The other day, my blog consisted of a list of prayer requests. While the list still remains, I can see God working through them. (see the comments in blue)
1) Praying that I can help lift Tim up as he has some frustrations with work right now. (The frustrations haven't totally been resolved, but don't seem to consume his thoughts as much.)
2) Praying for Tim's uncle (related via Tim's mom's sister). We just learned that the brain tumor that they removed is malignant. They have two younger girls -- around ages 7 and 9. Praying for safe travel of family members as they come to help out while he is doing physical therapy and eventually other treatments. (Tim's mom was able to come up for a week to help with the girls. So we'll go up on Saturday to visit with everyone. Physical therapy is going alright; his uncle still has some limitations in movement on his left side, but is definitely in good spirits. Also, he and a large majority of the family are believers which is a HUGE praise.)
3) Praying that Tim's dad gets answers about the uncertainty of his job. He's currently interviewing at other places just in case, but it's tough to not know when they are going to make cuts and who is going to end up leaving. (He found out that they have enough money in the budget and will not be making any cuts at all. His job is safe for now! Praise God!)
4) Praying for God to reveal himself and mend a marriage that seems to be falling apart again. Pray that we can be a beacon somehow. (Not sure where that is at).
5) Praying for our house and God's perfect plan. There's a lot of different meetings to try and coordinate and making sure we have all the right numbers figured out for what we can afford. (We found the perfect house, but alas, someone else thought it was perfect too. We're hoping to put in a secondary offer and just keep looking. It was a little disappointing, but God knows what he's doing. He wants us to be patient and maybe learn something that we wouldn't have learned without going through this process. Our house is out there somewhere. Praying on God's perfect timing.)
6) Praying that we start feeling better. Sonya and I have been sick for over 2 weeks now and Tim still has a lingering cough. (I felt TONS better yesterday. Sonya seems a little more cheerful too. I still feel like our cold aren't quite over, but at least I didn't need Tylenol yesterday for the first time in a few weeks.
7) Praying that our cars last a little longer especially since we're going to be buying a house. It seems that every time we turn around, there's something wrong with one of our cars. So far we've done about $700 just in 2011 and found out that there's probably another $400 we'll have to fork out on Tim's car (unless we can find a way around it). *sigh* (We took Tim's car in for a second opinion. It was making a backfire noise when he started it. Instead of paying $400+ to replace the muffler, which was working fine, they replaced the hanger for a whopping total of $60. Praise God!! That's more money in our pockets for now.)
God is just so amazing. The answers to our prayer requests may not come in our own timing, but God always has our best interest in mind. It's His plan and not mine. I just have to keep that in perspective whenever I want to be in control. For now, I'll just keep on praying and listening to hear what God has in store for me next.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
When it rains, it pours...
I'm just sitting here at my desk, unsure of what to do. My heart is feeling heavy, weighted down by a load of bricks. There's just a lot going on. When it rains, it pours. On top of everything, we've been sick and are still trying to complete home buyer ed classes and look at houses. It's wearing on me a little. I feel out of the loop with my church friends since we haven't gone to ABF lately because of teaching Sunday School and between blizzards and house stuff, I haven't been able to go to Mom's night.
Unloading my burdens:
1) Praying that I can help lift Tim up as he has some frustrations with work right now.
2) Praying for Tim's uncle (related via Tim's mom's sister). We just learned that the brain tumor that they removed is malignant. They have two younger girls -- around ages 7 and 9. Praying for safe travel of family members as they come to help out while he is doing physical therapy and eventually other treatments.
3) Praying that Tim's dad gets answers about the uncertainty of his job. He's currently interviewing at other places just in case, but it's tough to not know when they are going to make cuts and who is going to end up leaving.
4) Praying for God to reveal himself and mend a marriage that seems to be falling apart again. Pray that we can be a beacon somehow.
5) Praying for our house and God's perfect plan. There's a lot of different meetings to try and coordinate and making sure we have all the right numbers figured out for what we can afford.
6) Praying that we start feeling better. Sonya and I have been sick for over 2 weeks now and Tim still has a lingering cough.
