids had a birthday party to attend at 2:30. After the party the first day of our Vacation Bible School started. 

It was a wonderful week at Vacation Bible School, VBS. I was helping out in the 4's class and we had 7 regular kids each night. There were two nights that we had only 5 but it wasn't like most years were we just kept adding kids each night. We really had a great group of kids and they were great at remembering all they had learned each night. My kids had a great time in their classes. Game Champ was a helper in the 3rd grade class. He really enjoyed that. Each evening after all my daycare children left we would rush up to the church so we could get there by 6:15 and we didn't arrive home until 9:30. John had to leave for work each night by 9:40 so we didn't get to see him very much. VBS ran from Sunday through Thursday night.

Now, just because I had to work VBS all week didn't mean I got the week off from my daycare. On the contrary, during the summer I have extra kids, summer school age kids. On Tuesday mornings I take them to see a free movie. I take only the older children, no one under 2. The children are very well behaved on our outings. But the noise level can rise in the playroom when all the children are awake and playing the many different things they get into each day. By the end of the day, I was beat. I seemed to have a hard time sleeping, or I should say resting this week. I had a lot on my mind with our vacation coming up and trying to plan that as well as deal with all the daycare stuff that comes at me each day.

After reading the 30 day challenge my mind has been focused on some other things. More important things. My focus has been on my marriage and my husband. I went out to the shelves of books and got my copy of "The Praying Wife" and started reading the introduction. I know how great prayer can be. So as this week comes to a close and our short weekend comes and goes more quickly than I care to think about; I am going to do what I can so that this weekend and the following weeks don't drag me back to thinking about earthly things. I am excited to see what God is going to do with our relationship. We have been through so much together. We have been closer than we are now but only because of time spent together where we get hardly any now. But I plan trips together so we can have that time together or we would not see each other at all. I make us take time off. He appreciates it and I am glad. Next Friday night we will be on our way to Colorado for a week. We are so excited and I am going to use the time to study more and spend time with the Lord to grow.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at some pictures from VBS. It was a blessing and I can't wait to help again next year! Even in the mist of all the things I have had to do this week, I have enjoyed the blessings I have received and been a part of giving to the children this week.

Until next time...blessings to you.

Memories Monday - # 2 - Fathers - Part 1

When I think of "fathers" not just one person comes to my mind or one quality. I didn't grow up in a traditional home, per say, so that is off a bit. I never think about my birth father because he never had a part in my life. I think of my grandfather/adopted dad, my husband and my Heavenly Abba Father.

I was adopted by my maternal grandparents so my grandpa became my father in every other sense of the word "father". He was a quiet man who loved to work on cars, play golf, go deer hunting, play Domino's (Moon and/or 42) and watch "Gunsmoke" on TV while he napped in the chair. My grandmother sang in the church choir so on Sunday mornings before I turned into a teenager and sat with my friends because I was "too cool to sit with a parent" you would find me right next to my grandfather on the fourth pew from the front. On Friday mornings my grandmother would play a round of golf with her friends and he would take me to Burger Chef for a fish sandwich before heading to the golf course for his turn to play with his golfing buddies. When I was really little, about 5 or 6, I can remember his cleaning a deer in the garage. It was a dirt floor garage; we lived out near the fair grounds. I used to watch him and have long talks with him while he was working in there. I don't really remember about what but I can remember enjoying just hanging out where ever he was. He was the one that walked me down the isle when I got married. That was over 24 years ago and he went to be with the Lord in 1992, 8 1/2 months before my son Nick was born. He was a great father and a great man with many talents. He did not get the chance to know any of my children because he had a stroke when my oldest child was very little. I miss him very much and wish he could have known them. I know that he would have enjoyed my boys and my girls would have had him wrapped around their little fingers. June 19 was his birthday! Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Parts two and three to come.

Until next time...blessings to you.

Memories Monday #2 My Grandmama

When I think about memories one person comes to mind more than others, my grandmother, Iona Offield. She wasn't just my grandmother, she was my MOM. I was three days old when I went to live with my grandparents. They officially adopted me when I was in the first grade. I got to grow up with all of my cousins and other family members still a part of my life, except for my birth parents and two siblings from those parents (who were adopted out to two other families when they were 3 and 2. I was the oldest.). But I know God had a hand in where I grew up and who I grew up with. I have known many godly women over the years and some of them are so dear to my heart. But the person that has had the most impact on my eternal well being is my grandmother. I affectionately called her "Grandmama". I did try to call her mom for a while after they adopted me but one of my aunts couldn't deal with that. Imagine a grown women getting upset at a 7 year old for calling her mom "mom". That stopped that pretty fast. I figured it must be wrong if Aunt Reta was angry at me for it. I didn't realize at the time that she had other things that made her act that way.

I watched my grandmother serve on many committees at church and in the community. She was in WMU at church and she did outreach within our church to members in our little town. She worked with the American Cancer Society. I know she did many more things but what I remember more than anything that she had her Bible at her bedside table and would read it every night. I saw her reading God's Word and heard her praying daily. No, she wasn't perfect, but she was a work in progress and I could tell she was doing what she could to let God do that work in her.

She didn't have the easiest life one can live. But she left a legacy for all who knew her. And many knew her and most that did loved her dearly. She had 4 daughters (one died shortly after birth). They gave her 13 grandchildren. There are 45 great-grandchildren. After she went home to be with the Lord there were 2 great-great-grandchildren born.

Until next time...blessings to you. 

Memories Monday #1 Westcliffe, Colorado

I realize that my memories for Westcliffe don't date back to far. We just discovered it last September! (The picture is from September 2006.) But I know in my heart that God led us to that sweet little town under the mountains. As we drove from Colorado Springs to Westcliffe we didn't know what we would find. Neither John nor I had ever even heard of it, let alone been there. The drive from CS to Westcliffe takes about an hour and a half. As we drove we talked about what we were looking for and what we hoped to find. We were meeting a guy that was to show us some land. We got closer to Westcliffe and the views began to change from the Pikes Peak mountains to the Sangre De Cristo Mountains (The Blood of Christ), which are just as beautiful in their own right. I think in some ways they are even more beautiful. As we set out to look at the three properties that Bob had for us to look at we prayed for guidance and His wisdom for the property that was for us. The first two we knew were not what we wanted. When we saw the third one we just knew it was the one. We took pictures of it so we could look at them and pray about it and decide if we were supposed to put an offer on it. Only through the grace of God did we get the bid and then were able to get the financing to pay for it. I know that God will provide the money to pay it off and build a house on it someday.

We can't seem to stay away. We returned to Colorado for Thanksgiving. We found a small layer of snow on the land. We also got to go sledding in northern Colorado. The kids love Colorado as much as we do and are excited to get to move there. I don't know when the Lord will do that but we are waiting to see. We also spent a whole week in Westcliffe on Spring Break this year and found even more snow on the land. We even found a frozen lake. I took a wonderful picture of the sunset. It is like fire in the sky. Our next trip is the week of July 4th. We are so excited to be going back. We will spend some time in Westcliffe and then the other half in an area north of that. I will be glad to have that memory for the kids for 2007's July 4th.

Memories, what are my favorite ones? The memories that I make with my husband and children doing things that we enjoy. We enjoy going to Colorado and seeing new things each time. We love to explore the wonders that God created. I can't wait to see some new and wonderful creations while we are there next month.