True Greatness

My dear friend Andrea posted this site on her blog. http://www.familyminute.com/blog/?p=544
It was so wonderful to hear this, because this is one my heart's desires for my children. To be a servant for the Lord by serving others.

I want to raise my children for true greatness.

4 qualities of True Greatness:

• Humility - Psalm 131:1 (Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.)
• Gratefullness - 1 Chronicles 29:13 (Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.)
• Generosity - Psalms 112:5 (A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.)
  
• Servant's Heart - Mark 10:45 (For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many

I want my kids to be humble, thankful, care about others more than their own self and to want to help others.

Lord, help me to be these things so that I can lead by example to my children.

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Karate

Karate Boys

39. (on my list to be thankful for) I am so thankful for our karate studio. Mr. Millwood incorporates the Lord in with karate. He reinforces the values that we are teaching the boys at home.

Collin is in the Little Warrior's program.
Will

Never let your guard down.

How many of you have ever kicked your teacher and lived to tell about it?

Yellow Belt- Collin

Yellow Belt- Will

A Child of the King

A Child of the King~ by H. Buell & J. Summers

1. My Father is rich in houses and lands, He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands! Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold, His coffers are full, he has riches untold.

2. My Father's own Son, the saviour of men, once wandered on earth as the poorest of them; But now He is pleading our pardon on high, that we may be His when He comes by and by.

3. I once was an outcast stranger on earth, a sinner by choice, and an alien by birth; but I've been adopted, my name's written down, and heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown.

4. A tent or a cottage, why should I care? They're building a palace for me over there; though exiled from Home, yet, still I may sing: All glory to God, I'm a child of the King.

Amy is in the middle. My sweet friend, Zelle is from the Philippines. Both are such a blessing to me.

We had a wonderful ladies fellowship last week. I was blessed to hear my dear friend, Amy teach. She has been a missionary to the Philippines for the last 12 years. She is one of my Spiritual heroes.

She has 2 sweet precious boys that my children adore. I love spending time with them. Her love for the Lord just overflows. Just being with her gives me spiritual uplifting. Amy encourages me to be a better child of the King & and a better mom.

The lesson was about the Advantages of being a Child of the King.

1. Presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. John 1:12, John 14:16-17

2. Promises in the Word of God that I can claim. Hebrews 13:5, 1 Thessalonians 5:24, Proverbs 3:5,6 Faithful is He Acts 16:31

3. Power of Prayer in my life. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 - crying out loud - pleading the blood of Jesus.

I nI needed to hear this, to be reminded again. I've seen God's hand in prayer time after time, but sometimes I give things to God and then take it back. At times, I think, I know this is God's will, but why isn't anything happening. How long is it going to take? Then He reminds me- in My time. I have to trust in Him. Some of the things I've been praying about- I know without a doubt He wants it to be so- more than I do. Wait on the Lord and be of good courage. Wait, I say wait.

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4. Protection of the Lord over me. Safety is of the Lord. Proverbs 21:31

5. Privilege of serving Him. Joshua 24:15, Psalms 100:2, Colossians 3:23-24

6. "Princess" title I can claim John 1:12 Because I am a child of the King, that makes me His Princess!

Me - a Princess! Does my husband know this? Princess' don't clean their own throne. I do like to wear necklaces - even when I'm cleaning. I wonder if I start wearing a tiara, instead, while I clean if it'll get me out of the chore?

{Side note: If you have a little girl, check out Gigi, God's Little Princess by Sheila Walsh. It is so cute. Faith and I have really enjoyed reading it.)



I am truly honored that God has allowed me to be friends with my spiritual hero!

Joshua 1:8

My computer has been down due to a virus. I am so glad that my hubby was able to bring it back to life. We didn't loose anything, we just couldn't sign on. So I guess I need to thank the crazy person who created the virus for not making one that would destroy everything on our computer. Why do people create just to destroy? That is another blog for another day.



Do we know how to sit and think? Or do we just sit?

Joshua 1:8 "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."

We must meditate on the word. We must heed and enforce the word of God.

Meditate day and night. This is more than acquiring knowledge from the scripture. Meditate means to ponder or give serious thought to. The goal for spiritual meditation is application.

We are living in an age that has forgotten to be silent with God. Walking in God's commandments ensures God's promises. "then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success." (vs.8) If we desire to prosper as Joshua did, then we must do as he did.

Study the word of God
Submit to the word of God both day and night.

(the notes above from our Pastor's sermon.)

I want to have success. Maybe not what the world views as success, but what my Lord views as success. I want to have a marriage that pleases God. I want to raise my children to know and love Him- to serve Him. I want to be faithful. When I meet my Heavenly Father, I want to hear Him say "well done, thou good and faithful servant" (Matt. 25:21) That will be my success.

