My Friend!

I am so excited for a friend of mine. She just became Saved!! I am just so happy for her! See she was a total non-believer (I knew what that was like since I too was once a total non-believer) when I first met her.

When I first met her it was through the MOMS Club and she and I didn't start out on the right foot. It didn't have anything to do with religion or anything but I think we just had a big miscommunication. I got the feeling she didn't like me and she had the same feelings about me.

Time went on and we ended up having to work Create and Play together (a thing we did with the kids once a month). I kept having thing nagging feeling (I believe it was God telling me to :) ) that I needed to call her and work things out and apologize for anything I might have said or did that offended her. But before I could she ended up calling me. We got to be talking and found out that it was just plain silliness why we didn't become friends sooner.

She also became friends with some other Christian lady's in our Club at this time. Now none of us ever pushed or or "Bible Thump" her or anything (I hated that before I became a Christian and would never do that to someone). She knew our beliefs and sometimes she would ask questions and we would answer them to our ability.

Then she started to go to church. She started to go just for her kids sake. She learned to really like the church but still wasn't a believer.

Then this passed Sunday (this is from what she told me today) they had a sermon asking why are you here? Then she got to thinking afterwards that maybe she shouldn't come back to the church since she wasn't a believer.

Then after church there was a fellowship lunch she decided to go to. So she across from this church member and he started asking her questions about what she believed and why and what not. He wasn't being judgmental or anything just genuinely asking her questions and telling her that she didn't have to know the whole Bible to be a Christian or have read it all the way through to be a believer. All she had to do was to believe and give her heart to Jesus. She said it hit her then that she could believe. She let go of things and she said it was an incredible feeling!

I am just so happy for her! We were both in tears as she was telling me her story! I and the other members of MOMS Club have been praying for her. We never pushed her (she even said she felt so accepted by me and the others even though she wasn't a Christian at the time.) or bombarded her with things. We were there if she had questions and we answered them as honestly as we could. Her story is a little bit like my story How I Came to Christ . It's a bit long so don't know if you want to read it or not but it's there :).

Thanks for reading my blathering's :). I was just so excited and happy for her and I just had to tell someone LOL. I hope you don't mind too much :).

We are a Christian family. I have a curriculum for their Bible Lessons. Again I have this but it isn't always used we go with the flow mostly. Anyway in this curriculum they have memory verses. I don't really make the boys memorize them though. Why? Well I guess I feel the Bible should be experienced and not necessarily memorized. Sometimes (I know it would with me) we get so preoccupied with memorizing we forget to look at the meaning and feeling of what the Bible is saying.

The boys a few months back for Church (Potters Kids) had memorized verses. I helped them with it but it was done in a fun game way and I never forced them to learn them. They may not know a lot of verses word for word but they do know what the Bible has to say and know most of the stories in the Bible.

We read the Bible as a family most daily (I have to admit I do forget at times. Bad mommytimers I tell you LOL (Mommytimers - like Alzheimer's only you get it when you become a mom LOL). So it's not as if we are not learning from the Bible but we experience it as a family and enjoy reading it as a family. It doesn't become work for us but a family time. This is why we don't memorize Bible Verses.

Talk About Busy and Some News

I know I haven't blogged since last Wednesday but I have been so busy and continue to be so. I feel so tired out but just no time to relax. That's the holidays for you LOL. Thursday, we went to my mom's for Thanksgiving dinner and didn't get home till after nine p.m. and then we went to Harlow's brothers for another Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. Saturday my mom took the boy's and me shopping to get the boys some shoes. It's something she wanted to do. Then Sunday was church of course but also I had to go do grocery shopping since I didn't get a chance to do it on Saturday like I usually do. Today was a MOMS club meeting so not only did I have to start school with the boy's this week after a week off but had to run to the meeting LOL. Tomorrow is laundry day so it's off to the Laundromat plus I have to stop by the store and pick-up a few things afterwards. Then Wednesday I am taking the boy's to Church because they have to rehearse their lines for something they are going to do just before Christmas. The only thing wrong with that is that we only have one car and hubby works afternoons so if I use the car then I have to keep the boy's up to go pick him up at 11:30 p.m. We will see how that works out. So you see just how busy I am LOL. Hopefully I will be able to keep blogging for the next few busy days.