7) Praying that our cars last a little longer especially since we're going to be buying a house. It seems that every time we turn around, there's something wrong with one of our cars. So far we've done about $700 just in 2011 and found out that there's probably another $400 we'll have to fork out on Tim's car (unless we can find a way around it). *sigh*
I'd appreciate any extra prayers.
This repair bill will be preventing even more layoffs and dropping people from government assistance programs (especially children on Medicaid). Something needs to be done. Is this the right answer? Who knows? Will it help with the deficit? There's no doubt about that. As for collective bargaining, I don't think it's a good idea to package all of this together in one bill and take away people's voices all at the same time. Heck, they shouldn't take away the collective voice at all, in my opinion.
Should some of us just take another hit and pay taxes on top of our pay freezes/cuts and other expenses? Either way it goes, people are going to be upset. Praying that God lay His hand of wisdom on all the ones that are involved with these important decisions that need to be made. It's definitely not an easy job and I wouldn't want to be in Walker's shoes right now. I commend him for going after what he thinks will work. I honestly think he has the best in mind for Wisconsin even if it's not "popular." It's too bad there isn't an answer that will just make everyone happy. If there was, I'm sure someone would've stepped up to the stand a long time ago before we dug ourselves into the deficit that we're in now. (My intent is not to offend anyone with this. If I have, I sincerely apologize. I just needed to get it off my chest. Thanks for listening)
Unloading my burdens:
1) Praying that I can help lift Tim up as he has some frustrations with work right now.
2) Praying for Tim's uncle (related via Tim's mom's sister). We just learned that the brain tumor that they removed is malignant. They have two younger girls -- around ages 7 and 9. Praying for safe travel of family members as they come to help out while he is doing physical therapy and eventually other treatments.
3) Praying that Tim's dad gets answers about the uncertainty of his job. He's currently interviewing at other places just in case, but it's tough to not know when they are going to make cuts and who is going to end up leaving.
4) Praying for God to reveal himself and mend a marriage that seems to be falling apart again. Pray that we can be a beacon somehow.
5) Praying for our house and God's perfect plan. There's a lot of different meetings to try and coordinate and making sure we have all the right numbers figured out for what we can afford.
6) Praying that we start feeling better. Sonya and I have been sick for over 2 weeks now and Tim still has a lingering cough.
7) Praying that our cars last a little longer especially since we're going to be buying a house. It seems that every time we turn around, there's something wrong with one of our cars. So far we've done about $700 just in 2011 and found out that there's probably another $400 we'll have to fork out on Tim's car (unless we can find a way around it). *sigh*
I'd appreciate any extra prayers.
---------------------------------------------------
Another topic that has been on my heart: Praying for the budget repair bill. I genuinely feel for the families that might have to make adjustments if this goes into effect. Our family has already had to undergo some cuts in income and increases in insurance premiums in the past year or so due to the economy so I know what it's like. Not fun!This repair bill will be preventing even more layoffs and dropping people from government assistance programs (especially children on Medicaid). Something needs to be done. Is this the right answer? Who knows? Will it help with the deficit? There's no doubt about that. As for collective bargaining, I don't think it's a good idea to package all of this together in one bill and take away people's voices all at the same time. Heck, they shouldn't take away the collective voice at all, in my opinion.
Should some of us just take another hit and pay taxes on top of our pay freezes/cuts and other expenses? Either way it goes, people are going to be upset. Praying that God lay His hand of wisdom on all the ones that are involved with these important decisions that need to be made. It's definitely not an easy job and I wouldn't want to be in Walker's shoes right now. I commend him for going after what he thinks will work. I honestly think he has the best in mind for Wisconsin even if it's not "popular." It's too bad there isn't an answer that will just make everyone happy. If there was, I'm sure someone would've stepped up to the stand a long time ago before we dug ourselves into the deficit that we're in now. (My intent is not to offend anyone with this. If I have, I sincerely apologize. I just needed to get it off my chest. Thanks for listening)
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Reflection
Yesterday, a wonderful woman passed away after her battle with cancer. She was both beautiful on the inside and out. Her faith was inspirational. I've stayed up to speed with her story via facebook and her blog. She was only 27, just like me. Her daughter is also very close to Sonya's age, not even a month apart. That's what makes it hit me a lot harder. What if that had been me? Would I have been as strong?
