Catching up......

I haven't had a chance to post since Tuesday I think. Wed was an interesting day worth noting a few things so I have to backtrack and try to remember everything I wanted to post about.

One thing that sticks out was I took Benjamin and Gracie to the library for something to do, (and Ben wanted some Caillou moives). Looking back now,I think I was really brave (stupid) when I took that trip because Ben is potty training and I took him there without a diaper, in underwear, and no extra's in the van, (not even thinking about it!) but the funny thing is, Ben did fine. He even used the potty at the library, but Gracie on the other hand did not fair so well! Grace has a quirky habit of walking around with her hand shoved in the back of her diaper. I have no idea why she does this, but she does. When she poops, she will come up to me and say "Butt!" lol. So we are at the library and she comes up to me and says, "Butt!" and holds her hand in the air for me to see. Of course, it's full of poop! I have nothing in my purse but kleenex! So a trip to the bathroom to wash her disgusting hands and then we had to leave. How Ironic, not the one that's being potty trained makes the mess with poop. I just thought that was something funny I want to remember and read later on.

Wed night was the Freeway at church (something Jake attends, and I am a volunteer youth leader for). Pastor Josh just amazes me week after week. This week was the last week of the series "Exposed! The naked truth about sex" I have to say, I wish I would have had a Pastor Josh in my life when I was entering my teen years. He is teaching the kids BEFORE they have to deal with all the pressures what the bible expects about sex,marriage,dating and he does just a fantastic job. He has such a way of speaking to the middle school age kids that they understand him. Being there is so helpful to me as a parent too because it helps ME to know what God expects from Jake, and helps me to explain things to Jake also. This past week he basically summed it up for the kids that they really shouldn't date at all. Why? Because Sexual PURITY should be a goal for these kids. To wait till they are married to open the gift of sex. He said kids ask him all the time at church, "How far is too far?" He said basically, kissing is too far, because kissing ignites other hormones in your body and makes it harder for you control yourself. He also told the kids to make their standards known to their friends (and others) so they don't get caught in sticky situations later on. Basically saying, if people know you don't want to date, or don't plan to have sex till marriage they won't expect it from you! He also said, if you've done something already, stop! Ask God for forgiveness and take steps backwards! I'm just so glad that Jake attends this on Wed nights, it's not only a teaching, the kids have so much fun. They goof around and play dodgeball, they have a band that is mostly kids playing instruments and singing and they all gather around the stage and do worship, then Pastor Josh talks, then we go to small groups. I have not heard Jake complain about going ONCE. I sincerely hope Pastor Josh is around when my other kids are Jake's age, or there's another Pastor Josh for them to learn from. Yes, home is where they should learn the most about God, but it sure helps a ton to have that second voice reaffirming what is said at home, especially by someone the kids can relate to and they think he's "cool".

Enough of that!

Well, I'm off to shower to make another trip to Walmart to get the "right" Spider man costume for Ben. Yesterday we bought him the costume, and after coming home realized that the head piece was missing, AND it wasn't even the right costume! On the cardboard it showed the spider man with big "muscles" and the one Ben got did not have muscles and he was NOT happy about it! lol.

Yeaah, it's Saturday! (and no hunting today! whoop!)

Thoughts by Rick Warren......

This is something that I received in email and thought it was very good and worth sharing on my blog! I have been wanting to update things the past few days but haven't had time so I will be writing more today sometime!
Here's something by Rick Warren...Worth reading and going back to!

Rick Warren (REMEMBER HE WROTE ' PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE' ) You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond:

In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,'which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72 First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings. Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

Bible verses for my worry wart self......

That's me. I'm a full blown worry wart. I'm sure the fact that I have an anxiety disorder plays a part in how much I worry about things, but sometimes ( alot of the time) I worry about things that I just don't have any control over!