On to some good news. Well it was good news to me LOL. I know this one lady that is in the MOMS Club with me. She isn't a Christian and I know she has been hurt by some so called Christians. She has been on my mind a lot lately so I thought I would personally invite her for the Bible Study we have in our MOMS Club. I let her know that I wasn't trying to push her or convert her to be a Christian or anything but that she had been on my mind and that I thought she could get something out of it. She has been going through some rough times and I just felt God telling me to invite her. Well she is going to come to it!! She actually thanked me for inviting her and she was really touched about me asking her. I was nervous in the beginning because I didn't know how she would take me as we don't really talk a lot. Now I am not blogging about this to boast or anything but I wanted to ask those who read my blog to pray for this woman. Not necessarily to be saved (all though that would be awesome and you can pray for that too LOL) but that she gets the healing she needs from this and maybe continue to come to the Bible Study. I just feel really strongly that God is wanting me to be there for this woman in some way and would love prayer for her and for me too. Thanks!!!

Bible Study

Today I went to a Bible Study with some of the mom's from MOMS Club®. We usually get together once a month to do a Bible Study. Lately we have been studying from a Christian writer. His name is Charles Stanley and the book we are reading and studying (Biblically based of course) is Becoming Emotionally Whole. We read and studied lesson five in the book which is called Seven Keys to Emotional Wholeness. In this chapter he says, that "There are at least seven major aspects of wholeness involved in seeking God's best for your emotional life." He also said these things are in no particular order but "Rather, they are like having a ring of keys-all of which need to be inserted and turned simultaneously." I won't go into great detail about everything that is in the chapter but the seven keys are 1. Give Your Heart to Christ. 2. Saturate Yourself with Scripture. 3. Secure God's Healing for Your Faults. 4. Stop Bartering with God. 5. Share Yourself with Others. 6. Stop Dwelling on Your Past Failures and 7. Ask the Holy Spirit for Help. He gives some Scriptures to read to back up what he is saying and also gives you scriptural advice on how to deal with these things. It would be one long post if I put in a lot of what he deals with in this one chapter so I won't bore you with that.

It's a very interesting book. I am learning a lot not only about myself and how I deal with my emotions but I can see how my family deals with differently with their emotions. I see it mostly with my husband. He is slowly learning to deal with his emotions but he's had a hard life and I see how hard it is for him. The book really makes me understand his view and how he feels. I look forward to reading the next chapter and the next Bible Study to discuss what I have learned.

It's really nice to get together with other women of God and Study the word. What's really remarkable to me about this particular group is that it's a mixed group of not only different backgrounds but of different denominations. For instance I am coming from a non-denominational church and there is one from a Southern Baptist church and another that is from a Lutheran church. Yet we all share the love of God and know Jesus our Savior. I just love how honest and loving we are to one another and how there is no judgment between us. It's wonderful what God can do when we all come together under His love.

How I Came to Christ.(Long sorry)

I was reading a blog http://thehungryone.wordpress.com/ and it got me to thinking of sharing my own story on how I came to Jesus. When I was growing up the only thing my parent's told me of Jesus and the Lord was that, there was a god and the reason why we celebrate Christmas and Easter. Not the full story but basically that Jesus was born and that's why we celebrate Christmas and then Jesus died for us and that's why we celebrate Easter. That was the extent of it. So I believed there was a god and I had even went to church a few times with some friends but never with my family.
So moving on when I was fifteen not only did my parents divorce but I wasn't getting along with my dad either for various reasons I won't get into right now. Then my mom moved my brother and I to here in Michigan. (My dad was in the army so we had moved around a lot prior to the divorce). A few month's later. I don't even believe it was a year later both my grandparents (my mom's parents) died within months of each other. Then a year after that I had an aunt die and then maybe a year or two after that my aunt's fiance' died. So I became hardened and I started to think there was no God because why would a God that is supposed to be loving let all this happen?
This was for many years and even to my adulthood. I remember being so angry and resentful of just about everything. I would have heated arguments with people who were Christ followers. Now I never did drugs or anything but I did hand around a not so good crowd but thankfully I was too strong willed to do a lot of what they did.(actually I believe now that even then God was protecting me).