I wish I could've had another chance to talk to her in person. The one time I met her was after Sonya's baby dedication. I was talking to our relatives and she just came right up and introduced herself to me. We didn't get to chat much, but I'll never forget that bubbly smile that seemed to just brighten up the room. Despite the fact that I only met her once, my heart aches for her family. My emotions are spilling out as the tears roll down my cheeks. She's in heaven now. No more pain. No more sadness. The thought that she has been reunited with our dear Jesus gives me some comfort. She touched so many lives and continues to do so even after she has left. If only we could have a fraction of the faith she displayed on a daily basis..... if only....
I wish I could've had another chance to talk to her in person. The one time I met her was after Sonya's baby dedication. I was talking to our relatives and she just came right up and introduced herself to me. We didn't get to chat much, but I'll never forget that bubbly smile that seemed to just brighten up the room. Despite the fact that I only met her once, my heart aches for her family. My emotions are spilling out as the tears roll down my cheeks. She's in heaven now. No more pain. No more sadness. The thought that she has been reunited with our dear Jesus gives me some comfort. She touched so many lives and continues to do so even after she has left. If only we could have a fraction of the faith she displayed on a daily basis..... if only....
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
God's grace
For the past two weeks, I've been really trying to get in a quiet time with God in the morning. It's tough though. Either I'm so exhausted from getting up a few times with Sonya in the morning or I just plain old don't want to get out of bed. God does have a pretty great sense of humor though. I had vowed to get up at 6am for my QT's (normally my alarm goes off at 7am). So Sonya woke me up two days in a row since I didn't get up on my own or set my alarm to go off earlier. Another day, my Bible actually fell off my nightstand and woke me up. I decided that those were the kicks in the butt that I needed to feel motivated.
When I opened my Bible, I didn't know where to start. I had tried doing chronological reading before, but after a month, I gave up. It was my goal to read the entire Bible, cover-to-cover, in one year. This time, I decided on baby steps and chose to study Romans. I vaguely remember a friend telling me that that was one of their favorite books in the Bible. Now I can see why! I'm falling in love with it as I am learning more about righteousness and sin. Each day, I actually look forward to spending more time in the Word and just feeling more thankful and in awe of our God.
Since I don't have much time, I'll leave you to with a quote from Romans:
When I opened my Bible, I didn't know where to start. I had tried doing chronological reading before, but after a month, I gave up. It was my goal to read the entire Bible, cover-to-cover, in one year. This time, I decided on baby steps and chose to study Romans. I vaguely remember a friend telling me that that was one of their favorite books in the Bible. Now I can see why! I'm falling in love with it as I am learning more about righteousness and sin. Each day, I actually look forward to spending more time in the Word and just feeling more thankful and in awe of our God.
Since I don't have much time, I'll leave you to with a quote from Romans:
"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."
(Romans 6:22 NIV)
Monday, November 29, 2010
Writing... and the list goes on
Writing is something I've always been passionate about, even though the words don't always come out as eloquently as they did in my head. You'll laugh, but I'm constantly thinking of short sentences, phrases, or even paragraphs that I could write. Alas! As soon as I find a moment or two to finally type out those words, they seem to disappear into thin air. If only there were more minutes during the day or rather while both kids are sleeping and my husband is at work...haha. Imagine all the beautiful things I could write! ... or the things I could get done around the house! The list of "things" grows longer as I'm typing this.. one-handed... while the baby is finally cuddled asleep in my arms. I'm not ready to put her in her crib yet. She's so peaceful. I could watch her for hours.
[Darn! My arm got numb so I put her to bed... and of course she woke up. I'm hoping she falls right back to sleep.]
Anyway, one of these days I'd love to write something special and meaningful that could be published -- maybe an autobiography or a children's book or poetry. Until that time comes, I'll keep working on my other list of things to do..... cleaning out the storage closet, weeding out any unused items, getting some of my photos printed (including figuring out how many Christmas cards/designs I want to do), the endless baskets of laundry and sinks full of dishes, the bathroom that is slowly being overtaken by men (my son and husband), the playdates, toys on the floor, vacuuming, and much more. Of course, that's only the beginning..... and then it starts all over again. :-)
Well, I suppose I will have to let you all go for now. It's been refreshing to just type and not have a specific topic to write about. I should probably go get a few of those items on my list done though. Hope you have a great day!