I've been having pain in my ovary area, had an exam and an ultrasound and they found a cyst on the right side, but my pain is on the left. They aren't quite sure what the pain is so they tell me to wait it out a few cycles. I'm frustrated. They could at the very least do blood work or something.

I'm quite sure that the fact that my mother died of cancer makes things worse. I have a fear of getting cancer. Why wouldn't I? Maybe I'm wrong for feeling that way, but to me, losing my mom at 11 had a big impact, and I DO not want my kids growing up without a mother, and I don't want to miss a second of any of their lives. Of course, that is not up to ME. So I do spend time praying about it. That God would allow Kevin and I to grow old and become grandparents and be able to spend time with our grandchildren. This post got away from me! My main reason for writing this post was to write myself some bible verses to come back to so I stop thinking about my pain and worrying that I have cancer when I have absolutely NO evidence that I have cancer! So, here's two that I thought would be good to get in my head!

"So do not fear, for I am with you;do not be dismayed, for I am your God.I will strengthen you and help you;I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Santa?

I just had to put this in writing. Maybe my hubby will read it and give it some thought too. I've been thinking since before last xmas about this. But I was just watching the Christmas DVD of Dora with Ben and Gracie and started thinking about this again.

I'm not really sure about the idea of lying to my kids about Santa and the Easter Bunny, etc. To me, It just seems like it's teaching them that lying and making things up are ok, and besides that, All these years, that's all Jake really thought Christmas was about, was Santa coming and getting presents. Maybe i'm just being selfish again, and i'm keeping my kids from enjoying something that I myself enjoyed as a kid?

Jake now knows that Santa does not exsist. We also now have four children, and are not going to be able to afford filling the underside of our xmas tree with presents each year. I'd like it if my kids got used to just getting like 3 presents for xmas instead of 10. Jake always got a lot. So the past few years, I bought the other two quite a bit also. I'd like them to really know what we are celebrating at Christmas time, and yes presents are nice for everyone, and maybe we can just say, Jesus got 3 presents for his birthday, so that's what you get from us? I don't know, just thoughts I have. Why make up some fake person that gives them presents? They appreciate the stuff more if they know their parents bought it anyway!

God's talking to me again.......... :)

Well, it's become apparent to me that God is trying to tell me something.
I've told him in the past that he needs to be more blunt with me because It seems to take me awhile to catch on when he's talking to me. :) His subtle and graceful ways are wonderful, thank God he's patient with people like me who don't know it's him I'm hearing the first time! (or the second for that matter!)
I'll admit it, I'm a grudge holder. Usually not for very long, and unfortunately it's usually my husband that I'm holding the grudge against.
Hunting season has been a struggle for me since Autumn was born, and got harder after every child we had. Our kids are little and I need him home. Because Kevin is a bow hunter, his hunting isn't limited to just a few weekends a year. He can basically hunt from Oct to Jan. Now I'm not posting this blog to complain about Kevin, only to explain how God has been talking to me and I wasn't "getting it". First, last wed at middle school ministries at church (I'm a youth group leader) Pastor Josh was talking about myths about sex. BUT one of the "Lies" he talked about was this ~ MYSELF matters more then OTHERS. (This is the first clue God was giving me) Even someone in our small group talked about how she would get mad if her kids cut in on her "free time", and that she needed prayer about that. (me too!) Because our kids are more important then us. and so is everyone else, including our husbands! So, It got my brain going. We are supposed to treat others, and their needs like they are more important then us. Their needs are more important then ours. Wow. That is a hard concept. Not the first time I've heard it, but so easy to ignore it and not want to live that way! We are living in a "it's all about ME world!"
So, it DID get me thinking.
Then Saturday came along, and Kevin went hunting. I was totally fine with it and told him to go. He was gone from about 12:30pm to 9pm? But he called me at like 8pm and said he had to go back to Fond Du lac the next day to register the deer because it was too late to do it that night. Well, that's when I got angry and my SELFISH side of me came out. I instantly thought, "Perfect! Another day he won't be here and I deal w/the kids myself! ARRG" I was irritated and it was all over. I don't' think I spoke to him when he came home. (why? selfishness, grudges) So then Sunday morning rolls along and here's God talking to me once again. What is church about? Judgementalism! Who do I judge most? MY HUSBAND! Jesus is saying, don't find faults in others, don't have a critical attitude and spirit, don't be negative. JESUS was not like that!
I hear Kevin saying to our kids all the time, "Do you want to have God in your heart?" Jeez, I think God's talking to me through my husband!
Pastor talked about Judgementalism blinds us (log in our eye) to seeing and dealing with our OWN faults and sins! TRUTH!