I met my husband when I was a month shy of my seventeenth birthday. He was also taught there was a God and had even went to church but he really didn't know God either. So we dated and then married when we were twenty-two years old.(July 4, 1998). At that time hubby's dad had committed suicide and his mom was hiding because she had cancer and was with a man that wasn't good for her (Hubby's mom and dad divorced about a year after we started dating) and she didn't want anyone to know about any of it. So we ended up with custody with hubby's three teenage brothers. We had them for a year and then because of different reasons they went and lived with their step mom.

So it is now 1999 and hubby and I decide to try to have a baby. It didn't happen right away. So then at our one year anniversary we went on vacation/honeymoon and I became pregnant with my oldest. (took about 6 months of trying). Went through the whole pregnancy still not really being a believer though I had calmed a little with my anger issues from before but not completely and I hadn't talked to my dad for about 7 years at this point.

March 24, 2000 after being in the hospital since the 22ND trying to be induced and finally through a C-section we had my oldest, C. I held him in my arms and remember thinking wow he's so beautiful and my heart started to melt. I realized that Wow there is a God and he gave me this beautiful boy even though I had been so ungrateful before. But even then I didn't know God. But I did finally talk to my dad and forgiveness came into my heart and all that anger started melting away. I no longer held grudges.

Ok fast forward to 2001-2002. I was pregnant with my youngest J. and I was working at a store and I met a woman and became friends with her. She was a Christian woman. She never pushed anything on me which made me really like her. Soon I began to have questions for her and she would quote scripture and answer my questions and what not. So I got curious and I would read a Bible we had at home (was my husbands dad's really) and then I would start watching Joyce Myers (sorry spelling LOL). The woman at work later gave me a Bible of my own once she saw that I was coming around.

My husband was freaking out. He was like what the heck has happened to my wife who didn't believe in God and was so angry before? He thought I was nuts! Then we began to talk about things and I told him how I read in the Bible about being Baptized and I began reading scripture to him. I than also started to go to a church where my husbands step mom would go on Wednesday's. (didn't go on Sunday's just yet). So my husband said why don't we get baptized? So I took him and the boy's with us to this Church and we started to attended regularly. They started talking about doing a Baptism and if anyone was interested to sign up for the classes to learn what it means and then be baptized. So we took the class and got baptized! 7/21/02.

So as you can see it was a long road. I learned that God didn't make the bad things happen but he made the bad things good. I believe that if none of that bad stuff had happened I would have never met my husband (because we would be living in Arizona not Michigan because that's where my dad lives) and I may have never gotten to know the Lord! All those things combined helped open my heart and to that I am grateful! God is awesome God!! Ok I know this was a long post but I wanted to tell you my story.

Church Anniversary

Today was a good and busy day. Today being Sunday we went to church. It was also our Church's 33 year anniversary. We had a guest speaker who shared her life with us and also sang some songs. She had a very beautiful voice. It was a nice service.
After church we came home and pretty much didn't do whole lot but we've all had a busy couple of weeks so it was nice. Then we went to church again at six p.m. for an anniversary get together. We got to hear stories from before the land and church was built. How a group of people would go from house to other areas before someone donated the land where our church now stands. It was so nice to hear all the stories from people that have been there from the beginning and also from people who are relatively new in the Church. Afterwards they had some food out for us to eat and socialize with one another. The boy's after eating ran around and played with each other and other kids.
Our church is on the bigger side but it still feels like home to me. I have never felt at home in other churches I had been to before we found this one. I don't know if it's because I never really knew God before we found this church. (that's a story in and of it's self LOL. Maybe another time I will talk about it.) or if this was supposed to be our home and we just didn't know it till we found it. Either way I really love our church and the people in it. Everyone is so loving and so caring. I remember growing up I never felt like I belonged any where but our church I have never felt out of place. That is t legacy of our church and I hope to pass that torch for the boy's too. If not for them to go to that church when they are adults. Then at least to have that seed to share with other's on their experiences with the Lord and help other's feel like we do at our church.
Ok, I know I am rambling again LOL. It is already 11p.m. here so that might explain it. So if I just typed a bunch of gibberish then ignore me LOL. I guess I am just in a nostalgic mood tonight. That and a bit tired too LOL.