{Side note: When we were expecting our 1st child, I had already picked out the name Faith if our child were to be a girl. 2 babies later, we had our Faith. Not only did I love that name, but it was the essence of my desire ~Faith, to be faithful.}

I need to learn how to sit, be still and ponder on His word. Meditate- apply His word to my life both day and night.

Do we know how to sit and think? Or do we just sit?

Beach in January

I love going to the beach on the off season. No crowds. The people that are there are so friendly. I do enjoy being with friends, but family time is so special. From Thanksgiving to the end of the year, Tony is so busy playing Christmas services, shows, ballets, etc., that we hardly have time to spend with him. Our January trip to the beach helps us to reconnect, enjoy each others company, relax and just have fun.

Faith was going to join me in the hot tub. After she stepped on the 3rd step, she said "it's a little spicy for me."

It was so nice to sleep in and not feel guilty. Nothing to clean, nothing to cook, plan or prepare and no traditional school to do. (We did some school, they just didn't know it. I wish we could do school like this all the time.) Truly relaxing.


I woke up to find that I was the only one up. Wonderful alone time with my Lord! I brought along this wonderful book to use along with my quiet time. I just love Elizabeth George. She must me my long lost twin. God uses her to tell me just what I need. She uses lots of scripture in her books ~ which I love. There is nothing like spending time with the Lord on a quiet beautiful beach. You can feel His presence all around.

God's stunning creation.

After a quick breakfast, Collin joined me. I love spending one-on-one time with my children. Snuggling, laughing, loving. We decided to take a stroll on the beach. Listening to the gentle lull of the ocean, dodging sea gulls as they swooped down, looking for shells, talking of our dreams, talking about everything and about nothing. Meeting people.

My plan was to run on the beach alone with the Lord- listening the my mp3 player praising my Creator. Instead, I was blessed with running with Collin. Sometimes when plans change it can be better than what we 1st wanted. Maybe tomorrow I can be alone on the beach, but if I have company that'll be a treat too. I never did get to run on the beach in the morning. I was able to have a different blessing with me every morning. The Lord still granted me some wonderful time alone with Him throughout each day.

I loved the slow pace. We enjoyed playing games, reading, swimming & watching cable (what a treat since we don't have it at home).

They boys loved when Tony flipped them in the air.
Will ~ in 1st pic. Collin ~ in 2nd pic.

Tony & Faith playing air hockey.
Will & I are playing pool.

We found a little arcade down the road. We had a lot of fun playing games.

We had a lot of fun at the aquarium.

I want to introduce you to one of my favorite animals. The stingray. Why a stingray you may ask. On the service, he may look a little scary, maybe even a little lonely. You may even start to feel sorry for the little guy.

If you start to investigate him, you will see how he really feels.

There's nothing like sharing Daddy's drink.

Despite the cold, we had a great family vacation. Simply wonderful.

Here's to being Healthy

One of my prayers for 2010 was to find God's will for my life for this year. One thing that He has showed me is to eat and live healthy. There is a difference between dieting and living healthy. We need a life change, not just a short fix.

My darling husband is a meat and potato man. So this may be challenging at times. Thank the Lord 2 out of 3 of the children love to eat healthy. Collin is like me. I love all meats & breads, most fruit and very few veggies. I've been praying that God will change my taste palate.

I am so thankful to my friend, Holly for telling me about 2 wonderful tools that will help us all. The 1st is Sparkpeople.com . It is a free online site that has wonderful recipes, exercise tips, etc. The 2nd one is The Sneaky Chef. You add puree veggies to your meals. I've made a few of these recipes and truly, you can't taste the added veggies. I added it to our turkey chili and my hubby said that it was the best batch yet. (He has no idea, unless he reads this.)

One thing that the kids love is "this and that in a tin". Finger food in a fun muffin tin. I got these and never had success at making anything in them, so we used them for serving food.


This is going to be a gradual change. Add a few things here, take away a few things there.

There are a few friends of mine that are planning to take this journey along with me. Andrea shared this with me.

2 Chronicles 32:7-8
⁷Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:

⁸With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

I've been searching for verses on God's power and how it's so much greater than anything we can ever imagine. I have no will POWER when it comes to food so it has to be His! He's here with us to fight our battles and sometimes a cookie feels like the king of Assyria's army!

Kindred Spirits think alike. That is just what I needed when she sent it. Through prayer and daily quiet time, I know God will help me do His will.

If you are taking this journey as well, let me know. I would love to pray for you. I know that is the key to success.