I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Old song, new verse. Albert left today for Japan. After struggling emotionally and receiving healing from old wounds, I was joyful this morning. I can honestly say, I had peace and joy. Our past, in the military was bad, I mean horrible. Separation tried our marriage in so many ways. When he decided to continue in the Reserve this summer, I first denied the situation. I had thought we would be traveling with him and experience the benefits of home schooling. However, the reality set in when he was scheduled for a two week duty in Japan and we weren't going. I felt betrayed and I feared the change because of the past. Thankfully, God's promises are ALWAYS true. He was working all things together for the "good" as described in Romans 8:28. Issues in our marriage came out that we needed to overcome. I was called to "trust in the Lord" as Proverbs 3: 5-6 says "with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding in ALL my ways acknowledge Him and He will direct my path." In the middle of my fit pitching, my friend Carrie took me to Mardel's on FM 1960, a great Christian gift/book store. I found a book titled "Finding God's Path Through Your Trials" written by one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth George. She is well known for her godly instruction for women and is the author of "A Woman After God's Own Heart". I read that book back in 2006 and it changed my mind on priorities and responsbility. It is a hard read because it is SO convicting. So if you need the counsel of a wise older woman who has been in your shoes read that book. Back to the trials, Elizabeth George was back to training me in this one too. I realized how spiritually immature I am. I moan, complain, and gripe about my circumstances. After crying my way through the book, I decided to try James 1:2 which says "my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." I wanted to see what the Lord had in store for me in the circumstance of Japan, the Navy and two weeks of separation. After all, He has never disappointed me when I waited on Him. His blessings have been painful but valuable. In the words of C.S. Lewis " He is not safe but He is good." My attitude changed and my behavior was not punishing towards Albert. I really chose to be excited about the opportunities afforded us both in the weeks to come. So that leads me to this morning at 5am as I dropped him off at the airport. I was definitely missing him but I wasn't devastated. I had confidence in a Holy God who is still on the throne.
He called me from Dallas and we discussed the morning Bible reading and we had JOY. We didn't miss out and we didn't moan, complain and feel sorry for ourselves. It was neat!
My first trial came in the way of my son, Ethan. We had a waffle brunch and he wanted more syrup. We've been instituting table manners for the last month. His brother, Christian reminded him to ask for the syrup. He however, got stubborn. That boy is part donkey sometimes. He refused to ask for it. He waited a few minutes and then hopped down from his stool and grabbed it off the table. He even said "now I've got it" with much contempt. I had already warned him if he didn't say please and ask that he would have to go lay on his bed and miss the movie the other two were watching after brunch. He then made a smart remark "I'll lay there all I want". Well, that cost him more than a missed movie.
After some time, I sent for him to come see me. He came down the stairs with his eyes shut. He wasn't going to "see me". Rebellion when you look at it is quite awful. I know he comes by it honest because I am the SAME way. I called him out on it and proceeded to remind him of the 4th commandment and then prayed for him. If you have a difficult child, lay hands on him and pray for him. I got that from Peter Fuhler from the Newsboys who said he was a handful as a child and many people laid hands on him (in more than one way!). He turned out to be mighty servant of God so there is hope. I spoke to him about repentance. I offered him the choices he had. It required a lot of patience on my part but I can't help but remember how much patience I have received from the Lord. He has and is waiting on me the same way in so many areas. I chose to have this go on in the rocking chair in my room. It is soothing spot and was used to nurse him when he was a baby. He, despite trying to maintain stubborness, layed his head on my chest and snuggled up to me. He finally said he was sorry and bounced off to play with Kara and Christian. I love forgiveness. Thanks, Lord for trial #1.

What's in the box

I got my All Clad pots and the box they came in proved to be entertainment for my kids. They took turns being mailed by Mom and Dad. The simple things...

Bunny's new home

Last week we received a blessing from the Foster family. I had posted a request for a rabbit hutch or cage and an aquarium to buy from anyone on my home school groups. I got an email saying we could have one that the previous owners of their house had left behind. Albert and the boys pulled the trailer over and picked up. The spent the afternoon power washing it and getting it set up. I am very thankful that the new home is now located in the garage. The wood shavings were everywhere!