How We Came to Homeschooling

Well, how we came about homeschooling is like this. A long, long, time ago in a galaxy far, far away. LOL ok I know cheesy sorry. My boy's are really into Star Wars so it's rubbed off me I guess LOL.
Anyway when my oldest son (we'll call him C.) was just a baby we lived in a town that I didn't care for the school so much. I remember commenting to my husband (we'll call him H.) that if we lived there when he was older I was going to homeschool him. See I went to that school when I was in high school and I hated every minute there. Anyway, years pass by and we have another son (We'll call him J.) and we did move to a better town. Actually we moved to the town he grew up in. The summer before C. would have started Kindergarten hubby came to me and he said. "Remember when you said something about homeschooling them?" I paused for a moment and said, "Yes, do you still want to do that?" He of course said yes and that summer I spent a lot of time at the library and getting every book I could on homeschooling. I also scoured the Internet for sites on homeschooling. Like the laws in Michigan, how to get started and the like. I also began praying about it. I prayed that God would give me a sign that this is what we were supposed to do. I found that the laws in Michigan for homeschooling were very laid back. No test taking,(which I believe that test don't really prove what your child knows or not) and no having to report to anyone. As I prayed and read more about it I felt for sure that this was the right thing to do.
I won't lie and say it was easy from the get go. In fact I had worked myself up so much about doing it and trying to get him to learn that I gave myself high blood pressure LOL. The first year as most anyone will tell you is the hardest. That first year was more of a learning experience not only for C. but for me too. I learned how he learns and he learned more and more each day and we learned together that we could do this together and be closer than ever too.
We are now into our third year of homeschooling and this year my youngest is now learning along with us. You would think it would be harder to teach the both of them together but it's not really. At least not so far LOL. Give me a couple more years and I will let you know LOL. I think J. watched C. as he was just starting out and wanted to do what his big brother was doing too. J. just started doing Kindergarten work this year and he is already starting to sound out small words. I thought he would be harder to teach because he is a very active little guy LOL. To get him to sit still can sometimes be a struggle but we find ways to keep him occupied and keep him working. I am still learning everyday with each on how they learn. Things I am sure will change over the years but one thing that won't is that we all will learn as we go. Learning never really stops. I enjoy learning more now than I ever did as a child. I hope to help my children love learning through out their whole lives and not to take even the smallest learning experiences for granted. Even watching an ant carrying it's food to it's hill is a learning experience.
That has been our homeschool journey and it will continue to grow each year. What I don't know we will learn together and even with what I do know there is always room to learn more. Homeschooling isn't just about teaching your children but it's also about continuing your (my) education. It's also about love and family. Each homeschool family is different and each child is different. The only way really to do homeschooling wrong is not learning anything at all.

Starting New

I have decided to start new with a new blog. My other one I just didn't update. This one I think I will keep more on track. At least I hope so LOL. With being a SAHM and homeschool mom I just haven't had the time to post much. This year is a little more scheduled so hopefully I will be able to keep up posting.
Anyway for those who never seen my other blog I will tell you a little bit about me. As I said before I am a SAHM and homeschool mom. I have two boy's ages seven and five. My five year old will be six in Jan so not too far from now. I have also been married to my hubby for nine years now and we have been together for fourteen years.
Most important to say about me I would say I am a Christian, homeschool, sahm, and wife. God is one of the many reason we have chosen to homeschool our boy's. There seems more to add as we go along. This is our third year of homeschooling. This is the first year I am teaching two. So far it's going well. I think my youngest likes to do whatever his older brother is doing so he isn't much trouble at all. My older son hasn't given me that many problems really either. Maybe when we first started but that was more of us all getting adjusted. More me than him though since he has never been in the public school system. Now that this is our third year things run more smoothly and it's more easy going. Now I can't imagine not homeschooling and hope to never have to send them to school. We enjoy being together so much. Yes, there are day's I want to pull all my hair out LOL but not as much as one would think. The boy's after doing their work will pretty much go play together and don't need me to be with them 24/7 LOL. They are happy to just go play in their room. Which leaves me with sometime for just me and to clean the house. So all in all things are good for us. Sorry if this is just ramblings LOL. I am a little rusty LOL. Hopefully I will improve as I blog more. I hope you all have a great day.