-Michelle
[Darn! My arm got numb so I put her to bed... and of course she woke up. I'm hoping she falls right back to sleep.]
Anyway, one of these days I'd love to write something special and meaningful that could be published -- maybe an autobiography or a children's book or poetry. Until that time comes, I'll keep working on my other list of things to do..... cleaning out the storage closet, weeding out any unused items, getting some of my photos printed (including figuring out how many Christmas cards/designs I want to do), the endless baskets of laundry and sinks full of dishes, the bathroom that is slowly being overtaken by men (my son and husband), the playdates, toys on the floor, vacuuming, and much more. Of course, that's only the beginning..... and then it starts all over again. :-)
Well, I suppose I will have to let you all go for now. It's been refreshing to just type and not have a specific topic to write about. I should probably go get a few of those items on my list done though. Hope you have a great day!
-Michelle
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Ode to Freecycle
About a month ago, I signed up for the Ozaukee County Freecycle group with my Yahoo! account. I had heard about it through friends and finally had some time to become a member of the group so I could check it out. If you're not familiar with Freecycle, it's kind of like Craigslist, except that all the items are free. It's like this great big swap of free stuff. I haven't posted anything of mine on there yet, but have acquired some boy clothes for Caleb and a nice baby highchair for my parents to use when we visit them. I enjoy watching the different posts to see what treasures are out there that people would normally have just tossed into a landfill. What a great way to reduce, reuse, and recycle!
Friday, November 5, 2010
A moment to reflect....
I haven't been as good about posting lately. Usually I try to at least upload a picture and write a short "caption" about it. *sigh* For some reason, I've just been having more down days. Of course, Tim has been wonderful. He doesn't fully understand how or why I'm feeling the way I do, but he's accepted it and just offers to help with dinner and even let me take a nice hot bath the other night.
The past few nights, I've gone to Moments for Moms and then had a meeting with all the women interested in being mentors and mareas (the ones wanting to be mentored) at church while Tim watched the kids for me.
Moments for Moms was good. We talked about forgiveness and one of the women mentioned a story where she was really holding onto a woman's reaction/comment to the point that it became an unintentional idol. She let it consume her thoughts rather than letting go and having God work through her and believe His Truth. It was an eye-opener for me. I realized that I have lots of little "grudges" that keep coming back to me and I never fully let them go. I prayed when I got home and God just gave me peace about a few feelings that I had been harboring and gave me strength so that when I do see certain people again, I won't be afraid to bring up the topics that caused a rift in the first place.
The mentoring meeting also went well. I was able to chat with some of the younger women and get to know them better. We also did a speed dating game to sort of interview the ladies that were hoping to mentor us. It was such a blessing to meet such wonderful women! I felt that I was able to connect with almost all of them and it was really hard to write down three names of potential mentors that I wanted to be paired up with. I'm really looking forward to having a more experienced woman walking alongside me with my journey as a mother, a wife, and child of God. I just need someone to challenge me to spend more time in the Word and help me grow as a person. Hopefully I can bless that other woman just as much as she blesses me.
Another thing that we're working on at home is starting some family worship time. This is outside of going to church and just casual talk about God or even bedtime prayers. It's supposed to be a time to teach our children about our faith and take time to share with each other. Tim is an amazing man of God and this gives him an opportunity to continue growing into the spiritual leader that God intends him to be. The 'Love & Respect' study that we're doing with a few other couples at church only brings us closer together. I'm learning to encourage Tim even when I would probably do things a little differently. I didn't realize that by trying to be helpful by showing him the way I like things done, I was coming off more as criticizing and ultimately disrespectful. Then of course his reactions came off as unloving to me... and we started the Crazy Cycle! lol... It's so nice to recognize some of the signs and how to love and respect each other better.
