Friday, May 30, 2008

My Sweet Baby



Isn't she sweet? Hubby took this at her sweet sixteen party last month. It was beautiful!!! I had committed to a party at a nice country club with one of her best friends who was also turning 16. My parents didn't want us to cancel, so they paid for my half & I will pay them back later. So nice for them to do that for her. We had 80 teens show up!! What a night.

So I am very happy today. Didn't start out that way of course (baby up at 3:30 wanting to play, when is he going to sleep through the night? Almost 19 months now) but I have determined myself to be happier. So my husband got word today that he got another job, YIPEE!!!! A buddy's business went belly up & his homeowner needs someone to finish building the house. It's only in foundation & it's a monster. The house should be around $900,000 to $1 mil when it's done. Hubby won't get nearly what he would normally but who cares? It's money coming in and it's enough to pay the mortgage. He still has a basement to finish & some work from a bunch of tornados that came through GA last week. Thank you Lord. Still has some estimates out & hopefully they will hire him too. I am so relieved about that, it has just been so stressful not being able to pay the bills. The economy is killing us but God's economy is what I am relying on. God is our provider & although it has been extremely difficult to walk through the possibility of us being homeless, I see God blessing my husband's business & our family. Very very grateful. I have never felt so much stress & hurt in my life. My business is still slow, last month was horrible & this month is in the stinker too. I won't be able to pay myself again for the month of May but who knows what June will hold. A very nice customer of mine came in today and took home 2 paintings to try out. She called to say she loved them & will be in to pay later. I am hoping that means today but it's more likely to be tomorrow or a few days after that. I would like to have the sale before the month is over. It's really strange to work with people that have so much money they don't even realize the economy is bad. I am glad for them, it's nice to see people who aren't hurting and are happy. I wish them well.... I cater to their every whim. They like it & I like them to shop with me! It never ceases to amaze me how many rich people live in metro Atlanta. They are everywhere!!! We have never been rich but my house is totally killer. Hubby built it & called in several favors so that means nice free stuff. Anyway, there is just sooooo much $$$$ around here. Amazes me. One of my very wealthy ladies took a snake out of my store this morning too. It was a real hoot. I was freaking out & she happened to come in. My hubby is scared of snakes too so he was just staring at the snake. Well mega rich lady in all her fine garb takes a look at the snake as I am trying to hold her back, she just walks right up to it, picks it up and takes it out the back of the store & puts it in the grass. I laughed so hard, what a sight!!! I was extremely grateful to her & my husband is at home now trying to pry his dingle berries back out of hiding. HA HA!!!

Friday, May 23, 2008

"THE KINGDOM OF GOD" DEFINED!!!!!!


I really like this frame. After posting my husband's foot yesterday I thought I might put something nice in today. So I have found something really great today while doing my morning Bible study. You always hear about the kingdom of God.... I always assumed the kingdom of God was where God lived, you know... heaven. It's His kingdom, right? Then about a month ago Bishop during a sermon said the kingdom of God is the "rulership of God over your life", it is the authority of God in your life. This was a real wowser for me, all these years I thought it was where he lived. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.... It makes sense either way... Seek first Heaven and you know... all that is in heaven and His righteousness. Or the way he put it as the kingdom being the lordship of God in our lives. I like Bishop's version better but ever the questioner I really wanted to find out for myself what the "kingdom of God is". I had determined to study it after I had finished studying some other things I was wanting to be more knowledgeable about. Just finshed with the Holy Spirit, WOW!!! Shame on me for not referencing the Holy Spirti before in the back of my Life Application Bible and taking notes on EVERYTHING written about it. Going back to study them after I was done was incredible and I understand the Holy Spirt so unbelieveably now. Anyway, I was reading this morning and I came across Romans 14:17. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, BUT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE AND JOY IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. (Talking about whether it is a sin to do what is okay for you but may harm or offend someone else.) This makes great sense and I can see what my Bishop was talking about. Righteousness is doing what is right, what is justified by God. What God would have you do is the righteous way. Living a righteous life is leading a life that is filled with doing the right things of God. Okay, so the kingdom of God is partly doing what God says is "right", the other part, peace and joy in the holy spirt. The Holy Spirt speaks to us the things of God, it can only repeat what comes from God (all this is scriptural), the Holy Spirit is our conscience, our counselor. If we are doing things that are not of God (yikes!!! here's my big offense) which includes anger & bitterness. If we are sinful and not doing what we ought... we grieve the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 says And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one anohter, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Chapter 5 (bear with me, this is good) Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.... it goes on (please read it for yourselves). So we just learned what grieves the Holy Spirt and that the Holy Spirit lets know God's ways and prompts us to do what God wants us to do and convicts us when we are not... So in order to live in peace with the Holy Spirit (remember , second part of the kingdom of God) then we must not be grieving Him, therefore, we are doing the things of God which is the rulership/lordship of God in our lives. When we are doing the things of God we are at peace and joyful with the Holy Spirit. So the "kingdom of God" is the rulership of God in your life and doing what is right/righteous. NICE. I love when I get something, schwing!!! Please please somebody comment me if this was beneficial in any way because I sure got excited!!! YEA GOD!! I am so glad God led me to study first the Holy Spirt because if I had not known exactly what the Holy Spirit is then non of this would make sense to me. But it does so ha!!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Laundry is FUN!!


See how much fun it is to do laundry at my house? My husband and my 16 year old are always pranking each other. Everyone in the house besides me and the baby also take karate. Let me tell you, my home can be a dangerous place as they are always after each other. My home also has a trillion baby gates all over it!! you can even see by the kid's desk where there is supposed to be a gate and the gate on the right is blocking the kitchen. There are two more gates in the kitchen blocking access to the family room. Where there are 3 more gates.... I could go on. My husband is a gate nut. I came home one day and I thought I was in a maximum security facility. The baby is learning to climb over the gates... I call him a baby but he's 18 months. Everyone else's blogs I have seen today have had such cute and wonderful things.... I can't compete with that today and I am sitting bored in my store (slow day) so here is what I came up with. My hubby's foot in cheerleader girl's face, pretty huh?