Dress up and play date

Our friends, the Centilli's had a trying week last week. Mr. Grandpa, the elder Centilli was hospitalized after passing out at work. He has since returned home with no explanation as to what happened. At the same time, Cody Centilli went for an EKG after complaining of his heart hurting and experiencing rapid heart rate. We watched his younger brother Justin while he went for the exam. They finished early from St. Luke's and returned to play. Mrs. Carrie, who is also Kara's AWANA director, got to get her hair done and play doll house.

Animal rescuers

We had quite an exciting afternoon yesterday. The kids were eating popcorn for an afternoon snack when Christian raced outside to rescue a green goldfinch. He was in the paws of our cat Pony. We tried to let him go in the front yard but he was stunned. After putting him in the pet carrier, I tried to find out what type of bird he was and how to care for him. I looked on the TX Wildlife website and found an animal rehabilitator in The Woodlands. We gave her a call and then head her way. In route, the bird escaped out of the pet carrier and into the car. I pulled over and had Christian look for it. 20 minutes later, we still couldn't find it!! A man stop by us to asked if we needed help. I just said no thank you thinking how crazy it would be to say I've lost a bird in my Toyota Camry!!! We decided to continue towards the lady's house even though we didn't have the wildlife we rescued. We spent another 15 minutes searching the car, taking out car seats, in search of the little bird. Finally, Christian found him under the steering column hiding. Sherron, the bird lady, took him and settled him in a cage. She showed us the other animals she was caring for and her two personal birds a finch who is 12 yrs. old and a parakeet who is 13 yrs old.

I told her of our wildbird in HI who was a house finch named Chicken. He only lived a year and died when we went to see Mama Elkin in TX as she was dying. Although our neighbors cared for him, he missed us too much and died. It was very sad especially after returning from a funeral.
I called her today and found out he didn't make it through the night. The kids were comforted knowing he was in Heaven with our other pets.

How fast time flies by

These last few weeks have flown by!! So much going on. Last week we took Bunny to the vet for a check up and to get her nails trimmed. I got to be apart of Heart to Heart a ministry weekend for teenaged girls to learn about God's love for them. I was in the footwashing room and was blessed to pray with Ally, Jennifer, and Tetiana. It was a wonderful time of ministry. This past Saturday we celebrated the CPS birthdays at the Vineyard Church with the Back 2 Basics ministry. There were over 100 kids involved in the life changing message delivered and 25 kids were celebrated. Stephanie, Jeremy and Brooke were in town for a funeral so Kara and I got to spend time with Brooke. She is such a lovely child. We enjoyed our time with her Saturday afternoon. Sunday was our 2nd visit to our new church Grace Family Baptist on Spring Cypress. The after service meal allowed us to meet Roger and Pat who shared with us their home school journey.
Corinne and Jon got the keys to their new home today!! I called to check on her to hear the good news and she was touring the house with Katherine. Blessings to them!!
Saturday is my sister Angela's birthday. Happy Birthday Sis!!

More celebration

Ethan has really been blessed this year by so many. His Aunt Angela and Uncle Tom sent him a Walmart gift card and he bought the iDog. It wags it's ears to the music. Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Jeremy sent him a gift certificate from Walmart and he got a knife and a sword with a sheath to wear on his belt. Aunt Dion and Uncle Nick got him educational items from US Toys and brought them to him. Thanks family for your love and support of Ethan.

Ethan's birthday celebration

Ethan turned 6 Friday! I can't believe my baby boy is so big. He is learning to read and growing so tall. He wanted to go to Incredible Pizza. The place was not busy and basically had it to ourselves. We enjoyed laser tag. They even let Kara do it. It was so much fun. He wanted real tools for his gifts and he got a crowbar, sledge hammer, electrical tape, tape measure, screwdriver set and wrench set.

Catch me, catch me if you can...

Speaking of the gingerbread man, a great book is Marsupal Sue and the Runaway Pancake by Jon Litgow. It has a CD to listen to and read along with the book. Montgomery Co. Library system has it to borrow.

Anyway, this year Kara received a gingerbread house for a Christmas gift from her Dad. We all spent the evening working on it. It was a lot of fun.