On a happy note, I'm on my way to feeling more spiritually fulfilled. One of my chats last night, I was asked how being a stay-at-home mom was going. Somehow, I had a revelation and it hit me that the reason I was feeling so down lately was because I started an internal crazy cycle. I wasn't getting as much done around the house and was spending less quality time with the kids. There was too much to do that I couldn't wrap my head around it so I just vegged out and read a book instead or watched movies with the kids. This in turn made me feel lazy and unmotivated to get the growing list of things done. Once I made a list of what needed to get done, my thoughts were more organized and I resolved to tackle each thing one at a time. It was so rewarding to cross those things off my list. :-)
Wow, this post is getting long! I do have one more happy thing to report. My best friend from college finally got engaged and she asked me to be a bridesmaid! I'm so excited for her and honored to be in her wedding. I was a little nervous since I know there are going to be a few more expenses in the check book than we were anticipating and we'll have to figure out how to manage the kids during the wedding and traveling... etc. But, our God is an awesome God and he'll take care of all the details!
That's all for now. Don't forget to read Grace Like Rain if you haven't been keeping up to date on those posts. Thanks for reading! I'm so blessed to be surrounded by so many friends. Love you all!!!
The past few nights, I've gone to Moments for Moms and then had a meeting with all the women interested in being mentors and mareas (the ones wanting to be mentored) at church while Tim watched the kids for me.
Moments for Moms was good. We talked about forgiveness and one of the women mentioned a story where she was really holding onto a woman's reaction/comment to the point that it became an unintentional idol. She let it consume her thoughts rather than letting go and having God work through her and believe His Truth. It was an eye-opener for me. I realized that I have lots of little "grudges" that keep coming back to me and I never fully let them go. I prayed when I got home and God just gave me peace about a few feelings that I had been harboring and gave me strength so that when I do see certain people again, I won't be afraid to bring up the topics that caused a rift in the first place.
The mentoring meeting also went well. I was able to chat with some of the younger women and get to know them better. We also did a speed dating game to sort of interview the ladies that were hoping to mentor us. It was such a blessing to meet such wonderful women! I felt that I was able to connect with almost all of them and it was really hard to write down three names of potential mentors that I wanted to be paired up with. I'm really looking forward to having a more experienced woman walking alongside me with my journey as a mother, a wife, and child of God. I just need someone to challenge me to spend more time in the Word and help me grow as a person. Hopefully I can bless that other woman just as much as she blesses me.
Another thing that we're working on at home is starting some family worship time. This is outside of going to church and just casual talk about God or even bedtime prayers. It's supposed to be a time to teach our children about our faith and take time to share with each other. Tim is an amazing man of God and this gives him an opportunity to continue growing into the spiritual leader that God intends him to be. The 'Love & Respect' study that we're doing with a few other couples at church only brings us closer together. I'm learning to encourage Tim even when I would probably do things a little differently. I didn't realize that by trying to be helpful by showing him the way I like things done, I was coming off more as criticizing and ultimately disrespectful. Then of course his reactions came off as unloving to me... and we started the Crazy Cycle! lol... It's so nice to recognize some of the signs and how to love and respect each other better.
On a happy note, I'm on my way to feeling more spiritually fulfilled. One of my chats last night, I was asked how being a stay-at-home mom was going. Somehow, I had a revelation and it hit me that the reason I was feeling so down lately was because I started an internal crazy cycle. I wasn't getting as much done around the house and was spending less quality time with the kids. There was too much to do that I couldn't wrap my head around it so I just vegged out and read a book instead or watched movies with the kids. This in turn made me feel lazy and unmotivated to get the growing list of things done. Once I made a list of what needed to get done, my thoughts were more organized and I resolved to tackle each thing one at a time. It was so rewarding to cross those things off my list. :-)
Wow, this post is getting long! I do have one more happy thing to report. My best friend from college finally got engaged and she asked me to be a bridesmaid! I'm so excited for her and honored to be in her wedding. I was a little nervous since I know there are going to be a few more expenses in the check book than we were anticipating and we'll have to figure out how to manage the kids during the wedding and traveling... etc. But, our God is an awesome God and he'll take care of all the details!
That's all for now. Don't forget to read Grace Like Rain if you haven't been keeping up to date on those posts. Thanks for reading! I'm so blessed to be surrounded by so many friends. Love you all!!!
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