Here was the passage at the end of the worksheet we filled out~

"There is someone I love, even though I don't approve of what he does.
There is someone I accept, though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me.
There is someone I forgive, though he hurts the people I love the most.
That person is ME."
C.S. Lewis

That is so true! But even after going to chruch in the morning, when Kevin came home in the afternoon I was mad at him for being gone all day agian and I ignored him. (Following what God wants is SO hard!) Then today, once again. I receive email devotionals daily in email. What is today's?

Here's the title~ "A GRACE GIVER OR A GRUDGE BEARER"

Here's the main part, we need to give Grace to people.

"How can I give grace when non-grace comes naturally?" Here are a few practical steps:1. Ask Jesus to do it in you and through you. You cannot do it alone.2. Fill your mind with Scripture that talks about the grace of God. (Ephesians 1:7, for example)3. Reflect on how God has shown His grace to you. Has He been patient with you? Has He forgiven you? After you've blown it, does He not welcome you back?

I guess God is trying to tell me to be easier on my hubby, and also not be so selfish, my life is not just all about ME! Point being, I need prayer that I can be a less selfish thinking person, and think of others as more important then myself!

Blessed by my children

I was sitting here this morning, looking at my blog and the pictures on it of my children. I went to look at Danielle's blog (the girl who helped me put mine together) and I found another blog she just recently designed. http://sgirl79.blogspot.com/ I found myself consumed with reading the story and crying. Tears of joy and tears of deep sadness for the family that lost their son. When I hear about things like this it just reconfirms to me how very blessed I am to have four children, and also how fragile our life is, and how quickly someone you love can be taken from you. There's true meaning to the words don't waste a single moment of your time with people you love. These are the moments that all I can think about is loving my kids and enjoying them every min of everyday they are here. Sometimes we don't realize how blessed we are until we here someone else's story.
There's a link in my blog to Hollyn's caring bridge website, which is another family that touches my heart and are close in our community. She is a little girl from Jake and Autumns school with cancer. I spend time just praying for her and her family, and sometimes not understanding why children have to go through things like this, and thankful that my children are healthy.
Speaking of children, mine are getting wild so I guess it's time for me to sign off.

My first post!

Wow, I can't beleive I actually have a blog! I have wanted to start one of these for so long. I have made a new friend, Danielle who so graciously and patiently helped me put this blog together. I absolutley love the way it turned out! Thank you Danielle! I felt this title "Insanely Blessed" was very fitting for me. Most days I feel a lot of both, Insane and blessed!
I am hoping to use this blog to write down my daily happenings in this house with four children! Almost daily something happens that I would like to remember in the future when they are bigger but don't have anywhere to record it, now I do!
We had a busy day already today. This morning Autumn had her first Cheer leading clinic for THREE HOURS. Ben and I stayed for the entire thing because she didn't want me to leave. Ben was such a trooper and Autumn had a good time learning to cheer. So cute at 5 years old. :)
Then we went to Jake's last football game of the season, they won! Undefeated! I think that is such an accomplishment for their team. They all got shirts that said 7-0. Pretty cool idea! Jake's coach for the past two years was Mark Chumura. I think the kids liked him a lot and next year they will get a new team. Well that's it for now. I am going to go clean up a bit before Gracie wakes from her nap.....